London 2013

I am a travel addict.

They say you make time for that which is important to you. I make time and save money.

My first true trip, childhood vacations excluded, was in 2004 to Italy. I ate pancakes and ramen for a year to afford it, studied Italian voraciously, and it left an ever-present impact on my life. I believe you cannot adequately understand the world until you see it.

GRANTED... In my many travels, I admittedly have only been to Europe, which is a fairly narrow scope of our world, but even walking through the paved, car-lined streets with the comforts of modern civilization in all directions, people watching across the ocean in the heart of another culture speaks volumes of our common humanity.

2004 - Italy
2006 - Germany with a hint of Austria
2008 - Ireland
2010 - Paris
2011 - Ireland
2012 - Hawaii
2013 - LONDON!!!

I am a long-time anglophile that was over-joyed to find a documentary series about the British monarchy from its inception on Netflix. (I know more about the history of British royalty than probably most of you combined.) I have researched the interments of Westminster Abbey on more occasions than I can count, and there are few things that sound tastier than High Tea service. I have watched the House of Commons on CSPAN... voluntarily.

I recently started a spending diet, but planning a spring break venture with two of my best girl friends is the best incentive for hoarding it away. :)

When Roger died, one of my many points of loss was that of my travel partner. I am so thankful for adventurous friends!!!! :) :) :) God save the Queen!

Island Adventure --- Part 3 --- Fish are the Devil, Bobby!

Let me start by saying that I sincerely hope you catch the reference made in my post's title. If not, I am providing you with a link to educate you so that can A) start making your own devil references and B) pretend you got it the first time.

WEDNESDAY, July 4th, I declined the invitation to anchor on a sandbar on a pontoon boat in the ocean with Kim, Dave, and some of their island friends and instead choose to shop and relax. :) Yes, I know, I know... I am quite positive 97% of you are questioning why the heck I would choose shopping over a day on the boat, and you are entitled to that opinion. I offer you 3 words: vomit, sunburn, toilet. Two of these things I prefer to avoid, and the other I refuse to bypass.

I instead walked to the Ala Moana Center, Waikiki's mall which is like nothing I've ever been to. It's set up like a normal 3 story mall, but it's outside... Not a strip mall. Think Barton Creek ala aire libre. Anyhow, virtually all the stores were too expensive for me shop (Chanel, Diane von Furstenberg, Gucci, etc...), but I did find a Crocs store. :) I bought a black and a brown pair of "Sexi Flops". That's right; of all the things I could buy in Hawaii, I bought Crocs. :) I then ate at Subway (yeah Island Adventure!!!!), came back the condo to nap, and then read the 2nd Janet Evanovich book downstairs in the breezeway commons where I could hear the surf and bad Hawaiian music. It was a lovely way to spend the day. :) When the family came back, we walked over to another friend's condo who had the most amazing view of the big fireworks show, which was the biggest I've maybe ever seen.

THURDAY, today, Dave and I went back to Shark's Cove to snorkel for real this time. Just as we found a parking spot it began to rain, cold rain. I stripped down, coated myself in sunscreen, and headed down the muddy path to the water. The tide was much lower than it was the last time we were there, and there were now isolated tide pools between the two main coves. One step into the water and my desire to snorkel waned just a bit. Actually a lot. Dave got out in the cove pretty quickly, but I chose to wander around the tide pools for a bit and give my barely-clad body a chance to acclimate just to the cold air first.

I saw a couple of neat black, volcanic rocks I wanted to take home, made a mental note of their whereabouts, and started for the pools. A few still had access to the waves rolling into Shark's Cove, but most had become separate little ecosystems early this morning. Separating this shallow area from the main body of water are big, tall rocks. I maneuvered my way through the tide pools, the slippery volcanic rock, the little kids who had also chosen the shallows over the cove, and found this neat cave in the big rock. Water from the crashing waves on the other side was spewing forth from the cave, washing smaller fish into the connected pools as well. Right next to the cave was a fissure in the rock that allowed water to rush in and then suck back out sounding exactly like a toilet flush in the process. :) Hiding in the fissure was a HUGE crab! He was not sure what to make of my presence and pulled himself deeper into the crack, just in case. On the way back to the deeper water, I saw several different kinds of smaller crabs, including a couple hermit crabs, skittering across the sand.

Dave met me as I started to very... slowly... wade into the crazy cold water. I wasn't in a big rush to freeze. The currents were pretty strong he said, and just beyond one of the rocks jutting out from the water was a seemingly endless school of fish. It took me probably 5 minutes to just suck it up and get wet. Once I suctioned the mask to my face and committed to getting in the water, the temperature was actually pretty tolerable, especially compared the the cold rain that was again falling.

All of these pictures are ones I jacked off in the internet but are examples of specific fish I saw. 

The first time I snorkeled a few days ago, I couldn't keep my breathing relaxed. In fact, I was so nervously sucking in the air, that my chest actually kind of hurt from taking in such large amounts of air through the snorkel tube. Eventually that subsided, and from the moment I put my face in the water today I was fine...

Until...

I came upon the school of fish Dave was talking about. There were just so many of them! Silvery fish darting through the water in mob mentality. I lifted my head and noticed I had drifted a bit further away from the cove "walls" than I had intended. Putting my face back into the water I could see now that it was actually pretty deep there. I was in the open section of the cove. Trying to calm my breathing back down, I turned to float away from the fish school. That's when I first saw The Fish.

Not the cute orange one. The silver monster behind it.

It looked me square in the eye; unnervingly deteremined was its gaze. It didn't seem to be swimming. It just floated there, staring at me. I freaked out. I would rather pit myself against that whole school of fish than with the one. I turned around to swim back toward the rockier area. I kid you not, upon turning my body a complete 180, I was met face to face with ANOTHER evil fish! I literally screamed through my snorkel. I tried to wave my hands to scare it off (that works with other fish... the colorful kind that don't eat people), and it just floated there!!! Deep within me, animal instinct took over, and I tried to kick both at and away from the devil fish. 

I flipped my body in the direction of the shore, trying to swim to safety. I was breathing really hard. That same tightness was returning. I could hear myself breathing as I realized I was closing off my windpipe. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of light. That damn fish was following me!!! I WAS FREAKING OUT! 

As I tried to calmly continue on to shore, (Dave later told me that he could see me flailing in the water and briefly thought about going in but decided I was a big girl) I shifted again in the opposite direction, to the right, and was met face to goggle by the second devil fish! I squealed again as it stared at me, vicious hatred for mankind behind that solid gaze. THE FIRST FISH SWAM INTO MY LEG! You can call it the current, but I call it tactical maneuvering by two very sinister fish! 

I swam so crazy fast back to the shore, removed my goggles, threw them on my towel, and turned back to look at all the helpless snorkelers, unknowing swimming perhaps to their deaths at the hand/fin of devil fish. Even now, typing this makes me nervous and squirmy. I have quite possibly snorkeled my last snorkel. As I was recounting the events of today's attack to Dave, he laughed and made the dangerous decision to go back into the water. I, however, was DONE! I dried off and relegated myself to looking for shells and cool rocks. I found several.

HOW TO SPOT A DEVIL FISH

Devil Fish can be easily spotted and differentiated from normal fish by looking for these key features:

1. Devil Fish prefer to live in water.
2. They generally have scales and 2 eyes, most often with a solid stare. A sure sign of a Devil Fish is one that does not blink.
3. Devil Fish have fins that they use to swim.
4. More often than not, they will have gills with which they deviously filter oxygen out of the water.
5. If you see a fish NOT floating to the surface, it is probably a Devil Fish. 

There were some other really neat things that I saw and did today, but I feel those stories will take away from the serious nature of the snorkeling "incident". Please take some time to familiarize yourself and your loved ones with how to spot a Devil Fish to best keep you safe in the event you make the unwise choice to put yourself in watery peril. 

Stay safe (and dry), my friends. Stay safe.

Aloha, Hawaii! --- Part 1

As I will probably be the only one awake for a while (my body still isn't used to the time change), I'll use this time to cover the 1st chunk of my Hawaiian adventure!

Being a fairly lucky duck when it comes to travel, this is my second time to come to Hawaii. My first trip (1986) ended with very fuzzy memories, the most prominent one looking something like this:

I stepped on a thorn on the the beach, and that is what I took away from all that Hawaii had to offer.

Twenty-six years later and fully aware of the dangers of pointy objects, I feel I am more qualified to appreciate island paradise. My trip began with 9 collective hours on a plane with multiple children looking much like the kid above. The Dallas-Honolulu leg had a toddler that screamed continuously for the entirety of the 8 hour flight... I played through many imagined scenarios, most of which included me telling the mom and dad what horrible parents they were for 1) having birthed that child, 2) thinking the constant screaming was funny, and 3) for taking a child of that age and that level of behavior on a plane with people that did not pay an incredible amount of money to listen to a child scream to the point of hoarseness. The other passengers would then cheer that I had said what they were all thinking, in my imagination of course... Instead, I gritted my teeth and watched an episode of Around the World in 80 Plates I had downloaded to my iMac.

I was met at baggage by my brother-in-law and his two kiddos with the most delicious smelling leis! Truly, is there any other way to be met at an Hawaiian airport?

Even before heading to the condo, we stopped at Shokudo's for an early dinner (I was starving) of seriously weird sushi (spicy tuna on top of a rice tater-tot with pickled jalepeno), DELICIOUS ramen, some other strange rice-based dish with yummy beef pieces mashed against the walls of a super hot bowl, and, the crowning glory of the meal, honey toast. :) That stuff is delicious!

A few minutes drive and we were at our condo on Waikiki Beach - home for the next 2 weeks. After surviving the toddler from hell I figured I earned an adult beverage and satisfied that need with a Lava Flow, basically a pina colada with some strawberry stuff. No paper umbrella... We watched the sun go down, made some attempts at capturing the light, and headed back upstairs where I managed to stay awake until 9:30 before crashing.

Hawaii has daylight from about 6am-7:45ish. I woke up Thursday morning to pre-daylight, while the clouds still had some color to them. The clouds, which lingered all day, were high and dark with some wind behind them. It was, in fact, chilly all day, at least to my Texas-acclimated body. Kim and I walked to Cream Pot, a fru-fru brunch restaurant that is entirely out of place but heavenly in Waikiki. I indulged both my tastebuds and my wallet for amazing strawberry soufflé pancakes and Kona coffee.

me & a bombax tree

For my first day in Hawaii, we spent a good deal of time just scoping out a good bit of the island while I got my bearings. First on the agenda: Queen's Medical Center. Odd place to visit without knowing a patient? Only if you know nothing of the history behind the place. In a nutshell, the Hawaiian Queen Emma insisted on making the grounds of her namesake hospital as beautiful as the gardens she loved tending. The resident physician was also a noted botanist who was interested in rare trees. Together they obtained and planted a number of truly exceptional trees on the property. I can't tell you how cool these trees were! We also got in trouble for taking the pictures.... something about patient confidentiality... whoops!

There were also baobab trees on-site, but as they are incredibly slow growing/long living trees, they were still pretty small and less impressive.

me & a banyan tree

Nawa canopy

Following my botany excursion, we drove up to Kailua on the East coast. Lunch at Bob's Pizzaria, shave ice at Island Snow (an Obama favorite), and then it was off to a powder sand beach that really was super awesome under your feet. :) We didn't swim; it was just a sight-seeing day. A bit on the beach and then we started the drive back to Waikiki following the coast line. The weather was atypical but created some great pictures.

Anthony Bourdain approved Hula Dog for dinner!

 And thus ended my first 36 hours on Aloha Time. Unfortunately, no paper umbrellas yet...

The Travel Bug

Travel has always been a priority for me, even before I met Roger. I can’t imagine a better way to spend my money and off-time than by experiencing other cultures, countries,  and food… even if it turns out gross. On my first two European adventures I actually made the trek across the ocean all by myself and then met my travel companions on the other side. It wasn’t until our honeymoon in Ireland that I took a trip with someone. Nothing makes an 11 hour flight better than having someone with you to snuggle with, talk smack about poorly behaved children, and comment on the surprising quality of airline food.

Obviously, with school in full swing, I haven’t travelled since losing Roger. Recently, I took a short jaunt to Seattle with some teacher friends. It was crazy intense travel, trying to fit in a lot in a short amount of time – Roger’s and my favorite way to vacation. I mean, if you have to fly, you might as well see a LOT to make the airfare worth it!

I hadn’t given the Seattle venture much prior thought, nor had I consciously labeled the trip as my first sans husband. At the airport, I had the other people in my group with which to chat, I knew my seat partner on the plane, and meals were of course planned and filled with conversation.

It was the moment I entered my hotel room that I was suddenly struck. The door closed. I set my luggage by the TV, dropped my purse on the bed.

Silence.

I was the only one there, and the absence of my travel partner became painfully obvious.

For whatever reason, the last week or so my emotions have been on overload. I hold things together really well and am for the most part very positive and optimistic about my life and future, but I’ve had more moments in this last fortnight that have sent me into tears than logic would tell me I should. The empty hotel room was enough to bring the all too familiar hot, wet sting to my cheeks. 

I really miss him.

I cleaned up my face, re-powdered to cover the residual pink, and met the crew downstairs for dinner and pictures in Kerry Park. When I returned to my room that evening, the void was still there, but the shock was more of a dull reminder.

Monday I fly to Ireland. I’m thankful to say I will be travelling with family – my Williams clan. Early on we had decided that when life went back to normal we would take a celebratory trip back to Ireland, the country we fell in love with after our wedding. When it was so horrifyingly and suddenly apparent that life would never be normal for “us” again, it seemed only fitting and even necessary for Roger to have that final adventure to our proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.

Ashes in hand, I’ve selected some of the locations special to “us” to return Roger back to the earth, just as he wanted. While I know there will be great moments in the mix, I cannot even predict how this trip will affect me… how can you.

Kind thoughts and good vibes welcome.