Rome

Posted on May 2, 2021 by David Cross

Time for a retro post to share one of my favorite cities in Italy!

I have visited Rome a few times on business, many years ago on the way back from the Gulf War (1991) and once again in 2008 on a long weekend trip with some friends.

Back in 1992, you could actually visit and go inside the famous colosseum and walk around with no restrictions and no tickets! I only wish they had digital cameras and smartphones back then. When I was in the military, I did not make a lot of money and you had to be very careful and thoughtful on how many pictures you took as you may not have enough money to get all the film developed! It was actually cheaper to buy the tourist postcards or books than it was to pay for film!

Now, when you visit, there are LONG lines and lots of pickpockets and lots of people in costumes hassling you take a picture with them for $10.

One of the most surprising discoveries whenever you visit Rome, even recently, is that the city is still being excavated and uncovered over time. Not everything is known and not all structures are even exposed.

You will often see many places and diggings underway throughout many places in the city.

Speaking of all the hidden history. Did you know that Rome used to have a wall around it? When you drive in and out of the city, some of the wall still remains to this day.

It even has some mini pyramids based on their attraction from earlier times and their discoveries in the middle east.

I wish I had some before and after pictures, but one of the major differences between my first visit in 1992 and my most recent visit in 2008 was how much cleaner the city was. The buildings, the streets, the marble were shining and clean compared to 20 years ago, everything was black and covered with decades of pollution.

What is the one recommendation I can make for visits? The cathedrals.

They are simply amazing and HUGE. They will blow your mind. Go inside an explore if you can!

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We need physical running races again!

Posted on April 25, 2021 by David Cross

I decided to post something a little different today.

As many know, I am active runner to help keep myself in good shape physically and mentally. When I travel, I love to run. It is one of the best ways to explore a city, country or learn more about an area that is not easily experienced otherwise. I have posted some of my favorite spots in my blog over the years:

I have even travelled to run in a race internationally when on vacation like in Dublin where they held a great half-marathon race. Races are a great way to focus your results…even when you are not targeting to get specific goals or personal records.

But, during the pandemic, the races have been pretty much non-existent due to the risks, crowds, insurance, travel. The only options have been virtual and that has been hard. I have been reluctant to join them.

But they are an easy way to help keep people motivated and still have some targets to hit…even though they are so different from the energy, competitiveness and drive that physical races create.

Many races are for good charitable causes. I am totally in support of these to raise money. I joined my first one earlier this year to join many in my company that support this cause. I joined and supported the Travis Manion Foundation run which is also known as the 9/11 Heroes run. As the executive sponsor for MAVEN at Oracle which is the US based veteran’s employee resource group, I felt I needed to lead by example. It was motivating. It drove me to train and be ready.

However, all these other virtual races started to feel like a business model to make money and nothing else like the Conquerors Virtual Challenges.

However, I still desired in my heart to be in a physical race. I am now vaccinated as a I shared a view week ago here, and ready to join again, but I am also going to continue to wear a mask and stay distant like I did this weekend.

I joined Pat Tillmans Foundation run to help this great cause and focus myself for the next challenge.

It was motivating. I pushed hard. I rant the fastest mile pace in a few years. I reached an optimum weight based on a thoughtful diet. Maybe it was due to the fact it is not safe to go out and eat in restaurants until we are mostly vaccinated and achieved herd immunity, but I digress…I also had the fastest 5K and 10K in a few years.

Success! But it still did not have the energy of a physical race. I/we need them again. Question: when will they start again and when can we travel to join?

The window may be opening again. I am joining a local 5K – will this be the start of the new year opening again for races?

Will there ever be massive crowds again? So many questions, but I think we need the races again to get us focused as well as physically and mentally fit again!

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Moderna Vaccine 2nd Shot Side Effects

Posted on April 11, 2021 by David Cross

CNN had a good article on what people should expect after their second vaccine shot that many may want to read to get prepared. Talking and observing many that have received the Pfizer of Moderna vaccines in the United States, it is clearly a mixed story. Some of had no side effects, some have had extreme short term illness.

My experience summary: second verse, same as the first! I had exactly the same side effects that I had after my first vaccine shot.

If interested here are some of the details:

  • After about 4 hours, my arm near the shot location started to get quite sore
  • After about 6 hours, I started to feel slightly fatigued
  • Overnight, my arm got VERY sore, and it was a little uncomfortable sleeping
  • In the morning, I felt slightly achy and slightly fatigued
  • The arm was very tender to the touch and slightly restricted in movement. I did take two 200mg ibuprofen for the sore arm and that helped and did not have a need for anything later.
  • By Saturday night, the arm movement restrictions were gone and only the “jab” area was sensitive to the touch.
  • By Sunday morning, only slight arm sensitivity and almost no indication of any other side effects.

Similar to the first shot, I took an easy 10K run to work off the achiness and soreness. I ran about 15 seconds per mile slower, but it was very helpful in working off the side effects.

In the end, it was no big deal and I am very happy with Moderna vaccine so far. I am already willing to get a booster shot in 6 months to deal with the UK and Brazil variants that are starting to occur. So far, early results show that Moderna is 90% effective even after 6 months. I will share udpates here when available.

Now, what is the next step? Keep your vaccination card in a safe place. Both CBS and CNN had some good recommendations for your vaccination card after getting your second shot.

Recommendations

  1. Take a photo on your mobile phone and keep a backup on OneDrive, Box, etc.
  2. Make a paper copy
  3. Laminate the original to protect it.
  4. Only take your mobile photo version of paper copy with you to preserve the original

Time to Travel

Now that we can start to travel again, what will be the future hotel experience? Hilton states or should I say “warns” that the hotel experience will no be the same as before the pandemic.

No longer daily cleaning service, very limited hotel (food) room service, limited restaurants and reduce amenities. Will this make the large hotel chains less competitive with smaller independent hotels that will take advantage of the gaps and offer more services? Time will tell…

Stay tuned, I expect this will be a good opportunity to share some travel experiences and reviews in the not too distant future!

Posted in Pandemic | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Most Popular Travel Photos

Posted on March 28, 2021 by David Cross

When I got notification from Google Maps that one of my photos had 1,000,000 (yes 1 million ) views, I thought I should take a look and see what was the most popular.

Let’s start with #5.

When visiting London on a business trip, I always like to take an evening break and check out a theater.  This one was a pre-show shot I took of the Criterion Theater in Piccadilly Circus.

Almost 5,000 views for this posting on Google maps!

#4. The next one is a very interesting one from New York City. Shopsins!

This is one of the best unique local restaurants I have ever visited and eaten at in my life. I was able to visit when on a business trip to NYC a few years back which I blogged about.

To this day, it has over 8,000 views!

On to #3. I am not sure why, but this one has received almost 10,000 views. Where is it?

It is the Ritz Calton hotel in Palm Springs which was a great weekend escape from the great Pacific Northwest!

Lets go international again for #2.

This was a great trip and visit to Haiti. This is called called Norm’s Place and you can find many of my photos on Google Maps.

Guess how many views this has received to date? 17,000 so far. Wow!

You have been waiting for it! What was #1? 

This wonderful (Asian) restaurant in Hyderabad India. Mainland China.

I was just notified in April 2021, that this picture now has in excess of 2.1 million views! Why so popular? I wish I could guess.

I never knew this business trip and my travel photography would have such an impact!  It is a highly recommended restaurant for groups looking to have a well coordinated business lunch.

You can never guess when you may become popular and famous when you post a picture on Google Maps!

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The One Year Lockdown Anniversary

Posted on March 21, 2021 by David Cross

It has been exactly 1 year for me/us since the lockdown began around the country and our 1-year wedding anniversary.

It has been hard to believe it has only been a year, but it has been a tremendous journey with the pandemic, anxiously observing when we might be able to travel again, only making short trips around the local area, finally getting the initial vaccine, and remembering our last big adventure outside of Seattle.

Being more specific, I am referring to our 1 year wedding anniversary when the states began lockdown and weddings were banned!

Thanks to everyone for the support, the well wishes and we still hope to anxiously have an actual honeymoon trip and a celebration when it is safe to do so with all our friends!

We are still avoiding to dine indoors until we are fully vaccinated, but for our anniversary dinner we enjoyed a private French meal at Maximilien.

If you plan and reserve early, you can actually get a private “igloos” to dine on the roof with a view. It is actually quite a delight even if it is cold and rainy.

Looking forward to the year ahead, stay safe, be patient and the travel will begin again soon!

…and if you need a little humor, check out the most popular travel video from the last international trip. It already has more than 137,000 views 🙂

Posted in Travel, Wedding | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Vaccination for Travel: Part 1

Posted on March 14, 2021 by David Cross

The reality is travel is dependent on vaccinations, both personally and for the world. If we are not vaccinated, we are not likely to be allowed to travel to some locations, internationally or attend certain attractions.

Example – countries are starting to fight for vacationers who are vaccinated: https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/vaccinated-travelers-in-demand/index.html

I have been anxious to get vaccinated as soon as I qualified and it turns out I met multiple criteria in the state of Washington. The earliest and most open is the fact that I am a US Navy veteran and enrolled in the VA health system due to my service. In WA state, one of the best tools that someone has created is the WA Vaccine Finder portal. It makes it much easier to find places that are available and you can schedule an appointment (when you qualify).

So what was my experience?

I was offered the first dose of Moderna. It fast and easy and not immediate reactions. A few hours later, my arm was definitely very sore. and 4-6 hours later, I do have to admit I started to feel a little fatigued and the joints feeling a little achy. No fever, no nausea. It might have just been a long work day combined with the vaccine.

I had a good nights sleep and Saturday’s are my long running day. That raised a question: should I still work out? Should I still go for a long run?

I sought out some advice and recommendations thanks to the Internet! 🙂

I found this article to be a good guide for myself. It all depends on how you feel. It is like when you have a cold or the flu. How do you feel? I felt a little achy and sore…and my injection arm HURT to the touch, but I wanted to go for a run.

I sought some additional information and it appears there are no risks or negative side effects for athletes continuing their routines after vaccination.

So I gave it a shot! the results? I did not feel up to running quite as long or as fast as normal, but I must admit that the run really helped to reduce the achy and painful joints and I felt much better after the run. It was a good choice and I would recommend to others to not fear any major side effects after their initial vaccination.

Update:  after 1 day and the run, I really felt no side effects outside of a sore arm and redness near the injection site.  This seemed to last about 3-4 days.

Stay tuned, I will report back after the second vaccination in about 4 weeks. One step closer to planning travel!

Second shot side effects now posted here!

Posted in COVID-19, Running, Travel | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Snow Camping?

Posted on February 28, 2021 by David Cross

I guess snow this is a continued theme this travel season.  With continued lockdown and travel restrictions, we must continue to be careful and explore opportunities in our local area for short vacations and getaways.

Across the United States and the Seattle (mountains) area, the snow has been dumping!

We decided to pack up and head for the mountains and do some heavy duty snowshoeing and hiking into the mountains and doing a little snow camping for the weekend.

It is a little tricky getting into the mountains lately, so you must plan carefully and watch the weather as Snoqualmie Pass can get closed very quickly and have blockage due to avalanche prevention.  That is the easy part.  One you get off the highway, you have to plan that all roads will be closed and blocked.

It is OK, there are always porta a potties available as long as you have a good 4-wheel drive vehicle to navigate the slippery and snow covered roads.  I recommend if you are going to hike or camp, you travel very early because these access points are super popular on the weekends and many inexperienced people combined with non 4WD vehicles jam up, get stuck and block the roads very quickly.

We packed our heavy duty backpacks which weighted approximately 45 lbs for the needed provisions and clothes and strapped on the snow shoes for a 2 mile hike into the Gold Creek pond area.

It is quite a hike and a workout as the snow is DEEP and in many of the places, you will sink 2-3 down which is very tiring to lift your knees and snowshoes up so high to take the next step.

But the views and serenity you encounter on the way, is simply amazing.  Quiet, peaceful and tranquil.

Here is a great view of Heli’s Pond which was mostly frozen when we trekked north a little to see how it would look.

Quite a beautiful place to spend a morning.

Because we had to blaze a trail through very deep snow, we could not resist the temptation to create our own sledding path!

Here is the really weird thing we found on our hikes.  These very strange grey bugs that were quite common in the snow.  Anyone know what they are?

It is also good to pack not only some good vittles to heat up some good food to replace all the calories you burned during the hikes.  The cabins get buried in the 12 feet of snow, and sometimes it can be hard to even find them in all the drifts!

 

Posted in Hiking, Travel | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Running in the Snow

Posted on February 13, 2021 by David Cross

OK – it is the annual snowmageddon in the Seattle area!

That pretty much means that there is no travelling this weekend.  Some people do not listen and as always think that if they own an SUV, they can handle snow much more easily than a regular car.  This one eventually gave up and backed down the hill once they realized that front wheel drive is not the same as true “all wheel drive”.

This trucker somehow had the illusion that they could go up a steep hill in 10 inches of snow as long as they built up speed and went faster.  Then they slid down and then got caught on the sidewalk curb and blocked all traffic in that direction.

OK – let’s talk about running in the snow! It is actually quite fun and a great workout.

One of my favorite snow runs was in Antarctica a few years ago.  I still have and use some of the same gear.  I also ran approximately the same distance – 5K in both cases.  When the snow gets deep (like today), it is a much harder workout.  You have to lift your knees higher and you have much more friction on the leg motion as the shoes drag in the snow.  The general rule of thumb I have found is that you will slow down approximately 1.5 minutes per mile from your normal running pace.

Let’s talk about gear.  I highly recommend Gore-Tex shoes.  They will surprisingly keep your feet dry and repel the snow quite well.  Myself, I prefer the Brooks Cascadia GTX.  I also recommend thick wool running socks.  They help to keep the snow from melting into your shoes and they keep your toes warm.

I know this is debatable, but there is the philosophy of do you run in other people’s tracks or do you blaze your own trail and only step in fresh snow?  It depends on your goal.  If you want a harder workout, the fresh trail will generate much more friction and require more energy to lift your shoes on each step.  Finding another runner’s trail and stepping in their indents in the snow will enable you to go much faster and not require as much energy to cover the distance.

Hint: bring a smartphone with a camera.  I still use my Lumia 820 running Windows Mobile.  It still supports podcast downloads, takes good pictures and is small enough to carry in my running belt.

Last, but not least, running around the world is always fun.  Some of my other favorite spots:

 

 

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My Top 10 Travel Videos

Posted on February 7, 2021 by David Cross

I thought I would share a quick fun one this week.  What are the top 10 videos from my travels the past 25+ years based on views?  The number one will surprise you!

Here we go:

#10 As expected, it is related to the Lady Gaga concert we attended a few years ago.  Here was the entrance of Lady Gaga to the Park MGM hall.

#9 Continuing the theme from above, it is Lady Gaga and her popular Poker Face song.

#8 This one may surprise some people.  This was a great private introduction to a famous Opera singer when visiting the Opera House in Budapest, Hungary.

#7 I have to admit this was a fun one from a few years back when attending an attendee party at the RSA Conference in San Francisco.  Some people may disagree, but Paris Hilton was a fun DJ!

#6 This one goes way back to my military service and when the Spanish Air Force visiting the JFK Kennedy with some of their Harriers and I filmed them when taking off and landing on the flight deck.

#5 Ever hear of the carnival in Grenada every year?  It is pretty popular and so is this one video I took of some of the locals in the parade.

#4 This was the number one video on my YouTube channel for a while and after you watch/listen Lady Gaga see the song Shallow, you will know why!

#3 This is an older one of a cruise video that I converted from VHS tape to digital video from a 1992 cruise video for the CV-67 carrier.  Classic government video, but popular with many veterans.

#2 Related to the military service theme and aircraft carrier flight operations, this video has been growing in popularity with many with its daytime and nighttime launches and recoveries on the JFK.

OK – what is the number one video that has gone viral all of a sudden?  It is now starting to get 3K+ views a day for some reason!

In Chengdu China, some people can have the rare opportunity to feed panda bears by hand.  It is a bit dangerous and very sensitive.  And as a result, sometimes the interaction can be a little hilarious for some.  I will not spoil it, but if you watch the short video, I think you may get a giggle yourself and see why it has become popular.

What do you think?

Posted in Travel | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Benefits of a Platinum AMEX Card

Posted on January 31, 2021 by David Cross

I decided to share a different topic this week that might actually be interesting to many travelers.  Let’s talk about the American Express Platinum Card.

Disclaimer: I have not been solicited or been compensated for any endorsement or statements from any parties.

The Platinum AMEX is a very popular and useful card for active travelers.  It has many benefits like its Fine Hotels program, travel counselors and the concierge service.  So why in the world should you keep the card and pay the really high fees if you cannot travel due to the pandemic (COVID-19).

Well…there are lot of benefits to encourage you to keep the card.  Here is a list and believe me, I am using a LOT of them!  This one has recently expired, but it was a good one: AMEX gave you streaming credits for every month you used your Platinum card for services like Netflix, Disney+, HULU, etc.  It has gone, but maybe it will come back.

On to the active ones!

TSA Pre-Check:  First, lets start with Global Entry and TSA Pre-check for US travelers.  If you use your Platinum AMEX, the fees are reimbursed when you apply.  Major benefit, but a lot of other cards are offering this perk for some reason.

Uber:  Next on the travel side, if you link and use your Platinum AMEX in your Uber account, you receive $15 each month automatically loaded in your Uber Cash account plus a $20 bonus in December.

If you are not traveling and taking rides, you can use the cash for Uber eats orders in that month.  I do not think the money rolls over month to month though if you do not use it.  In addition, you automatically get an annual Uber Eats Pass when you have your Platinum AMEX as your payment card in Uber Eats.  Good benefit here if you are  frequent user.

PayPal:  Since many people are not travelling, here is a new one that is quite a surprise.  Through June 30, 2021 you can earn up to $30 in statement credits each month when you use your Platinum AMEX on PayPal.

Best Buy:  You can claim this one only twice, but when you purchase something online for $50 or more, you can get a $50 statement credit!

Home Depot:  Similar to Best Buy, you get a $50 statement credit on purchases of $50 or more for a maximum of two times at Home Depot.  I think it is a good idea to use these ones fast!

Dell:  I missed this one previously, but thanks to Ryan Sleevi, I have added the Dell special which gives you a $100 statement credit when purchasing from Dell.  It looks like it might apply to all American Express cards.

Wine Insiders: Spend $30+ on eligible purchases, get $30 back, up to two times.

If you add these up, they are worth more than the annual card fees! Know of any others?  Add a comment and I will update and spread the word!

Now, if you still do not like the fees, you can get a Platinum AMEX card for free (actually they reimburse you) if you open up a Platinum CashPlus account.  A win-win if you ask me.

 

 

 

Posted in Travel | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments