I'm Ready for the Best Jetlag of my Life

Sep 092010

In approximately 36 hours, I will embark on my trip to the Philippines. I apologize for the late notice in this: I have only known about it for about a month now. I have also had only about 1400 chances to write about it.

I was excited about it a few days ago, but now that the day is here and it’s finally “go time”, I am more stressed than anything. I get fun travel perks because I work for an airline, but at the same time I have to remember that I can only get onto flights that have some open seats available. I hate the possibility of getting bumped from a flight. I hate knowing that we might have to end up doing some fancy, last-minute maneuvering to get to where we want to go (or to sleep in an airport for a few nights). While I know I need to stop whining about it… ugh… until I am on the plane and it is taking off into the sky (or I drink approximately 3 margaritas), the little knot in my stomach is going to hang out with me and make me worry about everything.

ANYWHOOZLE~

My Mom and my friend Brad (otherwise known as Don Keylips) will be going with me! My Mom’s side of the family is in the Philippines so I get to have a fun meet & greet with all of them. My Mom is, of course, excited to see all of her family and old friends. Brad loves to travel, so he’s pretty amped about a local experience.

I wish I had more exciting/awesome to say. Like I’m going to climb coconut trees or step on sea urchins or something (I did that when I was a kid). Buuutttt I’m just gonna take some deep breaths, chill the F out, and get ready for a fun vacation.

I plan on doing as many video blogs as I can, so get ready to see some AWESOME VIDEOS of me having nothing to say in a public area where everyone thinks I’m weird for talking to a camera :-D

Catch ya’ll on the other side of the world!

Peru

Jun 062010

Once again, I apologize for my lack of info on my trip to Peru.  A reliable internet connection was a rare thing while we were there.  Although we tried to pick and choose our hotels based on wireless internet availability (since we were making up the vacation as we went and the internet is a powerful research tool), all we got were connections that cut in and out… if they were there at all.  That Machu Picchu video took over an hour to load onto youtube… and getting it to post on my blog was a huge pain in the ass.  I think that on my next vacation I will be making more use of the video blog, though… I like the way that turned out.

And why has it taken me so long to write about it since getting back to the States?  Because of the sheer volume of things I have to say.  It’s intimidating.  A lot happened. So instead of fretting over making sure I hit every single point on the trip, I’m just going to make a list and let the pictures do more of the talking.

  • Dan and I played charades practically everywhere we went because we didn’t know Spanish
  • In order to talk to the owner of a hotel we stayed at, Google Translator was our best friend
  • We ate ceviche – BEST FOOD EVER
  • I got sick on a 20 hour bus ride and almost barfed everywhere… so much for seeing “the most beautiful scenery in Peru”
  • We tried eating llama and guinea pig.  Not big fans of either.
  • We got to Machu Picchu!
  • We saw big cities and small towns.  Our favorite were the small towns.  If any one is going to Peru, I’d advise you to get out of Lima as fast as you can.
  • We got an impromptu offroading experience in a small bus we took from Ollantaytambo to Cusco.  About 30 car accidents almost occurred.
  • When walking across streets, we were probably almost killed about 10 times.
  • When riding in taxis, we were probably almost killed about 30 times.
  • We hiked up mountains to reach Incan ruins that we didn’t really understand.  However, we had a great respect for their building abilities.
  • I bought a lovely set of gloves and hats and even a nice sweater made of alpaca.
  • I successfully haggled!  $10 off!
  • We took the local transportation (as opposed to the nice buses and vans tourists typically take).  We were scrunched together with strangers.  Some woman felt me up for at least half of a two hour bus ride.
  • I enjoyed lots and lots of coca tea.  Mmmmmm!
  • A taxi driver charged us less than the typical fare, and to thank him I gave him 10 times what he had asked for.  He gasped in delight, and I left before he could try to give me change.
  • I ate the best food I have ever had
  • I got drunk off of lots and lots of pisco sours :D
  • I saw the most breathtaking views I have ever seen.
  • I met among the friendliest people I have ever met.
  • I had the best vacation I have ever had.

Would I go back again?  In a heartbeat.  But I think I would take the time to learn some Spanish first.

Who needs a travel agent?

May 182010

We arrived in Lima, Peru at about 11pm on Sunday evening.  There were dozens of taxi cab drivers lined up in the airport, asking anyone that walked by if they needed a taxi.  Crime is not uncommon in Peru, so Dan and I walked past all of them to the airport information, inquired about taxis and their cost, and were directed to a legitimate service.

So – let me tell you – the language barrier is a definite hurdle.  I knew practically nothing when we got here and Dan knew a minimal amount.. but even in the two days we have been here we have made strides in our Spanish speaking skills.  While the locals like it when we try to speak their language, the ones that know English seem to like it more when they can practice with us.  And while some can’t speak English, many can understand it well enough.  Except when we wanted to get a bottle of water.  That was a challenge – it took three waitresses and about 5 minutes.  For anybody wondering and heading to any spanish speaking area, save yourself some time and remember that it is “botella de agua”.

Between the airport and downtown Lima it is SCARY.  Straight up ‘hood.  They drive like maniacs here and a few times I had to catch my breath, but I’ve learned to relax because after observing it is obvious they know what they’re doing.  One cool thing though – there was a kid begging for money in the streets on our way to our hotel, and he juggled some flaming sticks to get it.  It was like we drove through the circus or something.  AWESOME!!

We are sitting at the airport now to get to Cusco for a few days.  Unfortunately I don’t have time to write more.. we have to figure out if we’re even at the right gate.  However, we are doing a pretty good job at making this vacation up on the fly.  And I’m taking lots of pictures… so you’ll see some of those soon.

And admittedly, when we first got here, we had no idea what we were doing here.  We had an initial reaction of “holy shit… we have no idea what we’re doing” and were terrified.. but now that we’ve relaxed this vacation is becoming better and better.

Hasta la vista (baby)!

I've Got The World On A String

May 052010

I scheduled a few weeks off at the end of May (May 15th thru May 30th to be exact) to go to the Philippines with my Mom, but apparently her body didn’t want her to go because she was wheeled in to surgery in Mid April for a complete hysterectomy while having a nasty kidney infection.  Unfortunately, she probably won’t be well enough to travel once the 15th of May rolls around.  This means that while she’s laying in bed recovering and drinking juice all day and yelling at my stepdad to do things for her, I’ve got a big problem on my hands.  What am I going to do with my two weeks off?!

I could go in to work anyway and pretend like those approved vacation days never really happened, but where’s the fun in that?

I could stay at home and clean and read that 1 book I’ve been working on for the last 4 months and, at some point, stop and see that big cherry that’s sitting in a spoon at the sculpture garden.  This is a little better than going to work, but only marginally.

I could hang out with my mom and nurse her back to health but… uhh… yeeaaahhhhhh…

I could fly and see my friend Bradley in Columbus or my friends Donald and Sam in the D (Detroit for those of you NOT in-the-know), but I could do that pretty much any weekend.

We’re talking 2 full weeks here.  TWO.  FULL.  WEEKS.  And I would very much like these two weeks to be among the best two weeks of my life.

So here’s my plan I just came up with about 30 seconds before typing the “I” at the beginning of this post:

Travel the globe.

As I’ve mentioned before, the beauty of being an airline employee is that I don’t need to buy a ticket ahead of time.  I just look for a flight with some spare seats in it and get in (there’s more to it than that, but for the purpose of this post and due to the fact that I’m sure nobody really cares about details, that’s what we’ll say).  My big plan was to get in a plane that goes west.  Stay at place west of here for a day or two.  Get in next plane that goes west.  Stay at place for a day or two.  Get in another plane that goes west.  Continue until all of my days are through or I am at home.

Problem 1: Granted I have only looked for a total of about 10 minutes, but “just going west” is kind of tough when you’re forced to stay on 1 airline.  Minneapolis to Honolulu.  Honolulu to Tokyo.  Tokyo to… Guam… ? Guam… back? I’ve checked a few flights, and I haven’t found a way to get across Asia to Europe without going back across the United States.  The farthest west I got was Bangkok.

Problem 2: That is A LOT of travel time.  Days and days will be spent on planes.  I could try to only get onto flights with business class available to make it a little more bearable, but that’s easier said than done.

Problem 3: This plan assumes that I’m going to get on every flight I intend to get on.  Probably not going to happen.

Problem 4: Why can’t get across freaking Asia?!

Problem 5: I haven’t told Dan my plan yet.  He might not like it.

Problem 6: I don’t really have the money to do something like this 100% care free… but I feel like this is one of those “once in a lifetime” opportunities.  And I have my whole life to pay off the adventure of a lifetime. (uhh… I can hear bankruptcy calling my name).

Unfortunately, all of these problems all kind of add up to one big problem:  This big plan of mine probably isn’t feasible.  Especially in just two weeks.

So… plan B is pick one or two places and just hang out there for awhile.  But where to go?  Cairo?  Dublin?  Manila?  Greece?  And of course, I could always fulfill my dream of walking into the airport, picking any flight leaving within the hour, and getting on it.

You know, growing up I never thought I’d be in the situation where I had the world at my fingertips.  But I do.  And here I sit with the chance to go anywhere in the world (except west across Asia.  UGH).

Where would you go?

Hawaii or Bust

Feb 082010

Today, you have a tanner, happier, albiet slightly sunburned Heather writing up a post.  And even though my visit to Hawaii only spanned from 11pm on Friday to 5pm on Sunday, I wouldn’t have changed anything. 

I.  LOVE.  SUN.

And in the summer, my feet are typically the last part of me to tan.  I always end up with some stupid tan lines on them somewhere and they never get the same amount of sun as the rest of my body.  And, since I laid in the sun on the beach for no less than 2 hours making it a point to ensure that my feet did not miss a moment of the sun, my feet got a good tan (as well as the rest of me):

Since I wasn’t there very long, the point of my trip was to just lay on the beach, climb Diamond Head, and eat sushi.  Mission accomplished.

I wish I had more to say, but I really don’t.  I had a great time, I drank a few mai tai’s, and I relaxed.  There’s only so much you can do for two days, and my big plan was to just unwind. And, as you can see, I got some great pictures out of it.

Don't Worry Beach Bod... One Day We Will Be Reunited

Feb 032010

There’s too much snow, there’s too much cold, there are too many clouds, and there’s too much responsibility here in Minnesota.  I’ve got the winter blues, so to make myself feel better I am skipping town on Friday and headed to Waikiki Beach in Hawaii – the place where dreams come true.  And those dreams consist of a fabulous tan and all of the seafood I can eat (or afford).

So while I’m super excited and thinking about this trip literally every moment that my eyes are open, there is one problem:  the absence of what I lovingly refer to as a “beach bod”.  You know what I’m talking about – one of those perfectly toned bodies, with the rippling abs and the bronzey, glowy skin that look AMAZING on the beach.  While I had planned to have mine by April or May (anybody that knows me in real life should be rolling their eyes right now), I didn’t even consider that I would be going somewhere in the beginning of February.  That means that my midsection is still toting around one of those little kid inflatable circle floats with the hole in the middle (I would have said tire, but I’m not that out of shape – THANK YOU JANUARY RESOLUTIONS!). 

When someone that knows nothing about proper fitness and healthy eating (what’s a calorie?) is faced with achieving a “beach bod” in two days, we start freaking out.  So I did what any fitness and health ignorant person does in these situations: ask their smart friends.  All of my friends’ opinions were peppered with words like “sodium” and “merciless workouts” and “cut out the carbs to lose water weight”, so I decided that while their opinions are probably very valid, I didn’t really like any of them.  Carbs are my favorite food group!  Salt is delicious!  Nothing tastes good without butter!  Working out too long is booooring!  As far as I am concerned, I have the following options:

  1. Stop eating all together.  What better way to lose weight than reduce my food intake to zero.
  2. Continue to eat, but reduce my food choices to celery, carefully selected families of lettuce, one granola bar, and chocolate covered raisins because I will never give those up. Ever.
  3. 6 hour workouts every day up until I am sitting on the plane to Hawaii(which hopefully I get on… because if I have to sleep in an airport again, I will go berserk).
  4. New swimsuit - goodbye bikini, hello oversized shirt and shorts.
  5. Avoid the beach at all costs and basically waste my trip to paradise.
  6. Forget about going to Hawaii and go snowboarding instead.  Snowboarding is a workout and allows for some big, puffy clothes.
  7. Flaunt it, baby!

And I considered each of them carefully.

Gosh, I love eating… but I could try to give it up for a few days… but I can’t do try because I only have two days until I’m embarassing myself… Oh! You know… maybe I could commit myself to nonstop workouts… but then I’ll be so tired when I get there that all I will want to do is sleep… and I’ll be sore… and then I can’t force Dan to climb up Diamond Head with me… and I can’t wait because he is going to be so pissed when he finds out that we are taking a trek through nature… why am I dating a guy that doesn’t  like nature?… at least he doesn’t like chocolate covered raisins so then I can eat all of them.. and I don’t really like celery or lettuce so then that diet would only consist of the chocolate covered raisins… and that doesn’t really sound so bad come to think of it… but then I get sick if I eat too many… although if I stayed here I could eat everything and go snowboarding since a little flubber is good for warmth, right?… BUT I HATE THE COLD… jesus… and I already bought a swimsuit so I don’t want to return it… although I guess I don’t really like it so I could return it without crying for too long… but I want to get a tan so wearing a shirt and shorts doesn’t really work for that… unless I wanted one of those sweet farmer’s tans… and I actually really hate those because they take forever to get rid of… my feet still have tan lines from the flip flops I never stop wearing in the summer.. I wonder if my feet with get sunburned?… I remember one time Bim got her feet sunburnt and I laughed at her.. I wonder if she’d do the same to me… she would… especially since I laughed at her when she fell out of a tree that one time… hmm.. I miss Bim.. but anyway there’s no way I would miss out on the beach in Hawaii.. and no way I would go in a shirt and shorts… and no way I would stop eating.. and no way I would eat only chocolate covered raisins… and no way I would work out all day every day… and no way I would avoid the beach.. and no way I would stay here and go snowboarding…

So that leaves me to rock what all of that candy, deep fried food, lack of vegetables, and butter soaked delicious gave me. 

But you know, it’s not so bad.  I am in relatively good shape (in comparison with the 67% of Americans who are overweight as of 2006).  But if Britney Spears happens to be roaming the beach the same time that I am, I will be asking Dan to bury me in the sand.

Sleeping in an Airport Sucks (but at least my hair looks good)

Jan 172010

The night before my drunken state, I found myself sleeping in the Atlanta airport.  And by sleeping, I mean laying awake on uncomfortable benches while the night staff ran vacuums and yelled at each other the entire time. 

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35000 miles and counting

Jan 152010

I had meant to get a blog post together earlier today, but I found myself distracted and didn’t get the time. So now I am writing 35009 miles above Madison, Wisconsin on my way to Atlanta. And no, airlines are not kind enough to offer in flight wifi for free, so I laid down $13 to cover me for the next 24 hours. Don’t say I don’t take my NaBloPoMo commitment seriously.

So let’s see… I have approximately 2 hours of uninterrupted time. What to do, what to do.

The thing that I love most about riding on planes is the people you end up meeting. Everybody in this plane is headed somewhere, and its fun to find out where they are going and why. I am one of those people that finds the situations in which 2 strangers come together as fascinating. I have been alive for about 198000 hours while the man next to me, guessing he is about 50, has been alive around 438000 hours. Of all of those hours and of all of the places we could be right now, we have found ourselves sitting 3 inches away from one another on this airplane.

And it’s silly, I know, but I can’t help it. Sometimes I think about it during long car rides when considering the cars around me.

Ooooh… here comes the cookie cart! Looks like my attention is being called elsewhere.

Plane Rides, Haircuts, and Volunteering

Jan 142010

The greatest thing about working at an airline is, hands down, the flight benefits.  Last night I called my mom asking if she would like me to come visit her this weekend.  She got really excited, said yes, and I am now lined up to leave Minneapolis tomorrow at 4pm and get back here on Saturday around 8pm.  And I can still make it to my hair appointment on Sunday at 2:30.

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