Key West

Just a quick note from MSC Poesia. We are in Key West. We arrieved this morning and we are leaving now to Playa del Carmen. I am writing from my iPhone using edge in roaming so no photos. I will write more as soon as I find wifi somewhere.

Key West, pirates town

We continue from the previous post, but now from the MSC Poesia. We woke up early. We decided to leave the curtains open so in the mornings we could see the sun rising in the sea. We had our shower and went to the 13th floor where the breakfast buffet is. Incredible choice and views. The restaurant is all surrounded by windows so we sat close to one that felt like being in the edge to the sea. Beautiful.

After a full breakfast (eggs, sausages, bacon, pancakes,…)  we went down to deck 4 and left the ship. We spent the day in Key West, a beautiful small town at the end of Florida Keys.

We had buses organized driving everybody to town (5 min). We spent the day walking around that beautiful city, full of nice cars, nice Harleys and old people. We visited Hemmingway’s house and went to a small beach.

Houses in Key West are all colonial style. Beautiful lovely small town.

At 1.30 we went back to the ship and started our trip to Mexico. Nuria had a bit of sea sickness. Yes, this huge ship moves quite a bit…

It was the Captain’s cocktail and gala dinner. I did not bring any suit or any tie, but I went with a shirt. Everybody had their best dresses….

After the captain’s speech, there was the daily show but it is too loud for Kai so we left. Nuria rested for a while in the room and then we went for dinner. We always sit in the same table. The gala dinner was too much. I think we are going to put (more!!) on weight here.

Back at MSC poesia, we did the ritual of getting ready, have our cocktail and go to the theatre. Take a look at the video… the theatre is inside the ship, yes…

Key West with GPS Garmin Oregon 300

EveryTrail – Find the best

Driving by the coast to Port Everglades

We had to leave the room by 11am. We agreed that The Clay Hotel had the best location possible in Miami Beach. We left the bags in reception and walked to Ocean Drive where we had a nice breakfast.

We went back to the hotel, took our stuff and put it in the car. We drove up towards port everglades, which is like an hour or so towards the north. We took it easy enjoying the road by the sea, stopping by to see the beach.

Once we found the budget agency we left the car and a shuttle dropped us at the port, where we checked in in an impressive place with security, photos for their record and so.

Once on board, we went to the cabin (8189) and when we saw it we couldn’t believe we were in a brand new room, with our own balcony, and all luxuries.

We went for a tour and finally to have dinner. The ship left at 19h direction Key West.

This video is the lobby, once we went to our room, we went and have a cocktail (I did) while listening to good music and waiting to depart.

Welcome to Miami

After our great dinner in the restaurant in the corner of this busy street, the cafe nuvo we went to bed. We had a good night. Woke up several times (as usual) but OK.

The hotel is at the heart of Miami Beach, it is cheap a bit noisy but highly recommended. Just for sleeping though.

We wanted to have breakfast so we went out of the hotel at Espanola way (photo on the right), where all the bars and restaurants are, and walked along Washington Avenue to the north where you have a lot of shopping. A couple of blocks from here there is Lincoln a pedestrian road full of shops and places to eat. We had a hot chocolate with a huge cookie at Ghirardelli. (photo above) Then we walked Lincoln towards the ocean stopping by a bank to redraw some money, and then along the beach. Lovely day. Perfect temperature. Perfect day.

We walked down the famous Ocean Drive, with all the art deco buildings, full of  restaurants and hotels, beautiful people and incredible cars.Food here is cheap. We reached the bottom of Ocean Drive with a ton of leaflets on 9.95 usd meals.

We then went to the beach for a while, where Kai ate a bit and I had a bit of a “too much sun”, and went to have something to eat at Atlantic, in ocean drive.

Nuria had a lobster salad and I had a cubanito (excellent meat). We shared a huge mojito (photo above).

After lunch we went to the supermarket to buy some nappies for Kai (for the cruise) and back to the hotel.

Iberia sucks

Here I am, in the middle of the ocean writing again. I would have love to name this post something like our trip to Miami, but I can’t.

We woke up this morning and went to the airport. In the airport they told us that we did not have the right seats in order to get a crib. We booked this flight long time ago! and after booking it, we called Iberia to make sure we had the right seats in order to put the baby with a crib. Right.

In Barcelona the supervisor changed everything so we could get this seats. We took the plane towards Madrid, we learned that we had to change planes… and they call it technical stop… but it is a joke, not only you have to change planes, you have one hour to go to the other corner of Madrid airport… so quite a bad start…. landing in Madrid Kai crying because he was hungry (he had great flight by the way) and running to get the connection train and to the other terminal…

Up to here OK. We made it. Now, when boarding they tell us that the seats we have are not the right ones for having a crib… I could not believe it. That the flight is overbooked and we have to see once inside.

Indeed the row 29 or the Airbus 340 is just one more raw, so of course we complained… I could not believe that after booking in advance (you already say you are traveling with a baby), calling by phone, and in Barcelona asking again, and being the 8th passenger to board (we went in advance to the airport) we did not have the seats for the crib… a 12 hour flight with a 8 weeks old baby and no place to lay him… incredible.

The story does not finishes here. We discussed with the cabin crew, and the chief ot the crew, but the people occupying those seats did not want to move. Can you believe it? There are a couple of places where the crib can go, one with 4 passengers (all together) and 2 couples. They all argue that for a long trip this is the best seats, and I agree, it is not their fault, it is Iberia’s incompetency, but come on!! don’t they have a heart? Could you tell a mum with her 8 week old baby to go and fuck off?

The cabin crew tried but no success. I also cannot believe that they don’t have the authority to tell the to move. How legal or just how can they allow this?

Well here we are, in a 3 seat for us, and we managed to put the crib on the floor. I did not want to go to this rows myself because I would be capable of beating them in the face with the laptop until their mother cannot recognize their faces… sorry this is how I am feeling now.

Iberia sucks. It doesn’t mater if you are a frequent flyer, if you have a baby… Ah, and if you seat in the seats at the end of the plane, remember you will not be able to choose your food… so we had pasta.

Anybody knows how to put a claim? I guess I should count 1000 and continue our trip…

Anyway, I will continue from Miami.

We are now in Miami, at the Clay Hotel in Washington avenue. What a cool place! This is a little street packed with bars and restaurants and the hotel is in an old style Spanish house, very nice. A bit noisy but nice.

We landed with delay, we went to customs which is process in itself where you have to put all your fingertips (digitally now) and photo. Now you understand how this TV CSI series have this incredible databases… well, the airport is pretty old. We arrive when the sun was going down. Once outside the terminal there are shuttles that take you to the rent a car dealers. We took the budget one and we were worried because it was taking us damn far. Once you get there you understand… a huge place with tons of cars. We cued for 10 minutes and we got our car. We took the option of baby seat for Kai and an economy car. Wow though, the economy car we have is a brand new car as big as our volvo… with 1000 miles in the counter! Very nice. It will cost us around 90 usd for 2 days. It is OK considering we are dropping it 80Km north where the cruise starts.

Well, we fitted the seat plugged the iphone to have the GPS, searched for POIs of hotels in Miami Beach, and headed towards the Clay hotel. We had to pay 1.25usd of toll road. In 30 min we where at the hotel. The valet .guy took the keys and parked our car.

We went upstairs to our room, where I am now, I found a free hotspot (typical linsys open router) and here I am.

We went for dinner downstairs to this busy street. We had a Caesar salad and Nuria tuna. Californian wine.  We shared a desert. Delicious! The tip is now included (18%!!) in the bill, so it is a bit misleading in the US. When you order food the price you see is without the taxes and without the tip.

Tomorrow will be another day.

Getting ready

Wednesday, a day to take it easy, meet a couple of people and prepare the bags for the day after, for the long trip.

In the morning we woke up pretty late because we the night before we went to bed at 2am from Alberto’s place. We took the 55 again towards placa de catalunya and we went to pizza marzano to meet Vanesa. We had lunch with her. Menu was 9.90 euros but quality is pretty bad.

We catch up with her over lunch. It was very nice to meet her and let her. She met Kai too, sure.

After lunch we had to meet with my friends from Salo de la Infancia, but we were going to meet late and my brother wanted to come over to my mum’s to say bye, so we cancelled (or postponed) with them and walked up home. We prepared the bags and went to bed.

Lovely sunny day

We spent most of the day with Raquel, Kike and Eneko. In the morning they came here to my mum’s and we took the bus number 55 to Plaza Catalunya.

We walked down portal del Angel and had a coffee in around placa del Pi. We walked down the Ramblas to the sea, to the Maremagnum where we had lunch at Wok. It was lovely. Nice temperature, close to the sea, sunny… and great company.

After that  we took the metro L4 back home and drove to the new terminal of the airport. There we had also some drinks and Kai had his first true laugh. Not just smiling and making noises but true laugh. Very funny.

Once they left we went to Gava de Mar to Marisol and Alberto’s house. They cooked for as a very nice cold soup and chicken. We stayed until late. Kai had one colic attach though, but dinner was great and they are doing great too, so I was great (once more) seeing them ;-) Gava de Mar is a great place, 2 blocks from the beach. We should come to visit them in summer.

Eneko & co.

On Monday we went downtown. We met Kike, the traveler at Zurich in placa catalunya.He is doing fine. We went for a walk until the sea, then the port and then up to borne where we had a final drink and he left. We stayed around to eat some tapas (delicious) and went back home to leave Kai and pick up Raquel, Kike and Eneko from the airport. We went to my mum’s and then walked to their hotel. A very nice hotel I have to say, not far from here.

We went for dinner to a Pans & co. and home to bed.

In the photos you can see Kai in the bus, drinking his cocktails. The first one is the “celler de tapes” or “lonja de tapas” at Borne where we had our tapas.

Calçotada

We woke up and… no sun today. This is starting to be like Geneva, where you never know if it is going to be sunny, cold…

We had Gerard and Nuria with Clara coming over. Clara is lovely. Look at the photo…

Then we went to can cortada to have lunch with my uncle (my mum’s brother) and her wife (Angelo & Angels).

We had calçotada, a typical dish of this season. Great.

Then we were going to meet my friend from Salo de la Infancia but we cancelled as weather was crap. Instead we had siesta and a relaxed afternoon at my mum’s.

Look at kai’s way to sleep. By the way, the t-shirt is a present from my mum. We bought it at la maquinista a couple of days ago.

Twitter adds local trends

Twitter has improved  #trends by adding local trends.

For me trends as twitter shows them are spammy and useless. For what I see with this improvement, only a few cities in the world are included. Obviously not Barcelona, where I am now, or Geneva where I live.

Villa Olimpica

We woke up and it was sunny. The day before it was raining and it was awful.

We walked towards downtown, stopping by Barbara’s parents so they could meet Kai as well, and then in Joanic we took the metro (L4) towards Barceloneta, where we walked to the beach and all along the beach until villa Olimpica. There we had paella, wine… mmm then we went to meet my uncle and cosine who live there.

Later one we met Barbara, Agusti and the twins, Nuria and Silvia. They are so nice! so beautiful, funny and lovely….

Finally they drove us to Mariajo’s place where we stayed for dinner and we met Joel who is 2 weeks older than Kai.

I took most of the photos with the nikon so … no photos here…

Barcelona: kai meets his great grandmother

Barcelona is proving to be a challenge in terms of meeting all the people we have to meet. I posted a note in facebook and sent an email to all my friend telling them to call us if they want to meet us (well meet kai).

I wish there would be an easy way to do this. Currently people calls me, I check my calendar, add them and I keep creating busy slots. I guess I could create a writable online calendar (maybe with google calendar) and with a password allow people to allocate on free slots. Is that possible? I know that for events where it is one time inviting people it is easy, with tools such as evite (before) and facebook (now).

Anyway kai met his great grandmother. It was veeeery emotional. My grandmother is 94 and she was crying of joy. Kai of course is too young to remember this in the future, but I took a couple of photos. Maybe I should have taken a video. I will.

Before though, we went to la maquinista (sort of an open-air shopping mall)  where we had lunch and bought some stuff (like dodotis).

We also met my best friend Sebas and Nuria. We went out for drinks at a cool place (see the photos) in the new area of Barcelona called Diagonal Mar. I don’t know that district at all… I am ashamed. Then we went to where Seba’s Nuria works, the Hospitality school where we had a delicious gastronomic dinner. It was delicious and it is nice because you are served by students who are doing their test on you. The teacher is overlooking but it is a great deal because you get to eat very nice things at a very affordable price.

Long sunny drive to Barcelona.

We woke up early, but we couldn’t leave the house until noon. Logistics are difficult with a 2 month old…

We packed the car and we headed towards Annecy after stoping by Nuria’s office because she had to drop some stuff there.

Once on the road, everything went smooth. Kai would sleep and wake up every 3 hours (so 3 times in total) to eat, so we stopped in the nearest exit to change his dippers and feed him.

Once in Barcelona the weather changed… raining… but there it was, my mum and my brother waiting for us. Finally my brother got to know Kai.

Now to organise ourselves in order to meet the maximum amount of people in these few days before taking the plane to Miami. By the way, I learned that we will have to change planes in Madrid…

Tomorrow we are leaving to Barcelona

We are planning to leave the house as early as possible, but lately with Kai looks like it is impossible to be out of home before noon.

We are going to the checklists we have: winter clothes for Barcelona, summer clothes for the Caribbean… replacing the batteries of the alarm sensors, putting up the system to water the plants, bought a 5Mb roaming travel data plan for the iPhone (just for email) and a long etc…

I have added a link on the top right corner of the blog to filter only the posts related to our trip.

In Barcelona we will block monday and tuesday next week to be with Kike and Raquel, who are coming from Bilbao to meet us. For the rest of the agenda, still to plan it…

Tall, Grande? no way…