Dominica in pictures

I once shared some pictures of Dominica with a friend and they asked me to define what Dominica is. That's a toughie because it is an island that defies description.

If I had to describe it (and my DH agrees) we would say Dominica is:

• Rugged

• Lush

• Volcanic

• Hot, extremely hot (eclipsed only by St Kitts!) -- DH disagrees on this one!

• Sultry

• a very physically active place

• Colorful

That said, I will let these pictures of Dominica tell the story.  It's a beautiful island that's very physical.  If you go, be prepared to stretch the limits of your physical endurance.  There are lots of hills, lots of hiking and lots of waterfalls.  We stayed at Calibishie Lodges in (you guessed it) the village of Calibishie.  It's a lovely, colorful property that features houses on stilts.  You need the height because of the heat!

Dominica is where I saw a real, live whale for the first time (Bucket List!) and so it will always have a special place in my heart because of that.

Looking up at our apartment at Calibishie Lodges

The view from our porch at Calibishie Lodges

View of the village of Calibishie

 



Some other scenes from Dominica

Happy anniversary to the best travel buddy in the world

Twenty three years ago I met the cutest, kindest guy I know.  I'm happy to say that over the past 21 years he's turned out to be the best travel buddy and husband I could ever have dreamed of.  You never really know someone until you travel with them, and although he keeps surprising me in lots of really cool ways day-to-day, he can always be counted on in a travel crisis.  When I'm itching to pack my bags for another travel adventure, he's the gift that keeps on giving, because he never says no, he just says "where", "when" and "how much"!  LOL.  So today, I say happy 21st wedding anniversary to my best friend, my best travel buddy and my best everything!  There would be no Mrs. Itchy Feet without a Mr. Itchy Feet and I'm grateful for mine!

Visiting with some blue men

 For many years I had wanted to visit Las Vegas.  Maybe it was seeing pictures of the Las Vegas strip,  movies like Oceans Eleven, or pictures of some Blue Men.  Anyway, for my 36^th birthday, I was able to convince my DH that we should go to Vegas.   We went for 5 days and still didn’t get to do all the things that were on my bucket list.  For our hotel we chose the Orleans Hotel which was a very nice hotel, but it was off-strip.   Take my advice, stay on the strip.  Even though many off-strip hotels are nice, you lose time going to/from the strip each day.

Las Vegas is one of those unique places that you should visit at least once.  It’s one of the few places where I’ve been where for absolutely nothing you can entertain yourself for the day.  You can stroll through a hotel for free and see fascinating sights and people.  Of course, if you want to, Las Vegas can be a place where you can spend lots too especially if you like to go to shows, drink and gamble.   I will confess that although we don’t drink, I absolutely love the penny slots and hotel buffets.

Some of our Las Vegas favorites

The Venetian – it was so fascinating to me to see gondolas floating in the water inside a hotel!

The Blue Man Group show (when we saw it, it was in the Venetian)

Go to the top of the Paris hotel at night.  What a view!

The Secret Garden of Siegfried and Roy

Visit Shark Reef

Free Stuff

    The Flamingos and Koi at the Flamingo hotel

For a nice change of pace, visit Red Rock Canyon – rent a car for a day and take a drive outside of the city.

When (not if) you go

·          Stay on the strip (assuming you aren’t visiting during prime times like New Year’s and the like, there are affordable hotels to be had on the strip and otherwise you lose too much time waiting for hotel shuttles to pick you up and drop you off)

·          At least 6 months in advance of your trip you should sign up for emails from as many hotels as you can stand (or at least the ones you’d consider staying at).  I have received emails that offer hotel room nights in nice hotels for $40 - $50 a night.  As long as you’re not fussy on time of year, you can get a cheap hotel in Vegas.  You do have to sign up for those hotel emails though so you can get the deals.

·          Ride the bus.  The Las Vegas strip buses (AKA The Deuce) are clean, comfortable, affordable and very convenient.  Sure, you can walk everywhere, but for those moments when you’re tired, those buses are a God-send.

·          Unless you’re traveling with a large group, definitely spring for the professional photos.  I have never regretted paying for the professional pictures we got on any of our trips including Las Vegas.


Some scenes from our Vegas trip

Favorite Caribbean Cooking Sites

I love to cook and eat!  One of the best ways I know of to satisfy a hankering for Caribbean travel is to cook Caribbean food.  Some of the best sites I've run into that teach you how to cook like a Caribbean pro.  These are the sites I search first when I'm in the mood for a particular dish:

http://caribbeanpot.com/
Chris de La Rosa's site is one of the coolest on the web.  His recipes are the bomb and the detail and pictures he provides with every recipe can make even the most inexperienced Caribbean cook a master.  Chris' cooking reminds me of the dishes I grew up eating and seeing my mother cook.

http://www.simplytrinicooking.com/
A fairly new site to me but it's filled with authentic Trinidad recipes with a contemporary twist.

http://trinigourmet.com/
Sarina's blog features lots of recipes that are vegan and kosher.

 Trinidad Black Cake (AKA Fruit Cake)

Trinidad Pastelles

Costa Rican Magic

I will confess that although we haven’t visited a host of countries in Central America (though I’ve visited Venezuela and Margarita Island several times) and Panama is still on my short list.  However, Costa Rica has a special place in my heart.  With so many places still let to visit, it’s a rare island or country that can entice us to visit more than once or twice.  The first time we went to Costa Rica we were true neophytes and weren’t sure what to expect.

On our first trip (February 2003) we chose to stay on Flamingo beach (a black sand beach) in the Guanacaste region.  It was so funny to see my feet each night.  On that first trip we stayed at Flamingo Beach Resort, a cute little resort that of all things … had no TVs in the rooms!  Talk about a culture shock!  Having no TVs in the room though encouraged us to use the TV Room where we could mingle with other guests who were starving for news from home.  On that trip we did a round-the- country tour with an expat who took us on roads that weren’t roads.  I was nauseas for a week after that tour!

       Cute monkey we ran into

       on our tour

         first trip in 2003

The second time we went (Thanksgiving in 2004) we went the all-inclusive route and stayed for almost two weeks at the Fiesta Premier Resort and Spa in Guanacaste.  The resort was huge but felt intimate.  We were lucky to stay in a little duplex near the beach and the reception area so we didn’t have to hike up and down the hills. 

On both our Costa Rica trips we flew into the Liberia airport.  Both times we came away with the opinion that the Costa Rican people are some of the friendliest and most genuine people we’ve run into in our travels.

If you go:

•           If you’re going to stay in the Guanacaste region then definitely fly into the infinitely cleaner, safer and more convenient Liberia airport. 
•          Avoid San Jose airport if you can.  Safety was an issue when we visited and I’m not too sure much has changed.  Plus, the distance between San Jose and many of the tourist areas is very long.

Funny stuff seen on our travels

Ran into these gorgeous legs 

at Reagan National Airport 

on the way to a business trip

 in Salt Lake City

Man sitting as sand art

 Smooch!

 Scary!  

Metro sign on a Washington DC train

Favorite Travel Sites Part 2

Another favorite travel site

Why we love Skyauction

http://www.skyauction.com/
Others may disagree (there are actually a couple sites devoted to bashing them) but we have only had good experiences using Skyauction.  Suffice it to say that until we discovered this site back in 2002, DH and I traveled but we didn't really travel if you know what I mean.  We have traveled to Costa Rica (twice), Dominican Republic (four times), St Thomas, Aruba, Curacao, St Kitts, Bahamas, Anguilla and even Washington DC by buying airline tickets, hotel accommodations and air/hotel packages from Skyauction.  I will confess that Skyauction customer service is not the best and it's often tough to speak to an actual person unless you're persistent or have used them for awhile and know the efficient staffers and seek them out.  As with any travel vendor you need to do your homework.  Some tips:

• Watch auctions for a bit to understand how things work.
• Read the Skyauction FAQs so there are no surprises.
• When you're ready to jump in, know what the fair market price is for any airline ticket or hotel accommodation you're considering buying from them or any other travel auction site.  It's easy to lose your head and keep bidding against someone who is deadset on winning.  
• Learn to walk away - your auction is likely to be offered again.  However, sometimes smaller hotel properties only offer 1 or 2 auctions.  If you've been watching for a while, you'll get an idea of whether supply is running out.
• Be flexible on dates.   
• "Pay Now Travel Later" is your friend.  With this option you win an auction and can pay for 1 or two nights to "hold" your win and can come back later and pay the balance once your dates are final.  A word of warning -- prices do go up.  I have seen the starting bids on properties increase over time because of high bids from prior auctions.  If you're sure you'll be going to a place, the sooner you bid the better.  Conversely,  the longer an auction stays out there, the more likely it is that the buying frenzy will die down and you can get what you want at a lower price in a later auction.  Your call.  Another reason to watch your auction for a bit before jumping in.
• Final means just that.  Once you've selected your dates and Skyauction has confirmed them with the travel vendor, you are locked in.
• If Sky can't book the dates you requested you will get your money back and can purchase elsewhere.
• Caveat -- in years past I have never had an issue with Skyauction running out of nights at a hotel.  However, last year I noticed that I won two hotel auctions to Anguilla and Sky did not have enough nights left to book them.  I was pleasant and didn't back down and they eventually found an additional hotel to accomodate us that was actually better than the first.  We ended up spending 5 nights each in two excellent properties so it worked out in the end.  

Quote of the Day

If you reject the food, 

ignore the customs, 

fear the religion 

and avoid the people, 

you might better stay at home.  

~ James Michener

a waterfall in Grenada