Welcome to Hurricane Season

Welcome to Hurricane Season

It’s been a while - and I can’t really use the excuse that I haven’t had the time -  more that I haven’t been in the right frame of mind.

The last time I blogged all was well and I’d had an amazing few weeks exploring west coast USA. How bizarre then that a mere 2 days later chaos started to unfold. I got back to work to the usual post holiday crisis solving - but in between that my team asked me ‘ what my hurricane plan was’. Assuming there was some sarcasm involved - I didn’t answer especially seriously. Cut to next day - when I find myself trying to book a flight anywhere in the USA because the most severe hurricane in 20 years was scheduled to hit on the weekend. The travel agent at my work company didn’t seem to grasp the concept - his repeated ‘ this is strange all the flights from Miami keep selling out’ started to grate after failing to find anything to 3 cities ( New York, Chicago, Washington). Eventually I get a flight, which was a good decision as the following day my area in Miami is declared a mandatory evacuation zone. The following few days became a bit of a blur -I became an expert in Miami’s disaster planning approach. Not the ideal time to realise in the hurry to move that you don’t have contents insurance.

So after lots of removing pictures off walls, putting towels below windows and doors - and trying to hurricane proof my apartment as much as possible - off to the airport I go. Alas even that wasn’t uneventful - I couldn’t get a direct flight to Washington so I have a route via Atlanta. Our flight is delayed , I have to sprint to the gate - fortunately luck was on my side. I get to Washington , drink lots of gin and I can breathe a sigh of relief. The next few days are pretty intense - I’m gripped to the weather channel, checking on the team at work ( not everyone is evacuated, they prioritise the areas closest to water), and updating the U.K. team on everyone’s safety. I try to sightsee to take my mind off things but can’t concentrate. On the Saturday I see the impact of Irma - where I live is under metres of water - Brickell Avenue looks like a river. 

The team though are all safe - damaged trees and gardens but no structural housing damage. 

I then have to fly to New York for some work meetings - and get back to Miami on the Weds. Fortunately the apartment is fine - nothing damaged.

Over the following months life gets back to normal, the debris gets cleared from   the city. Another hurricane comes devastating Puerto Rico - I was due to be there the weekend the hurricane hits.

Puerto Rico will hopefully rebuild itself.....this is quite the adventure I’m having......

Florida keys road trip

Not sure if I've mentioned it but Miami is goddam hot during the summer. Hot like nothing I've ever experienced - those that have travelled with me will know that I can be pretty good at arriving at a beach early and staying until the sunsets. In Miami I'm lucky to be able to last more than an hour at the beach before I jump back into Air Con.

As a result of ' the heat' I've been avoiding exploring Miami and hadnt even managed a trip to the Florida keys yet. Fortunately I had the perfect reason to change that - some lovely friends were getting married in Key West.

A road trip plan was hatched, and one sunny Saturday morning - country music blasting - Anna, Audrey, Megan and I were on our way.

Our first stop was the Caribbean looking Morada bay cafe on Islamorada where my first Pina Colada of the year was happily drunk admiring the gorgeous view. Things were off to a good start. We arrived at the end of the keys - Key West about 7 hours after leaving Miami - ouch. This also meant we had a bit of a scramble into wedding outfits and arrived a bit dishevelled just in time for the lovely wedding of Chris and Jess at Ernest Hemingway's house on the island.

We spent the rest of the evening hopping on a trolley and all heading down to the lively Mallory square to take in the sunset, and then partied back at the couple's house on the island. Fun night!

The next morning I spent some time discovering the island, I went to the most southernmost point buoy in the USA - only 90 miles from there to Cuba! I enjoyed seeing Truman's little White House, loved discovering all the huge fish you could see from the Marina. Food wise - Emily told me to chocolate dipped slice of key lime pie from Kermitt's - sickly but tasty!

I am loving discovering USA.....

Sea plane adventures in Vancouver

I was really getting into this Pacific Northwest region - so after our time in Seattle and the San Juan islands was excited to see it from the Canadian side. The excellent Bolt Bus got us into Vancouver in four hours and apart from a pretty grim conversation with your classic miserable immigration official it was a great afternoon.

An hour later after a trip on a train and seabus we were in our hotel in Lonsdale Quay on the north of the city. We could already see how beautiful this place was - lovely natural harbour, snow capped mountains behind. It reminded me of Sydney but with added attraction of mountains - perhaps even prettier.

On our first night we took things easy - it was national burger day - and the perfect place to celebrate this was at Tap & Barrell - a pub with a gorgeous patio overlooking the city. There was also an outdoor spin class taking place across from the pub - so we had the added bonus of watching how the Vancouver locals get their adrenaline rush in the summer.

The next day we explored Lynn Canyon Park - a lovely park with a suspension bridge and walking trails. Definitely one to get the heart racing - but an enjoyable way to spend the morning. The afternoon we headed back on the seabus this time to explore Gastown and Chinatown. Gastown is filled with lovely boutiques, pavement cafe's and ice cream shops. On our way to Chinatown we somehow walked into Crack alley - an uncomfortable number of locals all off their heads - it didn't feel like a great place to be so Chinatown will have to wait until another time!

Next we were back on the buses to get to Kitsalano Beach - where our Air BnB was for the next 3 nights - we lucked out - although a bit far from the city - really cool little area.

Our first full day in Vancouver was epic - we headed into Stanley park to walk the city walls - what a park it is - bigger than NYC's central park - it takes up a full tip of central Vancouver - it has an outdoor swimming pool, a lake , you can walk / cycle the city walls for a glorious 8.8km - heaven. We recovered with wine and a salmon burger at a lovely spot just outside the park Cardero's Marine Pub and admired the yacht action. From there the excitement really kicked in - we kept seeing seaplane's taking off in the city. I presumed it would be ridiculously expensive so other than saying ' I'd really like to do that one day' thought nothing more of it. I think though the beauty of the park made us look into it - a phone call later and we were booked onto the 2pm 30 minute Classic Panorama trip with Harour Air. My god what a great decision. After ' checking in' and getting our boarding pass we were last to board our little seaplane - but ended up with window seats, a lovely captain and some blue skies to get into.

The next 30 minutes I did not stop grinning, the sensation of taking off and landing into water is something everyone should experience. Vancouver is also an incredible place to do this trip - after the joy of going over the harbour - we flew over some of the surrounding mountains - green lakes surrounded by snowcapped mountains all in a 5 minute flight of the city. What a place!

Sad for the journey to end we celebrated with a gelato from Vancouver's finest - Bella Gelateria - and took in the Olympic cauldron. The day was topped off with a picnic down at Jericho beach watching the sun go down.

On Sunday we headed to Granville Island - home to a food market and lots of little craft stores. a really nice place to spend a morning - lots going on. After purchasing our picnic we got one of the tiny little False Creek Ferries to the park next to the maritime museum. Amusingly there was a pink salmon celebration going on in the park - is this city for real? Picnic eaten with the added bonus on seals swimming in the harbour nearby it was time to walk onto Kitsalano beach and time for a swim. The pool at Kits beach is very special - saltwater, heated and 137 metres long.  My swim there was glorious - admittedly you need to learn the lane etiquette pretty quickly but once I had - goggles on and in the zone I loved getting my lengths in.

Before our time was up - we had an evening at Fable in Kitsalano - and a friend of mine I'd met travelling in Africa came to join us. The perfect way to end what had been an incredible time in Vancouver.

It goes without saying that I will be returning.

Goonies film location spotting in Oregon

As a kid I remember going to a friends birthday party at a cinema and watching the Goonies - so imagine my delight when I discovered lots of the locations are in Oregon - and I could see them as part of this trip.

After a few days in the city , we planned on going to Cannon Beach - a spot featured in the film. We got the bus there and the route took us through the lovely looking Tillamook State Forest - the countryside in Oregon all seems stunning. Definitely a place to return to. After an easy 90 minute journey we are dropped off in the one street Cannon Beach - like going back in time - this was going to be an easy place to spend some time.

We dropped our bags off and headed down to the beach. And what a beach.....9 miles long and with the huge Haystack rock in the middle. Regularly voted one of the world's best beaches - it is utterly lovely. Haystack itself is full of wildlife - with nesting sites for Puffins and various seabirds, and rock pools filled with Sea anemones. While we were there clouds dropped up and down over the rocks - added a moody feel to the place.

We didn't do much other than walk the beaches, grab fish and chips and wander the main street.

I then spent a few hours looking into buying a house there - always a sign of a special place....

Doughnuts and Food Trucks in Portland

So after our epic 5 days in Vancouver, we headed on the Amtrak Cascades train down to Portland. I love a long train journey - memories of journeys taken in Thailand, China and Sri Lanka always flood back. This journey was to take 8 hours - and was a pricey $150 in business class - but had the added excitement of leaving one country ( Canada) and arriving in the US on the same train.

The train journey was lovely - apart from a particularly annoying Canadian who seemed intent on talking very loudly on his phone sat in front of us - once I learned to block his voice out I really enjoyed the trip. We passed by lots of stunning coastal scenery ( the town of Bellingham looked like a good place to stay). US immigration boarded the train to quickly check passports but other than that - an uneventful enjoyable journey.

Our destination, Portland in Oregon had me very excited. I've heard so much about the place - about all the good coffee, the food trucks and generally the laid back feeling the town has - all with the added bonus of very few trump supporters. In short it exceeded my expectations - unlike any other city in the US I've visited - it has a really nice combination of feeling like a big city - but with lots of small town features. People are all very chatty, the shops and restaurants are mainly all independents - there is a nice easiness to the place. On the downside they clearly also have a big homeless people issue - more so than any of the other US cities - which I just find incredibly sad.

When you get down to the Willamette river in the city it's then that you see the industrial side to the city - the city itself has 12 bridges spanning the river - and grew as a hub for shipping timber. We took a bus ride to the north of the city to cross over one of these - St John's - a particularly pretty art deco bridge. The city isn't pretty though - it's gritty, a bit dirty - when we were there they were having some terrible forest fires and the city was cloaked in ash and haze from the smoke.

We kept ourselves busy in town mainly by eating - the city is famous for it's doughnut shops, food trucks and coffee shops. Perfect.

Some favourite's we found were:
Nong's Khao Man Gai - Food Truck on Alder Street - so good I had it twice - poached chicken with rice, coriander, cucumber and peanut sauce - simple and delicious. Served in butchers paper.
Blue Star Doughnuts - Washington Street - Unbelivable - described as doughnuts for grown up's - have the crème brulee
http://www.bluestardonuts.com/
Voodoo Doughnuts - Lots of locatons, more gimmicky than Blue Star and for me not as tasty - but the Voodoo Doll is a very funny concept - a pretzel stick to stab all the raspberry jam in his torso. Brilliant.
https://www.voodoodoughnut.com/

We entertained ourselves at the many craft beer places and an amazing old cinema called Bagdad.
https://www.mcmenamins.com/bagdad-theater-pub

We stayed:
http://dossierhotel.com/ a gorgeous new hotel bang in the centre, lovely room, opposite all the food trucks.

An unexpected weekend at Comic Con

An unexpected weekend at Comic Con

A few weeks ago my brother called to tell me he had a last minute trip out to San Diego and could I fly out to meet him for a weekend. I checked diaries, and agreed post birthday weekend I would fly out. 

A few days later Paul gets in touch to say for some reason he couldn't get us a room in the city, so was it ok if we stayed a little further north in an upmarket area called La Jolla. No probs with me.....then a week before I arrive Paul tells me that there is some event in town called Comic Con. Apparently it's a big deal.....

So Friday night off I fly - with the only piece of superhero gear I own - my Wonder Woman cap. I started to realise Comic Con was a big deal when it's on the front page of my BBC news app and lots of people on the plane are full of excitement. When I learn that the game of thrones crew were in town - my interest perked up. 

So Saturday morning , we take off into town, all seems pretty calm. Within minutes we are on what looks like a film set ( the Netflix area), then a zombie breeding ground ( the walking dead). We meet stormtroupers, a cardboard Barack Obama. Several Jokers walk past us, a massive group of trekkies - and lots and lots of marvel characters. We stop outside one of the hotels and out appears Gal Gadot - what a result! After a few more hours, we did the sensible thing which was to appreciate all the amazing costumes from the comfort of a bar.....so a wander into the gaslamp quarter led us to a very cool bar, where we rehydrated, ate and spotted David Duchovny walk right past us. Comic Con you are a lot of fun - next time I'm coming dressed up.

The rest of our weekend involved Sunday morning strolling down mission beach, spotting dolphins in the sea. Listening to seals at La Jolla cove - and trying to work out where different locations of top gun were filmed. Paul treated me to dinner at the terrace of Georges at the cove - where we drank beautiful wine, watched swimmers and sea lions frolicking in the ocean and ate a very very memorable meal.

San Diego - you are a lot good. I like you - can't wait to see you when I come back in February. 

Miami heat and New Orleans jazz

So they told me that it gets warm here - but my god I didn't think it would be this hot. Maartje was over for a week in June - we had an amazing time but at one point while out discovering Coconut grove I thought I was about to pass out. Scorchio. 

So when my friend Avgi delighted me with the news that she was coming over , I decided to warn her that it was pretty damn hot so maybe keep the agenda loose for the week in case the heat got a bit much. She responded telling me not to worry about the Greek in the heat. Fair enough. 

So the lovely Avgi arrives, the rainstorms stay away and we have a lovely time together in Miami. We discover new rooftop bars - Sugar at the top of The east hotel is especially memorable - just the lift up there is enough to make you happy - and that's before you have seen the views....We had brunch at green street cafe in coconut grove. We ate tostadas at Dolce in little Havana, and enjoyed happy hour on the terrace of the Rusty Pelican. We loved drinks at Estefan kitchen in the design district, followed by dinner at a Michaels kitchen. So Avgi left Miami after seeing a pretty good portion of the city.

Next up was the city of New Orleans. The name to me conjured up images of men in the street playing the trumpet, sordid nights in dive bars and running into Brad Pitt. It turned out to be partly true.....

After an amusing taxi journey being called Sugar , and learning how the weather  outside was smoking hot - we were dropped off at our base for the weekend - the troubador hotel downtown. A new space, we lucked out with a beautiful corner room with views out into the city. No time to dawdle - we had a walking tour of the garden district booked so off we went to see a bit of the French quarter first......

The first thing that strikes you in the summer is the heat, the second the smell and the third the sound of music being played in random spots. We made our way to one of the famous spots for beignets ( square ish doughnuts) , had an iced coffee - and started to walk towards our tour. Only I'd forgotten the time difference, and the heavens opened and the mother of all storms was unleashed. The combination of the two had us soaked and resigned to an afternoon back at the hotel.

Several hours later and dried out we head upstairs to the very cool roof of our hotel for the first of our New Orleans cocktails. The French quarter was calling again, and our reservation at Bayona. Two hours of impeccable service, gorgeous food and a banana  butterscotch pie later we were back at the troubadour.

Sunday morning has us breakfasting at cafe du monde - the beignets here slightly softer so got our vote, followed by a guided walking tour of the French quarter. The heat all got a bit much for the ' don't worry about me with heat' Greek - but we managed a few hours. The rest of the afternoon was much more relaxing. Jazz brunch at the turquoise striped Commanders Palace. What a kitsch but fun time we had. In between cocktails ( sazerac for A, French 75 for me), gumbo and beef we requested Jeepers Creepers - and 3 jazz musicians appeared by our side. After pudding ( blueberry pie) A was treated to ' when you're smiling'. We left the restaurant with balloons giggling like school kids. A fun, fun place to spend an afternoon.

We should have spent the evening at a jazz bar, but that's the thing I like about New Orleans - you have to go with flow - don't plan things. It might mean that being spontaneous means you fall asleep post cocktails at 5pm - but hey when in NOLA....

We stayed:http://www.jdvhotels.com/hotels/louisiana/new-orleans-hotels/the-troubadour/

We ate:

http://www.commanderspalace.com

http://www.bayona.com

http://www.cafedumonde.com

Foodie heaven in Atlanta

The Friday of Independence Day starts with a 7am flight to Atlanta. My wholly Spanish speaking uber driver tries to drop me in the middle of nowhere, the flight is overbooked - general holiday weekend chaos. So Atlanta and I didn't get off to a great start.....however I had an intense but good day with one of our most charming members of the sales team meeting customers - couldn't quite make the flight home that night, so a night and Saturday in Atlanta it was.

I had no plans or expectations, my hotel in midtown gave me the impression of a lively, cultured city. Saturday morning I indulged my love of coffee at the excellent Caribou coffee ( the hand holders have different little messages on, a nice touch) , and my new love of biscuits. Biscuits are like an American scone - my god they are addictive. I sat outside, enjoyed the sunshine and realised a film set was right opposite - so some good people watching. I then strolled through piedmont park , Heading in the direction of Atlanta's version of the highline park. The beltline is going to be 22 miles of pedestrian friendly walking / cycling loop using old railway lines. I walked on one of the first sections to open which took me from Piedmont Park to fourth ward market. Such a lovely space - lots of people exercising, sculptures and street art make the uglier parts on the route interesting. It reminded me of being in brick lane/ shoreditch.

Half way on the route is a building which has been turned into the most incredible eating and shopping space - Ponce City Market. For me it was heaven - cool space, some of the best shopping I've experienced so far in the US and lots of individual food stalls. I managed to eat a chicken tikka roll ( very like dishoom) from the retro Indian space, and a gelato from the lovely Honeysuckle gelato. If I lived here, I would be at this space every weekend. It is ace. 

From there, I wandered through town to see the old Fox Theatre - but then my time was up. Brief but lovely. 

I wish Miami was a bit more like Atlanta.....

https://beltline.org/about/the-atlanta-beltline-project/atlanta-beltline-overview/

http://www.poncecitymarket.com

I stayed: Hyatt Atlanta midtown

The need for a big, big city

It's been a strange few months....my things arrived, the weather got humid as hell and then all sorts of horrible incidents happened back in England. I've found myself feeling a little out of sorts. Not so much missing home - but I think missing the vibrancy that a big, big city gives me. Miami is great when it's sunny and you want to be by the beach / pool - but in truth after a few months I think I've seen most of the cultural side.......I need more than Miami to stimulate me. Not even my yoga classes were doing it for me.....

So after weighing up Chicago vs Washington - I booked a last minute trip to Washington DC. And I am glad I did.....even the 6am flight didn't put me off. A 15 minute ride from the airport my base was The Liaison hotel in Capitol Hill. I dumped my bags and headed straight out to the capitol building. What a city! 25,000 steps later I wearily arrived back at my hotel in the evening. I'd ended up joining a brilliant tour of the Capitol building, explored the library of congress. Lunched in the American Indian museum on the mall, wandered through the sculpture garden. I found a Pret A Manger, COS anthropologie and j crew. I found myself outside the White House and 5 mins later feared trump was about to make an appearance as police cleared us out of the area. 

Fortunately trump didn't appear - that man doesn't deserve to live in a city as great as this.....

In the evening I did something else to help cure any homesickness - ordered a take away curry - my first since leaving home. The problems an onion bhaji and a few museums can solve....

A foodie break to South Carolina

South Carolina - foodie break to Charleston

While I'm over here in the US I'm keen to explore as much of this country as I can. I've not set myself the challenge of getting to the rest of the 52 states, but I'm absolutely going to do a trip a month somewhere. 

So Tuesday morning off we head to South Carolina and to the city of Charleston. A mere 90 minute flight, and we touch down in the very calm and green SC. Our base for a few days was Hyatt House on King Street, a street lined with eateries, drinking holes and shops. Result. 

We optimistically set off to get 20,000 steps in discovering the city. But shit this is a hot city......before we collapsed of heat exhaustion we managed to walk the length of king street ending up in the very pretty White Point Gardens with views out to Oyster point and Ashley River. Mum and I took in some shops - the allure of air con you understand. Then time to discover some of the foodie spots the city is famous for.

We had an early reservation at FIG ( food is good) a restaurant which focusses on local produce and is very very tricky to get a table at. From the start it was obvious we were in for a treat. Our waiter with his very smooth southern accent charmingly described all the dishes. On this recommendation we ordered - chicken liver pate, cottage cheese and aubergine and I had snapper tartare to start. All stunning. Mains we all ended up ordering suckling pig 🐷. The meal was a treat, and I really don't remember service and hospitality as friendly as this. We loved it.

The next day, a plan was hatched involving an early start to avoid the afternoon heat. We discovered the wonderful local market. The gorgeous houses on rainbow row. We walked out onto the lovely pier in the French quarter. Food choices included a BLT from the wonderful Hot Little Biscuit on king street, ice creams from Jeni's also on King Street. In the evening we strolled to Hominy Grill a delightful old house with lovely staff. We embraced traditional southern food - I had fried chicken and ribs, mum had shrimp. 

This place has left us all wanting more - I can't get those hot little biscuits out of my mind.

We slept: Hyatt House, King Street

We snacked: Jeni's ice cream, King Street 

We dined: FIG http://eatatfig.com/press/, hominy grill http://hominygrill.com

We lunched: hot little biscuit http://calliesbiscuits.com

The oldies take Miami

The Oldies take Miami

So a month into my adventure and I'm feeling like a local already. Perfect timing then for the oldies to come and visit. In theory I'd be able to show them all the sights. The only problem is I've realised I'm already miami lazy. We could go into the new science museum that opened this week but then again there's a pool right downstairs.....you can see the dilemma.

Dad though is wise to me, so after him banging on about me using public transport more - we find ourselves on the metromover station ( which is right at my apartment building) heading towards midtown one sunny afternoon. The metromover is in fairness to it quite cool - it's free for a start - but it's also relatively pointless given it doesn't really go that far.....still anything for an easy life. It wasn't dad's fault that no trains came and we ended up in an uber after all......

That has been pretty much the only blip so far though to our mini holiday in Miami. We've discovered the shops, swum in the always gorgeous Caribbean and been doing our best to beat Gilly and Tina in the weekly fitbit scores. We've enjoyed burgers in my neighbourhood cafe Friends, had breakfast at News Cafe on Ocean Drive - and spent lazy mornings poolside.

Next stop Charleston, it's fair to say I'm looking forward to getting back to Miami in a few days. I've fallen in love with this sunny, fun city - my ego even got a boost yesterday when I was ID'd for buying beers in the supermarket. Beachside living works for me 😀

We drank: Friends cafe in Brickell

We breakfasted: News Cafe, Ocean Drive - good people watching

We dined: American Harvest in Brickell City Centre, Bocce in Midtown - a polpo style Italian - gorgeous 

I think I need some stress in my life

So this Miami thing continues in the same vein as previous weeks.

I wake up, go for a glorious walk by the water surrounded by palm trees. I order a taxi which arrives with a polite driver who whisks me to work with zero hassle. At work things are fine. I pop out at lunch to one of many gorgeous spots to eat. The sun is always shining. I come home - my lovely front desk people greet me with a big hello. This repeats.

This weekend instead of going out drinking with friends and having a lie in ( London life), I went to Yoga. On the rooftop of an art deco hotel. The instructor was lovely and gave me an understanding smile when I decided not to try a handstand and only corrected my pose once in the hour's session.

The only problem to all this chilled out existence is I really think I need something to get frustrated about, something to annoy me. I'm much better when some sort of drama is going on.

My thoughts are turning to how I can create a bit more stress in my life :-)