A digital travel diary. · WP v1.22 · Updated
We flew to Seattle and drove north to Whistler for a family ski trip, staying at the Pan Pacific Mountainside. . Our long-awaited skiing trip to Whistler, Canada, finally arrived, and we were eager to fly to Seattle for our eventual 4-hour drive to Whistler. Our original flight on Delta 5741 from San Jose to Seattle was delayed by 1 hour, and we departed at…
Read More: Skiing Whistler
Maui time! We returned to the Wailea Beach Marriott for a seven-night stay, arriving on a morning flight from San Jose.. . We took the morning 7:50 a.m. flight from San Jose (Hawaiian Airlines HA45) to Kahului, Maui (OGG), arriving at 11:15 a.m. Hawaiian time. The flight went smoothly. I was surprised that Hawaiian Airlines actually provided breakfast on the plane. Most airlines charge for…
Read More: Relaxing in Wailea Marriott, Maui
In the fall of 2014, Inna visited Boston to explore the city and its main attractions. She has always wanted to visit Boston but never found the time or the occasion. She found some great tickets on JetBlue with a direct flight from San Francisco to Boston. It was a very early morning flight (flight 434, departing SFO at 7:00 a.m. Pacific time and arriving…
Read More: Visiting Boston aka Harvard, here I come
During my recent trip to Atlanta, Georgia, for recruiting at the Georgia Institute of Technology (my alma mater), I stayed at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center in downtown Atlanta.. . . . We arrived pretty late in Atlanta and decided to get dinner at the Sweet Georgia Juke Joint downtown. There was live music playing, and the atmosphere was a bit dark. This…
Read More: Recruiting at Georgia Tech in Atlanta
We arrived in Stockholm, Sweden, around 10:00 a.m. aboard the Tallink Baltic Queen ferry from Tallinn, Estonia. We had a tiny cabin on the ferry, sufficient for the one-day sail. Alex and I had separate top bunks, and Inna slept on the bottom bunk. There was not much room for anything else. Our luggage blocked the way out (but what can you do?). . .…
Read More: Stockholm, Sweden
We arrived in Tallinn, Estonia, aboard the Tallink Silja Line ferry from Helsinki at 3:30 p.m. We planned to visit our Radisson Blu Sky hotel and explore the beautiful medieval old town.. . When we arrived, we waited for bus #2 to get to our Radisson Blu Sky hotel, but it did not stop at our bus stop. We decided to take a bicycle taxi…
Read More: Tallinn, Estonia
After getting up and having breakfast, we took the metro to Copenhagen Airport. It started lightly raining in Copenhagen, but not enough to get us wet. We boarded the M2 subway at Kongens Nytorv metro station and took it to Copenhagen Airport (Lufthavn station). On the way there, in the metro, we had our 24-hour Copenhagen tickets checked. During our five days in Copenhagen, this…
Read More: Helsinki, Finland
. Our flight from Bergen, Norway, to Copenhagen, Denmark, was scheduled for 8:10 p.m. from Bergen airport. It's a relatively short flight, and we planned to land in Copenhagen at 9:30 p.m. However, our plane was delayed 15 minutes (not a big deal). We also called our Phoenix Copenhagen hotel to confirm they had our room reserved for our late arrival. To my great surprise,…
Read More: Copenhagen, Denmark
We checked into our eighth-floor apartment at 193 Strandgaten, unpacked, and rested briefly. . . . When we opened the windows, we were thrilled by the view of the ship-filled harbor. . . . . Since we were hungry (from our long and tedious journey from Balestrand), we decided to eat at the closest restaurant that Lars (our host) recommended. This was "De Stefano" -…
Read More: Bergen, Norway
Since we had early morning train tickets to Flam, we got up at 5:30 a.m., packed, and boarded our train from Oslo to Myrdal at 6:45 a.m. The plan was to change trains in Myrdal and ride on the scenic train to Flam, followed by a ferry cruise to Balestrand through the magnificent Norwegian Fjords.. . . . . I had an unexpected problem with…
Read More: Balestrand, Norway
Today, we flew out on Norwegian Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner from San Francisco, California, to Oslo, Norway, on our summer Scandinavian vacation.. . This was our first time on the Boeing 787, and it is a much superior plane to all of the previous Boeing and Airbus jets I have flown. The seats were much better, the engines were much quieter, and the cabin was…
Read More: Oslo, Norway
Our United Airlines Flight from San Francisco to Seattle was delayed due to maintenance issues. So, instead of flying out at 9:05 a.m. as intended, we departed at 11:30 a.m. and landed in Seattle around 2:00 p.m. We rented our 4x4 Jeep Compass from Avis in Seattle and drove to Whistler, BC. I thought about getting a cheaper car, but the weather report indicated snow,…
Read More: Skiing Whistler
First week: Monday (7:30am with Dara - The Fit Test). . I took the introductory P90X class at Courtside Club with Dara (the fitness instructor).. . . . . I've attended Courtside Club for 2 years to improve my aerobic and muscular fitness. I was not making much progress in my strength training, so I wanted to determine whether P90X could improve my conditioning. My…
Read More: P90x Fitness at Courtside Club, Los Gatos
Maui time!. . We took the 8:00 a.m. flight from San Jose (Hawaiian Airlines HA45) to Kahului, Maui (OGG), arriving at 11:30 a.m. Hawaiian time. The flight went smoothly, without much turbulence. I was surprised that Hawaiian Airlines actually provided lunch on the plane. Most airlines charge for food and only offer peanuts or crackers.. . Once we landed and collected our belongings, we picked…
Read More: Relaxing at Wailea Marriott, Maui
After spending the afternoon in Metz, France, we drove to Brussels, Belgium, for the next part of our European trip. . . . I was happy to be out of France - the cost of all the paid tollways started to irritate me (compared to toll-free roads in the Netherlands or Germany). Thankfully, Belgium's roads were free, and we had a good time in Brussels..…
Read More: Brussels, Belgium
We began our Benelux trip with six days in Amsterdam, staying in a canal-side apartment in the Jordaan neighborhood. . Today, we flew from San Francisco International Airport to Amsterdam, the Netherlands, with a stop in Chicago. Our United Airlines flight UA372 departed from San Francisco at 10:00 a.m. and landed at Chicago's O'Hare Airport at 4:10 p.m. We changed planes and departed on UA909…
Read More: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Today, we flew Alaska Airlines Flight #327 from San Jose, California, to Seattle, Washington. . . When we landed in Seattle, we learned that a section of the Skagit River bridge (I-5) had collapsed. Luckily, we were not on the bridge when it collapsed. Two vehicles fell into the cold water of the Skagit River. . . . Upon landing, we boarded an airport car…
Read More: Vancouver, British Columbia
We rescheduled our trip to Barcelo Maya Palace in Mexico (near Cancun) for April 5, 2013 (from the original date in December 2012 due to Grandma's health problems).. . We flew on United Airlines UA1679 from San Francisco to Cancun (direct flight), departing at 8:39 a.m. and landing at 3:02 p.m. . . Once we landed in Cancun, we waited for our United Airlines shuttle…
Read More: Barcelo Palace, Cancun, Mexico
Today, we decided to make Italian Gelato at home. I purchased a DeLonghi GM6000 Gelato machine to see if I could replicate the fine gelatos of Italy.. . . . . Our first attempt was to make the custard described in Ciao Bella. Unfortunately, the attempt failed because our analog thermometer was not working properly, and we overheated the milk, heavy cream, and egg yolk.…
Read More: Making Gelato at Home
Today, we drove to Yosemite National Park to see the park in winter and spend a few days enjoying the snow and waterfalls. We started our drive to Tenaya Lodge, near the south entrance, at 6:00 p.m., but there was a lot of traffic on US-101 heading south. . . . After 30 minutes of driving on US-101, I realized I had forgotten our ski…
Read More: Exploring Yosemite National Park