Los Cardones EcoLodge and Surf Resort, Nicaragua

After a few weeks of postponement, I hopped on an American Airlines 737 aircraft from ATL to MIA, arrived and satisfied my breakfast hunger with Cuban sandwich along with Cuban coffee. After being delayed for 2 hours for mechanical issues, I finally took off to MGA in an American Airlines 767 (paid $80 for my ZED fare because I cannot jumpseat on American Airlines internationally unlike other domestic carriers), rode a KIA branded taxi for 1.5 hours and arrived at Los Cardones.  Granted this was another solo adventure but the purpose was to scout out the place and more importantly hang out with great company.

A few weeks back, I recently found out that one of my high school gal-friends, took up a 6 month gig to work as managers for the "resort." Whatever the cost, I had to go visit and hang out.   As most of you may know (or not know), I'm always down for anything.  Upon arriving at the resort dressed inappropriately in business attire, I was greeted by her, taken to my cabana and changed.  I was steaming and my wool pants had to come off!

Thoughts of picking up a surfboard and hitting the beach right away were lingering especially after watching Chris hit the waves, but I was feeling more of a mellow tone.   After a while, I decided that it was going to be just a day of rest. The night simply concluded with a wonderfully prepared dinner by Adam and chatter of what the next morning would bring.  It was a long day for me and this is exactly what I needed.

Through the next few days, I would eat 3 meals a day which were prepared VERY well, surf in the morning then just hang out the rest of the day. I didn't do that much except for the random hike around the facility, sleep in an awesome hammock for a few hours, talk it up with friends and just pass the time. It's been a while since I actually got to feel the second hand tick as the minutes at the resort lagged on by. Being "unplugged" was a great feeling, but sometimes I felt like I was missing things. Time was therefore just standing still at certain times but it was a good thing.

Some of you may not realize, but I've been minimal-izing my life as of late. Coming down from an awesome high, I'm loving it more and more. Sometimes I'm tempted here and there, but simplicity and happiness is where it's at. This vacation made me realize it once again that with an ocean, good friends and food, life can be truly gratifying.

Videos and more pictures after the jump!

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I uploaded little tours of the resort to my youtube account: http://www.youtube.com/enicolas and you can watch the videos there or right here down below! The first one is of the resort and the second is of my living quarters. Check them out and leave a comment here or on my youtube page!

Flying part 2: 4th Week in July

Of all the randomness in flying for the Delta Connection Carrier, Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA) based solely out of Atlanta, my four day schedule had an assignment that was to operate a Cincinnati to Miami roundtrip.  New to me and apparently pretty new to the system I might add.  Last summer, I got to fly the Miami system through Tallahassee, Florida and that was a blast, so I was really looking forward to this trip.  I would have loved an overnight in MIA but I guess we won't be doing any of those in the near future. Flying towards Miami, we noticed that the normal summer cloud build-ups were in every quadrant.  It was going to be all about the quick turn.  Looking at our schedule, we also noticed that we had more than ample time to grab some Cuban Coffee and a sandwich.  Coffee was a success but the sandwich place closed I guess.  Massive fail as I was left to eat a Meat Stromboli from Sbarros.  Definitely not the Cuban Sandwich I was hoping for.

I did my walk around and of course it stated to sprinkle a bit.  Just enough to get me a little damp but not dripping.  Flying out of Miami was a lot of fun though.  Departing 8R we made a turn to the north and was vectored toward the northwest in order to get around and through some cloud build-up.  Fun stuff!  Check out the radar and the cloud picture of the cavern we flew through!

An of course after we landed in Cincinnati Airport which many of you might not know is 1) a ghost town since Delta has slowly changed all of its routing and deleted many flights from the CVG system 2) is actually located in Northern Kentucky. Check it out on this map:

View Larger Map

We made our way to one of the nicer hotels we stay at, Hilton Airport, and then we headed out to celebrate my birthday. Happy hour at Applebees has become the common theme with overnights lately just because the deals are too good to pass up and there's nothing else nearby! We had a couple of drinks, great appetizers but I chose the liquid diet last night. Fun times! On the walk back to the hotel, we hit up Rafferty's for some of there fine honey butter croissants the called it a night. Good times guys and thanks for the great night!

Flying part 1: 4th Week in July

Flying the CRJ700 has been definitely more exciting than the CRJ200 and this week was just another example.  I guess it might be the mere fact that 1 more flight attendant / stewardess adds to the mix during dinner or that I'm just getting lucky being paired up with great crews.  With that, this was a rather enjoyable week. The first night was an overnight in Quad Cities, Illinois which I have already blogged about... great food!  Check it out here. (http://www.elijahnicolas.com/wp/2009/07/26/overnight-in-quad-cities/)

The next night exposed me to the true horrors that Newark, New Jersey is.  Rudeness was in the air but friends were around to pick me up and create a lightened atmosphere.  We headed to the Shorthills Mall which was pretty high society status.  Too bad it was an indoor mall but shopping around is always fun when the weather outside is humid, muggy with a chance of thunderstorms.  We ate at a great place called All American Joe's Bar (something like that) and concluded the night with a drive through a ritzy neighborhood w/ average home sales of $2-4M, stroll through it's local town full of boutique shops that had tennis outfits in the windows.  I can't remember the name of the town but there was an theater playing Public Enemies and that was what we were watching.  For a two and half hour movie, it kept me going.  I enjoyed it thoroughly but I have to admit that 500 Days of Summer (trailer) was more entertaining.  Johnny Depp had a great roll, Christian Bale looks a little skinny and didn't convince me so much, but overall it was a great biography on John Dillinger.    Albeit more appealing I guess in it's very unique story telling.  Go watch it already if you have not!  It's playing in select theaters so make you scope out the local area for show times.

I'll write up part two tomorrow starting off with some good MIA weather story and capping it off with a fun night in Cincinnati...er Kentucky...that one place that we stayed at last night.  Here's a picture of the morning sun rising over Manhattan skyline as seen from the Newark Airport.  You can see the Empire State Building too if you take a close look!  Check it out!

Overnight in Quad Cities

Found a great place near the hotel called Rock Island Brewing Company (map) that had a great selection of beers and food.  I ended up with a Ribco Burger (comes with a fried egg! <-- freaking awesome) and a Delirium Nocturnum and two others.  I wish that I can remember their names but they were all great!  Quad Cities doesn't really open for business till after 1900 but a meal at 1700 is pretty choice especially when you have to go to sleep early in order to wake up at freaking 3:30AM!

Running Around YUL (Montreal)

The past week brought me to Baton Rouge, Montreal - Canada, followed by a quick night in St. Louis then back to San Diego for a ~35 mile bike ride. In all of that, I left my iPhone charger in Baton Rouge, got the chance to finally run in my new Asics GT-2140, try out a pair of Monster Beats by Dre headphones, ride the jumpseat home, sleep for 4 hours then ride early morning as far and fast within a time constraint. Good times all in all. Here are a few pics of the weeks' adventure.

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here's a map of my ride in San Diego:

Traveling on the "System"

As some of you know or don't know, I work for a commercial airline that serves as a connection carrier that is solely based out of Atlanta flying for the big "D".  I started out thinking that the associated flight benefits were going to be something out of the extraordinary; Coupled with the excitement to travel everywhere and anywhere in the system, I set out to just to do that. Being tired after flying for four days kind of knocks out the excitement of getting on another plane but the biggest let down is the game that you end up playing while traveling on "non-revenue" status.  Being classified as a non-rev, you are left dwindling at the bottom of the barrel scavenging for open seats on aircraft that fly from your desired point A to point B.  This status is below those that are of course, revenue customers, as well as mismanaged customers, those who missed their connections due to late arrivals, weather or maintenance, employees of the mother airline that have a higher seniority date as well as some others that might have been just plain and simple: a higher priority in the system.

The current industry as a whole has been reporting passenger loads exceeding those pre-9/11 which doesn't necessarily also account for the multitude of flights that have opened up in our system.  All in all, with more people flying that ever before, the planes are fuller than ever.  With current airline practices accounting for roughly 10% of passengers to miss their flights, airlines are forced under the rules of carriage to "oversell" a given flight based upon a pattern that is developed for that particular city pair and time of day/month/year.

It is not completely ridiculous to conclude that with these loads, getting on a given flight with a  buddy pass is near impossible.  It is a sad privilege really because you want flights to be sold out which means money and profits, but the it doesn't give you room to appreciate the perks of yesteryear.  Smaller planes, less frequency in the upcoming months and overall reduction in flying (10% cut in Delta's domestic flights this fall) will prevail in creating an unwanted roller coaster ride of commuting back and forth.  Here's to the jumpseat on the 757 and the 4 hours of one way, unadulterated, unpaid travel!

Oh yeah, my buddy passes are expensive too but that's doesn't allow me to tout them as a reciprocal gift during an exchange of affairs, so if you want one, just ask.  =)

Bachelor Party in Vegas!

The past few weeks have been pretty relaxing except for the multiple jumpseating I've been required to do lately for commuting purposes. Even on the way to Vegas and back on Southwest, I was left to ride the jumpseat which is actually not that bad in comparison to how long San Diego to Atlanta takes. I celebrated my friend's bachelor party in Vegas and made quite a few network connections in the mix while getting my dose of table craps! Loving it all and I can't wait to go back. We were there for about 4 days and 4 nights which was just right. Staying at the Planet Hollywood was a great experience and really convenient for access to the strip. The biggest complaint that I have is that the bathroom didn't have a freaking vent or fan! I mean, with 2-4 four guys using the restroom with Vegas food and alcohol in and out of the system, it's quite the downer. We also got to watch Ian Bragg's comedy show at the LA Comedy Club, Las Vegas which was a crowd pleaser. If you end up walking the strip south towards the MGM, you can get tickets for about $10 off the door price at some ticket place.

Vegas is all about who you know. Once you meet up with the "guys" you're in to the clubs with some good discounted rates along with transportation. It was great all around, but I need to dig a little deeper in order to just get on the lists and such.

After finishing a three day course on CRJ700 differences this past week, I should be into the CRJ700 sim this upcoming week. I can't say that the plane is THAT much different, but it certainly isn't the same beast. I'm just glad that Canadair / Bombardier fixed a lot of the issues and made the plane faster. I've been studying quite a bit, but I definitely have a long way to go.

Here are a couple of pictures posted on my facebook profile. Check them out at: facebook:las vegas pictures.

Post Irregular Operations

After the daunting task of having to get deiced in Atlanta, rerouted throughout the system and end up not having the extra time needed to organize my new apartment, it's back to everyday operations. Yesterday's flight consisted of quick turns with only delays taken for late fueling but this morning, on the way from Oklahoma City back to Atlanta, I once again was overwhelmed with the feeling of accomplishment and contentment. It was a smooth operation departing almost 10 minutes early, taking off smoothly, flying through smooth air at 33,000 flight and even the landing I was happy about. The entire leg was just "simply perfect." Once again, I feel "right" in my place in the world. =)

Of course, today's schedule had us up at 3:45AM but we finished up early with only 2 legs today by 11:30AM. The La Quinta in Alexandria, Louisiana was renovated a couple of months back, and I have to admit that it's been one of the nicer places I've stayed. I'm just happy that the internet here works well and is fast enough to actually stream some Hulu or fox.com for Dollhouse action. I planned a 30 minute nap, but you know how those go and slept for about 3 hours. Had a quiet dinner at Cracker Barrel by my lonesome, then retired back at the hotel. Good times being a pilot.

I leave you with a picture from trelijah taken two days ago. Looks great eh?

Sandals – Montego Bay: The Arrival

Over the next week, I’ll be writing about the experience that Adelle and I had over the 4 night / 5 day vacation we had in Jamaica. I chose to split it up into a three part review starting out with the overall Resort Experience, Casual and Formal Dining and Amenities. Below is the narrative. We landed at Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, Jamaica after a quick 2.5 hour flight from Atlanta, Ga. Making our way towards customs, we thought that our processing would go by rather quickly, but instead we endured a long one hour wait which included some entertainment particularly a fight between two older women about letting their families cut in line. It went on for a good 10 minutes before the locals separated them but it was definitely close to escalating into a slap fight.

When we excited the baggage and customs area, we entered a lobby where the resorts had taken up shop creating a welcoming experience for their guests. It basically consisted for a lounge where Red Stripe Beer was free flowing; our bags were taken care of by the airport valet (gratuity not included, and it was totally unnecessary); other colas were available and some fresh fruits on the table if you got their early enough before the other tourists ravaged the tray. Our bus arrived quickly and to our surprise, the Sandals Resort at Montego Bay was relatively close. A 10 minute drive was nothing compared to what the others were talking about. Some of the other Sandals resorts were as far out as 1.5 hours in a van, but I was glad that ours consisted of 10 minutes of driving on the left hand side of the road. As a side note, the booking agent made sure that we knew that all gratuities on the resort were included as it was dubbed an All Inclusive Resort but all the little things such as the van ride to the hotel, valet baggage service and the little knick knacks here and there are NOT Included and they make sure to tell you that they work on tips. Not that I spent too much, but I was a little surprised.

Our bags were taken from us and put aside while we were escorted to another lounge within the resort where they gave us a lemongrass cold face towels, some champagne and a “membership card” along with our “upgraded room” packages. They make it seem that we were special and got the upgraded accommodations, but it really just seems all like a little thing to spruce up your enjoyment from the get go. The card that they gave us had Deluxe upgraded to Honeymoon Waters Edge printed on it. We were definitely grateful for it as our room included a jetted tub, mini bar (which was included) a king size bed and a view of the ocean from out small balcony. Sandals makes it a point that everything gets billed to your room so that your don’t have to carry too much around which is a nice detail but then again, without the exchange of cash or cards, you can easily end up spending a lot more than your initial vacation budget. Housekeeping surprised us by cleaning out our room twice a day and we only caught them once! I guess it makes sense that they would tidy up the place that often due to the frequent showers and swims at the beach but it became a game to guess when they would come because they really were good at keeping out of sight.

We got to the resort around 1400 and were excited to hit the beach and explore so we did. Walking around the main lobby, there was an activities board that was updated daily, a spa desk for the expensive massages that couples get (we opted out) tourism desk (also for expensive tours that we were advised against) three different restaurants and a pool that was always closer to the freezing readout. I taught Adelle how to swim two days in row so that she could pass the swim test prior to the scuba dive, so we had a lot of time in the pool. I can’t say that I ever warmed up.

Once on the sand, there is a hut that provides an assortment of blended cocktails and drinks on one side and a grill aptly named “Irie Grille” on the opposite side. More on that later. Along the beach, there are Hobbie Cats (quick little sail boats), paddle boats, one wind surfing board, 4 2-seat kayaks, a designated swim area, glass bottom boat that gives hourly tours, the scuba boat that goes out twice a day and a large catamaran (not included). There are plenty of white beach lounge chairs some under huts and some not, a couple of “exclusive” mattresses that couple can rent out, and a piano-pool side bar on the far east end of the resort. There’s also a basketball court, beach and pool volleyball, an oversized chess piece set on a smaller than standard board, shuffle board and a little bench swing. More to come soon!

mbj.a

Productive in SD

The garage is almost cleaned up and unpacked and the office downstairs is about 75% complete.  Rummaging through some boxes, I was able to find quite a few of my old video games, put them up on my amazon.com sellers account, and boom, I sold 11 games ranging from $1.99 to $14.99.  Minus the ~25% amazon commissions fee, I made $110!  There's a lot to more to sell too from DVDs to other stuff I got and don't use and they're going at 80% off retail!  Check it out when you have sometime.   I woke up today to a startling, "you're front yard is flooding!" and upon walking outside, the sprinkler system was busted right where the main line connects to the front yard.  Check out the pictures at trelijah.  I have a before and after.  I've never done any plumbing before and went to the Home Depot to buy some quick drying blue cement and a 1" end cap just in case we needed to stop the system entirely.  TO sum it up, we were out of water for the 4 hours, I drained a couple of buckets worth emptying out the area where I needed to patch up the piping and then after more yardwork, I rested a bit.  Exciting way to start the day.  

I bid for my December schedule and got awarded my vacation allotment for 2009.  I'm off for a red eye back to ATL then I'll be flying around the system for the next three days.  Catch me back in San Diego on Saturday night or Baton Rouge Thursday and Friday night.

Costa Rica Day 2 and 3 (part 2)

Day 2 included walking around flooded streets while attempting to find some breakfast.  Strolling into a hotel opposite of ours, we enjoyed a typical American breakfast only because the waitress told us that the Tico breakfast wasn't that great.  Even though I asked for fried eggs, I guess Costa Ricans interpret them as sunny side up.  I'll take that for the road next time I order to ask for fried all the way.  

The entire day continued to drench us and there would be no end in site.  We decided after hearing that there was a chance of bridge closures to forgo staying the night in Coco Bay and head back to Liberia via autobus.  We ended up hitching a ride back to the city with Jose and bought him and his son some lunch as thanks.  He then took us to a couple of different hotels but without getting any deals, we paid $52 USD for a crappy room with no A/C.  Not that we needed the A/C, the only upside was that it was near the locale. 

More pictures after the jump!

While we scoured for cover underneath various awnings, Matt and I toured a church, walked around various shops and ran into a crazy looking mannequin.  So, of course Matt had to take a picture of it. Strolling around the grocery store, we took another picture of a fridge full of Imperial Beer and then walked around a little more where we entered a local high end bar (we had no idea) and retired there the rest of the night. 

We met a guy named Otto who originated from Costa Rica but lived in the US for the past 10 years and he was nice enough to hang.  He told us a couple of stories, drove us to the other club which was a bust, drove us back to where we met, which ended up closing and then took us back to our hotel. 

That was it really, we woke up two hours early due to our phones not being calibrated to the local time zone, had some breakfast (still then eggs were over easy) and got conned into taking a cab to the airport.  You see, the cab driver initially charged us $20 USD for a 10km ride, but when we started walking away, he started up his taxi and came riding over to us.  He lowered his price to $15 and when we told him that we were going to talk to the bus station, he told us a lie that the bus doesn't take us directly to the airport.  That was a bust!  We found out later that there are buses to the airport from a security guard who chatted us up a bit.  I bought some coffee and a couple of souvenirs from the duty free shop (expensive as heck) and then we boarded up and took off.  The plane ended up full so we got coach seating but it wasn't too bad. 

After all the rain that came down during the trip, at least we learned quite a bit so that our next trip to Costa Rica will be that much better!

Tropical Depression #13 vs. Costa Rica (part 1)

Looks like Matty P and I got the best of the rain during our 3 day excursion to Liberia, Costa Rica.  Arriving Tuesday early afternoon, sitting in Delta's First Class, we met up with what would have been our tour guide had the weather worked out the next day, Jose Avispas.  Avispas Adventures was highly recommended by my captain and after doing a little bit of random internet research, we knew that they would be a perfect choice for our quick trip.  It was easy working with the company and they came and picked us up as promised even on short notice.  They dropped us off at a hotel in Hermosa Beach, taking care of all the reservations, called Villa Huetares that they recommended costing us $45.00 USD /night w/o extras.  They did have WIFI using a long WEP key, two computers that were open for use, clean rooms but because of the timing, the villa looked like a ghost town.  The website shows a couple of pictures of the place it definitely shows off the best of what they have.  It wasn't a 2 or 3 star place, but it was a cheap place and "better" than a Hostel. 

It wasn't looking good for us at the time due to the torrential down pour, but it cleared up after a bit so Matt and I decided to head to the beach.  We met a local fisherman selling us a boat trip and with little haggling, we got a 3 hour trip for $120 ($100 + $20 tip).  Included was the boat, fishing poles, a crew of three (don't know why) and the guarantee that we would have a great time "fishing."  We caught two bait fish and hung out for a bit, but ended up with nothing.  The view was great, the boat ride gave us great views of the coastline including the all inclusive Four Seasons Resort, and I would have to to admit that it ended up being worth it.  Albeit disappointing with no catch and a couple of nibbles, but hey, it's fishing and we were in Costa Rica!.  Little did Matt and I know that it be the last tourist thing we would do. 

   Click for more!

That night, our tour local guy recommended that we eat at a local bar where we ordered Garlic Buttered Grilled Fish.  It was definitely a great eat.  I should have taken a picture of the plate but by that time, 1900 local, we hadn't eaten since the plane ride.  Hoping tomorrow would bring up better prospects, we decided to take advantage of the night as it cleared up and head out to Coco Beach. 

After arriving and searching around Coco Beach, we came to the conclusion that it was definitely a better place to stay so we asked around a bit on the going rate.  Coco Bay hotel was going to charge us $80 USD /night where as the hostel was around $15 USD.  We found a bar with some expats who offered us tourist advice and sat down.  We had quite a few beers, met some random locals, became friends with the bar tender (relocated from Gulfport, MI) and the cashier who chatted us us. 

Being a Tuesday night during the off-season along with the rain, no one was touring the area except for the few hookers and guys hanging about.  Definitely not the right time to come, but who would have known?  

Getting a ride back was easy after the local guy we were hanging out with called us a cab and back we went with no plans for the next day except to have some breakfast back at the restaurant where we had the awesome fish!

On the Way to Kos-tah Ree-ka

I'm on DL353 from ATL-LIR (Liberia, Costa Rica) travelling with Matty P in row 4! What an awesome way to start out the trip on first class with a short rib meal and New York cheesecake. We planned out a 3 day / 2 night trip on the whim and are basically just winging it. Should be a blast though as some of the plans are coming together slowly but surely. A captain recommended me to use a company called Aviapas which is owned by an American women and her Costa Rican husband so we thought we would give it a try. So far so good in that she found us a $45/ night hotel at Playa de Hermosa and their trips seem definitely doable budget wise. AT&T charges $2.29 per minute without the international rate plan ($5.99 month) which would lower the cost to $1.99 / min. Basically, you would have to break 20 minutes of talk time just to make it worth while. Text msging is defintely the way to go at 0.50 each way or better yet, I could find a wi-fi signal and try out fring! Data roaming is $0.0195 per KB which the operator told me would be quote a bit if I pulled up a YouTube video. She advised that one should turn off data roaming, push services, fetch services, 3G and any other extra curricular dealios on the iPhone in order to avoid any crazy charges. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that you could "purchase" 20MB for $24.99 which I think is a ridiculous ripoff. I wish that they just had a plan skmiliar to the Blackberry International pacakge. Oh well, I guess try still have a lot to learn...hopefully they will listen.