Travel Tips

I really need to convince Kat (keida84) that London is better in the summertime, this was the 2nd time she talked me into going to London in the winter but we were fortunate to have sunny weather for the whole trip. We managed to complete Kat's long list of must sees with stops in Windsor, Oxford, Stonehenge/Salisbury and Bath, met up with a few of London's Lovely VT ladies for dinner and celebrated Jen's (Jenniflower) birthday with the help of a cross dressing magician.

New pages: London update, Windsor update, Greenwich

This was our 5th trip to the island of Jamaica, the 3rd time staying in Montego Bay. Jamaica is a good winter break for us, we can go for few just a few days, it's a quick 3 1/2 hour flight from Chicago, the weather is sunny and warm, the Caribbean waters are the temperature of bath water. And when you've been having a winter like we had in 2008, it's just what the doctor ordered!!!

Updated page: Montego Bay

Dad and I have been making semi annual trips out to Los Angeles for the last few years to visit my Grandma who will be turning 100 this year, I combine the visit with Grandma with visiting another part of Southern California, on past trips I've been to Hearst Castle, San Juan Capistrano, Pasadena and this time it was San Diego's turn, I think this was the best side trip I've taken although I've enjoyed them all!

New pages: San Diego

May 23-June 1, 2008

A rather ambitious schedule even for me, we hit four countries in 10 days! We had already been to Prague, Vienna and Amsterdam; Bratislava and several cities in southern Bohemia were new territory. We didn't do a lot in terms of palaces, museums or castles after the 1st couple of days in Southern Bohemia, instead spending our days walking through town just marveling at the beauty of these cities. And an occasional stop for a beer, gelato, pastry or a heaping plate of something that went straight to my hips! Ed (Kaspian) joined us for a couple of days in Prague and for a daytrip out to the macabre bone church in Sedlac near Kutna Hora before he headed off to the Euromeet.

New pages: Ceske Budejovice, Tabor, Konopiste, Kutna Hora, Bratislava, Hluboka Nad Vltavou, Amsterdam

July 28-August 10, 2008

My niece and nephew's 1st trip overseas and my 1st time traveling with kids, we all had a blast!!! After the kids and their mom went home, the hubby and I headed to Paris for a few days and then back to London, on my birthday 8-8-08, I was in my two of my favorite cities, Paris at 8:08:08am hanging out with the gargoyles at the top of Notre Dame and indulging in decadent hot chocolate and pastries at Angelina's and London at 8:08:08 pm eating Indian food. A perfect way to spend the day!

On Saturday August 9th, Jen (jenniflower) organized a lovely dinner at Sugar Reef, it was lovely to meet up again with Sarah (toonsarah) and hubby Chris, Natalie (nhcram) and hubby Chris, Jo (jo104) and Jen's hubby Lance. Thanks Jen!!!

Paris update, Versailles, London update, Warwick update, Windsor update, Greenwich

I finally made it to the Lone Star state after Mark (ATXtraveler) announced that he was organizing a meeting in Ft. Worth. After meeting up with the lovely Texans in Fort Worth, Robert (rmdw), his mom and I continued on to Austin and then San Antonio, seeing the lovely Riverwalk, visiting the Alamo and several of the other missions. And of course, we had to sample some of that famous Texas BBQ!

My most recent trip to Los Angeles was to celebrate my Grandma's 100th birthday. I'm awed to think of all that she has lived through, two world wars, the Great Depression, Vietnam, not to mention frequent earthquakes. She still lives on her own in an apartment near the airport and can pack away desserts like no one I know! She was tickled pink at all of the attention she got, her church had a nice party for her, we took her out to eat and had them sing happy birthday to her at least 4 times, all accompanied by some of those aforementioned desserts. My whole family was able to go out to celebrate, my dad, brother, sister in law, two nieces and me and my husband, four generations!

New pages: San Diego

The last trip of the year was a hastily planned trip to Playa del Carmen, Mexico, our 8th trip down to the Yucatan Peninsula, the 5th time we've stayed in Playa del Carmen. We picked a terrific resort, the Riu Tequila, the food was outstanding, the room was great, for most of the trip we parked ourselves on a lounge chair overlooking the aqua blue waters of the Caribbean. It was a rather unusual trip for me, usually we're running from this place to that place, taking day trips and snorkeling, but my body was tired from fighting a nasty sinus infection and this was a chance to get some much needed R&R. It was a much too brief respite from Chicago's brutal winter, it was back to reality as we went from a balmy 90 degrees in the afternoon and stepped off the plane into -4 degrees with a -30 degree wind chill, BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

New pages: Playa del Carmen update