Friday Evening Dinner

Where do we go for a meal on Friday, the evening before we leave for the airport?  Should we go to some place with healthy food?  Note to Marsha S., I really did think about going to a healthy alternative restaurant but my carnivore instincts prevailed.  Should we go to an upscale restaurant?  Nah, neither of those types of places.  We decided to go to the Marin Brewing Company in Larkspur.  After all, we will be eating a lot of Asian food in the weeks ahead.  Thus what would be more appropriate than an All-American meal before our trip begins?  Hence, we went to Brew Co for hamburgers, French fries, and onion rings.  and 3 pitchers of Mt.  Tam Pale Ale  :-)

We had the pleasure of having the company of Urs and Jeff, Kacy's parents, with us at dinner.  The combination of burgers, fries, and Marin Brewing Company ales made for a marvelous meal.  Note to Alice K., I did not try the vegetarian burger this time either but I will try to do so on my next visit to Brew Co.  :-)  For Info on Brew Co

Countdown

Time is counting down to our departure at 1:20 AM Sunday morning, June 13, from SFO

                                        

The Case of the Missing Singapore Dollars

Upon returning from the National University of Singapore in December 2008, Patrick brought back a large amount of Singapore Dollars (SGD).  However, in the two years since his return, these SGD had disappeared. Although the amount is not enough to retire upon, I was determined to find them.  Using my detective skills, I set about to find the missing SGD.   To paraphrase a quote from Leslie Howard's 1935 "Scarlet Pimpernel" movie,

 

I seek them here.  I seek them there. 

I seek them everywhere.

Are they in heaven?   Or are they in hell?

Those damned elusive Singapore dollar bills 

I remember putting them into a zip lock bag for safe keeping  The question was where did I put them?  I rummaged through every conceivable drawer.  I even looked in suitcases, money belts, and the loose bags from other trips.  I scoured the box in which I kept the things that I plan to have for this upcoming trip.  Despite searching this box several times, I had no luck.  It was as if the SGD had been abducted by space aliens.

But being stubborn, I decided to go through the box one last time.  Success crowned my persistence as I finally found the zip lock bag with the SGD in the box. How on earth did I miss it the first several times that I searched the box? Gadzooks, am I getting old?  Is my eyesight fading?  Hmm, did a mischievous sprite play a joke on me by magically making the SGD disappear from sight until the day before our trip?  :-)  Which is the real answer?  In any event, I am just happy that I solved the mystery of the missing SGD at long last.

BTW many people consider Leslie Howard's role as the foppish Sir Percy Blakeney in the "Scarlet Pimpernel" to be one of his finest performances.  Merle Oberon was outstanding as the long suffering Lady Blakeney who thought she had married a man who was only concerned with his dress and appearance.  Raymond Massey played the role of the dastardly Chauvelin. if you are interested in finding out more about the movie, click on the following link:  Scarlet Pimpernel

Convenient or Essential to bring?

When I first traveled abroad, the only electronic gizmo that I carried with me was a camera and that one was made well before the digital age.  Nowadays, it seems that we are carrying a wide range of electronic items with us when we travel.

For myself, I am carrying my MacBook Pro to keep up my blog and with my Email, a compact digital camera with an extra battery and SD card, a SD card reader to offload the photos into my Mac, an unlocked cell phone so that I can buy SIM cards to use it in Hong Kong and Singapore, an I Pod Touch that not only has my music on it but a host of travel apps such as subway maps, tourist information, airline websites, currency converter, etc., a headset to use on the airplane in lieu of the lamentable ones that the airlines pass out, and all of the requisite cables and chargers. Needless to say, I also have to bring adapters that will fit the outlets in Hong Kong and Singapore in order to keep all of my gadgets fully charged.   Are all of these items merely convenient to have or are they absolutely essential for our travel?
                                                                     My MacBook Pro with the Magritte skin under the shell
                            
Frankly, IMHO, these items are essential to have.  Hotel computers in the business centers are usually antiquated with outdated software.  Hence I prefer to use my own MacBook Pro laptop.  Cell phones are critical to keep in touch with each other and with relatives in foreign locales.  Moreover, it is much cheaper to call back to the United States, as little as a few cents per minute, with a SIM card purchased locally than via the AT&T International calling plan that can be as much as $1.95 per minute.  The I Pod Touch has all of my travel information in a compact package plus I can listen to the music I want while on board the plane.  Naturally the audio and the comfort of my own headset are far superior to the cheap sets the airlines provide.

In addition, Pat has a similar list of electronic gizmos.  But instead of a laptop, he will be bringing an I Pad.  Will the I Pad become the preferred "computer" when we travel?  Will it replace the netbooks and laptops?  Time will tell.

Foreign Currencies

The last time I arrived at  Hong Kong airport, the line for one ATM station was about 25 people long and was hardly moving.  There was another ATM station with only 2 people in line but alas, my ATM card did not work there.  This time I decided to be proactive.  Not wishing to arrive in Hong Kong with no local currency, I stopped by the American Express Travel Store at 1st and Market Streets in San Francisco before my trip in order to purchase Hong Kong dollars and Singapore dollars.

I guess these currencies are not commonly purchased at the store despite what I would assume would be a high number of travelers going to Hong Kong and Singapore from here.  Eva of AMEX had to special order them for me and after a week, they arrived yesterday, June 3.  Although the exchange rate is certainly in AMEX's favor and there is also a $5 transaction fee to purchase the currencies, I still find it worthwhile to purchase from them.



The American Express Travel Store is located at 455 Market Street and its phone number is (415) 536-2600.

             

  

Luggage Identity

Luggage sculpture at Sacramento Airport

                                                                                                                        
"The scientific theory I like best is that the rings of Saturn are composed entirely of lost airline luggage"  

                                                                                                                Mark Russell

With so many suitcases arriving at the same time, it is very easy to mistake one piece of luggage for another. Thus Teri is very concerned about someone erroneously taking her suitcase off of the conveyor belt, finding it is not actually the one that person is looking for and then unceremoniously dumping it on the floor instead of placing it back on the conveyor belt.  As this did happen to Teri, I cannot blame her being paranoid about her luggage.  As a result, we have attempted to differentiate our luggage from those belonging to other people. 

To this end, we have placed neon color wraps on the luggage handles, unique luggage tags, and on Teri's suitcase, several short pieces of bright ribbons attached to the handle as well. In addition, we have placed a bright blue spandex luggage hugger that wraps completely around the suitcase itself as can be seen in the photo below. Hopefully, this will prevent any cases of mistaken suitcase identity on our trip.  In case you are interested, I purchased the luggage hugger for $14 at the Protravel Gear

Packing is not fun

Gadzooks, after all these many months of planning, I only have two weeks to go before our trip.  As excited as I am about the trip, packing is not a task that I look forward to.  I guess I will start this weekend to avoid packing at the last minute.  I envy my brother James as he is just taking a carry-on bag with him for his trip.

Cathay Pacific's Marco Polo Club

Pat and I joined the Marco Polo Club for a $50 annual membership fee.  The benefits will extend to the card holder's partner so both Teri and Kacy will be able to enjoy the same privileges as Pat and I.  The main advantages are that we get priority check-in and boarding. Moreover, Cathay Pacific also gave us Marco Polo Club luggage tags which hopefully means our luggage will be among the first off of the plane.  We shall see if it is worth it or not.  

Per the Confessions of a Sensitive Man blog,

"I was hesitant in applying to the Marco Polo Club, the first airline membership for which I had to pay a sizeable fee. In the end, the entire check-in to arrival process finessed an otherwise exhausting journey to be with my girlfriend.  Cathay Pacific did a fantastic job of making the experience simple, and simple travel is most desirable for a long trip. For example, the Marco Polo Club membership allowed me to basically bypass long lines at the check-in counter and the gate, expediting the check-in and boarding process at a speed I had never imagined." 

For good measure, we are also members of Asia Miles frequent flyer program.  There are certain discounts you can get on shopping items but the main reason is for the miles.  However it does take 60,000 miles for a round trip ticket from SFO to HKG.  Thus far, I only have 32,000 miles and even after this trip, I will only have around 49,000 miles.  As my next major trip will hopefully be to Europe, I doubt that I can obtain the additional Asia miles before my current balance expires.  Oh well, we shall see.