Travel Plans for 2016: What Actually Happened

I was looking back at a post from the beginning of this year, where I plotted out my travel for the year. Some of the trips were on the books already, and others came about because I moved mid-year.

There were also some destinations that I thought about that didn't make the calendar for 2016....fortunately there's a whole new year ahead!

Where did I actually go in 2016?

Oahu 

Started the new year off right visiting a friend 

Big Island 

After 2+ years in Hawaii, I finally went to see the volcano.   And the southernmost bakery in the United States (important!).    

San Diego

When the year started, I didn't know where I would be moving, but it seemed likely that my next career move would happen in 2016.     I moved from Maui to San Diego in May.   Of course, this opened up a whole new city to explore, so I did a lot of local things over the second half of this year.

Some of my San Diego / SoCal experiences this year:  Balboa Park, USS Midway, Bike the Bay, Bike MS Bay to Bay, People-watching during Comic Con, Knott's Berry Farm,  Harbor Cruises, Going to a Padres game, Hiking Torrey Pines State Park, Moonlight hike of Cowles Mountain, Taste of Adams Ave, Taste of South Park, and the San Diego Santa Run.  

A Hui Hou Maui!

Hello San Diego!

Door County, Wisconsin 

I usually go every summer to fill up on cheese curds and kringle while visiting family.     This year, I'm also going for Christmas.   The real feel today was supposed to be -9 degrees.    My Hawaii / SoCal blood is NOT ready for that.    

Green Bay in summertime 

Colorado 

This is another annual trip, for the Jazz Aspen Music festival over Labor Day.    Also my best opportunity to visit with my family and friends in Denver.     I took a second spontaneous weekend trip in November, just because I'm back on the mainland and I can.

Always so beautiful, Colorado

Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania

I visited a friend who is a missionary in eastern Hungary and then went on a river cruise from Budapest to Bucharest with my mom.  

Cabbage Festival Time

Mexico 

When the year started, I thought I might be going to Playa del Carmen in the spring, but in reality, I took a day trip to cross the border here in California to go wine tasting in the Valle de Guadalupe.

Baja Coast

What adventures near and far did you have in 2016?   

Where are you going in 2017?

My Travel Plans for 2016

Airplanes and I have spent a lot of time together over the past month.    The first half of December was all Myanmar and Thailand.    I came home, put in a solid 8 days of work, and then hopped on another flight to Denver for Christmas.   I came home, after a flight delay that resulted in a non-stop flight instead of a 2-stop connection {win!}, put in another solid 2 days of work, then went to Oahu to celebrate the start of this new year.

Last year I didn't have a new year's resolution, per se, rather a slogan that I put up in my kitchen.
I couldn't miss it.

Do It When I See It.  

Often I will think of something:  running a 5k, going to a festival, calling a friend, buying concert tickets - then I will get sidetracked with the general business of life, and I don't always get it done.   With my Do It When I See It mentality, I got more fun out of my year.   Hello Hong Kong?   That started with an idle thought in December of 2014 as well as a few messages to friends who might be interested and then in March 2015 it materialized into a real trip.

For 2016, I'm thinking about a word for the year.    One article I read listed three questions to consider:

1.  What do I need?
2.  What's in my way?
3.  What needs to go?

I'm working my way through those questions honestly and in depth.   I've made my way to a short list of words that may define my focus this year.  

No matter what word I select, it will tie into travel because that is one of my priorities every year.

2016 Confirmed Travel Plans

Every time I read a disturbing article about how American's don't use all their vacation time, I struggle.   That's never been my problem.    In fact, I could always use more.   Can I have yours?

I started January 1st off by going to Oahu.  This was made easier by being a short 35 minute flight from Maui from which we could see whales from the plane.  Whales!

Ho'omaluhia Botanical Garden, Oahu

In May, I'll be going to Playa del Carmen, Mexico, with some friends for birthday shenanigans.   The birthday is not mine.   The shenanigans?  Well, they probably will be.

In September, I'm planning to visit a friend who is living in Teglas, Hungary and then follow it up by joining my mom on a river cruise from Budapest to Bucharest.   I've never been on a European river cruise.  Bring on the wine, culture and scenery.

Sometime this spring, I will visit Big Island.    The volcano is there and I must see.   Also, macadamia nuts and coffee.

America's Dairyland never disappoints and a trip to visit family in Wisconsin is on deck.   Usually it's summer, but maybe this year, I'll branch out to a different season.

Colorado will play host to our 4th annual sister's weekend to the Jazz Aspen Snowmass Music Experience.    In fact the Do It When I See It mantra stems from the fact that each December the tickets go on sale as Blind Faith passes.   You don't know who is performing.   And each year, even though we know we're going, we miss this reduced price ticket window.   Not this year!  We already have our tickets.

2016 Wish List Travel Plans

With all the time in the world on my 7 hour flight last week, I pulled the world map out of the airline magazine.    On the US map, I started circling all the places I'd been.    And noticed some holes on the map.

My phone GPS tried to send me a message to visit New Jersey...and my college roommate confirmed the message.   When I landed in Maui, instead of showing Kahului weather, it showed Newark.    I've technically been in NJ since traveled by bus from Newark to New York City - my criteria is that I've left the airport.   However, the rest of the state is a mystery to me.  

Sadly, I haven't given the Southeast much time and attention either.   Looking at the map, I want to explore Savannah and Charleston.  I've also got friends in North Carolina who could use a good visiting.

My international wishlist is never-ending and with two international trips on the books for this year, I think I'm good.   If a bonus international trip pops up, I'll be sure to share.

No doubt a few more locations will hit my wish list this year.   If I don't get there in 2016, maybe they can roll to the 2017 confirmed trip list!

Where are you going in 2016?    What locations are on your wish list? 

Cozumel and Election Day

(at the time this posts, I should be sleeping the sleep of the relaxed on vacation)

The only other time I was in Cozumel was on a cruise ship stop when I was in college.   I don't remember much, other than shopping a bit.    That was my first exposure to Mexico.   Since that time, I've been to Playa del Carmen twice and Tuxtla once - for mission and volunteer trips.  

Today Cozumel is my port of call.    I'm not scheduled to do anything.   And that is freeing.

Today is also Election Day back in the states.   I've already cast my ballot and have been hiding from all the malicious political advertising for about a month.     I'm curious when I will find out the result of the election.   I know it will happen while in "foreign waters."  There is no way I'll make it home without finding out - even though I won't seek it out.  

Will it be on board?   The next port?   Will they post it in the daily newsletter?   Will I catch it when passing a TV in one of the lounges?   

Ohh the mystery!  

My goal is not to stay connected during this trip.   

To relax.   To enjoy.   To be.

The only victory party I'll be attending is the midnight buffet.

 

Memory Lane: Sumidero Canyon, Mexico

In 2009 I had an opportunity to go on a Transformation Trip to Chiapas, Mexico with Healing Waters.  One of our activities was going on a power boat trip through Sumidero Canyon.   It's a popular activity with Mexican tourists.  Needless to say, I was the only gringa on the boat. 

To read more about this trip click Traveler Abroad and scroll down to Mexico 2009

Choosing Your Starfish

On our last night in Mexico, our group leader brought up the starfish story. The moral of this short story? You can make a difference to one. Most people have one cause that they feel strongly about and support with their time, talents or money. He said not to get discouraged. Just because you can't change everything doesn't mean you can't change anything. His recommendation? Choose your starfish. Whether it's water, education, women's rights, the environment, religious freedom, finding a cure, or international peace and understanding. Your starfish is important.

Right now, I feel like I have multiple starfish. And that's fine.

Not familiar with the starfish story? Watch the video here.

Lost and Found in a Mexican Town

After 2 plus hours in the hot sun, the drive from Chiapa de Corzo up the mountain to San Cristobal was a real treat. Primarily because the temperature went down dramatically. And because I got corn on the cob with lime, salt and chile en route. San Cristobal was the only place we went on this trip that must be on the backpacker circuit as there were many more gringo tourists. The city is full of cobblestone streets and colorful buildings. There was entertainment at the Cathedral square and a giant handicrafts market at Santo Domingo. We had lunch/dinner at Il Piccolo, an Italian restaurant. The owner spends half his year in Mexico and the other half in Italy. Needless to say, the pizza was delicious. For dessert I had a chocolate salami. Made of chocolate and hazelnuts and cut into slices, like its namesake sausage.

After shopping in the handicraft market, we went across the street and found a shop that actually had one Chiapas Jaguars soccer jersey. That's when we lost Jon. We spent the next while doing reconnaissance all over San Cristobal, the craft market, the cathedral square, the coffee shop and back at the car. He was found by the car, chillin' with a beer. You should have heard Elspeth screaming "Jon" in the market....

We wrapped up our trip with traditional Mexican hot chocolate at La Selva. We got in the group hug, if not the Kumbaya. All agreed it was a short and meaningful trip and we'd do it again!

Hot Nuts for Breakfast

On Saturday, I did not in fact have hot nuts for breakfast, but my erstwhile travel companion Jon (aka Don Juan) did. Our first stop for the day was a neighborhood called El Refugio, which means the refuge. This is a poor community that is built up the hillside in Tuxtla (the kind of hillside that you wonder how your car will make it up). After visiting the church hosting the water project, we visited Maria-Daisy, one of the church members. She is technically a squatter. Her house didn't use to have a floor or much of a roof, but over time they have made it more permanent. The electricity is pirated. There is no running water.

In fact the house is right by a water plant and one of her neighbors, who works at the plant, turns on the water every evening and they fill their water jugs from a hole in the pipe that is stopped up with a stick. But due to ADU she and her family are able to get safe drinking water. Daisy exhibited the ultimate in hospitality, providing an unexpected meal of chicken mole to our group at her dining room table.

After leaving Maria-Daisy's house we went to Chiapa de Corzo to take a boat tour in the Sumidero Canyon. This is another ecotourism destination, but primarily for Mexicans. The canyon is beautiful and we saw monkeys, crocodiles and almost got nailed by pelicans on our way. As always Greg is making friends (and jokes) with the others on our boat. Needless to say, at one point Shane was a pirate and at another we were singing "row row row your boat" in a round.

Palabra a su madre!

On Friday morning, just like at home, I attempted to ignore my alarm as much as possible. Embracing the Latin American lifestyle includes eating dinner late and being social while doing it. Our first stop for the day was Casa Unidos para Siempre, which is a drug/alcohol housing and treatment center that also benefits from water donations from ADU. Our project, to plant a small garden for the residents to take care of. Many of the residents helped with the project, proving the truth of "many hands make light work." Jon in our group, along with one of the residents both have landscape and gardening and steered us in the right direction. Althea had bought some seed and some plants, including roses, herbs and even purple pepper plants. Althea's son Inigo spent his time chasing Bartholemew the cat around the garden for our entertainment.

 

Every place we go, we get snacks, and one of the great treats in Chiapas are the peanuts (cuacuawattes), especially when they are seasoned with chile pepper.

 

Greg and Ryan wrap up our gardening project with the traditional "machete man hug."

We then went to lunch at La Cruz. I had a chile relleno. Ryan and Inigo got their adventure on and had the cow tongue. Our afternoon fun activity was to go to the waterfall at Aguacero, which is an ecotourism location. We had to walk down over 700 steps to get to the base of the waterfall....and then the majority of us took off our shoes to climb up the water fall, which was fantastic fun. Which was good, since the climb back up had us all feeling old and out of shape.

 

Running joke of the trip: somewhere on Friday Ryan got on Greg for "harshin' his groove." For the rest of the trip we identified all things that could harsh one's groove. I'm waiting to see how many days I'll make it back at work before my groove gets harshed. On the drive back from Aquacera to one of the water plants in Tuxtla we started singing in the car, including songs in a round (such as make new friends). Back in Tuxtla I made a sarcastic comment about one of the collectivo drivers and his excessive amount of stuffed animals in the front of his taxi. What do my new friends do? Roll down their windows and tell said driver that I like his collection. What else to do but smile and wave...

 

Our dinner was at a fancy Italian restaurant called Il Giardillo. One thing I've noticed in Mexico, perhaps because of the flu outbreak, is that hand sanitizer is offered everywhere. This restaurant went one step further and all the staff was wearing face masks. I had stuffed sea bass for dinner and a plate of churroitos (they were mini after all) for dessert. The highlight though, was the table side presentation of Jon's Irish Coffee. I'd never seen anything like it. They flamed the glass, set the whiskey on fire and poured a flaming shot over the whipped cream.

Cosas Nuevas:

#66 purple chile peppers, #67 getting a purse rack at a restaurant, #68 adding "harsh my groove" and "puttin' peace / love on" to my vocabulary

 

To see what my partners in crime thought about their experience in Mexico:

Greg www.blogadegregorio.blogspot.com

Shane www.shanesthoughts.wordpress.com

 

Margaret Mead once said, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. " It would be more accurate to say "a small group of thoughtful citizens wearing blue shirts....."

 

Bienvenida a Mexico!

Wednesday was quite the adventure in travel, and I won't bore you with the details, but needless to say I spent more than enough time in the Mexico City airport (with time to have chili/lime chips and Mirinda, and to know that my new cell works in Mexico). I'm spending a few days in Tuxtla Guitierrez in Chiapas, Mexico on a transformation trip with Aquas de Unidad (aka Healing Waters en ingles...). There are four of us, plus Gregorio, our fearless leader from Colorado. Althea, the communications coordinator, and her family have been our primary hosts taking us around to different purification plants in churches and the charities they support with donated aqua purificada. Yesterday's activities included the water purification plan in Coita and then we spent the rest of the day at Cosa Hogar Infantil. It's an orphanage in Coita that is supported by ADU with clean drinking water. They grow corn, peanuts and beans as well as raising pigs, chickens and goats. It's summer so some of the kids are with family and friends elsewhere, but we did some painting in the boys dormitory (racing stripes anyone?) and then played with the kids. We played Uno, basketball (instead of horse, we played "perro"). My proudest moment? With Hrothgar's help I was able read a 4 page kids story about a pig's curly tail (Donde esta mi cola?) with the kids using their puppets to act out the parts.

Below is a picture of our team on the roof of one of the buildings at Casa Hogar.

But the fun doesn't end there! After a chance to shower and rest back at the hotel, we were off to dinner....with a detour. Don Juan (Jon) had heard from his taxi driver about "Marimba Park." Every night there is a marimba band in the square. We stopped there and almost immediately Ryan says, "Jenni let's dance." So yes, I was dancing by the gazebo with the tall gringo in the blue shirt. After that (much to her embarassment), Elspeth (who's sixteen) got her bailar on. Then, just for fun, Ryan asks a random local girl to dance and they hit the floor. It was vastly entertaining and the crowd was into it. It was one of those real, authentic experiences that you can't plan, but that makes your experience that much richer.

Marimba Park

Our evening concluded with dinner (as all good evenings should) at La Carreta. The queso fondito was delicious and I had tostadas tuxtletas, which was a ground chicken ceviche. There was live music...including Spanish covers of "Only You" and "New York, New York." No trip to Mexico is complete without helado, so we did a quick drive by to the OXXO to get some ice cream bars on the way home. Shockingly, that was my only ice cream on this trip. I did make up for it by eating multiple churros, though.

Cosas Nuevas:

#61 tamales for breakfast, #62 meeting someone who has been called to be a priest, #63 visiting an orphanage, #64 dancing to a marimba band, #65 learning how water is purified

Carpe Diem

I have a terrible problem. I can't say no. To travel anyway. Every time I see an opportunity, I want to take it. My logic? Why wait? There is no guarantee that "later" you'll have the time, money, health or opportunity to do it. Whatever it is (backpack across Europe, teach English in China, get a month off work, hike a fourteener).

I'm leaving on Tuesday to go on a short Transformation Trip to Mexico with Healing Waters International. How did I find out about it? A friend posted it on Facebook in June. Now it's August and time to go.

In this past week I've contemplated visiting Germany to see friends and been invited to visit China in the spring. Germany is probably a go. China, I don't know. I know I'd like to go, but that sneaky, devious voice of logic and reason (VOLAR) asks "are you sure that's what you want to do with your money and vacation time?"

All I know is that I need more money and vacation time.

And that sneaky, devious VOLAR needs to disappear.

Volunteer Vacations

When I was growing up, I don't remember the phrase volunteer vacations. We had mission trips. As junior high and high school students, we would raise money and go someplace else in the country (via long van rides listening to someone else's choice of music) to do manual labor. Ontario, Western Colorado, Minnesota, Michigan, and South Dakota. Five summers in a row learning to roof, paint, build fences, and on occasion wearing a big yellow "God's Gang" button. The trips had many purposes and it was more for building friendships and seeing new places as doing the work.

In college I had the opportunity to do my first international trip, a week doing vacation Bible school in rural Costa Rica. I didn't speak much Spanish, but was able to have fun and build relationships with kids, just the same. Our church was big with stained glass windows. The Methodist congregations in C.R. met in open sided buildings decorated with hibiscus blossoms.

Fast forward one year and we worked in West Virginia with Appalachian Service Project.

Time passed and work trip opportunities didn't present themselves for a while. In 2005 the church I was attending in Indy had a partnership with a church outside of Playa del Carmen, Mexico. This trip was a mix of both. A chance to relax on the beach and go out to dinner, visit Mayan ruins, and volunteer at Vacation Bible School (or E.B de V en espanol). Even after moving to Colorado, I took the opportunity to go again and continue those relationships. (You can learn about this partnership through their blog and if you look on the July 2006 link, you'll even find some of my commentary).

This year, I was able to cross one more state off my list of places to visit on a short work trip to New Orleans. Our work was coordinated through PDA. Again the balance between using a crow bar and drinking a daiquiri on Bourbon Street.

Three months from today, I'm embarking on a volunteer vacation adventure with Cross Cultural Solutions. In the past year I've been trying to determine a way to spend an extended period of time in another country while still keeping my job. I want to be more than just a tourist. Having a house, dog, etc. makes it a bit more challenging to just pick up and go. I'm going to Trang, Thailand with CCS for a 3 week program. I'm not sure yet what my project will be although it seems most likely that I will be helping in a school in some capacity. It will be my first time to Asia. I'm excited about doing it on my own. I will be living and working with other volunteers when I get to Trang, but it's different than traveling with family or friends. I know I'll be keeping a journal, blogging and taking a ridiculous amount of pictures while I'm there and who knows....maybe I'll learn something new about myself.

If you're interested in sponsoring me for this adventure, click the "sponsor me" icon to the right of my blog. For more information on organizations that do good around the world, check out this article from Budget Travel.