Travel

A “business” trip

A short jaunt to Switzerland isn’t enough to merit detailed updates on the travel blog but it would be a shame not to document the incredible time we had touring Switzerland for a few days with friends. I did, in fact, have a business meeting to attend: it just happened to be the day after my birthday which prompted the idea of spending a few days having fun for my birthday before doing that work thing. So we did!

There were many firsts on this trip. First time leaving Aberdeen airport at the a**crack of dawn. I was very glad that the taxi app I used to book a cab at 3:45 AM did not let us down. Of course, the lack of traffic here at that ungodly hour meant that we actually got to ABZ before the counter was open to drop off our bags. Eventually they were ticketed through to Zurich (forshadowing….) and we had plenty of time for breakfast before our BA flight to Heathrow. Just like Rochester and Kansas City, you can’t really fly anywhere from Aberdeen without changing planes and for this trip that meant braving Terminal 5.

And you probably guessed that it didn’t go very smoothly. Let’s start with the fact that we were both denied boarding through the automated gates. Frank’s boarding pass flashed “seating assignment” and mine flashed “boarding denied.” Seriously!?! Frank got a new boarding pass which worked fine. I did not. But the gate agent eventually gave up trying to fix it and let us both board. Even though were were literally the last people on the plane, we still had plenty of time to sit and gaze out at the tarmac before take off. That’s when we noticed Frank’s suitcase sitting on the ground outside the aircraft all by itself. We then watched a baggage handler pick up the bag, through it on the cart and drive it BACK to the terminal! ARGH! We altered the flight attendant who had the captain radio to the ground crew. No, we were told, it must have been a mistake because all the bags for this flight were loaded. Are we sure it was our bag? Um, yes? How many green LLBean cases with neon yellow handles do you think pass through LHR Terminal 5? It’s not like it was a random black Samsonite. But maybe we could be wrong.

But of course we weren’t. We get to Zurich and there is only one bag. We think things are fine because there are two more flights from London to Zurich that day so surely we will only have to wait a few hours. Nope. It took two days for the bag to arrive. But we didn’t wait for it. We had several busy days planned. Starting with exploring different places around Lake Zurich and a fantastic racelette dinner with our wonderful travelling companions. The next day we were headed south in the intermittent rain and grey skies that would be with us for most of the trip. But that didn’t stop us from having a lovely time visiting Einsiedeln abbey and the Black Madonna – so much pink marble!!! Then it was time for lunch while cruising Lake Luzerne where we saw the place where Switzerland was founded. A visit to the Willem Tell monument and a cup of coffee in Altdorf rounded out the day.

We were spending the next two nights in a hotel owned and operated by the Swiss National Bank with the most amazing views of the surrounding Alps. A “quick run” before dinner turned out to be a seemingly vertical hike up (then down) the mountain where my shorts and Tshirt were not quite appropriate for the light snow that started. But dinner was excellent and put us in just the right mood for what I have since dubbed the “Playroom Olympics”! The hotel had both ping pong and foosball in the kiddy room but since there were no kiddies about, we took it over. Scotland vs Switzerland. A mixed bag of results – mostly Switzerland kicking our butts but there were a few redeeming shots in ping pong before we hit the hay.

The rain the next day meant that the many outdoor activities on the agenda would be a bit soggy. However, it turned out that the calendar would be our worst enemy since most of them were not yet open for the season. So it was off to an amazing the amazing Giessbach Falls with the accompanying art deco hotel on Lake Brienz. Amazing! A hard act to follow but the St Beatus caves held their own. Nearly 1km of tunnels into the mountain with so many cool rock formations. So amazing! Back to the hotel for cocktails, another fantastic dinner, and round two of the Playroom Olympics. This time Scotland managed to not be embarrassed at foosball but completely lost all ability to play ping pong. I think we needed to be happy with the Silver medal!

One last fun day before work which was MY BIRTHDAY! And I awoke to about 10 cm of snow! (We were in the Alps!) As we drove down from our 1400m height, it mostly became rain but as we were headed to the Swiss Museum of Transport, there was no worry about the weather. We mostly stuck to the planes, trains, and automobiles so we’ll need to do the planetarium and chocolate parts next time. Still a fantastic time all around. Then a little wander around Luzerne with the famous bridge – including some shopping – and it was time to head to Zurich to prepare for the work stuff. As we approached the city, the sun came out and provided some much needed warmth and vitamin D.

The work stuff happened and then we had some more time to wander around the city in the sunshine. We made the obligatory stop at the Fraumünster to see the Chagall windows, did a little more shopping and cocktails before meeting friends and colleagues for dinner. Then the trip was pretty much complete. The flight home was less painful (although I will avoid Heathrow at all costs now!) and we managed to arrive with all our belongings where they should be. Now to prepare for the next trip scheduled for 5 days later…..

Just a few photos from the trip. Nothing could do it justice.

And they’re off!

I confess we’ve never been much up for group travel. I don’t know if it’s because we couldn’t find people to travel with us or because it never occurred to us that other people would be interested, but it’s usually just been Frank and I wandering off and doing things on our own. Now with our new found crew of friends it was time to actually take the plunge and spend a weekend with friends.

So off we went to Saratoga Springs to the Travers Stakes races. Four couples, four cars, 3 or 4 coolers, and enough food to feed a small metropolitan area.  We headed to a (very expensive) B&B and settled in for a few days of hanging out,  playing the ponies (badly), eating, drinking, and general merry making. 

Luckily we had seasoned track visitors with us who knew how things worked.  On Friday after breakfast, we wandered the few blocks to the track with the coolers, chairs, and food on a dolly brought expressly for this purpose. We were allowed in to stake some space and then kicked out for an our until the official opening at 11am.  So off we go to the pub across the street to begin the earnest day drinking. Once back at the track, we spent the day under the trees, sussing out horses, sipping adult beverages, and wagering less successfully than anyone really hoped.  At the end of the race day, we headed back to the B&B for more drinks to be joined by local friends.  Some carry out pizza, wine, and whisky accompanied conversations about music, accents, travel, cars and pretty much anything else.  We were having so much fun that the proprietor felt the need to quash the celebration at 10pm ostensibly due to local noise ordinances. The early evening was just fine however as we had to prepare for the insanity which was to come bright and early the next morning. 

Little did we know that people started lining up that evening for the track opening at 7am. “The boys” were tasked with the 5:15 start to join the long and growing queue to try to find some space for our party of 10-12. Apparently, there is more civility when the doors open at Walmart on Black Friday. Chaos ensued as soon as the doors opened with profiteers staking out coveted picnic tables then offering to sell them to late comers for $50! I’m all about free markets but really! We still wound up with a lovely spot without a picnic table and proceeded to mostly compound the previous day’s losses. We closed out the day with a lovely meal and a few folks played pool and discussed the pros and cons of being male (!?!)

Sunday was quiet with no trip to the track but lots of trekking around town. Frank’s back went out with all the gear hauling so he spent most of the day lying flat on the floor hoping for some relief. On Monday, we tried to figure out what went in which car and headed home none the richer monetarily but with many great memories. I now wonder why we haven’t done this more often before now and I’m glad to have the opportunity to do it again in the future.

Pardon the interruption

I don’t usually do travel updates here saving that for the travel blog, but since we took a very short trip and it was only because of where we live, it seems appropriate to share here.  I was our first real road trip from the new house and we learned a lot.

First, we had to figure out what to do with the dog.  While our marvelous neighbor Kim would have been happy to take care of Buddy for the 48 hours we would be gone, we really needed to test drive a kennel for our upcoming and much longer trips.  Given that we had great luck boarding him with the vet when we lived in KC, we chose that route and on Friday afternoon Buddy was happily ensconced at Periton Veterinary Hospital.  After my 2pm conference call blew me off, the car was packed and we hit the road bound for Toronto!

Now, Google maps will tell you that we are 182 miles from the flat that we rented so my brain translates that to a 3 hour drive.  But it was Friday afternoon and there was a border to cross so it was really more like 4 hours – the Gardiner Expressway was a nightmare! We don’t have traffic like that in Rochester. 

Eventually we made it to the flat on Simcoe Street and found it to be everything we needed: one bedroom, living room with couch and a small kitchen for making our own coffee and tea.  We headed out to wander the town.  We stopped at the holiday fair in Nathan Phillips square and snacked on naked poutine (okay, it was french fries but they were really good!).  We wandered the market stalls and watched the skaters before going to find some real food, which was more difficult than I would have predicted.  It was apparently “office party Friday” and every restaurant was either closed for a private party of had an hour wait because they weren’t closed for a private party.  We eventually found a place that worked, Red’s Wine Bar, and we enjoyed massive G&Ts from the “make your own” menu and some very passible steaks.   Then off to bed to prepare for our next day’s adventures. 

We slept in (because we could) and then grabbed some breakfast before starting the serious endeavor of the day:  Christmas shopping!  Those who know me understand how painful I find shopping in general but I tackled this challenge with aplomb:  wandering around a foreign city looking for stuff to buy family members isn’t the same as going to the mall to find deals on clothes for work.  That said, we did hit one mall if you can call the Eaton Center a mall.  No real shopping there but a chance to get out of the cold, see the enormous Christmas tree and ogle the brand new Aston Martin. 

Then back out in the cold to the St Lawrence Market before heading to the planned destination: the Toronto Christmas Market in the Distillery district. It was trying very hard to be a real European Christmas market and came pretty close.  We had 3 goals:  spiked hot chocolate, mulled wine, and at least one Christmas present.  And victory was ours!  We even managed a lovely plate of raclette for lunch.  

Laden with parcels, we trooped back to the flat to enjoy some local beverages before venturing out again for dinner.  I wanted my kitchy spaghetti mizithra at the Olde Spaghetti Factory but the wait was an hour and I don’t have that kind of patience.  So we hit the Keg next door for more steak (how does the Keg have a shorter wait than the Spaghetti Factory?) and called it a day.  

But the weekend was not done!  Although we didn’t have much time to spend in the city on Sunday, we had things still to do before crossing the border and retrieving the puppy.  So it was breakfast then a stop at Canadian Tire (for British car wax) and Ikea (for a new duvet cover) and then a record swap meet (for 9 gently used 70s and 80s albums).  Of course, no trip across the Niagara escarpment is complete without a winery stop so we headed straight for the Megalomaniac winery which had been a favorite of ours on a vacation trip years earlier.  They didn’t disappoint and a case of wine was packed into the back seat.  One final stop at Dillon’s distillery for some small batch gin and a variety of bitters.  Then we had to high tail it south to get to the dog during kennel pick up hours.  But we made it, with a full trunk, lots of booze, a happy (and clean) dog, and about 45K steps of exercise on Canadian soil.  Oh Canada, see you again soon!

  • Guess where we are?
  • Tree at Holiday Fair
  • Skaters at Holiday Fair
  • Tree at Eaton Centre
  • Christmas Market, Toronto
  • Toronto Christmas lights
  • Drinking Local!
  • Tree at CBTV studio
  • CN Tower!
  • It’s a moose!
  • Album haul!
  • Frank’s new car?

Conference – with spouse

Maybe it’s because I had more than 25 years of business travel where I didn’t bring the family along that this one trip is proving more trying.  I’m used to having the hotel room to myself and checking in with the loved ones once or twice a day.  Now that Frank is here with me, I worry about whether or not I need to check in more frequently or whether he’s bored on his own or…. {sigh}

He’ll tell me not to be stupid (except he’ll say “dunnae be daft”) especially because he has family to go to visit.  It’s not like he’s playing tourist on his own – in fact, I think he spent today replacing brake rotors, diagnosing engine misfires and drinking tea with various relations.  Nevertheless, I can’t help but notice that he’s cramping my conference style.

Let’s start with sharing a hotel room.  You would think we’d be good at it by now.  And generally we are except that we stopped renting hotel rooms a while back and have rented flats, suites, or apartments for several years.  It works so much better when you have separate space to retire to when one of you gets on the others nerves or when I need to get some work done and he doesn’t.  For some reason, my work won’t pay for an AirBnB (I’ll work on that when I get home!) and so I picked a reasonably price hotel close to the conference venue.  Which means I got a reasonably priced hotel.  No sitting rooms. No upgrades. Not even a plug near a mirror which I shouldn’t care about except that I couldn’t actually use my curling tongs safely without being able to see my head! (Note: curling tongs means curling iron and normally I wouldn’t need to use them except that Scottish water is so bloody soft that no amount of “product” can get my hair to behave the way it does at home.)

So the hotel room is fine but it is better suited for one person – or at least my style of living when I travel on business.  The tiny table in the corner where I’ve tried to do some work the last few nights isn’t quite the office away from home.  And it doesn’t help that while I’m typing away trying to get things done, my beloved spouse is alternating between the TV, his iPad, and regularly checking with me – “you okay?” or “you done?” {sigh}

And so we made it through the first day.  We have another day apart tomorrow so maybe I will have adjusted to this whole conference spouse thing by then.

Rainy and grey days, the Jamaica way

My OCD self had been obnoxious about checking the weather forecast in the days leading up to our departure. There were multiple days with rain in the forecast. I convinced myself that the accuracy wasn’t great and things would be fine. When we got to spend Friday in nearly complete sunshine in defiance of the rainy forecast, I relaxed a little.

And then I woke up on Saturday morning to choppy seas and grey skies. Which never went away. The red flag was flying- no snorkeling or other watersports for us. But clouds were all we faced; we were still able to enjoy room service imagebreakfast on our patio, a music trivia game at the swim up bar (Frank won), lots of reading time on the beach, and our new favorite vacation activity: champagne and nachos and a dip in the jacuzzi before dinner. We even hung out for the reggae show and did a little dancing.

Today we weren’t so lucky. The grey skies were leaking, sometimes as just a sprinkle, others were a downpour. But we are on vacation so we will make the best of it. And what can we do in Ocho Rios in the rain? Why climb Dunn’s River Falls of course.  It’s an activity that was guaranteed to have us get soaking wet so why not do it in the pouring rain? And so we conquered  the 180 feet of climbing from the beach to the top, holding hands with complete strangers in our group and being as wet as it was possible to get. It was brilliant!image

The rain persisted on and off for the rest of the day. We took advantage of our private villa by lounging on our sun chairs while it was dry, dipping in the jacuzzi as the sprinklers started and then playing cribbage while drinking champagne when the rain got serious. A leisurely dinner and short visit to the evening show and we were ready to put an end to the rainy day and keep up hope for tomorrow.

Settling in

We awoke to bright sunshine which seeped in around the blinds on the multitude of windows in our cottage. This place is pretty spectacular – beautiful sea views, lots of space, bright colors. It is a fully furnished cottage with a kitchen, sitting room, imageoversized bathroom, and large deck. Add lots of privacy, a personal jacuzzi and a two person hammock and you have a little bit of heaven. The down side to all that privacy is that we are miles from the rest of the rest of the resort. We had to wander over by the beach for breakfast which was lovely. Lots of stuff marked gluten free – including a basket of GF bread. imageWe streaked out some beach chairs under a tree at the beach and we were set for the day. Our day consisted of various combinations of popping into the pool with the swim up bar, wandering into the sea, reading a bit, grabbing a bite at the beach cafe, enjoying a blended drink or two, and a snorkeling trip shortened by choppy seas and poor visibility.image

An easy evening dip in the jacuzzi before the grand gala dinner closed off the night. It would have been absolutely perfect but for two small things: the wine waiters seemed unable to see our table and a passing sprinkle turned into a torrential downpour. We solved both annoyances by retiring to our cottage where our well stocked bar had lots of wine. Now to rest up for tomorrow.

How to start a vacation

First, have all your flights take off on time and land early. Get on your connecting flight first (okay, second and third) so you score the exit row seats. Pre book the concierge service so you skip most of the lines at immigration in Montego Bay Airport. Arrive on an Election Day so there’s no traffic and you get to your resort in record time. Randomly get an upgrade to the cottage that’s the equivalent of the honeymoon suite with a private jacuzzi and more square footage than our first house. Have a soak in said jacuzzi before a dinner of fresh snapper with fresh veggies. Stop by the show by the pool where you are selected for a spotlight dance with one of the entertainment staff and the dance floor clears ala Saturday Night Fever. Oh, and don’t forget to enjoy plenty of champagne and vodka martinis. Then collapse in your kingsize bed in exhaustion ready to have a full day tomorrow (and write a proper blog post with pictures!)

New year, new opportunities

Okay, a bit late.  It occurs to me that I have been remiss in my updates of our exploits.  I will not try to squeeze several months into a single post.  I will say that things are fine and that the new year is starting out well.

So well, in fact, that we are currently in Paris for a few days.  Not because we have so much spare cash and vacation time that Paris in January was a logical option.  But imageI had a (hastily arranged) business trip to the OECD and for the first time in 25 years, I brought Frank with me.  I’ve never been a fan of folks having a “conference spouse” – they tend not to get the full experience of why they are at a meeting if they have others waiting for them or out having fun without them.  But this seemed to be an opportunity that made sense – the meetings were only 1.5 days and my boss was bringing his wife so he would have someone to hang out with.

So new year, new opportunity and off we went.  Flying through DC (to avoid O’Hare in the winter) we hit Paris at 8am on Friday with little sleep but the ability to check in, shower and change.  And the 24 hours of stupidity began so we walkimageed.  And walked.  From our hotel near the Trocadero to the Arc de Triomph (where we walked up and down the 284 steps), down the Champs-Élysées (stopping in the Peugot and Mercedes “stores”) to the Louvre, then on to Saint Chappelle (breathtaking stained glass) and Notre Dame (amazing as always).  After 30 hours awake and 10 miles of walking, it was time to put our first day to bed.

Stay tuned.  The Saturday report is still to come.