2015 Travel
Looking back on where we traveled in 2015 we (meaning at least one of us) went to 12 countries; 4 for the first time. Now we can see why our friends think we travel all the time.
We, oh so cleverly, tend not to travel to places we don’t expect to enjoy so when we do our year-end review sometimes it can be hard to come up with a lot of things we didn’t like. And sometimes we liked and didn’t like the same things (that will make sense as you read on). And sometimes one of us liked something the other didn’t. So this is our attempt to briefly review where we traveled in 2015 and share with you the high and low lights.
South Beach Miami, Florida (accidentally at Spring Break)
What we liked:
- The walking tour we did of South Beach’s art deco architecture and decor
- The astounding people watching. People of every conceivable size, color, creed, age, fashion sense and nationality all mingled peacefully. We never expected Spring Break in South Beach to be an example of how the world could all get along better.
- Some excellent restaurants
- Perfect weather
What we didn’t like:
- How crowded it was (yes, duh, it was Spring Break).
- None of the cab drivers we used seemed to have a clue where they were going.
Cuba
What we liked:
- The friendly people who seemed to be very excited about the improvements in the U.S./Cuba relationship
- Learning about the culture and history of Cuba
- Hot but lovely weather
- Traveled with a fun group of people
- Excellent guides with either extensive knowledge or lively imaginations.
What we didn’t like:
- Learning too much about the culture and history of Cuba and realizing that a fair bit of it could definitely be classified as propaganda. (The U.S. government at the time of this trip required U.S. citizens to attend 2 to 3 educational or cultural activities a day. After a few days of repeatedly hearing about “The 7 Wonders of Cuban Civil Engineering” enthusiasm began to wane.)
- The food – rice and beans got old fast and Cuba in general doesn’t have the money or access to high quality proteins or other ingredients.
- The decay you see everywhere in homes, hotels, and the entire country’s infrastructure.
- Not being allowed to use the beaches (another thing that only applies to U.S. Citizens)
- Basically no toilet paper anywhere except (maybe) hotels.
Los Angeles
What we liked:
- By sheer dumb luck it happened to be a free day to see the Los Angeles County Museum of Art which was excellent
- Touring the La Brea tar pits and museum
What we didn’t like:
- Apparently we are the only people who didn’t get the memo that there aren’t any taxis to hail in Los Angeles – you need to use Uber.
- Not having more time to shop for things we don’t need.
Fiji
What we liked:
- As on our previous trip to Fiji the kind, friendly people were a treat.
- Feeling safe both in terms of terrorism and the fact that (at least as far as we know) there are no more cannibals.
- The healthy reefs and beautiful fish we saw on our daily snorkels.
- Flying in a seaplane for the first time.
- Hanging out with Kiwis who have to be the most cheerful and undaunted by anything people on the planet
- Having our friend Austine with us and she immediately knew everyone’s name and life story
- Blonde doing her first open water scuba dive at the Cousteau Resort.
What we didn’t like:
- Blonde not being able to hear out of her right ear for 3 weeks after that scuba dive.
- Being on a cruise ship with a Captain, Chief Engineer and Hotel Manager who had never worked together before and experiencing that on very rough seas.
- Brunette’s badly broken pinky finger (see very rough seas comment above) and the ship’s lack of qualified medical personnel or supplies to deal with it.
Danube River Cruise with Emerald Waterways
What we liked:
- The swimming pool on the boat that at night converts to a movie theater
- Beautiful new views every day
- Overall dining service staff and specifically sailing through the Wachau Valley on a beautiful day while being served champagne up on deck was a fun, memorable experience.
- Getting a brief stop in Dürnstein so we could check out the beautiful town that most river cruise ships go past.
- Our day trip to the charming UNESCO town of Český Krumlov in the Czech Republic.
What we didn’t like:
- This is a common issue of river cruises in Europe but we’ll complain about it here anyway! Ships having to share docks so you’re tied up against another ship losing your view, sometimes your privacy unless you keep the shades down and, more importantly, feeling as if the ships do not have adequate safety procedures in place to ensure that everyone walking through the ships really belongs there.
- The pool being out of commission more than half of the time because of mechanical problems
- Poor boarding and disembarkation experiences where we felt like the proverbial chopped liver. (What is that Proverb about chopped liver?)
Germany
What we liked:
- We didn’t see this one coming but we really liked the German people (and appreciated how well most of them spoke English).
- Working with the German National Tourist Office to organize our trip – they have their act together big time.
- The behind-the-scenes places we got to visit in Düsseldorf including the Opera House’s costume department and meeting a clothing designer.
- The history of the country and the way they handle openly discussing the shame and horror of the Nazi era.
What we didn’t like:
- The cold, windy and rainy weather that sent Brunette home with pneumonia.
- The limited store hours in Düsseldorf (which probably saved us a lot of money by limiting our chances to shop after our touring was done).
- Blonde succumbing to buying two custom-made dresses (well, buying them was fun, paying was less fun).
Playa del Carmen and Maroma Beach, Mexico
What we liked:
- The wedding of two of our friends and the nearly 200 loving, supportive and fun friends and family that came together to celebrate.
- The entertainment both at the wedding venue and then at Secrets Maroma
- The friendly, kind people who make a liar and fool of Donald Trump (no, wait, he does that to himself).
- Going snorkeling with whale sharks.
What we didn’t like:
- Blonde really didn’t like the first hotel we stayed at or a lot of the food (Brunette doesn’t agree).
- The mounds of seaweed on the beaches. No one knows what has caused this and the resorts are doing what they can to clean it up but it’s massive and floating in the previously clear ocean water.
Lisbon and surrounding areas
What we liked:
- The decorative tiles, neighborhoods and architecture of Lisbon.
- Visiting Sintra and Cascais on a small day tour with a guide
- Going to Belem on a motorcycle with a side cart and being able to walk right in (because of the guy driving the motorcycle) to the head of a very long line to get the famous pastries.
- A memorably excellent dinner at The Four Seasons.
- The people – friendly and always willing to try to figure out what the heck we were asking them.
- They don’t take siestas so you have a full day to enjoy wherever you want to go.
What we didn’t like:
- The weight gain from the pastries.
Douro Valley Cruise with Viking River Cruises
What we liked:
- The staff, crew and bus drivers as well as the local guides. Viking River seems to have the secret sauce when it comes to hiring exceptional people who genuinely enjoy their jobs and the guests.
- Not having to tie up with other ships because in Portugal Viking has their own docks.
- The copiously flowing wines of Portugal being poured by handsome, charming men.
- Blonde’s fleeting but enjoyable “engagement” to one of the waiters (complete with changed Facebook status).
- The many fascinating places we visited and the history we learned.
- Traveling with two of our friends.
- A fun shopping spree at El Corte Inglés in Porto and excitement about getting the VAT tax refunded at the airport.
What we didn’t like:
- This trip requires a lot of time on buses to see the sites because (annoyingly) the Portuguese didn’t settle along the Douro.
- Not getting that (considerable) VAT refund because the only window at the Lisbon airport where you can get the required stamp from Customs had about a 3 hour wait.
- Not being allowed to bring any of those handsome, charming men home with us.
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
What we liked:
- Getting flown there for free on an inaugural Southwest Airlines flight from Houston
- Getting to sample three different types of accommodations – a hotel that was originally condominiums, a luxury hotel and a fancypants hacienda Richard Burton bought as a Valentine’s Day gift for one of his wives who was not Elizabeth Taylor.
- Great swimming in the pools at each place we stayed and fun playing in the ocean.
- An all day sailing trip that included snorkeling in a beautiful cove.
- Walking along the Malecon and seeing the sculptures, ocean, shops and fellow tourists.
- The fact that at least when we were there in October the crowd was more “mature” than on the Gulf Coast of Mexico. We didn’t feel as much like vacationing dinosaurs.
- A day spent at the Four Seasons in Punta Mita enjoying their “Lazy River” and a sunset dinner.
- Meeting a talented artist who works in glass and hearing how he got into his line of work and about the volunteer work he does teaching disabled young people to swim.
What we didn’t like:
- The traffic and fumes in downtown Puerto Vallarta.
- Having to spend a night each way in the area near Houston Hobby airport – armed guards everywhere, terrible restaurants and skeevy hotels.
Cartagena, Colombia
What we liked:
- The high quality crafts, art and custom-made clothing at semi-reasonable prices.
- Wonderful meals everywhere we ate within the walled city.
- The vibe of the city was very lively and fun – even when we weren’t much of either!
- Feeling very safe within the walled city
- Low costs for getting private drivers to take us to whatever we wanted to see.
- Spending an afternoon at Playa Blanca and getting semi-indecent massages while still at least technically wearing our bathing suits.
What we didn’t like:
- Figuring out the currency conversion – we never had a clue what anything cost
- Taxis with no meters, seat belts or air conditioning
- The two nights we stayed outside the walled city – nowhere to walk to so had to take cabs to town. Some of those drivers thought they were stunt men driving in a James Bond film (they weren’t).
- La Popa convent – a long ride for little of interest to two heathens
Buenos Aires
What we liked:
- A street art walking tour
- Watching people tango – both regular people and professionals (professional dancers, not professional people).
- The good exchange rate for U.S. dollars on the “blue market” (the black market anywhere else, don’t ask us…)
- Free walking tours of the city
- Reasonably priced taxis
- Availability of wi-fi in restaurants and cafes (made it easier to use apps to figure out where the hell we were).
- Excellent red wines
What we didn’t like:
- Getting an email telling us our cruise to Antarctica (and the reason we were in Buenos Aires) had been cancelled because the ship hit an iceberg
- How wait staff in Buenos Aires may set world records for reluctance to bring you the check after dinner.
- Several cab drivers who seemed to take suspiciously circuitous routes and then act as if they didn’t understand our objections (just because we were making them in a language they didn’t speak..)
Patagonia – a cruise and on land in Argentina and Chile
What we liked:
- The fun and generous people at Swoop Patagonia who put our trip together for us on no notice
- Getting attractive printed certificates attesting to the fact that we reached Cape Horn, the southernmost point of the world. We both noticed our personal popularity skyrocketed when we came home with the certificates.
- Getting up close and personal with lots of penguins (not overly personal).
- Trekking on Perito Moreno Glacier in Chile and then having scotch “on the rocks” at the end of the trek
- Seeing condors, rheas, guanacos in the wild and learning interesting things that we have already forgotten about them.
- Lots of handsome, smart guides
- Spending two nights in a treehouse luxury yurt
- Going horseback riding on an estancia with the testosterone-exuding, high esteem, chain-smoking but somehow still charming Argentine stud who owned it.
- Barbecued lamb
What we didn’t like:
- Barbecued lamb for virtually every damned meal!
- Never feeling as if we knew what we were paying for anything in Chile
- The long distance by car between places – several 4 hour rides.
- Vomiting (Alternate Brunette only) in Drake’s Passage
- Missing our charter flight to Ushuaia and then spending an entire day trying and failing to get another flight. Then getting up at 1:30 a.m. the next day to catch our 4:40 a.m. flight.
Phew – starting to realize why we’re grumpy with each other and tired after all of this but it sure was a fascinating and varied year of travel!
We appreciate you following where we traveled in 2015 and hope you’ll come along again in 2016.
Happy Festivus – the holiday for the rest of us!