Tag: travel

Change of Plans?

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It’s looking more and more like starting in Japan in August will just make everyone relatively miserable with the humidity. I once spent a summer in rural Louisiana and Houston, and my most salient memories are quickly scuttling from one air conditioned box to another and feeling like showers were both the best thing ever and the most useless thing ever. I remember the same thing spending summers in India as a child during the monsoon season, but without the a/c and with lots of mosquitos.

It seems foolish to me to wait so long to go somewhere and know that you’re walking into a hell of humidity where you’ll never want to be outside. You can start in the northern and more mountainous regions, but even if you spend a few weeks there it’ll still be bad on the eastern coast. So, what to do?

My new idea is to follow the weather! This means that we start in the Southern Hemisphere, namely in Australia and/or New Zealand and then work our way northward following the good weather. Many regions of Australia are relatively temperate during this time. New Zealand is in winter, but our ski passes will give us a free week at Mt. Ruapehu and I think it would be a dream to ski there if we could! I’m going to pretend that the practicality of taking ski clothing isn’t an issue, maybe we can just rent like you can here?

So now that I’ve read a bunch of books on Japan and gotten all excited for that, I’m waiting for some books on Australia and New Zealand to come in from the library so I can dream about those.

Looking at the map the plan would be to spend a week in Australia/New Zealand (I know they’re far away really) then a week in Indonesia, moving north through Singapore, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and then Japan. If the Fulbright doesn’t work out, then we can spend longer in each place and be more leisurely. I’d love to go to China and see the Terracotta Warriors and the Great Wall too-it’s always been a dream of mine.

-sf

Books and books and books

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This is one of  my favorite parts of a trip, where you start looking through different travel guides and see how much delightful things there are to see and do around the world. It’s full of possibility and imagination and delight, and has none of the pesky realities of cost and actually getting there.

I’ve thus far just focused on the Japan books, since that will be the first part of the trip. Or…maybe not. As I’ve just learned, August is intolerably humid through most of Japan, with humidity up to 80% on many days. Unfortunately, we don’t really have the flexibility to go there in, say, April when it’s truly lovely given the school schedule.

August is also a heavy travel month in Japan given that it’s their summer vacation too and it’s also time of the Obon festival so we’ll have to make some more plans in advance since the Japanese are traveling also! One thought I had is to start with a week or so in Vancouver. We’ve never been and would love to go, August is pleasant in Vancouver, and flights there are surprisingly cheap and flights TO Tokyo are also fairly inexpensive! Another idea is to spend time in the mountains or Hokkaido first where it’s cooler and more nature-y.

Reading about Japan is so fun-whether it’s learning about the Studio Ghibli museum, tasty ramen, the outdoor hot springs (where many ban tattoos as they are considered tied to the Yakuza!), delicious sushi, the tons of fireworks festivals throughout August, the temples, yummy udon, Ninja training academies, all the crazy Harajuku outfits, Tokyo Disney and shabu-shabu. Did I mention the food?

It’s also really nice that all the prices are listed in Yen and I have no idea how much that is at this point. Sure, I could plug it through a converter but where’s the fun in that? Right now there’s so many zeros it all seems ridiculous! I’m going to live in that world for a bit. Besides, we’re not doing this as a shoestring trip-while I don’t want to be spendthrift, we do have the luxury of not needing to spend only $50 a day and I know we’ll be able to make up for it in Southeast Asia and India.

And it’s fun to be able to look at thing that I wouldn’t be able to look at without traveling with kids. By which I mean, I would normally be somewhat bashful about wanting to visit Tokyo Disney or a Sanrio store or the Ninja training but hey, if the KIDS are clamoring for it, who am I to stand in their way, right?

Anyone who’s been there have some must see sights, possibly off the beaten path?

-s

Preparing for lift off

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It’s time to start really thinking about the trip for next year.  I mean really, really thinking about it.

Which induces not only excitement and happiness and gratitude and amazement and also complete paralyzing anxiety and panic.  As wonderful as I know the trip will be, it also just feels SO BIG to think about. There’s all the big things to think about–what do we do with the house, the cars, school, safety, money, where we will go–and then when I’m done worrying about that I start to think about all the little things. Things such as what to pack and what we’re going to eat and will we have cell phones and is it okay for me to bring mascara on this trip? Or does that make me a bad traveler? Or just one who looks a bit better in pictures?

Some of the big things-we’d like to rent the house out, though haven’t entirely ruled out selling it, we’ll be selling one of the cars and probably having a friend keep the other. School is a bit trickier but with some combination of online math/science and using the trip itself for social studies, history and reading/writing I think it’ll be manageable.

 As far as where we’ll go, I’ve gotten a stack of books from the library to start researching the first leg of the trip, which will be Japan and Southeast Asia. I’m thinking to start in Japan, then fly down to Vietnam and explore the peninsula. I’m not sure about visiting China, but it all depends on how much time we have and how much anyone who’s been there convinces me we HAVE to go. The second leg depends on whether Eric gets the Fulbright Scholarship he’s applied for in Timisoara, Romania or not. If so we’ll be there from perhaps October through December, and likely do some exploring of Eastern Europe at that time. If not then we’ll likely do longer stops in East Asia. December/January ideally we’d spend 3-4 weeks in India, then in February we’d head to Ireland where Eric is teaching a Study Abroad program near Dublin. During or after that time we’ll travel in Western Europe. Nothing of course has been set in stone, and if there’s someplace that you tell me we MUST go to, we can change our trip.

Overall we’re planning a slow travel type of a trip, where we find a rental for 1-2 weeks in a place and then do day trips from there instead of moving every day. I’ve been reading some family travel blogs and this seems to be what works best especially when traveling with kids. It also gives us the ability to have a more relaxing down day in the week where we plan the week, do homework, etc.

I’d like to be better about documenting this trip, so my goal is to start writing on at least a weekly basis to get in the habit of doing so. It’s surprisingly easy to find time NOT to write, as those of you who write well know, and I hope that by making it a priority now it’s easier to continue when we’re on the road. 

So here we begin! 

NYC 2013

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NYC this year was a blast.  The boy is almost 8, which meant that we could really be tourists and DO things, which was so much fun. Also, he can read, which makes travel time that much easier too. Instead of worrying about what to do on the plane or trains or anything, we could both spend our time reading peacefully as an option, especially when our flight was delayed by an hour. (Don’t you worry, I came armed with an iPad, iPhone, and plenty of downloaded videos too.  I’m not THAT virtuous. But battery life is limited, right?) The plane flight was actually easy.  Those of you with younger kids who have flown with them-there is hope, light at the end of that long, dark tunnel.

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We got to Brooklyn late and headed straight for dinner: Ethiopian food, which was very tasty.

Breakfast: Konditori, every day.

breakfast

breakfast

Then we headed to Central Park and rented bicycles.  I tried to rent from a local bike shop but they don’t rent to kids because of insurance issues.  Luckily, the central park boathouse has no such qualms and gladly gave us 2 wheezy bikes. This was one of those things I’d always wanted to do and we enjoyed every minute.  Future reference–get a bike from one of the real tourist places because then you get a lock and can stop and explore.  We would have loved to stop at the north side nature center but couldn’t because we couldn’t lock up the bikes. (side note for facebook friends, you may have seen some of these pics already but I find it’s easier to find them again if they’re here. Besides, I just love some of these)

by the lake

by the lake

After the bike ride we strolled up to Belvedere Castle-which was less of a castle then expected but did have cool views.  There was a school group there and it became a bit like “Where’s Waldo” trying to find the boy, since they all wore orange shirts too!

can you spot him?

can you spot him?

After this it was off to the Met!

yikes!

yikes!

The boy loved the Egyptian section and we spent a lot of time in Arms&Armor too.  We then wandered and came across American section and the period rooms where they have recreations of different rooms from different eras in America’s history.  I just loved this and didn’t even know they had such things! We pretended that that was where Claudia and James Kincaid would have slept had they come to the Met now, since their original bed has been taken off display. After this you might imagine we were getting tired-I wanted to head to the painting galleries before we left, but we just didn’t have the heart to enjoy them.  Hopped the subway to Ippudo where we got in without any wait (which I’ve heard is tantamount to magic in New York), though it might have helped that we were eating at 6.  Dinner: Ramen noodle bowl, delish.

We took a little tourist break the next day and went up to New Jersey to visit Kara and her adorable little toddler, who was just enamored of the boy. Kara and I studied abroad in Ghana many many moons ago, and it was so fun to see her and meet her little one.  Then it was back to the city for the MOMA.  I love the MOMA in NYC.  Busy and crowded, but who cares? I downloaded the free MoMA app so we didn’t have to wait in line for the audio tour (tip!) and set out.  I just love that feeling of turning the corner and oh holy moly there’s Starry Night! I mean, Starry Night! Even though it’s so famous and we’ve seen it a million times, it is just mesmerizing in person and even more beautiful.  Some of the other highlights for me were Sleeping Gypsy (didn’t realize it was so big!) and the Picassos. They had a exhibition celebrating modern design from video games to minesweeping that was so, so cool to see. Here’s a link to his website-check it out. Then to dinner: Sushi and off to see Matilda on Broadway!

matilda set

matilda set

Times Square is one of those insane tourist traps that I love to visit.  I know all real New Yorkers turn their nose up at it, and the lines at ridiculous places like the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. are bizarre-I mean, I don’t understand why anyone would eat there when there is actual good food not too far away, but there is just no place like it that I know of and it’s something to behold.  For a half hour or so anyway.

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clearly staged as the boy is staring in a different direction than the point

Next day off to Westchester to spend time with my friend Rebecca from med school, which was wonderful.  Dinner: delicious home cooked salmon.

And then, off to Long Island for my sister’s Engagement Ceremony!

Something funny on the way to the mandap

Mawashee and the boy

Mawashee and the boy

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Sapana and her fiance Sachin

Sachin’s parents threw such a great party! Everyone had so much fun and it was great to meet so many people on his side of the family. Dinner: well, duh, Indian food.  New to me: Tikka Paneer and Gobi Manchurian, which I will order any chance I get.

The next day, back to the city for us to spend time with cousins and Lady Liberty.

standing guard over the harbor

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cousins!

The statue just opened on July 1st, and it was packed.  We couldn’t get tickets for crown access, but visiting the pedestal was just great and I loved learning more about the history of the statue and the building of it. Dinner: pizza.

Almost done! You might think that we’d take a break at this point, but you’d be wrong.

Next day was Empire State Building-this is one of those tourist things I could personally skip, though the view is spectacular.  I also used it to teach the boy about what he now calls, “Art Gecko” style architecture. I’ve never been at night, though, so maybe that’s something for next time.

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And then off to the Intrepid Air&Space Museum. This place was awesome.  I could take or leave all the fighter jets on the aircraft carrier-I’m not really a plane person, though I did like the stealth plane. And then inside was a SPACE SHUTTLE.  As someone who grew up in the 80s, I have a mythical love of the space shuttle-we all watched as they took off, we all watched the Challenger disaster.  To go into a hangar and have one there was incredible.

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We also took a tour of the nuclear era submarine which was cool and entirely claustrophobia inducing. To imagine the hundred + men living in that space, filling it with cigarette smoke, deep underwater-I was happy to get to fresh air.

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Porthole crawling.

Dinner: Pho.

Last day we just wandered around Brooklyn, did a little shopping and had our last NYC meal: Veggie burgers at BareBurger.

My beautiful little boy.

My beautiful little boy.

Coming home was bittersweet-we did so, so much and had such a great time.  It’s also going to be the last time we stay in Brooklyn since by the time we have our trip next year, my sister will be married and probably living on the UES. I’m going to miss Park Slope-I know all the stores and restaurants in my sister’s near vicinity and it feels familiar now when we go, so knowing we’re not going back there makes me just a little sad. Of course, it’s New York so there’s a new adventure out there just waiting for next year.

San Francisco or Bust

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A few weeks ago I went to San Francisco.  Or I should say that I undertook a journey of Homeric proportions to get to San Francisco.  Okay, okay, that’s overstating it a bit. But not by much.

I had a late flight out on what would be the first big snowstorm of the season, and DIA was, I would later find out, woefully unprepared.  It felt like a blizzard as I drove to the airport, though native Coloradoans would probably have termed it “snow driving.” Growing up in California, I have never quite mastered the art of driving in the snow. As I do it I usually evaluate my life and try to see if there is anything I’d like to do differently should I survive.

I got to the airport, made it through security easily and got to the gate.  I had a little extra time (and here I wish I’d had an inkling of the near future) and went to the bar to have a pre-flight cocktail.  The waitress asked if I’d like another after I’d finished, and I replied, “pshaw, no,” thinking that I’d be getting on the plane soon. Once on board,  the captain makes some announcement about getting going to de-ice, some planes have been waiting for 3 hours to de-ice but he didn’t think that would happen to us.

I’ll spare you all some time here and note that I got through a few episodes of “Damages” (1st season good, 2nd not so much) before we hit the de-icing pad 3 hours later.  The captain announces that we’ve got half an hour before FAA regulations say we’ve got to go back to the gate.  The flight attendants come by with water and pretzels.  This doesn’t really mollify me.  AS THEY ARE DE-ICING THE PLANE, the captain says that it’s taking too long and we’ll have to head back to the gate.  It is now 1 AM.

We deplane and mill about, unsure of what to do.  Some other passenger who sounds Canadian but is far too loud to be Canadian (I don’t know, are Canadians extraordinarily loud at 1 AM?) is irritating everyone.  We all find a plug to recharge our electronic devices and they announce that they’re getting us all back ON the plane to try and leave, and now it should be okay.  Fine. My dad calls to ask me how my flight was and if I made it to my hotel safely.  I cheerfully announce that my flight landed safely in Denver.

We get back on the plane, and this time it’s different.  This time we spend only 2 hours on the plane and don’t make it to the de-icing pad before they turn the plane around and cancel the flight.

It’s now 3:30 and I’m really wishing I took up that waitress on her offer of a 2nd cocktail. Everyone gets off the plane and gets on the phone to the airline trying to rebook.  I can’t get through after 5 minutes so pull out my Ipad, see that there’s a flight leaving a 8:00 AM and get a ticket on that. It’s too little time to go home, and it’s still snowing anyway so I don’t want to drive (see aforementioned note about driving in snow) so I find a gate and try to sleep.

Now, in the 1990s, all airports homeless-proofed themselves.  Before that there were seats without armrests where people could take a nap, but too many vagrants were taking advantage of that.  After 9.11 when only passengers could come through to the gate area, this wasn’t needed but no airport has reverted to the nicer seats.  So I really couldn’t sleep because of the seats, and because it’s damn creepy to be a single woman sleeping in the airport and did I mention I was watching a series about sneaky people murdering each other? So I wander the airport and see this really ugly piece of airport “art.” Did they forget to install something? What is the point of this:

Around 6:30 the airport wakes up, and I wander to find food. At this point, this is the end of a very very long NIGHT for me and I think it’d be nice to have that 2nd drink I never got.  I then realize that for everyone else it’s 6:30 in the morning and chances would be that I’d run into a patient and be reported to some state medical board for looking like an alcoholic. I decide to wait for a more socially acceptable hour to have that bloody mary and instead get breakfast.

At 7:30 they announce overhead that the flight has been delayed due to fog in San Fran. Fog? San Fran? Who knew? Ok, no big deal.

At 8:30 they announce that the flight will now leave at 11 AM.  I have been in the airport for about 13 hours at this point and am not thinking very clearly, but do realize  that if I have to sit through one more flight delay I just may end up hurting someone.  I look at the board and see that there is a flight to fog-less San Jose leaving at 10 AM, and run through the terminal to see if they can book me on that.  Thankfully, they can, and I head to the bar to get what I feel is a well deserved drink before actually boarding a plane to get to California. (Note how I get to show off my super cool Ipad cover, too.)

As I walk down the jetway, these yahoos flank the walls.  I feel they are mocking me and I wish I could hurt them. This is, I think, the WORST thing about flying Southwest.

I land in San Jose, my parents pick me up, hand me a bag with lunch, and I then get on a BART train to ride for ANOTHER 45 minutes to get to San Francisco.

I finally get to the hotel, 19 hours after I left home. I am so, so grateful for the box of delicious Indian food that my mom has lovingly packed in tiffin and eat every single bite.

You may wonder why I didn’t just give up and go home at any given point. Truthfully, I look forward to this trip too much to give it up-it’s my one trip away every year that isn’t work-related.  And in some ways, it was kind of fun.  I mean, I was there by myself so didn’t have anyone (kids) to take care of and had plenty of entertainment.  It felt like I was younger and single and on one of my more adventurous trips where I was sharing a truck with chickens for 12 hours for a ride that should take 2, but without the chickens and all. Had I been going almost anywhere else I probably would have just gone back home, but I can’t pass up a trip to San Francisco, even if it means spending a night in the airport.

The trip itself was great, I spent time with some old friends and randomly ran into an old college friend I hadn’t seen in near 15 years, ate delicious food and got to go to an amazing yarn store to get a new project since 12 hours in the airport had eaten up all the yarn I’d initially brought with me. That’ll have to be another post. Oh, and I did manage to go to that medical conference and learn some, you know, stuff.

When I wasn’t out enjoying this, of course:

Mexico…in Words

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Our flight started with some of the worst turbulence that I’ve ever experienced, and I’ve flown quite a bit.  I used to actually love flying–the excitement of going somewhere, that feeling of accelerating down the runway.  Ever since 9/11, though, it’s just terrified me.  When I fly alone I can premedicate with a drink at the airport bar, but downing a vodka martini while swatting away at two small children is generally frowned upon.  In public, anyway.

I won’t lie–my usual lack of religious fervor takes a backseat to my desire to live when planes swing from side to side.  Even the boy looked at me and said, “Mom, you said this would be fun.  This is NOT fun.”  I did my best to keep my calm face on despite the severe internal panic.

After the flight, the flight attendant told us that had been the worst turbulence she’d experienced in decades, which made me feel a bit better.

We had a nice condo on the beach, and our days consisted of hanging out at the beach in the morning, swimming in the pool in the afternoon, and just relaxing.  One thing that surprised me was how much the kids needed the relaxing, too! I mean, what’s stressful about their lives? But I think that school is hard for them–they work hard and are exhausted by the end of the day, and I couldn’t believe how much their little bodies just un-tensed.  We had few issues with the boy and conflict while we were there, which made me realize that a lot of the problems arise when we need him to do things right away during stressful times–in the morning before going to work, and in the evenings before dinner.  On the beach, there really wasn’t much he needed to do, and there were few time restrictions.

Despite all the relaxing time, though, I managed to learn a little travel lesson while I was there.  I thought it might be nice to take a boat trip to some of the nice beaches, and snorkel.  I went to the corner travel agent, whom I THOUGHT was with the registered tour place (mistake #1) and booked a 5 hour boat trip.  The guy was sketchy and I had a bad feeling, but I brushed it off (mistake #2).  That night, Eric said that he didn’t want to take the kids on the trip, he thought it would be too much for them. (Wise decision #1).  In the morning, my sister and I went to the booth where Carlos had agreed to meet us to pay for our transportation to the boat and back, which I had been told would be a private van.

When we got there, Carlos walked us up a block and practically shoved us onto a public bus, told the driver to drop us off at the Marina, and then jumped off at the next stop after handing us a slip of paper with the words “Hector, #10” written on it.  As we ride down the highway, I tell Sapana, “I hope this ends up being a fun story, and not a funny story.” (Insight #1)

We get off where the driver gestures and find ourselves standing amidst a LOT of really, really fit looking people scrambling to get onto bicycles.  Turns out the bus driver had left us in the middle of the Mexican National Triathlon!!  We looked idiotic wandering around the race area for a while, and then just got into the spirit and started cheering people on as they came in from the run and transitioned to riding.  I even asked someone where the ships leave from and he told us that the marina was closed for the next 4 hours!  We figured we’d hang out for a bit and then just hop a bus back (which would have been wise decision #2) but then I spied a passel of white people waiting on the other side of the marina and figured that was where we were supposed to be. (Correct, but actually unwise decision)

Indeed, there we found Hector waiting at gate #10, and got in line with a bunch of Mexican vacationers and a few foreign tourists.  The boat itself was fine initially, the snorkeling was awful, and the beach we went to was actually stunning.  The ride back, however, was painfully slow and when we asked what was going on, we found out that the boat crew had failed to bring enough oil for the journey and so could only run the engine at quarter-speed.  I mean, WHO forgets to bring OIL when you do this as a daily activity?!  Thus, the 5 hour boat trip turned into a 9 hour journey.  The entire way back the boat “captain” had people playing ridiculous games that consisted of “sexy dancing” and yelling “andale” a LOT, with blaring speakers.  Our ears hurt.

When we got back, Eric was worried sick and livid, which was rapidly cured by a few margaritas. (Wise decision #3)

Still, I can’t believe I got duped like that! I think of myself as a very savvy traveller, so it just felt like salt in a prideful wound.  Ah well. Next time, we’ll just hire a private boat (with oil) for about the same price.

Another thing that struck me–we went to the MegaMart there to go grocery shopping, which was larger than and more confusing than Wal-Marts here.  I couldn’t believe the MASSIVE amounts of produce that people bought!  The little plastic bags in the produce section here were about 4 times as large, and people filled them up with literally 20-30 fruits or vegetables at a time!  Partly, I think it’s because of larger family sizes and just that people cook more at home rather than go out, but it was still astonishing to watch.

It was also wonderful to spend time with my sister, though I feel that every time she spends a week with the kids she feels less and less motivated to actually HAVE children of her own.  Don’t get me wrong–she loves her niece and nephew, but they are a lot of work, too.  A few references were made that I should consider being the sole grandchild producer for my parents, and when we went to the airport to leave (our flights left at the same time) she chose to go and wait by herself at her gate half an hour early.  I can’t wait until the kids are old enough to simply drop off on her front doorstep for a week or two while Eric and I take a vacation by ourselves–she’ll love it.

All in all, a great trip.  I think we’re going to try for a yearly vacation, and alternate beach vacation years with more adventure travel years to get it all in.

Once the girl is potty trained, of course.