Breaking Up a Journey into Distinct Legs = Sometimes a Good Thing.

We overnighted in the aptly named A Stone's Throw Away

Call me paranoid, but when I learned that the flight from Cat Island would arrive in Nassau just 90 minutes before our international flight back to DC (on a different airline and in an entirely different terminal), I had visions of missing the flight and rushing around to find a hotel, of learning that the next flight out was entirely booked, etc.  So I made a decision.  A decision I would recommend to anyone with a tight turnaround in a foreign airport with flights on different airlines: we flew in from Cat, overnighted in Nassau and then calmly flew home to Washington, DC the next day. 

Like many airports, the Nassau airport has an older terminal for all of its domestic flights and a completely separate space for its international flights.  Plus, the tiny hopper flight we took to Cat Island was operated by Sky Bahamas and we needed to get on a US Airways flight back to DC.  Ironically, we ended up getting into Nassau a full 30 minutes early and would have probalby had time to make the DCA flight on the same day, yet, we took the opportunity to explore Nassau by hopping on a local bus and going down to the center of the city where all the cruise ships arrived.  It's fantatically touristy, but we enjoyed the people watching and the 30-minute bus ride gave us a good, local view of Nassau.  We then spend the afternoon on the hotel's lovely deck admiring the ocean and sipping beers.  In the evening, we walked down the street for dinner on the beach.  Really, a lovely day and a nice way to cap our trip.  Our Hotel, A Stone's Throw Away, was literally a 3-minute drive to the airport and they offer a free ride so it was so simple.  Having a final day on vacation and to catch our breath sort of summed up the purpose of the trip.

This wasn't our first time breaking up legs of a journey.  On our way to Greece last year, I blogged about our stopover on both ends of our trip in London.  It would have been impossible to get from London out to Stansted, but we really wanted to limit our flights to two:one from DC to London and then one from London to Rhodes.  Stopping over in London made the trip calmer and offered a few days in an entirely different climate, too!

So, consider breaking up that journey and exploring a new place along the way. 

Cat Island: Things to Do.

Visiting the Hermitage on Mount Alverina is a must do.

When we booked our trip to Cat Island, I envisioned doing little beyond beach walks, making a dent in my reading list, and plenty of sleeping and napping.  After all, the island is sparsely populated and the point was a peaceful trip, full of limited human contact.  Beach trips, at least for us, tend to be low key.  

So we were surprised to find ourselves on the go the whole time.  Sure we got plenty of naps in and books conquered, but we also found ourselves breathlessly peddling up a sandy hill trying to reach the Atlantic Ocean or another time,  paddling furiously against the current of Pigeon Creek as sea turtles darted by.   The trip was unexpectedly active and we joked about about all the activities we crammed in...here's a sampling for those planning trips to Cat:

1.  The Hermitage on Mount Alverina.  The tallest point in the Bahamas at just 206 feet, Como Hill is worth the easy trek.  A Catholic missionary named Father Jerome--known for constructing many churches on Cat--built the lovely structure and lived there until the 1950s.  The hike takes you past memorials of the stations of the cross.  The views are pretty spectacular.

The old church found during a rain storm that sustained
damages from Hurricane Irene in 2011.

2.  Canoeing.  Our rental included a canoe and access to one of the interior waterways filled with mangroves, but also deep channels that lead out to the Exuma Sound.  We waited for the tide to roll in and dragged the canoe out to the deeper channel.  Although fighting the current and the brisk wind made canoeing tough for rookies, we were rewarded with sea turtle sightings!

3.  Biking.  Our rental also came with two bikes and we took advantage of them, exploring Bennett's Harbor, Alligator Point and biking the Atlantic side of the island near The Bluff settlement.  During our ride to the Atlantic, a sudden rain shower forced us to turn into a churchyard and seek shelter.  As we waited out the storm, we discovered a book detailing attendance.  The last entry was the week before Hurricane Irene, which did terrible damage to the island.  The island is still recovering from that storm.  As we stood there, under the new roof, I felt hopeful a new entry would not be too far off.

Alligator Point is one of the beaches we hiked to and found
ourselves completely alone to enjoy the beauty of Cat.

4.  Resort lunches.  We made most of our meals at the beach rental, but it was nice to have a few meals out and we drove up to Shana's Cove one day as well as lunching at Fernandez Bay Village Resort.  We also had an amazing lunch of conch ceviche and fried fish at Yardee's--a conch shack in Bennett's Harbor.  It's a must-do on Cat.  The open-air communal tables filled with friendly people chatting and waiting for their food or just shooting the breeze was an absolute delight.

5.  Hiking.  We did some serious hikes from walking out to the beaches near Man-o-War Pointe at the north end of island to our 3-mile trek to the deserted beaches near Alligator Point, you can easily find yourself alone with nature.  The chance to be so isolated, surrounded by perfect beauty was a special experience and one you can't find in many places anymore.

Just Back: Cat Island, Bahamas

Biking out to Alligator Point, Cat Island

The waving at first is a little unnerving.  Everyone waves to us or honks their horn.  Why? Do we have our brights on?  Are we not driving on the proper side of the road (it is the Bahamas where they do drive on the left hand side, after all)?  It's all very perplexing to a DC couple thinking every action has a secret agenda.  Um, maybe people are just this nice?  Maybe it's part of their culture to wave and greet everyone friend or stranger?

The friendly people is just one of the many discoveries you will find on Cat Island.  Strings of endless, sugary pink beaches, empty of people, is another. The island is 50 miles long and at times, 4 miles wide and is home to less than 2,000 people.  It's a peaceful place--full of old churches and nature surrounding you from all sides.  People do not lock their doors on Cat Island (our rental didn't even have a lock to lock!).  Some days, we saw more sea turtles and fish than actual people.  As I marveled at one point, I can't believe a place like this still exists on this crowded planet.  And it's so easy to reach: several flights from Nassau are offered every day and service two different airports on the island.  I'll write more in coming posts (and here are some photos of our trip to tide you over) about things to do and the wonder of visiting a Bahamian Out Island.  But let me leave you with a friendly wave, urging you to go discover the wonders of Cat Island.

Packing Food--some strategies.

This Saturday, the Traveling DINKs leave for a week on Cat Island.  48 miles long and 4 miles wide and home to just a few thousand people, Cat Island is a pretty quiet place.  Although there are a few small resorts, there are no five-star restaurants on Cat Island, nor are there grocery stores of the ilk we are used to frequenting.  We are not going to Cat Island to eat (our recent trip to New York covered that!).  We are going to relax, gaze out at the ocean (maybe swim and kayak in it occasionally), and take some great hikes and beach walks.  However, we do need to eat and although we will get some basics at the grocery stores on the island, we want to have some basics available for the first few meals and we also may want a few items we might not find on Cat.  Our trip to another out island Eleuthera a few year ago left us with some good tips on how to fly with food:

1. Pack lightly.  If you need to bring food, be careful on weight limits.  Check your airline to see what the maximum weight can be and go easy on the other items in your bags.  (Do you really need two jackets when one will work?)  Choosing light foods--oatmeal, pasta, cereals--are also smart choices.

2.  Know the rules.  Carry-on food must be liquid free.  For food items you are checking in luggage and you are flying internationally, be sure you do the research to ensure you are allowed to bring the food items into that country.  Most governments have helpful custom sites with this information.  If you are going to a resort or renting a house, you can also seek that information from those sources.

3.  Know what's already there.  We queried the caretaker to learn that salt/pepper and coffee filters are all provided.  We also know there are several shops are available.  When we traveled to Symi this past summer, we knew there were larger grocery stores because that island enjoys a daytripping population, so the need to pack food wasn't so important.

4.  Understand you aren't at home.  I am probably going to have to forgo my FAGE Greek yogurt next week.  I doubt I'll have good berries or salmon while on Cat Island.  But realizing you are privileged to visit a special place like Cat Island and that you are NOT at home are important reminders.  You eat differently when you travel and well, that's okay.

Wish us luck as we start to pack up our loot, here are some items we are definitely bring (if you're curious):

1. Ground coffee
2. Boxed wine (oh yeah!)
3. Pasta and rice
4. Granola
5. Instant oatmeal packets
6. Canned tomatoes, beans, soup
7. Peanuts
8. Several Trader Joe's packaged meals (Indian Chole, etc.)

2012 Travel Plans

I am a planner.  I can't help it.  Because Kevin has to squeeze out every day of vacation strategically, we take this time of year to chart our travels.  Without the dog, I anticipate we'll explore some weekend places that weren't as dog friendly.  We also have a few big trips on the horizon. Here's what we know so far:

One of the many gorgeous beaches of Cat Island.

1.  Cat Island (late January).  One of Bahamas Out Islands, Cat island has a small population (less than 2,000 according to Wikipedia) and yet is 150 square miles so the sparsely population paradise is a beach lover's dream.  We traveled to Eleuthera another Out Island a few years ago and basically loved every moment.  We're renting this beach house and plan to hike, kayak, read, cook and do a lot of chilling. 

2.  Weddings (April and June).  We have two of them in 2012.  One in Austin, Texas in late April and one in Raleigh, North Carolina in mid June.  We plan on bookending the weddings with a few days to explore both locations and take a beach trip with the family after the North Carolina nuptials.

3.  Anniversary (early June).  This year the Traveling DINKs celebrate TEN YEARS of wedded bliss.  This is crazy stuff, people.  And to celebrate this big event (June 1), we will treat ourselves to a meal at the Inn at Little Washington.  We plan on staying nearby at The Blue Rock Inn and visiting a few vineyards, taking a few proper hikes.  Early June is really one of the few windows of time that is nice in the Washington, DC region so it didn't make sense to travel somewhere too exotic and miss the fine weather.  (Now I have probably jinxed it and it will rain the whole anniversary weekend.)

4.  Boston-Hartford-Providence (late June).  June is going to be jam-packed for us in 2012.  I have a meeting in Boston so we are making a long weekend of it and visiting a relative in Hartford and then swinging over to Providence, Rhode Island for a few days.

5. Lyon and other locations in France/Switzerland TBD (late August).  A meeting takes us to Lyon, France in late August, but we have yet to fully construct a trip around the event.  We are either going to fly into Geneva or Paris and then take some time to visit either Dijon, Loire Valley, or Provence.  Stay tuned.  This is going to be an amazing trip!

6.  San Francisco and the Big Sur (early November).  Another meeting takes us to San Francisco so we plan on wrapping in some time to visit Hearst Castle and probably as far south as San Luis Obispo.  This trip is still so far out that we have not firmed much of it up just yet.

7.  Weekend Jaunts (throughout 2012).  We know we definitely want to visit Richmond (yeah, honestly we've never really explored this city just two hours away), the Northern Neck and probably a beach or bay trip.  A lot of these trips will be more last-minute variety (again the luxury of being dog-free for the moment) and be based on the weather conditions.

8.  Ohio (summer of fall 2012).  I am sure we will find ourselves back in the home state to visit family, friends and maybe take in an Ohio State game. 

I'm sure more travel plans will pop up, but it looks to be a full and fun travel year!

New York at Christmas: a road map



Enjoying Korean food at BCD Tofu House.

We have never experienced Christmas in a hotel and this year, with Beau's loss still hanging over us, we decided to give it a try.  We took the train up to New York City and spent two nights in the Ace Hotel, which is a very easy walk from Penn Station.  On our way to the hotel, we made a lunch stop in Korea Town at BCD Tofu House, a chain from California that makes a phenomenal tofu stew.  If you think you don't like tofu, try the silky kind at BCD and you might change your mind. 

The Ace Hotel's lobby is quite the scene--very hipster, very cool.  It's dimly lit 24/7 and has a shabby chic decorating approach.  I'll admit I was skeptical of this hotel, but the location and the amazing deal we nabbed on Travel Zoo ($149 night, thank you very much), well I was willing to give it a try.  The staff were friendly and our room was spacious, the bed was comfortable.  Plus, it was quiet despite being in a busy part of town.  I could quibble with the shower, but overall, I would recommend this hotel for anyone who likes an easy walk from the train station and a lot of major sites (both downtown and Times Square are easy walks).

We hit the ground running with a happy hour extravaganza at The Pony, which serves only American Craft Beer.  After a few rounds with an old pal, we headed to dinner at db Bistro Moderne for a pre-Rockette meal.  I had an amazing piece of skate in beurre blanc sauce while Kevin had sea bass in a red wine reduction with figs.  We then headed to Radio City Music Hall to see the Rockettes!  I must say, the production was cheesy and over-the-top, but it was fun and I'm glad I went once in my life.

Rockefeller Center all glammed up

After the show, we sauntered over towards Rockefeller Center and took in the tree, the ice skaters, the crowds (filled with people at 11 pm on a cold night)--it was thrilling and magical.  One of the observations we took away from the moment was how diverse the crowd was; in fact, I would wager most of the people did not celebrate Christmas, but the Christmas spirit is bigger than a religious holiday.  I like that.  I like it very much.

The next morning we feasted on bagels at Brooklyn Bagel & Coffee (you just cannot get bagels like that in DC) and then we walked up to Macy's to check out the holiday windows and on to Bryant Park Holiday Shops.  I love Bryant Park.  The space has a European feel to it with its ornate green buildings.  We then made our way downtown to Eataly, the Italian food emporium and hall created by Mario Batali and Lidia and Joe Bastianich.  It was swarming with people, but we enjoyed wandering the aisles.  Next up was lunch: John's Pizzeria on Bleeker in the West Village.  We are repeat visitors to John's.  The coal oven does something amazing to the crust.  Just get a plain cheese--trust me you'll love it.  We wandered further south the Jacque Torres Chocolate shop on Hudson in seek of a wicked hot chocolate.  At this time, we were seriously bursting but both ordered small hot chocolates and happily slurped them down and bought a tin to make more at home!

For Christmas Eve dinner, we had one more culinary trick up our sleeves: a proper Feast of the Seven Fishes meal.  This time we headed to The Hearth in the East Village.  We had a lovely meal and wandered back to the hotel along empty streets humming Christmas tunes.  The next morning, Christmas morning, we had the streets to ourselves and trekked up to Scotty's on Lexington for a proper diner breakfast.  The diner was packed and it reminded me that not everyone gets Christmas off.  Before heading back to DC, we made one more homage to Rockefeller Center for a final glimpse of the holiday magic.  Of course, it was still filled with people snapping pictures and smiling.

London: a lovely stopover.



Kevin in front of Tower Bridge during our 1-day stop.

When we travel, we strive to have few connections and for the trip to take the fewest hours (because who likes the actual act of getting from Point A to Point B?).  This means we are willing to pay a bit more for nonstop flights and it also means loyalty to a specific airline is not that easy. 

Getting to Symi, Greece this summer was not possible in one simple flight as it was when we headed to Vienna on Austrian Airlines later in the year.  Because of turmoil on Athens, we also made the decision we wanted to fly directly to Rhodes (the island with the closest airport to Symi). 

We made the decision to book a flight on our favorite airline Virgin Atlantic to get from DC to London.  Spend a day and night in London and then book a flight on our least favorite airline Ryanair to finish the trip and arrive in Rhodes in the middle of the afternoon in time for lunch and the afternoon hydrofoil. 

A pretty pub in South London near the Globe.

We strategically booked a hotel in the financial district because (1) we had not really explored this part of London and (2) the train to Stansted Airport (more on that in a later post) left from Liverpool Street Station, which was right around the corner.  We stayed at the Apex London Wall, which was sophisticated and tucked on a quiet street. We dumped our stuff and headed towards the Thames, walking by the Tower of London and crossing the Tower Bridge into South London.  Walking the footpath along the Thames, we passed the Globe and stopped into the Tate Modern, which I had not visited since 2002 so it was time for a return visit.

We stopped for a requisite fish-and-chip lunch and a warm ale (it was surprisingly brisk for late June!) before heading back to shower and relax.  It was fun to be in London's Financial District on a Friday afternoon in June.  Office workers packed all the pubs, literally people were pouring out of the establishments and empty pint glasses littered the sidewalks.  We decided to visit Brick Lane in the East End for Indian food as one must have Indian food when visiting the UK from the US. Before we reached Brick Lane, we stopped at a pub to have a pre-dinner drink and take in the Murray/Nadal semi-final match being played nearby in Wimbledon.  Murray lost.  We finished our pints and headed to dinner.

Brick Lane is quite the experience.  As you walk down the street, restaurant staff badger you, imploring you to come into their establishments, promising the best deal on the street!  It's not a typical scene for London, but it was fun for an evening and after wandering the street for a bit, we decided on a place and had a lovely meal before wandering back to the hotel.

Holland Park, London.

On the flip side of our journey from Greece, we also spent a day and evening in London.  This time, we chose to be on the Piccadilly Line near Earl's Court.  We stayed at a small, boutique hotel called Twenty Nevern Square.  It was situated on a leafy square and an easy walk from Holland Park.  We enjoyed wandering through the green streets and park space, reveling in the lush plants after the arid climate of Symi.  We found a Thai restaurant right outside Holland Park and enjoyed a break from the Greek taverna fare that had dominated our dinners.

The blur of monument and nature: Brompton Cemetery

The next morning we had a chance for one final walk through the streets of London and we stumbled upon Brompton Cemetery.  We were charmed by the wild, yet managed space.  Because it was early morning, we had the cemetery to ourselves and quietly strolled along the path.  Overhead, international flights rumbled in for landings at Heathrow.  As we made our way to the gate to collect our luggage and head to the airport, I took a deep, appreciative breath that we were able to bookend the trip with breaks in London.