Boston to San Francisco

So the trip has begun. It started kind of abruptly because my ride to the airport was one hour earlier than I had written down! The first segment was Boston to Chicago. Warm nuts and a drink to start followed by a shrimp salad. For dessert we got a just fresh out of the oven warm cranberry/walnut oatmeal cookie and coffee.
Changed planes in Chicago on route to San Francisco. Once again we started with WARM nuts and a drink. This was a longer flight so they had to feed us more stuff. After the nuts we got a salad and a shrimp cocktail. The entrée for me was chicken with a pepper sauce and it was yummy. Dessert was an ice-cream sundae and coffee. The movie was "The King's Speech".
Right now I am waiting in the BA first class (yes first class!) lounge to board the flight to Hong Kong. It will be a 14 1/2 hours flight and we will be served a lot of food. I shall return as a rather plump thing!

Trip to Malaysia March 2011

Well, I first have to see if I still remeber how to do this. On Wednesday March 9 I will start my trip to Malaysia and SWEA's World Meeting there. I will try to write something every day and also post pictures. Today is Saturday March 5th and I will start with finding out what clothes will fit me so I will know if I need to dash out to the Mall to buy new stuff or not!

Trip to Malaysia 2011

On March 9 I will start on my trip to Malaysia and the World Meeting of SWEA International. It will be a long trip with many stop-overs getting there and back and I will try to write something every day!

Just checking if I still remember how to do this

After attending 3 different weddings in Europe this Summer, I am now home until March 2011 when I hope to go to Kuala Lumpur for SWEA International's World Meeting there. Two weddings were in England (niece and nephew) and one i Sweden (friend's daugher). Each time I went I spent about 10 days in Europe (twice with my sister outside London and my last trip which was in August I spent with my friend Gunilla in Malmö.)

Emma and Brandon

Paula and Robin

Lina and Phil

  This week-end is the 1-year anniversary of Sam and Richie's wedding and they are away for a "romantic week-end" by themselves. Wyatt is with the other Grandmother and I have the dog, Dio - 8 months old Rotweiler, who is already HUGE! He gets along with Mac and Willie splendidly.

Kim has moved to Belmont - literally around the corner from Sam and she is very happy with the move. On Sunday we'll be going to IKEA - where else?? - for supplies.

Back in Hong Kong

Yesterday afternoon we boarded a Dragon Air flight in Phuket with destination Hong Kong. We are on our way home. The flight was the flight from hell (almost). I ended up in a middle seat (which I hate). To add to the pain we got a family with 3 noisy kids and a nanny in front of us, and next to me was the grandmother. She was coughing almost all the way - as if she was coughing up her lungs - and blowing her nose. So I spent the flight with my head under the blanket. I was afraid of whatever bug it was that she suffered from. She really should have been waring a mask!

After being directed round in circles at the Hong Kong airport in an effort to find the Cathay Pacific First Class Lounge, we finally found it and were told we would be thrown out at 12.30! That ticked us off even more. However, we found a "generic" lounge (which of course was NOT free of charge). We decided to take a cubicle each and sleep for 6 hours, as our flight is not until later this afternoon. We had breakfast and now we are back at the Cathay Pacific lounge. Kim is asleep on a couch.

We will be leaving this afternoon, Saturday, and will be back Saturday morning. Yes, Saturday all the way :-)

Eighth Day in Phuket

Today was our last full day here in Phuket. We spent it at the pool although the weather was not cooperating. We had some distant thunder, dark clouds and sometimes a sprinkle. Nothing major though. Just too bad it wasn't sunny on our last day. They have not had any rain here since around Christmas time, so everybody was a bit surprised.

We found out that we have to leave our room at noon tomorrow, but since we don't have to leave until 4 pm for the airport, we were told we can use the healthclub/spa to shower and change. After dinner we checked it out and it is AWESOME! Sauna, hot and cold tubs, big showers and all the amenities. Another thing we didn't notice or check out until it is time to leave! Oh well - next time!

Before dinner we held a little ceremony for Roger at the spirit house on the premises. It is in the middle of a lotus pond. We lit candles, burned incense and left an offering of some of Roger's favorite things: KitKat, rum raisin ice cream, toffees, and a bottle of water. We also lit some candles that were in the shape of Plumera flowers (the fragrant kind they use for leis) set inside coconut shells so we could float them in the pond.

Seventh Day in Phuket

Today was an eventful and fun day. It started out with an hour long ride from Phuket province and into Pangnga Province. Our goal was the Tone Pariwat Wildlife Sanctuary where our first activity was elephant trekking. This was by far the best elephant trekking I have ever been part of. Not only did we go through the jungle and over very rugged terrain, but the greatest thing was that Kim got to take the place of the Mahut, i.e. the elephant "driver". She got to sit on the elephant's neck and actually "drive" her. I was sitting on the back in a throne like a real jungle queen. The trek went over rocks and even through a river. Along the way our elephant, Jambee, a 35 year old female with a mind of her own, was grazing and even decided to trek off the beaten path through the bush. She then decided to pose for a picture by lifting her head and wrapping her trunk high around a tree. She was the only one who did that. A true individual; a girl after our own hearts.

From here we drove further high up in the mountain and then took a short hike to a waterfall. Kim went in the water, which was icy cold. I opted to stay out because if I had gotten in I would never have been able to climb out. The rocks were very slippery. After the waterfall we returned to our base camp to prepare for our white water rafting. We were 4 Americans and 2 guides in our raft. Two girls from DC and us. Old age has its privileges - I did not have to paddle - just hold on to a rope and make sure I didn't fall out :-) It was a blast!

After the rafting we were served lunch and then returned to our hotel. We went straight to the pool and stayed there til Happy Hour. We had drinks, watched the sunset, and listened to the house band here at the Marriott. They are great.

For dinner we went to a restaurant that our DC friends told us about. There we discovered a little shopping plaza with several restaurants and shops. So we did some shopping to work up an appetite ;-) Dinner was good and very inexpensive - too bad we didn't discover that until today.