July 4, 2009
Football coaches in Iraq: travel experience
Here's a travel experience reserved for celebrities visiting troops in Iraq. It includes flying into Baghdad on a plane with no lights, getting escorted into war zones, staying in Saddam Hussein's former palaces, and heat:
"It's unbelievable," he said. "We were in a chopper that had its windows open. We got in the helicopter where the hot air poured in on you and it felt like it was 140 degrees. It was hot. Because of the sandstorms we've had some sand cover, so the sun is not always beating right down on us."
June 29, 2009
What travel experiences have chnaged your life?
Nice story here about a life changing travel experience. An English actress saw The Reasmey Angkor Bassac Theatre Troupe in Cambodia. This troop was so poor that they traveled around Cambodia on foot.
Since meeting them, the traveler has been inspired to raise money for them. I'm sure it didn't take too much to change their lives.
I can't say that I've had an experience like that. Nothing that really changed the way I lived after I returned home.
May 29, 2009
Very interesting travel anecdotes from an American who visited North Korea
This fellow is a photographer by the way so you can check out some photos on his website. Anyway here are some interesting anecdotes:
There are British travel agencies that arrange for tours, including the major one that was affected by the CNN thing and Nat Geo documentaries. Here is part 1 of the national Geographic documentary that got people in trouble. They don't really start showing North Korea until several minutes in:
In and out from Beijing nonstop on Koryo Air, the lowest rated airline in the world. But, if you get to Beijing, you can find your way to PY for a fraction of the cost of a group tour. I met a pair of guys from Australia who paid about $450 for a week, all expenses paid tour of NK via a Beijing travel agency.
You can go via the South, but Beijing is the best way. Three times a week nonstop. Flew in with the North Korean Olympic team - sat next to Hong Un Jong on the flight, who won a Gold medal for women's vault. She let me try on the medal. The athletes were met by the media on the tarmac and children presented them with flowers and what not while the supporting officials were off-loading shwag they brought back from Beijing. TVs, laptops, laptops, dvd players, laptops, pirated movies, laptops, etc. Must have been 50 boxes of Lenovo laptops.
I had a minder with me while I was there who happened to be the son of a diplomat, about 25 years old, and was very easy to get along with. He liked James Bond movies that he would get from one of the two free trade zones where black market items comes into the country. He drives a BMW X5 and goes to China frequently. The minders/tour guides are usually middle class and terrified of a number of things, chiefly what their charge may do. A foreigner will seldom get in trouble - it is their minder who will get in trouble. But, having the son of a major diplomat as my personal minder led to a more liberal trip.
The people, for the most part, do not like us. The nicest people I met, actually, were the late-teenage members of the army. They were fascinated with me. Kids are the worst - they are just programmed to hate Americans. The elderly still have family outside of the country, for the most part, and were trying to get me to get messages out for them, which I did.
The North Koreans put on a show EVERY DAY that makes the opening of the Beijing Olympics look like an after school recital. Seriously impressive. I tried to sneak some video off one of my point and shoots, but it wasn't meant to be. That's a major no-no. Still shots are less of a problem. Video is just shy of impossible.
Instead of traffic lights, the most beautiful girls in the country are selected to be 'traffic girls.' They wear these white blouse style uniform tops with blue skirts and are like the guys on the tarmac at JFK, but more rigid.
Tourists are lavished with 6 course meals. But those meals are really just plain weird. They will start you off with one or two Korean courses, and then out of nowhere you will get Mac and Cheese or Spaghetti with Meatballs. Another Korean course or two and then another 'Western Choice.' It doesn't matter if you eat it or not, you're going to be served the entire meal. I wasn't allowed to sit with my minder during meals, so I tacked on to a tour group - EVERY tourist ends up at the same place at the same time. The gov't basically clears a place out of locals as much as they can (except the subways), and that's where you're taken.
North Koreans don't understand exchange rates. Most things are based on the euro. You can use Euro, USD, or Yuan while over there. However, the Yuan (China) is converted against the dollar, and they trade the dollar at a 1:1 rate with the Euro. You can't use CCs over there, so you have to come in with a stack of cash. I brought in Chinese RMB and at the hotel I converted everything I had to Euros via the dollar and made a killing. Arbitrage at its finest.
There are only a few hotels where a foreigner may stay while in Pyongyang (three, I think), and the most lux one (which would be about 2.5 stars in the US, is on its own island in the river where the only access is by a large bridge. During the night, the bridge is lifted so you can't sneak away. The hotel does try to keep you occupied though. There is a 9-hole par-3 course with driving range, three restaurants (including a revolving restaurant - if you want it to spin, they have to turn it on for you. This is a theme throughout NK - revolving restaurants, they love 'em - or more specifically, the Chinese seem to). There's a bowling alley iirc, and a Casino/brothel in the basement run by an outside Chinese country.
I was always running into the same groups of people, no matter where I went. There's no freedom of movement. Your minder and driver take you where they want you to go. Places are cleared out in advance, little actors or whatever come and go, etc. It's all coordinated in an effort to put some good word of mouth out there. When you're going to visit their version of Arlington Cemetery you're 'encouraged' to bring flowers to the graves and there just happens to be a van in the parking lot of the hotel that just happens to have flowers for sale.
I went to a place called Mt. Myohyang. You pass some villages (where I was allowed to stop - very unusual) and poverty is obviously rampant. But, I've seen worse in more accessible countries across Asia and Africa. Then again, for the most part what I was allowed access to was sanitized before hand. So, starving people are really not on the itinerary. There is NO begging in PY, which would really be the only place you could see it up close and personal under normal circumstances. I wouldn't feel comfortable saying undernourishment is rampant. For the most part, the people I saw and met were fairly healthy looking individuals.
May 19, 2009
Interesting travel experience but is Hong Kong going overboard trying to stop the spread of swine flu?
A very unique travel experience described here - some people were forced into a flu jail in Hong Kong. The hero in this story was in the same hotel as someone with swine flu. One of the people they met had been in Mexico three weeks earlier. The doctors said they were not sick and would not get sick but they had no power to do anything...
May 1, 2009
Breaking new ground and more concerns about swine flu
I'll start off with a little personal travel note. Today in Jinju I went to an athletics day at my niece's elementary school. We heard from one teacher that I'm the only foreigner who has ever visited the school so I guess it's not too surprising that some of the kids were pretty curious about me. There were a few times when I was surrounded by kids with several asking / souting questions in both English and Korean. It wasn't a great experience but it was new. And I think my niece is a bit more popular now for whatever that's worth.
I'd rather be dreaming travel dreams, but I'm stuck with swine flu on my mind as I consider postponing booking my summer vacation plans.
The CDC says don't go to Mexico. That's fairly obvious and wasn't part of my plans anyway. I'm sure plenty of areas in Mexico are free of swine flu so far but I don't want to research which ones or predict if that will change. Plus you could get stuck there if they decide to close the border.
Here one travel agent says that people are more worried about cancelled flights than getting swine flu in Mexico.
The Biden controversy has me a bit suspicious. Is it dangerous to be in a confined space or not? I presume that if one of the people you're sharing the space with has swine flu then the answer is yes.
Travel insurance might offer some protection if you decide to cancel but it can be hard to find a company you trust. The article says to ask questions, but we've all heard stories of agents who lie or make mistakes. Seems like what you'd really need is a lawyer to read the insurance contract for you...
I'll probably take a wait and see approach. If it looks like things are getting under control in a week I'll start buying plane tickets to New York and Costa Rica. If it turns out we have a pandemic I'll become a shut in and hope for the best.
April 19, 2009
The Palazzo Hotel in Las Vegas: experience & review
Here's another report from my parents about their trip to Las Vegas.
We went to Las Vegas in early April and stayed at the Palazzo Hotel. We'd seen pictures on the internet before we booked the Palazzo, but we were still impressed by the luxury of it all. The lobby was grand with its fountains and sculpture, and there were plenty of friendly and helpful staff on hand for check-in.
It didn't take long to get to the casino since you pass through it on the way to the elevators for the guest floors. We were happily surprised to see plenty of penny slot machines which we visited often during our stay.
The rooms in the Palazzo are actually suites, and ours was larger than any we'd ever stayed in. The sunken living room had a big comfortable sofa and a nice big flat screen TV. There was also a dining table & chairs plus a desk. The living room was open to the bedroom which had its own big flat screen TV and the bathroom had a flat screen TV as well. The elegant marble bathroom also had both a tub and a separate shower.
But for us, the best feature of the room was the view. We could see the Strip and watch some of the outdoor attractions at the hotels across the street. And when you want to sleep, the remote control roman shades & curtains are a very practical luxury.
We were fortunate to get a tour of the hotel by one of the very knowledgeable staff. We went to the Lamborghini showroom which is right in the Palazzo. There were lots of Lamborghinis and several other exotic cars, including a Bugatti Veyron and a couple of Ferraris. It was great to see them up close and very interesting to find out that events can be held there. Now if only we can think up an event.
While touring the pool areas we found out that the Palazzo is Silver LEED certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and is the largest LEED-certified building in the world. One of the Palazzo's many energy efficiencies is that the swimming pools are heated with solar power.
The Palazzo is connected to the Venetian Hotel which has beautiful painted ceilings. We took a quick look at the 134,000 square foot Canyon Ranch Spa Club which is accessible from both the Palazzo and the Venetian. Canyon Ranch Spa has an extensive menu of services, including massages, wraps, scrubs, skin & nail care, some of which sound quite exotic.
Both the Palazzo and the Venetian have several celebrity chef restaurants and there are plenty of other places to eat as well. We especially liked the Palazzo's Dal Toro Ristorante because the food was excellent and it looked right into the Lamborghini showroom! Both hotels have their own concierge suites with separate check-ins, lounges, and other amenities. Both have shows with well known entertainers. Both have many wonderful designer shops and there is even a rare book store (Bauman's).
The Venetian has its own unique features besides the painted ceilings. There are canals and there is both an indoor and an outdoor gondola ride. We went on the indoor gondola and our Italian gondolier's singing was very good! We've been told that the gondola ride is pretty authentic and hope one day to check that out for ourselves.
The Venetian also has a town square with restaurants and entertainment. Although it's inside, the décor makes you feel that you are outdoors.
We were glad we stayed in the Palazzo. We enjoyed the luxury and services and although there are over 3000 suites and it was booked to capacity, it felt pleasantly busy but never crowded. We just wish our stay had been longer.
April 18, 2009
Capriotti's Sandwich Shop in Las Vegas: review
Not too long ago I was writing about eating in Vegas and soon after that I got an email inviting me to review a Capriotti's Sandwich Shop. My parent's were actually headed to Vegas, so the timing was pretty good and they went. Here's their review.
We recently made our first trip to Las Vegas. We went for a friend's wedding and stayed five days, so we had a short 'must do' list, just enough to get a taste of Vegas. Besides a trip to Red Rock Canyon, the penny slots & the Lamborghini showroom at the Palazzo where we stayed, one 'must do' was lunch at a Capriotti's Sandwich Shop.
There are about 20 Capriotti's locations in the Las Vegas Valley to choose from, and we went to the one on Eastern at Anthem. Capriotti's has a nice selection of hot and cold subs and sandwiches, including some called "Cap's Specials". There are even several vegetarian 'meat' sandwiches.
The "Bobbie" Special had been recommended to us - turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing & mayo - yum. It was a hard choice, but being New Yorkers, we also decided on a "Capastrami" Special - hot pastrami, cole slaw, swiss cheese & Russian dressing. We both had half of each and they were delicious. The small (9") size was quite enough. At $6.50 for the "Bobbie" and $7.50 for the "Capastrami" the prices are very reasonable for what you get.
The staff was friendly and helpful, and since it was a beautiful day, we were able to eat at one of the outside tables.
We definitely want to try the other sandwiches, and there are Capriotti's in several other states including Pennsylvania & New Jersey, so we may be able to do that soon. When you get a chance, we recommend you try a Capriotti's sandwich as well.
April 5, 2009
Back from MT
Well my day in the country was pretty good. We drove about an hour to Gapyun and stayed in a pension. I've written about these before if you're not familiar with the idea.
This one was basically 3 little cabin-type things. The one we were in had a bedroom, kitchen / living room area / bathroom. There was also an upstairs area that you had to climb a ladder to get to that was pretty useless.
They did have a nice yard and our dogs had some fun with the new smells. I wasn't too thrilled when we arrived at 1:40 and hat to wait 1.5 hours to get in the room. Check in was supposed to be at 2:00...
But we spent that time walking the dogs and stuff so it wasn't too bad. When the construction workers started walking around and one of our dogs went nuts barking for way too long we certainly wished we could get in the room (he's fine as long as he doesn't see any humans).
But my wife wants to go back anyway. I guess she can forgive them since the owners really do seem to care about dogs and it's so easy for dogs to have fun there. Plus the room / cabin thing was cheerful enough.
April 3, 2009
Going on a little trip today: MT
Today is the College of English MT or membership training. This is kind of like a retreat where the people in a club or other organization get out of the city, rent a big place in the country, barbecue a dinner, play silly games, and drink all night.
It's a kind of bonding thing pretty common in Korean culture and the university actually encourages its students to go do these MT things.
They also encourage the professors to come along so we can chat with a few students, judge the drag queen competition (I did mention silly games, right?), and then go to bed while the students drink all night.
Last year I ended up going to bed around 3:00 0r 4:00 AM (I guess the drag queens took a while to get their curtains on and looking like dresses) in a room with about 5-10 other male professors.
This year I'm renting my own room nearby and driving up with my wife and dogs so I can chat with the students and then go back to my own room with my family around 10:00 (and skip out on judging the contest).
And when I'm not busy at the MT we'll take the dogs for walks in the country and watch some Sopranos DVDs (season 6, part 2). It's a one-day Friday night only getaway, but we're looking forward to it. Plus it's better than the alternative...
January 23, 2009
Back home after a long travel experience: American, United, taxi, subway, bus, & car
I wrote about how I changed my flight from leaving New York on the 15th to leaving on the 20th when my grandfather got sick. Now I'm back in Seoul. Briefly, I woke up at 5:30 and got to JFK around 8:00 AM. At 11:30 or so we flew 12 hours on American Airlines from JFK to Narita. We had a 4 hour stopover and then flew 2 hours on United to Incheon. So the trip took a while - tack on the fact that Seoul is 14 hours ahead of New York an we arrived at 10:00 PM on the 21st.
We then took a taxi to our home in Seoul where we unpacked and cleaned. We slept for 2 hours and then woke up at 4:30 AM on the 22nd, took a 1 hour subway ride to the bus station, and took a 4 hour bus ride to Jinju. There we finally saw our dogs after being away from them for nearly a month. Our car was parked in Jinju so after spending one night there we drove back up to Seoul with our dogs. It's 3:00 PM on Jan. 23rd here in Seoul.
That's why I haven't posted in a while.
It was a long trip. I'm going back to America this summer but I keep saying that next winter I'm going somewhere warm. At first I was saying I'd go to New Zealand and that would be awesome but it's a long flight. Maybe I'd rather go somewhere kind of close to Seoul - my wife says Okinawa would be nice and warm in December or January. I'll check that out but would probably rather see Angkor Watt and then maybe a Cambodian beach or Vietnam or something.
But for a long trip, this one wasn't so bad. When checking in for the American flight, we kept asking about upgrades. The guy who checked our documents at the self check-in said to ask the lady at the baggage check. She said to ask in the first class check-in area. The very hostile woman there said there were no upgrade specials on American Air but I could pay $6,500 per person to buy business class tickets.
I didn't want to do that. Later I asked at the gate if they had any upgrade specials. This woman was very pleasant. She said I could pay the difference between my fare and the business class fare. That's already better than the other lady who said I had to buy totally new tickets. Plus this woman said the fare was $5,900. So at the gate upgrading would have cost $4,800 each instead of $6,500 each. Still a bit much for me.
She did say the flight was only half full and that she could seat my wife and I on either end of a row of 5. So we had the two aisle seats and the three seats in between us were empty. That's what we did and it wasn't as comfy as Virgin Atlantic's upper class, but then neither was American's business class judging from the looks of things. At least we were able to lay down and stretch our legs and stuff. And we didn't have to spend an extra 10 or 12 grand.
In Tokyo, United was trying to sell upgrades to economy plus for 4100 yen - I think $45. Unlike Virgin's premium economy, United's economy plus looked exactly like economy. Supposedly they had 5 inches extra leg room. It was empty so I guess you could have had empty seats around you. We stuck with regular economy emergency exit row seats - a 2 hour flight is nothing after a 12 hour one and a 4 hour stopover anyway.
January 5, 2009
Last day in London: Sunday markets (Columbia Road Flower Market & Greenwich Sunday Market)
From 9:00 - noon on Sundays, the Columbia Road Flower Market is a place where you'll see more locals than tourists. You probably won't be in the market for flowers but you can look and there are also lots of cute shops on the street that are only open Sundays. I would say an hour is plenty of time although if you start trying clothes on and stuff you could take longer.
Take the northern line to Old Street, exit #2, bus #55 to the first Columbia Road stop, when you get off the bus cross the street to your right and walk a few minutes.
After that we took the bus to somewhere near Oxford Circus for lunch. I had a Cornish Pasty, which was pretty good. My wife had Chinese food which was OK. The pasty (no idea why they don't say pastry) is basically a meat pastry although vegetarian options are available. They seem pretty popular in London but I had never seen them anywhere else so I wanted to make sure I tried one before leaving.
Then we took the bus to Green Park Station and walked to Buckingham Palace. It takes a few minutes to walk there and it was cold. The palace itself is not too exciting either and the guards marching funnily are only entertaining for a few minutes.
Then we took the bus to Westminster Station, walked to the pier, and got on the Red Rover River Thames Boat. I think I forgot to mention that yesterday's tour of Kent included the Thames cruise tickets which turned out to be worth 11.50 GBP each. That one went to Tower Bridge / The Tower of London but we stayed on and went to Greenwich.
In Greenwich we went to the Royal Maritime Museum which was free. They had some interesting stuff on cruise ships. I think we stayed about an hour. I could have stayed longer but my wife was falling asleep on a bench there so I figured I'd better move on. Then we went to the Greewich Market - only on Sundays. There was some pretty interesting stuff like Japanese anime style cell phone attachments, fleece hats, 20 or so booths with international food, colorful slimy-feeling things that you put in your vase to decorate the water, animal fur, and so on.
That's about it. At night we did go to a Cafe Nero for coffee and a little mart to buy some Twinings tea bags. We packed most of our stuff and are pretty much ready to go back to New York Tomorrow. We're hoping that Virgin has another Premium Economy upgrade special.
January 4, 2009
Evan Evans Kent tour review: Leeds Castle, Canterbury, Dover
I had a good day today. It started with a few surprises. Apparently it's common for tour companies to pick you up and then drop you at Victoria Coach Station where you then have about 30 minutes to wait for your actual tour bus. We had our first British pay toilet experience in the bus station. It was only 20 pence and for that I'm told women get a nice restroom. Men get one with no urinals, just a long latrine against a wall that you can't get close to without stepping on piss. And that's at 8:40 AM.
Anyway, things got exciting when the tour guide found some people on our bus that were supposed to be with National Express. We watched them get off our Evan Evans bus, talk to the National Express lady, and then start chasing after one of the National Express buses. She must have kindly told them which bus they would need to run down and somehow stop to go on their tour.
I guess I can't recommend National Express. Our tour guide said that at least one company knew what it was doing and I had to agree - National Express looked bad.
The Evan Evans tour went pretty smoothly and I had a great day. But, as those of you who know me probably could have guessed, I do have a few complaints.
First we went to Leeds Castle and one reason we took a tour instead of going ourselves was that the guide said that we'd get to enter the castle before the general public. When we booked, the agent confirmed that the castle opens early for Evan Evans. That didn't seem to be the case when we arrived at 10:25 and had to wait 5 minutes for the castle to open. After talking to some castle staff I learned that they open for everyone at 10:30.
Now I never would have gotten there so early without the tour. And our tour did seem to be the only people in the castle which was amazing for taking pictures - most of our castle pictures have no other people in the background. We saw everything no problem. So we were extremely happy with the Leeds castle part of the tour. I just don't like Evan Evans lying about getting in especially early.
Anyway, Leeds castle was great. In warmer weather I might have wanted to spend more time there enjoying the grounds but for the cold weather a couple of hours was just about right. We saw the castle, had a staff member show us to the center of the hedge maze, and went to the dog collar museum - the largest collection fo dog collars in the world will only take 5 minutes to see but it's pretty interesting. In warmer weather and if we hadn't been on a tour schedule we'd have explored the maze on our own and spent more time on the grounds. Maybe we'd have checked out the hot air balloon but who knows?
Appreantly we'd arrived so early at Leeds Castle that the information people we were told would be in each room were not set up yet (we saw only 2). So the tour guide didn't come in and the castle people weren't working yet - we were pretty much on our own. That was fine for me but a true history buff would probably have wanted more information than we ended up getting.
After that we went to Canterbury, famous for the cathedral where Thomas Beckett was murdered. Like Leeds Castle, the guide showed us the cathedral but didn't enter with us. We were on our own in the cathedral and I couldn't find anyone to ask where Thomas beckett was actually killed. I saw the candle where the tomb of St. Thomas had been before one of the kings robbed it. Maybe that's where he died? I wanted to know because I remember teaching about the murder in a British history based English language course back in 2001.
I might have stayed there longer trying to figure it out but my wife was getting bored and with the tour schedule we only had 2.5 hours in Canterbury I think. So we left the cathedral and had lunch at a nice-looking cafe. I had turkey quiche while my wife had a traditional ploughman's lunch (ham, cheddar, some kind of black pickle mix, apple, and baguette). everything was pretty good and I'd even recommned the place again: Cafe Cultura on 43 Burgate.
We did have a choice of eating where the tour guide recommended. Chicken and chips or fish and chips for 10 GBP a person. The lunch choices sounded crappy and overpriced. My wife knows from being a tour guide herself that there's some commission built into that price. I'm definitely glad we saw the traditional ploughman's lunch instead. Plus we spent 12 GBP for both of us instead of 20 plus a service charge or drinks or whatever.
After that we alked along Caterbury's busy shopping streets where we admired the architecture and took lots of pictures. My wife said she could live there. I said I was bored and ready to move on.
Last was Dover Castle. We had about 25 minutes to look up at the cliff and the castle on top. The most interesting part was on the way there when the guide pointed out the veranda from which Winston Churchill oversaw the evacuation of over 300,000 troops after the fall of France. Where the bus stopped we had no view of that veranda though.
And that's about it. On the way back, the guide asked everyone where they wanted to get dropped off and tried to get everyone pretty close to where they wanted to be.
In between stops the guide talked pretty much nonstop in both English and Japanese. I found the English explanations interesting. My wife said they put her to sleep. If I had a choice I might have picked an English only tour. Listening to long stretches of Japanese wasn't too bad but didn't seem like a useful way to spend my time either.
Overall I was happy with the tour which, by the way, was 69 GBP/person. That included admission which I think is 15 or so for Leeds Castle and 7 for Caterbury Cathedral. Plus who knows how much transportation would have cost. I can't say it was a great value but it seemed fair enough. The itinerary was fine - the pamphlet was untrue.
January 3, 2009
Days 5 and 6 in London: Costa Coffee, Westminster Abbey, Rules, Covent Garden, London Eye, Oxford Circus
Day 5 was Jan 1, 2009. We got off to a late start, still worn out from battling crowds the night before. We found a little Costa Coffee on Vauxhall Bridge Road near Victoria Station. It seems to be the kind of place where a lot of locals know the owner (a nice, old Italian guy) and come in regularly. Costa Coffee seems to be a franchise - I'm sure their not all as good as this one is. The friendly Italian owner lets us practice our Italian and seems to really know his coffee.
My wife had a very good cappucino and I tried mince pie which was OK but I'm glad to have had a pretty British experience. Then we went to Westminster Abby, arriving around 3:00. They say the last admissions happen at 3:30 but our friends got there at 3:20 and could not get in.
There were two lines. One very long line for cash and one very short line for credit (the one on the right). We took the credit line. Other times we passed Westminster Abby and the lines seemed about the same. Even the shorter line took a while though and Westminster Abby was pretty crowded but not too jammed that you couldn't enjoy it.
Just after 4:00 I got online for evensong and my wife went looking for a bathroom. The ones in Westminster Abbey close at 4:00. The ones outside the abby were also closed. She ended up buying a coffee across the street and waiting on line for their restroom. She had to talk the guards into letting her back in since evensong had already filled up. I guess when she told them her husband was in there waiting for her (and I had managed to save her a seat) they let her in. My friends got in too. They weren't allowed to see much of Westminster Abby but they were able to enter the regular part of the church for evensong which is a mass and free.
Evensong was interesting but not the awesome experience I was expecting after reading a few other people talk about it online. They did Benjamin Britten's New Year Carol since it was Jan. 1. The mass tok about 45 minutes maybe half of which was singing. At the end there was a hymm that was so easy to sing even I was in tune though I'd never heard it before. Hearing myself singing the right notes is a rare treat so I was pretty happy about that.
The four of us then took a but to Covent Garden and hung out for a couple of hours. We saw some guy in a pink speedo juggle a chainsaw and a couple other things. It looked so dangerous my wife didn't actually watch. They also have this little capsule where they put people's wishes on the wall. It was kind of fun to hang out in there and wait for the funny ones like "I wish my wish would get on the wall" or "I wish I had bigger boobs and my boyfriend had a bigger %^@*$."
Then we went to Rules, the oldest retaurant in London. Everybody really liked their food. My wife and I ended up spending about 60 GBP on 1 salad, 2 mains, and 1 dessert. We all thought it was reasonable but it's certainly not cheap.
Day 6
Another late start today (we like to relax on vacation after all). We started with the London Eye around noon. It involved some waiting (we had bought tickets in advance - the line for redeeming vouchers is shorter than the one for buying tickets so it worked out well) and it was 15.50 GBP each but we enjoyed the "flight" or whatecer you want to call it. Like my friend said, you should do it once but you probably won't want to do it again.
Then we went to Leicester Square / Covent Garden again. We had lunch at Wabamama, a Japanese themed franchise very popular with the locals. We enjoyed the food and were reminded that London is expensive because even this relatively inexpensive lunch cost us close to 20 GBP. A little more than 20 with the tip actually.
We planned to walk around Covent Garden some more because the shops had been closed the night before but we got bored fast and went to Oxford Circus. Like Covent Garden, this is a very crowded shopping area. We felt the first few rain drops of our trip but luckily nothing serious. Again we got bored pretty fast and took the bus back to Victoria (where we're staying).
Now it's time for a Korean dinner from the illegal B&B next to our illegal B&B. Then probably a little exercise and a lot of sleep. Tomorrow is an Evan Evans bust tour going to Leeds Castle and a few other places. I'll let you know...
January 1, 2009
New Year's Eve London
My wife and I both thought Zurich last year was better (kind of funny since last year I said London would have been better than Zurich). We saw the fireworks from the northern part of Blackfriar's Bridge where the angle was so so and where it was pretty crowded but not too bad considering we got there at 11:30.
Of course we had been at Doggett's Coat and Badge (1 Black Friar's Bridge Road) since 3:00 in the afternoon. We had thought we would see fireworks from there but that was not the case (the bar is on the south side of Black Friar's Bridge). I recommend their meat pies though.
Anyway, the fireworks were OK but we didn't have the best angle and getting back to the hotel was a mess. Lots of people walking, behaving badly, etc. It was far more crowded than Zurich and since the city is so much bigger it took us much longer to get back. We ended up walking, taking the bus, walking some more, and taking the subway.
My wife and I have both agreed that fireworks are not worth the trouble. Before midnight she said you ought to watch them live or not at all. Afterward's she said she'd rather watch them on TV...
December 31, 2008
Day 3 in London
We started off at Harrod's, a famously expensive department store in London where royalty supposedly shops. Kings and queens probably don't care about the once a year sale but normal people do and the place was pretty crowded.
I was expecting something a bit more exciting when a student of mine, a guy who spent so many years in London he said it was terribly boring, insisted that of all the places in London I go to Harrod's. I didn't think it was that great but my wife did buy a pair of boots (on sale). The pet kingdom place was kind of interesting though.
Then we walked to Sloan Square where my wife used to work. She bought a 20 GBP shirt. A few minutes ago she realized they charged her 40 GBP so we're going back tomorrow. We seem to get overcharged once a day here in London - cahier training must be weak.
We also went to some fancy supermarket where quiches were 1.95 GBP. We sat down and the price went up to 4.50. When we got the bill they charged us 5.75. After correcting that error they redid the bill and it was still 20 pence too expensive. I don't know what it is about London, but the cashiers are driving us nuts.
After that we went to Trafalgar Square (we saw the tree but it wasn't very exciting) and the National Gallery. The Monet room was quite nice and there were a few other interesting paintings. Then we walked to the Hyde Park cavalry barracks where we annoyed some guards with flash photography and walked around a bit.
And that's about all we did. We had dinner at the Korean B&B next door to the one where we stay. They are both run by the same person but the one next door has much better food so we talked to the owner and arranged to eat breakfast and dinner at the other place.
I don't think I'll be posting tomorrow. After we go looking to fix the overcharge I mentioned earlier, we're going to a bar where we can see fireworks and staying there until past my bedtime.
Happy New Year everyone!
December 30, 2008
2nd day in London
Our first day consisted of napping and walking around Piccadily, Chinatown, and Soho. We had some Chinese food, did some window shopping, and looked for another hotel (we've decided to stay where we are - there are nice things and not-so-nice things which I'll write about later).
Today we woke up early for breakfast. More accurately my wife woke up early and I have no idea how since the place we're staying has no alarms or wake-up calls. After breakfast we went to the Burberry factory store about 45 minutes by bus from Victoria Station.
We got there just as they were opening, a few minutes before 10:00 AM. By 12:00 the place was pretty crowded so shopping earlier is definitely better. There were some nice deals though - boots for 29 GBP that used to be 290 or something. Ties for 30 GBP - around $45. That may seem like a lot for a tie but it's by far the cheapest Burberry tie I've ever seen and the collection of ties was pretty big. There were bags and shirts, and jackets, and baby clothes, and everything - biggest Burberry collection I've seen actually.
We didn't get back until 3:00 because we noticed they overcharged us and we had to go back. Plus we stopped for lunch and coffee. Then we took a little nap, had a snack, and are getting ready to go see Big Ben at night.
I'll check in tomorrow!
December 21, 2008
Comparing Christmas traditions in the US and the UK
This is an interesting article - an American woman who travels to England for Christmas talking about similarities and differences between the holiday celebrations in each country. Some comments on Amercian culture were new to me: "We, too, fill Christmas stockings with candy, small toys and an orange in the toe."
That orange in the toe thing might be a New England custom (I'm from New York) or just a family thing but I've never heard of oranges in the stocking. Anyway, if you're interested in what it might be like to travel to England and spend time over the holidays with a British family this could be an interesting read.
October 7, 2008
Ferragamo's Tuscany property, cheap honeymoons, San Diego experience
Since this blog is about travel plans, both realistic ones and the dream ones, this article seemed appropriate.
Turning off a dust track on the route from Buonconvento to Montalcino in Italy's Val D'Orcia, there is a small 10th-century Longobard church once used on the old pilgrim's trail, the Via Francigena, for those making the journey from Canterbury to Rome. It is owned by Massimo Ferragamo, son of the late Salvatore Ferragamo...There's also something about a travel agent who charges $10,000 to get his number. Guess we won't be interviewing him on this blog...
On the opposite end of the spectrum, here we have some ideas for cheap honeymoons. Backpack. Ask friends to lend you a vacation house. House sit or find a cheap houseboat. Etc.
I actually looked into the house sitting thing once. The option was to house sit in Manhattan I think and mind someone's cat and pay them $100/night. I bet they ended up paying $15 a visit for someone to come to the house twice a day and feed the cat...
Finally, this article talks about a San Diego vacation experience. San Diego is on my list of places to go and maybe someone there needs a house sitter for a bit. I love animals but I'm not going to pay for the privilege of walking your dog or feeding your cat...
September 18, 2008
Hiking in Korea, Canadian credit cards, a possible new law
I'll start off with an article on traveling in Korea, particularly Mt. Seorak. I'm looking forward to going on a few hikes this fall to enjoy the foliage - not sure if Mt. Seorak will be one of them but it is one of the most famous mountains in Korea. Certainly not a bad choice for tourists with a little time. Those on tight schedules can easily find good hikes in or around Seoul.
By the way, I'll eventually start telling stories about my wife's experiences as a tour guide in Korea.
Here is a Canadian article on some credit cards with travel rewards. We have an old discussion on American cards here.
I hesitate to get even remotely political so close to an election, but I feel like living dangerously with this article. Basically one politician introduced a bill that, if passed, will eventually make it harder for Customs & Border Protection to keep your confiscated laptop forever or mess up its information. Sounds OK to me.
August 30, 2008
Modern and antique vacation experiences
This article talks about a multi-sports Yellowstone family vacation that includes off-road biking, hiking, horseback riding, rock climbing, and white water rafting. Sounds pretty cool to me.
These destinations also sound cool although one of them has been buried in volcanic ash for over 1900 years. And I thought talking about grandparents' travel habits was going back in time...
And it turns out that Staycations were not as popular as many people thought they would be this summer. I suppose I paid too much attention to the hype as well.
That article does argue that the travel industry is hurting a bit - but that does not mean everyone is staying home...
Finally, I'm thinking of starting a new thing where with each blog entry I point out an old one. Today I happen to be wondering what happened to Bobby Fischer who I wrote about back in February, 2005. Did he get out of jail? Did he get his new passport from Finland (apparently the 3 year old link on that old blog entry is no longer good)?
August 13, 2008
Duksan Spa Castle water park: the good, the bad, and the so disgusting I'm almost too ashamed to write about it
Well we ended up having fun yesterday. That thick blanket I heard about never materialized so I slept on a very hard bed. What’s worse was that my “blanket” was actually some sort of bed decoration or something, about 6 feet long and 1 foot wide…
So I didn’t sleep that well. Around 8:00 AM or so we went to Dol Flower pension to meet the ladies so that they could cook for us. Don’t get too mad at me – I’m just going with the flow on this family vacation and it’s not uncommon for a Korean man to be totally helpless when it comes to preparing food. I know wives who won’t leave the house until they’ve prepared a sandwich or some meal for their husband. Sometimes even that’s not enough because the man won’t heat up a meal or anything. He either needs his wife to cook for him or he has to go eat in a restaurant. My father in law is like that.
So anyway, I eat breakfast and then nap until 11:00 or so. Even though Dol Flower has a bed I nap on the floor because one of our dogs recently had leg surgery and if I’m on the bed she’ll probably hurt her leg trying to join me.
Then we go for lunch in Duksan Spa Castle. I liked my beef stew but a lot of people weren’t happy with lunch there. We met up with my brother in law (he started this whole thing), his wife, and my nephew.
Then we went to the Duksan Spa Castle water park. The discounted price was about $40 each so it’s not cheap. They had a short water slide, a tube slide, and a “raft” ride. The raft ride was another $2 each. It was fun, but after paying $80 to get in I didn’t understand why there was only one decent ride and we had to pay another $4 to take it.
They had a wave pool/lagoon thing, where occasional strong waves would eventually blast you around in a circle through this lagoon. Tubes were mandatory, which was good since it was pretty packed and it’s better to have tubes smacking into each other than people…
The rides and wave area was all outside and there were tons of kids. Inside they had some adult only areas including a water massage thing that was very strong. I’m sure that if I had stayed there more than a few minutes the jets of water blasting my back around my kidneys would have done permanent damage. But there were plenty of people hanging out there for long stretches…
There were a couple of hurdles before I could even let myself have fun. This first one is absolutely disgusting so skip this paragraph if you’re not in the mood to read some nastiness. There were no shoes allowed in the water area, and you had to take them off and put them in lockers before you even got to the locker room to change and stuff. At first I thought this was just a bit nasty because of all the dirty feet I’d be sharing the ground with so was disappointed I wouldn’t be allowed to wear my sandals. What was really really nasty and disgusting though was that in order to use the bathroom in the locker room you had to step barefoot in puddles of piss. My wife said it was the same in the ladies’ room. It was the most disgusting thing I can remember doing my entire life.
The other hurdle, minor in comparison, was that you couldn’t enter the water without a shower cap. You could buy them for $3 each, but seriously everyone is walking into the pool to get the piss off their feet and they’re worried about shower caps?
But eventually I was able to forget about that stuff and the cost and just have a few hours of fun on the rides and in the wave pool. Then it was dinner (not so great), another night on the hard floor, and then we drove home the next day (today). After not sleeping real well the past couple of nights I am really looking forward to posting this thing and going to bed. It's nice to be home!
August 11, 2008
Ducksan, South Korea: Ducksan Spa Castle and Dol Flower Pension
Not much from me tonight because I'm on vacation!
Don't get jealous though, so far it has been amusing at best. It's kind of a long story, but we're in Ducksan Spa Castle (find a little blurb with a picture in the middle of this page). We also have a room in what Koreans call a pension. I've had conversations about how to translate the Korean pension into English. It's kind of like a cross between a motel and a condo. They're not usually fancy, but they do have kitchens. They seem to have 10-30 rooms on average but that's a rough guess.
Anyway, it's called the Dol Flower Pension in English and the website is Korean but you can see a picture. We got that room because they allow dogs while Ducksan Spa Castle does not. The original plan was for my wife, the dogs, and I to stay in the pension while everyone else stayed in the spa.
Everyone else would be my parents in law, my sister in law, her husband, and my niece. Apparently most people didn't want to come but my brother in law (who's coming for the day tomorrow if the weather is nice but who might not show up at all) said he could get the condo free through his work because they own it or something. Somehow he persuaded everyone to come even though everyone claims they were against the idea.
Then we find out (yesterday) that the free condo is actually $75/night (would be $180 without the company owning it), and it only sleeps 2, having one double bed. For an extra person in the room add $10. To rent blankets for the extra person (a thick one for the floor which you sleep on and another one to go on top) add another $10.
So naturally the 5 people who were supposed to stay for free in Ducksan Spa Castle are a bit upset they now have to pay $75 + $60 per night. My wife and I were already spending money on our dog friendly pension so we didn't want to hear it.
But we heard it, and heard it some more. We heard it enough to upgrade our room at the pension to the biggest one they had (not a suite, just a big motel room with a kitchen and private concrete patio). It would easily sleep 5 or even 10 (no idea if they actually allow 10 people in the room but it's pretty big) and no charge for extra blankets.
So we spent the day at the pension letting our dogs run aorund the concrete patio betwen breaks in the rain and watching the olympics. It was OK but nothing special. We discovered that there was no hot water so we figured we's all go to the spa for showers. But the pension also has no keys so with no way to lock our door my mother in law decided to stay in the room while me, my wife, my father in law, and my sister in law + husband and kid went to the spa.
So we're all here now (well not my mother in law). I'm writing while my wife showers. Then my wife and sister in law go back to Dol Flower Pension to stay up all night chatting with my mother in law. I guess my niece will go too and fall asleep while the ladies talk.
That will leave me, my father in law, and my sister in law's husband at the spa. I'll be sleeping on the floor without the benefit of a thick blanket because we're (not me!) too cheap to let them know there are 3 of us. So we escape paying the $10 plus the fee for renting blankets. I'll live because I don't mind hard beds although this one will be slightly harder than I like... My sister in law's husband is in the same boat. My father in law will get the bed. Not sure if he'll have any balnkets left...
Tomorrow, I'm willing to pay for spa treatments but I'm also willing to stay in the pension and mind the dogs. There's a pool here with a water slide but it's supposed to rain so we'll see...
I probably sound like I'm complaining but that's just a bad habit I have. I'm actually glad to be here experiencing something new. I consider this a very authentic Korean style vacation because I haven't seen another white person since I left Seoul.
And apparently my sister in law packed some blankets so I'll have a few layers between me and floor which should be exactly how I like it - I really prefer a firm bed. When I was on the cruise, the soft mattress was driving me nuts.
Tomorrow I'll try to check out the free area (the pool) and the spa a little bit to write a proper review of this Ducksan Spa Palace place. Since it has a computer in the room (that's how I'm able to blog) I guess I'll give it a few points now. We'll see about the rest tomorrow.
I can't figure out how to spell check on this thing so never mind the typos...
July 29, 2008
LARP = unique weekend travel experience
So I'm back from my live action roleplaying weekend and I want to tell you something about it in case anyone here is looking for a weekend trip. There are a number of games - I went to one of the Alliance LARP in Pennsylvania but they have them all over.
So getting to the campsite was fun. I borrowed my parents' van and 5 guys got in, piled it full of crap, and drove 4 hours. It's been a long time since I got to go on a road trip with a bunch of guys and just talk.
Then we got to the game. Basically people wore medieval / fantasy costumes and then played their character. My character was an elf so I had prosthetic ears. One of my friends was a dwarf with a big fake beard. Another guy was an orc with green makeup all over.
There was a tournament and the ball. Someone put some pictures of the ball here so you can get an idea of the costuming. No pictures of me in there though.
The ball was basically a party with people mingling, dancing, singing, reciting poetry, etc. Of course it was all medieval themed. I actually wrote a poem for maybe the first time in 15 years (since high school) about a battle between some dwarves and some trolls and read it at the ball. Afterwards everyone cheered and one of the dwarf characters came over and hugged me. It was very cool to feel so appreciated and to have everyone clapping and cheering for me.
Then there was the tournament. 6 teams competed in events such as 3 person combat, single person combat, race, hunt, archery etc.
Combat is done with foam weapons and shields, so you are really trying to hit someone with your sword or avoid the other person's weapon. When you do get hit the foam doesn't hurt though. I'm not very good at this part of the game but I really enjoy it. You get to fight for fun and you don't get hurt. I tried to find a good video on youtube for you, but most LARP combat videos seem far more violent than the Alliance game. You're never allowed to touch another player during combat (except with the foam weapon of course).
The hunt is a real interesting one where you have to solve puzzles in order to earn points. So one morning my friend and I sat down over breakfast with "Have Ivan Drake gather her toys" which we eventually figured out was an anagram for "Give Trevor a hearty handshake." When we walked up to the character named Trevor and shook his hand we got the points. Trevor said "Very impressive. That's been on the hunt list for 2 years and no one has been able to figure it out." So again, I felt cool because my friend and I figured something out and no one else was able to. That was one out of maybe 20 hunt items so we kept busy and still didn't finish them all.
All this was fun for me, especially when my friends and I took first place in the tournament because we won the hunt, the race, the 3 person combat, and finished 2nd or 3rd in many of the other events. In the end we had 28 points while the second place team had 23 (you got 5 points for a 1st place, 4 for a second place, etc.).
As far as costs go, the game itself was $60, gas was $75 or so (New York to Pennsylvania and back) but we divided that by 5 so it was $15 each, breakfast Saturday and Sunday morning was $5/day, dinner Saturday was $5, and the snacks and water and stuff I brought was probably another $15-$20. So it's not as cheap as staying home and watching TV, but it's not unreasonable for an entire weekend.
Some people prefer to stay in a hotel instead of on the campsite so that would raise the price and extra $60/night or more (but if you share a room with someone you can split that cost of course). Some people go out to dinner Saturday night and most people do on Sunday after the event so that can add to the cost as well.
The campsite has a shower room with private stalls, and places to sleep indoors or set up a tent. Most people stay at the campsite but some people prefer the hotel. The campsite has portapotties - with 3 of them for 75 people Friday night to Sunday afternoon they never got too bad. One thing that was irritating was that during the day flies liked to buzz around our cabin so I couldn't sleep as late as I wanted to.
So if dressing up in costume sounds cool or if foam weapon fights sound cool, you might consider trying out live action roleplaying.
July 13, 2008
Drama on the Norwegian Pearl (last night at sea)
Yesterday I talked a bit about getting removed from a cruise ship. An hour or so ago I got an idea of just how hard it is to get thrown in the brig or removed from the ship.
We were eating dinner (waiting for our food actually) in the only restaurant that was open. One of the 4 or 5 women at the table next to us starts screaming. "Maggot! Maggot! There's a maggot in my food! Do something! Maggot! There's a maggot in my food!" She walks around a little bit yelling about the maggot to everyone in the restaurant. She says that this was the worst cruise she's ever been on and that the food has been horrible all week. She wants a manager who can do something about the maggot in the food she feeds her baby, etc.
Now she really did have a baby but the baby was drinking from a bottle not eating mom's salad. So the whole thing seemed overly dramatic and kind of untrue. My first thought was that all they wanted was a free cruise and that maybe they made up the maggot.
My wife saw her ask the woman sitting at the next table if she saw the maggot and that woman nodded. Did she really see it or was the little old lady scared of the big violent crazed lady? Or did they plant the maggot to try to get a free cruise? Or was I being too harsh in my snap judgement and was there really a maggot? I still don't know. They also had the definition of maggot nice and ready: "A maggot! Do you know what that is? A bug lar
But I do know the drama that happened next. The women were all screaming and moving around and bothering everyone and demanding to see a manager. "Call a manager!" I said, "Call the captain to kick her off the ship."
Anyway, soon one of the women throws a plate into the waiter area. Then she throws another plate. My wife says it looked like she was aiming (poorly) at a waitress who was walking by. Luckily no one was hurt. "Mom, stop!" She stopped but my wife and I couldn't believe how crazy these people were.
I asked one waiter to call security. When security came they broke out the camcorder, but there was no fighting or anything so the camcorder went away. Eventually they talked to the food and beverage manager, probably for about 20 minutes. Then they left peacefully, taking pictures and getting names of the waitstaff.
I'm told that the public health officers checked all the lettuce after the complaint and it was fine. They say the lettuce is never kept more than 3 days and the temperature is regulated and everything. They don't understand how it could have happened and since the women chucked the plate with the maggot the staff couldn't check it out.
Next thing I know they're telling me that the waiter's job may be in danger so I'm handing out business cards and explaing that the waiter did the best possible thing - he called security.
Well it's late. I was going to try to stay up a couple of hours to use up the internet time I paid for but I'm tired and I have to wake up at 5:30 tomorrow to talk to the accountant about a $90 bottle of wine chraged to my room when my wife and I don't even drink, not even the free wine when we had dinner with the captain... I don't really need to wake up at 5:30 but I'm guess that the line for the accountant will be very long, slow moving, and unpleasant so I aim to get there early. Plus the breakfast buffet will also be crowded and uncomfortable if I'm not early enough.
I guess I just have to accept that I'll have wasted some money by purchasing too much internet time.
Too tired to spellcheck...
July 11, 2008
NCL Alaska cruise experience continued
I think this is day 5 of the cruise. It's Thursday and I haven't blogged since Monday so let's see what I can remember and what I have time to tell you.
Last time I blogged I was under time pressure because I had a 'VIP' drinks with the captain party. That turned out to be a very interesting conversation with the chief engineer. It takes 4 years of study (marine engineering) and 15 years of experience to get your license, but it seems like a pretty good job - 10 weeks on and then 10 weeks off. That's some serious vacation time.
Anyway today there is some time pressure because we were invited to have dinner with the captain. My wife thinks I should shave first and since I'll probably be underdressed I guess I will.
I'm writing this in my room, but annoyingly I'll have to carry my laptop somewhere else to connect to the internet and publish this on my blog. No wifi in my room and the room certainly wasn't cheap...
So let's test my memory:
Monday night:
After drinks with he captain and staff, we went to Lotus Garden, an Asian restaurant. This was one of the cover charge ones so it cost us $15 each plus tip. No one seems to tip in the free restaurants but in the others they swipe your card and ask you to sign the bill where there's a place for you to write down the tip. Lotus Garden was good.
Tuesday:
We went to breakfast around 9:00 AM. It was crazy crowded and it took us a long time time to find a table. When we finally sat down my eggs were real cold and though I hate wasting food I didn't eat them. Of course I could just go get more but still.
Lunch was at Indigo. The food there was good but mostly I remember the chilled blueberry soup. I went back to Indigo today hoping to find more but it was closed.
Dinner was at Teppenyaki, another restaurant with a cover. Here you pay $25 each but I would say you're better off in the buffet for free. They cook the food in front of you and put on a little show. It was loud and fun but not as good as you would get in a fancy restaurant ashore. Plus my filet mignon was the worst I've ever had. I don't think the problem was preperation - just meat that wasn't real tender. I actually canceled my reservations at the steak restaurant because I have no desire to eat more steak here.
In between meals we did a shore excursion in Juneau - the Mendenhall river glacier float. It started off with nice views of the Mendenhall glacier but then it took us downriver, away from the glacier. So for the first 30 minutes it was nice. The other 90 minutes was uncomfortable and while the scenery was peaceful it wasn't what we came to Alaska for - houses on the river, rusted cars on the bank that the government decided would help stop land erosion a few decades ago, a beaver dam.
It was mostly calm but there was one spot where they had class 2 and 3 rapids. So we got wet.
We talked to some people over dinner who did a helicopter tour and hike. They were much happier with their choice than we were with our choice. My wife was actually pretty mad at me until Wednesday's shore excursion which was much better.
Wednesday:
We woke up at 5:00 AM or something today. Breakfast wasn't crowded but in the early morning all they have is fruit and bread and stuff. Officially the real breakfast begins at 7:30 but we got our eggs and stuff before 7:00.
Then we met outside at 7:40 for our Skagway excursion, White Pass Railroad and gold dredge. This was great, particularly the railroad.
More on that later...
Thursday:
You can see I'm rushing now - today was Glacier Bay and it was awesome. We got some great views of Marjorie Glacier and even saw and heard a big chunk of it crash into the water. We didn't see as much wildlife as we hoped but we did spot a few whales.
And now I need to work out, shave, drop off papers for this bag service (we pay $20 each and they take our bags and check them in at the airport for us - that's good since we arrive in Seattle in the morning but our flight leaves at 9:45 PM).
July 8, 2008
NCL Alaska cruise experience day 2
Well here I am on day 2 of the NCL cruise to Alaska. First let me explain what I said at the end of my blog entry yesterday about the internet being annoying. While we were waiting to get into our rooms after boarding the Norwegian Pearl yesterday we had very little to do after we ate lunch. So we found a couple of lounge chairs, and I tried to get online to blog a bit.
Fist they say $4 activation fee. OK. Then they say pick a plan. The cheapest one is 40 cents/minute with a $100 minimum (no refund for unused minutes). OK. I'm thinking that having a travel blog is a little expensive at this point (I also pay a bunch for hosting) but it did get me VIP treatment on this cruise. That basically meant a bottle of wine (we don't drink though), a special concierge number (at least I assume it's special), and an invitation to have drinks with the captain (which I'll be doing in an hour or so).
Anyway, I pay my $104, get online, and start blogging. I write a bunch, click save, and then find out I had been disconnected. Of course that means yesterday's blog entry should have been much longer but I lost almost everything. I log back on, write a few more words and then when it's time to go to the rooms I click publish. The poor internet connection times out. Anyway, on the third try I finally published my abridged blog entry.
So basically I'm saying the wifi here wasn't all that good on day 1 but I did learn a lesson. I am writing this blog entry offline. I'll log on when I'm ready to publish it.
So what have I experienced so far on the cruise? The food has been great. We tried one of the specialty restaurants, or at least my wife did. She liked the sushi and sashimi but she ate alone because there was a $15 cover charge. I don't eat sushi and the place was empty but they still wanted $15 to let me sit next to her. Not a huge deal. I found a seat not too far away and read my book while she ate.
I ate at Mambo's, a TexMex kind of place. I really liked it. A more complete review with pictures should follow one day. We also ate at the big buffet place a couple of times (lunch yesterday, snack yesterday, breakfast today) where almost everything has been good. The French toast was pretty sad this morning though as they barely used any egg. Today it was lunch in the Blue Lagoon comfort food restaurant. We plan to go back for the tomato soup. The chicken sandwich and the salad was also good but the french fries (which I didn't order but whatever) were pretty bad.
Not that we did nothing but eat. I've been to the gym 4 times so far. Yesterday at around 5:00 and 9:00 it was pretty empty. Today at 9:00 AM and 4:00 PM it was packed. I love having a gym open 24 hours and the new equipment, but as you know I do like to criticize whenever possible (even though I really am having a good time!) so let me just say that they need more in the gym. They have lots of dumbbells but no barbells. And too few strength training machines. And the area by the dumbbells is just too small with only three benches and not much space in between. I couldn't even put my dumbbells back where I got them if someone was using the bench on front of the rack there. It's also hard to get a key for the lockers (and impossible after 10:00) so I just head to the gym and back to the room in my workout clothes. Yesterday I ended up carrying my clothes around the weights...
And of course there was some expensive shopping. Columbian Emeralds had some stuff off 50% today only until 1:00 or something. Now my wife has a new necklace and ring and we have 90 days to pay.
Well anyway, everything has been fun so far. Naturally I'll have more to say soon!
July 6, 2008
Hello from Seattle and happy July 4th!
Well I have been busy (as usual when I'm on vacation). We flew JetBlue from JFK to Seattle and were pretty impressed. For a discount carrier I think they have more free stuff than most traditional airlines flying domestically in the US. Dunkin Donuts coffee, animal crackers, blue terra chips, etc.
One strange thing was that because of a nut allergy on board they asked everyone not to eat nuts. A woman in our row said she couldn't eat her sandwich because the bread had nuts in it. I'm no doctor, but how can me eating a nut kill someone else? My only guess is that nut particles in the air could bother the other person or something.
Anyway, the flight was fine. Seattle has been pretty good and last night we saw fireworks from the space needle observation deck which was neat. We've also found a good restaurant (Wild Ginger) and done an underground tour (strongly recommended and fairly interesting but not that great).
Now I'm off to the Pike Street market. It's quite a trek from the Chambered Nautilus B&B to downtown Seattle - maybe 20 minutes walk to the bus and then 20 minutes ride to downtown. My wife got pretty mad that I didn't book something more central but the people are nice and the food is fine so she's feeling better now.
Tomorrow I'll try to blog from the cruise ship.
July 2, 2008
Boston Duck Tour experience
So today I did the Boston Duck Tour. We bought our tickets at around 3:00 Tuesday afternoon and they were selling for the 5:30 tour. I think this was one of the last ones.
The tickets were $29 a piece so this can be kind of an expensive family trip (we had 5). It was pretty good though. The 80 minute trip shows you some cool stuff in Boston and is fairly entertaining.
The cool sights included a piece of the Berlin wall, a Dunkin Donuts that also sells sushi, another Dunkin Donuts that had an empty spot on the second floor where there used to be a gym, the hotel where Boston cream pie was invented, and a hotel that has a black lab guests can walk - some things I never knew about Boston though I'd been there a few times before.
The entertainment was the guide / driver. Each one invents a different persona and our guide was a pirate captain (he was dressed the part), Jack Black or Jet Black or something. My father said the guide was funny without being corny. I thought some of it was corny but still OK.
5 or so kids had a chance to drive the vehicle while it was in the water but this apparently depends on the driver and should not be expected on a duck tour.
So while it's not the cheapest way to spend 80 minutes in Boston, if it works with your budget the tour is worthwhile, at least in my opinion.
By the way, I'm in Boston visiting my sister. In 2 days it's on to Seattle and then the cruise to Alaska.
June 27, 2008
Going away for the weekend
I should have a fairly unique experience to share on Sunday night, as I'm going on a special kind of camping trip: Live-action roleplaying at Faire Play campground.
Since my experience has not been made yet, let me leave you with this one for now. Island Spirits Rice Lake promises relaxation or adventure on an island with no lawnmowers (sheep take care of grass). I'm guessing this island is 'missing' a lot of our modern things as well and it sounds good to me.
May 25, 2008
Mother's day travel experience
This article talks about a weekend in San Diego. Most of it sounds like fun although the writer did almost miss her plane. Of course I really did miss a plane once so I understand... I don't understand how the writer's friend set off an emergency exit alarm in a museum though.
Anyway, we hear about the Gaslamp quarter and the Coronado ferry. For some more specific stuff from this blog, you could try eating in San Diego and the San Diego travel plan.
March 6, 2008
Seeing and hearing whales in Iceland and why we travel articles
This article is mostly about hydrogen power in Iceland, but since the story focuses (in part) on a whale watching ship I thought it was worth mentioning here. Especially because the hydrogen power allows the ship to shut down its engines when whales are spotted. This means that tourists get to hear the whales swim and blow water.
I don't know what whales sound like, but if you're going to see them it seems to me that you might as well hear them as well.
Iceland is the first of 17 slides in this article. I really like this article which has pictures and positive travel experiences from real people. Of course one slide is a passage from Robert Byron's (1933) from “First Russia, Then Tibet” but mostly these are ordinary people sharing happy travel moments. Besides Iceland and Moscow we have Tokyo, Mexico, Sweden (where we get a genealogical travel experience - cousins showing a traveler the actual house where her grandmother was born), Montenegro, Kyushu, Peru, China, India, Turkey (Cappadocia - a place I really want to visit), Macedonia, Colorado, New Mexico, and Rome (one of my all-time favorites).
Anyway, this article put me in a great mood and certainly left me looking forward to some more travel experiences. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
February 18, 2008
Mother & daughter vacation in Fiji
Here's an interesting story from a woman who took her 16-year-old daughter to Fiji. I don't know that most of us can afford to imitate her experience though:
Navutu Stars Resort and Spa, an exclusive and stunningly beautiful property on an uninhabited island. Six smiling staff members greeted us from the beach with songs, fresh fruit cocktails and leis of pink hibiscus.The author talks about another resort, diving and snorkeling, how friendly Fijians are, and more.
January 17, 2008
Tax free shopping in Europe and getting out with the refund
Remember how we didn't have tome to get our tax refund in Zurich? We figured we'd get to Barajas Airport Madrid early since we had over 200 euros coming to us with all our tax refunds from shopping in Spain. Pluse we were going to try to get the Zurich receipts stmaped and submitted as well though we figured that would be more complicated.
By the way, if you don't like long stories the short version is that we didn't get the refund on our first two tries, missed our flight from paris to Seoul, and then had plenty of time waiting for our next flight to try again...
I'll start the story in Barajas. We arrive nice and early, check in at terminal 2, walk to terminal 1, get our recepts stamped, smile at how easy everything is, and then try to figure out where to get the actual refund.
Information tells us we have a problem. Our flight from madrid to paris leaves from terminal 2 but the refunds are issued in terminal 1. We're told there is no way to get from terminal 1 to terminal 2. Once you enter terminal 1 there is no way out except on a plane. We can not possibly pass through security into terminal 1, get the refund, and then catch our flight from madrid to Paris. The only way is to do the refunds in Paris.
My wife explained that we had a short connection in Paris. Too bad. Not quite believing what she was hearing from the information guy, my wife asked several passport control officers if we could go in and then come back out. They all said we'd never be allowed to leave. Reminds me of the song Hotel California actually.
Now hopefully passport control would check your ticket before letting you in terminal 1. If we hadn't talked to information and had just gone into the terminal to get the refund, it sounds like we would have been stuck in terminal 1 forever, kind of like Tom Hanks in that movie.
So we go back to terminal 2, through passport control, and see signs for the terminal 1 gates A, B, C, and D. The refund place is near B, so we start following the signs. Eventually we get to another passport control area. They don't care about our problem and tell us that if we go in to get the refund we will not be allowed out.
We turn around and trek back to terminal 2, find our gate, wait, board the plane, and wait some more. We leave over 30 minutes late, obviously giving us very little time in paris to handle the refunds.
What happened next was pretty confusing and my wife and I were running around like crazy pretty much the entire time. At the security line for connecting passengers we ask the Air France or security person (not sure who she worked for) where the tax refund office is. She tells us it is outside security. That makes no sense since in madrid it is inside security so we think she means the place you get stamps. We explain we already have stamps. She doesn't speak much English. We show her our stamped receipts. She confers with her colleagues and tells us to go inside.
We knew it was inside but were looking for directions as to where it is inside. Our tax free information pamhlet says it's in the gates A,B,C area but that's pretty big so where is it? Obviously this lady can't give us decent directions so we go through security and start looking for information.
We are running because our flight should be boarding now. We don't find any information but ask every shopkeeper we see (plus a few other people) and the ones that speak English tell us we have to leave and go outside. We keep telling them we have stamps but they say we have to go outside to get the refund even if we already have stamps. We start to believe them.
I say it's time to give up and go to the gate, which we do. They haven't started boarding yet but the flight should leave in less than 30 minutes. My wife says I can wait at the gate but she is getting the refund.
I follow her. She might need my help and I don't want to leave her alone in case she gets stuck outside security or something. Unlike in Madrid, the passport control people here are happy to let us leave the secure area to go get the refund. We leave, go through and empty baggage claim area, through customs (there were no customes people there), and start asking for directions.
The directions we get are mixed, conflicting. Eventually my wife agrees to give up so all we have to do is get back to our gate. We get directions, but there's a soldier blocking the escalator up to where we need to be. We ask how to get to our flight? "You don't." Our flight is leaving in a few minutes - can't we pass? "No." How do we get up there to our flight? "You don't".
We run to information - we need help badly at this point. We hear a gun shot or explosion or something. Then the information lady tells us to go up that escalator. We explain about the man with the gun but she says we can go up now because the explosion is over, some kind of security check or construction thing we figure. We run back to the escalator but they guy with the gun still won't let us up.
Close to tears, my wife asks if anyone can help us get up to the departure area. A construction worker actually knows where the stairs are so we run up, go through security. When they see our ticket they rush us to the front of the passport control line where wwe get the slowest immigration lady ever. She is talking on the phone, talking to the person on her right, and talking to the person on her left. My wife tries to rush her but this seems to slow her down even more.
We get through and run to our gate, arriving 8 minutes late. It's totally empty. I run down a few more gates and find someone to ask - they tell us that boarding is closed. I explain that we need to get on that plane. "No, boarding is closed. All you can do is go to the transfer desk."
My wife starts running but I tell her not to bother. We missed the flight.
Now I know it's our fault for being 8 minutes late. We shouldn't have gone looking for the tax refund especially since it meant leaving the security area. I accept the blame for that.
But still, a few things really bother / amaze me.
1. Getting the tax refund is too damn hard. I have some brains and some travel experience. My wife is a tour guide in Seoul who has lived in Rome and London. If we can't get our refund something is wrong with the system. Even a novice traveler should be able to take advatage of tax free shopping if European countries and stores are going to advertise it / offer it.
2. How can an airport block the path to departures without telling people the detour. I mean this just blows my mind. What genius thought to put a guy with a gun in our way and no information about an alternate route up to departures?
3. I'm surprised the plane left without us. We were 8 minutes late but how many times have I sat on a plane for 20-30 minutes only to see someone get on so we can depart? And I don't think I've ever been to an airport without hearing announcements pagigf passenger so and so, final boarding call for flight x, passenger so and so please report to gate whatever. They often page the same person over and over again. Serioulsy, I'm 8 minutes late for the one flight they don't do that? They knew we were checked in, and knew our connecting flight had arrived (late I might add) 45 minutes ago or so. Maybe waiting for the late people isn't as common as it seems.
So a lot went wrong in Charles de Gaul. We got sent the wrong direction, we couldn't find directions, we couldn't get back to our gate because of some soldier, we got more bad information, and we even got the slowest immigration officer ever. Not to mention our flight from Madrid had been delayed.
Anyway, the transfer desk people were kind and didn't charge us. They said they should have made us pay because they knew we were here and had left to go get the tax refund (they were some of the many people my wife had asked for directions since there was no airport information booth around).
So we thanked them and sat down to wait 8 hours or so for the next flight to Seoul. After a few minutes my wife left to go get the elusive tax refund and I started writing this. I'm just copying it from my notebook now since I was traveling without my laptop. I've already taken that later flight and gotten back to my dogs.
It took about an hour for my wife to find the tax refund office and half an hour to get back to our gate. She got lots more bad directions on the way but eventually found a directory (seriously Charles de Gaul - if everyone who works in your airport is an idiot how about a few more directories?) that showed her where the office really was.
She showed the guy the receipts but he said he wouldn't give the refund because the shopping was done in Spain. Spain had to issue the refund. So my wife had to put the envelopes in the box there.
And another thing. If all you need to do is put the envelopes in a box, how about putting a few more boxes around? One inside the departure area would be nice!
So we think we're getting a refund but it could take a while.
By the way, as I was waiting for the later flight I saw 3 people get on a flight to London 5 minutes after boarding had closed. Why did Air France wait for them on that short flight but not for us on our 10 hour flight?
And one last complaint. As I listened to the announcements (not that they made one for us), I noticed that the Charles de Gual PA system is about as clear as the old New York City subways. I can only make out an occasional word even when listening closely.
Anyway, vacation is over after a very weird ending. Back to normal life. And I wonder - has anyone else here missed a flight? If so, what happened?
This will eb one of the last times I ask you to ignore my typos. Soon I'll be back to my computer that has spell check...
January 14, 2008
Wrapping up my vacation
After nearly a month of living in hotels and eating 2 meals a day in restaurants (the other in the hotel), my wife and I are ready to go back home. We miss our regular social lives (we´ve talked to a few people in Europe but it´s not the same as talking with friends), our pets, even our real-life have to make some money work. Tomorrow we will do some things like packing and laundry. The day after we leave for the airport at 7:00 AM.
Today we went to Museo del Prado, a huge art museum. It was Sunday and we showed up around 1:00 but we were still surprised to see a long line of people waiting to get in. The live moved pretty well and half an hour later we paid 8 euros each for our tickets.
I´m not an art affcicionado, so for me visiting an art museum means bypassing many works for the few that catch my eye. I found some, and it was certainly nice to take a break from walking around and shopping, but I actually preferred the one other museum I saw on this trip, the Neue Pinakothek in Munich.
Looking back over the past 3 or more weeks, there are definitely a few things I would have changed. I suppose I should have visited more than 2 museums on the trip, but with basically no advance planning I arrived in each city with no idea of which museums would be more interesting for me and my wife. And since we came to Munich for the Christmas market, I don´t care about missing the museums there. Then by the time we got to Madrid my wife was obsessed with finding an affordable (meaning on sale) Burberry coat so we had to spend a good amount of time shopping. We bought heres yesterday by the way.
I would have changed the itinerary to include more than 3 cities. Certainly 12 days in Madrid seems like a bit much. There´s plenty to we haven´t done yet, but staying in the same hotel for 12 days and all that just isn´t ideal. A longer stay where we could kind of settle down and make friends would be one thing. Otherwise a shorter stay is best. I think in the future it will be fewer than 7 days or more than 30 days in each city.
I guess that´s all I have to say for now. I´ll probably be back in Korea next time I blog but I think there is a guest entry from Mancunian on the way.
January 11, 2008
Self made tour of Toledo
So yesterday was our first day trip from Madrid. I wanted to take a tour of Toledo which would have run about 50 euros each. My wife wanted to travel on our own and spend the money we saved on clothes. My wife won.
I didn´t mind losing this time because we got to choose our own train and leave at 10:30 in the morning instead of 8:30... We ended up spending about 30 euros each instead of 50 though we spent about three times our savings on clothes.
We didn´t go into any of the museums, but we did see the Cathedral. It was beautiful outside and caverous inside. At 7 euros to get in it is fairly expensive and inside was impressive but not breathtaking to my untrained eye. I don´t think the tour actually went in there but it´s hard to be sure from the brief description in the pamphlet.
The ticket said no flash, but inside a guard told us no pictures at all. He couldn´t guard the whole place and was alone so we ended up with lots of pictures. If the ticket says no flash I´m pretty sure I can take pictures (without a flash of course).
Anyway, I don´t mean to sound like I´m complaining about the price. I may never be in Toledo again and I´m glad I saw the inside of the Cathedral. I was looking for a better, more descriptive name but everything - even my map of Toledo - just says "Cathedral".
We also went in Iglesia de los Jesuitas where you can pay 1.90 euro to climb to the top of the tower and get some good views of Toledo.
We spent hours walking around the city, much of that time trying to figure out where we were. Obviously if we had a guide that wouldn´t have been a problem but exploring on our own was good too. We saw most or all of historic Toledo I´m sure.
We only spent an hour or so shoppping. Basically after we had seen enough of the city we turned our attention to the shops. We didn´t buy any swords, chess sets, or black and gold jewelry despite one high pressure store where we were told to buy soon becase they were closing in 10 minutes at 5:00. They were still open at 5:30...
Interesting most salespeople in Spain are the opposite, very polite and they really don´t bother you until you ask for help. Today in the supermarket the lady at the olive bar didn´t even want to bother with us after we asked for help but that too was unusual...
I guess that´s about it for Toledo. I´ll be on again soon to tell you about the Royal Palace in Madrid.
As usual, please excuse any typos while I´m on vacation.
January 5, 2008
Hello from Madrid
I´ve done so much and had so much happen to me in the last few days I´m not even sure where to begin.
I guess I´ll start with our last night in Zurich - we shopped until the stores closed and managed to spend all our Swiss francs. The next morning we woke up early, checked out of Goldenes Schwertz and waited for the airport shuttel to arrive (we had booked through the hotel and already paid so we didn´t need any cash).
The shuttle didn´t come. I suppose I´ll save the details for my review of the Goldenes Schwertz hotel, but for now let me just say that the front desk did nothing to help us solve the problem. We had only planned on arriving in the airport an hour in advance (this was actually based on advice from the hotel front desk as well though I did know better and should have insisted on an earlier shuttle). So after 20 minutes of waiting for the shuttle we were pretty stressed out about possibly missing the flight.
The shuttle service itself was another experience as the driver backed the luggage trailer into a building, droppped us off at the wrong building, and sent us in the wrong direction.
When we did eventually find the SpanAir checkin (it was actually Swiss Air) we didn´t have much time. My wife got online while I tried my luck with the machines. I wasn´t making much progress when they all crashed. Every check in machine went down.
So we waited on line - they sent us to a special line which we later learned was the wrong one. Then we founf that Span Air hadn´t sent us an eticket number - I thought that my reservation number was all I needed since that was the only number in the only email I got from them.
So check in took a while and then the guy said he couldn´t give us the tickets and told us to run to a lufthansa counter at the other end of the building to get the actual borading pass. We get there and there is another line. At this point we have a little less than 30 minutes until the flight departs.
As we were waiting online they called out our names and gacve us the boarding passes. We ran to passport control, got through and then faced a problem. My wife really wanted her tax refund from all the shopping we did but we didn´t have much time. We still had to go through security. We found a refund counter but they said you have to go to customs first to get some stamp or something.
My wife was getting directions to wherever the office was upstairs while I tried to convince her it wasn´t worth the stress. We must have looked pretty funny with my wife running to the escalator and me chasing her begging her to come through security with me and forget about the tax refund.
Eventually I convinced my wife (or maybe she was just tired of running) and we went through security. We got to the gate just as they were boarding. Then we waited on the plane for half an hour thinking we should have just spent that time getting our tax refund...
But we did get to Madrid. Today was our second day here. I won´t go into details yet, but let me say that our hotel Francisco I, will probably get a pretty bad review and certainly no recommendation. It is by far the noisiest hotel I´ve ever experienced.
We also haven´t had great luck with Spanish food, although we did get some excellent Italian tonight.
We continue to shop and spend money at an alarming rate but we think we´re buying clothes that we want and that we would have to pay much more for in Korea or America.
Well let me save Madrid for another blog entry. I´m fairly tired and probably will be the rest of the trip considering how much noise we have to endure at the hotel...
January 2, 2008
Happy New Year & New Year's Eve in Zurich
Happy New Year
New Year's Eve in Zurich started the same as many other days in Zurich - shopping. After some MaxMara for my wife and Hugo Boss for me (I think we've spent our clothing budget for the next two years or so) the shops closed at 4:00, including the supermarkets. We did stock up on yogurt and pasta before they closed.
Interestingly, the crowded Zurich supermarket reminded me a lot of Korea, although it was one old lady in particular who really is responsible for this digression. She kept pushing her cart into my back in an effort to get me to move the crowds faster. After turning around and voicing my displeasure for the second time I managed to let her pass me and then followed her through the crowd as she cleared a path by banging her cart into everyone nearby including a very frail looking old lady with a cane.
Anyway, after dropping off our new clothes and food in the hotel we went out for dinner at around 4:30 since we had skipped lunch. The Swiss restaurant I've been meaning to try was reservation only so we went to an Italian place. I'll have a review of the 2 Italian places I've tried so far in Zurich one of these days but the food was quite good at this one.
Then we went back to the hotel and got in a quick nap so that we'd have enough energy to stay up for the fireworks. Now Zurich already has miles of pedestrian shopping streets, but they banned cars from some more streets so that New Year's Eve revelers could watch the fireworks safely.
We left the hotel around 10:00 and were very surprised that crowds were not bad. There were also lots of tents set up, mostly small ones selling food (we had some bratwurst and some beef on a stick - both quite good). A couple of larger tents served as night clubs.
At 11:00 we went to the bridge nearest Zurich's lake to find a spot where we could see some fireworks. It still wasn't all that crowded and we got a spot right on the railing with no one in front of us. By 11:30 it had gotten a bit crowded so if you really wanted a good spot it would have been best to find it by 11:00 or shortly after.
At midnight a few loud fireworks went off and everyone said "Happy New Year". Then we waited as it got colder and we wondered if the fireworks display was coming or if the few loud ones and the small ones coming from various spots on the river bank were all there was to New Year's Eve in Zurich.
At 12:25 or so we talked about going back to the hotel room to warm up our toes but then the fireworks started. It was a very nice fireworks display but I won't actually recommend it.
The reason I am not recommending fireworks in Zurich is because when I pictured fireworks in Europe I pictured old buildings and things beneath them. In Zurich you face the lake, which means you face away from the historic part of Zurich. So yous see the fireworks, but not the city. At least not the historic part of the city.
I saw pictures of fireworks in Berlin, London, and Moscow - in all 3 cities it seemd that fireworks happened right above major historical landmarks, which to me would be the point of seeing fireworks in Europe.
Now I'm not asking anyone to feel sorry for me. My wife and I both think this was our best New Year's.
Tomorrow will be our last day of shoppping in Zurich, which is good since we spend too much money here. Then we have nearly 2 weeks in Madrid - I'm trying not to worry about the money but as this vacation gets more and more expensive it does creep into my mind every time my wife picks up another pair of shoes or a bag or wahetever. At least half the time she's looking to get me something but I don't know if I can afford to upgrade my wardrobe right now...
As usual, when I'm traveling I need you to overlook any typos as I haven't figured out spell check or got time to do my usual proofreading.
December 31, 2007
Sunday in Zurich
I'm guessing that some of the people who said Zurich was boring visited on a Sunday. Cafes and restaurants are open but everything else seems to be closed. That's fine with me - I'm perfectly happy not shopping and not spending money. However, my wife isn't content just walking around taking in the sights again (we've already walked through most of the pedstrian areas). I'm starting to think that 7 days in Zurich is a bit much, especially since shops will also be closed Jan. 1, 2008 and at least some are also closed Jan. 2. Tomorrow (shops are open from 10-4 on Dec. 31st) might be our last day of shopping in Zurich...
I hope that the New Year's Eve fireworks are impressive enough to keep my wife happy for a few days. We're in Zurich until Jan. 3rd when we fly to Madrid.
December 29, 2007
Shopping in Zurich
I will not write much today because I want to save my internet time (10 francs an hour is the cheapest I have found so far) for when I have more to report.
But I do want to talk a little bit about what we did in Zurich today. We shopped. My wife called Zurich a shopper's heaven (wow just found the apostrophe on the keyboards here). There are lots of pedestrian zones with shops all over. As travelfan noted in his comment on my previous entry, some of the window displays are really excellent and some of the shops are really neat.
However, as you might have guessed, there aren't too many bargains here in Zurich. You need to have money or enjoy window shopping to really appreciate Zurich's shoppping. Burberry and Louis Vitton are more expensive here in Zurich than they were in Munich or Salzburg according to my wife who keeps track of these things. We did find some big sales at Ferragamo. It helps to think that you're saving money as you push your credit card closer to its limit...
Of course you have to be careful in Zurich because you could look at a cappucino that costs 6 francs and say it's a bargain since it is cheaper than other places like Starbucks. But anywhere else in the world that is an expensive cappucino. I caught my wife doing this with shoes or boots a few times. 200 francs might seem like a bargain in Zurich after seeing all the way more expensive boots but it's not a bargain where I come from...
Anyway, I still say that visiting Zurich was a good choice. My wife is happy walking around shopping and I'm happy walking around this gorgeous city. Ciao.
December 28, 2007
From a Zurich restaurant to a Zurich spupermarket
So we left Munich today and are now in Zurich. The castles we saw yesterday were amazing and when I get back from vacation I have pictures to show and some general commentary on tours, the people who take them, and the guides.
But for now I want to talk about Zurich. The Goldenes Schwert hotel is excellent so far. Unless they happen to know this blog they do not know I am anyone but a regular traveler so I was pretty surprised when they told me I would be in the junior suite for my 7 night stay. It is a great room obviously.
By the way, I will not be using contractions in this blog entry until I find the apostrophe on this craazy Swiss keyboard...
So our room has a living room, bedroom, 2 bathrooms, and a kitchenette. The kithchenette turned out to be absolutely huge and that brings me to the title of my blog entry: From a Zurich restaurant to a Zurch supermarket.
We had dinner tonight in a very mediocre Italian restaurant. We had a soup, a salad, and 2 main dishes (not to mention the water you always pay for in Europe). It cost us 90+ Swiss Francs. Obviously doing this 2 times a day for 7 days would get way too expensive - that is why I say the kitchenette was huge for us.
After our expensive but below average meal we went straight to a supermarket we had noticed on the way from Zurich main station to our hotel. We spent 30 Swiss Francs and probably got 5-10 meals worth of ham sandwiches, gnocchi, tortellini, arrabiata sauce, basilico sauce, yogurt, and water (we accidentally bought the kind with bubbles).
We do plan to try a couple os Swiss restaurants that the guy in the hotel recommended, and we might try another Italian place or get some Chinese food (my wife and I make sure to try Chinese food in every country we visit because it is usually different). However, for at least half our meals, probably more, we will be cooking for ourselves.
A few people asked why we chose Zurich - it seems that most people are not real impressed with the city. My wife and I think it is gorgeous and so far I have to say it is worth a visit. I suppose there are plenty of other beautiful cities in Europe and I do not yet know why Zurich would be better than any of them since I have only been here a few hours but we chose it for the New Year (no apostrophe) fireworks.
If you do visit Zurich for more than a few days, I strongly recoomend a kitchenette. Eating out here seems to be very expensive.
December 26, 2007
Confusion in Munich on Christmas day
Merry Christmas again!
We spent Christmas day in Munich and a few useums had reopened. Unfortunately, the BMW museums wasn't one of them even though the tourist information place outside the Munich train station told us they would be open. So after a short subway ride to Olympic Park and a long walk around in cold during which we got directions from several locals and spole to several other cold, confused tourists (lots os people expected the museum to be open and no one could find the actual entrance) we found out that it was closed. We never did find the entrance - I was pretty surprised there were no signs except for one that said 'BMW museum' in front of an empty parking lot.
Confused and cold, we got back on the subway and headed toward Marienplatz. There we found the toy museum which was a waste of 10 minutes for us. 3 euros each seemed like a fortune considering to the size of this place. I suppose if you really liked teddy bears or toys you could spend 20-30 minutes in there...
Then we went to Stadt Museum which was quite good. Surprisingly for a large museum almost none of the signs had English translations but we enjoyed looking at the musical intstruments and puppets anyway. This museum was free on Christmas day so that made up for the 6 euros we wasted on the toy museum.
In between museums we had more Bavarian food and Munich beer in a beer hall. We're not sure what we'll end up doing for dinner. Last night we had kebab since nearly evervthing was closed. We noticed many places closing at 3:00 today so we may be in for some more kebab or something...
Tomorrow I probably won't get to blog as we'll be at the castle all day...
December 24, 2007
Salzburg day trip and a bit more from Munich
This entry may not be too detailed since I seem to be in the worst pc room ever. I can't find the relatively nice one I was in 2 nights ago and this one has people speaking loudly with the employees and someone singing into a mic to someone almost as unfortunate as me...
Salzburg is beautiful. Apparently it is popular for movie tourism thanks to The Sound of Music (we saw the 'do re mi' steps and the cemetery that inspired the Hollywood set in the movie) and Motzart. We didn't go into either of the 2 Motzart museums or buy any Motzart chocolate.
We did eat in the oldest restaurant in Europe while we were there, Stiftskeller St. Peter. Apparently they started serving food in 803 so they have had enough time to get it right. The food was excellent and at about 15 euros a meal not unreasonable. The dessert wasn't as good and seemed overpriced but then again, the desert we really wanted, Salzburger Nockerln, took 25 minutes to prepare and we hadn't ordered in advance...
We also saw the the inside of St Peter's plus the Salzburg Christmas market and my wife almost spent way too much on a Louis Vitton handbag.
As for Munich, I did visit Nuremberg Palace and Neue Pinakothek today. The palace is pretty neat inside with some fancy clocks and chandeliers. The Neue Pinakothek gave us a nice surprise when we found that admission is only 1 euro on Sundays instead of the usual 5.50. We enjoyed our hour there looking at paintings from the 1800's. I'm no art afficionado but the museum is fairly small so an hour might be what it takes a normal person to walk through. Of course I saved time by walking by every portrait in the place - I really don't like portraits. There were a few Van Gogh's and some excellent works by people I've never heard of.
And I finally tried Ghluwein in the Munich Christmas market. But if this entry seemed poorly organized it probbaly had more to do with this PC room than the alcohol. Ghluwein comes in .2 liter mugs which is enough to warm you up but not get you drunk.
As usual, please excuse any typos - German spellcheck isn't helping much...
December 22, 2007
Hello from Munich (Air France, Germania, beer halls)
Well I knew I'd be cold in Munich and I am. It's probably similar or only a little colder than New York or Seoul but since I was outside pretty much all day I really feel it. I almost spent 100 euros on boots with hopefully fake fur lining inside (on sale from 200) but I don't think I'll get to use them much and don't really want to carry them around...
By the way, typing on a German keyboard is an entirely different experience - several keys are different but the biggest difference is the y key down in the bottom left. It's a QWERTZ keyboard instead of QWERTY... Anyway, please excuse any typos... And I can't seem to link for some reason but I'll do my best with these unfamiliar resources.
So far I can tell you a few interesting things:
Air France is fine. I'd put the service somewhere between the Asian airlines like Korean Air, Asiana, JAL, etc. and the American ones like Northwest and Spirit. This means that while the flight attendants were never rude or mean as American ones sometimes are, they were't nearly as attentive as Asian flight attendants. It was pretty clear that they were as interested in talking to each other as they were in serving the passengers. Still much better than I've seen on many Northwest or American Airlines flights though.
I did hear one interesting story from the interpreter on board (since the flight had lots of Koreans on board but none of the French flight attendants spoke Korean they had a Korean - French translator who happened to be seated right next to us). She said that lots of Korean passengers complained about the service and the food. The service complaint will probably remain until they get a taste of American service; as long as they are execting Korean Air service they will be disappointed with any western airline. However Air France did solve the food complaints by serving kimchi with every meal.
Hotel Germania in Munich is fine. I can't remember what I had to pay so I won't talk about value but the hotel is in a great location - we haven't used any public transportation yet because everything is within walking distance. The rooms are small and old but it's not bad. The beds are too soft but most people complain about the hard beds I prefer. The room wasn't warm enough for my wife (I thought it was good enough) but they gave us some extra blankets and we're OK now. The taxi fare from Munich airport to the hotel is about 60 euros.
Munich has some beatiful architecture. It#s not spread out all over the city like in Rome but the New City Hall in Marienplatz was almost worth the trip all by itself. We've also seen some great churches, a former royal residence (I'm not sure why they don#t call it a palace) and other neat old buildings scattered around.
Munich's Christmas market is great. It's not real big but there are some stalls selling different kinds of food (we had some bread covered in salty cheese topped with bacon) and ghluwine. I haven't tried it yet because it smells kind of sweet and I haven't been in the mood for a warm, sweet, alcoholic beverage in the past couple of days. We also had some bratwurst from one of these vendors with Heinz mustard and ketchup. Others sell fruit, nuts, Santa things (I'm told that in southern Germany no one cares about the Santa myth so this is strictly for tourists from the north and from other countries), nativity sets, and other little craft-type things.
Munich beerhouses are great for dinner. They serve Bavarian food. It comes fast, portions are large, and prices are reasonable. The two I've tried so far had English menus available upon request. I also tried some local beer (apparently lots of breweries are or used to be run by monks). I don't like beer but this seemed like good beer to me. I kind of liked it.
Well that's about it for now. Tomorrow we take a day trip to Salzburg - I'll let you know how it goes as soon as I get a chance.
December 4, 2007
Who can you trust regarding the Explorer in Antarctica?
The other day I linked to an article about a British woman who said evacuating the sinking Explorer was pretty easy, no hassle, no panic, etc.
Apparently this woman found the experience a little more frightening:
"I literally was shaking from the inside out," she recalled. "There is no word in the English language to describe the terror. You're just thinking only about your family. I was sending e-mails out to everyone, a good-bye letter. It never occurred to me I'd make it out of this."Of course since she took videos of the event and now has a publicist and an agent it is pretty clear she wants to make some money out of her story so you have to wonder if she isn't embellishing it some...
But I didn't entirely believe the British passenger either:
Ms Plant said the passengers had been "nervous" but that none gave any sign of fear.Now in the BBC article they say that everyone had protective suits to help keep them warm. But this American woman with the agent and publicist tells it differently:"There was no panic at all."
"When I was actually being rescued, my boots had fallen off in the ocean. I had nothing," she recalled. "You have your camera and the clothes on your back."Now obviously I don't have all the information so right now I'm not believeing anyone but something doesn't make sense here. Maybe they got the orange suits after being rescued, maybe only some passengers got the suits, maybe the real story is somewhere in between the two I've linked to so far...
December 3, 2007
Bulgarian ski vacation experience + ski travel deals
Matt Gross has many complaints about Bansko in Bulgaria but ends up calling them petty thanks to one good day of snowboarding. The two main complaints, while conflicting, didn't seem petty to me though.
First was what the author called "anarchy" and second was that many lifts remain closed for no good reason. I say they are somewhat conflicting since someone decided not to run the lifts to the better snow so someone was in charge. However, that didn't seem to help much on the ground where the best way to get on the lift was to outmuscle the rest of the skiers.
The author decided to forgive Bansko when the lifts were all opened at the end of his vacation. Besides that one day of good snow and trails, he notes that skiing in Bansko is affordable - $60 to $100 a day should be easy according to the author (including lift tickets, steak, and beer).
Speaking of cheap skiing, here's an article that starts off with some "overlooked values" but also goes for some more expensive heli-skiing. This one focuses on US destinations (the heli-skiing is in Canada).
December 2, 2007
Sinking ships and vacation proposal
A few days ago I wrote about The Explorer in Antarctica. Well, here's an article about the vacation experience from one of the passengers. Certainly not your typical vacation experience, but it seems to have been a happy one for this passenger.
And for all you romantics out there "there was some unexpected good news as a Danish couple got engaged while in the lifeboat." I guess that will be a good story when people ask about the proposal. Who wouldn't be impressed to hear about a proposal in a lifeboat in Antarctica?
Does anyone here have a vacation proposal story to share?
November 22, 2007
Lanzarote: not ruined by tourists yet
I hope this doesn't offend anyone but ZI thought it was kind of funny that this author uses the analogy of God spilling his cat's litter to describe the beauty of Lanzarote.
The author praises the island for not letting tourists ruin traditional towns and notes that most tourists are content to stay in the resorts so lots of places are still very authentic. Apparently you can even find a secret surf spot that the locals will want to protect from foreigners. Not that conflict with the locals sounds like fun.
Anyway, the article is a pretty good description of the author's experience in Lanzarote, including the "weirdest bar in the world".
I found a Youtube video which has photos from a Lanzarote vacation. It's not ideal - they keep showing pictures of the same lady over and over again but I watched a few videos and this one had the best landscape shots, mostly in the last 30 seconds. If you skip the first 3 minutes or so you won't miss too much but there are a few interesting pictures mixed in with all the lame "I'm modeling at the resort" pictures.
Have you ever been to Lanzarote and was the nature really spectacular?
October 23, 2007
Pyeong Chang Korea travel experience
So I just got back from Pyeong Chang. This was a good experience for me because it’s a real Korean vacation spot, meaning that Koreans go there to visit. I didn’t see any other white people so I’m thinking that foreign tourists don’t usually make it there.
Of course, the only reason for a foreign tourist to go would be to see an actual Korean vacation spot. The activities themselves are nothing too exciting.
The first place was a school turned art gallery. My wife really liked it. I thought it was OK - certainly different, but there were only afew artists represented despite the fact that Mooee Art Gallery could have packed a lot more art into the school. One artists had about 50 paintings of Memil flowers. Most of the rest were crazy modern sculptures - never really did learn to appreciate modern sculpture.
Then there was the home of a famous Korean author – Lee Hyo Suk - the sign said he was born there and lived there until he was 13. It also said that another family lives there now so you can’t actually go inside. We spend less than 5 minutes there.
Then there was a memorial to Lee Hyo Suk. The information signs there said that his birth house had been destroyed – weird since we thought we had just come from the house where he was born. They also had his former gravesite. Apparently he’s no longer buried there. We walked around for about 30 minutes because the place was pretty big but we didn’t actually see much. Korean tourists like to pose for pictures by the sculpture of Lee Hyo Suk sitting at his desk writing. There’s also a museum – it looked pretty boring and we wanted to go to the next big attraction.
Herb Nara (Herb nation) is basically an herb garden. We had fun walking around and sniffing all the different herbs which are labeled in English and Korean. There are some nice picture spots in the gardens there and you can buy plants, herb bread, herb cookies, herb candy, etc.
Then we went to try some of the local beef; Haeng Sung (next to Pyeong Chang) and Bong Pyung (part of Pyeong Chang) are famous for beef. Now Koreans think that Korean beef is superior and are willing to pay for it. At the butcher, 600 grams cost us 42,000 won, probably $45 or so. We also stopped in another store and got some cooked rice, some side dishes, some sauce, etc. and went back to our hotel for a feast.
Now the hotel was Memil Flower Valley Pension. The area is famous for Memil as you can tell from the pension's name and the paintings in Moose Art Gallery I already mentioned. Plus one of Lee Hyo Suk’s novels was titled (this is a rough translation) When the Memil Blooms. Anyway, the place was dog friendly so we went there.
A pension, by the way, is just a hotel where the rooms have little kitchen areas.
Our room was spacious and we were, I’m fairly certain, the only customers last night. Pretty bad for a pension that I estimated had about 50 rooms but my wife guesses had 10 at most. Anyway, we were the only ones there and it would have been very quiet and peaceful if not for the construction next door where they seem to be building another hotel. Still, they stopped around 7:00 PM so it was quiet at night. Of course they started before 7:00 AM so the morning wasn’t so peaceful... The room was about $130/night.
Anyway, we cooked our local delicacy but the beef was tough. Anyway, we had fun walking the dogs and watching Animal Planet (the only channel with English programs we could find). And we did spend some time looking at the moon and stars. We couldn’t see many stars because of some clouds but those clouds did look pretty when they passed in front of the moon.
All in all it was nice to get out of the city and experience a place I had never been before.
October 21, 2007
Birthday getaway
I won't be writing much today, but hopefully will have something to share in a couple of days. We're going away for the weekend to celebrate my birthday. I'll give you details after I experience it, but the plan is to get out of the city, go somewhere quiet, ruin the quiet with our two dogs, enjoy the fresh air (dogs can't ruin that), and look at the stars at night.
It's been a long time since I saw and took the time to enjoy a really beautiful starry sky. Since the summer really in Vermont and before that in Cebu in April.
August 8, 2007
Last full day in Punta Cana's Sirenis resort
This day was much like the previous ones in that it was very relaxing. The only thing out of the ordinary today was when we gave away $30 worth of toy cars we had brought for children (we never took a tour or saw a rural village or school so it was either give them to Sirenis employees or bring them back home).
Otherwise it was pretty normal. Wake up and go to the beach to find a good spot (got the best spot yet today), eat breakfast, make dinner reservations, exercise, shower, go to the beach...
Actually that reminds me of what I did differently. At first I went to take a free scuba lesson. They do this daily but I kept putting it off. The guy asked me when i was flying and I told him tomorrow.
He said scuba would be dangerous because of the nitrogen if I was flying within 48 hours. I had read 24 hours somewhere, but I'm not about to take risks to go scuba diving in the hotel pool (though it would be nice to learn one day). So I didn't scuba dive.
I did go snorkeling, however. Actually this made me quite nervous as I read somewhere that you can cut yourself pretty seriously on coral. I felt that I was very close to the coral and the water was slightly rough so sometimes I'd kind of be pushed too close for comfort.
Maybe I felt more exposed because this was my first time snorkeling without a life vest but I figured the risk of bumping an arm or a leg would be much greater. Anyway, before I saw anything cool I gave up. Nex time I'll wear a wet suit or something to protect myself from an accidental scrape. Yes, I know this makes me a wimp.
So I asked the guys in charge I asked what I should have seen. Apparently there's not much to see unless you take the tour. I missed that opportunity.
But other than snorkeling it was a normal day. We went to the spa after the beach. Then we had dinner in the buffet - it was really excellent tonight. There was a great creole chicken, good ribs, roast beef at the carving station, etc.
Our main dinner tonight was at the Italian place. Things were looking good when we saw the menu. They had some interesting pizzas, several types of pasta and several types of sauce that you could mix and match, and veal.
So my wife had tortellini arrabiata and I had the veal. Her meal was good, though the sauce was made more with tobasco than the peppers favored in italy. My veal was not so great. It was deep fried and tasted it (greasy) and was a little tough to chew.
The other new thing we did today was go to show. They have one every night but this was the first one I saw. It was better than I expected, a dance variety show. Some skits were better than others, but it was neat to see so many people we recognized among the performers. Most of them actually work at the resort by day and perform at night it seems.
Those are my notes for the day. To prevent the confusion I caused with other daily Sirenis blogs, let me warn everyone that this is not conclusive at all. I'm just writing down everything I remember now and want to remember later...
August 7, 2007
Day 4 in Sirenis Punta Cana
Well we managed to stay up late enough to visist the disco last night. It was pretty different from any nightclub I've ever seen. The dance floor was a circle with a wall around it. People would hang out by the wall and watch the dancers.
The dancers were very skilled - I think they were dancing merengue to the Spanish langugae dance songs being played. I tried tog et my wife to try it out, but she knows how bad a dancer I am and the people out there really seemed to have had a lot of practice. No doubt she saved me from looking like a dancing fool (any Frank Zappa fans catch the reference there?).
We also went to the beach last night to reserve some good lounge chairs in the sahde. I wanted to wake up early to do this - going at night felt like cheating somehow. But we did it at night and it worked; we had a nice spot today.
So today was much like other days. Breakfast, Spanish lesson (painful for a professional educator), exercise (the trainer in the gym is very friendly and he really knows his stuff), lunch, beach, lunch, pool, beach, spa, snack, dinner. I think I got the order right there.
Dinner was in the crepe restaurant, which was an interesting experience for me. I had seen my grandmother get crepes in IHOP when I was in college, but never really experienced them for myself. As always, dinner was good. I had the soup with tortillas - the best soup I've had here at Sirenis by far. Then a chicken crepe and a crepe suzet for desert. My wife liked her Sirenis crepe and her desert, a crepe with caramel and ice cream.
I'm really impressed with the food here at Sirenis. The buffet is pretty luxurious (for our snack before dinner tonight we had prosciutto). Then there are the restaurants including Chinese, seafood, vegetarian, steak, crepe, Italian, Mexican, and one other that I plan on checking out tomorrow). You really can't get bored with the food here.
We also tried a new drink, blended cherry brandy (cherry brandy, freshly squeezed lime juice, ice, mix it all in a blender). It's great tasting, cool, tropical-looking, and just perfect for us here in Punta Cana on the beach.
Speaking of drinks, my wife has been struggling with the coffee and cappuccino our whole stay. The coffee is very very strong so she always asks for half coffee and then just extra hot water. Even then it can be too strong for her. That's tough for someone who relies heavily on coffee. The cappuccino on the other hand is too sweet.
That's about all I have to tell you about today. Except to note that we still haven't gone for our night swim. We could, but my wife hasn't felt like it and I don't enjoy it much alone. It's just funny that I tried so hard to find a resort that permits night swimming, ended up in one accidentally, and now haven't done it...
Tomorrow I might be a bit more active as I try to do some activities I've been skipping in order to write a more complete review.
August 6, 2007
Day 3: trying to decide on taking an excursion
Sirenis continues to impress and my wife and I are trying to decide if we should do one of the excursions. We don't see the need really because we're having a very good vacation just sticking around the resort.
Today we woke up at 8:30 because our wake up call never came. We easily found a spot with shade, actually the same one I got an hour earlier yesterday morning. This was surprising because starting Friday night the resort seemed to start getting more crowded.
After breakfast we took a 30 minute Spanish lesson. I won't bore you with the details but speaking as a linguist I wasn't impressed with the teaching. Nevertheless I'm returning tomorrow.
Then my wife hit the beach and I hit the gym. We didn't meet up again until 12:30 or so. We spent a little time together on the beach and then got lunch. As always the food was fine though my ham steaks were a bit salty. I ate a bunch of them anyway since I'm on a high protein diet.
After lunch we went swimming in the pool. There are always kids splashing abput in the parts of the pool with shade. If you're willing to hang out in the sun it's easier to avoid them.
I don't like sun so I endured. There's a swim-up bar in the shade. My wife and I generally don't drink but I've probably tried 5 or 6 different cocktails since I've arrived here. They've all been good. When I get a black russion here it's bigger than you get for $6 in a regular bar. They may use no name liquor but I don't taste any difference...
Then we went to the beach for a while longer and then to the spa. I had to pick my seat in the sauna carefully because there was a topless woman in there and I didn't want to look.
American parents might consider this before bringing children here. There are certainly some cultural differences evident. Today my wife and I were surprised to see a topless mommy putting sunscreen on her kid. How many American males see their mom's breasts after they are (I'm not sure) 3? This kid was at least school age I'd guess...
Anyway, cultural differences are part of traveling.
We definitley like the big jacuzzi style bath here. After the spa we went the steakhouse for dinner at 6:30. It was good. My wife had the sirloin and I had chimichurri or something like that (beef tenderloin apparently). Those were the only steaks on the menu. They also had ribs, BBQ chicken, hamburger, and a few other choices.
I'm not sure it's so much better than the other restaurants but there's no denying it's the most popular and the hardest to reserve. When I think about how well we eat here, Sirenis is an excellent value. My all-inclusive in Cancun wasn't serving food half this good and it wasn't any cheaper...
After dinner we hung around on the beach for a while and then in our room. Then we went to the buffet around 9:00 so I could get some more protein. I ate a lot of turkey while my wife found some big shrimp or something and some passion fruit (we think).
Well we have to go relax in order to stay up late enough to visit the disco tonight. I'll tell you if we made it when I blog tomorrow.
It looks like we won't be doing any excursions but I'll let you know about that if we decide for sure.
Is there anything anyone wants to know before I leve Sirenis?
August 5, 2007
2nd full day at Sirenis Punta Cana experience
Just so you know, I will be taking these various experiences and creating one big huge definitive review of Sirenis Punta Cana. But I don't want to do that while on vacation so I'm just going to keep posting my daily thoughts, kind of like notes for my future big review.
Anyway, our second full day at Sirenis is coming to a close. We left off last night with me about to go to the Chinese restaurant. This was fine, a nice change from the buffets and as far as I know the only place to get duck (roast Pekin duck) at Sirenis. My wife got shrimp with something. The main dishes and deserts were good. The starters were pretty weak as was the rice that came with the main dishes.
I had some noodles cooked in soy sauce (very salty) and my wife had sweet and sour soup (ridiculously salty). The rice was also cooked in soy sauce I think.
But overall the meal was good.
This morning I woke up at 7:00 instead of 7:30 and went straight to the beach. The shade spots closest to the ocean were taken but I easily found some shade. People reserve their spots by putting the hotel beach towels on the lounge chairs they want. I guess these never go missing which is good since the hotel charges 20 ucks if you lose your towel.
I listend to the ocean for a while and then went to the lobby to make reservations. At 7:55 I was the second person on line. 10 minutes later, there were more like 25 people on line...
The steakhouse was already booked up. Clearly you have to book in advance (you can book 3 days in advance) to eat at the steakhouse. This means you'll have no choice but the buffet at least once during your trip. That's beacause you can only make one reservation each day. So for example, if it's Monday and I make reservations at the steakhouse for Tuesday, I can't make any reservations for Monday night because I've used my reservation for the day.
Now the hotel management knows I'm doing this review, so they are letting me bend the rules a bit so that I can review as many restaurants as possible for my readers. But eating at the buffet is fine - I always enjoy it.
Anyway, tomorrow I'll tell you if the steakhouse is worth the trouble. When I found out it was booked for today, I chose the seafood restaurant instead. We had a good meal there tonight. I don't actually like seafood so I tried the only non-seafood choices: beef carpaccio and stuffed chicken breast. Both were good. My wife had Spanish style octopus which she said tasted more like scallops. She liked it though.
Before and after the seafood restaurant we were in the buffet as my wife is on a mission to eat all the mango in the Dominican Republic.
Tonight we might try out the resort's entertainment (a theatrical performance of dirty dancing) and or go night swimming. I don't know if it's officially allowed but we did see one couple swimming at night and there doesn't seem to be anyone there to stop you.
Interestingly, there never is anyone there - no lifeguards at all at the pools or the ocean. Lots of seemingly unupervised children too.
Another note about the pools / ocean is that since the resort is so popular with Europeans you see several women (not most but a few) going topless.
Anyway, I'm nearly out of batteries on my laptop so I'll have to continue tomorrow.
August 4, 2007
1st full day at Sirenis Punta Cana experience
Sirenis is definitely growing on me. Last night I was talking about the key for the room's safe. Well they gave me the wrong one originally, sent me back with the wrong one when I complained, then the third time they admitted that the keys were all messed up and I couldn't get the right one until tomorrow morning.
So now I have the right one, but I paid for 6 nights of safe key and I'm only getting 5. I don't think I'll waste valuable vacation time complaining, but the fact that they didn't offer me a refund speaks volumes.
But like I said, Sirenis is growing on me. When we arrived last night we had to kill 5 or 6 mosquitoes in our room, but we haven't gotten any bites so that's a positive.
Our day started with a wake up call and a trip down to the beach to get a spot in the shade. At 8:00 AM the best spots were taken, but we did find a nice spot with shade. It was fairly far back on the beach so we couldn't see the meeting the sand, but I pretty much slept and read all day anyway.
After securing the spot on the beach, I sorted out the safety deposit box stuff I mentioned. Then we got on line to make reservations at one of the restaurants.
We figured that getting a reservation would be easy since last night none of them looked really crowded. But at 8:40 AM the steak house was all booked so we ended up in the Chinese place. I'm going there in a few minutes at 9:30.
Then we ate breakfast. The buffet was fine and they had custom made eggs. My wife went to the beach while I went to the gym. The gym is OK, but the equipment isn't impressive (it works and everything - it's just not as nice as a modern gym with new equipment) and there's not that much of it.
After the workout, I showered and hit the beach. We also did some swimming in the ocean and the pool. The pool gets crowded in places but it is huge and has 2 swim up bars.
We had lunch in a restaurant by the pool - this was a small buffet. Then we went back to the pool and the beach. We also tried out the spa (the water in the whirlpool type things wasn't too hot which is great for me. We hung out there until it was snack time at 4:00. Then we did some more swimming, laying out on the beach, jogging on the beach, etc.
At 7:30 we had another snack at the buffet. And now we're just killing time (well I'm blogging) until our reservations at the Chinese restaurant at 9:30.
I've left out plenty of details but I do have to go eat soon. Anyway, I like the food. It's not the best I've ever had but there are lots of good choices. And I like that I can eat any time. I believe there's at least one place to eat open 24 hours a day.
I also like swimming in the pool and relaxing on the beach. I still haven't decided if I'll recommend Sireins or not. I mean you should be able to enjoy the pool and beach pretty much anywhere.
And I just remembered that I left a note for housekeeping to leave extra bottled water in our fridge. The note is gone and I only got 4 little bottles of water - not nearly enough. I'm thinking I might not leave a tip since I now have to go track down more bottled water from somewhere...
After I go try the Chinese food. More tomorrow!
July 10, 2007
Buying travel insurance, La Costa Resort, 7 wonders of the world voting finished
A few people commented on travel insurance on a recent post about travel agents. Apparently the issue is more confusing than I thought according to this article:
Don't buy travel insurance, says Consumer Reports. Do buy travel insurance, say consumer advocates Clark Howard and Ed Perkins. Don't buy travel insurance, says the Consumer Federation of America. Do buy it, says your travel agent.What's crystal clear though is that you can't afford to get really sick on vacation without insurance. Fore example, medical evacuation costs a fortune. If you remember that lawyer flying around the world with TB, an air ambulance between Denver and Atlanta cost $12,000. Make it an international flight and you're talking about a lot more.
This writer talks about La Costa in Carlsbad and while it doesn't sound like my kind of thing (especially at $400/night) the author says it succeeds as a family vacation spot. Even though the author enjoyed, any praise is lukewarm:
Sure, it's a big resort that demands planning, but it's navigable if you work the system.So that La Costa place isn't on my to do list, but I suppose the new 7 wonders of the world ought to be:Still, great hotels shouldn't force you to attend to matters on your own. Just ask my aunties.
Chichén Itzá, Mexico
Christ the Redeemer, Brazil
The Great Wall, China
Machu Picchu, Peru
Petra, Jordan
The Roman Colloseum, Italy
The Taj Mahal, India
So far the only one I've seen is the Colloseum in Rome. I'll actually be seeing one of the losers this summer (Statue of Liberty) and another this winter (Eiffel Tower). And Angkor Watt in Cambodia is another loser pretty high on my list.
Which of the new 7 wonders have you seen?
July 8, 2007
Pagudpod, the Philippines: A Hidden Paradise in The North
Imagine traveling by land from 11 in the evening to 2 in the afternoon the following day, during the Holy Week at that, just to go to a beach that friends and family swear to be as marvelous as Boracay; one of the most popular beaches and tourist destinations in the Philippines. Well, if traveling for hours on end will get me again to Pagudpod, Ilocos Norte so be it. Pagudpod's powdery, white sand and crystal clear blue waters can rival any beach in the world. Plus, it isn't that commercialized yet, so the beaches are very clean and even if the resorts are all booked, you wouldn't notice it.
As it was the Holy Week and we didn't have a reservation, we ended up staying at a house which we rented from a local near the beaches so we didn't have the view of the beach. We had to pay an entrance fee of 30 Philippine Pesos (about $0.80) to get into Saud beach resort. The beach was nothing short of dazzling. There was an assortment of locals and tourists swimming and soaking up all the heat the sun could offer. Thankfully, it wasn't like Boracay where you have to fight for sunbathing space since Boracy's sand is literally littered with sunbathers.
There were several beaches there that offered only sand space where you can bring your camping gear and set it up right on the beach; though that option is only perfect for those who don't have kids as it gets very hot during the nights and the bathrooms were relatively far from the camp site. If you do decide to bring kids, make sure to bring mosquito nets and mosquito repellents.
Our second day called for fresh water, so after a few hours on the beach, we headed to Kabigan falls, a 15 to 20 minute drive from where we were staying. An affordable fee of 15 Philippine Pesos (about $0.40) per head will get you in. We had to trek for 30 minutes through not-so-steep steps and some streams on the way to the falls which made it even more exciting. The falls itself was nothing short of majestic as it falls 120 feet into a natural basin where you can swim or just relax on the surrounding boulders.
On our third day, we decided to visit the famous Blue Lagoon or Maira-Ira beach where surfers hangout. Oddly enough, we didn't see any surfers and we didn't see anyone who rented out surf boards - maybe it's not surfing season. Nevertheless, we rented an open cottage where we ate our food. There are no hotels surrounding this area so renting cottages is your only option.
The waves there were higher and more aggressive than the ones in Saud so we spent the whole day body surfing until our bodies ached. What sucks about this place though is that there are no bathrooms, so we asked to use a local's bathroom near the area and gave them a generous tip.
Sadly, all things must end at some point and we had to go home the following day. On the way home, we decided to stopover the neighboring town of Bangui, where you can see for yourself the magnificent wind mills that provides sufficient amount of the electricity in Ilocos Norte.
For those who haven't been to Pagudpod, I strongly suggest that you book reservations at least 2 months in advance, especially when you plan to go there during the Holy Week as there are only a few resorts. You can also opt to travel by air by catching a plane from Manila to Laoag and then catching a 75 km bus ride to Pagudpod.
Guest entry submitted by a Filipino reader who wanted to share his vacation experience.
July 4, 2007
Antique Nash Automobiles Visit Boston Area
The Nash Car Club of America’s 2007 ‘Grand Nashoinal’ event was held in Andover, Massachusetts the end of June. Many car enthusiasts are in clubs that promote enjoyment of their antique, special interest and collectible automobiles and although there is no Nash car company today, there are still many people who love Nashes.
We drove our 1955 Nash Ambassador from New York. The weather was beautiful and the car ran great. It was about 225 miles but we weren’t even close to getting a long distance award!
People come from all over for an event like this. One member flew from Australia for the show! Some folks have known each other for years through the car club, so there’s something of a reunion feeling in the air. The good fellowship is extended to new members and everyone who comes to appreciate the cars, so it’s a really pleasant experience.
The event was held at the Wyndham Andover Hotel. There was plenty of parking so the old cars could stay together. The rooms and amenities were quite nice and everyone at the Wyndham was very helpful.
The car club members who organized the event did a wonderful job. They put together a terrific itinerary. There were pre-show events to tour Concord and Salem, Massachusetts, Canobie Lake (amusement) Park in New Hampshire, a bus trip to Boston, Massachusetts to see the USS Constitution, Old North Church, Paul Revere’s House & Bunker Hill (part of the Freedom Trail), and a bus trip to Maine & New Hampshire to see Wells Auto Museum and Stonewall Kitchens among other attractions.
Of course, the main attraction was the cars themselves. The Hudson, American Motors and Rambler clubs were also invited. There were cars from the 1920s through the 1970s. Besides the cars, there were vendors with hard-to-find parts and special items. Of course, no car club event would be complete without the commemorative T-shirts and this year's was
one of the best.
On Saturday, the cars were arranged by ‘class’, based on the year and model of the car. You can see pictures of cars at the 2007 ‘Grand Nashional’ (and lots of other antique & collectible cars) at the Nash nut.com photo blog. These are 1957 Rambler Rebels.
Everyone was given a ‘goodie’ bag when we signed in, and this contained a ballot to vote for your favorite car in each class. The ‘goodie’ bag also had a program with restaurant & gas station info, some maps and car stickers, as well as some local products – Cape Cod Chips, Table Talk mini pies, Stonewall Kitchens jam, plus candy from NECCO, Yummies, and Sleepy Mountain Maple. Sweet.
Saturday night the Grand Nashional concluded with a Banquet at the hotel. Some donated memorabilia was auctioned off to raise funds for next year’s meet in Indiana, and the awards were presented. The awards were unique. They were hand made by one of the club officers and truly represented the spirit of the Northeast. We went home happy because the weather stayed fine and our car got a 2nd place award in its class!
This article was written by my parents. You can see their other work by reading the Liberty of the Seas reviews: day 1 and day 2.
June 30, 2007
6 Marvelous Beer-drinking Days in Bavaria and Munich, Germany
Day 1: We started off at Nuremberg and did a quick trip to see the Nuremberg Toy Museum which boasts of 200 years of toy making; seeing all those unique and beautiful dolls, trains and wooden soldiers will make you feel like a kid again. We then headed to Swiss Franconia; the world's number 1 beer brewing district where you can find about 300+ breweries still operating to this day. Make sure to stop by several breweries where the locals will be glad to guide you. And taste their mouth watering beers. We had more time to spare so we decided to look around the quaint village of Buttenheim, Levi Strauss' hometown, and later checked in to Hotel Strauss.
Day 2: Day 2 called for a tour of the majestic and popular walled city; Rothenburg, considered the popular and majestic walled city of Germany. We then went to Wurzburg where some of the most famous churches and the grand palace of The Residenz await. If you are a lover of crown jewels and Egyptian art, you've got to see the Residenz.
Day 3: The most sought after tourist route The Romantic Road, called to us. Towns rich in history gorgeously surrounding the landscape of the magnificent Alps are just something you wouldn't want to pass up. Next stop is Oberammergau, famous for its unique houses and its paintings of the brothers Grimm Fairytale paintings on its many walls; think the really old book editions of Snow White and you'll get the picture.
Day 4: Hail Mad King Ludwig! Neuschwanstein and Linderhof will literally take your breath away! Walt Disney Castle anyone? We were told that Ludwig's castles were the inspiration behind Walt's. If you can actually take yourself out of Ludwig's castle, you can try visiting nearby Garmisch were the Nazi Olympics in 1936 took place and Wies famous for its splendid Rococo church.
Day 5: Munich! Museums, Munich Olympic Park, beer gardens, Hofbrauhaus, the chilling Dachau concentration camps which housed over 200,000+ people during Hitler's reign - he killed 36,000 of them. A tip for those who want to go the Olympic Park, an adventure tour is offered daily at 2pm and you wouldn't want to miss that. Plus, do what we did and climb the actual Olympic Tower to get a full view of the entire park and the stadium and get a reduced price of 2.50 instead of the usual 4. We then visited Dachau before immersing ourselves in the beer gardens (via bike tour I might add), because we knew it would be a bittersweet affair. The best thing to do after visiting Dachau is go directly to a beer garden to brighten up your mood. And what do you know; we ended up tasting at least a dozen kinds of beers by nightfall.
Day 6: Museums, museums, museums! Pinakotheks and some more Pinakotheks! If art is your thing, you really shouldn't miss these museums. The Alte Pinakothek houses over 800 masterpieces of medieval to modern paintings including Goya, Da Vinci, Boticelli, Raphael, Rembrandt, El Greco, Durer and Rubens. While the Neue Pinakothek houses an extensive collection of French Impressionists by Pissaro, Degas, Renoir, Van Gogh Cezanne, Gauguin, Monet and Manet among others. The Pinakothek der Moderne on the other hand showcases modern art and the Lenbachhuas features Bahaus, Blue Rider artists and expressionist art such as Kandinsky. Immerse yourself and pray to heaven that you will remember all the details of the masterpieces. To cap the last day of our glorious tour, we headed to... guess where? The Beer gardens of course.
Road signs in the city are somewhat confusing so be sure to be a really good map interpreter if you plan to rent a car. Your best bet to get around the city is to take advantage of walking tours, bike tours, trains and buses as most people would gladly help you out if you get lost; though getting lost is somewhat of an adventure in itself since you will get to see tons of off-road attractions not normally set in the itinerary. Within Bavaria, you can take advantage of the Bavaria Ticket used to get around the entire city state by train. The ticket will give you an all day travel within Bavaria.
Reader submitted vacation experience published anonymously on request. Send your expereinces to jtrotta@gmail.com if you'd like to see them published. Or comment below.
June 27, 2007
Hard to have fun in the state of Las Vegas when you have no cash
Here's a scary story that's mostly about a horrible experience with a bank that blocked access to the "State of Las Vegas" so that a honeymooning couple had no access to cash. Strangely they were traveling with one credit card that had a limit of $300. I didn't know it was possible to get such a low limit, but anyway, the lesson for travelers here (besides avoiding Farmer's and Mechanics Savings Bank NJ) is to have a little credit (2 cards or more with high enough limits to get you out of a jam).
The best bet would be credit cards that get you free travel rewards when you go to Las Vegas.
June 25, 2007
Santa Fe Trail, Red Rock Fantasy, Moose Jaw
I'll try to be brief today as I have tons of papers to mark and final grades to calculate...
This experience is an interesting one, horseback riding on the Santa Fe Trail. Having no idea how to ride a horse, it doesn't seem like much of a vacation to me, but the camping part sounds pretty good.
We've also got a story on the Red Rock Fantasy in Sedona, Arizona. This goes from November 16, 2007 to Jan. 1, 2008.
Up in Saskatchewan, Canada, you have Moose Jaw. This city is featured in Chatelaine, a Canadian women's magazine. Apparently Moose Jaw is the best place to vacation in Saskatchewan. The July issue of Chatelaine has more information. If you're not a subscriber, try the official city website.
I wouldn't mind going to the Saskatchewan Burrowing Owl Interpretive Centre to see some of these endangered owls, but something has me confused:
SBOIC is a non-government, non-profit, charitable organization. Our work is funded entirely through donations and grants. Donations are tax deductible. Donations from conservation organizations, corporate sponsors, local business, and the public enable the Centre to continue providing educational opportunities to concerned citizens. Donations should be made payable to the City of Moose Jaw...Now if this is a non-government thing, why are people making their checks out to the city government?
Of course, there's lots more to do in Moose Jaw so don't worry if you're not excited about the owls.
June 11, 2007
Amtrak to Glacier Park experience
Here's a letter to the editor arguing for more trains and more government support for trains. To support his argument he talks a little (not many details unfortunately) about the Amtrak ride to and from Glacier Park.
June 4, 2007
Punta Cana Sunscape Dominican Republic vacation experience
This is one reader's experience in the Punta Cana Sunscape all-inclusive resort (where I might stay):
We paid $2000 for airfare, transportation, room & board and booked on expedia.com. We probably spent another $300 in tips/incidentals primarily because we wanted to. Get one of those calling cards or make sure you cellphone will work there, but you'll need one of those power converters if you bring your charger.
We ate at all the restuarants. I had no stomach or intestinal issues. Men must wear long pants at 3 of the 5 places. If you go, look up one of the restuarant manager's named Duarte (about 55 years old build like a fire hydrant. His English is the best. The guy really took us under wing.
The beer does suck, as does any drink requiring Tequilla--they have nothing but Rum and Vodka for the most part and no Mexican Tequilla or American Beer whatsoever. If you're a Bloody Mary fan, make sure you bring some Worchestire, Old Bay and Horseradish with you. They didn't have Bailey's either, but we bought a bottle at Duty Free so Espresso Martini's worked fine. Stay away from their Casino...not worth the $50 in free chips whatsoever. The shows were great and the Disco was o.k. too, although the one night of Karreokee almost required my putting some women out of their misery--problem was I couldn't find the gaff. Heinecken was available but not part of the all-inclusive which featured El Presidente, that's about the extent of dark beer--no pun intended. Unfortunately, the beer in the mini-fridge was moose-piss. Pay the maid a $20 and she'll buy you Heinecken and bring it to work the next day.
I tipped the maid from day one $20 and she changed all the sheets daily for us, as opposed to just making the bed. The room was spotless and we had nothing stolen. Safe is available, but after the 3rd day we rarely used it.
The bartenders poured heavy, tip them and they poured heavier. I can't imagine how much Rum they go through in a year...it seemed like they were cracking open a new bottle every 20 minutes.
Activities from snorkeling to boating required a refundable deposit, but no cost to "rent" the equipment. On-site scuba diving and certification is available for an additional fee. Don't be "lured" by the sidewalk vendors' spiel on the jewelry, or artwork, but the cigar officianoto's are worth doing some higgling-haggling with... If you stick with the price you're willing to pay, they will come down--however each are VERY well trained in counter-offering...Cuban cigars run about $10-12 (Cuban Cohiba Robustos). They also feature the fruit lady who cuts up fresh pineapples, mangos, watermelon and all types of passion fruits daily--Vitamin C is VERY important...as are vitamins R-U-M-V-O-D-K-A.
Definitely do the spa treatment. Hottest steam room I've ever been to in my life...really helped allow you to consume more Rum the next day. Pay for it once for the week (about $250) and you'll be a VERY happy man, as the masseuses were female only and my Sweedish massage included some extra-curricular areas not necessarily done any other place I've EVER been to...
Stay away from the dinner cruises, why pay for something you're getting for free anyway? Definitely do the 4 or 8 hours of fishing for about $70 to $100.
Bottom-line is that I'd go back next week if I had the vacation days to do so. We're either returning or going to Aruba next year. P.S. Condos on the beach are selling for $48K...no error, $48,000.
Well that's what I was sent. After reading about the massage, I'm not sure my wife will let us go to Sunscape the Beach Punta Cana.
May 30, 2007
Parrot Cay: exclusive Caribbean resort vacation experience
This author went to Parrot Cay where 2 people will spend over $5,000 for a 3 night package. I guess I should read the article carefully because it will be a while before I pay that much for a vacation...
May 11, 2007
Sawadee Spa Cebu travel tip
Here's a little Cebu travel tip on the Sawadee Spa near Plantation Bay. My wife and I went there on a Saturday night because the Kilimanjaro Springs Spa at Plantation Bay couldn't accommodate my wife and I at the same time.
When we got to Sawadee, we asked them if they could give us massages at the same time. If we waited an hour then they could. They showed us the massage price list in US dollars and we were surprised to see the prices were about the same as in the resort (though they had more massage choices). The prices started at $25 for an hour-long massage.
My wife insisted on seeing the price sheet for locals, in pesos. At first they pretended not to know what she was talking about but when my wife insisted they gave us another price sheet. Here the $25 massage was 550 pesos, about $11.50. This is the first travel tip: insist on paying in pesos and make sure you see the peso price list.
We chose Shiatsu massages but still had to wait an hour. We asked them where we could pass the time and the recommended the bar downstairs. My wife and I knew the only other option was to walk around the area sweating our butts off because it was so hot. We would have seen real Filipino life since there were lots of natives out and about. But we would have gotten hot and sweaty (no fun for the masseuse) and the area was a little depressing because it looked so poor.
We went to the bar downstairs and saw posters of women on the way. My wife started wondering what kind of bar this was. Before entering you had to pay the cover (100 pesos that included a drink) for the show. There was an opaque door with a picture of a woman with large breasts painted on it. My wife asked what kind of show we’d be seeing. The woman said it was kind of a comedy show. We didn't believe her but we paid and went in.
The place was empty; we were the only customers. There were a few waiters and some women in tight dresses walking around. We sat down at a table not to close to the bar and a waiter brought us some menus and told us which drinks we could get in exchange for the cover we'd paid. As we were ordering two ladies in fancy dresses came over, sat down with us, and said hi.
When my wife saw their faces and heard them say hi she was quite relieved because she realized they were (or at least had been) male. I didn't share her relief. Male or female, my wife didn't want to buy them drinks so she told them we didn't want any company and they left. An hour later (at 9:30) the show (which was supposed to start at 9:00) still hadn't started. We left and got our shiatsu massages at Sawadee – these were very good.
We could have gone back downstairs to see some of the "comedy" transvestite show, but we decided to go back to Plantation Bay to do some night swimming instead.
Interestingly, the taxi driver that had taken us there was waiting for us when we got out. Apparently he had waited 2 hours even though we told him not to wait (we saw him waiting on our way to the transvestite bar and told him we'd be a while so he shouldn’t wait). I’m not quite sure why he decided to wait. Maybe he knew that we'd feel obligated to give him a nice tip on the way back to the resort. On the way there the meter came to 67 pesos (about $1.40, the price of 4 mangos in the supermarket) and we’d tipped an extra 20 pesos. I don’t remember what the meter was on the way back, but thinking we didn’t need any more Filipino money we gave him most of ours.
Of course the next day we'd be looking for an ATM to pay the exit fee we didn't know about, but that’s another story. I'll blog about Cebu’s terrible airport in a few days.
Speaking of future blog entries, I'll soon begin talking about and sharing pictures of Royal Carribean’s new Liberty of the Seas. Royal Caribbean sure knows how to impress travel agents and writers – it was a wonderful experience and everything was free. Thank you again for reading this blog. If I didn't have lots of readers I never would have gotten to experience the new Royal Caribbean ship.
May 9, 2007
Acapulco vacation experiences and comments by Sharon
I’ve read a number of the articles about various beach resorts in different parts of the world. This is what prompted me to write about one of my favorite vacation destinations, Acapulco. On my first trip there, I flew from San Antonio, Texas (my home) to Guadalajara, where I stayed two nights at El Tapatio (a quiet hotel built on a terraced hillside that I would also recommend). Leaving there it was another short flight (approximately 2 hours counting customs, etc.) to the Acapulco airport and a quick taxi ride to the Acapulco Princess Hotel, now the Fairmont Princess Hotel. The resort sits on over 400 acres with a history of its own, where Howard Hughes spent his last days virtually enclosed in the entire top floor of penthouses. With six swimming pools, one salt water, a cave and swim-up bar, tennis courts, golf course, hammocks and cabanas, the place is amazing. There’s music and entertainment every evening, daytime water activities, horseback riding on the beach, a choice of restaurants on the grounds, and a shopping arcade of boutiques featuring jewelry, artwork, glass, and clothing.
There is much to see and do, but let’s start with Los Rancheros on the hillside overlooking the bay. Grab a taxi (rates are posted at the front entrance of the Princess) to this typical Mexican style hacienda restaurant for some great nachos, a cold cerveza (Mexican beer is excellent), and an order of guacamole (avocado with lime and cilantro) for an appetizer. Then, try the beef or pork entrees, black beans, and rice, or if you happen to like fresh seafood, or shrimp (which I personally prefer), you’ll find a good selection on the menu prepared any way you like it.
From there, it’s a short, but beautiful ride on a winding road along the bay to downtown Acapulco. Here, you’ll find more of the crowds and the hustle bustle you hear about. Still, there are fascinating shops and restaurants to explore, offering every type of product and cuisine imaginable, and music to listen to from strolling guitar players and small bands in local cantinas. As in most of Mexico, food is relatively inexpensive, and the atmosphere is casual.
For the adventurous, deep sea fishing is a must. The boats are certainly not modern by any means, but the captain and his crew (at least one) are muy agradable (very friendly). The boats go out from shore about two miles into the bay, where you’ll see all sorts of fish and hopefully catch a few. If not, don’t despair, just kick back and relax in a deck chair and enjoy the ocean, the warmth of the sun, and the beauty that’s all around you.
Nighttime activities range from fine dining and soft music, with a Latin beat, an evening cruise on the bay to late night dancing at one of several discos – your choice. Take time to go to La Quebrada at the opposite end of the bay from the Princess and watch the famous cliff divers do the impossible. Check out the Convention Center schedule if you like exciting flamenco music. Or, you can always sit on the balcony of your hotel room, count the stars, and watch the moon rise above the endless tide.
Would I recommend Acapulco – indeed! Forget all the hype about being too touristy, too commercial, and too crowded. True enough, it is a very popular tourist place, with an economy that is largely based on that popularity. I’ve found this to be the case, however, in many other vacation spots. One thing is certain – the scenery is magnificent, the Sierra Madre Mountains are majestic, and the bay just has to be one of the most beautiful in the world. I have returned many times to find perhaps a few more people, a few new restaurants, and many more things to do. Yet, some things never change and Acapulco’s natural beauty remains the same.
This guest article was submitted by Sharon L. Slayton who is a regular reader and commenter here. Thank you for sharing your experiences Sharon! Anyone can submit their experiences to jtrotta@gmail.com.
April 21, 2007
Quick update on my Cebu vacation
This will be a quick update as I have to go back to my vacation / review of Plantation Bay. I do want everyone to know that my wife and I are having an excellent time. Plantation Bay is a large resort and if you count trying out all the different swimming pools, there's a lot to do here.
I mentioned in my previous post that I felt a review was necessary because there were a good number of negative reviews mixed in with the positive online. I can see both sides of the assessment fairly clearly now. The resort is beautiful and the staff is friendly. The rooms are very nice and there is more than enough to keep you busy if you don't like relaxing on vacation. There were a few issues with both the room and with the staff but nothing too serious. I'll describe them in detail when I write my review.
Many of the complaints involved price and I'll be giving lists of what we did and how much it cost. Certainly, if you're used to all inclusives and you plan on coming to Plantation Bay and not spending any money beyond the room rate you are going to leave unhappy.
I knew that we would spend money while we were here and while some people call me cheap, I am willing to spend money when it means having more fun. So we're spending a good bit of money - I don't know if I can give you much of an estimate now but in one full day we might $75 (beside the cost of the room obviously). This includes lunch, renting snorkeling stuff, a mango shake at the swim-up bar (I love swim-up bars), and a car ride to the Ayall shopping mall. We ate dinner in the mall and took a taxi back and that was a lot less expensive than the resort.
No surprise there. Please excuse any typos - I'm not using a word processor.
April 13, 2007
the French West Indies island of Saint Barthélemy, better known as St. Barts or St. Barths
Here's a fairly short article about a 4-day trip to St. Barts that the author says felt like a 7 day vacation. Luckily it wasn't actually 7 days because St. Barts is an expensive vacation destination. There are exclusive resorts (the author paid 340 Euros a night), expensive French restaurants and fancy designer shops.
To get to St. Barts, you fly into Juliana Airport in St. Maarten and then get a "puddle jumper flight" or take a ferry to St. Barts.
They said some interesting things about St. Maarten: "There’s a mountain and a steep drop to the short runway that stops just shy of the sunbathers on the adjacent beach. (One could literally hop off the plane, strip down to their swimsuit and have a refreshing Ricard in hand on the sand in a matter of minutes.)" I used to have a video of that, but YouTube removed it for a terms of use violation - I guess it was copyrighted somewhere.
I found a couple of more for you. I don't know why, but I never get tired of watching these planes so close to people on the beach. These videos do make some noise - just so you know if you're at work or something and have your speakers on.
April 5, 2007
Disney honeymoon experience, new Four Seasons Orlando, & 2007 Magic Your Way Plus Free Dining vacation package
Nicole went to Walt Disney World for her honeymoon in April 2004. She emailed this to me and wanted to share:
Florida is beautiful and not too hot then, so the weather was great. We spent 1 day at each Land, i.e. Epcot, Magic Kingdom etc. to get the full fun of them with no stress. On the last day, we spent it going to our favorite spots 1 last time... Epcot, by the way, has so many countries in it, it's like visiting them without a passport. So I COULD say I went to Japan, Italy, Germany, etc. for my honeymoon.
Then we moved on to 2 days at Universal Studios, and we took in International blvd. as well.
I highly recommend WDW for honeymoons, as you have no kids yet! You can do what YOU want! Ride what you want, shop when you want, there's no crying.... we had a great time. We stayed off property in a Day's Inn that had free shuttle service, and saved $11 daily on parking... I love that mouse.
This is me again. Read more comments on honeymooning in Disney.
By the way, for all you rich folks who think the Disney resorts are too cheap, you'll soon have a Four Season resort near Disney: "Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts will build a luxury hotel and 18-hole championship golf course along the northeast border of Walt Disney World, theme park officials said Thursday."
But I also have good news for the rest of us (the people on a budget). I read that Disney is bringing back Magic Your Way Plus Free Dining. This promotion allows tourists who book at least a four night / five day package between August 26 and September 22 to eat free on Disney property. You have to book between April 12 and June 24.
April 4, 2007
Vacation plans with kids: Wisconsin travel experience, baseball games, old blog entries
A family counselor says that family vacations often provide good memories, even for people from dysfunctional families. So while I have no kids myself, I thought I'd collect some information on vacationing with kids.
First I searched this blog, where I mentioned road trips with kids, educating kids on vacation, getting your kids tough enough for vacation, getting kids involved in vacation planning, and keeping kids happy in Berlin. There are a few others, including some vacation plans with kid-friendly stuff but I'll only mention this vacation with kids stuff in PA.
Here's a writer who recommends the Osthoff Resort in Wisconsin for vacationing families. Rooms start at $165 during the off-season, but the author had a two-bedroom suite (a room for the kids and another for the adults). For this room prisces start at $215.
Not surprisingly, they were able to fins some nice land in Wisconsin: "The resort is nestled along the edge of spring-fed Elkhart Lake, a spot Native Americans called "the chosen spot" because of its natural beauty, cedar tree-lined shores and deep, pristine water." However, we can't say the land is unspoiled because while they were swimming in the lake they heard "revving car engines of the nearby Road America four-mile racetrack."
As far as I can tell the author never visited the racetrack. She did enjoy the expensive spa (who wouldn't like an expensive spa treatment?) but the other activities seemed only OK. If you end up in Wisconsin you might want to see about the state's festivals.
Now when you do travel with kids, you have to remember not to make them ride in the trunk. Scary.
What's more fun than riding in the trunk? Maybe seeing a minor league baseball game. I remember seeing one of these near Providence, Rhode Island on July 3rd a few years ago and they had a nice fireworks display after the game. It was pretty fun. You could always plan a whole vacation around baseball (this links to a 2006 vacation plan so this is only an example of what you could do).
Of course, family vacations don't have to be domestic. Some parents try to teach their kids to appreciate other places and cultures by taking them abroad early. Of course these types of vacations can be more expensive than a trip to Wisconsin or a minor league ball game...
In the end, it's hard enough to figure out where I want to go and if my wife will like it to. I'm glad I don't have to worry about making sure 1 or more kids also have fun on each vacation....
March 4, 2007
Luxury vacation in the Italian Alps
I've written about walking around Rome, eating at Pizza Re again, movie tourism in Rome, and even buying proprty in Rome, but maybe I need to dream bigger. Here's a story about a real luxury vacation in the Italian Alps. The author give a good description of his vacation staying at the Grand Palace Merano, a five-star hotel in one of Europe's most famous spa towns. However, I should warn you that the article may make you a bit jealous...
March 3, 2007
Park City, Utah ski & spa vacation experience
I've written about vacationing in Park City, Utah before. It's well know for the Sundance Film Festival (which I'd love to attend) and for skiing (which doesn't interest me so much).
So I was interested to come across this article (you might need to register for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution) on a parent taking their kid on a ski vacation to Park City.
The author loves the hotel she stayed in, but it was very expensive. She especially liked the massages and other spa stuff. She was celebrating her 50th birthday and her last vacation with her son so she was willing to spend money. Personally, I'd be looking to rent a condo or something if I went. From what I've seen on this Park City condo site, you can get a better deal with a condo.
If you've been to Park City, please leave a comment and share your expereinces!
February 24, 2007
Road trips with the kids experience
Here's an amusing article about taking a road trip with the kids. It's got a few ideas if you're faced with this usually daunting task. I like the idea of surprise bags to keep kids busy for a few hours in the car:
And then there's the surprise bag, filled with little toys and games to pass the time. But of course, now they know the bag is up there in the front seat holding the treasure and like little pirates, they want all of it by Platteville. Calm blue ocean...calm blue ocean...calm blue ocean.Of course my favorite experience would be one where there are no kids in the car...
February 20, 2007
Flying tours of Cambodia from Wings Over Cambodia ultralight flying
I've written about Cambodia a few times but never actually been there. Today I write about Cambodia again but this one will be a bit different. There's a company called Wings Over Cambodia and you can see what they do in this video. It looks like a motorbike with wings and a fan to me.
My wife says she's going to do it, but I'm pretty sure I'd be too scared to enjoy myself on a flying bicycle...
If you're braver than me, you might be wondering where they operate:
Our base in Kompong Speu province provides an ideal staging area for scenic local flying around the Cambodian countryside, or longer flying adventures to sites such as Oudong, the Tonle Sap river, and the impenetrable jungle of the Cardomoms deep in Cambodia's jungle. We also relocate to Siem Reap and other parts of the country for seasonal flying operations.I categorized this one in "vacation experiences" even though this is one experience I'll probably never have. I'm sure that people who do ultralight flying get rewarded with a very memorable travel experience.
October 25, 2006
Santiago to Cape Horn: Winter into Summer in December
Our flight from DFW to Santiago took us over Central America, the Gulf of Panama, across the equator along the coasts of Equador and Peru where lights were visible. We landed in Santiago in daylight.
The approach was gradual and long over some of the most inhospitable land I had ever seen, a suitable guardian of the Andes that rose in snow-capped grandeur to the east. Some peaks were obviously volcanic. Nearer the airport we flew over cultivated land, and landed before I was ready. I was looking forward to seeing the city, but we never did. A fellow traveler said Santiago would be his second choice to live anywhere in the world.
We were bussed to Valparaiso 70 miles west of Santiago where the ship awaited us. The city is a city of hills through which we wended our way to the dock. The land leveled out near the port where the wind was blowing half a gale. A photographer could find many interesting architectural subjects, and its uses to solve problems posed by the hills.
Our departure was later than planned because of the wind. The barge could not supply the ship in such a wind, and a tanker truck was used instead. I missed the first formal night because of mal de mer. The ship dipped and rose over turbulent seas two nights and a day, but once we anchored off Puerto Mont, we were in sheltered water, and even the weather cooperated to make the remainder of the cruise a delight.
Puerto Mont is not unusual, perhaps more substantial than other Latin American cities I've seen, but it is the gateway to the Lake District more inland. We seldom take ship-sponsored tours preferring to check out the port city. Besides, our stay was cut short to make up for the time lost in Valparaiso.
For the next five days we sailed on placid seas in good weather, and had fine views of the Andes. Then we entered Pacific water again when we transited the Beagle Channel to skirt the Taitao Peninsula that blocked our southern path. Next day we entered the sheltered Inside Passage again where we visited two glaciers, Pio XI, and Amalia, before continuing south between barrier islands on the west, and the Andes Corderilla to our left with their many snow-capped, and cloud-wrapped volcanic peaks.
The Andes dive into the sea to allow for the Strait of Magellan, only to rise again to form the land of Tierra del Fuego separated from the Mainland. Cape Froward is the southern most tip of continental South America around which we sailed east then north to Punta Arenas about halfway through the Strait. It was the port to which the survivors of the Shackleton Antarctic Expedition when rescued from Elephant Island in 1925.
Across the Strait, opposite Cape Froward, is the south bearing Cockburn Channel through Tierra del Fuego on which we sailed to reach the Beagle Channel that we followed east to Ushuaia, the southern most city of the world. The remnant Andes rise again to great heights, the grandeur overspread with glaciers and perpetual snow.
Enchanting channels create numerous islands the larger of which define the boundaries of the Beagle Channel into which five glaciers on the north shore empty their ice. South of the Channel and east of Ushuaia, the landscape diminishes in height and divides into lesser island leading to Cape Horn where the land ends and the Drake Passage begins.
Ushuaia is situated at the foot of either the Andes or an adjacent range. The town is spread east and west along he coast in a narrow line of perhaps six or more streets like steps leading to a greenbelt that separated it from its mountainous backdrop. Ushuaia has the appearance of an Alpine-village, quite attractive, and the people are amicable.
Cape Horn was about a twelve-hour cruise from Ushuaia where the ship only dipped its bow into Pacific water before turning 180 degrees, and heading for the Falklands. South of the Cape is a three hundred-mile wide stretch of water ending in Antarctica. Drakes Passage is known as the roughest sea in the world because the Andes block the prevailing west wind forcing it south around the Cape where it frequently blows at more than hurricane strength.
For a better appreciation of the effect the Andes have upon Cape Horn, read ALONG THE CLIPPER WAY, by Sir Francis Chichester (editor). A summary of many voyages made or attempted to round Cape Horn - I looked for this on Amazon and there was only one used copy available so maybe you should try eBay!
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This guest article was submitted by Kenneth G. Ramey – Please leave him a comment to let him know how much we appreciate hearing about his experience! You can submit your expereicnes to jtrotta@gmail.com and don’t forget about the travel writing contest!