We boarded our coach this morning on our way to San Sebastian. Compared to my last 2 Contiki tours, the coach was extremely spacious. Mainly because there were only about 20 of us in a bus that seats 52. Colin gave us the usual spiel about what to expect on the tour and about the places we were going to. We also discussed the optional excursions. There were only 3 optionals: a trip to the Valley of the Fallen in Madrid, Flamenco dinner and show in Barcelona, and the final dinner in Madrid. We ended up paying for the 2 [View Full Entry]

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For my fourth overseas trip, Shea and I decided to venture over to Spain. We took advantage of a special deal Contiki was offering where if you book by a certain date, the second person flies for only $100. After splitting the airfare in half, our round trip tickets to Spain via Germany were only about $450 per person. Months of planning and anticipation had finally arrived, it’s time to leave for Spain! As usual for me, my procrastination made the morning of May 18th into a mad rush to get some last minute things done. I had organize my [View Full Entry]

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Patrice and I took another one of our spontaneous one day road trips. This morning we headed out on the road to Sequoia National Park. We loaded up on Starbucks and were on the road by 6am. About 4 hours later we were on the twisting road heading into the park. As we climbed in elevation, snow started to appear on the ground and the Giant Sequoias started sprouting up. We started driving into the Giant Forest where the largest of the Sequoias were to be found. Many of the Sequoias here grow to a height of over 200 feet [View Full Entry]

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Today was Patrice, Christina, and my last day in Cancun. We would be flying back home early tomorrow morning while Vern and Bill stayed on for a few extra days. Our last full day was spent about an hour south of Cancun in the small town of Puerto Morelos. We had signed up for a snorkeling tour of the offshore coral reefs. After changing into our swimming gear and getting our snorkeling gear, we had a few minutes to check out the beach. The beaches here are quite peaceful with very few tourists. It's as if we had the entire [View Full Entry]

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We woke up this morning at around 5am to meet our tour guide who was going to drive us over to Chichen-Itza to tour the ancient Mayan archaeological site. All of us went except for Bill who just wasn't interested in anything besides the beach and club scene. It was still dark outside when we began our 2 hour drive deep into the heart of the Yucatan. Tours to Chichen-Itza usually start very early in the morning due to the oppressive heat during the day. Arriving at Chichen-Itza, we were amongst the first people there this morning. Our guide walked [View Full Entry]

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After a night where nobody was able to sleep comfortably, we woke up pretty early in the morning thankful that nobody tried to murder or rob us in the middle of the night. When I moved the balcony curtains to see our view, I was amazed at what I saw. For only about $40 dollars, our room had an amazing ocean view. It was definitely the best view I had ever had from a hotel room! During my morning shower, I was startled to see that I was not alone. Geckos were walking around in the shower with me! This [View Full Entry]

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Early this morning Vern, Bill, Christina, Patrice, and myself all headed down to LAX for our 5 day vacation in Cancun, Mexico. Arriving at the airport early for our 7am flight, drama which would be the overriding theme for the day was about to begin. We all had no problems obtaining our boarding pass for our America West flight to Phoenix. However Bill decided that he would use his expired driver's license as his form of identification. The ticket attendant refused to take this as an acceptable form of identification and told him that he needed to clear this at [View Full Entry]

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Driving all night from Washington DC with the only stop in Mount Jackson, Virginia for dinner at Denny's, we arrived in Memphis in the early morning. We made a brief stop to check out Graceland, home to Elvis Pressley. After finding out the only way to check it out was to go on a guided tour, we decided to just leave. We explored Beale Street for the rest of the morning before having lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. From Memphis, we drove into Mississippi stopping only in Jackson to fill up on gas. We were only in Jackson for [View Full Entry]

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We left New York City that afternoon and drove back down to Washington DC. Later that evening, Van made plans for us to meet up with a high school friend who was working in the area as an urban planner. Our plans were to meet up at a Cuban restaurant called Citron in the Dupont Circle area. Dinner was great and I discovered a wonderful Cuban drink called a mojito. After dinner, we just walked around Dupont Circle which is a very trendy and hip neighborhood of Washington DC. Van and her friend made plans to meet up again tomorrow [View Full Entry]

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A few weeks ago, my co-worker, Van, approached me with an idea to go on a cross country road trip to New York City and Washington DC. She had to drive back to her hometown of New Orleans and decided to make an entire road trip out of it. She offered to pay for the rental car and gas. All she needed was somebody to help drive with her. Of course I jumped at the idea of going on a cross country trip. We set off just after 10pm after I drove to Sherman Oaks to meet her at her apartment. [View Full Entry]

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