The Making Of A Mega Trip - A Parable On The Dangers Of Incremental Decision Making

How do Wife and I plan and create our trips. I'm sure you will hardly be surprised to learn it is all based on an exceedingly rational and complex algorithm that leads to incredibly logical results. Let's peel the layers off the onion and see what this incredible process looks like so perhaps you too can create your own phenomenal travel experiences.

Step One - Choosing where to go

Need to see daughter #2 who lives in Hong Kong. Go to Asia

Step Two - Choosing when to go

Get tip from fellow traveling friend The Count that Singapore Airlines is having a business class ticket sale. Book tickets for March and April because that's kind of when we've been traveling in the spring.

Step Three - Decide how long to go

After our last trip of 8 weeks we decided that was a bit too long. So we'll cut this one down a bit. Oops, see Step Two. We're already committed to 8 weeks.

Step Four -Decide where to go in more detail

The valuable lessons of the last trip had us focusing on limiting our travel to just two countries in this case Japan and Korea.

Step Five - Don't forget the kids

Oops see Step One, forgot we are going to see the #2's. We will have to include going to see them, maybe not in Hong Kong but at a resort someplace so the whole family can relax

Step Six - Account for weather

Remember the lessons of the last trip! No freaking cold weather. Check average temperatures in Japan and Korea. What the F@&! Korea is bloody cold in March. Well thank goodness we'll be going to a resort in a warm place with the #2's. We can schedule it during March.

Step Seven - Adjust for kids actual schedule

Darn, the #2's are actually only available at the very end of our trip. Well we'll put in three weeks in Japan to make use of the three week Japan Rail Pass and then add some time in Tokyo. That will use up most of March. We can go to Korea after that and it might not be that cold there.

Step Eight - Adjust for Japan school vacation

Oops, there is a countrywide school vacation that will be in the middle of when we're planning to be there. All guidebooks advise not going at this time as all of Japan is filled with local tourists. Guess we'll only go to Japan for the first two weeks of our trip.

Step Nine - Throw Korea under the bus because its still too damn cold

Got to find somewhere warmer! How about Bali. Exotic, tropical, very tourist friendly, economical

Step Ten - Account for how freaking big Asia is

Holy Moly it takes almost 8 hours to get to Bali from Tokyo direct and 17 to 20 hours if you do connections. And it is not cheap. The best connection, price, and time is through Taiwan.

Step Eleven - Why not Taiwan?

Hey we could stop over in Taiwan. Check out Taiwan and it seems pretty cool.

Step Twelve - Decide what we are actually going to do in these countries.

OMG so many things to do. Have to take advantage of our rail pass. Oh that new rule about not going to too many places and doing too much; we can get to that the trip after this one.

Step Thirteen - Review results of planning process.

Let's see the results of this precise process. We're doing Four countries, Ten cities and we'll be taking Eleven airline flights and Five train trips. This is a BIG improvement over last year's Asia extravaganza where we went to four countries, ten cities, and took seventeen airline flights...😞

Step Fourteen - Promise each other we will redesign travel planning system

Mega Planning

If you've heard a disturbance in the Force you must be very sensitive to the great transformations that take place here in de-I-dia. For indeed high up in the misty heights of de-I Tower, the Masters and Mistresses of de-I-dia are planning, and plotting. For soon, yes very soon the forces of de-I will be setting forth again upon some unsuspecting part of the world. Soon yes, yes very soon.

Undoing Months In Days

I have been crowing the last few posts about my incredibly successful battle against the weight (I can't say the bulge because as previously noted all I'm losing is everything OTHER than the bulge). This week I've taken one of my now infrequent business trips to Los Angeles where I can happily announced I have consumed more calories in two days than I probably have in the last month!!!!!

There is something about being alone on business travel that brings out the absolute worse in my consumption patterns. On Tuesday night I had a steak that wife and I could have shared with leftovers. Last night it was a meg-burger. Thankfully my system literally will not maintain that level of consumption. It already is shutting down. And I'll be home in just a few hours and will get back on the straight and narrow. Whew.

Being The Cheshire Cat

Do you remember the scene from Alice in Wonderland? The one where the Cheshire Cat is talking to Alice and starts disappearing until all that is left is his smile? I am going through something like that.

Since returning from our Fall trip to Europe, I've been on a significant weight loss trend. I have not been dieting per se. I found that my appetite had decreased so I just started eating less at each meal. And I made a conscious decision to drink less. I don't drink less frequently but drink less quantity with each drink.

The result has been a slow gradual weight loss. On Saturday, I got on the scale and was greeted with landmark number, 174. Not 174.5. Not 175.1. But a bona fide 174.0. Not even when we were doing the radical calorie counting a few years ago did I get to this weight. Haven't seen it for 40+ years.

Now just to put things into context, for years...I mean YEARS...my doctors have universally, and in very deep serious tones, said..."You need to get rid of that belly. That fat around your organs is deadly. You are going to die like right now. In fact I'm surprised you didn't die yesterday. Lose the gut!" To which I've usually responded by telling them that my two grandfathers and my father all lived to their 90's with very big guts thank you very much.

Nonetheless, I am losing weight...everywhere except from my gut! So now I have less of everything except the belly. I am totally convinced that, like the Cheshire Cat, in not too long all of me will be disappearing except my belly which will still be there smiling at the doctors as they lecture it.

Truth In Advertising

I hate, HATE, when chefs, cooks, whomever, consider it okay to take time honored foods, change them completely, and claim the are "making my version of" whatever it is. I recently had a major meltdown and put a scathing TripAdvisor review for a local restaurant that had put a pasta with 'Bolognese' sauce on it yet served a dish that was in no way close to what that classic sauce should be. And when I called them out on it, they smugly said, "It's our chef's interpretation." Ya if their chef feel one can completely change a dish and put whatever name you want on it.

I, however, it was time for me to have to take my own medicine last night. We had our friends from San Miquel Allende Mexico in town for dinner. I made a rice dish that could have very easily been called a Paella. EXCEPT that it was missing a few ingredients and wasn't cooked in the proper manner in the proper pan.

So what to do? Could I be a complete hypocrite and call it a 'Paella'?

No, I proudly announced as I served:

                                               Paella Like Food Product!

And I'm happy to report that my guests loved it, ate seconds and thirds, and called it the best Paella Like Food Product they'd ever had.