vacations – The Next 38

Gratitude

May 29, 2018May 29, 2018Posted in California, Hotels, Palm Desert, rancho mirage, travel, Uncategorized, vacationsTagged California, desert, Palm Desert, rancho mirage, Ritz Carlton1 Comment

My husband went all out for my 40th birthday. And it was great. We indulged in luxury and relaxation with some of our favorite people. We spent memorial day weekend in the California desert at the Ritz-Carlton.

Some years back, my old work partnered with Ritz-Carlton to develop a program for the organization. And I heard a lot about the Ritz-Carlton experience. It planted a seed that one day I wanted to stay at a RC property. Back in January, we visited the NOLA property to listen to jazz and have drinks. And I remembered my desire to stay at one. So we decided to plan a trip for my big 4-0.

We chose the Ranch Mirage location because we could make it a weekend that included friends. This way some friends could stay at the resort with us. The others stayed locally at a condo they owned.

We barely left the resort except to drop our kids (and the dog) off at the Holiday Inn Express and to go to the spa at the JW resort (it’s cheaper). We didn’t splurge for the adult children, but I think they still had fun coming back to the RC for breakfast.

The property is situated up on a hill overlooking Palm Desert, Palm Springs, and the other desert cities. It was actually great to be off away from the busier Memorial weekend crowds. The weather was unusually cooler all week in Southern California, which was great for our trip. Cooler meaning it was in the 90s in the desert. Our room was next to the adult pool which meant less kids and more lounging. Our room had a patio, a fire pit, and a deep soaking bath tub that I made a point to enjoy!

The service was the highlight of the property. Everyone went out of their way to be friendly and helpful. It was an exceptional customer service experience. Service like laying out towels on the longer chairs before you sit down by the pool. At check in, spending 15 min showing us the map of the property, getting ice for the wine we had brought, and putting our luggage away for us. There were a lot of kind greetings and helpful staff.

Our dinner was on the property at State Fare. We had great service and everyone loved their food. I was bummed that they had run out of the specific vegetarian meal on the menu. I got pasta primavera and it was decent. But most of all, I had great company and felt very grateful for my husband, my kids, and my friends.

My friend Kristin said she felt so grateful for our weekend trip to the desert. I told her she deserved to relax. She answered by saying that there are so many people who work hard and deserve it, so she knows she is lucky. And it’s true. We are very lucky to have been able to have a weekend like this.

Making Room for Joy

March 9, 2018Posted in Canada, friendship, travel, vacations, VancouverTagged Canada, girl's trip, travel, vacation, Vancouver2 Comments

I’ve been working a lot, every weekend and Monday through Thursday a lot. One of my friends, during a discussion on professional development classes, said that I am always going somewhere. He said it because I told him I am going to Canada in June, so I can’t take a class with him. I replied back with the fact that I have 3 jobs. And one day off a week. So, yeah, I need some time for travel.

So far, this year I have gone to NOLA and Vancouver. One with my husband and the other with the best travel girlfriends a person could have. We had a great time and they made me laugh so much.

We did touristy things like visit Granville island, visit the Capilano Suspension Bridge, and shop in the city center. We also ate at cute neighborhood markets, had afternoon tea in neverland, visited a whiskey bar in gastown and laughed so hard we cried. We watched women’s Olympic hockey in a Canadian bar, and we were the only people cheering for USA (and USA won!).

I’ve known these girls for years. We are completely different. We don’t have the same beliefs and politics. But we were all teenage mothers who lived on the same street as single moms. We are connected by a shared experience and our continued friendship is an amazing kind of sisterhood. When I returned, I really reflected on the joy they bring me and how grateful I am to have them.

Remember to find joy with the people in your life.

Vacationing Off The Grid-the internet one

June 22, 2016January 7, 2017Posted in beaches, cook islands, fun, hiking, summer, travel, vacations, wanderlustTagged cook islands, Raratonga, travel5 Comments

Months ago I made a spontaneous purchase from Air New Zealand and presented it as a gift to my husband for Christmas. A trip to Raratonga. He looked excited but also followed it up with, “Where is that?”

Where is it? The South Pacific. Remote Oceania. You know Fiji, Somoa, & American Samoa? Their neighbor to the south is the Cook Islands, and its main island, Rarotonga. Now independent from New Zealand, they still use New Zealand currency and are a popular vacation spot for Kiwis and Australians.

For us, it’s a ten hour flight from LA and I was really looking forward to being away from everything. I decided to even take a social media vacation along with my vacation. Turns out I didn’t need a planned social media break, because internet on Raratonga is priced by the MB. So we saved our purchased MB for messages to our kids, no photos, those average about 2.5 MB. Have you ever thought about your every day data use? So many MB.

So what did we do? Sleep. We stayed at an eco retreat with only 6 individual above ground tents or structures. It was tucked away from the main road and the main tourist attractions. The only sound we often heard were birds, roosters, and the rain. The first night we slept from 8:30 pm until 6:30. It’s winter in Raratonga, so the nights are longer than at home. We also took naps whenever we felt like it.

I finished 3 books on the island. It would have been four, but it turned out that one book I bought was missing 32 pages in the middle. I borrowed a book from the small library at our retreat. We didn’t have a radio or a t.v. So books were the extent of my media consumption. The island has two radio stations and we occasionally heard them when in a taxi. We were oblivious to news. If we had really wanted too, we could have looked for it, but we needed a respite.

We also walked and hiked and rode the bus around the island. There is a bus that runs clockwise around the island every hour and one that runs counterclockwise every hour. So if you miss it, it’s a long wait. The bus costs 5 NZ unless you buy the 10 ride punch card for 30 NZ. If you’re lucky, you will get on the bus with the driver who wears a microphone and sings the whole way.

We did a hike across the island that many people said was a good hike. It was a good hike, but it was also a strenuous and challenging hike. Steep, slippery slopes, across rocks and streams, through narrow passages where you had to climb over and under tree trunks, and down steep ridges with ropes. It took about 4 hours to do it, but we came out of the other side caked with mud, sweaty, but pretty satisfied with ourselves. The view from the top of the hike, by the Needle, was worth it.

We attended the Highland Paradise show. It’s one of the main shows on the island, the reports have some too. Josie, at our retreat, recommended it to us and said it was culturally authentic. It started with a presentation of the history and culture of Raratonga and then moved forward showing the changes over the years through music and dance. We had a dinner and answered the most popular question from anyone who wasn’t American, So why is Donald Trump popular? I still don’t have an answer for that question. Sometimes they talked so fast, we couldn’t understand their New Zealand accents!

Most of the time I was lazy. And it was great. But along with the hike, we did kayak and ride bikes. So I guess we weren’t completely lazy. Everything was green and lush. Everywhere you looked was green with banana trees, coconut trees, and Pawpaw trees. People were friendly and will offer you assistance if you are walking along the road away from popular tourist areas.

Rarotonga details:

Flight

Air New Zealand: the island subsidizes air New Zealand flights from the US because they are actively trying to grow tourism. Which means we got a good deal.

Stay

Ikurangi Resort

https://www.ikurangi.com/

In the Matavera area, off from the main tourist areas. They focus on sustainable tourism including Eco friendly soaps and toilet paper in the bathroom, and above ground structures to limit the impact of the environment.

Currency:

New Zealand dollars, we usually got 1.35-1.40 for each US dollar.

Good to know

Renting a car or scooter is popular on the island. You do need a drivers license for the island, which is like 20 NZ and can be done quickly. Some scooter places were just 13 NZ a day.

Water should be filtered at your resort or bottled, ask about it.

The island is protected by a barrier that creates the calm lagoon. Muri Lagoon is very popular for water activities, but the best snorkeling is in Fruits of Raratonga. Protecting the beauty of the Cook Islands is important for tourists to consider, so don’t step on coral, it is alive. Wear reef shoes and avoid getting close to breaks in the barrier, where the ocean current can pull you out.

What’s Good Royal Caribbean?

May 28, 2016January 7, 2017Posted in beach, beaches, pictures, travel, vacationsTagged cruises, royal caribbean, travel2 Comments

Ok, so the last post was a list of complaining about my cruise and why it’s just not my cup of tea. So what was good on my cruise?

1. Tapas in the “park”

The cruise ship had a park. With real trees and plants (ok they were small trees). I usually visited it in the morning for coffee while I let my cabin mate sleep in. But one evening, I went to the Tapas restaurant (that costs extra mind you) and had gazpacho and Rosé while listening to jazz. Great way to unwind.

2. Hiking in Loterie farm and preserve

So hard, but this was my highlight. I can’t believe I made it through the “not strenuous” part of the hike. It was uphill and downhill, included climbing up rocks and using ropes to pull myself uphill. I was drenched in sweat at the end. This hike requires water (had it), snacks (that too), mosquito repellent (check) and better shoes than I wore. But it made my strawberry sorbet at the treehouse lounge so much sweeter of a reward.

3. Balcony views: Always stunning.

4. Random Dunkin Donut experiences

In the Bahamas, I stopped at a random Dunkin donuts for coffee and a chance to consult the pictures of maps I took (no data). I found the local coffee shop retired group arguing about politics just like everywhere else I have lived. It must be some kind of rule that a group of older men can be found drinking coffee and arguing about things.

5. The Vitality Cafe

On days I worked out, I finished each work out with freshly juiced ginger, celery, cucumber, and apple. It made me feel like I wasn’t just stuffing my face with bad food.

6. Entertainment: Mama Mia & Comedy

The cruise ship had a variety of entertainment, but the two that I enjoyed were Mama Mia, which I hated as a movie (Pierce Brosnan should not sing) but enjoyed in this production. I also laughed a lot at the comedy show. It might have been the comedian making fun of the cruise experience that I completely related to, but it was funny!

7. Swimming in the Caribbean Sea

I did swim. And walked along the beach. And watched sailboats and people snorkel. And read a book. And relaxed.

8. Navigating islands alone without google maps

Most of the time data was inaccessible on the different islands. Even if T-Mobile said I had 2G data, it was pretty nonexistent. So in order to get around the islands I took photos of maps, asked my husband to text me google map images (because texting worked) and relied on the kindness of strangers. On St. Maarten, a taxi ride to Loterie farm was quoted at $30 one way. Which was crazy to me, but I was standing in front of the place where all of the cruise ship passengers disembark, so I walked on until I spotted a van with sign in the window for Marigot. I didn’t know what it meant but I saw a passenger get on, so I hopped on too. $2 to the French side of the island and $11 taxi to the farm. Much better price and I rode with locals around the island.

On St. Thomas, we rode the safari like van to Sapphire beach. On all of the islands, we realized driving was an adventure. Stop signs? Who needs those when your driver has a horn?

In the Bahamas, our stay was too short for long exploration, so I walked around churches and neighborhoods.

One More Hawaii Post

March 16, 2016June 20, 2017Posted in eating, food, Hawaii, oahu, travel, vacationsTagged Hawaii, restaurants, travel, vacation1 Comment

Okay, I just went to New York for the first time and I had a great time. Part of it was the company, part of it was the city, and a big part was the food. I love to eat when I go on trips. And it was no different when we were in Hawaii. Some places we eat at because it’s what that place is known for, some we go based on recommendations, and some we go to because location, location, location.

A good chunk of eating we did at the Hilton resort. Like the coffee shop/ice cream place in the picture above. Those sticky buns? I didn’t end up eating them. I ended up with ice cream and it was good. So where did we go to eat outside of the resort in Hawaii?

Local food:

Rainbow Drive In

We went for the traditional plate lunch with macaroni salad. Here I ate the fish and Will got the Mix plate. We went after we hiked Diamond Head, figuring that would be a good time to eat a ton of food. I don’t know why, but I love how Hawaiian plate lunches come with macaroni salad. Its really the only time I eat macaroni salad. What was good: the portion sizes were big, the price is cheap, and the macaroni salad was yummy. I liked my mahi mahi, which was breaded and cooked. I got so stuffed. And it was an bus stop between Diamond Head and our hotel. What wasn’t: they mixed up that I wanted fries and gave me rice, but it wasn’t that big of a deal. I just ate my husband’s fries.

Rainbow Drive-In
3308 Kanaina Ave.
Honolulu, HI 96815

As good as they say?

Bills

I liked the decor and had read that it was a great place for coffee. So of course I had to check it out. Bills is a Sydney based restaurant that has a location on Oahu and in London, Tokyo, and Seoul. What was good: the coffee and food. I liked my avocado toast and latte. They have a lot of options for the veggie inclined and some for gluten free people too. What wasn’t: the service. It was impersonal and not too friendly. Maybe they were just busy and it was a bit of a wait, but the hostess did not have the mostess.

280 Beachwalk Ave
Honolulu 96815

Location, location, location:

Top of Waikiki

Maybe this seems cheesy and some people would say it’s not worth they hype, but my husband and I did enjoy our date night at the Top of Waikiki. The restaurant rotates 360 degrees, although if construction on Waikiki continues, the view may not be worth it much longer. We went right at sunset. What was good: The view. The service. Our waiter was friendly and even talked to us about where to eat like a local. He was the one who recommended the plate lunch place. What wasn’t: Nothing was bad. The food was good. We ordered several things from the Sunset appetizers and salad, but still got pretty stuffed. It wasn’t the best we’d ever had, but we really came for the view. They even have a bar that does not rotate, if you just want to relax and look out over Waikiki.

2270 Kalakaua Avenue, 18th Floor

Any favorite food spots in Hawaii?

Resort Life: Hilton Grand Vacation Resort

February 26, 2016April 3, 2017Posted in Hawaii, Hotels, oahu, travel, vacationsTagged oahu, travel, vacation3 Comments

When we went to Hawaii in january, we did the timeshare trip. You know the one? The kind where you are invited to stay for cheap and watch a 2 hour presentation on vacation club ownership. I have a Hilton Honors membership and they offered me a 5 night stay for $699 at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. On a whim, way back in June of 2015, I bought it. Originally we planned to go in the fall, but with the new teaching job I moved our trip to January (for a small fee).

our room

view from our balcony

We almost never stay at resort type locations because I am so thrifty. I stay more at Hampton Inns and Hilton Garden properties to save some cash (and give my family a free breakfast). But a while back for mother’s day I stayed at a Loews and loved it. I decided I deserved a little resort life.

Amenities we took advantage of:

On site restaurants:

When we ate on the property, we ate most of the time at the Tropics Bar and Grill next to the beach. I enjoyed their happy hour. There are multiple restaurants with different foods and prices. The cheapest one had take out pizza and food I didn’t want in Hawaii. There was a Starbucks on site that we used for early morning coffee on the way to the airport, but we also tried the other coffee shop (that also had amazing ice cream) on site. There are a lot of choices on site.

Pools:

There are several pools on the property with an ability to order food and drink poolside. Yessss. Getting lounge chairs by the pool can be competitive, but I prefer a chair a row or so back so I don’t get splashed by kids. The only bummer about the jacuzzi was that it was adjacent to the kiddie pool and frequently had a lot of kids in it. I don’t mind kids, mine are just grown so I don’t need to hang out with lots of them.

Fireworks on Friday:

Okay, we didn’t really see these. Because the guy at the timeshare presentation said we would be able to see the free Friday firework show from out balcony. But we could not. At all. You really need to be down at the beach to see it.

Starlight Luau:

Fun luau, but not the best luau we had ever seen. We enjoyed meeting the people at our table. It turns out Dec/Jan is a popular time for Australians to visit Hawaii. The luau is on the roof of the parking garage, and we could actually hear it from our balcony on other nights. The food was okay, but the performances were good. The best out of all three we have seen is Paradise cove.

Free movies:

One night we decided to get a movie and chill in the room. We were so beat from our busy day out and waking up at 4 am (time difference), we thought relaxing in our room was in order. When you check in, they give you a card to access the dvds and then you return them the next day.

We enjoyed our Hawaiian stay. The staff was extremely helpful all of the time. The grounds were clean and everything was beautiful. All in all, the resort is a very convenient way to visit Waikiki. The last time we came to Oahu was 11 1/2 years ago. So much has changed in Waikiki, we almost didn’t recognize some parts. We did a lot of things we hadn’t done previously. I think if we had younger kids all of the amenities would have been appreciated even more. Renting movies for kids, the food options, the pools, club penguin for kids, etc. But as a couple who enjoys exploration of new places, a resort isn’t as necessary for us. But we loved our pool lounge time, charging drinks to the room, and the pineapple salsa nachos (minus the pork) at Tropics Bar and Grill. And honestly, in terms of Waikiki hotel locations, the Hilton Village is in one of the best spots. Great access to transportation and beaches. The one thing I wish I would have done, was morning yoga at the resort. But the morning I was headed out, I was digging in my suitcase (under the safe in the closet) and hit my head on the in room safe. Hard. So I gave up on yoga.

I am so glad we got the chance to revisit Oahu and enjoy time together. Have you been to Hawaii? Do you love resort life?

Hiking Diamond Head

January 14, 2016April 2, 2017Posted in America, Hawaii, hiking, photography, travel, vacations1 Comment

Diamond Head crater on the island of Oahu, is from a volcanic eruption that occurred some 200,000 years ago. The view of the outside of the crater, as seen from Waikiki, is an iconic image used in many images of Honolulu.

For our first trip of the new year, my husband decided to head to warmer weather. I know your thinking, but California is warmer weather. But the day we left, El Niño storms were settling in. We traded rain for 80 degree weather. On our trip, we decided to hike Diamond head.

We did not rent a car on our trip, but taking TheBus from our hotel to the park entrance was easy and only $2.50 each way per person. We walk in the park on an easy ascent and paid a $1 fee to enter.

The hike would not be as easy.
Hiking Diamond Head is best done early. There is some shade along the hike but it got pretty hot and humid. You should wear appropriate clothes and bring water. Wear hats and apply sunscreen. I saw some people who looked unprepared in flip flops. The dirt trail can get slippery and I don’t how they managed.

At the top, there was a tunnel that came after a strenuous ascent. If you are claustrophobic, that tunnel may be a challenge. The top can be reached by a very steep staircase or a slower ascent with stairs and switchbacks. We chose the slower ascent, which was still a good workout.

We rewarded ourselves with shaved ice after we came back down. There is a burger food truck that has the only food in the park for sale. The people who run it are super friendly. When we approached tired from our hike, they handed us cool, wet napkins.
I am so glad we included this adventure on our trip. The reward when you reach the top includes amazing views of the ocean and Waikiki. Plus you have the shaved ice waiting for you at the bottom.

It’s Really Grand

October 18, 2015June 20, 2017Posted in America, Arizona, Grand Canyon National park, summer, travel, vacationsTagged America, Arizona, Grand Canyon, travel4 Comments

Every day, I wake up and go to work. No really. Every day, I wake up, and I go to work. Except when I schedule a day off of call in sick or am lucky enough to be cancelled. But that costs me because I still need to get paid, only after being cancelled I will have less paid vacation hours. That’s for the weekend job (Friday, Saturday, Sunday). But M-Th, I just work. I took this teaching job knowing it meant working every day, but also knowing it would be temporary. And this week I am half way through the first semester. 5 more weeks of my grad school semester. 7 more weeks of teaching. And then I have 5 weeks off (just not from the weekend job). Is it confusing yet?

Basically what it means is I can go some more places. And there is nothing like teaching international students from Brazil, Italy, Korea, China, Japan, Taiwan, and more, to make you want to get out and see the world. So I am already planning a trip AND my husband and I already have a trip to Hawaii booked.

But before the monsoon of crazy work/school schedules began, we went to a bucket list destination.

This summer we drove to the Grand Canyon.

From LA, the drive is fairly long, which is why we did that stop in Vegas. But after Vegas, we hit the road to somewhere I had been wanting to go for a while. And the Grand Canyon was really fantastic. On the way from Nevada to Northern Arizona, we stopped at Hoover Dam for a short tour. It was HOT in July. But the dam is impressive nonetheless.

We also stopped in WIlliams for lunch, wine, and a little Route 66 kitsch.

But Grand Canyon National Park…well, it really was worth the placement on the bucket list. It’s just hard to imagine how big it is until you walk along the rim, and then look back at places you were standing.

When you try to spot the Colorado river and it looks like a small creek, but the park rangers tell you it’s around 300 ft across.

Our short time in park was more than we expected. For example, lodging and dining options in the park are numerous, but we never felt especially crowded like some people describe. Also, we imagined the Grand Canyon to be rocky and dry. At 7000 ft up, it can be dry, but it is also surrounded by a forest. Which means trees. That was something we did not imagine in Arizona. Getting up at sunrise and watching the light change on the south rim was awesome. And then we ate breakfast by the window facing the rim at the Hotel Tovar. If you have ever asked yourself if the Gran Canyon would be worth the visit, the answer is yes.

The Quintessential Paris Date

August 2, 2013April 15, 2017Posted in buildings, date nite, French stuff, LOVE, Paris, Paris vacation, vacationsTagged Paris, romance, travel11 Comments

This year my husband and I celebrated our tenth anniversary. It was just last Friday, in fact. Part of our motivation for visiting Paris was to celebrate this big milestone. We weren’t able to travel on our anniversary due to flights, kid’s schedules, work time off, etc. But it was pretty important to me to get out for a date night in Paris. Our date night? Dinner followed by Basilique du Sacré-Coeur at sunset.

The apartment owner left us tips for restaurants to eat at and we chose Desvouges for our big night out. It was walking distance from our place. The owner came to our table with a large chalkboard to review the specials and made recommendations. He speaks french and English, so no worries if you don’t speak french, although I wanted to order in french as much as possible. We started with appetizers, a pastry filled with cheese for me and escargot out of the shell for my husband. For the main course I had salmon with this great cream sauce and rice. My husband had beef with potatoes and a small dish of ratatouille that was so good. The picture can’t even convey the delicious flavor. Of course we got dessert: lemon cheesecake and a chocolate soufflé. OMG, our food was fantastic. We enjoyed all of it. And we shared a bottle of Rosé, something I decided I liked in Paris.

I didn’t think I was going to be able to walk after all that.

But some how I was. I walked out of that restaurant sometime after 8 pm with the sun still out (summers bring late sunsets) and headed for the metro. I didn’t realize it but we had quite a journey ahead of us. The first metro stop wasn’t running so we walked to another. From there we transferred trains. And the Paris metro is like the Boston subway but seems even larger. Transferring to another line may include heading from the platform down a passage way, up stairs, down another passage way, down some stairs and onto another platform. And we did that for 3 lines. After that, when we arrived at the stop near Sacré-Coeur, Absesses. We did not get memo on this stop, which includes a winding long staircase up to the street, because it is 118 feet underground. Our huge dinner was not so bad with that work out. It was one of those staircases that seems like it will never end and you can’t see the end because it is winding. And it was 118 feet underground.

When we came out the sun was fading. Disoriented and not sure which direction to head, we walked one way. And then back the other way before finally figuring out which way to go. We missed sunset from Sacré-Coeur. But we did continue on up the hill (yes, up the hill) through the cobblestone streets to the famous white church. Everywhere were crowds of people dining, musicians playing, and some of those African guys that are at every tourist location trying to get you to buy a tiny Eiffel Tower. Some guy was playing guitar on the steps below Sacré-Coeur and singing Pearl Jam. We saw the whole city from up there.

After taking in the view, watching the artists and the tourist and the crowds, we started the long and many steps home. Just as we reached our arrondissment, a light drizzle started. For me, this was my previously imagined Paris now realized. I was so happy to have a date nite like this even if we missed the sunset. Happy ten years of marriage to my awesome husband.