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A Great View

On July 10, 2012

During our travels in Turkey, one of the hotels Wonder Boy and I stayed in was called Hotel Stella. The hotel was really nice with great views and good access to historic sites and a ferry to Greece. But, the stay was tainted by the hotel proprietor who was out to make a buck on us. Every time we turned around, “Hello!” There he was. I know he was mostly just trying to do his job but he irritated me so much!But that view.

And so I’ve ended up giving the Hotel Stella and it’s slimy proprietor some press over at Rooms with Great Views. Fortunately, I was able to work a little warning into my picture description!

Check out my photo featured on Rooms with Great Views.

Riding Buses Across America – You’re Doing it Wrong

By Kate

On June 14, 2012

In travel

In Istanbul I acquired tickets to go on a six hour bus ride for $25 Turkish Lira each, which is the equivalent of $12.61 USD. This seems pretty reasonable in terms of cost, but I know what you’re thinking. A six hour bus ride? I know. After an embarrassing amount of effort to get into the bus and into our seats, Wonder Boy and I sat back and took in our surroundings. The seats were comfortable. The bus had wireless. And there was this assistant to the driver on the bus. Why would a bus driver need an assistant? Let me tell you.Based on my limited experience, on buses in Turkey you get treated as if you’re on a flight. And I don’t mean some American flight where all you get is a beverage. I’m talking you get treated well. The assistant guy rolled his cart up and down the aisle of the bus and offered us free drinks and snacks. He offered us more to eat and drink. He collected trash. He let everyone use some delightful smelling hand sanitizer. All of this ON A BUS.

But this was no fluke. On our next bus ride, similarly priced and for a similar distance, within moments of sitting down, I was handed ice cream. After I finished my delicious single-serving bowl of chocolate-vanilla swirl ice cream, I was offered something to drink and snack on. And then later, the hand sanitizer.

Want to reduce the number of cars on the road? I have the solution! And it definitely involved buses and ice cream.

Kindness

By Kate

On June 12, 2012

In travel

I’m recently back from 2 weeks in Turkey and Greece. Leaving other countries always gives me lots to reflect on about my own country – what we do well and where we need to improve. One thing that constantly impressed Wonder Boy and I was the friendliness and helpfulness of the Turkish people. While it may not apply to every single person, I think we only encountered two rude people during our whole two week stay. Can you imagine how many rude people you would come across here in the states during a similar two week stretch?

During our 22 hours of travel home, Wonder Boy and I discussed the warmth we experienced abroad and agreed that we needed to be nicer when we got home and wish the same for others around us. We got beat to the punch!

While we were gone, we were very grateful to have Frank the Tank and my brother watching Addy and Notorious B.I.G. as well as keeping an eye on our lawn. We were surprised to find out that our neighbor, Bertha Knuckles, not only watered our plants but also weeded our garden! (Our yard is almost all garden so this is no small task.) As if that’s not enough, my mom also made a trip over and watered the plants and weeded. Our garden is weed-free!

My parents picked us up from the airport and as my mom was telling me about the weeding, I could help but marvel that maybe we Americans are nicer than I was giving us credit for!

Stamps From Around the World

By Kate

On April 23, 2012

In travel

I recently had to get a new passport. I was very pleasantly surprised when the government mailed me back my old one! It’s is full of so many memories from so many great trips.

One of my favorite sections is where Delicious and I got stamped going in and out of Morocco. Somehow we only needed one stamp. But when we saw another man with a stamp, we made sure to get a second. We were so excited to get stamped from Morocco, from Africa!

Visas are a relatively new thing for me, so the pages with those just seem fancy.

Looking at each page in the passport transports me to some vacation. Seeing the Ecuador stamp makes me smile thinking of Wonder Boy’s first international trip. That was in 2006 and since then he’s been to seven more countries!

I love my France stamp because it reminds me of my $65 whirlwind trip with The Man Who Toasts Ronald Reagan.

Mostly I’m just taken by how many places I’ve been fortunate enough to visit. Now I have this empty book just needing to be filled up. So very many places to go!

St. Patrick’s Day in Athens, Ohio

By Kate

On March 21, 2012

In family / friends, travel

Last weekend we went to one of my very favorite places, Athens, Ohio, to celebrate the impending nuptials of my sister and her friend. Not to each other. They just both happen to be getting married in the same time frame so we decided to have one big party rather than several smaller ones. Some highlights of the weekend, excluding the obvious ones like eating at my favorite restaurant and experiencing the same happiness I always feel as I coast down the exit ramp into Athens, include:

Laughing as my one sister put a fake tattoo on the chest of my other sister’s future mother-in-law
Having tears run down my face as one of my brother’s friend’s tried to discretely scoot a miniature, plastic penis off the table before the waiter noticed, only to have it land right in front of the waiter
Dancing at the Pub with fishbowls full of green beer sloshing in our hands
Creating a tunnel with our hands and making random people dance their way into and out of the bathroom
Cheering my mom and brother on while they drank Irish Car Bombs to celebrate my mom’s birthday only minutes into the actual day
Having a pubescent group of boys lie to us about their age and basically stalk us in the hopes of getting to dance with a girl
My brother winning a bet with his future brother-in-law by getting his mom (the brother-in-law’s) to do a shot of Hot Nuts at Tony’s
Watching my sister and my other sister’s future sister-in-law do some crazy dance while standing on top of bar stools

I have several pictures of my sister that could embarrass her. Instead, I’ll just post one of myself. The lighting is pretty terrible, but I’m having a good time!