Bucket List

 This is our ever-evolving bucket list.  There is lots more we'd like to do, but these are the trips that most interest us at the moment and the ones we've completed.

*mouse over names for further information about each trip

Northern Italy
Southern Spain
Northern Spain
Central Italy

Southern Italy
Camino de Santiago (Caminos Aragones, Frances, Invierno)
Hike Hadrian's Wall and the Lakes District of England

John Muir Way in Scotland
St. Cuthbert's Way in England and Scotland
Alta Via 1 in the Italian Alps and Mont Blanc region in Switzerland
Lower Italy & Sicily

Mekong River Cruise
Norwegian mailboat
New Zealand Fly Fishing
Northern Europe & Christmas Cruise
Horseback Camping in the Sierras
Backpacking and fishing for Golden trout in the Wind River range of Montana
Switzerland, Germany, Austria by rail and trail
John Muir Trail

Thailand

Cambodia

Vietnam

Singapore

Philippines

Indonesia

All of Eastern Europe

The Club - Las Vegas (LAS) Terminal 1

This club is located on the second level of Terminal 1.  It is one of two "The Club" lounges at LAS.  The other is in Terminal 3. This club accepts Priority Pass access and is open from 5am to 12:30am.  Access is only allowed within 3 hours of your flight departure time - continuing the depreciating value trend for Priority Pass membership.

It's located near gate 33 between Brooks Brothers and Tumi.

We liked much about this lounge.  The greeting was warm and friendly.  Although not a large lounge, it is well laid out and can sit approximately 100.

The food selection was better than the last few lounges we've visited and was a nice surprise.

We visited prior to a morning flight and the breakfast selection was just right.  Best of all, for us, they had a nice coffee machine that allowed us to satisfy our Capuccino craving.

The restrooms were plentiful, clean, and the facility even has two showers!

This lounge was spotless and the staff was constantly moving through the facility to take away discarded items and sweeping as necessary.  They were also keeping the food area frequently stocked.  There were even staff coming around with a tray of free Mimosas!

If there was anything negative, it would be that not all seating has AC power outlets.  Some only have USB and those available at the row of seats we were sitting at were not working.

Our overall impression is that this is a comfortable, well-appointed and maintained lounge that we would not hesitate to use again.  Here's the score:

Friendly reception - 10
Plentiful and comfortable seating - 9
General cleanliness in the seating area - 10
Cleanliness in the restrooms - 10
Availability of showers - 8
Food and snacks - 8
Beverages - 8
Power outlets - 8
Quiet environment -10
Are we anxious to return? - 10

Overall rating - 91

Virgin Atlantic Lounge - LAX Terminal 2

This lounge is located on the second level of Terminal 2 after security.

It's directly across from the Delta Sky Club and is one of only 2 lounges in this terminal.  This lounge only allows Priority Pass members access from 5:30 to 11:30 am.  Its limited access is another example of the continuing devaluation of the Priority Pass membership.

First impressions when entering are the large windows with plentiful natural light.

There is seating for perhaps 100 passengers and power outlets at maybe 70% of them.

The food is surprisingly minimalist and lack-luster given this a Virgin Atlantic facility.  Those who also have access to the Delta Sky Club a few feet away will find a far superior selection.

That's it?

I suppose we are spoiled by the Delta club which has coffee machines that make Latte, Cappuccino, Mocha, etc.  Here you get cafeteria coffee.  Is this because the Brits prefer tea?  Who knows, but coffee dependent Americans will be jonzing for better.

The men's restroom is a single stall and not particularly clean at that.

On the bright side, the lounge is relatively quiet, clean and sufficiently staffed.  The welcome desk staff was friendly as well.

Here's the score for another lack-luster offering from Priority Pass:

Friendly reception -  9

Plentiful and comfortable seating - 8

General cleanliness in the seating area - 10

Cleanliness in the restroom - 5  

Availability of showers - 0

Food and snacks -  4

Beverages -  4

Power outlets - 7

Quiet environment - 7

Are we anxious to return? - 2

Overall Rating 56 out of 100

Mortgage Solutions Financial Premier Lounge - Colorado Springs (COS)

This a Priority Pass accessible lounge in the Colorado Springs Airport.  In fact, it's the only lounge of any kind in this airport.

It's possibly the smallest lounge we've visited and has an extremely limited set of amenities.  At most, it has seating for 20 people. There is a separate conference room with room for an additional 7.

Limited Seating

Small Conference Room

The seating is all straight-backed and not exactly comfortable. There aren't power outlets available at all of the seating either.  There was a wall-mounted television with the sound on in the tiny seating area so EVERYONE gets to listen to the TV, like it or not.

The food was very disappointing considering what it costs to be a Priority Pass member.

That's it for food!

Oh, how we missed the coffee machines available in other lounges.  You won't be making a cappuccino here....   Also, no alcohol of any kind so forget about sipping on a nice bloody mary prior to getting on your morning flight.

Beverages

We entered this club on a weekday morning around 7:30.  Unfortunately, the sole staff member must have had a bad night because she seemed genuinely put-out over having to admit us to the lounge.  She was intently focused on stacking sugar packets on end in a little basket and apparently, our presence diverted her attention from this vital task.

Here's the score for this lack-luster offering from Priority Pass:

Friendly reception -  0

Plentiful and comfortable seating - 5

General cleanliness in the seating area - 10

Cleanliness in the restroom - 0  (there isn't one)

Availability of showers - 0

Food and snacks -  4

Beverages -  4

Power outlets - 5

Quiet environment - 4

Are we anxious to return? - 2

Overall Rating 34 out of 100

4 Reasons Not To Use Google's Blogger Android App

Google's free blogging service, "Blogspot" is a neat way to get started with publishing your own blog.  You can create a blog for just about anything with the service without needing to buy your own web domain or pay a subscription fee to a web hosting company, and you can even seamlessly monetize your blog for free using Google's Adsense service.

When we here at Hereweeeego finally reached a point in our lives where we could travel, we decided to document our adventures using a Blogspot account.  We aren't tech gurus and we like that we only have to use one service to accomplish all of our (admittedly limited) blogging needs.  The whole business about establishing a domain, integrating WordPress, and dealing with a hosting company was more than we wanted to spend time on while traveling.

So, it would follow that the logical choice for an android app to update our blog on-the-go would be Google's own Blogger app.  Boy, were we in for a surprise.  The Blogger Android app turned out to be a startlingly terrible.  Here are 4 reasons why:

1.  The app hasn't been updated since February of 2016.

   This fact tells you a great deal about Google's commitment to continuous improvement for their app - there IS NO commitment.  Did they just abandon all engineering support for this product? It's not like they aren't getting any negative customer feedback.  Although Google is giving itself a 4 star rating for their app, if you look through recent reviews in the Play store, there are loads of 1 star reviews with comments like, "Appears to be abandonware. No updates in years. All attempts to publish posts fail.", or "uploading photos give this app a seizure or something because it just crashes".  It is befuddling that the app even exists on the Play store any longer, given Google's propensity for killing off it's products. 

2.  No ability to import photos.

 Try and grab photos from your phone's gallery, or even from your Google Photos archive to insert into a blogspot post and the app will literally puke all over itself.  It just can't be done.  The only way to have photos in your article is to snap them as you are writing the post.  What could the "do no harm" crowd at Google have possibly been thinking when they coded their app this way.  A true WTF moment the first time you realize this situation.

3.  Loses all photos in a post if trying to save while out of LTE or WiFi range

  Here is the one fault with the Blogger app we found most annoying - tragically so.  If you happen to lose internet connectivity while saving a post, ALL OF YOUR PICTURES WILL BE LOST! Gone. Vanished.  Never to be seen again.  Imagine our surprise the first time this happened to us when we had just finished snapping tons of photos of all the great art and sculpture in the Academia museum in Florence.  We didn't have WiFi access while in the museum and instead of just saving the whole post and it's contents locally on the phone, or giving us a warning that it couldn't save until we had established connectivity again, it just screwed us.  We didn't realize it had done that until it was too late to go back.  Not only did we lose all of the photos, but it corrupted the post and we couldn't even edit the text in it later.  Of course, if Google had given us the ability to just shoot photos with our phone or even a camera and import them into the post later (see number 2 above) this never would have been an issue.

4.  Adding text above a photo is a nightmare

Because you have to take photos while in the app (and of course you want photos in a travel blog), if you want to insert text at the beginning of a post or in-between photos, the process is infuriating and more often than not, impossible.  Trying to place the cursor with your finger between photos rarely works.  You are just stuck having to go back and edit the post once you have access to the web portal again.

What's the alternative?

There are alternative apps other than Googles own Blogger product that you can use to create and edit posts for Blogspot - approximately 15 the last time we checked.  Since we discovered how worthless  Google's app is we have tried BlogIt! by João Correia.  It works much better and has all the basic functionality you need to get the job of creating and posting blog posts done but without the infuriation factor of Blogger.  It's free and includes ads but they are unintrusive.  And unlike Google, the developer actually responds to issues people might have with his app.

The other alternative, and the one we are starting to use more often, is to simply create our posts during travel down time by using the web portal on either a tablet or Chromebook.  No more having to snap all of your photos with the horrible blogger app and risk losing them.

Parma, Italy - Plenty of Bang for the Buck!

Parma was one of our favorites.  Far fewer tourists and a great food scene makes this a great town to visit.  We happened to be in the city in the middle of November and it was alive with pre-christmas activity of displaying decorations, and evening outdoor craft markets. We'd recommend at least 3 nights in the city.  It has interesting churches, world class art galleries, and a food scene that may be the best we encountered in Italy.  And no tourist should visit Parma without taking one of the wonderful guided day tours of the cheese, ham, and vinegar producers.

Parma is easily accessible by train from all points in Northern Italy and lies half way along the route running between Milan and Bologna.  You can reach the city in an hour and 10 minutes from the Milano Centrale station.

We stayed at the Hotel Button, which is right in the historic center of the city and offers rooms from $56.00 per night with breakfast included.  It's a 9 minute taxi ride from the train station, or if you pack light and enjoy a walk as we do, then it's a 20 minute walk.  It's a 3 star hotel and the rooms are nothing fancy, but the breakfast buffet is adequate and the location and price can't be beat.

Hotel Button  - in the heart of the city

After the arriving at the hotel, you may be ready for a light and inexpensive lunch or snack.  We recommend you give Toast Amore a try.  It's on a popular street for strolling at 31 Strada Cavour. It's a unique concept with just sandwiches made on toasted bread.  The prices are 4 to 5 euros, but the size of these treasures justifies the price.  They are 18" x 18". You won't be hungry until dinner after working through one of these.

Stopped in here for a lite bite and had a great conversation with the owner.

We were expecting a small toast sandwich and he brought out THESE monsters.  So much for a light lunch...

After lunch, take a stroll over to the Piazza Duomo.  Here you can find a very nice cathedral dating back to 900AD, as well as the accompanying Baptistry and the Diocese Museum.  A single ticket purchased at the museum gets you entrance to the museum and the baptistry - the Duomo is free.  All three are worth the time to visit and the baptistry in particular, although it doesn't have the bronze doors as it's more famous Florentine cousin, it's interior is filled with stunning frescoes. 

Pictures of the inside of the Baptistry can be found at our Baptistry of Parma Page

and the Duomo can be found here Duomo of Parma

We recommend taking a relaxing walk through the streets in the neighborhood of the Duomo for a slice of tourist heaven. 

Quiet Streets around the Cathedral - What a nice change of pace!

Parma is just loaded with interesting churches.  The range of art and architecture is incredible.  Some that we can recommend (with links to more pictures) are:

San Giovanni, a short walk from the Duomo. (Apologies for the poor picture quality, it was a very dark day and we got there late)

Santa Croce with it's fabulous frescoed Cupola, and the intimate Chapel of the Most Holy Sacrament (more great frescoes)

Santa Maria Quartiere, another fine cupola and some of the best wall frescoes anywhere 

San Vitale, a surprisingly wonderful little church 

Santa Maria Steccata

For art lovers, there is the great National Gallery of Parma located in the Pallazzo della Pilota and the Pinocateca Stuard located at 2 Borgo del Parmigianino.  We can't recommend the Pinocateca strongly enough.  You will definitely get your art fix in here.  You can see some of our rather amateur attempts at taking pictures of just a small sample of the art in there here: 

Pinocateca Stuard.

As mentioned above, you just really need to take one of the food production tours offered in Parma.  Parma is one of Italy's epicenters for foodies and we found the food much better than Bologna which seemed to run to the overly salted.  We took the great whole day Tastybus tour offered by Maestro Travel Experience.  Our guide, Elisa was exceptionally well educated in Parmesan Cheese, Parma Ham, and Balsamic vinegar.  On the tour she gets right in there, showing you how to test cheese wheels, season the ham, and introduces you to the proprietor of Acetaia Picci, a small Balsamic vinegar producer whose product is amazing.  We were blown away by the time and care required to make the most exclusive and expensive vinegars you will ever come across.  There is even tasting at all three stops and lunch is included!

And lastly, you have to sample the many gourmet Italian restaurants in the old center of the city.  Keep in mind this is a city famous for it's cuisine, and you will absolutely need reservations for many of the better establishments.  We were pleasantly surprised that Google now offers a reservation service for most of them right in the Google Maps app.  Just locate the desired restaurant in Gmaps, scroll down to the reservations section and off you go.  We found it invaluable both as a reservation service and as a tool to tell us when the most busy times at particular place are.  One of the specialties of Parma Cuisine is lard fried dough pockets.  They are a sinful indulgence but you'll walk it off on a stroll through the city- right?

Some of our favorites were:

Gallo de Oro at 3 Borgo della Salina (20 meters from Hotel Button)

La Cucina Del Maestro at 19 Str. Luigi Carlo Farini

Trattoria Del Tribunale Parma at 5 Vicolo Politi

The Gallo d'Oro Restaurant is just next door to Hotel button and did not disappoint.

We had gelato every night at the Grom around the corner from the Hotel Button.

 

We were fortunate to arrive in Parma when the Christmas lights were just going up.  One of the little streets hung lights across the top in the shape of lamp shades.  You can see a quick video of it here.

We also stumbled upon a little produce shop that was a work of art itself.  The colors and selection were out-of-this-world.  You can see video of that here.

A Quick Guide to Zaragosa

When you think of great tapas in Spain, most of the attention goes to San Sebastian, Pamplona, and Barcelona, and they are great cities for foodies, but Zaragosa is surprisingly vibrant, well located, and has a world-class foodie scene of it's own.  Because it isn't on the coast, or a major tourist stop, it often gets overlooked.

 Zaragosa is a university town and main train hub in Aragon.  The 1.4 hour ride from Barcelona would knock off half the distance to Pamplona or Madrid.  If you are flying into Madrid or Barcelona with the intention of exploring the Northern portion of Spain, consider spending one or two nights in Zaragosa to adjust to the time change.  You will find that the "El Tubo" tapas district is well worth the visit and a great place to get into the rhythm of late night dining so popular in Spain.

There are hourly departures from the Barcelona Sants train station on the comfortable and fast Ave trains with fares as low as 26 euros. It's a comfortable hour and 40 minute ride through the country side and beats the hassle and expense of renting a car.  Departures from Madrid's Atocha station are the same price and only an hour and 20 minutes.

You arrive at the Zaragosa-Delicias train station and can walk to the old city center in 40 minutes or use a taxi to get right into the action in 10 minutes.

Check in to the hotel and get ready for lunch.  We recommend Hotel Don Jaime 54 at
Calle Don Jaime I, 54-56.  It's a clean and comfortable 3 star hotel with rates as low as $45 per night with breakfast included in the attached restaurant.  If you arrive too early for check-in, they will gladly hold your bags for you.  They are in the Booking.com system so you can reserve your room early without paying anything and cancel up to 24 hours before your stay if your plans should change.

You'll be ready for lunch so walk directly across the street to Restaurante Las Palomas.  It's a buffet style restaurant with a huge selection and inexpensive prices.  They also make great coffee.

Restaurante Las Palomas

After lunch, stretch your legs by walking around the corner to Plaza de Nuestra Senora Pilar.  It's a scenic stroll a few blocks long with shops on one side and the basilica of the same name on the other.  At the end is a modern sculpture/waterfall named Fuente de la Hispanidad and a sculpture of the earth known as Bola de Mundo. 

Fuente de la Hispanidad

A visit inside the  Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar is a must for tourists and pilgrims alike, and since you are already standing outside of it, why wouldn't you? It has a fascinating history, which you can read about here on Wikipedia.  It's believed to be the first church in history dedicated to the Virgin.  She is said to have appeared to St. James here and given him a pillar and instructed him to build a church on this site.  James may have built the first small chapel on the site in 41 AD.  You can still see and touch the famed pillar inside the basilica, which the citizens of Zaragoza have been protecting for centuries including occasionally hiding the artifact during invasions.  The frescoes by Goya, and architecture inside alone are worth the visit.  The basilica is also nicely lit up in the evening. 

Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar

 You can walk across the Puente de Santiago bridge over the Ebro river located at the far end of the plaza and walk along the far side of the river on Paseo de la Ribera for an impressive view of the basilica before walking back across the Puente de Piedra and end up right at the Hotel Don Jaime for a traditional Spanish Siesta.

In the evening, a visit to the El Tubo tapas district is a must.  

Although smaller in size than the more famous tapas districts of Pamplona or San Sebastian, you can find an eclectic selection of delicacies here.  You really can't go wrong with any of the bars here, but we can recommend from personal experience La Ternasca at Calle Estébanes, 9 and Bodeguilla Los Rotos at Calle Libertad, 9.

La Ternasca is a quintessential Spanish Tapas bar.  You can eat, (and smoke), at the two outside tables or sit at the tables with benches on the inside.  We found that the table just inside the bar was great for avoiding the smokers but still watching all the locals interact out in the narrow street.

 The waiter, Jorge, will welcome you with a smile, speaks English well, and will help you to choose from the treasures in the glass case. He also has a menu in English.  Although the house specialty is lamb, they have a varied selection of  traditional Spanish Tapas.  Our favorites were the octopus and croquettes.  The Octopus is sliced very thin, tenderized and cooked in butter and paprika and served with dollops of aioli.  Rather than the rubbery texture you often get with the cephalopod, the way La Ternasca makes it melts in your mouth.

La Ternasca - Octopus cooked right

 At Bodeguilla Los Rotos, all of their selections are on display on the long bars.  You don't even need to speak Spanish, just point to the selections you want.  Some items are meant to be served hot and they will whisk them away and nukerowave them for you.  They hand you a plate with your selections and small receipt.  Each time you go back for more, you get a new receipt.  When you are ready to pay, bring all your receipts to the counter and they will ring you up.  The selection is one of the most impressive we came across in El Tubo and there is really something for everyone here.

Bodeguilla Los Rotos - somthing for everyone

After dinner, you might choose to stroll with the locals on Avenida de Ceasar Augusto or Paseo de la Independencia.  Stop in to Puerta Cinegia Gastronómica Mercado at Calle Corso 35, just outside of the El Tubo area for a nightcap.  Take the escalator up to the bar and order a Tinto Verano.  They make it excellent here.  If you are still hungry or craving desert, there are food vendors encircling the bar.  It might best be described as a gourmet food-court with a bar in the middle.  Before walking back to the hotel, toast the giant roman statue overlooking the bar...:)

Puerta Cinegia Gastronomica Mercado

Who is this guy and why is looking at me?

Before you leave the following day, make sure to visit the Museo de los Faroles y Rosario de Cristal in Plaza San Pedro Nolasco.  This is an impressive collection of lighted floats used during religious parades that is displayed in a church.  The display is motion activated to turn on lights in the floats as you walk by them and a voice describes each.  There are a lot of them and there likely isn't another museum anything like this in the world. If you have more time, there is an interesting museum of an ancient roman theater next door.

  There are many other sites to see in Zaragosa and Friday nights in particular are lively with the local college students partying into the wee hours, but for a quick stop-over, you can't go wrong with Zaragosa.