Happy New Year friends!! Where has the time gone? It finally is starting to get back into a rhythm and routine in my house, ( thank goodness! ) and I feel like I am getting caught up to my pre-December self. Two birthdays, along with a major Holiday in one month completely does me in every year. No matter how much I plan ahead, purchase ahead, make checklists ahead…I still find myself behind and stressed! We managed to make it through, it was a beautiful Holiday season, and now we are ready to MOVE ON and rock the year 2020!

In getting back to my pre-December self I find myself wanting to write again! ( I was simply to frazzled to sit still for very long last month! ) So here I am at the keyboard ready to tell you about a fun adventure we had with the kids a few years ago. In my mind we took this trip a year and a half ago…in reality it was already three years ago. Literally, where is the time going? As you may have guessed from the title of this post, it’s an exotic destination….we bit the bullet and jumped on the 16hour United Airlines flight from JFK to Hong Kong. If you’ve read my first post you know that I personally had been to Hong Kong before, it wasn’t under great circumstances, and I really had some strong negative views about the City. Brian had never been, and really wanted to go…I’m glad I gave it another try! We enjoyed ourselves so much, and the kids were just enthralled with all the sights, sounds and smells. That’s the thing about Hong Kong…there are very distinct smells…ones you will never smell anywhere else, and you never forget them. From the spices in the markets, to the open air fish stalls with today’s catch for sale, the smell of Hong Kong is different than anyplace I have ever been.

OK…can we be real….that flight though?? UGH. So. Long. Just RIDICULOUSLY long. To make it even more interesting, two out of three of my kids chose that exact night to get a stomach virus. :-0!! To be fair, Lexi had been not feeling well for a few days, but we thought she was past it. No one else was showing any symptoms, we thought we were in the clear. Turns out we were not LOL.

When my Lexi-Loo is really sick she sleep-walks. It’s terrifying because it looks like she’s awake, but she’s clearly is not as she sees things that scare her..she screams and she cries. Then I get upset and I start to cry…it’s a vicious circle. Long story short, it’s really hard to wake her up from these episodes, and she had one on this flight. Probably about two hours in, after enjoying a welcome aboard ice cream from the flight attendants…Lexi fell asleep. Only to awaken a short while later almost in hysterics. I rushed her into the bathroom, she was very upset, I washed her face and spoke softly to her trying to wake her up. She used the facilities ( while asleep I think ) and we headed back to the seats. She kept saying her stomach was upset, and guess what…there were NO sickness bags in the seat back pockets. Now, I’m pretty familiar with this airplane thing….and those bags are supposed to be in EVERY pocket at the beginning of EVERY flight. Flight attendants are supposed to check and make sure they are present and accounted for. Not doing this is a HUGE no-no, because I’m sure you can guess what happened to us next. I got up, and as I was asking the crew for sickness bags….Lexi got sick. A lot. Everywhere. Dad did his best to contain it, but it was ugly. She was covered, as were the seats and the floor. Ughhhhh. No time to panic, I got into clean up mode pretty quickly. I took her back to the bathroom and stripped her down. Washed her clothes with soap and water to the best of my ability, and fashioned a Grecian toga out of airplane blankets. She looked very stylish in my humble opinion LOL. Brian got to work cleaning the seats with some supplies the crew gave us ( along with some air sickness bags, thanks a lot guys ) I even went as far as dumping bottles of water onto the carpet, scrubbing and scrubbing trying to clean up the mess. There is only so much I could do, but I really did try. Lexi fell back asleep then, only to wake up every hour to use the sickness bags. The poor baby, I felt so bad for her. I felt bad for the people sitting around us because we really caused quite a bit of commotion during that flight, and honestly we really didn’t smell that great. An old flight attendant trick is to put coffee grounds in and on spaces that smell. They must have sprinkled three bags of coffee all around our rows.

Do you know who I didn’t feel bad for? The flight attendants. This crew took it upon themselves to gossip about my daughter in their galley in-between duties. As I made probably my hundredth trip to the garbage can that night, I heard them talking about how disgusting my daughter was. These adults, who did not prepare their airplane correctly, were complaining about my daughter. I didn’t dare comment, or let them know that I had heard them, but I was so saddened by their need to shame a 7year old girl that was obviously sick.

Anyway, about halfway through the flight Benjamin says ‘Mom, can I have one of those bags?’ I looked at him in horror and yes, for the rest of the flight he too, used a sickness bag about once every hour until we landed. Thankfully though, he was able to take care of things himself and we had no other accidents. Needless to say, I could not wait for that flight to end. But I’m happy to report that once we landed, surprisingly everyone rebounded quite nicely and felt pretty good! We took public transportation to the apartment complex we were staying in, and bought ramen from the vending machine in the lobby. Everyone showered….everyone ate…and everyone slept. Phewwww.

Our apartment was in Kowloon, which is right across from the downtown, high-rise area and Victoria Harbour. This once was a completely separate city from Hong Kong, it was acquired by Britain in 1860, and then returned back to China in 1997. Now it’s a shopping mecca, with traditional markets lining the streets, offering everything from flowers and goldfish, to clothes and jade. I brought home beautiful soup bowls from a pottery store that I use every single week…I love them so much! My jade bracelet is also a favorite purchase ( who knows the quality, but it was fun picking it out and haggling with the street vendor for a good price. )

Our first day touring consisted of us walking all around Hong Kong island, and taking all kinds of public transportation. We have discovered that when travelling to these places that are just so different than what we are used to; you just need to give yourself a little grace, and accept that you are going to struggle a bit. It was interesting trying to figure out where the bus stop was from our apartment, then we had to buy the bus tickets, then hope we got off at the right stop. But, if you take it slow, do your research ahead of time, and just get out there and give it a try, you’ll be amazed what you can accomplish! So we were on buses, trains and ferry’s that first day. The people are so polite, and follow all rules of the road and pedestrian-ism to a T. You line up on the dots in front of the train, and one by one you take your turn getting on. There is no pushing or shoving that we have found in other cities ( ahem, I’m looking at you NYC ) The buses and trains are nearly silent, so much so that it was awkward at times, because hey… we aren’t the quietest family in town! There are whole train cars that are designated as ‘Silent’ cars, and no one is allowed to speak or play music in them. ( we obviously chose a different car ) A highlight of the day was a huge Buddhist temple/shrine that was full of incense and candles. When I say full, I mean FULL… I’ve never seen anything like it. Also, we found and toured a tiny Catholic church that was tucked into a corner, far away from the busy streets.

Day 2–Involved even more touring! We made our way to the Peak Tram….the Waitzel family loves themselves a good tram ride! This funicular train is a short 7 minute ride…but it goes straight up a mountain…like vertically…about 4500feet. Such great views of Hong Kong city from up there! There is a little shopping mall, and a few restaurants up there, also quite a few walking trails. We spent the good part of the day walking different paths around the mountain; with soaring views of mountain ranges on one side, and stunning water and high-rise views on the other. It was here that it became apparent that the locals had a fascination with not only my children’s light colored hair, but also the fact that there are three of them. Most families in this area still only have one child so seeing siblings is a novelty for them…put that together with their light hair/light skin and you have instant celebrity status. We could not go far without being asked for pictures, or had people posing for their own pictures right behind our family pictures. Grandmothers walked up to Benjamin and were touching his hair in amazement. Soon before leaving our apartment everyday, the kids would take bets as to see who could have the most pictures taken of them throughout that day!

We also took a stroll through the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens which were quite lovely to see. While there we discovered how howler monkey got their name… the howling was like nothing I have ever heard before. We actually were a little bit unnerved when first hearing the sound. We were walking towards the gardens, still pretty far away, and heard this noise….a very loud howling/shrieking noise. It was almost an otherworldly sound. We all looked at each other, what could that possibly be? As we got closer, it got louder and louder until we arrived at the monkeys cages, and they were just howling with every bit of strength they had! I don’t know if it was feeding time, or play time, but the noises these animals can make is incredible… take a minute and google it so you can hear it too. One of the families favorite things to do when in new places is to try every bit of local cuisine possible! Brian will usually just point to something on the menu and say I’ll have this! I’m a little more cautious but also want to try new things…it’s a delicate balance to say the least. The favorite thing that is still spoken about to this day are the fish balls ( i know…it’s really not what you think lol ) that we had from a street vendor. It’s a small piece of fish, rolled into a ball, breaded and deep fried. Not my favorite, but everyone else devoured them. I think Brian got back online for that vendor three times because everyone kept wanting more. My favorite was the hot-pots. It’s basically a simmering pot of soup stock put in the middle of the table. Usually a platter of thinly sliced meat, vegetables, wontons and dumplings are prepared by placing them into the stock. Sort of like fondue, but without the cheese. The hot-pots had ME going back for seconds!! Our least favorite, which even Brian now admits was pretty bad, but at the time he ate it happily, was some jellyfish dish he ordered one night. I’m not sure if it was raw, or if the preparation purposefully made it so crunchy, ( ugh ) but it was a hard no from the rest of us. Everyone at least tried it though, which is really all we can hope for when something new is placed in front kids.

Next came one of the highlights of our trip…Disneyland Hong Kong! We were there for the rope drop in the morning, and stayed until closing. What a great experience we had! The park was not crowded, and we were able to ride every. single. ride. in the park. So great. Many rides were the same, with a few new ones thrown into the mix. It felt at times like we were in Florida, but then came upon the vendor with fried crickets for snacks, and it was apparent we definitely we not in the States. Benj and Nate were able to attend the Jedi Training ‘classes’ and each fought off Darth Vader. Benjamin thought he was a little old for this activity already, but I was like, this may be your only chance to do this, just enjoy it. He did, and Nate was in complete Star Wars heaven! He has pictures with both Chewbacca and Darth Vader to keep as momentos. Later that day we had a moment of panic during the afternoon parade when we could not locate Nate for a hot minute…it turns out he had been pulled by a castmember into the parade and was busy walking and waving to the crowd, completely unaware that I was almost hyperventilating. All in all this was such a fun day, and one that I highly recommend to anyone who happens to be in this city!

At this point we were ready to head out of Hong Kong, and take the ferry over to Macau, which is an autonomous region of mainland China. On the way to the ferry we stopped at the Tian Tan Buddha statue, a HUGE statue found on Lantau Island. He measures 112ft tall and weighs over 250 tons…It’s an incredible view! There are 268 stairs to climb up to the top ( phewww!! ) and it’s worth every single step to see him up close. The views out over the countryside are exquisite as well. On the grounds are a working monastery and different stalls selling all sorts of trinkets. There is a gondola you can take to this destination, but it was closed for repairs the day we visited. We took the local bus, which was eye opening to say the least. Off then to a ferry towards Macau, which is a huge gambling mecca, basically the Las Vegas of China. If you aren’t careful you’ll think you are in Nevada! We toured the Venetian casino, and the Paris casino, complete with an Eiffel Tower replica. Huge hotels and sky scrapers dominate the downtown area. A day spent touring in this old/new city gave ways to many discoveries. Temples and ancient cemeteries, with small signs of Christianity tucked in here and there. We saw the most beautiful facade of St Paul’s church. The southernmost facing wall is all that remains of the ruins, but it is one of Macau’s best known landmarks. One of the Seven Wonders of Portuguese Origin in the World. It was here along the side of this church that Benjamin found a 4leaf clover…a sure sign of good luck! I put it in my wallet for him and he still has it to this day.

After two nights in Macau, we started our journey home. The ferry back to Hong Kong, the train ride to the airport and the mercifully quiet ( no stomach virus to be seen thank goodness ) 14 and 1/2 hour flight back to New York City. There were so many great family moments and memories made during this trip….every few months Nate still asks for fish balls ( so funny, i know ;-p ) and then he remembers he has to take a crazy long flight to get them…so he usually settles for a bowl of Ramen instead.

Now the travel journey between us begins! I struggled a bit deciding just where to start, and by that I mean…which trip should I write about first? The very first trip we took as a family of five? Or the one that holds the most fond memories for me?? Where to begin? I finally decided I should start with the trip that changed all future trips for us….. It was an adventurous destination, full of exciting adventures. Made all the more fun by the fact that our youngest child Nathaniel was now 4 1/2, and could participate fully in all these adventures. I can hear you now, he’s only 4 1/2?? that doesn’t sound like an age that would be old enough to make a difference on an adventurous trip!? Well, you think that because you don’t know my Nate….soon you will come to see he has been a game-changer in our lives. Usually he and I are hanging out at the bottom of a mountain or pyramid waiting for the others, because he was to young to participate. But on this trip, he was in it to win it. He walked down the whole mountain of Machu Picchu with us! But let’s start at the beginning….

Peru! Lima, to Cusco to Machu Picchu http://www.peru.travel › en-us

We started our journey in JFK and flew JetBlue to Fort Lauderdale, ( 2 1/2 hours flight time ) and connected there on JetBlue to Lima, Peru (4 3/4 hours flight time )

Lima

The popular/built up section of Lima that is located on the coast is called Miraflores. It has a coastline that makes you feel like you are in Southern California ( aaannnddd we ALL know that Cali is my happy place! Amiright?!?! ) It has restaurants, outdoor shopping malls with all the name brand stores, and a coastline that is ridiculously beautiful. We were tired with jet-lag so we took it easy this first day, we walked alllll over, the kids played at a park along the coast, and we watched the paragliders running and jumping off a cliff above the water. It really was incredible to watch! A light dinner and off to bed so we are rested for an exciting day of touring tomorrow.

I call this day of our 4 C’s of Lima day….we saw Convents, Churches and Cemeteries & Catacombs. Catholicism is alive and well in South America, everywhere you look you see churches or monuments. Most of the day was spent touring these places. The stained glass was unreal, the mausoleums austere– with headstones dating back to unbelievable dates. I took a picture of one, an Archbishop that was born in 1543 and passed in 1575!! ( :-0 ) The most memorable tour was the Convent of Santo Domingo, near the town square. This is where Santa Rosa de Lima lived and worshiped, her remains are located in the catacombs under the church. It’s blurry but the picture of my kids is them looking down into her tomb…strangely they weren’t scared…they were very intrigued! To this day my daughter is infatuated with anything regarding Santa Rosa de Lima. Truly an experience to remember!

Don’t forget to make your way to the Plaza de Armas, also called Plaza Mayor, located in the historic center of Lima. It is one of the main tourist attractions in Lima, and one of the focal points of the city. There you find the Government Palace, the Archbishop of Lima’s Palace, the Cathedral of Lima, and Municipal Palace. Make sure to catch one of the changing of the guard ceremonies…its beautiful!

Paracas

From Lima we rented a car to drive into the countryside of Peru….the little towns and villages were nothing like the built up city we had been exploring. Along the way we we passed Tacama vineyards, which is the oldest vineyard in South America..it was built in the 1540’s. Of course we had to stop!! This mom realllllyyy loves her wine 😉 We spent the afternoon on an educational behind the scenes tour of the facilities, complete with a tasting and lunch! Pretty much perfection if you ask me LOL. Later in my sons travel journal for school, he mentioned how we stopped at this place just for mom, because she loves wine so much. He’s not wrong!! I highly suggest visiting! http://www.tacama.com

After our winery tour, Brian continued our drive ( while I dozed ) down the Peruvian coast to Nazca. There we found the Nazca lines…have you heard of them?? They are SO interesting…. they are a group of large geoglyphs formed by depressions or possibly a kind of shallow incision made into the soil of the Nazca Desert. They were created between 500 BC and 500 AD. Some people think ancient Peruvians made the lines in the sand, some think it happened naturally…I suppose we will never know. But they were pretty cool to see! I have to admit it was pretty funny to see my husband the pilot, who is afraid of heights, climb a rickety staircase to a platform so we could observe the lines from above. He definitely was not comfortable up there, and trust me our kids made it super obvious that they were aware of his nerves!! They were relentless with their teasing. Another option available is to take a helicopter tour above the lines….that drew a hard NO from me. I’m not sure what the safety regulations are in rural Peru, but I’m 100% sure it isn’t up to my standards….so the rickety platform suited us just fine. It cost a few dollars US to climb up those stairs, worth every penny.

We continued our drive south…next up for us was a dune buggy ride complete with sand surfing!! If you google this event you will find in google as the address: Arenas Sand-boarding and Dune buggy tour. Tour operator in Peru. Address: Unnamed Road, 11000. I love this so much! On an Unnamed Road in Peru, my family took the most insane dune buggy ride. Complete with using a snow-board to sand surf down the huge dunes. It was unreal!!! So. Amazing.

With sand in our hair, teeth and pretty much everywhere else we continued our drive towards Paracas for the night. Our plan was to visit Islas Ballestas the next day. Google describes Islas Ballestas as: Islands off the southern coast of Peru, near the cities of Pisco, and Paracas. Rich in marine life, the uninhabited islands are home to sea lions, pelicans, Peruvian boobies and Humboldt penguins. What it doesn’t tell you though is how freaking amazing these islands are!! Literally a bird sanctuary about 10miles off the coast, it is home to MILLIONS of birds, sea lions and penguins. The boat ride takes just a few minutes, then you spend the next hour or so cruising between islands that are just crawling with life. The sea lions laze about in the sun, the penguins are busy doing whatever it is penguins do ( one can never tell LOL ) and the birds….the birds are everywhere all at the same time. Swirling above you, playing in the drafty air currents, nesting in the rocks. There are so many birds on these islands that the country cleans 23,000lbs of guano off of them annually….!!! That’s a lot of bird poop! I believe the country has found a way to profit off of said poop…they harvest it, or clean it, maybe they sell some of it. To whom and for what purpose I’m not sure…I could google but I don’t think I want to :-// In case you can’t tell, this boat trip is one of the MUST SEE’S when you visit Peru!

On to Cusco! We took LAN airlines from Lima to Cusco, that’s about an hour and 20 minute flight. The elevation of this city is 11,152 feet, and let me tell you… altitude sickness is a very real thing!! We spent a few days touring around this city, just letting ourselves get accustomed to the elevation. Neither Brian or I experienced severe symptoms, just some headaches and a general feeling of something being ‘off’. The kids had zero troubles thank goodness. We were here over the New Years Eve holiday, and let me tell you, Peru knows how to celebrate. The fireworks lasted over three hours! Our guesthouse was called Torre Dorado, and the staff was wonderful. They had a free shuttle that took us in and out of town, and gave restaurant suggestions. It was at this guesthouse that I had some laundry done, and I have never seen our underwear so pressed and perfect. I will save you from having to look at a photo of our underthings… but just know….they looked amazing LOL. My favorite memories of this mountainous area are of the local elderly women. Safe to say I was completely obsessed! With their traditional garb, and their little hats… I really wanted to pack one up with me and bring her home. They were SO adorable. There were so many interesting things to see and do in Cusco. We saw an altar being serenaded by a mariachi band on its way to the church, we got caught in a CAH-RAZY rain storm ( never seen anything like it ) and we visited an animal sanctuary. There we learned about the local delicacy, which is Cuy, or guinea pig. It is the locals favorite, and there are whole farms dedicated to the breeding, raising and selling of Cuy. If you are at a fancy restaurant, Cuy will be available, and it will be the most expensive item on that menu! I did not partake myself, but Brian & Benjamin both did. They really are such adventurous eaters, they enjoyed it very much.

The first stop on your journey to Machu Picchu is Cusco, from there you take a taxi or a bus to the town of Quillabamba. We chose a taxi, and settled in for the almost almost 5 hour ride through the Peruvian countryside. 5 hours?! Yup….There is only one road, and it’s the only way to get there, so just enjoy the ride! We stayed in a beautiful hotel that night, swam in the pool and explored the little city. Our wake-up call for Machu Picchu the next morning was at the crack of dawn!! We departed by taxi for the town of Ollantaytambo, from there you get on the Inca Rail train which departs for the mountain pueblo. You have to get up early and get to the train station early…there are only so many tickets sold to go up the mountain every day. If you are late, you won’t get to see it, and that would be such a shame…because that mountain is divine. It’s a spiritual experience from start to finish. So set your alarm and get there early!

Once the train arrives at the mountain…this actually takes a while because the train make multiple stops to let people off….there are all sorts of levels of hiking when it comes to this place. Some people start walking at Ollaytantambo, some get off the train at random places and literally just start hiking. Some hikes are WEEKS long, people carrying gear on their backs and sleeping on the ground. We were not quite that adventurous, we took the train all the way to the base of the mountain. Once there, you start hiking up, or you get on yet another line to buy a bus ticket to the top. We chose the bus option, and after touring the ruins we walked back down to town. A process for sure, but far easier than walking up!

The top of the mountain, the ruins of Machu Picchu are breath-taking. There are lots of folklore stories as to why the ancient Peruvians built this place, a lot of mysticism and spiritualism. Crazy things like the windows in the walls line up with the sun when it’s at a particular spot in the solstice, and it will make markings on the ground with shadows type of stuff. For whatever the reason, this place was made/created and it’s spectacular! We hired a guide at the top and spent an hour walking through old buildings, temples and ancient living spaces. It absolutely poured during our tour, then cleared up and the color green was everywhere like it was from a picture book. Llamas roam freely up there ( I’m convinced my daughters obsession with llamas comes from this trip! ) and it’s quite magical. Our hike down took a hot minute, but it was so fun. And yes, my little Nate, the 4 1/2 year old walked down that mountain with no help. See! Like I said at the beginning this trip was the start of something great with him being able to fully participate! I will include some pics below of our time at the mountain. Sadly after this stop we made our way back to Cusco and started the journey home. We flew Avianca Airlines from Cusco to Bogota and then continued on to JFK. Peru really was the trip of a lifetime for us….such wonderful memories!!

For some reason the first few paragraphs of last night’s post failed to publish… perhaps I was a little wordy and the post was too long?   In any event, after trying to update the post…and failing because all I managed was a repost of the same exact post…( eye roll )  I will retype the two paragraphs as they add to the background of my journey with travel.  If this is duplicate for you I apologize!  Here goes:

 

My obsession with travel started when I was about 22 years old.  I moved back home from a failed ‘first time living away from home’ attempt, and was struggling to figure out just who I was.  Mind you I still might not know exactly who I am, or who I want to be, and I am now a couple decades older….LOL.   But when I was 22, there was a man in my parent’s church ( at the time it was my church as well, but that’s a WHOLE can of beans meant for another day ) who worked for Delta Airlines.  My mom asked him if there were any job opportunities that he knew of at the Salt Lake City Airport, and if there were indeed positions available….could he please help me to apply for them.  Long story short, there were job openings, I soon applied, and before I knew it I was in a training class…I was one of the newest ticket counter agents for Delta Airlines!  I pulled the late shift for quite a while but Oh My Goddd that was a fun, scary, exhilarating and demanding job.  I loved it!!  From there, I worked in the baggage service department for a hot minute.  A memorable experience for sure, as this particular time frame was when Salt Lake City hosted the Winter Olympics.  Those were some busy, busy days & nights.  Little known fact: Delta Airlines actually LOST Apollo Ono’s ice skates as he was coming to the games to compete….yup, they were nowhere to be found.  Can you imagine??  Never fear, the SLC baggage service department found those skates, and Apollo went on to win both Gold and Silver medals at those Olympic Games.

Eventually, I moved upstairs, to the C & D concourses, otherwise known as The Gates.  There I was loading and dispatching planes with crazy efficiency 😉  My TypeA was strong even back then!  If the ticket counter and baggage service offices were interesting… working the gates was a completely different level of both stress and fun.  I got to meet people from all over the world as they traveled here and there…I chatted with them, quizzed them on their favorite places to visit, and started making my own travel plans.

 

Then came my first international trip to London….as told in the first post.

Thank you for reading!!