Hot Garbage!

 

Seriously, everywhere you went...Hot Garbage!

 

The Apple store on 5th Avenue is open 24/7.  It's underground and about 5 times the size of the store in Bellevue Square Mall.  If it had been an Android store, I might have been interested, but as the only Apple product I own is a 7 year old iPod, I was not even mildly interested.  I must have been the only one not interested, the store was hopping, even at 11 pm on a Sunday night.

 

CBS This Morning did a great piece on Matt.  And the interview wasn't half bad either.  It was fun to spend 30 minutes in a TV studio and see what happens.

 

We then went to Chelsea to take a peak at the stalkers outside Katie and Suri's new place, which, I realize, made us stalkers as well, but we were just so curious.  The whole scenario is so completely removed from our reality, I just wanted to see it for myself.

Pasadena, CA

In February and in accordance with my New Year's Resolution, I visited a place I'd never been before:  Pasadena, California.  Tara and I took the kiddos to a children's museum.  They had tons of fun (aren't they adorable?).

And they climbed this huge cool stair thing.  It looks like a staircase Dr. Who would have in the TARDIS.  And we all know the TARDIS (and bowties, fezes and Stetsons) is cool.

I really liked what I saw of Pasadena.  Lots of green grass and trees and large homes.  

For the record:  I also went to Vegas and to several casinos I'd never been to before and to parts of Las Vegas I'd never been to as well.

Travel Tip Tuesday nº 2

Travel Tip # 2 - Make Use of Alternate Airports.  

Let's say you need to get to Toulon, France.  Why?  Perhaps you've got to meet up with some circus folk there.  You can fly into Paris and catch a train to Toulon, but say you don't have a lot of time and don't want to have to switch airports in Paris in order to fly to Toulon.  I know, why would you?  That can take up a lot of time.  Picking up your luggage from baggage claim in CDG, standing in line at customs, getting on a bus to ORY, rechecking your luggage, etc.  Also, many smaller airports only have one or 2 flights in and out per day which can put a crimp in your travel plans or leave you stranded at an airport for more hours than you'd like (as if you'd like to be stranded at an airport at all).


There may be a better and quicker way to get to your destination by using alternate airports.  So instead of flying into CDG and transferring to ORY to catch one of the two flights to Toulon, you can fly into Marseille or Nice (both of which have over 20 flights arriving per day).  And from Marseille or Nice you can catch a train to Toulon. 

The benefits of this?  

• You skip the airport transfer in Paris
• You skip the long customs lines in Paris
• You skip the pick up and recheck of luggage
• You skip a lot of waiting in lines
• You get to ride the train along the French Riviera
• You might possibly save yourself a bit of time and possibly a bit of money

This only works in highly populated areas where there are a lot of airports.  Like Europe.  Or the Eastern US.  Why?  Because you need a robust transit system or shuttle system.  Because the last thing you want to do is rent a car from one airport and return to a different location - that cost would be prohibitive (unless, of course, you will be returning the car to the same airport).


How do you know what airports are close to the small airport/town you're going to?  Check out a map of where you're going or, if you're using ITA Matrix, you can check the Nearby box and see other airports from 50 to 300 miles away.   And when looking for cheaper/alternative flights in Europe, it's helpful to check out RyanAir and EasyJet to see what they offer.  


Riding trains in Europe or shuttles in the Eastern US are much easier than you think.  Don't be afraid to venture out of your comfort zone.  You might save a substantial bit of money and you'll get to see a bit of countryside.  


Airport pictured is LGB (Long Beach) which I can fly into and out of from Seattle for a relatively inexpensive cost.  Not only that, when I fly into and out of LAX, I need to be at the airport 3 hours in advance (even flying domestically) if I'm departing first thing in the morning, just to make it through security.  And when I arrive at LAX, my luggage takes about 30 minutes to get to me.  However, at LGB I can arrive as little as an hour early, sky cap my luggage for $2 and make it through security in less than 10 minutes.  Flying into and out of LGB only makes sense for me if I'm being picked up by my niece who lives in the area or I'm renting a car because public transit is not fantastic from LGB.  

Travel Tip Tuesday

We're beginning a new feature here at andMondays...Travel Tips.  In my capacity as an assistant and a travel scheduler for the past 7 years, I've become the go to person for my friends when they have travel questions.  So I'll be sharing at least one travel tip per week...maybe you'll find something useful.

Travel Tip # 1 - Make international calls using Google Voice.  


I'm a bit of an over-confirmer.  When I make a plan, I like to know that everything that I've planned is going to happen as planned.  Especially when I'm scheduling travel for someone else.  And when I'm scheduling travel for Matt those plans often include international travel.  When I book a last minute airport pick up for him, I like to book that via telephone in lieu of email (which is my normal method).  International calls via cell phone can be very costly.  With Google Voice you can place international calls either with the app on your cell phone or via computer for pennies per minute.   





A few nights ago I phoned a hotel in Cairo to arrange for a "meet & assist" where someone from the hotel will meet the hotel guest at the airport, help them get their visa, luggage, expedite them through customs and then give them a ride to the hotel.  Since Matt was arriving at 2 in the morning (what is it with flights in the  Middle East leaving or arriving from 1 am to 4 am?) I decided that anything that would get him through the customs process quickly would be very welcome.  13¢ per minute is what the call cost me with Google Voice (total of 65¢).  The same call would have cost me $2.69 per minute with my cell phone plan (for a total of $13.45).  Hooray for Google Voice!


Also, when you are traveling internationally you can make calls back home for free by using Google Voice on your computer as long as you're connected to the Internet.  Who doesn't like free and inexpensive?  I know a lot of people use Skype with a lot of success...I've never used it.  With Google Talk, Google Voice and my T-Mobile plan I've never seen the need to sign up for another service.

Bally Table King

First of all, I am no Bally Table King.  Though I really like pinball I'm mostly terrible at it.  Secondly, this is one sorry looking hall of fame don't you think?

Truth is, though, if you're the type of person that wants to go to a pinball hall of fame it really doesn't matter much what the outside of it looks like, you're going to go in.  And go in I did, during a recent visit to Las Vegas.  

There are rows and rows of pinball machines.  Some dating from as early as 1948...those are very difficult to play.  The flippers are awkward and not super functional.  I can see how they made so much money from the machines because it would take you two weeks of playing the thing every day to even figure out how to play it.  I was completely miserable at it, I barely scored any points.  But it was still fun.

In addition to pinball machines from all eras they have arcade games from the early 80s.  Centipede and Ms. Pac-Man are my favorites.  I really wouldn't mind having the actual arcade games one day.  They'd go really well with the Slurpee machine I'm eventually going to get.  I got an hour's worth of game play for $3.50.  Not a bad deal.  I'd love to go there with my nephews...all of them.  That would be SO much fun!  

It was nice to have some games I would actually play in Vegas.  If you're in Vegas I think you should check it out.  It's not far from the Strip.  

Lemon Rind - A Study

I played around with a camera app on my phone tonight.

Dinner and dessert were both not good, so I had to find something to do because I definitely wasn't going to eat.

I don't remember what most of the effects are called.

This one is called Andy or Warhol or something intimating Andy Warhol.

This one is my favorite of them all.  The app is called Paper Camera.
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New Year's Resolutions

Last year my New Year's resolution was to visit every attraction at Disneyland.  And I accomplished that.  There was only one attraction I was never able to visit because it was never open when I was there and that was Davy Crockett's canoes.  I realize now I should have been posting about my Disney adventures so that I would remember them better.  I'll try to post about Disneyland off and on this year and offer tips to those of you visiting.

This year's New Year's resolution is to visit a new place every month.  And by place I mean city or town that I've never been to.  I don't have any big trips planned this year - the goal is to see some more of Washington and maybe even Portland.  I'll keep you posted.

Peanut butter is a liquid.

I offered to take things to Spain for my friends Paco & Star as well as for a woman in my ward whose son is serving in the Barcelona Mission.  And since we'd be meeting up with Matt at his Barcelona dance event, I offered to bring some books for him to sell at the event.  All of this resulted in about 65 pounds that Lynda and I split up between our checked luggage.  I decided to put the heaviest box in my carry-on. 


The security process was an ordeal as the line I chose had a man barely ambulatory man going through security with 7 trays of belongings and his tiny dog.  The person in front of me went around the man just as he was grabbing his dog from its carrier.  This move must have startled him a bit as he almost fell over as she breezed past him.


The people behind me were grunting and shuffling around impatiently in a non-verbal attempt to get me to jump the queue as well so they could do the same and get on with rushing to get a seat in the boarding area.  I couldn't bring myself to do it for several reasons:  I felt bad for the guy...here he was, in sweat pants and shirt, barefoot, dog in arms, hobbling his way to the scanner.  I wanted him to preserve a little dignity.  2.  I'm a klutz.  I'd probably knock him (and his little dog too) to the floor by nicking him with the corner of my heavy carry-on.  3.  It didn't seem like the right thing to do.  I think Grandma Ev would have been disappointed if I couldn't be patient for 3 minutes. So I waited.


On the other side (after I was body scanned), as I was waiting for my trays to appear and Little Dog Man was collecting his overabundance, I heard someone announce:  Someone forgot to remove their liquids!  "Oh," I thought, "they found where I put my tiny one ounce tube of sunscreen I tossed in my personal bag at the last minute and couldn't find it to have it scanned separately."  But when the TSA agent came towards me it was my carry-on she was carrying, not my personal item.  As she disassembled the contents (with minimal disruption, thank you packing cubes!) she opened the shoe box containing the heavy items for the missionary and said:  that's what it was! 


Peanut butter, when packaged alone in its plastic jar and protective plastic wrap, is a liquid and had to be abandoned at security.  However, when enveloped in chocolate and transported in a pliable plastic bag, peanut butter suddenly becomes a solid...as is evidenced by the Reese's peanut butter cups Lynda was allowed to pass through security without so much as a batted eye.


Behold the power of chocolate and pliable plastic!

Dust Bowl

I'd always thought Kansas/Missouri was part of the Dust Bowl. Turns out that West Kansas is, but East Kansas and Missouri are very much NOT dust bowl-y.

The biggest surprise I had when I arrived was exactly how GREEN it all is.

Not dusty at all.

These are all in Northwestern Missouri, Adam-ondi-Ahman to be precise. I walked around here for several hours. I had the place mostly to myself. I ran into three other people on my way out. It is basically the middle of nowhere. I didn't hear any traffic, there was virtually no cell signal. There were birds singing and crickets flying. I imagine things pick up during the week what with tours and the farming (most of the land is a working farm). But last week, it was pretty peaceful. I enjoyed it very much.