It's Like We Know What We Are Doing

Sunday, November 27 th We had no plan going into Macau other than "we are going to Macau." This is not normally something I’d advise someone to do.   Let alone something I’d do to myself.   But there we were, on a hydrofoil traveling from Hong Kong to Macau, with NO PLAN in place. Getting to Macau took a bit longer than we had expected.   The TurboJet Hydrofoil left from Hong Kong (or Kowloon) every 15-30 minutes.   When we arrived at the ferry terminal, we started with Starbucks.   Come on.   I’m no animal.   We didn’t have much in the way of serious food in the fridge at the apartment and I have a tendency to get motion sick when on a boat outside of a river or a harbor.   Having my stomach filled with chai-fueled goodness would be helpful.   Even if the chai is not quite the chai we have at home.   Side note, Starbucks chai in Hong Kong is, well…not great.   But I drank it multiple times because, chai. Post...

Thursday, September 4th Our flight home was scheduled for 10a.  Considering the traffic in Beijing, we knew we had to give ourselves extra time to get to the airport.  So we started counting backwards.  Our math took us away from our hotel at 6a.  Which means we are up around 5a.  And of course, I was up once an hour since about 2a.  Because I was petrified I'd oversleep. In our wine-based haze from last night, Danielle and I did do 90% of our packing before falling asleep.  So I didn't have to do much this morning.  Shower, light packing, I was done.  This is always recommended. Because every key should have a Gumby keychain. Yesterday, when coming back from the Summer Palace, I went to set up a car service from our hotel to the airport this morning.  The front desk person explained it was actually cheaper if we just called a cab.  As we discovered the other day, the price for a taxi is based on the kilometers dri...

Wednesday, September 3rd (continued) We have a tradition on our trip.  The tradition wasn't really even acknowledged until recently.  It just was something that happened.  At the end of a long (or short) trip, we have to schedule a good dinner.   Lima , Paris , Toronto ,  Buenos Aires , we go to a nice meal.  After Adele spent a week sleeping under the stars in Mongolia, she was ready for some pampering.  Maybe she was a bit of a "princess" (according to her...these are NOT my words), but she was ready for a bottle of wine and some good eats.  Danielle and I were along for the ride.  Hey don't get me wrong, we weren't going unwillingly.  We were also ready for some wine and good eats. Adele found TRB (Temple Restaurant Beijing) in a search for the final meal.  The European chef formerly at Daniel Boulud opened a much more Western-style restaurant.  Trip Advisor (at the time) had TRB listed as the number one restaurant ...