I will now do what every website development and business retention specialist would object to: I will encourage you to redirect traffic from THIS site to THIS site. In order to share my soon approaching trip highlights with you enlightened readers, I have created competition for Youngeffectual.
Once the trip is over, I will probably resume writing on this one because it is more private and less visited. In other words, it is a place where I can complain more without offending anyone.
But for the next two months or so, you might find more to read here.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Saturday, January 16, 2010
A new column link
After about 6 years of procrastination, I have finally found the help I need to construct my very own personal website. Sorry, this one is professional, so there won't be self deprecating stories or photos available on it.
As it stands, the site is a work in progress. The pages will become populated in a short time, but for now just the skeleton is there. I've gone for the understated approach to its design - simple and clean. The hope is that by keeping it simple, I will eventually be able to manage and update it myself. I received some technical assistance from a very kind individual to get it where it is - hopefully I will get in the driver's seat before too long.
Please enjoy: www.racheledmonds.com
As it stands, the site is a work in progress. The pages will become populated in a short time, but for now just the skeleton is there. I've gone for the understated approach to its design - simple and clean. The hope is that by keeping it simple, I will eventually be able to manage and update it myself. I received some technical assistance from a very kind individual to get it where it is - hopefully I will get in the driver's seat before too long.
Please enjoy: www.racheledmonds.com
The long (free) ride home
Location: Lihue Airport, Kauai, Hawaii
Time rental car due: 7:30pm
Time of Andrew’s flight: 8:00pm
Time of Rachel’s flight: 11:30pm
Updated time of Rachel’s flight once checked-in: 12:15am
Current time: 10:21pm
Hmm. This sucks.
So here I am at the Kauai airport. I’ve been here nearly three hours already, and my flight doesn’t leave for another several hours.
Despite the fact I am INSIDE the airport and have gone through airport security, I am actually OUTSIDE. This airport is an open-air design, probably intended to make visitors feel the island vibe immediately upon disembarking. Likely cuts energy costs, too. Still, I feel like I’ve been sitting in a public plaza for three hours. And by “public plaza” I mean a place with aging and worn furniture, dim lighting, cranky people, little to no back support, no wifi, and fewer than 3 power outlets for those of us who would like to keep our laptop batteries charged.
I can’t say it’s the perfect end to the perfect vacation, but I suppose it could be worse. I could be stuck in the Vegas airport where instead of the smells of island breezes and plumeria, the mixture of cig smoke and cheap booze is the prevailing odor.
Kauai is a fun place, and I am really glad I had a whole 10 days to experience it, and with the best company one could hope for. I did a lot while I was here, and I drove a TON – maybe around 550 miles – so I have certainly gotten my fill of the garden island. There are a few things I learned about that I would like to share with my reader.
1. Do not expect peace and quiet on Kauai. This place is NOISY – mostly filled with the sounds of chickens and roosters, helicopters, leaf blowers, mowing machines, weed eaters, etc. The only peace and quiet is found either at a swamp that takes 2 hours of hiking to get to or at the beaches. Both of these places have no chickens, which I appreciated after listening to them talk all night long, every night I was here.
2. The best things to eat are kalua pig, shaved ice (with ice cream at the bottom), and spicy tuna poke. You can eat these three things relatively cheaply, too, if they are purchased from budget vendors.
3. The beaches don’t disappoint – lots of choices – swimming beaches, surfing beaches, snorkeling beaches, etc.
4. Avoid Princeville. This place is boring, but the shopping center café area has a good espresso shake and fish tacos. Lots of golfing types hang here, so it definitely doesn’t get my thumbs up.
5. Stay with Connie and Major Inch. Their place is clean, cheap, has a drooling cat, an old horse, has lots of amenities like boogy boards to borrow, etc. However, sadly, they do have loud chickens. Can’t win ‘em all.
I’ve learned other things, but I will not share them quite yet. I am tired and being at the airport is making me less inclined to share all the good nuggets at this time. The above 5 points should satisfy your hunger for awhile.
Aloha from Kauai and signing off.
Time of sign off: 10:51pm
Time of flight, updated: 12:30am
Time rental car due: 7:30pm
Time of Andrew’s flight: 8:00pm
Time of Rachel’s flight: 11:30pm
Updated time of Rachel’s flight once checked-in: 12:15am
Current time: 10:21pm
Hmm. This sucks.
So here I am at the Kauai airport. I’ve been here nearly three hours already, and my flight doesn’t leave for another several hours.
Despite the fact I am INSIDE the airport and have gone through airport security, I am actually OUTSIDE. This airport is an open-air design, probably intended to make visitors feel the island vibe immediately upon disembarking. Likely cuts energy costs, too. Still, I feel like I’ve been sitting in a public plaza for three hours. And by “public plaza” I mean a place with aging and worn furniture, dim lighting, cranky people, little to no back support, no wifi, and fewer than 3 power outlets for those of us who would like to keep our laptop batteries charged.
I can’t say it’s the perfect end to the perfect vacation, but I suppose it could be worse. I could be stuck in the Vegas airport where instead of the smells of island breezes and plumeria, the mixture of cig smoke and cheap booze is the prevailing odor.
Kauai is a fun place, and I am really glad I had a whole 10 days to experience it, and with the best company one could hope for. I did a lot while I was here, and I drove a TON – maybe around 550 miles – so I have certainly gotten my fill of the garden island. There are a few things I learned about that I would like to share with my reader.
1. Do not expect peace and quiet on Kauai. This place is NOISY – mostly filled with the sounds of chickens and roosters, helicopters, leaf blowers, mowing machines, weed eaters, etc. The only peace and quiet is found either at a swamp that takes 2 hours of hiking to get to or at the beaches. Both of these places have no chickens, which I appreciated after listening to them talk all night long, every night I was here.
2. The best things to eat are kalua pig, shaved ice (with ice cream at the bottom), and spicy tuna poke. You can eat these three things relatively cheaply, too, if they are purchased from budget vendors.
3. The beaches don’t disappoint – lots of choices – swimming beaches, surfing beaches, snorkeling beaches, etc.
4. Avoid Princeville. This place is boring, but the shopping center café area has a good espresso shake and fish tacos. Lots of golfing types hang here, so it definitely doesn’t get my thumbs up.
5. Stay with Connie and Major Inch. Their place is clean, cheap, has a drooling cat, an old horse, has lots of amenities like boogy boards to borrow, etc. However, sadly, they do have loud chickens. Can’t win ‘em all.
I’ve learned other things, but I will not share them quite yet. I am tired and being at the airport is making me less inclined to share all the good nuggets at this time. The above 5 points should satisfy your hunger for awhile.
Aloha from Kauai and signing off.
Time of sign off: 10:51pm
Time of flight, updated: 12:30am
Saturday, January 02, 2010
Welcome, 2010: please be a better year!
Two full days into the new decade and I am getting ready to get on one heck of a long plane ride. We fly from RDU-ATL-LAX-LIH. Andrew and I have a TON of baggage and heavy winter clothes in our suitcases. We have an immense amount of woolen under clothes that will make a chance jaunt across the world only to sit inside a suitcase for another 10 days. We are hoping for balmy 80 degree weather. Right now it is 30F in Durham.
A trip calculator reveals the travel is about 4906 miles. The longest flight I've been on is from SFO-NRT-BKK....about 7900 miles. SO this one should be .
A trip calculator reveals the travel is about 4906 miles. The longest flight I've been on is from SFO-NRT-BKK....about 7900 miles. SO this one should be .
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