maj's blog
It's all starting to blurr together...
There's that day, usually about half-way into a vacation (preferably to a tropical island with friends), when you stop thinking of the First Day or the Third Day or Four-Days-Until-I-Go-Home and just think about "today." I seemed to have reached that point, because I'm having a really hard time sorting out which day was which great beach or fantastic meal. I'm sure I have everyone's sympathy...
Get-together Day 4: Ponce & beyond!
Arecibo ObservatoryWow, we've been going all out the last couple of days-- Yesterday we went from San Juan, over the hills and through the jungle to Arecibo and then over the jungle and through the hills to Ponce on the amazingly dry (as in dying cactus dry) Southern coast.
Get-together Day 2: Old San Juan, beaches & mufungo
This morning we tried to get an early start to cram as much in as possible. We started with another envigorating breakfast for sugared cereal and industrial coffee and grabbed a taxi into the Old City to check out the other amazing old fort overlooking the sea.
Get-together Day 1: Beach & Old San Juan
Amita and Evan on Condado BeachI slept pretty good last night, despite the fact that the three of us (Evan, Amita June,
T-48 hours
After way too many phone calls to PR, half-a-dozen booked-and-recbooked hotel reservations and hours of research, we're just about ready to head off to the Wikitravel meet up.
I have to confess I'm a spaz about travel planning. Well, some travel planning. Hand me a sarong and a one-way-ticket to Bangkok and I can wing it for day-to-day, slipping gracefully across borders, finding (or not) places to sleep, buses to transport me, and food to eat... but send me to a popular American vacation destination in mid-April with a husband and baby in tow and it's a different story!
Austin: Day 1 & 2
Ah. I'm right now sipping a glass of excellent California Chardonnay in the dimly-lit, piano-music-laden, cowboy-art-infested, wired lounge of the Driskill Hotel in Austin Texas. It's been about 70 degrees outside all day (I tend to do temps below 10C and above 35C in C and everything in the middle in F... go figure). My daughter was able to play outside with out tights, long johns, socks, boots, mittens, a hat, gloves, a turtleneck, snow pants and a jacket (plus a layer of vaselin on her cheeks when it's below -10C)...
Winter's finally here...
It's -30C with wind chill and I'm ready to flee to the south! We're off to SxSw in Austin about 3 weeks from now. Just in time to miss the thaw that sends 6 months of preserved dog pee into the streets along with literal tons of exhaust-blackened, salty, gravely melted snow.
Q&A
Q: It's really helpful to read your article "Big Back Yard: The Lazy Hikers Top Three ". I am going to Switzerland with a friend this winter, want to try the "non-ninny way" in Leukerbaud for the spa. Do you think it's possible to do this in the winter with all the snow on the mountains if the weather is nice enough?
Q&A: Moving to Geneva
Q: I'm actually living in Montreal with my family but would like to move to Geneva for June or September this year. Citizenship French-Canadian, we were wondering how we had to proceed to live and work there, if it's difficult or not. I'm looking for an administrative assistant position and my husband for IT Technical-support.
Q&A: Xmas in Asia
My sister (user Lori J, actually), is spending a year teaching English in South Korea and isn't going to make it home for the Christmas Holidays. Our plans to try and meet her in Hawaii for New Years have fallen through and now she's wondering what to do.
She has about 5 days and wants to spend under $1000 (USD) for the flight. She's looking for somewhere to kick back on a beach with a book. It's gotta be safe, as she'll be travelling solo, and it can't be much off the beaten path as she want to maximize vacation time and minimize travel.
So far we've come up with Singapore, with a jaunt north to the islands of Malaysia or a ticket to Bangkok and then to the islands (I've said either Ko Samet or [Ko Samui]...
