What's up with JaT?: A Hop, A Skip, And A Jaunt

Flying about the world takes a lot of energy. It's not just the jet lag or the long haul flights... it's everything in between sandwiched by airport terminals, security lines, and outrageously price sundry items when you get stuck in said terminals after an early morning arrival to the airport to get on a plane only to be delayed for half a day... Ah... the joys.

After my in-laws got to relish the experience of flying here, I got sick as a dog and spent 3 or so days in fast pace recovery so as not to miss out on all the doings of visiting and such. When I say sick as a dog, I really mean it. I was lying on the floor of my bathroom, (my clean floor thank you very much), and John comes in to discover that I was melting. Really. MELTING. A quick trip to the clinic revealed that I can effectively pass out twice, summon the entire staff and quarter off a pseudo hospital room all to myself, just for having my blood pressure taken. Yes, it was a great start to their visit, and it must have delightful for my in-laws to watch me sleep for the first 3 days. Thankfully, John was able to avoid whatever I had and take his folks around town and entertain them while I recovered.

For two weeks we went thither and yonder and explored various aspects of desert life. The guys went four wheeling, John successfully lost his dad, and successfully recovered him but not before us girls hiked out to Dragon Mart to buy up little treasures. There was also a bout with bird, namely of the falcon variety... I didn't attend that particular outing, but you can blame Paco, the amazing defensive Jade Parrot for that. We cruised down the creek with friends and enjoyed a nice Arabian meal; the guys found a race track and attempted to look like pros... we watched some building demolition, ate steak made on a stone, had a pasta/pizza party, went to two aquariums, had a photo op at Atlantis, took a stroll down Marina Walk, brunched at the MORE Cafe, had a picnic in Safa Park, and went to church. I'd say we had a successful visit.

Venice. Was. Lovely.

Truly, the vacation that made up for all the vacations we never took. I have over 500 photos to prove that fact. We stayed on the mainland and bused into the main station to grab the water taxi (vapparetti) on a daily basis. The ticketing agent was astounded that we bought a 7 day unlimited bus/vapparetto pass. He was stunned further when he discovered that we actually intended to stay in Venice for a week. But he was more than happy to sell those tickets! Getting around Venice was fairly simple once we understood the routes, and thankfully I know the language enough to get by.

At this point you may have some questions, like... 'Did we go to San Marco's Square?', 'Did we so to Rialto?’ etc... Yes, we did the usual tourist stops, but we were not really interested in the popular spots. We made it our business to 'get lost'. It was the best thing we could've done. Our fearless venture through the labyrinth like paths led us to amazing sights, sounds and smells! By the second full day, we couldn't get lost anymore and I'm fairly sure we climbed every single bridge at least twice. We toured Murano, beyond the glass blowers. We had a picnic in Burano that ended in a nice chat with a retired gondolier, who by all accounts was fascinated by the fact that he spent ten out of sixty years of life fishing. We bought some lace, and John ate the best canolli he'd ever encountered. Then we took a train to Verona... Fair Verona, in Shakespeare’s words... 'There is no world without Verona Walls'. And once you spend a day walking that city, you realize how true that must have felt when he wrote it. We LOVED Verona. Between the food, sights, sounds, and some pretty awesome photo ops, we had such a memorable time that we hiked back to Venice to talk over the day with a nice bowl of pasta!

The next day we rented bikes on the island of Lido, where you can get such a great perspective of Venice and the open sea. It was such perfect weather for a ride too. We shopped at the local Billa grocery, and had a picnic of Prosciutto, tomato, basil and cheese sandwiches... Then we took the vaparetto back to Venice to walk from the Gardens to San Marco's and saw the sun depart while I sipped a cappuccino and John tested a Bellini and a popular local drink, both of which he was NOT fond of. The next day we headed to Bologna, for some interesting, yet not so impressive sightseeing. We had an unexpected trip up the tallest tower's rickety stairs to see Bologna from its best point of view. It was a tough trek, and though I was pretty sure I'd kill John when I got to the top, it was worth it. After, he made it up to me by buying me a sfogliatele, which is hard to describe, but totally made the trip to Bologna worthwhile. Sadly, there was more graffiti then actual art in the city and being the university town that it is, there were more young 'grunge' types collected there then I'd like to see in any part of the world, including Seattle. We walked heavily and even though the food is reputed for being some of the best in Italy, we opted to go back to Venice and have another effectively satisfying dinner of Pasta with Veal Marsala and Pasta Vongolle. DE LIGHT FUL.

On the whole, I'd recommend Venice for more then what the tour books say. The food is not known for being as good, though, we ate like kings every day. The gelato, though slightly 'tourist-ized' still went down nice and smooth. And shopping, well, let's just say I didn't find one thing that had "made in China" stamped on it. It was and will remain a very special trip to us both. That is, until we do something else that can justly impress us.

The journey home was short lived. We arrived home at midnight with enough time for me to switch bags, re-pack, talk to my parents long enough to make them believe I was settled in, and head back to the airport for my 'surprise' flight back to the US. Please, understand I had been up since Italy, didn't get any sleep on the return flight to Dubai, barely caught two hours worth of winks between flights and I was placed just in front of the lounge on the A380, making it impossible to sleep for the entire 12 hours flight. BAH! JET LAG to the 10th power. However, I arrived safe, but mildly delirious, to spend a day and a half with my cousins in NY, who all kept my visit from my parents a secret rather impressively. I'm sure that my loopiness, induced by being awake for two days, 3 adorable puppies, a bout on the Wii and a tad bit too much sugar made me interesting entertainment for my Northern Family! It was a much needed visit and I was very happy to see them all, short but sweet.

I successfully made it to Orlando, quite impressed with Jet Blue's newest aircraft, though slightly less enthused by the haggard looking flight attendants... Kelly my beloved friend was there to pick me up and hastily brought me to a Publix, yes, where shopping is TRUELY a pleasure, for my traditional Boar's Head Roast Beef Sub, with Salt, Mayo, Lettuce and Tomato. I should write a sonnet to that sub.

While eating said sub, we were planning the parental surprise... and not until we were 30 minutes out, did we actually come up with a plan. Kelly, was able to induce an invite for herself and her little boy, based on the pretence that her car was making a 'funny noise' and she was very close to my parent's house.... when she went in, she called us, I was waiting just outside with Chris her husband, to say that when he arrived there to help her with her car, that he should just come on in. So after a few minutes, Chris led the way into through the garage door, and 2.6 seconds later I followed him in, producing the desired results of shock and disbelief! It was priceless!

And with that I began the two week jaunt with surprising the rest of my family and spending some quality time with the special people in my life. But I can honestly say, as much as I miss my family and friends, it was quite miserable to be away from John so long. The poor guy had too many flights and school to attend to, and he just couldn't make the trip as much as he would've liked to. I relish being home again with him. So there you go, a jam packed month full of stuff that we did. Despite the flight delays, high priced airport food, and sad in-flight movies, tonight, or should I say this morning (thanks Mr. Jetlag) I am glad to be 'home'.

Dhow Cruise