This was our first trip back to Vieques since Hurricane Maria, and despite heroic efforts by locals to repair and move forward, her devastation could still be seen everywhere. Tourism dried up in the wake of the lashing winds. Damaged hotels were shuttered and have yet to re-emerge. Ironically, the jungle vegetation that was cleared to make way for hotels, has now come back with a vengeance and has reclaimed some of the desolate and abandoned hotel sites. Nature. Go figure.
From Dublin we flew to Paris to spend three days in the City of Lights. We’ve been to Paris before, but we knew with only three days it would be a perfect locale to roam around and would also be a great backdrop for us to celebrate our wedding anniversary – it is, after all, also known as the City of Love.
I don’t have to dig too deeply into the roots of my family tree to find ancestors born in Ireland. Follow along on a quick trip of ours in 2018 to the Emerald Isle with my dad, who had a chance meeting with a relative in a tiny town in Northern Ireland.
The moment of truth — after making our way from the airport, we were standing on the sidewalk at the base of a stoop to a quintessential Manhattan apartment building — home base for the next week? Fingers crossed. I texted Heath’s humans, “We’re here.” We took a deep breath. We received a quick reply.....
Let me get this right: People who don’t know us, want us to stay in their home, with all their things and take care of their beloved pet — without ever having met or talked to us.
Umm. Yup!
What do you do when you need to get out of Thailand for a few days? Go to Singapore, of course. Find out what we got up on our vacation from our vacation -- not the least of which is one of us hole up in the hotel with the flu.
Let's see if I can remember how this works. The QWERTY keyboard looks the same. My fingers seem to remember their place on home row. Ready? Set? Begin... It's confession time Forgive me followers, it's been 1,155 days since my last post. I can't imagine the blog penance I'm in for after such a lengthy … Continue reading #ThrowbackThursdays
For reasons unknown, whenever my son's grandmother, Shirley, plans to kick back, put her feet up, read, or generally have "me" time, she refers to it as "having a Hong Kong day." This is all the more peculiar from a Prairie woman whose adventure to Hawaii in her 50s marked her only departure from North … Continue reading #AHongKongDay
How sweet -- it's as though they were expecting us. As we worked our way expertly through the roundabouts into Auckland, the streets were lined with welcoming rainbow flags. How did they know we were on our way? Do they read this blog? Do they follow us on Instagram?? I'd like to say that my … Continue reading #AucklandPride
Driving in New Zealand is not for the faint at heart. Fair warning!! Before getting the keys to our rental car in Wellington, we had to watch a whopping 10-minute video designed to explain all we needed to know about driving in New Zealand -- with particular emphasis on keeping to the left side of … Continue reading #NewZealand 2.0
We've heard time and again that Kiwis are similar to Canadians and that Australians are more similar to Americans. To be fair, this is a comparison told to us by Canadians we know who have visited both countries. Although researching this fact wasn't the purpose of our trip to New Zealand, it was certainly something … Continue reading #WindyWellington
We could tell Sydney was a big, vibrant city the minute our plane broke through the cloud cover. Our excitement continued on the Uber ride as we wound our way through new areas and historic sections. And then our driver made a few unexpected turns and stopped smackdab in front of Mariner's Court. We both … Continue reading #SuddenlySydney
Getting to the Bangkok airport 62 minutes before our flight to Australia was cutting it much too close for comfort. So close, in fact, that I was tempted to slather on more deodorant in the back seat of the Uber when he finally showed up. We've found that when we book an Uber in Bangkok, … Continue reading #G’dayMelbourne
How lucky we are to have a beautiful pool at the condo we've rented in Bangkok. That said, we've only sat poolside for about 90 minutes over the past 25 days. We've found that when we have all the time in the world, there is no rush for us to do things we would have … Continue reading #MinutesHoursDays
What would life be if we didn't have room to improve? As it happens, I could stand to improve my storytelling by doing a better job of keeping events in sequence. In my previous post I talked at length about #streetmeat in Bangkok, but failed to actually place us in the city (or country for … Continue reading #BangkokRevisited
I'm fortunate to have lived a life, thus far, having never been truly hungry -- save for a few lean days in my early twenties where I was earning just enough to keep me rich in Ichiban noodles. My earliest recollection that some people, kids in particular, didn't have enough to eat was in my … Continue reading #StreetMeat
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