I love traveling. I go stir crazy if I do not have a trip to plan or one to look forward to. If I am in the office for more than a few weeks at a time, watch out! My mood plummets like the Stock Market Crash! I have been lucky to have been able to travel to 48 of the US States and over 35 countries around the world, but there are definitely some adventures that stick with me for than others. Here goes:
* The Jack the Ripper Tour in London - this was one of the scariest tours I have every been on. The guide took us around the city showing us where Jack the Ripper killed and giving us all the gruesome details. The last murder took place 3 blocks from our hotel. As I started freaking out, getting a wigged out, my boyfriend at the time looked at me dead serious and said "Jack is about 110 right now, I know you can take him!" After I stopped laughing, I was able to go to sleep and only had mild nightmares.
* Dinner in Malta - as we went down a deserted unpaved road for nearly 20 minutes. I thought I was in the movie Deliverance. After I was convinced that I was not going to be left for dead, we came to the most beautiful clearing with an outdoor restaurant where we spent the most enchanted evening straight out of a movie.
* Any trip to Vegas with Wendy - have you seen the movie The Hangover? While our trips have not been that crazy, we have not lost anybody, but we have had our fair share of interesting times. We have been yelled at up and down the Strip as Wendy insists on taking pictures in casinos at strange and interesting people and things.
We waited in line for 4 hours to get into the nightclub Rain, made new friends while waiting, only to stay a 1/2 hour in the broken glass littered floor. We have visited a fortune teller numerous times to figure out our love lives, gotten back tattoos because we could and have spent hours watching Yankees Baseball in the Caesar's Sports Book.
The list continues with Tom - the wind tunnel pool on our Honeymoon where we had to hold on for dear life just to get some sun, the Christmas tree extravaganza in Chicago where we drank too much Gluwein and my concussion/disfiguring bump at Wendy's wedding.
Who knows what my future trips will bring - Africa looms in 6 days; Tom and my baseball odyssey is scheduled for March and we are ready for our 5 year anniversary trip to the Greek Isles. A girl has got to dream....
Showing posts with label Malta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Malta. Show all posts
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
Freaky Food
Whenever I travel internationally, I never know what kind of food to expect. Especially when I am at JCI events, during the extremely busy days, you never know when and what you are going to get to eat. I always have granola bars stuffed in my bag, as those of you who know me, know that a hungry Michelle is a crazy Michelle!
On my first JCI trip to Turkey I was out to dinner with the Senators and we all ordered fish, the house specialty. The fish arrived alright - complete with head, tail, and skins. As I sat there staring at the fish, lots of thoughts were running through my head. Maybe I should have paid more attention to my father when we was cleaning fish when I was growing up. Maybe I should have ordered steak, but what would I have got on my plate? How was I going to do something with this fish without drawing a lot of attention to my discomfort? As I sat there contemplating, one of the women grabbed my plate and skillfully boned and beheaded the fish in under 30 seconds. After thanking her profusely, I was able to enjoy the rest of my dinner with no issue.
Then it was off to Malta. After an awesome day with the Board of Directors on the island of Gozo, we headed off to eat dinner. We started down this bumpy dirt road that was literally on the side of a cliff. Had these people seen deliverance? Was I that unpopular? Would I ever get home and marry Tom in 2 weeks? After 20 minutes, we came to a clearing where an outdoor restaurant against the cliffs with the water crashing proved to be absolutely gorgeous! This was one of the best meals of my life after I realized I was going to love to eat my dinner!
Finally, I was in Switzerland this summer and we were sick of walking around looking for a restaurant so we stopped at this famous restaurant and asked for a menu. The menu only had dessert and wine on it, so I asked for the dinner menu. The waitress perfunctory told me that there was no menu, there was 1 entree - steak and fries for $40. Exhausted and famished, we said fine. What arrived was a small piece of steak (less than a palm size piece) and a heaping plate of fries. Given that we had paid $40, we all ate everything on our plates. While we were waiting for the check, another plate of steak and fries showed up at everyone place. You get 2 servings so they fries don't get cold while you are eating. Who knew?
As I travel around the world, food is always interesting. I have had Green Tea McFlurries in Korea, McMarsala Burgers in India, tofu dishes and other dishes where there is no American translation. I have tried shark (it tastes like chicken), snake (it takes like chicken), fish crackers (they do not take like chicken) and everything in between. I have tried sushi in Panama, pizza in India as well as Korean BBQ in Korea.
Whether I like it or not, I will always try new things. Who knows, I might find my new favorite food, or my most memorable meal ever?
On my first JCI trip to Turkey I was out to dinner with the Senators and we all ordered fish, the house specialty. The fish arrived alright - complete with head, tail, and skins. As I sat there staring at the fish, lots of thoughts were running through my head. Maybe I should have paid more attention to my father when we was cleaning fish when I was growing up. Maybe I should have ordered steak, but what would I have got on my plate? How was I going to do something with this fish without drawing a lot of attention to my discomfort? As I sat there contemplating, one of the women grabbed my plate and skillfully boned and beheaded the fish in under 30 seconds. After thanking her profusely, I was able to enjoy the rest of my dinner with no issue.
Then it was off to Malta. After an awesome day with the Board of Directors on the island of Gozo, we headed off to eat dinner. We started down this bumpy dirt road that was literally on the side of a cliff. Had these people seen deliverance? Was I that unpopular? Would I ever get home and marry Tom in 2 weeks? After 20 minutes, we came to a clearing where an outdoor restaurant against the cliffs with the water crashing proved to be absolutely gorgeous! This was one of the best meals of my life after I realized I was going to love to eat my dinner!
Finally, I was in Switzerland this summer and we were sick of walking around looking for a restaurant so we stopped at this famous restaurant and asked for a menu. The menu only had dessert and wine on it, so I asked for the dinner menu. The waitress perfunctory told me that there was no menu, there was 1 entree - steak and fries for $40. Exhausted and famished, we said fine. What arrived was a small piece of steak (less than a palm size piece) and a heaping plate of fries. Given that we had paid $40, we all ate everything on our plates. While we were waiting for the check, another plate of steak and fries showed up at everyone place. You get 2 servings so they fries don't get cold while you are eating. Who knew?
As I travel around the world, food is always interesting. I have had Green Tea McFlurries in Korea, McMarsala Burgers in India, tofu dishes and other dishes where there is no American translation. I have tried shark (it tastes like chicken), snake (it takes like chicken), fish crackers (they do not take like chicken) and everything in between. I have tried sushi in Panama, pizza in India as well as Korean BBQ in Korea.
Whether I like it or not, I will always try new things. Who knows, I might find my new favorite food, or my most memorable meal ever?
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