Hula Babe and Beach Boy Head to Hawaii

Hula Babe and Beach Boy, clad in tee-shirts, shorts and flip-flops, are back in Hawaii!

If you’ve been with us at TravelnWrite for the last few years, you know that this is our tropical season – the time we head to Hawaii -- and that’s our nom de blog while living in the Land of Aloha.  (Hey, if  Ree Drummond can be Pioneer Woman, we certainly qualify as Hula Babe and Beach Boy!)

We’ve settled into our Ko Olina timeshare ‘playhouse’ on the island of O’ahu.

It is here we will  be living during the next few weeks.

Lucky for us several friends need temporary quarters while we are here so we have a built-in cadre of house-sitters back in the Northwest.



“But how can you be gone so long?” “Don’t you get homesick?”   So many of our Pacific Northwest friends have asked that I decided yesterday to answer those questions by use of photos:

This would be the fog-shrouded Seattle Tacoma airport Friday morning as we taxied for takeoff. . .nice view, huh? (It looked like that all over the Puget Sound.)

It cleared a bit as we flew over the Washington State coastline.

About five hours into the flight, as we were finishing the complimentary MaiTais  . . .


. . .the view out the window improved. . .


Honolulu was coming into view. . .

And then came Ko Olina and O’ahu’s Barber Point as the plane banked to land at the Honolulu Airport.

The three tall white buildings and the four lagoons to the center/left of the photo are Marriott’s Beach Club Vacation villas. I am writing this from our condo in that complex. 

This is the view looking out the window here:

Guess that answers those questions!

While we are here, we hope to make some new island discoveries. . .have any tips for us? Out of the way restaurants? Beaches? Must see or do? Tell us about your favorites in the comment section below or by sending a quick email!

We’ll be ‘booking it’ to the beach next week so do come back to explore some ‘novel destinations'!  And mahalo for your visit today!!!
We are linking up with Noel Morata's TravelPhotoDiscovery.

That Unforgettable Taste of Tahiti

Our favorite cruises are those in which the ship arrives early into a port and leaves late. . .you can experience much in a 12-hour time period. We had such a stop in Pape’ete, Tahiti and it afforded us a real taste of the town:

Our evening at Place Vaiete Roulottes – in the shadow of our cruise ship -- may have been one of the best experiences we had while sailing across the Pacific Ocean en route to Sydney, Australia from Honolulu last fall.

Place Vaiete Roulottes, is the most amazing collection of mobile food trucks and food stalls we’ve ever experienced (yes, even better than Portland, Oregon for you Northwest foodie fans out there). Roulotte is French for caravan – and what a culinary caravan circled up to serve an array of dishes. 

A couple dozen chefs rolled in as the sun dipped below the horizon (about 6 p.m.) and the once empty lot, known as Vaiete Square, near the cruise ship dock came to life as colorful tables, chairs and plastic stools stretched in every direction.

It was an aromatherapy treatment for foodies as smells from grills mixed with the pungent smells of spicy stir fry and the sweet scents of crepes.

We circled the area several times before we could get focused on just what we would eat – think children in a candy store – because that was what we were as we strolled, our heads swiveling back and forth, competing with each other to find the next temptation.

Even after we had selected the place where we would dine I couldn’t sit still and  had to watch my dinner being hand made by this culinary artist.

While The Scout dined on Steak Frites, I ate those delightful stuffed morsels you see on the right side of the above photo.  We could have been tempted to eat more, to sample the many more flavors that were seducing us with their scents – but it would have been, sadly, shear gluttony.

Now there are probably some of you reading this thinking, “But was it safe to eat at those places?” and the answer is a resounding, ‘YES!’  They are all licensed and everything was as spotlessly clean as it appears in this photo. (Sadly, we watched many fellow cruisers who walked past this culinary haven as they returned to the ship to ‘eat on board’ because they weren’t up to the adventure or they wanted to get that meal that came with the price of the cruise ticket.)

The food was so good and inexpensive that we could have eaten there every night for a week (or longer) and never have tired of it. It is one reason, we agreed, to put a return to Tahiti on our ‘bucket list’.

Should you find yourself in Tahiti – don’t miss this experience.  Do remember to bring cash – they don’t take credit cards.



The Food Fest on shore was still going strong as we pulled away from the dock at 9 p.m.  And they say that often times music plays on weekend nights – we were so on sensor overload that I can’t recall whether we heard music or not. . .I’ll have to ask The Scout what he remembers beyond the food. . .

That is it for today.  We thank you for the time you’ve spent with us and hope you will be back soon to share in our tips and tales.

We are linking up with:
Nancie McKinnon’s Budget Travelers Sandbox Travel Photo Thursday
Marcia Mayne’s Inside Journey’s Foodie Tuesday
Kent Weakley’s Sweet Shot Tuesday

Travel Tuesday: Tips and Tidbits

I’ve got a couple health- and fitness-related travel topics this week so without further fanfare, let’s get started:

The ‘Eyes’ Have It. . .

This one is for all you contact lens wearing travelers of a ‘certain age’ (40 is usually when the telltale signs start appearing):  the small print seems to be getting smaller and a bit more blurred each time you try to read your passport or credit card numbers and trying to read the small print on a map is more daunting than getting lost. . .could it be time
for those 'readers' on sale everywhere from grocery to book stores?


One more thing to add to that carry-on bag already is stuffed with documents, medicines, prescription glasses, contact lens case/solution and sunglasses?

I’ve worn gas permeable contact lenses for decades and in the last couple years even the ‘bi-focal’ types weren’t quite doing the job. . .that is until  my optometrist asked me if I’d try out a different type of lens. Another patient of hers, a flight attendant, had tried them and was singing their praises, so I agreed.

That was nearly a year ago.  I waited this long to write about them just to make sure they weren't too good to be true. I couldn’t believe the improved visual acuity - and comfort. (Their only drawback is that like all gas permeable/hard lenses I've worn, they do tend to dry out on long airplane flights.) The smallest of print (including those microscopic numbers on the back corner of the credit cards) are as easy to read as is seeing the far distant stuff. In fact, both of my distances are now a smidgen better than 20/20 -- a real plus when focusing the camera! 


It took a few extra visits to get the fit right because the lenses are weighted to keep the close-up at the bottom and distance at the top – so they have to fit the eye well.

If they are of interest and you are in the Puget Sound area of Washington State, I recommend my optomitrist Dr. Pamela J. Bingham at Market Optical in Seattle’s University Village.

And if you are elsewhere, talk to your eye care professional about “TruForm” rigid, gas permeable lenses.  (I read on the company web site that they even make multi-focal lenses!)


Serving up and Repacking the D2G. . .Diet to Go: 

Three years ago on TravelnWrite we sang the praises of the “Glycemic Load Diet” developed by Seattle cardiologist, Dr. Rob Thompson. We bought his book, tried out his eating recommendations and found the recipes were incredible good and it was a perfect fit for travelers.

So easy to follow when traveling that we called it the D2G; our Diet to Go. Some may even recall the guest post Dr. Thompson wrote for TravelnWrite. If you missed it, click this  link. 

My physical that year showed not only had I lost weight (13 pounds) but my bad cholesterol levels had dropped significantly, as had blood sugar and everything else that gets monitored - despite four-months of living out of a suitcase; drinking and eating on-the-road. (And I was no longer blaming cruise ship photographers for 'making me look fat!')

Fast forward. . .if you saw the post a few weeks ago, A Taste of the World, you know without me telling you that we – me, in particular – slipped off that D2G wagon. A big burger in Arizona, an Australian Pie in Sydney, a basket of bread here and a serving of French fries there and maybe just a tiny bit of dessert. . . The results of an annual physical a few weeks ago showed the bad cholesterol had skyrocketed and a few pounds had returned, despite a regular exercise program both at home and on the road.

So, the new year has begun with D2G once again, our traveling companion.

Instead of that deep fried bacon cheeseburger I told you about in December, take note of the above veggie burger on a whole grain bun with more veggies at the side and red wine (which is allowed on the D2G).  I had this at one of our favorite places, Todd English’s P.U.B. at Crystals in City Center, Las Vegas last week.


That’s it for this week’s Travel Tuesday – the day we share any  new tips related to travel.   How about you?  What new discoveries have you made for travel. . . Health and fitness?  Packing? . . .Ways to save money on travel?  Let us know in the comment section below or send us an email.

Disclosure:  We received no compensation for recommending the contact lenses, Dr. Bingham, Market Optical or the 'Glycemic Load Diet'. (Although if you order the book from Amazon using the link in the post, we make a few pennies; we'll get paid when we have $10 worth of pennies, about 2050 by my calculations.)  We simply think all are worth recommending! 

Linking up with Marcia Mayne's Inside Journeys Foodie Tuesday.

Travel: It is not about ‘What you saw. . .’

January is that time of year when travel bloggers tend to write of their previous year’s journeys and start verbalizing their plans for upcoming adventures. 

It is a time for us to put into words the daydreams that will ultimately lead to new travel plans. Yet, moving to the next adventure can’t really be done without a backward glance or two. . . and a bit of introspection. 

This last year we were again reminded that travel isn’t so much about ‘what you saw’ but ‘how you’ve changed’ as a result of your experiences. 

Musician in Pape'eti, Tahiti with traditional Maori body tattoos

Travel can rock your established, comfortable – albeit, routine – world, just by the smallest unforgettable glimpse of a new culture or land as did our brief series of stops in French Polynesia.

A dining experience not to miss in Pape'ete, Tahiti

Once you’ve experienced the ‘different’ - smells, colors, people, food, music, religion, culture – you find that upon your return home you are different as well . . .

You’ve been reminded of  your insignificance as you sail across vast stretches of ocean. . .

Setting Sail from Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii

Your mind has been exercised.  Stretching just a bit further each time you travel keeps the brain questing for even more adventure and stimulation. . .

A view of Chora Sfakia, Crete

Your soul has basked in the beauty of remoteness.  . .

Tahiti, French Polynesia

You’ve experienced worlds that once you had only imagined. . .

Auckland, New Zealand

And after you’ve been home a few days that unmistakable restlessness starts prickling your senses.  You no longer question whether you travel too much and you know it is time to start putting those daydreams into action. . .

Tahiti's Black Sand Beaches 

Where will your adventures take you this year?  How has travel changed you?  We look forward to reading your thoughts and plans. Tell us by adding a comment below or send us an email! 

Our wishes for Happy Travels and Happy New Year!

We are linking up with:
Nancie at Budget Travelers Sandbox Travel Photo Thursday
The Tablescrapers’ Oh The Places I have Been

A First Class Start to 2014

We quite literally had a first class start to the New Year when Alaska Airlines upgraded us from coach to those big cushy seats in the front of the 737 on our Jan. 1st flight to Las Vegas from Seattle.

It’s the section of the plane where the real cups of coffee are constantly refilled  and real food is served on real plates.

A real surprise.
A real treat.
A real reminder of why airline loyalty programs are still worth joining. (If you missed our article on other benefits a few weeks ago, click here.)

[Travel Tip:  The Scout had booked this trip an air/accommodation package on Expedia.com  The airfare was less than $200 per person round-trip, including taxes and fees.]

Our return from Vegas brought us back to reality – paper cups, one serving of coffee, and a package of nuts – ahh, but the memory remains of that New Year's Day  flight.

The unexpected upgrade was one of those ‘little things’ that are long remembered after a trip ends.

Sometimes those ‘little things’ fall into the ‘sad-but-true’ category, like this memory of Vdara, the hotel where we stayed as part of the package.

Vdara, is a condo/hotel, a part of the recently completed City Center development. To get your bearings, that small tower in the photo above is a side view of Bellagio, home of The Strip’s famous fountains.

Our room was a Vdara Suite, one of the smaller ones but at 810 sq. ft. plenty spacious for us and we had a killer view of the fountains next door.

[Travel Tip: We saved a tremendous amount eating breakfast and lunch ‘at home’ in the room. Had we needed them, it also was equipped with a washer and dryer.]

The kitchen (similar to the tale I wrote about The Cosmopolitan Hotel) was empty except here there was a coffee pot. (A make- or break-a-place item in my mind.)  However, with a single call housekeeping arrived bearing plates, bowls, flatware, cookware and utensils.  When I had called in advance to inquire about the kitchen I was told that in the beginning the kitchens were fully stocked but because so many items had ‘walked away’ with guests, they had to institute an inventory control system. 

[Travel Tip: The cost of our suite was just under $150 including taxes and booking fees; the resort levied a $28 additional resort fee per day for internet, telephone, use of the exercise facility and daily newspaper.]

We had daily maid service that couldn’t be faulted. . .and then on the third morning I thought the maid had forgotten to leave the wash (face) cloths in the bathroom.  We’d had had three – shower, sink and tub – each day.   I stopped her in the hallway and asked for one.  “Oh, they have to be ordered from housekeeping,” she explained apologetically.

Really?! I mean, really?! Without kitchen supplies for souvenirs could the guests now be taking wash cloths? I am struck with guilt when I forget to leave a plastic key that could be reused, the thought of taking property. . .hmmm. . .

As I said, it is those little things we remember when we come to travel. . .

That’s it for this Travel Tip Tuesday.  We’ll be back again this week and hope you’ll be traveling along with us.  You can follow TravelnWrite on Bloglovin and Networked Blogs or have posts delivered to your inbox. 

We’ve  just figured out Instagram and are posting travel photos there as well. Click the link to follow us there. 

Until next time, happy travels. . .
Jackie, The Scribe, and Joel, The Scout

Las Vegas is Going to the Dogs and Other Tales

What happens in Vegas really can’t stay in Vegas these days because so much is changing – and for the good!  We are here for our traditional ‘watching football’ during Bowl Game week we thought we’d highlight some of what we've seen. . .

Going to the Dogs

One of the first things we noticed was the number of ‘traveling dogs’ – not those poor homeless types that wander foreign streets pulling at tourist heartstrings - but the pampered pooches who are staying in 5-star comfort.

We first noticed the influx of four-footed visitors when we shared an elevator in our Vdara Hotel with a French Bulldog and his doting ‘parents’ the other morning and have since counted nearly a dozen canine companions.

Greening of The Strip

Four days ago the newest addition to The Strip, debuting on New Year’s Eve, opened.  Some smart designer had a vision for the service alley between the Flamingo Resort and The Quad (once the Imperial Resort). 


Linq is the name of this new brick paved, tree-lined area that will be home to 30 open air retail, dining and entertainment outlets. It is estimated that some 20.4 million visitors walked past the old alleyway in a given year, making the transformation of this area into usable urban outdoor space a brilliant move by Caesars Entertainment.

And Linq is aptly named because it ‘linqs’ The Strip to the Vegas High Roller, reputedly the worlds largest observation wheel which will be opening later this year.









Just Down the Road

  

MGM has torn up the sidewalk and front facades of its properties, New York – New York and the Monte Carlo and is also building an outdoor promenade that will house more open-air establishments.

 
Travel Weekly, an industry publication, says the tourists coming to this city are spending an increasing amount of time away from slot machines and casino tables.  Only 72% of the visitors gambled in 2012 as compared to 85% in 2008.

As I said in the opening, there is a lot happening in Vegas that really shouldn’t stay here!




Happy New Year to you all. And thanks for stopping by today ~ the time you spend with us is appreciated. We are now on Instagram so hope you'll visit us there as well. . .we are posting views of Vegas this week! Linking this one up with Noel Morata's Travel Photo Discovery!

A Taste of the World

A certain number of people have only one question when we announce an upcoming far-distant destination:

 “But, what will you eat there?”

Following any trip, the question is usually, “But, was the food . . .good?”

Today, with 2013 only days from being history, I am serving up a helping of some of the mouth-watering foods that have given us a taste of the world in which we’ve traveled during its run.

Some of our happiest travel memories are those that involve food, like that time in:

Honolulu, Hawaii. . .

. . .where their traditional and inexpensive ‘plate lunch’ (total cost for the meal below about $20 US). This meal, served in a Styrofoam box is one of our favorite local eats.  Using our laps for a table we dined on Katsu chicken sitting on a bed of steamed rice and veggies (that's a bit of pork to the left), as we sat on our Waikiki Beach facing hotel room balcony last January.

The View with our Hawaiian plate lunch:

Chora Sfakia, southern coast of Crete, Greece:

“Sfakian pie”  is one of the specialty menu items at Delfini’s Restaurant.  It is made at the time of ordering so that anticipation builds during that 20 minute wait for the fragrant pie stuffed with lamb and four Cretan cheeses to arrive at the table.  We ordered it with a side of “Horta” – those wild greens that grow on the rough and tumble hillsides surrounding the town and look much like spinach – but taste better! 

This may well be one of our favorite meals on earth! Confession: my mouth waters each time I look at these photos. (Cost: our three-course meal, including the pie,was about $22US total including wine.)

The View of Chora Sfakia’s waterfront that we had while we ate Sfakian Pie:

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Stamppot, a Dutch favorite (and one of ours as well)  is made of mashed potatoes, mixed with vegetable (carrots in the photo below) and served with rookworst, a smoked sausage and a 'pond' of gravy tops the potato mound. We could have eaten ourselves silly at every meal during our three-night stay en route from Greece to Seattle. (It’s a good thing we walked ourselves silly each day to counter those calories!)

The setting:  While we didn’t have a 'view table' at this little pub across from our hotel, what made this meal memorable was that table full of people in this photo because it turned out they were a touring musical group and they broke into song and entertained us all!

Russell township, Bay of Islands, New Zealand

The steaming hot Seafood Chowder with local fresh fish, bacon and shellfish came flowing over the sides of its compact cob loaf at the Duke of Marlborough Hotel – a place that began in 1827 as a grog shop – on the waterfront in picture-perfect Russell.

While we both exclaimed there was ‘too much to eat’ we barely managed to leave a polite tidbit of bread in our bowls. And, we used the occasion to taste two different Sauvignon Blanc wines, the white for which New Zealand is famous. (Cost: $56AUS, about $45US)

The setting: was the amazing patio in front of this historic hotel that overlooked the harbor and fronted the small main street that catered to pedestrians and an occasional car or two. (Russell will soon be featured in a post on TravelnWrite.)

A Sample of Southwestern United States: Las Vegas and Scottsdale
Gluttony – pure and simple!  I am almost ashamed to show you some of the food we ate while traveling in Nevada and Arizona this year. Let’s just say, I understand why my cholesterol count was off the chart a few weeks ago and why my doctor suggested 'continued attention to exercise and low fat foods'. . . (ahem, I hope she misses this post!)

Okay, so it was my July birthday. . .remember, 60, the Big One? I believed that a little self-indulgence was in order at Mon Ami Gaby Restaurant on Las Vegas Blvd. ~ and who can say 'no' to a birthday treat from the restaurant, right?

The View: was equally as delightful. . .we sat on the patio under ‘the Eiffel Tower’.

I’ll conclude this food fest retrospective with our November visit to Scottsdale, where we ate twice at the Four Season’s Proof American Canteen. We finally gave in on our last visit and each ordered – and ate – their  Best Burger - Vermont Cheddar, Smoked Ketchup Mayo, Bourbon Molasses Onions, Deep Fried Bacon.  Okay, it tasted as good and was as unhealthy as it looks BUT we didn’t order the optional fried egg on top and ate Cole slaw instead of French Fries. . .that must count for something. . .

The Setting at the foot of Pinnacle Peak (pictured below) couldn’t be beat!

We found plenty of good eats in 2013 and the meals flavored our travels with great memories.

Today we raise our glasses to each of you in a toast of “Thanks!” as our travels in 2013 come to an end:

Thanks for the time you’ve spent sharing our close-to-home and far-distant adventures.  Hopefully our tips were useful and tales entertaining. The Scout and The Scribe recognize that time is a valuable commodity these days and we can't thank you enough for sharing a bit of yours with us.

We look forward to having you join us again in 2014 because there’s a lot of world out there to savor and we hope to have a big helping of it. . .maybe even seconds and some desert as well!


Our thanks and best wishes for a Happy New Year and Happy Travels  ~  Jackie and Joel

We are linking up at:
Noel Morata’s Monday Travel Photo Discovery
Budget Travelers Sandbox Travel Photo Thursday