WHERE TO GO?

I found out on last Friday that I have the whole month of August off of work so my mind immediately began to dream of where to get away. As I wrote in the previous post, the weather here has been miserable. Spending all summer in a dark, windowless sound stage didn't seem like such a bad thing if the weather wasn't going to be summer-like. Usually those places heat up like an oven when it's hot out but not only aren't we getting any heat, we have a new air-conditioning unit that was installed over our break that keeps the place positively frigid. I had to dig out a sweater coat from my winter wardrobe so that I wouldn't catch a chill!!


I thought of a few options for a trip and so started to put out feelers for what it would cost:

Back to the BVI: I found a flight from YVR to STT for $945 - not great but better than I have seen in the past. When we were looking at flights in February of '09 for my daughter's wedding on Tortola, flights to EIS were $1,200+.

I got a smoking good deal on Jost Van Dyke at White Bay Villas. Their biggest unit, Plantation Villa, is a shared accommodation with private bedroom but shared kitchen, living room, and sometimes bathroom. The dates I was looking at, basically all of August, I would have the entire house to myself at $135 a night plus 17% tax etc. which is a spectacular deal as the house is gorgeous. And as I really want to go back to Jost for an extended visit the next time I go to the islands, this was my dream option.

White Bay, Jost Van Dyke

I also got a great deal at Chateau Relaxeau Caribe, a lovely place right on the beach of Apple Bay, Tortola; $100 a night including all taxes. As I really want to get to know the owner, Malcolm Boyes and his wife (who live upstairs) along with neighbours Island Jim and his wife, this was a very attractive option.

Chateau Relaxeau Caribe

I checked with Uschi at Sebastians on the Beach (the place where I spent 9 days on my trip in May of this year) to see what her summer rates are and she also gave me a great deal. The restaurant closes August 17th along with some of the rooms so her offer was a Beach-Rear room at $50 a night or a Seaside Villa Suite (with full kitchen so could cook my own meals if I wanted to save money) for $85 a night. The Villa Suites are up the beach a bit from where I stayed before and right by Chateau Relaxeau Caribe so I could still get to know the gang. This was the most economical BVI option.

Sebastians on the Beach

I then thought about sailing and how I have a standing invitation to join a fellow who is a full-time cruiser in the Caribbean. He is currently in Grenada, holed up for hurricane season. Grenada is somewhere I would love to visit, especially after reading An Embarrassment of Mangoes. There would be no cost to me for staying on the boat other than $200 a week or so for food. I checked into flights and the best I found was $1,100 going Toronto to Barbados to Grenada. I emailed the sailor and he was happy to have me come down but warned that the weather was such that we wouldn't be doing much sailing and so I would not get to learn how. Seeing how the point of going on such a trip would partially be to learn how to sail, this doesn't make much sense at this time.

Sailing the Caribbean

I considered a trip to Palm Springs to stay with the friends I stay with at Christmas as they always urge me to come back in the summer when the pool is open and it's lovely and hot. I checked flights and they were cheap at just under $300 return. So I sent a request down via email to see if the 'Red Room' was available and found out that it wasn't a good time for them. Plus the director friend I love to bits who hosts Christmas down there is in Los Angeles making a movie all of August so I wouldn't get to see him.

The Backyard of Where I Stay in Palm Springs

I have felt that my next big trip should be to England to go see family, especially an elderly auntie that has just moved into a retirement community. I talk to her every week or two on the phone and she really wants me to come and see her. The last time I was over there was 2008 and the last time I saw her was a year ago when she visited here. So I looked into flights there and the best I could do was $1,600+. YIKES!! So I emailed my travel agent and he found a flight for just under $700. This would be an economical option as, again, my costs would be limited once I arrived as I would stay with family. But eating out and other spending would be very costly due to the price of everything being so high and the exchange rate of $1.57=£1.00 - albeit much better than my last trip which was $2.20=£1.00. And it's a bit short notice for everyone who I would be staying with. But I'd really like to go so this is moving up to one of my most probable options.

A Bridlington Street, the Town My Aunty Lives In

I also toyed briefly with the idea of flying to Los Angeles to visit the set of Ant Farm, a show by the creator of Mr. Young (the show I work on). I thought it might be beneficial for me to shadow the script supervisor there and see how he does things. I actually had a telephone conversation with him earlier this week about timings as we were having some issues with that on our show. I mentioned to the AD on our show what I was thinking and before I knew it, she had arranged for me to stay with the people who rent the house she owns in Burbank, so accommodation would be free. Flights were cheap and I could rent a car for under $300 a week. But there were mitigating factors that made me decide against this option. I would have liked to do this though as I could also have met up with my director friend in LA for dinner and perhaps visited him on set at the old RKO studio lot, which would have been fantastic.

Hollywood, December 23, 2009

Then this week, summer arrived!!!!!! FINALLY!!!! The sky is blue, the sun is HOT, and British Columbia is showing it's best side. Do I really want to leave in the only good weather we get all year??? Especially to the Caribbean where it's hurricane season so probably leaving sunshine for rain? It rained for over a week on my recent trip there thus I found that there's not much to do but read when it's raining in the Caribbean.

And to be honest, I am a bit travel weary after just getting back from 5 weeks away. And by travel weary I mean airport weary. I used to love being in the airport, people watching, excited at the prospect of flying away, loved ones waiting with you until you went through the boarding gate. No hassles, no line ups, NO SECURITY CHECKS. I loved flying. Now no one can wait with you unless they are traveling too, line ups everywhere, the dreaded TSA minions, no decent food on the flights AND my feet swell to the size of loaves of bread on the long flights.

So what to do, what to do?

I have decided to stay home for most of the month. I need to save my money for a new (to me) vehicle as mine is on it's last legs. I also need to save up for the rest of my dental work. As much as I love being spontaneous and adventurous, sometimes practicality has to prevail. It's a bummer but that is the way it goes.

But I did book a flight today. Just an hour long each way. I am going up to Kelowna, the lake country, to spend 11 days with my daughter. She is working during the week but I am staying two weekends and I have a good friend up there who I miss dearly and love to bits so we will hang out as much as we can (and she has a pool!!!! - which she even lets me use when they're not home). Kelowna is the holiday destination for most Vancouverites and Albertan's so why not me?

Kelowna, Home of the OGOPOGO

I need to take advantage of the sunshine here while it lasts.

GOOD DAY (IN) L.A.

Today was the annual December 23 road trip into The Grove in Los Angeles.

Ron was late, a repeat of last year only not quite as late this time. I was ready to go spot on time, as usual, so took a stroll around the neighbourhood where I am staying and took some photos.


































While strolling, Ron called and suggested that I drive Ada and myself over to his place as the rental car was just now available and so by the time I got there, he would just need a few moments to get ready and we could leave. That made me suspicious. Why wouldn't he be 'ready' if he was out getting the car? When we arrived I saw that he was in his baggy gym shorts. Which I deduced meant that the rental car was not so much late as he was late picking it up because he was at the gym. I think he's addicted to that place. I did not give voice to either of my suspicions as he toddled off to take a shower and I settled on the patio outside to soak up some rays and enjoy the company.

Once Ron was finally ready to go, the boyfriend was AWOL. Ron made a call and found out he had gone to his shop to deal with an order that had to be UPS'd out. So we waited another half hour or so for him to return. All said and done, our targeted departure time of "9:45 and I promise you we won't be late" ended up "11:40 and why are you in such a hurry to get going anyway?"

The traffic most all the way in was quite heavy and once in LA it was stupid heavy. That delayed us further and when we finally had the car valet parked at The Grove it was going on 4:00. We had also stopped at Ron's sister's on the way to pick up his very sweet mom. This was my first time meeting her and she is just lovely.

Once we were finally let loose from the car, we headed straight to the same Italian restaurant as last year and got a table out on the patio. We enjoyed a leisurely lunch and then split up to go shopping. Ron and I went off together so that he could help me with two gifts I needed to purchase, then we met up with everyone and went into the Farmers Market. While in there I was hit with violent cramps and I instantly knew that the French Onion Soup I had eaten at lunch must have contained MSG. It resulted in a miserable two hours for me where I ended up with the rest of our group, now including the Duke and Duchess, at the Whisper Lounge sipping on ginger ale and bitters. Two of those and a few trips to the ladies room, and an hour or so later I was feeling moderately improved. We headed out to Musso and Franks and on the drive over suddenly felt back to normal, where I wanted nothing more than a baked potato with all the trimmings. When it arrived they had whipped all of the trimmings and the potato together and scooped it back into the skin. It was, without question, the best baked potato I have ever had in my life.

Before we left for Palm Springs I popped into a gaudy souvenir (I always have to look that word up to spell it) shop and picked up a few slate themed items - a key chain, a mug, a magnet and a picture frame. What I really wanted was the beach towel I spied there last year but they were all out.

Another fabulous day, MSG notwithstanding.











































































Because I can't add captions that sit where they're supposed to, here's what you're looking at from L-R: 1)Ron driving the minivan to Los Angeles 2)Matt and Nelson in the back seat 3)The Warner Brothers Lot 4)The Magic Castle, a private club for magicians - Ron is a member 5)Eric, Ron, and Ron's mother Ada 6)Matt, Nelson and Eric's mother Ada 7)The lights just turned on all over The Grove 8)Ron and Mom walk under the lights 9)More lights 10)Ron and Me 11)Musso and Franks