Napa 2012 Retro Review

Posted on June 30, 2013 by Justin

General Thoughts

This was our second trip to the wine country. This time we decided to spend the whole trip in Napa. We were there for 4 nights/5 days in early August. The weather was pretty similar to what I remember it being in May – cool mornings, warm to hot afternoons. It may be a little warmer in the afternoons than May…Still very comfortable compared to Southern Louisiana. The grapes were pretty well grown at this time, but it was still too early to try to taste any.

Our first trip we really planned around food/dining – wineries were secondary. This time it was the opposite, wine was the primary focus and the dining was much more quick and casual. Also, we concentrated on some of the more off the beaten path wineries/areas this time.

I planned to bring back much more wine than the first trip…but we still came back with (or are getting shipped) more wine than I anticipated. I still believe that the best and most economical way to come back with wine is to buy a shipping box and check it on the plane.

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Sydney Wrap Up

Posted on June 30, 2013 by Justin

Well…We’ve been home for about 2.5 months, and I’m finally getting around to finishing up my “wrap ups.” As one might imagine, taking 3 months off tends to put you behind the 8 ball at work, so – needless to say – I’ve been pretty busy in that regard.

Fortunately, I kept good notes and have Alyce’s blog posts to look back on. Plus, I have a decent memory, so I should be able to recap things almost as well as if I had wrote this while we still on the trip. On to Sydney…

Sydney is the largest city in Australia; its metropolitan area population (4.7 Million) would put it between Detroit and Seattle in the US. So it is a big city, but not huge. The city was pretty clean—maybe slightly less so than some of the Asian cities, but still very clean. I also found Sydney to be very safe, as was the case with most of the places we visited.

Sydney’s downtown – at least from a tourism perspective – is located around a little cove off of Sydney Harbor call Circular Quay. A quick note: Quay is pronounced as “key” (like you lock/unlock things with)…something we did not figure out until our last day in Sydney.

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The UAE In Pictures

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Justin

There is a lot of money in the UAE…and they like to show it off. As a result everything is very extravagant and over the top there. We only had one day in Abu Dhabi and one day in Dubai (which included 4 hours of traveling to/from there), but we still got a decent feel for the area – especially Abu Dhabi where my friend Tommy, who works as a drilling engineer, was able to show us around.

http://justinandalyce.smugmug.com/Other/UAE/28657537_sNkVmJ#!i=2431218058&k=nWBp6G9

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The Maldives In Pictures

Posted on March 28, 2013 by Justin

We’re back home and still getting used to it, but it is great to get back to some normalcy. We do still have a bunch of stuff to post – including getting to the rest of my wrap ups and some other posts…I’ll probably try to do one on some of the tricks we used to book all the stuff. So keep checking back every now and then if you are interested in any of that.

In the Maldives, we stayed at the Park Hyatt (Hadahaa Island). It was incredible. Check out the pictures to get an idea of what it was like.

http://justinandalyce.smugmug.com/Other/Maldives/28643728_qhkrRk#!i=2429762420&k=K7zwhfv

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America!

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Alyce

We left Abu Dhabi at 10 am and made it to New York around 5pm (14 hour flight). I definitely have alot to say about our time in the United Arab Emirates, but I will have to catch up on that when we get home. Aaaaaahhhhhh! HOME!

I promise that we will continue to post pictures and final thoughts on the trip. It has been quite an adventure. I think I need to take a few days to compile my thoughts and digest everything that has happened in the last 11 weeks. It has been a wild ride!

I want to thank everyone who followed along with us and kept us motivated to continue blogging. I am a first time blogger, so I was learning along the way! We loved and read every single comment. I may not have responded every time, but we saw them all. I can’t tell you how good it made me feel.

Sorry the last couple of posts don’t have any pictures. I promise, the next ones will have pictures of Dubai and Adu Dhabi!

XOXO Alyce

P.S. What is the deal with the weather? We were hoping to skip winter!!

Abu Dhabi

Posted on March 24, 2013 by Alyce

We made it to our last and final stop!! We had a long day from the Maldives, but it was so nice to see some friendly faces when we got the the UAE (United Arab Emirates). We are staying at the home of Tommy and Mallory Ryan. As I said in the last post, Tommy graduated Jesuit with Justin, and Mallory went to Dominican with me. Tommy works for Exxon and got transferred here about a year ago. He spent the day showing us the main attractions in Abu Dhabi. Tomorrow, we go to Dubai for our very last day of the big trip. Hallelujia. It’s been great, but I am sooooo ready to go home! I’ll post a more detailed report of our time here a little later. Until then, I’m exhausted, and I’m going to bed!

Good night!

XOXO Alyce

Goodbye Maldives (and other random musings)

Posted on March 23, 2013 by Alyce

For our last full day in the Maldives (boo), we slept in (well, Justin slept in) and had a late breakfast. I haven’t been sleeping too well for the last few weeks. I think I just miss my bed at home. Maybe, I miss the sound of Moose snoring and Chunk whining to wake me up– just to pat him on the head and tell him he’s a good boy. God I miss my boys. I may complain about the dog hair, slobber, and messy house, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I absolutely adore my dogs. Now that I’ve experienced life without them, I know that I am happier with them- without a doubt. They make me laugh and love us unconditionally (well, at least Moose does!). Although Chunk acts tough, he doesn’t let us out of his sight. It was quite a process to pack for this trip without him freaking out. Even though he never actually saw us packing, he could tell that something was up, and he didn’t like it. We even snuck the bags in the car while he wasn’t around.

Wow, I just realized that I started rambling. Did I say that I miss my dogs? It’s probably pretty obvious which posts are alcohol induced (oops). Right now, I’m sitting on the beach. Well. Not really ON the beach but on cabana sofa on the beach. It’s happy hour, and I’ve had a margarita, and I’m working on my daiquiri. This is the way I like to do the beach. They served me my drink with a cloth napkin. Yes, a cloth napkin. I am in heaven. I could stay forever if I didn’t have the best dogs and family to come home to. And I am ready to come home. No doubt about it.

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Mangosteen

Posted on March 23, 2013 by Alyce

Nope, that’s not another country that we added to the trip! It’s a wonderful, tropical fruit that we have tried and LOVE! Even Justin “I don’t like fruit” Ittmann has been really enjoying all the fresh tropical fruit. His two favorites are pineapple and mangosteen. He even ordered a plate of mangosteen with his breakfast (never thought I’d see the day when Justin ordered extra fruit instead of extra meat)!!

Mangosteen mainly grow in Southeast Asia. They have a purplely red outside and are white on the inside. It actually looks like a head of garlic. It’s sweet, a little tangy, and delicious. I’ve never seen them in the US. Although, if I would have seen them, I wouldn’t have known what it was until now.

Maldives

We have also been having passion fruit, guava, dragon fruit, and papaya on a regular basis. I’m going to be pretty sad when I get home and get back to apples and bananas!

For whatever reason, I felt that this deserved a whole post. I think I’m running out of things to talk about!