mistyandmatt

[mistyandmatt]

Cruisin’ for a snack!! #alligator #everglades #evergladesnationalpark #room4two #travel #travelphotography (at Everglades National Park) https://www.instagram.com/p/BsXDj32B7P9/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=z9tklud4ow74

[mistyandmatt]

Sometimes some of the best food is right near the curb! #streetfood #medellin #medellincolombia #colombia #mandmgortw🌎 #room4two #chorizo #instatravel #travelphotography #travelgram #streetvendors #chicarrones #grill #antioquia (at Medellín, Antioquia)

[mistyandmatt]

Medellín Graffiti #graffiti #graffitiart #medellin #medellín #streetart #colombia #antioquia (at Medellín, Antioquia)

[mistyandmatt]

The street art in Medellin was incredible. More to follow! #medellin #colombia #room4two #mandmgortw🌎 #graffiti #graffitiart #streetart #streetartist #antioquia #travelphotography #travelblogger #instatravel #travelgram (at Medellín, Antioquia)

[mistyandmatt]

Just a few clips from Colombia!!

[mistyandmatt]

Spring has sprung in Oklahoma! #okc #visitokc #oklahomagardening #flowers #flowerporn #hyacinth #floweroftheday #spring #gardening #flowersofinstagram #plantvibes

[mistyandmatt]

Just a short video from our RTW trip!!!!

[mistyandmatt]

Oh America. We spent the last few days of this crazy adventure in NYC. I must say, I fall more in love with this city each and every time we come here. We’ve spent the last 35 days completely packing each day with all types of activities, we decided that a weekend in NYC would not only help us re-adjust to the U.S. time zones, but also give us a chance to just relax, catch up on sleep, and do just a few fun things during these lat few days. This will be our third trip to NYC, so we didn’t have to pack in a ton of things because we’ve pretty much covered all the major tourist activities. So, here’s a quick rundown of our last few days: On Friday we flew from Iceland to NYC during sunset hours and seeing that from up above is an experience in itself. The highlight of that flight was going over Greenland, which is pretty remarkable from above. Once we landed in NYC, we navigated the public transit system to get us from JFK to our hotel in midtown (this was Matt’s decision, not mine. I’m a creature comfort person, so I would have paid an Uber an “Uber amount of money,” just so I didn’t have to pull around this crazy large (and heavy) luggage through the transit system on a Friday night. We grabbed dinner at this ridiculously great burger place (which was voted one of the best burgers in NYC, and it just happened to be in our hotel) and called it an early night. We slept in just a bit on Saturday as we were adjusting from the 6 hour time difference we went from in Iceland, but then we headed out for the day to do a couple of different things we had on the agenda. We started the late morning off at Ellen’s Stardust Diner. If you haven’t gone, you must go the next time you are in NYC. So, the backstory on this place, they hire aspiring singers/dancers/actors, etc. as their waitstaff and as part of their job (and part of the experience at the restaurant) is that they all sing and perform all the time for the patrons eating while they are serving as their waiter/waitress. It was so super fun, as it was like being in a broadway show while eating breakfast! Once again we then navigated public transportation, which let me tell you, after being around the world in all these other cities, NYC needs to come up with a plan to re-do their subway system. It’s old, dirty, and terribly outdated. All the lines were screwed up this weekend for a variety of different reasons (maintenance, holiday schedule, cleaning, etc.), so getting anywhere took way longer than it should normally take. Regardless, we headed south to the financial district because I wanted to go to Ellis Island. See, Matt and I were here in 2002 and we went to the Statue of Liberty, but Ellis Island wasn’t open then, as it was under renovation, so we never got to go. The company contracted to run the tickets, security screening, and ferry transportation to Ellis Island/Statute of Liberty need to get some serious system implementation and quality assurance in place. We literally waited three hours (outside in the cold) to get to the island. This was a cluster, but the museum was fabulous once we were there. I could spend days in that place, as there is so much information there. We took the ferry back to lower manhattan and as we were doing that, the weather changed and the snow started coming down. By the time we made it back to Times Square the huge snowflakes were just beautiful and it was such a neat experience to see it with the snow. We’ve only ever been in the summer or fall, so this was a new experience for us. We grabbed some classic NY style pizza for dinner and started planning what our Sunday would entail. So, the only other things I wanted to do while we were in NYC was to see another broadway show, got to Katz Delicatessen, and go to the 9/11 memorial museum. Sunday we headed south again the the lower east side to go to Katz for lunch. Although the pastrami sandwiches were amazing, the place was so packed that the seating situation made the experience a bit tight to say the least. People claim there are better sandwiches in other Jewish deli’s, so we’ll try those out next go around when we are in town, but it was good to check this known favorite off the list of things to try. We followed up lunch with a trip to the 9/11 memorial and museum. When Matt and I came in 2002, final clean up at Ground Zero had occurred a few months before, so there was just these massive holes in the ground where the buildings once sat. To come back this many years later and see this uniquely designed memorial was very moving. It’s really a beautiful tribute to all of those who lost their lives that day. It’s one of those things, similar to that of the OKC bombing, where the experience is forever etched into our minds of where we were and what we were doing on that tragic September morning. If you haven’t been, take the time to go to the museum as well. We spent several hours here and I could have spent at least 2-3 hours more here. We headed back towards midtown where Matt could do the one main thing on his agenda for this destination, which was to go to Eleven Madison Park. This restaurant has been given the award as literally the best restaurant in the world. I mean, seems fitting right? Going to the best restaurant in the world after traveling around the entire world? Seems so to me. The service was fantastic, the drinks and dessert to die for, so long story short, we’re coming back here, no doubt. In our usual fashion, we got to talking to people sitting around us, having a good time and we didn’t leave on time for the show we had tickets to, so we had to rush a taxi to get us there. We literally made it to the theatre with just minutes to spare, maybe seconds to be exact. We went and saw Avenue Q (Matt wanted to see this, as he said it was supposed to be hilarious-and it was), which is currently playing off broadway, but definitely worth a go. I really wanted to see Hamilton, but in order to get tickets, you are looking at close to $400 (upward) for each ticket. Here’s the thing, I can by round trip airfare to see the show in a completely different city (it’s starting to tour now, and yes, I know it’s not the original cast, but the NY showing isn’t necessarily the original cast either) for what people wanted for these tickets. No thanks, I’ll wait for it to come around when the ticket prices have returned to at least semi-reasonable prices. We did a bit of shopping on Monday and began the final leg of the journey home. A quick trip to NYC can boost the spirits of those who love this city. I’m glad we made the stop, as it allowed us to adjust our clocks a bit and spend a few days where every second of everyday didn’t have something planned in it. In the coming days, Matt will get pictures from the entire trip up (y’all we had to buy more SD cards for the camera, so get ready), and we will both do a couple of wrap up blog posts sharing our unique perspectives on the overall experience. This trip has been an incredible journey and I look forward to sharing my thoughts and experiences with you guys. Until then, I leave you with a few photos from NYC. Hope you all had a great holiday weekend!

[mistyandmatt]

The Land of Fire and Ice Welcome to Iceland! You guys, drop everything you are doing right now and book your tickets to come see this place! Yes, it’s cold (it’s winter), yes it’s longitudinally equidistant to Healy, Alaska (so we are a ways up) and it’s only 6 hours from New York. A hop, skip and jump from home. It’s magical, dreamy, and totally whimsical. Go ahead and throw in a dose of I-can’t-even believe-places-like-this-exist-on-earth kind of beautiful. Hello real life episode of Frozen, which includes the people truly looking like Elsa as well. Matt has started to count the number of people with dark hair vs. light hair when we go places because he doesn’t have to count very high. Everyone looks like me here! Now, the language though, nothing is in English (yet everyone can speak English) the Icelandic language is something else. I can’t even begin to learn even basic phrases it’s just so different. After exploring Iceland for the past few days, I’m going to sum it up as a hybrid combination of a larger ski town (in the USA) blended with the topography and ocean-side demeanor of that in Nova Scotia. The weather tends to be around a balmy 24-36 degrees (with 14 mile an hour winds) with snow accumulation somewhere between 1-3 inches per day. Iceland is so desolate outside of Reykjavík, it makes me wonder who those tough people are that can sustain during these harsh winters out in the middle of nowhere like that. I’m sure it’s a rough go during the winter, but the beauty surrounding them all year round is likely worth their isolation decision. While here we drove up (back to driving on the right side of the car and the street) a few hours north to explore some of the coastline and beautiful scenery. We stopped at the local famous hot dog stand (this is considered one of Iceland’s famous foods), Baejarins Beztu Pylsur, in Reyjavik, where we had a quick lunch. They were really good hot dogs, and one of the most inexpensive things we’ve come across here. I’ll just quickly say that food and gasoline are two of the most expensive things in this country. You can’t get a single burger for under $25.00 here, a coke is generally around $3-$4, and beer, well about $12 a glass, but again the scenery is worth it to me, Matt on the other hand, he almost can’t stomach these costs for such odd, random food options they have here. We ventured out to the local ski lodge to see what skiing in Iceland was like, as it’s just about 25 minutes drive time from town. If we had some extra time one afternoon we would come back, but we wanted to see if the skiing would match my abilities. Well, my abilities could probably handle the slope, but that rental car, that was something else. It really wanted to get stuck in the snow, note to self take a 4 X 4 to the mountain top, not the Suzuki bubble car. We made it out (without assistance) and ventured back to less snowy ground. As the evening came to be, we went down to the Old Harbor area to take a boat out to see the Northern Lights. The Northern Lights, like many things aren’t on demand, so we wanted to try and get a glimpse of them before we left, so we started on our first full night here. Three freezing hours later on this boat, low and behold we got to see them! She wasn’t “dancing” as the boat operator kept calling it, but she provided a lovely shade of green for the night. Another bucket list item-checked! We had planned to drive the Golden Circle route on Wednesday, seeing the Thingvellir National Park, the geyser area, the Gulfoss waterfalls, and bathing in the geothermal pools along the route. Unfortunately, the weather had alternate plans and due to the extensive winds and blowing snow, the roads were closed and access was denied, just as we were entering the designated area. Bummer, so we decided to try again in the next day. We made the best of the rest of Valentine’s Day by doing sightseeing in and around Reykjavik, had dinner at an interesting little restaurant and had a date to go and see a documentary about the volcanos in Iceland at The Volcano House here in town. Low key and fun, twenty years later that’s generally what I’m looking for on Valentines Day. If in town, check it out, it’s about time for another eruption to occur here, as the last one was about 3 years ago. Now see, this Valentine’s Day Matt let me down a bit. The past few years, Matt and our sweet cat, JuJu have been putting together some pretty entertaining Valentine’s Day productions including various activities, menus and treats, so he had a lot to live up to this year. Unfortunately, he didn’t find a stray cat to put in a costume here, or arrange any strange valentines extravaganzas, so I’m holding him to making it up to me by making Easter real fancy this year, cat costumes must totally be included. Matt’s always so thoughtful, me on the other hand, not so much. I’m hoping Walgreens in New York still has some of those nasty conversation hearts available when we get there, as that is what Matt usually gets from me each year (why he loves these I have no idea, probably because my grandma used to have them and would give them to him every year). And, I’ll take a double high-five if I can them for 75% off since it’s just a few days past the holiday, now that’s #romantic and #adulting all at the same time. Thursday’s weather turned out great, so we loaded up the car and headed out to the above mentioned places we tried to go to on Wednesday. We stopped to see the fissure (crack) in the earth where Iceland is separating due to tectonic plates moving apart. We got to see the one geysir go off fairly consistently (I have a video I’ll upload later), and we made our way to the Secret Lagoon, a geothermal pool (it’s one of the oldest “pools” in Iceland). It was a nice way to relax and take in the scenery at 104 degrees. This route is a very known route and contains some of the best nature viewing you can expect. I look forward to coming back here in the summertime, as I know this place would be just as beautiful then as it is now. Experiencing Iceland has been great. I never thought I would want to travel during the winter months places (outside of going to Colorado to go skiing), but I’ve enjoyed seeing a different side to all the places we have been. Now to make the transatlantic transition home....to the Big Apple we go....again.... Happy Friday All!

[mistyandmatt]

As we finished up the specific London activities that had to get accomplished, we started checking off more “Matt-ish” destinations, as this started with the Ace Cafe. Admittedly, the night we went here it was pretty slow, just a few motorcycles outside, but on certain evenings there was evidence that there are hundreds of motorcyclists and car enthusiasts who frequent this place. This is a long time meeting spot for motorcyclists, dating back to when there was actually a rockers vs. mod culture here. Mind you, now, and for the last many years, it’s really just been a cafe. Now, not to bore you with a ton history on the establishment, as that information is readily available anywhere on the internet, I do want to say that this place has oddly good fish and chips. In fact, I guess I haven’t been to a place in London yet that has what I’d call “bad” fish and chips. No Long John Silver’s here!

Next stop was to Harrod’s. Now we arrived a bit early at this well-known shopping destination, the crowd was gathering outside like it was some type of show or concert, not just a fancy department store. As the doors (flood gates opened), people shuffled in, us as well, and we saw what all the spectacle was about. Everything you could possibly want, albeit at inflated prices, was here. We browsed several of the floors of the store before deciding we could live without most of the things here except for maybe some coffee/tea and a small snack before heading to our next destination. Here’s where things get a bit crappy for me. I purchased a donut as I tend to, one in every destination we go to, and promptly walked literally five steps to their coffee and tea bar to order a mocha and revel in my 4 pound (about 6 US dollars) sprinkle donut. We ordered tea and coffee and waited. As our server brought my coffee to me he informed me that unfortunately the pastries sold at the counter (literally less than five steps from his bar) were not for consumption inside the store and that I could not consume them while drinking his $8.00 mocha. Get bent. I was inexplicable angry at this poor guy who, although was probably just following some bureaucratic rules made by someone in a suit who flew into their helicopter pad (yes, there is one on top of Harrod’s) from time to time made up on a whim. This was insanity. I angrily finished my coffee and we went outside (this explains the donut photo from MIsty’s last post). I finally got to eat my donut in the shadow of Harrod’s. I’d love to complain about the donut, I’d love to say it was the worst donut I’d ever purchased and that the $6.00 price tag was inflated nonsense, unfortuately, I cannot. The donut was spectacular. I think it was more akin to a Bavarian cream filled sprinkle cronut. It was awesome, but still, screw Harrod’s rules. They don’t sell cars or motorcycles, so they won’t be missing much business from me anyways, but it’s still a stupid rule.

Our next destination was much more accommodating to my tastes, as we went to the Brooklands Museum. Brooklands in the oldest purpose-built racetrack in the world. They have many exhibits ranging from old open wheel cars to Formula 1 and an aviation section documenting the aircraft built here when the field turned to aircraft manufacturing during the war. They even have a Concorde exhibit. Next to Brooklands is Mercedes-Benz World. This place seems to be more of a branding exercise for Mercedes as they do have multiple dealerships in London, so I think it’s more about the racetrack and skid pad in front. They have several classics here including a pristine 300SL and a Grosser. The last stop this evening was Rules restaurant. I’m still not clear if it’s just a Bib Gourmand or actually has obtained a Michelin Star Rating, but I’d think between the level of service, the history, and the food, it probably deserves one if it doesn’t have one. The restaurant is the oldest in England, originally an oyster house, now serving “Authentic British Cuisine” including the venison I ordered. I must point out this was the best venison I’ve ever eaten, albeit the only venison I’ve ever eaten. If all of it tastes like this I do understand the frenzy that happens back in Oklahoma when bow season opens! Since we were in England we had to sample the sticky toffee pudding. It was also something to behold. I’m sure I’ve gained 10lbs on this trip and I’ll be back on eggs and chicken when I get back, but for the moment, I couldn’t pass up the pudding in the oldest establishment in England. It was worth it, but that’s not ice cream in the photo, it’s cream cheese. It took me a bit by surprise, but the velvety sourness of the cream cheese mellowed out the rich sweetness of the pudding quite nicely. Deliciously good, all of it, including that damn Harrod’s donut.

Our last day in London wouldn’t be in London at all, but in Castle Bromwich at the Jaguar manufacturing plant. If you happen to drive a Land Rover or Jag, chances are it was probably made in either this plant or very close by. Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos of this experience as they do not allow photos on the tour, but I can say it was seriously impressive. Between the amount of aluminum used in the new Jags, to the levels of lean six sigma automation in their factory, this place runs like a well-oiled machine, much like the ones they roll of their assembly lines every day. Well, with that, we’re off to Iceland, the land of fire and ice…and probably more ice…and snow… We’ll see!

[mistyandmatt]

My Valentine!!!#mandmgortw🌎 #room4two #iceland #rekjavic (at Reykjavík, Iceland)

[mistyandmatt]

Buckingham Palace....or Black Friday Shopping...... As you all know, we arrived in London several days ago and have been out and about exploring what this great city has to offer. It should be noted that I wasn’t really interested in coming to London (I have more interest in other European cities), but Matt wanted to add it to our stop, so we did. I knew things were going to be interesting when we decided to rent a car, well, because according to Matt, folks in the U.K. Drive on the wrong side of the road. Ha! It wasn’t but just within 2 minutes of getting our rental car (and not even out of the Enterprise parking lot yet) that Matt starts to make a traditional right hand turn into oncoming traffic. I hope this gets better because otherwise this is going to be a long drive from Heathrow to Westminster. We made it to our hotel safely (after Matt figured out how to drive on the right hand side of the car, shifting with his left hand, on the left side of the street) and began planning out what the next few days would look like. Our plan was to stay in central London for the first few days and then take the car and venture out to Stonehenge and some other destinations several hours from London. We ended up walking to most everything (this would amount to about 8-10 miles a day), as London is a much more walking friendly city than other big cities we’ve been to. Our first stop was to go to Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guards. In winter, this is not done everyday, so this was one of the days they were doing it and we were free, so off we went. We arrive 45 minutes early, looking to get a good spot, and let me tell you, this crowd was worse than any Black Friday situation I’ve seen. Hundreds of people pushing and shoving to get to a “good spot,” to see the events happen. Let’s just be honest, there isn’t really a good spot, unless you call smashed up against the railing for two hours good, then so be it. Matt and I split up and tried to get video and pictures of different things, because at 5’2, I’m not taking any photos over anyone’s head, I can guarantee that. The place was packed, the bands and horses/carriages came in and presented their musical show (which included very modern music, which I was intrigued, yet disturbed by all at the same time-I thought this was supposed to be a very traditional ceremony? Maybe The Queen likes Bruno Mars-who knew? Regardless, it was fun to see, and worth a trip if you are in London, just be sure to check the schedule at it varies greatly when they do it. The rest of the next few days included many trips to different pubs and restaurants for fish and chips (sadly their beer is fairly flat and slightly warm here on draft), meat pies, traditional English Breakfast, and sticky toffee pudding. We did all the regular tourist stuff, such as Tower Bridge, the London Eye, Parliament, Big Ben (under construction), Trafalgar Square, The Tate, etc. My favorite though was the tour through Westminster Abbey, which is both stunning and chalk-full of history (and dead people). We spent several hours there just walking through all the areas, seeing the monuments, the architecture and beauty of this place. You must go when you are in London. Now, when Harry and Meghan get married this year there, I’ll have my wits about me and know where all the action is taking place since we have now visited! Every time I turn around in this city, I say to Matt, “that must be some important building,” when in fact, it’s not, they all are just so beautiful and have such amazing architectural detail you can’t not fall in love with them. London is a great city, the weather (although great for some) is just too dreary for me. I need sunshine in my life on a regular basis. I’d come back here for sure, maybe in the summer when I could enjoy all the green space they have to offer. After days of walking, eating (everything), navigating public transportation, and visiting all the great city sites, we headed out towards Stonehenge, which is about two hours outside of the city center. We drove out there to spend the afternoon. The monuments are pretty neat to see in real life, but sometimes I think my fantasized experience of seeing some things, is sadly intercepted with the reality of the situation. Although intriguing, it seemed a bit smaller than imagined (I had this same experience with Cadillac Ranch in Texas and Mount Rushmore, too) and it is truly just sitting out in the middle of farmland. I know there is much controversy of how these rocks got to where they are, but however one believes that happened, it’s definitely a sight worth seeing. We couldn’t leave England and have not visited this official World Heritage Site. As mentioned we ate a lot of great food, but I want to make special note about the Rules restaurant. This is the oldest restaurant in London and it took us three days to get a reservation, which was then only available at 9:30 at night mind you, once we got in. The bill was a bit outrageous, but it was worth it, as the experience and food was phenomenal. The place itself is such a showstopper, all the decor, but for me, just thinking about all the amazing people who have come through these doors in over 200 years to share stories, drinks, and experiences. Oh to be a fly on the wall at various times here. Go check it out if here, just plan on spending a pretty penny for the experience. Matt will catch you all up on the last few things we did while in England during the last few days, as they mainly are things he is interested in, so things with wheels and wings. I’ve enjoyed our stay here, but would like to venture more out to the Wales and South England area the next time we visit.

[mistyandmatt]

More Alien circles in England.... #mbworld #mercedes #brooklandsmuseum #mandmgortw🌎 #room4two #skidpad #dorifto (at Brooklands Museum)

[mistyandmatt]

Authentic English weather at Stonehenge today! #stonehenge #uk #england #mandmgortw🌎 #room4two #rtw (at English Heritage Stonehenge)

[mistyandmatt]

Things are weird here... #london #britian #vw #wrongside #righthanddrive #mandmgortw🌎 #room4two (at Heathrow Airport)

[mistyandmatt]

It’s winter and it’s hot here…Dubai travels

In preparation for this ‘round the world journey, I spent a great deal of time researching and preparing for this leg of the trip. I say that because 1. I’ve never been to the Middle East and 2. There are a lot of social and religious rules that have to be followed when visiting the area. You see, being a caucasian, American woman most certainly has it’s advantages on any given day, but when traveling to a middle eastern country, the situation is just not the same. I did a lot of internet searching, watched a lot of You Tube videos on how to correctly tie a headscarf, and ensuring my clothing (which you know I had to be highly selective of on the trip due to the totally different climates we are going to) was socially and religiously appropriate. I told Matt we would just see what it was like when we got there and then I would adjust as needed.

Leaving Tokyo on one hand was a bit sad, as we were just getting to know Matt’s family and somewhat adjusting to the ways around town, but on the other hand, I was starting to get antsy and was ready to move on towards Dubai. Maybe it was the weather (it was cold, and mainly cloudy while we were there-that’s depressing for me), maybe it was all the strange food I’d been challenged to consume over the past 10 days, or maybe I was just seeking some bit of normalcy somewhere since I clearly was the outsider on this leg of the trip. Want a slice of humble pie? Go to a country like Japan with 127 million people where you are one of only a few who can’t read or speak the language. You’ll realize your place in the world real quick. I guess I don’t know why I thought I would get normalcy in Dubai, but my instincts (and research) implied Dubai was supposed to be like the “Las Vegas” of the Middle East (more on this in a bit), that seemed like something I knew and could understand.

We switched over to Emirates Airline for this trip, as I wanted to see how the service and quality were compared to other airlines we had taken. I know, I know, my instinctual quality assurance/continuous quality improvement personality is on all the time, even on vacation. The airline was nice, but Japan Airlines still seems to rank higher on my “best airline to fly.” What’s comical about that though is that when we were talking with the Emirates Flight Attendants, they report that the girls who work for JAL have a lot of “work drama between each other.” Workplace environments around the world seem to be the same everywhere, always some kind of drama going on. I was hopeful that was just an American thing, nope, totally universal. Our twelve hour flight seemed quite quick as we slept most of the time, so we were ready to go when we arrived in Dubai at 5:00 am local time.

We only planned four days in Dubai, as we had just a handful of things we wanted to see and do before moving on to our next destination. The weather was 75 degrees and sunny when we got there(hallelujah), so we were looking forward to a brief warmup before we head back into the cold again. Since we were only staying a few days, we decided to splurge a bit and stay at a fancier hotel. You all know that we never do that, in fact, it’s really against our vacation morals and values to do so, but knowingly and willingly(and maybe telling Matt I got a good deal on it), I booked us a few days at the Waldorf Astoria out on the Palm (palm tree shaped man-made island outside of Dubai proper). Between the nice hotel and the warm weather, my normalcy meter finally shot up. We then found a place for breakfast that served actual eggs and other breakfast foods, we had a another win!

Our first stop for the day was to the Sheikh Mohammed Center for Cultural Understanding” for a tour of the remaining “old town Dubai,” and for our first visit to a real operating mosque. I loved this as our first experience here, as no question was off limits and the center prides themselves on being an open space for people to come learn and understand the culture and religion in a safe space. I got the chance to not only learn more about the Islamic religion, but also the social, family, and religious norms that go along with it. Our tour guide was fabulous and did a great job explaining everything to our eclectic group. I now understand the prayer schedule and commend all the Muslim men (and women) who are fully committed to their religion because they (the men) literally have to go into a mosque building 5 or 6 times a day to pray and be present with God. I mean, I can’t find the time to go to the bathroom that many times a day, therefore, I could never make it as a Muslim on that principle alone. I realize the societal norms here are arranged on this schedule, but that just seems extremely excessive (not to mention time consuming). I found fewer differences and more similarities in their religion and lifestyle of those practiced at home. In the end, everyone seems to be seeking the same things, its all just interpreted and practiced a bit differently. We had the chance to drink coffee (which has a process and is different than American coffee, as is the art of drinking it-anyone have a “silent server” at home?), as well as had the chance to eat dates and luqaimat(donuts), just as you would if you were a visitor in a Muslim home. So much about the home structure, the male and female role in the household, and the openness to welcome visitors was rather intriguing. We would highly recommend doing this experience if you have the chance to go to Dubai. It was a great way for us to start off our trip here.

We then moved on to see what the Dubai Mall was all about. This place is known for all the high end shopping, vending machines that sell gold, and a place to find just about every super car you could imagine, but also includes an ice skating rink, a huge aquarium, and these choreographed fountains (similar to the Bellagio Fountains in Vegas) that put on quite the show. This was a chance for us to get in some walking after being cooped up in the plane so long. We finished the day by having dinner poolside at our hotel, where I could soon slip away for some good sleep in a super comfortable bed (remember, we’ve been sleeping on a small mattress on a tatami floor for the past 10 days, so this was going to be like sleeping on the clouds).

The next day we got up and headed to the traditional spice, textile, and gold souks to see what kind of interesting finds we could muster up. I tell Matt, just keep walking, these people will haggle you, so you just have to keep going. Why are we not even three stores in and Matt starts “making friends.” Dammit Matt. So Matt’s new friend wants me to buy gold from him and proceeds to personally escort us around the souks. That was very nice of him (he had alternate plans), but unfortunately what he didn’t realize is that he hooked up with a real nice guy an and then me, whose middle name is “likes to mosey.” Hours later we’d visited all the souks (still with this personal escort) and I spent way too much money on tea, silks, gold, and saffron (even with haggling with them) then I want to admit. It’s fine, I hope people are up for a tea party when we get home, because I have several years supply now. Needless to say, Matt (who really doesn’t even want to be at the souks) ends up back behind one of the souks (we all know you aren’t supposed to go back there-hasn’t he seen any movies at all?), as they are trying to sell him fake watches. Again, Mr. Naivety isn’t clueing into my “we have to go because we have a tour we have to get to,” and proceeds to continue talking with these guys. I laid down the law, said we were leaving and escaped yet another crazy situation Matt got us into. Thanks Matt, thanks a lot.

We really did have a tour to get to, as the most exciting part of the trip for me was just about to happen. Since we decided to come to Dubai, I wanted to ride camels in the desert. I mean, when else am I going to get to ride a massive animal through the Arabian desert? So, I booked us this camel riding tour that also included a night of activities in a Bedouin camp. These are the traditional camps that desert travelers would set up when searching for water in the desert. Our tour guide from Viator tours picked us up at our hotel and drove us an hour and half into the middle of the Arabian desert. During the ride, he gave us all the inside details about Dubai (including things they probably don’t want others to know, but oh well). Once there we got loaded up onto our camels (my camels name was Simone, and Matt’s camel’s name was Goad. He was making groaning sounds, which I later found out that meant he was grumpy. Go figure, Matt is used to me, so working with a grumpy camel-he should be a pro! Our camel guide was from Pakistan and laughed at my off the cuff, socially and politically incorrect jokes, so I think he had a good time with us. Don’t mind these pictures of us on camels, my legs looks like the size of Texas (who would have thought on an animal so large I would look so big as well) and well Matt’s shorts now have a bit of a racy look to them-looking good Matt, nice legs there. After the camel ride (which is way harder than it looks, and definitely harder than riding a horse), we arrive at our Bedouin camp to watch some falconry and settle in for an evening of traditional Arabian music and cuisine (yes, this includes eating camel, but not the one’s we rode out on and al harees, which are foods traditionally served at weddings). Matt smoked shisha and I got henna done, all while we made new friends from France and South Africa. Again, we would highly recommend this tour above all others if you want a real authentic experience in the desert. Seven hours later, we returned to the hotel totally exhausted, but had a wonderful experience.

After sleeping in a bit, we spent the next morning and early afternoon exploring Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi was about an hour and half drive from Dubai, and is one of the more conservative emirates of the UAE. We went to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque (which is absolutely beautiful by the way), as well as had a chance to see the Emirates Palace Hotel (also very beautiful) and Etihad Towers. We finished the day having afternoon tea and pastries at the Desert Palms Polo Club of Dubai. I know this is a bit out of the norm for desert life, but it was recommended so we went. I’m glad we did because the pastries were phenomenal, the polo fun to watch as well.

Dubai was a great place to stop for a few days, rest a bit and see some of the massive structures, unique modern architecture and historical character this place has created. Dubai has many characteristics that resemble that of Las Vegas (big structures and buildings, fancy fountains, big, flashy everything-it’s their goal to have the biggest of everything in the world), yet there is virtually no crime, everything is automated (the police don’t even pull you over, they just ticket you from cameras everywhere), and there is minimal debauchery anywhere. I think they said that Dubai is the third safest city in the world. Who knew? And definitely not what I expected. So, imagine a very conservative Vegas, without gambling and drinking, then you have Dubai.

In many ways we came here seeking a variety of different cultural and lifestyle experiences that would push us completely out of our comfort zone and with some things it did. I mean, before I struggled to understand why women would want to wear the full abaya, but after doing it a few times during this trip, I can totally get behind wearing it with the headscarf on any given day. It’s really like a comfortable nightgown, and that headscarf did wonders to conceal my double chin-#Winning The women do it both out of respect, but also because they want to bring back tradition to their culture, similar to what women are now doing in Japan by wearing kimonos, and not just for wedding or special occasions. I mean, you never have to do your hair, figure out what you are going to wear, and you can go “full ninja” as they refer to it (full face covered except your eyes), say at the grocery store, when you don’t want to be recognized). Overall, all the people we interacted with were extremely friendly and very helpful. Although 80% of the people that live here are from other countries, we still found that we got an authentic experience none the less.

Overall, we found that Dubai is in more ways than just one, a lot like Oklahoma. A country, rather than just a state, dependent on the “black gold” of the earth to fund their sheer existence. If they haven’t seen how well that’s worked out for us, they should probably check that out. The one thing I can say is they at least they continue to build their infrastructure and economy on tourism as their “Plan B” because when the well becomes dry, as it inevitably will, they might actually be able to make it as a civilized place of existence. Come see the place if you haven’t been, it’s worth three or four days as a stopover city. We don’t recommend coming in the summertime, as apparently you can fry eggs and bake cookies on the concrete, as it gets so hot (we heard close to 120 degrees during the day). It’s wintertime and we saw 75-80 degree days.

As we continue our journey west, we are excited to explore the U.K. for the next several days. I’ve finally found a destination I might actually not stick out like a sore thumb. I’m also secretly hoping for a spotting of the Royal Family, let’s hope my years of stalking them on the internet will provide me some insight on the best location to do so!

See you all in London!

[mistyandmatt]

Back in Tokyo!

We took a little break in the morning, not putting too much in the plan because we decided to take the trip to the other side of town with my mom today to meet her youngest brother and to see where she grew up. He still lives in the original home where my mom and her siblings were raised. He’s remodeled it and changed a few things around, but it is still the same basic structure in the same place as it was decades ago. Across Tokyo in a less busy area, but still not like a suburb area of town, we hopped off in Nippori and started the short walk to her childhood home. We had taken the same train and were walking the same route she took to high school and passed the school she attended as an elementary student. Education is a big deal in Japan. Most kids go to school on Saturday as well. When we arrived at the house, we were given the outside tour which was actually a bit larger structure in the past. That storefront shown in the picture had been part of the home in the past, but is now currently owned by another individual, but remains part of the structure. I’m not sure how they work out the “HOA” dues, but by the way everything looked and my little knowledge about how many of the homes in the area are split up, I’m sure it gets a bit complex.

Her brother greeted us at the door and after taking off our shoes we started the tour up the stairs to the second floor. The basic layout is still the same, but all of the finishes are modern. The kitchen is still in the same place, and although much smaller compared to what we’d be accustomed to in Oklahoma, was large by Tokyo standards. The dining area and connected living room were large enough to hold a family and one of the bedrooms, although now a room with a TV and small shrine, still had tatami floors installed. Overall, I’m sure growing up in a space this small with 5 siblings (6 in total) would have a bit of a squeeze. Most of what we would consider in traditional Western architecture, and really life in general would be considered excessive by Asian standards.

After the grand tour, my mom’s youngest brother gave us a ride to Akihabara, or better known as “Electric Town,” as I needed to pickup a memory card for the camera and this was supposedly the best place to find one. Akihabara did not disappoint, although I think this part of Tokyo is probably better known in the US for it’s anime, it also has a plethora of vendors, both large and small, selling all types of things electronic. I was able to find a memory card for about half the price I had seen at a larger vendor earlier that week. Mission accomplished.

We headed back to the train station towards Edogawa where we are staying. We needed to get ready to go to dinner at my aunts house. As I walked in the door, I could tell she went to great lengths to make us feel at home. She had ordered pizza. As large of a city as Tokyo is, I can’t recall ever seeing a pizza shop and appreciated the gesture greatly (well, Misty probably appreciated it more) as I was still enjoying all of the Japanese food I was getting the chance to sample. About halfway through dinner my cousin Mayumi joined us. I was happy we got to spend a little more time with her as we hadn’t seen much of her since the wedding and wouldn’t be seeing her again before we left. Although neither of us spoke the same language and I was a bit unsure of our translator (both my mom and the iPhone (ha!!!), we had a great time! She even managed to understand my affection for adult beverages and had gifted us a bottle of sake to sample during dinner.

Here’s where things go south, both literally and figuratively. Depending on how well you know me….. Let’s be honest, if you’ve been around me for more than 5 minutes, you probably know I seem to have an addiction to things with wheel or wings… you’d probably expect that I’d try to work some type of extracurricular activity having to do with one of these sometime in Tokyo, right. This was it…. There’s a parking area on the highway south of Tokyo that’s a pretty famous car hangout. Unfortunately, it is only accessible by car as it’s three stories up on a highway. My uncle, who is in the car business in Tokyo had spoken to several people at work and he was pretty sure that there wouldn’t be much activity at the parking area, but I was determined to at least see this place as I was sure I’d be kicking myself in the morning if I didn’t at least attempt to go there. Since I won’t take no for an answer, and just have to see for sure for myself, we headed out, yen in hand, in an attempt to hail a taxi to get us there. Without much trouble we were able to flag down a cab and get headed in the right direction. Here’s where things get expensive. The taxi ride to the parking area from where we were should have been somewhere between $35-45 US dollars, however, we managed to find a taxi driver who did not speak English very well, and he also couldn’t read the handwritten note that my uncle had made to attempt to communicate where we wanted to go. After passing the place three times, being called Gaijin (foreigner) at least twice, two conversations with a translation service the taxi company has, and $90 US dollars later, we arrived. I was a bit dejected to have spent now double what I had budgeted for this endeavor, but none the less, we had arrived.

Now, when we asked if our taxi driver could pick us back up in awhile, we were informed that he would be unable as they would not dispatch a taxi to the parking area. Great, now what… We got out of the cab, that is what. I was pleasantly surprised and not so worried about how we would be getting out of this area, as we had been passed by at least two super cars as we were (mis)communicating with the taxi driver. Although I wouldn’t call it busy, there was plenty to see and observe at this parking lot, several super cars, at least a few different styles of modified cars from local manufacturers, and even some vintage fare. By the time we decided to leave I had seen at least one “exit” sign that seemed to have a pedestrian running on it. This would be our way back out to the surface streets to find a cab. This “exit” turned out to be more of an “escape” route. There were several one way locked doors on this path and stairs that more closely resembled a fire escape going between the lanes of the highway. The route then dropped you into a fenced off area that looked like somewhere they would store construction equipment, but luckily this barbed wire fenced in area also had a one way door and we were dumped back on the surface on the far side of Tokyo. We walked about one half mile (mind you, it’s 1:00 am and below freezing outside)from here and luckily picked up another cab back to the place we were staying, $30 this time. We ended the evening a bit disgruntled that we ended up spending so much because of the first taxi driver, but I was happy we took the opportunity to see the famous Tatsumi Parking Area No. 1.

Our last day in Tokyo we made our way to the Tsukiji Fish Market for what Misty didn’t quite understand, would be a culinary challenge for her. Two trains later we popped out on the far side of Ginza and walked the rest of the way to arrive at Tsukiji Fish Market. This market is actually just like many farmers markets, in that they have more than just produce. This market is primarily the working port wholesaler for fish and has the six figure tuna that everyone hears about, but it also has many vendors selling produce, ready to eat foods, knives, and trinkets as well. Our plan was to start around the perimeter and work our way into the market. The main area of the market doesn’t actually open to the public until 10AM because the wholesalers are getting ready and selling to commercial buyers early in the morning, so we would walk around more of the retail area and hopefully get into the interior right around 10AM to see what the wholesalers were doing. We sampled something we’re still not sure what the name of that dish was, but it consisted of a bed of rice with a stewed thinly sliced beef and oinion mixture on top that was very tasty as we walked around the outside. We also saw many of the more retail oriented shops selling fresh seafood, beef, and lots of knife stores. As we arrived at the interior of the market we walked into what looked like a large open sided warehouse with shipping docks running down one side and vendors on the other. We were able to see lots of seafood including the large tuna being butchered, octopus that had been arranged like blossoming flowers, and many fish I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen before but would most likely eat. Ha!

Many of the vendors start closing up shop (around 11 AM), so we made our way to one of the several famous sushi vendors near the market, Dai Wa Sushi. There were several lines of people waiting to be seated, now us included, so after waiting at least least an hour to get in, we were ducking under the entrance making our way to our seat at the sushi bar, which incidentally, is the only place you can sit in this “quaint” (read: extremely tiny) establishment serving up some of the freshest sushi in the world. As we sat down, ordered what Misty would like to consider a “brunch Sapporo,” we were informed that they were serving a set menu. Misty’s life started to flash before her eyes and I settled in for the best sushi I’ve ever had the opportunity to eat. About this time, I’m thinking Misty is getting terribly worried, she’s about to have 10 pieces or so of sushi set in front of her at a rather rapid fire pace and will be expected to eat them as they are prepared. I’m starting to to get “the look.” As we start in she makes it through the best piece of tuna I’ve ever eaten and she starts to chew slower and slower getting a more and more worried look on her face. As the sea urchin roll is served, the nausea sets in and she proceeds to inform the chef and myself that she is “getting full.” As the egg sushi is set down in front of her she takes a bite and gives me a, “I should get credit for this” look to which I inform her, she will not, as it’s not even fish or raw for that matter. At this point she starts to unload sushi onto my little wooden serving platform as I’m now finishing my last piece. I make an attempt to help her eat at least a few of the more exotic pieces she’s been served only to leave the squid and a few pieces of the salmon roll on her plate. We tab out, thank the chef and make our way out the door. Heavy breathing from Misty ensues and we find a Coke Zero quickly. Misty managed to make it through the endeavor without any food going the wrong way (barely, I know) and I’ve now had the chance to experience the best sushi I’ve ever had, even if I had to manage to eat a few pieces past my, “I’m full” point. I think this was a great way to end our Japan tour. We head back towards the house to pack up, as we headed towards the airport to leave for our next destination this evening. After a quick sendoff and goodbye from my mom and my newly known extended family, we board the Emirates plane headed for Dubai. After several days of going non-stop, we promptly doze off and awake several hours later, just a few longitudinal lines further west!