Although this has nothing to do with San Miguel de Allende, word has it that it is likely that Disney Cruise Line will announce the rest of 2016's schedule tomorrow (Tuesday). We heard last week that it was imminent and Tuesday is the customary day, so maybe!
They open booking for Platinums and Golds on the day following their announcement - like we could figure out our lives over night! (It's been done, though.) First day fares are almost always the most reasonable - before they start going up overnight!
Anyway, we've a cruise scheduled in April '16, so we're not planning another until later in 2017 - which will not be announced until whenever the next announcement is made.
Not sure we'll be on board a ship when the schedule we're hoping for [Fall of 2917] is announced to take advantage of those onboard booking specials, but we can always book the cruise whenever the announcement is made and then re-shop it the next time we are aboard. First day prices and OBB specials, yeah!
But it's still exciting....
Tuesday Morning Update
Well, it's around 6:30 AM our time (which differs than the usual Central time thanks to the US's time keeping) and there's yet to be a big announcement. Probably too early - though perhaps the past is not a good indicator of what to expect re: the balance of 2016?
Later yet -- So there was some news out today, but the actual itineraries will be released tomorrow and Thursday, it seems. Some news was available today if you knew which URL to type in the correct field; links in their website didn't include the news.
We're pretty well set up as it is: the EBTA and Baltic cruises this year (early summer) are booked; as well as a Western Caribbean cruise that includes Falmouth, Jamaica next spring; and, we hope to schedule an East Bound Panama Canal cruise with a park at either end in late summer of 2017 if it's offered. That will bring us to twenty Disney cruises and we may hold it there a while so that we can do some destination intensive traveling. It's hard to do both without a larger bank account than we have in retirement.
Monday, March 23, 2015
Saturday, March 14, 2015
Rain, Rain Go Away...
I know that our family and friends NOB have been suffering through worse weather this winter, but it hasn't been its usual 'warm and sunny' down here.
We have friends in Boston (Hi Wally & Pauli, and Kim), family in Washington, DC, lots of family in the northern peninsula of Michigan (where it always snows - just worse this year) and Kentucky, friends in Texas (snowy, too!), Santa Fe, rainy in the Silicon Valley and the great NorthWest who have been slogging through rain and snow this year.
Still, it's been unseasonably cold and wet here in our part of Mexico. I suppose the worse part is that it affects our homes since almost no one has central heating. Concrete and brick homes adjust to the outside temperature quickly. And once chilled, it takes a few days to warm up - if there aren't more rain and clouds in the meanwhile.
In January of the year we moved to San Miguel in the Spring, there was heavy rain (we were told it was unusual) that flooded homes near the stream that sometimes flows through town. Perhaps it was just because so much junk accumulates while it's dry and when the rains came the junk - and the water behind it - got stuck on the low side of town. I hear it was pretty nasty.
We had a slight repetition the next year when we were in town, though we were happy that we lived atop a hill in our little colonia of San Rafael, and not down by the stream bed.
We're nowhere near a stream now - once they finally fixed the storm drain at the bottom of our block - but there are others that run through town, mostly unnoticeable until the rains arrive.
And the dogs! Neither Miyake nor Fiyero particularly like the bad weather. They used to go outside and stand, ears flapping in the wind when we lived in Reseda. But now if there's wind - much less thunder and lightning - they head for cover. Maybe it's the way the windows and doors shake in the wind, I suspect.
Miyake heads for the master bedroom's bathroom and huddles up in a corner and shakes. Fiyero is a bit better, but during yesterday afternoon's thunder storm he was on the bed with me (I was reading, not sleeping) and got as close to me as possible (tried reading with a dog in your lap?). He did calm down when the storm passed and even Miyake was back to normal by dinner time. Unlike the day before yesterday when she wasn't calmed down enough to eat until nearly 8 pm.
Other than the rain last night - and its recurrence about 4 am this morning (it's just letting up now, around 7:30) - we're thinking that our gardener won't be working today - too wet! Maybe he'll find time for us during the week???
So we feel no less for our friends NOB who have had to put up with the terrific weather this past winter, but are feeling a little sorry for ourselves, too. What happened to 'Warm and Sunny' Mexico?
We have friends in Boston (Hi Wally & Pauli, and Kim), family in Washington, DC, lots of family in the northern peninsula of Michigan (where it always snows - just worse this year) and Kentucky, friends in Texas (snowy, too!), Santa Fe, rainy in the Silicon Valley and the great NorthWest who have been slogging through rain and snow this year.
Still, it's been unseasonably cold and wet here in our part of Mexico. I suppose the worse part is that it affects our homes since almost no one has central heating. Concrete and brick homes adjust to the outside temperature quickly. And once chilled, it takes a few days to warm up - if there aren't more rain and clouds in the meanwhile.
In January of the year we moved to San Miguel in the Spring, there was heavy rain (we were told it was unusual) that flooded homes near the stream that sometimes flows through town. Perhaps it was just because so much junk accumulates while it's dry and when the rains came the junk - and the water behind it - got stuck on the low side of town. I hear it was pretty nasty.
We had a slight repetition the next year when we were in town, though we were happy that we lived atop a hill in our little colonia of San Rafael, and not down by the stream bed.
We're nowhere near a stream now - once they finally fixed the storm drain at the bottom of our block - but there are others that run through town, mostly unnoticeable until the rains arrive.
And the dogs! Neither Miyake nor Fiyero particularly like the bad weather. They used to go outside and stand, ears flapping in the wind when we lived in Reseda. But now if there's wind - much less thunder and lightning - they head for cover. Maybe it's the way the windows and doors shake in the wind, I suspect.
Miyake heads for the master bedroom's bathroom and huddles up in a corner and shakes. Fiyero is a bit better, but during yesterday afternoon's thunder storm he was on the bed with me (I was reading, not sleeping) and got as close to me as possible (tried reading with a dog in your lap?). He did calm down when the storm passed and even Miyake was back to normal by dinner time. Unlike the day before yesterday when she wasn't calmed down enough to eat until nearly 8 pm.
Other than the rain last night - and its recurrence about 4 am this morning (it's just letting up now, around 7:30) - we're thinking that our gardener won't be working today - too wet! Maybe he'll find time for us during the week???
So we feel no less for our friends NOB who have had to put up with the terrific weather this past winter, but are feeling a little sorry for ourselves, too. What happened to 'Warm and Sunny' Mexico?
Monday, March 9, 2015
The Baltics
This little excursion began innocently enough: We'd never been to see the Norwegian fjords. Always wanted to go, but never got around to going. So when Disney scheduled a Norwegian Fjord cruise we signed up for it in May 2015. First Day pricing, yeah!
Then the question arose: How do we get to Denmark (the starting place for the Norwegian cruise). Why spend a bunch of money on plane tickets (flying places is quite handy, but usually annoying: seats are too close together, there a small (noisy) child nearby, they are out of the meal you really wanted, etc). So why not sign up for the East Bound Trans Atlantic cruise? [EBTA] We had a swell time on the West Bound Trans Atlantic [WBTA] a few years ago; why not reverse the direction? And, besides, we'd never been to New York City (except for an ill-fated military flight to Germany when my plane engine caught fire), Newfoundland, Canada, and we sure hadn't been to Iceland before! So it cost a little bit more - it would be worth it and it was 15 days long, many of them our favorite: sea days.
Then we looked at the calendar and wondered what we would do for the week between the EBTA and the Fjords.... Well, Disney had that figured out for us, too: why not sign up for the Northern European Capitals cruise during the intervening week? Why not, indeed!?! Copenhagen was reputed to be a lovely - though expensive - city; why not cruise to Tallin, Estonia; St. Petersburg, Russia; Helsinki, Finland; and Stockholm, Sweden plus a couple of sea days while waiting for the Norway cruise? We'd never been to these places and hadn't even heard of Tallin!
So that's how our extravaganza happened: EBTA/Northern Capitals/Norwegian Fjords. Twenty-nine days aboard the same ship! And our travel agent, Kim, managed to get us in the same cabin on all three cruises! Disney is pretty good about moving your stuff to different cabins for you, but you'd need to pack it up. This way we don't even need to do that! Our first B2B2B cruise was settled. [Back-to-back-to-back]
However, could we fly to Florida for embarkation without a stop at Walt Disney World? No!!! We always spend some time at WDW whenever we cruise from Port Canaveral. And we weren't returning to Orlando, so we booked a room at the Boardwalk Resort for five nights (arrival/four parks/departure). We even know which park we will visit each day and where we're eating lunch and dinner each day (ressies made). And EPCOT - our favorite park - is a short walk from the resort so we can always end the day watching IllumiNations!
Our friends, Sarah and Mum, heard of our planned travels and invited us to join them at Victoria's and Albert's at the Grand Floridian. How could we say 'No'? So we didn't! We've always wanted to dine there but getting a ressie is a chore. Luckily Sarah took care of that item. And there will be other friends (our travel agent Kim & her husband) at EPCOT the day we arrive, so we've made plans to 'run into each other' that day. It seems to be all planned out.
Then we easily booked flights from Mexico City to Orlando. Going in the other direction (east to west) was a bit more difficult. We finally settled on Iceland Air (it's supposed to be wonderful if you're on an actual Iceland Air plane; not so much if your flight is palmed off on a contract airline...we'll pray for an Iceland Air flight - it's a 7-1/2 hour flight across the Atlantic). We had friends from NYC (hi, Ben & Rick) who recently flew to Iceland and I think they must have been on the contract airline...it sounded dreadful.
But we finally settled on Iceland Air from Copenhagen to Chicago (O'Hare airport) via Iceland and Toronto. Then a stay over near O'Hare and continuing on the next day on Volaris Airlines (from Midway Airport, across town) to Mexico. This flight would deposit us at the Leon Airport, much closer to San Miguel de Allende. It's still an hour's ride from BJX to SMA, but better than three-and-a-half hours from MEX to SMA.
So everything is set! We studied the port excursions that Disney was offering, and signed up for a few additional independent tours [Segways forever!] - keeping in mind to avoid really steep climbing and using alternate forms of transportation (buses, boats, Segways, walking tours, et cetera). When the appropriate date arrived [we are Platinum on DCL, so everything was open] we booked our Disney port excursions and Palo dining reservations aboard ship. We had also booked our wine packages aboard the ship. What to do next?
We then turned our attention to packing. How do we pack for a total of 39 days in a variety of weathers? And what about formal nights, semi-formal nights, dining at Palo brunches and evenings? Plus warm Florida weather, North Atlantic weather, Baltic weather. Especially since we had jettisoned our cold weather duds when we moved to Mexico five years ago?
Solution: two big suitcases (yes, we had to pay for the extra one on some of the airlines; other lines expected us to bring two suitcases) and a spate of shopping at Orvis - bless them! I love their clothes, but they are a wee bit expensive, so we had to be careful on what we spent our money. We even got some new tux shirts! Now we're set, eh?
Then the phone rang - it was Iceland Air calling. It seems that the 3-leg flight from Copenhagen to Chicago via Reykjavik and Toronto had a little problem. Two legs [CPH/KEF (Reykjavik) and KEF/YYZ (Toronto)] were fine, but the third flight on Air Canada's schedule had been advanced and there was no way we would make the connection.
But the friendly Iceland Air agent had a plan: they would book us on the first Air Canada flight out of Toronto the next morning. Well, it was better than nothing, so we agreed. We then hurriedly booked a hotel in Toronto and cancelled our hotel in Chicago. The only hitch is that the first Air Canada flight the next morning is sub-contracted to United Airlines and there's a hitch in the get-a-long when changing flights like this - the receiving airline has 48 hours in which to accept us or decline to accept us. And the 48 hours is now well past and we haven't been advised of their decision. I did check the UA site and there are a lot of seats available, so there shouldn't be a problem (unless they decide to cancel the flight), but it would be nice to have our seats reserved. Guess I contact Iceland Air tomorrow....
Michael and I both like our space, so our usual approach is to book seats C/D in the same row, so we each have an aisle seat but can chat with each other easily across the aisle. I'm hoping that the seats assigned (!) follow this pattern, but if they don't, we still have time to change them -- assuming we can find out what they are and sign into the United reservation. Air Canada's website only shows that the flights in our itinerary needed to be changed to accommodate the new schedule, but I can't sign-in to the United website to verify the seats (and change them if needed). Now, it's a short flight (about 1-1/2 hours) so if they stick us next to each other that would be doable, but it's at the end of the trip and we'll probably be cranky by then!
Once this is settled, we have only to finalize our packing list (your should see the guest bedroom's bed), actually pack, and reserve the airport shuttle transportation between SMA/MEX and BJX/SMA Michael found a great hotel within the Mexico City airport terminal from which we are flying and reserved our room before the first flight, so we're set there. Since we don't leave home until May 9th, we still have time to work this out. The last time we went to Mexico City to fly out, we booked a combination (shuttle to the Queretero bus station and then a bus directly to the airport terminal) and since there was another couple on the shuttle who had paid for door-to-door service, we got to ride along! We'll probably try this again for this trip. If worse comes to worse, we'll get what we paid for. Otherwise, yippee!!!
We have suffered set-backs in other trips we've taken: I remember our flight to Barcelona for the WBTA. Although our flight arrived on time at Heathrow, we had to change terminals - and they weren't connected - and by the time we got through the new security, we'd missed our flight into BCN. Luckily there was one more flight that night which they put us on ('us' is a collective noun, as there were several of us in this predicament). And although we made it on the flight, it was also the last flight into the BCN airport. If we hadn't caught the last shuttle into town, we would have been stuck at the closed airport. As it was, there we were in downtown Barcelona, stumbling around dragging our luggage behind us, looking for our hotel. We finally found a tourist info kiosk which told us we were only three blocks from the hotel and pointed us in the right direction.
We really don't want to do that again!!!
Then the question arose: How do we get to Denmark (the starting place for the Norwegian cruise). Why spend a bunch of money on plane tickets (flying places is quite handy, but usually annoying: seats are too close together, there a small (noisy) child nearby, they are out of the meal you really wanted, etc). So why not sign up for the East Bound Trans Atlantic cruise? [EBTA] We had a swell time on the West Bound Trans Atlantic [WBTA] a few years ago; why not reverse the direction? And, besides, we'd never been to New York City (except for an ill-fated military flight to Germany when my plane engine caught fire), Newfoundland, Canada, and we sure hadn't been to Iceland before! So it cost a little bit more - it would be worth it and it was 15 days long, many of them our favorite: sea days.
Then we looked at the calendar and wondered what we would do for the week between the EBTA and the Fjords.... Well, Disney had that figured out for us, too: why not sign up for the Northern European Capitals cruise during the intervening week? Why not, indeed!?! Copenhagen was reputed to be a lovely - though expensive - city; why not cruise to Tallin, Estonia; St. Petersburg, Russia; Helsinki, Finland; and Stockholm, Sweden plus a couple of sea days while waiting for the Norway cruise? We'd never been to these places and hadn't even heard of Tallin!
So that's how our extravaganza happened: EBTA/Northern Capitals/Norwegian Fjords. Twenty-nine days aboard the same ship! And our travel agent, Kim, managed to get us in the same cabin on all three cruises! Disney is pretty good about moving your stuff to different cabins for you, but you'd need to pack it up. This way we don't even need to do that! Our first B2B2B cruise was settled. [Back-to-back-to-back]
However, could we fly to Florida for embarkation without a stop at Walt Disney World? No!!! We always spend some time at WDW whenever we cruise from Port Canaveral. And we weren't returning to Orlando, so we booked a room at the Boardwalk Resort for five nights (arrival/four parks/departure). We even know which park we will visit each day and where we're eating lunch and dinner each day (ressies made). And EPCOT - our favorite park - is a short walk from the resort so we can always end the day watching IllumiNations!
Our friends, Sarah and Mum, heard of our planned travels and invited us to join them at Victoria's and Albert's at the Grand Floridian. How could we say 'No'? So we didn't! We've always wanted to dine there but getting a ressie is a chore. Luckily Sarah took care of that item. And there will be other friends (our travel agent Kim & her husband) at EPCOT the day we arrive, so we've made plans to 'run into each other' that day. It seems to be all planned out.
Then we easily booked flights from Mexico City to Orlando. Going in the other direction (east to west) was a bit more difficult. We finally settled on Iceland Air (it's supposed to be wonderful if you're on an actual Iceland Air plane; not so much if your flight is palmed off on a contract airline...we'll pray for an Iceland Air flight - it's a 7-1/2 hour flight across the Atlantic). We had friends from NYC (hi, Ben & Rick) who recently flew to Iceland and I think they must have been on the contract airline...it sounded dreadful.
But we finally settled on Iceland Air from Copenhagen to Chicago (O'Hare airport) via Iceland and Toronto. Then a stay over near O'Hare and continuing on the next day on Volaris Airlines (from Midway Airport, across town) to Mexico. This flight would deposit us at the Leon Airport, much closer to San Miguel de Allende. It's still an hour's ride from BJX to SMA, but better than three-and-a-half hours from MEX to SMA.
So everything is set! We studied the port excursions that Disney was offering, and signed up for a few additional independent tours [Segways forever!] - keeping in mind to avoid really steep climbing and using alternate forms of transportation (buses, boats, Segways, walking tours, et cetera). When the appropriate date arrived [we are Platinum on DCL, so everything was open] we booked our Disney port excursions and Palo dining reservations aboard ship. We had also booked our wine packages aboard the ship. What to do next?
We then turned our attention to packing. How do we pack for a total of 39 days in a variety of weathers? And what about formal nights, semi-formal nights, dining at Palo brunches and evenings? Plus warm Florida weather, North Atlantic weather, Baltic weather. Especially since we had jettisoned our cold weather duds when we moved to Mexico five years ago?
Solution: two big suitcases (yes, we had to pay for the extra one on some of the airlines; other lines expected us to bring two suitcases) and a spate of shopping at Orvis - bless them! I love their clothes, but they are a wee bit expensive, so we had to be careful on what we spent our money. We even got some new tux shirts! Now we're set, eh?
Then the phone rang - it was Iceland Air calling. It seems that the 3-leg flight from Copenhagen to Chicago via Reykjavik and Toronto had a little problem. Two legs [CPH/KEF (Reykjavik) and KEF/YYZ (Toronto)] were fine, but the third flight on Air Canada's schedule had been advanced and there was no way we would make the connection.
But the friendly Iceland Air agent had a plan: they would book us on the first Air Canada flight out of Toronto the next morning. Well, it was better than nothing, so we agreed. We then hurriedly booked a hotel in Toronto and cancelled our hotel in Chicago. The only hitch is that the first Air Canada flight the next morning is sub-contracted to United Airlines and there's a hitch in the get-a-long when changing flights like this - the receiving airline has 48 hours in which to accept us or decline to accept us. And the 48 hours is now well past and we haven't been advised of their decision. I did check the UA site and there are a lot of seats available, so there shouldn't be a problem (unless they decide to cancel the flight), but it would be nice to have our seats reserved. Guess I contact Iceland Air tomorrow....
Michael and I both like our space, so our usual approach is to book seats C/D in the same row, so we each have an aisle seat but can chat with each other easily across the aisle. I'm hoping that the seats assigned (!) follow this pattern, but if they don't, we still have time to change them -- assuming we can find out what they are and sign into the United reservation. Air Canada's website only shows that the flights in our itinerary needed to be changed to accommodate the new schedule, but I can't sign-in to the United website to verify the seats (and change them if needed). Now, it's a short flight (about 1-1/2 hours) so if they stick us next to each other that would be doable, but it's at the end of the trip and we'll probably be cranky by then!
Once this is settled, we have only to finalize our packing list (your should see the guest bedroom's bed), actually pack, and reserve the airport shuttle transportation between SMA/MEX and BJX/SMA Michael found a great hotel within the Mexico City airport terminal from which we are flying and reserved our room before the first flight, so we're set there. Since we don't leave home until May 9th, we still have time to work this out. The last time we went to Mexico City to fly out, we booked a combination (shuttle to the Queretero bus station and then a bus directly to the airport terminal) and since there was another couple on the shuttle who had paid for door-to-door service, we got to ride along! We'll probably try this again for this trip. If worse comes to worse, we'll get what we paid for. Otherwise, yippee!!!
We have suffered set-backs in other trips we've taken: I remember our flight to Barcelona for the WBTA. Although our flight arrived on time at Heathrow, we had to change terminals - and they weren't connected - and by the time we got through the new security, we'd missed our flight into BCN. Luckily there was one more flight that night which they put us on ('us' is a collective noun, as there were several of us in this predicament). And although we made it on the flight, it was also the last flight into the BCN airport. If we hadn't caught the last shuttle into town, we would have been stuck at the closed airport. As it was, there we were in downtown Barcelona, stumbling around dragging our luggage behind us, looking for our hotel. We finally found a tourist info kiosk which told us we were only three blocks from the hotel and pointed us in the right direction.
We really don't want to do that again!!!
Thursday, February 19, 2015
New Water Meters
Yes, it's true -- our street now has new water meters! For the last 3 years we've lived with a buried meter. It was the old-fashioned kind with dials, not digits, so readings were approximated. It was also buried and we often though that the meter reader didn't bother to uncover it - just repeated the last month's reading.
Our meter was situated below the level of the sidewalk at the point where our sidewalk met our neighbor's sidewalk - a difference of a few inches as the street went uphill. The gap between these two sections of sidewalk was filled with dirt and the occasional plant life. As we didn't know how deep it was buried, we didn't even try to read it ourselves.
All this changed earlier this week when work crews swarmed the street, dug trenches, replaced the old meters with digital ones, and the holes were filled in, cemented, and a hinged lid was placed above the meter.
We still need to dig the dirt out of the finger-hole to lift the flexible lid, but I'm anxious to see what the meter looks like. Some houses had the meter installed in their outer walls, so we have a good idea of the style, but actually seeing it is best, don't you think?
I've heard others who had their meters replaced earlier in the year complaining that their readings were higher, but guessing at the reading does eventually catch up!
Our meter was situated below the level of the sidewalk at the point where our sidewalk met our neighbor's sidewalk - a difference of a few inches as the street went uphill. The gap between these two sections of sidewalk was filled with dirt and the occasional plant life. As we didn't know how deep it was buried, we didn't even try to read it ourselves.
All this changed earlier this week when work crews swarmed the street, dug trenches, replaced the old meters with digital ones, and the holes were filled in, cemented, and a hinged lid was placed above the meter.
We still need to dig the dirt out of the finger-hole to lift the flexible lid, but I'm anxious to see what the meter looks like. Some houses had the meter installed in their outer walls, so we have a good idea of the style, but actually seeing it is best, don't you think?
I've heard others who had their meters replaced earlier in the year complaining that their readings were higher, but guessing at the reading does eventually catch up!
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Vacations
Yes, vacations are still a part of our life! While we don't need vacations from retirement, traveling is still one of our favorite activities. So perhaps 'vacations' isn't the correct term, but we take them anyway!
We've just returned home from a combo 'vacation': three weeks on the beach in Cabo San Lucas with a direct flight to New Orleans for the beginning of Mardi Gras (actually pre-Mardi Gras, I guess it would be).
The weeks in Cabo were heavenly. Nothing much to do except laze on the beach, turn up for a chance to win an activity at the weekly timeshare owner/guest meeting, eat and drink - be it on the beach, in the restaurant, one of the pool swim-up bars, or in the penthouse. A rough life, to be sure!
My brother and his wife had invited us down to be guests in their little 3,000 square foot, beach front penthouse [how could we turn that down?] as they do each year. This year we were joined by my sister and her husband for one week and we had the penthouse to ourselves for most of the last week while my brother and SIL traveled back to the Midwest for an appointment. We left the day of their return (they have something like 9 or 10 weeks at the resort). Other guests were arriving later.
We 'earned' our keep by making meals that fit into my sister-in-law's dietary requirements (on most nights). This involved walking to and from the Super WalMart store for groceries most days - a healthy two-mile round trip. It was fun trying out new recipes and most were successful!
So we flew directly to New Orleans for a few days of more eating/drinking/parading in the early days of pre-Mardi Gras with a friend who was celebrating both her birthday and her official designation of cancer-free! Two wonderful reasons to celebrate!
This was our first visit to New Orleans, so it was a whirlwind tour of meals, bars, shops, and parades.
We got off to a late start flying out of Cabo when our plane was delayed because of deicing required in Chicago. That made us miss our connecting flight in Dallas-Fort Worth, so we arrived too late for dinner out. We did enjoyed the improved new terminal at the San Juan del Cabo airport - a vast improvement over the old one - even if it was still recovering from Hurricane Odile!
Once we made it to the hotel in the French Quarter, we crashed. It had been a really long day and the layovers/delays at SJD and DFW were exhausting, even without the flights.
After our included breakfast Friday morning, we met up with our friend and her sister and toddled off to the Cafe du Monde for beignets and cafe au lait with chicory. Of course we were sightseeing along the way, so it was a circuitous route, but we eventually found our way to the Cafe, found a table fairly easily (the place is huge and is full especially in the morning hours), and enjoyed our beignets. Never saw so much powdered sugar in my life! Lots of browsing afterwards in the shops nearby and along our return route to the hotel.
The days in New Orleans were a panoply of walking around town (many bus lines had been closed because of the various parades, the trolley line's southern route was out of commission, streets we wanted to cross were blocked by barricades for the parades), drinks (the hotel had two bars: Patrick's wine bar and the 21st Amendment and there were plenty of others on offer), and meals (Commander's Palace, Willie Mae's Scotch House, Cane Vino, and The Two Sisters come to mind). And - oh, yes - the shopping! More shops than you could shake a stick at and I think we stopped at most of them! We even found our way to a shop owned by friends of my sister w-a-a-y down on Magazine Street! [Magazine Street is alternately residential and business and the buses weren't running for most of that distance.]
Our return flight to Mexico was actually simpler than in the other direction because we didn't have to deal with late flights and customs/immigration during a short layover - it was at the end of the trip, so even getting a red light at customs wasn't a big deal! [And they got us sorted out at the New Orleans airport; their system didn't allow Michael to check-in on line.]
We know know why we don't usually fly American Airlines -- they fly MD80s which have very limited overhead space for all the carry-ons that flyers nowadays bring and they cram as many people onto the plane as possible. While our plane from DFW to BJX was brand new and gorgeous (a smart-phone type screen installed on the back of the seat in front of you that offered many options), it was still an uncomfortable flight - luckily a shorter one. Guess that's one way to up-sell people to more spacious seating or business/first class! I know if we fly them again, I'll certainly pick a premium seat or upgrade during check-in!
But we made it home safely and were delivered to our doorstep about midnight. Yesterday was laundry, pick-up packages at our service, et cetera. Today is back to normal. It's just like we never left....
We've just returned home from a combo 'vacation': three weeks on the beach in Cabo San Lucas with a direct flight to New Orleans for the beginning of Mardi Gras (actually pre-Mardi Gras, I guess it would be).
The weeks in Cabo were heavenly. Nothing much to do except laze on the beach, turn up for a chance to win an activity at the weekly timeshare owner/guest meeting, eat and drink - be it on the beach, in the restaurant, one of the pool swim-up bars, or in the penthouse. A rough life, to be sure!
My brother and his wife had invited us down to be guests in their little 3,000 square foot, beach front penthouse [how could we turn that down?] as they do each year. This year we were joined by my sister and her husband for one week and we had the penthouse to ourselves for most of the last week while my brother and SIL traveled back to the Midwest for an appointment. We left the day of their return (they have something like 9 or 10 weeks at the resort). Other guests were arriving later.
We 'earned' our keep by making meals that fit into my sister-in-law's dietary requirements (on most nights). This involved walking to and from the Super WalMart store for groceries most days - a healthy two-mile round trip. It was fun trying out new recipes and most were successful!
So we flew directly to New Orleans for a few days of more eating/drinking/parading in the early days of pre-Mardi Gras with a friend who was celebrating both her birthday and her official designation of cancer-free! Two wonderful reasons to celebrate!
This was our first visit to New Orleans, so it was a whirlwind tour of meals, bars, shops, and parades.
We got off to a late start flying out of Cabo when our plane was delayed because of deicing required in Chicago. That made us miss our connecting flight in Dallas-Fort Worth, so we arrived too late for dinner out. We did enjoyed the improved new terminal at the San Juan del Cabo airport - a vast improvement over the old one - even if it was still recovering from Hurricane Odile!
Once we made it to the hotel in the French Quarter, we crashed. It had been a really long day and the layovers/delays at SJD and DFW were exhausting, even without the flights.
After our included breakfast Friday morning, we met up with our friend and her sister and toddled off to the Cafe du Monde for beignets and cafe au lait with chicory. Of course we were sightseeing along the way, so it was a circuitous route, but we eventually found our way to the Cafe, found a table fairly easily (the place is huge and is full especially in the morning hours), and enjoyed our beignets. Never saw so much powdered sugar in my life! Lots of browsing afterwards in the shops nearby and along our return route to the hotel.
The days in New Orleans were a panoply of walking around town (many bus lines had been closed because of the various parades, the trolley line's southern route was out of commission, streets we wanted to cross were blocked by barricades for the parades), drinks (the hotel had two bars: Patrick's wine bar and the 21st Amendment and there were plenty of others on offer), and meals (Commander's Palace, Willie Mae's Scotch House, Cane Vino, and The Two Sisters come to mind). And - oh, yes - the shopping! More shops than you could shake a stick at and I think we stopped at most of them! We even found our way to a shop owned by friends of my sister w-a-a-y down on Magazine Street! [Magazine Street is alternately residential and business and the buses weren't running for most of that distance.]
Our return flight to Mexico was actually simpler than in the other direction because we didn't have to deal with late flights and customs/immigration during a short layover - it was at the end of the trip, so even getting a red light at customs wasn't a big deal! [And they got us sorted out at the New Orleans airport; their system didn't allow Michael to check-in on line.]
We know know why we don't usually fly American Airlines -- they fly MD80s which have very limited overhead space for all the carry-ons that flyers nowadays bring and they cram as many people onto the plane as possible. While our plane from DFW to BJX was brand new and gorgeous (a smart-phone type screen installed on the back of the seat in front of you that offered many options), it was still an uncomfortable flight - luckily a shorter one. Guess that's one way to up-sell people to more spacious seating or business/first class! I know if we fly them again, I'll certainly pick a premium seat or upgrade during check-in!
But we made it home safely and were delivered to our doorstep about midnight. Yesterday was laundry, pick-up packages at our service, et cetera. Today is back to normal. It's just like we never left....
Sunday, December 28, 2014
Year's End
As we approach the year's end, perhaps we can look forward to the next year instead of reflecting on the past.
2014 highlights did include a Panama Canal cruise followed by some time at Disneyland in May, An Eastern Caribbean cruise followed by a week at Walt Disney World in August, A quick Western Caribbean cruise in November and then a trip to Anaheim for friends' Disney Wedding later in November.
Our Eastern Caribbean cruise also included a trek to the Mexican Consulate in Orlando to apply for our Residente Permanente visa as we were out of Mexico on the magic date for the changeover here in San Miguel. (A past blog entry dealt with that in detail.) We now will not need to visit the INM offices on a yearly basis (until the government discovers that they don't have the same revenue flow and does something about it).
2014 was also the year that we said goodbye (temporarily, we hope) to our good friend Victor as he moved to Puerto Vallarta. He had proved so helpful in dealing with landlords, the Mexican DMV, and on many other occasions besides being great fun! Michael helped Victor move house, transform a former private hospital into a B and B, and Victor graciously house sat and looked after our Wheatens while we gallivanted off on our travels. Now the poor dogs are thrust back at our earlier solution: Wendy's Pet B'n'B out in the campo. Not quite the same as staying 'at home' for them, but they like it there, too! Lots of room to run and a comfy house in which to spend the nights. We'll have to renegotiate our lease this coming Spring at our current house with our landlords (who speak only Spanish) without his good services. Wish us luck!
And without Victor and his visiting family to amuse, we had to branch out for the recent Christmas holidays and found that we could manage a new group of acquaintances. That's a good thing, too!
Looking forward to 2015, as promised, we have three weeks in Cabo this year. We'd decided to make it two weeks until the family asked us to extend an additional week. Happy to oblige. We now need to whittle down the forty-two dinner recipes to a more manageable list.
And instead of flying home from Cabo for a week before heading out to New Orleans, we'll be flying direct! Time to seriously work on the packing list (already done!). We've never been to New Orleans, but a great friend - who goes yearly - asked that we put it on our schedule this next year to celebrate her fifth year of cancer remission. Everyone to whom we speak tells us how much we'll like it - so I guess we've just been missing out on a good thing! I understand that there are a group of neon colored wigs for us all to wear while viewing the parades....
Then it's home for a bit before we head out to another bucket list contender - a set of three Baltic cruises that begin in Orlando (after a week at Walt Disney World again; we've always managed to combine cruising with the Parks) for a 15-day transAtlantic, followed by a week of cruising to the northern European capitals along the Baltic Sea, and then a week doing the Norwegian fjords. We'd been thinking of trying an eastbound transatlantic (we'd flown to Spain the last time and cruised westbound) and a 15-day cruise with only three port stops (New York City, Newfoundland, and Iceland) tempted us with all those sea days. Then there was the week doing the fjords and we just filled in the week between those two cruises with the northern capitals cruise. That's going to do us for cruising in 2015!
Our TA (travel agent) managed to find a cabin for us that was available for all three cruises so there won't be any packing/unpacking until we finish the cruises at the end of the month. Then we have the excitement of flying home from Copenhagen with a very brief stopover in Chicago. Hope O'Hare is in better shape than the last time I had to sleep on the floor of the terminal when our flight was delayed....
Then no more travel until 2016. It may get a little boring, but we'll need to save up our pennies for further adventures!
2014 highlights did include a Panama Canal cruise followed by some time at Disneyland in May, An Eastern Caribbean cruise followed by a week at Walt Disney World in August, A quick Western Caribbean cruise in November and then a trip to Anaheim for friends' Disney Wedding later in November.
Our Eastern Caribbean cruise also included a trek to the Mexican Consulate in Orlando to apply for our Residente Permanente visa as we were out of Mexico on the magic date for the changeover here in San Miguel. (A past blog entry dealt with that in detail.) We now will not need to visit the INM offices on a yearly basis (until the government discovers that they don't have the same revenue flow and does something about it).
2014 was also the year that we said goodbye (temporarily, we hope) to our good friend Victor as he moved to Puerto Vallarta. He had proved so helpful in dealing with landlords, the Mexican DMV, and on many other occasions besides being great fun! Michael helped Victor move house, transform a former private hospital into a B and B, and Victor graciously house sat and looked after our Wheatens while we gallivanted off on our travels. Now the poor dogs are thrust back at our earlier solution: Wendy's Pet B'n'B out in the campo. Not quite the same as staying 'at home' for them, but they like it there, too! Lots of room to run and a comfy house in which to spend the nights. We'll have to renegotiate our lease this coming Spring at our current house with our landlords (who speak only Spanish) without his good services. Wish us luck!
And without Victor and his visiting family to amuse, we had to branch out for the recent Christmas holidays and found that we could manage a new group of acquaintances. That's a good thing, too!
Looking forward to 2015, as promised, we have three weeks in Cabo this year. We'd decided to make it two weeks until the family asked us to extend an additional week. Happy to oblige. We now need to whittle down the forty-two dinner recipes to a more manageable list.
And instead of flying home from Cabo for a week before heading out to New Orleans, we'll be flying direct! Time to seriously work on the packing list (already done!). We've never been to New Orleans, but a great friend - who goes yearly - asked that we put it on our schedule this next year to celebrate her fifth year of cancer remission. Everyone to whom we speak tells us how much we'll like it - so I guess we've just been missing out on a good thing! I understand that there are a group of neon colored wigs for us all to wear while viewing the parades....
Then it's home for a bit before we head out to another bucket list contender - a set of three Baltic cruises that begin in Orlando (after a week at Walt Disney World again; we've always managed to combine cruising with the Parks) for a 15-day transAtlantic, followed by a week of cruising to the northern European capitals along the Baltic Sea, and then a week doing the Norwegian fjords. We'd been thinking of trying an eastbound transatlantic (we'd flown to Spain the last time and cruised westbound) and a 15-day cruise with only three port stops (New York City, Newfoundland, and Iceland) tempted us with all those sea days. Then there was the week doing the fjords and we just filled in the week between those two cruises with the northern capitals cruise. That's going to do us for cruising in 2015!
Our TA (travel agent) managed to find a cabin for us that was available for all three cruises so there won't be any packing/unpacking until we finish the cruises at the end of the month. Then we have the excitement of flying home from Copenhagen with a very brief stopover in Chicago. Hope O'Hare is in better shape than the last time I had to sleep on the floor of the terminal when our flight was delayed....
Then no more travel until 2016. It may get a little boring, but we'll need to save up our pennies for further adventures!
Friday, December 12, 2014
...Or Not!
Between the last post and this one the weather did improve a bit - and we've been in Southern California for a wedding at Disneyland (do I hear an echo of a horse-drawn Cinderella-style carriage?).
However, it's been grim since we returned a couple of days ago. (More on that trip later.) The nature of our homes here (concrete and brick with no central heat) depends largely upon sunlight to warm them. If the sun is out (i.e., it's warm-to-hot), the exterior of the house heats up and radiates warmth into the house through the night.
When the sun doesn't shine (cloudy skies, rain, et cetera) there's nothing to warm the walls and there is no heat to radiate inside the house during the evening/night hours. A few days of this and our houses are cold through and through.
Don't suggest adding central heat. We rent - and even if we didn't - few houses are configured to add heat. There's no room for duct work, for one thing. Nor room for furnaces unless you've a newer house that was designed for a heat plant.
Our home has a small balcony on the second floor where the water heater is housed and I suppose it could suffice (the water heater requires gas), but the heated air would have to be fed into the sala on the second floor and you could hope that it would make it's way down to the ground floor. Adding duct work to the ground floor would make the house look like something out of a sci-fi picture!
So we make do with free-standing LP heaters. Venting? I think not! We just have to be careful and turn them off before retiring for the night so we'll wake up in the morning. Or else leave a window open, but that sort of eliminates the use of a heater, eh?
But we're home from Disneyland (where the wedding took place), the dogs are healthy and happy to see us (and we're cooking a special stew of barley, carrots, sweet potatoes, and chicken in broth to augment their kibble), and we don't leave town until mid-January! So what if it's a bit chilly? That's why we have a growing closet of warmer clothes! Wish I could type while wearing gloves....
However, it's been grim since we returned a couple of days ago. (More on that trip later.) The nature of our homes here (concrete and brick with no central heat) depends largely upon sunlight to warm them. If the sun is out (i.e., it's warm-to-hot), the exterior of the house heats up and radiates warmth into the house through the night.
When the sun doesn't shine (cloudy skies, rain, et cetera) there's nothing to warm the walls and there is no heat to radiate inside the house during the evening/night hours. A few days of this and our houses are cold through and through.
Don't suggest adding central heat. We rent - and even if we didn't - few houses are configured to add heat. There's no room for duct work, for one thing. Nor room for furnaces unless you've a newer house that was designed for a heat plant.
Our home has a small balcony on the second floor where the water heater is housed and I suppose it could suffice (the water heater requires gas), but the heated air would have to be fed into the sala on the second floor and you could hope that it would make it's way down to the ground floor. Adding duct work to the ground floor would make the house look like something out of a sci-fi picture!
So we make do with free-standing LP heaters. Venting? I think not! We just have to be careful and turn them off before retiring for the night so we'll wake up in the morning. Or else leave a window open, but that sort of eliminates the use of a heater, eh?
But we're home from Disneyland (where the wedding took place), the dogs are healthy and happy to see us (and we're cooking a special stew of barley, carrots, sweet potatoes, and chicken in broth to augment their kibble), and we don't leave town until mid-January! So what if it's a bit chilly? That's why we have a growing closet of warmer clothes! Wish I could type while wearing gloves....
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