Traveling – Page 3 – Mom's Guide to the Galaxy

We packed up and went.

Several months ago, a co-worker of mine mentioned a website she had heard of – Pack Up & Go – that will plan a 3-day vacation for you. The catch is that you don’t find out where you’re going until you go. We thought that sounded like fun, so as a spring break option we picked a price range in the “plane, train, or bus” option and filled out their survey about our interests, recent trips, and upcoming trips – they want to avoid places you’ve gone recently or are going to soon.

One week before the trip, we received some hints so we know what to pack, the weather forecast, and when and where we’re departing. Based on the weather and departure details (flying out of Midway and we’re allowed two free checked bags each), I guessed we were heading to Baltimore – Southwest (the airline for free checked bags) had four flights leaving at 8:00 AM that day, and the other three were to warmer climates. Cassandra’s guess was Philadelphia. You're going to Philadelphia! PA As it turns out, she was right – that flight was at 7:55.

We woke up at 4am and opened our envelope before heading to the airport. By the time we parked, we had an email with our boarding passes and some additional details. I glanced through the sightseeing and food recommendations before breakfast, and really dug into them on the plane.

Our package also included directions to our hotel, a dinner reservation and gift card, museum tickets, and an Uber credit. And most importantly, a map of the downtown area. I marked our hotel and dinner spot, and scoped out where the recommendations landed on the map.

We stopped at the hotel before lunch, planning to leave our bags with the concierge, but lucked out because our room was ready. We took a little longer as a result, then hit the streets heading towards the Reading Terminal Market. It was lunchtime and the whole market felt packed, so instead of exploring its’ entirety, we slipped out the other side and found a lovely Ramen restaurant in Chinatown.

After lunch, we wandered towards the Liberty Bell with a stop in a chocolate shop. Despite three chocolate shop stops, we didn’t buy any chocolate on this trip! (Self-restraint is easier when traveling carry-on only.) When we reached the Liberty Bell, we saw a long line inside the building. And outside. And turning the corner. We decided to wait our visit until Sunday morning, though we did pick up postcards at the gift shop. We wandered our way around town and back to the hotel before our dinner reservation at Garces, and managed to visit a couple shops on the way to that.

Dinner was amazing, starting with sourdough bread and a selection of olive oils and vinegars, then appetizers, soups, and entrees that landed at our table. We even saved room for dessert, which went nicely with the Auchentoshan Three Wood (Scotch) I selected. As we strolled back to the hotel, we laughed as a young gentleman sang to someone in his group, then asked who else needed to be serenaded.

Sunday morning, well before the Liberty Bell opened, we descended to Urban Farmer, the hotel’s restaurant, where the waiter talked me into having a homemade English muffin… because it came with the blue crab omelette. The muffin was easily double the size I expected. It made a lovely lunch; I barely finished the omelette.

Our line strategy worked – we strolled right in when we reached the Liberty Bell shortly after 9:00 am. Next on the agenda was The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, a block away from our hotel. There were casts of dinosaurs fossils as we entered, and information on any number of animals elegantly displayed in life-sized dioramas, as well as an indoor butterfly exhibit. We bypassed the live crocodiles, since we had already decided to visit both the Adventure Aquarium (across the Delaware River in Camden, New Jersey) and the Philadelphia Zoo. We stopped at the hotel to grab my leftover English muffin from the room fridge and summoned a ride using Uber. Our driver did warn us that the area surrounding the aquarium is unsafe, and to get our return ride directly from the entrance.

We arrived just in time for the hippo feeding. I don’t know about you, but I’ve mostly seen hippos lounging at zoos, so this was a treat. Both hippos were in the water. From the below water level viewing area, we could see them pushing off the floor to snatch half a head of cabbage in their mouths. We moved from there to the shark exhibit, glancing at jellyfish and other creatures on the way. The final part of the shark exhibit is the optional Shark Bridge – a rope netting bridge with metal supports over the shark tank. (Yes, we most certainly did walk it.)

Then it was time for a hands-on exhibit, reaching into a tank of rays before popping outside for one of the two penguin enclosures. And back inside for the touch-a-shark tank – significantly smaller than the ones below the shark bridge – and an exploration of reptiles and amphibians. We went back outside with the crowd at penguin feeding time before visiting the hands-on kids area. (Yes, we’re above the target age range. But still welcome.) That included yet another touch tank, this time with starfish, shrimp, and fish.

An Uber ride later, we were back at the hotel trying to pick a dinner spot from the long list Pack Up + Go provided. With assistance from my phone (“that one doesn’t have an available table for two hours”, “that has no openings tonight”), we selected El Rey as our destination, and enjoyed interesting Mexican food, including a rice pudding flan.

Having reached our final morning without, we decided a Philly cheesesteak sandwich was an appropriate breakfast option at the appropriate named Spataro’s Cheesesteaks restaurant at Reading Terminal Market. And having already walked over 40,000 steps during the weekend, we chose the reasonable option of… no, wait, we walked some more. You can’t really sit down while exploring a zoo. We packed up, checked out of the hotel, and spent the next few hours at the Philadelphia Zoo. (With our luggage. Good thing it was just carry-on.)

They have some pretty interesting exhibits, including their 360 view tunnels for various animals. I can’t emphasize enough how cool it is to walk under the jaguar or the red pandas. Sadly, the trip had to end, so we headed to the airport, thoroughly satisfied with our first Pack Up + Go experience.

‘Tis the season

I spent a year abroad in college in the lovely, if somewhat dreary, city of Glasgow. It’s only dreary because of the overcast skies and rain, the people more than make up for it. I spent a decent number of weekends and holidays that year with newly found friends in Edinburgh, including Christmas Day.

I remember waking up that morning and finding my Christmas stocking, not in the living room near the tree, but on my bed with me. (Yes, I slept fairly soundly back then.) In all fairness, there was a large dog downstairs who might have gotten curious about the stockings had they been left in her reach. More surprisingly, as I reached into the stocking, I found that every gift in it was wrapped.

I think it was in high school when we noticed that our parents’ stockings had bare minimum content and started scrambling through our room on Christmas morning for assorted junk we could add to them. Most years, our stockings were about as random, it was just newer junk.

Holiday stocking & wrapped gifts — Oooh, wrapped stuff on a stocking.

I don’t remember anything in that Edinburgh stocking being junk. Fun and unnecessary, perhaps… I mean, does a college student really need Lego? (In my defense, I owned no Lego at all until that year. OMG, Lego Thor is awesome!) That year reshaped how I thought of Christmas stockings, and has certainly influenced the type of items that are seen in them at my house.

Here we are at the holidays again, and I found myself reminiscing about that year… and wrapping just about everything. Perhaps I should make some Yorkshire pudding this year too. Happy holidays!

Cruising the Galápagos

Our Galápagos cruise was on the Lindblad National Geographic Endeavour II. That’s a mouthful, we just called it the Endeavour once we were on board. We flew into Guayaquil, Ecuador the day before embarking, arriving late enough that we only stopped to eat dinner before going to bed. We were met at the airport by Lindblad staff who happily ferried our luggage to the hotel and presented us with a rundown of the next morning’s activities: early morning wake-up, luggage outside the door 15 minutes later, and a buffet breakfast before dashing off to the airport for our flight to Baltra for embarkation. Galápagos images: Welcome to the Galápagos, marine iguana, Sally Lightfoot crab, blue-footed boobies, sea lions, sunset

After our short flight, we walked out of the back of the plane (or front, depending where you were seated), queued up for immigration and a bag check, then waited with snacks and shopping in the VIP lounge while the rest of the cruise-goers made their way through the lines. We then loaded into buses to the dock so we could put on life vests to ride the Zodiacs to the ship. Our luggage, tagged with our cabin numbers, would follow separately.

After a brief view of the cabin and introduction to our housekeeper for the week (Kelly), we mustered in the lounge for crew introductions and emergency procedures. Oh, and more snacks, then lunch in the dining room soon afterwards. Somewhere in there, I found time to unpack before our first wet landing of the week, where I followed our naturalist, Jason’s, example and walked barefoot for our mostly sandy nature walk.

After that, most of the week is a blur. I spent a restless first night on the boat arguing with something that didn’t agree with my stomach, missed a nature walk and the first snorkeling opportunity then next day, then rejoined the activities for a late afternoon walk. Over the next few days, we were taught about plants and wildlife in the Galápagos, with many up close and personal encounters. The basic guideline is to stay six feet away from the animals, which most people attempted to do. The animals, who are unfortunately illiterate, followed no such rule, which certainly made for better photos.

Most days followed a similar route: breakfast, morning excursion choices (usually splitting into shorter wildlife walks and longer, more scenic ones), lunch on the ship and an education talk (photography, geology, and Charles Darwin were among topics covered) while the ship moved to another location, afternoon excursion choices that frequently involved being in the water, then a daily recap and the next day’s plan before dinner. Among the options we tried were jumping off the back of the boat (into 65 degree water! BRRR!), stand-up paddle boarding, kayaking (not recommended right after paddle boarding, uses too many of the same muscles), and deep water snorkeling, in addition to many scenic walks across sand, lava, and uphill both ways in one case.

Over the course of the week, we ended up on at least one excursion with each naturalist. It didn’t really matter, they were all awesome, but they each brought a slightly different perspective and unique stories to the adventure. When we visited the Darwin Research Center and learned about Lonesome George, we happened to be with Socrates, a naturalist who has helped out at the center for years. The next day, we saw a giant centipede and heard from Christian how he was bitten by one as a child.

We spent a day in Santa Cruz, visiting the Darwin Research Center and shopping in Puerto Ayora before visiting the Tomás de Berlanga School, which is supported by the cruise line, while another group visited a coffee and sugar plantation. We reconvened at a local restaurant for a delicious lunch, then drove to a farm that lets Galápagos tortoises wander freely. As it turns out, they’re fond of guavas, which grow at the farm and are allowed to fall freely for the creatures. After a bit more shopping, we carefully avoided the sea lions wandering the docks and found our Zodiac back to the ship.

That was the second night we were delighted by live music on board. The night before was a performance by crew members, including the captain (making for a stellar line in La Bamba… “yo no soy marinero, soy capitán”). A local music group came on board with a dance group with assorted instruments, keeping us entertained – and dancing for some of it – for quite a while.

By the time we disembarked on Saturday morning, we were wiped out, yet sad to leave. We flew back to Guayaquil, where Cassandra and I ignored the city tour option in favor of the heated pool and a pair of coconuts with straws, followed by a stroll through the hotel in search of a chocolate shop. An early dinner followed, anticipating the 2:30am wake-up for our flights returning us to reality.