Arrived in the Republic of Georgia

I consider myself a well-traveled person but the list of places I still want to visit is quite long. When planning my next overseas trip I came across a tour in the country of Georgia. Not knowing much about the country I started reading about the country that was once part of the Soviet Union. This particular tour is an all women group I am part of online; I have been intrigued with joining one of their tours for a few years now. I quickly booked the tour last fall, putting a deposit down on a single room – I don’t mind touring with strangers but sharing a room with someone I don’t know is just not what I am willing to do anymore (with the exception of a dorm thing that might be required on some hikes). The tour is short and concentrates only in a small part of the country so my intent is to tour other cities on my own. I start a list of all the other places I am interested in visiting and gathering logistic information. Originally I set off on planning a road trip for the solo portion of my trip. Meanwhile a friend inquires on joining me on part of my trip. She’ll travel with me before my scheduled tour.

I continue building the itinerary, filling in more details but it seems like the activities I have planned at best will leave us very exhausted. We devise a new plan to limit our stays to two cities and use day trips to visit locations outside the cities. In this plan we no longer need a car rental. Our new plan works out well for the most part with a couple exceptions that I’ll describe later.

There are two flights to get to Georgia and that includes an eight hour layover in Munich. Both of us have been to Munich before but eight hours seems to long to lounge at the airport. We make a plan to travel into Munich for our long break. The airport has other plans for us, everything we estimated takes twice as long. We wait for over an hour to pass through passport control in order to be able to exit the airport. They have us wait in a long line for the machines to complete our first steps and then are told to move to a “faster” line on a different floor but that line ends up being even longer. By the time we get past passport control it only makes sense go with our backup plan – take a bus to the even closer Bräustüberl Weihenstephan in the town of Freising. Weihenstephan is the oldest brewery in the world. Even though I don’t drink beer anymore I order a flight to sample some of them but eventually switch to a good riesling, I do miss the dry German rieslings. We don’t have too much time left to waste so we return to the bus station for our return trip to the airport. We pick up our checked bags and go find our gate for the next leg of our trip, Tiblisi.

We arrive at our hotel around at 5:30 am. Luckily we book the room for the previous evening so the key is waiting for us when we arrive. We shower and take a long nap; neither one of us slept much on our flights. Our alarm is set for ten in the morning. We will still be sleep deprived but we are determined to get on a normal schedule – we have a walking tour scheduled at noon. I wake up but I am having a hard time getting ready for the day. We are very jet lagged.

We are not ready for a welcome drink at 5:30am

We meet up at Freedom Square and a local guide starts our walking tour around the city. During introductions a dog joins us and makes his presence known by barking and approaching everyone in the group. He is one of many Tbilisi street dogs, the large group of unhoused dogs that roam the streets. The dogs are homeless but are vaccinated and somehow well cared for, at least most are. He protects us periodically running into the streets and barking at suspicious cars on the road. He stays with us a little while but eventually wanders off and we are joined by other dogs in our tour. It seems to be a common theme in Georgia.

We are told about the history of the city that has historically been on the Silk Road trading route. The land here has been sought after or fought for by Russia (and Soviet Union) but also the Ottoman Empire, Persians, Greeks and other invaders. Even after many different occupations they still maintain their unique language and culture. Their language is formed using a 33 character alphabet with unique sounds only heard here. The language has three different versions and to simplify it they can be referred to as the old version, the religious text version, and the current version. There is no gender in the language but there are words to describe people and some seem to be reversed to what is normal in Latin languages – mama means dad, and dada means mom. They also claim to have some of the oldest bread due to types of wheat that only exist here.

We see the remnants of the old city wall and we walk through old town and learn about the courtyard life. Many of these houses with the distinct courtyards used to be single family homes but now are often divided into different aparments or set up as a hotel for tourism.

We walk through old town and see the clock but it is not operational today due to a power outage. Luckily we are in town for multiple days so we have more opportunities to see the clock perform. It is right next door to a popular puppet theater. Unfortunately it is one of those tickets that have to be booked in advance so we probably won’t see a show during our stay in Tbilisi.

We walk over to the bridge of peace, the bridge that connects old Tblisi with the new.

We wander around a few other areas in old town then end up by the sulphur baths. The city was literally founded because of the sulphur spring. King Vakhtang I Gorgasali hunted in the area with a falcon and the story is the falcon is lost and later found dead in the sulphur spring. The king decided to create a town and name it after springs. If we have time we may come back for a massage or time in the spa rooms. I’ve heard it is a unique spa experience.

We leave the tour group and eat at a khinkali restaurant recommended by our guide. Khinkali is a similar to a soup dumpling, it’s usually filled with beef, beef and pork, mushroom, cheese or potatoes. Some have juice or a soup like liquid inside. We try two different khinkalis, one meat and one mushroom. I would have like to try more types but each order is a minimum of five and khinkali are already very filling. We also order one khachapuri and the waiter warns us it is very small and only enough for one person. Not sure how much he thinks we can eat but is more than enough food for the two of us. This is not my first khachapuri, my first experience is at a restaurant in Brooklyn, New York. There are different variations of this dish but my favorite is when it is shaped like a boat filled with melted cheese. A raw egg is put on top. You are to mix in the egg right away with the hot cheese to give a rich cheesy bread dip.

We are very tired and jet lagged but we decide it is best to keep going so we adjust to the time change. We pick a destination on the other side of the river to resume our sightseeing. We once again cross the peace bridge and spend a moment at Rike park on the way. We view a Ronald Reagan memorial statue, a group making a TikTok video, the now unused futuristic music theater, and some other interesting architecture on the way.

We arrive at Fabrika Tbilisi, a repurposed former clothing factory that is now a hip hotel and hangout area. There are clothing stores and hip cafes around. Seems like a good time to stop for a rest and a pick me up drink. Espresso martinis are a great idea right now. We spend some time enjoying the mild temperatures, people watching and observing the behavior of the street dogs that have seemed to make themselves comfortable in this district. This part of town also has the interesting courtyard and balcony architecture.

We cross the dry bridge and glance at the dry bridge market, vowing to come back to this area on our full free day. We now are aiming for the Atoneli Wine Window, a window that has a man waiting at the lower level for you to ring a bell to request a glass of wine for purchase. The first wine we order is tossed away for being inadequate after the host smells the wine poured and declares it bad. Not sure we would know the difference not being wine experts but we are impressed that he cared to make sure he was serving us quality wine. We drink our newly poured wine on the street outside and return our glasses back to the window.

Our next plan is to take the cable car up to to see Mother of Georgia, the large statute, up close but we navigate to the wrong cable car and end up by a large amusement park at the top called Mtatsminda Park. After watching the sunset from above we tour the lit up amusement park by foot, hoping to find a path to Mother of Georgia from here. We are unsuccessful so we admire the views some more and then take the cable car back down for our return trip.

We walk back towards our hotel which seems to be a long walk from here but we make a shopping detour as well and buy some chacha (Georgian homemade vodka) and homemade wine from a van on the street served out of reused plastic bottles. We are aiming for the authentic experience here.

We have a morning tour booked tomorrow so no late night adventures for us tonight.

Southern California

Last fall I spent a week visiting friends in Southern California. I enjoyed mild weather and good times while there.

During my downtime I lounged in the beautiful backyard at my friend’s house.

In the morning I take the short walk down to the beach. I watch surfers catch the waves early in the day. I love all the trails along the beach.

We take a drive out to Coronado Island. We walk along the beach, visit the historical Hotel del Coronado and walk the town a bit.

We later stop at La Jolla Cove and watch the sea lions and birds. If you can stand the smell you could have hours of fun just observing wildlife. Unfortunately some get way too close to the animals which is not cool. We also notice a group of swimmers that swim through the cove as a hobby; I guess dodging the sea lions in the process.

We watch a beautiful sunset and then catch dinner at a Mexican restaurant on the way home.

In the morning we have booked a taping of the Price is Right in Los Angelos. We make the drive from San Diego to try our luck on the show. It is my first time but my accompanying friends have been on two times before. It is a long day but a fun experience. One of my friends may have been picked to be on the show that aired March 17th, 2026 – St Patrick’s Day.

The next day two of us need to connect with nature and walk a trail in town. We end up at a nature center where we do some bird watching. Following the trail takes us to a sidewalk path towards the beach. Our path has taken us a bit out of the way so we call our other friend to come pick us up. While we wait for him we watch surfers in action. Our friend arrives and tells us about some of the local surfers. This is a small town surf community where most people know who everyone is.

On our way back to the house we make a stop at the Golden Lotus Temple to admire the tropical gardens there.

The next day I take a visit to Disneyland but more on that in another post.

Our last day we have delicious breakfast burritos and donuts from VG donuts.

It is a great end to a great trip. My flights home are not so great. I end up flying home during a government shutdown. I get about ten minutes in fancy lounge access before I have to run through the airport to catch an earlier flight because my itinerary keeps getting wrecked in real time. The rush to my flight doesn’t even matter because my connection gets cancelled anyway with no chance of getting home that evening. The one fortunate thing with moderate technology is that I see my flight being cancelled while in flight and I proactively book a hotel in Atlanta for the night since I am not getting home. I am glad I do because people are scrambling to find hotels that are not sold out since numerous other flights are cancelled as well. But at least I am on the east coast, closer to my home.

As a frequent traveler you have to expect a bout of travel drama from time to time.

One bright spot about the terrible travel time is the impressive Atlanta airport art. I chose to walk instead of the shuttle and enjoyed all the art on the way to take the bus to the hotel I booked.

Another highlight to my horrible travel days is the flight I am scheduled on the next morning happens to be the last flight for the captain who is retiring. He has an entourage on the flight celebrating, including his family. Thank goodness this fun flight wasn’t canceled and he was able to take this last flight in a joyful way.

Virgin Voyages Cruise

My first Virgin Cruise is on the Valiant Lady on the Dominican Daze: Halloween Edition. Even though I’ve been on many cruises, it is not always my first vacation choice. I am excited about this one to celebrate my friend’s birthday and to visit the Dominican Republic for the first time (Spoiler Alert – Hurricane re-routes us to Mexico).

I start with an evening out in Miami and some Cuban food brunch before we sail off for the adventure.

Bon Voyage. It’s time to explore the ship and sail away from the port of Miami.

Fun music choices in the room. Can’t hook up your own music but this is next best thing.

We are here for my friend’s birthday and we have sail away birthday celebration for her in another’s rockstar room. The rockstar rooms are fantastic if you can afford it.

The wall of the elevator changes. Also the pool bathroom with a view.

Evening Dinner at Extra Virgin, an Italian theme dinner. A big group here is ideal because I get to try a bunch of things and not feel like food is being wasted. We ordered every appetizer on the menu.

Trying to find activities that did not involve drinking alcohol – friendship bracelet making

I was the only one in my group with any interest so I briefly attended a workout dance class and a Salsa class on my own.

My friend and I attended a halloween themed show. We didn’t arrive early enough so we watched the show standing against posts. Unfortunately this made us targets for the show host and we were called up on stage for a game where she had to mummy me with toilet paper. I wore this toliet paper like a badge of honor for as long as I could. So sorry to the cleaning staff at Virgin for my path of trash I laid walking to my next location – trivia.

We have a birthday dinner tonight at Pink Agave where some have splurged to Splash Your Bash. It is a stepped up dinner experience that involves some champagne, food specials and an instant camera. It is a fun experience.

After dinner a few of us reserve a karaoke room for an hour. I don’t think the walls are thick enough to hold all our noise in. I feel bad for people roomed next to us.

Due to the hurricane in the Caribbean we are re-routed to Cozumel instead of the Dominican Republic. I have been to Cozumel before and remembering partying hard there, not being excited about doing that again so I am glad when a couple of my friends want to do a day in Chichen Itza instead. We book an excursion that takes us the long drive to the pyramid complex.

Alter a long hot bus ride where the air conditioner is broken (they actually switched us to a new bus part of the way back) we end up back at the spot where we take the ferry back to our boat. I forget to mention the ferry, which normally sways quite a bit, was extra sway that day due to the hurricane in the area. This caused the bottom level to be unusable unless you had a gut of steel or were heavily drugged. We sat on top trying to not toss our own cookies while we watched others tossed theirs. Let’s just say the transportation portion was not the highlight our day.

Back on the boat we get ready for Scarlet Night which is known for its pool deck party where the majority are dressed in some sort of red attire. But first is dinner and tonight we are at test kitchen. Test kitchen is the Virgin Voyage version of a Michelin type restaurant with small experimental portions of food. At one point in our meal we score a set of free drinks because there is a slow drip from the ceiling onto one of my friends at the table. The food is decent and we have a good time but I hear they don’t really change the menu up as originally intended. It is a dining experience not for everyone.

The party continues to the pool deck where we try to sneak in to see the show but my short self is unsuccessful. Note to self next time get there early.

After the show it is onto the pool deck where some dance in the water. I decided to participate in this tradition, although I didn’t fully submerge even though strangers were encouraging me to do so. I briefly continued the party to The Manor but the crowds were so thick I decided to call it a night.

The next morning we do a caftan brunch at The Wake. It is a nice way to start our day at sea.

I take it easy at brunch because my cabin mate and I signed up for a bungee fitness class. It is not as easy as it looks and we are very unserious for the 30 minutes we are there.

I got out of class just in time for happy hour at The Dock. It was almost impossible to get a seat but luckily I eventually found a couple, even if I had to practically fight someone for the seats I had already claimed. The happy hour includes mediterranean small bites, the downside is there is a limited area that serves the food (the bar is not is not part of it). The food went so quickly that I only have this cocktail picture to show for it.

Costume night

It’s back to the room to relax and get ready for costume night since we are celebrating Halloween. We put on our costumes, some face masks and have some drinks on our verandah.

We head down to the promenade area to watch the costume parade/contest and to people watch. Lots of creative costumes. We take some fabulous group photos in a Photo Booth but unfortunately many of them never make it to our emails due to poor technology.

Tonight there is also a costumed dance party with an 80’s cover band. We have fun dancing and people watching from the balcony.

The day wouldn’t be complete without a late night stop for pizza dressed as pizza.

I start our last full day with Ramen from the Galley and a walk around the deck. Today we are stopping in Bimini Bahamas. Instead of visiting the beach club or booking an excursion we decide to rent some golf carts and create our own adventure.

The line to take the trolley to the main area is very long. We decide to walk instead, it is not too bad of a walk. My friend has a name of a company recommended for the rental. It takes us a few minutes to find the right company but when we do we easily negotiate a good rate for two carts.

Our first stop is at a conch restaurant. No one is hungry yet but I watch a guy demonstrate how conch is harvested. We plan to stop by later.

We stop at a restaurant to enjoy the view and a drink. Fish parts are thrown in the water to cause an impromptu shark show. We watch the birds and sharks for a little bit then move on to a partially secluded beach. We spend the rest of our time hanging out and admiring the bright waters.

We return to the ship. Some in the group have reservations at Gumbae, the Korean restaurant on the ship. Gunbae is an interactive restaurant where the food is cooked in from of you and a series of drinking games are played. Each player will forced to drink Soju. I even won one round which the prize was the rest of the bottle of soju. Usually the patrons are seated with people they don’t know and the drinking games are ice breakers but they let our group sit together, perhaps because we are a larger party.

Dinner takes a while so it’s late when we get out. There is a dance show tonight. I stay out for a little bit to watch the bizarre show.

Despite my late might I once again wake up before sunrise. I take a walk and have a breakfast before we disembark and start our journey home. I had an amazing time and would do a Virgin Cruise again if the opportunity arises.

Wet Marrakech

After we eat our prepared lunch we leave our group and take a short walk to the Le Jardin Secret, a 19th century courtyard garden. It is slightly wet here and very overcast. It is nice but probably better to be enjoyed on a sunny day.

We then head into the heart of the medina. We plan to do some shopping as we each have a list of souvenirs we want to buy. We practice haggling with the salesmen who start off very high for us tourists. We attempt to drive a hard bargain but some will not budge much in price. We get some sellers to agree but sometimes with attitude. It’s all a little dramatic. We probably don’t get the optimal price for all our items but at least we don’t walk away feeling severely ripped off.

I buy a purse that I’ve been looking for. I am aiming for a purse like I viewed at the tannery shop in Fes but I had a hard time finding the exact colors I wanted. In one shop I find a bag in a lighter blue but they are able to make it darker before my eyes using some special kind of oil that may have been a vegetable oil. I think I’ll be happy with my unique bag that was made around the corner by the salesmen’s father who I also met today.

We walk down the busy corridors as we browse. There is extra bicycle and motorbike traffic that we need to dodge while we walk. Perhaps they are also trying to avoid the rain outside.

We also take some time to say hi to some more kitties.

Later that evening we have reservations at the popular restaurant Safron by Koya. It is a nice dinner environment that after 9:30 PM has periodic belly dancers, a dj, and even some live music performers. We are seated in the section they seem to put the less fun people since we don’t have as much action or show in our area. Despite our location it is still good fun. They have a strict two hour limit for each table but luckily we are ready to head back to the hotel after two hours. They do give you an option of watching from the bar though if you wish to stay. I took a chance on a new Moroccan dish and it was delicious. Our appetizers were quite good as well.

The next morning we have reservations for the famous Marjorelle gardens (Yves Saint Laurent gardens) and we go hoping for a break in the rain but we are initially miserable there, rushing through the wet gardens so we can stop getting soaked. We have raincoats but they aren’t enough. We spend some time in the Berber Museum and shop towards the exit. We plan to leave the gardens when the rain temporarily lets up. Luckily since it isn’t too busy today they let us tour through the garden again instead of exiting. It is still overcast but it is a much more pleasant experience this time.

I love the Berber blue and all the cacti.

We buy the ticket that includes the Yves St Laurent Museum. I know very little about fashion but the museum is very informative. I had no idea on the impact the designer had on history nor that he was formally a designer for Christian Dior.

The ticket we purchased also includes a visit to the onsite Berber museum. While the museum was a great place to escape the pouring rain, it also is a good historical museum of the Berber people. No photos are allowed but there is a good selection of historical items such as clothing and jewelry from different regions.

It seems like it is about to start to rain again so we hop in a taxi for the souks once more. We both have more shopping to do. I purchase a tagine bowl and a lantern among my purchases and my friend has a very successful shopping day as well. Multiple times prior to this vacation we are told to drive a hard bargain. I don’t know if it’s all for show or that we really do negotiate hard but I know this bargaining activity exhausts me emotionally and physically. I am happy we are heading home soon due to being tired and all the rain. We finish the evening with a quick dinner, trip to the grocery store and spending the last hours here trying to fit all our purchases in our luggage. Wish us luck.

We’ve discovered it snows in Morocco and it can be wet when it wants to, even in the desert. Some of our days traveling have been plagued with rainy weather – mild sprinkles and some all day rains, like most of our stay in Marrakech. Luckily we already decided to skip some of the outdoor activities in Marrakech due to the similarities of the sites to places we visited earlier in our Moroccan travels. Our exploration did include two wet visits to famous gardens and shopping at souks that are partially covered but with the constant rain streams of water flow on the ground of the very old souks making it hard to stay entirely dry.

Since there are places to still visit in Marrakech and other parts of Morocco I might be coming back. We have a not so terrible direct flight from Atlanta now to make it easier. Only time will tell if/when I return but it was a good trip overall.

Marrakech

We arrive at Marrakech in the afternoon. The long winding drive has many on our tour exhausted but there are still some hours of daylight left today; plus there is a threat of rain the rest of our travels so it’s best to take advantage of today for seeing the city. My travel companion and I grab a taxi to the Medina. We have a struggle at first obtaining a taxi but somehow we end up in a taxi share situation where a very nice man in the passenger seat used to live in a city two hours from where we are from agrees to share a taxi with us. I missed the transaction happening but he pays for the taxi ride for us when he gets out of the cab.

We walk around the Medina expecting to watch the sunset on a terrace with a cocktail but apparently not many terraces allow alcohol so we just have a coffee and a snack and watch the sunset from the last one we try; we don’t want to miss the sunset.

We decide to go elsewhere to have a drink but on the way we get caught up in the evening excitement of the Medina. There are food stalls, musicians, games, and the regular cast of scammers out to make a buck. You definitely have to be alert but at no point do I feel unsafe while walking around. After some shopping we find a cafe terrace with a view of a side street where we relax and watch people walk by. After a drink or two we decide we want to head back but we can’t resist a detour through the souks. Shops are closing up for the night and it forces us to go back to the hotel and rest. We have a hard time finding our way out and end up down deserted alleyways since we have no sense of direction here. Luckily we are able to backtrack to the main area. We try negotiating with tuk tuk drivers on the rates that our tour guide suggested but none of them are budging so we end up agreeing to a higher rate. Perhaps our guide doesn’t realize how much inflation has affected the tuktuk community? We later realize we misinterpreted the advice. Apparently we have been lowballing tuktuk and taxi drivers all over the city. Locals are probably surprised with tourists driving such a hard bargain. In the grand scheme of things the amount we are saving is only a couple dollars. I’d just be happy we aren’t getting grossly over charged for services.

The next morning is our last group activity. We have a Moroccan cooking class at a riad in the medina. We learn how to make two types of salads and a lemon chicken tagine. We put together all the Moroccan spices or Ras el Hanout and as a group prepare our own tagine dish. I can’t wait to try these recipes on my own when I get home.