Air Treks
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Xmas in NYC
Well...I guess it has been almost three months since a blog. I will blame it on the new job, new house, new town, and new routines.
Kristen and I spent the weekend in NYC getting into the Xmas spirit. We are very lucky to have spent the past two years in NYC running around, up and down 5th ave and in Union Square shopping and checking out the lights.
The city was packed, but nothing we couldn't handle. There was no snow on the ground which made it easy to get around. Although some snow may have made it a bit more appeasing on the eye. The thing about NYC is just how big they do things. The stores go above and beyond anything else. The store fronts were lit up with the best lights. I mean, they had a Mini Cooper in a snow globe. They had a huge Legos Santa.
Another great thing about going to NYC is the food. Good food at every block at all times of the day. We got to eat at our favorite sushi restaurant, Haru, in Union Square. Had an awesome lunch at Maoz's, a falafel sandwich. Followed by dinner at Taco Taco. The best Mexican restaurant I have had.
Kristen's mom is here for the week celebrating Xmas. We are staying in Elmira this year. I am hoping to try out the NY slopes on Friday. Depends on the weather. Wish I could make it to Illinois to celebrate with everyone at home. Since we made it home for Thanksgiving, we will pass on the travel. I am looking forward to staying around here.
Merry Christmas to everyone! I hope it is blessed.
Click here for NYC Xmas Pictures
Kristen and I spent the weekend in NYC getting into the Xmas spirit. We are very lucky to have spent the past two years in NYC running around, up and down 5th ave and in Union Square shopping and checking out the lights.
Kristen's mom is here for the week celebrating Xmas. We are staying in Elmira this year. I am hoping to try out the NY slopes on Friday. Depends on the weather. Wish I could make it to Illinois to celebrate with everyone at home. Since we made it home for Thanksgiving, we will pass on the travel. I am looking forward to staying around here.
Merry Christmas to everyone! I hope it is blessed.
Click here for NYC Xmas Pictures
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Finger Lakes in the Fall
Well, the "real world" has finally started. I have two weeks under my belt at my new job (United Health Services [UHS]). I really am loving it so far. Everyone is extremely friendly and inviting. They seem to be excited to have someone who has different experiences and seem welcome to new ideas. I look forward to going to work each day, so I am excited that it seems like a great fit for me.
The first day of fall has hit and it is starting to get beautiful. The trees have started to turn yellow and a few red. I expect by the end of the week we will have the full array of colors and my drive to work will become even more gorgeous. We have started to explorer the area and been on a few hikes so far. We have checked out the gorges at Watkins Glen and Ithaca. Here are some pics:
Pictures of the Finger Lakes in the Fall
Kristen's mom visited the past week with her sister visiting next weekend. Followed by a trip to Columbus before my mom visits for a week. We love to have people visit, so if you read this and want to experience the finger lakes, dial 217-521-5253 to check vacancy.
Time to get some errands done before football starts. Lots going on in the next month. Along with visitors, I need to find a SUV for the winter and we start P90X in 8 days!
The first day of fall has hit and it is starting to get beautiful. The trees have started to turn yellow and a few red. I expect by the end of the week we will have the full array of colors and my drive to work will become even more gorgeous. We have started to explorer the area and been on a few hikes so far. We have checked out the gorges at Watkins Glen and Ithaca. Here are some pics:
Pictures of the Finger Lakes in the Fall
Kristen's mom visited the past week with her sister visiting next weekend. Followed by a trip to Columbus before my mom visits for a week. We love to have people visit, so if you read this and want to experience the finger lakes, dial 217-521-5253 to check vacancy.
Time to get some errands done before football starts. Lots going on in the next month. Along with visitors, I need to find a SUV for the winter and we start P90X in 8 days!
Monday, August 30, 2010
Athens and Trip Summary
Athens:
It is very interesting how different Athens feels after nine years. I visited Athens as part of a Italy/Greece trip the summer before my senior year of high school. It was the first time I had traveled outside of North America and the first time I had been in an airplane... At this point in my life, I did not like tomatoes, never ate salad and pretty much ate very limited foods. I remember flying into Athens and being amazed at their brand new airport. The Olympics were only a few years away and the city was preparing for the games. However, my most vivid memory of the city was just how dirty it was. There was so much construction. Every single block. This made for horrible traffic. I also have to say it was the first time I had really been in a "big city" exploring. Luckily enough I was with a great group of friends and we had awesome tour guides. I remember Athens for it being dirty, stray dogs every where, and not liking any of the food served (who likes warm milk for breakfast?).
Wow, I think I have changed tremendously and maybe Athens changed too. No more construction. The city did not feel any dirtier than Chicago, New York, etc... Compared to Cairo, Athens felt like it had just undergone spring cleaning. Additionally, my taste buds are far more sophisticated to say the least. I love Greek food now. This time around I really enjoyed Athens. It is funny thinking about my trip in high school, I always said, I would go back to Italy and the Greek Islands, but never Athens. Well, I am glad that I did not hold true to this as Athens is much better than remembered.
We arrived in Athens via ferry. The port here is huge and definitely the biggest port that I have ever visited. We were excited to arrive, but sad to leave the Islands and sad that this was the last stop on our vacation. We arrived in our hotel which we were intrigued to visit. The travel agent booked the hotel as part of our island tour. Looking at their website the previous night, the actual hotel website ranked it as a C- but with great views. The website was right on. We checked in and went straight to the roof top bar to admire the awesome view of the Acropolis and the surrounding area. After a milkshake (I was on a kick), we quickly realized that the hotel was in an awesome location. We were within walking distance to everything. We spent the evening exploring the Plaka and planning our Athens attack.
We spent the first day visiting the Acropolis which was cool to visit for the second time. I remember visiting previously, but I did not remember any information regarding the Acropolis. It was great learning about the columns and how they built the parthenon. Obviously, the wow factor was not as high the second time around, but it was fun realizing how different it is to travel now as a mature adult versus a high school kid (ok probably an immature high school kid).
We spent our second full day in Athens visiting Ancient Agora, the Acropolis Museum, Temple of Zeus, and the Archeological Museum. All that before 3:00! It felt like we walked the most in Athens. I am not sure if it is true or not, but my legs were jello after yesterday. It was nice being able to walk to all of the sites and feel safe.
Well the breakfast and beverage cart is approaching. Maybe it will wake the snoring gentleman across the isle. We have a 5 hour layover in Zurich before a 9 hour flight back home! Until then...
Final Greece pictures, including Athens
Trip summary:
North America: Canada-Toronto
Europe: Spain-Barcelona, Madrid
Turkey-Istanbul, Izmir, Ephesus, Selcuk, Pammukale, Kusadasi
Greece-Samos, Mykonos, Paros, Naxos, Santorini, Athens
Switzerland-Zurich
Asia: Turkey-Istanbul
Africa: Egypt-Cairo, Aswan, Edfu, Luxor, Giza
Wonders of the World: Great Pyramids of Giza, Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, Hagia Sophia, CN Tower
TOTALS:
30 days: 13,000+ airline miles, 21 cities, 13 hotels, 10 flights, 7 ferries, 6 countries, 5 languages, 4 continents, 4 Wonders of the World, 3 train rides, 1 great trip
Wow, that was fun to create. We had a blast!!!
I feel very blessed to have had the opportunity to travel for 30 days. I loved everyday! I am excited to be on my flight home. 30 days seems to be the most I want to travel from hotel to hotel. I am ready for a more consistent living situation. I am not sure I would have changed anything about the trip. I would admit that by the time I got to Athens I was a bit bored by looking at ancient artifacts and ruins. It is amazing to think about the history that we got to see on this trip. We covered the Egyptian times, the Ottaman Empire, and the Roman Emprire. The years and years of history we got to experience was amazing. Kristen and I talk about how cool it would be to have seen the stuff we saw as we studied it in school. We have some ideas on how we want to involve our kids into traveling along with their studies throughout school. How cool would it be to learn about the Egyptians and get to see the Great Pyramid during the summer!
We laugh as the few weeks before our trip when we were in New York, we avoided falafel and humus saying, we are going to get tons of that on our trip. We had no idea that Egyptians, Turks, and Greeks really do not eat much of either. We in America label gyros, humus, falafel, etc... as Mediterranean food. However, based on our experiences, not all Mediterranean countries eat them all. Humus and falafel must only be Middle Eastern. With that all said, we feel fortunate to have eaten such great food the whole time. I would say my favorites would include: gyros and greek salads in Greece and a humus topped with minced meat in Instanbul (we only had humus three times and ate it twice at this restaurant in Istanbul it was that good). The dessert I had our last night in Istanbul was to die for. How I have changed. Nine years ago in high school, I would have never even tried any of those foods that I now enjoy so much.
What I really enjoyed the most about our 30 day adventure was the time Kristen and I got to spend together. We went from a long distant relationship to spending every minute together. Talk about extremes. However, it was awesome to be able to get used to each other on such a day to day level. Our long distant relationship feels like it was a long time ago. We will be a better couple after being able to spend the past 30 days together. Traveling is stressful enough for veteran marraige couples. We have more confidence than ever in our relationship after spending the past 30 days together. Traveling this amount of time really brought us closer than we even thought was possible.
The TV monitor on the plane says we have 5:00 more hours! I definitely look forward to being able to read the US news, driving my car, breakfast (I am tired of eating pasterys and bread), drinking water out of the tap, the English language, going to the grocery store (we have eaten lunch and dinner out for the past 30 days!!), my iphone (it is crazy how many times we were like, I wonder... and have to remember to look it up back at the hotel vs plugging it into the iphone for an answer. I love having information at my finger tips), excercise, and getting used to our new home and area!
I really enjoyed being able to blog about our trip and keep up with our pictures. We ended up with over 2,000 photos, so to sort through the pictures as we traveled is a huge relief versus having to do it when we return. I hope all who read found our journey interesting and inspiring! Traveling definitely is such a gift and I was happy to be able to share it with everyone!!
All vacation photos here
Signing off from vacation 2010...Jake
It is very interesting how different Athens feels after nine years. I visited Athens as part of a Italy/Greece trip the summer before my senior year of high school. It was the first time I had traveled outside of North America and the first time I had been in an airplane... At this point in my life, I did not like tomatoes, never ate salad and pretty much ate very limited foods. I remember flying into Athens and being amazed at their brand new airport. The Olympics were only a few years away and the city was preparing for the games. However, my most vivid memory of the city was just how dirty it was. There was so much construction. Every single block. This made for horrible traffic. I also have to say it was the first time I had really been in a "big city" exploring. Luckily enough I was with a great group of friends and we had awesome tour guides. I remember Athens for it being dirty, stray dogs every where, and not liking any of the food served (who likes warm milk for breakfast?).
Wow, I think I have changed tremendously and maybe Athens changed too. No more construction. The city did not feel any dirtier than Chicago, New York, etc... Compared to Cairo, Athens felt like it had just undergone spring cleaning. Additionally, my taste buds are far more sophisticated to say the least. I love Greek food now. This time around I really enjoyed Athens. It is funny thinking about my trip in high school, I always said, I would go back to Italy and the Greek Islands, but never Athens. Well, I am glad that I did not hold true to this as Athens is much better than remembered.
We arrived in Athens via ferry. The port here is huge and definitely the biggest port that I have ever visited. We were excited to arrive, but sad to leave the Islands and sad that this was the last stop on our vacation. We arrived in our hotel which we were intrigued to visit. The travel agent booked the hotel as part of our island tour. Looking at their website the previous night, the actual hotel website ranked it as a C- but with great views. The website was right on. We checked in and went straight to the roof top bar to admire the awesome view of the Acropolis and the surrounding area. After a milkshake (I was on a kick), we quickly realized that the hotel was in an awesome location. We were within walking distance to everything. We spent the evening exploring the Plaka and planning our Athens attack.
We spent the first day visiting the Acropolis which was cool to visit for the second time. I remember visiting previously, but I did not remember any information regarding the Acropolis. It was great learning about the columns and how they built the parthenon. Obviously, the wow factor was not as high the second time around, but it was fun realizing how different it is to travel now as a mature adult versus a high school kid (ok probably an immature high school kid).
We spent our second full day in Athens visiting Ancient Agora, the Acropolis Museum, Temple of Zeus, and the Archeological Museum. All that before 3:00! It felt like we walked the most in Athens. I am not sure if it is true or not, but my legs were jello after yesterday. It was nice being able to walk to all of the sites and feel safe.
Well the breakfast and beverage cart is approaching. Maybe it will wake the snoring gentleman across the isle. We have a 5 hour layover in Zurich before a 9 hour flight back home! Until then...
Final Greece pictures, including Athens
Trip summary:
North America: Canada-Toronto
Europe: Spain-Barcelona, Madrid
Turkey-Istanbul, Izmir, Ephesus, Selcuk, Pammukale, Kusadasi
Greece-Samos, Mykonos, Paros, Naxos, Santorini, Athens
Switzerland-Zurich
Asia: Turkey-Istanbul
Africa: Egypt-Cairo, Aswan, Edfu, Luxor, Giza
Wonders of the World: Great Pyramids of Giza, Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, Hagia Sophia, CN Tower
TOTALS:
30 days: 13,000+ airline miles, 21 cities, 13 hotels, 10 flights, 7 ferries, 6 countries, 5 languages, 4 continents, 4 Wonders of the World, 3 train rides, 1 great trip
Wow, that was fun to create. We had a blast!!!
I feel very blessed to have had the opportunity to travel for 30 days. I loved everyday! I am excited to be on my flight home. 30 days seems to be the most I want to travel from hotel to hotel. I am ready for a more consistent living situation. I am not sure I would have changed anything about the trip. I would admit that by the time I got to Athens I was a bit bored by looking at ancient artifacts and ruins. It is amazing to think about the history that we got to see on this trip. We covered the Egyptian times, the Ottaman Empire, and the Roman Emprire. The years and years of history we got to experience was amazing. Kristen and I talk about how cool it would be to have seen the stuff we saw as we studied it in school. We have some ideas on how we want to involve our kids into traveling along with their studies throughout school. How cool would it be to learn about the Egyptians and get to see the Great Pyramid during the summer!
We laugh as the few weeks before our trip when we were in New York, we avoided falafel and humus saying, we are going to get tons of that on our trip. We had no idea that Egyptians, Turks, and Greeks really do not eat much of either. We in America label gyros, humus, falafel, etc... as Mediterranean food. However, based on our experiences, not all Mediterranean countries eat them all. Humus and falafel must only be Middle Eastern. With that all said, we feel fortunate to have eaten such great food the whole time. I would say my favorites would include: gyros and greek salads in Greece and a humus topped with minced meat in Instanbul (we only had humus three times and ate it twice at this restaurant in Istanbul it was that good). The dessert I had our last night in Istanbul was to die for. How I have changed. Nine years ago in high school, I would have never even tried any of those foods that I now enjoy so much.
What I really enjoyed the most about our 30 day adventure was the time Kristen and I got to spend together. We went from a long distant relationship to spending every minute together. Talk about extremes. However, it was awesome to be able to get used to each other on such a day to day level. Our long distant relationship feels like it was a long time ago. We will be a better couple after being able to spend the past 30 days together. Traveling is stressful enough for veteran marraige couples. We have more confidence than ever in our relationship after spending the past 30 days together. Traveling this amount of time really brought us closer than we even thought was possible.
The TV monitor on the plane says we have 5:00 more hours! I definitely look forward to being able to read the US news, driving my car, breakfast (I am tired of eating pasterys and bread), drinking water out of the tap, the English language, going to the grocery store (we have eaten lunch and dinner out for the past 30 days!!), my iphone (it is crazy how many times we were like, I wonder... and have to remember to look it up back at the hotel vs plugging it into the iphone for an answer. I love having information at my finger tips), excercise, and getting used to our new home and area!
I really enjoyed being able to blog about our trip and keep up with our pictures. We ended up with over 2,000 photos, so to sort through the pictures as we traveled is a huge relief versus having to do it when we return. I hope all who read found our journey interesting and inspiring! Traveling definitely is such a gift and I was happy to be able to share it with everyone!!
All vacation photos here
Signing off from vacation 2010...Jake
Friday, August 27, 2010
Santorini
Well, we have finished our travels through the Greek Islands. Santorini, our last island, was spectacular. The island itself was different than all other islands as a volcano erupted on the island many many years ago creating a caldera and a huge cliff surrounding the island. Coming into port was amazing as we got to see the volcano island and the amazing landscape the island has.
We highly anticipated our time here as it is probably the most famous island for its unique landscape. It was crazy just trying to drive from the port up to the top of the island. The steep incline almost brought buses to a standstill. We stayed in the town of Fira which is about on the middle of island facing the caldera. Despite the town being on the western side of the mountain, we actually had a view of the western shoreline due to the town being on such an incline. However, it was maybe a quarter mile walk to the edge of the cliff where we got to enjoy an amazing sunset.
We did not get to spend too much time wondering around the first day as we got into port about 5:00 pm. The second day, we rented a car so we could explorer the beaches and different parts of the island. It felt like there were more rental scooters, ATVs, and rental cars on the island than actually people, so it was easy to rent transportation. We explored the red sand beach, which was a bit disappointing. It was like pieces of red lava rock that you can buy at the store for you landscape. However, once we got to the water it turned into very smooth stones. However, it still was not comfortable to walk around bare foot, at least for my non-tough feet. It was cool seeing small red stone as sand. We spent most of the day at the black sand beach lounging around. The sand was much more fine, but of course hot as !@#$ without sandals. The beach was beautiful and so was the water, so we made due.
We spent the late afternoon and evening exploring the famous town of Oia. This is the town that you probably see when you think of the Greek Islands and definitely Santorini. The white painted houses with a blue domed church and maybe a white windmill. A lot of these pictures are from Santorini, well, because it is beautiful. The ocean view with the sun hitting the water and the white buildings make it fascinating. We loved walking around the hilly streets checking out the different views the city had to offer. And of course, enjoying another beautiful sunset.
For all of the Greek Island pictures, click here
Overall, the Greek Islands were what I expected, amazing. We really could have spent twice as much time exploring them. Each island truly had a different feel and different things to offer. I could definitely come back to enjoy the islands again and see other islands that we did not have time for. We met a couple who had been to Rhodes and stayed at this hotel. Each room has an infinity pool over looking the sea and the rooms are built into a cliff. It would definitely be on our itinerary next time.
We spent the late afternoon and evening exploring the famous town of Oia. This is the town that you probably see when you think of the Greek Islands and definitely Santorini. The white painted houses with a blue domed church and maybe a white windmill. A lot of these pictures are from Santorini, well, because it is beautiful. The ocean view with the sun hitting the water and the white buildings make it fascinating. We loved walking around the hilly streets checking out the different views the city had to offer. And of course, enjoying another beautiful sunset.
For all of the Greek Island pictures, click here
Overall, the Greek Islands were what I expected, amazing. We really could have spent twice as much time exploring them. Each island truly had a different feel and different things to offer. I could definitely come back to enjoy the islands again and see other islands that we did not have time for. We met a couple who had been to Rhodes and stayed at this hotel. Each room has an infinity pool over looking the sea and the rooms are built into a cliff. It would definitely be on our itinerary next time.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Greek Islands
Well we are headed to Santarini, our last Greek Island we are going to visit. We have two days here before heading to Athens for a few days. Then home!
Here is what we have been doing in the Greek Islands:
Samos: This was the first island we visited and I previously blogged about. This island is right off the coast of Turkey. We only got to spend one day here and we were ready for some much needed beach time. Livadaki beach has thus far through four islands, been the best beach we have visited. It was the perfect mix of sun, calm clear water, free lounge chairs and kayaks, great and inexpensive beach bar, and just beautiful scenery. This is what I remember when I hear Samos. The island overall was great. I am not sure it is a must see island for visitors, depending on what other islands someone is seeing.
Mykonos: Mykonos is known as the party islands. It was obvious that people stayed out very late in the town and the routine was for people to sleep in until 10-11ish, go to the beach, sleep some more and hang out all day in the sun. Drink and eat lunch around 5 pm before napping to go out for dinner around 10-11. Some of the clubs we looked at advertised that the doors opened at 12:45 am! We wanted to experience this, but it was very difficult to transition to this timeframe from the normal. We go our feel of the atmosphere both nights, but definitely did not make it to the early morning clubs.
We stayed at an amazing hotel with amazing views over looking Mykonos. It was awesome overlooking the town. The town itself was very windy and hard to navigate a direct plan. However, we never really had any place to go at a certain time, so it was not stressful that we rarely knew where we were headed. The city had a great bus system, so we were able to see other parts of the island fairly easily. This island is a must see for someone traveling to the islands.
Paros: Our itinerary did not include Paros, but we had to visit as our direct ferry from Mykonos to Naxos was cancelled due to high winds. We had to connect through Paros, so we got to spend about 6 hours there. That wasn’t really much time to see too much, so we pretty much ate lunch and walked around some of the shops. There was one shop that I will always remember. It sold olive tree wood products. The wood was beautiful!
Naxos: This was an awesome island. It had the best town area thus far. The harbor was lined with all sorts of good shops and places to eat. It was more spacious and easier to walk around compared to Naxos. I would not recommend a morning trip to Halki like we did, but there are supposed to be awesome beaches here. We got to go to one and it was great. The beach had rice like sand instead of the normal granules. We stayed at the best hotel thus far on vacation. Hotel Grotta overlooked the city and the water and was close enough to walk to. The island prices also good which makes it a better experience. Naxos is another must see island for someone who is visiting the area.
Santorini: to come.
One of the best things about traveling via boat is that when a trip gets cancelled or delayed it is much more enjoyable to be on an island waiting than in an airport. We got an opportunity to see another island due to the incredible wind right now. It seems as if it is getting better after two days of cancellations.
We are really enjoying the food. Kristen has eaten more moussaka in the past week than probably in the past five years. I have eaten more gyros in the past week than the past 26 years. We are a bit surprised as we really haven’t gotten to eat much humus on the trip. The Greeks like their yogurt and tzakiki (msp?). The weather has been great excluding some of the wind. The beaches have all been sheltered from the wind, so it hasn’t affected any water time. We enjoy the opportunity to celebrate the sunset each day. We would really love to find a place one of these days to where we could have a view to watch the sunset. It brings peace to the end of the day.
We are about to reach port in Santorini!
Bye for now.
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