Thoughts on being a Mom and everything else
I had the good fortune of traveling to San Diego for work recently, including a sunset cruise on the Bella Luna. This is a case where I’ll let the pictures paint the words (though there are some in the ALT text, of course).
Our Alaska cruise involved a day at sea, three port days, and another two days at sea – including one passing through Glacier Bay National Park – before ending in Whittier, which is near Anchorage. Most of the movement between the ports was done at night, giving us a reasonable amount of daytime in each port for shore excursions if we wanted.
We wanted. In fact, we managed to schedule four excursions across the three ports, without having to feel like we were rushing from one thing to another. In each port, we had some time to explore the area (mostly shopping) near the ship, including finding lunch twice. The photos below are from our shore excursions, grouped by port: Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway.
Ultimate Saxman Experience: Cultural Showcase, Native Crafts & Culinary Tasting
Best of Juneau: Whale Watching, Mendenhall Glacier & Orca Point Lodge Meal (yes, we saw whales, but they don’t show up well on the photos I took)
Kitchen Science Alaska: Garden-to-Table Skagway and Musher’s Camp & Sled Dog Experience
I’ll let the photos do most of the work this week. One key thing to keep in mind about the Vancouver airport is that our flight was delayed by three hours, so we landed shortly after midnight in that time zone – 2am in our home time – on little sleep. Despite that, the airport was distinctive enough that we stopped repeatedly to admire it and take photos. On top of that, when we stumbled into the Pinnacle Hotel Harbourfront at wee hours of the morning, they moved us to a port view room with a stunning view.
Yes, we took photos in the Museum of Vancouver, but I feel most of those would require extensive explanations as to the lovely exhibits we visited. The plush are named Menta and Henrique (I’ve been told that the H is sometimes silent).
At the end of May, we took a cruise past a small part of Alaska on Holland America. This was our third cruise together, and only our second since the cruise that helped launch this blog. This ship is significantly larger than our last cruise was, with 11 levels and the capacity for almost 2,000 passengers. I’ll have follow-up posts about the amazing excursions we selected and the sights we saw.
If you plan a cruise, there are certainly budgeting items you need to consider. We live nowhere near Alaska, which meant in addition to the cruise price (per passenger) and taxes, we needed to account for flights into one airport (Vancouver, BC) and out of another (Anchorage). (I met a retired couple who realized it was cheaper to stay on the ship for the return journey instead of taking a longer flight home from Anchorage to southern California.)
We opted out of the Have-It-All package, which includes most beverages, Wi-Fi, and “crew appreciation”. Crew Appreciation refers to built-in tips, itemized on a daily basis, which is a nice way to account for the variety of cultures – and different tipping practices – that guests may be coming from. On this cruise, that was $17 per day per passenger, which can add up quickly, so it’s worth doing the calculations to see if the upgraded ticket is offset just by that. The shore excursions can add up pretty quickly too. We added a hotel room for a couple nights before the cruise, partially to offset the risk of flight delays (which turned out to be an excellent plan) and for the opportunity to briefly explore Vancouver.
The photos below are all of, on, or from the ship, showing off our tiny inside cabin, some highlights that stand out (like elevator rugs with the day of the week that get changed daily), and a lovely sunrise photo on the one day when I was up and moving for the 4am sunrise.
Last Friday, we attended C2E2 for the first time as volunteers for the Science Fiction Outreach Project, which gives away free books (mostly science fiction and fantasy) to promote literacy. Given limited time and the size of the exhibit hall, we took a focused approach of visiting just the Writers’ Block and Artist Alley (13 rows!), looking for people who may be interested in space in next year’s dealers hall at Capricon. We hit Chicago traffic coming & going, which is always not fun, though ultimately worth it for attending the event.
On Saturday, we drove a different direction, hosting MarindaCon at a forest preserve to celebrate our dearly departed friend. We gathered with assorted friends – including people who drove from Michigan and Wisconsin as day trips, and some who joined via Zoom – for geeky conversations and a delicious cake (as well as other food). It turned out to be a beautiful day, except for the occasional gust of wind that moved some food and drinks around.
And then, before the crack of dawn on Sunday, I drove through a rainstorm to the airport’s remote parking garage and flew to Washington, DC, for a work-related conference. I took the opportunity to meet up with my cousin and his partner for lunch and some wandering along the National Mall in what was at that point the hottest day of the year. (The next day may have been warmer, but I didn’t make it outside until a late dinner time.) The sheer quantity of food trucks selling ice cream was amazing.
Had I realized that my conference days were 10-11 hour days, I might have taken the time for a nap after our wanderings. As it happens, I’ll be spending the next couple of days trying to catch up on sleep.
If you don’t speak French (I don’t), today’s title refers to Montreal’s Convention Center. Having visited there recently for a work trip, I checked into my hotel room and looked out the window to see a brilliant array of colorful windows. I wondered what the building was – maybe a museum? – until I opened Pokemon Go and realized that’s where our convention was being held. I didn’t capture the evening photo, when the colored windows projected their colors onto the office building across the park, making it appear that the offices had colored lights.
In addition to the colored windows, there was a clear effort to include some unusual seating in the public areas. The exhibit hall and session rooms themselves were fairly standard for a convention center (and they need more bathrooms), but someone made a clear effort to include cozy seating. In addition to what’s pictured below, I noted one table with six swing chairs attached to it, and several other colors of the blue table set-up.
Have you seen a more memorable convention center?
I was traveling for work this week and have learned over the years that it’s useful to bring an element of home when staying in a hotel room, especially if it’s for more than one night. And while the hotel does allow pets, I doubted my cats would be enamored of flying or being stuck in a hotel room while I’m at a conference all day. I opted for other comforts instead.
For my hotel room, I packed a small teddy bear (named Kane) and a travel Wiccan altar. The miniature altar fits in an empty Altoids tin, and includes symbols for earth, air, fire, water, as well as man and woman, with the bonus of a cat. While the layout of the elements is directional, the cat goes wherever it wants. Both of those items are in my checked luggage, while a lotion bar and its tin – screw top, so it’s won’t randomly flip open in my bag – travel in my backpack. Airplanes, convention centers, and hotels all tend to be fairly dry.
In addition to these pictured items, I also have a travel nightlight and mini-humidifier for hotel rooms. I loathe stumbling to an unfamiliar bathroom in the middle of the night and having to turn on a garishly bright overhead light simply because I’m unfamiliar with the layout. The humidifier stayed home this time since the weather was warm; I find it more necessary when the heat is running.
And that’s how I almost make up for having to sleep without my cats.
You may have wondered why I was writing about trip planning. As it happens, we’ve recently returned from a two week trip to the United Kingdom. It was going to be a two week trip to England, but some friends in Wales said “you’ll be so close, come visit for a day”. And so we did.
One of the advantages of traveling in the United Kingdom is they have an extensive train network, so to bounce around between various cities, I booked train tickets. The disadvantage is that I now have three different apps on my phone for the tickets for each part of the journey; distinct parts of the country tend to be serviced by different companies. There’s some overlap, and when there are system problems – a bridge repair or signal cable theft cancelling your train – the notification lets you know which other companies will allow travel as you reroute.
The photo above is Headstone Manor, a manor house with a moat in North Harrow, in walking distance of my cousin’s house.
It goes without saying that we had a fabulous time. We started by visiting family in two different cities; of my seven remaining first cousins on that side, we were able to spend time with six of them. (The seventh is currently in Australia, so we didn’t get to see him.)
We then visited with friends in Southampton in southern England, where we visited a labyrinth on a hill, the “Round Table” (analysis of the wood dates it to the 1200s, almost 5 centuries after the first mention of King Arthur in literature), a wildlife preserve with a focus on otters, and Corfe Castle, which we reached on a steam engine train. Oh, and a Build-a-Bear shop that we didn’t make it to the last time we visited Southampton.
And then we were off to the trains again, heading to Birmingham for Conversation 2023. Similar to WorldCon, Eastercon rotates between diferent locations within the United Kingdom. I had last attended in 2000, when it coincided with a planned trip to Scotland. This was a delightful opportunity to meet a collection of online friends, and an even rarer opportunity to attend a convention that I wasn’t working at… no party, panels, or other responsibilities. As an added delight, next year’s WorldCon, which will be held in Glasgow, hosted a cèilidh.
As the convention drew to a close, train cancellations (due to the aforementioned signal cable theft!) made for an interesting travel day as we made our way to Wales, where we disembarked from one train and headed to a smaller local station to take a scenic ride through the Welsh countryside on another. The scenic ride was optional and quite worth the time.
We ended our stay in Manchester, meeting my Dorkstock UK counterpart (Dorkstock UK was held a couple consecutive years in the early 2000s) after more than twenty years of friendship. Not surprisingly, we met up at a game store.
As I reflect on the trip and all the planning that went into it, it amazes me that my father used to organize visits like this, with a day here and a day there staying with different friends and family, using only snail mail and telephones.
There are many things to take into consideration when planning a trip. I typically start with where we want to go, why, and how we’re getting there. There’s a significant difference between planning a trip to tourist sites versus visiting family and friends (especially if you’re visiting for a specific event), though there may be some opportunity for overlap.
Back in 2013, we did a big road trip (12 days) targeting national parks and monuments within the United States. Except for our stop near Mount Rushmore, we only stayed a single night in each location, mostly at KOA campsites. On our trip to Florida last year, we stayed two nights near the Everglades, three nights in Miami Beach, and just one night everywhere else, almost constantly moving as we progressed from Key West to Orlando. In contrast, on our last visits to Oregon and Guatemala, we stayed in the same place the entire time because the purpose of those trips was to visit with family in one area.
Three of the four trips I mentioned involved flying to get there, and two of those involved renting a car to get around. When travelling by car – either at a destination or on a road trip – consider whether you need to print directions ahead of time. I know that sounds archaic, but in 2013, there were cell phone dead zones in some areas we travelled (Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon, for example), and even our GPS had trouble connecting. In other areas, we’re happy to rely on local transportation options, such as our 2018 trip to Philadelphia.
Once you arrive at your destination, where do you plan on staying? You can pick a hotel or bed & breakfast based on the activities you’d like to explore in the area, such as staying in the heart of Key West or a hotel in Florida City for proximity to the Everglades. In each of those cases, I wanted to minimize any extra driving where possible, knowing that parking is at a premium in Key West, and Florida City has the closest hotels to the Everglades.
When your trip is longer, like ours was last year, you may want to consider laundry options as part of your planning. Our three-night stay in Miami Beach was the ideal time for doing laundry, though a bit annoying because the minimum laundry card purchase was more than we needed. (I ended up handing off the laundry card to another visitor who was a dryer load short on his card.)
These are just a few of things I take into consideration when planning a trip.