http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Amanda---Dave/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Amanda Dave en-us Sun, 19 May 2013 14:16:39 +0000 Sun, 19 May 2013 14:16:39 +0000 I think Ive decided that February is the best time to take a beach vacation. This seems obvious I guess but this winter the snow slush rain cold rain hail winter extravaganza that Ive gotten to experience in Atlanta Minneapolis New York etc. lately has been a lot of cold boots puffy jackets layers scarves gloves hats and other nonsense that Ive been glad to not think about http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Turks-and-Caicos/Providenciales/blog-570399.html So Ive been on a lot of planes lately. I find myself traveling often right here within the USA. I cant help but notice some things in my travels and figured Id share what with this being the new era of sharing and social networking and all.Lets start with today. Today I flew outside of my comfort zone. In other words I left the lovely bubble of being a Diamond Medallion Delta Skymi http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Texas/Austin/blog-561811.html So here we are in London for Christmas Its been awhile since we went to a big city on vacation and it was wonderful walking around today to take in the sights. After sleeping way late we headed out on foot to see Buckingham Palace Westminster Abbey Big Ben Parliament the Thames River the huge Ferris wheel Trafalgar Square and all the cool buildings and sights in between. It was even http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/London/blog-555632.html I got to go to Costa Rica last week for another workshop but this time I wasnt able to stay and be a tourist due to late scheduling other commitments etc. So for trips like this one I like to think of it as a way to get an overview of a place talk to some locals and figure out what I will do in the future when I come back there for a vacation. With Costa Rica that is definitely a whe http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/San-Jose/San-Jose/blog-536123.html Ive been home one week today so I wanted to write some things down about Bangkok before I forgetI went to Bangkok in 1989 on a family vacation when I was a teenager. I have some very specific memories of the trip but didnt remember many details about Bangkok other than the tuktuks big roads major traffic bargaining with vendors lively streets 247 and some of the visuals of the Bu http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-527441.html So I got to go to Shanghai China for work. China is one of those places like India and Africa that can just seem daunting to try to arrange the details get a visa figure out where in the vastness to go navigate in not only a foreign language but a different alphabet. And so I feel lucky to have had so many opportunities like this one as a result of my job. Now all that being said it seems http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shanghai/Hongkou/blog-525910.html We arrived at the Taj Mahal around 400pm so we had basically until sunset to walk around. It was a gorgeous time of day to be there. The sky was very blue with interesting clouds at first and that sky gave way to a pretty sunset with pinks and rich sunlight reflecting on the white and red buildings. Even though there were tons of people there that somehow didnt take away from the experience http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttar-Pradesh/Agra/blog-472416.html Once I got outside the bubble that we were in on the work part basically bouncing between very nice hotels for the conference for dinner I started to see another side of India that I had heard so much about chaos poverty dirt trash. But there were beautiful scenes mixed in with a lot of human touches. We drove by bus from New DelhiGurgaon to Agra and we started to see from inside our http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Haryana/Gurgaon/blog-472063.html Since Ive been jotting down little notes in a journal and havent made it to the computer til now Im just going to share some of my thoughts of my last 3 days Ive been in Johannesburg South Africa. I came over for a work trip so a lot of my time has been spent working between the Hyatt and the office. I havent gotten to see too much of the city yet so I look forward to tomorrow http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Gauteng/Johannesburg/blog-444789.html Subways are cool chandeliers mosaics domes lights marble granite every station is different. Despite our lack of Russian knowledge we braved the subway every day and even switched lines a few times today. We made it everywhere we were trying to go.Women are hot. Lots of hot bodies. And they dress pretty saucily. I cant imagine walking around in heels like that and pounding the Mosc http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Moscow/blog-406617.html Hello to all this is Dave writing this blog. Another interesting day in Moscow. During Amandas work training she ran into Julia. They used to take yoga together in Atlanta and now she lives in Moscow and works where the training was held. It was totally random and pretty funny that we travel 8 different time zones and run into somebody we know. Now that is a small world. Anyway we met Julia f http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Moscow/blog-406594.html The first thing to say about Moscow is that the architecture is a constant source of entertainment for me. I spent the first 3 days I was here either in my hotel in the office or in the car in between. Im kinda glad that the office and hotel were a ways apart 20 mins in the morning 11.5 hrs in the evening. The drive was excellent for looking at all the beautiful buildings green spaces http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/Northwest/Moscow/blog-405896.html Started the day on foot into Recoletta neighborhood. I thought I'd do some shopping some cafe time and meet our friend Alfredo for lunch. Found La Rambla a little coffeetea cafe that had a nice street view. So I settled in for some incredible croissants they may have been dipped in honey. Whatever it was was the best croissants I have ever tasted. Or at least that I could remember right t http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-404017.html When traffic lights are red they give you a yellow light to let you know theyre about to turn green. I knew this from the last time I was here but I had forgotten. I like that little warning almost your turn it is telling me.It is winter here now but not that cold lowest around midupper 40s to 60s. BA locals are walking around in parkas and skiwear. It seems a bit extreme.Eve http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/blog-403147.html So first let me start by saying why cant I fly business class always Oh yeah because I usually cant afford it. Well that is a crying shame because and yes I already knew this it is soooo much better. What a great nights sleep in a reclining chair with down blanket and fullsized pillow and meals and movies on demand and well you get the idea.Arrived in Buenos Aires this morning. http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/blog-402466.html Today we awoke and had a pretty lazy day in store. It was about 90 degrees and it felt like everything you did took a little extra effort. Outside our room the field was alive with animal activity. Lots of wildebeest and zebras were filling the fields. We watch them play and find tree stumps to scratch their private parts. I cant imagine not being able to scratch your balls when you want. It wa http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Gauteng/Johannesburg/blog-252972.html We had a great day poolside at Bakabung. Wow that African sun is no joke. Then we went for our first drive alone in Pilanesberg National Park. It was interesting to say the least. Dan was navigator and Dave drove. We headed towards where we were told there were elephants and on the way spotted two giraffes up close. Wow Thats definitely as close as Ive ever been to an animal that l http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Gauteng/Johannesburg/blog-252325.html Today was different from anything Ive ever experienced. We woke up early for a relaxing morning on our patio only to be greeted by vervet monkeys franklins several types of birds warthogs and more. It was pretty exciting without leaving the house After a lowkey day of some grocery shopping grilled cheeses and naps we then hit our first safari ride into the bush in the late afternoo http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Gauteng/Johannesburg/blog-251894.html After a slow morning and another great Dan breakfast of shrimponion omelets we headed out to find a pub for lunch. The first little village shut us out on lunch spots requiring reservations or being closed. So off to Bettys Bay where we found Camelot a building shaped like you guessed it a castle. We enjoyed a lunch of great variety from pizza to schnitzel to seafood potjie and Castle http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/blog-251136.html Up at 5 and off to see the sharks The anticipation was great we all knew Adam was in for the shark cage Dan was at about 80 sure Dave Amanda and Cathy holding at 5050 and Pat a solid 0 chance. But we were in for the boat ride out at sea on what was supposed to be a sunny day. We all tried to not have spirits spiraling as we drove out in a driving rain. But we arrived and the sun seem http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/Gansbaai/blog-251103.html