Tag Archives: travel

Highlights from Mystic

I think Michelle and I may post about our trip more another day, but we just spent Friday – Monday in Mystic, CT and it was a riot. Some highlights:

  • I was hit on by an  22 year old townie/juvenile delinquent with an arrest warrant
  • He thought I was 21 (I could have kissed him for that)
  • Michelle met an adorable younger man (I learned new wingwoman techniques)
  • A tour of a cemetery, complete with possible vampire
  • Gary, the Karaoke King
  • Painted whales
  • Tremendous amounts of fried foods
  • Overall, Mystic has the best french fries
  • Newfound love for Shocktop beer
  • Foiled by Connecticut blue laws
  • A dead chipmunk in the pool
  • And finally, stick-on mustaches

Mustachioed

Cruise Control

We’re baaaaaack!

For those of you who do not track my every move, Frank and I just returned from a 5 night cruise leaving from Ft. Lauderdale, with Belize and Cozumel as ports-of-call.

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Some thoughts on cruising/our vacation:

  • I don’t think we would do a cruise again, with just the two of us. Maybe with a group of friends, or another couple. Maybe if we had a family or something. But for just the two of us? We are too lazy, not “joiners”, don’t drink, shop or gamble enough to make a cruise worth it.  We may have been better if we did an all-inclusive at a resort.
  • I can’t just “do nothing” for 5 days. I thought I could, but I can’t. I get crazy bored and not in a relaxing sense.
Doing Nothing

Doing Nothing

  • Was nice to know that Frank and I can spend an extended period of time with no one else to speak to, and no internet and still really enjoy each other’s company.
  • Wow, Belize City is a terrifying slum. Apparently, Belize proper is an awesome time, and I have friends who went on awesome vacations, but Belize City? Scary. The country itself is gorgeous though – jungles and mountains and just … pretty. But the poverty levels in the city definitely made for a downer. Lots of fat, rich, white American guilt here.
  • My god, the food. It wasn’t amazing food, and the desserts were nothing to write home about – but it was plentiful. Just an insane, insane amount.
  • I was really excited about our jungle river inner tubing excursion, but it was a bit of a downer. The currents were really strong, and we were on a time limit, so instead of just lazing down and enjoying, we had to paddle and ended up being pushed almost the entire way by the natives. Felt fat, lazy (in a bad way) and not relaxed.

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  • I really, really hate a large amount of people. Top of the list are not the annoying horrible children who stand on top of Mayan ritual sites and kick off the stones and spit their orange peels on it, but the awful parents (I nicknamed this particular one the Teutonic Terror) who do nothing. They don’t ask their kid to stop, they don’t explain why it’s wrong, or yank the kid off of there. They just complain about the bugs or why everyone on the elevator wants to go up, when she wants to go down.
  • The service was great, and you expect a certain amount of ridiculousness from your Cruise Director, but the ship announcements were incredibly annoying. Not only in their inanity (Bingo on the fourth deck! Shopping!) but their timing. It was loud, and obnoxious and either really early in the morning, or late at night. How do you page some errant busboy over the ship loudspeaker at 6:45AM?
  • Our room was over and had a view of the “Royal Promenade” which is essentially the “Main Street” of the ship. It was cool to get a view of the parades and ridiculous “dance parties” without actually having to attend.

    • Overy excited about the "Welcome Parade"

    Overly excited about the "Welcome Parade"

Tips:

  • Everyone says to get the “soda card” (a $40ish unlimited soda pass). We both did, and while it was nice – not really worth it. It was suggested for just one person to get it, but I think that’s kind of cheating and not fair. There is plenty of included stuff to drink.  I would skip it next time.
  • Excursions can be expensive, but I definitely recommend them. When you budget your trip and get suckered in by how cheap cruises are, make sure you add the cost of excursions in to your budget.
  • Bring cash! We forgot to do this, and were unable to tip some of the awesome guides we met in Cozumel.

Highlights:

  • Cozumel was a lot more fun then I expected! It was decimated by Hurricane Wilma a few years ago, so I imagine it can only get prettier.
  • We went on a last-minute excursion in Cozumel. We went ATVing and I went snorkeling while Frank lazed on the beach.

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  • I love ATVing! It’s scary as hell, (no Frank – we aren’t buying one).But it was a lot of fun when it was smoother terrain.
  • Snorkeling is the most awesome thing ever. I saw a barracuda! And shark eggs! And I think I may be over my crippling fear of fish staring at me!
  • Frank and I spent a lot of time out on the deck, just staring out into the water, or reading/listening to music, talking – whatever. As we were staring out, Frank thought he saw a sailfish out of the corner of his eye. We looked closer, and it was a pod of dolphins, playing in the wake of the ship. It was awesome! There were about 15 of them, just hanging out, and playing. It was magical and romantic and awesome.
  • We now call dolphins “sea puppies”.
  • Frank and I played a bunch of ping-pong. We are so awesome.
  • I really loved a lot of the art in the ship. Really cool stuff.

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  • The service and hospitality. Wow. It’s like they couldn’t figure out what to do for you next. And it was done with a smile, and I never felt like I was putting anyone out. I am going to research more into Royal Caribbean’s hiring practices. Just wonderful!
  • My god, the color of that water. Just gorgeous.
  • They made up the room almost every time we left it. Which was kind of awesome, because it was bigger than I thought it would be, but still pretty small.
  • Each time they fixed up the room, they would leave something behind. Usually the “Compass” which is the itinerary for the next day. Kind of like a little daily newspaper. And they made awesome towel animals! Like, monkeys, or puppies. It was awesome!

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I have written “awesome” 10 times in this post. This is embarassing, but I saving my uncreative enthusiasm for posterity.

My bags are packed…

Preparing to go on a week-long vacation is kind of exhausting. I wrapped up a really, really long week at work at a normal hour and delivered all my “deliverables”  and delegated whatever was left over. Put on my “away” message. I confirmed travel arrangements, found a place to park my car, refilled prescriptions, printed documents, arranged for mail pickup, picked up actual luggage sans pictures of ponies from Frank’s parent’s house, got a manicure and pedicure (finally using the last of the gift certificate from the awful spa), unplugged electronics, unearthed passports, panicked about what to pack, repacked, went to CVS to pick up last minute crap that I am positive I won’t need, but won’t be able to sleep without knowing I have, re-wrote my essay and sent the final application to grad school and am now about to sit down for the final episode of BSG.

I can’t believe I am finally going on vacation! I don’t think I am going to really relax until I am on that damn ship. I am totally, totally freaked out that we are going to miss the boat because of delays, or that our luggage won’t make it on, or that I don’t have the right paperwork. (Vacation does not make me not crazy.)

The only thing I really don’t have time to do (or energy) is to write some blog posts to magically post while I am gone. So, please – subscribe to the blog and when I come back, you will be treated to Erica’s (Mis-)Adventures on the High Seas. I refuse to believe that I can have float down the river on an inner tube and not have a ridiculous story to tell afterwards.

Edit: To keep you excited and guessing, I am including a random photograph of me “enjoying” Simply Fondue at a friend’s birthday last night. WAY too much butter-type gloop for me (although my double chins say otherwise). There is no known photograph of me licking the chocolate fondue pot after this disaster.

fondont

We call this a “fon-don’t”

Over The Top Rope

I love pro-wrestling. I love the pageantry, I love the soap-opera angles, I love the gorgeous men in sparkly underwear and the strong, athletic women. I love the shoots and works, the locker room gossip and when a character I love gets a big push.  I love the WWE (which will always be the WWF in my heart), although I abhor the business practices and ethics of Vince McMahon. I hate the schedule that wrestlers have to maintain in order to stay on top, and how completely and totally they have to bend to McMahon’s will. There really is no other show in town.

Unfortunately, we have seen a lot of wrestler deaths lately – today marks the death of Andrew “Test” Martin.  In response to the recent rash of deaths, the WWE has instituted a new wellness policy, but I am not sure it’s enough. Test was released from the WWE , awhile ago, suposedly because he failed wellness checks – so the WWE can claim it’s hands are clean on this one, except I am not sure I agree.

Celebrities often have problems with drugs – the pressure, the influences, the fishbowl world. I am pretty sure Test could walk down the street without being mobbed, but the pressure to maintain his physique must have been pretty intense. You have that, coupled with shaky job security, tied to the whims and ideas of a megalomaniac , and it sets the scene for disaster. On top of all that? You have a grueling schedule. Wrestlers almost never get a day off – between taped shows, house shows and traveling (and finding a gym at each location.) Because wrestlers are independent contractors – they provide their own transportation. Not really glamorous stuff – and certainly shows passion and dedication. But, there is one more component – the pain.  I don’t want to get into the “Wrestling is fake!!!” fight (because it’s old and annoying) but even the haters can agree – pro-wrestling takes athleticism.  Sure, not all of the punches land, and I don’t believe Edge really fought his way back from hell – but those flips, running the ropes and crashing through tables (even if they have been pre cut) are very, very real. And if you are hurt – you just keep going. What are you going to do? Take a few days off to stretch, when you are in the middle of the storyline that could eventually see a strap around your waist?

So – constant pain + travel + pressure = recipe for disaster.

The StrapI wish I had the conviction to quit the WWE. How they treat their superstars goes against a lot of what I believe in terms of corporate values and ethics.  And the misogyny of the Women’s Division is a joke.  And yet I don’t stop. And I fear my love of the “sport” is contributing to the death of it’s stars.

The Gallery of Awful Art – Dude Looks Like a Lady

This is my piece d’resistance. Like any true masterpiece – it has a story.  Frank and I were wandering around and checking out the barn and yard sales near his family’s cabin in Kerhonkson, NY looking for random stuff to buy (Frank has me on permanent look-out for guitars), when we came across this objet d’art in a barn sale (when you talk about art, it makes you look super-smart if you use French words).

Hideously Awesome

To the untrained eye, one would think it’s simply a really bad, awfully colored painting of some guy.  I was thinking John Lennon – but ya know, it could have been any dirty hippie. Frank and I just stood there for a bit, admiring it’s blatant awfulsomeoness and trying to figure out if that striped … appendage to the left is an arm or a leg.

Well, the proprietor of this establishment could identify well-seasoned art critics when he sees them, so he engaged us in a lively conversation. He revealed a stunning fact about this canvas-backed beauty. You see, it’s a favorite piece of his, since he knew the artist. And he knows how much the artist hated to part with this portrait of his wife. Yes, his wife. This was a painting of a woman. That someone loved and cherished. A woman immortalized by her deftly painted cleft chin and laugh lines. With her leg or arm thrown over her shag hair-do without a care in the world.

We had to have it – and we got to keep the original peeling wood frame!

This is proudly hung over our couch in the living room. The picture below should give some scale, and show how much we also treasure our beloved unicorns.

Living Room

Best $50 we ever spent.

What’s the focal point of your living room?

Dream Jobs

Australia is currently advertising for what is arguably the best job in the world.  And it got me thinking – what would be the best job in the world for me? (The “for me” part is really key here.) And I thought about it – what would combine the stuff I love (travel, writing, reading, unstructured time, creativity, meeting and studying people) and still pay the bills and be an actual job.

Why did I think about actual jobs as opposed to dream jobs or pie in the sky stuff? Well, firstly – because I already blogged about what I would do if I won the lotto. Secondly, it’s a little boring to think about and thirdly, by now you realize I am neurotic and would start worrying about what I would do if money was no object and I start getting bored.

How am I narrowing down job as opposed to some sort of fantasy? I am not sure, but I think that it probably has two components – one is feasibility. I never really had a great chance of being an astronaut or rock star or Angelina Jolie. The other is that it has to be something that while maybe I would do if I wasn’t being paid – people do it because they get paid to do it.  No one is going to pay me to sit on an island and play with doggies and drink cocktails or to move my family to a loft in Paris and and write. Okay, they may – but it’s highly unlikely. Also, it can’t be a store I run – because I have a million stores and businesses I want to run – doggie day care, chocolate and coffee shops, after-school centers for teens, organic bakeries, “green” consulting firms – the list goes on and on. And I already daydream about that all the time. But, since I have no capital, rich relatives that I would feel comfortable asking for investments or any forseeable inheritance, and am currently too lazy to hustle an SBA loan – let alone almost all of my dreams are retail dreams and I live in NYC and rent just makes it more daydream-worthy than realistic.

There are also jobs that I don’t currently have that I think I would like. But not really a dream job. Like, being a librarian. I am not entirely sure of what’s involved, but it sounds up my alley. Museum outreach coordinator. It sounds awesome, but I bet you there’s a lot of red tape that would drive me batty. I also have this odd fantasy about being front-of-house management in a great restaurant.

Okay, parameters in place.

Archaeology. Right? I mean – I was going to be an archaeologist at some point in my recent history. I only stopped because I didn’t want life as a student. And I hated the more boring parts of fieldwork. And all the reading of dry, technical scientific articles. And the whole publish or perish thing. Okay – maybe I would be an archaeologist if money wasn’t an issue and I could kind of just float around, picking the work I want to do and letting someone else handle the boring stuff. So, that’s a “win the lotto” hobby – not an ideal job.

Being a teacher! Maybe a social studies teacher in a private school for smart kids. Summers off to do archaeology, expensed history books, work with smart people. Except – I don’t want to go for my Masters in Education (and the history pre-reqs I would surely need). Oh, and I don’t really have any desire to teach.

Getting a little more difficult. What about my current job? I love my job! I do, really. Embarassingly, I am not always sure how to explain what it is I do, but I get to do marketing, customer service and think about and contribute to interesting topics and problems.  I work for a company that does good things, and I work in an environment that encourages me to grow, question, learn and that also solicits my opinions. And, I work with awesome people. So, I love my job. But is it my ideal job? Nope.

Don’t get me wrong – assuming my career continues an upward (and maybe sometimes sideways) trajectory, I will be a very happy camper. I want to learn more about customer experiences and think about ways to effect change. So, if I do this or something like this on a continuously improving level (and salary!)  for the next 40 years I will have no regrets and consider it a great career.  But my dream career? Nope. I have a feeling that most people feel the same way about their jobs. Or at least, I hope that people feel at least this way about their jobs.

And then it occurred to me – My ideal job would be a spa or luxury travel reviewer. It’s perfect! Travel, meeting new people, writing, giving people my opinion (man, I am incredibly self-important!), and presumably it pays somewhat decently. Right?

See, that’s the problem. I have no idea how this whole thing works. I started thinking about why I am not a travel writer.  The first reason is that it never really occurred to me until about Saturday. The second is that I do love my current job, and certainly was not thinking of rocking the boat now. The third, and probably most important is – I have zero idea of what it really entails. How does one get started in this? Is it generally freelance? Is this something that could pay the bills? I have lots of bills and can’t really afford to make less than I do.

Do I have to just start writing reviews of things and submitting them to magazines and hope someone thinks I am awesome and eventually starts paying me? Do I have to start in a mail room somewhere, making someone else’s travel itineraries until someone (accidentally!) falls down a flight of stairs and I have to bravely go in their stead and then the senior editor realizes I am the J.K. Rowling of the luxury travel world? How much do reviewers make? Is it a cut throat business or a little known secret? Is it one of those things where these people were already super rich and do this for fun?

I have no idea. I am going to start looking into it, because my gut says that you probably have to freelance for awhile. And if that’s all that comes of this thought, I will be super, super excited. And for the love of all things holy – if you have any idea where to start researching or you are best friends with the editor of a travel magazine and you think I am the best blogger ever, hook a girl up!

So, that’s why I don’t have my dream job. Yet. Or I may never. Or I will just never be happy because even when I had the guts and financial means to go for my dream, I declined (apologies to all of my awesome professors who wrote me recommendations).

What’s your dream job? Please don’t say something like “I want to get paid to sit home and watch TV” or “caretaker of giant pile of money” or “one of the first 5 employees at Google”. Is it your current job? Your boss’ job? Would you rather be a doctor? Is it in your field, but with a different company?  And almost as importantly – why isn’t it your job now?

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