Category: Travel Planning

Suggestions for better travel planning, recommendations for travel tools and the results of my travel planning, both good and bad.

Accommodations, Cruising, DESTINATIONS, International, Memory Keeping, TRAVEL, Travel Planning

On Our Way to Greece & Turkey Part One

Jane Sadek

MAKING MEMORIES: BIG TIME BUCKET LIST DESTINATIONS

While some people have their vacation dreams all planned out and can tell you when they intend to see each item on their bucket list, I have a hard time getting Bill to plan the next vacation, much less something years down the road. I do know people who have cruises booked years in advance. I spend a lot of my time trying to interest Bill in our next adventure and showing him various deals to sweeten the pot, but I sincerely think he hears none of it.

We came home from a Newcomers Event last year and Bill tells me about this great cruise someone took to Greece and Turkey. The next day we got a postcard for Viking with an “airfare included” deal on the same cruise. Within days our cruise was booked. I guess I’m going to have to start planting folks along Bill’s path to tempt him into trips, because I’m not having luck otherwise. Come along and let’s head to an idyll on the Aegean!

AIRFARE INCLUDED!

Airfare is a big hurdle in our travel planning. It costs so much money, it takes so much time and there’s nothing fun about it. You juggle suitcases for weeks, hoping to find a combination of bags to fit the various requirements of each carrier. Then you have all the airport headaches the airlines throw at you.

When you’re paying for your own airfare you have a little more control over things, but when you turn your fate over to the cruise line, there’s no telling what can happen. In this particular case, Viking thought a layover in Newark was the right way to kick off our trip to Athens. The next leg took us to Frankfurt and finally we would fly on to Athens. I get leg cramps just thinking about it.

FIRST LEG – DFW TO NEWARK LIBERTY

Things went pretty smoothly on the first leg of our trip, until we tried to get luggage tags. We left the house on time and then realized neither of us had thought to get cash. Thankfully a branch of our bank was right on the way. The Parking Spot makes dropping off your car and getting to the terminal easy. The first real hurdle was checking in our luggage. I’d checked us in online, even got them to check our carry-ons for free, but somehow one of our bags was missing from our luggage list and it wasn’t clear to me which buttons I needed to push to correct the error.

This is what I hate about this DIY internet world. There was a time when my travel agent delivered my airline tickets and all I’d have to do is show up for my flight. I’d drop my bag off at the curb and be done with it. Now even when someone else arranges your ticket, you have to play the online check-in game, which in my eyes is useless, because then you have to go do battle with the kiosk at the airport AND then you still have to deal with a person to hand over your luggage.

So, I’m standing there frustrated and frantic, imagining my luggage taking a different vacation than I do and up walks this self-consumed airline employee. Now then let me start by saying, in situations like this I should remain calm, so I am at fault for being so wound up, but this lady walked up and threw the chip on her shoulder at me before I even knew she was standing there! She certainly had no empathy at all for my panic. I was still in full freak out, trying to sort through it all, when this lady butts in and lets me know I am not being very respectful of her.

Respectful?!? I didn’t even know she was there and she was schooling me about respect. That’s today’s world – safe spaces and ribbons for participation, but zero empathy. Hello – I don’t care if you are green, blue or purple. I don’t care about your gender, religion or sexual preferences. It doesn’t matter whether you’re wearing tattoos, a hajib or a bone in your hair. I just want tags for all my bags. (We didn’t have this conversation. I immediately went into apology mode, but I was thinking this!)

You know what’s next. As soon as she finishes scolding me for my behavior, she throws herself in reverse. She is moving at the speed of a sloth. She piddles around looking at each bag, each tag and the computer screen as if she’s made the next important archeological discovery and doesn’t want to disturb a grain of sand until she’s documented it all. She doesn’t listen to what I’m asking for, at all, but is very careful to point out a mistake we’ve made attaching the tags. The world was probably going to end because Bill’s bags had one of my tags. When she talks to me, it’s in the tone you’d use with a preschooler. If they are teaching this method of dealing with panic to our airline customer service people, no wonder the flights these days are full of crazed people.

I am convinced this woman follows me around. I know she was there as we waited for the flight to our anniversary cruise, She strolled over to me and insisted the carryon with my wedding gown was oversized. I knew it wasn’t, because I had measured it a thousand times, but she took delight in terrifying me. She’s there on the phone when I’ve been frustrated beyond all sanity with phone trees and call transfers. She waits on me in stores to pounce when what I’m having trouble finding what I need. Do you get her in situations like this, too?

I spent my life in customer service, back when you treated people like customers and provided service, You gauged their level of frustration and put your personal feelings on hold. You listened to their words. You didn’t shush them up before you had time to figure out the problem! And you made sure they understood you cared about them and you certainly didn’t threaten to keep them from getting on the plane! I want so much to go back to those days. Where can I get a ticket to go there?

Eventually this woman, who’d stretched a 45 second operation on the kiosk to a five minute confrontation decided to release me from her punishment – until next time. We go to another human to turn in our bags and I guess I behaved, because I got no more lectures. There was actually a time when I looked forward to flying, but that was a long time ago.

Our time at DFW was otherwise uneventful. We waited the requisite three hours for international travel, claimed our seats and went on to Newark.

Accommodations, Attractions, Restaurants & Bars, TRAVEL, Travel Planning, United States

Living on Tulsa Time

Jane Sadek

MAKING MEMORIES: A LONG WEEKEND IN TULSA, OKLAHOMA

With Southwest voucher dollars still burning a hole in our pockets, I finally convinced Bill Tulsa, Oklahoma had some things we really needed to see. Book it Jane-O! And soon we were on our way. Come along for the fun!

GETTING THERE WAS NOT HALF THE FUN!

The voucher we got from Southwest for getting bumped off a flight in March has taught us one thing. Once we’ve used up these dollars, we’re not flying Southwest anymore, unless there is no other way besides, SW, Spirit or Frontier. All three have treated us dismally in the past and we’d have to draw straws if flying on them was required.

This is such a shame, because I have been a champion of Southwest for decades choosing them over everyone else whenever I could. Everything was great this time around, right up until moments before we were supposed to board. Suddenly, it was announced the flight would be late and we’d need to change gates. Herb Kelleher, you’d be rolling in your grave.

After waiting for our next airplane to show up, we played the new boarding pass game, which is really just a bid to get you to pay for a place at the head of the line. We don’t play that game, which means we end up with some interesting seating companions.

Bill won the lottery on this flight. He sat between two darling little old ladies who flirted with him the whole way. I grabbed a seat in the row ahead of him, the first row in the cabin, which had bodacious legroom. As excited as I was over the legroom I missed two things. The first being that I would not have access to my personal carryon and the other being the rather large guy sitting next to me, which was taking up half my seat. The carryon I got over with a little help from the flight attendant. Someone had scarfed up the overhead bin above me, which was supposed to be for my carryon. This issue was resolved.

As the flight took off, I realized I was a little cramped for space. The extra legroom did not make up for the fact that the guy next to me was a big guy, taking up a good portion of what I was supposed to be sitting in. It was pretty miserable, but at least it was only a 45 minute flight.

The luggage made it OK to Tulsa, our rental car was fine and soon we were on our way to our hotel…but Bill needed a hamburger and he needed it right then! This is one of my pet peeves for which I have no reasonable excuse, but we interrupted the “find the hotel” program, for a “find a hamburger” program and eventually made it to Townplace Suites by Marriott in Broken Arrow- adequate accommodations for this trip, but probably not in line for a repeat. Things were a little dated, even though it had been recently renovated, and Bill kept finding things that frustrated him.

WHY BROKEN ARROW?

If money were not an object, (which is usually is) I would have stayed right downtown Tulsa, in the middle of it all, but Tulsa is quite proud of her in-town accommodations. Broken Arrow was just minutes and many dollars away. So, that’s why we were there.

As a bonus, I’d read about Broken Arrow’s Rose District and thought it would be a good venue for our evening. It was actually a very cute, recently renovated, downtown and done quite well for a small suburban town. However, I don’t know that we selected the best option for food. Bill selected an Italian restaurant that turned out to be more wine bar than restaurant and gluten free was not something they were concerned about.

We first opted for the patio, but things were chillier than we anticipated, so we quickly moved inside, which was the last quick thing of the evening. The waitstaff was comprised of various members of the LGBT(etc.) community and they were a lot more interested in each other than they were anything as mundane as a heterosexual married couple dining in their establishment. I ate some short-rib stuffed mushrooms, which turned out to be delicious, but too small for a meal and I hadn’t had one of Bill’s burgers, so I ordered some fries and waited for what seemed like forever to top off my growling stomach.

The next morning things got much better – if a little damp – so I’ll invite you back for next week!

Accommodations, Cruising, DESTINATIONS, International, Restaurants & Bars, TRAVEL, Travel Planning

Never Again Royal Caribbean

Jane Sadek

MAKING MEMORIES: ENJOYING OURSELVES IN SPITE OF THE CRUISE

Yes, It Was Free, But They Should Have Paid Us for the Mediocracy of Everthing

So, I attended a travel presentation and scored a free cruise – we’re talking flight & cruise. I thought any day cruising was better than staying home. I was wrong! Come along and find out why!

Navigating My Way to a Free Cruise

I adore cruising. My first cruise was my honeymoon and we cruised Hawaii in a cabin on a boat I probably wouldn’t even consider today, but still it was magical. We had a blast and loved every moment of it – in spite of all the lack of amenities I would have noticed these days.

Since then I’ve cruised the Nile, the Danube, the Mediterranean and the Caribbean (the Caribbean several times.) I’ve been on Celebrity, Norwegian, Carnival, Viking and few other smaller companies. Until I took a Viking river cruise, my all time favorite cruise had been one I took on Royal Caribbean. It was everything I ever dreamed a cruise would be and more. Then after the river cruise, I began to have my favorite small ship experience and my favorite big ship experience, but Royal Caribbean still reigned supreme for ocean going experiences. It had been a magnificent.

Then we took a quick cruise out of Galveston on Royal Caribbean and I wondered how it could have been the same cruise company. The food was mediocre, the ship needed some TLC, the entertainment was a joke and even the staff needed a little refresher course. My travel agent assured me it was Galveston’s fault. Galveston was where old cruise ships went to die. So in the future, we stayed away from Galveston departures.

When we got our free cruise, I had a choice of five cruises, but most of them were out of Galveston to ports we’d already visited. So it boiled down to 3 cruises. The one I preferred would have required a flight to San Juan and because it was out of the US, we’d have had to pay for it, which would have been more expensive than the (potentially) free flight to Florida. Just so you know, the whole free flight thing turned out to be smoke and mirrors. I should have lobbied harder for the cruise I wanted, but when traveling, I’ve learned to do things Bill’s way. It might not be optimal, but then when he complains, I can point out it’s his choice, not mine. This keeps my marriage afloat, which is more important that any number of given days on a trip.

So, we booked the Royal Caribbean cruise out of Tampa to Cozumel, Roatan, Belize and Costa Maya. I remember the day Royal Caribbean sent us our confirmation. I thought I really scored something big. I worked on scheduling shore excursions and redeeming my free flights (which never manifested).

Embarking on Our Adventure

In spite of the dirty tricks the agency played to avoid providing the free airfare the promised, I was still excited about going. Remember, I love cruising and even though Royal Caribbean had already had one strike, I blamed it on Galveston and looked forward to an experience more like my favorite cruise.

We’d had a very early flight, so we were among the very first to get on board. We made our way to the Embarkation Buffet and realized we were about to relive everything we hated about the cruise out of Galveston. I took the photo above of what I was able to glean from the nasty things offered on the buffet. I know being gluten free I miss out on all the lovely bread, desserts and fried things, but still, this was sub-par.

New Empathy for Non-Cruisers

I’m one of those odd people who isn’t crazy about beach vacations, but I’ve never understood anyone who didn’t like cruises. Something for everyone – am I right? On this cruise I imagined someone like me being stuck on that boat for seven nights without other, more pleasant, experiences and I could see why they’d think cruising was torture.

To give Royal Caribbean its due, we did talk to several people who were having the time of their lives. One set of retired Floridian ladies cruise with Royal Caribbean constantly – at least once a month. They gamble and they claim their cruising is a source of income! During one breakfast they schooled us on retiring to cruise boats. If we hadn’t been living through what we considered the worst cruise ever, it would have sounded pretty good.

I used to think that a bad day on a cruise was better than a good day anywhere else. I now know that is not true. There’s a lot of bad days at home I’d prefer to relive than the days we spent aboard the Vision of the Seas. But we’re Bill and Jane! We live to have a good time. So, come back next week and I’ll touch on a few highlights, but let me assure you, I will never, ever cruise Royal Caribbean again – even if its FREE!

Accommodations, Architecture, DESTINATIONS, Shopping, TRAVEL, Travel Planning, United States

Getting To & Into Seattle

Jane Sadek

MAKING MEMORIES: TALE OF TWO FERRIES, AN AIRPORT AND A TRAIN

Welcome to the back half of our Washington State vacation. We were about to close our big circle of Western WA State: SeaTac, Snoqualmie, Tacoma, Olympia, Olympic National Park and Victoria B.C. We’ll take two ferries and a train before we can go to sleep. Come along!

Two Ferries

The first ferry was right across the street from our hotel and we were supposed to be there at 9 AM. Then they made us wait for 90 minutes. This was the sort of thing that had caused Bill to put off getting on the ferry on the Port Angeles side until the very last minute, but it was an unavoidable delay. They needed to get everyone inside the fence and through customs before we could drive aboard the ferry. It was not fun.

From Port Angeles we turned left and headed towards Seattle. Though some travel books touted this area as a wonderful place to visit, we didn’t see much wonderful as we drove along the main road to the Bainbridge Ferry. It took longer than we had anticipated, so we rolled into the boarding area moments before the 3:30 cutoff. And then we waited, because the ferry was running late.

No adventures, yet, but I was feeling quite clever. I’d purchased Orca Cards for getting around Seattle and as seniors, that made it free for us to travel on the ferry. We had to pay for the car, but being a senior citizen has its perks.

The Artic Club Hotel

Praises to the Black Ball Ferry Line, our hotel in Seattle was one I paid for with them and got a significant discount. The hotel is a doozy. When Seattle was a stopping off point for the Klondike, gentlemen who returned rich could join the Artic Club, a magnificent building on Cherry Street, around the corner from Pioneer Square. What made it particularly attractive to us, was the light rail station across the street.

We’d chosen it for location, location, location, but it was a stunning edifice. A small reception area with a bell hop station fronted the generous lobby where rich gold miners once held court. Close observation reveals many ties to its days honoring the bounty of the Klondike – like the walrus staircase.

Our arrival and initial visit was brief. We got our keys, unloaded our rental car and headed back to the airport, but it was hard to leave the large, well-appointed room we’d be staying in.

The Transportation Game Plan

So, our goal was to return the car to the rental company at SeaTac, take the light rail train to the Cherry Street Station and then walk across the street to our hotel. Everything went well until we were a few stops away from Cherry Street and suddenly we were inundated with a raucous crowd. They’d just left a sporting event and to say they were rowdy would have been an understatement. We couldn’t hear the announcements of the stops and soon realized we’d traveled too far.

So, we got off at the next station, made our way to the other side of the tracks and caught the next train heading back to Cherry Street. We were tired and hungry so this didn’t feel like an adventure. It was more like torture by transportation.

Beautiful Hotel, Mediocre Food & Beverage Services

Safely returned to our hotel, we decided to have a light supper there at the hotel, in spite of the fact that it was a bit pricey. We discovered it was worse than pricey, it was also sub-par. Initially, I was ready to give them a break. A crowd had just left the lobby bar for a concert in the auditorium of the hotel, reportedly a grand souvenir left over from the hotel’s days as the Artic Club. The previous patrons had left quite a mess and it seemed as if the wait staff might have gone to the concert with the patrons.

Once a waitperson did arrive, it became obvious the chef had definitely departed. It took forever to get our food and it wasn’t exactly gourmet. The server seemed to resent the fact we’d shown up at all and certainly didn’t think we deserved anything more than poor service. I assumed it had to do with the concern crowd.

However, as our stay continued things didn’t get any better. There was a free breakfast in a venue downstairs. The food was adequate. The service was not. The service was also bad the afternoon I went down to have a glass of wine while Bill took a nap. So, the Saturday concert crowd aftermath was not an unfortunate fluke. The Artic Club Hotel just needs a new Food & Beverages Manager!

Poor food & beverage service aside, we loved staying there for four nights and we absolutely loved our room. It was so large it felt more like an apartment, especially the generous bathroom. Come back next week and let’s see Seattle.

DESTINATIONS, Road Trips, TRAVEL, Travel Planning, United States

Sliding Into Sea-Tac

Jane Sadek

MAKING MEMORIES: SEA-TAC & My Red Suit Case

I’m taking you along on our 2024 vacation to Washington State, a vacation we’d been looking forward to for many years. Come along and we’ll suffer through the travel day together!

Waking Up at 2:30 AM

So, we did get a deal on our Delta flight to Sea-Tac, but it was very early in the morning – so early that my alarm went off at 2:30 AM. We’d joked about just staying up, but we’re senior citizens now and those days are over. At 3:10 AM the Travel Buddies hit the road.

As I did my planning I was dismayed to discover The Parking Spot had bought out my old favorite, Park ‘N Fly. I’m a bit suspicious when it comes to travel and if something ain’t broke, I don’t try to fix it. I’d been using Park ‘N Fly for at least 30 years and wasn’t happy about trusting my vacation departure to someone else, but I have to admit, even though I had to find a different location, the whole Parking Spot experience was very smooth.

Getting Through Security

By the time we drove to the remote parking lot, rode the shuttle to the airport and checked our luggage, the sun was shining into the big windows of the Delta terminal. We stood in the security line and when it was just about our turn, they made an announcement that the line was closing down due to unnamed problems. It was supposed to be only a 10 minute shut down, but there was a sign nearby that said the next security gate was about 3 minutes away and it only had a 10 minute wait. Fearing the 10 minute shut down might have a little mission creep and not wanting to stand still for however long it would take, we decided to hot foot it to the next gate. Great decision. The walk was invigorating after all the driving and riding. We were whisked through security in no time and were cooling our heels at our gate.

LAX Layover and SeaTac Arrival

Our cheap flight to WA State included a brief layover in LAX. Our flights to LAX went off without a hitch. The flight from LAX was a little delayed, but they made up the time in the air. Before long we were riding the SeaTac monorail to the the rental car facility.

As we went through the machinations of locating our rental I noticed our faithful Old Red suitcase was not cooperating as well as it usually did. Something was wrong with one of the wheels. A cursory inspection revealed the wheel had been destroyed. We pulled away the broken plastic pieces that were slowing us down, to reveal a piece of metal that had been holding it all together. Old Red’s traveling days were over.

That Red Suitcase

I can’t let an old traveling companion like Old Red pass away without acknowledging its glory days. I got the suitcase and a matching tote at JC Penney’s while Bill was an interpreter in Iraq, 2006-7. I was determined to get just what I wanted and was amazed at the affordability of Penney’s choices. The big red bag was fitted out well, with a hanging bag you could fold up into the lid and a matching shoe bag. How could I resist?

I vetoed the matching rolling carry-on and instead chose a matching rolling tote. It was too big to be a carry on, but I’m not a fan of wrestling a rolling bag on board, anyway. I want all my bags checked and only carry a small cloth backpack on board. The matching tote would be perfect for my toiletry bags and shoes. I was a happy camper.

Of course, right after that was when airlines decided to change up the luggage policies they’d had for years. Two checked bags had been the standard since the beginning of my travels by air. In those days, every one checked two bags and then got on the plane with a rolling carry on. Good old Southwest resisted the change until recently, so my red luggage was fine, for years, with Southwest and the arrangement was good for road trips, but when I flew anyone else rolling tote had to stay home and I’d utilize one of the many rolling carry-ons that somehow landed in our attic.

Old Red made some amazing trips with us for a dozen years as my suitcase. Along the way I discovered it was actually smaller than the maximum size I could check with most airlines, but it was configured in such a way that I still managed to get what I needed in there.

Then in 2019 as we prepared for out Anniversary Cruise, all the hard plastic stuff inside the cloth exterior broke up. That damage and the fact that I needed a little more room to get my vow renewal ceremony gown and all the accoutrements in, suggested it was time to buy me a new bag. So that’s when we bought Purple Pair, the luggage I use now, but the bag we check is so large I can barely maneuver it myself.

However, Bill decided he would continue to use Old Red, even without the protective plastic inside, so she kept traveling with us. Sometimes Bill would use her and sometimes I would take her on a trip with me, when I didn’t need the extra room the purple bags gave me and I didn’t want to handle the Purple Monster.

Seventeen years Old Red went on all our travels with us. I’d only paid about $75 for the pair, so I got some real value out of them. If I ever need a rolling tote, I still have Old Red’s mate – and yes, she’s still great for shoes and toiletries. With all those trips together, I was sad to see Old Red go, but I thought with her lost wheel we’d need to replace her right away. Not Bill, he continued to drag her along, all over WA state.

Once we made it home, we knew we had to get rid of Old Red, but I became very sentimental about her and took the photo above. When we’ve traveled since, I’ve mourned the loss of Old Red. The airlines did replace her for us – a shiny new hard size bag we’ll call Cool Blue – more the size of Old Red than the Purple Monster – but I don’t trust her. There was a period of time where Bill was using hard-sided luggage and the airlines seemed to crack it every trip. Let’s hope they’ve improved hard-sided luggage since those days. Cool Blue went to Arizona and on our latest cruise, performing well both times, but I still miss Big Red.

So, on this trip we said farewell to two old favorites – Park ‘N Fly and Old Red. A new travel era had started! Come back next week and we’ll go to Snoqualmie Falls, one of the best treats of the whole WA state experience.

DESTINATIONS, TRAVEL, Travel Planning, United States

Wild & Wonderful Washington State

Jane Sadek

MAKING MEMORIES: LET’S GO TO WASHINGTON STATE!

I’m taking you along on our 2024 vacation to Washington State, a vacation we’d been looking forward to for many years. Come along and let’s get some planning done.

A 2024 Vacation that started in 2012

Back in 2012 I started planning a trip to the Pacific Northwest, but I quickly decided a couple of weeks wouldn’t allow us to see everything we wanted to see in Oregon, much less also visit Washington State. So we took a great vacation to Oregon, a place we loved and planned to return to Washington State as soon as we could.

As it turned out, we didn’t make it until 2024. Our 30th wedding anniversary was last year and that opened the budget up a little. We are also semi-retired these days, so I proposed visiting Washington State AND staying there for a full two weeks. Bill is an 8-Day guy. We take 8 day cruises and the only way I get by with a 10 day vacation is pointing out we’re traveling to and from our destination on two of those day, so they don’t count. I had no idea how I would cram enough of WA state into 8 days to make it worth the flight.

The 8-Day man relented and the planning began. At the top of the list, Snoqualmie Falls! That’s the picture above. I’d seen images of it when I first started researching the Pacific Northwest and knew I didn’t want to leave WA without a peek at it. Then Butchart Gardens. It had been one of my mom’s favorite places and she urged me often to make the trip. I love all things Chihuly so I wanted to see as much of his work as I could and since he’s a Washingtonian, there was plenty to see. I thought Bill would enjoy the Museum of Flight and there’s a lot in Seattle. And somehow, I was determined to also see the Olympic National Park and its rainforest. If I’d had a few more days, I would have visited the San Juan Islands, too, but I knew I already had more stuff to see than my 14 days would allow.

Planning in Earnest

For flights I used the Incognito Google Travel trick and ended up on Delta. I can never think of the airline without remembering someone’s quip about it, Don’t-Even-Leave-The-Airport. Or perhaps I remembered it, because several in-flight incidents with Delta had been on the news, but it was a deal compared to the rest of the flights I could find, so I planned to leave the airport with them.

My friend Expedia helped me with accommodations in Snoqualmie, Tacoma and Olympia, but for the rainforest I booked a National Park Service lodge. Then I found the big saver, Black Ball Ferry Lines. In researching the ferry to get us to Victoria BC and Butchart Gardens, I discovered you could also book your hotels through them and the savings were BIG at great hotels. Heck, I even booked my Butchart Garden tickets through them and my hotel in Seattle. The day I made the purchase the price gave me the jitters. I don’t usually make purchases that large, so hitting the Pay Now button was a little scary.

I made another important decision in this process. Parking in Seattle is reputed to be impossible and more than one source told me to take advantage of public transportation. The hotel I chose put us right across the street from the light rail station, so I decided once we arrived in Seattle we’d take the car back to Sea-Tac. All of these decisions turned out to be very good ones.

So, travel purchases made and bags packed, let’s got to WA state next week!

DESTINATIONS, Fashion, Photo Organization, Photo Organization Coach, Photography, Restaurants & Bars, Road Trips, Scrapbooking, Shopping, TRAVEL, Travel Planning, United States

What a Girl Loves!

Jane Sadek

MEMORY MAKING: OUTLET SHOPPING & MARGARITA DRINKING

Woman wearing a crown in a McDonald's
Me wearing the Traveling Tiara

WHY ARE YOU WEARING A CROWN?

So, one of my all-time favorite networking groups is Polka Dot Powerhouse . My particular chapter had a little thing they called the Traveling Tiara and I’d been selected to wear it for the next month. Most of the women get it and they don’t do much with it. Not me! I carried it everywhere I went and posted lots of photos. This first one was at a McDonald’s somewhere between Dallas and San Marcos.

SAN MARCOS OUTLETS

The next stop was the San Marcos Outlet Mall and we got there just as the stores were opening. We were girls on a mission. Deb needed a Brahmin bag. The last time we’d been down this way, back in 2015, I’d convinced Deb she should invest in a Brahmin. It was a little out of her intended price range, but she did it and she loved it. Eight years later, she was still carrying her Brahmin during the fall and winter, but now she needed one for spring and summer.

We parked out front and went in to handle all their stuff. I helped Deborah pick out a beauty from the clearance department and then went to see the billfolds. I didn’t really need one, but it was about the only item in the store I might fit into my budget. Eventually, I became aware of the fact that Deb’s purchase was not going smoothly. In fact, I’d handled all the billfolds several times and Deb was still waiting to check out. There was only one lady in front of her, but the cash register was down.

We waited a little longer, but nothing was happening. Finally, our stomachs let us know it was nearing the lunch hour, but Deb really, really wanted that bag. At least she did for a while and then she decided maybe the hold up was a sign from God. She’d put the bag back on the shelf and if we had time, we’d stop back by on the way home. If we had time and the bag was still there, then she was meant to have the bag.

GRUENE’S GRISTMILL

To begin with, for the uninitiated, “Gruene” is pronounced like the color, green. It’s a lovely little shopping and eating town right next to New Braunfels and the Guadalupe River. The Gristmill is a wonderful riverside restaurant that I try to eat at every time I pass by on nearby I-35. It’s like getting kolaches in West, you just do it.

Is it the best food you can get in Gruene? No, but it’s good enough and while you wait for a table (you ALWAYS have to wait for a table) you sit in their great little beer garden and the margaritas are marvelous. The Gristmill did not disappoint. It was a gorgeous day for the beer garden, so I enjoyed my margarita while we waited for a table.

I can’t remember what we ate, but I bet it included the onion rings. We love them and used to always get them. (Now I’m gluten free, so I wonder what I’ll eat next time! I won’t be having my usual burger either.)

HEADING ON DOWN THE ROAD

Next stop was Shana’s house where we got situated for our stay. Deb took a nap and I marveled at her cat who looked just like our Princess, who we’d lost not all that long before this trip. So, it almost seemed like I was seeing a ghost! FYI – the top one is Princess!

Joyce’s conference was going to begin at 7, so the nap ended and we got back on the road. Doors opened quite a while before we got to the Alamo Dome, so we didn’t exactly have optimal seats, but we enjoyed the opening festivities.

Afterwards, we made our way back to Shana’s, so we could turn around and do it all the next day. I hope you’ll turn around and read my blog post on Wednesday. We’ll be doing some Memory Keeping and on Friday, we’ll Memory Sharing!

DESTINATIONS, Road Trips, TRAVEL, Travel Planning, United States

Any Excuse is Good Enough for San Antonio

Jane Sadek

MEMORY MAKING: SHANA, DEBORAH & JOYCE

How Trips Happen!

So, in 2022 Deborah and I went to see Joyce Meyers in St. Louis, Missouri. It was a crazy road trip via Little Rock, Arkansas, the Clinton Presidential Library and one of the best restaurants we’ve ever been to.

The Love Life Conference was great. A little too much rock music and we skipped out on Joel Olsteen, but Joyce was on point with us and I decided I’d give Deb a repeat for her next birthday. So, I booked the next conference while I was in St. Louis.

A few months later, I passed through New Braunfels for a quick visit to my friend Shana. I mentioned Joyce to her and she was excited by the thought of it. So, we had a plan. Shana, Deborah and I were going to see Joyce in October of 2023 and we’d stay with Shana.

How Things Change!

So, confession! I’m not always the person I wish I could be. I have a tendency to be caught up in the here and now. That means I don’t check in with people as often as they wish I would, sometimes. And that happened. I sent Shana the link to sign up for Joyce and I thought we were set. Several months later, I sent something else, mentioning how excited we were about seeing her later than year, but she wasn’t on board. I’d disappointed her. After a couple of touchy conversations, we established she’d made other plans, but we’d bunk with her in New Braunfels and get in a good visit. I don’t like touchy conversations, but I value my friends above all else and if I need to eat some crow to save a friendship, then I will have sautéed, roasted, fried and baked (or anything else necessary) to do so.

How Things Went!

Well, it was a great trip! Shopping at the San Marcos Outlet Mall, great food, fun times and oh yes! We did also attend Joyce Meyer’s Love Life Conference in the Alamo Dome.

Come along for the next few Mondays and I’ll share that fun with you. And don’t miss Memory Keeping on Wednesday or Memory Sharing on Friday!

Architecture, Attractions, DESTINATIONS, Restaurants & Bars, Road Trips, TRAVEL, Travel Planning, United States

Day Tripping in Detroit

Jane Sadek

TRAVEL THERE: TOURIST TIME FOR BILL & JANE

Finding the Right Mix

Confession, Bill and I are happy when it’s just us two. It’s not that we don’t love our family and friends, nor does it have anything to do with not wanting to spend time with them. We just like to find the right mix of time for us and time with them.

Our weekend in Michigan was going to be full to bursting with family time from a happy hour on Friday evening to a family feast on Monday evening. So, Friday morning we decided to play tourists on our own.

Plans Are Made to be Changed

I cannot count the times I rearranged our itinerary in the months before our trip, but I thought I had a pretty good plan put together a few weeks before our arrival. Then I did some double checking, just in case – and it was a good thing! The hours posted in March for my chosen attractions had changed in May! I had to completely revamp my schedule in the days just before we left.

My plan, when we departed on Thursday, included getting up early and heading off to Greenfield Village at the Henry Ford on Friday morning. Well, after the bumps in the road on our travel day, getting Mr. Bill up early the next morning to go to a historical amusement part, didn’t sound as good as it had back in Dallas.

If I had been traveling with my bestie, we’re both early risers by nature, so it would have just been another day of fun for us. However, getting an exhausted Bill up early and out of our hotel room, to go to an amusement park, wasn’t going to kick off our vacation with the right foot.

Because of the accumulated travel difficulties, we’d missed out on a walking tour of Downtown Detroit I’d planned for Thursday evening. So, I changed my plans again. We’d take our time getting up and checking out of our hotel room and then do our Detroit walking tour, beginning with the People Mover.

Breakfast in Renaissance Center

In 1996 General Motors opened the first phase of Renaissance Center in homage to itself. This was to be, and still is, their world headquarters. It is a beautiful grouping of buildings, but it is also a ghost town. On a Friday morning it should be abustle with the comings and goings of the world, but it seemed virtually empty. It was us, a few maintenance people and a group of rambunctious children meeting for a field trip.

It was a little spooky wandering around in the vast empty lobby of the Renaissance Towers. Just outside the Marriott lobby, a sign promised several dining choices, but we just wanted to grab a quick breakfast, not have dinner at a steak or seafood venue. The People Mover Food Court sounded like what we needed, especially since we were also looking for the People Mover, but getting to it was a new challenge.

With a little direction from the cleaning crew, we took an elevator to a lower level and found the epicenter of the ghost town. The ambitious plans of the designers were evident, as were the resulting disappointment. An attractive seating area for hundreds of patrons with spots for many food vendors filled a large portion of the lower level, but it echoed emptily with a few orders from the field trip participants to the last food vendor standing.

Their menu was a cross between a short order grill and a gyro stand. The menu offered schwerma that didn’t actually exist, so Bill settled on something else from the Mediterranean menu and I got a grilled cheese sandwich. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t all that good either. Time for the People Mover.

The People Mover

I missed the People Mover in my initial Detroit research, but our family mentioned a free monorail in some of our correspondence, so I looked a little further because free city transportation sounded like a great thing. The sign announcing the presence of the People Mover Food Court led me to believe the Food Court and the People Mover would be adjacent to one other, but after breakfast we discovered my assumption was wrong.

The signage in the building is awful and as I mentioned, there were hardly any fellow humans walking around in it. The cleaning people, who had sent us to the Food Court, seemed a little vague about the People Mover’s location, but then we ran into an elevator repairman. He got us going in the right direction, but it was still hard to find. We went through a little trial and error before we actually found it.

Bill was ready to just walk where we wanted to go, because it wasn’t far, but I wanted to include a report on the People Mover here, so I pressed on. We did eventually find it, but the discovery was like happening up on an abandoned amusement park. As we waited, we’d just about given up again, when a security guard arrived and assured us we were in the right place. The monorail would arrive shortly.

To my dismay, I discovered the monorail traveled in only one direction and that direction was in the opposite direction of where I wanted to go. However, the circular route isn’t all that long, so we boarded the car when it came and took in an aerial tour of Downtown Detroit.

It wasn’t long until we’d made it all around and were arriving at our stop. I got my bearings and headed to the Guardian Building. Come back next week, because you’ll want to find out about that Art Deco beauty.

Accommodations, DESTINATIONS, Road Trips, TRAVEL, Travel Planning, United States

The Sandpiper Bay Effect

Jane Sadek

TRAVEL THERE – WHERE IS MY RIDE?

When we stepped off the plane in Palm Beach, we were excited about starting our luxury vacation. Our anticipation was based on our excellent experience at Club Med Punta Cana. We were going to be disappointed!

The Transfer

In Punta Cana, Club Med had provided us with the name of the transportation vendor and other contact information, but we didn’t even need it, because the pick up area was clearly marked and someone was there to greet us.

In Palm Beach, there was nothing. I started going through the paperwork and found a number to call. Suddenly, their absence was my fault. They had texted me and I didn’t reply. There had been no text, but it magically appeared a few moments after I got off the phone with them. I was assured a car was on its way and someone did show up pretty quickly, but that panic after we had picked up our luggage dulled our excitement.

In Punta Cana, the airport is a short drive from the resort and the scenery along the way gets you very excited about where you are headed. The entrance to the property is well-marked and inviting. Getting there was part of the fun.

In Palm Beach, that’s not the case. You are about an hour away from the resort and we had the joy of adding time to that, because we were in rush hour traffic. You’re stuck on a freeway that looks pretty much like any freeway and as you near the property, you start wandering through residential areas. When you finally arrive at the gate, it looks a little bit like the entry to a run down mansion that might be in a horror film.

The Arrival

In Punta Cana, our driver pulled into a drive and right by the van was a man standing at the podium to greet us. Everywhere we looked was lush greenery and attractive buildings. We were ushered from the van to a shaded seating area where we given refreshments.

At Sandpiper Bay, the driver dumped us off on the sidewalk and we made our way into a glassed-in lobby marked as “Registration.” The harried clerk raised a finger at us to let us know we’d need to wait. We stood there and no one offered us any refreshment. In front of the registration office was a rock garden with dead plants in it. Everywhere we looked resembled the dormitories of a second, maybe third rate, college.

After we’d been registered at Punta Cana, one of the GM’s walked with us to our building and let us into our room. She showed us around our accommodations while we waited for our luggage to be delivered. The room, while not luxurious, was very nice and attractive.

After we’d been registered at Sandpiper Bay, the clerk pointed at our building, which was nearby and told us we were on the third floor. The elevator was at the other end of the building from our room. The room, while not exactly awful, resembled my dorm in college with the exception that we did have our own bathroom.

The first thing we said to each other was, “Sandpiper Bay ain’t no Punta Cana,” and that pretty much sums up the entire adventure. On the ride to the resort, I’d used my phone to handle transferring the day’s shoots to our editors. I always feel nervous when I do it that way, certain something is going to go wrong, because it is a very truncated process via phone, but I was ready to start enjoying our vacation.

We’d arrived after happy hour, which was always one of our favorite times on Punta Cana, but I changed into an fresh outfit, touched up my make-up and headed out to have fun. So far, we were less than impressed with Sandpiper Bay, but hopeful things would get better.

Come back next week and join us for dinner. Then you’ll find out if our beach vacation was getting any better.