Travel | Peaches Prattlings

{September 30, 2014} Back to work!

It’s time to get back to work, so here I am back in Louisville! For part of the week anyway.

The day started way too early, 5:45am, up by 6:10, showered and out the door by 6:30am. I decided to take Annie, the Beetlebug to the airport instead of a taxi or Uber and I got to put on my aggressive face when the fine drivers in Boston wanted to cut me off! Finally made it to the airport, parked and waited patiently for the shuttle.

At the airport, drop off my bag, head through security, love TSA Pre-check! On to my gate for my flight to Atlanta. I stopped at a restaurant to get some breakfast, decided to get some breakfast and I proceeded to see the woman use the same spatula to mix the and cook the food as she did to mix the other ingredients. ick.

I grabbed my breakfast and headed to the gate area, waited a few minutes, then boarded the plane. The first flight was uneventful, I had an aisle seat next to a very quiet Indian couple. Arrived in Atlanta with a few moments to spare getting to my connecting flight, only about 30, what guarantee was there that my luggage would make it with such a tight connection. Rest assured, it made it! I got to the plane, after I stopped for a snack of Nutter Butters and a bottle of water. It’s been so long since I have had Nutter Butters! Boarded the flight, no one sitting in the middle seat, wahoo, although you couldn’t move the arm rests, oh well, no one in the middle, wahoo.

Plane lands, check my voice mail…when are you going to be here? Soon! I get the car, meet PM and we head to the office, get there about 2pm, lots of things to do, go here, pick up that, look for this, back to the office to work until about 7pm, drop everyone off at their respective hotels, park, check in, change, head out to meet PM for dinner.

Then I got to talk to JCT and TS, I am happy. Now, I am writing to you, dear frineds!

Positivity Challenge – Day #13
1 – I am thankful that I made the connection between my two flights coming back to Louisville.
2 – I am thankful to be able to laugh with my friends
3 – I am thankful for the amazing air conditioning in my rental car!

{September 5, 2014} New places

I know I’ve talked about some of the trials and tribulations of traveling for work, but there are some terrific advantages.

One of them being, I get to try new places to eat and maybe do some touristy things. I know I talked about a few of the restaurants I went to in A2, Ann Arbor, for those of you not ‘in the know’ [I promise, A2 is EVERYWHERE around that place!

Well, here I am in Louisville, KY and there is a whole new world of places to try! I have asked for recommendations from people that I’ve met and so far, they’ve been great! I also like driving down the street an finding a new place which leads to another new place which leads to another and so on!

So…PM and I have found that! We’ve had a great time discovering new places! He knows he’s not KLS or KNOB, but it’s been great getting to know him and explore the city and all it has to offer together.

So far, I think we’ve done pretty well trying new places almost every day. Here is where we have been to date:

Gordon Biersch, a microbrewery and restaurant. It’s a chain, one that I frequented and enjoyed in Atlanta and PM had never been there. Once was good, twice, in a row…what? We went with the team, a welcome to Kentucky kind of thing. Ok, but that’s it, new places from now on!

We went to lunch at Wild Eggs, it was wild and we had eggs. groan. We also found Earth Friends Cafe, they had some vegan friendly dishes, the vegan Philly Cheese steak was AWESOME! Ok, that place I will go again! Safier Mediterranean, another place for lunch, is tasty and inexpensive and within walking distance to the office, so it gets lots of points. The baklava was yummy!

Decca was fun and interesting, the decorations were fun and the food…FABULOUS! I love anyone who can do magic with broccoli! The last three restaurants we’ve tried this week were The Grape Leaf for lunch yesterday, great hummus and baba ganoush, how can you go wrong there? I also had yummy lentil soup and a giant fatoush salad! Yum!

Last night we went to Sway, which is off the lobby of the Hyatt, where PM is staying this week and it was fabulous! Our server, Jean, made the evening, we became fast friends and I was so happy to pass on to her, as a tip, the $10 bill I had found earlier that day! And last, but definitely not least..today for dinner we went to Harvest, we had seen it several times and tonight finally went in. A wonderful creation with spaghetti squash, mmmm.

The great thing about these restaurants lately is that the staff has been terrific and the kitchens very accommodating to my needs as a vegan. Nothing bad to date! What can i say, I’m spoiled and i like me that way!

I have a list..who knows where we will go next! Stay tuned!

{August 29, 2014} Take a nap…this is going to be a long one!

Are you ready to hear about my day?

As you know, i drove to Boston today, so here goes.

Last night, I found a hotel, not necessarily a pet friendly hotel…they were friendly and I snuck my pets in! shhh…I put BOTH cats into one carrier and smuggled them into the hotel and up the stairs, yeah for side doors! I slept for a few hours, they were both with me, then I got up at 8, put them both back into the carrier and Peanut proceeded to hiss and wail and whine! Oh NO! Please be quiet! So I smuggled them back out the door and into the car! whew!

On the road I went. I made it to NY State!

I checked in with NB, or Twin, as i call him and we decided on where to meet for lunch, since I was going to be going right past his neck of the woods. He then informed me that, duh, I would be driving right past my Alma mater, SUNY Fredonia, http://www.fredonia.edu/index.html, how excited was I! I was on the phone with SH when I got off the highway and she was almost as excited as I was!

Oh my goodness! Not much has changed! I had the cats with me, so I couldn’t spend a lot of time on campus, but I promised everyone on FaceBook who messaged me, that I would definitely be making a trip back to see them! And I will be doing that sometime in the near future! There are so many people I would love to see!

I did make a stop at the Campus Bookstore and geeked out! Everything they have for sale online pales in comparison to all they had to offer in the store! Dad got a Fredonia Dad sweatshirt, GES got a t-shirt and sweatshirt, ACS got a long sleeve t-shirt, EJS and GMS got t-shirts, LaLa got a t-shirt and yours truly: 2 sweatshirts, a t-shirt, notebook, postcard and a bag. come on, it’s a Fredonia bag! It’s my old school, so there!

The campus is still lovely and warm and inviting, but now there is a Tim Horton’s and Starbucks? On campus! What? And some high end apartments, huh? Who cares, it made me long for those days! GES asked if I would go back, yes I would is my answer!

I couldn’t spend too much time, first, there was a 30 minute time on the parking spot, not heavily enforce, thank goodness and second, I had the cats. I left the windows down, it was 67 degrees and in the shade, felt great and they were fine. No worries people, whenever there is sun and it’s any warmer, I leave the car running with the AC on, every time I went to a rest stop, that’s what I did.

Back in the car and head to lunch with NB and on the way, got a text from JC a dear friend I knew from MCC that I met at Binghamton when we were both a part of NYPIRG, all these acronyms! He wanted to see me, so he came to lunch too! It was so great to see them both, we laughed and had a great time, got some good pics and I headed back on the road with a promise of a visit soon!

Then it was uneventful for the next, oh, I don’t know…8billion miles! Kidding. I got to my sister’s house about 9, not too bad for a days journey. We started at 8:30, stopped at Fredonia for about 45 minutes, a little over an hour for lunch, a few gas stops and we made it in about 9 hours. Go me!

The girls did great, for the most part, they’re cats, they are not as enthusiastic about car rides as dogs, so all in all, good girls!

The suck part…THE TOLLS! I bet I spent close to $20 on tolls. NY State, aren’t the road good enough? FIVE CENTS per mile, what? IF and I say IF I were to ever make this drive again…EZ Pass will be my friend!

I got to GES’ house about 9, as I mentioned and the girls were up waiting for me! Running into my arms and so excited to meet Jymy and Peanut, so many questions and now, here I sit, talking to you and Peanut is purring in my arms. Happy kitty! And Jymy just joined to say hello.

Ok, here is where I leave you because I am a very tired girl and I need some sleep…beach tomorrow!

{June 16, 2014} Chicago: Day 2. Didn’t think I could keep going did you?

The day started leisurely again, woke up when my body said so.

I missed breakfast in the lounge, but it was all good, I showered, got dressed and headed out. I’m going to brag, but I looked adorable in one of my new dresses from Old Navy and new white skips, I felt very summery. I stopped at Jamba Juice for a Tropical Greens drink and it was yummy! Green goodness to start the day right!

I walked up Michigan Avenue heading towards the John Hancock Building to see the 360 view from the top. I knew I was in no rush, so I took my time and walked in and out of some stores, some that I hadn’t been in a long time, picked up a few things here and there and kept on walking. This part of Michigan Avenue is where the shopping is at! Bloomingdales, Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstroms, just to name a few.

I went into a few museums, like the McCormick Bridgehouse and Chicago River Museum. http://www.chicagoriver.org/get-involved/attend/mccormick-bridgehouse-chicago-river-museum. It was very cool to be able to walk to the top to get a view of the river and to learn about the workings of the bridges and how the city has worked on the problems with the river water.

Along the way, I passed several pairs of seats from Wrigley Field, painted with different themes, donated by different groups, how much fun are they!

The next was a gallery, the Chicago Water Works, with some great pieces by Jason Reblando. http://www.jasonreblando.com/

I finally got to the John Hancock Building and used my ticket from my new friends last night to go to the top. It was quite a view! Amazing how many rooftop gardens and pools there are! And the beaches along the shoreline, too cool! So many buildings, still a lot of green space, really enjoyable to see. http://www.360chicago.com/

While I was there, I paid a few extra dollars to stand on a platform, hold the handles and look out and down while you are tilted forward, looking 1000 feet down. It was quite the experience, only eight people at a time. I recommend it! http://www.360chicago.com/tilt/

Check out the Lego rendition of the John Hancock Building, very cool!

As I was walking back, I found a sweet little church courtyard I went in and had a seat and enjoyed myself for a while, thinking about everything and nothing. The nice and interesting thing is while you are sitting there, in this beautifully tranquil courtyard and look up, you see the buildings of the city, reminding you of where you are.

On the way back, I passed The Chicago Tribune building, which was founded in 1847. Look at where some of the bricks that are part of the building were brought from!

I went back to the hotel for a much needed rest to the feet [don’t tell my podiatrist what I have been doing to my feet for the sake of looking cute!], phone and person re-charge.

I headed out after six for Grant Park and the Blues Festival again for Aaron Neville and Dr John! Fantastic!

Check out the nod by the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Building to the World Cup!

I can’t wait to see what adventures tomorrow will bring!

{May 26, 2014} Where did the time go? What a day!

The day started a little too early.

Jymy decided to start scratching at the bedroom door and crying at what I thought was 8:50am. Not so, it was not even 7am, really? Well, now we were both up at that point. Relaxed, did some stuff around the apartment, laundry, showered, dressed.

About 9:45, I left to meet my friend, EA and her new baby boy, TJA. What a doll baby!! We went to Mimi’s Cafe, quite yummy and a great time catching up, it was really good to see her and meet her son.

After that, I headed back to the apartment, finished packing and all of a sudden it was time to head to the airport. We had to stop at the post office, but that only took a few minutes of a detour.

The flight was scheduled to leave at four, yeah right. I got to the gate, the plane wasn’t even there, so I got some lunch, eventually got on the plane, we took off about 4:20 or so, got in to Detroit and KS picked me up and drove me to the hotel.

We got here about 9:50, I said hello to everyone and got caught up, I gathered my things and then headed up to my room, I’m not sure what happened but it was after 11 when I got to the room and now it’s almost midnight. Where did the time go?

Here’s hoping you have a great week!

{April 12, 2013} A better travel experience

This flight was so much better than the last one.

So, I had an interesting new experience today, I flew Southwest Airlines for the first time. I’m not sure if I liked how they do things. First, you don’t check in online and get your boarding pass, you get your boarding pass at the gate, I’ll get back to that later. When you get to the airport they give you a ticket, of sorts, to get through security, you turn that in at the gate and they give you a boarding pass with a zone on it.

Did I mention that since you don’t have a boarding pass, you don’t get to select a seat, they board in the herding cattle method. Ok, I might be a little harsh, but it felt like that. My zone was C28, that meant that I wasn’t getting on until the C group and in group 25-30, what? If you pay $12.95 online, you can improve your zone option.

This ultimately means that in the C28 zone, I had my choice of middle seats as far as the eye can see. Weehoo…

Ok, so, when you get to the airport, you check in, 2 bags free up to 50 pounds, that was a bonus, they give you a piece of paper and then at the gate, you get your boarding pass and still no sat assignment, what?

I was on the phone with CKM and she couldn’t believe the no seat assignment either. I said I’ve flown on Delta enough to have privileges, I like those privileges, she called me spoiled, I said yes. And I’m I with that

So, the better experience, the flight was my delayed 10 minutes, so not bad. I sat in the middle set next to a woman who seemed to be working on a time sheet invoice most of the flight, we chatted for part of the flight, she had just moved to Atlanta and was still on the fence, she was going back home to Denver for a girls weekend. (Guess where I’m going?)

To my right was Jack, Jackson Lee, a very cute and friendly 10 month old who got a bit restless. He had the biggest blue green eyes and was a big flirt in his blue running pants and superman tshirt. After a white, I changed from the Transformers to Rio, a great cartoon about a bird named Blue, set in Rio, that worked. Then I found some Elmo, like I play with LB and that worked, he held my hand and had so much to say, just have no idea what that was!

When I put the iPad away, he actually reached for me and his mom said it was ok. He was sitting on my lap and we talked and laughed, I blew in his face, just like I do with Miss A and he giggled, what a great sound and his face scrunched up, so cute! Then all of a sudden I was removing his hand, that happened a few times, remember I said he was a flirt!

Then the best thing happened, he reached his little arms around my neck and kissed my cheek and gave me the best hug, that felt so good. Is there a better feeling?

All in all a better flight than the last one, this little guy was a treat, no Preston get off the floor, no Preston stand up, Preston…Preston…Preston.

The BEST part…DCM was there at the airport to pick me up, it’s been 2 weeks since we’ve seen each other and that first hug was heaven. We’ve got a lot to do while I’m here, I’ll keep you posted as we move along.

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What was I thinking?