Author: mochatruffalo
With the Russo-Ukrainian War and persistent inflation, gas prices have skyrocketed this past week. We’re used to the $4/gal price tag here in California, but when prices hit $5+/gal I was forced to make some behavioral changes. Instead of barreling down the 405 HOV lane at 80-90 mph, I am now finding myself in the … Continue reading Unintended Consequences
Faith came to visit this week, and managed to drag my lazy bum out of the house to go whale watching. In the 11 years we’ve been in SoCal, never once did we go whale watching, even though the migrating whales are just off our coastline. Whales migrate down south from their feeding grounds in … Continue reading Pink Floyd
Having been introduced to the miles and points in the past year and a half, I’ve learn quite a bit of travel tips and tricks. Blogs and travel forums are full of acronyms, and one particular one is HUCA, short for Hang Up & Call Again. Essentially what this means is if you don’t like … Continue reading HUCA
When in Miami, eat Cuban sandwich. Despite its name, the Cuban sandwich was invented in Miami. We were told by a native Cuban that this sandwich doesn’t exist in Cuba. The famous Cuban sandwich at Versailles located in Little Havana The rest of the day was spent strolling along the ocean path and Ocean Drive. … Continue reading Sights of Miami Beach
It’s been 2 and a half months since we last traveled. Joe’s perfectly fine staying at home, but I’m getting restless. So, I jumped at the very first chance to fly out to Miami to meet up with Juin without my better half. With the luxury of time, I opted to not fly direct to … Continue reading Transcon Travel
When it comes to traveling I am rather brand agnostic. I will fly with whomever offers me the best value. It doesn’t necessarily mean the cheapest flight, but the best money spent for the best route, schedules, and amenities. With that said, I still make sure to sign up for each respective frequent flyer programs. … Continue reading Miles From The Sky
Since opening the Amex card in April, I have finally made my first Membership Rewards redemption. Transferring 189k points to ANA allowed us to booked our round trip business class seats on EVA between LAX and TPE for next fall. With RT EVA business class seats going for $6,800 per person, I got 7.1 cents … Continue reading First Membership Rewards Redemptions
Ton Ton Katsuya, New Asian BBQ, Eataly, Big Dan Shangxi Taste
The big day is here. I had been thinking of hiking to the Wave for a few years, but never got around to entering into the lottery for a permit until this year. Tried the online lottery twice without success, and finally won the walk-in lottery on our first try. I will admit we were … Continue reading Coyote Buttes North – The Wave
We decided to sandwich an off day in between yesterday’s Angels Landing hike and tomorrow’s Wave hike. Nothing was really planned for today until the very last minute. I had initially thought about doing a short hike at Bryce Canyon, but we changed course at the last minute when we realized that Page is about … Continue reading Horseshoe Bend & Toadstool Trail
Angels Landing is Joe’s favorite trail, and a tie for second for me (the other being Bright Angels in Grand Canyon). Today is our third, and likely final, Angels Landing hike before the lottery permit system takes effect in 2022. It is unfortunate that a permit system needs to be implemented, but due to overcrowding … Continue reading West Rim Trail – Angels Landing & Walter’s Wiggles Viewpoint
We are back at Zion National Park. The thin November crowd makes the park visit much more pleasant. Here’s a view outside our hotel room. Before heading out for any hikes, we had to go to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) office in Kanab to see if we could get lucky with getting one … Continue reading Our Happy Place
BAA announced today that there will be no cut off for the 2022 Boston Marathon. Prior to this, I wasn’t confident that my 2:15 min cushion was good enough to run next year’s race, but looks like I’ve been given a chance to redeem my performance at the 2021 Boston Marathon. Back to training next … Continue reading 0:00
This is possibly the last time where air travel will be enjoyable for us. Once the US opens up on Nov. 8th, the days of empty flights will be over. Check-in in Malaga was as close to a disaster as it could get. We waited an hour and a half standing in line to check-in, … Continue reading Back Stateside
Having visited five cities and towns on this trip, I will say that Ronda is my favorite. I now understand why many authors are enchanted by this town. Listening to chirping birds and watching them soar across the deep gorge, inhaling crisp fall air in the peaceful morning, and enjoying breakfast with a view of … Continue reading Exploring Ronda
Woke up early to catch our 8am train to Ronda. By the time we got to Ronda, it was 11am, too early to check into our Airbnb. Luckily, we were able to store both our luggage at Hotel Andalusia located right across the train station for 5€ before heading into town. Ronda is small. There … Continue reading Ronda
The original plan was to leave for Ronda today. However, by the time I got around to booking our train tickets, the train was already full. What I had failed to realize was that today is All Saints Day, which is a public holiday for the Spaniards. Given that today is the last day of … Continue reading Extra Day in Granada
The crown jewel of Granada. So popular that by the time we got there with our advance purchased tickets at 8:15am, all tickets for the day were already sold out. The general ticket gets you into the Nasrid palace (star of the show), Alcazaba fort, Charles V palace, and the Generalife summer home. This royal … Continue reading Alhambra
The rain predicted for today didn’t really materialize until early evening, and even then the rain was sporadic - mostly off than on. And today, we got a brief but important lesson on Spanish history. Back in high school, we had briefly learned about some Spanish Queen funding an Italian guy for his trip to … Continue reading Granada Cathedral & Royal Chapel
A 2-hour train ride from Córdoba brought us to Granada. Granada is a much larger city with more to see. However, it’s main draw for most is the Alhambra. Our tickets are for Sunday, which means we have a couple of days to wander before hand. Today will be the last sunny day in the … Continue reading Views of Alhambra
Old Town Córdoba is charming but small. We saw most of it yesterday in a few hours. Today, we got a chance to retrace some of our steps to get a better look at sights we had either tabled for today or had missed yesterday. The Jewish Quarter has one of the three best preserved … Continue reading Old Town Córdoba
The train ride between Sevilla and Córdoba is about 45-60 minutes, so a lot of people day trip to Córdoba from Sevilla to check out the Mezquita. We opted to stay two nights in Córdoba to get a better feel of the old town. For me, Córdoba’s old town is much more intimate than that … Continue reading Mezquita
Spaniards eat lunch from 1:30pm to 5:30pm, and dinner from 8pm to midnight. Restaurants therefore open only during those hours. For us, it’s been difficult to adjust. We’re famished by noon. By the time we’re ready for lunch, the restaurants that are open had just wound down from their second breakfast. Dinner at 8pm is … Continue reading Spanish Time Zone
Some of us were recently introduced to the world of dressage during the Tokyo Olympics, where an American horse pranced and danced to the hip hop tunes we grew up with. Real Escuela Andaluza Del Arte Ecuestre in Jerez is one of the big four equestrian schools in Europe that teaches classical dressage. Since Jerez … Continue reading Jerez – Dancing Horses & Sherry
Three full days in Sevilla is a good amount of time to explore the city and cover the main sites at a leisurely pace. Our last full day brought us to the Bullring and Ceramic Museum, neither of which were on my initial list of places to hit. As an animal lover, I have misgivings … Continue reading Bullring & Ceramic Museum
FIRE'd @ 47 