Travel | Peaches Prattlings

{March 6, 2016} Personal space

We all have it, please go get your own.

I was at LaGuardia Airport and sitting at one of the tables, charging my phone. It’s cool, there are so many charging ports and ipads you can eat, play, stay entertained while you wait for your flight.

I sat down at one of these tables at the same time this woman stopped at the table. She was on the phone and I was thinking, ok, she’s going to move soon.

Nope.

She proceeded to stand there, got off the phone, put the phone on the table in front of me [these are small one person booths], then took out get charging cable and put on the table. Huh?

She then reached across from me to plug her charger in! What!? Let me tell you, there were other places she could have plugged in, instead of with me. She then proceeded to just stand there, pretty much over me.

I asked if she should like to sit there, I was willing to move and she could have the seat. “No, it’s ok, it’s fine, I’ll stand here.” What?

A moment later, a guy on the other side of the half wall got up and I pointed to it and told her she could use that one and sit at it, have a seat all to herself. She took me up on my offer.

Now, let me say this…I don’t have a problem sharing space. When I’m at a gate that has the charging ports on those stands, we’re all crowded together, sometimes standing right in front of each other.

But…when we reach over to plug in, we are courteous and ask, or at lease we are aware of each other and those charging stands are not at a personal table. If she has asked, I would have said yes, but she didn’t and she just stood there like this was ok and almost crowded me into the booth. Imagine if I had ordered food!

All I kept thinking of was Dirty Dancing “This is my dance space, this is your dance space”.

Really?

{March 4, 2016} Waiting ok…but for how long?

Here I sit, waiting…and waiting…and waiting…

We landed over 30 minutes ago, first, we circled in the air, a little snow in Boston and everyone was circling and diverting. Now, we’re finally on tree ground and we wait.

There is some de-icing happening, I think…but we sit. Don’t you just love this? I did, however, get up to use the facilities because, as I told the flight attendants, and it made them laugh heartily…”I’m trying to avoid a very different type of cleanup” when we get off the plane.

Ok, it’s been 45 minutes, are we there yet? Ooh, here comes the de-icing truck! Now, just the food trucks for the other planes.

Why couldn’t I be stuck in first class for this leg of my trip?

I hope I get off the plane soon, I don’t want to be blogging from here tomorrow!!! Ha ha ha!

See…so close!

{February 28, 2016} What a weekend!

As promised, my weekend, I’m more awake now!

I got to Colorado on Friday, found a hotel, chilled out, talked to you and crashed out. Apparently my body thought I only needed about four hours of sleep, wide awake at 4:15am, seriously?

I finally got up about 5:45, dressed and breakfast and out the door by 6:20am, at AM’s house to get my skis, head up to the mountains. What a view, breathtaking, peaceful, calming, I’m glad I had the opportunity to live in Colorado and go back and visit.

I decided to go to Breckinridge for the day and I’m so glad I did, beautiful weather, never got very cold and warmed up towards the end of the day. It was about 60 when I left.

I got to the top for my first run of the day and woosh, away I went. There was good powder, groomed and smooth. It really was a pleasure being out there, I am definitely a west coast over east coast skier. I’m more confident there than back east and that’s ok, everyone has their skills and what they’re comfortable with. Some people are east over west, that’s why you see those bumper stickers “Ski the East “.

I took a few breaks, including one for lunch. I accidentally spilled two drops of vegetables soup on my goggles, it got into the foam so every time I pulled them down, I smelled soup! Especially when I pulled my face guard up! Had to wash them pretty fast, I couldn’t take it!

In all, I skied for about four and a half hours, it was invigorating and exhausting! I didn’t even have to trick myself into the last run!

I left Breck and headed to AM’s house to visit with him and the family. I love spending time with his wife, N and their daughter A, she is a spitfire and adorable.

We chatted for a bit, then headed out to their favorite local sushi restaurant, at least I think it was a favorite, they knew the staff, which is nice and they were happy to see the family.

We had a very nice dinner, she drew me this picture on the back of a sushi menu. Isn’t it fabulous! You know it’s going on my fridge!

Back to the house, the younger A went to bed and A, N and I watched Lucy, interesting. It was great to hang out with them. Over dinner and beyond, we talked about movies, Marvel, DC, Star Wars, Star Trek, and more and more and books and… It was a lot of fun, I’m looking forward to next time.

Back to the hotel, chilled a bit, barely talked to you and then passed out, as you know.

This morning, I got up leisurely, it was nice, breakfast and eventually head out. I visited my storage units, got some stuff and headed to the airport.

I had enough time when I returned the car, then sat on the bus for about 10/15 minutes waiting to head to the airport. My bags made it by the skin of their teeth, but they made it. They made it to my first stop, Minneapolis, but somehow got routed wrong and they didn’t make it to Buffalo with me.

Luckily…I left a bag with the hotel last week because I didn’t want to take it with me and I’m so glad I did! The Delta luggage agent gave me a kit that had a t-shirt, tooth brush, the essentials. Good thing, my jammies and essentials are still in flight! They should be here tomorrow about noon. I’m just glad I have something to wear to teach class!

And now that are caught up, I will say goodnight and pleasant dreams.

{February 11, 2016} Ah Delta…you do love me!

The weather has been, well, not so nice these past few weeks.

I am a Delta girl, been that way for a while and it’s paid off time and again. I think I’ve told you in a little spoiled…and I like it.

I book my flight for today yesterday. I need to keep my status and there is a promotion with Delta and my company, so trips from Buffalo involve connections, especially if I fly Delta, not my favorite thing, but there you go.

After I got to the airport my flight to LGA was delayed and then it was delayed so much that it would arrive 10 minutes before myv connecting flight was scheduled to leave.

So…rerouted to JFK, get there an hour before the connecting flight is to leave, by the time I got to the gate, 20 minutes to take off.

But…the best part…two seats available in first class and just as I walk towards the jetway…upgrade! Score!!

JFK to Boston first class, a Delta, I heart you!

{December 1, 2015} I’m in Hawaii, what?

I was in Europe three weeks ago and now I’m in Hawaii? How does that happen? Well, I’ll tell ya…

I couldn’t say anything before, it was very hush-hush, but PSM was looking to shake things up a bit and one of the things he did was interview for new opportunities within his company.

And then we waited.

And we waited.

We got tired of waiting and ran away to Europe. And here’s where the cool part comes in.

It was our first day in Marseille and we were on the Il d’If, the prison I was telling you about that the Count of Monte Cristo was based on. We were in someone’s prison cell when he got the call. Cool, huh? I thought so.

Good thing it was a large prison cell, I had to walk around it for the next twenty minutes while he talked to his new boss! I took a lot of pictures from the same window, great view!

“But, JJ, you still haven’t told us why you’re in Hawaii.” I’m getting to that dear friends. The new position, if you haven’t followed my chaotic train of thought is…in, yup, you guessed it, Hawaii!

It has been a whirlwind! I couldn’t tell you before because I had to tell my family first and I couldn’t tell them until he told his family first and then his first cousin’s wife, AT was waiting so patiently for my sister to find out so she could say something! It was like a sitcom!

Now, I’ve told my immediate family, first reactions were: Dad “I knew that when JJ said PSM was going to Hawaii, she was going with him”, GES “April break, auntie’s house!”. ACS “oh yeah!” then I’ve told some friends and I’m working on telling the world. For PSM, it’s a quick phone call to friends and family, maybe a 15/20 minute call, max. For me…1-2 hours! My mouth went dry!

The plan is that PSM will move in January, he starts work mid-January and I will join him when my lease is up, around August/September. Until then, I will do what I can to visit him as often as possible, hopefully once a month, if not every two months. If I can get a job on the west coast, then it will be a lot easier to come on the weekends.

I have to tell you, it was easier getting here than I thought. PSM got a flight yesterday morning, very early as his girlfriend got him to the airport at 4am, what a girlfriend he has! He flew through Texas and got to Hawaii about 2pm yesterday. I flew out at 6pm, after a fabulous time at the Nutcracker with the family, got to LA about 9:30, got a room for the night and was back at the airport for my 8:30am flight, 10 hour layover and then to Hawaii and I got in about 12:15pm.

I have to admit, I think I liked the way I did it, especially if there were kids involved, fly 5/6 hours spend the night in a bed getting decent rest, then fly 5/6 hours the next morning, get in relatively early and have the entire day ahead of you. On the way back, I am flying through LA again, but with a one hour layover, we’ll see how I feel!

So, the reason I am in Hawaii with PSM…he is here looking for a place to live and I was hoping to, based on my schedule, join him so we could look and make decisions together and much to our surprise, things worked out and here I am!

It was a crazy day. I landed, PSM picked me up, we went to the hotel, dropped bags, went out for a bite to eat, then met the agent taking us around about 2pm, looked at about 6 or 7 properties. A few apartments, some houses, some town houses. We went in a few and others, we checked out the neighborhood to decide whether or not we wanted to even go inside.

The last house we looked at, from outside was in a great neighborhood, on a hill, overlooking the island and the farm PSM will be working with and met the neighbors, great people who we ended up talking to for TWO hours! The sun went down!!! It was a very long day, some of the houses started to blend in with each other, but I think we picked the one we want and fingers crossed it’s available!

We are on the island of Oahu, for those of you with inquiring minds. And now you know why I am in Hawaii! Looking for a place to live, can you believe it?

Yes, we’ll have a guest room, all ready for your visit!

{November 11, 2015} Our trip

I know I was blogging every day while we were away, but there’s more.

There are a few posts that I need to try to get posted, add more photos, [I want to share about the people, the hotel rooms, the graffiti! Oh my!] so please forgive me for the overload of posts, but I don’t want you to miss a minute.

We had such an amazing time! I don’t know how much you’ve seen, but I want to give you a recap and a few pointers that we figured out.

We started in Lisbon, Portugal for the half marathon. We stayed in Lisbon for two more days, then the train to Porto, the home of Port wine, oh my, but fabulous! The city, for me, that is, PSM found a new affinity for Port wine, so for him, it might be a toss up!

Lisbon

Porto

Then it was on the train to Sevilla, Espana. Well, sort of, we missed the stop to change trains, it was an honest mistake and it sucked, but…we made the best of it, we ended up renting a car to drive from Lisbon to Sevilla. That was such a nice drive! I liked that we drove on the same side of the road as here, I didn’t have to think quite as much!

Lisbon to Sevilla

We didn’t really need a car on Sevilla, everything was walkable or we took the bus. And the streets were so narrow, no thank you!

From Sevilla for two and a half days, then on to Barcelona, by Eurrail, for three and a half days, is it possible to get “Gaudi’d out”? then on to Marseille for two days, heaven, then Nice for three. While we were in Nice, we took side trips to Monte Carlo/Monaco and Cannes, amazing!

Sevilla

Barcelona

Marseille

Marseille to Nice

Nice

Monte Carlo/Monaco

Cannes

From Nice we flew to Budapest, it was cheaper than the train and only took about five hours versus the 24 hours by train! Two full, jam packed days and it was back to the USA, Wow, talk about whirlwind!

Pest

Pest, from Buda

Buda

We had a few apps at our disposal, Triposo, which is fabulous, you can download the individual cities or countries or the parent app and download from there. It had suggestions on tour to take, top destinations and things to see in the city, food and lodging recommendations. A few of the cities even had free walking tours. Love this app! Use it if you can!

That was one of my contributions to the cause, PSM loves Lonely Planet and Trip Advisor, which we also used in conjunction with Triposo, sometimes we needed to verify times things were open, locations and other recommendations.

He was the navigator, wherever we went he was the one who mapped it out and led us where we wanted to go. Now, Google maps on occasion couldn’t figure out if we should go left or right, luckily, he has a pretty good sense of direction, so we made it where we needed to go, eventually. It was the adventure along the way!

I became the hotels.com queen, booking rooms sometimes as we pulled into the train station of that city or country! My job was to find the hotel and check out the ratings while PSM mapped the location to determine if we were in a good area, close to the city centre, the public transport, etc. Sounds like a good working relationship!

One of our best friends on the trip? Google translate! Oh my, but this app is fabulous and I recommend it highly! You can download the language package of your destination, make favorites, like “hello”, “do you speak English”, “where is the toilet? “, “how much”, “check please”, “thank you” and very important, “American decaffeinated coffee with milk” for PSM. If he could say that and thank you, he was set!

For me personally, there was one app I really like, Happy Cow. It gives you. Veg-friendly, vegan and vegetarian restaurants and stores wherever you are. We used it a times and I was quite pleased, well, as long as we could find the place, or it was open! You can select a nationality our select all and it gives you a list, each listing had location, offerings, reviews and dollar signs. I use this app in the states, it’s great!

The money was easy when it was in euros, Hungarian money, a lot more calculations! The nice thing was when there we signs for the price in HUF and EUR, that at least have us an idea.

This was an amazing experience that we had. We’ve traveled together, just the two of us a few times, but short trips, long weekends, this was a huge undertaking, three weeks, just the two of us. Two people used to doing everything on their own, that admittedly, was an adjustment, but it was also nice to have that other person to do stuff, take some of the responsibilities.

It’s nice to experience things together, it’s still a new relationship, so we haven’t gotten to the part about doing things on our own and meeting for dinner later, that may or may not happen, who knows.

Hey…We survived our first major trip together! No one got pushed in front of a train or a bus and we still like each other. We even talked about our next great adventure. Who knows where the road will take us, but I promise you’ll be right there with us!

{November 7, 2015} It’s good to be back!

Day 22? Or is it Day 1, back to normal life…

As much as we loved the trip and loved spending the time together and it was hard to leave, it was time to come home, back to reality. We were missing family and friends and furry babies! We couldn’t wait to see them!

What greetings we got! PSM took me to my sister’s and I got to see GES and MGS, what hugs we got from them! Then it was on to get my furry babies, Jymy and Peanut couldn’t stop crying and trying to cuddle with me, PSM said Mollie jumped on him then in the car and wouldn’t get out until they left his brother’s house!

What a day! We were up at 3/3:15am local time to ensure we were ready to be picked up at 4:30 am, our flight was at 6:30am and we needed to be there at least one hour before the flight and we got there in plenty of time. Now, keep in mind, we were up at 3am local time, that was 9pm back east! Some of you weren’t even in bed yet and we were getting up ridiculously early to catch a flight! So, here it is, 10:43pm eastern and I’m no sure if my internal clock is off because technically, my body thinks it’s 4:45am, I think I might be confused, it’s a definitely possibility, but the nice thing is I’m getting sleepy, hopefully there is a deep sleep in my future!

The flights were relatively uneventful. It was a short flight from Budapest to Amsterdam. Now, the security line to get through security from the main terminal to D was ridiculous! No order, rhyme or reason to these lines! But..we made it through.

We did, however get to watch a bunch of movies. We actually watched the Minions on our own screens at the same time, it was cool to laugh at the same parts of the movie. Then our viewing went their separate ways. I watched The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, loved, Trainwreck, interesting, and almost all of Home, cute, but not fabulous,

Then we were on the ground.

I fear friends, that I am starting to fade, I have nodded off during my blog a few times, I need sleep! So , I will wish you a very good night and just say, more tomorrow.

{November 4, 2015} Day 19…Nice to Budapest

Today we bid a fond farewell to Nice, au revoir, and said, helló to Budapest.

Up early and since we were so efficient in our packing last night…we ended up sitting around waiting for the taxi, and waiting and…

The driver arrived and off we went. We got to the airport in no time, dropped our bags, headed thru security and went in search of a petit dejeuner. They had Pastéis de Nata!!!

The flight to Brussels was an easy one, then a 2 hour layover and another two hour flight, all better than the 24 hours it would have taken ya by train.

We got off the plane, got our bags and immediately saw the ad for the City Pass, which included a shuttle to and from the airport, which is good because we are about 40 minutes from the airport. We sat next to a lovely woman from England who comes to Budapest every year and have us some great pointers.

This is an amazingly beautiful part of Budapest, technically we’re in Buda. Omg at the church right across from the hotel, I can’t even begin to tell you!

And the room, oh my word! It’s the biggest room we’ve had! We could have a party!

We found a lovely lite place for dinner, lots of different nationalities, we are in the touristy area.

Let me tell you one thing…Hungarian is not an easy language and I’ve had it pretty good so far, I’m going to do my best here, luckily it’s only for two more days! PSM is doing great! We made the waiter laugh with our efforts and he appreciated it. All you need to do is try!

szép álmokat!

{November 2, 2015} Day 17…Nice…A hike…Museums and Monaco /Monte Carlo!

What a day! Breakfast in Nice and dinner in Monaco, who does that?

No alarms again, but in case you were wondering if my “personality” hurt from my spill last night, let’s just say I didn’t sleep much. Every time I moved or rolled on to my side….ouch. So, I got up a little early, closed the blinds and let PSM sleep a little longer.

We got up liesurely, got ready and headed out to get some breakfast. Our original plan was to get some sandwiches and sit on the beach. We headed across a square, saw the circus coming in or going out, then a flea market, no fleas, just lots of stuff people were selling, flatware, art, clothes, toys, jewelry. This was not your average flea market, but it was fun to look.

Then we made it to the beach, no sandwiches. It was wonderful to sit and look and feel. Today it was a bit colder, eventually, I regretted my choice of attire in a skirt and shirt sleeves, even the sweater didn’t help some times, that got fixed later.

We ended up at a cafe for the full American/English breakfast. Pastries, fruit, juice, eggs, bacon (minus the bacon for me, it’s ended up with three eggs) and coffee or tea. The only issue…they were Sunnyside up! Anyone who’s had breakfast with me knows I do not like soft eggs at all! Cooked firm, all the way, but…I ate them, yes I did! It wasn’t horrible, but I’m not doing it again!

Now it was time for an adventure! The Musee Marc Chagall, a 30 minute walk…up hill most of it, but we got there and…closed got renovations, what! Trip Advisor knew, but we didn’t. Oh well, Musee Matisse was only another 20 minute walk…uphill. let’s just say, my glutes are loving me, not!

A beautiful building and a lovely collection, you’ll just have to imagine it, no photos.

We decided to go see Notre-Dame de Nice and have some lunch, but we wanted to get there sooner than later, so bus it was. A very nice woman told us which bus, the one she was waiting for and which stop to get off, hers. She even confirmed with the driver for us, how nice!

The church was beautiful, I lit some candles for some friends, as I’ve done in a lot of the cathedrals we’ve been in.

Then it was off in search of lunch. Little hole in the wall place for chicken kebabs and a veggie sandwich for me. The woman gave me a really nice compliment, that I was speaking French very well, thank you Monsieur B et Madame E!

After lunch, back to the hotel to change into warmer clothes, regroup and then head to…Monaco/Monte Carlo! Look out James Bond!

It was about 20 minutes by train and 3.40 euros a ticket, round trip. Just lovely.

We walked around, found the shore, then the Hotel de Paris and the Monte Carlo Casino and all the expensive cars, including the Lamborghini of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Royal 1.

Someone…not me…got to go into the casino and look around and maybe play a little, too bad you couldn’t take pictures!

We thought about dinner in Monaco, but when a Long Island Iced Tea and bottle of Evian costs 30 euros, you kind of wonder.

Back to Nice on the train and a lot of places were closed, I guess they roll up the sidewalks in the evening off season. So…back to the same wonderful hole in the wall pizza joint for another wonderful pizza and beer and as the owner was flipping channels…last Thursday’s Patriots vs. Dolphins game, guess who was happy! Fun with the commentary in French and no commercials. All in all, a good dinner.

Back to the hotel to talk to you and get ready for the next adventure!

de beaux rêves!

{November 1, 2015} Day 16…Marseille to Nice

Aujourd’hui, today, we said “au revoir Marseille, voici venir humide Nice!” Goodbye to Marseille, here we come Nice!

The alarm was set for 7am, guess who couldn’t sleep at 5am. And guess who else preferred to take the 9am train instead of the 7am. Hmmm…if you guessed PSM, you would be wrong!

We had packed the night before, set everything up so we would be ready to go by 8/8:15. We were out the door by 7:30, we are just that good!

We got to the train station and found a place for petit dejeuner. I asked for a plate and some butter and ended up with an extra plate with bread, butter and jam, c’est la vie…

We got on the train, found our seats and settled in for the 3.5 hour trip, it was lovely. We looked out the window, finished watching season two of Blacklist and then we were there. Merveilleux!

We got off the train, got two city passes, hoping they are worth it, as always, then headed to the hotel, dropped the bags since check in isn’t until 2pm and ventured out into the city of Nice.

We headed towards the beach! Oh my word but this is spectacular!!! I might never leave! The beach is interesting, I didn’t know it would be all rocks, I should say smooth, round stones, still not the easiest on the bare feet. We sat there enjoying the sun and the sounds and sights of the surf, so relaxing and rejuvenating.

After a while we went in search of food. After striking out on the main drag, this is Nice, expensive for lunch and not a lot of choices for me, it’s Europe. We decided to head down a side street and found VIP, a decent little grill offering some price fixed meals, not bad deals considering.

For 19.50e you get a starter, main course and dessert. So, that’s what we did. PSM ordered Salad Nicoise, muscles and creme brule. I had minestrone, pasta primavera and apple tartin. I have to say, the food was pretty good and we were stuffed when we were done!

Now to walk, walk, walk off dejeuner, lunch. We walked through a garden, which opened to a park with a plaza, fountains, dancing fountains, fabulous structures for kids to play on and a boatload of people!

We walked to the end of the park, marveling at everything, finally ending up at Musee d’Art Modern et des Art Contemporarie.

Let’s just say, that’s what we found was definitely modern and contemporary, I liked it! It made me think of my dad while I liked at a lot of the pieces and the way we talk about what we’re seeing. PSM made me laugh like my dad when he was sitting in front of a window with a white curtain in the passage way between rooms, contemplating the lack of imagery, it was funny.

The last thing was the roof to see a spectacular view of the city.

From the roof we had seen a sculpture garden so we tried to get in, but to no avail, all the gates were closed, oh well.

We walked a few blocks, got on the tram, two trams in two different countries, we’re styling now! Headed back towards the hotel, got off, ended up on a lovely and crowded street and tried to find a table at Haggen Das, but it was crowded! They serve grown up drinks there.

We tried the next place, PSM had two bad drinks I had tea while I called my dad to say bonjour! (One thing I’m looking forward to when we get back is talking to him again every day)

Now to the hotel, seven hours later…we got our bags and took the elevator! to the second floor, ah…got into our room, very nice, with a nice little terrace. PSM had a seat on the terrace, I took my shoes off to go out there and join him and realized my mistake too late…socks on marble don’t mix!

Yes folks, I fell on my personality and I fell hard! Left cheek on the medal trim, ouch. PSM was kind enough to help me onto the bed and to get me some ice. I laid there for a while nursing my wound, wondering if I would be able to sleep in my left side. I’m so glad this happened days before we fly home!

After a bit, we ventured out for food, both surprised that we were hungry at all after that lunch! We were going to head into the old city when we smelled the most wonderful aroma…the little hole in the wall pizza place next to the hotel, Pizzaria le Pointu.

We order a veggie pizza, they were out of eggplant, I can never seen to remember the French word for eggplant when I see it, aubergine, so I added chevre, goat cheese. I’m telling you people, all bets were off this trip!

I got a bottle of water, PSM tried a new amber beer, in a black bottle, called Licorne Black, loved it! There have only been two places that had good beer, according to him, the Cat Bar in Barcelona and this place.

The pizza arrived and it smelled and looked wonderful and let me tell you, one of the best meals we’ve had on this trip. We’ve had some good food, but this was simple and fabulous and inexpensive, a perfect combination!

Back to the hotel to put on jammies and relax and talk about tomorrow. This was odd..in before midnight!

I can’t wait to see what tomorrow holds!

Bonne nuit!

Email Subscription

What was I thinking?