Q:
– Of all the places you’ ve visited, which is your favorite?
Definitely the island of Moorea in the French Polynesian. Everyone has heard of the sister island Bora Bora but honestly, Moorea was better in my opinion. The island is less adulterated by tourists, we were able to enjoy authentic local culture and the scuba-diving was amazing. Moorea has a beautiful reef and my wife and I are open water certified divers so we definitely enjoyed that.
Q
– Can
:
you describe a once in a lifetime meal that you’ ve had while traveling that you still think about?
That’ s a tough one. There was a french restaurant called Picasso at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. It was right on the fountains. The food was unbelievable and we would always visit at least once while we were in town. It was one of the highlights of every trip. Sadly, the chef retired and they closed the restaurant. They are going to open an Italian restaurant in its place. Another once in a lifetime meal was when our family visited New York. We were walking down a side street and came across this tiny hole in the wall pizza place. We walk in and behind the counter was this guy in a full suit. He looked like a character out of the Sopranos. He seemed really out of place. We walk up and he just looked at us. We asked for slices for everyone and he just handed us a whole pizza. I tried to pay and he said“ don’ t worry about it.” Everything was extremely strange so we said thank you and high tailed it out of there. I could only imagine the poor shop owner get harassed in the back room by some guy that looked like Tony Soprano. Haha. It was definitely memorable.
Q: went wrong)?
– Can you describe a challenging trip you’ ve been on( one where things
On our second trip to Tahiti, all our luggage was lost and we had to buy all
our clothes locally. Our shuttle forgot to pick us up at the airport on the island, the overwater bungalow we specifically booked was given to someone else by accident( we wanted the same one we had on our honeymoon). Our rental car we reserved for the second day didn’ t show up. I ordered a tropical flower crown to be delivered to the front desk so I could pick it up and surprise my wife at dinner … while I was walking to pick it up, they had also sent one of the front desk people to our bungalow with the flower crown by mistake. So while I was at the desk, my wife was getting a knock on the door. So no surprise. And finally, on our last day, we were exploring some local sights and our rental car got broken into and my backpack with my go-pro camera and my Nikon camera were stolen. So all the photos I took of the scuba diving and sights around the island we lost. That was definitely a challenging trip.
Q: but were still rewarding?
– Have you had any vacations that turned out differently than expected
I think that second trip in Tahiti. We were forced to step out of our comfort zone and it helped us to realize that the things are important. It’ s the memories with people you love. We were in paradise, after all.
Q: you grow in some kind of way?
– Have any of your travels taught you anything about yourself or made
My first time to Mexico City was a growing experience for me. I had never been in situations where I was face to face with extreme poverty and such blatant danger. Our friends had been robbed on the subway, we had to stand back to back anytime we went to the ATM. We were approached several times in downtown with guys trying to corner us and intimidate us to give them money. There were small children working in the streets trying to help earn money for their families. On the way to the pyramids we passed through many poverty stricken areas as well. The city was absolutely beautiful in some areas and I loved the history and culture. But the humanity of it all was an eye opener. I’ d like to go again as I’ ve learned some lessons on how to be more safe and not as naïve. I wasn’ t a very experienced traveller back then. It also helped me realize just how blessed and safe we are compared to other parts of the world. It gave me a much needed reality check about life.
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