A Romantic Night With an Axe Murderer

Yup...we got to meet the band...

How many modes of transportation can one use in a day? Yesterday I capped off at five. Here is the breakdown...

1. Drove our car to Portland (2 hours)
2. Picked up the Concord Trailways bus there and took that to Logan Airport (2 hours)
3. Grabbed a commuter bus there to get to South Station (1 hour)
4. Took the red line (10 minutes)
5. Got a cab to the hotel (10minutes)

Add in waiting for busses and figuring out how to get where we needed it took about 6 hours to get here...a trip that would normally take around 4 or so in a car. But a easy price to pay for not having to pay $25 a day to park in the city for a week...oh yeah, and avoiding driving in Boston!

We came down a day early to see The Yellowjackets, a jazz group my husband is a fan of. And...can I just say that I am now in the running for the best wife EVER! Not only did I find the concert that coincidentally was the night before we were supposed to leave for our trip (and taking place in the same city we were to leave from) but I also took pictures of him with the band. Yup, I did. The venue was very small, probably around 200 people or so and everyone sat at small round tables. They played from around 8 to 9:30 or so and after sold cd's in the lobby and autographed them and posed for photos. So, we now own the latest Yellowjackets cd, autographed.

5 things I learned during my year abroad in Israel

No, I didn't spend a year in Israel, but my blog swap buddy Alana did! Today we swapped blogs, so today you can find me on her blog http://goodgirlgoneblog.typepad.com/. Make sure you check her out and give her some love!! :)

So, here they are, Alana's top five from Israel!

1. Just because it looks like a tomato, doesn’t mean it is one- it could in fact be a persimmon(…which looks like an orange tomato with funny leaves. I tried to put it in a vegetable soup, but luckily I tasted it first)

2. Never buy hair dye from a lady with Ariel the little mermaid colored hair- I made that mistake and ended up looking like a punk rocker, when all I wanted was a hint of chestnut.

3. You can pick up guys on public transportation- I met a (very attractive) soldier on a bus once. I pulled a slick move of “accidentally” dropping my sandal on his foot. He returned it and sat next to me. We got to talking and he asked me out. Sadly, it didn’t go anywhere, but it makes a great story. His mother was British, so when he spoke English, he had a very delicious accent. I never remember his name, so my friends and I refer to him as “Manchester,” his mother’s place of birth.

4. The best hot chocolate is made with mekupelet- which means pieces, and is a delicious Israeli candy bar. Think about it this way: hot milk + real chocolate (not the powder). It’s creamier and absolutely amazing. It costs a few sheqel more than the powder kind at a coffee shop, but it’s definitely worth it.

5. Sometimes, it’s ok to pee outside- when you’re on a 3-day desert “survival” hike, there’s nothing else you can do, and it’s totally acceptable. Apparently, it’s also ok to pee outside at the bus station, although that’s not something I would ever do. Eww…


That’s my friend Mari and me on a clearly very strenuous hike.

I’m the really tough looking one in the front…

Wake Up Call To Me...Sara You ARE NOT Adventurous!

I've said before on this very blog that I consider myself adventurous, I'll do a lot of things and the older I get the more game I am. How very wrong I was.

I came across this post about "How to travel the world for free" and realized that a lot of the options presented were SO out of my league. Okay, so I agree with some of the ideas presented here. For example, the author says that world travel is cheap and easy. Well, I don't know that I'd go that far, but I would say that my trip to Thailand probably cost as much as it would had I gone to Disney for the same length of time. Granted though, at Disney I wouldn't have had to deal with 24 hours on a plane and countless hours sitting in an airport. I would however, have to wait in long lines for all things Disney, so I'm calling that one a draw.

Trust people and you will receive free food and lodging? I'm going to have to say are you fucking kidding me? on this one..I don't open the door to my house if I don't know the person so there is no way that I'd be staying with a stranger in a foreign country. Certainly wouldn't do it in my own and I live in a pretty safe area. I know that there are people who do this and love it, I'm just thinking that I couldn't be one of them.

What do you think? Am I WAY too conservative and need to let loose some? Could/would you do it?

He Wears Skinny Jeans...and That's Hot...

Everyone knows that I'm a travel gal...I'm getting to the point where I'll pretty much go anywhere and do almost anything, unless of course it involves bugs or heights. Looking for someone to hang with in a third world country in some roach motel?? I'm down. But, I'm not quite the traveler I want to be.

And this Matthew, is where you want to turn your computer off...

Don't get me wrong, this post certainly shouldn't be rated X or even R for that matter. I'm not the kind of girl who can realistically pull that off without people laughing. I'm going to rate this a hard PG...

But here is where I will officially and publicly pronounce my love for Anthony Bourdain. I want to be him, or at least be close to him. I want to be the type of traveler he is, uninhibited and is always willing to try something new. But I also love the way he talks...I love the way he writes...I love his program all together. Seriously, there is nothing about him that I don't like.

If you haven't read his blog, it is a must read for all travelers and foodies a like... He inspires me to want to see the world in a different way, far from the normal tourist traps and tours. He makes me want to go it alone and see things like the locals do.

So, the journey to Iceland will be Bourdain style. Sure we'll see the hits, but there will also be time away from the everyday tourist spots, into the world of the locals. Matt will try the whale and the rotten shark, and I will document the occasion through photographs and video since I have a stronger gag reflex when it comes to that sort of thing.

Thank you Anthony Bourdain for your hard drinking, cigarette smoking, foul mouthed way. And thank you for helping me to become a more ambitious traveler.

And yes, he does wear skinny jeans...and yes, it is incredibly hot...

I'm Not Scared!!

I'm in the minority. Definitely. I LOVE to travel. I couldn't see my life as being complete without seeing new countries and experiencing people and cultures that are the exact opposite of myself. I've been thinking about this a lot lately, pretty much since I met my husband. We both come from very different worlds. I had a grandmother who loved to travel and spent a great deal of her time seeing the world. She instilled in me the love of all things travel related and when I was younger I loved to hear her stories of the places she'd been.

My husband on the other hand, came from a very different family. They did not travel. In fact, he didn't leave the country until our honeymoon. This was and really still is, absolutely incredible to me. After experiencing the world outside of America, he has been bit by the travel bug, but up until we went to Thailand, he never really cared so much.

This all brings me to my point. I read this article on Gadling. The article talks about why American's don't travel. This is a question I ask as well. Ask around, most American's don't leave the country and I'm not sure why. Any ideas??

Good News Turns Ugly

So, all of the good news that we got yesterday, IE Matt being accepted to the University of Maine has gone bad...

We find out today that NONE of his classes from his associates degree will transfer over to UMaine because the University says that it isn't a Regionally Accredited School. So, the two years that we had anticipated him being in school has now turned into four and will cost a total of $40,000!! Insaneness!! How people afford to go to college I don't know. It's so frustrating, he finally gets accepted and now I don't know how to pay for it.

Now we are faced with a dilema, do we spend the money and hope that it will lead to him getting a better job...or do we say screw it and not do the college thing at all.

On top of all this goodness, we get a sorta quote from a plumber who says that he wouldn't feel comfortable redoing our bathroom because he thinks that it would probably not make code. Lovely. Now that leads to another question, do we spend a lot of money and make the bathroom larger and add a tub, or, do we leave the layout of the bathroom as it is, a 3/4 bath and just update the fixtures. This would leave us with only the one bathroom and no tub in our house at all. Later we could always convert our porch into a bathroom, but that is going to require the big bucks...!! I'm not sure what the decision is going to be, but the whole school thing is definately going to come into play.

I want both...

Is it selfish of me to want it all and be angry that I can't? I don't have a horrible life. We both have decent paying jobs and have had the ability to travel. We lead decent lives, but yet I'm still not satisfied. I want a new bathroom with an actual bath tub, I want Matt to go back to school full time, and I want to be able to go on atleast one vacation where I leave the country a year. Is that too much to ask?? Really??

Homesick

Is it possible to be homesick for a country you spent only 2 1/2 weeks in??

I miss Thailand, specifically Bangkok. I miss the smells. I miss the people. I miss the food.

It feels crazy to feel this way after only spending a short period of time there....but there was a certain feeling you got from being there, and I haven't had that feeling since. Costa Rica was nice and I'd go back in a couple of years after I feel like I've seen the world, but I wouldn't want to live there. Not enough happening....my life would be sitting on a beach and hanging out, doing outdoorsy things. A week was enough of that! South Africa was beautiful, and I loved every minute of being there. I could probably live in Cape Town, but it was so much like this country. There wasn't enough flair...there wasn't enough of a feeling of excitement there. We would fit in there instantly....

Bangkok was different. We were different there. It was like our lives started fresh and we could just do whatever we wanted. The possibilities were endless. Maybe I'm sentimental because we were just married, or maybe it was because I got sick and ended up in the hospital. I'm not sure. But there was something about that city that makes me want to go back....and soon.

South Africa - The Good and the Bad of our Final Days

Our last day with the tour we went wine tasting. It was actually really fun, even though I happen to absolutley HATE wine. But I was a trooper and tried anyway. The countryside was beautiful and we went to two vineyards. We had the afternoon free and then we went to the diamond store to see how diamonds are cut and all of that fun stuff. They had beautiful jewelry but there was a bit of sticker shock. One woman in our group looked at a pair of diamond earings (I think that they were a carat each) and they cost $23,000 ... that's U.S. A little out of my price range! But I've always wanted diamond earings and had been asking for them for my birthday and Christmas for years, so Matt bought me some genuine South African diamonds (NOT blood diamonds...they are certified as such) over at the waterfront. So they are an early birthday present. I try to get a piece of nice jewelry whenever I travel somewhere...something that is special to the area ( I have my gold cartuche (SP?) from Egypt and my saphire, get well soon, necklace from Thailand (and I don't think that Costa Rica had anything special there)...so this is my special South African diamonds.

So, after all of this, we went to our going away dinner. It was actually at The Gold Museum which was pretty cool. So, we had our tour of the museum...which was actually pretty stupid really...and we went outside and they had huge heaters set up for us and we had a great dinner. It was a hodge podge of different types of foods, lots of veggies and it was actually fairly spicy. By far the best food that we had while we were there. It was probably one of the best nights of the trip. The servers were dressed in the native African clothes and there were traditional dances in between the courses. At the very end, the servers all sang and danced for us as well...they also invited some of us to join the dancing and Foster (you may remember him from the first post where he had his "accident") joined in the dancing. He actually had a couple (3 or 4) shots before he did this...I'm sure he was a joy the next day at his 4 am flight to Zimbabwe!! It was a perfect night and so sad to leave some of the people in the group, especially Dave, our tour guide from Collette and Jonathan, our native South African tour guide. I will actually really miss them both! Then we were on our own!

South Africa had been so good to us weather wise for our WHOLE trip...even on the days when it didn't matter...but then, when we really needed the weather to pull through for us...it all went to hell!

Tuesday, the day we had added on to specifically go shark diving turned out to rain. We were actually standing in the lobby waiting for the pick up and the company called and canceled because of the weather. Apparently if it is nasty on the mainland, then it is even worse out on the sea...So, we didn't get to go diving, which was a big disappointment, but there are worse things in life! It gives us a reason to go back!! So, we spent the day at the ocean front going through the shops and then we went to the aquarium to see the sharks sort of up close. But it was good to have a quiet day since we had marathon flights the next day.

We went to the airport at 11am yesterday so we could collect our VAT refund and got the tour of the Cape Town airport, which is undergoing major construction for the 2010 world cup which will be held in South Africa. So, as you can imagine, with construction comes chaos! We checked in domestic b/c we had to go to Jo'burg and then we had to go back outside and walk through a bunch of parking lots to find the international terminal to get the VAT refund. Then we had to find someone who could tell us where the refund terminal was...another issue! So, we get that done and our flight runs only a couple of minutes late and we board and get to Jo'burg in about 2 hours or so....Then all hell breaks loose in Jo'burg. It is complete chaos!! People everywhere going in every which direction...plus the signs aren't so great, so we're trying to figure out where to go...we find the elevator to get us where we need to go, but for some reason it will just shut the door and act like its moving up a floor, but then it just opens up on the ground level again...it did this 3 times before it actually worked. Then, when we did get to the correct level there were terminals as far as the eye could see ( did I mention that for some reason the girl in Cape Town wouldn't give us our boarding passes to go all the way through?? Don't ask why, I don't know..she did tag our luggage all the way through though...) So, we get in our line and stand there for a while and finally get up to the counter and get our boarding passes for all the way through...while we are in line though, a fight breaks out between these two girls...I think that one said the other cut in line or something like that, but I was pretty sure that some fists were going to fly!! Luckily security came by and quieted them down but they continued to exchange some choice words with each other!! So, we go through that line and have to stand in yet another line to go through security (quite a very long line I might add). So, we finally get through security and our 3 hour layover in Jo'burg actually ends up leaving us with only 30 minutes to wait for our flight. CRAZY!! We were hoping that we'd have good seats on this flight because it was a 9 hour flight to Paris, but as it turns out we were seated in the middle aisle in between two other people, so we were sandwiched in. Fine if your flying for 2 hours, but 9 hours is a bit long. It was actually an abolutley miserable flight. I couldn't even get sprite with my breakfast! We were pretty much given a sandwich for breakfast (and I know that it was breakfast because they called it that) but they wouldn't give me a damn sprite!! Damn AirFrance and french people everywhere. So, in Paris, we had to leave the secure area once again and ride the tram to our next terminal. So, yet again we had to stand in line to go through security. And this was quite a long line as well. But again we got throught it and had a chance to have some french pastry before we got on the plane. Everything was pretty uneventful except for the fact that the girl didn't like the boarding pass I was given in Jo'burg and wasn't sure she was going to let me on the plane...she talked with the girl who was letting Matt through and then decided to let me through. This flight I might add was much better...first of all, American food (and ice cream as a snack). Plus, the seats were much more comfortable and we had the only two seats on the left hand side (window!!). There was no video on demand like the flight to Paris, but it was worth it to have the extra space since this was yet again another 8 hour flight. Then, we get to JFK and we have to go through security once again. I think I got radiation poinsoning from all of the times I walked through the metal detector! Our flight was late, but it was only a little over an hour flight home, so it all worked out. I am so happy to be off of planes and out of airports!! We spent over 20 hours up in the air, and then figure in all of the layovers, and we spent well over a day and a half traveling, and if you saw us, you would have known!! Thankfully we both took tomorrow off, so no work for either of us until Monday.

So, we are home now and begining the process of uploading pictures!! I missed the house and the puppy, but I could easily pick up everything and move to Cape Town. No doubts!!

South Africa - Knysna on

We found out that we couldn't go to the township in Knysna because of the fighting going on there. Apparently people were setting fires and arond 600 people were homeless because of it. The company that would have brought us around offered to still do it, however we would have had to have a police escort. Our tour guide decided that we weren't going to go because of that. They also thought that bringing a tour bus in would have created more problems...so, we didn't get to do that, but that gave us some extra time to roam around the town.

The next day we drove to the Ostrich farm and we both got to ride an ostrich (video to come). We saw a bunch of ostriches including babies...!! We also were able to stand on one of their eggs which was pretty cool. We have some pictures of it.


Next we drove to Cape Town (quite a drive!!). We took the garden route which was very pretty with lots of cliffs and you could see the ocean. We got to Cape Town which is absolutely GINORMOUS!! Our hotel is beautiful and a short walk to the ocean front.

The weather wasn't that great, but we still got to table mountain. We took up a gondola (the scariest thing in the world!!). You couldn't even see teh bottom because of the clouds, so you just went up into nowhere!! Because of the clouds, we couldn't see all of Cape Town, but we still got a fabulous view!!

Yesterday we drove to cape point and were able to see the Southwestern most point in Africa which was pretty cool. We got our pictures taken with the sign and had lunch at a restaurant over looking the ocean. We also took a quick walk and a ride up the funicular to the top of a mountain where there was a light house. Of course we have pictures of that as well!! We also had a chance to visit Boulder Beach and see the penguins. We got some great video of it, which we'll put up on youtube.

Today we went to the winelands and did some wine tasting. Very fun. I'm not a fan of wine but the area was beautiful!! Tonight is our farewell dinner. We'll be going to a gold museum tonight and having dinner there. We'll be saying goodbye to our tour group tonight and we added on an additional day, so tomorrow we'll be getting up bright and early and going on a shark cage dive begining at 5:30 am!! Very exciting. We'll be taking pictures and will have video as well!!

South Africa - Days 3-6

We left Johannesburg and made the long drive to Kruger Park. It was nearly a 6 hour drive with stops. We stoped at God's Window and some a gourge and the "pot holes". Pictures to come, but they were incredible. Words can't describe any of it, so updates when the pictures are uploaded!

We arrived at the Kruger Gate Lodge in the early evening and had some dinner. The property was very nice and abuted Kruger National Park. It even had a viewing area where we saw an impala. The next morning we were up at 5:30 for an early morning game drive....think Jurassic Park but with South African Animals. We were in open air jeeps and to get out of our hotel area, you have to have a guard move the security fence that keeps the animals out of our hotel! One couple had a money get into their room and rough the place up (I think he spilled a glass of milk and moved stuff around).

At the first excursion we started off by seeing a rhino. Then we saw a male lion (mane and all) laying in the sun. We also saw elephants, more impala than you could ever imagine and a GIRAFFE!! We also saw Kudu's and Springbok's and some Waterbucks, Capebuffalo, Baboons, Warthogs, Hyenas and even a snake attacking a cameleon! Unfortunately it began to rain and the animals decided to hide for a while. It worked out alright because we were headed to lunch anyway. So, we had some hot chocolate and warmed up and then went back to our lodge. We walked around the property in the daylight, and then went on another game drive in the afternoon. We didn't see as many animals then as we did in the morning, but we did see a herd of elephants crossing the road and more giraffe's and a zebra (although from a far!). We went back to the hotel for dinner and then called it an early night since we were going to have a long day the next day!

The next day was a travel day for us. We were up around 6am to take the bus ride back to Johannesburg and then boarded the plane to Port Elizabeth and we ended up getting into Port Elizabeth around 7pm or so. We ordered room service for dinner and then went to sleep!

We woke up in Beautiful Port Elizabeth and had a nice breakfast and then ran across the street to step in the Indian Ocean. Then on to a city tour and back on the road again headed for Knysna. The drive was beautiful since we took the garden route to get there. On the way we stopped in Plattenberg Bay and had lunch at a BEAUTIFUL hotel there. We were eating on the deck which over looks the Indian Ocean and as we were sitting there we saw whales out in the distance (maybe 1/2 a mile away!). We walked on some of the rocks and took some pictures of the whales and then boarded the bus for the 10 minute drive to Knysna. So, here we are now, In Knysna. We walked through the town (very touristy) and now we're getting ready to head over to have dinner at a local restaurant with our group. Tomorrow we're heading to the featherbed reserve where we will go on a 4x4 safari and then do a nature walk. We'll also have a tour of a lagoon there as well. It should be a lot of fun!! Then we hit the road to Cape Town and hit the Ostrich farm where we will ride the Ostriche's!!!

Tales from the Road - South Africa Days 1 and 2

We have finally made it to South Africa after about 24 hours in the air. We got in yesterday at 6pm South African time (noon eastern). That gave us just enough time to take a quick shower (mind you neither of us was ablet to have one for over 24 hours!!) and then go down to the welcome meeting. We get down there and there are 30 of us or so, we are by far the youngest on the trip. The next youngest people would be in their 50's or so. So, our tour guide has everyone say their name and where they are from and then he starts talking about what we're going to be doing...While he is talking, one of our group members comes in and the first thing he says is how sorry he is for being late. He then goes on to say that he is embarassed to say this, but he had an "accident" and had to clean himself up, and that this could happen to anyone. (Which I actually really disagree with). He then goes on to tell us everything about himself, ranging from his age, occupation as an EEO person for the army (We do EEO reporting but it doens't take a full time person to do it!! ) and his email address. So, that was a fun way to start the trip!!

So, we have our dinner, which was very good, and then we go back to our room and go to sleep. Today we went to Soweto and saw the township and went to a museum (Hector Peterson) and had lunch at a local restaurant and Foster, our favorite oops I crapped my pants tourist decides that anyone who is a native South African needs to have their picture taken by him. In fact at the first museum there were school kids who were walking around. He actually asked them to all get togather in front of the fountain so he could take their picture...like they were wild animals. They obliged and let him take their picture...he tried to talk to them about his age and what he does for a living and possibly how he crapped his pants the night before, but they started talking to each other in another language and walked off (they clearly spoke english!!). We also went to the Apartheid museum which was fun, but nothing has been as exciting as Foster!! Can't wait to see what happens with him at Kruger!! To wrap up the night we ate dinner at the Nelson Mandela square and had some really good desert!!