Summer is here and Lauren finished her school responsibilities already. We initially planned to head out to Asia and Australia for the summer. But we decided to postpone that and diverted our summer trip to Europe. Our first destination? Vilnius - capital of Lithuania and the European Capital of Culture of 2009. Again, our friends were curious on our choices of summer destinations. But we were always searching for destinations that were not overly commercialized yet. Lithuania is the largest of the three Baltic countries and got its independence in 1991. This was followed by its membership into European Union in 2004. Despite its growth and accomplishments, the country stayed below the radar screen and was relatively unknown away from Europe. After our Christmas honeymoon drama, we decided to stick to the basic - fly American ... read more

Good thing we went to Whistler already yesterday. We had a downpour in the morning and I decided to wait it out in the hotel. Starbucks in the morning was a necessity though and I was so glad that Starbucks was located inside the hotel lobby. There was no need to walk outside and get soaked. When the big storm finally passed, I went to pick up my sister and my niece, Priscilla, again. I had the responsibility of taking everyone to the graduation ceremony the next morning and I would like to familiarize myself with the route. After all, I was not traveling with a GPS. Again, Priscilla was my guide and we traveled west on W. 10th Avenue that eventually turned into University Blvd.. Once we entered past the gate for University of British ... read more

I picked up golf a number of years ago because it was a business necessity. There is so much business conducted on golf courses - what I normally refer to as green meeting - that golf has become a prerequisite. How hard could golf be? I could hit a moving tennis ball and I couldn’t understand the difficulties of hitting a stationary ball. Was I wrong! After hitting so many trees (or houses) and losing so many balls into the ocean or lakes, I could appreciate the time and effort that professionals like Tiger Woods had put in the game. My game is alright. At least I don’t think I will embarrass myself. So I set up a golf outing with Bob, a friend and business associate. I took my normal Southwest flight to Denver and ... read more

Where should we go for our long Easter weekend? We talked about going to San Diego. Then we looked at Sedona which would be an easy drive away from Grand Canyon. Then I found out that Po would be in southern California for Easter. So a decision was made - let’s fly to Orange County and spend our long weekend with Po, Anne and Jimmy. We flew through Phoenix and arrived at Orange County airport on time. It’s easy to see why Southwest Airlines has grown so fast in the last decade. No hassles, no assigned seating, no elaborate penalties for changing your schedule, no cash on board. It’s a pretty easy way to fly once you get used to this Group A or B or C boarding process. Of course, there are still so many ... read more

I was reading “1,000 Places To See Before You Die” by Patricia Shultz before our trip and I came across an article about Fredericksburg in the Texas hill country. President Lyndon Johnson called it “a special corner of God’s real estate”. The book also described about the sea of purplish bluebonnets outside and around Fredericksburg. Fredericksburg is located about 65 miles northwest of San Antonio. And we had a rental car! So after a hearty breakfast at Pesca at Watermark Hotel, we got on I-10 West with Lauren as the navigator. We took the exit at Comfort and proceeded to head north on Hwy 87. Before long, we were driving through rolling hills with gentle turns amidst area of grassy pastures. We kept searching for any signs of purple bluebonnets but we didn’t see any. It ... read more