TravelStream™ news feed for member kjerstan on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/kjerstan en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 10 May 2009 22:23:36 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kjerstan/4/1241701200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kjerstan/4/1241701200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kjerstan/4/1241701200/tpod.html Sun, 10 May 2009 22:23:36 -0400 Utila, Honduras - Short trip

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Utila, Bay Islands, Honduras

I have, in the past, made it a point of some importance not to pack myself in amongst a bunch of humanity during a "virulent pandemic" of potentially biblical proportions.I was not concerned.  I am a young, healthy man, if not in years, in my own mind and my queries of individuals who have found it their lot in life to deal with these societal health issues were met overwhelming with anything from disbelief that I was concerned about such things to outright laughter and stories of throngs of people, sure that either they already had contracted the flu bug or were sure they were going to do so in short order.Today, I find myself waiting for a bus outside of the San Pedro Sula airport free from the 1/2 hour wait in a line of people outside the plane during which I filled out a health questionnaire that was, I thought, far too vague to distinguish the perfectly happy and healthy people from anybody with anything more than a mild case of heat rash.  I did, however, have the pleasure of having my temperature taken... No, not with some more invasive means, but instead, with a thermal imaging camera that, I imagine, displayed the heat my body was producing in degrees.I felt slightly, as though I was being shot with a radar speed sensing gun by a police officer who pulls everybody over that is speeding over, say 66 mph. 95.6 degrees- pass93.7 degrees- pass97.8 degrees- pass98.4 pass oh, wait, pull that one aside for further questioning.Oh ya, and the aforementioned health questionnaire... who the hell are you to ask me if I've spent the night  with a wheezing Mexican prostitute after an undercooked dinner of pork ribs wrapped in bacon and topped with 3 day old hollandaise sauce??  I mean really - hello - what do you care anyway?My contention is that you don't care, you're just doing your job, I get that, but did you have to keep me standing in front of your infrared microwave ray gun thermal meter of death for so long?  I mean it was like an eternity longer than the four people ahead of me had to endure your high tech probing of their core temperature...I thought that I felt a sweat rising within me, concerned that I may be pulled from the line, shuttled aside to some phone booth sized, concrete encased room where I would be subjected to vacation eating days of quarantine, probed, poked, prodded and asked a litany of questions by self proclaimed health professionals wearing biological warfare bunny suits, accompanying respiratory and shoe covering booties that are more reminiscent of over-sized socks mad of tissue paper than proper germ abating footwear and the mandatory hair sock that in my opinion makes most people look like giant white translucent mushrooms.  But I digress; admittedly that was just my fear.  Finally, after having this overly graphic and intrusive visage of how I was going to spend my next few days, I was waved through the heat seeking funnel of travelers and on into a surprisingly short line to speak briefly with an immigration officer, and then on to baggage claim and eventually to the well shaded piece of concrete on which I now sit.All of the aforementioned adventure was undertaken with a friend, roommate and fellow traveler whom I shall refer to hereafter simply as Shoop.  Shoop is, I believe the only person that I know that possess the following triad of attributes; born/raised in Montana, possessing of the "Y" chromosome, and despite the two previously mentioned attributes, spends time in my presence without receiving either a thorough verbal bludgeoning or outright physical pummeling.  I think it needless to say that, historically, I haven't liked men from Montana (I'm working on it).  Well... so Shoop is along on this particular Central American adventure with Kirstin and I, having never been out of North America.  He has recently acquired his passport, immunizations and plane ticket to come and join us for a couple of weeks on the small Caribbean island of Utila.  He's been, by his own account anxious about going to a third world country and excited about the adventure of it all.  Kirstin and I look forward to sharing the fun that is Honduras with him!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kjerstan/3/1234672920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kjerstan/3/1234672920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kjerstan/3/1234672920/tpod.html Sun, 15 Feb 2009 13:21:32 -0500 (kirstin) Germany short trip - Feb 10 - 16

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Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands

so here i am in hotel pulitzer in amsterdam central... was supposed to come tomorrow, but ended up here a day early (long story- buy me a drink and ill fill u in :)  i got here from the train station in heerlen, netherlands at around 9pm, went to the hotel bar to finish my book and have some dinner.. then of course the bartender said he would take me out after he got off work.... 5 hrs later i am back at the hotel so i thought i would post some video for all of u workaholics out there who live vicariously through me.... lol... will post some fotos of belgium and germany tomorrow at some point since it is now almost 6am here... maybe i will go see the anne frank house tomorrow :)have a great day at work....someone in another time zone is thinking of you :)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kjerstan/3/1234530840/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kjerstan/3/1234530840/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kjerstan/3/1234530840/tpod.html Fri, 13 Feb 2009 08:02:03 -0500 (kirstin) Germany short trip - Feb 10 - 16

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Oostkapelle, Zeeland, Netherlands

Jacek picked me up from amsterdam airport around 9am, my flight got in around 7.15 am (45 minutes early) so i waited reading a book at the juice bar in the airport, we had arranged to meet there.  it took jacek 4 hours to make the 2 hr drive to amsterdam because of snow and traffic :(  then we headed out of amsterdam to drive down the coast of the netherlands on the way to brugge, belgium. the scenery of the dutch countryside reminded me of iowa.. weird... we stopped in a small village to have lunch before crossing into belgium in a town called OOstkapelle.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kjerstan/3/1234288920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kjerstan/3/1234288920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kjerstan/3/1234288920/tpod.html Tue, 10 Feb 2009 13:10:53 -0500 (kirstin) Germany short trip - Feb 10 - 16

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seattle, Washington, United States

hello everyone... in a few minutes im headed out the door for my direct flight to amsterdam (9.5 hrs).  my friend jacek will be picking me up from the airport and for the following 48 hrs this is the sketch plan.. drive down the coast of netherlands & belgium, staying overnight in brugge, belgium (the venice of northern europe) http://www.brugesinfo.com/listing/bruges-tourist-attractions.phpthen off to dunkerque the next mid morning and taking the ferry over to dover, england for lunch. then back on the ferry to calais, france and then over to aachen..thats 5 countries in 48 hours... too bad i dont get all those stamps :(netherlands, belgium, france, england, germany heres the route plan:http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=amsterdam&daddr=N57%2FProvincialeweg+to:N57%2FRijksweg+57+to:brugge+to:calais+to:dover+to:aachen&hl=en&geocode=%3BFdSeFgMd_F08AA%3BFQAXEwMdXE43AA%3B%3B%3B%3B&mra=ls&via=1,2&sll=51.720223,5.866699&sspn=3.205662,9.84375&ie=UTF8&ll=51.57708,3.696495&spn=3.215796,9.84375&z=7
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kjerstan/1/1230410220/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kjerstan/1/1230410220/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kjerstan/1/1230410220/tpod.html Sat, 27 Dec 2008 15:39:56 -0500 Central American Adventure - Honduras, Guatemala, and Belize

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Seattle, Washington, United States

i guess we probably should have written that we came back to the states on Oct 22. things have been crazy here since, the joys of living in Industrialzed nations.next trips planned:shane - nicaragua the month of Feb 2009shane and kirstin: austin, tx april 2009las vegas, tx april 2009utila, honduras may 2009
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kjerstan/1/1223124000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kjerstan/1/1223124000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kjerstan/1/1223124000/tpod.html Sun, 05 Oct 2008 22:42:05 -0400 Central American Adventure - Honduras, Guatemala, and Belize

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Copan, Honduras

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]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kjerstan/1/1222704840/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kjerstan/1/1222704840/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kjerstan/1/1222704840/tpod.html Fri, 03 Oct 2008 21:15:53 -0400 Central American Adventure - Honduras, Guatemala, and Belize

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San Marcos de la Laguna, Western Highlands, Guatemala

in the morning we got up and went to have bagel sandwiches for breakfast then back to the hostel to turn in the key and get chicken bus directions to Panajachel.  the route was 1. bus Antigua to chimaltenango 2. bus chimaltenango to los encuentros 3. bus los encuentros to solola 4. bus solola to panajachel 4. boat from panajachel to san Marcos de la Laguna.  the chicken bus from chimaltenango to los encuentros was PACKED, 3 people minimum to every seat, the bus boy kept telling me to go back cause there was a seat in the back of the bus, so i barely squeezed by the entire bus (people had to stand to let me pass, it was so packed) and Shane got the good seat, sitting on the backpack in the aisle at the very front.  he had a small miss-communication with the bus boy though- he told the bus boy we were going to San Marcos (instead of San Marcos de la Laguna)- this would have put us in the middle of the Guatemala highlands instead of Lake Atitlan.  when the bus boy made it to the back of the bus, i was able to clear up the confusion. when we finally made it to Panajachel 4.5 hours later, we went to the boat dock and got on a boat for 25Q each, but we had to wait about 1 hour to get a minimum of 10 people in our boat to go across the lake. so eventually we had 2 Americans, 2 Germans, 4 french and 2 Canadians and made the crossing.. a total of 5.5 hours. 4 buses and a boat to get to San Marcos de la Laguna.San Marcos was amazing, it is on the edge of Lake Atitlan. Lake Atitlan in ancient times was a massive volcano - then it exploded and formed a crater, the lake itself is 1000 ft deep in some places and as you can see from the pictures all the mountains (volcanos) around the lake are massive as well, and those used to be the base of the massive volcano.  Lake Atitlan is at 6000 feet.  the ancient mountain must have been massive as the lake is 1.5 miles across.. amazing both in its past and in its current energies.  it is said that once you swim in the waters of lake atitlan you will always return... we didn't swim but we will return.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kjerstan/1/1222440960/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kjerstan/1/1222440960/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kjerstan/1/1222440960/tpod.html Fri, 03 Oct 2008 11:38:18 -0400 Central American Adventure - Honduras, Guatemala, and Belize

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Antigua Guatemala, Western Highlands, Guatemala

Bus, taxi, bus took us to Antigua through Guatemala City.  In Antigua we were immediately approached by predatory ¨tour guides¨ interested in taking us to the local volcano. Ya - more like getting taken.  they were too nice, they had no office from which to work, and the receipt the guy wanted to give us was highly generic.  we got one of the guys to take us to our hostel with the pretense that we were going to give him a bunch of money for a tour (150Q each)... we ended up going with another tour company for 60Q each...They picked us up at the bright and early time of 6am to go to Pacaya Volcano.  the volcano was amazing, we got within 6 ft of the lava flow, someone was even roasting marshmallows above the liquid rock.  then back to Antigua for a small walk around this interesting colonial city with cobblestone streets.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kjerstan/1/1222267560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kjerstan/1/1222267560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kjerstan/1/1222267560/tpod.html Fri, 03 Oct 2008 11:30:52 -0400 Central American Adventure - Honduras, Guatemala, and Belize

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Coban, Western Highlands, Guatemala

After our bus trek and being closer to a bunch of people that i didn't know than i´ve ever wanted to be we were looking forward to a relaxing day in Coban.  the day started with breakfast then off to a coffee plantation for a tour and coffee education.  the place was right down the street from our hostel, in the middle of the city... but you would never know it when looking out onto the hills surrounding the plantation.after lunch we boarded a taxi for a 5 minute trip to an orchid nursery - Kirstin loved it. we walked back to the hostel for dinner, drinks and games with friends and left in the morning for Antigua..
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kjerstan/1/1223047080/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kjerstan/1/1223047080/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kjerstan/1/1223047080/tpod.html Fri, 03 Oct 2008 11:19:23 -0400 Central American Adventure - Honduras, Guatemala, and Belize

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Guatemala City, Western Highlands, Guatemala

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