All That Glitters Here Is Gold!

Lists of interesting places are always--well, interesting. A while ago one caught my attention, 10 Incredible Indoor Pools. Now I rarely pick a place to visit because of their pool but if we are ever in the remote western peaks of China, I may be tempted to stay at the St. Regis Lhasa Resort. 

All of the pools on the list were remarkable and pictured quite beautifully but the one at the St. Regis was quite unusual as well. I've been in pools that have looked like exotic lagoons, large pools with the infinity edge that makes it appear to be a part of the ocean and go on for ever (careful you don't swim over the edge), pools where you can swim from the warm inside to the arctic outside while still staying warm but I've never been in a pool made of gold.

The St. Regis pool is made of real gold plated tiles and is said to be the only one in the world that is. It is salt water, heated, and is called the "Golden Energy Pool." If you like bling, this is the place to swim.

The resort features butlers, plasma TVS, high speed internet, Bose sound systems and marble bathrooms. A bit pricey, the room rates start at $300. So if you happen to be visiting Tibet or want to explore the Himalayas, you might want to stop in, stay the night, and take a dip in a pool lined with gold. Last one in. . . 

Park And Fly Or Take A Cab?

It's a math problem never seen on one of those tests that asks about the trains leaving in opposite directions, etc., etc. How many days will my parking at the airport cost vs. how much will the cab fare be round trip? For a while, a trip of more than 10 days made it more economical to take a cab than to park but then cab fares went up and now, provided we have a coupon, that extends to about 14-16 days being cheaper than a cab.

Alas, we have heard that several of the out lots have been purchased by our airport (CLE) so we are guessing that prices will go up even more to park since there is almost a monopoly. So we are back to more mathematical calculations to try to save some travel dollars. There are a few creative ideas.

Some hotels near an airport will offer free parking if you stay with them the night before you fly. Ten, fourteen, even thirty days may be in the stay and park package. We've done that twice in the past--once when we drove to Detroit to fly somewhere because the airfare was cheaper
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Of course all of this leads to more calculations. All airport parking lots are not created equal. I was surprised to hear that Charlotte's only charges $5/day. Most in our area are around $7 to $8 a day. Then there are some I've heard are as much as $15/day.

A cab looks pretty economical in many instances. Ask around to find the most reliable. You don't want them showing up late or not at all. Of course if you have a friend who doesn't mind some of the crazy flight times, you might just get a ride back and forth for the price of a nice souvenir.

A Fairy Tale Castle

As I've been shopping for the Christmas season, I've noticed all the Disney princess items available in the stores. Everyone loves the fairy tale castles and the make believe lives of their inhabitants. There is a castle said to be the inspiration for the trademark Cinderella castle at Disney World that has quite a tale surrounding it. I'm not so sure it can be labeled as a happily-ever-after story.

Neuschwanstein Castle was a dream of King Ludwig II who hoped to build an even more beautiful castle than the one he grew up in, Hohenschwangau, just below where Neuschwanstein would be built. The area is absolutely beautiful and the legend of a swan knight, Lohengrin, immortalized in a Wagner opera, gives it a romantic flavor.

Unfortunately Ludwig began to live in a fantasy world. His monarchy was more in name only. The castle plans were changed often according to his whim and eventually with his unusual behavior, he was declared insane. He died under unusual circumstances shortly after moving into the castle.

I remember some of the legends and myths and tales that surround the area and the castle were quite interesting and entertaining. It's a great tour if you are traveling and can stop there
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Wordless Wednesday

Food! Glorious Food!

I wonder what Oliver Twist would have thought of our modern day buffets? I used to be a fan of buffets when I was younger. We had a favorite buffet not too far from us that had a build-your-own strawberry shortcake table. It was heaven. Sadly they went out of business.

On a few business trips to Las Vegas, we discovered the cheap buffet. Years ago, in an effort to get people into the casinos and keep them there, establishments advertised really cheap prices on their all-you-can-eat buffets. I seem to recall some of them were around $5 or less. It was quicker to eat at a buffet so players got back to the gaming tables quicker. Since then, Vegas has discovered that people are a bit more picky about their dining and there are fewer buffets and more expensive places with much better specialty foods. A few buffets still exist and have made the list of Smarter Travel's list of Belly Busting Buffets.

Three of the ten listed are in Las Vegas. I'm sure the prices are more than $5 now. That's the problem I have with today'sbuffets. There are very few that are reasonable for my appetite. I just don't eat that much to justify the cost.

Several more buffets are listed from other countries like France, Sweden, China, and Dubai but the majority are in the U.S. Maybe the fast food industry isn't to blame for our larger sizes. Maybe it has more to do with our appetite for buffets.

World Cruise - Piranha Fishing ?

Piranha fishing? Are you kidding me? Turns out he wasn't. Bob knows I love to fish but really, for piranha? He went ahead and booked our excursion from Santarem, Brazil, as we travel the Amazon on one leg of our World Cruise.

I've seen piranha in aquariums enough times to know they are nasty looking critters. So I went on my own "excursion" to see what I could find out from others who have gone before. I found one comment on a Cruise Critic forum and then another report from a blogger who added pictures and gave a good description of the excursion.

Apparently along the way you see villages and flora and fauna of the area as well as an interesting phenomenon where two rivers flow together, one brown (the Amazon) and one either blue or green (the Tapajos). Then you reach Maica Lake where you do the fishing.

Both descriptions of the fishing said that the hook was already baited (raw meat) which will make my husband happy. He's a fisherman as long as someone baits the hook and takes the fish off. I'm with him on taking the fish off this time. I don't think I want to handle a fish with teeth like that.

So, if you want to hear how our fishing trip goes, stay tuned right here. It should take place sometime around April 26. I don't think this is a catch, freeze, and send home deal though. No matter. I'm packing extra bandaids though.

There's A Thorn In My Side

It's Christmas time and I cannot help but remember my mother at this time of year. She was Mrs. Christmas, Mother Christmas, Grandma Christmas. Whatever name you want to apply. She thrived on colored lights, lit candles, wrapping paper and bows, cards, pine trees and trimming, hand knit Christmas stockings, and the list goes on.

Mom passed away thirty years ago but that first Christmas after her funeral in September still pierces my heart. About a month before Christmas, I received a call from a friend of hers who said she didn't know what to do with some gifts my mother had ordered from her. Mom had bought seven light weight jackets, one for each of our kids and Bob and I, and asked her to embroider our names and the name of our sailboat on the jackets. They were all finished and paid for if I wanted to pick them up. I did. And I wrapped them and experienced the most bitter sweet moment of my life when we unwrapped gifts that year.

While time has passed--lots of time, there is still that little pinch each year at this time. I know there are many others who go through the same emotion each year because of losses in their lives. I spoke with a man recently who lost his wife several years ago and couldn't understand why it still hurt so much. For some reason the verse in 2 Corinthians 12 came to mind where Paul talks about having a thorn in his flesh.

Sorrow and grief is kind of like that. It pokes us at times and often when we don't expect it even if it's been many years since our loss. Like a thorn that's been embedded in the flesh, it hurts a lot at first, then lessens but every so often, it pinches us again but as God told Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you."

The memories God has graced me with of my mother make that pinch of grief bearable. So I will think of Mother Christmas and all her quirky ways of showing her love through our holiday season and thank God for her. We've all outgrown our jackets but we'll never outgrow the memories.

Movie Travel

Recently I read an article on movies that have inspired special travel tours. On our trip to New Zealand in 2013, we were offered lots of opportunities to see places where parts of Lord Of The Rings was filmed and the more recent Hobbit movie. We weren't fans of either movie but it was interesting to know that we'd been to some of those spots. Many more travelers are a lot more interested, enough so that there are tour books for sale that point out all the particular places that you would want to visit from the movie and of course, there's the movie location as well.

The article went on to say that Frozen has inspired travel to Norway. I'm not so sure about that. There's a lot of difference between animation and the real Norway but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

There have been movies that we've seen shot in locations that we have visited. We get sore elbows from bumping each other in the movie theater when we see places we've been. Case in point, Under The Tuscan Sun. Tuscany was as beautiful as portrayed on the movie screen.

Many of the action spy films we love--Mission Impossible, Bond Films, etc., are filmed in exotic places and we love that we've seen some of those.

Of course the quintessential movie tour would be the one in Salzburg, The Sound Of Music. We have taken that tour and enjoyed the stories told about the filming. Most interesting was the story that the nuns would not let filming in the convent because the film crew and actors smoked--or so the tale goes from our particular guide.

What about you? What movies have inspired your travel or put a location on your bucket list?

How To Stay Well When You Travel

There is nothing worse than planning a wonderful trip and then feeling ill when you travel. While I don't have all the answers, I do have some common sense ideas that can help you stay healthy starting with the tried and true answer to most everything: WASH YOUR HANDS! Often!

I carry Purell with me always. Even when we are not traveling. It's no fun being sick at home either. We try to remember to use the hand sanitizer when we've had to shake a lot of hands, use a banister or hand rail in the mall, or just open doors in a public place. We're not fanatics and mostly use it before we eat. Again, keeping those hands clean is more than half the battle against what's lurking out there.

Remember to get your immunizations. The flu shot especially but there are also lots of other immunizations for pneumonia, shingles, etc. that would be good to have. Visit a health clinic if you are planning a trip to a country that you're not sure will have some other problems that could affect your health like malaria.

Don't drink the local water. We follow this rule even when we travel within the USA. Water is different in every area of the country/world and certainly not always processed well. The best advice we got when we went to China was to be sure we ate only cooked food because raw vegetables might have been washed in local water that has poor quality. We were also cautioned to be sure our bottled water was sealed and if kept cold in ice, it was suggested we wipe the bottle off before drinking from it. Remember if you get ice in a drink, it is probably made from local water.

Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. The best thing you can do for yourself is to drink plenty of water starting from the time you get on the plane to when you return home. Dehydration in any type of climate is possible and you will feel much more energy and wellness if you remember to drink plenty of water.

Stick to a routine as much as possible. Certainly time zone changes are a challenge but once you adjust a bit, keep to a morning wakeup and regular bedtime. Get those eight hours of zzzzz. Also if you are not being too active as you travel (bus tours require a lot of sitting) take advantage of the fitness center in the hotel or find a good safe place to take a brisk walk each day.

Several travel sites suggest taking Clorox wipes to clean your seat area in the plane. I'm not that germ conscious but I do take my own sweater or soft cotton hoodie to wrap up in should I want to sleep or the plane is chilly. Actually I take one to wrap in and one to roll as a pillow. I never could get used to those blow up pillow or horseshoe pillows people use.

Another tip I found is wearing your glasses instead of contacts when you fly. You are less likely to touch your eyes with your hands. I guess I never thought of that but I usually take my contacts out after the TSA check in and wear my glasses if we're taking a flight I'm going to sleep on--less chance of my eyes getting too dry.

Did I mention wash your hands--often? That is still the number one way of fending off those nasty things that could ruin a beautiful trip with illness.

Wordless Wednesday

Oh Those Towel Critters!

Love 'em or hate 'em towel animals have been around for a long time aboard the cruise ships of almost every line you travel. I don't mind them. I can take them or leave them but some people are really entranced by them. So much so that there are now towel animal demonstrations on many sea day schedules.

If you are not able to cruise and learn the art though, there is a solution--how-to books. Three of them pop up in an Amazon search: Carnival Towel Creations (published by Carnival Cruises of course), Towel Folding 101, and How To Make A Towel Monkey And Other Cruise Ship Favorites.

Imagine the look on the face of your family and/or friends when you host them overnight for the holidays and on their bed they find a clever towel animal. Just be careful though. They may begin to expect the other amenities that come with cruising like room service.

While we've enjoyed hanging monkeys, lobsters and bunnies with sunglasses (ours) on the bed, the most unusual towel creation however was a full body on the bed. Yup. Towel arms and legs, my sandals for the feet, a shawl wrap, and a straw hat sitting just above eyeglasses. I almost screamed when I opened the door to our room but luckily realized it was all towels and not a stranger in our bed.

There is always an interesting discussion on the Cruise Critic and there is an article on their blog that talks about towel creatures and the author's attempt to create them.

For me, I'll just continue to be amused by the efforts of others.

Once Upon A Night At The Palace

There are always temptations coming into my mailbox be it email or snail mail. I don't always get a chance to look at them right away so I file them away for those nights when when there's nothing on TV or the days when the weather is nasty and I dream of getting away again. Here's a little something from one of those emails from TripAdvisor. Did you know there are lots of palace hotels in the world where you can spend the night?

Perusing the menu presented by the email from TripAdvisor, I found I could stay in a variety of places in India, Turkey, Austria, Russia, Venice, and several more including Malta which is tempting since we've never been there.

I clicked on them to get some pricing--just for fun. Right? My eyeballs bulged at a couple. The offerings shown in the TripAdvisor post ranged from $218/night to over $1000/night for two nights in June. I might spend around $200 to get treated like a queen for a night but $1000? Naw. That could get me a cruise where I'd get treated pretty much like a queen for a week at least.

Palaces are nice places to visit but I guess at those prices, I'll pass at staying there--at least for now.

Will Anyone Read This Post on Black Friday?

I don't often express my opinions strongly on this blog but this time I will. I hate Black Friday. I hate the name. I know, I know. It has to do with retailers being "in the black" instead of "in the red" but it just seems like an ominous name for the day after a nice holiday. I hate the commercialism it represents for the Christmas season. I hate the frenzy it creates.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving. A nice day for most people. Time for family. A feast of bountiful food for many. Ah but Black Friday has crept into our day to give thanks. Gobble down the turkey kids! It's time to shop!

Would it really make a difference to retailers if they spread out their sales or adjusted their prices so that there wouldn't have to be just one day or one week for the absolute rock bottom sales? Come to find out, the sales aren't as good as they're advertised to be anyway.

Well I could go on about the commercialism of Christmas, tell stories of gift giving that doesn't have to come from a store, and don't get me started on all those trees that were lit up while the kids were out trick or treating. No, I'm ranting on and there is probably no one reading this. Everyone's gone shopping. Mine's done. If I want a good sale, I'll wait until after Christmas. Those sales don't hold the dire name of Black Friday.

Thanksgiving Around the World

While in America today we celebrate our Thanksgiving Holiday, there are other places in the world with similar celebrations. The only other country I know of that celebrates a day called Thanksgiving is Canada which has chosen the second Monday of October for their holiday.

Other countries celebrate harvest festivals similar to Thanksgiving rejoicing over a bountiful harvest. Some are not celebrated in the fall and some are celebrated for a specific crop.

It is a reminder again that while there are so many differences in the peoples of the world, there is still a lot that we hold in common. I'm thankful for the differences that make our world so interesting and I'm grateful for those similarities that bind us together.

I know it's not thought of as a Thanksgiving quote but, "God bless us, everyone!"

Wordless Wednesday

World Cruise - What Happened To February 17?

We sat down the other day and went over our cruise itinerary again to decide on the smaller excursions we may want to take along the way. To help me visualize our trip, I took my wall calendar and began penciling in the ports and cruise days (days at sea). Everything was going along well until I got to February 17. There was no February 17 on our cruise itinerary!

Instead of February 17 there was a note that we cross the Dateline. Now we've done that lots of times before but never on a ship. It's a first!!

Every time we have crossed the Dateline it has been on an airplane and doesn't seem quite as jarring. Maybe it's because of the jet lag. Their will be no jet lag on this trip. That was one of the inviting details of this trip. We gain an hour through each time zone from Miami through the Canal and across the Pacific until we hit the dateline. Then we lose a day, February 17, but as we continue around the globe, we will gain those 24 hours back one hour at a time.

So I guess, in the end, we still have February 17. It's just that it is chopped up into twenty-four hour pieces and dispersed through the remaining seventy-five days of our trip. I'm  just glad my birthday isn't on the 17th of February!

Oh Those Flying Marathons!

Several years ago we made a trip to Australia and in order to save money on our airfare we ended up making the trip in three increments--a total of twenty-eight hours when you added flight times to layovers. The flight between Australia and California (probably LA) was at least thirteen hours and then there were two more flights to get home. I remember the last layover where we were at about a twenty-four hour mark and needed to stay awake  to be sure we'd make our flight home. Without taking a little time to refresh, I don't think we'd have survived it all. Here are some tips for those marathons.

Pack a carry on with a refresher kit. This is a little harder with all the TSA requirements now but not impossible. In your 311 bag, pack a sample size toothpaste and brush, a washcloth you don't mind throwing out (or pack an extra Ziploc to carry it when it's wet), a small bottle of your favorite spirited body wash (something with eucalyptus or a strong clean smell helps) and a small deodorant. Sometimes the airline provides a little kit but usually if you are flying economy, it won't happen. With your refresher kit, you can pop into an airport restroom and wash your face and brush your teeth and feel at least 80% better.

It helps to pack an extra shirt or top to change into as well especially if you've slept on a really long flight.

Some airports have lounges with showers available. You might want to check ahead for that possibility especially if you expect to land and have to immediately go to a business meeting or do some sightseeing before checking into your hotel. Very few hotel rooms are ready when you need them. Airport lounges often offer a day pass so that you can avail yourself of the showers.

Got a long layover? See if there is an airport hotel close by (often they are even attached to the airport). Sometimes they will offer a day rate for you to use a room for a few hours to nap and/or freshen up. If that's not available, they may let you shower in their spa area for a small fee.

If you arrive at your destination and try to check in early at your hotel, you will most likely find the room not ready. Again, there is the possibility that they will let you freshen up in their pool or spa area and most certainly will offer to keep your luggage for you until you can check into your room.

A flying marathon takes as much preparation as any other marathon but with a little planning you can survive and the payoff is usually a wonderful destination.

Who Do You Trust?

A few weeks ago I had the privilege of sharing the morning message with my church family. Of course with all our traveling, it took on a travel theme of sorts. I showed a few pictures of our trip to Bryce Canyon National Park where I was introduced to Hoodoos. Hoodoos are the stone structures in the canyon that stand stoically while God works his wonder of creation shaping and forming them into amazing structures through the medium of erosion.

Now Hoodoos don't commit consciously to trusting God to form them into new creatures but we do have that opportunity to commit to trusting God to create a new life in us. What keeps us from trusting Him is the question.

When we travel, we often take a plane. Do we know who is flying it? Not usually. Yet we trust that the person at the controls will get us safely to our destination.

Arriving at our destination, we usually need the services of a taxi. Do we know who is driving the taxi? We can see him/her but we really don't know much about that person and in some of the countries we have visited it has been difficult to even communicate with them. Yet again, we trust them to get us safely to our destination.

In both of those cases a lot of prayer often helps--at least to calm the fears we might have but there is one area of trust most people don't even give a second thought to unless of course you are driving on a different side of the road than you normally do. Every time you drive, you trust that the dividing line down the middle of the road will keep the oncoming traffic on the correct side of it. The line in most cases isn't much wider than 6-8 inches or up to 16" or so if there's a double line. Do you trust the double line more?

All of this is to say, we have little trouble trusting the pilot, the taxi driver, or the dividing line in the roadway but when it comes to trusting the living God who walks with us, who loves us, who wants to help us through life's challenges we. . .

What do we do?

Who do you trust?

Futile Fridays

It's not just wandering the world that makes me a writer wandering. I also do a lot of ruminating. Writers need that. It develops plot lines, characters, and quandaries for characters. It also leads to thinking more deeply about life and the journey--or not. Take the case of Friday.

Friday used to be a great day. It was something to look forward to each week. It signaled the end to a lot of chaos created by kids, school, work, schedules, etc. On Friday everything seemed to ease off and even though there might be some things planned for a weekend, it still meant some time of rest or at least a break from routine was coming.

The kids grew up, left home, and routines changed--a bit. There was still a hubby to get off to work and Friday was still a time to look forward to. The weekend meant a couple of mornings to sleep in and time to spend together. And then came retirement.

Don't get me wrong. I love that we are retired. I love that we have all of our days together now--well, mostly I love that. Sometimes I do miss a little "me time" and pushing my own grocery cart around the store. But retirement has made Friday just a day like any other. Actually, it is less attractive because many of those working people are out and about and making popular places a lot more crowded.

Gone are the days of the Friday movie date. Instead we enjoy Senior Mondays at the movies. We sleep in whenever we want to although we do keep to a routine somewhat. Like Bob's favorite saying," When you're retired you can't tell when you are on vacation," it's hard to differentiate between a weekday or a weekend.

So you see Friday is kind of futile except for football season when it signals a football Saturday and usually a football Sunday. Go Bucks! Go Browns! Maybe Friday's not so futile after all.

Books For The Road - Annie's Stories by Cindy Thomson

The early 1900s saw an influx of immigrants through Ellis Island and many settled in New York City. Sometime around that era, my own grandparents came through Ellis Island but they settled farther west in Ohio and they weren't from Ireland like the women found in Cindy Thomson's Ellis Island series. Annie's Stories is the second in the series and is quite a tale of a young woman's struggle to overcome her past in Ireland and make a new life in America.

Thomson paints her story with well-researched historical aspects that add flavor to the story line which centers on Annie who was rescued from a girl's reformatory in Ireland where she was unfairly confined and mistreated when her father died. and Stephen, a postman, who has also lost his family and struggles with his father's suicide. Annie's father was an Irish storyteller who had left to his daughter some written stories which she will learn were part of a secret side to her father. There is a bit of a mystery as well as romance and all beautifully set in NYC at the turn of the century.

While Grace's Pictures is the first in the series, there is no problem in reading Annie's Stories as a separate book. I've read most of Thomson's books and this is definitely the best, although I did enjoy her baseball book, Three Finger: The Mordecai Brown Story. 

Annie's Stories is a smooth read. A great book for the road.