Maui - Day 9 - Leaving

I managed to get up after only one snooze. I am not ready for vacation to be over, but I am looking forward to being in my house, sleeping in my bed, eating regular food, seeing the dog and catching up with Becca (who was on vacation when we started our adventure). After unzipping the extender on my suitcase I can fit in most of the souvenirs.
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The lei ceremony is nice. I like the history our hostess includes and I tear up when she talks about how the 9/11 events stranded people on the island and changed tourism. One old guy next to us, who was late to the ceremony, whispers to his wife that he thought they were getting a special lei and that this is a boring, typical one. I guess I am too gullible and soft because I leave less inclined to be grumpy about the little things and add-ons which have been annoying me so far (no wi-fi in the room and Internet charges are $10/day, parking is $9/day, etc.). But I also remember the beach rental guys letting us use an umbrella and chairs late one afternoon free of charge and extending our snorkel rental from 2 to 24 hours without charging us the extra.
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We leave the hotel on time and have no problems getting to the gate. We have time for one last drink and lunch before the plane boards. Our plane is late taking off and we once again are trying to connect to the last flight of the day with a 30-minute window. We didn't do the research to know we were taking "last flights of the day" and we figured that if American Airlines would sell the flights then they were reasonable layovers. We will know better next time...not sure how today will turn out...but I am sure it will all be fine in the end (just not maybe exactly as we planned it).
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Aloha!

Maui - Day 8 - Luau

We realized sometime yesterday that we hadn't figured out when to go to the luau and that we had only one night left here on the island. While we fear that this is simply a tourist trap we feel sorta obligated to participate. Not knowing what we missed out on would bug me after we left. So the first order of business today is to see if there are any last minute spots available at any luau on Maui. As luck would have it the Royal Lahaina Luau, just a 15 minute walk from our hotel has spots open. So we swallow our objection to the price and buy the tickets.
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We spend the last afternoon unintentionally burning ourselves in a short beach layout/swimming session and going back to Leilanni's on the Beach for individual portions of those fabulous pork nachos (diet to start in T minus 2 days and counting). The waitress comments that we must've been here before since we ordered so fast and starts to walk away after I order my nachos. She is a little surprised when Iggy orders his. I tell her, "I am not sharing this time!" She laughs and says she likes my style. Back in the hotel I start organizing the scrapbook we have brought along (my first/paper anniversary present from Iggy that we didn't use since we canceled last year's anniversary trip). I had only put stuff in for day one so far and I did that on day three. So I feel a little bad for making Iggy pack it for the trip. (But I also packed 2dresses and 1shirt that I didn't end up using. Either packing isn't my strong suit or I like having options...). I don't paste anything else in but I do get my bits torn our of magazines/brochures and put in between the pages where they go.
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It isn't long until its time for the luau. We arrive later than we wanted to because I am dilly-dallying. There are maybe 20 people behind us in line and we hear someone say that there are 600 people in attendance. The women taking receipts and handing out table tokens skip us, but we figure it out and ask them before we get to the seating area. Once there the hostess tells us to go to a certain person in costume for seating. We do, but when we get there he walks off. (I think he was trying to find 2 seats for the couple in front of us.) We wait for a bit then try to chase him down. I am irritated and not looking forward to the crowd. I ask Iggy if we can just ask for our money back. I debate asking him this again after we are seated at a table where they sorta split up a family to fit us in and there are 5 adults with 6 children on our other side (2 of which seem to be screaming or crying at any given moment - the kids, I mean, but a couple of the adults don't look too far away from some sort of outburst themselves). I am not particularly hungry since we had lunch a little late. At one point the mom of family next to us with 4 kids sends the dad off again to the restroom with one of the little boys and the dad says, jokingly, "Boy is this fun! We should have another one! Oh wait! We are!" ai yi yi.
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The dinner is pretty good, but the uniquely Hawaiian items like poi and the coconut dessert we have already tried at other restaurants. The big hit for me were the chicken nuggets and mac'n'cheese that I took off the kid's buffet. Just kidding! At one point the mom i mentioned earlier asks her oldest boy if he ate the icing off her chocolate cake. He vehemently denies it, and she asks me if he did. I actually have no idea since I have been watching the rest of the crowd and am working on my 2nd or 3rd mai tai. The sorta split up family on Iggy's side is interesting to talk to. They were on their family vacation to the big island earlier this summer. But his work sent him here for a conference, so he brought the family again. He tells his teenage boys they are spoiled and they laugh good-naturedly.
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The show is good; the emcee is mildly entertaining and the dancers are good. There is considerably less belly-aching from the kids next to us now that they're fed and the show has started. The guy who seated us is introduced as the Polynesian Prince during one dance. Iggy jokes that he's disappointed that a prince has to do a menial job like seating us. I like the New Zealand dance where the dancers wear face paint and do all the posturing intended to intimidate strangers. I especially like the parts where they make their eyes wide and crazy-looking while sticking their tongues out. There is one dancer who reminds me of The Rock who seems to really be getting into it and there is a lady close to the stage with a big camera who seems to particularly like taking his picture. The fire dancing seems pretty good but with all the hype I was expecting more (supposedly this show has the most). I guess the other shows must just walk a torch across the stage and call it good. (kidding) All in all, I am glad we went but I don't think I would go again unless I was with someone who had never been or a big group of people that wanted to go.






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Back at the room I am not interested in packing...so uncharacteristically I decide to get up early tomorrow to do that.

Maui - Day 7 - Exploring the Island

We tried snorkeling in the morning, but the current was strong and it was hard to get anywhere. Plus the people who were out were oblivious. A paddle boarder almost ran into us, one woman that couldn't swim and was using a wake board to help her float while snorkeling was all over the place, etc. We did see a couple of eels and a ton of fish. Where the current was strongest it looked like a fish parking lot -- they were all hovering on the ocean floor a couple of inches away from each other.
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The first stop on our island adventure was The Maui Tropical Plantation. It was more of a tourist trap than I wished for, but it was cool to see all the different plants and the coconut husking demonstration.


We had lunch on site at a BBQ place - good food, but the chickens wandering around were a bit unnerving. The highlight of lunch was listening to a teenage girl talk about how cute the baby chicks were before ordering her chicken sandwich. We left before she got her food - I was afraid Iggy would ask her if her sandwich was also cute.


We took the train ride, but probably could've seen all the sites walking. It was fun to see the zip line stations on the plantation. They seemed positively tame compared to the zip lines we did in Jalisco, Mexico...wonder if the safety regulations are different?
A couple of shots from the plantation:






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The second stop on our island exploration was the Ali'i Kula Lavender farm. This was less tourist-y and more off the beaten path (read as the roads leading there were narrow, windy, and we were not really sure we were on the right path). I wanted to see the purple fields like you see in pictures from the French lavender fields (which we did see) but the bonus was the view. The farm is at 4000 feet and you can see the "skinny" part of Maui with ocean on both sides.












We had lavender scones at the gift shop before continuing on our adventure.
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Next was a little random driving. We stopped at a farm stand to buy bananas and a papaya for breakfast tomorrow. We drove through Paia (cute town - maybe a place to stay next time), stopped at a scenic overlook and drove a little bit of the Hana highway.





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Last stop was Mama's Fish House for dinner. It was highly recommended and lived up to the hype. It was even worth the hour drive back to the hotel. We were early and didn't really get to watch the sun set from our table, but we did have a nice beach view.


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Back at the hotel we watched the Olympics again (Michael Phelps 3-peat! Gabby wins gold!) and then the local news. Local news is an adventure regardless of where you are. There was some news on a guy who got his foot bitten by a shark while surfing (minor injuries, he'll be back out there again ASAP he says) and a beach where some palm trees were mysteriously cut down. The beach regulars blame the guy across the street and made a sign saying so. The guy across the street took the sign down and says the forest service cut down the trees. The forest service says "not us." Wheeeeee!

Location:Maui, HI

Maui - Day 6 - Beach Day

Snorkeling in the morning - we say 3 spotted rays and a huge turtle! I was pretty surprised because we went in the late morning and there were probably 25 other snorkelers in the same area. (Luckily it is easy to spread out a little and the first bend in the shoreline weeds out most of the snorkelers.) It was so good we extended our equipment rental from 2 hours to "all day" so we could go the next morning too!
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Lunch at Leilanni's on the Beach - this time we got the nachos! Surprisingly they surpassed our expectations after thinking about them for 2 days! They had a chipotle sour cream and a habernero salsa (not overpowering) and we added the shredded pork option. I would recommended it (if you like nachos).
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Beach time
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Dinner at Paradise Grill. The opposite of our dining experience last night. I asked for a glass of cabernet. The waitress brought me the cocktail menu (which says "ask your server for seasonal wine selections"). I decided a cocktail might be safer. The waitress was difficult to understand, flighty and made me nervous. The pizza was great, though, and we got to watch the olympics on the TV near our table as we ate.

Maui - Day 5 - Anniversary!

We started the day with cheerios in our room (to avoid the expensive and over-indulgent buffet downstairs) and a quick "swim" in the ocean but then got ready for our big plans. We were taking a helicopter tour of west Maui and Molokai! Plus we had dinner reservations at a local up-and-coming restaurant.

It took just under an hour to drive back to Kahalui where the airport is. Once there we had to weigh in (eek!) so they could balance the helicopter. We had to go through some safety items - similar to when on an airplane - but this time it felt a little more real. I'm not sure if that was because I had to wear a life vest in a pack around my waist for the whole trip or if I think helicopters are less stable or if I just actually haven't heard 100 times how to jettison helicopter doors in case of a water landing.

Our pilot was Shaylan. Iggy thought that he "just looked" like a helicopter pilot. Since I was sitting next to him he started by showing me the controls on the floor and making sure I knew not to bump them with my legs. He told us about what we were seeing as we flew over it and often told jokes that only he really understood. He would ask us questions and try to read our lips as we answered (he was the only person miked).
The views were spectacular - so many waterfalls and so much green in the landscapes and blues in the water. It was a little hazy since there seem to be clouds sitting on the tops of the mountains here a lot.


As we were driving back to our hotel, we got a little lost, but had the happy accident of stumbling across Wow Wee Maui - a local sushi and burger place. We stopped in for lunch and bought a Wow Wee Maui Potato Chip and Milk Chocolate candy bar (yum!).
* * *
After a little nap and looking through our photos and a little balcony time, we got ready to head over to dinner at David Paul's Island Grill in Lahaina. We sat on the patio facing the street and the beach and had a nice view of the sunset. We watched the couple at the table next to us argue and the lady at another table complain that the tart she ordered for dessert wasn't a pie. There was a table 10 people close to us that had one guy who seemed to constantly be talking louder than anyone in the restaurant. And the table next to us was a quiet family with 2 kids (maybe 3 and 7) who were really well behaved. We tried the sashimi (paca paca) bruschetta as appetizers. Iggy had the steak oscar and I had pork 3 ways. We had the signature berry pie (not tart) for dessert. The food was really good and our waiter was nice - knowledge about the wine I wanted, knew the menu, and was all about the ambiance (when he saw me taking a picture of the sunset through the shades he ran back to the switches to open them).


It was a nice anniversary - a little adventure and some fine dining!

Location:Maui, HI

Maui - Days 2-4 - Relaxing

Saturday we walked over to Whaler's Village and shopped a bit. We had appetizers and happy hour at the Hula Grill where they had live music. The music seemed mostly Hawaiian and the lead singer encouraged us to all learn to the the "oo-ka-lay-lay." Or, if we had kids, to buy them a real souvenir (not the toy version from ABC Store).




We had dinner at Maui Fish and Pasta (including a yummy cilantro infused margarita) and got our feet in the ocean walking back to the hotel along the beach. Iggy bought me a lei but it smelled so strongly that I couldn't wear it while eating. It was very nice while walking back to the hotel though!

Sunday we went for a morning "swim" and then to the champagne brunch at out hotel. Even the woman who rented us our car recommended it. True to her promise, there were 3 walls of food and while we only had one glass of champagne each, that glass was refilled every time you took a sip making it a little difficult to track how much you were really drinking. There were hula dancers with the live music -- and we heard Iggy's favorite song again (Hawaiian Superman).




This was followed by a nap, a pedicure for me, then reading on the beach. In the evening we wandered back over to Whaler's Village so I could get an anniversary present now that I knew what he wanted and dinner at Leilanni's on the Beach. This was a very nice meal, but we had been wanting to the nachos we saw on the menu. Sadly Leilanni's has 2 restaurants and we were in the fancy one, not the bar one and the menus don't cross over.

Monday we went to the hotel orientation breakfast (Saturday at 8am was too early after or late arrival Friday night and they don't have it on Sundays due to the champagne brunch). The talk was pretty informative and the food was free. After that we booked our anniversary day activities and then drove over to Lahaina to look around. The Banyan tree was pretty cool.




And we had lunch at Cheeseburger in Paradise.




That night we tried appetizers and happy hour at the other Leilanni's, but sadly we were way too full for nachos. The happy hour margarita there had to be the worst one I've ever had - all mixer. We wandered around the shoreline for a bit checking out a craft fair at one of the hotels and then down to the black rock where we want to snorkel eventually. Then we decided on sunset on out balcony and pizza in the room and a movie (Mission Impossible 4).




I think we've got the relaxing part accomplished!

Location:Maui

Maui - Day 2 - Hopeful

It's 8am. Earlier than I planned on being up. Back home it is noon. I am not sure my body knows what time it is.
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I am sitting on the balcony looking out at the hotel grounds, and between the palm trees I can see the ocean. I have been out her for 30 minutes, but it's taken me some time to find the batteries for my wireless keyboard and to look around to see if there's any wi-fi I can connect to (there isn't - I will have to power up the mobile hotspot from Iggy's phone later).
*
It's quiet in terms of activity but there are birds warbling and chirping and generally making a racket. After my alarm went off (I forgot to turn it off when we got here last night) we heard a siren go by and Iggy mumbles in his half-asleep state "Book'em Dano!"
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There is an older (than me) couple sitting out on their deck too. He was eating a banana. When he was done, he leaned over and kissed his wife, then went in to get his cigar. She's been calmly smoking a cigarette and reading a novel.
*
The grounds crew is cleaning up under all the trees. Apparently those pretty trees with the yellow and white flowers dump a lot of leaves and twigs and stuff overnight. It always makes me feel a little sad to have to see people working in jobs I would detest. But then again they may not get 'ice pick' headaches and my job might seem super boring. I have to settle for being glad they're employed and hope they like their job.
*
When I first got out here an short chubby woman on the sidewalk below paused to stare at me. I don't know what she was looking at (I'm fully clothed) but later I feel slightly chagrined when I realize my nose strip is still on. I am slightly worried I am getting a cold since my sinuses have been draining most of yesterday and I couldn't breathe well last night. A couple of people at my work were worried about my stress level when I got those 'ice pick' headaches recently. I told them that if anything, I am *less* stressed now that we're done with the home buying, home selling, and moving. Plus I convinced my boss to take away one of my projects. But they pointed out that when you run on adrenaline you think you are fine and it's when you stop that your body has the chance to react. So now all I can think of is being on vacation, my work laptop safely at home, my body is going into full stop mode. It's probably going to hit me like a box of bricks! (hoping not)
*
Ooh - there's Iggy bringing me hotel room coffee. This will be a good day - I have a feeling about it!

Maui - Day 1 - Getting There Is Half the Fun (right?)

Friday is my first day off, but I have to give my last midyear review and recieve mine. I get an email from my boss that he's worried we had our wires crossed since he got an out of office from me (I love that one of my PMs calls these OOTOs - it sounds funny when you say it phoenetically). But I simply can't fit in all my work activities in 4 days this week and our flight isn't until 3pm. My boss wants to talk to me because there are some things he wants to explain - but he has to move the meeting out due to a conflict. I tell him it's all ok - just not too late because at 1pm my laptop is powering down to start it's vacation.
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Right as my (delayed) review is about to start I see the Intermountain Rural Electric van pull up outside. I am only half in nosey-neighbor mode today (my home office window faces the street and I see all the ladies on their midday walks, the kids skateboarding in formation, neighbors chatting over the fence, and I feel vaguely creepy watching all of it from afar). Then 2 minutes later our power goes out. I run downstairs in my PJs and see the electric guy coming from the side of our house. I incredulously say, "Did you just cut our power?" He responds that he did, that our bill is in arrears, asks my last name. I know he's only doing his job, but I have a hard time being civil - I need power to have internet to do my review and I have sheets in the wash and I gave myself time for leisurely packing and whatnot, but I didn't account for drama.
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It turns out that Xcel doesn't provide electricity in this area. So when we transferred our Xcel account they only transferred the gas. But didn't bother to tell us about their lack of ability to transfer the electric. We haven't gotten a bill yet for just the new house, so we haven't seen this change. The dweeb who owned our house before has not canceled his account - and while I have probably seen bills to him for IRE, I simply write "please forward" and put them back in the mailbox. [BTW, I do get to call him a dweeb. He left no forwarding address, and he did annoying things like turn the water down to the bare minimum after he sold the place. This left us with brown spots in the front yard and a cordial but annoying letter from the HOA which arrived our first week there telling us to please fix it so we don't bring our neighbors' property values down.] So IRE hasn't mailed us a "welcome" packed because they think he's in arrears and we've never heard of IRE before meeting the poor man cutting our power this morning. 30 minutes on the phone (mostly on hold, but then with a helpful woman who gets this type of thing all the time - I cannot describe how much I don't want her job) and we're promised that the power will be back "sometime today." Which means my review is phone only and the washer is still stopped midcycle. But at least my house sitters won't have to figure this out - can you imagine if it happened while they were there?
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So a lot of the stuff we're planning to do today doesn't work out that well. Not sure if Iggy got through paying the bills online or got his music downloaded. I know he didn't get a movie downloaded. But the power does come on in about 90 minutes (thank you IRE!) and I get all the bedding done in time to change all the beds and we get that last load of clothes through the dryer so Iggy can pack (I packed last week before I went to Bismarck because I was afraid I wouldn't have time when I got back Thursday night - something usually goes wrong with my return trip and I am not distrustful that it will work as I planned).
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I am repacking my purse and trying to figure out what purse is big enough to hold my iPad but sorta beach-y. I end up not finding one so I start to reuse my purse from last week (which is cool in it's own way, but hello! I wanted to change so I could break from work and feel like I am on vacation!). Iggy comes in and says, "I can't fit your present in my bag -- do you want to open it now and see if you want to take it?" I open it and it's a Kate Spade bag in khaki and orange (I don't have an orange purse yet) and it looks really beach-y! Plus since I've wanted a Kate Spade purse for the last two years -- since I had to get glasses and somehow ended up with Kate Spade frames. He points out that it's made of cotton and 2 years is the cotton anniversary. I have a *swoon* moment - he notices me being bummed about my purse choice right now, he listens (he remembers my Kate Spade quest) and he knows what colors of purses I have (granted I did just use up half a shelf in the new walk-in closet arranging my purses) and he knows what motif is for a 2-year anniversary! Then I have a sad moment, because the thing I gave up today with our electricity debacle is gift shopping. I had dreams all last night about getting something and presenting it with a couple cotton balls and q-tips as some sort of bow. So now I am empty handed. But he looks quite please with himself and I promise to make it up to him later.
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We finish about 30 minutes later than we planned on leaving, but I think we still have enough time to make the flight. The part we won't get to do is the Bon Voyage drink at the airport bar before we get on the plane. Small sacrifice. But as we're leaving the thunderclouds roll in. We start to worry about the dog (who hates thunder) and a little about delays at the airport. It turns out that I closed the closet door where Radar likes to hide and he has locked himself in the bathroom and chewed the doorknob in an attempt to get out. This is typical and he is otherwise unscathed when the dog sitter gets there about 90 minutes after we leave. (sigh - we really need to get that crate for him!) The other issue is that we do sit on the runway for 40 minutes. There was only about 35 minutes for our connection in LAX, so we end up missing that plane by about 10 minutes. They won't hold the plane even though 7 people on our flight need that connection because they pride themselves on on-time statistics, I guess. I think this is particularly rotten, but I am not one of the people who chooses an airline by their ontime stats -- I care more about safety stats and my miles, I guess. One family is trying to get to Maui for a wedding tomorrow (one is a bridesmaid!) and they are extremely high strung about it. At least all I am trying to do is lay on the beach or something - I can wait a day to start that.
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The airline rebooked us on another airline and gives us a shuttle to get directly to the gate. Thoughtful. When we get to the counter we find out that they haven't rebooked us to first class (we splurged for the trip there wanting to have the long flight in comfort and celebrate). The new airline has 2 seats left and will let us pay to upgrage. So we do that and hope that the other company will be refunding our first class upgrade from the canceled flight.
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First Class is an experience. I knew I'd like the free drinks. I don't particularly like being waited on like I am in a restaurant since I don't think you tip. For the 20 people in first class there are 2 attendants. Coach has 2 as well, but there are maybe 100 people back there. It all seems so pertensious and I vaguely feel out of place. Someday maybe I will feel entitled to this -- like the teenager across the aisle. I can't image growing up flying first class, but if you knew nothing else, it would seem normal, I suppose. I say thank you every time and try to be polite and not needy. The captain comes out and introduces himself, chats with every First Class passenger, asks about their trip. The couple behind us seems like a young, flighty gold digger and a late-30s guy who feels like he should be getting married soon. Or maybe he just wants an expensive booty call by taking his girl on a fancy vacation. They're loud and annoying but they say they approve of our drinks and say we might be their new party friends in Maui. I am mildly appeased, but I end up watching the in-flight movie so I don't have to hear their witty banter anymore. Later when I am sleeping leaning on Iggy she puts her feet in the space between our seats and I am vaugely grossed out by having her feet on my side. At least I enjoyed the meal, the drinks and the leg room was fantastic. The seat was pretty comfy too. I am mostly happy that we're making it to Maui tonight instead of being stranded in LA for a night.
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Arriving in Maui is a bit of an ordeal. We don't have the plant declaration form that was supposedly on our seats when we boarded, so we pretend to be a part of the family in front of us until they are questioned about bringing an animal into the country. But this is useful as we just slip by while they're explaining themselves. There is the moment of tension at the luggage claim while we wonder if our bags made the airline transfer with us, but they both arrive. The rental car places appear to be closed, but we realize after a minute that the stores are just "fronts" and that you have to take a shuttle to the real rental car desk. There we are up-sold to a convertible Mustang at a "deal" since we are on an anniversary trip and since I want to be able to drive the car it's an extra $X/day. So we leave feeling a little frustrated that this trip is so expensive and so far all it has been is travel. It's 10pm by the time we're leaving the airport and dark. Iggy says, "Is this how you pictured Hawaii?" It's not, really, but the adventure is wearing on me by this point. At little ways out of town, driving along the coastline and looking at the city lights at the base of the mountains silhouetted against the sky. This is more what I pictured Hawaii looking like.
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We arrive at the hotel and realize it's a charge to park your car every day, to use the safe in the room is a fee every day, etc. Parking is challenging because all the spaces are for compact cars and we have the behemoth Mustang. We finally find a spot on the top floor. Our room has two queen beds (we wanted 1 king)and to my tired eyes the place looks run down.
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But, mercifully, the room is cool, the bed is soft and I am dead tired. I bet tomorrow the hotel looks better and I am not so grumpy about the cost of everything.

New Year, New Dog

We lost our dog last summer. It took a while to want to get a new one, but sometime time fall we decided to get one after we got home from our Christmas/New Year's trip.

We both knew we wanted to adopt from a rescue, the pound, the Dumb Friends League, etc. I think my husband wanted a puppy because you have the greatest chance to mold their personalities and the least chance of getting unusual issues. I have always wanted to adopt an older dog. I worry that they won't get the second chance. If I am truthful I want to adopt all dogs. I have a hard time choosing. In fact that was why in college I ended up with a grey and a black cat -- how do you choose just one?

The dog I had picked out from the web was an 11-yeat-old bulldog with "special needs." We saw her and she was really cute, but some of her special needs led to the conclusion that she would be best in a one-dog household. We haven't entirely ruled out getting a puppy. My second choice was another 11 year old, a beagle. She was cute and lovable to the handler we saw. However on our visit with her she wanted nothing more than to be on the other side of the door. The counselor said she was "independent" but to me it seemed we stressed her out. She would probably get over that eventually... The next dog we saw we took home. An 8-year-old yellow lab. He has a decided limp which I guess could be the precursor to arthritis or hip displasia. The vet there checked it out and said it was currently ok but to see if our vet wanted us to start him on something for joint pain...

We're in our settling in phase. I tried a walk with the dog...he tugs a bit, wants to greet every dog, every person we meet, and would like to hop in any car for a ride. So we don't have to worry about him being friendly. But he might try to go home with anyone with treats or a car! He had his first accident. We've had two or three dozen trips outside as we're trying to learn the signals for that. The only time I've heard him bark so far is on walks -- when he thinks other dogs should come over and play. He slept through the night the first night.

Travel Envy

One of the things I do when I've sick of work but have a lot to do is browse travel sites while waiting on the server to respond.  A few weeks ago I got an email with a link to a blog about what influences your travel decisions.  It asked a panel of travel bloggers if nationality, gender, age or religion was the highest consideration when making a choice about your next trip.

Interesting.  What influences my travel decisions?  At least nationality (I don't go where there's violence against Americans or the US Gvt says I can't go) and gender.  I do like to travel by myself, but I like to go places where I can get by speaking English and where women are basically equals in society when traveling solo.  And I especially like to go where I can visit with someone I know some of the time.  Luckily age hasn't been a limitation for me yet.  But I do feel an urgency to visit as much of the world as possible as soon as possible.  I really regret not traveling around when I was "young and carefree" and willing to stay in questionable hotels/hostels.  Right now I really like having airline tickets to mark the beginning and end of an adventure and at least a place to stay the first night.  During my pondering about religion and my trips, I had a funny a-ha moment where I realized I have probably crossed that line from being religious to not -- and that is still uncomfortable to say.  A different blog perhaps.  But even back when I still fooled myself into thinking I was religious, I would be fascinated to see other religions and their influence on culture...but probably not enough to make it the deciding factor for a trip.

So after I'd thought about what influences my travel, I read the rest of the blog.  Honestly, that took me a few days -- probably 2 weeks, if I were to tell the truth.  And more than half of it was last night sitting on the couch with Iggy's new iPad waiting for him to finish whatever he was doing so we could watch a movie.

Most of the travelers in the blog are truly independent and sound like they would never consider stooping to a pre-arranged tour.  I am 90% sure that if I traveled enough then I would be the same way.  But several years ago I took a tour bus trip of ...er... the UK or Great Britain?  Great Britain (we didn't see any of Ireland -- a regretful omission).  Granted, other than one grandson, myself and my companion were the only ones under 50 on the bus.  So while I had a great time, I'd like to save those trips for when I am a senior citizen.  Much like the panelist Michael Schneider.  He and his wife are in their 60s and still doing "strenuous" travel (he mentioned kayaking and hiking recently) -- and will consider beaches and cruises later!  I hope to be writing that blog (or whatever new-fangled thing replaces blogs) in a couple decades!

The panelists would probably turn up their noses at my all-inclusive resort vacation this year too.  (Or at least delay it until they were 70.)  But in my life even that has its place now.  That Mexico trip was probably one of my favorites (even without the wedding, but having everyone cater to or defer to me for that probably fed my ego more than I care to admit).  It was so cool to have all the families and friends meet each other in a neutral site.  It was nice to take the "turf" and some of the obligation and the "timeframe" out of the picture.  No one was really there long enough to figure out those areas where I know they'd disagree (respectfully, of course) and everyone was free to do different activities but to hang out when they wanted to.  I like to think everyone got something for themselves out of the trip -- even if I did force them to spend their hard-earned vacation days and $ on a place and time of my choosing.  Iggy and I have a "stay 5 days and get 3 days free coupon" for the anniversary of our trip.  So we're likely to do a repeat all-inclusive stay next year.

One of the most interesting comments was at the end and was on gender (which most panelists seemed to admit was at least an unconscious or unwilling consideration).  It is (sadly) still easier to be respected as a man in basically any culture.  Regarding that, one panelist (Wade Shepard) said, "I am surely missing something."  Think about that for a minute.  By itself the quote could be saying that he's missing out on the experience of living in the world as a woman.  But, I admit, that quote is a little out of context.  It comes after a paragraph on how he's observed his wife being treated when he's not with her -- and how it would be disprectful to *the man* to treat the woman like that if she were with a man.  (!!! Do NOT get me started!)  The whole quote is "This stuff [cat-calls, ass-grabs, propositions, etc.] does not happen when I am around, and it is my impression that women may travel in a very different world than I. I am surely missing something."

I love the sentence on it's own for the double meaning.  But I also like what he's saying...

One panelist (Dave) says he alternates extremes on his trips.  This is a fascinating idea.  Like one time I could go on a humanitarian trip to an African country to help build a schoolhouse then the next time I could go to a Scandinavian country for a week of indulgence and spa treatments.  Poverty then luxury.  Giving back then selfishly taking.  Both sound fun to me.  I probably do this to a lesser degree on a subconscious level since I really enjoy variety, new experiences and learning.

Another panelist had an interesting comment on the concept of novelty.  Nellie Huang is from Singapore and her partner is from Spain.  So traveling to the Mediterranean or north Africa might feel exotic for her, but would be ho-hum for her traveling companion.  Likewise Indonesia or Asia might not feel as exotic to her as it would for someone else.  Along with this as a consideration for me comes comfort zone.  Being a military brat made me comfortable in situations where I couldn't understand a word being said.  Not that I like it.  But it doesn't freak me out.  It didn't occur to me until traveling with someone outside of my family that this might bother other people.  I remember once in Switzerland after 4 or 5 days of making the effort to use my high-school French on signs and when with people when they'd stop me in the street to ask directions (a huge compliment that they didn't just assume I was a foreigner) just wanting someone to talk American (not English) and to have a diet Coke (not a Coca Cola light) and have a McDonald's hamburger (something I rarely crave when in the States).  So I get the comfort zone thing.  But it doesn't happen to me on day one.  And the next morning after my Swiss-induced homesickness, I was ready for whatever came my way even if it involved butchering the French language some more and some odd food (with the exception of "Chinese Fondue").

The most interesting panelist to me was Angelina Hart.  She has this concept of raising "global children" and takes her daughters on what I would consider atypical trips.  Would most moms consider taking their daughters to Iran?  Especially when they were under 10 years old?  Wow.  Seriously.  I wanted to be 10 and be her daughter.  And then I wondered who the daughters hang out with.  I remember coming back to the States from Greece (not nearly as unusual) and not having much in common with the kids here.  Of course, her daughters live in the US and just visit other countries so maybe those are apples and oranges, so to speak.  But an interesting goal -- to raise global children.

In the end I am cognizant of my jealousy of these people and their lives.  I can't wait for my next trip, but at the moment I have too much to consciously plan it (obviously my priorities are out of whack).  But I indulge myself with a minute at a time here and there on my non-work computer while chained to my desk...and dream about river cruises through Eastern European countries or a Nile cruise and some time pretending to be Agatha Christie on a dig in Egypt.  Or visiting Casablanca.  Or Antarctica.  Or...

My Life Since High School: Reader's Digest Version

An old high school friend found me on Facebook. He asked me for a "Reader's Digest" condensed version of my last 20+ years. It was sorta fun to write up (and sorta morbid because it got me thinking about obituaries). Some of this is probably repeat for this audience, but I thought I'd post it -- and you should send me yours too!

School/Work:

· I worked at a book store during college. This was my favorite job ever. If there was a way to make a living at that, I would totally do it. I’m keeping it in mind for when I retire, although I acknowledge that there won’t be any books left in the world by that time. (As an aside, I got an Amazon Kindle for my last birthday and love that too…)

· 1992: Got my BS Aerospace Engineering – but I never used it to be a Rocket Scientist.

· My first “real” job out of college was as an “Engineer” for a company that made for roadside sobriety testing. Then I moved to the software industry since that was taking off. I worked at a dot-com for almost 8 years. I had several desks at that company in several buildings in downtown Denver, and the company had 5 names…but it was all the same group of people. I never got a car as a signing bonus and I didn’t retiresuper-rich at age 24.

· 2001: Was bored being a software developer and talking only to the computer all day long, so got an MBA International Business hoping to move into something where I could talk to actual people. Haven’t really used that either, but I did switch career paths.

· My current job is as a “business analyst” where I write technical software specs, but talk to the client to figure out what it is that they want. It’s my 2nd favorite job – and it pays a lot better. I get to work from home and travel to client sites. This is almost how I pictured my life as a “grown up” – if there were international travel it would 100% (except the part about being a female-James-Bond spy). It’s not as glamorous as I pictured!

Love/Family:

· Best Friend: I am still friends with my high school BFF. Outside of my family she has been my most constant friend/companion.

· College sweetheart: We dated for 5+ years and were married for 10. When we divorced I got my first apartment on my own ever (always had roommates until then).

· Ariel: I had a cat that I got in college outside a local grocery. She lived to be 19. When she passed away this summer, it was the first time I felt I was truly alone in the world. (My mom/dad/brother/grandparents all live in Texas now.)

· Akela: I had a dog, an Alaskan Malamute, that I took through a pet therapy program. We spent 9 months visiting an Alzheimer’s unit in North Boulder every weekend, but the clinical smells and machines made her nervous. So we switched to a halfway house in Boulder for the next 2 years. The whole experience was very rewarding for me (and hopefully the dog and the people we visited).

· Hockey: I picked up roller hockey, then ice hockey during my dot-com years. I’ve broken both wrists (separate incidents) while participating. If I break a 3rd one, I promised my mom I would take up ballroom dancing instead. I’ve played all over Colorado, in Laramie, Las Vegas, Dallas, Reykjavik and Toronto. I missed the Calgary games with one of my wrist injuries. That’s all with my women’s team. I occasionally play co-ed, but don’t travel with them.

· Travel: I’ve gotten to see a bit more of the world (my favorite pastime). I’ve been scuba diving in Bonaire, St. John and Cozumel. I went to Great Britain (Scotland, Wales, England) on a bus tour (gah! – possible preview of retirement travel). I took my brother to Rome, Italy one Thanksgiving. Went to Paris one summer to visit a different friend. Had the chance to move there, but couldn’t make the leap. I visited a friend in New Zealand (Wellington area) this year.

· Road Bike: With my tax return in 2005 I bought a road bike (from a company known for their mountain bikes, if that tells you anything about how I do things). It was on sale and 2 years old (still new on the showroom floor though). My tax return only paid for about half of it. It was the single best investment I’ve ever made. Even though I’m not very good at it, I love riding and in the summer try to take my “lunch” for a couple hours and ride the trails in the Denver Metro. I rode my first organized tour (Elephant Rock – 33 mile road route) this summer.

· Next Chapter: I spent a couple of years “dating as an adult” (without the coercion of high school dances and meeting hundreds of new people in massive college classes) and enjoying being on my own, doing whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. I have never really believed in “the one” theory, but last fall I re-met someone I knew years ago and I might be changing my mind…

I Bring the Sunshine!

Over Memorial Day weekend Iggy and I went out to Seattle - our first trip together. It went really well. Thankfully he's a bit like me, or at least he's willing to humor me in terms of travel. I like to have three things when I travel:

1. plane tickets to/from home/destination
2. hotel while at destination
3. (optional) a car -- if you can get by without this, so much for the better, IMHO

So a week of winging it on vacation! I love it!

We did some touristy stuff:

• walked around the Space Needle
• saw the International Fountain (very cool)
• browsed the festival near the fountain and Space Needle -- and subjected ourselves to some odd campaign about "Free Hugs" (some girl won a bet because we both hugged her)
• bought salmon at the Pike Market and had it grilled for dinner
• rode the Monorail (which required Iggy to sing the Simpson's Monorail song -- I need to see that episode)
• went on the Underground tour took a ferry to Bainbrigde Island for brunch
  

Space Needle


Buying Salmon at Pike Market


International Fountain

And we met up with some friends: (1) an old work colleague of mine who showed us the MicroSoft Visitor's Center (very cool even if you're not an MS Corp fan -- I really want that surface computing technology on my laptop) and her fiance, (2) a friend of Iggy's from college and (3) a friend of Iggy's from high school.

We also went to Unicorn Crepes and had a Chili Cheese Dog Crepe and a Pizza Crepe! Bet you've never had one of those! (They were quite tasty, if a bit messy.)

I could totally live in Seattle. However, it may be an unfair judgement since the 5 days I was there were sunny. In fact, the 10 days I was in NZ were sunny too. The day I left it rained in NZ. And continued raining for 2 weeks. So My new theory is that I bring the sunshine! heehee

I promise this will be the last of my historical posts for a while. I'll find some inspiration somewhere soon, I swear!


Triumph!- July 2, 2007
This morning I went for a run (yay - luggage means I have running shoes again!). I tried to run by the Siene River, but this section of town (the suburbs) it doesn't have foot paths everywhere. I did OK, but tomorrow I may either do a short run in the park (I think it might be like 8 minutes around, so I could probably do about 4 or 5 before getting really bored). The news here is that without Rico (he is at work today) I found my way back to the apartment!

I had a small work project to do, but to accomplish that I had to travel across Paris to a tech section and find a computer store. My computer charger was not in my luggage. :( A computer battery is an odd souvenir, but I am happy because I can download my pictures and read my email. :) The news here is that I only made one little mistake -- exiting the metro instead of changing trains -- to get to the store. Then I actually found my way home AGAIN! Dang, am I good!

But that is getting ahead of myself. So last night Rico and I surfed dell.fr (the French version of the Dell computer web site) and found out what a computer charger was in French. I carefully copied down the entire description because I had no idea which words were the important ones. Then Rico showed me what Metro station to get off and where to switch trains. Today I got off the metro at the stop Rico told me about. I could see a row of computer stores just off to the left. So I went in the first one and tried reading my list. The lady (who I swear was speaking an Asian language) had no idea what I said, so I showed her my paper. This caused a conference with another person behind the desk. Then she handed the paper back and started talking to the man next to me. After being ignored for a couple minutes I figured that meant she didn’t have what I wanted. So I left. Went to the store next door. Same scenario. So after they ignored me at this store, I stepped out on the street and sorta looked around to decide on a different course of action, or if maybe I didn’t really need to use my computer anymore until mid-July when I was back State-side. A man who’d been in the store came out and said to me in English, “Do you know SUE-cf? They will have what you want.”

I am wondering how you spell “SUE-cf” (as I heard it) and if you trust some random guy who says, “take a left at the second street and there it is.” How does he know what I want when so far no one has understood the words I copied off the web? Heck, I don’t even know what I want in French.


At any rate, I say “merci” and decide that as long as I am wondering around I can wander 2 more blocks. It turns out that he doesn’t count every street as a street. Only streets with stoplights count as streets. So, 5 blocks (if you count all the paved areas with painted lanes where cars can drive) later I see a sign in circus letters saying “Surcouf”. Ah.

It’s like a 2-story Best Buy with more stuff. Apparently Dell is not a brand used much in France. So I have to wait in a special line for the portable computer peripherals guy (I forgot the French words for that - my ability to understand French is back but the ability to speak it still escapes me). I show him my paper and he answers me in English that he has my part. I almost cry. Literally. I had no idea I was so invested in this process. He tells me something else that I don’t understand. When I cock my head to the side like a dog and knit my eyebrows, the guy in line behind me says “he says you can use it in the UK as well”. Well, bonus! I will have to go to the UK next time. Should I be happy to not be pegged as an American tourist or irritated to be thought British?

That night I listen to Rico tell the story to his friends over dinner. He says he told me how to get to Chinatown (the Asian language is now making more sense) and that was all. He seemed amazed that I made it there, found a store with my battery and made it back. In fact, when he called me to see if I was lost (I set up my cell phone to work in France for such emergencies), I was already back at his house working. He seemed so surprised! Ha! His friends gave him a hard time for being so vague with me - like they thought he was being mean!

“Every Day” does not include Tuesdays - July 3, 2007
Today was a lazy day -- I slept in until 11am. Yay! Then I cleaned the kitchen from last night's dinner and showered. Then I was off for my first complete day of being a tourist!

I went to the L'Opera Garnier -- where the story of the Phantom of the Opera takes place. It was VERY, VERY cool. I would love to go to an opera there someday. You can totally see the grand staircase from the book and the thousands of "candle" lights (electric now), the mirrors on all the walls, and all the places to slip into to hide... I didn't get to see the actual theater since it was closed for a rehersal today. But I actually decided that was best -- then I can wait for that until I can see the play too.

After that I wandered over to the Musee de L'Orangerie -- supposedly a lot of impressionist works in there. I went there via the Louvre gardens. I really like the glass pyramid things and that courtyard in front of the Louvre. I knew the Lourvre was closed on Tuesdays, so I was just planning to see the outside. I didn't realize that the Orangerie was also closed on Tuesdays. The sign outside said "open every day until 7pm and Wednesdays to 9pm" -- if my French is holding up. The French woman behind me in line was irritated as well to find out that "every day" does not include Tuesdays. At least it wasn't just me.

So from there I went to the Musee D'Orsay on the other side of the Siene -- which also has a lot of impressionist paintings. It is actually open on Tuesdays. Apparently the rest of Paris knew that as well. I got there at about 3pm. It took me a few minutes to figure out that the crowd in the museum square was actually a line to get into the roped off lines which, in turn, lead you into the museum so you can get in line to pay. Dang! I waited in that line for 1 hour to get to the door of the museum -- and the right to get into the line where you can purchase tickets. It rained -- at one point it POURED -- so I bought an umbrella from a street vendor for 5 Euro -- like $7.50. It was worth it. And now I can add to my collection of umbrellas purchased from street vendors -- I have one from New York City (Times Square -- when I went for an evening on my Mahwah, New Jersey trip a few years ago for work), and one from Rome (when JJ and I were wondering around over Thanksgiving in 2005). I finished my book club novel while I was waiting in line -- some of it takes place in Paris, so that was cool. When I was next in line to actually buy a ticket, the ladies in front of me took sooooooo long that the entire line next to me emptied out and filled again. The couple behind me was American too, so I could understand their conversation. I seriously thought the guy was going to go take matters into his own hands -- he was getting so frustrated. Like it was worth a scene to see a bunch of old paintings by guys that didn't color within the lines! At any rate, we did finally get into the museum. I saw some really famous stuff -- Van Gogh's Starry Night, a couple of Monet's Water Lilies, the Renoir of the party picture, etc. The building is a converted train museum. I love the building...

After that, I braved the museum bookstore for some postcards (yikes -- can you say 100 smelly people in a place that holds 40 by American standards).

The off for a walk along the Siene...I ended up by Notre Dame -- so I went in for a quick look around. There was a service in progress, but still a lot of tourists wandering around. I tried to be discreet (no flash, quiet, etc.) but I think it would be annoying to be at a service and have people walking around and talking. (Although those big halls eat up the noise except for the speaker and the choir).

I got back to the apartment to Rico playing the guitar! Very nice. Dinner was the gnocci from the market... JJ, I would say it's more flour, less potato, than the ones in Italy.

Tomorrow -- the Louvre!!! Not sure what else. Then Thursday through Saturday I can finally use my French from high school -- Rico and I are going to visit the Mediterranean coast of France with his days off! Je vais a la plage!!!

Pick-up Lines & Cute Dresses

Pick-up Lines - June 28, 2007 (note: Having not been inspired to write lately, but going through some old travel diaries as inspiration for my NZ trip in April, I found my Paris trip emails to my folks/brother...thought a couple were funny.)

I made it to Paris!

My luggage didn't. And I forgot that rule about packing a change of clothes in your carry-on... Air France said maybe in 2 days I will get my luggage. If not, I can fill out the claim form. Sigh.

So after seeing my friend, Rico, through the glass windows as I arrive at the luggage carosel I spend close to an hour waiting for my luggage, watching everyone else find theirs before wearily leaving without knowing how lucky they are, and then filling out forms.

Poor Rico has been standing outside the secured area this whole time. As I finally reach him, and get a big hug I sigh and say, "Thank you so much for waiting through all that. Let's go buy some underwear." Which I meant in all honesty since I didn't pack my carryon with that type of provision. The expression on his face lets me know I said something funny, so I think about it and realize this may not be how every woman greets her male friends after a flight. ha!

I wanted souvenirs...but not sure I wanted clothes. But...The adventure begins!

The Knight Says “Shhhhh!” … & a REALLY Cute Dress - June 29, 2007

Hello again. 2 am in Paris. But when you sleep in until 11am, then nap from 7pm-11pm, feels ok to still be awake! :)

JJ, to answer your question...I know some French, but it's not as easy here as it was in Switzerland. Not sure why. I tried reading some of Rico's French novel, but it took like 30 mintues to get through 1 page. And it just wasn't that interesting...

Rico had today off, so we went to Le Petit Palais -- which is across the street from Le Grand Palais, which I think we saw on our trip. It's on the Champs Elysee and has square trees lining the boulevard. At any rate, the Petit Palais is FREE! And has lots of art and a coffee shop. We saw a cool huge painting called something like "The Death of Count ..." It is about 35 feet long! Lots of people (~300) -- different knights, commoners, the king?, weeping maidens, and, of course, the dead guy. One knight is telling the others "shhhh". Very funny -- some guy in armor with his finger to his lips. How can you be quiet in chain mail? Apparently someone else was noisier though. Then we had a café a the museum coffee shop.

No luggage yet today. They said 2 days. And in my sleep-deprived state I forgot to ask if the 2nd day was Saturday or Monday (do they include weekends?). At any rate, I think I have enough clothes now. I went to The Gap in the shopping district (Grand Boulevard) -- figure at least I know what size I am in there. I mean, it took me a while to figure out that my bra size here is 95. (Dang! In the States I am only a 36. Here I am HUGE! I love the French!) I wasn't sure I wanted to know my French/EU pants size (in case there is some sort of similar explosion at my waist)!!!

I also went to the popular tourist shopping building (Gallerie Lafayette) to see if I could find a dress for a nicer dinner out. I did find a lovely one and it was 50% off! It was 950 Euros -- almost $1300... Yes, this is the sale price! I'm not even sure that means I have good taste -- it was probably last year's model that didn't sell. I didn't buy it (in case you were really wondering).

Tomorrow there is a jazz concert in the evening at some tech park and I don't have to shop anymore. I am going to wear my 3 pairs of pants and my size 95 bras over and over and over! I am sick of shopping already!

Bon soir.

Kiwi Project: Premlinary

I have a trip to New Zealand coming up. I know basically nothing about the country except:

1. Parts of The Lord of the Rings movies were filmed there. Pretty, but whatever.
2. New Zealanders call themselves 'Kiwis'. This refers to the bird, not the fruit. I think if the fruit first.
3. My super-cool friend Calle lives there. This alone is enough to warrant a trip!
4. They have wineries and mountains and beaches! What more do I need?

So I've started reading random things about NZ. I won’t bore you with all the stats, but I did read the CIA’s World Factbook page on NZ. Seems like a pretty “modern” country.

• First country to allow women to vote!
• About the size of Colorado, Italy or England.
• About the same population as Colorado (NZ ~ 4.1M, CO ~ 4.3M)
• The "main" or most populated island is the North Island -- where the capital of Wellington is. This is where Calle is.
• The Maori came over from Polynesia around 800 or 900 AD.
• The British Captain James Cook arrived in NZ the first time around 1769.
• The highest mountains in NZ are all on the South Island in the Southern Alps.
• They have mountains with glaciers on them!

This completely derailed my fact-finding mission. Of course I had to know how high the highest mountain is there! Being from Colorado I am a somewhat of a mountain snob and what others sometimes call mountains look like hills to me.

The tallest mountain is Aoraki/Mount Cook at 12,319 ft. Not bad – and apparently still growing about ¼ inch per year. But the Southern Alps are also battered by something called the Roaring Forties. These are (apparently) westerly winds that tear around the open waters at about the 45°S latitude picking up momentum in the open waters – and lucky NZ is the first land mass in the way.

Aoraki means "Cloud Piercer" in Maori.

This is fantastic - I'm going someplace with colorful names like Kiwi and Cloud Piercer and Roaring Forties!

PS - It's interesting that the mountain has a Maori name and a British name. I will have to find out more about this history. I also came across a "fact" that the Kiwis are fiercely competitive with the Aussies. I wonder if this is like the Avs fans think we have a rivalry with the Red Wings. The Red Wings couldn't care less... And I wonder if this is some business-person's interpretation.