Blogs from Union Square, San Francisco, California, United States, North America

Just to fill your holiday during the stay at home, or rather Ground Hog Day existence we are now living. Some totally useless information that may bring a smile or a snicker. So, let's check into Twinkies, fried chicken, catsup, and apple pie and ice cream. From the NYT: Twinkies as we know them now are simple: yellow cake filled with vanilla cream frosting. But when the sweet snacks first appeared in 1930, the tasty filling was banana-flavored, not vanilla. Twinkie inventor James Alexander Dewar, then a baker for the Continental Baking Company, came up with the treat when he was looking for a way to utilize the bakery's strawberry shortcake machine when strawberries were out of season. He substituted banana cream, and the Twinkie was born. Unfortunately, with the advent of World War II, bananas ... read more

Rarely does anyone discuss travel budgets PRIOR to a trip to a far away place. I am so very fortunate to have the inimitable Mr. Mike as the best travel buddy in the universe. We have been all over the world, with rarely a hiccup. He knows how to travel (we both traveled extensively on business during our working days), and does not skimp on anything. Furthermore, we are not joined at the hip, stay in separate rooms, do not fly or sit together on planes, and pursue our own interests once at our destination. But I realize this is a rare occurrence, and most people who know us find this arrangement hard to fathom. We get asked often if people can join us on our trips. And to my great delight, he says I am ... read more

Is the Corona virus altering some or all of your travel plans. Where do we stand right now? The travel industry's refund policies are changing almost by the minute. Here's what they look like now: Airlines are waiving their change fees for flights in March and April.Cruise lines are offering credit for sailings until the end of spring.Hotels are loosening their cancellation policies for certain areas affected by the coronavirus o... read more

4 attachments (836 KB) Download all Save all to OneDrive - Personal I read a great article today about ten things that suck about airports. I found it on a website I have started to read and use called Godsavethepoints. After all, is flying not about collecting all the frequent flyer miles you can before you die? Not really, I firmly believe in using them once yo... read more

Heräsin klo 6. Lähdettiin lentokentälle klo 8. Lento oli klo 11-13. Menin lentokentältä San Franciscon keskustaan paikallisjunalla Bart. Hotelli on ihan Powellin aseman lähellä. Oli kiva nähdä rollikoita ja vanhoja ratikoita kun nousin asemalta kadulle. Kävin lounaalla hotellin alakerran ravintolassa. Pääsin lähtemään kävelylle vasta klo 18. Reitille osui vanhoja cabel car -vaunuja (kaapeliraitiovaunuja), mäkiä, Union Square, China Town. Söin vielä ostoskeskuksessa japanilaista ruokaa. Ostin lähikaupasta vähän syömistä ja jääkaappiin maitoa. Kassajonossa oli edelläni espanjalainen nainen, jonka kanssa todettiin tämä maa kalliiksi, ja perässäni saksalaisia nuoria. Etukäteen luin hotellista että netti on surkea ja että lähettyvillä on paljon kodittomia. Netti on toiminut - tosin kuvien lataaminen on hidasta - eikä kodittomia ole ollut paljon. Osa... read more