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The Expat Almanac

The Expat Almanac

Category Archives: Accommodations

The Garden of Hedon(ism)

03 Tuesday May 2016

Posted by Tom in Accommodations

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Girona, Girona Llegendes Hotel, TGV

hotel llegendes-s

We depart the Gare de Lyon with all the fanfare of a taxi departing a stoplight. A quiet and really fast taxi. But unlike any taxi I’ve ever known, and even though the Gare de Lyon is Paris’s central train station, we’re out of the city and watching grazing sheep on grassy knolls before we’ve even removed our coats.

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Louise of the Jungle, Part Two

25 Monday Jan 2016

Posted by Louise in Accommodations

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

crocodile, Tamarindo, Tom Sol

croc-s

In the last episode of Louise of the Jungle, I was fleeing an iguana next to our pool. Now Iggy and I are great pals, meaning I no longer shreik or panic, but I do keep a close eye on where he’s going. As well as the other 6000 iguanas in Tamarindo.

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Paradise Found

14 Thursday Jan 2016

Posted by Tom in Accommodations, Gallery, Travel

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

Costa Rica, Tamarindo, Vaquero Beachfront Pub, Volcano Brewing Company

LL beach

Louise at El Vaquero; Tamarindo Beach in background

According to Wikipedia, Portland, Oregon has at least sixty breweries within the city limits, more than any city in the world. Many attribute this to our natural resources (hops, barley, and our remarkable Bull-Run water), but I’m convinced it’s because I live there. When it comes to beer, I am the industry’s greatest asset.

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Louise of the Jungle

11 Monday Jan 2016

Posted by Louise in Accommodations, Travel

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

iguana, Tamarindo

Pura_Vida

When we started planning our Costa Rica trip, I filled out one of those online quizzes from the tourist bureau about what I wanted to do and see. Rain forest? Sounds hot and humid. Cloud forest? I live in Portland; don’t need no cloud forest. Ziplining? No. Fishing? Um, no. Volcanoes? Not really. Jungle trip to see crocodiles, poisonous frogs, howling monkeys, boa constrictors and crocodiles? Absolutely NOT. I cannot stand anything even vaguely reptilian.

I was able to check Beach and Lunch, but there was no little square for Shopping. I abandoned the quiz and just Googled “Best Beaches in Costa Rica” and found one that had a cute town attached. That was Tamarindo.

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Things with Teeth in the Night

09 Saturday Jan 2016

Posted by Tom in Accommodations, Travel

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Costa Rica, howler monkey, Tamarindo

scary jungle

It’s a breathy, guttural roar, echoing above the tree canopy like something from Jurassic Park. When it awakens you in the darkness before dawn, your eyes fly open, the hair stands up on the back of your neck, and the flight or fight response kicks in, leaning decidedly toward flight. Run!

Trouble is, there’s a jungle outside your door. Things with teeth live out there, and one of them is looking for breakfast.

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Lemons & Lemonade

06 Wednesday Jan 2016

Posted by Tom in Accommodations

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

Costa Rica, PDX, Portland International

Louise covers a dainty rivulet of spittle leaking from her Novocainned lips while waiting at the Portland airport.

Louise covers a dainty rivulet of spittle leaking from her Novocainned lips while waiting at the Portland airport.

This will be short. I’m using my phone and I’ve had two beers.

Which is nothing compared to Louise, who has had three martinis. Doubles. She’s pictured above, in gate C7, hiding her face but happy. Really happy.

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You Might as Well Dam Up the Volga

21 Wednesday Oct 2015

Posted by Louise in Accommodations, Gallery

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Russian family visit, Uglich

The back yard in Uglich

The back yard in Uglich

In the small town of Uglich on the Volga, which has its medieval charm and also its unpainted tumbledown shacks, we visited Olga in the new house she built after retirement. It was a largish but simple two story white brick house. In the back was the vegetable and flower garden that every Russian householder wants and treasures,

Viking Cruise Lines arranges for its passengers to visit with real locals. This was our home visit.

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The Russians Are Very Strict About This

08 Thursday Oct 2015

Posted by Louise in Accommodations

≈ 20 Comments

Tags

Moscow, Radisson

The Moscow Radisson

The Moscow Radisson

In our last episode, we were tossed out of gate C30 in Copenhagen because our visas would not be valid until the next day, therefore, we could not yet travel to Russia. “The  Russians are very strict about this,” the Danish gate woman said. Of course our generation was brought up to be terrified of Russians, so we sure didn’t want to push it. Besides that, we were dog tired. I was secretly wishing for a real nap.

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You’re Going WHERE?

04 Sunday Oct 2015

Posted by Tom in Accommodations, Travel

≈ 12 Comments

onion domes

Fuel in the tank: check.

Battery charged: check.

Tire pressure: check.

Oil in the crankcase: check.

These are the things one must do before taking a cherished car out of retirement after months of inactivity, and these are the things, figuratively speaking, we’re doing here at the Almanac.

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Escape to Seaside

14 Tuesday Jul 2015

Posted by Louise in Accommodations

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Lewis and Clark, Oregon, Seaside

Seasign welcoming sign
Last week we escaped to the unique Oregon Coast town of Seaside for a few days.

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