I'm not gonna lie. Our vacation was AMAZING. But I've been home since Sunday and I'm still struggling to recover. The almost 16 hour flight from Sydney to Houston, coupled with the layover and then 3.5 hour flight from Houston to DC wore me out completely. Add in the fact that it's literally day and night difference in time (14 hour difference) and I've got the worst case of jetlag I've ever experienced. The first couple of days I also kept having issues with equilibrium. (You know how you feel the world is moving when you get off of a boat? I had that for about 36 hours after I got off the plane.) On the bright side, I've been waking up at 5:30am every morning, so I've gotten some early runs in. On the not so bright side, that means I've … [Read more...]
5 Tips for running in a foreign country
One of my favorite parts of traveling in a foreign country is to go for a run while we are there. It's a great way to combine getting some exercise with doing a bit of sightseeing. But not every location is conducive to a safe run and even those that are, requires some thought before hand. Culture, location, and distance all need to be considered before heading out on a run. Obviously, I'm assuming you already packed appropriate items for running and just need to figure out how and where. When we went to Ireland, I was not able to run much because the roads near where we were had no shoulders and no sidewalks. In New Zealand, I could have run easily in Rotorua and Auckland had a bike/run path right in city centre. In Australia, I was able … [Read more...]
Five vacations I’d like to do again
Tomorrow is our 22nd anniversary. Crazy! I apparently was a child bride because I am way too young to have been married that long. (Or not, but I'm firmly in denial.) In our 22 years of marriage, we've gone on some amazing trips. I'd probably be willing to do them all over again, but here are five trips we've taken outside the US. I'd love to do all of them again. Australia - We got to spend time in Sydney and Brisbane. Both were really wonderful. We did a really cool spelunking trip while we were there, complete with headlamps. I'm not sure I'd be brave enough to do that again. We did not get a chance to see the Uluru Rock, so I'd love to go back and see that. And while I'm in that part of the world? I want to go to New Zealand. (And … [Read more...]
Useful things I learned in St. Martin
We spent our entire vacation on the French side in a lovely little hotel (Bleu Emeraude) in Grand Case. Best.decision.ever. Some useful things to know if you choose to do the same: Paying $1 to pee in a *clean* men's room at the mall in Marigot = best money ever spent. Orient Beach is lovely and a great place to spend a day at the beach. Get there early. Park at the Club Orient end near Pedros. Be prepared to see a lot of old willies as apparently the demographic most likely to take advantage of the "clothing optional" end of the beach is 60+ year old men. Don't forget your bikini. "Mom Suits" stick out like a sore thumb. Vibrams make decent beach shoes. You will get even more weird looks than you do in the U.S. Always … [Read more...]
