November of this past year I spent a week on a catamaran exploring French Polynesia: Bora Bora, Raiatea, Huahine, Maupiti, and spent a few days on Moorea and Tahiti. (Read all about it on this site, you’ll need to go back a few pages.) When I saw that there was a day excursion to Tortuga Island by catamaran I was 100% on board. Our day started about 6:30, packing and heading to breakfast before boarding a bus that took us into Puntarenas. We didn’t know that they would have breakfast here for us. Oh well, we sat outside and did a little people watching while waiting to embark on our one day ... read more

Puntarenas is in the upper middle section of the central Pacific coast; in the center of many things, but a drive to get anywhere. As I was researching things to do in Costa Rica I decided that the two and a half hour drive to Arenal may not be worth it if we didn’t stay a night. So that is what I decided to do, I actually found a really cool tree house style hotel, unfortunately they were booked up. I decided on a place called Racho Cerra Azul in La Fortuna. I chose this place because I was looking for something a little different. We were doing the resort thing already and I wanted a change of pace. This place had great reviews on TripAdvisor and looked perfect. Little cabins with few amenities. A mile ... read more

We decided that sleeping in a bit wouldn’t be a bad way to start off our first full day in Costa Rica. Breakfast in the restaurant was full of choices, and both of us ate way too much again. With our stomachs full we packed for a day trip down to Manuel Antonio, a national park along the Pacific coast. We made our first stop in a town called Jaco, where we bought some bug-spray and for Soph to grab a coffee. After a brief walk up and down the street we were back on our way. It was well after noon when we found a taqueria near the park called Sancho’s ... read more

To start out day three we decided to rent some beach cruisers and pedal our way down to Venice Beach. So after renting our bikes we rode down to Santa Monica pier and onto the bike path. Right away we were met by Muscle Beach, an adult playground of sorts with chin up bars, rings, monkey bars, ropes and the like. I have been watching American Ninja Warrior and have seen a few of the contestant’s videos shot here. I decided to climb the rope real quick and have a look around at some of the other equipment. I would love to spend a few hours working out at a place like this every week. Too bad Omaha doesn’t have anything like it, ... read more

On this trip you will notice that I have a travel companion. I met Sophie, from Australia, while on Phi Phi Island, Thailand. (http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Phi-Phi-Don/blog-446522.html) After two years apart Sophie and I agreed that it was time to meet up on another adventure. The plan back in December was to head to Egypt, see the pyramids, take a cruise up the Nile, stay nights in Giza, Aswan, Luxor and Cairo. In December the elections were going to be held in March, in March the elections were pushed back to May. May 23rd and 24th to be exact. Our plans were to arrive in Cairo on May 24th. The beginning of May there were violent protests surrounding the elections, 12 killed and over 200 injured. I decided that Egypt was not the optimal travel destination. So we worked ... read more