Traveling With Elliot

Tulum, Mexico - September 2011

2011-09-14T21:53:00.006-04:00

We have been very fortunate in our travels. In almost 250K miles of flying we have never had a flight cancelled or rescheduled due to weather and with the exception of some minor delays, most of our trips have been problem free. This time was different...

Hurricane Irene was headed for NYC at exactly the same time as our flight. No problem! We had plenty of notice so we mapped out the alternate flights and waited for the airline to allow us to change our heavily restricted tickets without penalty. Hurricane Irene planned to hit NYC on Sunday so we figured that an early Saturday morning flight would provide a significant buffer.

What we couldn't foresee is that all public transportation in NYC and NJ would be suspended on Saturday around noon and airlines decided to cancel most of their Saturday schedule, including our flight. We learned of this late on Friday night when it was already too late to get on an alternate flight. We tried calling the airline but we couldn't get through, so Keith headed to the airport to see if he could confirm something for Saturday morning. If we didn't get out it would mean that we couldn't fly out until Tuesday at the earliest. That would result in a significant loss of vacation time and several days of non-refundable hotel reservations.

After a few hours of waiting on multiple lines at Newark Airport Keith got us on the standby list for a flight to Cancun the next morning. We had no confidence in the standby process and we spent the next few hours researching all flights out of Newark with availability so we would be fully prepared when we arrived at the airport the next morning.

We arrived at the airport at 5:00 am and quickly headed to the check-in counter with our list of flights in hand and hoped that our research would pay off. The travel gods looked upon us favorably and we got three confirmed seats on the Mexico City flight (which was our first choice). Not only did they allow that, but they booked us on a non-partner Mexicana flight so we didn't have to incur any additional cost. The only negative was that our 3 1/2 direct flight would now take us more than 8 hours, but it was worth it.

We really enjoyed our stay at Dreams Resort Puerto Morelos last summer so we booked a few days at the beginning of our trip. Later in the week we planed to travel to Tulum. As you can see Elliot was super excited that we were out of the Hurricane path.

The days were simple. Get some chairs by the pool, go for breakfast and spend the day swimming and playing. The days went fast and before we knew it, it was time to get ready for dinner. Certainly a fun time but we were itching to get out and explore. Only problem was that we were pretty isolated without any easy way to get out of the resort.

After a few days we transferred to Tulum where we planed to explore the ruins and get a taste of "real" Mexico. Our hotel was five minutes from the center of Tulum and once we got there we (with the help of our friend Google) came up with a plan for a full day "escape-from-the-all-inclusive-resort."

To follow the same "escape" all you need is a rental car and a sense of adventure. Your "escape" goes from North to South along Mexico highway 307 and takes a full day. Start in Puerto Aventuras and finish in Tulum but you could easily reverse it to suit your needs.

Avoid the hotel breakfast and head straight for Taqueria El Arbolito for some breakfast tacos. They are located on the on-ramp to highway 307 South from (in) Puerto Aventuras.

Enjoy a few fried fish tacos or if you need more of a "kick" (unfortunately no Starbucks here) order a couple of tacos de chile relleno which is a stuffed chile pepper. There are many other choices for tacos and an equal amount of sauces and toppings. (Just in case you start in Tulum there is a Taqueria El Arbolito there and this "mini chain" has 6 locations along Highway 307).

Proceed south along Highway 307 until you get to Akumal (approximately 15 minutes). This is a small town along the ocean that has not been over developed and it's a great destination for snorkeling. There are two main sites, one is a lagoon which is shallow, tranquil and full of fish called Yal-Ku. The other is Akumal Bay which is known to have a colony of sea turtles that nest in the area. As you exit the highway drive east toward the ocean. At the entrance to the town you will go through an archway. If you want the turtles make a right turn after the arch and drive to the bay. We headed left (North) to Yal-Ku which is a couple of miles down the road.

After paying admission (about $10 each) park, grab your gear and walk about 50 feet to the lagoon. Don't worry if you don't have gear. You can rent it at the admission desk. There are also showers, bathrooms and a changing area.

Entry to the water is easy. There is no current or waves and it is super warm. We even saw a few fish that we had never seen in over 10 years of diving in Cozumel.

For kids or rookie snorkelers this area is ideal because it is so calm and rich in sea life. You could easily spend a few hours there just exploring the lagoon. There is a lot to see!

We didn't want to overload Elliot with snorkeling at the other part of Akumal but you can be sure we will be back there next trip. It was lunch time and the people working at Yal-ku showed us a map of another part of Akumal where we could find a place for lunch. This part of town has a few restaurants but we selected no-name, painted over Cerveza-Sol tent on the left side.

The house (really tent) specialty is pork cutlet torta with fried egg and cheese. Alternatively, you can get some simple pork cutlet tacos. The two guys working there were super nice.

After a satisfying lunch, continue south on Highway 307 until you see the Dos Ojos sign on your right side. It is impossible to miss. The total cost for the 3 of us (Elliot was free) was $80 (USD not Pesos) which included admission to the Cenote, snorkel gear, wetsuits, flashlights and the guide. (if you know of a less expensive guided option please post a comment).

Our guide Eddie took us through the caverns. When you do come here please be aware that the water is cold, so you may want a wetsuit. There are also a lot of mosquitoes so apply an extra thick layer of insect repellent as soon as you get out of your car.

Dos Ojos has two cenote entrances that are very close to each other. After a tour of some caverns with huge stalagmites and stalactites, Eddie took us to the second cenote where we spent some time just jumping off of the stairs and goofing around in the clear, cool water.

After snorkeling in Dos Ojos you still have enough time to get to Tulum to see the ruins. The area closes at 5:00pm, so as long as you get there around 3:00pm you will have more than enough time to see everything. The property is much more compact than Chichen Itza or some of the other sites. Guides are available, but not necessary.

One of the things that makes Tulum different from other ruins was that it was already built on the highest point overlooking the sea. Most visitors descend the stairs (not original) to swim in the ocean. There are no changing areas or bathrooms here so make sure to wear your bathing suit and bring a towel.

Finish your day in the town of Tulum along Highway 307. There are super markets, hotels, shops and restaurants along the street but to complete your adventure we suggest Antojitos La Chiapaneca for Tacos al Pastor. We have to credit Christina Thomas at the Yoga Adventures blog for helping us find this place. You can read her post for more detailed info.

Tacos al Pastor are typically served with corn tortillas, a slice of pineapple and some diced onions which you can add your self at the fixins bar.

After you finish your first round you may still be hungry so feel free to order more like we did. Above are salbutes which are little puffy tortillas, with the meat from the al pastor, beans and some vegetables. Behind them are "Gringas" which are flour tortillas, al pastor meat and melted cheese. Everything was delicious! A wonderful ending to a perfect day of adventure in the Yucatan.

But wait, there's a little more. Although our one day adventure was over, we still had the car for a few hours, so the next morning so we drove around a little to see what was going on in Tulum. Frequently our best food finds in Mexico are during the early morning or late evening. With a crowd around and cars double parked we had to investigate. Taqueria Honorio specializes in pork tacos and tortas. In the Yucatan cochinita pibil is a speciality. It is a pork shoulder, marinated and braised in achiote paste, orange juice and lime. We had to stop and try it out and it did not disappoint.

Of course sitting back on the beach with a cold drink and watching the waves roll in is a great vacation, but if you need a little more adventure, give our plan a try. Let us know how it goes.

Hasta Pronto Mexico!!!

Rome - February 2011

2011-09-05T16:51:00.000-04:00

Anyone who has ever purchased a plane ticket online probably gets at least a few e-mails a week advertising a great deal on a trip to somewhere. The titles are always attractive "Fly to Europe for $199", but when you try to actually book that trip you are sure to be disappointed. Either the fares don't exist, they are not agreeable with your schedule, or when you add in taxes and other fees you find out that the $199 ticket is actually $900. Well, one day we saw an online fare to Naples, Italy for only $413. Having low expectations, we entered the dates we wanted to travel and it actually worked. It even coincided with Elliot's winter vacation from school. We really wanted to go to Rome, but if we stayed in Naples and just ate pizza for 6 days it would be the trip would be worth it.However attractive trying a dozen pizzerias in Naples would be for Keith, it was not to difficult to figure out how to get to Rome. It was a real "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" journey because it took two flights to get to Naples, a bus to the train station, a train to Rome and a taxi to the hotel. It sounded a little crazy, but the plan worked perfectly. The winter in NYC was exceptionally cold and snowy so to be able to sit outside at Ciampini and enjoy some gelato was a real treat. Even though the gelato was great we still wondered if we could find better.A little searching on the Internet led us to Giolitti, a gelateria that has been around for over 100 years. The atmosphere is a little chaotic but after lining up to buy our tickets (yes you first have to buy tickets) we headed over to the counter to elbow our way up front. It was worth the effort because the gelato was better than any ice cream or gelato we have ever had. As an added treat they put panna (Italian whipped cream) on top which made it even better. If you know of a better place let us know, but as far as we are concerned this is as good as it gets.We were certain that we tried the best, but we had to be certain. We sampled many other other gelaterias and many were were very good, but did not measure up to Giolitti.

Pizza in Rome is completely different from NYC pizza. It has a thin, crispy (cracker like) crust, minimal sauce and cheese, and eaten with a fork and knife! We made sure to try a new place every day and while it was always good, it just wasn't as good as we had imagined. We were going back to Naples in a few days anyway so we would resume the quest for the best pizza there.
Some fun at the Fontana de Trevi.We had a several days so we were able to take our time exploring the highlights (Coliseum, Piazza Venezia, and Castel Sant'Angelo are pictured above) . Everywhere you turn there is something amazing.
Elliot picking an orange at the Palatine Hills but it didn't taste that good. Even more sour than a grapefruit.

We decided to book a 3 hour tour of the Vatican Museum and Saint Peter's Basilica, and we are so glad we did because we would have missed so much if we tried to do it on our own. There is so much to see that you could probably divide the collection five times and five separate amazing museums would emerge. The Sistine Chapel is truly magnificent and the restoration work that was completed allowed us to enjoy it in all its splendor.

Traveling and a lot of walking can tire even the most adventurous seven year old.. One thing that can rapidly change this is a trip to the local toy store. We have learned that toys cost a lot more when purchased abroad but we try to find something as a reminder of our trip. On this visit to the store we purchased a toy Alfa Romeo Police Car.

Later that day we found the real thing. Alfa Romeo police cars.... Only in Italy

Rome is truly an amazing place and is already back on our list of places to go. Hopefully with a $413 airfare will reappear someday!

Arrivederci Roma!
Corinne, Keith & Elliot

Shanghai - December 2010

2011-01-05T05:37:00.021-05:00

With airlines reducing schedules and increasing airfares, it is getting more difficult each year to find vacations that won't break the bank, especially during school breaks. After a lot of summer time searching we found a relatively good deal to Shanghai, the largest city in mainland China.

As school break approached we were very excited for our trip, even though we weren't looking forward to an exhausting 15 hour flight. We arrived on time and we were ready to explore. With 2 guidebooks, winter coats, and stack of restaurant recommendations to help take us through the city our plan was to explore and learn as much as we could with our limited time.

The first attraction you encounter in Shanghai is at the airport. Lot's of airports have subways, taxis and buses but in Shanghai you can take one of the fastest trains in the world. This is the MAGLEV train which runs from the Airport to downtown Shanghai (Pudong) in 7 minutes 20 seconds achieving a top speed of 268 mph. You cant even appreciate how fast you are going until you pass a train in the opposite direction because you can feel it but you can't really see it.

Our hotel was situated between Nanjing Lu and People's Square in the city center. Nanjing Lu is one of the world's busiest pedestrian shopping streets, and was crowded day and night. In the early morning , there were hundreds of people doing Tai Chi and in the evening shoppers filled the streets looking for bargains and snacks. Since we stand out more than most people, we constantly have people offering to sell us handbags, toys and watches.

Hungry, tired and with no particular destination in mind, we went for a walk along Nanjing Lu, past the McDonalds and KFC's when we saw a small sign that said dumplings and a frenzy of people walking in and out. We followed everyone through a supermarket and up the escalator to a food court with about five or six dumpling and soup restaurants. The place was packed! The biggest line was for Yang's Fry Dumpling (these are fried soup dumplings made of pork and sage) so we sent Keith to order and Elliot and I found seats at a communal table. It took Keith a while to figure out the system. Orders were not placed at the restaurant, but instead you had to go to a separate cashier from a printed list. The usual technique of pointing at what you wanted was not going to work here. It certainly posed an ordering challenge since nobody spoke English but Keith used the zoom on the digital camera to take pictures of what he saw others eating and then showed the camera display to the cashier. By holding up the display and pointing he was finally able to get his message across.

You can see that the place is very popular and the line was present the entire time we were there. We found out after that Yang's was one of the most famous dumpling chains in Shanghai. It also confirms that if there is a line of people waiting to buy food then it is probably going to be special.

We had read that eyeglasses were very cheap in Shanghai so we began our first day with a visit to the Eyeglass market behind the Shanghai Railway Station. There are over a hundred eye glass shops in a multi level mall the size of a Home Depot. We settled on one vendor amongst the hundreds and three salespeople helped Elliot pick out a new pair. Bargaining was a part of every purchase in Shanghai, and we may have given in too early. We initially thought that we got ripped off (since he has a strong prescription) but after running the numbers we realized that the frames and lenses were only 250 RMB (approx $38). They were ready in 30 minutes and they fit perfect. We wish we bought another pair since Elliot loves them!

Next up was one of the most famous dumpling houses in the city, Jia Jia Tong Bao and we waited about 15 minutes for a table. We ordered 3 types of dumplings at the cashier when we walked in and and joined other diners at the table while our dumpings were freshly prepared. We had pork, pork and crab and crab and all were excellent!

Ever since our Japan trip, Elliot has been fascinated with vending machines and their offerings. With the selection in this row, wouldn't you choose the Happy Roll?? We don't know what the other packages said but from the looks of it maybe something like "Sad Girl Cookies" or "Boo Boo Face." We didn't give them a try and never found out.

The next stop was the Jade Budda temple in the western part of Shanghai. The temple itself was beautiful and there were two giant Jade Buddas but we were not allowed to photograph either of them. The Jade Buddas and the beautiful architecture was not the memorable part of this site for Elliot.
For him the highlight of temple was being able to feed the Koi fish. The fish are accustomed to being hand fed and ate right out of your hand.

In Japan we found some crazy Kit-Kat flavors... No Kit-Kat's in China, but we found some interesting Lay's Potato Chips (Hot and Sour Fish Soup, Italian Meat Sauce, Lemon Tea, Cool and Refreshing Lime Flavor). This was the selection at 1 store but we didn't buy them when we had the opportunity. We at least got to try the Italian Meat Sauce (which tasted similar to BBQ) and cucumber which tasted like a sushi roll according to Elliot.

If we had any preconceived notions about what China would be like (overcrowded, hectic, heavy government presence) this picture captures the exact opposite. The infrastructure is very new, there is some incredible modern architecture and gleaming shopping malls. We even heard that the Bentley auto showroom never has cars in it because they sell so fast that they can't keep any in stock. Most of old Shanghai is no longer standing because it was raised to make room for new modern buildings but in one corner of the city some old streets remain. There is not much of the old Shanghai remaining but some remnants of old Shanghai with alleys and street foods which seems to balance out the city.

Yunnan is the most southwest corner of China that borders Burma and Laos. We have never seen (or heard of) a Yunnanese restaurant so made sure it was on our list. We went to Southern Barbarian restaurant which is famous for two things; their extensive beer list and fried honey bees (yes real honeybees). Since we have sampled (and enjoyed.. Really!) some of the more mainstream insects like crickets and grasshoppers we just couldn't pass up this opportunity. We don't know if they are meant to be a finger food but that's how we ate them. Elliot LOVED them. His tongue even turned yellow!! None of us will look at the typical honey bee the same way again.

Each day we tried to coordinate our activities around the foods we wanted to try. On our third day we sought out a "Food Street" in the old part of Shanghai. The only mention of it was in the Frommer's book but the neighborhood map was mislabeled and we walked in circles for a half hour. Finally we found the one block section where a few dozen street restaurants were selling different foods. It is easy to tell what will taste good but the most frustrating thing is that the language barrier prevents you from actually finding out what you are eating most of the time. The only way you can order is to point at the item, hold up your fingers for the quantity that you want, smile and then offer some coins. Usually the proprietor will take the correct amount, in the 25-85c range.

Fortunately all of the items are cheap so we tried as many as we could including scallion pancakes fresh out of the pan, more dumplings, a type of fried bread and Jian Bing (above) which is a breakfast crepe with egg, scallions, parsley, a crunchy cruller and some hot sauce which gets rolled and folded like a burrito. It was one of the best things we ate during the entire trip.

Elliot went back for seconds!!!

The Chinese version of the "Dollar Store" except what cost $1 in the US costs 2RMB (30 cents) in Shanghai .

A nice tea service in YuYuan garden, which is basically a tourist trap, but it was the ideal break for us after a visit in the garden. They had a list of teas the ailments they could cure but one of the workers there lost credibility because he had a cold which is one of the things that the special tea was supposed to prevent in the first place. It was hard to say no but we didn't buy anything and we continued with our tour of the gardens.

The YuYuan Garden was a beautiful park, but best appreciated in the warmer months. It was built in the Ming Dynasty over 400 years ago as a tranquil park. The treasure in the park is the Jade Rock which is huge. There were gardens within the garden and Elliot had plenty of space to run around and enjoy some fresh air.

With all that fresh air, we needed some dumplings! Luckily right outside the gardens, at the foot of the zig zag bridge was Nanxiang Steamed Dumplings. Elliot had a soup dumpling so large it needed a straw! It was very good indeed and he really enjoyed it.

Here you can see his technique. Normally the preferred method is to nibble the dumpling first, then slurp the soup, and finally eat the dumpling. Elliot's technique when he finally gets the chopsticks to grip is to eat it in one bite.

Later that day, more dumplings to perfect his technique, but this time they were desert dumplings filled with Red Bean Paste at Din Tai Fung in Xintandi. A sweet ending to a long day.

We had two excellent meals at the Crystal Jade Restaurant which is Cantonese with some Shanghai Style Dim Sum. This is a Roast Pork over Noodles, and it

tasted as good as it looks.An afternoon was spent shopping for toys and souvenirs at the AP Xinyang Fashion and Gifts Market. Elliot was able to refine his bargaining skills and really got into it. He named a ridiculously low price for a remote control car and walked away when the vendor said no, and he ended up getting it for his price after haggling a bit more. Hopefully he will be able to leverage these skills in the boardroom one day. This was the best picture we could get because vendors selling counterfit goods really don't like when you photograph them or their inventory but they have everything!

After 6 days we were veterans of the street food scene and became quite comfortable sampling varieties of food and developing new favorites. We found WuFu alley and were rewarded with some new treats and different varieties of things we hadn't seen before.

Elliot enjoyed the steamed buns just as much as the soup dumplings.The final stop of the trip was the Shanghai Zoo. Most of the reports on the Internet say that this zoo has inhumane habitats and that the animals are mistreated. We kept this in mind when we were strolling around the zoo and did notice that the habitats are from a different era where the animal exhibits were generally designed much smaller than they are today.

We finally found the panda and we were very sad. He was not moving and almost looked like something you see in the movies where a person wears a panda costume, drinks too much and ends up in the panda cage at the zoo.
Then we found a group of happy playful pandas that were just happy to have a big pile of bamboo to enjoy.
We ended the trip the same way as we began with a ride on the MAGLEV train. Elliot waved goodbye with the 2010 World Expo mascot by his side. We had a wonderful time in China and will have very fond memories of the sights, sounds, tastes and people of China for many years to come.

Wishing all of you a healthy and prosperous 2011!

Corinne, Keith & Elliot

BONUS VIDEO - Elliot's Soup Dumpling Lesson

Beijing - December 2010

2011-01-05T05:28:00.026-05:00

It was not the first person who said "You're going all the way to China and your not going to see the Great Wall?" It actually took three people to say it before it sunk in that it was a lot easier to visit Beijing and the Great Wall from Shanghai then to make another 15 hour trip back to China. A quick check on Travelocity showed flights from Shanghai to Beijing were relatively reasonable, so we found the nearest travel agency and booked a trip to Beijing that would give us about 48 hours in the city.

The only minor problem was that we didn't research anything about Beijing/ the Great Wall or other sights in the city. We figured that if we at least saw the Great Wall and had Peking (Beijing) Duck for dinner that the trip would be worth it and anything else would be a bonus. The day before we left, we were browsing the Internet for information and saw that someone posted the e-mail address of a private driver who could take us around and take us to the "must see" places without us having to learn the public transportation system. A few e-mails back and forth and we were set up with Mr. Zhang who would be waiting for us when we arrived at the Beijing airport.

As promised, Mr. Zhang was there. He didn't speak much English but we were able to communicate enough. He took us to the hotel to check in and then onto the Temple of Heaven.

The first thing we noticed was that it was FREEZING! We had some warm clothes but nothing that would adequately protect us from the below zero wind chill of Beijing. We bundled up the best we could but it was rough, especially because all of the sights we went to were outdoors and required several hours to explore each one.We arrived at the Temple of Heaven and Mr. Zhang dropped us off at one end and told us to buy tickets and that he would be waiting on the other side. He said it would take about two hours to explore but because it was so cold we told him to make sure he would be one hour because there was no way we would be able to take the cold for two hours. Fortunately he was there right where he said he was and it took us exactly 60 minutes.

Mr. Zhang picked us up as promised on the other side. A quick ride to our second stop, Tienanmen Square. It felt even colder because everything was wide open and the wind was whipping across the open space. We walked as quickly as we could across the square so we could get to the Forbidden Palace on the other side which we hoped was indoors.
It wasn't! We couldn't explain to Elliot why it was called the Forbidden Palace. He said it was because you were forbidden from taking pictures and he thought we would get in trouble from the guards whenever we took out our camera. We tried to explain it to him that it was ok, but we're not sure he really understood. Quan Ju De was our stop for Roast Peking Duck as it was recommended by everyone we talked to. The restaurant has been around since 1864 and it was the first restaurant to serve the dish outside of the emperors kitchen. If Chairman Mao, Fidel Castro and George Bush could all enjoy the expertly prepared duck we knew that it would be great. Since there are a few Chinese restaurants in the NYC area that serve this specialty, we also wanted to see how they would measure measure up.The waiting is the hardest part, especially for Elliot who was exhausted from our first full day in Beijing. After a long 20 minutes, our duck arrived and was carved by one of the chefs. It was served with traditional pancakes and their own sauce mixture (instead of Hoisen).
Step one complete. Peking Duck at Quan Ju De with the duck "certificate of authenticity." In a city filled with counterfeit handbags, North Face jackets and iPods, it is reassuring to know that the duck was genuine!

While the duck was certainly special, it was good to know that the "Peking Duck Houses" of the NYC area provide a respectable substitute for this special dish a lot closer to home.
Our second freezing day began at the Summer Palace. Like many of the Beijing attractions we went to, the only thing we knew about it before going was that it was our first stop before going to the Great Wall. You probably can't tell but we all wore almost as many layers as we could without suffocating. It was another drop off with an "I'll pick you up in a couple of hours." We went in at the main gate and we had the name of the exit we needed to find written on some scrap paper. While we were walking to the ticket booth we were approached by a guide. We initially brushed him off but we reconsidered after realizing how large the palace was. We hired Daniel, the guide for 100 RMB (about $15) to. It may be some of the best money we spent on the trip because Daniel spoke perfect English, was exceptionally knowledgeable about the palace and was super nice. We wish we could have had him for the entire trip because he was one of the best guides we ever had, anywhere. If you ever see him outside the front of the Summer Palace in Beijing be sure to hire him.

Elliot traded in his hat for a warmer one.

After the Summer Palace Mr. Zhang drove us to the Great Wall. There are several easily accessible locations to visit the wall. We chose the Mutianyu section which was a little further away but it was supposed to be less crowded without any tour buses.

Since we had limited time (and a 6 y.o.) we chose to take the ski lift up to the top instead of hiking. We were also surprised that they had a toboggan for a fast decent.

The wall itself is breathtaking and it was the highlight of the entire trip.

Not only were there no tour buses but we hardly saw anyone else here.

The pictures are worth thousands of words. Certainly an amazing day and memories to last a lifetime.

Afterwards we went to a nearby restaurant for a fresh fish lunch. You can catch your own fish in a man made concrete pond which is conveniently located in the middle of the parking lot. Catch it, and they will cook it to order. It was definitely overpriced, but at least it was good.We spent our final day in Beijing with a driving tour around the Olympic Complex. All of the structures including the "Birds Nest" Stadium were amazing! After a very cold and action packed 2 days in Beijing, we returned to Shanghai for 1 night before returning home.

One last chance to buy a few extra take-away ducks from the airport store before heading home. Each of those yellow bags and boxes have a complete ready to eat duck.

Wishing all our friends and family a very Happy 2011!

Corinne, Keith & Elliot

Puerto Morelos, MX - September 2010

2010-09-16T10:28:00.025-04:00

When it comes to travel, everyone has a comfort zone and it takes some effort to change existing habits. By writing about our trips, we hope that our reports inspire families to try something new. That being said, we decided to follow our own advice so we went outside of our comfort zone and went to .... an all inclusive beach resort in Mexico.

Of course we had our own preconceived ideas and fully expected our trip to be devoid of culture, mediocre food and lackluster service. Even if that turned out to be true, the airfare and hotel were so reasonable that we couldn't resist giving it a try.

With each trip Elliot gets a little more independent and now he can fill out a few boxes of the immigration form. We are anxiously awaiting the day he begins writing this blog from his perspective.
One of the best things about Mexico is the food! Keith always tries to find taco stands for a quick bite. This time he made sure to enhance his taco stand "lingo" so he could communicate better with the locals. Since we didn't know how isolated the resort would be, he asked our airport van driver, Armando, if there was a taco stand en route to the resort. Armando knew exactly where to go and we started off our trip with a few tacos made from poblano chiles rellenos. They were great! Yes, the people in the picture are laughing at Keith. (FYI - he gets that reaction a lot when taking pictures of food.)
We stayed at the Dreams Rivera Maya resort in Puerto Morelos, which is about a 20 minute ride south of Cancun Airport. We were officially on vacation after a round of fruity drinks. They taste even better when they are included!
The swim up bar was a very popular hangout during our stay.
The resort is located two miles from the small fishing village of Puerto Morelos. One of the daily activities at the resort was a bicycle tour of Puerto Morelos, and Keith thought it would be a good opportunity to find some local food. It actually worked out better than expected because not only did he find a couple of small restaurants, but he convinced a few of the others on the tour to join him for a mid morning snack. They found a great place and repeated the journey 3 days in a row.
The one activity we had planned in advance was a snorkeling trip with the whale sharks. It had been a few months since Elliot's went snorkeling, so we wanted to make sure he was comfortable with his gear. We warmed up just off of the beach and then signed up for a boat snorkel trip. The reef was about one mile away and it was teaming with fish.
We made it back just in time to get our share of the giant paella before they ran out. Overall the food at the resort was very good, and we had an opportunitiy to try most of the restaurants.The hotel has an all day kids program called the Explorers Club. At first Elliot was a little intimidated, so he only went for a few hours, but by the last day he spent the entire day there and didn't want to leave. Activities for the kids include swimming, sports, video games a 20ft Mayan Pyramid climb. It was the perfect opportunity for us to have some ~~tequila~~ relaxation time. Without a doubt, the highlight of our trip was snorkeling with the whale sharks. Each year in the late summer whale sharks are attracted to a particular area in the open ocean north of Cancun. We arranged our trip with Jason, the owner of Fantasea Dive in Playa Del Carmen, and arranged for 6:30am pick up time. Jason picked us up in his Toyota Foreunner with California tags, and we headed past the Cancun traffic and the Miami like atmosphere to Punta Sam to meet our boat.
The boat ride was rough (luckily we took some Dramamine) and it took over an hour to make the 20 mile journey. We also encountered a heavy wind/rain storm along the way which made the seas even rougher. Finally we arrived at the site and saw dozens of whale sharks swimming around. We knew it was going to be a great day.

The whale shark is the largest fish in the ocean and an average size is 25 feet and about 4 feet wide. To put it in perspective, that is about half the length of a NYC bus. When it swims by, it actually feels like it is a bus because it is enormous. We took dozens of pictures but nothing really conveys how big these fish really are.
Their diet consists of plankton and any other minute critters that get sucked into its giant mouth. Fortunately snorkelers are not on the menu.
The actual whale shark operator was Eco Travel Mexico and they were great. Only two people are allowed in the water at a time and they must be directly supervised by a guide. Our boat had nine passengers, two guides and a captain who took great care of us. Alejandra literally took Elliot under her arm to bring him right up to the sharks.
There were so many sharks in the water that day that we didn't have to swim much at all. All you had to do was wait a few moments and another shark would come swimming by.

The last part of the tour is a 30 minute stop on the shores of Isla Mujeres for a snack and swim break. While everyone went for a dip in the calm, crystal clear water, the captain made a huge batch of shrimp ceviche.
Sometimes you get a little crazy and you feel like you can take on the world. That usually happens when you are sugared up on frozen drinks.
As the sun set on our final day, we had to admit that we had a really fun time and proved our philosophy to be correct. If you try something new, you may just like it.

Adios,

Corinne, Keith & Elliot

Tokyo - February 2010

2010-03-14T16:53:00.025-04:00

Lately some of our friends have been joking with us about the airport code roulette we play when selecting our destinations. Well, Tokyo has been a long time coming... we had planned to go in 2008, but decided to visit South East Asia instead.

Prior to any trip we research the destination to prepare ourselves so we can hit the ground running! We purchased three Tokyo guide books and spent untold hours reading Internet posts on everything from airport transportation to the best sushi bar at the fish market.

Because we like to travel independently, we were concerned with past "impressions" that we had of Tokyo which seem to get repeated over and over. Things such as:

The subways are so crowded that they have people who's job it is to push and pack you on the trains
There are no street addresses and taxi drivers can't even find most places
The streets are extremely crowded
Subway signs are only in Japanese so getting around is impossible.
Tokyo is extremely expensive

The first thing we had to do was learn how to navigate the city via mass transit. Buying subway tickets for the first time was a little daunting. The signs were mostly in Japanese, but after a few tries, we were experts. It was only on the next to last day that we finally learned that we could buy unlimited trip day passes from the hotel which were much more cost effective.
We didn't have enough time to fully adapt to the local time zone. This was our only view of Tokyo at night (from our room) because we were usually wiped out by 7 pm. The first night we thought a late afternoon nap would refresh us but Elliot slept straight through to the next morning.
The second night we actually walked a few blocks to go out for dinner and Elliot passed out at the table within minutes of arrival. Towards the end of the trip we did manage to go out for dinner but we had to stay local and couldn't explore any other neighborhoods.

This is Shinjuku crossing, one of the busiest intersections in the world and it seems that it is shown on any show that features Tokyo. Based on this frequently repeated image we thought that it was a typical intersection. Other than this, there are no raging crowds that we saw. We went to the second floor Starbucks which offers a panoramic view of the intersection but we were quickly escorted out when Keith started taking pictures. A morning visit to the Meiji Shrine. We were there on the 15th of the month when the Priests and maidens wear traditional dress while in a Procession. It was a pretty cool sight. Elliot picks a fortune at the Senso-ji shrine.
Snacks outside Senso-ji. These are Manju which are little cakes will filling. We tried the bean paste and sesame and both were delicious.
Senso-ji is a Buddhist temple located in Asakusa.
A friend from work recommended a visit to the Edo-Tokyo Museum and we were able to learn more about Tokyo’s history and culture. There were a few school field trips also visiting so the museum was packed. Elliot made some new friends who were very excited to practice their English with him.Next to the museum were the Sumo Stables. Unfortunately there weren't any tournaments during our visit. The monuments have hand prints of the Sumo wrestlers and Elliot did a comparison, realizing that they are huge.

Elliot's best Ninja pose at the Imperial Gardens.

Depachica are the food halls in the department stores in Tokyo. Each major store has 1 or 2 floors devoted exclusively to food. The food is mostly prepared and meant to be brought home or back to the office so there was no convenient place to eat it. Because the Japanese have lots of cultural nuances, we didn't know if buying food and eating on the street corner was appropriate so we just enjoyed with our eyes. We did get some yummy filled waffles to eat back at the hotel.Elliot checks out "Traveling with Elliot" in the Apple Store in Ginza. We were ready for lunch and thought we could do a quick search in the store. The text was only in Japanese, so our plan backfired but a very kind salesperson came over to us did a few searches on Japanese Google Maps and gave us a great tempura restaurant recommendation. If your reading this at the Ginza Apple store, Thanks!
We decided mid-week to have a kid-centric day at Tokyo Disney. Being that it was a cold, rainy Wednesday in February, we thought we would have the park to ourselves.

We arrived an hour before the park opened hoping to get an early start to the day. When our train arrived, there were already thousands of people waiting in line and thousands of more arriving with each train that pulled in. We were still optimistic that we would be able to get a few rides in without waiting in long lines.

When the gates opened it was like a scene from a Godzilla movie with everyone running to every corner of the park (notice there are no young children). We didn't prepare a Disney strategy, so we leisurely strolled to the first ride where the standby line was already over an hour wait and our "fast pass" tickets were for 12:30pm. We thought heading to the back of the park would be better so we headed over to Thunder Mountain in the back corner. The sign said that the wait was 90 minutes but we didn't believe it because the line was moving fast.

We should have believed the sign because the next 90 minutes was spent going back and forth through the line maze. We spent most of the time chatting with some Japanese teenagers who were in front of us. They thought Elliot was the cutest thing and they also enjoyed practicing English with us. Between the four of them they could usually get the message across. Whenever we would actually understand each other, they would clap and break out in a giddy laugh. It made the time go by for Elliot but he was getting hungry and we couldn't take the wait anymore. We abandoned the line with about 30 minutes more to go to get a snack and head over to the Monsters Inc. ride.Even though we only went on 3 rides, there were still some good things. The best part to us were are the differences. Like hearing Buzz Lightyear speak Japanese and having Mickey Mouse shaped Pork Buns. We missed out on the soy sauce and butter popcorn stand because it had a huge line, and we were tired of waiting in lines.

The obligatory "Castle" Picture. As it turns out, Tokyo Disney Land was his favorite part of the trip. Maybe it is the Magic Kingdom after all.
Even when we went to a small neighborhood restaurant we found that there was always an English Menu which was usually offered without us having to ask. In one restaurant we ordered a "Japanese Egg Roll" as presented on the menu. Literally it was eggs rolled up. It was yummy, just not what we expected.
Tokyo has one other attraction that westerners love, but Japanese people don't understand why. It is the Kappabashi restaurant supply street where, in addition to normal restaurant items, you can shop for the plastic food replicas. Initially we thought we would buy a bunch of plastic food but we discovered that the plastic food costs significantly more than a real food. Eventually we found some tourist grade plastic sushi so we picked up a few pieces for a future "Show And Tell" day at school.

We were fortunate enough to have a delicious omakase lunch at Kyubey, which many consider to be one of the best sushi restaurants in Tokyo. It was our splurge meal for the trip and it was so good that we think that we may never have a sushi meal that great again. It was the finest, freshest most delicious sushi that we ever had. Elliot had the full omakase kept up with us piece by piece until the end. He even succeeded in the "Sea Urchin" challenge. He is ready to host "Boy vs. Food" if any Travel Channel producers are interested.
Hello Kitty is all grown up and ready to party but we heard that her parents are not too pleased.
Taiyaki are fish shaped, filled waffles. Usually they are filled with azuki bean paste or custard. Outside the Kiddy Land Toy Store, they were shaped as Hello Kitty. So sweet and delicious. Elliot ate a half dozen of them.
Because we were up early every morning, we made 3 visits to the Tsukiji Fish Market. Its a very interesting place to visit for several reasons. First of all it is the largest fish market in the world about 20% of all the seafood caught in the world is said to move through here. There are about 400 different type of sea creatures that are sold here, but unlike the aquarium they are destined for someones dinner plate. Above are frozen blue fin tuna that are caught throughout the world and sold here at auction. Before the auction begins the buyers carefully inspect the samples for quality. Goods are moved withn the market on fast moving scooters that can easily navigate the narrow passages. Elliot gets to imagine what it would be like to deliver fish and run over inattentive tourists. Part of the experience of going to the market is having fresh sushi at one of the small restarants. If you went to any of them you would have a phenominal experience but since we had the opprotunity to visit 3 we thoguht it was necessary to declare a winner. Many web sites say that the sushi restaurnats at the market are interchangeable but we found that was not the case. Third Place goes to Daiwa Sushi which had great fish and nice hosts. Second Place goes to Sushi Bun. It slightly edged out Daiwa on overall experience but Keith didn't like that they had a "no photo" policy. The clear winner (by a mile) was Sushi Dai which had the best everything from the Green tea to the Uni. On our last day we planned on going back for a second visit and we thought we were clever by taking a taxi directly there before the subways started running at 5:15am. We got there exactly at 5am and the wait was already 2 hours long. We loved it, but not that much. If you are looking to go there it may be a better idea to go later in the morning after the auction crowds are gone.
We ended our trip in the Akihabara neighborhood which is part of town known for anything electronic (iPods to Toilet Seats). I wouldn't even think that toilet seats would have their own section in an appliance store, but since the seats are so technologically advanced it actually makes sense. They may not even have regular toilet seats because we spotted some of these installed at the subway station bathroom.
What about the preconceived ideas that we had about Tokyo?

The subways are crowded, but not any more crowded than New York or other major cities. We almost always got a seat, even at rush hour. We did see the "pushers" but didn't see them do any pushing.
The street address system made sense after a few days. Every street and subway station was also written in English so that was not a problem either and the taxi drivers had no problem getting us to where we wanted to go.
While Tokyo is an expensive city it is not significantly different from New York or any other European capital and there are certainly bargains to be had.

Without a doubt Tokyo was one of the best cities we have ever been to. The city is meticulously clean, the people are welcoming and the food was delicious. We will certainly be back!

Sayonara!

Yokohama - February 2010

2010-03-01T20:15:00.014-05:00

When we planned the Tokyo trip, we did not plan on any day trips outside the city. However, we really wanted to take the Shinkasen (bullet train) somewhere and Yokohama seemed to fit the bill. By bullet train it is less than 20 minutes from Central Tokyo and there would be plenty of attractions to keep us busy including Japan's largest Chinatown.

The ticket machines are all in English but they are not intuitive and any new transaction takes some concentration. We found the correct Shinkasen machine, bought the tickets and they didn't work at the entry gates. After finding out that our just purchased "Shinkasen" tickets had the insufficient fare for the "Shinkasen" we returned to the ticket office to get new ones. We have no idea why, but we had to pay about 900 Yen more for a supplemental ticket. Elliot can still ride the trains for free so we easily saved a $100 by not having to buy him train tickets.

Within the city of Yokohama there are several different train lines operated by different companies and it took a little while to find our way. First we got off at the wrong station but when we finally arrived there was no doubt that we were at the right place.

Yokohama Chinatown has four formal gated entrances.

The first thing we saw after entering were the (almost) Frisbee sized steamed buns. These were the biggest we have ever seen and we bought one to share immediately. We had no idea that every 5th store would be a steamed bun vendor selling the same thing. Some of them even had signs showing the awards and medals that they had won.

Besides the traditional roast pork there were several types of buns that were not identifiable, even with plastic models. We tried several including bean paste and shrimp but restraint was necessary because we planned to visit the Ramen Museum in the afternoon for an education in noodle soup.

After a visit to the temple, Keith and Elliot performed the Chinese New Year Dragon Dance and they did a good job at scaring away everyone in the vicinity. Gōng Xǐ Fā Cái!!!

After strolling around most of the streets and dining on four types of steamed buns, we set our sights on the Yokohama Landmark Tower. After walking almost the entire way a decision(bad) was made to take the subway for the final 1/2 mile walk. Turns out, the underground passages on either side were longer than the original walk.

We spent the rest of the morning strolling around Chinatown. Some Chinatowns are nothing more than a few Chinese restaurants on the same block while others are fully thriving commercial centers. The focus within Yokohama is no longer on the Chinese immigrant population, rather it focuses on retail with a heavy concentration of the stores selling food and merchandise. It was a lot of fun, and like everything else we have seen in Japan, meticulously clean. If you are looking for fake Rolexes and Gucci bags you will not find them here.

Like the US Hockey team at the Olympics, the Landmark tower has to settle for second place. It is the second highest building in Japan (Tokyo Tower is the highest) and it has the second fastest elevator in the world (Taipei 101 is now the fastest). Its claim to fame is the highest observation point in Japan which gave us great views of the city.

The Japanese love vending machines and they can be found everywhere selling hot and cold items. Elliot anxiously awaits a frozen green tea.

After our visit to the observation deck, we were deposited into a huge mall. Besides the numerous clothing and food shops, there was an entire store dedicated to Pokémon and even a Build A Bear. We were able to make it out of the mall without any purchases!

The other reason we selected Yokohama as a day trip was the Shin Yokohama Ramen Museum. It is an entire museum founded by a noodle obsessed person. We imagine a scene like this:Father: Get off of the couch and find a job Son: I hate everything and I was miserable at my last job Father: OK, I am going to tell you something that my father told me: "Find something you like to do and figure out a way to make a living at it. Fame, fortune and happiness will follow." Son: But dad, all I like is noodle soup and I don't even know how to cook. How can I make a living at that? You can't even have a noodle app on iPhone!Father: You will find a way... Obviously his father was right and the Ramen Museum is a hit.

The main level consists of a display of a ramen noodle counter and dioramas representing the history of ramen noodles.

The best part of the museum is the 1958 replica of a town complete with 8 different styled ramen noodle shops which were selected to represent their respective style. The museum is complete with back alleys for that authentic feeling.

The process of buying anything at a noodle shop in Japan involves purchasing a ticket from a vending machine. Even with a picture and the price we were a little confused because we couldn't read the text, so we pressed the button, put our money in and hoped for the best. We handed over our tickets to the waitress and took a seat. We were rewarded with delicious noodles and soup. So good that we sampled 2 different restaurants to try various styles. We were tempted to try a third but we were too full and it was time to head back to Tokyo.

Our friend Maria told us that we should look for Green Tea Kit-Kat bars while we were in Japan. Even with searching every vending machine and convenience store we were unsuccessful. We didn't find the green tea, but they did have special edition Yokohama Berry Cheesecake, soy sauce and wasabi flavors. There is no possible way we can explain the flavors - trust us, they all taste good. Upon returning we learned that Nestle has created 200 different types of limited edition Kit Kats.

Yokohama was the perfect side trip from Tokyo and a great way to spend our last full day in Japan.

Sayonara.

Portugal - December, 2009

2010-01-08T20:06:00.026-05:00

Back in August we began our yearly ritual of scouring the Continental Airlines web site in search of award tickets (frequent flyer miles) for Christmas week. Usually this begins on a sleepless night where Keith obsessively enters the three letter airport code for every international destination that Continental flies. Sometimes we're lucky and end up in a with free tickets to Paris or Belgium. Other years we strike out which begins an entirely new obsession which is to find inexpensive airfares.

This year we were super lucky and got 3 free tickets to Lisbon. Some of our friends who have family in Portugal questioned why we would want to go there in the winter when the weather is not ideal. To us, it is the perfect time since the crowds will be chasing the warmth on the beaches of the Caribbean. Plus, did we mention that the tickets were free?

Our flight arrived 30 minutes early and we were greeted with a line at immigration that would have probably taken 45 minutes to get through. Long immigration lines are just a fact of life when dealing with international travel. After two or three minutes of waiting, a very kind immigration agent who saw us patiently waiting with Elliot picked us out of the line and brought us to the diplomat line and we breezed right through. Reason #532 to travel with a kid.

Clearly, Portuguese weather forecasters aren't much better than their US counterparts, since the forecast was wrong again. When we stepped out of the terminal we were pleasantly surprised by the warm and sunny weather. We took the Aeroshuttle bus into the city, dropped the bags at the hotel and headed out to catch the Hop On-Hop Off Tour Bus which is a super way to see the city quickly and efficiently. In this case we headed out too quickly and arrived 30 minutes before they started operations for the day.
Second stop was the Monesteiro dos Jeronimos which surprisingly is not in the 1,000 Places to See Before You Die book. We don't know why because the site is amazing. The structure was built to commemorate Vasco da Gama's successful return from India. It it also became a house of prayer for seamen leaving or entering port.
The Pastéis de Nata is the official pastry of Portugal (not really, but it should be). Pastéis de Belém, which was our first stop in Belém. Since 1837, locals have gone there to get them warm out of the oven and sprinkled with the cinnamon and powdered sugar.
Just around the corner from the Monastery is the Maritime Museum where you can review the routes of the great Portuguese explorers. There are also reproductions of the ships and technology that was available at the time. Corinne shows Elliot the route that Portuguese explorers used to get Asia from Portugal.
After finishing our city tour and checking into our hotel it was time for dinner. No matter how much research we do, our first night dinners are usually lackluster. To ensure that it wouldn't happen this trip we chose a simple restaurant that was highly recommended by travelers and locals. Simple fare, roast chicken cooked over a wood fire was our first meal and it was great. Afterwards we took a short walk through the Restauradores neighborhood and turned in early so we could get an early start the next day since we were all exhausted.
We planned to wake up early, but the blackout shades in the hotel room made us sleep in a littler later than we anticipated. We headed out around 10:00am for Sintra. We boarded the commuter train and arrived in town around 11:00. Then entire town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Once arriving we immediately went to the Pena National Place which stands at the highest point in the town. In the 19th century, Ferdinand II turned a ruined monastery into this fantastic castle. It is fully furnished as if it was still occupied.
We always seek out activities that balance sightseeing and fun stuff for Elliot so we were surprised to find a toy museum in Sintra. It was a fun stop and Elliot really enjoyed the Playmobil exhibit and some of the vintage toys they had on display. Here is his best Batman pose!
The skies may not be so friendly if this Air France Barbie is your flight attendant.

Walking along through Sintra, we saw a small restaurant in the Market filled with locals with some grandma's doing the cooking. Since they had already sold out of the items we wanted to order, we ended up ordering some typical Portuguese dishes of sardines and bacalau instead. Elliot really liked eating the sardines because they were complete with the head, tail and fins.
Our third day began with a trip to the Lisbon Oceanarium which is the largest aquarium in Europe. Off peak travel generally ensures that you will won't have to deal with many crowds or lines. What we failed to consider was the that all of the local kids had off from school during this week and this was one of the more popular family activities. The line was not as bad as it looked and we were through it fairly quickly. The giant sea-monster above is made from flattened soda cans.
A cuttle fish was present in several exhibits at the aquarium.
A different cuttle fish was also present on Elliot's dinner plate that night.

Next, we headed up to the Castle of São Jorge.
We wanted to take the trolley up the hill but after waiting 20 minutes we decided to walk up instead.
It was a long walk up to the top, however we were rewarded with views of the entire city.
Elliot really liked the cannons.
After visiting the castle, we stopped at the Sé de Lisboa (Lisbon Cathedral).
Finally, after walking down the hill we found our #28 tram which runs through the narrowest and steepest streets of the Alfama district. We jumped on anyway and took it back up just to ride it. This concluded our sightseeing for the day and we were off to Coimbra and Porto. On a whim (thanks to a Chowhound posting), we had a lunch stop in Mealhada, a town in central Portugal which is known for their suckling pig. We stopped at Pedro dos Leitões for leitão assado and knew that we had struck gold. We were rewarded with an amazing meal and a tour of the kitchen.
Elliot helped cook lunch!
It was a beautiful afternoon, and we made a stop at Conímbriga which was one of the largest Roman settlements in Portugal. Some of the city walls are intact, and the mosaic floors and foundations of many houses and public buildings remain.
We continued on to Porto that afternoon, and after a long rainy drive, we checked into the hotel. The staff suggested that we try the local specialty in Porto called Franceschina. The dish consists of a layer of toast, covered with meat, cheese and tomato sauce. Certainly a great comforting food after a day of mostly driving.
A view of Porto from Gaia across the river.

We toured two Port Lodges and learned about the hisory and production of Port wine. In the caves at the Port Lodges are hundreds of oak barrels.
At the house of Sandeman winery Elliot posed with our guide who was in the full Sandeman costume. Elliot really took a liking to the Sandeman image which was all over Porto and the port lodge.
Elliot seemed to be having more fun than usual at the playground. Maybe it was the sip of port wine that he had earlier that day.

We began our last day in Portugal driving back to Lisbon but we scheduled a few stops along the way. Our first stop was in Fatima to see the Basililca of Our Lady of the Rosary. It was built to commemorate the events of 1917 when three peasant children claimed to have seen the "Virgin of the Rosary." The site enormous and hosts thousands of people on pilgrimage days. Sometimes you can scour the Internet for hours looking for a lead to a great restaurant and never find it. Occasionally you can find something exceptional by looking for clues. A 20 person line at BBQ joint or a taco cart is obvious but when it is the middle of the afternoon in a suburban town where the main industry is religious tourism, its not so easy. As we drove south from Fatima we carefully looked at each restaurant with the for the promise of finding something good to eat. After a few miles we found and passed Casa Manuel das Matas. It was a simple restaurant in a hotel, but what caught our eye was the overflow parking lot about 100 yards down the street. This was the clue that this place could get very busy so we turned around and went in for a look. As it turned out we had one of the best, and least expensive meals of the trip. Above is a simple looking baked rice with sausage and roast duck which was cooked over a wood fire.
Until this point in our trip we had been very lucky with the weather. We had some beautiful warm sunny days but also a lot of rain. Mostly the rain showers were brief and they occurred when we were inside dining, driving or on the train so they didn't affect us that much. That was about to change...

On the advice of our friend Ana we stopped to see the dinosaur tracks at Pedreira do Galinha which was on the way back to Lisbon. The tracks were made by sauropods about 175 million years ago. They were discovered here in 1994 in what was once a limestone factory. We were all very excited, but just like the movie Vacation with Chevy Chase, we arrived and the gates were closed. We didn't notice in the guide book that they closed for lunch and we only had to wait about 10 minutes for them to reopen at 2:00.
It was already raining and we found out that there was almost a mile walk just to get to the tracks. Since we didn't know if we would ever be back, we decided to go for it and deal with the rain since it was not that heavy and looked like it was letting up. We were very wrong. After 15 minutes of walking the sky got really dark. The rain got heavier and the winds were steady at 40+ MPH. We were completely out in the open so there was nowhere to take shelter. At that point we had no choice but to deal with the heavy rain and continue with our trek.

We lost one umbrella along the way and the other really didn't do much anyway since it was raining sideways. We were completely soaked and only got a glimpse of the tracks. Fortunately, we had our luggage with us so we all had dry clothes to change into.

Ok, we have to come clean. After eating Portuguese food all week the McDonalds was looking good for a late afternoon snack. It pains us to admit it but the Happy Meal does really make Elliot happy so it is a good motivator to use during our trips. Keith also wanted to try the NYC Crispy which had nothing to do with NYC. In case your interested, it's a quarter pounder on an onion roll with some bacon, lettuce, tomato and sauce. The best part is you can get beer with your lunch, even at the drive thru. Possibly in the happy meal, but we didn't ask.

Every metro station is unique and typically has original works of art. After a vacation of Cathedrals and Castles, Elliot really appreciated the marble knights on the wall of the Martim Moniz station.
We arrived back in Lisbon on New Years Eve for our last night in Portugal. Since we had an early flight we planned on an early dinner at Cervejaria Ramiro. When we got there it was packed with a line overflowing along the sidewalk. We found the end and asked the person in front if they knew what the system was which they did not. It was frustrating because the line wasn't completely organized and we really couldn't figure out if some people were bypassing the line because they were friends with the owner, returning from a smoking break or just cutting the line. We were at the mercy of the system but we knew it would be worth it. After 30 minutes we got through the front door and 20 minutes after that we had a New Years Eve seafood feast.

A great ending to a wonderful trip.

Best wishes to all our family and friends for a happy, healthy and prosperous new year!!!
Corinne, Keith & Elliot

Yucatan, Mexico - September 2009

2009-09-08T13:10:00.009-04:00

For the past five years we have spent the Labor Day weekend in Cozumel, Mexico with family and our good friends. Since we had the entire week free before school began (Elliot is now officially in Kindergarten) we decided to take a few extra days to rent a car and drive around the Yucatan on a Mexican Road Trip. Looking at a map it seemed like a good idea. Rent a car, get out of Cancun as fast as we can and head west toward Merida.

We made hotel reservations and came up with a *very* loose framework of what to see and do. At the time, we didn't realize that the Yucatan Peninsula is really BIG. We landed in Cancun and got through the airport fairly quickly by avoiding all of the time share hawkers. Next stop... the National car rental office. The process, which normally takes five minutes, takes a lot longer in Mexico. In our case it took over thirty minutes to get our car. After a few miles of driving the check engine light came on. Back to the rental center where we were assured that the car was fine and the check engine light is on in all the cars because of emissions issues. Maybe so, but we weren't taking any chances since we had such a long trip ahead of us. Twenty five minutes later we got our second car and headed out to Merida.

Surprisingly, the roads throughout out trip were very easy to navigate and in much better condition than most of the roads in the NY metro area. The highway between Merida and Cancun is a straight, flat and well paved toll road which is traveled by very few people, probably due to the cost which is almost $30 USD for the entire distance.
About half way through out trip we stopped in Valladolid which is the largest town between the two cities and one of the few exits off of the toll road. We headed into town to look for a place for lunch. Above is the main cathedral just off of the Zocalo (town square).
At the opposite end from the Cathedral is a small grouping of restaurants, similar to a food court. Since it was Sunday afternoon most of them were closed. We chose the busiest one and ordered some pork tacos and chicken tortas from the Loncheria El Amigo Casiano. The highlight of our day was a visit to the Cenote Dzitnup (admission about $1.85) for a swim break. We had been in the car for over three hours and this attraction was a recommended to us by a friend in Cozumel as a "Must Do." Our friend was right and words cannot really describe how amazing the site is. After carefully navigating the slippery steps our mouths almost dropped at the site in front of us. Huge stalactites hanging from the ceiling above an enormous pool of cool clear water for swimming. The only problem we had is what to do with our stuff. We had all of our money, passports and scuba gear with us in the car and although everything seemed safe we still had some concerns. The last thing we wanted was to be stuck in the middle of almost-nowhere with nothing. We ended up hiding the passports in the car and taking the wallet and car key with us. The next problem was what to do with them while swimming, so we hid them in Keith's shoes under the insole. 10 minutes later we realized that the key was missing. After rushing out of the water, Keith realized that they key was in his pocket the whole time. Sorry National, but we have no idea why the key remote control stopped working....

The "coco frio" was a good value and yummy treat for $1.48.
It was getting late and we still had a lot of driving ahead of us, so we drove right past Chichen Itza on the way to our hotel. We had some other Mayan ruins planned for later in the week and we rationalized that it was better left untouched on this trip. We drove up the mile long driveway to the Hacienda San Jose which is a restored 18th Century livestock and corn hacienda. Less than 100 years ago, the hacienda encompassed 7000 acres of land but today the remaining 37 acres have been transformed into a hotel.
The hacienda is marketed as a romantic secluded getaway so we wondered if the presence of a 5 year old would bother anyone, but as it turns out we couldn't disturb anyone if we wanted because we were the only guests on the property. Our casita was huge and certainly a destination in it's own right.
We all enjoyed a candlelit dinner outside in the gardens.
The next morning, we woke up early to explore Merida. On the way, we stopped for breakfast at the Panificador el Rey in Tixkokob for some Mexican breads. We knew we would have great food in Merida, so we just needed something to hold us over until lunch..
On the way into the historic center we stopped at a road side cart for some Salbutes (which are basically tacos where the tortillas are lightly fried.)
They call Merida the white city so we expected that the buildings in the historic center would be white. We were a little surprised that almost no buildings were white and the Governor's Palace was green. Later we found out that it is called the white city because of the traditional white clothing that people wore, not the color of the buildings.

We really didn't have a plan for Merida other than to walk around the historic center and head to the market. Since it was close 100 degrees we limited our walking around and headed to the closest market for lunch.
We made a few stops along the way and tried as many new foods as we could including everything from Yucatecan tamales, Tortas al Pastor and the drink above. We suspect that this drink was a dragon fruit, and was delicious.

In the afternoon we headed to another small colonial town called Izamal. We stopped at Casa Izamal which is a small batch distillery. We didn't think anyone was around, but we walked through the loading docks and found two people, one of which was the proprietor Mario Casales who gave us a tour and a tasting even thought we showed up without any notice. Although everything he told us was in Spanish we still got the gist. Above, Elliot is standing on some barrels of rum that still have a few more years to age before they are bottled.

In the laboratory we all got to taste some honey liquor. Fortunately, Elliot didn't like it that much but we thought it was yummy. Definitely worth a detour if you are in the area.

Izamal is one of the largest Mayan pyramids, but unfortunately we got there after closing so we didn't get to climb it. Other ruins from the ancient city are unexcavated and located in homeowners yards. Izamal is known as the yellow city and every building is painted in the same mustard yellow. We had a lovely dinner at Kinich Restaurant and headed back to the hacienda.

We began the next day in Uxmal, a large pre-Columbian ruined city of the Maya civilization. Our guide was excellent and gave us an overview of the city and the various important structures.
Throughout our trip nature was everywhere. We saw dozens of iguanas, thousands of butterflies, too many fish and even a few tarantulas crawling around.

The view is great from the top of the great pyramid at Uxmal. Easily the highest point for hundreds of miles.

On our return through Valladolid we stopped at another Cenote for a swim break but we managed our personal belongings a lot better this time.

Cenote Samula was even more stunning than the first. The cavern was about 60 feet high with a large opening that lets natural light to shine in.

After 1000 Kilometers of driving through the Yucatan it was time to head to Cozumel for the second part of our trip. We reached Playa Del Carmen with ample time to catch the 7pm ferry but we had a few unexpected delays along the way. First we lost the address of the rental car center and nobody seemed to know where it was. Even after getting a map and directions at an Internet cafe we couldn't find it but finally a taxi dispatcher put us in the right direction. We still had enough time to return the car but what should have taken 5 minutes took over a half an hour while they combed over the car searching for new scratches. No problema, they gave us a ride to the ferry terminal and we rushed, "Amazing Race style" sprinting with our gear to the ticket booth, but the next ferry was at 8pm (apparently there was a schedule change).

There are dozens of good restaurants in Playa, but with all of our gear we had to keep it simple so went to gringo central; Senor Frogs. Senor Frogs is a restaurant similar to a TGI Friday's with a mission statement that includes getting tourists drunk until they pass out. We have managed to avoid this place for years, but decided to have a quick bite before the ferry since it was getting late. Surprisingly, the food was not that bad but it was about as Mexican as Taco Bell. Our first night in Cozumel is usually for Tacos. Surprisingly the taqueria is one of the few restaurants that satisfies even the pickiest eaters. Everyone is happy and the bill is beyond reasonable.
The next day opened up a new direction to the trip. Lots of sun, beach and most importantly, no driving. Elliot wants a pet fish and he spent a good deal of time trying to catch one to bring home.

Keith went on a date each morning with Michaela from Liquid Blue Divers (and a dozen or so taxi drivers) at a taco cart just south of the boat marina. Exceptionally fresh fish, octopus, shrimp and stuffed chile tacos were on the menu each day.
As Cozumel veterans we think we know a lot about the island, but we find new things with each visit. We were looking for marquesitas in Merida (a regional Yucatecan treat - flute-shaped crispy sweet wafer traditionally stuffed with Edam cheese) but we didn't see any. Above is a street vendor who has been in the same spot nightly in front of the San Francisco market for the past 15 years. How did we miss this on our previous trips?

We always see great stuff on our dives but these dolphins were something special that we have not seen in Cozumel in over 10 years.

We got in late on Labor Day night and school began the following day at 8:30am. Elliot got just enough sleep to be alert for his first day of Kindergarten. Time to check the school calendar so we can start planning our next adventure.

Corinne, Keith & Elliot

Hawaii - June 2009

2009-06-19T05:01:00.027-04:00

When it comes to travel, each of us has a list of places we want to go, places we would consider going, and places we will go if the price is right. Undeservedly, Hawaii was on the "price is right" list for us since most of the people we know who have been there do little much than sit on the beach. As we found out, our impression of Hawaii was completely wrong.

Fortunately, Continental Airlines offered a round trip airfare of $329 so we HAD to go.

The biggest problem for us was figuring out exactly where in Hawaii to go. Since we barely had five full days, it was challenging to build a trip with a good balance of adventure, education and relaxation that wouldn't run us ragged. Ultimately, we decided to revolve the trip around two "must do's" and let everything else fall into place. Our two "must do's" in Hawaii were the Kiluea Volcano and the The USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor.
After an overnight stop in Honolulu and a short flight, we arrived in Kona. Since we were all a little tired, it only made sense that we go to the Mountain Thunder coffee plantation first. There are many plantations that offer tours, but we chose this one for no other reason that it was the closest to the airport.

First we sampled some yummy coffee and watched a clip from the show Dirty Jobs which showed some "dirty work" that goes into producing organic coffee. After, we got a tour of the sorting, roasting and packing facilities before being led into the gift shop which had a variety of yummy coffee and treats. We were all a fan of the chocolate covered coffee beans which took every ounce of will power to resist.

Elliot, who is a big coffee fan, picked a few beans just for fun.

The coffee plantation was in a cloud forest but back near the coast (just a few miles a way) the weather was hot and sunny. Perfect time for some shave ice which is Hawaii's version of the snow cone. Elliot is holding a small size ice. The large size was bigger than his head.

Keith is a Costco fan and while it may not be a typical tourist destination, we had to visit. Lots of differences from the mainland clubs including this yummy tuna and salmon sashimi sold by the pound.
After a stroll through the town of Kona and some lunch we headed over to our hotel for some relaxation. We chose the Hilton Waikoloa Village because it had the most kid friendly activities of all the Kona hotels. Elliot enjoyed the water slides but he got tossed around too much by some of the larger ones. This one was the perfect size.

For the right price you can have a personal encounter with the dolphins, but we just enjoyed them from the dock.

A hotel Luau with a few hundred people is generally too touristy for us, but the promise of a yummy roasted pig and unlimited drinks made it sound appealing. Keith even got a Hawaiian shirt just for the occasion. We woke up early to see how they prepared the pig.

The chefs showed and explained every step. Here the pig and is placed on banana leaves, rubbed with Hawaiian coarse salt and wrapped in chicken wire.

Then it is placed on top of the smoldering logs & lava rock before being covered with more leaves, wet burlap and eventually buried in sand.

11 hours later the roasted pig is uncovered and ceremoniously carried away to be shredded and served at the luau.

The luau was great and the roast pork was delicious. We were a little suspicious that one pig can serve so many but after a little prodding our waiter admitted that they cook extra in the kitchens. Either way it was great and just to keep the fantasy alive we have assume that the roast pork that we ate actually came from the pig that we saw prepared in the morning.

After a couple of drinks Elliot got a tribal-tattoo.

The best way to experience any place around the world is to get recommendations from the locals. One of our waiters at breakfast mentioned the Akaka Falls in Hilo. He said it was one of his favorite places on the island and that we should stop there if we had time. We took him up on his suggestion since Akaka Falls was on the way to Hilo.
When we got there, it was a quick hike to get to the Falls and we saw some interesting birds and some strange insects that we had never seen before.

We had a 1:00pm reservation with Blue Hawaiian Helicopter for a volcano tour which gave us just enough time for a stop at the Farmers Market for some yummy treats. These Misubis are essentially giant pieces of sushi but made with other meat.
After a safety video we headed out to the tarmac. Those yellow pouches are not filled with Misubis from the farmers market, they're actually emergency life vests.

We got a very close up view of the Puʻu ʻŌʻō cinder cone at the Kiluea volcano but no bubbling towers of lava as you would expect from watching any Hawaii show on TV. Even though its tough to see in the picture, there is a significant amount of lava flow that is coming from this cinder cone.

Lava tubes carry the molten lava mostly underground so it is not that visable from the air. When it meets the water it causes a very violent reaction that causes the water/lava to explode.

Safely back on the ground, Captain Ray helps Elliot exit the helicopter. We all had a great time and it would definitely rate it as one of the top moments from all of our travels.

Our next stop was the Volcanoes National Park but first we had to check out a famous Hawaiian dish called the Loco Moco. It is now served throughout the state but its origins trace back to the the Cafe 100 in Hilo, which just happens to be a few miles from the airport. The dish consists of Japanese rice covered with two hamburger patties, brown gravy and a fried egg. It's a good creation but probably even better as a hangover remedy.

Weren't not sure if it was worth driving up to Volcanoes National Park after our helicopter tour but we are very glad that we did. The park is in a completely different part of Kiluea and the vistas were amazing. In the background is the Halema`uma`u crater.

Keith at the edge of the crater.

At another site in the park we walked through some extinct lava tubes. On the way back up the stairs Elliot fell and got scraped up and very muddy. Here he shows us his leg injury.

We headed back on a flight to Oahu at 8pm and rested up for our last 2 days in Hawaii.

We had a short visit to the Dole Plantation on the to way the North Shore of Oahu. We certainly had fun and it was interesting to learn about pineapple agriculture. Elliot really loved the maze. We even had some super fresh pineapple samples. Yum...

Afterwards, we drove up to the North Shore and had a great lunch at Romy's Kahuku Prawns and Shrimp. Everthing was amazingly fresh and we indulged in some pineapple with li-hing mui as we waited for our lunch. The shrimp are farm raised right beind the shop and probably alive until you order them.
Next up was Matsumoto Shave Ice in Haleiwa. Elliot had a hard time deciding on what flavor to get so, like any kid, he let his eyes do the ordering and chose "Blue, Orange and Green". The colors don't necessarily correspond to the obvious flavor so we were glad he ordered by color so he wouldn't be disappointed.

Just 100 feet away is another shave ice place called Aoki's which had a slightly shorter line so I sent Keith over so we could do a head-to-head comparison with Matsumoto. There is a friendly rivalry between the two and most locals have a specific favorite. They both make their own syrups but differences are insignificant. If you end up here choose the shop with the shortest line.

The Side Street Inn was featured on "No Reservations" so naturally we had to visit for dinner . We enjoyed a number of great dishes, but the kahlua pig "slidahs" were truly a standout.

As we mentioned above, on the must do list was a visit to The USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. We had to wait 90 minutes for our 11:00am tour so we decided to visit the USS Missouri Battleship.

Clearly it was a lot of fun for all of us and Elliot didn't want to leave the ship.

The Arizona Memorial Museum is a powerful tribute to the men who gave their lives on December 7th during the attack on Pearl Harbor. We watched a short film before visiting the memorial which reminded us of the events that led up to the attack and those who served our country.

It was our last day, so we hit the beach in the afternoon before our flight.

Uh Oh, Here comes a big one on Waikiki Beach!

Brace for impact!
WIPE OUT!

We had a wonderful 5 days in Hawaii, and realize that there is so much more to do that we absolutely need to return!

Aloha,

Kolina, Kika & Elioka

Barcelona - April 2009

2009-04-30T10:41:00.005-04:00

One of the biggest challenges when traveling with a child is that they are always changing. In our fifth year of Traveling with Elliot, we can say that every trip has been so different from the perspective of his development. When he was just three months old, traveling was easy. He stayed in his carrier and we just took him everywhere we went but we had to worry about baby formula and diapers. The 12-24 month period was the most difficult because of his new found mobility, but we could still do everything we wanted while he was content in his stroller (and took those long naps while we explored new cities and surroundings). At that age he didn't act any differently based on where we were. Now as five and a half years old, Elliot definitely has ideas of what he likes and dislikes and that can sometimes pose a new challenge in visiting places that may not sound appealing to a pre-schooler. Its all in the marketing :)

When we told Elliot we were off to Barcelona on our next adventure, he asked if we were going there to buy chairs (more on that later)....

There are many reasons to visit Barcelona but our mission was to embrace the culture, food, art, and architecture. The fact that the airfare was relatively low and the weather forecasts were perfect for this time of year was a bonus.

We chose a hotel on Las Ramblas, a pedestrian mall, which leads from Placa Catalunya to the water. Street performers, pet stores, cafes and flower shops line the walkwaysThis pirate got Elliot's attention by rolling a black marble to him as he was walking by. Upon returning the marble to the Pirate, he let Elliot hold his gun and machete for a photo op, but Elliot wanted nothing to do with him. After this day he wouldn't go anywhere near the pirate who was across from our hotel all dayLa Boqueria, a public market was our first stop. It was a coincidence that it was one block from our hotel which made it convenient for breakfast and a few lunches. La Boqueria dates back to 1217, and is filled with vendors and bar/restaurants for a yummy treat or a satisfying meal. Everything in La Boqueria is extremely fresh and artfully arranged. The stall above is selling a variety of cured meats with Jamón ibérico hanging from the ceiling. Jamon Iberico is a cured ham that is found only in Spain and is made from a special breed of pigs. What Kobe Beef is to cattle, Jamon Iberico is to pigs.The entry level jamon sells for about $50 per pound but the finest jamón ibérico comes from free-range pigs that freely roam oak forests and only eat acorns during the latter part of their lives. The hams are then cured for three years and sells for over $100 per pound.Roaming around the market Elliot saw the three little pigs, but in this version of the story he is big bad wolf and there are no brick houses.A little candy on vacation is a very big treat! If only Elliot could decide on which ones to pick!As fans of Mark Bittman, New York Times' columnist and cookbook author, we had to stop at Viena based on his recommendation for the flauta d’ibéric d.o. jabugo, which he called the best sandwich he had ever eaten — a simple, salty masterpiece of crispy bread and lightly cured ham. Mark - you are so right!Our Sunday afternoon outing at Barceloneta, which is a neighborhood bordered by the Mediterranean Sea. There is a sandy beach and boardwalk with many restaurants. After a quick visit to the Aquarium, we selected the most crowded restaurant and had a big feastWe tend to associate paella with Spain. It may not be the dish that Barcelona is known for, but you don't need to taste it to know its going to be good.A shot of apple liqueur is a great finish to any meal (non alcoholic of course).A sign outside Beligious Gelateria listed some of their unusual flavors like parmesan, spinach and black olive. We spent some time talking to the owner and he allowed us to try many of the special flavors that offer. Corinne enjoyed the black olive but I eventually settled on Dulce de Leche. Elliot liked the spinach and bacon flavor but chose the mango because of it's bright color. Plaza Catalunya was a great opportunity for Elliot to feed (and chase) the pigeons. Christopher Columbus pointing toward the "new world."Elliot also exploring and seeking out a new adventure.Güell Park is one of Gaudí's, and Barcelona's,most pleasant and visually stimulating places; it's light and alternately shady, green, floral, and sunny. Named for and commissioned by Gaudí's main patron, Count Eusebio Güell, the park was intended as a hillside garden suburb. We are sure that Gaudi's intent was not to create a rock climbing wall.All the kids wanted to see and touch the lizard. L'Arc de Triompf Our obligatory visit to the zoo which was excellent and located in the center of the city. Elliot got to run around the playground there and do his best Diego impression on the zip line.Bocadillos ready to eat at one of the many bar-restaurants in the marketElliot recently saw Monsters vs. Aliens, and it became a theme for the trip, especially when visiting art museums.For our visit to the Fundació Joan Miró we told Elliot that there would be a lot of monsters and aliens and that we would need his help to identify who was an alien and who was monster. This made him excited to explore the different rooms. Monster or Alien? Art critics won't even touch that discussion but Elliot will definitively tell you that the ball head is an alien because it has only one eye and the other figure is clearly a monster. Wherever we went, we saw preschool and kindergarten aged children on field trips. If we just had an extra blue and red track suit we could have slipped Elliot in undetected, although his Spanish is fairly limited.OK, so we needed to see the original Barcelona chair so we headed to the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion. It is billed as "less is more" study in interlocking planes of white marble, green onyx, and glass and that's all it is. 7 EUR later, we were left wondering what we had paid to see, since we can see them for free at DWR. It definately takes "less is more" to a new level. Elliot was happy that we found them, but was anxious to go get a snack.
Barcelona's most unforgettable landmark, Antoni Gaudí's Sagrada Família. This landmark is one of the most important architectural creations of the 19th to 21st centuries, though it's still under construction. Totally amazing and the pictures don't capture its magnificence.After seeing dozens of cathedrals in Europe and South America it is interesting to see one under construction. They said it will take at least another 20 years before it is complete.We took the elevator to the top of the tower, but took the spiraling stair case leading to the ground level. Elliot did surprisingly well with the descent, which is a good thing because there was no possibility of carrying him down. He noticed that the form of the staircase looked like a snail's shell, and then proclaimed that he wanted snails for dinner, and of course, we indulged him in that request.On our last day we visited Gaudí's Casa Milà, usually referred to as La Pedrera (The Stone Quarry), has a curving stone facade built in 1905. The rooftop chimney park, was so cool and we went on a tour of The Pis de la Pedrera, a restored apartment, which gives a glimpse into the life of its resident family in the early 20th century. We had an audio guide and Elliot listened to the kids version which was a story about a young boy going to visit his friend. The best part was actually the roof top which had sweeping views and beautiful mosaic turrets which encased the vents and stair cases.

We had a great time and really enjoyed our 5 days in Barcelona. The world is a big place, and we have many more places to explore as a family, but I am sure we will be back.

Hasta luego!
Corinne, Keith & Elliot

Bogotá - December 2008

2008-12-30T13:52:00.016-05:00

When we told people we were going to Bogotá, Colombia for our winter vacation, the typical reaction was "isn't it a dangerous place" or "aren't you afraid of being kidnapped?" For as long as we can remember there have been warnings to avoid travel to Colombia, but current reports from travelers say differently. People who have actually been to Bogotá recently have painted a different picture. One of good food, a beautiful city and friendly people. We decided to risk it all and find out for ourselves. (In case you don't read all the way to the end, we made it back home safely).

We had a planned to fly from NJ to Panama, continuing our journey to Bogotá the following morning. We spent the night at the Hotel Riande Aeropuerto in Panama City. It served its purpose but the last renovation was probably.... never? Even with a good dose of mold on the bathroom ceiling we survived and made it to our early morning flight to Bogotá. Unfortunately this is the only airport hotel and given the alternative was a $33 cab ride (30 minutes) each way into the city, it was a good choice.

We arrived in Bogotá at lunchtime and Elliot was introduced to some new foods that he had never seen before. He was a little skeptical of the rainbow colored empanadas so he chose the ham and cheese arepa (a flat cornmeal patty) instead.
No matter how much planning we do, we tend to take the first day pretty easy. We planned to walk around the Candelaria neighborhood, but it started pouring rain 2 minutes after our taxi dropped us off. We tried to wait it out but after 15 minutes of patiently waiting under an awning, we flagged down a taxi and headed to the Museo del Oro to see some ancient treasures. Elliot is just shy of 5 years old and the idea of going to museums not high on his list. In the gold museum we referenced one of his Dora the Explorer books where Dora finds ancient treasure and has to get it to her mother who is an archaeologist . The idea of looking at ancient treasures kept him interested enough and we got through the entire museum. After the museum we strolled around our North Bogotá neighborhood and had some yummy ice cream at Crepes & Waffles. Elliot loved the police Hummer. The next morning, we got an early start and headed towards the Plaza de Bolivar which is the main square in Bogotá. The square, like many others in Latin America is surrounded by a cathedral and government buildings.

Wherever you go in Bogotá, there are police present, especially in parks and tourist areas. There was not a time during our stay, even outside of the tourist areas where we did not feel completely safe.

Vendors sell packets of corn to feed the pigeons around the square. Four tubes were about $.30
The pigeons are certainly not shy and a little aggressive. They will come to the corn if you don't throw it to them. Normally we have a list of restaurants to try but there is limited information on Bogotá dining on the Internet. Some friends had given us suggestions for lunch and dinner, but it was 8am and we were on our own. We followed our senses which led us to a small restaurant called La Puerta Falsa. We shared a tamal, some pastries and chocolate caliente which was one of our most memorable meals of the trip. The next stop was the Botero museum where we had to make it interesting for Elliot. It was a lovely collection of works by Botero and other paintings and sculptures by the likes of Dali, Renoir, Monet, Corot, Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso, Miro, Chagall. Elliot gave each painting a new name. The one above is now called "Pile of Socks" and we can't really disagree.

The "giant high five"!

There are many food carts throughout Bogotá. Many of them sell fruit or fresh fruit juice.

Our next stop was to the top of Monserrate which is the mountain that dominates the eastern edge of the city. There are three ways to the top; hiking, an aerial tram and a funicular. We ruled out hiking for several reasons and chose the funicular to take us to the top.
The peak is over 10,000 feet and offers a spectacular panorama of the city. At the top there is a church and some restaurants.
We tried as many typical Colombian dishes as we could. Above is Sancocho which is a typical Colombian Stew which is made from chicken, corn, yucca, plantains and potatoes.
The primary public transportation system in Bogotá is the Transmillenio bus system. It is a system of buses that operates on it's own dedicated roads and has stations like a subway. The buses are very efficient and inexpensive. The highlight of our trip was the Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá which is located inside a salt mine, about an hour north of Bogotá. Everything inside the mine is carved from salt. There are 14 small chapels that lead to huge caverns with an actual sanctuary. The chambers are amazing but they are difficult to photograph because they are dimly lit.

Elliot, being a normal skeptic had to repeatedly test the walls to see if they were really made of salt.
On the way back from the Salt Cathedral we stopped at Andres Carne de Res which is probably the most famous restaurant in Bogotá, even though it is really not in Bogotá. It is about 30 minutes outside of the city in Chia. We almost decided to skip it but we were very glad we didn't. Aside from yummy food there is a extremely eclectic atmosphere with roaming "performers." Elliot had a good time but he got scared when he thought this alien was trying to take me away. Definitely worth the trip. We had a wonderful time in Colombia and will definitely be back to explore other parts of the country. Do not be dissuaded by past violence in the country. Be low key and alert, as you should be in any city and enjoy. ...Off to Panama.

Panama City - December 2008

2008-12-30T13:50:00.003-05:00

Our airline connections on Copa Airlines took us through Panama so it was an easy decision to take a long stop over there to see the canal and other parts of Panama City. We only had two days, so getting out of the city was not really an option. We didn't know what else was there besides the canal but we figured if we could find enough things to do in Cleveland, then we certainly should be able to in Panama City, "the gateway to Latin America."

The only thing any of us knew about the panama canal was that it was the narrowest part between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and that there were locks to raise and lower ships. That was our first stop so we arranged a private tour with our hotel concierge

There are three sets of locks that ships have to cross. The Miraflores locks are the closest ones to the city (30 minutes) and that is where the visitor center, museum and observation decks are.

The museum describes everything about the canal from the initial planning to the current expansion. One of Elliot's favorite exhibits was the simulator where you can pilot a freighter ship through the locks. It is very realistic to the point where you can feel the ship moving and rocking From the 4th floor observation deck you can get a great view of the locks as well as the countryside.

There is always a backlog of ships waiting to transverse the locks but you still have to wait for them to get there and get hooked onto the trains (aka mules) that help to keep the ship centered in the narrow canal. That only seems to happen every few hours. This ship has about a 15" clearance on each side.

How do you keep a 4 year old interested in waiting around another 30 minutes for a ship to come through the canal? You explain to him that the toy factory in China just sent a shipment of toy cars destined for Target in NJ and we need to look for the container that has them. We showed him the one that said China Shipping and told him that was the one with the toy cars in it. It worked!

Once the ship was in the lock there were a lot of things to keep Elliot's interest.

We were interested in finding what Panamanian food was since neither of us has ever seen nor heard of a Panamanian restaurant. The reason why is that there is not really a defined cuisine. Panamanians we talked to said there were some typical pan-Latin dishes such as Sancocho, aroz con pollo and rice &beans. We were referred to El Trapiche which they said was a typical Panamanian restaurant. The food was simple, cheap and good. We sampled Ropa Vieja, Arroz con pollo and a local grilled fish in addition to some Panamanian beers.

The other main attraction in Panama City is the Casco Viejo which is the original Panama City. Our taxi driver dropped us off at the Inglesia San Francisco de Asis but not before warning us of the "dangerous parts" that we should not walk through. To be honest, the "dangerous parts" did not look that bad but there was nothing particularly interesting that we would want to walk there anyway. One of our seat mates on the return flight reported peeking into a doorway where she heard loud music, chatting with a few people and then being grabbed by a police officer who said that she was walking into a drug den and to get out of the area. Maybe our cab driver was right about those areas.

The interior was typical of the beautiful cathedrals of Latin America.

The rest of the "old city" is.... old. Most of the buildings are in ruins. They are minimally interesting from an architectural perspective but we really did not see anything enchanting in this part of Panama City.

To be fair, there are some buildings that are under renovation and some that have completed restoration which are great examples of colonial architecture. Above is a former hotel that has been gutted and excevated.

The only reason that we can see any interest in walking around this part of the city is that you can get a great view of the new and modern skyline. It is perplexing to us how a city that has tremendous development of luxury condos and income of billions of dollars from the canal can have such a dilapidated historical center. Maybe things will look a lot different 10 years from now or possibly we are not understanding it's appeal. If someone reading this is able to explain it we would love to discuss.

We had a good time in Panama City and enjoyed the canal and it's history but we both felt that the rest of the city was about as interesting as Atlantic City, NJ. A nice facade of glitz but mostly an empty shell. As a stop over on the way to someplace else you will find this a good destination for 24-36 hours.

Edgewater, NJ - June 2008

2008-07-13T20:17:00.006-04:00

Our trip to nowhere....

Edgewater, New Jersey is not your usual travel destination and its not ours either. Actually, it is the town next to ours. We were fortunate that our house sold faster than anticipated, and we found a new house fairly quickly, but the closing dates on the houses did not sync up. So, to bridge the month gap between homes, we decided to stay at the Homewood Suites in Edgewater, NJ. Thoughts of hopping across a continent or two crossed our minds, but due to work obligations we stayed "home."

Elliot was a good sport about the situation and called it our "Home-tel".

Homewood Suites markets it self as "your home away from home" and by the end of our month there we really started to feel like home. Housekeeping kept our room clean every day, no condo maintenance fees, free utilities and free breakfast waiting downstairs every morning is easy to get used to. If we had a full compliment of cable TV channels we would have considered postponing home ownership a little longer. If you should find yourself looking for a hotel in Edgewater, NJ, we would definitely recommend this hotel as it is very well run and the staff is great.

Puebla, Mexico - April 2008

2008-05-06T10:32:00.022-04:00

Actual conversation: (repeated several times, with multiple people)

Where are you going next?
Puebla

Where's that?
Mexico.

Are you going Scuba diving?
No, Puebla is in Central Mexico. It is nowhere near the ocean.

Oh... Then why would you go there?
This is where we have to explain that Mexico is more than beaches and it is blessed with a deep history and culture. Our plan is to visit archaeological sites, eat in the markets, walk around and enjoy one of the oldest cities in North America.

We really are not surprised that most people don't know anything about the country that borders our own. Not that we blame them. Mexico is marketed as a beach resort to Americans and that is what people are familiar with.

We actually had a very loose idea of what we would see and do during our three days there. We had read that Puebla is one of Mexico's culinary hubs so we were very excited to see what they had to offer, but first we had to get there.

The 5 hour flight was a breeze after our 20,000 mile trip back in February. Elliot spent the time playing with toys, watching DVD's and flirting with flight attendants.

Puebla is located about 70 miles from Mexico City, so the easiest way to get there is to fly to Mexico City and take the Estrella Roja bus directly from the airport direct to downtown Puebla.

We checked into the hotel, dumped our bags and headed out for some lunch. Usually you have to tip the hotel bellman, but he actually gave us a tip by sending us to Tacos Tony for lunch. We knew as soon as we saw the three rotating towers of lamb that we were in the right spot.

We know our way around a taco stand, but there were several unfamiliar items on the menu like Tacos Arabes and Tacos Oriental. The Tacos Oriental seemed to be traditional tacos filled with lamb served in a corn tortilla. The Tacos Arabes were amazing … tacos filled with lamb wrapped in a very thin pita bread that was the size of a small tortilla. You could also get them with “Gine” Sauce… which we later learned was “Tahini”. This region had a large Lebanese immigration during the early 1900's and it clearly left a strong influence.

Lunch was great but it was time for a treat. Before lunch we spotted this vendor selling frozen treats (both Nieves and Helados) outside the church next to our hotel. We really don't know if these were homemade but they were delicious and the flavors are not your usual Baskin Robbins flavors. Beso de Angel and Tequila were our favorites.

Elliot digs into the Mango!!!

In almost all of the cities and towns in Mexico are set up around a center square called the Zocalo. The Zocalo is surrounded by the town hall, cathedral, restaurants and shops.

Puebla is a beautiful colonial city that is very charming. The streets are safe and people are very friendly.

The weather was great so we ended our first day by taking a city tour around Puebla. We recommend this for any city because it really helps get a perspective of where things are in the city as well as pointing out the highlights.

On Sunday, our plan was to visit Cholula to see the pyramid, and but we had to start our day off right with the Mexican breakfast of champions - tamales from the first vendor we saw. We didn't think Elliot would really enjoy a spicy tamal so we ordered him a tamal dulce en torta (sweet tamal on a roll). It was red, fluffy and delicious so Elliot called it a cake sandwich.

Next we stopped for a "super sized" orange juice from the corner shopping cart before continuing on to the bus station for our trip to Cholula.

Cholula (no relation to the hot sauce) is a small city outside of Puebla. It s famous for its pyramid which is actually one third larger than the great pyramid of Giza in Egypt. Construction started about 200 BC and it took centuries to complete. Unfortunately most of the pyramid has not been excavated or restored.

At the top sits the Inglesia de Nuestra Senora de los Remedios which was built in 1594 on the site of a pre-Columbian temple. It was explained to us that the church prevents restoration and exploration of the original pyramid complex.
Inside the pyramid there are over 5 miles of tunnels that have been uncovered by archaeologists.

The size is a perfect fit for a 6' 200lb post-Columbian tourist.

We were all quite hungry after climbing the pyramid so we headed out to the mercado. Just like the Zocalo, most towns & cities have at least one central market that is the hub for everything from food to electronics. Even before we even knew what these women were making we knew that it would be good because people were lined up 3 deep around them. These women have been doing this for years and could very well be the inventors of the breakfast burrito.

A double flour tortilla stuffed with chorizo, egg, potato and chili. We all shared it since it was our second breakfast of the day. It was fantastic!

We wandered around exploring every aisle. The market here was the best we have ever been to because it had good balance of food vendors, it was not too crowded and it was the perfect size that Elliot could walk the entire complex and not get tired.

These stacks of meat are called cecina. It is beef that is pounded thin and salted. This vendor was able to cook up a small piece on their charcoal grill so we could try some. Much like Costco on a Saturday afternoon, the vendors are very proud of their foods and were offering samples of vegetables, meats and cheeses.

Once back in Puebla we explored the Mercado Venustiano Carranza which was across from the bus station. This housed El As Del Oro which is famous for Cemitas. It was recommended in Food and Wine magazine but more importantly, our taxi driver had a big grin when he recommended it to us.

A cemita is an overstuffed sandwich on fresh crusty sesame roll. The one above is made with roast pork, avocado, cheese, onions, red chilies and papalo which is an herb similar to cilantro.

The sandwich was too large for Elliot so we made him a mini-cemita

We had fun all day but we wanted to reward Elliot with something special that night. Keith tracked down some tickets for the Playhouse Disney tour and he got to enjoy "the real" Little Einsteins and Handy Manny. We don't think Elliot really cared that it was in Spanish. Even so, Meeska Mooska Mickey Mouse is the same in every language.

It may appear that all of our trips are well planned in advance and everything goes perfectly according to plan. The truth is that we usually have no more of a loose framework for the trip with a few "must-sees." One thing that we didn't realize is that many museums and attractions are closed on Monday so much of this day was filled with or second choice attractions. The Museo del Automóvil had about 40 cars and looked more like someone's personal collection than a museum. Our favorite was this 50's era Mexican police car.

Puebla's Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception is the tallest in Mexico with towers that stand over 225 feet high. We only learned after returning home that we could have climbed one of them.

The cathedral took over 100 years to complete and the main altar was based on Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome.
We were walking around some side streets on our way to lunch when the smell of fresh baking bread led got our attention. We found a door open to this commercial bakery but it was Elliot's presence that got us an inside tour. Sadly, there were no free samples.

Lunch at La Abuelita. There is rarely anything better than "grandma" food but we didn't see any “grandmas” in the kitchen. Fresh warm bread was served with ripe avocado and queso fresco.
Mole poblano which is the dish that Puebla is most famous for and we almost left without having it. It was fantastic, and not to be missed. They say that the best moles are found in people homes, so if anyone wants to invite us back to Puebla to sample their mole, we are up for the trip!
On the return to Mexico City we got a good view of Popocatepetl which is the second highest Volcano in North America. It is currently active and you can see smoke puffing from its cone. The mountain to the right is Iztaccíhuatl.

A good time was had by all in Puebla and we definitely would go back. The people are nice, the food is great and there are tons of things to do for everyone, even without scuba diving.

Hasta Luego.

Complete expenses for our trip:

We posted this because we wanted to show that a great vacation does not need to break the bank. We did benefit from a great fare on Continental from Newark to Mexico City but that is why we chose to go here at this time. Most of our trips are opportunistic and take advantage of discounted airfares or award tickets.
Even if we paid the average rate on that route and stayed a couple of extra days we still would have been under $2000 for the entire vacation.

Singapore - February 2008

2008-03-08T11:00:00.004-05:00

We have been looking forward to visiting Singapore for a long time, but recently our desire was heightened even more by watching an episode of No Reservations on the Travel Channel. For those who don't know, Anthony Bourdain, the host, visits different places in the world highlighting the food. Singapore was recently featured and it confirmed what we already knew. That Singapore was a food lovers paradise.

Singapore is a city state that has a diversity in it's population that is reflected in it's food. Mostly the people are of Chinese descent but there are also a significant population of Malay and Indian people.

Much like our experience in Amsterdam, the Singapore airport is really a shopping plaza disguised at an airport. Since it was later in the day we, were in no rush to get to our hotel. As we strolled around the airport, we stumbled upon the foot massage station which Elliot took full advantage of. On our return through the airport he specifically asked if we could find it again.
Singapore is a very affluent city state that has more high end eating establishments that anyone could ever want, but the best food in our opinion, is located in hawker centers which are open markets of independent food vendors. These centers are spread throughout the city and can contain more than a hundred independent vendors. They are typically "mom & pop" operations that focus on one specialty item or a variety of similar foods. You might think that they would be dirty or unsanitary places, but the hawker centers in Singapore are all highly regulated by the government and they are likely cleaner and more hygienic than any home town eatery.

Fortunately for us our hotel was only a 5 minute walk from one of these centers. We took a short-cut through the metro station and we surprised that at night it became a break dance practice area because of the wide open space and smooth marble floors. Elliot was inspired by these excellent dancers and tried to bust out a few moves of his own, with little success.
The Makansutra Gluttons Bay is a small, relatively new food center that features about a dozen stalls that were specifically selected by the Makansutra food guide, the Michelin Guide of hawken food. Like kids in a candy store, we were overwhelmed and wanted to try everything. That was not possible, but we did try a wide variety of yummy foods. One of our favorite dishes that night was Mee goreng. Mee goreng is a local Indian dish made from Fried noodles, chili paste, mutton, peas, tomatoes with an egg and chicken wing thrown in as a bonus. If anyone knows were to find this dish in the NY metro area, please contact us immediately!!!

The satay was the best we have ever had. Those white chunks are made from rice flour and taste like big noodle chunks.

Everyone was happy at Gluttons Bay that night. One unique thing about all Singapore food centers is that they do not provide napkins. You either have to bring your own or buy them from separate vendors. These satay were easy to eat and helped to keep Elliot clean.

It is hard to explain how good the food was but if that first meal was the only one we had in Singapore we would have still been happy. Fortunately we had 3 more days.

We started off the next day at the Singapore Zoo which has a reputation of being one of the best zoos in the world. After visiting we would have to agree. There is a lot more that makes a good zoo than just animals.

This Siamang was literally over our head. In other parts of the zoo, Orangutans were similarly right over you and actually appear that they are free roaming.

Elliot tried to escape to Australia!
The Asian elephant demonstration was respectful of the animals and showcased their skills and how they were once used in the logging industry. It was also hilarious. The host that had us laughing the entire time. Fortunately we avoided getting the full blast of the water during this part of the show.

After the zoo we headed out to Chinatown where we looked for some more yummy treats.

We were entertained by dragons on the last day of Chinese New Year. It is obvious that dragons like the same foods we do.

The Buddha Tooth Relic Temple is only a few years old but it was built to resemble the architecture of the Tang Dynasty. The Buddha Tooth Relic is said to be an actual tooth of the Buddha. After Buddha was cremated, his four canine teeth were taken from the ashes. Today these teeth are regarded as the holiest relics of Buddhism. The original is said to be in Sri Lanka and some people are skeptical that the one in Singapore is genuine.

Inside the museum is a 11 foot high gold stupa that contains the tooth relic. The Stupa is made from 600 pounds of solid gold that was donated by individuals in the community.

If Singapore has a national dish it is the chili crab (in the background) which is made from Sri Lankan hard shell crabs served in a thick chili gravy. The one above is the black pepper crab which is the same crab with a peppery coating. They are both delicious but very messy to eat.

Above is an ERP (Electronic Road Pricing) program which charges drivers when they go into the central business zone during certain times. Each car, truck, bus or motorcycle must have a reader in it and is automatically billed if it crosses that line during certain times. This is very similar to a program that is currently proposed to manage traffic here in New York.

This Singapore edition of Shape Magazine is almost identical to the version sold in the US but this edition has an article on 'smart hawker food' instead of the 'smart fast food' in the US edition.

We spent our last full day in Singapore attending the Singapore Air Show which is the largest air show in Asia. We weren't sure what to expect since most of the information available is for the aerospace industry. The only thing we knew for sure was that there would be an aerobatic show in the afternoon.

The first outside exhibit was a showcase of some Singapore military equipment and we needed to head indoors quickly to escape the brutal heat.

The air show is mostly a trade show for anyone involved in purchasing equipment or supplies related to aeronautics. Airbus was there hoping to generate interest for its A380 Super Jumbo, as well as their other products.

ST Engineering was there highlighting its Terrex AV81 armoured fighting vehicle as well as a full range of other weapons and vehicles.

Elliot seemed to be a little claustrophobic in the personal carrier.

Rocket launchers for helicopters were also available.

You've tried the rest, now try the best. Supersonic cruise missile that is.

There was a C130 flight simulator which we were able to fly for a few minutes. We could have flown longer but we had an "incident." Good thing it was only a simulator.

The Airbus A380 Super Jumbo was one of the main attractions at the show. This plane is so big that it makes a 747 look like Barbie's Dream Jet. Unfortunately we didn't have any connections to get an inside tour.

Elliot got to meet some of the pilots at the show.

This photo highlights one of the biggest mistakes of our trip. You may notice Elliot looking happy and cool under this USAF fighter. You may also notice a large puddle that he is sitting in. This turned out to be some type of fuel or fluid that turned Elliot's hands, shoes and pants black like the inside of a charcoal grill. We cleaned him up the best we could but for the rest of the day he was a mess.

As promised, the Black Knights, F-16 pilots from the Singapore Air Force put on quite an impressive aerobatic display for the crowd in the afternoon.

After the air show we headed out to the Maxwell Food Center in search of Hainanese Chicken Rice, specifically from this vendor. This is one of the most famous food stalls in all of Singapore and there are lines here all day. For decades all they have been selling is boiled chicken and rice. It sounds plain but trust us, it is delicious.

There is nothing fancy or magical about this dish. There are no special sauces, just simple preparation that lets the natural taste of the food shine through.

Back to the Zoo that evening for the famous Singapore Night Safari. At night the zoo is completely transformed to showcase the activities of nocturnal animals.

You could walk through the dark trails but most people just take the trams. Everything is kept dark and the trams move slowly through the night. We were able to see many animals active at night which are usually sleeping during the day.

We had a great time in Singapore, but Elliot is worn out from all of the action and the food. Time to head for Phuket, Thailand for some relaxation on the beach.

Jumpa lagi

Corinne, Keith & Elliot

Phuket - February 2008

2008-03-04T07:43:00.000-05:00

To most people, the idea of sitting on a beach in the sun for a few days is the very definition of a perfect vacation. To us it is actually stressful because we can't just relax and unwind. A city vacation for us is exciting. We really enjoy exploring new places, meeting new people and experiencing new cultures. It is unlikely that sitting on a beach would ever be our first choice for a vacation, but if we were going to bring Elliot across the globe, it was the least we could do for him. We selected Thailand because we knew that we liked the Thai people, food and culture.

When we first arrived at the Sheraton Grand Laguna we thought that we would not stay here for the full three days. The place was huge and although connected to other resorts, it was completely isolated from the rest of the island and Thai culture. We decided to make the best of it and just try to enjoy it.

Since we arrived in the evening, we really couldn't evaluate where we were. The next morning we enjoyed the hotel breakfast and on our way back to our room we were greeted by the hotel elephants, Lilly and Lucky. They are both baby Asian elephants who like to play, tease and tickle.They also like to give elephant kisses.
Elliot was the perfect size to ride Lilly around the gardens.

After that we headed to the beach for some normal relaxation. Although we did not think it would happen, we all stayed at the beach the entire first day and had a great time. Even though we were at the resort, we learned that the beach in either direction was lined with small family run Thai shops and restaurants.

On our second day we headed to the Siam Safari elephant camp for an elephant trek through the jungle. First we headed up the mountain in some vintage Land Rovers.
We rode in a pack through some mountain trails guided by our mahoot.

After our trek we got a basket of fruit to feed our elephant. She was very happy with the pineapple, sugar cane, watermelon and bananas.

This is clearly a staged photo but is not every day that you get to sit on a water buffalo.

We were running out of clean clothes by this part of the trip so we sent out most of or clothes to a local laundry. Even our underwear came back neatly ironed and folded.

Phuket is an island that ranges from small isolated beach towns to a full throttle party city called Patong Beach. We felt the need to check it out, even though several people said we wouldn't like it. They were right, Patong had a spring break atmosphere and was very crowded. Fortunately we were there when most of the people were still sober.
The local Muy Thai kickboxing promotes itself with this mobile kickboxing ring. I would hate to get knocked out of this ring.

Each day Lilly and Lucky would make their way down to the beach for some fun in the sand.

Elliot's new friend Philip from Copenhagen. Somehow he was able to teach Elliot about Pokemon even though he did not speak English, nor did Elliot understand Danish.

We always try to stay away from hotel restaurants and with the exception of breakfast, we had all of our meals from the independent beach restaurants. At this restaurant all of the seafood is alive until you order it. It really can't be any fresher than this.

The Thai lobster in spicy chili sauce was extremely spicy and delicious.

Our trip is almost over. Time to head for the airport for our return to Hong Kong and our final stop on our Asia adventure.

Sawatdee
Corinne, Keith & Elliot

Hong Kong - February 2008 (Part 2)

2008-03-03T04:35:00.021-05:00

We are finally down to the last two days in Hong Kong. So far our trip has gone according to plan... no sickness, delayed flights or other problems.

We got back into Hong Kong late in the evening so we chose to stay near the airport again and commute into the city as necessary. The subway system in Hong Kong is extremely fast and the trip to Central takes less than 30 minutes.

Since we only have two full days left we planned to start in the early day to pack all we could. Elliot is facinated with transportation so we made it theme of the day, headed straight to the Peak Tram for a trip up to the top of Victoria Peak.

After an obligatory photo with a wax statue of Bruce Lee we headed outside to check out the view.
At the top of the peak is an observation deck that provides panoramic view of Hong Kong and Kowloon. Unfortunately, it is smog covered most of the time so getting a clear view is a rare thing.
The #15 bus was our way back down the mountain and let us just a few blocks from Maxim's Palace at City Hall. We were in a rush because if we didn't get there before noon the wait for a table could be well over an hour. Fortunately there was no traffic and no wait.

Dim Sum is a traditional lunch where all foods are served from roaming trolleys, usually containing several items each. For kids it is great because the portions are small and they can pick out what they want by just pointing at it. We love this place and it was on our must-eat list.

Continuing with our transportation theme, we took a ride to Kowloon on the Star Ferry before heading back to Tung Chung for our cable car trip to see the Giant Buddha.

The trip takes about 25 minutes and travels about 3.5 miles over the Tung Chung Bay and hills of Lantau Island.
This is the best way of getting to Lantau Island to see the Giant Bronze Buddha.

We all climbed the 268 steps to get to the top but Elliot got a ride for some of it.
For dinner we followed a tip that we got from a guy in an Internet Cafe. He sounded credible, so we took his advice and headed back into Central to Tsim Chai Kee. They only make one thing which is wonton soup and the restaurant was packed so we knew it would be great. We got the last two seats at a table with some locals and enjoyed the best noodle soup we had on the trip (mind you, we had lots of noodle soup on this trip).

People who know us, know that we are very anti Disney Parks . Although we were both there as kids, we have intentionally avoided taking Elliot there. The idea of being captive at the park, paying exorbitant prices for ordinary items and repeatedly waiting in lines with a four year old just does not seem appealing. For that reason we have chosen to travel anywhere in the world as long as it's not Disney. Since Hong Kong Disney Land was only 10 minutes from our hotel we decided to see what it was all about.

Somehow, Elliot already knows all about Disney world, even though we have never spoken about it to him. It is for that reason, that we decided to take the Hong Kong MTR on our last day in Hong Kong to visit the Hong Kong Disney Resort.

We only had to go two stops on the subway from our hotel and it would be hard to get on the wrong train. The trains run from the regular subway station and are fully decked out with mouse windows, mouse hand holds, statues of Disney figures and velour couches instead of molded seats.

Elliot really liked the Dumbo ride, but he wanted to fly higher.

We were surprised that he chose this as his favorite ride in the park.

One of the best things about that day was that there were absolutely no lines on any ride including Space Mountain. On the tea-cup we were the only people on the ride.

You could easily forget that you are on the other side of world, but there are some clues. This ice cream stand not only has the standard mouse bar, but also red bean, green tea milk and blackcurrant jelly bars.

A dim sum lunch with dumplings and roast goose is probably not something you would eat in Orlando. The restaurant was run by Maxim's so we knew that lunch would be great.

Elliot thought he was a great driver but it was quite a rough ride on Autotopia.

At Tomorrow Land, Elliot was introduced to Buzz Lightyear.
He shot lots of Zergs to help save the universe so everyone is now safe. Since there were no lines we got to ride several times.
We were planning on taking to see Lion King on Broadway later this year but the 45 minute Lion king show was so good that we are going to save the $500 and apply it towards airfare for another trip.

We had a great two weeks on our trip through Asia and we even have to confess that Disney was great. We even got the official mouse photo and Elliot is no longer scared of characters.

It's time to start thinking about our next trip but Disney World in Orlando is still not on the list.

Corinne, Keith & Elliot

Hong Kong - February 2008 (Part 1)

2008-02-24T15:30:00.006-05:00

Corinne and I have not been back to Asia since we were in Thailand and Vietnam five years ago. We have been wanting to go back ever since, but we felt that if we were going to take Elliot so far away, we would need to take more than our usual 4-7 day trip. Some fortunate circumstances developed that allowed us to both take two weeks off, and immediately we began to plan our return to Asia. Even though Elliot has been a fantastic traveler for the past four years, we were uncertain how this trip would affect him. Sixteen hour flights and 12 hour time changes are difficult for everyone, and we knew that they would be equally challenging for a four year old. Even with those concerns, we had to go given the opportunity.

Selecting our destinations was difficult because we wanted to go everywhere. We ended up planning this trip the way we plan most of our trips. Plan around the food first and everything else second. That would naturally take us to Singapore because their culture seems to revolve around food more than any other place in the world, and probably back to Vietnam since we have a real love of the cuisine. Even though Elliot enjoys our trips we felt that it would only be fair to try to schedule in a few days at the beach to give him, and us, a break from running around.

Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia were all on our list of other places to go but trying to figure out the best way to see as much as possible, given our limited time frame was not easy. We eventually settled on a routing that would take us directly from New York to Hong Kong and from there we figured out an itinerary that would allow us all direct flights to Hanoi, Singapore, Phuket and back to Hong Kong. Total trip time is scheduled for 15 days with 6 flights and over 20,000 flying miles. To put that in perspective, on CBS' Amazing Race the teams fly less than 30,000 miles during the entire race.

Looking at a map, you may think that flying west would be the quickest route but the best way is to actually fly over the North Pole and then through Siberia and Mainland China.

Neither of us were looking forward to the 16 hour flight to Hong Kong but we have flown close to that before so figured that everything would be OK. We loaded up on DVD's, books, snacks and toys to make sure that we would have everything that we could possibly need during this long flight.

Since we had an early morning flight to Hanoi we booked a room at the Citygate Hotel. This was the most modern, well designed hotel room that we have ever stayed in. To top it off it was attached to a premium outlet mall. No shopping for us since we got in a little late but at least the food court was open.

This was not your typical food court with McDonalds, Taco Bell and Pizza. Instead it was set up as a village of a dozen or so mini restaurants selling a variety of street foods from different Asian countries. We all shared some Won Ton noodle soup from the noodle place and beef randang and some fishball/tofu soup from the Malaysian restaurant.

Our time here in Hong Kong is short but we will be back for a few days before we return home. Next stop... Hanoi

Joi gin
Corinne, Keith & Elliot

Hanoi, Vietnam - February 2008

2008-02-23T16:07:00.026-05:00

Our 1:45pm flight to Vietnam was quick and we arrived a few minutes early. The weather was cool and overcast and it remained that way for our three days here. We got a taxi and headed straight to our hotel.

It was almost lunch time when we arrived so we headed out for lunch. A posting on Chowhound.com suggested going to Tong Duy Tan street which was a street with many restaurants and stalls. Before heading out we checked with the hotel staff for some directions and advice. We got a map, along with a warning about getting sick (which we of course, disregarded). One thing about staying at higher end hotels is that it is hard to get real recommendations from hotel staff about where to eat like locals do. Sometimes we can coax an answer out of them by asking where they eat with their friends after work, but other times it is no use and they only recommend dining establishments consistent with the star level of the hotel.

On Tong Duy Tan street we found a vendor selling Bun Cha from a small mobile restaurant. Bun Cha is a dish that is exclusive to Northern Vietnam and available only during lunch. The dish consists of charcoal grilled pork patties, fish sauce broth, some lettuce and noodles. Like many Vietnamese dishes, a few simple, fresh ingredients are all you need. The price for this fantastic lunch for two came to 88,000 Dong ($5.15) and that included some spring rolls, a coke and two large Vietnamese beers. This was a very nice change, especially coming off our trip to Brussels where for $5.15 you could barely buy a snack.

On the way home from lunch we decided to take a cyclo back. On his urging, the three of us jammed into his "ride" and we sped off. Well, not really speeding anywhere but he was able to at least maintain forward momentum. We felt bad for this guy who had to push all three American sized bodies and himself on his bicycle, but he decided to triple the fare upon arrival, our sympathy disappeared fairly quickly.

It impossible to describe the way that the traffic moves through the streets in Vietnam. On the roads you have a combination of cars, buses, trucks, bicycles, pedestrians and cyclos all moving at different speeds. If there are traffic laws, nobody follows them and everyone basically does what they want. There are at least traffic lights to help you cross the street at large intersections but you can never depend on vehicles stopping for them. There is no fast or slow lane and drivers their horns constantly to alert people that they are coming and to get out of the way.

The video above was taken from our Cyclo trip home. From here you can see that the driver crosses and drives right through the oncoming traffic without taking into consideration what is coming at him or us.
Who wants to be a millionaire? The exchange rate is about 15,000 Dong to 1 USD so by changing $100 we got over 1.5 million Dong in return.
For dinner we went to Quan An Ngon restaurant. We really like what the owner did, which was to assemble the best of the best street food, it and put all the best vendors together under one roof in a very clean restaurant setting. The selection was great and the quality of the food was very high. The prices reflected the setting, where we paid 3x what it would cost on the street. This was our most expensive meal and about $14 including beer.

One of the great things about traveling with Elliot is that it breaks down barriers and gives us the opportunity to meet people and gain more insight to the local culture. People all over Hanoi would look, stare , touch him and sometimes grab him. It was like traveling with a celebrity. When we were out for dinner one night, Elliot was playing with his cars and a few curious boys would come over, peek, run back to their table and repeat the cycle until one a courageous kid came over to play with Elliot for a few minutes.

We started our next day at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. The main attraction is the very deceased ex-president of Vietnam laid out in a glass case for everyone to see. Before getting in to the complex you must go to a security checkpoint where cameras and other contraband are sequestered until you leave. They have a complicated system where your item is put into a special bag, checked into a room, and transferred to the exit for your return. We were surprised, however that Elliot's bag of toy cars fit into that category, and were confiscated at the x-ray machine, and we were told to return to collect them. We thought for sure that they would vanish and become a present for some worthy 4 year old Vietnamese boys, but we were wrong. They toys there waiting for us when we returned.

The magnificent Presidential Palace is located on the grounds. It was built in 1906 for the Governor of Indochina and is used only for special government functions today.

This is the One Pillar Pagoda which was built to resemble a lotus blossom floating on the water. The original was built almost a thousand years ago but the French destroyed it in 1954 during their retreat, apparently out of spite. This reproduction is not completely faithful to the original but it is still heavily visited by women from all over the country who are praying to have a son.

We came to the central market looking for food, but we found really bad knock off handbags instead.
...and shoes
Women carrying around products on bamboo shoulder poles is a common site around the city. The poles allow everything to be balanced and carried more easily, while at the same time keeping one hand free. Produce, flowers, cooked food and live chickens are just a few of the things that are carried and sold in this way. The best meal we had in Hanoi was at Cha Ca La Vong. This restaurant only makes one thing which is grilled fish. For 90,000 dong ($5.40) you get an amazing meal.

The fish is presented on a mini charcoal grill and you cook it yourself. First add in some herbs.

cook and stir for a few minutes to bring out the flavor

Then assemble by combining some noodles, fish/herb mixture, peanuts and fish sauce and enjoy. Our only regret was that we didn't return to this restaurant before we left.

Who needs a mini van? Here a family of four gets around so comfortably on a scooter.

This guy and his female business partner are sell a wide variety of merchandise from this traveling scooter store. Books, clothes, scarves in all sizes and colors are available. We thought we would get rid of the by asking for clothes in Elliot's size but he magically pulled out several shirts in a wide array of colors. We bought one t-shirt because you have to respect a businessperson with inventory on a scooter.

People in Vietnam are HARD working and are very serious. I don't know what she is carrying but it can't be easy
On our last night we went to the Water Puppet Theater. We had minimal expectations because the idea of a puppet show put on by puppeteers standing in waist deep water sounded a little goofy. We were wrong. It was very interesting and entertaining as the show depicts the daily activities in Vietnamese rural life as well as some ancient legends. We learned that this art form originated over a thousand years ago and they were originally held in flooded rice paddies. It was very well done and all of our expectations.

Only a few hours left in Hanoi, we headed out for breakfast on back streets of the French Quarter. The breakfast of choice throughout Vietnam is Pho, a noodle soup served with meat. Our favorite is Pho Tai which is rare beef that cooks in the hot broth.

Elliot slurps up some noodles and works on his chopstick technique.

We continued walking around and outside of a school kids were lined up to buy these from a vendor. No clue what was inside the crunchy exterior, but it was yummy.

The last stop was the Loa Lo Prison or the "Hanoi Hilton" as it was know to American soldiers during the Vietnam war. It was originally built by the French colonists in Vietnam for political prisoners who were tortured or executed by the French.

The original main gate to the complex. Today only a fraction of complex remains because most of the prison was demolished to make way for a new high rise complex.

These steel doors lead to the solitary confinement cells. Elliot was clearly frightened and wouldn't go into some parts of the building.

John McCain's flight suit is still on display. I wonder if he asked for it back when he visited the prison in 2000.

We enjoyed Hanoi but it is time to head out to the airport. Next stop... Singapore

Gặp lại sau nhé

Corinne, Keith & Elliot

Amsterdam, Netherlands - December 2007

2008-01-01T07:05:00.002-05:00

Sometime back in August we had visions of beer, chocolate and frites in our heads so we decided to head to Brussels for our winter trip. Europe is always a good choice for us because the airfare is reasonable and the masses always head in the opposite direction. We booked our trip and we were set.

A few months later Continental Airlines called and informed us that our outbound, Christmas Eve flight was canceled and that they changed our departure to the next day. We really didn't want to lose a day of our vacation so we suggested that they rebook us on the Amsterdam flight and we would find our own way to Brussels. This worked out great for us since we were thinking of a side trip to Amsterdam anyway.

Strong tail winds got us to Amsterdam almost an hour early. The Schiphol airport is actually a fully functioning city with a train station, supermarket, museum, 3 casinos and a shopping mall. It seems to be a great place to have your flight canceled or delayed. We were disappointed that we would be flying out from a different airport.

There were two things that Elliot liked a lot. The first was the highly detailed Lego airport that had him mesmerized. He asked if we could buy it and take it home...

The second was the Planes@Plaza store which is built around an actual DC-9 cockpit and cabin interior. After about 10 minutes of playing and taking photos in here we were ejected. As it turns out the cockpit photos are sold by the store and personal photography is not permitted. I think we did a good enough job and they were free.
We took a train from the airport to Amsterdam Central Station and decided to walk to the hotel which was about a half mile away. It was about 9:00 am, Christmas morning, and the streets were deserted. As it turns out even during peak periods the streets are very tranquil compared to most capital cities. We stayed at the Hotel Pulitzer which was converted from 25 separate 17th & 18th century canal houses. In the afternoon we visited the Anne Frank House a few blocks away from the hotel along the same canal.
The architecture and layout of Amsterdam is amazing. Most buildings are not taller than four or five stories and the extensive canal system was dug by hand in the 17th century.
The stairs inside the houses are so steep and narrow that the houses were built with pulleys on the gables so people moving in or out can hoist their furniture and goods up and through the windows.
Over the centuries Dutch explorers and traders brought back recipes and exotic spices -- and the popular Indonesian rijsttafel (rice table), a feast of different small dishes eaten with plain rice. The dishes consisted mostly of different meats and vegetables arranged in order from spicy to very spicy. It was on our "must-eat" list for Holland and it did not disappoint.

Fireworks at the table are always a big hit with kids.

The Dutch also love pancakes and they can be found everywhere. They are more like a crepe than an American pancake. The menu had about sixty different variations but the one above had bananas, coconut and sugar. Truth be told, all three of us prefer fluffy diner pancakes.

No family trip is complete without a trip to the zoo. Established in 1838, the Artis Zoo and Aquarium is the oldest zoo in the Netherlands and houses more than 6,000 animals.

Here Corinne is talking to the Ostrich about our dinner plans...

The zoo also has a small planetarium. What better place to take a picture with a NASA spacesuit than in Amsterdam.

Time for lunch, again in search of the "best" Falafel sandwich. (See the theme from earlier posts). Keith liked this version a lot because of the large slabs of feta cheese that they mixed in.

After lunch, we headed over to the Van Gogh Museum. The key to visiting an art museum with a pre-schooler is to stuff him with lunch and hope he falls asleep while visiting the galleries. He successfully found Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" and passed out. We were able to enjoy the art and some beers at the cafe before he woke up.

In one of the episodes of the Amazing Race TV show, the participants had to find a specially marked bike among thousands of bikes and ride it 5 miles. We found the bikes but decided to take a canal boat tour instead.

Elliot really loved this tour. He was completely entertained for the full 60 minutes.

As always, he made a new friend who works in the Thai embassy. Elliot told him about his upcoming trip to Thailand in February.

After a "high five" to the Captain we headed out for dinner.

The Central Station at night.

Knowing our dinner plans, Corinne told the Ostrich at the zoo that she may be hungry later (ha ha ha). We ate at a great restaurant called De Struisvogel which translates to "The Ostrich." It was absolutely delicious and of course Elliot could not get enough. The full menu was great and the place was lovely.

A quick trip to the flower market which was totally overrated. We made a special trip there but we realized that we were right around the corner from it the day before when we were eating falafels. As you could expect, it is mostly a tourist kind of place that, in addition to flowers, sells a lot of junk.

Sephardic Jews fleeing Spain and Portugal during the 16th and early 17th centuries established a neighborhood east of the center known as the Jewish Quarter. In 1665, they built an elegant Ionic-style synagogue within an existing courtyard facing what's now a busy traffic circle. It remained untouched during the war and is still functioning today.

Amsterdam was so much fun but it was time to continue our adventures in Belgium ....

Brussels, Belgium - December 2007

2008-01-01T06:42:00.000-05:00

After a short train ride we found ourselves in the Capital of the European Union, Brussels. We were very excited to arrive, mainly for the culinary treats.

Many cities have foods that are the heart of the city and its people. New York has bagels, pizza, hot dogs and doughnuts. Buenos Aires runs on gelato, wine, beef and dulce-de-leche. Brussels runs on moules, waffles, frites and chocolate. Our goal for this trip was to seek out the best of Brussels' four food groups.

After a short walk from the train station we arrived at our hotel. It was about 5:00 pm and Elliot was nice enough to fall asleep in his stroller. This was a great opportunity to enjoy some beer at the hotel bar. The bar was exactly the way Keith likes it, quiet with big comfy couches so we could relax. Like clockwork, Elliot would nap in his stroller each night around the same time so we were able to visit different cafes.

The exchange rate is 1.5 dollars to the Euro. Many establishments are nice enough to put alcohol percentages on the menu so you can easily calculate the Euro to alcohol ratio to assess the best value. It's best to do this before you start drinking.

When Elliot woke up he was thrilled to be in Brussels and immediately swiped the beer off of the table. Fortunately we were able to negotiate it back by offering a handful of peanuts.

On our first night we made our way to Chez Léon which is famous for their Mussels. Mussels or moules are the national dish of Belgium and are in season from September to February. Most of the mussels in Belgium come from the North Sea, off the coast of the Netherlands.

Elliot loves mussels are couldn't wait to dig in. He ate the entire pot. Its a good thing kids eat free at Chez Leon. Traditionally they are served in a large steaming pot of savory broth with a side of Belgian frites. They were yummy!!!

Here is a video clip of Elliot at work in Chez Leon.

The next day we started out by walking around the Grand'Place which guidebooks and web sites proclaim as "One of the most beautiful town squares in Europe, if not in the world." Since we have not been everywhere in the world yet we will have to agree for now.

We literally followed our noses and that lead us to the Dandoy Tea Room. The gauffres (waffles)here turned out to be the best that we found on our trip.

There are actually two kinds of waffles in Belgium. Brussels waffles are big, light and fluffy. They made with special waffle irons that are said to only be available in Belgium. The second type of waffle is called a Liege waffle and it is more dense and has a burnt sugar coating on the outside. The tray above has Liege waffles cooling before being served.

Brussels waffles are found in restaurants and eaten with a knife and fork. Toppings such as berries or ice cream are typical. The one above has stewed strawberries and powdered sugar.

Elliot wanted whipped cream on his. This is not Ready Whip!

This is a typical street side waffle stand selling warm Liegue waffles. No knife or fork is necessary so you can eat them on the run.

The statue above is called the Manekin Pis. I think the translation is self explanatory. This is actually the most famous thing in Brussels. Why? We have no idea but we had to check it out since we were in the neighborhood.

At 9:30 in the morning, before we even had our first waffle, Keith spotted these guys setting up and said that we needed to come back here for lunch

YUM!

Brussels response to the Eiffel tower is the Atomium. It is a 335 foot high model of a Iron Crystal magnified 165 billion times.

The line for the elevator was at least an hour long so we decided to travel through the structure by climbing the stairs and escalators. The escalators in the Atomium are the longest in Europe.

In our opinion this should be the top destination in Brussels, not the Manekin Pis.

The exchange rate is almost 1.5 Euros to the dollar and that can lead to some extreme price inflation of ordinary items. In the restaurant menu above, a small bottle of water or Coke is $3.60 but a nice Belgian beer is only $3.95. Not bad considering it includes all of the taxes and tip. When in Europe drink less water and drink more beer.

One more example from a train station vending machine. A half liter of soda is a rip off at $2.40 but a nice 16oz Belgian Jupiler beer is a great value at only 15¢ more.

On Saturday we took a side trip to Brugges in the north west part of Belgium. Most of the medieval architecture is intact. Each building and plaza is more beautiful than the next.

It was hard to pick a restaurant because they all looked like they would be great. We headed away from the main square and found a elegant looking restaurant that had the traditional Flemmish dishes that we were looking for. The plate above is Lapin a la Flamande which is rabbit braised in prunes, onions and beer. This was one of several excellent meals that we had in Belgium.
After lunch we needed to burn some calories so we made our way over to the Belfry of Bruges. This 13th century tower is open to the public and Elliot was excited to climb to the top.

There are 366 steps that lead to the top through a windy and progressively more steep and narrow staircase. This is the wide part.

Going down was a little bit easier.

A fantastic restaurant in a residential neighborhood: Au Vieux Bruxelles.

Again we had traditional moules frites and two orders of Escargot (one for Keith and one for Elliot). The food was so amazing that we decided to return the next night, but the wait was over an hour, outside in the cold. Since it was already getting late we had to go with plan "B."

We promised Elliot that we would go ice skating this winter. Before this day Elliot said he wanted to be a hockey player. After his first skating experience he may want to rethink that plan.

When planning our trip we tried to find things that would appeal to Elliot as well as us. This is Autoworld which is located in a 19th century exibition hall. The exhibit contains 300 cars from around the world.

Hooray for fire trucks!

BMW Isetta Bubblecar from the 1950's. The only door in this car is in the front pannel which swings open allowing two people to slide in.

By the last day we were sure that we had found the best examples of moules and waffles but we were not sure that we had the best frites. Maison Antoine is a traditional friterie and generally regarded as the best in the city.

Corinne and Elliot are in heaven eating them from the traditional paper cone. In Belgium they are traditionally served with mayonaise but ketchup and other toppings are available. Corinne claims to remember this from her childhood trip to Belgium.

It was time to get serious about Chocolate. This photo was taken in Neuhaus. We purchased 2 of everything and sampled away. We were also lucky to get lots of free samples. All of the chocolate we had in Belgium was outstanding and we really couldn't tell the difference between the different brands.

One last evening stroll through the Grand'Place.

The trip was winding down, so Elliot had a big night out.

Elliot flirted with a flight attendant on the way home and she asked him if he wanted to hang out in the cockpit of the 767 with the pilot. What kid could resist? We were finally home after a week away.

Wishing all of our friends and family a happy and healthy 2008.

Corinne, Keith and Elliot

Cozumel, Mexico - August 2007

2007-09-08T14:00:00.002-04:00

Our typical vacation usually involves visiting a city or two and seeing everything we can during our limited time. Every once in awhile even we have to deviate and head for the beach. When looking for great diving, nice people and great food we always head to our favorite dive destination, Cozumel, Mexico. This year, as in years past we were joined by our good friends, Joseph and Jennifer and their two daughters Maddy and Jordi. Joseph's brother recently got certified as a diver so he joined us as a last minute addition for his very first open water dives.

Unfortunately there is no direct flight from New York so we have to take a super early flight that leaves at 5:30am and connects in Houston, TX. Waking up at a time when REM sleep is in full swing is extremely difficult for all of us. Our alarm clock went off at 3:30am and we were at the airport by 4:15am. Our flight to Houston arrived early and allowed Corinne and Elliot plenty of time to visit Starbucks before our second flight boarded.

Although painful at first, this super early departure is worth it because it allows us to arrive in Cozumel before lunch and we were in the water just two hours later. Danny is in the back worrying about his first real dive. His concern was that his rental regulator did not have a functional depth gauge. Keith told him to suck it up and just get ready to go.

Over the years we have been on dozens of dives on the same reefs but they are always different with new things to find. Turtles have always been spotted but this year we saw at least 4-5 on every dive. Usually they swim away but if you are lucky they head right to you and hang out for a little while.

The reef is huge and every little nook usually has something to see. This little guy here, known as a banded coral shrimp likes to roam at night but during the day they can be spotted in their holes if you take the time to look for them.

The larger holes have bigger animals like this nurse shark which likes to hang out under ledges at the end of the reef.

Diving is our first priority and eating is our second. Any relaxation can be scheduled between those two activities, time permitting. Keith has been there over 20 times so it is easy to fall into the same routine each time but I made sure that we found some new restaurants to try. This is now one of our new favorites. It is a small restaurant far away from the tourist zone that specializes in fresh fish. A huge grilled snapper can be had for less than $8 and it is so good that if you paid three times that in New York it would still be a deal.

Elliot chose the Banana Split ice cream even though we would have expected him to get the "coco" (since that is his favorite word). The next day he tried the grape flavor.

Even though Cozumel is on the east coast the island is developed on the west side so there are usually great sunsets each night. Unfortunately, this was not one of them.

Taco night at Super Taqueria Diaz. Tacos Al Pastor are our favorite and a stop here is required each trip. Tacos Al Pastor are the Mexican version of Middle Eastern Schwarma but it is made with pork and the pitas are replaced by Tortillas.

"Maddy, tacos make me so happy I can kiss you!"

In the corner of the town square we noticed a line forming each night for esquites. Corn mixed with mayonnaise, crema, chili powder and lime juice. It really gives your tongue a workout as it stimulates all of the taste buds.

This is one of the Mexican peacocks that would have lunch with us each day between dives. We knew he was Mexican because he enjoyed the tortillas that we kept feeding him when no one was looking.

Jordi and Elliot are searching for Iguanas at the Iguana temple at our hotel but none were inside. They all must have been sunning themselves somewhere else because we did see plenty around the pool.

Flying Elliot!
This was another new find on our last day of the trip. El Sitio Taqueria is directly across from the Taxi HQ and it is only open for a few hours each morning. It is the kind of place that many locals don't even know about, but when you find one that does, a big grin appears. The only thing they make here are fish and shrimp tacos and tortas (mexican sandwiches).

A quick drive in town before we leave the island. We will definitely be back soon!

Hasta Luego!

San Diego, California - June 2007

2007-06-24T09:26:00.002-04:00

So Keith decided in January that he wanted to do the Mud Run on June 16th. It was going to be his birthday and father's day that weekend so how could I possibly say no? I immediately bought tickets on that cold winter day and started planning our trip to sunny San Diego.

Our first stop was Sea World. The last time we went there with Elliot, he was only 3 months old. His free admission days are coming to an end so we made sure to see as much as we can. We arrived just in time to catch the dolphin show. Elliot loved it after it was over, but he was not having that much fun during the show because he thought the dolphins would splash him.

Whale riding as an occupation? Could there really be a better job anywhere? I wish my high school guidance counselor told me about this one because I would have filled out an application a long time ago.

The Anheuser-Busch Clydesdales - this was taken before we went to the free beer pavilion next to the stables.

We have worked very hard to make sure that Elliot has a lot of diversity in his diet but I think may have gone to far. The first thing he said when we saw Shamu was "Mommy, I want to eat him because he is a fish."

Time for a taco break at the El Gordo Taco for some yummy tacos Al Pastor. Pork, marinated, pounded thin and slowly grilled on a rotisserie. We have had this dozens of times locally but this is the only place that made us believe we were in Mexico. Actually we were only 5 miles from the border.

Every summer at Camp Pendleton, the Marines host a race called the World Famous Mud Run. This 6+ mile run consists of steep hills, river crossings, a lake crossing, two 5 foot walls with mud all around them, a slippery hill climb and a final 30' mud pit that you must crawl through.

Elliot getting into the spirit of things by doing a few pull-ups.

Time for the run. The base is huge and the land area is close in size to Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan combined. It is strange to us because we really have little exposure to the military and we never imagined bases were this big. In reality it is a self contained city with airports, restaurants, shopping and more. We only got to see a small sliver of the base on the way to the race because we did not want to end up in the stockade.

The finish line march. It was worth the trip!

It's not every day that you get go climb on some tanks parked on the side of the road but we couldn't resist. We had to act fast before the MPs came.

On Sunday we went to the San Diego County Fair. Rides, food and farm animals.

It looks like he is petting these pigs but he is really sizing them up to see if they were ready for the smoker. Fortunately (for the pigs) Elliot said they were too small.

Some cows waiting to be judged later in the week.

Elliot couldn't figure out why they were called "monster trucks" because they didn't look like monsters.

We thought we have seen it all, but fair cuisine is more competitive than preschools in Manhattan. Hot dogs and cheesesteaks are for amatuers. We did not try this artery clogging delicacy, but looking back we should have since we may never see this item again.

For a few extra dollars the guy behind the counter will spit in his hand and put some special sauce on it. (see picture)

We did have some down time at the beach. Surf camp is definitely in Elliot's future because he thought the surfers were really cool!

San Diego bills itself as Americas Finest City and we have to agree. Nice people, great food, beautiful beaches, perfect weather and close proximity to Mexico. What more can you want?

Hasta Luego

Montevideo, Uruguay

2007-04-08T08:58:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone,

Our trip is going well and we are all having a great time. We decided to take a small detour from Buenos Aires, so we headed to Montevideo for a couple of days. We didn't know what to expect because there is very little tourist information so we decided to find out for ourselves.

What we found was very interesting. We arrived after a 3 hour ferry ride and headed straight to the hotel which was conveniently connected to the nicest shopping mall in the city. After lunch we went on a city tour which remarkably lasted 4.5 hours. Pretty amazing since a NYC tour probably wouldn't last as long.

After being toured out we headed out to dinner at 8pm and were the only people in the restaurant. Luckily we have Elliot as an excuse for eating early because we would have looked like foolish gringos. After a great meal ($52) including huge steaks for all (the kids meal was a huge steak too) and Uruguayan wine, we had to have some helados (the Argentine/Uruguay Gelato). Yummy!

After the best night's sleep that any of us have had in about a year, we headed out to the Mercado Del Puerto which has mostly evolved into an open-air eating extravaganza. It is divided into a couple of dozen restaurants that specialize mostly in varying cuts of beef, chicken or pork. We began with a few Empanadas which were amazing, even better than ones we have previously had in Argentina. Elliot couldn't care which one he ate, as long as it had three green dots.

After a small intermission we returned to the Mercado and were faced with a difficult choice. We had a hard time deciding which food stall to choose so we used the time tested method of looking for busiest one and we were not disappointed.

This is serious grilling!! The meats are all slow cooked and had terrific flavor. The grill master let Keith get a good look at the grill up close and personal. Our lunch came to a whopping total of $15, including what looked like an 80 oz beer. Rachel Ray would have so much extra money to spend here that she would be drinking 5 or 6 beers with each meal just to meet her $40 quota. That would really make for an unforgettable episode!! Too bad Elliot slept through the whole thing.

Then off to the zoo, which will probably not win any awards in animal care. They had some nice animals, but the habitats were circa 1932. Lots of wire cages and boring habitats (for the animals). On the positive side, you could get very close to a lot of them. Some people were even hand feeding the Giraffe. We are hoping that they are planning an escape as soon as they have the chance. Maybe they should watch the Madagascar movie for some inspiration.

After we checked out of the hotel, we were in search of a local favorite, the Chivito sandwich. After a recommendation from the front desk clerk (who at one time lived about a half mile from our house), we found an excellent one before heading back to the ferry terminal.

We got back on the ferry in the nick of time since we literally ran out of Uruguayan Currency. Overall an interesting city, with great food, but a little limited in major attractions.

We will follow up with Part II, Back in Buenos Aires when we have had time to hang out and catch up on everything we didn't get to do the last time around.

Ciao!

Corinne, Keith & Elliot

Buenos Aires, Argentina

2007-04-06T08:44:00.001-04:00

Hi everyone,

We are en route to NJ as we write this and overall we all had a fantastic trip. Elliot has been great throughout our journey and is already missing Argentina. We are looking forward to bringing him back when he will actually be able to remember some of it.

We completed our Uruguay journey around 11:00pm on Saturday and made it back for a late dinner. Most people would consider 11:00pm a very late dinner but that is actually prime time in Argentina. We actually felt somewhat normal in the restaurant since it was packed when we got there which is a nice change from eating in an empty restaurant which we did for most of the trip. Another surprise was that there were a lot of other babies and toddlers out and awake at that time. Even when we left at 12:30am the restaurant was still packed with people waiting to be seated.

Since we hit all of the "must see" places on our last trip we were able to relax a little more and focus on the more important things like food, shopping and of course, an obligatory zoo visit.

In contrast to Montevideo, the Buenos Aires Zoo was enjoyable for all even though you could not tear grass out of the ground and hand feed it to the Giraffe. Elliot as you would expect, had a lot of fun feeing the sheep, goats and llamas.

We didn't even know there was such a thing as a White Lion but they had one here and it was a major attraction. Maybe a genetic mutation or too many years in the Argentinean sun but here it is.

If beef is the national food of Argentina then dulce de leche is either tied for first place or a close second. This combination of milk and sugar is found in desserts, on pancakes, in cookies and as a base for ice cream (there are around 10 dulce de leche variations in each heladeria). Elliot had all of the above but his favorite was the do-it-yourself cookie kit in the hotel where he was able to create his own Alfajore cookie combinations.

The remainder of our trip was spent relaxing, wandering the city taking in sights and exploring new areas. We set out one day to find Chinatown which occupied a 2 square block radius on the outskirts of the city. Of course we had to sample the food at one of the 6 restaurants we spotted. It was actually pretty good, and has some local variations like carrots which are heavily used in contrast to NY Chinese food. However, no dulce de leche on the menu here which was the first place we didn't see it :)

We concluded our trip with a shopping day and hit some of the local malls. The largest mall had a children's museum and an amusement park called "Neverland". No relation to the "Neverland Ranch" but we looked for Michael Jackson just to be on the safe side. Keith took elliot on his first roller coaster ride which was scary at first but once he realized that it was just a fast train, he loved it.

They Mall even had a Kosher McDonalds. As you would expect, the food tastes even worse than the regular ones.

This place was not on our radar but while walking around we found El Gato Viejo. After first being chased away by an attack golden retriever (really) the owner came over and invited us in. We are still not sure what is exactly going on here but essentially it is an old warehouse down by the rail yards that appears to be part lounge, part art gallery and part junk yard. As far as we can tell the owner/painter/sculptor creates large formed sculptures made from anything he can get his hands on such as car parts or typewriters.

Just a few other pictures from wandering around.

Recoleta Cemetery and Chapel

Look forward to talking with all of you very soon.

With love,
Corinne, Keith & Elliot