Category: Travel

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An idea for Christmas

I’ve been doing some research into something a friend told me about, which is self catering holidays for Christmas. All of my friends and family know I’ve always wanted to go to Scotland. So of course when I heard about this idea, my ears perked up and that is when the research started. It would be great to have a holiday there. It seems to me that even though our family is large and used to spend Christmas together, over the years now we go to my Mom’s house on different days during the holidays.

I’ve looked at some travel guides and even though I haven’t asked my Mom what she thinks of the idea, I’d like to take  her with me. Even if it is just for a few days. I think it would be a nice gift to her, and she would be pleased to come with me. Besides, I’m afraid to fly alone. She might not want to go exactly on Christmas day or during Christmas week even, but still Christmas can be celebrated until New Years, since I don’t take my tree down until then. I think sometimes I’m still a kid at heart and don’t want it to end.

Sometimes it’s nice to get away on holiday breaks and this is something that I’d really consider doing.

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My friend is moving

My dear friend of over 8 years is moving and looking at houses for rent in Calgary. I myself have never been there, but she goes quite a few times a year to visit family and friends there that live in the area. This past Christmas she brought be back a wonderful calendar with pictures of Calgary Alberta, and I have admit the area is stunning. If I didn’t have close family here I might think about making a move myself, but right now my Mom needs me and since we are so close I could never move far away from her. I would miss her way too much.

When my friend told me she would be moving, it of course made me sad, but I know she flies back and forth all the time, so we will still get to see one another and spend time with each other when she does come back to visit. She has a flexible job, which makes it much easier to get away even on a whim, which she is known  to do.

To be honest, I’m rather getting excited for her, since her excitement is contagious. She has shown me photos of some homes she has looked and and there are two she is seriously thinking about checking into renting. She doesn’t want to buy, as it would be a commitment that she doesn’t want to take on right now. Renting is a good idea for her.

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Vacation homes

My blogging friend who I’ve grown to be very good friends with, mentioned now having what is called a bucket list. She has always been afraid of flying, and then on her 50th birthday, decided it was time to get over her intense phobia, because of all the wonderful places and experiences she had missed up until that point and I must say, her list of places she wants to go to is quite impressive. In fact, it’s lengthy to say the least.

One of the vacation spots she wants to go to is Hawaii. I guess her brother went there and came back with photos and interesting adventure tales to tell, and she then and there decided it was first on the list, besides of course, her love…Scotland. I’ve been seriously thinking about what to give her for her birthday this coming year, and it also would be a reunion of sorts for us. She had told me that she had gone online and did lots and lots of research about Hawaii. I’ve had some money saved up for my own vacation next year, yet I wanted to get a vacation home to stay in, instead of a hotel. It would feel more like living there for a time, then just a vacation.

I looked into American Dream Reality Hawaii, thinking that my friend’s list is indeed a dream and yet maybe it could be a reality and she wants to go to Hawaii. When I was there last, I had a wonderful time, and it would be great for my buddy to experience some or the things that I did. We’ll see what happens. In the mean time, I keep encouraging her to keep writing her list!

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Summers part way over

My brother has been in the Air Force in Europe for about 30 years now. He married a very charming and wonderful Dutch woman and they have two daughters who are now in collage age. It is kind of sad that in all this time I have only met them a few times, but when my brother is on leave, because despite of the discount enlisted men get on airfare, he usually visits by himself or he and my sister in law usually just come alone as the girls are off on their own holiday or have other plans that keep them in Europe. I do however keep in nearly constant contact with my nieces through the internet and also by the “old fashion way” by writing real letters. I see photos of them all the time and they are beautiful girls, both inside and out. I’m proud of the way my brother and his wife have raised them. It is totally a different way than in the US and it seems these two girls have very level heads on their shoulders.

My oldest niece Meeka will be continuing her studies in Amsterdam where she will be staying with her grandma, as my brother is now stationed in Germany. She is into art and I have seen her work over the years. She just continues to get better as her talents develop more and more. She had before mentioned trying out collages in the States, one in particular was Walden University.

While Meeka was looking at all the various information about collages, my younger niece was also thinking about where she would go. She is a bit more adventurous that her sister and would love to come to the states for school. She mentioned to me that Walden U ed had opportunities  for scholarships and she was interested in checking out online schools as well but my brother nixed that idea. I’m not sure where the girls will actually be going but it sure would be great if at least one of them came to the States so I could see them more.

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Vacation

That vacation is looking better and better. I get those emails from travel agencies and such, and I keep looking at the destinations. Gosh it would be nice to jet off to somewhere exotic for a much needed vacation. Perhaps somewhere Tropical ! Hawaii is looking REALLY good right now. Mai Ti’s and Luaus with white beaches is just the ticket. I would love to go hiking there as well because there are some very beautiful trails for tourist hikes. I want to see some of those famous water falls they film at for movies as well. That would be awesome !

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A friend coming to visit!

A dear friend who I’ve known for nearly 25 years is coming for a visit. His daughter is graduating this month and though they live so very far away from one another, he wouldn’t miss this for the world. He loves his daughter so much. He will be flying into Chicago, as that is where his brother lives and will then drive to Michigan. Problem is, no transportation and renting a car is another problem, since for his daughter’s graduation present, he wants to buy her a good used car. That way, he will have transportation during his stay, and then give her the car before he leaves. I thought it was a great idea, as there are a lot of people he would like to visit, and places to go. His brother told him about looking at used cars in Chicago. He could buy one there, drive here and not have to rent a car to look for a car. Makes perfect sense to me!

Breanne my friend’s daughter,  is the outdoorsy type of young lady. And she is always on the go. She loves to travel and in her old car, I can remember her coming to visit me last year and it looked like she had packed that little car as though she were going on a year long vacation around the United States, instead of on a two hour drive to stay here for week. I had to laugh when she even pulled out a waffle maker, because she wanted to make me “her famous Breanne waffles.” I suggested to her father that he look at something like a Cheverolet Avalance because it’s roomy, looks great and in the QT I called his kid to find out what she really wanted. I’m sneaky like that! 😉

Bless my friend’s heart. Though he loves his daughter so much, he has no clue how girls that age are, and certainly believes his “little girl” is still that…a little girl. Boy do I have news for him. He will soon learn that she indeed is her own person and has unique ideas. She and my youngest daughter are the same age and are great friends also. They both will have their new to them used cars, and I’m excited for this visit.

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A worthwhile car!

A dear friend of mine went to Florida looking for a car. Personally I wish I could have gone with him, as that is my most favorite state in the US. He went looking for cars down South because there isn’t the salt and junk on the roads there like there is here, and the cars are for the most part, if you seek them out and do your homework, in great shape and really clean. He went down there himself and was totally on a mission. He had even checked out car shipping, since he wanted to stop off at some relative’s places on the way down to Florida and didn’t want to rent a car, so he drove his own.

I had told him that years ago I had bought my very first car down on the Gulf, and used an car transport company to bring my “baby” on home. It was a 1966 Chevy Malibu. I wanted a sort of match as I had gotten a 1966 Chevy Super Sport that was being worked on to get into cherry shape. I wasn’t happy with one, I needed the other model of the year! 😉

To me auto transport is the way to go when it comes to vacationing and shopping for a vehicle in other States. I personally did not even want to drive my Chevy home, just in case something were to have gone wrong and I was far away from my mechanic, who I trust totally. And being a single woman, buying a car, it would have been easy to rip me off. Welllll…not so easy since I’m a pretty good mechanic on the older makes of cars my self, but still…didn’t want to take a chance. Using a service such as auto transport, especially by reliable services means no hassle and your “baby” gets home safely!

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Serious Contemplation.

I’ve seriously been thinking about getting some property in Florida. I lived there some years ago, and never miss the chance to go back, when I have the chance and I can get the time to go. I have quite a few friends who live there and I’ve been asking around about some places there, and have found quite a few that I’d like to look at. My niece wants to go down with me for a vacation for her 18th birthday, and I’m thinking it would be nice to take her and show her around where I used to live, and in the process, check out some places. A lot of people don’t like going to Florida in the summer because it is so hot and the storms are a bit iffy. But heck, the weather is iffy all over the world now. I’ll let you all know if we decide to take our little vacation. Right now, I’m checking out real estate online.

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A very nice date

I went on my date with Michael and I was quite unprepared for him to know exactly where I wanted to go, as he lives out of State and I didn’t know he was familiar with the city I live near. Heck, I’m not even really that familiar with it, to be honest. When we got to the restaurant I had wanted to go to because of the food they served,  I discovered we needed reservations, or would have to wait. He gave the lady his name and we got a table right away.

I was curious as to how he knew directions, hours, the fact we needed reservations, and darn near everything about this city, if he hadn’t been familiar with it. At first he joked a bit and said things like, “psychic”, “magic” and what not. But then he admitted that he had got on the computer and looked it up in what he liked to call a city’s local yellow pages. I had never even knew a service like this existed.

Our date went really well. The food at the restaurant was delicious and our conversation was just the same as it had been when we last had gotten together. We’ll see what happens. When I got home,  I did however, get on my computer and look at the link he had given me, so find out what it was all about what he had been talking of, and was impressed with it. If I need any information for local businesses or darn near anything one could find in the yellow pages, I can just go online. I hate looking up things in the phone books. My eyes aren’t as they used to be, and it is a pain in the butt. All I have to do is type in what I want and it comes up. This I love a lot! We’ll  have to wait and see about Michael.  To be continued… 😉

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Moving Day

A friend of mine is going to move, so she went to her local movers to get some information about the dates, and the size of trucks she would need and all of the moving stuff, I have always hated to do over the years when I moved. I personally have always just recruited a bunch of big guys I know, with big pick up trucks, and had a beer and pizza party for all the helpers later, let them camp out and called it a move.

Elise of course, is different than I am. She is so organized it drives me nuts. I swear she even has her thumb tacks in little containers with a sticky tag on them and labeled, buy color code. And this move was going to be a big one, across State. No big burly guys with pick up trucks for her!! Nope, she went and got her first, local moving quotes, then decided to do some more planning. Such as if using the local mover was a good idea. It turns out, she did her planning much better than I thought…or ever would have thought, even knowing her so well. I usually got boxes at the local grocery stores, or the liquor stores because they have great boxes with the bottle separators in them, so I could pack up breakables and not have them clinking together. Then the other belongings I just put in boxes figureing, I have to unpack the stuff, and put it away anyway, so it didn’t matter what when in which box. Elise is not me. While she was getting moving estimates I sort of was folding her towels and sheets, pillowcases and such. But NOT just throwing them in boxes, as she hadn’t come home with the “proper” ones yet. She called and said she was going with the long distance movers, and that she would get back to me. Oh…she did mention not to touch her kitchen…LOL!

My friend came back to her place from getting her moving estimates, she was very please and showed me everything online. Good Lordy, they do everything for you. I don’t know if I’d like a bunch of people packing up my things, but we’ll see how Elise like this smooth move. She is getting excellent rates, I must admit.