Part 2

I’m About 3/4s of the way to China. If my calculations are correct it is around 3:00 pm in Florida. It’s around 4:00 am on my watch and we are scheduled to land around 6:40 am. Here's a Google Earth tracking shot of my flight that Justin emailed me....


I had a bit of a panic attack half way between Orlando and LA. I was tired and wanted my bed and missed my kitties and Morgan. That has mostly passed, but I’m sure it won’t be the last.

The flight thus far has been pretty bearable. Getting to the flight was a bit of a trek, however, I had to walk outside to the other side of the airport to check in and go through security again. Then, at the gate they loaded us into these big ass busses like cattle. I was the only American on the bus. This was a strange feeling….can’t remember every being in the minority like that. I’m totally paranoid (guess it goes along with my OCD) so I felt like everyone was staring at and talking about me. I think I’m gonna have to get liquored up in China so I don’t totally lose it! The bus trip seemed like a long, long ride, but once at the plane we were quickly loaded.

My seat is at the front of the plane (Boeing 777) with no one sitting next to me. We were immediately served dinner (at 4:00 am my time….note, I have not slept yet). The food was unidentifiable, some sort of Chinese flare, but tasted quite good.

So far I’ve taken 2 halves and 1 whole Ambien, which has awarded me approximately 6 hours sleep total. I’m feeling pretty good, but am ready to get out of this tin can. I could use a shower and some sunshine.

Trip to NZ, part 1

Here I sit on my first leg of my journey. I got to the airport early enough to enjoy one of my favorite treats, Carvel soft chocolate ice cream with chocolate sprinkles….mmmm yummy! I remember that when I first moved to DeLand we had a Carvel right down town (those were the days)…now the closest one is at the Millennia mall about an hour away.

When I checked in for my flight I was told that I was on standby for first class. I didn’t think that would be a problem because we forked over 150,000 miles to get my first class tickets. When I got to the gate I saw on the information screen that I had fallen to number 8 on the standby list (there were only 4 seats available). I talked to the counter agent and he basically told me that medallion members had priority of me, even though I technically paid for my seat. WTF?? And even though he wanted to help me, he couldn’t make any changes to what the computer was spitting out. It’s pretty amazing to see the class system work. Ian gets treated like a king whenever he flies because he’s a platinum medallion member and I get treated like scum because I’m a paying customer…go figure.

So, here I sit. The exit rows are always great to get…the seats in front of the exit rows, not so much. My seat won’t recline and the seat in front of me is totally reclined so I hve a very narrow space between my chest and the back of the seat in front of me a I can’t open my computer fully.

OK, enough bitching…I’m on my way to New Zealand! Luckily the middle seat between the window guy and me is empty so we have room for our stuff to over flow. Food and drinks should be flowing soon. This is not a dinner flight, but we were given a menu to order food from. They even have bar type drinks. I think I might enjoy a “Mile High” Mojito!

Doggie Bling

So I just picked Morgan up from her new groomer. As with her old groomer she came home sporting a cute neck bandanna...this one, pink, is a tad girly...but hey, at least now everyone knows she's a girl.

After unloading her from the car I wanted to check her ears because they said they cleaned them really good. As I grabbed her ear flap I felt something rough, which made me immediately think that she had another injury that would probably require another expensive vet trip. But as I looked down I saw that it's wasn't a cut or even a band aid...it was sparkely flower bling! No freakin' way!

WTF???

This is insane!! Please read me.

Send warm thoughts

to China! This is where I will be spending 15 hours in a couple of weeks, "Worst Winter Weather in 5 Decades...".

Then again, I might not even make it to Guangzhou...China Southern Airlines has totally screwed my tickets by cancelling 2 of my legs (both legs out of Guangzhou). I think it's a conspiracy to keep the cold wussy Western woman hostage in a non-English speaking communist country!!

Keep your fingers crossed for me!

I know, I'm a "blog-loser"...

Haven't blogged for a while. It's not that nothing has been going on, it's just such an effort for me to write. And, once I start I feel like it's too boring to read. Anyway, I will try harder this year.

I'm heading off to New Zealand in February. Should be exciting. I'm going to have to put my big girl pants on for this one. I leave Orlando on February 19th and arrive in Australia to meet Ian on February 21st (or maybe the 22nd...with all the time changes and date line crossing I'm not really sure). I have a 15 hour layover in Guangzhou China...this is where the big girl pants come into play. I'm not the kind of person who does well alone. I can't remember ever eating out alone or going to the movies alone. Plus, the language barrier scares the shit out of me. I almost had a panic attack trying to maneuver through the Italian airport by myself. Against Ian's better judgment I've decided to make my way out of the airport and see some sights. I can't see myself sitting in the Crown Room (Ian got me business class tickets!! Thanks baby!) for 15 hours straight!! I can't even sit in my house for 15 hours straight!

Originally I planned to get a private tour guide, but the cost became too much when you factor in the Visa, ride to and from the airport, the actual tour, tip, lunch, etc. So I've decided to get a hotel room smack in the middle of town. This will give me the opportunity to get a shower and some food, then I can get out and walk around on my own. It's winter there and the temps are in the 30s and 40s now, so I'm not sure how much sight seeing I'll really do, but I'm gonna try!

I also have a full day in Sydney by myself after Ian heads home. I haven't decided what I'm going to do there, but that doesn't worry me as much. At least I speak the language!

Tequila and Turquoise Jewelry

Our trip started out like the Fockers…everything fell in to place perfectly. A nice guy that I met at the bar saved me a good seat on the plane (we flew South West, which does not assign seats). We had a few cocktails and played cards for most of the long flight (South West does not offer movies on their cross country flights). My flight left about 40 or so minutes late, but we made up some time in the air and landed just a few minutes after Erin’s plane…she was waiting for me when I disembarked. We got our luggage unusually quick and made our way to the rental car counter where there was no line. The grumpy faced attendant that started to help us decided to go on break mid-way through our rental process and turned us over to Bernadette. Bernadette happily upgraded us from our mid-sized reservation to a brand new PT Cruiser Convertible!! Hell yeah!!


The ride from the airport to the B & B was absolutely beautiful! Living in Florida I forget how amazingly stunning mountains are. I think I like the scenery of the dry high desert over the lush green foliage of humid Florida…or maybe it’s just the change that I like. I do like the architecture in NM better than Florida – everything is Adobe style. Apparently it gets quite cold there and rarely gets too hot so the Adobe is designed to hold heat. Our Innkeepers said that they rarely have to turn on the heat in the winters.

Our B & B was located in a remote area outside of Santa Fe. The house was gorgeous…the pictures on the internet did not do it justice! They have an indoor pool that was built as part of the living area. Just off the kitchen was the patio and pool area. The back wall was all glass looking out over the vast open desert…not a single house in sight.


Fortunately, Erin and I have two very important things in common…we both like to drink and we both love good food! It seems that every day was planned around our meals and every outing included a bar break. People in New Mexico are very passionate people. It became apparent early on that they are very passionate about Tequila…I learned a few things about Tequila that I didn’t know, one being that they do not like Tequila that has color – all the good Tequilas they serve clear. I also never knew that there were so many options and brands of Tequila (none of which are available anywhere near me here in FL). We had some fabulous Margarita’s and I was introduced to Sangrita. Sangrita is a spicy, tomato based sidekick for Tequila. The Tequilas are so good that they are often consumed by sipping rather than mixing in a drink. The Sangrita makes for a nice chaser.

The other thing that the people of New Mexico are passionate about is Turquoise and every jeweler thinks theirs is the best and they will take 30 minutes out of their day to tell you why. Within the first hour of our first adventure we had seen enough Turquoise jewelry to last a lifetime! Erin actually gave in a bought a few pieces…all I bought was a cheap pair of earrings that just happened to match the dress I was wearing that day.

Because I’m a bit of a Negative Nancy I have to briefly touch on one major downfall of our trip. It was freakin’ HOT!!! Yeah, I know it’s the desert, but no one…not the stores, not our B & B, no one has a/c. Apparently it never gets THAT hot there. I know that people use the “but it’s a dry heat” excuse, but I’m not buying it!! I felt like I was cooking in an oven. I guess I’m strange, but I like the humidity. Remember earlier when I mentioned the architecture and that the Adobe holds heat?? Well, we were literally sleeping in a clay oven! There was no place to go to get cool.

We had tons of fun though! We went hiking at a National Monument called Tent Rocks. The area was so beautiful...so much more than any picture can portray. I'm glad that we decided to go!














We went to a town called Madrid that was featured in the movie Wild Hogs. It's an old hippie town. Lots of shops, but not much more. From there we went to the town where Young Guns was filmed. This was a bit of a disappointment, just two short blocks of old west looking buildings...no shops or restaurants, but one very scary looking bar (we opted to avoid this one).

Sunday was spa day. Erin found this awesome spa up in the mountains called Ten Thousand Waves. We both had fabulous massages and a relaxing visit.

All in all our trip rocked!! I could totally see myself living there (except for maybe the winters). Highly recommend it as a vacation spot...any season (well winter only if you enjoy skiing/snowboarding).