Travel – Page 5 – ::: jeffphillips.org :::

Vacation Planning

Once again it’s that time of year where we are dying for a vacation [well, isn’t that always, though?] and the destination of Belize has been chosen. It looks like we’ll be doing a fall dive trip to the Turneffe Atoll – which will be quite cool. It’s basically an island with a hotel on it – and a small one at that. That’s it. Just relaxation and diving.

For the second part of the trip, though, we’ll head inland into the jungle where we might do any number of things like canoeing, hiking, horseback riding, but certainly photography.

We have finally made our reservations.

It wasn’t easy, though. At first, we wanted to go to Cayman. However, the entire island is celebrating some kind of anniversary and all flights were sold out. Then, the search began in earnest with me looking from the Seychelles to Galapagos to the Marshall Islands – each of which was deemed too far. Belize finally won, but even choosing the hotels/resorts was tough. Each resort has different features and activities and prices things differently leaving us with a very difficult task of comparing apples to oranges.

It’s planned and booked now, though, and I’m ready to leave… but… I gotta wait a couple of months now.

More Travel And Kitchen

Last week, I added a new airport to my list: Fayetteville, NC. Not big news, just one of my rare (at least now) business trips. There’s not much to do in Fayetteville, so I don’t really have anything to write about.

However, I do have some things to say about our “completed” home remodel. I’m beginning to learn that project completion is a fluid definition. All the flooring, cabinets and counter tops are installed, true, and most of the electrical is done. The last piece of electrical will be our over-bar pendant lights which we have yet to choose. We still have to finish the kitchen backsplash as well, but that is what I’m calling “phase 2” of the project. At least, I’m calling it that so I can say this one is finished… when it’s finally done.

One of the big unfinished things is that our dishwasher was leaking and we only found out about that after it was re-installed and began to leak on our new floor. So we have been doing without for a couple of months now. A couple of weeks ago, we ordered a new one that was supposed to be installed last week. However, it was damaged on arrival and another had to be ordered. Luckily, the new one came in the next day and will be installed this morning.

As if that wasn’t enough, several manufacturing flaws were discovered on the cabinets that now need to be fixed. Fortunately, the manufacturer has sent us all the replacement parts and will be swapping out the bad pieces for us.

Maybe we’ll be done with this thing eventually.

Step Four: Key West? Not.

On the last stop of our journey, we were to stop in Key West for a day of shopping and touring, which I was looking forward to. The coffee on the boat was substandard and I wanted to pick up some good coffee on land. We also wanted to wander the streets and possibly go shopping.

This turned out not to be the case.

When we pulled into dock, it started raining. And not just a little drizzle, but a full-on Gulf rainstorm. We attempted to leave the boat three times but were diverted or blocked each time.

We found out later that the people who made it off the boat ended up wandering in town in knee-high water in what was probably a 100-year flood.

It seems we didn’t miss much. Well, except Key West. Argh.

We then proceeded to head back to Galveston [joy] at full throttle.

Step Three: Diving With Sharks

Late Wednesday night of our cruise, we arrived in Nassau, Bahamas – our first shore experience began shortly after. We docked around 9PM and were able to push our way out of the boat a half hour or so later.

Everything was closed.

Well, not everything. The Atlantis resort was open. We all piled in a taxi and went to go see it. I have to say that it is an amazing place and the aquarium is … well, amazing.

After that evening, we got up very early the next morning [breakfast at 5AM is early, yes?] and met our dive boat owner at the front of the docks. She drove us to the other side of the island and we hopped on the boat and went out to sea.

I have to say I don’t think I’ve had another dive as relaxing and fun as this boat trip was. We originally asked for a two-tank dive, but they arranged it so that we had one deep dive and one shallow dive which used up only half of our air. There were quite a few lion fish in the water there – not natively, but accidentally introduced there.

Then, they took us to a spot where we could swim with sharks.

A previous boat had fed the sharks and they were clustered around the boats when we got there. That boat left and we dove in – well, I dove in, while the rest of the team followed slowly.

Some of the sharks came quite close.

I wanted to pet them… well, maybe not, but it was tempting to reach out and touch them.

The dive master said that there were about 30 sharks around us, but only a few were close at any given time.

I really like this one of Laura and our friends. Notice how they are tightly clinging to the rope while the sharks circle behind them… 🙂

This was a dive that I will likely never forget.

Then, we got out of the water and back on the boat. If the rest of the trip could have only been so good!

Step Two: Departure [Also Known As: “The Fog”]

After a somewhat inconvenient flight to Houston and a very pleasant dinner with my father at a wonderful Mexican place, Laura and I wake up early the next morning to be shuttled to meet Norma, Laura’s mom, for breakfast and the remainder of the way to port.

That breakfast was to be the best we would have until arriving back at Norma’s place.

Arrival at the port went smoothly and easily. We met up with our friends and got quickly on board. What I hadn’t paid attention to, but should have, was the weather. It was foggy at my parents’ early that morning, but I had assumed it would dry up later in the day. It didn’t. In fact: it would grow worse.

Our departure was delayed – and delayed – and delayed, until we even slept hoping to awaken in the middle of the Gulf. In the morning, I rolled over to glance out over the beautiful … port of Galveston. I went back to sleep.

We finally started moving later that day. That fog delay caused us to miss one of our ports of call: Freeport, Bahamas. So instead of visiting Key West, Freeport, and Nassau, we had to go to Nassau first, skip Freeport and hit Key West last.

At least we had a good time in Nassau – and were able to leave the boat.

Step One: Arrival

Today, we flew from DC to Houston for the first stage of our journey. It wasn’t so simple as it sounds. For some reason, there was enough terrible weather that we had to land half-way there in Knoxville to re-fuel. A very strong headwind made the trip very slow and costly.

At least I an add a new airport to my list now.

Tomorrow, we drive down to Galveston and board the boat. I’ve never been on a cruise like this before – only river a river cruise and a ferry ride from Vancouver to Juneau, Alaska. Those were cruises, but not like this one: this is a CRUISE. Big boat and all.

We’ll be doing a bit of diving, a bit of photography, and a lot [I hope] of relaxing.

Death And Life

On Sunday morning, July 5th, Laura’s father Larry passed away at his cabin in the woods of East Texas. We knew it was coming, but not how soon. We had booked a trip to leave on 7/12, but on the advice of her brother we moved it to 7/4 for Laura, and I was to come later. However, our plans were to change on the news that morning.

I flew out the morning on July 6th.

Since then, it’s been kind of hectic. Laura has been amazing in her stamina in the face of loss and I’ve been trying to keep up and be supportive. I’ve been helping by organizing and scanning pictures for archival purposes and in hopes of a future slideshow or movie in Larry’s memory.

Sometimes Bad Weather Is Bad

Normally, I like a little rain. It soothes me: restores my sense of balance. But not today. Today, It’s just caused me to be very late. Late because I’m supposed to be in the air right now. I’m supposed to be about to land in Newark on my way to Seattle for training.

That’s not happening. Instead, what’s happening is that I’m delayed. I’m sitting next to the gate waiting. Waiting on a departure in hopes that I can make my connection.

Now, the rain is not so soothing. I could have stayed home longer. I could have spent more time with Laura. But, no: the rain has conspired to keep me in a little chair next to a little door waiting to get on a little plane.

Fun. Not.

Back To Bills

Getting back from Vegas means going through stacks of mail and entering many transactions into Quicken.

I think I’m finally done. It’s taken all evening to work on and now I don’t have a pile of debit card receipts in my pocket.

Returning from travel also means returning to work, and work I did today. Especially since I had so many unread emails to deal with.

Returning to work means EXPENSE REPORTS! Yay. Fun. So, I’m now done with that, too. I learned early on in my 100% travel days at IBM to not dally with the reports – it only hurt me in the end. I now stay clear. Zero balance on the Amex once the reports are approved.

So now I’m done. And I’m tired.

Life In A Posh Hotel

Normally, most of my business travel is, well, business travel. This time, though, as part of the convention I’m attending, I opted to stay in the convention hotel – which is a Casino/Resort. I have to say that it’s a couple of steps up from my regular hotel fare. The room is larger, more fancy, and the clock radio is a Bose wave-thingy which is a CD player with an MP3 input jack. Sweet!

Some of the decor is over the top, but I expect that as it’s Vegas and it’s a “resort” [which I think in Vegas just means fancy casino].

So Laura is exploring right now and I’m in a hands-on lab getting some good “experience” with Microsoft’s upcoming ILM “2” product. Fun! [… if you’re into that kind of thing like I am…]

We took some pictures yesterday of our room and we’ll certainly be taking more as we visit some more places.

And now, back to my geek time.