Little Black Guidebook

Passports, originally uploaded by jaaron.

I have a recurring travel nightmare, well two actually. The first is that I’ll sleep through and miss a flight. The second is that I’ll lose my passport. It was so vivid last night that I looked up what to do in case that ever happened, you know, just in case.

Before You Go

• Make two copies of your passport; leave one with a friend or relative in the United States. Bring the other with you. Keep it safe and separate from your passport. Don’t ever leave it in the hotel room safe.
• Register with U.S. Embassy in countries you plan to visit. Write down and keep handy the embassies’ contact information.
• Buy a passport travel holder that attaches to your waist or neck. (I hate the feel of waist bags so I just have outfits with zippered pockets.)
• Bring copies of passport photos with you and keep them safe. It is a hassle to find a place to have these taken while overseas, especially in non-English-speaking countries.
• Scan a digital copy of your passport into the computer and put it on a secure hosting spot or give it to a friend who can send it to you. That way if you lose your paper copies, luggage, and everything on you, you can still call a friend from the embassy and get a copy electronically.

While You Travel

• Don’t use a hotel safe. What happens if you forget your combo? The hotel will send someone to the room who can unlock the safe. What stops them from doing this while you are away?
• Use a passport holder or concealed pocket and pull it out only if needed. Never put it in a backpack or a purse.

Once You Realize It’s Missing

• Be sure it is really missing. Once you report it, the passport is invalid. Search all of your bags and clothes thoroughly, enlist a friends help searching.
• If your passport is missing or stolen, contact nearest U.S. Embassy or consulate immediately.
• Travel to the embassy or consulate in person prepared to prove your identity.
• If you cannot prove your identity, bring someone with you who can attest to your identity.
• If possible, bring money for a replacement passport.
• Be prepared to travel to an immigration office in the host country to obtain an entry stamp.
• Be prepared to spend at least four hours waiting in line, filling out forms and answering questions from officials.
• If you didn’t bring extra ID photos with you on your trip, have some taken before heading to the embassy or consulate. Make sure the photos are cropped to the correct size for your country’s passport.
• U.S. citizens who are traveling alone and have no other way to prove their identification will be allowed to call “family, friends or associates” in the United States to confirm their identity, according to the U.S. State Department Web site.

Somehow this made me feel better.

I haven’t moved a muscle to exercise in almost a month. No, I didn’t give up on WW. I had foot surgery and have been unable to do more than situps. My one month surgery milestone falls on the same day as my next flight, the earliest he would let me get back in the air. I did find it interesting that:

“The British Government has declared war on obesity, and among its first targets are drinkers. According to British government intel, ‘The average wine drinker consumes an extra 2,000 calories a month – the equivalent of 184 bags of crisps.’ This comes via The Telegraph, which further notes: ‘Few middle class drinkers realise that a couple sharing a bottle of red wine a night are both consuming the equivalent of a Snickers chocolate bar in alcohol.’ Appalling. You’d never see the French government release such data.”

So my inability to have even an occasional glass of wine because of my meds is saving me a snicker bar every time. Of course, wine is actually ok for you in moderation and as long as you plan it into your overall day. Speaking of planning, I have been tracking and trying to hit my points every day, but with the complete lack of exercise I’ll be happy to have a maintenance when I go back next week for weigh-in. I did find the above photo very inspiring. She’s exactly my height (5’6″) and got down from 211 lbs to her current weight using weight watchers and yoga.

Even veteran travelers make really stupid mistakes. For example, I was looking at my conference registration for this weekend and realized that I registered for both Friday and Saturday even though I was attending only on Saturday. After fixing the problem I called up the hotel to make the change there and they couldn’t find my registration. Apparently um, I didn’t book a room! Wow, that would have been the worst travel mistake I’ve made in awhile. I guess I probably would have discovered the problem when I printed all of my confirmation sheets on Friday before boarding, but I’m glad I took care of it now. It would have been all too easy to not print the hotel confirmation and instead just show up and check-in only to find I had no room.

Bonus, I discovered that Marriott is having a MegaBonus promotion where you receive 2,500 points for every paid stay you make, starting with the second stay. With two upcoming trips, which both happen to be at Marriotts, I’ll actually get to take advantage of this offer. I put info on how to take advantage of this offer below in case anybody has some upcoming travel which could be at a Marriott.

Keep in mind that a stay is defined as non-consecutive night’s stays so can’t just check-in/check-out each day like I’ve been done in the past to maximize points/stays. A good tip for travel newbies, although slightly inconvenient sometimes would be to switch between two next-door hotels with stacking bonuses. I’ve been known to stagger between two hotels at a week long conference and get 3 stays at one and 4 stays at another racking up per stay mile rewards and per night hotel points. So instead of getting 500 miles and 20,000 points/night I would get 3,500 miles 20,000 points/night + 2,500 points/stay after the 1st one. Yeah, it can be a pain, but when I spend a week in Hawaii for free at the Marriott on Waikiki beach it will be so worth all the hassle.

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Follow These 3 Steps To Get MegaBonus

Register: Go to Marriott.com and login to Marriott Rewards, go to the promotions page and select the red “Register” button to the right, or call 888-MARRIOTT (627-7468).

Stay: At any of more than 2,900 participating Marriott brand hotels between February 1 and April 30, 2009.

Earn: 2,500 Marriott Rewards bonus points for every paid stay, starting with your second stay. You can earn a total of up to 25,000 points.

San Francisco is known for being a very romantic city. Despite the fact that the two times I’ve visited have been alone and one of the two was during absolutely horrid, bitter cold March weather, the reasons for this reputation are clear. First of all, San Francisco, despite its hills is a very walking friendly city. Its neighborhoods are perfect for spending hours wandering around, looking at the architecture, wandering through the shops, and enjoying the views, in other words perfect for a walk together. While the city has a lot of shopping, particularly in the Union Square area which is eminently accessible to tourists, being on both the cable car, bus line and metro line, it seems almost a crime to be indoors when there is so much wandering to do, a fact that would be sure to keep my husband happy as I would never drag him around asking for his opinion in San Francisco.

Even on your own, San Francisco still has a lot to offer. In just 4 hours of wandering I was able to hit a lot of the touristy highlights. My hotel was the Hilton at Fisherman’s Wharf. I wouldn’t recommend it for a good nights rest as the windows weren’t glazed to keep out the noise of the nightlife and the rooms weren’t particularly luxurious, but the location can’t be beat, a mere block from the wharf and right next to one of the cable car lines. This meant that after my meeting and business lunch I was able to switch into my jeans and t-shirt and stroll right over to the waterfront. It will never be like San Diego where strolling along with your bare feet enjoying the feel of the sand is more de rigour, but it is beautiful all the same.

The wharf is home to the sea lions at the pier, the Aquarium of the Bay (with its clear underwater tunnels), great views of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz, a famous carousel and tons of shopping and great seafood restaurants. If I’d had kids with me I could have easily spent a day at the wharf, it felt like the state fair, people wandering around getting too much sun on their noses and eating food on sticks as they strolled. I skipped an actual visit inside the Aquarium (there’s always next time) and hopped on the cable car near the Hilton. The prices have gone up since the last time I was here with a one way ride costing $5.00 and a day pass $11.00. Being the sucker that I am I bought a day pass and only had 2 rides. There really aren’t enough routes to justify the day pass.

The cable car takes you through downtown, including Chinatown, and drops you off right at Union Square, shopping central for San Francisco. The square is bordered by Powell, Post, Geary, and Stockton streets. It is home to typical department stores and luxury stores and haute couture shops. With the value of the dollar what it is and the winter weight not yet gone, I was in no mood to splurge, so I pressed on passing the Moscone conference center which was hosting the American Diabetes Association meeting and the setting up for the Apple WWDC which happened today. I wish I could have been there. That block was nerd central.
After a quick stop off for a soda and a sit to watch the Carousel at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts I turned to reach the Science Museum. I was disappointed to learn that it is closed until fall 2008 for renovations. With not enough time to do the Museum of Modern Art justice before it closed, it was back to Union Square, back on the trolley and on to Ghirardelli Square which is at the other end of Fisherman’s Wharf from where I started, between Beach and Larkin streets. You can stop in their store and get free samples (chocolate square with peanut butter inside, heaven) and take a tour to see how the chocolate used to be made when their factory was in operation. It also the home of McCormick & Cavoletto’s, my restaurant for the night. (Ghirardelli Square open Mon-Sat 10a-9pm, Sun. 10a-6p)

This restaurant boasts some of the best views of the bay and wharf around, but apparently if you don’t get a reservation and are a walk-in party of 7, you get put in the back room and can’t enjoy them. Oh well, the food was good and the cocktail menu was inventive and fun. Once I saw Pisco Sour on the menu, I flashed back to memories of my trip to Chile and knew what I was going to order, but I kept reading. There were the typical Cosmopolitans of course, but there were also other more original cocktails on their “modern cocktails” list like white grape and basil which sounded intriguing. One of my colleagues got this later drink and it was delightfully refreshing, summery and tasty. (yeah, I snitched)

There was a lot more of San Francisco that I didn’t see in my half day tour. There is a Cable Car museum, Wax Museum, the famous Museum of Modern Art, and tons of boutiques ripe for some retail therapy. But, on a perfect sunny day, with no fog, no wind and not too hot temperatures, it seemed a shame not to simply walk the city, take in the sights and get sun on my nose. Even the locals were impressed and out in droves.

My previous adventure to San Francisco showed me the second most visited tourist site, next to Golden Gate Bridge, Chinatown. I have vivid memories of a rat over a foot long (including tail) running up the wall of my Chinese restaurant and half of my dinner party screaming and running out, leaving our poor hosts with 30 people worth of food prepared and only 15 to eat it. The shopping was fun, even if I had no use for dishes, Buddhas, or other Chinese chotchkees. Chinatown is definitely worth a visit if you have a longer stay.

Everything I saw on this trip was free. No need to pay $15.00 to go over to Alcatraz, I have a great photo from the pier and I’ve seen the History Channel special so I don’t need to visit. The cable car took me past the famous street with its curly cue turns which my transportation engineer husband would loathe (sit on the right hand side going down the hill or the left hand side going up to get a good view). You can have a perfectly great day in SF without spending a dime, just walking around. Just bring your sunscreen. I still need to visit the SF MOMA (Museum of Modern Art), go up to the top of the Coit Tower for the view, and actually ride one of the carousels with my sweetie before taking him out for some great seafood, so I’ll be back.

We started out our trip in Las Vegas by paying $80.00 for a limo to take us two miles from the airport to the Hyatt Place hotel where my meeting was being held. Why $80? Well, at 1 am the hotel shuttle wasn’t running and the line for cabs on a Friday night was over an hour long. I didn’t want to wait so we took the limo. Thank goodness I was on expenses.

Getting up for a 8 am meeting after getting to sleep around 2am was definitely no fun. Hubby went for a walk while I debated the intricacies of publishing a technical magazine with fellow engineers. Around noon we hooked up and went to the Hard Rock for lunch. The lunch was a working lunch so it lasted well over an hour. I was totally unimpressed with the Hyatt Place which amounted to a stripped down Hyatt, business hotel that barely qualified for each of its 3 stars. On top of this was the fact that the hotel has been recently renovated. The carpet tiles may be easy to replace should one of them become stained, but they also use carpet glue in their installation. I was apparently allergic to the glue and spent most of my 5 hours of rest scratching my arms to death. The next morning I had hubby check us out and we went to Priceline.com to see what cheap rooms were still available elsewhere. Turns out that for the same rate as we were paying at the Hyatt we could be staying at the Venetian. Deal! Sign me up! So after lunch we cabbed it from the Hyatt to the Venetian.

After checking into our suite at the Venetian I was sorry that we would have to switch over to Treasure Island the next day. I’d show you a photo, but they all have one or the other of us in them, because of all of the mirrors in the suite. The room was gorgeous and I don’t say this lightly. I stay in a lot of hotels, but this one still surprised me. I got $15 worth of casino credit which we quickly doubled to $30 in the slots, apparently I’m quite lucky. We were so bushed that we just wanted to sit down, sip our drinks and blow money in the penny slots. I won as much as he lost so we came out even. For dinner we hooked up with some of my friends from my meeting and went to a local place. I try to find a good Greek restaurant whenever we travel together as it is both of our favorite food. Also, eating on the strip can be ridiculously overprices if you don’t want to eat horrid/questionably sanitary buffet food. Paymon’s Mediterranean Cafe is a local joint full of people who actually call Nevada home. The food is excellent, tasty, and downright cheap. Five of us who drank, had appetizers, dinner and dessert all for less than $120.00, which I consider insanely cheap.

We headed back to the hotel that night blissfully content and full of warm Baklava. Our show was playing in the Venetian hotel so we didn’t have far to walk. We got tickets for Phantom before we left and it was quite spectacular. I’ve always loved the Phantom of the Opera. Hubby saw the broadway show in San Francisco a long time ago before we met. He has always promised me that he would take me one day so this was really special . Phantom in Vegas is a slightly abrieviated version, but spectacular none the less. I remember there was an article a few years back when they were planning the show on how they got the chandelier to fall. Trust me it is well done, women were screaming. If I hadn’t known what was coming I would have been totally blown away. The engineering behind that stunt was amazing.

The next day we packed our rolly-bag up and headed downstairs to breakfast. We found a little cafe along the banks of the Venetian. Apparently there are very few people who wake up for breakfast in Vegas so it took us almost 30 minutes to find one that was open. Afterwards we walked across to the Wynn, walking through the Venetian shops along the canal on the way. Then we crossed the street and walked past Treasure Island, down through the Mirage. The Mirage was smokey and dark. After we walked what seemed like forever to get through the casino we found out that to view the lions you have to pay like $14.00 a person. It totally wasn’t worth it, so we trucked all the way back out through the front. Vegas hotels are not set up so you can walk through one, out the side and out to the next one. You have to walk in then back out through the front always passing through the casino on your way anywhere.

After the Mirage we went to Ceasar’s Palace and walked through the shopping mall. My feet were tired so we sat at the slots for awhile. There really isn’t anywhere to sit in Vegas without spending money. You are either gambling, paying to watch a show or sitting in a restaurant. I bought cute leather gloves with cashmere linings at Coach. My one major and non-expensible purchase of the entire trip. Ceasar’s Palace has some really great architecture. It looks a lot less fake than many of the other hotels.

Next after Ceasar’s was the Bellagio. After the Venetian I was expecting more. It still was quite over the top with a beautiful Chinese garden and a spectacular set of glass flowers inlaid in the ceiling. This was definitely one of the nicer hotels on the strip, although probably not worth 200 more a night than the Venetian for the extra 1/2 a star. We had friends who asked to see our suite at the Venetian out of curiosity and they said that it was better than the Bellagio rooms. I can’t vouch for it myself, but I bet they were right. The Bellagio has the Cirque d’Soleil show “O” which is their water show. We didn’t see it on this trip, but if we go back I’ll definitely put it on my list.

By this point my feet were very tired. I had only packed work shoes which was a bad idea. One should never attempt to casino tour in heels. We crossed the street to the Paris. We had lunch at the Paris. They have an Eiffel Tour restuarant which overlooks the Bellagio fountains. A bit too pricey to justify on an expense report so we settled for the Mon Ami Gabi which is on the main floor right off of the casino. It was very good and reasonably priced. The casino had a younger vibe and was not oppresively smokey or generic like most of the others we had walked through. It looked like a fun place to stay and I’d definitely go back and spend more time looking around some other time.

From the Paris we headed back in the direction of the Venetian, my feet still killing me. We walked through the Flamingo and walked along the strip to the Ghirardelli chocolate store in between Harrah’s and the Venetian. We stopped by the front desk of the Venetian and picked up our bags to check into Treasure Island. After all this walking it was about 4pm and my legs were dead beat. I flopped in my King bed and didn’t move for an hour. We watched a history channel special on the history of Vegas and then called the front desk for a dinner reservation. Our one criteria is the restaurant had to be in the hotel. Little did we know that would give us so many options. We briefly considered going downstairs for the ship battle performance. Those who are staying as guests at Treasure Island have a special viewing area, but it was cold and I was not happy to walk anywhere. Instead we enjoyed a pleasant dinner at Francesco’s. The service was excellent and the food was great. I had gnocci with hazelnut cream sauce. We both had way more food than we could eat and regretfully passed on dessert.

Our planning paid off and our show of the night was in our hotel of the night. Mystere is a Cirque show which plays at Treasure Island. Honored eight times as “Best Production Show” by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Mystère has an international cast of 72 performers featuring dancers, singers, musicians and champion-caliber acrobats. The physical prowess of these performers was amazing. I was jaw droppingly spell bound for an hour and half. I swore the next day I would buy their cd as inspirational workout music. Throughout the performance two vocalists sing in a made up language while performers enact a nightly performance which send chills down the through the audience. This was definitely a family friendly show. Kind of unfortunate in some ways as I had to sit next to a couple kids which wouldn’t stay in just their chairs, but I’m glad their parents got to do something fun and didn’t have to leave their kids behind. However, those kids all probably left with the equivalent of a cigarettes worth of smoking damage done to their lungs just from walking to their hotel rooms at night.

It was more worthwhile to get a good night’s rest rather than walk the rest of the strip the next morning so we stayed in the vicinity of Treasure Island. We walked next door to find lunch and were bitterly disappointed with our options. Unless you want mall food court food, finding lunch in Vegas proves as difficult as finding breakfast before noon. We ended up at the Neiman Marcus restaurant, I had no idea that they had a restaurant. Excellent sandwhiches, fresh bread and lots of iced tea kept us happy. Then it was off to the airport for a quick 12 hour flight home. Just a quick trip to Vegas. Having never been I can say that there is definitely a lot to see in Vegas, not so much things to do. They mostly try to funnel you into shopping and gambling. There are also shows which are some of the most unique in the world. All the smoking, unhealthy food choices and fake looking architecture and neon left a little bit of a hollow feeling in my stomach rather than one of cultural immersion. I would still go again, but I wouldn’t go without a plan. I would actually want to know what I wanted to do in Vegas.

Oh yeah, as far as the gambling went, neither of us is good at it. I made up for his losses by playing video blackjack and we came out even. The whole trip actually cost us less than $300.00 which was totally worth it just to spend relaxing time together discoving a new place.

I wanted to do my typical travel plan of making a list of places to go, mapping it all out, printing out directions, show times, reservation info, etc. When I’m travelling by myself this works out well. I carry a small travel journal with key info like museum times, metro stops, and a folded walking map in it and then I set out first thing in the morning on the first day after a nice big breakfast. In Chile this worked out well the first day because I was by myself and I saw a lot of things. The next two days this didn’t work out well because everybody else decided they wanted to tag along and make me tour guide because they thought they would get more out of it. You’ll only get more out of this if having a plan and following it is a style of vacationing that works for you. If you lag behind the tour leader and the plan ends up going out the window she might not be happy. In the end I didn’t see everything I planned to in Chile, but I had a lot of fun with friends and saw some things that were awesome and not part of the plan because I stayed flexible and just went with the flow. My plan came in handy though because whenever we were in an area I knew what restaurants were nearby, what times things were open and how to get back to the hotel from anywhere.

For Vegas I wanted to create my plan, make a list of available entertainment, times, etc. Hubby wants me to throw the plan out the window. Print out the flight and hotel confirmation codes, pack a variety of clothes with no specific outfits for Saturday, Sunday, Monday, pack a credit card and just go. He wants to have no plan, but to just go with the flow the whole time. This being Vegas and there being very few “must-see” things I may go against the very fiber of my being and go along with him. I usually end up having fun when I give up the plan. On the other hand I feel like I wasted so much time during my trip to Paris last year hanging out with people rather than seeing things. *sigh* Must fight retentiveness, must be cool, flexible, awesome wife who is just fun to be around. Wish me luck.

I spent last night at the Radisson Santiago. Oh my God, that place was nice. And don’t get me wrong, I know that in the States Radisson’s are not the nicest, but internationally they are awesome. This Radisson was recently remodelled in January 2007. It’s classified as a 3 star hotel, but it was much closer to 4 stars. My room was gorgeous with a really sleek modern look. The concierge was immensely helpful. The staff were all fluent in at least 3 languages. Upon checking in I received a welcome drink which was excellent. When I got to my room I had a complimentary snack and bottle of water. The bathroom was a large marble tiled affair. The best was when I opened my windows and was presented with a great view of the Andes Mountains. The hotel is located within the World Trade Center and is in easy walking distance to restaurants and is only a block away from a metro stop (Tabalaba). When I woke up and went downstairs for breakfast I was stunned at the quality and quantity of the breakfast selections. There were 10 different meat courses, eggs, hashbrowns, cereal, at least 5 different juices, fruit, and much much more. It was complimentary of course and teh service was excellent. As I was walking out the door the staff asked me if I wanted any help planning out things to do and see. They were very helpful and gave me a map with all of the highlights on it. I didn’t just do the things in the guidebook, but instead went to a lot of architecturally unique things just to see them. Places without giftshops, but beautiful art instead.

I went downtown to spend the day sightseeing. Unfortunately, I discovered that on Monday most of the touristy things to do downtown are closed. I think this is because most of the museums and things are open Saturday and Sunday, so Monday is the day that they are closed. In all honesty, I wouldn’t really recommend trying to sightsee in Santiago on Monday through Wednesday. Most of the markets, museums and other sights are open Thursday through Sunday. You could probably see most of the “can’t miss” sights in Santiago in one day. Museums open at 10, so I’d start by seeing some of the cathedrals in the morning, see a few museums in the afternoon and after lunch go up the furnicular to see out over the whole of Santiago. I would then spend the afternoon shopping in the local markets and finish the night off with dinner and dancing.

In the end I spent the afternoon looking at the national cathedral and other Churches and walking around downtown. I took the metro downtown and it was surprisingly easy to navigate despite my lack of proficiency in Spanish. The ride downtown took about 30 minutes by metro and cost 480p ($1.00). The maps made it very easy to figure out where you were going and transferring lines was quick and easy.

In general the city is very safe. It is clean, easy to navigate and non-Spanish speakers can usually find someone to assist them in necessary. I will say that you should hang onto your belongings. When I was shopping in the afternoon I saw a man tackled by the police for attempting to steal from a man. He was arrested by 6 officers, cuffed and searched on the spot.

I did notice that being the only natural blonde woman in the country makes people look twice. As I was walking by I had more than one guy give me the macho South American leer. A couple of guys stopped me and wanted to tell me how beautiful I was. It was a little intimidating, but not in a scary way. I did enjoy the fact that unlike the US where I am curvy, here I am very beautiful. I’m learning to embrace my curves. Next time I think of going on a diet after watching Kiera Knightly movie I’ll book a trip to Latin America instead.

When I got back to the hotel I thought about just going to bed. Dinner here starts at 9 to 9:30 at night, which is a little late when you’re jet lagged. I’m quite happy to say that I took the concierge’s advice and went out to dinner. I went to a small restaurant called Coco Loco off of Vitacura. The food was excellent, cheap and authentic Chilean seafood. I spent less than $10.00 for three courses and it was the best seafood I’ve had in a long time. Even though it was just me I had no trouble ordering. I was suprised that dinner for 1 took almost 2 hours, but it was like that in Paris as well. The neighborhood near the Radisson is quite safe and well-lit at night so I didn’t mind walking back to my hotel at 11:30.

I’ll have to post photos later.

First off, let me say that LAX is the worst international airport in the world, well that I’ve been to anyway. The entire concourse, and yes I can say entire, has just one restaurant and a few duty free stores. The hot dog stand produced overpriced and subpar hot dogs which those of us who had no other options were grateful for. There was no real bar or lounge to rest in for a few hours. I must say that if I were an international visitor, I would be unimpressed. If I’d known better I would have eaten in the domestic terminal before going through security at the international terminal. Hmm…maybe that attitude is why everyone around me appeared to drop 20 lbs the second I entered the international terminal. Yup, Americans are fat. Oh well, I just wish they had a Starbucks or something in the terminal. We don’t even restrict American’s to that level of selection in far flung Alaska, why should we be losing out on the money our international visitors would drop on their layovers by not even offering food. My other big beef with LAX is that the displays made it nearly impossible to find what gate your flight was at. If I had checked in and had my gate printed on my boarding pass that would be fine. But I checked in 12 hours prior in Fairbanks, Alaska long before my gate had ever been decided on.

I did find that exchanging money at LAX carries no fee whereas doing so in the Chile airport has a $1.50 fee. Small savings and a better exchange rate to boot. After 25 hours of travel I finally made it to Chile. I had layovers in Seattle, LA and Lima, Peru. The Peru stop was long enough for me to get off of the plane, buy a postcard and get back on the plane. I was amazed at the folks who brought back 2-3 bags worth of goods from the duty-free. That reminds me, since when has shopping on a plane become the “in” activity? The people on my Lan Chile flight were shopping duty free like there was no tomorrow. The bargains weren’t good and the duty can’t be that high. We each had catalogs in the back of our seats and they kept coming up and down the aisles delivering orders to folks. The guy in the seat next to me spent over $400 in our 12 hours together. I’ll admit, I succumbed and bought some hand cream, but that’s because mine was confiscated in LAX. I found myself more than entertained watching 4 movies, playing with the Berlitz language software (I now know how to count in Russian, English, German, French and Spanish), and playing digital Tetris, Poker and Blackjack. Those international planes are sweet, especially when you get an exit row. I had as much space as the people in first class and paid half the price. I couldn’t fully recline, but that wasn’t a big deal because I don’t sleep on planes anyway. Now it’s time for me to go sleep!

Currently I travel a lot, as in over 89,000 miles in the last 12 months or over 145,000 miles in the last 15 months. This time last year I went to Paris, Butte, Phoenix, Richland and LA (twice) all in the months of September and October. This year I’ll rack up San Diego, Portland, Berkeley, Santiago Chile and St. Louis in the same two month period and that’s after turning down 3 trips. This will of course no longer be sustainable once I’m in school so I’m taking advantage of it while I can. I hope to travel to India, Las Vegas, Chicago, LA and England before relinquishing my volunteer work and settling down into law school. By that time I should have enough frequent flyer miles to go just about anywhere and bring hubby along. Poor hubby, he’s only gone with me on one trip to Boston for a week. Probably better off because as glamorous as all of this travel sounds, I’m really there to work and I rarely see more than the airport and the hotel meeting room. I’ll fly out after work on Friday get in Saturday morning for a Saturday meeting and fly right back home afterwards. For a person who doesn’t sleep on planes that is rough.

I try to have one trip that is about a week long twice a year and save my vacation time for those. I basically pick the most interesting meeting I’ve got coming up and then extend my travel plans at that destination, getting two days of hotel and the airfare for free. Last fall it was Paris, this spring it was Boston, and this fall it will be Santiago, Chile. I’m pretty excited about this. Excited and intimidated. When I went to Paris I had 8 hours of Pimsluer CD lessons under my belt. Thankfully I’ve got a pretty solid grounding in languages and this translated to being able to roughly navigate through Paris and get non-English cab drivers to take me where I want to go. It also helps that French and Russian have a lot of cognates so my vocabulary was artificially higher than it would have otherwise been. Spanish though, um yeah, I don’t know Spanish at all. I fully intend on using at least part of my 34 hours of travel time that will be spent getting there learning a little Spanish, but I suspect it won’t be enough. Thankfully two of my friends who are Spanish will be coming and hopefully their European Spanish will be enough to get me by during the times we’re together.

This trip is creeping up very fast. I just booked my tickets today and the trip is in like 2.5 weeks. I don’t know what there is to do there or anything. I’ll have two days before the meeting to play tourist so I guess I’ll be packing my guidebook and backpack along with my suit and laptop. If anybody has any suggestions for Latin-American travel, I’d be happy to hear them. I haven’t even had time to do a good Google search for travel blogs to Chile yet.