Sometimes when travelling, it isn't so much what you see that is noteworthy, but the thoughts it evokes. Such is the case of the Moroccan-surrounded Spanish exclave of Melilla. While the town itself is nice (highlighted by a well-maintained fort/castle* and an elaborately tiled city park strewn with dozens of fountains), the concept of a tiny autonomous territory separated from its homeland by a vast sea is what really interest me. Melilla is about the size of central park in Manhattan, i.e. pretty dang small—smaller, in fact, than Fidalgo Island. I walked from one side to the other in search of a geocache*. And with a population of around 80,000, I imagine you'd get to know your fellow countrymen pretty well in no time. But for all its tinyness, as far as I understand, it pretty much does its own thing. So, for example, on taxes, it decided it didn't want to have any, so everything is "duty-free"*. Does it allow casinos? Sure, why not? Legal driving age of 12? Sounds good!*. And that's just the issue of laws. What about national identity? Economy? Interscholastic sports? And what about the whole thing from Spain's side? "Hey, let's fight oodles and oodles of battles just to maintain this tiny chunk of land that we essentially have no claim to! Huzzah!" My mind chugged along on overdrive weighing all the ins and outs of a tiny territory such as this. In reality, I'm sure it's all much more bland than I think. With close ties to Spain, they use Spanish currency, the Spanish mail system, and very likely many Spanish laws. That also probably answers the question of national identity. And with Spain just a 4 or 8 hour ferry ride away*, I'm sure people pop across just to buy a new couch. Surprisingly neat, simple, easy, and boring. But the probable reality of it all doesn't hinder the intrigue for me. I'm sure disconnected territories such as this* will lodge themselves and the thoughts they stir in my memory of my travels just as much as any cathedral or beach. Yep, just another fun facet of the exciting world of world travel! |
Sunday May 5 2013 | File under: travel, africa |
Toggle Comments (1) | comment? |
Friday May 3 2013 | File under: travel, portugal |
Toggle Comments (2) | comment? |
Lisbon is full of narrow winding streets that, esp. from the perspective of 2 people having spent the last 10 days aboard a ship, were wonderful to explore. Public plazas, statues, fountains, back alley squares—it is European in so many wonderful ways. But, as 2 people having spent 10 straight days only walking from ice cream machine to movie theater can tell you, these long meandering explorations into the different parts of Lisbon can tucker a body out.
Enter the electrico, Lisbon's answer to public transportation, at least in part. Designed long before the automobile was a glint in Mr. Ford's eye, many of Lisbon's streets are hard pressed to allow passage to a mini* let along a regular-sized public bus. Electricos are small trolleys with rounded ends to make some of the narrow corners. They rattle along the tracks, up and down hills, through tight parts of town carrying both tourists and locals alike. For me, riding the electricos was a merging of so many favorite things; exploration, public transportation, narrow old streets, and sitting. All in all, not a bad start to a European vacation! |
Thursday May 2 2013 | File under: travel, Portugal |
comment? |
It's common knowledge that one of the awesome upsides of travel by cruise is the food. This upside, however, has a bit of a downside. Judging from how I handled the bi-weekly trips to the Jumbo Buffet this fall, I was in for either a challenge in self control or a severely expanded waistline. To impericially figure out which of these won the day I decided to do an experiement. My first stop while boarding the ship was the scale.
So the food worked like this: From about 7 in the morning until 9 at night, the all-you-can-eat buffet was available. We ate about 80% of our meals there. The fare was good and plentiful, although got monotonous after a while*. Then there was the full service dining room that was open for limited hours for each meal. It worked mostly like a restaurant where you got a menu (which changed daily), and you ordered appetizers, main course, and dessert. In the evening, you were seated with the same people so you had a nice little cadre of people to share stories with. We went here maybe 3 times. The languid pace of the meals, the extreme degree of fanciness*, and the rigid schedule made us opt for the buffet most of the time. Our other option was a little cafe type thing that had a small but sufficient menu that was open later into the night. We would occasionally stop in there for a cup of soup or a burger after the late show. And that was all free and all as much as you wanted. If you wanted 3 shrimp cocktails to start your dinner in the main dining room, you could. I did. And whoever thought to put a self-serve soft-serve ice cream machine onboard gets both my highest praise and cruelest fist shaking (but mostly the former). So this is what I had to contend with. Almost daily visits to the gym helped, but were also depressing. Thirty minutes on the stationary bike reported that I burned 300 calories while I know that my breakfast alone was up in the quadruple digits. But that's what vacations are for, right? The morning of our last day, I faced off with the scale...for science. (I would have taken daily data points, but it turns out a scale doesn't work so well on a rocking ship.) The verdict? One pound. Jigga-what? Twenty six ice cream cones, 14 pounds of mashed potatoes, and the equivalent of 3 pigs worth of ham, bacon, and pork chops and I only gained one pound!?! I figure it was a tactic by the cruise line to slowly recalibrate the scale throughout the trip so skeptics like me walk off believing that the food thing turned out all right. And it worked. I feel pretty good about the whole thing. Sure I didn't do the healthiest thing for myself. Sure all those 4-meat breakfasts probably weren't so good for my heart. But I'm okay with it. More than okay, I'd say. In fact, I can't help but ponder when I'll get my next chance to eat on a cruise ship again. |
Sunday April 28 2013 | File under: travel, cruise |
Toggle Comments (1) | comment? |
While you can get the official word on the amenities of our ship, Brilliance of the Seas, from Royal Caribbean or the ever helpful Wikipedia, I wanted to share the features as they pertained to our experience, not just the official line. (Note: the ship was headed into dry dock directly after our trip to undergo a significant revamping, so much of this info is probably already out of date)
Like I've mentioned before, there was a ton of stuff to see, do, and experience. Ten days at sea, however, gives one lots of time to explore them all. So here's my report.
|
Thursday April 25 2013 | File under: travel, cruise |
comment? |
The captain just announced that we are halfway to Europe. At first pass, I applied that concept to this part of my vacation—I'm halfway through the all-you-can-eat buffets, free shows, and relaxing time by the pool. But when I really thought about it, it struck me in a different way, you might even say a more profound way. We are 1300 nautical miles from Puerto Rico with another 1300 to go to the Canary Islands. A brief glance at the various charts and maps around tells me that there's not much land out here. In fact, I think it's safe to say there is no land for 500 miles in any given direction. When you look at it that way, it's kind of errie. It's not like the feeling of isolation is all that present, though. There are over 2000* people on board this massive ship, so finding peace and quiet, let alone isolation, is a challenge. But from an esoteric stance, it's kind of neat. I remember a similar feeling when sailing to Tahiti, studying the GPS to find out where the nearest land was and realizing it was a long freaking way away. Both then and now, I realize we are father away from anything resembling civilization* than 99.9% of the worlds population. It really reminds me how small I am, how big the world is, and how great it is to get out here! Someday I might find myself in an even more remote place, father from, say, an airport or grocery store, or whatever "civilization" means. Until then, I'm going to keep gazing out at the huge expansive ocean and marvel at it all. |
Wednesday April 24 2013 | File under: travel, cruise |
comment? |
In the three months since booking this cruise, my feelings towards it have ranged from intense excitement to cautious trepidation. The reasons for excitement were clear and what I touted when telling people about the trip: all-you-can-eat food, good shows, out of the way ports-of-call, etc. My trepidation, however was a little harder to explain. Basically I was concerned I just wasn't the cruise ship type. Dress up dinners, contrived scavenger hunts, lay by the pool, dissimilar demographics*. With both sides of the spectrum represented, I was curious to see how it all played out. After less than 24 hours aboard Brilliance of the Seas, any thoughts about trepidations are long gone, replaced with excitement, curiosity, amazement, and down right giddiness. I was almost wishing I had one of those reality TV style camera crews following me for that first half hour as I explored with a ridiculous grin on my face. Everything is so nice, and not just in that way that cheap things try to look nice but aren't. It all feels so real deal. And the food. So many all-you-can-eat places have food you stuff yourself with not because it looks amazing, but because you want to get your money's worth. The buffet here, not so much, and definitely not the table service meals. My pork chop was great! Another thing I was concerned about was being nickle and dimed to death. I've been in situations where a cheap deal becomes much less so with all the fees*. While some of the services aboard do charge an add-on fee, it is always clearly advertised and on things that are totally non-essential. I foresee us easily making it 10 days without pulling out our wallets once. Yep, it's safe to say I'm stoked (probably to an annoying degree to my dear Della). And with more of the ship to explore, tons of events planned daily, and 9 more days to enjoy it all, I'm thinking I will only get stokeder. Whatever the case, I'll keep you posted. Stay tuned. |
Tuesday April 23 2013 | File under: travel, cruise |
Toggle Comments (6) | comment? |
Thursday April 11 2013 | File under: travel, puerto rico |
Toggle Comments (1) | comment? |
Wednesday April 10 2013 | File under: beard, travel |
comment? |
"Look at that sexy book! What's that? Not only is the book sexy but it will teach me the sexiest dance of all time? What a deal! I've gotta have one!"
Yep, that's right folks, Della (with some writing help from yours truly and some awesome illustrations from Stef) has put out a book to accompany her world famous chair dance act, and I gotta say that it is pretty awesome. With both helpful hints and hilarious hijinx, this book is part tutorial and part knock-you-outta-your-seat comedy. Originally conceived as a merch offering for shows, it turned out so great that we're hoping sales go far beyond that. With it being as awesome as it is, there's no doubt it will be a world phenomenon in no time. If you want your own copy, you're in luck! Shoot me an e-mail and we'll make it happen, all for the low low price of $10 (+shipping and handling). Or you can come to one of her shows (like, for example, Moisture Fest this Saturday at 7:30 or 10:30). Anyway, we're pretty dang proud of this little masterpiece. We're sure that if you check it out, you'll understand why. |
Friday April 5 2013 | File under: circus, books |
comment? |
< Previous Page Next Page > |
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 |