Thursday, July 30, 2009

Barbados

This month was scheduled to be the month of Barbados. I was going to fly three of them, (traded one for Japan at the beginning of the month).... in the end though I only go to do two because the one I was supposed to be on as I am typing this busted up (thank you pilots). What an incredible little island. I have found the Caribbean to be hit or miss when it comes to tourists. Some places really like you, others not so much. The Bajan (pronounced BAY-JUN) folks are great. I hope my domicile keeps this trip forever because I love it. This little island is located in the British West Indies and is about a three and a half hour flight from Miami. Due to equipment limitations and crew legalities, we end up with a 30 hour layover because we arrive so late the first night, that we are not legal to work out the next day and end up flying out the morning of the third day.

We stay at a wonderful property right along the beach. The first layover, the weather was a little overcast, and everyone slam-clicked, but the second layover was sunny and just about perfect in every way.

We get free Internet so I bring my laptop which is good as it satisfies my Farmtown addiction on Facebook. My purser Aaron is also an addict, so we organized our layover activities around our virtual crops. Crazy, I know. My new thing is going to be "around the world with my feet" so I have decided to start taking pictures of my feet where ever I go. Note the pretty ocean backdrop.







While the rooms and the hotel are great, the one downside is what we call the "Crack House" wing. Our rooms are always facing a burned out hotel next door. While it is quiet and we get no noise from the pool or the street, you do get a less than pleasant view.... I believe the hotel refers to this as an "Island View".


Both trips we went to "Just Grillin'" which is located on the other side of the street from our hotel. It sits in a covered area inside the parking lot of a line of shops. The food it great. Both times I got the Jerk Chicken. I was going to mix it up a little on the last layover and try the Flying Fish, but since the trip busted, it looks like I am relegated to PB&J's in my living room. The picture below is of my two co-workers, Aaron and Shannon.



The good news is that I was able to trade onto two Barbados trips next month, so hopefully I will make it back to this island paradise a few more times and get the chance to do a little more exploring.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Domo Arigato

I was able to trade one of my three day Barbados trips for Japan the second week of the month. This is the primo trip out of my base and I had not been there in a few months so I was looking forward to it. The flight going over was fine, although strangely enough, the majority of the plane was Vietnamese instead of Japanese, as I guess the arrival times well with connections to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). My aisle partner was a gal named Sharman, who was a stitch and had me laughing the whole way over.

We arrive in the afternoon of the next day, and so I quick changed and caught the 2:30 bus into Narita. It was incredibly hot and humid. It hit us as soon as we got off the plane, as the air conditioning in the airport was so/so. I wanted to go to the Ramen Bayashi noodle shop, a favorite for crews laying over, to have some Chili Pepper soup. Catherine, one of my co-workers was also interested in having a late lunch there, so we ate together. It was an enjoyable meal and she was real interesting. She commutes from Seattle, where she lives on a houseboat downtown. Like me, Catherine is a big traveler, so we had swapping stories about the places we had been.

After the meal, I headed to the Yaoko grocery store. It's the smaller of the two grocery stores I have been to, the other being at the mall. I love Japanese grocery stores. Everything is so orderly and neat and they have such unique packaging, but at the same time, nothing is in English so I have no idea what half the stuff is.



A few months back I had noticed some funny looking packaging which was actually baggies to pick up when your dog poops (http://ronno1976.blogspot.com/2009/02/6421-miles-for-best-noodles-ever.html) and so I got a few packages of those for when I walk Gretchen, and well as some seaweed crackers (don't knock it til you try it) and this sports drink called Pocari Sweat (nothing sounds more fun than a drink named after sweat).
We got back to the hotel right as the cafeteria was opening up for dinner, so I went down for a Kirin beer (the fun part is the mechanical draft machine that serves it) and visited with the crew members hanging out and having dinner.
The next morning it was up early for a work out before heading home. All in all a good trip.

4th of July in 'Lulu

A little behind in the blogging so I am playing catch up.

To help out my friend Bobby, I picked up his Honolulu trip over the 4th of July. I had previously been boycotting that destination since our layover hotel had a roach problem. We have switched to a much nicer and newer property so I thought I would give it another try.

What a nice change. Still on the main drag in Waikiki, but 100 times better. When we arrived at the hotel, I went down with my co-worker Kim to the ABC Store that is off the street level entrance to the hotel to stock up on provisions. We then joined the rest of the crew for martini's at the bar.

I showed restraint and only had one. We were going to go the noodle shop, but instead we headed down to the International Village area where Kim knew one of the guys who is a street performer. The girls were still going strong at this point, but I was starting to crash, so I bid my farewells and headed back to the hotel via Burger King since I was starving. The chicken sandwich had never tasted so good. I also won a contest and was given a coupon for a free apple pie, but I don't do fruity desserts, so I gave it to a homeless man sitting outside the restaurant (while nice and tropical, Waikiki Beach is full of homeless people who just sort of drift about).

The next morning, I got up and had a great workout and did a little walking around before taking my early afternoon nap for the red eye home. Missed the fireworks in Honolulu though as we left before the festivities got started. I did have an ocean view, as seen below, but you have to look real real REAL close to see it. :)