# 2

Yes, it has been to long since my last post. I have no good excuse. I haven't been on a single trip since the end of October, so I have had nothing but time on my hands really. Even though I spent a lot of that time visiting my family in Tennessee and moving to a new apartment. I'm somewhat cluttered so it has taken awhile to get the place in order. But I have also used that time to make my second video blog! This one is about my normal Narita layover adventure. It's kinda long, so I understand if you have to take a break. I hope to have more soon. and as always bear with me, I'm learning still!
*A fun side note. I have yet to get internet setup at my house and am using my phone as a tether. So it took literally 3 hours to up load this video.

Travel Tips

Recently I was inspired by the KLM flight attendants. When I am in Amsterdam I have to walk though the KLM flight crew area. I always see their flight attendants with one suitcase. One. And I am always dragging 4 bags total with me. So I was inspired to downsize my stuff. Did I really need all that stuff I was dragging around? NO! So recently I went though my bag and worked my way down to 3, counting my purse. So that is my rollerbag, my lunch bag and a purse. Let me share with you 3 tips as to how I got there.

#1
I can't believe I haven't been doing this before, but last week I bought 3 contact lens cases, for around $3 at Target. In them I put my face creams. Moisturizer, night cream, eye cream, ect. I have six products that take up almost no space in my bag, where before I had 6 containers! That has saved me so much space.
#2
Kinda on the same lines as #1 if you need to bring hair stuff with you. I usually just use the shampoo at the hotel, but like to bring my own conditioner with me. If you save the bottles from the hotel, instead of buying the 3 oz bottles you can save space. Most of the hotel bottles are around 1 oz so if you have four hair products, you are saving 9 oz of space in your bag.
#3
Do you really need those five shirts for a three day trip? This might be a tough one for you fashion conscious folks, but for me I've found I really only need one shirt and one pair of pants. The clothes in my suitcase are as follows:
~ Three pairs of underwear (one to wear, one the be ready to wear, one in the wash)
~ One short sleeved shirt
~ One long sleeved shirt/jacket/wrap that can be used with the short sleeved shirt
~ One tank top, sports bra and pair of shorts for the gym, which can double as pajamas as needed
~ Two or three pairs of socks (same idea as the underwear)
~ One pair of jeans
~ One "layover" dress that doubles as a beach cover up, yet is nice enough looking for a night out.
~ Extra pair of hose.
~ One swimsuit

That's it! Seriously, I'm looking in my suitcase right now. Those are all the clothes I have. The idea is to realize you can always wash stuff, or if need to, buy something on the road.
So net time you go on a trip do as someone smart once said, "Lay out the stuff you want to take and the money you are taking. Then take half the clothes and twice the money."

P.S. I'm working on another video blog from Nartia, come back soon for it!

# 1

So I'm still out here. I've been thinking of the direction I want to go with the blog and I have been thinking about trying out.....video blogs! Yes, here is my first attempt. I'm still learning how to edit the clips and take good clips. Stick with me, it's going to get better!

Writers Block

I've been having a bit of writers block lately. I have wanted to do a post, but haven't seemed to be able to get any thoughts formed in my head and definitely haven't been able to get anything down in words. Travel wise I have been here and there since my last post. I had a 6 day trip that took me down to Honolulu, up to Narita and then back down to Honolulu for a glorious 36 hours. I was able to check out some new spots there that I hadn't been to before, namely Leonard's Bakery. It is a bakery that has been around since the 50's severing Portuguese Malasadas, kinda like a doughnut. Mmmhmmm, they were delicious. Once back from that I spent a week traverse the good ol' USA going to San Diego, Anchorage, Detroit and Omaha. It was my first time in Nebraska, bring my state total up to 46. Only Vermont, New Hampshire, Delaware and Louisiana to go! How close are you to hitting all 50 states?

Sit, Sit, Sit, Eat, Eat, Eat

So it appears that the travel blog is turning into a restaurant review blog lately. Since summer flying can to an end over labor day weekend I have been sitting around, a lot. So what's a girl to do? Eat! I've been out and about with people all last week trying some fun, yummy new places in Seattle. I am a HUGE fan of Groupons and I had one for a place called Pintxos in downtown Seattle. Pintxos are basically the same things as tapas, only in the Basque region of Spain there are called pintxos instead. Regardless of the name they are delicious and I am a huge fan. Of course, they are Spanish. This place was cool. To start with, it was tiny. Probably seated 30 people I'd imagine, and that is including the outside patio. Given it's size and popularity you need to make a reservation. When we got there, at 8pm on a Thursday we had to wait 45 mins. Imagine that wait time on the weekend. They do have a nice system for waiting though. They put you name and phone number into a iPad app and once there is a table they call you on your phone. So you are free to walk around the neighborhood. Once you do get a table you are in for a treat. When you first walk in to your left is a bar and the kitchen! The 'kitchen' is literally two guys at the bar making the food right there. That was a first to see and really neat. Then there is the food itself. Serrano, manchego, chorizo, yummy yummy yummy. The friend I went with was vegetarian so we steered clear of most of the meat dishes (I did have to get a side of chorizo for one dish.) and stuck with things like, a Spanish tortilla, mac and cheese, figs with garlic oil and a Catalan creme brulee and chocolate mouse. We didn't get any drinks because we had a margarita across the street at the Mexican joint during our 45 min wait. But they had a large selection of drinks including fresh made Sangria. Yum. Bottom line, you're in Seattle and looking for a fun, unique dinner, go here. We spent exact $35 and were stuffed, with a box to take home.
Hopefully more travel related themes to come soon!

Delish Meal in Seattle

Do you live in Seattle? Are you coming to visit in Seattle? Are you on a layover in Seattle? Then you MUST go to Saley's restaurant at 1361 E Olive Way (between Melrose Ave & Bellevue Ave) in the Capital Hill neighborhood. Oh my goodness, it was one of the most delicious meals I have had. It's a crepe place, but they also have some sandwiches as well. But the crepes, heavenly. They offer about 15-20 different types of crepes from sweet to savory. The savory crepes come with their special crepe sauce, which is amazing and reminded me of a hollandaise sauce. You can choose between a mixture of ingredients such as: Ham, turkey, spinach, bacon, avocado, tomatoes, salmon and cheese. The sweet crepes have choices like: Cinnamon and sugar, carmel, nutella, bananas and strawberries. They offer a combo plate of 1 savory and 1 sweet for $10.95 so you can try both. I highly recommend that even though it is a lot of food.
On top of the yummy food the staff was super friendly. I had a somewhat odd looking gift certificate that they gave me no trouble with at all.
The place is on the small side, with about 10 tables so it's possible you might have to wait at peak hours, but it's worth it. Make a place today to go to Saley as soon as possible!

Creme What?

I'm always a fan of a good 'Lost in Translation' story so here's a quick one to get your day going. After arriving in Amsterdam this morning, for the third week in a row, I tried to take a quick nap. Alas sleep wasn't coming with the howling wind whipping by my window. So I crawled out of bed and went over to the grocery store. While I was there I thought I'd pick up a little treat for the awesome people who work at the hotel we stay at here in AMS. With probably 200 flight attendants and pilots here each day, they do a great job of keeping a smile on their face and being friendly and helpful. I saw these mini apple turnovers in the bakery and thought that they would be good, then I went over to the dairy area to get some whipped cream, cause that's how they eat apple pastries over here. I picked one that look really delish, right next to the big can of what looked like the Dutch version of Redi-Whip. I was happy and proud of my choices. After my return to the hotel I pulled the turnovers out of my bag along with the whipped cream. I held it out to the lady and asked if they do indeed eat this with apple pie here in Holland. She looked a little confused for a moment, and then said, "Um, yes, I think one of my coworkers will like that." Great, I thought! I've done well and pulled off a culture worthy gift!
After getting back to my room I heated up a turnover I had gotten for myself (of course!) and got out my own little cup of whipped cream. I opened it up expecting to find light, airy whipped cream. Instead I saw a thick, almost custard like substance. Uh-oh, I thought, what is this? After a sniff or two and a teenie tiny taste I discovered that I had in fact brought back for the lovely staff, sour cream. No wonder the lady looked at me funny. I'm hoping they all got a good laugh over the silly girl who brought sour cream to eat with apple pie, while they are enjoying said apple pie!

Eclectic

Well folks it's time for an eclectic blog post. I've got some new ideas about where the blog is going to go as I want to blog more often, but right now the works trips aren't producing much exciting news. So I'm looking at mixing things up. Stay tuned!
In the past 2 weeks I have been to Amsterdam twice. The first time I didn't even leave the hotel. The 2nd time was a bit more exciting. There is a market that sets up across the street from the hotel we stay at and I hit that up with a fellow FA. I was able to meet up with some fun ladies from Atlanta and have dinner at a Thai resturant a few blocks away from our hotel which was a nice experience. I'm stocked up in Stroopwafles and milk/creamer for a while now. :-)
In other news I went to Portland with Fuse last night to check out a concert. The band Dispatch was playing at the Roseland theater in downtown Portland. I am a new fan, having just really listened to their music a few weeks ago. (Check out this awesome song: Flying Horses) But that didn't matter any cause it was an awesome show. Super fun and a great time. We checked out a few other spots in Portland while we were there. We got a super yummy sandwhich at a place called Theo's on 5th Ave. After the show we went to Bailey's Taproom where we played a mean game of chess that, sadly, I lost. They have a big stack of board games that you can check out. But be careful because they closed kinda early, at midnight.
The next day we checked out the street cart foods at 10th and Washington. There was any food option that you could imagine here. Mexican, Indian, Greek, Southern, you name it, they had it. A few blocks away from that was Powell's City Books a crazy, huge bookstore that everyone told me I needed to check out. And it was huge. Lot's of new and used items. On the way back to get the car at the hotel we walked through the Saturday market near the Skidmore Fountain and got some free ice cream. Yum!
This was the first time I had ever spent any amount of time in Portland and it is definitely it's own city. It's quirky and eclectic.  Fuse pointed out that he heard the phrase 'Only in Portland" used quite a few times signifying that whatever event was happening at said time was something that would only happen in Portland.
Now I am trying to rest up for whatever trip may come up again this week! Maybe a 4 day Amsterdam? That would be time to go for a bike ride in the country! We'll see! And check back soon for the new style and approach to the blog!

Voglio andare a Roma.

I got back from a short 3 day trip to Amsterdam this week. Nothing exciting to report there. I didn't even leave the hotel.  :-( We arrived at a weird time and left at a weird time. So it was hard to find a good time to sleep and go out and do stuff. Next month though we have 4 days trips there that I am hoping to get. I really want to go for a bike ride in the countryside!
This post however isn't about Amsterdam, it's about Rome! One of my coworkers on my flight to AMS just returned from a week long trip there and was showing us his photos. Love at first sight! Of course I'd seen photos of Rome before, I mean, hello, the Colosseum, the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain! But something about his photos were just amazing. I thought to myself what a great place to spend a few days in October. It won't be to hot or to cold. Hopefully there won't be crazy amounts of tourists everywhere. Things might be cheaper. So I'm looking into it. Emailed a couple of friends that have been there/lived there and asked their opinion. I picked up a Rome Lonely Planet City Guide at the library yesterday. I'm looking through Trip Advisor and CouchSurfing to find plans.
If you're looking for something to do in October and what to go to Rome, let me know!

Honolulu, Guam and a Funny "Chicken" Story

I’m on the last stop of my 8 day trip. Honolulu. Talking about ending with a bang. Honolulu is an amazing place. On one hand you have the buzz of a big city, complete with traffic, buses, people everywhere and food anywhere you turn. On the other you have the beautiful beaches, mountains, waterfalls and history. The temperature is a normal 80 degrees year around. I don’t think there is anywhere else like it in the world. And the people, so diverse! There’s Hawaiian (duh), other Pacific Islanders, mainlanders, Japanese, Filipino, I even met a fella from Belarus here once. Who knew this is what you find thousands of miles from any major piece of land. Here are some other cool facts about Hawaii:
~Hawaii is the only state that grows coffee.
~From east to west Hawaii is the widest state in the United States.
~The Hawaiian Islands are the projecting tops of the biggest mountain range in the world.
~There are no racial or ethnic majorities in Hawaii. Everyone is a minority. Caucasians (Haoles) constitute about 34%; Japanese-American about 32%; Filipino-American about 16% and Chinese-American about 5%. It is very difficult to determine racial identification as most of the population has some mixture of ethnicities.
~The island houses the world's biggest telescope and more scientific observatories in one place than anywhere else in the world.
It's a sweet place.

More recap on the trip thus far.  I spent 2 nights in Guam. Both were fairly short lay overs. 13 hours and 1 hours. So I wasn't able to get out and explore to much. I was able to hang out with about 8 fellow crew members for dinner one night and with a fellow Seattle reserve on another. That was a intersting night. After a trip to the store we came back with some locally distilled Mango flavored vodka. Big mistake. That might be the most disgusting thing I've ever put in my mouth. Parents, do you want you kids to never drink? Make them try this stuff and I am sure you'll have no problems. It was terrible. Looking back I should have known better. And mixing it with mango and peach nectar probably wasn't a good idea either. Live and learn.

I spent the last night in Narita. Well, technically I spent last night in a 767 coming to Honolulu, but you get the idea. Ran into another flight attendant friend there and we had dinner and hung out for a bit. I regaled him with my tell of what happened on the flight up to Nartia from Guam. Let me share with you all too.
This sweet, young Japanese mother flags me down to ask me a question during boarding. She is sitting in her seat with a baby, maybe about 2ish years old and her husband. The baby is eating animal crackers. On them are printed the names of what animal they are. The mom holds one cookie out and asks me, "How do you say this word in English?" The word? Cock. For just a second I was taken aback as the slang use of the word is much more common than the use that it was here, on a chicken animal cracker. What could I do? I pronounced it for her and explained that it was a male chicken, but that the word rooster was much more common to use. I didn't feel it was my place to explain to her right there in the middle of the aircraft that in American slang it also mean penis. I walked away with that lost in translation feeling again.
What else, what else. I don't know if anything can top that story. This will be a good time to finally take that nap I've been needing all day since I'm going on 27 hours awake, with a 2 hour nap in there sometime.

A Spanish Quasi Holiday.

So much going on the past few days, there just hasn’t been time to blog. On Aug 5th I took the red eye over to JFK to work a flight over to Valencia, Spain on the 6th. There was a lovely 50 hour layover that followed. Then back to JFK on the 9th and Seattle after there. I got back to Seattle at 8pm on the 9th, meaning I’d been up almost 24 hours. Then there was one day off and a call to go to Asia on an eight day trip which is where this post is coming from. At the moment I am careening down the highway in Osaka, Japan on the way to the airport to go over to Guam. I’m pretty excited as it’s my first layover in Guam. Plus a fellow Seattle FA is going to be there as well. So it should be a fun layover. Speaking of first time layovers I have to tell you all about Valencia. If you have been reading my blog, or know me personally you will know that I have an obsession with Spain. I love it there, want to live there one day, ect. ect. This was my first time in Valencia though.
A little back ground on Valencia:
It’s located on the Mediterranean, on the eastern coast of the country. It is the 3rd biggest city in Spain. It’s a little industrial. They speak Valencian in addition to Castellano. They are known for paella, a seafood and rice dish.

The flight over there was a nightmare. Not because of passengers really, but because the plane that we take over there is falling apart. It really is a miracle that we stay in the air. Everything was broken: video screens, audio for the movie, lavs, seats. We didn’t have enough meals, people were sick. It was just a rough flight. But then we landed and were in Spain (cue heavenly sounding music here). Everything was great in an instant. After a 5 hour ‘nap’ I hit the beach with some fellow FA’s. August is vacation month in Spain and the beach was packed. As beaches go its wasn’t spectacular. The water was kinda brown with sea stuff in it, ie, seaweed, sticks, pieces of unidentifiable things. Not like the clear waters of Cozumel. But what the water lacked the people watching made up for.
Spanish boys are fine fine fine.


The next day was spent sightseeing. Valencia seemed very spread out to me. Where we stay at is across the street from the Ciudad de las Bellas Artes. Which is a very cool museum complex that has an IMAX theater, a science museum, an Aquarium and a . I walked around the outside, but didn’t go into any of the museums. I had to save my Euros. From the Ciudad there is a great stretch of park that wraps around the east part of the city. This is an excellent place to go for a run, a bike ride, or just enjoy being outside for awhile. Once in the city center Valencia might remind you of any other Spanish city with its plazas and windy, crooked streets that you can get lost in. Stroll past the bullring that is next door to the north train station.


Visit the Mercado Central which has everything from meats to fruits and veggies to breads. A popular item was fresh squeezed juices. Yum, mango and melon. Delish. I was able to help a lady out who was struggling to communicate with a woman at the bread shop. She didn’t speak Spanish and the woman didn’t speak English, or French, as it turned out the lady was from France. That was a cool experience, translating for the French lady.

If you are in most any Spanish city you have the chance to go to a cathedral. I’m kind of a ‘once you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all’ type people. But I was told the cathedral in Valencia was a little special. It claims to have the actual Holy Grail. Eric Idle and Dan Brown would be disappointed.



So I thought I’d check it out. Yep, just like any other cathedrals, except there was a gold cup on display. But I was glad to go up the tower there as it had marvelous 360 degree views of the city. That was way worth the 2 Euros to check out. Also in Valencia is the Lonja de la Seda, an UNESCO world heritage site. With its twisty inter columns and checkered board floors it’s worth a stop on your way to the market.

By this point in the day my feet were barely working any more and it was time from some dinner. Sadly, I got back to my room and realized I only had 4 Euros left so it was leftovers from the night before and off to bed.
As a city Valencia didn’t impress me too much. Malaga, as a southern coast city, is at the top of my list still. But, my heart still belongs to Santiago in the northwest. Te quiero a ti Santiago.

Alas, my hour long ride to the airport in Osaka is about to come to a close. More on my 8 day adventure in Asia later. Have a lovely weekend all! Get out there and go somewhere!

One is the Loneliest Number

Here I am in Valencia, Spain. There was a problem with my room am patiently awaiting a new one whilst trying to stay awake. Ugh. This is my first time in Valencia. So far the day hasn't been super. The flight over was so hectic. There was so many problems: Most people audio for the movie didn't work, we were short 4 meals, the bathrooms were acting up, we didn't have all the supplies we needed, on and on and on. Then we get to the hotel and I have a smoking room. I hate to be a pain, but ew. I am having to wait until they clean another room. :-( I suppose it's a good time to blog.
Occasionally on a layover, or just a trip in general, I will get this over whelming feeling of sadness. It doesn't happen often, thank goodness, but when it does it sucks. I asked a friend if they ever felt that way and they said sometimes they felt lonely and that maybe it was loneliness I was feeling. I thought about that and decided that maybe they are right. This job can promote loneliness. We spend half the month in hotels, alone. And usually this is great. It gives you time to yourself, especially if you have a hectic life at home. But occasionally you just feel lonely. You are all by yourself in a foreign city. It's a weird feeling. I bring it up because I have that feeling today. Why? I wish I knew. Maybe it was the hectic flight, maybe its the room mess up, maybe its the sleepiness. I just don't know. I guess everyone gets lonely sometimes, even us travelers. More to come from Valencia later.

“To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.”
– Freya Stark

Lost in Translation, Again

This week I was in Narita again. I made my routine trip to the supermarket to stock up on supplies. Lately that has been a chocolate croissant, which is usually still warm from the oven, some sushi or tempura fish, milk tea and assorted junk food items. This time however I thought I'd look for a beer to bring back for someone I know that enjoys a good brewski. I personally do not care for beer so I am somewhat dumb when it comes to them, especially when most of the label is in Japanese. I knew two things though, 1. Fuse, (whom you might remember from my last post) likes bitter beer and 2. Strong hop flavor. So, I'm standing in the beer area and to my right there is beer, to my left there is beer. I am clearly in the beer section. I decided that I was going to try to find a very Japanese beer, i.e. one that had no English on it. I spied just what I was looking for, a bottle all in Japanese except for 2 words "hoppy beverage." Sweet, I thought, the one words I can read say that this is a hoppy beer. Great! I get two as there were 2 different types. I pay for my items and head back to the bus stop to enjoy my croissant and what turned out to be banana flavored milk, which was pretty tasty. As I am sitting there a fellow FA comes up to me and we start comparing purchases. I pull out the beers and start telling this story. By chance I happen to look at the bottle top and it says, in English: Beer Flavor. Uh-Oh, that didn't sound good. So when we got back on the bus, I asked two of our interpreters who had came to the mall too to tell me what in the world I had bought. They too were somewhat perplexed. "I think it's some type of soda," one of them said. "I think its something that you mix with a type of liquor we have here in Japan," said the other. "We are pretty sure it isn't a beer, even though it has alcohol in it, but also sugar." They had no idea what it was. So now I have two bottles of this unknown substance that I am going to cart back to the states with me. They are sitting in my kitchen, I am afraid to try one myself. Fuse seems pretty courageous, I think I'll stick with the original plan and give them to him to try. After explaining what they are of course. I couldn't be that mean. So much for foreign drinks. This weekend I go to Valencia, Spain so I think I'll be safe to bring back a bottle of wine. That can't get to confusing, can it?

Random Fact: The first known use of the expression "India pale ale" comes from an advertisement in the Liverpool Mercury newspaper published January 30, 1835.
Random Quote: "Give me oysters and beer for dinner every day of the year, And I'll feel fine, I'll feel fine." ~ Tin Cup Chalice, Jimmy Buffett

Ironic Karma

Oh the irony! This post is coming to you live from Detroit's International airport. Unfortunately, I will not be going anywhere international from here today. I took the red eye in from Seattle and was all prepared to hit the hay for a nap when I thought, "I'm going to look at my schedule one more time, just to be sure I know the right report time." Thank goodness I did, as my 8 DAY TRIP!!! was gone from my schedule!!! I call up scheduling to learn that, yep, the first leg of the trip, Detroit to Narita, canceled today. :-( So no 8 day trip, no Bangkok, no Hong Kong, no extra pay, nothing for me. Its a terrible thing to have happen. But I am going to look on the bright side, I'll get back to you when I learn what the bright side is. The irony is that I was planning on doing a post on karma today and share a story about last night with you all. (This just in, from a facebook post as I type: At least I get free drinks on my way back to Seattle in a few mins!) So the irony is what karma came back to me today?
Ok, the story. What goes around comes around. The golder rule. Do unto others as you would have done to you. Karma. All great ideas to live by right? Of course!
Last night I was out, once again in Capital Hill, with a fella I will call Fuse, and we went over to a place called Barca to get a drink. It was crowded as there was a big block party going on in the neighborhood last night. So needless to say the bartenders were crazy busy, and it was about 11pm. We make our way to the bar and Fuse goes to order us 2 gin and tonics. On a side note, I am trying gin out to see if I care for it. The bar tender asks "How's it going?" "Good,"Fuse says, "How's your night going?" Then he pauses to actually here the bar tenders answer. What a swell guy right? So we proceed to have a discussion about how being nice to people can get you far. Especially people in the service industry. Be nice to me on the plane and you may get something extra! Be nice and polite to service people and they notice and appreciate it! As we were speaking the bartender, Stefan, makes us a gin on the rocks with a splash of tonic. Apparently he had appreciated Fuse's politeness and rewarded him with 2 stiff drinks. Wow, not sure if I care for gin.

We continue on with our conversation and about 20, maybe 30 mins later Fuse comments on the fact that Stefan is making a lot of mojitos and that they are such a pain. We are speaking these words as he muddles the mint and lime, we are still watching as he pours it into two rocks glasses and gives them to us! Again, being polite, gets you far. But it doesn't end there. After finishing our first drink and the mini mojito we thinking of leaving when Stefan puts down 2 more g&t's in front of us! "It's on me," he says, "If you guys leave I don't know who might take your spot!"
Wow, he was so thankful to have some nice people there that he was giving us free drinks!
Moral of the story? Be nice to people! Be courteous to service industry people! That includes flight attendants! :-)

Now back to Seattle and some much needed sleep!

A Walk on the Hill

Well, after a crazy month of work last month, this has been a rather slow one so far. So with not much travel info to blog with I wanted to share more about the local scene here in the Seattle area. While I haven't been to any far off lands, well any NEW far of lands, lately I have been in the Capital Hill neighborhood of Seattle eating, drinking and being merry. I'd been to the area a few times before, working on a movie set, or just driving around, but I never really checked it out. It is a fun place! Shops, bars, cafes, restaurants, movie theaters, its all there. It's got a real youthful, eclectic, urban vibe to it. Part of the happening grunge scene of the 90's, legend has it, (ok, wikipedia has it) that Pearl Jam actually came up with their name while sitting in one of the local coffee shops, B&O Espresso. Kinda cool.
Walking down one of the main streets, Broadway, you come across an unique art display. The Broadway Dance Steps are a set of 8 bronze shoes mapping out different dances on the sidewalk, such as the rumba, tango and waltz. Who wouldn't want to stop on the street and learn how to two step with someone? Are you in the mood for food? Capital Hill seems to have it all. Pizza, burgers, Thai, Italian, Mexican, Sushi, Greek, even a chocolate bar! Check out Bleu Bistro a quirky place at the corner of Broadway & Olive/John. It features a super cool menu with lengthy, historical descriptions and explanations for most food and drink items. It seriously would take quite some time to pick out what you wanted if you read it all. But the food is yummy, a lot of pesto options, and the atmosphere is fun. The booths have curtains around them for a more 'intimate' setting. Loads of fun and super yum! Or for a happy hour treat and some pool go over to Garage, a pool hall/bar/bowling alley. Happy Hour prices were some of the best in town and with about 15-20 pool tables your wait time is short. I hear that brunch is all the rage over there, but have yet to partake myself. Don't worry, I'll get around to it, but till then if you're in the neighborhood, go check make a night of it over in Capital Hill.

Random Fact: Ants never sleep.
Random Quote: But what is happiness except the simple harmony between a man and the life he leads?  ~Albert Camus

A Day In The Life

There is a fellow blogger that I just love to read, The Sassy Stew, her posts are always so funny and true about that small 1% of passengers. Today I was reading back through her archives and just rolling in the floor with laughter. I got to thinking about all the crazy stuff I have seen, which actually isn't that much. I am kinda thankful for that. As much I like having a good story to tell, not being in an emergency or having a situation where you need to call the cops is probably better. But I thought I would share a few stories about how 3 people amazed me, in a bad way, on my last trip. It really is amazing sometimes to see what people think is acceptable.

I was on a 4 day domestic trip over the 4th of July week and story number one takes place on one of those days. First of all some background on what my uniform looks like as it is an important factor in this story. I like to wear the dresses that we have during the summer. There are two, a red one and a blue one. Both have a breast pocket where you can put a pen, or pocket square, or whatever. As the name implies, its right over the boob area for us ladies. With that being explained, lets go back to the flight in question. I was walking through the cabin with a bottle of water and a stack of cups when this guy holds up a used napkin to indicate he wants to throw it away. Now, on a side tangent, I am always shocked when people try to give me trash when my hands are full! Do they expect me to whip out a 3rd arm? Hold it with my teeth? Squeeze it between my knees and waddle down the aisle? I can't carry your trash right now people! Geez! So when this guys starts waving his gross, dirty, used napkin at me, I hold up my hands to indicate that, HELLO!!, I can't take your TRASH, while I am serving water and have no hand to take it, or bag to put it in. So what does he do you ask? Well he makes a motion with his free hand that interpreted as wanting a cup a water so I lean down a bit to make it easier for him to get a cup and lo and behold as he is coming towards me the world kinda slows down into slow motion like on a movie, where everything happens so fast you don't have time to react, but it seems so slow that you have the chance to process it all. He reaches up with the dirty napkin and sticks it into my dress pocket!! EWWW! Now not only has he put his TRASH into MY clothing! MY uniform! But in a way he has groped me! I was shocked. Who does that?!? Calmly, I sat my water on the floor, grabbed his stupid, gross napkin out my MY DRESS POCKET!!! and place it on his tray. Calmly still I told him it is not acceptable to place trash in a flight attendants uniform and under no circumstances is it ever ok to put anything in my front pocket! His response? "Oh, when you leaned down (to offer him the cups) I thought that was what you wanted me to do." Are you for real buddy?

Story Number 2
Might as well stick with the theme from that last story about inappropriate sexual behaviors on board. This one isn't as bad as the trash in my pocket guy, but still merits a "What the h**l are you thinking?!" On this flight, same trip, different day, I was sitting in the jumpseat where there are 2 passengers directly in front of you. Now, so fa's are super picky and ask people not to have anything in their hands during take off and landing, not even a book or magazine,  because if something happens what ever they have is going to come flying at us. I don't care if you have a magazine, but on this particular day there was a guy with a HUGE laptop. I mean circa 1995, Dell something that had to have weighed 20lbs. It could have easily done some damage so I told the guy that I needed to stow it for take off. Now most people when you tell them that you need to stow something either: A. Try to get up to stow it themselves or B. Hand it to you to stow. (Which if you are already seated and we are moving, is the correct option.) This guy opted for option C. Which turned out to be 'pick the laptop up off my lap yourself.' Now this might not have been such a big deal had his laptop been at his knees, as opposed to directly on top of his crotch area. So after telling him I needed to stow it, he proceeds to lean back, lift his hands in the air and look down at the lap top to indicate I need to pick it up myself.  Before I really thought about it I almost did it, but thankfully realized that had I went to pick it up my self, I probably would have had to inadvertently touched this guy in a spot that in no way did I want to. Eww. Sir, I am sorry, but I am not about to touch you in that way on today's flight. And I told him that and had him hand me his computer. Was he trying to get me to touch 'it'? I'm hopping not. I hope he just didn't realize what would have happened, but people are strange so who knows.

Story number 3 is short. I just couldn't believe that guys asked this. I was walking down the aisle and a man, in his mid 50's I would guess, waves me over. "Miss, I have a question for you." Ok, go ahead. "Those white things out there," pointing out the window, "Are they clouds or snow?" Seriously? We are flying over Minnesota/Michigan in July. Not Colorado or Alaska in January. After I took a second to be sure he was in fact serious, I answered him with the correct answer of 'clouds, sir." After which his wife proceeds to smack him in the leg and yell, "I told you so!" I am guessing she was thinking to her self, 'I can't believe I married this guy, how embarrassing!'

Today's Random Quote: "I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best." - Marilyn Monroe

Ballard Days

So a few weeks ago I blogged about a night out in Ballard and how much fun it was. On Saturday I was able to experience Ballard in the day time. It was the 37th Annual Ballard Seafood Fest! For 2 days Ballard is transformed into a street fair complete with music, vendors, performers and of course seafood!! They close off most of 'downtown' Ballard and people set up shop. There were people selling all kinds of things, from soaps, spices and jewelery to luxury sheets. We were a little surprised by the sheets. And the food choices, oh my, there was smoked salmon, pickled herring, chowder, Cajun gumbo, gyros, french fries, fried pb&j sandwiches, fish and chips, elephant ears, you name it, it was probably there. I happened to choose the one place that had the longest line, for what I am sure was the smallest amount of food, but it was still a good time.  If you have any desire to people watch, a place like this is where to go. People were walking around wearing Viking helmets as Ballard is considered to have a Scandinavian heritage. Ballard also has a history as a fishing community in the area and I believe is still that way, though maybe not as aggressively as in the past. But if you walk down to the docks you can see big fishing boats parked beside smaller house boats. Its an eclectic community for sure. I believe that I will like to explore more of Seattle's neighborhoods. On the way to Ballard, the friend that I was with was pointing out some things in another community, Fremont, that were also random and quirky. Maybe soon there will be a 'Fremont Friday' post!

Today's Random Fact: Lake Baikal, in Russia's Siberia, is the deepest and oldest lake in the world.
Today's Random Quote: "Certainty of death. Small chance of success. What are we waiting for?" ~ The Lord of the Rings, Return of the King

Also, more passport covers! Over 100 in stock! www.passportcoverskygirl.etsy.com

Viva Malaga!

It's possible this post may not make a lot of sense. I have wanted to go to bed 4 hours ago but thought I better not go to bed at 4 in the afternoon. So here I am at 8pm, east coast time, trying to stay up till at least 9pm. I'm going to make it, I think. I'm stuck on a 4 day domestic trip, which I don't care for to much, but it does give me 22 hours in Orlando, which I have used to crank out about 20 more passport covers. Check em out! Stay tuned, I may be getting a business partner in the near future!

You must hear about my lovely trip to Malaga, which may now be my most favorite city in the world. Why? I just don't know exactly. Maybe the way I feel like I just belong there. Maybe the way the streets are so windy and narrow. Maybe to way you never know what you might find down one of them. Maybe the beautiful Mediterranean, or the cafe con leche, the churros, the tapas, the rioja, the, well, you get the picture. I LOVE it there.
A must must must on your trip to Malaga is a trip to the market, Atarazanas, open from 8-2 Monday-Saturday. This place has your fruits, veggies, cheese, meats, some breads and its all delicious.

I easily spent 30 Euros here, but I got bags full of stuff. Olives, bread, almonds, tortilla, cheese, serrano, so much for so little. I am still eating most of it after sharing half with a friend! After your shopping trip, wander down to the park on the coast and check out all the non native plants there. Years ago sailors would bring back a plant from each exotic place they went and plant it in this park. There are all kinds of weird things there. Finish that off with a stroll on the beach. Don't be scared to get rid of those tans lines ladies, as some women go topless here. The guys are quite nice to look at as well.                               (See?)





Finish your day up with a good dinner of tapas, maybe some wine or sangria, hopefully from some locale where you can watch the sun go down. Then get ready to dance the night away. The Andalusians are know for their buleria lifestyle so be ready to live it up. And of course the next morning you will be ready for a cafe con leche and some churros y chocolate. And can it get much better than that?

Out Living

Enjoying life so much right now! There isn't enough time to post! Great trips! Great friends! Great days! Be back soon!

A Sunday Drive

It was a gorgeous day here in the Pacific Northwest yesterday. One of those rare days that you really feel lucky living here. A friend had been inviting me to visit her church with her so yesterday morning I got up and drove 30 mins north to Bothell. On my drive back home I was loving the warm, sunny weather and got the itch to just keep driving. I know, I spend hours trapped in a steel tube hurtling though the atmosphere and here I am wanting to spend time in my tiny car. But I made a decision and it was off the to Olympic Peninsula for the afternoon! So I swung by my apartment to thrown on a skirt, spray my left arm with some sunscreen, cause that baby was going to be hanging out the window a lot, grab my camera and I was off. After making a few phone calls to see if anyone wanted to tag along, no, I rolled the windows down, turned the radio up and let the wind blow through my hair. It was awesome. Then I did something unthinkable. I turned my phone OFF! I know right? Crazy stuff. Wait, it gets even crazier, after that I got out my atlas. Remember those things? For you younger readers only familiar with GPS' an atlas is a large collection of maps. A map is a GPS in paper form. I know, archaic, right? But I LOVE maps in general and love tracking my progress during a road trip on the map. So, I've got my map, my peace and quite (well except for the wind roaring by) & my sunshine. Now all I needed was some good tunes. Out came, gack, cd's! It was like taking a road trip in the 90's, I know. I threw in one of the best cd's ever, Maroon 5's Songs About Jane.
So now I am doing superb, very happy and loving life. As I drive on, farther away from Tacoma, I enter part of the state that I haven't been to before. I am stoked to pass over a drawbridge! I love it! I live in a place that has drawbridges! So cool. So I'm puttering along and I keep seeing all these signs for lavender farms: The Purple Scent Lavender Farm, Bob's Lavender Farm, etc. Hum, that sounds interesting, I'll spot at the next one. But in between thinking that and seeing the next sign I realized if I stopped I'm most likely buy some stuff that I didn't need so I kept moving on. Maybe next time.

Now, the one thing that kept coming back to me on this whole 9 hour drive was nostalgia. The landscape make me think of so many places, especially in Montana: Lava Lake, Storm Castle, the entire Gallatin Canyon, the area from Big Sky to West Yellowstone, The Lamar Valley, Hyalite Canyon & Boone, North Carolina. It was amazing. By the time I made it all the way out to Forks,WA I was on an emotional high. Lots of good memories. 
The drive took me up past Bremerton, across to Sequim, to Port Angeles, which was a lot bigger than I was expecting, and down to Forks. I had aspirations of making the whole loop down to Aberdeen and back through Olympia, but I was not ready to be in the car for another 6 hours. So once I got to Forks I turned around and came back. The drive takes you through part of Olympic National Park, around Lake Crescent (which reminded me of Lava Lake) which was beautiful.
For those of you who would care at all that I was in Forks, WA, you know the significance of that little town out in the middle of no where. For the rest of you I will explain and show what a dork I am. Forks is the town that the Twilight books are set in. I'm not ashamed, I am a proud Twilight book fan, movies, there ok, but the books were really, really good. That woman can really write. I know I am not the only one who holed up on my couch for two days straight reading all four books as fast as possible. They are awesome. So here I am in this little town that has sadly been taken over by Twilight mania in a way. I stopped at the Thriftway Grocery store for an apple and a Port Angeles brewed Creme Soda, and even there there was Twilight stuff. But it was just a small little mountain town with super friendly people. I did stop and take a photo for the 'Welcome to Forks" sign. I really felt like a dork then, even though there were about 4 other cars of people doing the same thing. 

But alas, the fun had to come to an end so I turned the car around and heading back home. At Port Angeles I stopped by the water front to try and get a glimpse of the ferry that goes over to Victoria, BC, but it must have been out as I didn't see it. That would be a fun trip, going over on the ferry.

 I also noticed on the way that dungeness crab is super popular over there. There were signs everywhere advertising it. Sadly, none of them seemed to be open on a Sunday night. I also found it odd that as I scanned the radio stations I heard a lot of French stations. Must be a lot of French speakers in the area. I didn't know that. So as I made my way slowly back, enjoying another good album, Dave Matthews Stand Up
And now, the start of something new. At the end of every post I'm going to add a random fact &/or quote. Just for the sake of doing it. Today's we will do both:
Random Fact:
Canning came about after Napoleon offered a cash award of 12,000 francs to any inventor who could devise a cheap and effective method of preserving large amounts of food to help feed his army.
Today's Quote:
"I intend to live forever, or die trying." ~Groucho Marx

Manila Recap

Back at home after a 6 day trip to Japan and the Philippines, and a weird red eye Minneapolis turn last night, which caused me to accidentally sleep until 830pm tonight. Sigh, which is why I am posting at 2am. Its almost time for some melatonin.

My trip to Manila was killer! First a little background on the Philippines. It was 'discovered' by Magellan, the first guy to sail around the world, and claimed by Spain in 1521. Spain ruled until the late 1800's when it sold the Philippines to the United States. The people however were ready for independence and a few wars broke out. Japan even occupied the country for a short time in WWII, but eventually in 1946 they were granted their independence. So as you can imagine there is a lot of Spanish influence in the city of Manila. And of course there is some American influence as well. Without offending anyone, I would say that the Philippines aren't very 'Asian' at all. If anything it reminded me of Central America, especially Nicaragua, a lot.
Much more than anywhere else I have been in Asia. I wasn't expecting that at all and it was really interesting. With about 31 hours there we had a whole day to explore. So my fellow FA, Lu, and I went off exploring. As I was hoping to track down a copy of Japanese Rosetta Stone, our first stop was the Greenhills Shopping Center. Kinda like a mall and a flea market met and had a love child, the shopping center is freaking huge! Huge. I am sure there were a lot of things we did not see, Rosetta Stone being one of them. However there was a little fella that came up to us asking if we wanted to buy software, saying he had the 26 languages DVD's for sale. But it just felt to sketcky especially since I know you can get it in Shanghai and it works. So I avoided him. For me getting to Greenhills was fun. We decided to forgo the $5 taxi ride and hop on the metro line. I personally love experiencing public transportation and would much rather use it than a taxi. It was great, got us where we needed to go and we had to walk a little bit to get to Greenhills.

Now here is where I was reminded of an important lesson. As an often solo traveling woman I am often on the defensive and tend to think on the defensive too. (See dad? I am careful.) Meaning that I don't often trust people. At least random people on the street. Remember this story from Tel Aviv about the taxi driver who tried to swindle us? So when we were walking along the street and a torrential downpour broke out, I was hesitant to jump into the back of the Jeepney (similar to a bus), or even a taxi, as I was afraid they would try and charge us a crazy price. But we jumped in the Jeepney anyways and drive about half a mile more to Greenhills. Come to find out, the guy wasn't even going to charge us for the lift! Lu gave him a few US dollars and said he was very pleasantly surprised. Good lesson to be learned, not everyone is out to take advantage of you. (Don't worry Dad, I will still be careful.)

After our shopping adventure, which took a few hours longer than I would have thought, there was just so much stuff to see, we headed to Intermuros, the old Spanish city in Manila, where we checked out the old fort and the cathedral before returning to the hotel for a 2 hour massage, that cost $15. :-0 I actually felt guilty only paying the girl this amount. After the massage we stumbled across the street to get some dinner. We happily found a traditional Filipino desert, the Bibingka, which we tried and loved!
There are so many other things that I would have liked to done, but for our short time there I think we did pretty good. Hopefully there will be another trip there in the near future. But for now I am happy to be going back to Spain on Tuesday, to Malaga. And then next month off to Bangkok and Hong Kong! Loving life.

Live from Manila, it's Saturday Night!

I am sitting in what might be the nicest hotel I have been in before, the Peninsula Hotel, Manila, Philippines. This bed seriously feels like it might swallow me up in softness. I may not get out of it to go sightseeing tomorrow. Ahhh.....zz....zzzzzz...zzz....oh fell asleep there for a second it's so comfy! But before drifting off to dream land, its midnight here on Monday morning, (That's 9am/noon on Sunday for you west/east coasters in the USA.) I wanted to share a cool thing I did today in Narita that I can't believe I hadn't realized to try to do before. I'm on this trip with a fellow FA from Seattle and him and I went to the mall in Narita this morning. It was my first time going there so I was excited to do something new of course. But a mall is mall anywhere you go, but this one had a grocery store in it and let me tell you all, I like to eat on my lay overs. I have to go the most affordable route though and that is usually to the local grocer. Oh my you can get the best stuff there. It can be a little tricky trying to figure out what you are getting, but most items have a nice picture on the box so you can see what you are getting. But the point of this post if that this store was giving out all kinds of samples! Of course! What a great way to try local products! There have been a few times where I have went to Costco and had 'lunch' off the free samples there so why had it not dawned on me to do the same elsewhere? I took advantage and tried some kind of fish with rice, yogurt, cheese, bread. There was all kids of stuff to try! I don't know if they do this everyday, but I am sure I will going back to this grocery store the next time I am in Narita, which is tomorrow, to sample more awesome Japanese goodies. (Still loving Japan more and more each time!) I've now learned the verb for 'to be' and how to say 'I' "How much is that?" "this one" "the bill please" and "that was delicious." (I've been using that one a lot!) I even ordered coffee this morning, all in Japanese! Yea for me! Part of tomorrow's project is looking for Japanese Rosetta Stone. So I'd better start sleeping!

Come on Down! The Price is Right!

Oh my goodness! Today was one of the most fun times I have had on a flight. Let me set the scene up for you. For a few months now I have been wanting to fly with a fun crew on a domestic trip. I don't tend to do a lot of domestic to begin with and when I do it is often with people who aren't to keen on getting outside of the box. I have been wanting to be with people who wanted to spice up the flight with fun announcements, game show host style! (Why, I don't know.) So today I got my chance! At first I was not happy about this trip. I was on call for 3 days and they called me to do a 6am deadhead to Salt Lake City, a 1 hour and 20 min flight, sit there for 2 hours and come right back to Seattle. So I technically only worked for 1 hour and 20 mins today. For my readers not familiar with flight attending work, this is a HORRIBLE trip!  But the silver lining was I got back to Seattle with plenty of time to go to cosmic bingo! Ok, so my coworkers today were super excited to do game show host announcements too! I was so happy! So here the 4 of us are at 9am in SLC eating some orange chicken from the Manchu Wok, pretty sleep deprived and a bit loopy, practicing our game show host voices. People were definitely staring.
We get on board and Al, my fellow FA has a stroke of genius. "Let's download the "The Price is Right" theme song and play it over the PA!" I loved it! So we get our 1:04 min The Price is Right theme music ready. Al was going to be a 'Barker Beauty'/Vanna White to my Bob Barker/Alex Trebek. We were like school kids on a sunny day in June we were so ready for the passengers.
The time comes, we're in flight ready to make our main cabin service announcement,  I get out the music and start to play it over the P.A.. People are quite confused. Their faces were priceless. Al comes running up from about mid cabin waving his arms in the air like a contestant on The Price is Right as I'm making my announcement for him to 'come on down.' In today's 'showcase' we had Coke products, sodas and juices, modeled Barker Beauty style by Al up and down the aisle. For our health conscious passengers we offered, "zero calories, healthy water.' Coffee and tea were followed by a very quick 'fine print' type voice that you hear on commercials. "Coffee and Tea are available on today's flight. This service is valid on the entire flight. We will give substitutions and give refills." Ect. ect. All spoken is a very quick voice I am guessing no one understood.
Then we moved onto the Jeopardy portion of the flight. Al was give a category, 'Onboard Amenities" and the clue: Peanuts, Pretzels and Cookies. He had to give the the correct answer, in the form of a question of course. "What are our choices for today's onboard complimentary snack?" Good job Al! Next, a tougher challenge awaited. "The answer is $7." The passengers really liked when Al acted like he was thinking really hard about it. "What is the price of liquor and wine?" he says with an unsure tone of voice. Very good Al! People are into it now, especially those in the rows closest to us. Then for our last 'game', Name That Price." we were going to do a 'higher'/'lower' type game, but when I asked "How much are our snack boxes and beer?" The man in the first row raised his hand to answer! So we got some passenger participation going! It was great fun and the people seemed to really enjoy it. We ended with a simple, "This can all be yours, if the price is right!"  Now if we could only get them to pay attention to the safety video as well!
(Look for us on youtube!) 

Random Event and Shamless Plug

I completly forgot to metion something super random that happend while I was in Osaka this week. I was up in the crew room checking my email and I had a facebook message from an old friend from college. The message? "Did you fly through Osaka a few hours ago?" "Um, yes," I said, "Did you see me at the airport?" Turns out he had seen me at the airport as I was arriving!! How crazy and a small world is that? I always hope that I see someone I know on a flight, but so far that hasn't happened, so this is the closest I have gotten to that. Crazy huh?
I also wanted to take this time to promote my new 'business', passport covers! I was looking for a cover a few weeks ago and couldn't really find any with a travel theme. They seemed easy enough to make so I thought I would give it a try and make a few to sell as a side project. I am always dipping my hands into something new to do. Hats, coffee, baked goods, I like to try everything. I think my life would be so boring for me if I didn't. As the saying goes, variety is the spice of life.
So be sure and check out my site, its on ETSY.
www.passportcoverskygirl.etsy.com
I've got more ideas and will be working on them in the weeks to come if I am not flying. So check back often for new covers!

Narita Fun and How to Fight Jet Lag

I just woke up from my 5 hour nap after returning from my 6 day Asia trip at 5:30 this morning. I am amazed at how awake I feel, more on that in a few paragraphs. I tried desperately to get rescheduled while I was over there, calling our scheduling department 2 times at each stop, but no luck for me. I'll get rescheduled when I don't want to be. C'est la vie. But I did have some great experiences while I was there. Besides my awesome language encounter, I was able to check out Narita, Japan for the first time. Narita is about 40 miles outside of Tokyo and houses one of two airports serving the Tokyo area. The other one, Haneda, is closer to the city but doesn't serve as much traffic as Narita. Basically, if you are going to Japan for a visit, there wouldn't be a lot of reasons for you to stay in Narita, but if you are there for a 24 hour period it can provide a lot of entertainment. One thing that I was able to do was go to the Naritasan Shinshoji Temple which is a huge complex!

I had no idea how large it was when I went. It was a temple complex that feels like a park. It is set in the woods with beautiful ponds, teeming with koi and turtles, all around. And of course, there are temples. I spent an hour there just walking around and could have stayed longer. A few times a day they do a Goma, sacred fire ritual, in one of the temples. A Buddhist priest burns goma sticks in an offering to Fudomyoo, the main deity at the temple. Everything is in Japanese so be prepared to not understand anything, unless of course you read Japanese, but that didn't take away from the experience and beauty of the complex.

If you are in Nartia airport and want to get out and do something on a long sit you can take a train from the airport to Narita station. From there it is an easy 10-20 min walk to the temple down a street that has shops, food stores, cafes and restaurants. If you are lucky you may run into some Spaniards in a shop and get to practice your Spanish with them as I did. :-)


Now I thought I would share some tips for jet jag. I don't know if my body is just use to changing time zones now, but I don't get jet lag that bad anymore. Here's what I do.
#1 Stay up during the day!! This is super important. If you need to take a nap that's ok, but gage accordingly. I normally go to bed around 1am and get up at 10am so for me, if I get home at 7am I will nap until about 12 or 1pm then stay up until night time. But if I get in after noon then I may only take a 2 hour nap or even just power though and stay up till bed time. But the key is to not sleep during most of the day, no matter how hard it is.
#2 If you listened to #1 you should have no trouble falling asleep, but if you do take some melatonin. Some people say it doens't work for them, but for me it works great Melatonin is what you body produces naturally to tell you to go to sleep. Taking it helps tell your body it's sleepy time.
#3 Use an eyeshade and ear plugs if need be. I do this when I am not jet lagged, but it helps you to sleep more soundly. Remember, naturally, people are suppose to sleep when its dark and not around all this man made noise.
#4 Coffee, Tea and Vitamins B are your friends, but remember they can affect your sleep even if you are exhausted, so its best not to consume a lot of caffine a few hours before getting your 8+ hours of rest.
#5 Exercise, out in the sunshine if possible! Working out on a layover always helps me do better than the times I don't.
#6 Drink water! You should do this anyways, but it helps a lot too!

If none of these are working out for you, I'm sorry, but Netflix has a lot of great options for watching at 3 in the morning!
Sweet Dreams!

Lost in Traslation

I am seriously falling in love with Japan. Every time I come here I like it more and more. I am to the point now that I am thinking about learning some serious Japanese. And after a few events today, I think I need to. I must get these stories into blog form while they are still fresh in my head. I hope they come across as funny as there were in real life, but they may have a 'you had to be there' feel to them. OK here goes. I like to be able to communicate with people in their own language. I hate the idea that you can assume people speak English, especially when you are in THEIR own country. I have to learn how to at least say 'I don't speak ______.' I struggled with that one in Hebrew, man that's a tough language. But I know it in Japanese and I am learning more and more phrases every trip. Anyways, our interpreter on our flight today is awesome. I've flown with her before and she is super. She is great with helping me learn Japanese phrases. Today I mastered 'What would you like to drink?' and learned how to say 'It's occupied' for when people inevitably try and go in the bathroom when there is someone in there already. I love practicing on people. They appreciate it and it helps me learn. The only problem comes when you start talking in Japanese, people think you speak it and if they don't say something to me that I know, ie: water, coffee, tea, I get lost and then have to use my other phrases: "I'm sorry." "I don't understand." "I don't speak Japanese." It can be a little embarrassing telling someone you don't speak Japanese right after you spoke to them IN Japanese. But I digress. Story number one takes place during a beverage service. I was at a row with this young Japanese couple, who, if they spoke English, didn't let on that they did. So In my best Japanese I asked "Ono mi mo no wa?' They said "Kohi" (coffee) and "apple". OK, I got those two words down, especially since one was in English. So I got the coffee and gave it to the man. I then asked him, in Japanese, if he wanted sugar or creme. He looked at the coffee, then at me and said: "Hot Kohi?" (But imagine the ho in 'hot' sounds like the ho in 'ho ho ho'). I was a bit confused, I thought he was trying to say in English: "Hot Coffee?" Not knowing how to respond in Japanese, or English for that matter, I shook my head and repeated in my perfect Japanese "kohi." His response, "Hot Kohi?" My response, "Hai (yes), kohi." We did this back and forth a few times. I was quite confused. Did he want something besides sugar or creme? Was this 'hot' word a Japanese word I didn't know? Did I misunderstand them and he wanted 'coke'? I thought that might be it so I tried to take the cup away from him, but he kept hold of it, so no, not wanting a coke. So at this point I am thoroughly embarrassed at my horrible Japanese skills and Misa is not close by to ask for help. So I sadly say, "sorry, sorry, sorry" and go on my way, a bit more leery to use my 20 word Japanese vocabulary. When I see Misa nearby a few mins later I flag her down and ask for help. Can she help me figure out what the guy wanted? We head over there and they start talking in Japanese, looking at me, pointing to the coffee cup. I'm dying to know what happened as I stand there looking like an idiot. Turns out he WAS saying 'hot coffee'. He was wanting to be sure it wasn't coke, but coffee. So it turns out he was saying exactly what he needed to be and I was hearing it, but I couldn't make it work in my head. So I felt silly, the guy and girl felt bad that I needed to call the interpreter over to help with nothing and I left the row as red of my pocket square. Fail #1. At least they were nice about it and laughed, albeit at my expense, but that's OK.
Story #2 takes places as I am trying, very excitedly I must add, to use my new phrase: "It's occupied." A lady, in Japanese appearance, came up to the lav door and pushed on it. I said in English "Someone is in there." and then remembered I had the phase written in Japanese on my cheat sheet. I proudly and excitedly pulled it out and proceeded to inform her, in Japanese that it is occupied. Her response to me? In perfect, non accented English: "Well, is there someone in the other one?" Fail #2, getting excited about talking to someone in Japanese, that doesn't speak it. Oh, what a good trip. But I had more wins than losses so to speak. Most people got the drink they wanted. And I was able to order gyoza in Japanese when we got here and was even able to ask if they had pork in them. So I'm doing ok, but got a long ways to go.
But now, since it is 3:50am in Seattle, I am off for my routine soak in the tub here, which is AMAZING, before continuing on to Guam then Narita tomorrow. More time to practice! Sayonara for now!

Ballard Nights

Consider this an extended segment of the post Check Out Your Own Backyard as it takes place in Ballard, a neighborhood in northwest Seattle. I haven't experienced much of the Seattle night life, since I don't actually live in the city itself. I usually end up in the Tacoma area when I go out and about around here. But last night a friend of mine invited me to join in on a birthday celebration at a bar/club/restaurant in Ballard. I was intrigued, having never been to Ballard before, and my friend is awesome so I said of course! First things first, I Googled Ballard to see if I even knew where it was. I was pretty close, maybe one neighborhood away. The place that we were going too is called BalMar an unique urban space that has a lounge vibe to it. Located in the heart of Ballard at the corner of Ballard Ave and Market St., which I'm guessing is where the Bal Mar name comes from, they offer drinks, food and dancing (Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights). It was packed! Apparently, word on the street was that it is the only spot in Ballard for dancing and plenty of people were taking advantage of it. After awhile it was like trying to breathe on a hot, muggy Louisianan night in August. I should have worn that skirt I was contemplating instead of pants. But it was still a fun time. The crowd was very young and there was good people watching, i.e. ladies, there were quite a few cute, young fellas in the crowd. The night ended on a good note, for me anyways, I can't say the same for one couple that was part of the celebration, they broke up at the bar! Ouch, not the best way to end the evening, but I guess you never know what might happen on a Ballard night.

Salt and Water, Salt and Water, Salt and Water

Today’s post is coming to you from 35,000ft. On an Airbus 320 from Detroit to Seattle there isn’t a whole lot to do but read, look out the window, sleep.  But, if you have your own technology do what you normally would do anyways. So, I thought it the perfect time to get my post written so I’ll be ready for more sitting around when I get back to Seattle. :-) Hopefully though with this being June 1st and the start of our summer flying, sitting around will be a thing of the past! I’m crossing my fingers, but not holding my breath.
This past week I haven’t been sitting around though! I was off to Israel! My friend, whom I'll call Fry, works with my airline and was cool enough to have me tag along on his trip! My first time in the middle east and it was spectacular! I was only in Tel Aviv and the very close old city of Jaffa, but it was enough to get me itching for more. Sadly, the free day that we had there was on the Sabbath, so people told us would shouldn’t waste our time going over to Jerusalem, which was a hour away, because everything would be closed. But not to fear there was a lot to do in TLV and we did a lot!

Upon arrival at the hotel most of the crew dashed to change clothes and run over to the Carmel Market, the biggest market in the city, which was only a few blocks from the hotel. With our precious hours of daylight fading, everything closes at sunset for shabbat diner, we hurriedly tried to maneuver the market and all its treasures. Food was everywhere! Olives, pita, fruits, veggies, baklava, fish, dried fruit (from a lady who tried to rip you off). A fresh smoothie had to be consumed and it was delish! I was reminded of an important lesson, always look at your change. I didn’t do this and some lady gypped me out of 20 shekels, about $7! Less talking and more paying attention!
After enjoying a gyro made with the traditional stuffing of chips, or french fries for us Americans, we moseyed our way back to the hotel just enjoying the street sights. It was a sunny day and the beach was calling our name so a lounge by the Mediterranean was very much in order. It was apparently calling other people by their names too, the beach was packed.

 When we got there the sun was hiding behind some clouds that were sneaking in on the fierce wind that had started to blow. It didn’t take to long to get covered with sand. But can there really be such a thing as a bad day at the beach? NO! After a chat, where I found out one of the crew members commutes from Sydney(!), a swim, burying Fry in the sand and an encounter with a local kite surfer, we dusted off our towels and went back to the hotel. It wasn’t long till some of the crew gathered for a ‘debriefing’. After a few adult beverages 6 of us went in 1 taxi to a club that ended up being easily within walking distance of the hotel. Our taxi driver proceeded to try and get us to pay 120 shekels, or $35 for a 3 min cab ride, it seriously was that close. An argument ensued and the word police was thrown around and for a second I thought I might end up in the Israeli police station that night. All ended well, with us paying only 60 shekels which was still too much. We dance our troubles away and said goodnight to the day as the sun was rising on the next.


After a long 5 hour sleep Fry and I headed over to the old city of Jaffa, which was a beautiful walk down the boardwalk along side the Mediterranean. What sights there were to behold! There were fishermen, families, a man washing his horse in the sea and a fella sitting on a couch blasting Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody in front of a falling down building the had mannequin parts hanging from it. That one we couldn’t figure out.
After spending the afternoon waltzing around Jaffa, eating ice cream, breads, caramel bananas, taking photos and just enjoying the day we returned to the hotel to lounge by the pool. Since Fry had to actually work on the flight back to JFK he had to take a quick nap while I caught the sun set and enjoyed the last moments of the trip.
I can not wait for a chance to go back! Israel was a diverse, fun, cultural place that has so much to offer. I had never really comprehended how much there is to see there. Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Jericho, Galilee, the Dead Sea, Tel Aviv. Its a great country and all within half a days drive of everything! I learned some fun facts too:
According to an Israeli superstition, if a bee is trying to get you all you need to do is say "Salt and Water" three times. I tried this out in East Tennessee yesterday and it worked great!
Cherry Tomatoes, Skype and Rummikub are all from Israel.
The glue on Israeli stamps is kosher!

I could go on and on but will hold myself back. Bottom line, if you have a chance to go to Israel, do it!
Shalom Shalom (Peace be with you)

Next for sure adventure: Malaga at the end of June!!

Oh, The Places You'll Go!

So I think it is official, the scheduling dept has lost my phone number. I have flown 1, yes that's right, 1 trip this month and that was a quick Detroit red eye turn! Not really a trip at all! But I am now very rested up and ready for summer flying! I am wishing and hoping and praying that June will be an awesome month of flying. I already know for sure that I will be putting my toes in the sand of the Mediterranean at the end of the month for sure. I was able to pick up a Malaga trip. I was hoping to get a Rome too, but not yet. I am however departing for Israel in T minus 3 days and I am stoked! Can't wait to visit the middle east for the first time. And Israel seems like such an awesome place, I think I would like to go back for longer than my 33 hour layover. One day! There are just so many great places to go and so little time to do them in. So I thought today's post would be about 10 destinations I am dying to go to. It is impossible for me to make a top ten list, but these are a good starting place. So grab a cup of joe, relax and take a verbal trip around the globe with me.

#1 ARGENTINA! 

Argentina really is on the number 1 spot of my list. I have wanted to go there for years and things just keep happening to prevent me from going there! I want to try Malbecs at their vineyards, eat chimichurried beef, hike the Tierra del Fuego and stroll the streets of Buenos Aires! And hello, Argentinean guys are cuute!





# 2 Indonesia (to visit my sponsor child!)

For 8 years now I have been so lucky to have sponsored a child through Compassion International. I started sponsoring Christo when he was only 6 and now he is 14! It as been so cool to see him mature though photos and his letter writing. I want to be able to go visit him and the amazing country or Indonesia. As luck would have it he lives on one of the less popular islands, near the city of Manado, renowed for their diving. So, who dives and wants to come with me?

#3 Copenhagen, Denmark

Why? I don't know exactly but I think it goes back to my love of a book called Number the Stars. Plus a friend was telling me about a part of the city that basically governs themselves. That seems like a cool place to check out!








#4 Istanbul, Turkey

East meets West, baklava, what more do you need?











#5 Fairbanks, Alaska

In the winter, to see the Northern Lights aka Aurora Borealis.















#6 Palua, Jellyfish Lake

You can swim with millions of jellyfish that have lost their sting! How amazing would that be?!








#7 Barcelona, Spain

Spanish, the Sagrada Familia, Mediterranean beaches, and again, seriously hot guys, who play soccer!









#8 Cairo, Egypt

The only remaining wonder of the original 8 wonders of the world are the pyramids at Giza. I want to see that!










#9 Reykjavik, Iceland
Sure you might have to fight off some volcanic ash, but that's got to be good for your skin right? Along with soaking in the hot springs and glacial mud baths. Ahhhh.








And last, but not least:

#10 Seychelles

Ok, I have wanted to go here for years, and the fact that William and Kate chose this country for the honeymoon tells me a few things. 1. They have great taste. And 2. I probably can't afford to go there. But the beaches look amazing! Ever look at a calendar with a beach theme? You are probably looking at a beach in the Seychelles. Clear water, white sands, swaying palm trees, its heaven on earth.