Dear Mother Nature...

Kiss our ASS! Ryan and I were supposed to be flying into LaGuardia Airport yesterday but as fate would have it, our flight coincided with the biggest snowstorm New York has seen in recent history. We arrived at Vancouver airport at 5:00 a.m. and were home by 6:30 a.m. with packed bags and frowns on our faces. We spent about an hour trying to figure out where else we could fly to for a couple days but ended up asking for our airline points back and heading back to Ry's mom's house to pick up our dog.

The next few hours were spent canceling our meal reservations at Jean Georges, Scarpetta, Bar Boulud, Balthazar, and Maialino and convincing The London not to charge us a fee for ditching the hotel last minute. We tried desperately to get some of the $1200 back we had spent on theatre tickets but it just wasn't happening. There will be empty seats at La Cage Aux Folles, Promises Promises, Spiderman, and the Trockadero Ballet.

I didn't really believe it was as bad as the news was reporting it was out East. I mean, when it snows in Vancouver - and we're talking a light dusting - people freak out and forget how to drive. Then I watched a video via Towelroad and it all sunk in:

December 2010 Blizzard Timelapse from Michael Black on Vimeo.

So, we're having a stay-cation. I'm not sure what entails but I'm guessing it means that EVERYTHING can be justified whether it be food, beverages (which I've had a head start on), or shopping. Happy Holidays everyone. Ours might be expensive!

Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas

So here we are in Vegas, it has been two years since we were here last to see Madonna (almost 2 years ago to the day actually). Last time we were here the City Centre development was a mass of scaffolding. Today we are staying at the new Mandarin Oriental there and it is lovely. It is a non-gaming hotel (the Four Seasons is the only other non-gaming hotel here) and thus very peaceful and quiet and totally focused on customer service. We love hotels and love exquisite service so we will be sure to keep our eyes out for any slip ups!!! Here is a view of our room:

Knocking off one more city on the way home!

So we are home! We came home to our condo clean and staged with fresh cut flowers, crisp linens and fresh groceries in the fridge to buffer the blow of coming back to reality. Thank you to our great friend Dalyn (the mother of our goddaughter, almost 2). Yes, she is superwoman, 2 year old child and time to come given the condo the Four Seasons treatment, we love her!

We always dread the end of vacation mainly due to having to go back to work but in reality Vancouver is an amazing place to come home to. The weather is 21C and sunny right now, perfection, and as I sit at the dining table, writing this, this is the view I look out over, it is pretty sweet.

But we do LOVE our travels and made most of our trip home. We had an overnight flight from Singapore to Seoul (6hrs). As we taxied to the runway the captain informed us to expect a rough flight from hour 2 to hour 4 due to us catching the tail of the typhoon that came through a day ago, sweet! We were both really tired when we boarded and both went straight to sleep on takeoff. Jess felt absolutely none of the turbulence the captain mentioned and when I did wake up I took reference of "wow, this is bumpy, but it could be worse" and feel right back asleep.

We arrived at ICN the aiport for Seoul at 7:30 am for a 9 hour layover and booked at 5 hour city tour. Quick costume change and we were off. Jess and I have this goal of trying to "pin" as many world cities and countries on our travel map as possible. A layover in an airport doesn't count but a tour of the city does, so we have now "pinned" Seoul, South Korea and the country of Korea!!

The airport in Seoul is brand spanking new, it opened in 2001 and was built on 2 islands that were filled in to make one. The building is an architectural masterpiece. The airport (just like Singapore's) is set up to make it the most appealing hub as possible. Check out these FREE amenities that were offered in either Singapore or Korea while you wait: swimming pool, suntanning area, sleeping lounges, showers, hand craft areas. The airport was gorgeous, like walking through the most beautiful high end shopping mall.

SIDEBAR: Hello Canada, America, Europe you had better watch your back. Asia has it going on. The money being spent here is amazing. Economic "turndown", not happening here!! The way our airlines/airports run and the way they treat people are light years away from the Asian philosophy. In Asia they have figured out that being nice and smiling doesn't cost alot of money. Okay, stepping down from the soapbox.

Our tour of Seoul took us to a number of city sites, the main one being Gyeongbokgung Palace (say that 5 times fast, try even say it once, I had no idea what the hell she was saying every time our guide mentioned it).



(Apparently, this is the "IN" pose when taking a photo Asia, we like to try blend in)

We were taken to a pedestrian mall to do some shopping.I think this is some kind of larva stew, icky. The old woman cooking it was tasting the sauce the way you would taste your spaghetti sauce to make sure it was perfectly seasoned, yuck!
Lunch was Korean barbequed beef. Okay but not my fave.We flew home on Air Canada in Executive First (business). Air Canada revamped their planes a couple of years ago to put private "suites" with lie flat beds in business (we call them pods). The seats are great and are actually really comfortable to sleep in (especially if you order a side of Halcion ;) ) The service though is another story, more dinosaurs on board barely hiding how much they hate their job.

Our plane had a little mechanically difficulty and we had to wait in the aircraft for 2.5 hours before we could leave the gate. The free flowing Champagne made this a non-issue.

We both slept the entire flight and it was an absolute breeze.

Home now, looking at my new "Travel and Leisure" that arrived listing the worlds best hotels and airlines and dreaming about where to next. FYI Singapore Airlines is number one (Cathay is 5, Miss Hart, luv ya) No airline from North America makes the list, shocking!! Of the hotels we stayed at on this trip the Four Seasons in Singapore, Hong Kong and Jimbaran Bay (Bali) are near top rated on this years list, nice.

Jess and I go to Comox tomorrow to pick up our angel (and celebrate mother's birthday) and we can't wait. We have missed him so much.

Back in Singapore

Quick blog post from Singapore. We have 4 hours here before we have a snooze on the overnight flight to Seoul where we will spend the day doing a city tour.

So Jess got the damn Bali belly last night and he was up and down all night. He was not a happy camper this morning but he bounced back after an extended sleep and we managed to enjoy our last moments at Amankila by chilling in a bale by the pool and having a nice lunch.We had a driver to the airport and again traffic was a nightmare, pure chaos.
The drive was only made enjoyable when the driver asked us if we would like a soft drink, water or beer for the drive. We had soft drinks, of course.
We flew Singapore Airlines in business class from Bali to Singapore and again the service was top notch, perfection. The airport here is also over the top glam, classical music playing, high end shops, so calm and organized.

We are chilling in the business class lounge where no less than 12 hot dishes are served (I counted), a sandwich station, sushi station, desert station, you name it. Never mind the free flowing champagne or whatever else you want. It kind of reminds us of the United lounge in Seattle where we were given a ticket for a free drink and there were some nut packets and some fruit to choose from.

Anyhow, we are on our way home and feel ready to come home (weird). We try post something in Seoul after our tour.

Phew! He Can Fart!

Seriously. It was a happy moment when Ry let out a little toot. The sound meant there was no follow through... no more risk of a 'shart.' I, on the other hand, am having to make sure I don't make any 'bubbles' in the pool. Could make for a very dangerous, embarrassing situation.

Last night we went to a Balinese dance. It was actually great, despite the fact that we had to listen to Balinese music (it's starting to become quite taxing). The performance doesn't usually happen on a (here's where I pretend to know what day it is...) Thursday but some rich dude that arrived here yesterday realized he missed it an hired them all to come back. The pictures are terrible and of course, we left the good camera in the room, which seems to be a theme this trip but it will give you a bit of an idea.
After the show, Ry's stomach was still a bit wonky so we went to the room and had dinner there. I had a sandwich and he had ice-cream. It's the only thing he could think of that didn't make him want to wretch. It was beautiful once we got there. They had the lightening set perfectly and had candles surrounding the pool.
Since Ryan was whistlin' Dixie out of his ass this morning, we went for breakfast and headed down to the beach where we spent the entire day. It was bliss. There are a few 'bales' right down at the water where you can basically get waited on hand and foot and there is no requirement to move. Not great for the waistline but I can worry about that when I get home. Apart from a quick walk down the beach, it was lounging, glamour lunch, reading (even Ryan), and snoozing.
The hike back up wasn't as fun but we forced ourselves. We were about to call for a buggy and realized we were being tailed by senior citizens. Motivating, to say the least.
We both managed, somewhere in the last couple of days, to completely fry ourselves. My skin colour went from 'Winterscape'... you know, frosty white with occasional flecks of blue, LOBSTER. I made sure I was in the shade at all times but didn't account for sun reflecting off of water, or something. I can hardly stand the laptop anywhere near my stomach because the heat is enough to send me through the roof.

Tomorrow we leave for the airport. I think we're both ready to go. It's been total heaven but all of my bras don't fit and it's time to reign it in. We've got a long haul ahead of us. Bali to Singapore to Seoul to Vancouver. We've got tomorrow morning and 12 hours in Seoul so I'm sure we'll do another blog posting before we get home.

Amankila

We arrived at Amankila yesterday but have been struggling with getting a strong enough internet connection to upload pictures or video. We had to trek down to the library and upload as much as we could because we weren't able to in our room. The video came out grainy but hey, it's something. That said, we haven't had a whole lot of activity to report on. Ryan spent the last two days like this.

Turns out he got Bali-Belly. Basically, it makes you fire out of both ends and leaves you with no appetite. He's slowly starting to come out of his funk thanks in part to our surroundings. Again, totally amazing.

Here are some more pictures of our room and hotel. I'd love to write more but it has taken forever to get this video and these pictures up, and there is some kind of dance show starting shortly. Hopefully we can post some pictures of it tomorrow.
(I'm not sure I'd want to be a gardener at this resort).

Trouble In Paradise

My apologies. We are in the middle of nowhere and our internet connection is not letting us load photos. We'll try and figure it out for tomorrow.

So, when Ryan gets sick it's usually quite superficial. The boy has a strong immune system and apart from sniffles and the occasional cold, he's healthy all the time. I don't know what it is about holidays but he always crashes at least for one day. To give you some sort of indication how bad it is this time, he hasn't eaten since yesterday and he ordered a virgin (there you go, Alex) cocktail at lunch and didn't drink it, opting to leave me to eat my meal while he slept. I'll save you the details but it ain't pretty. I'm wondering if I got a touch of what he's got. No fever for me but lets just say the bathroom is getting a run for it's money.

We... er, I had breakfast in the room at Sayan and then packed while Ryan stayed in bed. Our car met us at noon and we made the trek to our new destination. Again, it was 43 kilometers and it took us just under 2 hours to get there. We were dodging chickens, dogs, children, and anything else you can possibly think of. To make matters worse, it is a year that the Balinese have their Cremation Ceremonies (happens every 5 years). People are buried temporarily until this time, but they must be cremated "as otherwise the path to reincarnation is cut off." It is possible to have a separate cremation without burial, without waiting, if the family is willing to pay the substantial cost. Needless to say, there are a lot of dead people that need cremating and traffic was a nightmare.

We got here and... wow. Just, wow. The room isn't as fancy as the last place we stayed (still amazing) but the setting is spectacular! I'll leave it at that for right now. We'll do a video of the room once Ryan is feeling better and everything is cleaned up... oh, and we can post pictures.

One last day in Sayan!

Today is our last day/night at the Four Seasons Sayan before we move on to our last property and if I have done my planning correctly, we have saved the best for last. To be honest, we have stayed at some pretty amazing places so far on this trip but these last two Bali properties have been something else. The level of service here is mind blowing. Every staff member knows your name, even if you have never met them. We have asked a number of them how they know who we are and there answers vary from `I used to be in the FBI` (and then a chuckle) to `That is a secret of the Four Seasons.` Anyhow, it always impresses us. Yesterday we were in our buggy back from lunch at the Riverside restaurant and the driver asked if our villa was big enough with a huge smile on his face (it`s 2100 sq ft!) and we said YES it is big enough and he then proceeded to take us on a tour of the biggest villa on the property. Oh my god, 11000 sq ft, butlers quarters, freaking gorgeous!! Yesterday after dinner in our buggy back from dinner (we don`t walk anymore, fyi) we commented on the amazing smell of flowers in the air and the driver stopped the buggy and ran off into the darkness to pick us a flower so we could see where the smell was coming from. You get the picture, they can`t do enough for you here, every person from the gardener to the housekeeper has a huge smile and the best attitude you could imagine.
This is housekeeping, check out the woman balancing the basket on her head, impressive!!

Jess and I are torn as to whether we love our current Sayan (jungle) property or the Jimbaran (beach) property more. They are so different and both so gorgeous. I think which ever one you stay at first would have the most wow. The first time you step into a 2100 sq ft room with a private pool it kinda blows your mind. The 2nd time, its kinda like, uh huh, another private pool! (Joking!!)

During this trip Jess and I have taken up a new hobby, LAUNDRY!!! Check it out, you put some panties and a t-shirt in a bag and a few hours later this arrives, so fun!!!This morning I did find a MAJOR service flaw though, check out this photo:

The soap was not aligned in the soap dish by the bathtub!!! I was horrified and immediately called housekeeping to have someone come to the room to rectify the situation.

Also we had to contend with the following critters on the property:as well an numerous lizard and frogs but worst of all we found the following:

MORE GAYS!!!! THEY ARE EVERYWHERE!!!!

Truly though, I am a huge Four Seasons fan. The gorgeous properties and consistent service around the world are second to none. Jess and I have joked that one of goals is to stay at every Four Seasons in the world (12 down, 71 to go). That said, those stays at the properties in Saudi Arabia are going to be a little tricky. The choice is between getting beheaded or two twin beds, hmm, we`ll go with the twin beds.

Today Jess went to the spa and I went to the salon to have my hair styled:Actually, we both went to the spa and had a 90 minute facial. It was pure heaven, head massage, including hand and foot massage while we had our face mask. Again, so worth every cent and more!!!
After spa we went to the Ayung Terrace restaurant for some lunch and then back to enjoy our last day in our villa with cocktails and plunges!
This place truly is magical. In all the reviews I have read I heard that over and over and thought, ya right?? But it really is true, as I sat on our terrace overlooking the jungle I felt so sad we have to leave tomorrow.

Tonight we watched a Balinese dance performance and took dinner in our villa afterward. The performance was very "Girlie Show" Vogue, you people in the know know exactly what I mean.



Anyhow, off to Amankila tomorrow for the grand finale, super excited!!!!!

Looks like the typhoon heading this way should hit just about the time we are heading home, great, I hate bumpy airplane rides, makes it so hard to drink my red wine!!