Journeys With GG

I'd like to spend more time in San Diego

So Friday night SD and I flew down to San Diego for the wedding of a good friend of his from college. 

Our flights there and back were great.  Virgin America is just as good as Virgin Atlantic, and only a few dollars more per ticket more expensive than Southworst.  I have to say, having your own personal TV with a wide range of media and games to select from make a difference, even on a 75 minute flight.    Plus the service in general is just excellent!

Before the wedding yesterday we drove around a bit and then went to Torrey Pines beach for about an hour to watch the surfers and the kids playing in the sand.  It was just so nice to be outside and the sunshine was beautiful.  Of course my arms got a little pink, but it's par for the course since I'm pretty lily white. 

The wedding was very small and simple and really lovely.  There were probably only about 50 people there and it's definitely one of the smallest weddings I've been to, but it was really refreshing to see that a small wedding could still be really nice and memorable. 

If there's anything our quick trip down to San Diego did for us, was that we decided it would be nice to go back down sometime and spend at least a few days getting more of a feel for the place.  I've never been a fan of Southern California, but somewhere in my mind I guess I only consider LA in with that dislike.  San Diego, on the other hand, is actually a place I think I could live.  There were just so many people outside enjoying the sunshine, it wasn't smoggy, everyone had great color and just looked so happy.  It was a good indicator that the great access we have to fresh produce and the great outdoors in the Bay Area could be easily replicated in San Diego.

Baa da da-da da-da dat-da, Tequila!

So, the third night we were in Mexico we took to sipping very good tequila in the hotel lobby, while watching the hopeful contestants from Latin American Idol (yep, it was being held at our hotel!) leave the building.  And, I had a lot of tequila, I'm not going to lie to you.  About four "sipping" glasses.  The size of a shot, but you don't shoot it.  You salt a lime and squeeze a little juice in your mouth, then you take an equal size sip of tequila, you swallow, and then you follow it up with a sip of a bloody Mary mix-like chaser, but it's better than that.  I don't know, it  was one of my best tequila experiences to date, that's for sure. 

And here's the kicker....I didn't have a headache or anything the next morning!

Mexico City Musings

For the past couple of days I've been in Mexico City for a trade show.  While I've traveled to a handful of what some might see to be "exotic" places before, I somehow had never been to Mexico before.  While there's no vacationing involved in this trip, so far it's pretty cool.  Here's a quick recap.

Funny things at the show: 

Bare-breasted ladies in thongs covered in royal blue body paint walking the show floor in heels as an advertisement for Yamaha.  Seriously, it was hard to tell if they were really topless until they got up close and you could see all the details.  Yes, weird, even weirder that there were several small kids around as it was public/family day at the show.   A co-worker took photos so I hope to get them from her to post here.

Pimped out accordions.  Yes, accordions.  I guess for the hip and modern accordion player, you have options in selecting a range of colors and bling to attach to your already unusual instrument.

Things I've had to eat:

Tacos!  In Mexico, tacos area a whole different ballgame.  Small with fresh fillings, lime and salsa.  yesterday I tried a type of cactus taco, beef, and pork.  Yummy!  Ant eggs - well, when in Mexico...  Our table at dinner last night shared them as an appetizer and they were really interesting and cooked with what seemed to be a type of rice, and you eat them in taco style with the same fixings.  They were pretty good.  Habanero salsa.  Oh my.  Super hot, burning hot, but sooooo good!

And, what else?  A small earthquake yesterday shook the trade show hall at Mexico City's World Trade Center.  It was actually a 5. something, but the epicenter was quite far south so we only had a bit of a rolling sensation.

Nashville, Who Knew?

So, I have the pleasure of spending Valentine's Day by myself in the swankest hotel room I've ever been in.  SD and I tried to work it so he could come, but between the flight and the extra night we'd stay on Saturday, it was nearly bling-bling pricey.  We've got some fun stuff planned for once I'm back on Saturday, so that will be when we celebrate.

While the cab drove me to the hotel in the dark, Nashville looks pretty cool.  Tons of clubs where you could see performers in there singing and a really cute downtown.  It will be nice to see it tomorrow in the daylight, and nice to go see our office here.

Until then though, I have a cushy bed to sleep and watch TV in.  And since I had kind of a noisy and head-achy flight out here, I'll probably get to bed at a decent hour as well.

Greetings from Amsterdam

Hey, hey, hey -

Since I've started my  new job work has been too busy to log on for much personal stuff, and I'm still without internet access at home for various reasons I won't go in to (well, Dell, needing a router at home to connect work computer, etc.)

But, I'm in Amsterdam for work right now and things are good.  Getting ready to hit the hay right now as it's nearly midnight, but hope to have some interesting updates throughout the week.  There's a lot for me to catch you up on!

Through U.S. Customs in Less Than 30 Minutes - A Record I'm Sure

The most eventful part of my trip home was getting my connecting flight from Houston to LA.  And here's why.

Due to the generous folks at the FAA who want to make sure that air staff is well rested before flights, my flight to Houston left more than 35 minutes late, leaving me with less than an hour in Houston to clear customs and get on my last flight.

Oy.

• We land in Houston at 12:15.  My connecting flight leaves at 1:05.
• I finally get off the plane at 12:30.
• I speed walk to customs, walking on the moving walkways even.  Someone sees me and comments "look at speedy Gonzalez"
• I get in a line to get my exit stamp stamped.  It's taking forever.  I don't care that they guy behind me is from Seattle, and his flight is supposed to leave at 12:45.
• I get through the stamp line, and then go to wait for my pack.
• I ask a big ole dude about flights to LA, he says the good news is they leave every other hour - as if.  I'm making my flight and getting home on time for surf dog to pick me up a the airport.
• Miraculously, my pack is like the fifth one on the conveyor belt.  Amazing since I was probably the first person on the flight checked in at approx. 4:3o that morning.
• I run, dragging my pack which has now be shellacked in plastic and throw it on the correct conveyor belt
• I have to get in another freakin security line - shoes off, electronics and cosmetics out, the whole deal.  They close the line I'm in right before I get to scan, the line we're being shuffled to is 15 minutes long.
• Please sir, I ask the security person, can I just sneak in here?  I've got a 1:05 flight to make.
• Because you said please little lady, I'll let you through.  Sigh.  Only in Texas would this happen.
• I get through security in a flash because I know the drill.
• I run, run to my gate.  It's a good 10 minute run at least.  12:45, 12:50, 12:55.  I'm checking the clocks randomly as I run.
• I get to my gate.  Is it still here I ask?  Yes he says.  I reply - guess what, you CAN make it through customs in less than 45 minutes here.
• My seat is at the very back. I'm on the isle.  Thank god I have time to use the bathroom before we take off.
• I have an extreme fairly princess bitching next to me about how this flight will just be unbearable.  I put my headphones on and wait for the movie to start.
• The flight flies by.
• We stand to get off the plane.  I spy a woman with massive black hair with pink and purple dreads interspersed, and a ton of tattoos.  I recognize her to be Dilana from last summer's Rock Star Supernova.  It makes sense - she lives in Houston and is going to LA.  She totally rocked and should have totally beat out that hobbiton Lukas.  I hoped to catch her off the plane to tell her that my sister and I thought she got robbed, but by the time I get off the plane she's nowhere in sight.

Costa Rica Catch Up

So, it´s our last full day in Costa Rica, and I really plan on doing nothing except pack and rest, as tomorrow´s journey home is going to start at 3:30 a.m. with a cab to the airport, ugh!

My birthday night was fun and we went out to a cool place for dinner.  I treated myself to lobster, which was excellent, and our tour leader had arranged to bring in a cake which was really sweet of her.  I also bought a really unusual handmade jade neclace that a woman was making and selling there.  Her jewelry was so interesting she made a killing off the women in the group, and even made a few special order pieces while we ate.

Yesterday was our dolphin, whale watching, snorkeling trip.  Unfortunately  most of us had a really hard time on the boat, including me.  I was fine until I went downstairs to use the bathroom, but got knocked around in there pretty well and didn´t feel normal again until we stopped and were able to jump off the boat and take a dip in the water.

In the end we didn´t see any dolphins, saw a few whale tales from a great distance, but the snorkeling was pretty good, at least for me as I´d never done it before.  I´ve heard that the visibility wasn´t that great though, so I´m looking forward to doing it again in clearere waters sometime in the future.

After that everyone was pretty well wiped out, and while we all managed to make it out to dinner, several of us didn´t last that long and it seemed to be an early night for all.

Once I´m done online, my adventures in creative packing will begin.  I think I´ll be able to get everything in, it just depends on what really old stuff I can leave behind, and how I get everything all stored away.  I think I´ll make it though.

It´s been a fun trip, but I´ll be really happy to get back home to my house and my own bed, and back to cooking my own meals again!

Manuel Antonio - Okay, this is closer to Hawaii

So, we´re in Manuel Antonio, staying at the Blue Monkey (really good rainforest-save the monkey effort going on here) and it´s closer to paradise than our previous locations, but still has very sketchy Internet.  It´s been up down up down the whole time.

Today we went to Manuel Antonio National Park and the water was fine, the Iguana´s were chillin´on the beach with us, and the Monkeys were cute and curious, even stealing a banana from a boy´s back pack that lay unattended.  I went on my LAST rainforest hike, and it was okay, but still much sweatier and muddier than I would have preferred, especially as I did it in Tevas.  My shoes are really not meant for feet anymore, as the smell offends my tootsies as well as my nose.

Oh, and did I mention I´m a year older today, and just drank something called a Blue Monkey Blast that is supposed to be a Blue Margarita and is WAAAAY better.  Good ole Chip, he sure knows how to run this place.

As fun as the adventure has been, I will be happy to head home to my dog, my sis, surf dog and the lovely, cool climate of the bay area.  Plus, I´ll also be able to post all my several hundred photos that I know y´all are dying to see.

Cloud Forests Rock!

So, this morning we went on a guided nature walk in the cloud forest in Monteverde and it was great!  Our guide, seven months pregnant, could do like 20 different bird calls and had eagle eyes for seeing all sorts of cool stuff.  I got some great photos of crazy, interwoven trees and all sorts of flowers.  After we went to a hummingbird observation area - hummingbirds are really plentiful here, and in colors of emerald, turquoise and purple, and I was able to take some photos and a 30 second video of them flitting around as well.

On the bad news front, four people on our trip are pretty ill and stayed home from the tour.  Hopefully they will have time to recover tonight before we have another five-plus hour travel day to Manuel Antonio tomorrow.

I really like Monteverde, and I think it's because it's just cooler and more arid here.  But the town itself has a character I really like.  I'm going on a coffee tour in about an hour and a half here, and I'm really looking forward to it.  The coffee here so far has been REALLY good.  I mean REALLY, REALLY good.  On par with Royal Cafe at home for sure.

Anyway, that's about it for now.  Until tomorrow-ish or so....

It´s a Small World

So, yesterday on the hike a girl on my tour, Melissa, started describing friends at home. She got to one description about a girl she grew up with in San Mateo and I asked what her name is.  Marissa Mazonccini.  Well, Marissa is my thrid cousin on the Giachetti side - small world.

We´re now in Monteverde and thankfully out of the heat and humidity for a while.  We´re all pretty beat so no group dinner tomorrow, and with a 7 am start we´ve all just been to the store to get snacks for dinner and something for breakfast.

That´s really all for now.  I´m too sore and tired to write anymore I think.  Tomorrow I´m going on a coffe tour and will visit a cheese factory as well.  The cheese factory is run by former Alabama Quakers who came here in the 1940´s because they didn´t agree with war.  Interesting huh.  We´ll see.