African journal - leopards

Liked the lions?

They were pretty impressive, but in terms of sheer beauty, the lions just couldn't compare to the sleek beauty of the leopard, which we were lucky enough to see in both Duma Tau and Kwetsani.

In Duma Tau we barely got a good shot, as the leopard was hiding out in the bushes and not doing much. In Kwetsani, we were fortunate to espy a mother leopard with her small cub. A very fortunate but sad sighting since the next time we saw her she was without her cub. - The guides thought that she might have lost her cub, a thing that this particular beligerent mother leopard has done many times in the past. Apparently, she has had many pregnancies in past years with multiple cubs and her cubs just never make it past the first year. How sad is that?



We also were able to see this female leopard jumping from one tree to another. I somehow always thought that leopards were able to climb trees by slowly climbing up and down, gripping with their claws. But no, I was completely wrong. They are quite intrepid, jumping up or down in one fluid move. Wish I can post the video of that..... Maybe someday when I have more time.

Our African Journal. Entry #4. Lions everywhere

It's been so long since my real last entry...

I've been extremely busy, not just because of work but also because we have had so many other errands to take care of. Like finally getting a Illinois drivers license and starting the immigration process...

Our African trip is not so fresh in my memory anymore .... But wanted to list some of the amazing things that we saw there if only to help us remember later.

Today, I'll start with the lions. 

1. We had three really amazing encounters with lions. The first encounter took place on our last day in Duma Tau where we came upon pride of ten lions. The two alpha males of the pride were feasting on a warthog while the others looked on. We didn't get to see the kill itself (which I am grateful for but which I think Josh regrets not having been able to see), but the dynamics between the two (alpha) males and the females and young ones vying for a piece of meat was quite memorable. 

Here are 8 of them lying in the shade:

  

And the two males were feeding:

We also got to see the alpha male drinking water, which looked like something from Aesop's fables:

2. Lucky for us, we also had the fortune to come across a fight between two females and a pride of 4 young males the first night in Little Kwara. Our guides told us that that is quite a rare occurrence - males fighting with females. We didn't get to see the ferocious "fight" portion of that quibble, but we were fortunate to come across the whole pride of lions roaring at the same time with the females joining in the roar. The guides told us that the group roar is to show that they are there. It was bar none the most deafening and fear-inspiring sound that I have ever heard in my life.

The pictures from this night did not turn out too well since it was taken in the dark (albeit with some spotlight). But we ran into one of the females the next day. Here she is:

2. The second amazing lion encounter was the very next day with the same pride of young male lions from the fight the night before. 

We didn't spot them at first. In fact, we were initially looking at the scores of giraffes, zebras and impalas grazing on this one vast field. Then all of a sudden all the animals looked in one direction and stood petrified. You could hear all the hearts beat but nothing else. No one was moving even an inch. Not even batting an eyelid. 

When we turned our eyes toward the direction where everyone was looking at we saw the four male lions walking toward us. The lions didn't do anything too special this day, but the reaction of all the animals to the lions was really extraordinary and unexpected. 

You can see the giraffes looking at the lions in this pic:

(Also note the cuts on the lion's leg. It's from a swat from a female the night before)

Here is a pic of all four lions together:

Our African Journal. Entry #4. Poverty? Heat?

One of the most frequent questions that we have gotten about our safari experience (besides the question about what we saw) is what the conditions were like. Were the accommodations okay? Was the weather really hot and dry? Was there a lot of poverty?

To many people in the western world, Africa conjures images of desert, heat, violence and poverty. And yes, there is probably plenty of that in many places in Africa. But Africa is a pretty big continent. And while we saw some of the desert and heat, we did not see the violence and poverty firsthand.  

(Pic from www.solarnavigator.net - Map of the world showing poverty as a % of the population)

Surprising, since so many in the region are poor. But the lack of poverty that we saw is probably due to the fact that we stayed mostly in tourist areas where there is more security and many of the facilities were up to western standards - complete with toilet paper. And I think with the exception of the recent situation in Zimbabwe, the southern countries have very little violence. 

Perhaps if we had gone to rural areas, we might have seen poverty even in Botswana, which I have found is the richest country in Africa with one of the fastest growth rates in per capita income in the world. And thanks to its cattle and diamond industry, along with the booming tourism industry, they are now a middle-income country with a per capita GDP of $16,450 in 2007 (according to Wiki).

Interestingly, we did see the stark differences between the three countries in the limited area we traveled to in the little time that we had there. Homes in Botswana were mostly built of concrete and modern building materials whereas many homes in Zambia and Zimbabwe were built out of sand from termite mounds with grass roofs. Furthermore, what caught my attention was that in Botswana, there were street lights lining the roads.   

But when it comes to accommodations in these countries, the poverty of the rest of the nation kinda doesn't come into the equation. No matter where you are staying, the accommodations are impeccable, when you pay western prices. It brings to mind, the hotels in Southeast Asia where the decor and service are nicer than in developed nations. For instance, the Sheraton in Bangkok was so much nicer than the Sheraton in Frankfurt. Maybe it's tied to the low wage, so that Sheraton Bangkok can employ more people than the Sheraton Frankfurt?  Similar to our experience in Southeast Asia, the decor and service of the places that we stayed at (especially in Botswana) were top notch. The service particularly was the the best bar none. 

Here's a picture of the common area at Kwetsani, our last camp. A couple posts down you can see a picture of our room at Duma Tau. Rustic, but pretty nice, eh?

As for the other question, was it really hot?

We went in the start of what is their winter. The days were pretty dry and hot with temperatures reaching up to 85 degrees or so. But the nights turned pretty chilly, going down to maybe 45 degrees at the coldest. Kinda like desert weather, although it's not completely a desert out there as you can see from the picture of Kwetsani, which is totally flooded. 

Our African Journal. Entry #3. DumaTau - African Wild dogs on arrival

Apparently, I've been writing the name of my favorite camp wrong. 

It's not Duma Tao. It is DumaTau and it means "roar of lions" (or maybe "roll of lions"?), or so we were told. 

We headed out to DumaTau after our short stay at Victoria Falls traveling by car, by boat and finally by plane. Before I get started on my favorite part of the trip, I wanted to share with you, an image of the unpaved runway at the DumaTau airstrip and the little 6-seater Cessna that we took. (After seeing the plane, and trying to fit our luggage in it, the 30 pound luggage restriction actually seemed generous). 

Now for the main attraction...

We arrived at DumaTau in the afternoon just in time for tea and the afternoon game drive. 

Duma Tau is on the northeastern region of Botswana in an area called Linyanti, located just east of the source of the Savuti Channel. It is actually really close to the Namibian border. So close that you occasionally get reception on your cell phone through the Namibian telecom. (So if you can't live without communications with the outside world, this might be the camp for you!!)

It is a beautiful camp situated on a lagoon (see pic below) with 10 luxurious tented rooms. (We thought this was small but this ended up being the biggest camp that we stayed in). The lagoon attracts a fair number of visitors during the dry season when other watering holes dry up, offering great game viewing right in camp. Fortunately for the animals (and unfortunately for us) this year saw enormous amounts of rain. Hence, even in May, there were numerous watering holes around and the grass was really tall and not yet brown and wilted, making game-viewing more difficult but making food and water plentiful for the animals.  

(photo from Wilderness safaris)

The Savuti Channel - just to the west of camp, is renowned for its predators - especially Lions and Hyenas - hence the name, DumaTau. More recently, the area has become well known for its African Wild Dog sightings, which was one of the main reasons we had chosen this camp.

And DumaTau didn't disappoint. We saw wild dogs every day during our three day stay there, starting with our first afternoon drive. 

By the way, African Wild Dogs are an endangered species. There were once about 500,000 African Wild Dogs in 39 countries, and packs of 100 or more were not uncommon. Now there are only about 3,000-5,500 in less than 25 countries. Amazingly, during our three days there we saw two separate packs. One was a 10 dog pack and the other was a 9 dog pack.  We were so lucky that the two dog packs stuck around and we got to see each pack multiple times because the dogs are known to have a very wide territory. Sometimes when they move away to another region, there is no sighting of them in the camp area for weeks. 

And we were lucky enough to see various aspects of their life - hunting, socializing, sleeping, humping (see pic below - "humping" because the youngster was unsuccessful...), chasing away hyenas...

The only thing that we didn't get to see was the actual kill, which I don't mind too much. I don't think I would be able to stomach seeing and hearing an impala (such a beautiful animal which I hear is their favorite meal -pics to be posted in later entry) be eaten alive. 

And they are such successful hunters too - 80% of hunts result in kills, which is much higher than any other predator - a fact further confirmed by the fact that the wild dogs were always followed by numerous scavengers. The pack of dogs that you see was followed by two spotted hyenas and vultures. In fact, our first sighting of the dogs was when we saw a hyena devouring an impala bone which he scavenged from the dogs and the dogs came over and chased the hyena away. Too bad we don't have any good pictures of that! It was amazing to watch but it was after dark and the photos all came out a little too blurry...

Here's a pic of the spotted hyena. Everyone says they are ugly. But I found them to be oddly beautiful...

That's all for now. More to come soon!

Our African Journal. Entry #2. Prelude

They say that Africa is an experience like no other.

And those who have experienced Africa (=the bush) say that it gets in your blood and makes you want to go back, time and time again. 

(photo taken at Duma Tao, a Wilderness camp)

Truer words were never spoken.

To be truthful, before our trip, I had no idea that after the experience in Botswana, I would also have the same sentiments as many before me.  With no doubt, before the trip, I was looking forward having a safari experience. I wanted to see the myriad of animals in their natural habitat, be in the bush with no communication with the outside world. See. Feel. But I was also worried about the conditions (toilet, bath, anyone?) as well as the possible ennui of doing the same thing (looking at animals) for 10 days. And of course, worry over malaria, water...

Of course these worries were for nothing. 

- In preparation of the possible ennui, I took books, work and dvds, and ended up not reading a word of any books (besides the animal reference book), not doing any work. Although we did end up watching a few episodes of Lost Season 1. Overall, the experience is so consuming that the whole time we were there, I think I only thought about all the game-viewing even when we had free time. 

- As for malaria, there were very few mosquitoes as we went in the winter season there when the temperature drops to 50 degrees at night. Additionally, since we were in areas where there were no other people within miles and miles, the risk of malaria was low anyway. Finally, just in case, all the camps had bug repellent in every nook and cranny for our use (our rooms, our cars, the public places etc.)

- Toilet and bath? I really don't know why I worried so much. All the accommodations were incredibly chic. This was one of the first times where the pictures in the brochure did not do justice. In fact, some of the camps were nicer than some of the 4* hotels that we had been to. Add the incredible service to it, the camps were definitely nicer than even the 5* hotels out there. (Where else do you get a hot water-bottle (aka, bushbaby) in bed with turn-down service?) 

(photo taken at Duma Tao, a Wilderness camp - the plush bed with the mosquito netting)

With all these worries addressed, the safari was nothing but a unforgettable, extremely enjoyable experience. 

Next to come. The actual safari experience.

PS. Note to everyone. Wilderness safari is the bomb!!! 

(Kwando safari is pretty good too although not quite as chic and well-run as Wilderness).  

Our African journal. Entry #1. Victoria Falls

We are finally back!

Well actually, we've been back for a few days but it has taken a while to get back into the daily rhythm - time adjustment, taking care of loose ends (mail, email, etc), unpacking, etc.  I think we had two box-loads of mail waiting for us.  Time adjustment has been a particularly difficult thing for me this time after a 40+ hour transit back to the US. The first night, I actually ended up sleeping approximately 15 hours, which totally got me off on the wrong track. Hopefully, I've finally been able to adjust to CST last night. 

It's funny now that we are back, it feels like we have never been gone. But I definitely feel a different person having made the trip to the bush. And I know that all the memories ingrained inside my head will last me a lifetime - the thunderous Victoria Falls, the amazing safari experience in Botswana and the paradise found in the Indian ocean. The highlight of the trip, though, for both Josh and I, is definitely the safari portion in Botswana, not only for the beautiful scenery and wildlife but for the wonderful accommodations and service provided by Wilderness Safaris. We are already talking about making another trip to Botswana in a few years... 

Can't wait to show you all the photos from our journey, especially from Botswana, but today, I wanted to start with the start of our journey and our trip to Vic Falls.

I have to say, unfortunately, that the start of our trip had the makings of "Honeymoon from Hell". You would think that being seasoned travelers, Josh and I would have planned our trip down to the last note - and we did- but we made some mistakes when starting out on our trip - mistakes that turned out to be pretty fatal. The three cardinal rules of traveling are: 1) Take your passport 2) Take your ticket 3) Don't be late. And we forgot to obey two of them. 

Not obeying #3 (due to abnormal amounts of traffic on I-90) resulted in us missing the first flight. We got to the airport in time to check in for the flight but not in time to check our bags, which meant that we would have to carry on everything. So we chucked most of out liquids (including Deet, sunscreen etc). But when going through security, I guess I had forgotten something which meant extra security - extra slow security, so we ended up missing our flight. The one saving grace was that we had originally had an extra long layover in Munich, so that the redirection through Frankfurt to Munich still got us to Munich in time for our flight to Johannesburg (and for us to go to downtown Munich to meet my ex-roommate, Daniela). 

Disaster averted or so we thought until we realized that neither of us had packed the paper tickets for three of the airlines that required paper tickets (pretty much all the flights except for the charters in Botswana). <I mean who uses paper tickets these days?!> We both told ourselves that it probably wasn't a big deal but I think we both knew otherwise because both of us could not sleep on the flight to Frankfurt. And as soon as we got to Frankfurt, we were running around talking to airline reps, calling airlines and calling Josh's mom and our friend Adam, to see if there was a way to fix this problem in any way. I think the only problem solved then was the South African Airways flights which was the immediate issue at point, which we paid extra to make into an e-ticket. (Btw, SAA Business Class rocks!!) 

Despite everything (with additional problem of the airline we were using to fly to Vic Falls going bankrupt a few days before we got to Africa), we make it to the area of Victoria Falls, flying into Victoria Falls Zimbabwe and then crossing the border on foot to Livingstone, Zambia. 

As for Zambia, it was a mixed bag for me. Loved Victoria Falls and the Zambezi River, but hated Livingstone, Zambia. We stayed a little bit outside Livingstone in a place called Natural Mystic Lodge. It is actually a very pretty property, but given how much it cost, I expected so much more. Basically, I think we payed almost $300 for close-to-dump furnishings (including meals). And $40 for a 2 hour boat ride, which ended up being 1 hour during which time we saw one hippo and nothing else. But I think everything on the Zambian side of Vic Falls is basically like this - very very overpriced. A cab ride anywhere is $20-$40, entrees cost $20-$40 and a dump costs $300. And the worst part was the the people thought that this was probably nothing to us and expected us to pay this and more. 

(sunset on the Zambezi)

I think that given what we know now, if we were to go back, we would stay in the Zimbabwean side of Vic Falls. It is beautiful there, more so than the Zambian side. And it is much much more cheaper. Additionally, despite cautions from the US travel advisory and travel agents, there seems to be no violence in Victoria Falls. However, there is so much need for tourist dollars there. People say you shouldn't travel there because money goes into the hands of the dictators, but people are really suffering there and I think that the least that we can do as tourists is not to take the livelihood away from those who make money from tourism.  (I think that one of the things that we both took away from this trip is a political awareness of what is going on in Africa, which I want to learn more about and make people more aware of, but I think that is for another post.)

Returning to the topic at hand, the highlight of our trip to Zambia/Zimbabwe was definitely Vic Falls itself. My expectations weren't that high given that I have been to Niagara Falls at least a dozen times. But the majesty of Vic Falls was impressive and memorable - perhaps because you can get so close to the waterfall. 

Victoria Falls is named Mosi-oa-Tunya (the Smoke that Thunders) by the locals for a good reason. The spray from the falls typically rises to a height of over 400 metres (1,300 ft), and sometimes even twice as high, and is visible from up to 50 km (30 miles) away. During the flood season, it is impossible to see the foot of the falls and most of its face, and the walks along the cliff opposite it are in a constant shower and shrouded in mist. 

You can see from our photos that we were definitely there during flood season. The mist made for a wonderful experience (getting totally drenched even wearing a poncho) but not so great photos.... I guess we at least get a lot of rainbows in our photos due to the mist. 

 

A shout out from Africa

Hi everyone!
Just giving you a shout out from the Johannesburg airport, waiting for our flight to Mauritius.
Wanted to let you know that Josh and I are both enjoying our time here in Africa immensely and that we are doing very well (I know that some of you might have heard about the riots in Jo-burg but everything was fine in Rosebank where we stayed and here at the airport. Also, just to let you know, the rioters are targeting foreign laborors, whom some South Africans resent as taking their jobs, homes, women...)

We can't believe that more than half of our time here has already passed by. We've been having so much fun and learning so much about Africa and nature. They say that your experience in Africa changes you and I think that it would be the case for both of us.

So many stories to tell and pictures to show, but I'll save that for later when I have a decent internet connection that allows me to upload pictures. So far, the internet connections have been so slow we can barely check email. Maybe in Mauritius or Seychelles...

Cheers! Take care and talk soon!

Itinerary

We are leaving in a couple of days and we are so excited.

Just in case you start wondering about where we are in the next couple weeks, here is a map showing our itinerary: 

We'll start by flying into Johannesburg from Munich. 

Then on to Victoria Falls on May 10 starting from the Zimbabwe side of Victoria Falls (town) and moving on to the Zambian side of Livingstone where we'll be staying in the Natural Mystic Lodge.

Then begins our safari adventure in Botswana on May 12. We'll be staying in 3 camps (Duma Tao, Little Kwara, and Kwetsani) in the Linyanti and Okavango regions over the next 9 days. We'll be totally out of contact with the rest of the world during these 9 days with no telephone, internet, television etc. 

Then back to Johannesburg for a night (May 21) and then on to the tropical paradises of Mauritius and Seychelles where we'll do some exploration of the islands (probably when we are in Praslin & La Digue in Seychelles) but mostly involve ourselves in some much needed R&R. We'll be staying in the Starwood properties (of course!- since my husband is brand loyal and hence all our hotel points are in Starwood points) - Le Meridien Ile Maurice in Mauritius and Le Meridian Barabarons in Mahe, Seychelles. Praslin has no Starwoods, so we'll be staying in a little B&B called Rosemary's Guesthouse. 

After all this, we make our arduous journey back to the US from Seychelles (May 29). And if our trip doesn't tire us out, the trip back is most likely to break our backs - since from Seychelles we come back via Mauritius (long layover, day and a night where we'll stay at the Shandrani), Johannesburg (overnight layover) and Munich (overnight layover during which time we take overnight train to Frankfurt) and then finally back to Chicago on June 1. 

All this travel and I'll only have one 30 pound backpack full of clothes. Can you believe that?

Anyway, wish us luck. And I'll post details of our trip when we get back!

Off to Africa

I haven't been posting too much recently. 

That is because I have had so much to do, with work and other preparations....

Because we are leaving for our honeymoon in Africa in a few days. 

We'll be traveling to South Africa, Zambia, Botswana, Mauritius and Seychelles for the next three weeks or so. Since we'll be gone for quite a bit we have so much to do to get all the work done (at work) and prepare everything for the trip. 

I'll make sure to take good pics post them once I have internet access!

(pics from Africatravel.co.uk)

Bed bugs....

are a travel nightmare. 

(pic from championexterminators.com)

Bed bugs are easy to transport in luggage and very hard to get rid of. Also, you can't tell whether a building or hotel room has them based on cleanliness - the bugs can thrive anywhere there are cracks and crevices to hide in.  And it seems that these pests are spreading extremely quickly across several American and Canadian cities. Which makes me a little apprehensive when traveling - and we travel quite a bit..... 

Which is why I was happy to find there is a bedbug registry - a free, public database of bedbug infestations in the United States and Canada. (http://bedbugregistry.com/). You can enter your travel destination to find out whether your hotel is bed bug free. 

Never want to run into those suckers....

We're gonna be missing out on a great chance...

to see Croatia. 

Our friends A & V are tying the knot in Dubrovnik, Croatia the last weekend of May. (Just got a beautiful invite yesterday). How amazing would it be to experience a wedding in Croatia (a real Croatian wedding since V is Croatian and her family is there)?  Not to mention seeing the picture-perfect Adriatic scenery? 

Unfortunately, we booked our honeymoon in advance to be in the month of May, and our plans pretty much cannot be changed (since it is really really difficult to coordinate travel stuff in Africa and good safari lodges book up way in advance).... So we'll be missing an experience of a lifetime.

We are so bummed!! We'll have to make a trip there sometime very very soon!

 (pics from National Geographic - photography by Danny Lehman (Rovinj, top), Peter McBride (Hvar, bottom))

Modigliani and his times

The highlight of the Madrid trip to me, besides all the food, was the special exhibit at Museo Thyssen Bornemisza titled Modigliani and his times. 

First of all, I love Modligliani. I love his colors, his uniqueness. So seeing his work in itself was a treat.  

But secondly, the exhibit taught me a thing of two. The exhibit outlined all the influences that shaped his art. Not surprisingly, his art was influenced by the work of his peers like Cezanne, Toulouse-Lautrec, Van Gogh, Picasso. Somewhat unexpected (to me) was that his work was heavily influenced by black art (African art). Especially the African tribal mask. Isn't that interesting?

(L to R: African fang mask from the Louvre, Head of a woman- scupture by Modigliani, Madame Zborowska: painting by Modigliani) 

Tosta de gambas

My favorite thing to eat in Madrid!

Shrimp atop garlic mayonnaise (aioli) smeared toast. Simple yet delicious.

We had it in every tapas place that we visited. And it never disappointed.... Although there were some places that did it better than others. 

My favorite place for tosta de gambas was near our hotel (Palace Hotel) in the Huertas area called Cerveceria Cervantes. They also had some of the best pulpos (boiled octopus). Mmmm.... I miss it already!

Cerveceria Cervantes

Plaza del Jesus 7

Madrid

More Madrid scenes

Babies on a plane.

On both our transatlantic flights we had the misfortune of having babies sitting right next to us. On short haul flights, I really don't mind having a baby or two on board as long as they are not crying on top of their lungs right next to me for the whole entire flight.  But on long hauls or red-eyes where I need to get sleep, it is quite an annoyance when sleep is disrupted due to a crying baby. Which is exactly what happened on our flights. 

I know that people with babies have to travel too. And that sometimes you really can't help a crying baby. But I do think that some parents can do more to ease the passage for both themselves and their fellow passengers. 

(photography from jupiterimages.com)

Here are a few things that are suggested when traveling with babies

1. Aim for direct flights. 
2. Take a carseat for your baby. This requires that you purchase a seat for your baby. But it will be more than worth it for you to not have to hold the baby the whole flight. Not only would it be more comfortable for you, but also more safe for the baby (there are many, many accidents with turbulence) and your baby will be much more comfortable in a familiar carseat. 
3. Get the bulkhead and request the bassinet. However, make sure that you know which seats have the capabilities to do this and reserve the seats required for you to hang the bassinet without infringing on other people's legroom. (Our neighbors on the flight back had to hang it in our legroom, making our flight much less comfortable). Note that in the bulkhead, there is nowhere to keep your things, so you will have to get up an access the overhead frequently. 
4. Or get a seat on the wings. The sound and motion of the plane in this area of the plane will lull the baby to sleep (like in a car).  
5. Feed your baby during takeoff or landing. The sucking motion will help with the discomfort of ear pressurization. 
6. Sit between your baby and passengers to act as a buffer.

Postcard from Madrid.

Got back from Madrid yesterday morning and was too tired to do anything besides check email and finish my book....

Today, I've uploaded all my pictures and have made a little postcard-like image in memory of Madrid.  

What I will remember most is:

1. The unbelievable weather. 60s-70s during the day. Mornings and early evenings were pretty mild too. And gorgeous skies throughout the day. Folks, if you need to get away from the winter blues (like I did) and don't want to go to the beach, Madrid is a wonderful option. 
   
2. The incredible art museums and the art. Madrid has three world class museums all in the city center, all clustered together. We only had 3 days but we managed to go to the Prado and the Thyssen Bornemisza. (Unfortunately, no Reina Sofia to see the Guernica). The Museo del Prado, of course, houses the best of Goya and Velazquez as well as many other of the old masters - Reubens, Boticelli etc.   Modern art is housed in the Reina Sofia and the Thyssen Bornemisza.  Luckily for us, they were having a special exhibit at the Thyssen of "Modigliani and his times", which was one of the most amazing art exhibits that I have seen in recent years. Kinda made up for the disappointment of not being able to make it to the Reina Sofia. 
   
3. Food. All the jamon, queso, chorizo, pulpos (octopus), tostas de gambas.... And all the beer, vino tinto and cava to wash it all down. We came back with our pants unbuckled....

I think overall, I might prefer Barcelona for the sights and architecture (and maybe food), but Madrid is perfect for the art lover. 

Hola, Madrid!

It's been a busy day so far. 

Getting work done and packing for Madrid. 

The weather there is supposed to be 36-66 degrees, so I had a little trouble packing, but I am good to go. I'll be back on Monday, hopefully with great pics and great stories to go along.

Hasta luego!

(photography from concierge.com)

Berthillon ice cream

I had an overwhelming craving for ice cream today as we were running errands. 

So we stopped by DQ and got a small ice cream cone. But it didn't quite quench the craving......

I think what I really want is something from Berthillon in Paris.

(pics from pomelohome.wordpress.com)

Eating ice cream/sorbet from Berthillon, for me, was unlike any other ice cream experience. Yes it was cold and soft like ice cream/sorbet, but the taste was like eating the essence of whatever flavor ice cream we had. Eating peach sorbet was like eating a ripe peach. Eating pear was like eating a ripe pear. In other words, just simply incredibly intense taste in yummy goodness.

I don't think there is any place like that in Chicago, or anywhere else in the world for that matter. So I think my next culinary endeavor will be to try making pear or peach sorbet in the new ice cream maker that we received as a wedding gift!  Wish me luck!

Berthillon

31, Rue Saint Louis-en-l'Ile

75004 Paris

Traveling shoes?

Can't wait to be in Madrid next weekend. 

But before that happens and I need to get some work done. But more importantly, I need to plan my outfits and pack!

Actually, years of traveling and packing have given me a pretty good idea of what to pack for a weekend getaway. A pair (or two) of jeans, slacks, a dress, a few tops, a couple sweaters and a scarf and I am good to go. The difficult part in packing is actually the shoes. Especially, the comfy shoes needed for all the museums and street strolls....

Years of living abroad have taught me one thing. No matter how comfy it is, do not wear shoes only for comfort. They really scream tourist and unfashionable from a mile away. Can't remember how many times I've seen Tevas and New Balances and thought "... tourists". If you don't care, I guess it doesn't matter, but when I travel, I really love just blending into the cityscape and experiencing the city like a native. 

On the other hand, you really can't sacrifice fashion for comfort (at least at my age). Or else you'll be experiencing the city in pain, rather than in peace and joy. 

 

So here are the options for me, given my current shoe inventory. 

(images from Shopbop.com: L to R- Loeffler Randall, Simple, Erotokritos)

Not exactly the same as the shoes in my closet but close enough...

Most likely that I will wear the boots and take all two options along with a pair of pumps and flip-flops. For the most part, I am guessing five pairs of shoes will cover the whole three days. 

But five pairs are a lot and I feel like there has to be a better way to travel with shoes.  

Any suggestions for fashionable yet really comfy shoes?

Safari is not a SAFARI.

Right after our wedding, we didn't go on our honeymoon. Instead we deferred a whole half a year, so that we can take time off to go on a safari in Africa, our dream vacation. 

So much preparation goes into the planning of a safari trip to Africa. You need to figure out what the kind of animal viewing, the type of experience, the time of year, your budget. And after all that has been set, then you look for the regions and camps that fit your needs, see if they have availability (some camps are super-small and fill up early) and transportation. 

And then there's all the other preparation that you need to do like vaccinations. And then establishing a packing list. 

The former is somewhat easy since we took care of most of the vaccinations when we went to Cambodia a year ago. But the latter is really a pain.  One inconvenient thing about Africa travel is the strict luggage restriction. One bag up to 12 kg per person on some flights, which is really not much. Not only am I packing for a safari, but also some beach time in Mauritius and Seychelles and a stopover in Johannesburg. And I can only take 12kg? What is a girl to do?

I know that I am going to Africa for the experience, so it shouldn't matter what I wear all that much. But still, in my mind, I see myself looking fabulous in designer safari-style outfits: 

  

(from L to R: Michael Kors, Rag and Bone, Behnaz Sarafpour)

Unfortuately, with a 12kg limit, I will be relegated to taking 2 pairs of long pants, 2 pairs of short pants, 2 long sleeve shirts, 2 short sleeve shirts, 4 changes of underwear, hiking shoes, flipflops, swimsuit and maybe one dress... And they all need to be washable and treatable with deet (to keep away the malaria).  

So what my bag will actually contain come May will be:

  

(Products from REI.com)

These are all items that are guaranteed to keep me warm in the 40-degree morning & evening and keep me cool in the 85-degree mid-day. Provide protection against bugs and sun. Also, moister-wicking and quick drying.

But not so pretty, don't you think? Any suggestions on how to spruce things up with these items without taking too much more?