my journey, destination unknown
Getting to the airport. Atlanta was shut down today for a third day in a row. Our street is a sheet of ice. Thinking ahead, we decided to move the car up to the top of the hill mid-afternoon yesterday when the ice was slightly slushy. So, this morning, we headed out, dragging our suitcases…
Travels in Turkey, Part 11 of 12 Last week, I pulled together all of my posts about our trip to Turkey into a Planning and Itinerary post, hopefully making it so our adventure was a little easier to follow. This week, I’ve worked on creating a map of our travels. View Travels in Turkey –…
When I woke this morning, I was not dreaming of Japan. But, as I sipped coffee and read the news this morning, this article from the Washington Post jumped out at me: Going Our Way: A plan for first-timers in Japan. Curious as to what they might suggest, I was thrilled to see that Hakone…
I suspect that, as you approached row 41 while boarding your flight today, you may have had a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach. You might have even go so far as to murmur about your rotten luck. No, you eyes did not deceive you, there were two kids are already sitting in…
While we were in Turkey this summer, we signed up for a two-day tour of Cappadocia. While I don’t like tour bus tours in general, this seemed to be our best option to get out to Cappadocia and see the surreal landscape. One thing that disappointed me about choosing the tour option was that I…
Travels in Turkey, Part 3 of 12 Minutes after we were wheels down in Istanbul, we started our first Turkish adventure — navigating our way from the airport to our hotel near Taksim Square via the public transit system. Our route included a train, a tram and a funicular! But before we could start the…
Following a frenetic morning of working and packing and cleaning and watering, the girls and I are on the road again! I swear can feel my blood pressure drop 50 points when we get in the car and head out on a road trip. We didn’t get very far before we stopped for the night…
to DC. And have stopped at our usual hotel. I wonder if I could figure out how many times we’ve been here. Quite a lot. It’s a great stopping point. The hotel is quiet, has a nice indoor pool, and a (cough!) grocery store across the street. We get a nice suite room so I…
the girls were up at 4am this morning, but we managed to hold them off until 5am. After the frenzy of gift opening and happy dances, we got busy with cleaning up and packing to head to the airport. The girls did take a few breaks to play with their new toys and to show…
just because I can!
Last Wednesday (was it really almost a week ago?), I spent the morning working. Then packing. Packing for our trip to Texas. To visit family. Or maybe really to go to the Austin City Limits Festival, since both my mom and sister were in other cities. Packing has gotten to be quite easy. The girls…
As I wrote in the post Subway versus Metro, I love the DC Metro for getting around. In addition, the metro buses are fairly easy, and the DC Circulator buses are excellent for tourists! All three take “SmarTrip” Cards, which we have found to be extremely useful, especially if doing train/bus transfers. The WMATA website…
We spent our Ocean City weekend right in the heart of the boardwalk. We had no need to go anywhere, given the short time that we were there. As we explored though, I noticed a number of different ways of getting around. During the peak tourist season, it is easy to see that a car…
As I wrote a couple times before, we took the train from DC to NYC for the weekend earlier this month. Riding the subway, metro and Amtrak all on the same day was quite the experience. As we rode the metro (DC) from Union Station back to the apartment, it quickly filled with a huge…
Reflecting on our recent trip to NYC that seemed to focus on the subway, the CD that jumps to mind is Catch That Train from Dan Zanes and Friends. Dan is a wonderful family musician who is based in Brooklyn. In fact, we actually got to chat with him for a few minutes while we…
On a rainy, carless Sunday in Brooklyn, the girls and I sat eating a bagel discussing out choices of what to do. I handed our travel book Lonely Planet NYC to Camille to see what she might come up with. A few of her selections were not open on a Sunday, but one was open…
My first trip to Paris with kids, I had not done my homework. My eldest was about a year and a half, and I hopped in a taxi from the airport with her. No car seat. The peripherique in a taxi with a toddler and no car seat? Never, ever again. Since that time, despite…
As crazy as it seems, sometimes just getting through security can be one of the most stressful parts of a trip. I’ve seen chaos and confusion, not just for families traveling with kids. Inexperienced travelers of all ages have difficulties navigating through security. While I don’t claim that the few pointers here can make it…
I took this photo less than two months ago. Tomorrow that dial will read 106,000. That’s 6K miles in a month and half! Yikes! I should have been a long haul truck driver. I can drive and drive. It runs in the family. The only problem is that I can’t even parallel park my Subaru….
Yesterday morning, I worked for a while, looked at the photos from Tuesday that I had been too sick and tired to deal with, then packed. I got the girls up and we went to pay the car’s hotel bill. By the time the car was all loaded and we hit the road, it was…