Funnest Taxi Ride Ever?

Last weekend, my friend and I were sitting on a park bench near the Caribbean Sea, in a town about 40 minutes outside of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.  We were looking to make our way to the airport when we were approached by a man offering to take us on his motortaxi for $5 less than what cab drivers were charging.  Happy to save money, and even more happy to be taking a motor bike instead of a car, we agreed and the three of us hopped onto the little bike.  As it was a 2 seater, the driver ended up sitting on the frame of the bike and my friend and I occupied the seats.

About halfway through the journey, he explains that he needs to stop un momento.  We get off the bike and he starts pumping the front wheel.  I remember telling my friend that this is the funnest taxi ride ever.  It was thrilling to be driving down the side of the highway, giant trucks and cars speeding past, knowing that one wrong move while swerving to avoid potholes in the road could spell the end of us.  

Our driver tells us to get back on.  I'm sitting in the middle, so he tells me to get on first.  I swing my leg over the seat and I feel an odd sensation in my leg that almost immediately turns to pain.  I pressed my calf against the exhaust pipe and the back of my leg is burned!

I don't have time to explain what's happened before our driver hops on and starts driving again.  The whole time I am gritting my teeth, biting my lip and holding back tears, trying to ignore the pain that's radiating up my leg.  I can only imagine what it must look like.  I figured it would be a nasty blister, perhaps with some blood trickling down the back of my leg for good effect.

We finally get to the airport and I'm able to examine my injuries.  

A nice burn, complete with 3 oozy blisters.  It wasn't as awful as I was expecting, but it hurt like hell.  Luckily the airport had a pharmacy so I went in and made a sad face and said me duele.  The 3 girls behind the counter conferred and eventually picked out the perfect cream for me for $10.  I put it on and put a couple bandages on and in less than an hour it stopped hurting.  

A week later, the red circle has shrunk in half and there are three little scabs where the blisters were.  It's itchy and ugly, so I can't help thinking that I'm a little strange that I still consider that ride to the airport the funnest taxi ride ever.

New Year, New Job, New Resolutions

I made quite a good list of resolutions this year, and unlike most years, I actually set a time limit on them.  It's so easy to say 'I'm going to lose weight this year', or 'I want to travel more', but it's another thing to actually DO what you say you will.  So this year, my goals are:

1. Get a job by the end of January
2. Sign up for PADI certification with my first paycheck
3. Run a 10k in March
4. Finish my stupid book and get it up for sale by the end of April
5. Have at least 1 travel article published by the end of June
6. Move to L.A.
7. Travel to at least 5 countries by December

I'm already ahead of schedule!  I started applying for jobs last Wednesday, I got a call on Monday to come in  to a temp agency to interview, then I got another call on Tuesday saying I got the job I was hoping to get.  I started today.  So that means next week I will be signing up for my PADI class!  2 down and it's not even the middle of January yet!  

Why is it...

That the worse your trip is, the more fondly you look back on it?

Midnight in the Sahara

I went camping in the Moroccan Sahara back in early October.  We slept out under the stars instead of in the tents, which seemed like a good idea at the time and still seems like a good idea now, surprisingly.  I didn't get much sleep that night because 1. it was freezing and 2. I couldn't stop watching the sky.  There was a full moon that night, so we weren't able to see as many stars as you usually can, which was kind of sad.  However, it was a blessing in disguise because it was soooo bright that you didn't have trouble walking around without a flashlight when you had to find a bush to squat behind when you needed to pee.

The sky was so big in the Sahara.  I wished on lots of shooting stars that night (none of which came true.  I'm lucky like that).  You could see satellites orbiting the earth, which was really cool since I've never seen that before.  The coolest part was watching the stars move across the sky as the earth turned.  You could literally follow them with your head throughout the night until they dipped behind the dunes in the west.  It was one of my favorite nights ever.

Breakfast at the Burj

Rising majestically from the waters of the Persian Gulf, the Burj al Arab looks like a massive sail boat anchored just offshore of the coast of Dubai, UAE.  It's the world's only 7-star hotel and their cheapest rooms are over 1,800 square feet and cost over $1,700 USD.  As a travel snob, I knew i had to visit this hotel during my stay in Dubai.  However, my bank account is a bit too small to keep up with my expensive taste, so I had to settle for a breakfast reservation instead of a room reservation.

Our taxi was stopped at the gate and we had to show our reservation number to even get onto the road that connects mainland Dubai to the artificial island the Burj al Arab is situated on.  We felt a bit like rock stars as our taxi passed by dozens of tourists taking pictures from the gate.  We pulled up to the door and hopped out.  It was only 10am and we were eager to escape the already oppressive Middle Eastern heat.

We walked into the lobby and were greeted by a young man wearing a traditional white robe and headdress. He showed us to the escalators and gave us directions to the restaurant.  We spent a few moments wandering around the atrium, gaping at the colors and the shapes that occupied every inch of the hotel.  The breakfast restaurant is in the main atrium, which meant the elevators were off-limits for us.  If you eat at any of the other restaurants, you have to take the elevators up and are able to wander around the upper level of the hotel.

You know you're at a fancy place when they have Hermes lotion in the bathroom.

We were greeted and taken to our table next to a floor-to-ceiling window that overlooked the water and the resort and water park across the street.  

As a part of breakfast, you can order juice and coffee/tea/hot chocolate, then you get a platter of yogurt, muesli, little bagels and assorted fruit.  After you finish that, your main course comes out.  There were about 7 choices and I chose the eggs and hash browns.  To finish off the breakfast you have your choice of pastries, but we were too full to eat them.  Of course, the breakfast was much prettier than what you'd get at IHOP or Denny's and much, much more expensive.

It was tasty, but not $70 tasty, but we knew we were paying more for the location than the food.  How many times in your life can you say you ate breakfast at the Burj al Arab? 

(ps-the answer to that question: not many.  You couldn't afford to do it again!)

National Novel Writing Month 2011

This is why I haven't blogged in forever.  A week after returning from my 2nd RTW trip, I started writing.  It was so incredibly time consuming and exhausting but I finished!  I'll try to put some new travel blogs up soon.

The Best Days of Our Lives

I often think about some of the days I consider to be the best days of my life.  Thankfully, there are quite a few that come to mind, but one has stuck out more than any other that I can think of in recent times.  My first visit to Australia was life changing.  I lived out my life dream of swimming with great white sharks (which I WILL do again) and I fell in love with the most amazing country in the world, so much that I had to move there and I hope to live there again sooner rather than later.  Out of all of the things I did on that trip, the thing that feels the best was the afternoon I spent in Coffin Bay outside of Port Lincoln in South Australia.

When I try to conjure up good feelings, I am taken back to this deserted stretch of beach at the bottom of the country, a place I wasn't even planning to visit but ended up at thanks to a friend I met.  It wasn't the most beautiful beach I've been to, it was hot and I was sweaty and wearing pants and was covered in sand, but I recall feeling the most free I've ever felt in my life.  Standing atop a large sand dune, looking at the vast expanse of ocean, I felt literally like I was on top of the world.  

Another day that really felt like one of the best days  I've had was also in Australia, at a place called Pebbly Beach in the South Coast of New South Wales.  I went there on a whim during a long weekend this past June.  It was cold and rainy, but that didn't matter because there were kangaroos everywhere!  I got to the beach before the sunrise and I was the only one on it for over an hour.  I sat alongside the kangaroos in the wet grass and stared out over the ocean.  It was so peaceful and surreal.

When I think of these days, it makes me long to be there again, to revisit the places that made me feel so happy.  But then I wonder if it could ever be so good again.  These weren't just places I liked going, they were places that made me feel something.  If you were to go back to places like these, would you still feel the same emotions, or would it be not as significant the second time around?  Would it tarnish your memories and your original feelings?  Or maybe, are some places just so special you will always have this sort of relationship with them?