We hired a driver for the day who managed to nightbus that Peugeot through the skinniest spaces. It was an extravagance for what we usually do - I like public transit and going like a local, so we’re usually traipsing around on busses and the like as I giggle with glee at how much we’re … Continue reading “Are you sure you can fit through there…?” I muttered at the driver.
We’re staying in Plaka, one of the oldest, most touristy neighborhoods in Athens… it’s an AirBnB in a building built not in any century of which I’ve been a part. Our neighborhood. Shops on the ground floor, apartments above. We’re on the 4th floor (European 4th… American 5th) and mercifully there’s an elevator. Elevators, like … Continue reading Elevators in Athens and Prince Harry’s tootsies…
Holy god. Remind me to never drive in Greece. Apparently the white stripes on the road are a mere suggestion to be ignored. The taxi driver, who greeted us in English, displayed his entire command of the language in one brief sentence. “Is okay I get them” when faced with our luggage. Not that I’m … Continue reading He drives like an intoxicated wombat.
I can handle the reversal of the car - it’s not a total mirror image, as the pedals are in the same place. So is the manual gear box, but this one’s automatic. However, in this particular vehicle (a hybrid Toyota Corolla), the indicator is on the right, not the left. Every minute or two … Continue reading Driving on the left side isn’t the problem.
I swear I’m beefing up my thigh muscles (not a bad thing, really) with all the ups and downs we’re doing. We decided to go up to the top of Maungawhau (Mount Eden), the highest point in Auckland and a volcano dormant 28,000 years, give or take a decade or two. Somehow, my brain didn’t … Continue reading Who knew New Zealand was so damn hilly??
Eden Park Stadium is amazing. To this Los Angeleno, it’s astonishing to sit in a 43,200 capacity sports arena that has no parking. Your ticket includes public transit… so everyone is expected to ride the bus or the train to get there - the surrounding streets are closed to all but residents - so you … Continue reading Eden Park and an Island
I was sent on a very last-minute trip to Roswell, NM. One Thursday, I’m minding my own business, then suddenly Sunday I’m on a commuter jet winging from PHX to the city of aliens. It wasn’t so bad flying there from my usual airport, I made it through security just fine, but annoyed as TSA … Continue reading It all started when American forgot to put pre-check on my boarding pass.
Another family was sitting in our seats at the Easter service. You know what that’s like in church… I imagine it’s the same at temple, mosque or whatever… that’s my real estate for the service. Doesn’t matter I haven’t attended in several months. My dad sat there and now my bottom belonged on that length … Continue reading “I’ll go to an early dinner without complaining…” Granny bargained.
Not that I had a choice, mind you – I wore my sneakers early in the morning, when the grass (which grows about two inches overnight) wept so badly as I trod through, my socks got soaked as well. Dammit. It could’ve been God’s retribution for my sins, which to my mind weren’t so bad, … Continue reading Never wear sandals to the dump.
I can say that with authority as I started yesterday in London and ended in Los Angeles, and both had heat that high. Aside from it being a dry heat in LA, everything is air conditioned. We have this heat thing DOWN, windows open early, use the whole house fan to drain the attic of … Continue reading 104F (40C) is much, much worse in the UK than the US.
Examining Misadventures 