Three Weeks until Amsterdam

I came back from a great holiday in San Francisco and Portland – full of dear family, wonderful friends and fantastic food – on Tuesday morning. I learned that Portland and Oregon is a healthy breadbasket for the PNW, which is why it's such a foodie town. My friend, Gerald, drove me around the farms of the Oregon High Desert and we drove past lavender farms and saw hazelnut trees is the distance. For tokens of the trip, I brought back chocolate-covered hazelnuts for my co-workers and LaDiDa Lavender Cheddar for me.

I red-eyed into JFK and, while en route, I picked up two sausage, egg and cheese English muffins from Tom Horton’s in New York’s Penn Station since they were two for four dollars; had one on the train and saved the next one for breakfast the following day. It's all about taking advantage of my behavior but being better.

I had cleared out the refrigerator of all the perishable items before I set off on my eleven-day trek, so I came home to limited items of food in my freezer.

Yet I had some leftover Lentil Chickpea Curry, a vegan recipe that Leigh Ann introduced me to, and some leftover baby new Yukon gold potatoes that I had made for a Salade niçoise I had brought to Bookclub. I had put them together in the same container for moments like this, when I was too tired to shop and cook.

In being forward thinking, I found a stash of my chili and another stash of my butter chicken. I put them in the fridge to thaw. On Wednesday night, I boiled up some lentils in broth and split the chili between two meals – dinner on Wednesday and lunch on Thursday. I’ll repeat for Thursday night and Friday day with the butter chicken and more lentils.

Now my freezer is getting bare, but I noticed a stash of kale and collard green stems that I was saving. I read up on how to utilize these veggies and the idea of pesto came up.

The ideas are endless for me: pasta and pesto, pesto in a frittata, pesto as a meat marinade, a compound butter with pesto for beef, chicken salad with pesto, pesto as a sandwich condiment and so on.

So, now is the time to critically and strategically plan healthy meals. I will be heading up to Newark in three-week times for my trip to Amsterdam (and London, Berlin and Paris). I need to buy groceries but I don’t want to over-purchase, especially since I want to visit the Thursday-night farmers market that’s been open since March (but haven’t visited except the second Thursday it was open.) I’m looking at the 21 cycles of meals until I leave and I’m planning ahead to spend money wisely and to stop food waste.

Also, I want to make an asparagus and grilled cheese sandwich with the lovely LaDiDa Lavender Cheddar – of course I sampled a slice on Tuesday when I got home. It was good and I thought it would be excellent melted on top of some grilled asparagus on a crusty bread.

Now I have two ideas for meals – pesto and its permutations as well as vegetables + Lavender Cheddar grilled cheese.

While I’ll have butter chicken and lentils for dinner, I’m going to make the Winter Greens Pesto from the kitchn with my embellishments tonight.


Kale and Collards Pesto

Ingredients:

• ½ cp chopped almonds
• Around 4 cps kale and collards greens stems, trimmed, rinsed and chopped
• 1 cp shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese or any other similar hard, granular cheese
• ½ cp extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 t lemon juice
• 1 t salt
• 1/2 t pepper

Directions:

1. If the almonds are not already roasted, preheat the oven to 350°F. Spread the nuts in a single layer on a baking sheet and roast them in the oven until they are brown and fragrant, check after 5 minutes.
2. Blanche the greens: Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Prepare a large bowl of cold water ready. When boiling, drop the greens into the water. Allow the water to return to a boil, and after 90 seconds, check every 30 seconds until the greens are just starting to go limp. Drain the greens and plunge them into the cold water. Drain again and then dry the greens to remove as much moisture as possible.
3. Place the almonds, greens, Parmigiano, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a blender and puree until uniformly smooth, adding more olive oil to reach desired consistency.

I can't wait to see what the Farmer's Market has today!

Trying out the perks of Marriott Rewards in NYC

It's been a while since I wrote on my blog; I know. In that time, I’ve been to NYC, SFO, WAS, ARB (via DTW), MSP and back to CHI in the months since my last post.

What I want to write about though is an upcoming trip to New York for a family event. In particular, I wanted to talk about the hotel room that I reserved for my overnight this Saturday into Sunday.

I had just read the Points Guy’s post about the news that, as of September 23, status match, points transfer and more are now available between SPG and Marriott Rewards. So I linked my accounts and read on.

From the blog, I was inspired to see what kind of free room I could get for Saturday into Sunday night – leveraging the benefits of the merger between Starwood and Marriott. I searched on points on both and found a $662 room available for 40,000 points on Marriott. I transferred 10,000 points from SPG at a 1:3 transfer rate to add to my already existing 10,944. (My 10,000 SPG points became 30,000 Marriott points.)

With a new total of 40,944 points in my account, I reserved a room at the New York EDITION. I hope to reap the perks of now being gold in both loyalty programs, especially my beloved 4pm check out.

The hotel looks nice, eh?

Photo from www.editionhotels.com

End Dry January in Chicago

I went to Chicago on a whim to get out of Philadelphia.  I was thinking about going to New York, but I realized that Chicago was going to be cheaper. (FYI, there’s a 3-day sale on Amtrak for Philly to New York or to Boston; I'm buying a ticket.)

I've never traveled to Chicago solo before. I was always traveling with others or to visit friends; for rugby or once for work. However, I took advantage of my familiarity with the city and explored some of the great places that Chicago has. 

Tripe, Chorizo and Tongue tacos

I flew into Midway on Southwest and immediately headed to my hotel, Hyatt Centric The Loop Chicago. The hotel was only a 3 1/2 block walk from the Loop. While Loop tends to shut down for the weekend, there was a 24-hours Dunkin Donuts two blocks away should you need it. There was a Walgreen open until midnight, five blocks away. 

I hopped on line and researched bars for the evening. I ended up chatting with a local who suggested the SoFo Tap to me. I called for an über and went up to Andersonville for the night. I entered the bar and it seemed familiar, like I may have been there for a rugby drink up years ago. I wasn't sure. It was a fun bar - I liked the music, as soon as I walked in there was Taylor Swift and the next song was Miles Cyrus - but the beer selection was mundane.

It was about 12:30 am and the crowd thinned out and I explored two more Andersonville bars, having only a drink at each, before calling it a night.  However, while waiting for the 22 bus to take me back to the Loop, I noticed the Taqueria El Chorrito at the corner. The minor buzz of customers coming out of the restaurant caught my attention and drew me in. There were several types of offal meat available as taco. At 1 something in the morning after drinking for the first time in 29 days (My Dry January), offal tacos sounded wonderful. In fact, they were superb and that wasn't the beer talking! 

The view, South

103 stories above Wacker Drive.

I returned to my hotel and prepared some Pedialyte before bed. The next thing I know is that it's about 8:30 am. I'm determined to get to the Willis Tower when it opens. All the reviews I've read suggested getting there, first thing, before the rest of the tourists crowds arrive. 

It's the best piece of advice that I got for this trip. I was there at 9:50 am and they were letting people up just before the 10:00 am opening. I pre-purchased my ticket and already had it printed out at the hotel. I bypassed a few curves of the stanchioned line and rose to the 103rd floor.

Others in the Ledge

The view was wonderful. The day was sunny, yet there were clouds in the sky. It didn't hinder the visibility. I quickly headed over to the Ledge, a glass balcony extending four feet outside Willis Tower directly above Wacker Drive and the Chicago River. This addition provides a glimpse below, unobstructed. 

I took an über from where I was staying in the Loop up to the Mag Mile, to The Tremont Chicago Hotel at Magnificent Mile. I recall the Magnificent Mile as the location of the Omni Hotel, where “guests of the Oprah Winfrey Show stay.” It’s so much more than that. I’m sure that Second City may shrug at this comparison, but Michigan Avenue feels like New York’s Fifth Avenue with a lot more breathing room. A wide boulevard with high end shopping – the Burberry store, for example, is clad with an onyx cage interpretation of its hallmark tartan – and tourists and Chicagoan bustling alike. The area was always busy and the Tremont is so close to many Chicago landmarks and points of interest. 

My room and the John Hancock Center through the window

I get settled in my room and there are two windows, one facing north and the other east. I threw the roman shades up to get some light in. The north-facing window over looked a parking out. I drew up the shade of the east-facing window and I felt like I was on “Let’s Make a Deal” picking door number 3 which was the new car, I had a view of the Mag Mile and the John Hancock Center in front of me. Winner, winner! 

I figure out my plans for the rest of my day into evening, in no particular order: lunch, nap, dinner and drinks. I head out and leisurely stroll and window shop along Michigan Avenue and I found an Armenia restaurant, Sayat Nova. I ordered three mezes: jajic, tourshee and lamajoun. The jajic is a fresh cucumber salad with yogurt, dill and mint with a little bit of olive oil. The tourshee is a combination of vegetables: onions, carrots, celery, cabbage, cauliflower and hot peppers pickled with with malt vinegar. The lamajoun is a flat bread with topped minced beef, herbs, onions and parsley which is then baked like a pizza. It was a delicious treat for a day of tourists attractions and shopping.

Jajic and tourshee

Sai oua and larb gai

I returned to the Tremont, took a bath and settled in for a nap, a disco nap. After some more recon, I mapped out my path: Silver Spoon Thai Restaurant for dinner, Second Story Bar and either Sidetrack in Boystown or Big Chicks in Andersonville - or both.

I feasted on sai oua - a grilled pork sausage from northern Thailand containing minced pork meat, herbs, spices and red curry paste - and larb gai - a Lao minced meat salad also popular in Northern Thailand served with fish sauce, lime juice, chili, mint, shaved carrots, shredded cabbage and sprouts. (For those playing at home, larb is what I tried to make the day I went into the hospital for my appendix.) 

A view of the Second Story Bar

I can't explain it - a T. Rex with a diamond choker collar

Between dinner and the bars, I sought out a drink at the Second Story Bar, so named because it is the only business on the second floor of its building, which so happens to be where my Armenia restaurant is.  I ordered a local brew, Anti-Hero IPA by Revolution Brewing Company, and took in the eclectic scene. This is a bar that I would come back to, again and again.

I nursed my two drinks to take in the atmosphere. It was a mash up of styles and eras. Christmas decorations were still up and I would bet that they had been up there for years. An assortment of gay flags and symbols adorn the walls as well as advertisements for national beer chains and local sports teams paraphernalia. It was edgy but warm. Yet it was getting later in the evening and I wanted to get out of Near North Side.

Chicago River

Crown Fountain

I took the bus up to Big Chicks and found an equally but differently eclectic bar for me to stay awhile. I ordered the Goose Island 312, which I remember having at a rugby drink up many years ago. I had drank enough of the them that I started to call the beer a 215. The alcohol impaired my memory - I knew it was named after an area code, but I couldn't remember which one. Again, I took in the crowd. The TV were playing videos until someone turned on the Mighty Boosh, an British comedy television show eponymously named for the British comedy troupe who created it. It was wacky. Needless to say, I finished my night here. 

Cloud Gate

 I took my time on Sunday to enjoy the time that I had remaining in Chicago, relaxing in bed. Eventually, I needed to check out. Thanks to the Starwood Preferred Guest, I didn't have to check out until 4pm.  My flight home wasn’t until 9pm.

I finally strolled down to the Cloud Gate in Millennium Park and spent an hour taking in the city.  In my back pocket was my last visit of the trip - to head up to Clark and Division to go to Chicago q. In everything thing I read – yelp, travelzoo, gaycities –  Chicago q always had 5 star reviews. 

I love barbecue and the day had turned grey and rainy, so some barbecue would take the edge off. I enter the quiet spot and was greeted with a smile and question, “One, today?” I affirmed her inquiry. After striking up a rapport with the bartender, Pat, I order a BBq Flight: brisket, pulled pork and brisket meatballs and a whiskey from Utah. Pat also set me up with the house bread and butter pickles and potato chips with their St. Louis ribs dry rub. The brisket was good, but the brisket meatballs were better. However, the barbecued pork was amazing. I thanked Pat for his suggestions and paid my tab. I slowly walked back to the L to start my trek to O’Hare, full as a tick. 

My Dinner at Chicago q

Finally, I arrive at the airport, pleased to have had such a fun weekend. I had prepared this entire trip on the premise that I was taking Spirit Airlines home. I was pleasantly surprised.

So I flew Spirit Airlines

I had a blast in Chicago this weekend, but I'll save that for another entry.

Cloud Gate by Anish Kupoor

Back to Spirit, I prepared for the worst and I worked diligently not to be charged any extra fees.  I flew out on Southwest, the luxury brand of low-cost carriers. I had a lovely experience and all my Spirit prep helped me deplane in a jiffy to walk miles and miles and miles to the CTA orange line. I got my 10,000 steps in both days in Chicago, I'll have you know.

So my Spirit Airline prep, I had my Timbuk2 bag, which measures 15.0” x 13.8” x 7.9” (smaller than the 16” x 14” x 12” dimensions for the one personal item is included in the Bare Fare). I crammed it full: 6 tee shirts, 6 boxer briefs, 6 pairs of socks, a pair of sneakers, a rugby style shirt, a light cotton hoodie, gym shorts and tee, toiletries (toothpaste, eczema cream, cologne, deodorant, shaving cream, moisturizer and lotion - I keep my toothbrush and razor separate since they aren't liquid) and an iPad. Plus, I wore a sweater and my chukkas to keep more room in the bag. It was more than enough clothing, and options, for 2 nights in Chicago. I could stretch it for 3 or 4 nights. I proved to myself that I could successfully pack minimally in the winter in order not to need to pay any baggage fees.

Confident that I wasn't going to pay any baggage fees, I vowed not to pay any other fees. I didn't choose my seat. I didn't pay for more legroom, I didn't accrue any extra cost while I was purchasing my ticket or checking in. (I even printed my boarding pass ahead of time at my hotel to avoid Spirit's $10 fee.)

Since I didn't paid for any extras - like $15 to choose a seat, I got seat 17B - a middle seat. After discovering that I would be stuck in the middle, I read up on Spirit's practices. To save money Spirit doesn't have wifi, stock in-flight magazines or even hand out free water. If Spirit pays to transport it, they charge you for it. Since there wouldn't be a magazine, I paid $9 and tax for Bossypants by Tina Fey for airplane - a superb investment.

I paid for soda and a snack. I feel that's a purchase over a fee. I rationalize. So do you. I buried my nose in the book and forgot that I was in a middle seat. It was comfortable enough - I've been less comfortable on Amtrak before. I was getting to the point about Tina's DelCo childhood and her memories at the Summer Showtime (a.k.a. the Upper Darby Summer Stage) when the pilot announced were making our final preparations to land.  The flight went by fast!

We landed a few minutes early. That, plus I only had a personal item, I had time to catch the last Septa train from the airport.

My trip worked out smoothly.

My critiques:

• The below average legroom, 28", is completely obvious, though it wasn't a nuisance on a two-hour flight. 
• There is only one flight from Philadelphia and one flight to: 6am-ish to ORD and 9pm-ish from ORD. What happens if that flight doesn't come in? A hidden plus to that is that you can do a full day trip to Chicago for the fare of a Spirit flight.

Not an issue:

• No free water; everyone should know the life hack of carrying an empty bottle and filling it up after security. 

High points:

• The flight crew was very outgoing - which is the trend on low-cost carriers. 
• I had a minor issue with my snack and the flight attendant provide me good costumer service and got me to up-sell on a product.

Long and short of it, I will take Spirit back to Chicago with good planning; $81 is too good of a deal to pass up.

Why I'm visiting Chicago instead of New York

I was going to go to New York for a weekend – the weekend of January 29-31  – this weekend. I had gotten sick and ended up not going anywhere for New Year’s, so I thought I’d treat myself later. I found a great deal, $116.88 a night, in Midtown, a neighborhood I usually stay in. It was going to be an estimated $275.24 for the two nights with taxes and fees.

In my free time, I plan travel trips, whether or not I take them. It’s a great exercise for me to research new and old places to go as well as estimate the prices for big trips.

I was on goggle flights, playing around with dates and locations, and saw a ticket for $81 to Chicago for the weekend I was planning to go to New York. Now, the ticket was on Spirit Air, an airline I have never taken. I took a step back and thought about whether or not I should rethink my plans.

The Amtrak deal

If I had completely committed to go to New York, I could have purchased a round trip saver ticket on Amtrak for $78. With advanced planning, $78 is the lowest fare for Philadelphia to New York. (Though, just before I published this entry, Amtrak was running a Valentines Day special of $39 one way from Philadelphia to New York).

With that, I made up my mind to go to Chicago. I ended up spending a little more than $81, as to not take a day off and to eek in sometime at the weekly Happy Hour that I frequent since I will be breaking #DryJanuary tonight. I ended up paying $51.98 on Southwest for my flight to Midway and $43.09 to Spirit for my trip home. (I checked on Wednesday for pricing on Amtrak to NYC; there are no saver tickets, only value ticket and the total round trip is now $110).

Hyatt Centric: The Loop

Meanwhile, I was cleaning out my e-mails earlier in my planning process – work, personal, spam and old ones – and only just discovered an e-mail from Hyatt dated May 29, 2015, letting me know that my “account will be closed and all points forfeited if there's no activity by March 31, 2016.” I thought that I should at least keep this account open and booked a room for my arrival night at the Hyatt Centric The Loop Chicago. I paid in advance and confirmed the room for $103.59 inclusive of taxes.

Never fear, I am a Starwood boy through and through. I love the W and Luxury Collection brands and there are usually a Sheraton, Westin or a Four Points close by for work travel. I found another deal on the site, The Tremont Chicago Hotel at Magnificent Mile for the estimated total of $93.99.


To compare apples to apples, I will assume that all transportation costs in the respective cities would cancel each other out and should not factor in the price comparison.

	NYC	CHI
Trolley:	$2.25 ($1.80 for token)
Trolley and train to Airport:		$8.00 ($6.50 in advance) + $2.25 ($1.80 for token)
Amtrak:	$78.00
Southwest, PHL to MDW:		$51.98
Spirit Air, ORD to PHL:		$43.09
New York hotel, 2 nights:	$275.24
Hyatt Centric - Loop, 1 night:		$103.59
Tremont, 1 night:		$93.99
Trolley:	$2.25 ($1.80 for token)
Trolley and train from Airport:		$8.00 ($6.50 in advance) + $2.25 ($1.80 for token)
Cost for NYC:	$357.74
Cost for CHI:		$313.15

                                        

The Tremont

So it may take me more time to get from Center City Philadelphia to the Loop than it would to get to Midtown, I think that it's all worth it to visit another one of America's great cities. Also, the weather is comparable between the two cities from weather.com.

	NYC	CHI
Friday:	41°F high, 24°F low	36°F high, 36°F low
Saturday:	40°F high, 31°F low	46°F high, 37°F low
Sunday:	45°F high, 35°F low	46°F high, 36°F low

Actually I think that I make out with the weather, too.

All in all, this little exercise shows that it's worth checking out the possibilities. You never know when ten days in Mexico can be more affordable than a week in Texas, for example.

Traveling for Christmas: Bay Area

Before I embarked on my 2014-2015 trip to the UK, my brother, who was moving the family to the West Coast for his new job, invited my parents and myself to come celebrate Christmas 2015 in California. We all agreed and I left the farewell party with my bags to fly off to London. Since the family was going to travel for next Christmas, I started to plan for it as soon as we made the decision.

I love Christmas and I love wrapping gifts. I have rolls and rolls of wrapping paper that I have collected through the years and I have ribbons, gift tags, bows and trappings to present the gifts in a decorative manner. I get excited to find wrapping paper, ribbon and bows for sale after Christmas in patterns that I think look classic. I don't always buy new paper each time since a have about four viable rolls of paper, but when I see something that screams me, I do get it.

Two different Christmases, some of the same snowflake paper

However traveling for the holiday wreaks havoc with wrapped gifts, so I thought ahead. It seems that every travel expert suggests not to travel with your gifts already wrapped. Therefore the first thing I did when I settled into London was hit an M&S to raid the clearance Christmas gift supplies. Gift bags, wrapping paper, crackers and holiday baubles were all discounted. I picked up some very stylish Christmas gift bags for 3 for £1, some matching tissue paper for £1 and a few treats as well. £6 later, I had everything I needed for presenting all my gifts next year.

Christmas in Union Square

Months passed and I had been looking for flights to San Francisco and Oakland. The rates were outrageous even early on; I was pricing round trips at $600 or more. Eventually mid-September, I found two reasonable one way tickets to the West Coast and bought my ticket out on United ($174.60) and my return on American ($203.10). I finally picked my dates, I was traveling from December 22 to 25 and I confirmed that everyone was OK with my red-eyeing home.

Now on to my hotel rooms. I needed to complete a mattress run - the act of paying for a night in a hotel to earn points or credits or to maintain status - to maintain my gold status with Starwood. When I was finalizing my Christmas trip in September, I was two individual stays shy of the ten for the year. I booked the Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf Hotel at my corporate account rate ($133.63 with tax) and the Westin St. Francis San Francisco on Union Square at the SPG points and cash rate, which Starwood counts toward your total number of stays. Additionally, I promised my mom, primarily, that I would book Christmas Eve in the same hotel as my parents, the Hampton Inn and Suites Oakland Airport – Alameda, to help make logistics simpler and I pre-paid for the room to get the best rate ($214.48 with tax).

In the meantime, I made arrangements for a work trip with a wacky itinerary to maximum my time without blowing my work budget. Due to the 5:30 am flight on a Saturday, I spent a night at a Philadelphia airport Starwood hotel the night before to ensure I made it to the airport on time. Therefore, I earned another night, bringing down my total to one night away from gold status.

A nice touch - a chalkboard in the room

On Thanksgiving night, the Hotel Triton started appearing as a featured link on my Facebook feed with offers of a Black Friday sale with rates starting at $89.00 plus tax ($110.16 with tax). I had stayed at the Hotel before in July 2013 and enjoyed it. With the pressure off of me for two nights in Starwood hotels in San Francisco, I canceled the more expensive of the two Starwood rooms and registered at the Triton.

My flights and rooms were set, then it was time to think gifts. First, I suggested to my parents to wait until the Epiphany to exchange our gifts, since we would all be back home in Philadelphia by then and it’s also another traditional Christmastide day for presents. There is no reason to pack gifts to send or take to the West Coast only to exchange them and then pack the new gifts to return home. Now onto the children. I partially spoil my nephew and niece; for both their birthdays and for Christmas, I get them three gifts: a toy, some clothing and a book. I planned to go shopping at Target (in the Metreon) or Old Navy (at 4th and Market) for clothes and I could visit a Barnes & Noble in town for their books. The toys were the fly in the ointment. I headed to the kids’ wish list that my sister-in-law maintains for them on Amazon and remembered that I could take advantage of the Amazon Locker.

Amazon Locker is a self-service parcel delivery service offered by Amazon.com. Customers can select a Locker location as their delivery address in lieu of their residence. Retrieval is simple, go to the Locker location and provide the unique pick-up code and voilà the Locker opens with your parcel. This service was started to combat concerns of stolen packages and for customers missing the mail delivery. I used it to combat sending gifts too early or too late to one of the three hotels that I would be stay at for the Holiday. Also my brother and sister-in-law were taking the kids to Disneyland the week before our visit; I didn't want to worry about making all those arrangements to deliver my gifts to them since they might not be home when my packages arrived. The service is available about 10 areas in the US, so it might not be a total lifesaver just yet, but for me the service is in Philadelphia and the Bay Area. Now that I was sending toys to Amazon Lockers, I was set for traveling light and without needing to check any luggage.

Oh, Amazon Locker, how I love you

Now to the morning of December 22nd, I made it to the airport without a hitch. I landed at 9:00 am and rushed into the Mission to have the Nebulous Potato Thing at the St Francis Fountain. By the time I got to restaurant, its was 10:00 am PST (1:00 pm EST). I hadn’t eaten anything after 6:00 am EST since United didn’t sell any food on the early morning flight out. I was headachy and hangry. The dish was good and I downed about three glasses of diet Coke before heading off to my hotel.

I created this trip to San Francisco like a scavenger hunt. I had three different hotel stays. I had errands on both sides of the bay. I had dates with three good friends. I had Amazon packages to pick up.

I settled in my room by noon, local time,  and I had plans to meet a good friend in Berkeley for lunch. We caught up at Platano and enjoyed some papusas. While there I would stop by Chez Panisse for a gift certificate for my brother and sister-in-law. This was their first full year in the Bay Area and I got them a Lowes gift card for last Christmas. This year, I wanted to give them an opportunity to explore the area and visit Berkeley.

That night I had dinner plans with another good friend, Karen, and before catching the bus to go to the restaurant, Stones Throw, in Russian Hall, I picked up one of my Amazon Locker packages. I retrieved the gift, hopped on the 45 and serendipitously run into her on the bus. One big kink in my plans occurred when she told me over dinner, which was excellent, that night that there were no Barnes & Nobles in the city. They all closed a few years back. I had to go back to East Bay for the closest B&N.

The Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption,
Western Addition - my view from the second Amazon Locker

I got up early that morning and picked up the other package at an Amazon Locker and headed over to El Cerrito to El Cerriot Plaza. I joked that you can take the boy out of South Jersey, but I'm always going to find a mall. In 30 minutes, I finished up my shopping and stopped at Lucky for assorted snacks and nibbles. I returned to the Triton, checked out and headed to the Sheraton.

In Fisherman's Wharf by the hotel, I found a Ross: Dress for Less where I picked up the final Christmas gifts, a Safeway where I become acquainted with a delicious Russian River wine to bring on my third friend date and to Christmas dinner and Trader Joe's where I bought a treat for my friends' son.

I made it out to the Outer Sunset to see my friends before they left for there Christmas trip to Mexico. We had a wonderful time catching up and watching their son open up some of his presents from family members before the big day! I took an über back and I treated myself to a drink before calling it a night.

Christmas Eve morning, I gathered all my belongings, gifts and booze and make the trek to BART via the F Market and Wharves. There's something about the F line that resonates with me and connects me to my father. Streetcar lines and rail transportation are my father's interest and hobbies. Obviously with my love of travel, my father and I share this quirky interest. In fact, so many of my relatives have an interest in some form of transportation that we explain it away as part of the "Ryan gene." Therefore during a post-college trip to San Francisco, when I was open to the suggestion of finding a Christmas gift for my dad, I subscribed him to the Market Street Railway newsletter and he's been a member since.

The Bay Bridge from the F Market & Wharves as I Muni my way to BART

I spent the afternoon playing with my nephew and niece. I got a tour of the house from the older one. The three of us fought light saber fights and my niece stole some mad moves from Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow and sliced my feet from underneath me at the ankles. My nephew showed me his "second largest crayon" in the world. The younger one and I painted with glitter glue. "Uncle Casey, I like yours the best," she exclaimed at my opus, "You have technique." We went to the children's nativity mass and ate a creole inspired rice dish that my brother calls, "Market Rice."

Being nearly 3,000 miles from home didn't seem really that far when you're together with family. My parents got to tuck the kids into bed. I helped my sister-in-law wrap presents from Santa. My brother served us some egg nog and we enjoyed the silence before the Christmas excitement. Before we headed back to our hotel, I asked if we could go drive through Christmas Tree Lane, 3200 block of Thompson Avenue, in Alameda. It reminded me of our drives through South Philly.

We settled in our hotel and I prepared my gifts for the next day. Then I nestled into my bed and quickly passed out. My alarm woke me up and I joined my parents for breakfast. I was surprised how full the hotel was. We arrived at my brother's and Christmas had exploded all over the living room. There was more playing, more listening to the backstories of all the toys and more gifts. We snacked  cookies in the late morning which held us over until the first of the appetizers were ready. We said grace and enjoyed a tender lamb, fresh vegetables and latkas with the nice Russian River wine. We took a break before dessert and gave the kids a moment to unwind. Again, both the kids were treated with my parents' tucking them in bed. I said good night to everyone and my parents whisked me away to SFO to make my flight back home.

Like a blink of an eye, my visit to San Francisco was over and I was shuttling across the country back home after a very dear Christmas.

Christmas gifts, ready, in gift bags from M&S

The lessons I learned for traveling for Christmas:

• Figure out where in your itinerary you can be flexible and where you must adhere to definitive touch points. This flexibility could save you some cash. Pre-pay for lodgings, etc. for the days on which you have no flexibility.
• Like your favorite hotels on Facebook – Keep an eye out for deals that could appear and if you are social media savvy follow them on Twitter.
• Gift bags – either bring them with you (since they don't take up too much room in your luggage) or buy them in situ. TSA do have the authority to unwrap your presents in your bags and they will. Also you won't need to bother with tape and scissors when you use gift bags. 
• Ship to your hotel – for those of you who want wrap your presents, you can ship them, if you plan to say in one location for a few days, your hotel will receive packages for you (some hotels may charge your a nominal fee). Better yet, stick with the gift bags and ship directly from the retailer to your hotel – then dress all your gifts in your gift bags – that eliminates the cost of shipping from your house to the hotel or host's house.
• Buy from Amazon and ship to Amazon lockers – if you are ordering from Amazon, send the package to an Amazon locker, many of which are in 7-Elevens throughout the country. Find a locker that is en route to a tourist attraction to consolidate your errands with fun. 
• Give restaurant gift certificates – if you are staying at a hotel, ask your front desk clerk or concierge (when there’s no line) for his or her personal recommendation for a local place and give it to your host.
• Give home improvement and appliance store gift cards – no matter how long your host has lived in her or her a place, there will always be an immediate need or a home improvement project that needs to be funded.

myPics: Scotland, the Wonderous

I fell in love with Scotland.  It's like Ireland but connected to England, and I must confess - I love the Scottish accent more. Here's a rather nostalgic shot taken in the Moffat Hills of Southern Uplands of Scotland.



The grass really was that green and the sky that blue. It's moments like this I can start to wrap my mind around how the Celtic languages had same word to mean green or blue, glas, because they are both so magnificent together. 

Not yet named travel entry: Dartmouth College

It's been a while since I posted on my own blog, but here is an entry that was originally posted on Frankly Penn (the University of Pennsylvania Alumni blog) on June 27, 2012. I have made minor edits.

For those who don't know my day job, I work in Alumni Relations. Not everyone understands what I do on a daily basis.

Baker Library, quintessential Dartmouth

Alumni relations professionals advance the mission of their institutions and serve and support its alumni - graduates of an educational institution - reflecting the values of the institution. We reinforce the principles of honesty, integrity, and trust, which form the basis for long-term relationships and engagement with the school. For the majority of us, we manage and direct the work of alumni volunteers who are promoting the image of the College or University to their school peers.

Annually, the Alumni Relations groups of the 8 Ivy League Universities as well as MIT and Stanford gather for the Ivy Plus Alumni Relations Conference, or Ivy+ for short. It is three-day forum at a peer institution where were meet our colleagues who do the same work we do in order to hone our craft. This year, the conference was hosted by Dartmouth College.

Dartmouth Hall, the original college building

Nestled in the town of Hanover, NH, Dartmouth College sits as an idyllic institution of higher education. So perfect is the image, Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953 said “this is what a college is supposed to look like.” It is quite charming and, if Penn didn’t exist, I would agree with Eisenhower (for the record, I think that Brown, Cornell, Columbia, Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford and Yale are all what college is supposed to look like.)

The Dartmouth Alumni Relations staff dazzled us with their school pride and shared with us their traditions like the Dartmouth Outing Club First-Year Trips, the Salty Dog Rag, the Winter Carnival, and Homecoming. From D-Term to Animal House, from Sophomore Summer to Occom Pond, we were taken on a crash course of all that is Dartmouth. By the end, several of us were seeing green – Dartmouth Green.

Christine Tempesta, Director, Strategic Initiatives, delivering her TEDx-style speech (note the ice sculpture of a beaver – MIT’s mascot)

Each of my colleagues found our specific conference track – focused on our area of expertise, including Affinity Groups and Shared Interest Groups; Alumni Education and Travel; Classes and Reunions; Clubs and Regional Associations; Marketing, Communications and Technology; Student and Young Alumni Programs; and Volunteer Management and Alumni Boards. In these sessions, we discussed best practices and shared success stories that we can hopefully adapt at our home University. The intent is that when we return to our campus, we follow up and continue the conversations started at Ivy+. I've already been in touch with my wonderful peer at Dartmouth, and I'm working on my follow up to my presentation, "Are Small Clubs Dying?" to the attendees.

Vijay addressing the Ivy+ crowd

Outside of our tracks of expertise, we had daily plenary sessions. Two of these featured Christopher Trimble, adjunct professor of Business Administration and Vijay Govindarajan, the Earl C. Daum 1924 Professor of International Business, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College – the authors of The Other Side of Innovation. During Ivy+, their discussions were based on our pre-conference reading (a.k.a. homework), How Stella Saved The Farm: A Wild and Woolly Tale About Making Innovation Happen, a fable based on their business best-seller. The discussions revolved around how to change the way we think about the planning for the future (where will the firm be in 20 years and what products or services will being the firm there) and addressing the need of mutual respect for the business’s production engine and its innovation team (both of which will be in conflict with each other).

The Tower Room, in Baker Library – the statue is a tribute to the original mission of the College

The other plenary discussion was from Peter Post, Director, The Emily Post Institute, and a follow Penn alumnus, who discussed the etiquette of tough situations. Peter annually comes to Dartmouth during their sophomore summer for a lunch which pairs the current sophomore class (the Class of 2015) with the matching 50th reunion class (the Class of 1965). The lunch is a wonderful opportunity for the two classes to make connections and discover each others class, while learning (or refreshing) their table etiquette. For us, though, Peter focused on what the contemporary meaning of etiquette is while being true to his great-grandmother’s mission: etiquette is the relationship between two people that is respectful, considerate, and based in honest. In remembering these three tenets, Peter assured us that we would have proper etiquette in the business world. He finished his talk with some role play to manage some of the most challenging interactions in today’s social world.

The Steam Tunnel Tour (picture from the Ivy+ Facebook page)

We talked shop, but we had fun too. On Wednesday, we had the options of a tour of the Hood Museum of Art for the show – Nature Transformed: Edward Burynsky’s Vermont Quarry Photographs in Context, a walking tour of campus led by Dartmouth sophomores or underground steam tunnel tour. On Thursday, we had a Dr. Seuss-themed Oh, the Places You’ll Go! excursion (Theodor Seuss Geisel is a Dartmouth Class of 1925 alumnus), which mirrored the Dartmouth Outing Club First-Year Trips, to the Connecticut River for either canoeing or kayaking, to King Arthur Flour Store and Bakery, to Simon Pearce – glassblowing and pottery studio, to a guided hike along the Connecticut, to the Hood Museum for the presentation “Ancient Art, New Media: Bringing the Past to Life,” or to the Harpoon Brewery. I opted for Harpoon in neighboring Vermont.

I am enjoying my excursion at Harpoon

At the end of the three days, the conference ended with a handful of TEDx-styled talks from our peers, including our own Elise Betz. They were charming, informative, evocative and emotional. The motivational chats moved the audience and summarized the amazing experience of getting to spend 3 days with our Ivy+ peers, sharing our skills, brainstorming ideas and meeting such impressive people who love their alma mater! Ending on a high note, we announced that Penn would be hosting Ivy+ in 2013. It’s a lot of work, but we’re looking forward to it. 

For your information, Peter Post’s guidelines for good business lunch etiquette

myPics: Muddy York Cleans Up

Toronto is a lovely town - full of history, fun and ingenuity. I was lucky enough to sneak a quick picture of downtown and Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport on my trip back home via Cleveland earlier this May. (My flight was our of Pearson.) If you squint, you can see the CN Tower in the lower left area of the shot.

myPics: Faneuil Hall

I was in Boston last weekend for the Marathon.  I was planning on watching my cousin run; yet due to the heat conditions, he was able to defer until 2013.  In the meantime, we took our other cousin who had never been to Beantown on a bit of a tourist run. During our stop in Faneuil Hall, I snapped a shot of the staircase.

Wish List: Chasing the 8

In my family, there’s a running joke that there’s a transportation gene in the clan at large. Most of us who are directly related to the Ryan blood line have some fascination with modes of travel. Some love planes. Some love trains. One of us admits that boats are his passion. Family gatherings with my cousins always end up talking about trips to Shanghai, Rio and Paris as well as to San Francisco, Rochester and Providence. We type e-mails in airport codes, knowing where MSY, EZE and YUL are. We are familiar with AASHTO (American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials) and the Interstate System, and know how to navigate three-digit spurs as well as three-digit US routes. Getting there is definitely half the fun for us.

Yuma Quartermaster Depot State Historic Park, formerly Yuma Crossing State Historic Park, in the Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area

For me, I am energized by travel. I like taking a new road and being on an old familiar one. I am excited to get to the terminus of a route. When there’s a State Route 1, I have to know where it goes. The 101 is on my self-proclaimed songline.

Cactus in Arizona, near the junction of the 8 and the 10

After this introduction, you should understand my thought behind “Chasing the 8.” I would like to vacation and drive across Interstate 8 from Casa Grande, AZ to San Diego, CA. The 348 ¼ mile journey goes through the southern extremes of Arizona and California and the route itself has some of its own extremes, including the closest interstate to parallel the Mexican border (less than ½ mile), one of the widest medians of an Interstate (over 1.5 miles) and lowest above-ground elevation of an interstate at (52 feet below sea level)*. There are only 3 single digit Interstates in the system (the signed Hawai’i series and the unsigned Alaska series don’t count) and I’ve been on parts of the 5 (1,381 ¼ miles) and all but about 8½ miles of Interstate 4 (132 ¼ miles). I want one that I can conquer. (I wasn’t driving on Interstate 4 or else I would have driven into Tampa to check that off my list.)

Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcalá, location along the 8

Not only will I conquer my own interstate, I will fill a missing piece in my US map: the link between sea to shining sea. I have driven out to Joshua Tree National Monument in California from LA as well as taken the 8 to its end in San Diego form Chargers Stadium to Sunset Cliffs Boulevard onto Nimitz Boulevard. I had trek out from Phoenix, taking the Hohokam Expressway to the 10 and onward to Dallas via Las Cruces, White Sands, Alamogordo and Roswell, NM; and Odessa, Midland and Abilene, TX. Separately, I’ve journeyed from Atlanta City to Philadelphia and Philadelphia to San Antonio – meeting my two routes the junction of Interstates 20 and 35E. I have pieced together a cross country route, but yet I’m missing my own Golden Spike.

A map of US counties (click to expand): pink and purple represent my current work territories & purple and blue represent counties I've actually visited - the image comes from Marty O'Brien's Interactive Counties Map

I’ve been to the 8’s termini but never driven across. That makes my driving trip through Phoenix and Casa Grande, Sonoran Desert National Monument and Yuma, AZ; and El Centro, Cleveland National Forest, and El Cajon, CA to the end doubly enticing to me. I’ll have connected an interstate and have connected an transcontinental trip.

I know don’t know what I’ll actually see, but I’ll buy a lot of water for the voyage.

* The lowest point on the Interstate System is within the Fort McHenry Tunnel, Baltimore, Maryland, on I-95 at 107 feet below sea level.

myPics: Lent

Though I wasn't in Ireland for Lent, I thought that this Celtic cross in a cemetery would an ideal shot for my blog today in honor of Quadragesima.

I was struck by the white and golden lichens growing on the granite tombstones throughout this church graveyard in Shrule (Sruthair).

myPics: Madonna of the Trail

On a recent work trip to DC, I made a visit out to Bethesda. I took the Metro from Union Station and walked to my appointment.  My stroll to Woodmont Avenue surprisingly took me past one of the Madonna of the Trail status.  Since I'm a big transportation-ophile, I had read about this series of statues set up along the the National Old Trails Road, also known as Ocean-to-Ocean Highway.

From Wikipedia, the Madonna of the Trail is a series of 12 monuments dedicated to the spirit of pioneer women in the United States. The monuments were commissioned by the National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR). The NSDAR placed the monuments along the National Old Trails Road which extended from Bethesda, Maryland, to Upland, California (The much of the route of the route follows the old National Road and the Santa Fe Trail in the West.) There is a moment - dedicated to the spirit of pioneer women in the United States and serves as symbol of the courage and faith of the women who conquered the wilderness and establishing permanent homes -  in each of the states that National Old Trails Road passed through.