Come with us as we travel the world! See where you can go!

Posts tagged ‘adventure’

Erin & Bobby 2026 Part 3

Long Island, NY

On Saturday, we head for the airport in the late morning for a 3 PM flight home. Storms have set in and it is difficult to see the road in front of us!

We get the info on the way to the airport that our flight has been delayed 36 minutes. That’s okay, we’ll have more time for a bite to eat in the airport and our connection in Atlanta is several hours so that won’t cause any problems. We turn in the rental car and shuttle to the airport. Upon walking into La Guardia and finding a Departures Board, we see our flight has been cancelled.

Hmm, what to do now? We see huge lines at all the help counters but as we’re walking, we see a Priority Help Desk with no one in line. So we walk up, expecting them to tell us they can’t help us as we are not Priority. But they DO help us! They tell us there are no flights to LAX from La Guardia today, but there IS a direct flight out of JFK! They book us on an 8:20 PM flight but tell us we have to get our seat assignments there. So we get a cab to JFK. The weather is horrid. What should be a 20 minute cross town ride turns into 90 minutes. But we get there and check in just in time to see a rainbow!

We get a meal as we have plenty of time now. It is barely 3PM and our flight is at 8:20PM. We can’t get our seat assignments until an hour before the flight but, at least, we have a flight. We check the Boards and see that there are 5PM, 6PM and 8:20PM flights to LAX. The 5PM is marked ‘CANCELLED’. An hour later the 6PM is CANCELLED. I wipe my brow. The 8:20PM is still marked, ‘ON-TIME’. It is now 7:00PM and the Boards say our flight is Delayed until 10:45PM. This is getting worrisome. 8:00PM and the flight is Delayed to 12:30AM.

10:00PM and the flight is again Delayed to 2:00AM. 11:00PM and the flight is CANCELLED. The Help Desk line is about 200 people long. We are about to check off a Bucket List item no rational person wants to check off. SLEEP IN AN AIRPORT. The cheapest hotel room in the area exceeds $1000 per night. Elee stands in the Help Line. I go in search of a place to lay our heads. If you are going to spend the night in an airport, make sure it’s JFK. It seems that every Gate had 6-10 “Lounge” Seats where you can’t really sleep but you can lay back and close your eyes!

I walk almost a mile through plus or minus 25 Gates before I find two Lounge Seats together. I put our stuff on one seat and lay back in the other.

We catnap through the night restlessly. One cannot actually fall asleep in these seats for very long. When morning finally comes, Elee heads back to the Customer Service queue to find the line horendously long. They had given her a number and rang her phone to inform her it was her time. But it turns out they had opened the queue to everybody with disregard for their number system. Needless to say, the frustration levels were off the charts! They finally tell us they can’t fly us home until Tuesday due to lack of pilots! It is Sunday now!

So we decide to leave the airport and travel via train to Chicago which costs us the price of a New York Hotel for one night. We take a train across NYC to Jamaica Plains where we change to a train to Penn Station and then another train to Newark, NJ Penn Station. It is the day of the Final World Cup Game which is happening in Newark, so the atmosphere is exciting with fans from both Argentina and Spain dressed in their favorite Teams garb and singing and chanting anthems! That is, at the least, some consolation from the frustration!

From there we board an Amtrak to Chicago via Washington, DC. Thanks to modern technology, I manage to stream the World Cup Game to my laptop and we watch the Game on the train! We spend the next night sleeping on the train between DC and Chicago! Slightly more comfortable than the airport but barely. We are traveling through Amish Country as evidenced by some of the people on and off the trains!

By the time we reach Chicago, we have booked a hotel room for a reasonable $160. We ride one more train from Chicago’s Grand Central to O’Hare International Airport where we get a free shuttle to the hotel. We do have time along the way for a famous Chicago Deep Dish Pizza! I even come across the opportunity to photograph my usual pair of lovers! (As those who know me, understand!) We have a promise of a flight home on Tuesday (the same as offered from NYC but without the $1000+ per night for hotels in NYC) I don’t know if this is the most comfortable bed I have ever slept in but after 2 nights in airports and trains, it sure is nice!

The flight from Chicago is on time and stress free. Our hotel was directly under the Chicago landing path, yet the room was quiet! We arrive in LAX on time and get a shuttle to our parking garage where we get in our car and drive home. What a trip! Upon landing in LAX, we even spot an unmarked 747 which is very unusual!

See you all for our next adventure!

Erin & Bobby 2026 Part 1

Long Island, NY

We get on a plane in LAX for a simple trip to New York to see our niece get married on Long Island. Changing planes in Minneapolis is uneventful. I order a can of wine on the plane, LOL.

A few shots out of the planes window as we come into La Guardia Airport. If you know what it looks like, you can recognize Lower Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge as we land.

We land at midnight so we stay in a non descript but comfortable hotel for the night. We arise and have a bite to eat before heading out across Long Island to the area known as “The Hamptons” where the wedding will take place. We drive all the way to the end of Long Island to Orient Beach State Park. It is interesting that Elee grew up on Long Island but never visited here!

We stop at Borghese (pronounced bore-gay-zee) Vineyards for a wine tasting. They have some very good wine and I inquire about shipping charges to have some sent to me. They tell me they don’t ship to California, only Florida. This is strange because I thought you either ship product or you don’t. Oh well money saved by me and money lost by them.

We meet up with my BiL and his Fiance for dinner in the town we are staying in, Jamesport, NY. While we are eating, a local fire department parade goes in front of the restaurant! How fun is that? Fire departments from all over Long Island participate!

We walk back to our hotel for the night.

Venice to Turkey 21

Day 21, Gallipoli, May 24

Breakfast and on the bus at 7:30 AM. Ground is wet so it must have rained last night. My favorite kind of rain, at night that you never see!

Beshiktash soccer team in Istanbul is our driver’s favorite Team and he has a model bus on the dashboard. We are in the city of Canakkale (pronounced kaan-a-kaal-E).

Our bus drives onto a ferry that will take us to the Gallipoli Peninsula, an Intercontinental ride. We have been in Asia and we are going back to Europe. We first learned about Gallipoli on our RTW 2020 in Wellington, New Zealand. It was a WWI battle to control the entrance to the Black Sea. We will now learn the Turkish version. Some interesting shots from the ferry ride.

The cemetery of Anzac is very moving with the engraving on the stones. We also visit ‘Toren Alani’, a more rustic cemetery where the headstones are just rounded and not carved.

Chunkbair area with monuments is also moving. Found two more Phillips on memorials. Found several on the one before.

Ataturk’un Gozetleme Yeri is a famous overlook that gave sightings to attacking forces.

Canakkale Bridge is about 3 miles long. Longest suspension bridge in the world. Connects Europe to Asia. Named 1915 Çanakkale Bridge in memory of the victory of Gallipoli for $30 B.

We drive on through Gelibolu Guney and Malkara where we even spot what appears to be a bride and groom heading off on their honeymoon!

Lunch is again at a roadside cafe. We walk in to see workers preparing foods just inside the doors. We have eggplant and meat dishes along with some spinach stuffed bread. As we sit down with our food, a fairly strong thunderstorm hits and we watch torrential rain soak everything outside. But by the time lunch is over, the storm has abated.

Back on the bus, we travel the last two hours to Istanbul. As we enter the city, we drive under an ancient aqueduct. No more explorations for us today. We arrive in Istanbul around 4:30 PM and debark the bus with everyone else. This tour is over. Oz does make sure we all have rides to our chosen hotels on a smaller coach.

This coach takes us to our hotels pair by pair with our travel friends. Yes, many of them are now friends, some of whom we will stay in touch with via social media and some via WhatsApp!

The coach comes to a point and stops. We are told it is only 4-5 blocks to our hotels. But which way and where? Luckily, the bus guide says he will take us. There are eight of us, six to one hotel and Elee and I to another. At one point, Elee and I are told to “wait here”, and we do. The guide takes the six downhill to their hotel and Elee and I wait for him in a place where we question where we are.

But, true to his word, he comes back for us and helps us find our hotel. Good thing he does as it turns out our hotel is in the back of a coffee shop. We would have never found it on our own.

We tip him and check in to the hotel. We are shown to the room and are disappointed. The bed, for example, has about 6-8 inches on each side to get into the bed. This will not do. We complain and are given a different room that is much more spacious. No windows, no air conditioning, but we take it. TV doesn’t work, but oh well, we’ll tough it out.

We relax for a bit, upload photos to a computer and head out in search of dinner. It turns out we are in Old Town and near the top of the hill. We can see the Tower from the front of our hotel and it’s only 50-75 meters away! It’s the tower we saw when we were here 8 days ago and didn’t get a chance to visit.

We walk up to the tower and the narrow tiny streets are filled with shops and restaurants. We look around and find a restaurant that serves lamb and get seats in the streetside tables so we can people watch. We have roast lamb and wine and enjoy the ambiance.

After dinner, we walk around the streets and shops watching the light of day wane and the lights of the city come on. We hear a lot of commotion in one area and it turns out there is a protest going on!

We come across a five story restaurant that has rooftop seating and we go up. We are lucky enough to find there is a fantastic view of the Tower from where we sit. So a glass of wine later, we wander back down to our hotel.

See you all tomorrow!

Venice to Turkey 18

Day 18, Pamukkale, May 21

We arise early and have breakfast and get on the bus by 6:30 AM. It’s a long drive today to Pamukkale (pronounced paam-oo-kaal-ey. Thank goodness for professional bus drivers. It’s raining and miserable for most of our morning ride. There are a few fun views out of the bus windows!

The weather clears and we stop at a unique mosque, Sultanhani Belediyesi, with living quarters that we can visit. The marble walls and carvings are immense and beautiful! Rug collections on display are everything from pristine to ragged and torn.

Several different rooms with signs describing them in English. Very helpful. Who knew that a ‘harem’ was a room in which to sleep and pray? Or that a ‘living room’ was a Council Chamber? ‘Bread’ is a scent? A ‘bath’ serves a Social Function? Very interesting philosophies!

A cafe outside the mosque depicts the ‘Fairy Castles’ sells potato chips that you recognize but read the packaging.

Back on the bus for another few hours. The weather is clearer and we pass through attractive countryside. We stop for lunch for one hour and get back on the road. The steps down to the restrooms are quite interesting.

An hour later we come to a stop again. This time it is for a crane on the road ahead removing the wreckage of a two truck crash. We are backed up for most of an hour and we get out of the bus and stretch our legs. We are near the front of the traffic and we watch the crane do its work. As we get underway again, we see that one of the accident vehicles caught fire and burned.

So I don’t know what time we were scheduled to arrive but we can add an hour to that. There is something magical about stormy skies where the sun shines through occasionally! We stop for the mandatory driver’s rest in Dinar for 45 minutes. We have 90 minutes left to ride. So we have been on the bus from 6:30 AM to 5:30 PM with only a few stops and one traffic delay. We will stay in Pamukkale tonight.

Goat farmers herd their flock along the roads. We drive through Karai and limestone deposits.

We next visit these thermal limestone and travertine pools in Hierapolis. They are fed by 35C (95F) mineral rich springs! It is about a half mile hike in to the pools. We even get to wade into them without our socks and shoes. The water is warm and we have to be careful for it is slippery.

Elee is feeling somewhat more adventurous and wants to wade into the deeper pools in the distance. I opt to get out and walk on the boardwalk above them. It starts to rain and Elee comes back out but not before getting soaked.

We try to take shelter under the trees above the boardwalk but we are not very successful. The rain lasts about a half hour and we are drenched by the time it stops.

The rain has lent a mystical aura to the sky and the light and our cameras love it! This is truly a miraculous place in the world! The rain stops and we walk the half mile to the bus, a few pounds heavier with water!

After visiting this UNESCO site, we drive a short distance to the Adampira Spa Hotel where we will spend the night. Dinner is a huge buffet with some very good food and, as always, fabulous soup!

We retire to our room and get chargers plugged in. Showers will happen tonight to save sleep time in the morning. After being up early the last two days, we will get to sleep in to the late hour of 6 AM!

Venice to Turkey 15

Day 15, Leave the Ship, May 18

This morning we pack the last items our bags and go to the buffet for breakfast. We have our last decadent morning meal and visit with an Aussie couple from Sydney that we have met several times on the ship. We forgot their names (shame on us) but I will refer to him as the “Arrive Alive” guy. If he reads this, he will know! I grab a couple shots of a mosque right off the side of the ship.

Then it’s to our room to collect our bags and head off the ship. We have elected to handle our own luggage as it is faster. We hire a cab and go to a hotel to be picked up for our next tour. We have to wait in their lobby for a couple hours. It turns out we probably could have walked to this hotel as the ship is right in sight of the hotel.

We are picked up by a black van at 11:30 AM, right on time. The van picks up 6 more people and then brings us to a large tour bus. There are a total of 20 people on our tour. So we will have plenty of room on the bus, being a standard 47 seat bus.

Our tour guide, Oz, is personal and well spoken. Our driver is Akmed. Istanbul officially has 16.5 million people but it is estimated there are 3 million more, undocumented. Gee, where else does that happen? We are headed for Ankara today, the origin of Angora Wool from special goats.

All the flags around Istanbul are in preparation for the celebration of the beginning of the country on May 19, 1919.

Noon in Turkey is not considered 12:00, but instead is when the sun is highest in the sky.

We go across the first bridge to connect continents built in 1973. In a short while, we go through the modern section of Istanbul with modern architecture and a mosque or two thrown in!

Huge flags hang from the walls, some with the image of the president. About 30%of the country likes him.

We stop for lunch at a highway roadside restaurant area. We don’t know the names of what we eat, but I have an eggplant and pepper dish and a bowl of spicy lentil soup.

We head out again and drive 4 hours. Then we stop for 45 minutes as per Turkish law. The law states that tour bus drivers have to take a 45 minute break after driving 4 hours. It also states that drivers cannot drive more than 6 days in a row and then have to take a day off! Then we drive for about two hours to our hotel where we will have dinner.

Not many photos today as the drive is interesting but not overly spectacular. Fun sunset as we come into Ankara!

5.7 million people live in Ankara. Not as many as Istanbul, but still enough to cause traffic jams. We arrive at our hotel, the Meyra Palace Hotel. It sure is palatial! Everything down to the furniture and room lights are shiny and ornate. Crown molding is ornately decorated.

Dinner in the hotel dining room is tasty yet unspectacular. We didn’t recall that meals are a part of the tour. At least it is money not spent! Food we could have at home. Chicken was dry. Salad was undressed. Oh well, can’t have it all. We settle in the room looking forward to tomorrow.