A week in Florida, and finally getting to do the drive through the Keys from Miami to Key West
Sunday, March 11th, 2012
Smather’s Beach, Key West
It’s starting to seem like visits to the tropics are becoming regular occurrences, and I certainly can’t complain about that! After 3 weeks in Costa Rica over the holidays, we recently returned from a week in South Florida. A cousin got married in Miami, and while normally these wedding jaunts back East are whirlwind travels, this time we decided to take our time and spend 6 nights there; 3 in the Keys, and 3 in Fort Lauderdale. [Note: weddings or other family gatherings are perfect events to turn into mini vacations!]
We flew into Miami on a red eye, picked up our rental car, and headed south to the Florida Keys, destination Key West, southernmost point in the Continental US. This drive through the Keys is one that I’ve been looking forward to for years, so having [...]
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A Reminder About Living Life
Friday, January 13th, 2012
Life is Good in Costa Rica
It’s somewhat sad to say, but I’m officially back at home and back to the grind again after an awesome three weeks in Costa Rica. But as with all trips, there are always lessons learned while traveling that can be remembered after returning to normal life at home.
One of the best things about traveling, aside from the obvious excitement of experiencing new places and cultures, is the simple act of taking a breather from life. It’s always eye opening to be able to simply walk away from the chaos and the routine of life at home, and to get back to simply living, if only even for a few days. To be able to wake up and have nothing more to do for the day than to relax, to eat good food, [...]
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Saying goodbye Koh Phangan and heading west to Krabi and the island of Koh Phi Phi
Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011(This is entry #6 from Thailand Trip (see entries #1, #2, #3, #4, #5))
Krabi Town Night Market
JANUARY – From the Haad Tian resort on the island of Koh Phangan it’s just a 15 or 20 minute drive along the southwest coast to get to the Thongsala pier. After a great five nights on Koh Phangan, we had an early wake up so we could catch our ride down to the pier. Our goal was to head across the mainland to Krabi on the west side of Thailand, from where we would then hopefully travel on to Koh Phi Phi and perhaps Railey, depending how our time in Krabi and Phi Phi went. Knowing that after New Year’s there would probably be a mass exodus off the island, we decided to go ahead and buy our boat/bus tickets all the [...]
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Riding the Amtrak from San Diego to Portland
Wednesday, July 27th, 2011
View from Amtrak south of Santa BarbaraJUNE 24 – I had previously taken the Amtrak from San Diego to New York City, and though it was a long and uncomfortable trip riding in coach, it didn’t change my view on traveling by train. Since then, I have always wanted to make the trip up the West Coast by Amtrak. I would have loved to go all the way to Seattle, but as it happened, we were planning a trip to Portland, Oregon, so only going as far as Portland would have to do. So it was settled, we booked one way coach Amtrak tickets to Portland, and then booked our return flights on Southwest. Incidentally, the total price for train plus one way airfare came to within $5 of what round trip airfare would have cost, so [...]
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Koh Phangan after New Years
Saturday, May 7th, 2011Entry #5 from Thailand Trip (see entries #1, #2, #3, #4 and #6)
Relaxing in Koh Phangan after New Years
After a fun night at the New Year’s Full Moon Party, we finally decided to call it quits around 2AM. We weren’t sure how we were going to get back to the other side of the island, but we had a hunch we may be able to catch a ride with the truck that had dropped us off. From our hotel, they were doing runs to Haad Rin every hour until 1 or 1:30 to drop people off, and we hoped we’d see the truck and be able to catch a lift back to the hotel, and save us the trouble of finding a ride. From Haad Rin back to to the Haad Tian Resort it was a [...]
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New Year’s Eve Full Moon Party, Koh Phangan
Friday, December 24th, 2010As New Year’s 2010 approaches, I’m finally getting around to posting about New Year’s 2009 on Koh Phangan for the Full Moon Party!
Entry #4 from Thailand Trip (see entries #1, #2, #3, #5 and #6)
Ao Chalok Lam bay, Koh Phangan
We finally made it to Koh Phangan after a night of traveling from Bangkok. Then, after wading through the chaos at the ferry port we found our ride and eventually made it to the Haad Tian Beach Resort on the North West part of the island. By songthaew (truck that a bunch of people sit in the back of) it was about about a 25 minute drive, part of which was spent picking up a bunch of other people who were heading the same way, and the last portion of which was quite bumpy coming down a windy [...]
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Vegetarians, personal beliefs, travel, and cultural sensitivity
Friday, September 24th, 2010
Insects at a Thailand Market
As I’ve written recently, I have been dabbling with vegetarian, vegan, and raw diets. I have also been honest in saying that while shifting my diet, I do still eat meat and dairy on occasion. I won’t go into extensive detail about the reasons for this since I’ve explained them in the past, but I will say that it’s still something I still think about often. And after seeing Anthony Bourdain speak last week, I’ve been thinking about diet choices, personal beliefs, and how they relate in the context of travel and culture.
I am a big fan of Anthony Bourdain, and I don’t think it is news to anyone that he is very outspoken in his dislike for vegetarians and vegans. His claim during the presentation (and in interviews I’ve read) is that he [...]
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Las Vegas for a weekend
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010
The pool at Monte Carlo, Las Vegas
I spent the past weekend in Las Vegas with my girlfriend and some of her friends. Aside from the fact that we both got sick during our stay (which sucks because getting sick is something that rarely happens to either of us), we still had a really great weekend. It’s a bit ironic because typically Vegas wears you down quickly, but after this trip I came back relaxed and mildly rejuvenated, except for my lingering sniffles and head congestion.
The drive out from San Diego was quick and easy, we left Saturday morning and had the smoothest ride I’ve ever had heading out that way. There was pretty much no traffic at all. We got in around 3:00PM and checked into our room at the Monte Carlo. The Monte Carlo wouldn’t [...]
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