flying – The MoHo and Other Traveling Tales

09-24-2018 Leaving the United States and 09-25-2018 Day 1

As you may have noticed, comments don’t seem to be working properly. I can’t comment and no one else seems to be able to comment either. No clue what is going on, but if you saw the post and liked it, you could put your comment on facebook. Sigh.

Deanna and I have planned this trip for almost 2 years now. I was only able to buy the tickets a year ago, and then at Christmas we had a kerfuffle with the tickets being changed and rerouted. Originally we had planned to fly through Vancouver BC on Air Canada, but that route was cancelled and we were moved to Lufthansa out of Seattle. This was a major problem because we both had flights to Vancouver BC on Alaska Airlines. Lucky for us, even with non refundable tickets, Alaska Air changed our flights to go only to Seattle instead of to Seattle and then on to Vancouver. This mix-up and the resulting frantic phone calls with airline representatives did provide some moments of stress for us last winter.

At Christmas, I flew to Deanna’s home in Lincoln in Northern Washington and spent some quality time at her dining table, with a view of the snow, reviewing Air B-n-B locations on the Amalfi Coast and in Florence. Reservations were made easily, contacts made with the respective owners, and arrangements made for our host in Positano to pick us up at the Naples Airport.

That being said, it was still a bit disconcerting on my Monday morning day of departure to get some google notifications for all the cancelled air reservations, both from Air Canada and Alaska Airlines AFTER I had checked in 24 hours prior to our actual flights. I simply deleted those emails. I had paper boarding passes in my hand, and trusted that all would be well. Or almost trusted at least. Ha.

I had Mo take me to the airport 2 hours early. A bit much for the nearly empty airport, but since my plans for only taking a carry-on had failed due to being 2 pounds over the 18 kilo weight required for Lufthansa carry-on bags, I needed time to check my one bag. There wasn’t a soul in line, and a very helpful attendant helped me set up checking my bag all the way through to Naples, thanks to an agreement between Lufthansa and Alaska Air. I quickly called Deanna and she did the same for her flight on Alaska from Spokane, with both of us arriving in Seattle around 11. It was great that we could do this because the Seattle airport is usually all backed up in the security area. This way we didn’t have to go out, get our bags, and get rescreened again. As we both arrived and met on the concourse, we were very happy about this choice and opportunity since the lines were all backed up and crazy as expected. Of course, this added a bit of background noise for me worrying if our luggage would actually make it from two different planes onto the right plane to Frankfurt and then on to Naples. I had spent a few days with all those little bothersome but trivial worries in the back of my mind so this was just another one.

We barely had time for a bowl of Japanese noodles in the Seattle airport and it wasn’t a particularly good choice. However,we had no clue what we would be available besides our own snacks for the ten hour flight to Frankfurt, a quick layover and another 2 hours to Naples. We decided that we should eat what we could find and purchase quickly enough to still get on the plane. Crazy stuff.

It is a mother daughter trip, but Deanna is a grandmother, so it feels very much like a couple of good friends taking care of each other as the needs arise. Feels wonderful to me to actually be on this trip that I have thought about for at least 10 years since I started planning retirement and thinking about taking each kid on an individual mom trip. Of course, I have been dreaming of visiting Florence since I was 14, and dreaming about the Amalfi Coast ever since Pinterest started putting up those crazy colorful photos. It was a place I wanted to see for a long time.

Our Lufthansa flight wasn’t bad at all. We were in economy, but it wasn’t horribly crowded, and we were served dinner with a drink, and breakfast before landing in Frankfurt. The plane was a newer 747 and had in-flight entertainment on seat back monitors, but the best part of the entertainment was the top quality GIS rendering of our flight position. None of those little dots going over grainy maps. We had an animated plane traveling over top quality imagery that looked better than the view out the window. I was thrilled being the old map maker that I am. GIS is a wonder of our lives now, one of the things I appreciate most about technology.

Landing in Frankfurt was easy enough until we discovered that not only did we have to go through Passport checks, we also had to go through two more security check points. My status was TSA precheck in Medford but not so lucky here, so out came the laptop and liquids, but I didn’t have to take off my shoes. Deanna had an RFID wallet attached to her bra in a way that it couldn’t be removed without removing her bra. That flagged her in both airports, and she was required to do the private screening so that they could check out her travel wallet. Lucky for me, my waist money belt could be removed and put with my personal items in the bins. Just a heads up, those RFID money carriers are great but TSA doesn’t like them. They even went through all Deanna’s money.

The layover in Frankfurt was short and our plane was late. We were doubly stressed with all the extra security stuff but lucky for us our plane to Naples late enough to make the transfer easier than we expected. Arriving in Naples had just one more little bit of stress associated with it…would Enzo be there? Would our ride be waiting for us? Would we be able to find him? Would our bags arrive as well? Silly how I worry about all this little stuff when not a bit of the worry was warranted. Both bags arrived when we did. Baggage pickup was slick and easy. Walking out the gate was a piece of cake and Enzo was there just like all the other drivers with his sign with Deanna’s name on it.

In no time we were cozied up in his nice little BMW, (me in the front seat to avoid car sickness) and on our way from Naples, driving the freeway beside Mt Vesuvius, through the 3 five year old tunnels that cross from the Sorrento side of the mountains to the Amalfi Coast side, cutting off more than 90 minutes of travel time between destinations.

First view of the small city of Sorrento near Naples

The road is tight and narrow and we were grateful that Enzo could drive while he talked because he talked a lot! He filled us with information about Naples, Vesuvius, the tunnels, Pompeii, the wineries, the mozzarella farms, the olive groves and lemon trees protected by chestnut sticks and draped against the sun and wind. He talked so much that our brains were worn out. Of course we were worn out anyway from more than 24 hours of traveling and neither of us were able to sleep on the plane in spite of ear plugs, eye masks, travel blankies, and neck pillows. All the comforts and not a speck of sleep. Ha!

The drive to Positano for the first time was breathtaking. The sea and the mountains, and the narrow road took our breath away. I have driven and ridden Highway 1 on the California coast in our motorhome, but this highway has that one beat for sheer thrills.

That little narrow ribbon you see along the cliff is our road from Sorrento to Positano, the city in this photo

By the time we arrived in the tiny village of Montepertusso, high about the town of Positano, we were definitely crazy tired and a lot overloaded. Enzo suggested some restaurants but we told him we were just too tired to go anywhere and would eat what snacks we had left over from the flight. His wife Sara is the one responsible for the yummy breakfasts here. However on that first day they both said, “No No. Let us bring you a bit to eat.” Within minutes, Sara arrived with a beautiful spread of gnocchi with home made marinara from their garden tomatoes, tomato slices in their own olive oil, mozzarella and prosciutto slices, bread, olives, and sun dried tomatoes, with fresh oranges on the table from the garden as well. And yes, a bottle of delicious red wine “Lison Pramaggiore from Santa Margherita” cabernet. Deanna was thrilled with this one because sometimes red wines can give her a headache, and this one didn’t.

We ate on the lovely terrace in a strong breeze which later turned into a strong wind. After dinner we walked back to the village to check out the view of the sea and look down on the town of Positano as it began to light up for the evening. We found our entrance to the famous stairs to the town. (More about THAT tomorrow).

So many people are so friendly, and especially so when I make an attempt to speak in some version of Italian. My Italian is so bad that it elicits laughs like this one from Concertina. She is about 5 feet tall, lives in Montepertusso, and has Quattro Grande sons. She told me in Italian that one of her sons has a restaurant in Apopka, Florida.

It was a lovely introduction to our time in Montepertusso.

A link to the rest of the photos for this post is here

03-05-2018 Let’s Go to Mexico

We are home again, back in Grants Pass at the Sunset House, where the chilly weather has no clue that Spring is officially here. Before I tell the story, a caveat. I wrote notes as we were experiencing this trip, and the blog will reflect that. However, by the time it was all said and done, we both decided that it was a great value for the money, and we might choose to do it again someday. So take our little rants about this and that with a grain of salt. It was a great vacation. Also, keep in mind if you click on a photo, you will be taken to the SmugMug album online where that photo resides, and will be able to see the entire album if you choose.

Even with three weeks in the Southern Deserts, we did know that March in Grants Pass can still be gray and wet. Time for one more escape before spring brings out the daffodils, the party pretty pink trees, and the rakes and mowers. Last Christmas when I was visiting Daughter Deanna in Northern Washington, we chatted about Mo and I wishing to fly off somewhere warm. Air miles were waiting. Originally, a tentative trip to the US Virgin Islands was floating around in the back of our minds, but the hurricanes put a big dent in those plans.

Deanna popped up with the great idea that we use one of their timeshare weeks near Cancun. At $800 for the week, it was less expensive than most of the hotels I searched before we made the commitment. Deanna found a nice week for us at Vidanta Riviera Maya, about half way between Cancun and Playa Del Carmen on the beautiful Caribbean coast of the Yucatan. Air miles in hand, Mo and I managed to get decent flights leaving from our local Medford airport on United to Cancun with only one stop in Denver. Although I was a bit leery about United, with some rather nasty reports on the news and from friends who had flown United recently, it was the best deal for the miles we had so we bit the bullet and booked the flight.

Similar to my recent flight to Spokane at Christmas, everything went without a hitch. We got up at 2:30 AM, with plenty of time to leave by 3:30, drive to Medford and go through the check-in line at 4:15. Perfect timing for our 5:30 flight. I had previously downloaded the United app, and we received our boarding passes via the phone, including our passports being scanned and entered. Seems crazy to put my passport on some kind of app, but I guess everything is a bit crazy in this digital world. If they are going to get me, they will get me one way or another.

We packed fairly light, but with snorkels and cameras and such, still needed to check a bag each with the baggage charge of $25. Another fact of life it seems. One more time I was shifted into the fast lane for security, no idea why, but Mo wasn’t as lucky. Still, we had plenty of time to get to our gate and wait for the on time airplane.

I still love flying, and the plane was empty enough that we had the 3 seat row to ourselves, so I could stretch out and still get a good window seat to watch the landscape below. I loved seeing Dallas/Fort Worth from the air, sooooo big!. As we approached the Yucatan coast, the vast green jungle spread out below us, and I kept imagining how truly awful it would be to have to land in that jungle, no roads, crazy snakes and bugs, alligators, wild wild looking country. I could see the famous cenotes, sinkholes in the limestone that characterize the peninsula, and along the silvery white strand of beaches there were strange colored backwaters.

Some in orange, and pink and lime green in patterns that gave no clue as to their source. I finally found them on Google Maps and read about the Parque Natural Ria Lagartos, “Alligator River”, and the nearby salt ponds that turn different colors based on types of algae that grow in them. The research confirmed that while the jungle may be beautiful and filled with all sorts of birds, the landscape was just as scary as I imagined it to be.

I was surprised to find that the plane wasn’t too terribly uncomfortable, although United now has an entertainment system on some planes that requires that you use your own device for movies or whatever, and for that to work the app must also be on your device. I had it on my phone, but Mo didn’t have it on her IPad. She had her card games to keep her occupied, however, and the flight to Denver was on time and uneventful, as was the next flight to Cancun. On time, uneventful, no crying babies, and a bit of a view until the clouds took over. We felt incredibly blessed.

Until we hit the airport in Cancun. Seems as though the personnel was significantly reduced and at the more than 2 dozen booths available for immigration into Mexico, there were only 2 and sometimes 3 people actually checking in all the incoming passengers from many flights. It took us two and one half hours of standing in slowly snaking lines around rows and rows of ribbons and frustrated people to get through that nightmare. Sheesh!. Luckily I had dressed in layers and managed to peel down a few of those layers to a light shirt and capris and no socks to enjoy the warm and humid Mexican temperatures.

By the time we got through the line, we were exhausted, and it was a bit of a kerfuffle trying to find the “man in the blue shirt” who would be taking us to our transportation for the resort. Seems as though there are several men in blue shirts, all insisting that “they” are your transportation, but of course they weren’t. After getting caught by a couple of them, thinking they were ours until they asked for a deposit for a “free day” at some new resort did we figure out we were being scammed. And Deanna even warned me! We didn’t fall for it, but by the time we did finally find the real guy, it was already getting late. A man in a cart at the curb sold cold beer in a plastic glass and we gladly shared one while waiting another 90 minutes for our shuttle to actually pick us up. The driver kept saying “5 minutes”, but we learned over the week that in Mexico 5 minutes can mean anything from 20 minutes to actual hours.

When we got to the resort, we had to jump through a few more hoops. The shuttle took us to the “main lobby”, where our baggage was again rolled off somewhere to meet us later at our room. We were then shuttled some distance to the lobby of the Grand Mayan Lobby, where we were to check in. Another 40 minutes or so passed and we finally were assigned a room, an “upgrade” they called it, showing us on the map of the resort a very nice place not far from the pool and restaurants. OK, whatever that means, I guess we will take the upgrade from the “Bliss” to the “Grand Luxxe Jungle”. And please, where can we get some food?

We finally decided to walk to the closest restaurant before going to our room, (which would require waiting for another shuttle) which turned out to be the Greens taco bar on the golf course, still open and very very busy. The hostess took pity on us, weary travelers who hadn’t eaten since some ungodly morning hour, and found us two seats at the bar. We watched the chef carve the roasted pork which ended up in our tacos, and had a meal that tasted fabulous to our tired and hungry souls. (We ate there again later in the week, and the food was really fabulous then too.)

We walked back to the Grand Mayan lobby where we once more waited for a shuttle to take us to Grand Luxxe Jungle. “Next one, 5 minutes”. That became the refrain that we got used to by the end of the week, but we also learned that walking was often the best option, even if it meant 1.2 miles each way to get anywhere. That was the downside of our upgrade to the newer and really quite lovely Grand Luxxe Jungle.

We were shuttled to our room, and when the bell boy opened the door I have to admit it was a bit overwhelming. Our “room” was a suite with two bathrooms, a big kitchen, a living room, all sorts of really lovely decor and a LOT of space. Quite the upgrade, for sure, and nothing like the photos I had viewed previously of the Bliss rooms.

We wandered around a bit, and almost got lost trying to find ourselves, but settled in to the truly comfortable king bed with luscious sheets, tons of good pillows and bolsters and a truly comfortable mattress. I slept great every single night we were there. The showers, both of them, were as big as most bathrooms, and the rain shower was my favorite, with plenty of hot water every time but once. It had been a long travel day.

I turned on my phone, connected to the WiFi, and opened up Google Maps to try to figure out exactly where we were. Seems as though everything was wrong!. Google maps had the little blue dot at least a mile north of where I was told we were to be located. I figured that something must be wrong with the satellite or maybe coordinates are different in Mexico, and I had no clue what to do about it, but decided I would worry about it the next day.

Morning dawned with a bit of sunlight coming through the filmy curtains and breezes in the jungle vegetation outside the big doors leading to the patio areas. Thank goodness Deanna warned us about bringing our own coffee AND our own coffee filters, since it was a 2.5 mile round trip walk to the market, the restaurants, the pools, and anything else. There was also a fancy Keurig pot with little tubs of coffee at 2.70 USD each, but we did find another regular coffee pot in the cupboard and made our own Seattle’s Best coffee.

Mo has been having a bit of tendon trouble with her ankle lately, so we decided that I could go exploring, see where things were located, and hopefully find a bagel or something for breakfast. Off I went, and of course there wasn’t a shuttle in sight, so I walked.

I had a map of the place, but each of the three maps offered of the resort are a bit different, and of course I didn’t think Google was telling me where I was. Turns out it was, and we were exactly where Google thought we were located! I wandered the back roads toward the Grand Luxxe Lobby, through the back trails and onto the lovely boardwalk system that is well developed in the older parts of the resort, just not in our area.

I found the restaurants, the immense and quite beautiful swimming pool, and finally the market, with a coffee bar and a small bakery where I found a bagel and a roll to take back home to our room. We knew that eventually we would need to get off the resort and go shopping for supplies in Playa Del Carmen, but didn’t want to try to do that on our first day there. Turns out we never actually did that at all. The taxi would have been $24 USD each way, and the shuttle was only $8 USD each way, but the shuttle only ran on the odd hours and the trip would have required us to stay in Playa Del Carmen for a few hours, and we never really wanted to do that, at least on this trip. Next time we might know to head for the Mega store on the first day, and not worry about the lost day.

After breakfast, the two of us put on our swimsuits and cover ups and set off to explore the grounds and find the pools. It was close to mid day by then, and when we arrived at the pools, they were busy, with every. single. deck. chair. taken. Every one, both at the pools, at the beach, everywhere except in the “Premium” area by the beach for Grand Luxxe members only, of which we were a part since we had our Grand Luxxe upgrade.

We explored a bit, but found to our delight that the “river” that runs through part of the resort was accessible in several places. No chair needed. We dropped our shoes and cover-ups and slipped into the fabulous water. Ahhhhh. This is why we came to Mexico.

After wandering the resort we found another lovely area reserved for Grand Luxxe upgrade folks only called “The Beach Club”. It was private, and quite lovely, but also felt a bit snooty. We asked for a chair and were told that the only thing available was one down toward the beach. Seems as though people line up at 10 AM every day in order to get good seats even in the Beach Club.

There are also sections there reserved for what is called “The Experience”, with unlimited food and drink all day long and a butler at your disposal for just $250 per day,. We took the small lounge that was offered near the beach, and decided to order a cocktail with a snack that would serve us for dinner. After waiting some time for a menu, we found out from the folks behind us that it took them more than 2 hours to get served. Nah, we had no desire to hang out there for that long at all so we left our “exclusive” strangely uncomfortable lounger and wandered back through the resort in search of some place to eat. Near the pool we found a small informal restaurant that served excellent food at prices a bit less than most of the high end restaurants that define the resort. Our service was also excellent, and very timely. Exclusive isn’t all it is cracked up to be, for sure.

We had another lovely meal, with nachos served with several little dishes of amazing condiments, and something called a Mayan Wrap that was superb. Great early supper for us before we headed back to our room to try to get oriented and figure out how we could manage to get to the main gate by 5 am the next morning for our tour of Chichen Itza.

September 21 Day 1 and 2 Off to Dublin

Catch-up posts from our trip to Ireland. Most of these posts are quite lengthy, with a lot of detail that is important only to us, or close friends and family. Feel free to cruise through at whatever speed suits your fancy. All the additional photos of the trip will be located on my SmugMug site eventually, but not just yet.

Our trip to Ireland was with Go Ahead Tours – Grand Tour of Ireland. We have used Go Ahead in the past, and it is a good value for price and content. The pace is a bit quick, but since we may not get back to Ireland with so many places in the world to visit, we would rather see a lot, even if it means a lot of moving and traveling. Much like a cruise, a tour like this is a good way to see a country for the first time, and then if you return later it is much easier to do on your own if you want, and you know where you want to be.

It is 4 in the morning here in Dublin, 8 pm back at home After an incredibly long and tiring day on airplanes and in airports, we are somehow still awake. Last night after we arrived, we were addled completely from the lack of sleep. After our welcome dinner, we fell into bed exhausted, and then woke up at ten pm. Back to sleep and then awake again at 1am. or 2 am. I don’t remember. But we are still awake. Talking, laughing, getting quiet, and one or the other of us breaks the silence with a question. “Which night is the included dinner and where is it”. Mo gets up to find the itinerary and we figure it out. Back to darkness and silence.

OK then…a few more minutes pass and one or the other of us says, “Let’s read.” “OK. Maybe I can write”. Without an easy way to blog and no way to process photos, I decided that the best way to track our days was with emails to the daughters and the very short list of friends. Temple Bar (1 of 1)

Dublin at the moment feels a lot like taking a trip to New York. They didn’t even take our passports at the desk here at the Maldron Parnell Square Hotel. The wait staff last night at dinner was Thai, with several people from several other places, and the accents were less strong than many we hear at home.

Our tour guide, for this two weeks in Ireland, is Italian, with a very strong accent. Italian, not Irish. We will see how that goes, I guess. We arrived after 6pm, with the welcome dinner at the hotel scheduled earlier, they postponed it for our arrival. We hit the room, and had 15 minutes to regroup and get back downstairs. P1050331

Couple of things we did learn however. Folks who showed up at the airport early in the day spent up to two hours waiting for the shuttle. Not a good thing. A taxi picked us up and immediately took just the two of us to the hotel. Nice driver, nice drive through a part of Dublin that I recognized from looking at the Google maps obsessively back at home when I couldn’t sleep. Other nice thing, the check in process was almost instantaneous. We met our guide, and received our keys. Only thing we had to sign was the order for what we wanted for dinner.

When we left Rocky Point yesterday morning, it was gorgeous. Perfect September weather, with dry, clear air and blue skies. By the time we got to Eugene, it was cloudy and raining. go figure. Both of us were like parents leaving a kid at daycare for the first time. Our friend, Joanne, was excited about taking care of our dog Mattie, and in true Joanne nature had our list of written instructions all printed out with red lined questions and markings to check with us. Mattie seemed just fine, pottying in the yard, barking at Joanne as expected, but deciding that with a hot dog in her hand, Joanne was a pretty cool and interesting person. She took her outside to the back yard while Mo and I disappeared out the front door.

We decided to get gas in Albany…what maybe an hour from Eugene….when I get a frantic text from Joanne, “Mattie won’t let me put her leash on. What do I do”. Seems as though Mattie would only bark at Joanne when she tried to get close. I told Joanne to let her go in her cage and then try to get the leash on her. Response back was that Mattie went in the cage, but when Joanne approached, she ran out, but still managed to get the hot dog bribe. Panic. Then a few minutes later, another text. “All is well, she let me do it”. I immediately called and Joanne said, “You guys are going to drive me crazy if you keep calling every few minutes!” Eventually Mattie just walked up to Joanne, sat down and accepted the leash without a qualm. Whew. Texts later throughout the day, and a couple of emails here to Dublin seem to indicate that all is well, Joanne and Mattie are having a great time, and Mattie could care less about he fact that we are nowhere around. Fine.

Gas was all the way down to $2.13 at the Albany Costco, so getting in and out of that place was still worth it. We made great time, the rain cleared up by the time we got to Portland, and the skies were once again blue and clear. Haven’t seen that from the Portland airport very many times. We checked in without a hitch and found the Beaches restaurant for a snack and a drink.

I could foresee that being the best food of the trip if last night’s welcome dinner is any indication. I had some kind of amazing Thai crispy breaded pork and sweet hot chili sauce and Mo had perfect taquitos. My drink, some kind of orangey marguerita was rather incredible. We had time to lounge in the bar and decide that by the time we were through our 4 hour layover in Seattle, we could have a light dinner there before boarding the plane. As we were boarding in Portland, waiting in a long line, when the agent saw our pre printed boarding passes, he said, here, go this way and don’t take off your shoes or empty anything out of your bags. My boots, purchased especially for wet cobblestone streets in rainy Ireland, still rang, however and I had to take them off, but they are easy and I was ready for it. The flight from Portland to Seattle is something like 22 minutes. Again, perfect clear skies with the volcanoes looming to the east and the Olympics and Puget Sound shining in the west. Once on the ground, we checked the reader board and..wait…what?….our plane was scheduled to begin boarding in half an hour. Somehow I had morphed a 90 minute layover into an imaginary 4 hour layover and dinner was not to happen. delta 767 seat map

Our flight is operated by Delta and KLM, and the plane was a Delta 767 with our seats almost in the very back.

We like the 767’s because they have side rows of only 2 seats across, so we can share window and aisle space without dealing with someone else next to us. Not all that huge, but at least a lot roomier than some of the flights I have been on lately. We had ten hours to go, and imagine our surprise when the drink cart came along dispensing red and white wine complimentary along with the usual teas and sodas. Yes. We even got refills of wine with our supper, which was not nearly as good as the wine.The little boxes of pasta for me and chicken for Mo were in some kind of awful sauce, and Mo’s chicken was served with some mushy overcooked veggies that actually tasted OK. I ate the veggies, and she ate my pasta, tortellini’s, which are not a favorite. Dessert was a brownie that was so thick and gummy you could hardly chew it. I was happy for our fresh baked chocolate chip cookies that I had made the day before to fill in the blanks. Finally around ten or so PST, I snuggled into the neck pillow, put my big scarf over my head, and took a sleeping pill. I don’t remember sleeping, but neither do I remember being awake that much. By 3am PST, I had jumpy legs and thought I wasn’t going to make another two hours.

We arrived in Amsterdam at 1 in the afternoon (5am to us) and it was quite gloomy out, but you could see the water and the huge windmills in the ocean to the west of the city. Amsterdam is just so incredibly clean and manicured. I commented that I doubted that there was any kind of wild country anywhere in the Netherlands. All so pristine and cared for.

The airport is a lovely one, but somehow not quite as enchanting as it was the first time I was there with Melody in 2012. I kept searching for the comfy sofas with plug-ins. We walked a lot, and did finally find the chocolate stores and the tulip kiosks, but they looked kind of drab instead of so bright and fresh as I remembered. Maybe it was because it was raining by then, and there was a lot of construction going on inside the terminals. Still, it was a pleasant wait, and with neither of us hungry after our airplane dinner (and tiny breakfast), we just relaxed after our check in and passport check. Four hours went by in a flash.

The Air Lingus Irish airline to Dublin was a bit different. All shiny new airplane, but no amenities at all, no sound plug ins, no in flight entertainment, and even a cup of coffee was available for 3 Euros. At only an hour and a half, we didn’t really care, but the quarters were tighter than the previous plane as well and we were both so tired that we kept falling asleep. Mo dropped her book with a crash, and her elbow kept falling off the armrest with a bang while I would suddenly wake choking because I had been breathing through my mouth and probably snoring.

Wasn’t all that much to see anyway. Blue ocean and lots of clouds between us and the water, with an occasional glimpse of England and the edge of Ireland as we approached the airport. What surprised both of us the most was how brown some of the landscape looked in Ireland from the air. Probably fields that were ripe, because other fields that looked like pastures were green enough, but somehow I didn’t expect to see Oregon late summer brown anywhere.

On the ground and our baggage appeared very quickly, nothing delayed, nothing lost. Lovely. Once we passed through customs, also very quick and easy, where they checked our passports, we were into the main terminal without a hitch where our Go Ahead taxi driver was waiting with a big sign on his IPad screen with our names. Lots easier than printing something, I would say. Fifteen minutes to the hotel, and as I said before, 15 minutes down to dinner. At first I was horrified, because it seemed that there were at least 80 people in the main dining room where we were to have dinner. Turns out that many of those people were with another tour of German travelers who were arriving as well.

Our group consists of 31 people, but the way that the dining room was set up, and with us arriving a bit late, we were at a table of eight. The four people who were at the other end of the table were conversing with each other, and even when I asked a question I was ignored. The young woman next to me was quite conversational however, and seemed to quite the traveler and quite brilliant. Some kind of contractor for NASA in Houston. She and the other folks had arrived early today and spent the afternoon touring the Guinness Factory, something that is obligatory when visiting Dublin. Something we are going to skip actually, in favor of our own tour of the Neolithic world heritage sites in the Boyne Valley. Ancient history and prehistory, Druids and temples all win out over beer for me!

I was a bit disappointed with the way that Go Ahead handles these welcome dinners, and this one was even worse. Unlike in the past, where there was at least a private banquet room, this was in the main dining room, quite noisy, and not at all conducive to communicating with anyone. Even though she was near us when speaking, we couldn’t hear much of what Isabella said, and had no interaction with anyone else from the group. In the past, there has been at least a rudimentary introduction so you have an idea who you are traveling with. While not especially social, I do like to have an idea and a bit of encouragement to interact in the beginning.

Dinner was just OK. We made our choices from two options, and both had a vegetable soup that was probably some kind of squash puree, the main entree of Guinness Beef Stew which was rather flat and flavorless. I make a Guinness stew sometimes for St Patrick’s day and I wish this had been half as good as mine! Dessert was excellent, however, an apple crumble pastry pie sorta thingy, that was a bit tart and really good. A couple of glasses of wine were nice along with some excellent coffee with dessert.

By the time we got back to our room, we were a bit more ready to tackle the tight quarters and try to figure out where to put stuff. The room is very nice, but in true European style, very cramped, and there are a couple of chairs, tables, and a desk that makes it impossible for us to pass each other or even get around the suitcases as we tried to unpack. No place really for the cases, so we struggled a bit with the whole thing.

We were very well and tightly packed for the airplane and transfers, but everything changes when we are in a room and getting into things differently than the way we do when flying. It didn’t help that the nifty little converter I bought to charge USB devices didn’t work on the UK part. I had no problem with the Euro part at the airport, but for some reason it refuses to work here. Sigh. Mo, thank goodness, brought her converter as well so we have one plug to charge the iPad, the iPhone, and two Mophie batteries, and oh yes, the curling iron if I want to use it. Frustrating.
I was so tired I was feeling weepy about losing my Advil baggie, but eventually I found everything, found tight spots for what I needed after realizing that the three tiny drawers are only about 6 inches to the back, and moving the suitcase holder in front of the door. Till we have to get out of it in the morning, then all will be moved around again.

We will be here at the Maldron Parnell Square – Dublin, for three nights. The WiFi in the room seems fast and is free so the phone is on airplane mode for the duration, but I can talk to people via facebook chat and email without a worry. It is now 5:11 AM. We will go down to breakfast at 7 and then leave for our extra tour of Newgrange and the Boyne Valley with Mary Gibbons Tours around 9:30. That involves walking a bit toward the famous O’Connell Street to catch the tour bus in front of the bank. Maybe I can sleep for two hours now that I have all this out of my brain on on paper so to speak.

Next: Dublin and Visiting the Boyne Valley, the Hill of Tara, and Newgrange

Vermont in October

Current Location: Rocky Point, Oregon Clear and Cold at 32 degrees F this morning

I had a year to get excited about my trip to Vermont. My friend Jeanne was getting married, and I knew I had to be there one way or another. The trip was wonderful in so many ways, and yet losing our sweet dog Abby, just a few days after my return, made it impossible for me to write about the beautiful days and the beautiful wedding until now.

Around Dorset (28 of 35) Mother Myrick in the morning sunrise above Dorset, Vermont

Some time has passed since Abby left us. We buried her not far from where our also recently deceased cat Jeremy lies, both small rock headstones visible from the kitchen window. The initial grief and sadness has eased a bit. The huge empty space that a beloved pet leaves behind is no less empty, but feels a bit less shocking. The house is very quiet. I did finally clean the dog spit off the sliding glass door, and just recently Mo put Abby’s toys away somewhere, I am not sure where.

I think October is a beautiful month just about anywhere in this wide country. However the classic New England fall was on my bucket list. Mo and I have talked often of attempting to get back there in the MoHo, to fill in those last few states we have yet to experience in our rig. However the timing for such a journey can be daunting at best. It is always a juggle between catching the height of color and still not getting caught in the snows that follow. If we had attempted it this year, we would have no doubt been caught in the early snowstorms that are hitting the South at this very moment.

The Connecticut River Greenway along my route from Boston to Dorset

Instead, I flew to Vermont on my own, while Mo spent the time caring for Abby and keeping the home fires burning, shutting down the sprinklers for winter, raking the rapidly falling pine needles and beginning the fall burning. I think I got the better end of the deal, except for Abby of course.

First sight of fall color at the hotel in Marlborough, Massachusetts

With Jeanne’s wedding scheduled for a Saturday, I planned my trip to give me several days of Vermont time before the wedding and before the major influx of guests. When Jeanne lived in Klamath, and we worked together, she often shared stories of her life in Vermont. We were both excited that I would be there in time for Jeanne to show me her beloved home state. I was also happy for the time to spend with Jeanne and Alan and to get a taste of Jeanne’s new life.

The Vermont Visitor Center as I enter the state for the first time

Flying from Medford, I flew to Portland and then got a nonstop cross country flight directly to Boston. Mo and I had been to Boston a few years ago, but it was on a cruise ship. This would be my first visit to Vermont, and I rented a car with the thought that I would drive the 200 miles or so directly to Dorset. I obviously wasn’t thinking clearly when I planned this, and realized that I needed to stay somewhere close to Boston rather than attempting to drive unknown back country roads in the dark of night.

Finding a hotel in Boston was a bit daunting, with the cheapest rooms beginning at $329 per night! Not in my budget, for sure. I could sleep in the car if I had to pay that much for a few hours sleep. Instead, I drove an hour or so north toward Marlborough, and found a basic decent room for a mere $149. The bed was OK, but the room wasn’t much more than your average Super 8 out west that goes for 49 bucks. Still, when I woke the next morning to brilliant skies and gorgeous color in the trees, I was so glad that I waited.

It took me nearly four hours to get to Dorset because I just couldn’t resist stopping a bit for photos along the way. It was my first time in Vermont, and the timing was very nearly perfect. The visitor center at the Vermont state line was state of the art, beautiful, and I began to get a feel for the rural nature of the landscape, and the focus on dairy farming, agriculture, and forestry that is the hallmark of this lovely place.

driving to Dorset (12 of 18) On the winding highway along the West River I came upon the beautiful West Dummerston Covered Bridge, remembering that Vermont has more than 100 covered bridges, and that there are more covered bridges per square mile in Vermont than any state in the country. Of course, after our springtime covered bridge tour of Oregon, I couldn’t miss taking a photo of this lovely bridge. I learned later that it is the second longest covered bridge in the state, but at the time I was taking the photos, I only remembered some of what I had previously learned about trusses and joists and supports. I loved the open window on one side of the bridge especially.Alan’s home on the hill above Dorset.

I really had to make some tracks because the weather was cooperating perfectly for Alan’s offer to take me up in his airplane that afternoon. It was a gorgeous, completely cloudless sunny day, and the rest of the week was forecasted to be rainy and dreary. No time to waste. If I was to see Vermont from the air, I would need to do it on this beautiful Sunday afternoon.

I arrived at Alan’s place by noon, and after greetings and settling in to his brother’s home down the path, Jeanne and I walked to town to the local farmer’s market to get some veggies for supper.

Alan was brining a beautiful “happy chicken”, and only fresh grown organic veggies would be worthy of the meal. Dorset is a beautiful small burgh with lovely historic homes and inns, winding country roads, a town green, and lovely historic churches, one of which would be the location of the wedding the following weekend.

Around Dorset 2 (1 of 21) My home for the week, just down the path from the main house.

My home for the week belonged to Alan’s brother, at the moment traveling around the world on a sailboat, and later the three bedrooms would be filled with other wedding guests. It is a dramatic timber frame home, with great views of Mother Myrick towering over Dorset.

Within a short time, the three of us piled into Alan’s new truck for the drive north to Rutland airport. Needless to say, I was excited. Flying in a small plane is thrilling to me, and as a map maker, seeing the landscape below up close is magical. Alan is a forester, and his understanding of the patterns of the vegetation, his explanation of the various timber communities, and the history of the logging industry in Vermont added tremendously to the flight.

airplane over Dorset (18 of 37) airplane over Dorset (36 of 37) Alan was excited about the flight as well, exclaiming over and over how incredibly lucky we were with the clear skies and the beautiful color playing out over the mountains. Alan and Jeanne pointed out the local mountains, and told some sweet stories about their first hike together on Haystack as they flew past the dramatic glaciated peak. It was a perfect introduction for my week in Vermont.

After our flight, Alan drove some of the back country roads around Dorset, searching for color on the hillsides. I learned that Vermont was almost completely denuded of forest when it was first settled in the 1700’s, with more than 80 percent of the state being cleared for agriculture. In the ensuing years, the trees have once again taken over the landscape and there is now only about 25 percent of the state cleared for agriculture.

I knew I wanted to see New England stone walls, but what I didn’t know was that many of those old walls are found in the forests, marking what were once open fields. Now taken over by the forest again, the old stone walls are crumbling and tucked away in the shadowy undergrowth.

After that breathtaking afternoon, we returned home to Alan’s place to partake of one of the most amazing roast chicken dinners I ever experienced. Alan is a fabulous cook, and his favorite resource is Cook’s Illustrated, also a favorite of mine. I have never ever ever in my entire life had such a succulent chicken, set off with Jeanne’s homemade cranberry sauce and fresh beets from the market. The gravy (another favorite food group of mine) was beyond incredible. Thus began a week of some rather fabulous meals, both home cooked and at inns and restaurants throughout Vermont.

Next: Lake Champlain, Mad River Glenn, and more of “Jeanne’s Vermont”

The beginning and the end

It is the beginning of our New England cruise trip but the end is all about the last hour of our flight to New York’s La Guardia airport! Our non-stop flight from Denver was 3 hours of simplicity until we reached the east coast, until we reached New York, where there was a wild mess of storms that spawned tornados in Virginia. Thinking of Erin and Mui, of course, and hoping you two didn’t get hit by all that wind.

We circled over La Guardia for almost an hour with rumors of a diversion to some smaller airport who knows where before the pilot finally received the notice that we could land. The turbulence was a bit exciting, and watching the plane circle around those big thunderheads made for some interesting views. Our seatmate was a frequent flier from New York, you know, those kind of folks that are supposed to be so calm and jaded?? This lady was NOT calm, and with every jump of the plane she screamed and even said once, “I want my mother!”

Even though I had my camera packed and buried, I suddenly remember “airplane mode” and the camera in the iPhone 4 (no not the 4s yet) and pulled it out for some great photos of truly dramatic clouds. Once we landed, it was amazing to me how one dimensional the cloudy sky appeared compared to the three dimensional shape changing views as we circled.

We began our trip with a nice drive from home to Reno, down 139 to 395 into the wide open dry and very warm deserts. Staying at the Ramada, with the Park and Fly option, our room only cost 79. with all the taxes and ten days of parking for the car, including free shuttle to the airport. The room was lovely, and just 12 blocks from downtown where we parked right on the street near the Silver Legacy Casino. After dropping a bit to support Nevada in the slot machines we found dinner at Sterlings Steakhouse. A bit of a sticker shock didn’t stop us, though, and we proceeded to have one of the finest dinners we have had in a long time. In addition to perfectly mesquite fired steaks, our dinners came with amazingly seasoned spaghetti squash, butternut squash, snap peas, and sautéed spinach. Yum and double wow!

My daughter has supported me through the 40 days of 500 calories a day, and now I am on maintenance, and wow, maintenance is so much fun, Deborah! Somehow skipping the bread and potato and dessert didn’t feel a bit like any kind of suffering at all. Can you believe I brought my scale along on this cruise and will be watching daily? I don’t want to mess up all that hard work, and this morning somehow I was down another 2 pounds. Yay for Deborah and all her encouragement!

Our flight from Reno left at 6am, calling for a 3am wake up call and a dark ride to the airport. Check-in was simple, and security in Reno wasn’t the least bit daunting and we were in the air as the sun rose over the Rockies. Denver is a huge airport, but lucky for us we didn’t have to change terminals so spent a lovely 90 minutes wandering the great shops and eating some more of last night’s yummy dinner that I carried with me.

Once in New York, an hour late, we called the Comfort Inn shuttle to pick us up. No lost baggage was a relief, and in a short time we were settled into our very tiny room. Here in New York, the rooms aren’t cheap, with 157 dollars, yes that is US dollars, for our one night here. We are actually in East Elmhurst, Queens, not far from the airport. The room is at least very clean, but the bed is a bit hard and as I said, it is TINY! I guess that must be a New York thing.

We walked a couple of short blocks to the local recommended restaurant, Joey’s, an Italian place. A glass of wine and some simple antipasto with a ceasar salad was the perfect ending for a long day. We were entertained by a couple of big Italian guys at the table next to us speaking rapid Italian. I realized that on the west coast where we live there aren’t a lot of Italian neighborhoods, except maybe in San Francisco.

I have never been to New York before and am looking forward to our drive to the Brooklyn pier today and a gorgeous sunny, if windy view of the Statue of Liberty as we sail from the harbor tonight.