The Real Deal

I must admit. I like flying business class. Real tablecloths, real cloth napkins, and real silverware served with a four course meal. Any beverage of my choice plus a real ice cream sundae, which I, unfortunately, had to turn down. Personal attention for my every need. I'm not sure Allan appreciated it quite as much as I did because he gets this kind of service from me all the time. :) Then there's a wonderful 15 inch screen to watch programming of my choice, and, to top it all off, having a seat which completely reclines as a bed with a real pillow and a real blanket. Now if I only got a real night's sleep, it would have been perfect. Not that I'm complaining, mind you.
(BTW--Allan spotted Susan Rice (US Ambassador to the UN) on our flight to Zurich.  Guess she likes the real deal, too.)

Never a Dulles Moment

We're sitting in the first-class lounge at Dulles after the shortest flight that we take today (4hrs). In a couple hours we leave for Zürich, (8 hour flight) after which we have a 5 hour layover. Then on to Delhi (7 1/2 hour flight). Can you believe they offer no meal on that flight--even in business class? We arrive at 12:45 am, and the worst part of our trip is over. Then it's all fun, baby.

Wheels Up

If you've ever traveled with the Vances, you've heard this often enough (not that it always means you'll leave at that time but that it's a good idea). Do I like being late? No. Did I like leaving the room with no makeup on because I didn't set the alarm for early enough? No. Did I like being that last one on the shuttle this morning because I couldn't find the hotel lobby? No. Nevertheless, we made it to the airport (7 min away) with plenty of time to sit in the United Club lounge for 30 minutes before boarding. I took this shot of Mt Ranier at sunrise on our way for the 4 hour flight to Dulles. It's gonna be a great day after all!

Vance's New Year's Greetings

Sorry the quality of the video is so poor.  You can't really read it but those of you who couldn't get PP on your email would appreciate the special effects!  I did upload it to YouTube and the resolution is somewhat better but still not great.  Link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkLfhE-aa0A

It's About Time . . . and more time

No one needs to remind me that it's been 3 years since my last blog entry.  Now that doesn't mean I haven't been blogging.  Actually, I blog in my head almost all the time.  Most things wouldn't interest you, and some things might even scare you. So suffice it to say that things have been going well for Allan and me, and retirement has been very good to us for the past (almost) two years.  Washington is a beautiful state, and despite the sometimes not-so-good weather, we love waking up in the morning and looking out at the vista of mountains and water. Even when it is cloudy and overcast (which it has been a lot lately), we feel blessed to be here.  Although we had decided that once we retired, we would stay put a little and wouldn't travel  internationally, we are making one big last hurrah (or so we say) to take an around the world trip with our United miles.  We figured we'd better while the miles were still good and we were in good health!  Our adventures begin next Wednesday as we leave Seattle to head to India (through Zurich), Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Vietnam, New Zealand and Australia. It was difficult to decide what we've missed that we would really  like to see.  We will return on the 24th of March to LA, so if you wanted to organize a grand welcome back to the US party, that's where it would be!  I will do my best to keep you posted with pictures and notes along the way, but since I'm not getting paid for this, you can't complain if I'm not as consistent as I hope to be.  We've got good walking shoes and are trying to pack light, but it's hard when we're going to be gone for two months.  We hope you'll join us online now and then.  Until then . . .

Guess Who Came to Dinner?

I have proof that Angola is the world's next hot vacation spot. In the past couple months, we had visits from two of the most well-known personalities in the world today. The city of Luanda was in a shut-down mode for 3 days in March and a crowd of a million people gathered when Pope Benedict XVI (affectionately known in Portuguese as Papa) visited. The residence where he stayed was located directly behind Allan's office building, creating a bit of a detour for regular traffic. The wonderful part about his visit was the preparation that went into cleaning up the city and planting trees along the route he would take. I wish he would come once a month. The second celebrity visited last month without press, publicity, or performance. Carrie Underwood came as part of the "Idol Gives Back" spot and traveled out of the city to pass out mosquito nets to needy families. Few people knew she was there, but when I got to announce her visit to the local high school students I work with, they politely smiled and admitted they had no idea who I was talking about. Fame is fleeting.

Not Down Yet

Lest some of you think that Allan's birthday cake killed me (since I haven't blogged since then), I figured I'd better write after such a long haitus. One of my friends chided me because she missed reading up on us. That's more than I can say for family :) I sometimes think I have been blogging because my ideas are constantly rolling around in my head--what could be called a brainstorm. But the reality is that I just haven't taken the time to put them down on paper. So I will do my best to reconstruct the last couple months to bring you up to date--if you care to read on, that is.