The Best Airline Ever Award Goes To....

QATAR AIRWAYS! Seriously, everyone should fly Qatar Airways at least once, just to experience the luxury of the long layover. When Julie and I booked our flights to Bangkok, we were seriously dreading the 11 hour stopover in Doha, Qatar on the way there and the 13 hour stopover on the way back. We were wrong to think that it would be terrible - in fact, it was kind of nice.

The airline provided us with meals, visa fees, hotels and transport to and from the hotels and airport. It was so easy. Upon arrival in Doha, we went to the layover desk, where we received our vouchers, popped through immigration, immediately were met by our transport driver and were whisked off to the hotel for our meals and room. Our layover on the way back was from noon to 1am, but they still hooked us up in one of the "Leading Hotels of the World". Best accommodations we had for the trip, besides maybe the resort we stayed in at the wedding beach. We got to tour around Doha, where Julie and Scott will be living next year, during the day and took glorious naps before boarding our flight back to Casa.

Normally, I check out cheap fares on Expedia or Kayak when planning travel, but I'm now finding myself looking into Qatar Airways first- because it rocks and makes plane travel so much easier. You should check it out, too! They have flights all over the world.

Hot Manse Post for Brooke

What girl doesn't want to be a princess living in a fairy tale castle? While is Lisbon, we had the opportunity to travel out to visit the Palacio de Pena, a beautiful castle in Sintra, Portugal. If you're ever in Lisbon, you should definitely check it out.

My dear friend Brooke loves to post about hot mansions all over the world. (Check out her blog by following the link on the side of the page.) This trip to Sintra totally reminded me of her hot manse posts. Who doesn't love a palace on a hill?

Even better - you get to feel like a real princess, climbing towers and peeping over the turrets. Here's Mom and I taking in a gorgeous view. I was looking out for my Prince Charming, but alas, there were no white horses to be seen.

The Palacio de Pena was originally built by Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, husband of Queen Maria II in the 1840s and was the home of the royal family until 1910, when they fleed from Portugal. The palace was left as it was when they lived there, so the inside is lavishly decorated as only historical palaces can be. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take photos inside, but we did get plenty of photos of the beautiful outside of the palace.

Check out this kickass archway. The dude on top of it is some kind of sea creature guarding the castle. He doesn't look very comfortable, or happy.

Here's a picture of one of the outdoor courtyards with spectacular views of land and sea. Sintra is a beautifully wooded area with lavish estates, castles, palaces and a view of the ocean. I'd live there, I guess. :)

This little tower totally made me feel like Rapunzel and the view was spectacular. If I lived here, I would totally put a comfy chair right in the middle of the tower and use it as a reading corner/book nook.

Germany or Washington?

I love the city of Leavenworth, Washington. What I love most about Leavenworth is that it has a theme. In the 1960s, the whole town got together and decided to band together to make their town into an alpine Bavarian Village to attract tourists.

Check out the 76 gas station sign - true Bavarian style.
Even the McDo in Leavenworth is Bavarian themed - how cute is that building?!? Doesn't exactly scream dollar cheeseburgers, but it fits with the rest of the town.
Of course, you can't totally change the golden arches, because otherwise people wouldn't be able to find it. Just put a pretty backdrop behind those classic arches and you'll get a Bavarian McDo.

BTW, if you ever get a chance to drop by Leavenworth, stay at the awesome campgrounds at nearby Icicle Creek and don't miss out on Tube Leavenworth!

Nanoose Bay

What better way to spend a weekend in North America than to take a trip up to Vancouver Island in Canada to kick it with some dear old friends from back in the day when I went to ISE. It's been 10 years so we definitely had to celebrate seeing each other again.

We were so fortunate to get to stay at Bob and Jill's pad on Nanoose Bay, where we couldn't have possibly run out of fun things to do. Check out the beautiful view from the upstairs deck. We spent a great deal of time hanging out in the hot tub staring out over the ocean and reminiscing about the olden days.



Some people were actually crazy enough to jump into the frigid water and swim around. I held back from jumping in but did eventually take an air matress for a spin around the bay.

Kevin and Janet brought supplies for the best nighttime outdoor activity ever - making s'mores.

We wanted to have some yummy jello shots, but couldn't find any little cups with them. So, we made this bowl of jello and took jello spoonfuls instead. Delicious morning treats!

We also managed to leave the beautiful house to explore various spots on the island. Our trip to the old cedar forest was short, but we managed to take some awesome pictures and climb around like monkeys.

The Vancouver Island trip had all the elements of a kickass high school reunion: good friends, awesome setting, fun activities and lots of laughs & memories. I think an 11 year reunion might just be in order for next summer. :)

Luxury Camping on Kili

Accommodations on Kilimanjaro vary depending on which route and company you choose. On the Marangu Route (often called the "Coca Cola Route" because of its touristy nature and the availability of soda and beer along the way), you stay in huts along the way to the top. We took the Marangu route down and saw the luxurious accommodations and bathroom facilities that were available.


On our Rongai route, we tent camped the whole way. Even while hiking down the Marangu route, we still had our tents pitched right next to the huts.

Can't complain though - check out our extraordinary view over a sea of clouds. Also, it's not like we pitched the tents ourselves.
Each day, when we got into camp, we had porters grabbing our daypacks and showing us to our already set up tents, complete with luggage and bed rolls. The next morning, while we were having breakfast, the porters were working to get our camp all packed up and moving towards the next spot.

Yup - camping on Kili was a pretty sweet experience. It was quite luxurious seeing as our only jobs were to hike, eat, sleep, and enjoy ourselves and the beautiful scenery around us. We may not have had huts and showers, but it was probably the best service I've ever gotten on any vacation.

ROBBED!

I had a blast in Barcelona with my 3 favorite people to get robbed with - Julie, Krista, and Scott. We were really careful about not getting pickpocketed, but the apartment we rented ended up getting robbed. After a delightful shopping expedition, Julie and Krista came back to an apartment that was kind of a mess and missing valuable items. Scott and I were sipping sangria on the beach when we got the call. After finishing off the pitcher, we headed back to survey the damage. There were no signs of forced entry and the door wouldn't open without a key, so we're pretty sure it was just a giant scam.

We called the police and I was able to use my Spanish skills to get them to the apartment to investigate and then finish filing the report the next morning at the police station. They pretty much told us there's no way we'll get anything back, but it didn't feel right to not report it. Because of our morning flight time, we ended up at the police station by 7:30 a.m. Can't think of a better way to spend our last morning in Barcelona! Julie was ecstatic about it.

Lessons Learned About Barcelona Robbers

1. Timing is everything. - We were scheduled to check out of our apartment pretty early Monday morning, so of course we got robbed Sunday afternoon. When we called the guy we rented the apartment from (Francisco), he informed us that the police station is closed on Sundays and that he'd help us get in contact with them when he came to check us out in the morning. He showed up to check us out 20 minutes late - I don't think he was planning on actually helping us report a robbery. Also, the cops who came to survey the place on Sunday night informed us that the police station is open 24 hours a day, every day. Luckily, we didn't believe Francisco and were able to call the cops without his help.

2. Thieves like new clothes! - Krista bought a blouse that was a great fit for a decent price at H&M the day before we were robbed. Apparently, it was a perfect fit for our thief - the bag with blouse and receipt was taken. On second thought, maybe they just returned it and made some extra Euros.

3. Thieves search for valuables everywhere. - Through clothes, in wallets, makeup bags or tampon bags, even in Bibles - just in case you use your Bible as a wallet. Everything in the apartment that belonged to us was rifled through.

4. Thieves don't have time to distinguish between valuable and worthless. - This is why Krista and I ended up missing Moroccan dirhams. If the thief isn't planning a trip to Morocco any time soon, there is absolutely no reason for her/him to have taken my awesome change purse full of dirham coins and the dirham notes in Krista's wallet. The Moroccan dirham is not an exportable currency and is not easily exchanged. Maybe I'll see our thief walking around the medina trying to figure out what to spend that money on.
All in all, no one got hurt and none of us are going to starve. We just all learned that we need to be more careful and less trusting when we travel. It was pretty easy to get careless about certain things, due to the sheer amount of travelling that we've been doing lately. This was a good wake up call - now I know to always ask for a safe, no matter how secure the lodging seems. It also reminded me how nice it is to travel with people who are flexible and will still genuinely smile for a picture taken at a police station early in the morning. Can't beat that!

Ladies Weekend

Ghislaine, Julie, Krista, and I had a blast in Agadir on our ladies weekend getaway. We left right after school for the airport and after our 40 minute flight, arrived in Agadir in time for dinner.

Day 3 was pretty foggy out, but it was warm. We took a cab up to the kasbah to check out this beautiful view of the city. I love the way the beach curves around - too bad we couldn't capture its full glory.

Life is good. When this is the gorgeous view from your balcony, there is absolutely nothing to complain about.

Hanging out by this pool really wasn't so bad, either. :) We had such a difficult time with decisions on Saturday - beach or pool? Good thing we had enough time to do both!

Interior Decorating

The day after I arrived in Paris, Em, Kris, and I decided to hop on the train for 20 minutes and head out to Versailles. We stood in line for almost an hour, but finally bought our tickets and threw on our trusty audio guides. As we walked through the huge palace, I couldn't help but be in awe of the lavish decor. I tried picturing myself walking into my bedroom and seeing this....

Then I imagined walking into Lowe's or Home Depot and falling in love with this design. I sure hope the Queen of France loved it, because it kind of makes me cringe.

Another fabulous wallpaper design covered the walls of the Abundance Salon (not quite sure what an Abundance Salon is, but it sounds fabulous). This incredible design also had a nice fuzzy texture.

King Louis-Philippe commissioned this bed to be made in the nineteenth century - it looks ridiculously uncomfortable in my opinion. If I were to have a bed specially made just for me, I probably wouldn't choose for it to be adorned with eighteenth century embroidery. My John Deere sheets are so much cooler!

Indescribable Feelings

Indescribable Feeling

It was literally freezing the night we stayed in Azrou. There was snow on the ground and our water bottles were frozen in the morning. Our hotel cost a whopping 100 dirhams ($12) per double room. The price included friendly service, communal bathrooms, sink in each room and 3-4 blankets per bed. There was a single propane heater, kept outside our rooms in this Berber decorated hallway.

A wondrous place for you and me...and one more!

We all went to bed with as many clothes on as possible and Julie & I lucked out by having the added comfort of body heat in our double bed. Around 6am, after hours of shaking and shivering, Mike came to join us. The three of us spent another couple of hours cramped in this bed with 8 blankets to save ourselves from frostbite. In the morning, we were wearing everything we brought with us and carried our toiletries and extra blankets out to the car. I love adventures!

Accommodations in Kenya

One of the coolest things about our Kenyan safari was the many beautiful places we stayed. We were on game reserves in lodges and animals were everywhere! My favorite place we stayed was on Lake Navaisha - Katie and I had a fantastic room, complete with lounge area that faced a grassy area. Not many animals during the day, but we saw giraffes and bush bucks grazing at night. Our lounge area was a fantastic place to read! Luckily, no baboons came in while I had the doors open. Other people on our trip had to deal with that. :)

After we checked into our place on Lake Navaisha, we brought our bags to our room and as Katie and I rounded a corner, this is what we saw. We were completely surprised when we almost ran into this giraffe!

The hotel employees were not pleased that we proceeded to take pictures of our close animal encounter - they kept saying "Kick, kick..no!" Dad managed to snap this pic of me before we were moved along.

We also had to be escorted down lighted pathways for dinner in case the hippos became aggressive. They can actually chomp a human in half. Luckily, we didn't run into any. Mum and Dad did have a hippo chomping on the flowers outside their room when we stayed at Masai Mara, but it was too dark to get a good picture. Mum definitely tried though - she was crazy about getting good photos!

My Favorite Color

My favorite color is blue, so I was pretty excited to see Dan and Lori's bathroom - I will definitely have a toilet this color in my future mansion in Monaco. It used to have a white seat, but the third shade of blue goes soooo much better!

My bathtub will match the toilet because I'm classy like that! Feel free to steal this design idea - it's too pretty to keep to myself...

My Future Life

When I grow up, I'm going to be a princess. I'm going to live in Monaco, where I will cruise around town in this baby, or maybe the convertible version (note the Honda sign in the background - I will not be going that route. Ferrari is the way to go!)

I will probably take up residence in this lovely palace. The important looking people in front will be my friends.

This guy will be in charge of guarding my life and carrying my designer purse & suitcase. I love his outfit! It's almost as cool as the one I'll be wearing...(see below)

My yacht will be parked in this port, alongside other beautiful boats.

I will wear this fantastic dress to do my grocery shopping.

Here's a closeup of my everyday dress because it is totally fabulous!

On second thought, I pretty much love my life the way it is. It was pretty exciting to visit Monaco, but I was happy to be hanging out there in my blue jeans with a good friend and then catching the train back to my budget hotel in Nice. :)

Travel Issues

I know I haven't posted in a long time - I've been pretty busy! I went to London and Amsterdam Wednesday - Sunday and had to be incredibly flexible. Within just a few days, I dealt with te following:

1. Missed Flight Connection:
My flight to London on Wednesday went through Barcelona on Royal Air Maroc and then continued on to London on British Airways. My bag was checked all the way through, but I had to leave through immigration and customs in Barcelona, get my boarding pass, go back through security and make it to my gate - all in my 45 minute layover. It was almost impossible to do in that time period and then my flight was late arriving to Barcelona. By the time I arrived, the flight I was supposed to check into was closed.

2. Rerouted ticket: My next ticket was to Amsterdam the following morning, on a separate ticket. So, I wasn't going to make that flight. Luckily, I was able to convince the airline to just reroute my ticket to Amsterdam (even though they had no obligation to me). To do this, I had to fly to Madrid, stay in a hotel (at the airline's expense) and then fly to Amsterdam Thursday morning. I arrived in Madrid around 11pm. My flight to Madrid had only 11 people on it!

3. Lost Luggage: As I was dealing with rerouting my ticket in Barcelona, I found out that my baggage wasn't anywhere to be found. Someone finally found it and I had to go to a dark back room where security looked through my bad. I then checked it to Madrid so I would have clothes for my night there. When I arrived in Madrid, I was the only person on my flight to wait at baggage claim. I checked with Baggage Services and they told me to wait a bit. By midnight, still no bag. I filled out a lost luggage report and went off to figure out how to get to my hotel.

4. Free Food and Lodging: I arrived at my hotel around 1am. I was given free dinner (which included wine and I took advantage of that) at 1:15am and then free breakfast before I returned to the airport at 6:30am for my return flight. The hotel was beautiful! They had a wonderful spread for meals and toiletries included a toothbrushh (for which I was very grateful!)

5. Bag Still Lost: I checked in with the airline and they hadn't gotten my bag (it had only been a few hours), so I flew on to Amsterdam with only my backpack. I made it safely to Katie's soccer tournament by taking the train and bus to the American School of the Hague. My mum had toiletries and clothes for me to borrow, but her feet are so small that I was stuck wearing my heeled boots. My feet were killing me!

6. London: On Saturday, we flew to London. When I checked about my baggage, the lady informed me that the flight number in the tracking system was a flight to Miami! My bags were halfway across the world! Our flight was on time and we made it to my parent's house with no further issues!

7. Flight Delay on the Plane: I flew back through Barcelona with a 2 hour layover. However, my British Air flight was delayed. Once we were on board, we sat at the gate for 35 minutes, which worried me a bit since I was supposed to go through immigration again and get my boarding pass.

8. Another Closed Flight?: When I finally got to the check in desk, I noted that the screen for my flight showed it as closed. However, there was a long line of others getting checked in and I was able to get my boarding pass.

9. Flight Delay at Gate: My flight to Casa was also delayed! I sat and had a drink at the gate while I waited. We finally boarded and I was grateful to be on my way home.

10. Lost and Found: My story doesn't end there. I went to baggage claim in Casa to get my checked bag (which I had packed in London full of stuff my parents brought over to the States). It didn't come out. While I was waiting to talk to the Royal Air Maroc staff to fill in another baggage lost form, I went to check in on my bag that I'd never received. It was there! I grabbed my bag with clothes and the tennis shoes I'd been craving for days and headed over to fill out info on my other bag. They don't know where my bag is now. I will get a call and have to get back to the airport to pick it up when they do find it. I'm glad that the cheese I had been bringing back was in my carryon!

All in all, everyone I talked to was really helpful, despite all the issues the system had. I made it home safely and am looking forward to finishing this trip when I get my other bag back! Flexibility is so important when travelling. Good times!

Adventurous Penny Pinchers

Here's where we stayed in Marrakech for 2 nights.

Just kidding! We decided to be "adventurous penny pinchers" for this trip and spent a whopping $20 each for 2 nights lodging in Marrakech.

Our little room looked over a courtyard of orange trees - unfortunately, the ripe oranges were too far out of reach.

The guidebook told us that showers would cost 15dH a piece, but we weren't charged for entry into the big shower room. The communal toilet and showers were actually kept quite clean!

The location was definitely great - we were very close to the main square and spent most of our time out and about anyway!