Maximize Your Food Experience

On November 6, 2015 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Travel TipsLeave a comment

One of the things that we do whenever we travel, whether in state or to another country, is to have appetizers at a couple of different restaurants every night that we’re there. We’re not big eaters to begin with, so sitting down and finishing a large meal most likely means leftovers that will end up being thrown away. So, instead we have several small appetizers, basically tapas style that we can both share, which allows us to try several different dishes. This is especially true when we’re travelling to a place where the food is so diverse or exotic, like when we were in India. Because we don’t want to take up a table, we’ll usually sit at the bar or in the lounge. We tend to feel that we get better service when sitting at the bar because you get a chance to actually talk to the bartender and get to know them a little. If we find a place that we really like, we might visit them several times while we’re travelling, but still going to at least one different place in the same night or day.

We tend to walk as much as possible when we’re visiting someplace new. This allows us to really get a feel for the city, but also allows us to stop at a variety of places to eat or find places that we’ll want to come back later and grab a bite. Walking also has the added benefit of working up an appetite or burning off the food we’ve just consumed. Because we don’t tend to keep ourselves on a tight agenda, this allows us to just pop into a place that looks interesting and give them a try.

If you really want to savor more flavors of a country, city, or region, try going to several restaurants, pubs, or eateries and sampling a few small plates at each one. Or, better yet, wander through the city, stopping every now and then to experience something a little different everywhere you go. You will get to meet more locals, savor more food, and enjoy more of what the city has to offer.

Christmas in Vegas

On September 14, 2015September 14, 2015 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Las VegasLeave a comment

We have a couple of timeshares and last year we had a week that we had to use or we would lose it, so we decided to avoid the normal family drama of the holidays and go to Vegas. We had never really considered going to Las Vegas over the holidays, so we weren’t sure of what to expect. We had a full seven nights, which is really too many nights for Vegas, but we were staying at the Trump Tower, which doesn’t have a casino, so at least we had a place to go to get away from the noise. Our youngest daughter was joining us for three nights in the middle of our stay, so we had two nights before she joined us and two nights after she left. We would definitely need the nights towards the end to try and recover from spending three nights with a twenty-five year old, way to much eating and drinking for the two of us who had both turned fifty that year.

First thing about Christmas in Las Vegas is that the casinos don’t really do much to celebrate Christmas, so the strip is just like the strip at any other time of the year. New Year’s Eve was definitely their focus and there were bill boards and advertisements for all of the special concerts and parties that were coming to town. There were a few hotels that did some displays, such as the Bellagio, the Venetian, and Caesar’s Palace. Other than that, it was business as usual for the casinos.

We’ve been to Vegas several times, so we were pleased that there were far fewer crowds in town for the week, which was nice. Most of the people that were there seemed to travel from overseas and were likely going to be there for a couple of weeks. The days of the cheap buffets and steak dinners are definitely a thing of the past and now Las Vegas and the strip is home to restaurants touting celebrity chef names in every corner of the casinos. Dinner on the strip can cost you more than an evening of gambling, but the food is definitely excellent.

We always take in a show when we’re in Vegas and have done several of the Cirque Du Soleil shows, but we decided to go and see Penn and Teller. We wanted our daughter to see their show, which is a lot of fun, and the two of them take time after the show to talk and take pictures with everyone from the audience. Afterwards, by attending their show, you’re able to get into the Voodoo Lounge at the Rio, which is the nightclub that they own and is on the roof of the Rio. You get some amazing views of the strip as well as some tasty cocktails.

Pete and Our Daughter at the Voodoo Lounge

We actually flew home the day after Christmas, exhausted, but Christmas Day was probably the strangest day of the trip. Apparently there are extremely cheap flights from California to Las Vegas if you’re willing to fly on Christmas Day, and people were apparently very willing. Lines to check into hotels were a mile long and if you wanted to get a bite to eat at one of the restaurants, you had better be willing to wait. It was a sudden, and unwelcome, change to what had been a somewhat quiet week, at least in terms of Vegas. It is unlikely that we’ll ever do Christmas at Las Vegas again, but in the end we had a lot of fun and made some interesting memories.

Empty Nest and Loving It

On August 6, 2015August 11, 2015 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn MexicoLeave a comment

Within three weeks of our youngest daughter leaving home for college, we were sitting at the beach in Cabo San Lucas. As our friends have gone through the same transition from having kids at home to being empty nesters, we’ve seen two typical transitions. One, like ours, where the couple starts dating again and enjoying the freedom that it offers. And the second, which always saddens us, is when, after spending years devoted to the children and their activities, the couple wakes up to find that the only thing they had in common was taking care of the kids and they drift apart and often get divorced. Happily we couldn’t wait to start spending more time together because not only are we husband and wife, but we’ve always been each other’s best friend. So, as sad as we were to drop our daughter off at college, we were excited to start having more adventures and we were off to Cabo.

We’ve said this many times, but we truly prefer to travel in the off season, so our trip to Cabo was in late October. Our parents, who are avid travelers as well, had given us a week using their timeshare and this would be our first experience using a timeshare. We flew into the Los Cabos International Airport, which is located in San Jose Cabo and is about a 45 minute taxi or shuttle ride to Cabo San Lucas. This was our first trip to Mexico, we’ve been there several times since, but seeing the armed federal police officers all over the airport was unexpected. You deplane outside and then walk into the airport to go through customs. Somehow we managed to go through a wrong door into a room with all of the luggage. There was a large glass wall between us and the room to go through customs with a door where a policeman stood. We went to walk through the door to get into the other room and were quickly and abruptly told that we had to exit the way we came and go in the correct door. No arguing with a man with semi-automatic rifle.

We made it through customs and were prepared for what we would face next, which was the gauntlet of timeshare salesman claiming that they will take you to your resort. We’d been warned in advance and walked through, ignoring the fervent pleas to provide us a ride, and made it to the taxis and shuttles. We chose to take a shuttle, which is cheaper, but you share the shuttle with several other families and couples, so it takes a little longer as they stop at the various resorts until they reach your resort. As you get closer and closer to Cabo San Lucas, the ocean and the resorts start coming into view and it finally starts sinking in that you’re about to spend a week in paradise. We were staying at the Villa Del Arco resort and from the moment we arrived, we knew we were in for an incredible stay.

Resorts in Cabo San Lucas aren’t like resorts in most other tourist locations in Mexico, they have a height restriction on resorts near downtown, so you don’t have these giant monstrosities along the beach. The result of this is that the resorts are smaller, with fewer crowds in the resort and on their private beaches. As we checked in, we were told that if we attended the one hour timeshare sales presentation we would get discounts in town and some vouchers for the resort. Having not been through a timeshare pitch before, we accepted and were off to have a tropical drink while our luggage was taken to our suite. Once we got to our suite, with its gorgeous view of the ocean and the famous arch in Cabo San Lucas (El Arco de Cabo San Lucas), we were truly impressed.

The following morning, we went to our timeshare tour where we were shown the different rooms of the resort and then taken to breakfast with our sales person. Afterwards, we went to the sales office for the closing pitch. We had told ourselves before we went that, no matter what, we were going to say “no”, this was just to get some free stuff. Even though we’d only been there for a night, we were in love with the resort. It wasn’t an easy decision, but after much debating and the sales manager sweetening the pot, we decided to buy what would turn out to be our first timeshare. After the stress of making the decision to purchase, we were off to the pool and the pirate ship bar and restaurant located in the center of the pool. We have swam laps around that ship/bar many times now and it is one of our fondest memories.

View from Our Room at the Villa Del Arco

Another great thing about Cabo is the close proximity to town, restaurants, and the marina. We love going to the restaurants and asking for the fresh catch of the day and having it prepared specially for us. Cabo is also famous for the marlin and other sport fishing, so you can catch some fresh fish and take it to the restaurants to prepare for you and your guests. On this trip we discovered walking down the beach from the resort to town and the marina provided us with many beach bar opportunities with drinks almost always on special and ceviche, guacamole, and fresh seafood always in abundance. Walking from the resort to town to see the famous Cabo Wabo bar or haggle with the beach and street vendors for trinkets to take home is an easy twenty minute walk and some nice exercise to offset the time spent sitting pool or ocean side eating and drinking.

It was the first of what has been many happy trips that we’ve had since becoming empty nesters, but obviously holds a special memory in our hearts. Not only did we become timeshare owners, but we fell in love with our home resort, the Villa Del Arco. Most importantly, if it was possible, we became even closer by sharing another travel experience and have been back to Mexico several times since. For those of you that aren’t empty nesters yet, take our advice, don’t forget to be a couple and foster the things that brought you together, the things that you have in common, the things that will fill your lives when raising the children is no longer your number one priority. You’ll always be parents, there will always be advice to give and wisdom to share, but hopefully you’ll do that while filling your lives with adventure.