Tag Archives: travel

local news

Ohio: just out of reach

CAIRO, Ill. — I had hoped to knock one more state off my “never been there” list on my current trek east from North Texas.

Alas, I fell short by about 50 miles.

I have set foot in 48 of our 50 states. The only two states left to visit are New Jersey and Ohio. Let me state that I have been to Newark/Liberty International Airport twice, but that doesn’t count. I do not count airport stops as “visiting” a nation or a state. Indeed, I have been to Zurich, Switzerland’s airport a few times and to Hong Kong’s airport once. I do not count those places among my list of nations I have seen.

A quick aside … My wife and I went to Copenhagen, Denmark in 2006. Our flight itinerary brought us home via London Heathrow airport; we would catch a flight to Texas from Gatwick airport. My wife, using her creativity, booked a cab ride from Heathrow to Gatwick and then built in a tour of Windsor Castle en route. Thus, we were able to say we “visited Great Britain.”

I was coming out of Charleston, W. Va., two days ago. My GPS guided me along Interstate 64 west out of Charleston. I had thought it would take me to Ohio. Nope. I exited West Virginia and entered Kentucky.

So … there you have it. Ohio remains on my list of states to visit.

I have the time now to get into my truck and head there. Hmm. I suspect another quick trip just might be in order.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

media news

Our sense of entitlement is, um, bottomless

Just how deep does our sense of entitlement go? I’ll share this item that showed up today on my Facebook feed.

So help me, I cannot add to this. These reportedly are actual examples of travelers’ complaints.

Enjoy …

1. “They should not allow topless sunbathing on the beach. It was very distracting for my husband who just wanted to relax.”
2. “On my holiday to Goa in India, I was disgusted to find that almost every restaurant served curry. I don’t like spicy food.”
3. “We went on holiday to Spain and had a problem with the taxi drivers as they were all Spanish.”
4. “We booked an excursion to a water park but no-one told us we had to bring our own swimsuits and towels. We assumed it would be included in the price.”
5. “The beach was too sandy. We had to clean everything when we returned to our room.”
6. “We found the sand was not like the sand in the brochure. Your brochure shows the sand as white but it was more yellow.”
7. “It’s lazy of the local shopkeepers in Puerto Vallarta to close in the afternoons. I often needed to buy things during ‘siesta’ time — this should be banned.”
8. “No-one told us there would be fish in the water. The children were scared.”
9. “Although the brochure said that there was a fully equipped kitchen, there was no egg-slicer in the drawers.”
10. “I think it should be explained in the brochure that the local convenience store does not sell proper biscuits like custard creams or ginger nuts.”
11. “The roads were uneven and bumpy, so we could not read the local guide book during the bus ride to the resort. Because of this, we were unaware of many things that would have made our holiday more fun.”
12. “It took us nine hours to fly home from Jamaica to England. It took the Americans only three hours to get home. This seems unfair.”
13. “I compared the size of our one-bedroom suite to our friends’ three-bedroom and ours was significantly smaller.”
14. “The brochure stated: ‘No hairdressers at the resort.’ We’re trainee hairdressers and we think they knew and made us wait longer for service.”
15. “When we were in Spain, there were too many Spanish people there. The receptionist spoke Spanish, the food was Spanish. No one told us that there would be so many foreigners.”
16. “We had to line up outside to catch the boat and there was no air-conditioning.”
17. “It is your duty as a tour operator to advise us of noisy or unruly guests before we travel.”
18. “I was bitten by a mosquito. The brochure did not mention mosquitoes.”
19. “My fiancée and I requested twin-beds when we booked, but instead we were placed in a room with a king bed. We now hold you responsible and want to be re-reimbursed for the fact that I became pregnant. This would not have happened if you had put us in the room that we booked.”
local news

Continuing relief from the grind

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — Believe this or not, but I am finding it harder each day to get back to the “grind” of commenting on matters dealing with politics and public policy.

This westward journey I have undertaken has allowed me a respite from all of that and encouraged me to comment on the sights Toby the Puppy and I are seeing as we tour the western half of this great nation.

That’s what I have concentrated my energies for the past week. It is where I likely will continue to zero in on as the journey continues.

I’ll be back home in North Texas eventually. I figure to put several thousand more miles on the pickup I am driving. There will be more natural splendor to absorb. It’s the kind of adventure I remain absolutely certain my bride, Kathy Anne, would want me to enjoy.

And so … I will.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

Transition quickens toward next step on our journey

This is the latest in an occasional series of blog posts commenting on upcoming retirement.

The pace toward full-time retirement is quickening.

I’m getting more ready for it to arrive.

For the time being I’m now down to just one part-time job. A second part-time gig has been put on hold; I have been told it might be reactivated, perhaps soon. I am keeping my options open.

At the risk of getting the bum’s rush out of Dodge, I need to explain why the pace is speeding up a bit.

We’re packing up our house. More to the point, my wife is doing the packing. She’s really good at this stuff. I’m a bit of a stick-in-the-mud. We’ve made no secret of our desire to relocate. That day is coming along. Our family is aware of our plans and some of our closest friends have been given a detail or two of what we intend.

But listen up … please. That moment is not yet on the horizon. We aren’t moving in the next 45 minutes. We’re just preparing to take one final huge step in our life’s journey together.

We’re in our 60s. We have good health. We have lots of things we want to do. We have many places we want to see. We have the time, the inclination and the energy to haul our fifth wheel around the continent — and that is precisely what we intend to do.

Our journey together has taken us to 47 of the 50 states and a handful of Canadian provinces. We’ve been able to travel abroad to Asia, Central and South America, Europe and the Middle East (which, yes, is part of Asia). There’s always been a time limit, however. Work awaited back home.

We’re looking forward now to taking more time on the road and exploring some of the grandeur that surrounds us in North America. We have some family responsibilities to clear up.

The road ahead, though, is starting to clear out.

We hope to be ready soon to see what lies ahead.

Uncategorized

A new world awaits

OK, my fellow travelers. You’re about to have some company on the open road.

My wife and I have recently joined the world of recreational vehicle owners. We purchased a 29-foot fifth wheel travel vehicle. It’s going to be hitched up to a new pickup we purchased. Very soon — we hope — we’re going to hit the road for some serious traveling.

I have some more good news. This past week we completed a three-night trial run with the fifth wheel. We didn’t go far with it. Just across town, to the east side of Amarillo, not far from the world-famous Big Texan Steak Ranch.

We hitched our fifth wheel to the back of our 3/4-ton pickup and drove it about eight miles to the other side of the city. We parked it in a space that included hookups for city water, electricity, cable television, and a place to dump our sewage.

We couldn’t ask for anything more.

So, we spent three nights getting acquainted with our fifth wheel. The first night was interesting, given that a fierce thunderstorm blew in over Amarillo. How did we fare during the storm? Beautifully, I’m happy to report. We had leveled our vehicle with front and rear jacks, plus a tripod stabilizer we installed under the fifth wheel hitch.

We spent two more days and nights there, visited with other travelers — those who actually were traveling — and laughed as we told them we were locals who drove across town to inaugurate our travel vehicle. “That’s smart of you to do that,” came the response.

Saturday morning, we woke up, cooked our breakfast and began the task of breaking camp. We had some help from one of the RV park managers who came over to watch us unhook the water lines, flush out our wastewater tanks, and button everything up. He left before we hooked the truck up with the fifth wheel. But hey, no problem. We got it done.

We drove back to our storage garage, unhooked truck from fifth wheel and went home quite satisfied with how much we learned. Yes, we still have questions, but now we’re able to ask them more intelligently.

With that, we’ve entered the world of semi-retirement. Neither of us is retired fully just yet. That day is approaching. But our venture into this new world of travel is the culmination of a discussion my wife and I have been having for, oh, about 25 years.

We’re ready to hit the road.