http://www.esler.net/travel-log/ Welcome to my travel journal. I started writing this journal during my first sabbatical in 1998. It's my ongoing collection of observations, photos, and traumatic introspection from the road. Enjoy.]]> en-us 2009-12-10T16:06:57-06:00 http://www.esler.net/travel-log/001184.html Feet in the water and Belikin (beer) in hand. We’re sitting at the “split” on Caye Caulker in Belize. An old crumbled pier sits out about 100 feet from shore loaded with sun-scorched backpackers. Fish swim nearby as touts work the tourists for Belizean dollars. Slow down! Go slow! Slow traffic… - Baby Sloane is getting her first taste of salt water, taste of the island life. So far, so good! Caye Caulker seems much smaller than it did a few years ago. Maybe it’s because we are spending most of our time on the less-tranquil Ambergris Caye or maybe it is a natural reaction to traveling with a diverse group of people “family-style”. Either way, Caye Caulker is nice... jeffesler 2009-12-10T16:06:57-06:00 http://www.esler.net/travel-log/001177.html Ah, there is nothing like being stuck on the tarmac waiting out the weather. I suppose there are reasons that the airline would cram us on a plane even though they know we will sit for hours and wait… The pilot was nice enough to notify us both that “he wouldn’t have loaded the plane if it had been up to me” and that “it was American Airlines policy not to leave passengers aboard a grounded airplane for more than three hours” (likely alluding to the recent story of a 6-hour grounding in Rochester, MN where the people nearly rioted and the toilets filled to capacity – or so I heard). This means I have another two hours to wait... Miscellaneous jeffesler 2009-08-19T12:47:41-06:00 http://www.esler.net/travel-log/001176.html A heat wave has spread across Canada. Is it global warming melting ancient ice and stranding innocent polar bears? I’m not sure... It hit something like 36C here yesterday (that’s 96F to you and me). Canada, the home of ice and tundratic conditions is sweltering in heat, humidity, and scorching sun… OK, I suppose it is normal for some hot stretches during the Canadian summer. Who knows? I’m not even sure if this place is truly north of Minneapolis (from a latitude perspective)? - Ottawa is a very beautiful city actually. During my quick Google investigation of the city I got the feeling this wasn’t much of a place, sort of a Canadian afterthought. Maybe it is an afterthought, but... Miscellaneous jeffesler 2009-08-16T12:17:32-06:00 http://www.esler.net/travel-log/001175.html As the USA begins a ridiculous battle over healthcare my job has taken me north (actually east) to the socialist state of Canada; home of hockey and free healthcare. Now, I don’t know much about the Canadian healthcare system, but I do know that the US system is fucked up and near useless. My complaints go mostly to the insurance companies that seem to focus on denying benefits, raising prices, and creating smaller and smaller print. To all my Republican and Libertarian friends disrupting town hall meetings and pretending they’re outraged over spending I say “get real!” I doubt Obama has this healthcare problem figured out, but zero + zero is still zero. Something has to be better than nothing.... Miscellaneous jeffesler 2009-08-15T11:55:45-06:00 http://www.esler.net/travel-log/001168.html OK, so I was in Chicago a couple of weeks ago and was going to write something and didn’t. I was up at the lake all week and was going to write something and didn’t. Now it is a Pleasant Valley Sunday (at home) and I have to go to work tomorrow. Not good. - 1,000,000 Miles My Chicago trip was nothing to write home about (or write in a travel journal about for that matter), but it did mark a somewhat significant milestone from a “travel” perspective. I rolled over the 1,000,000 mile mark on the Northwest frequent flyer program. Thankfully I hit the mark just prior to the program getting nixed in favor of the Delta's Medallion program... Miscellaneous jeffesler 2009-07-05T19:49:32-06:00 http://www.esler.net/travel-log/001154.html I’m on the boat’s bridge cruising along Lanai’s southern coast. The sun has just come up and we are fast-trolling (my term) along a deep ridge in the Pacific trying to hook Marlin. In other words we are out for a boat ride. Of course, yesterday someone caught a 400-pound Marlin… Today, we’ll see… The last time I fished in Hawaii we drove the boat around, had one fish on (not me), lost it, and then went home… Fun, fun, fun… I won’t bother everyone with my typical bad-luck stories… It’s a nice day to be out regardless of how many fish we reel in. Chances are, if we do catch any, it will be one or two big ones.... 2008 - Hawaii jeffesler 2008-12-05T20:44:12-06:00 http://www.esler.net/travel-log/001153.html Since this is my third time in Hana, my third time down the Hana Highway, my third time in Maui, and, of course, my third time in Hawaii I made a third pilgrimage across the field, past the overgrown Japanese cemetery, down the steep path, past the dead grey seal (more to come on this) to Red Sand Beach (or Kaihalulu Beach). It remains as amazing as ever and it remains the prettiest beach I’ve seen. Not a bad rating since I’ve also been to “The Beach” of Thailand, Alex Garland book, and Leonardo DiCaprio movie fame. The steep red cliffs, the jagged volcanic rock, and the brilliant blue waters make it a stunning spot in and already stunning place... 2008 - Hawaii jeffesler 2008-12-04T20:41:57-06:00 http://www.esler.net/travel-log/001152.html In a vain attempt to pretend that I’m actually somebody I’ve (we’ve) booked two days (and nights) at the Hotel Hana Maui, the getaway for the rich and famous at the end of the famed “Road to Hana”. After a slow start this morning in Kaanapili we put the top down on the car and headed for Hana. Believe it or not, this is my third trip down this treacherous road. Fifty-some miles of twists, turns, yields, single-lane bridges, and certain car sickness. The road is narrow and serpentine, the vegetation is lush, and the cliff-side surf is rough (rougher than usual I think). Its reputation as the “Road to Heaven” is well deserved. Its reputation as the “Road to... 2008 - Hawaii jeffesler 2008-12-02T20:28:05-06:00 http://www.esler.net/travel-log/001151.html Aloha from Maui. If you received a postcard from me you know I started them with “Aloha from Maui”. How nice of me. I’m sitting in my $40/day cabana alongside Black Rock in front of the Sheraton. With Beach in front of me, the blue Pacific waters in front of that, and the island of Lanai in the distance there are few better spots to soak up the sun. It all comes at a price. Along with my $40 cabana I had a $60 breakfast and slept in my $300 room. OK, so the room was only $90 thanks to my Starwood points… I guess traveling for work has some benefits. Anyway, it is damn expensive here on Maui’s Kaanapili... 2008 - Hawaii jeffesler 2008-11-30T20:25:42-06:00 http://www.esler.net/travel-log/001144.html Not a good day of flying. After a slightly late arrival to the airport in Frankfurt we have the pleasure to check-in with an insulting and arrogant Northwest agent. Since we were trying to re-arrange some flights occurring later in the day, it would have been nice to have a pleasant and helpful check-in agent. No such luck. Stage two was the long flight over the Atlantic. Nothing too bad occurred on the flight besides almost dumping red wind on my pants, listening to a noisy guy two rows back, and watching three (yes three) movies where the lead character(s) died in the end. A little depressing maybe, but not too bad. Stage three was standing in line at passport... Miscellaneous jeffesler 2008-04-27T19:21:17-06:00 http://www.esler.net/travel-log/001143.html Well, I escaped Hof for the comfort of more typical tourist areas. I’m in the town of Freiburg in Southwest Germany near the French border. Although I haven’t seen much of the town, it appears very nice and much better than Hof. Hof was not very interesting. Besides a somewhat silly tourist site called “Fernweh-Park Signs of Fame” with thousands of (you guessed it) signs there was little to see. There were hardly any people on the streets. It was like a ghost town. Finding a place to eat was a challenge every night. We walked the deserted streets of Hof looking for a restaurant that was less deserted than the next. We did end up (mostly by chance) at... Miscellaneous jeffesler 2008-04-26T19:02:43-06:00 http://www.esler.net/travel-log/001142.html With cobwebs in my head from an early wakeup in Munich I've made it to my second train of the morning. After a pleasant weekend in Munich it's back to work. Hof is a small city in former East Germany where (I'm sure) the cost of resources is low and Accenture (like every other company) exploits the situation. I suppose it is almost 20 years sicne the wall fell in Germany. I wonder how much it has changed? I’m continuing my arduous project upgrading the e-mail system at Accenture. This week in Hof marks the beginning of the European build of our application. So far nothing has been easy with this project and all decisions seem destined for second guessing.... Miscellaneous jeffesler 2008-04-21T18:19:42-06:00 http://www.esler.net/travel-log/001141.html In typical Jeff style I ended up with a nasty cold during another long-awaited vacation. What a huge pain in the ass! Why is it that I always seem to get sick on vacation? Is it the change in temperature? Is it the relaxation letting my defenses down? Is it just bad luck? I don’t know, but I do know that it happens too often and it sucks. Sure, I was only down-and-out a couple evenings, but why not interrupt work instead of my damn vacation? Why? Top 5 list of vacations that Jeff got sick (in no particular order): Bad Cold in Cuba – Maybe I should stay out of this 90 mile area (for the geographically challenged, Cuba... Miscellaneous jeffesler 2008-01-02T17:52:02-06:00 http://www.esler.net/travel-log/001140.html Cold Corona, fresh off-the-boat shrimp, and a bit of a sun-burn… Life is good in the Keys. At least that’s what my T-shirt says. Today’s adventure was fishing. Not a bad trip. Our boat pulled in six kingfish and a couple bonito. The kingfish were good fighters and one of them was like 40 pounds. Pretty big I guess. I pulled in a couple and lost one. The round-robin process we followed for pulling in fish was a little annoying, but any time Jeff catches fish you can’t complain. Key West has some of the freshest seafood anywhere. The shrimp I’m eating apparently just came of the boat. It’s still warm. Apparently they cook the catch right on the boat.... Miscellaneous jeffesler 2007-12-29T17:42:30-06:00 http://www.esler.net/travel-log/001139.html Peanut butter is a great thing. Somewhere down the line I went from eating two or three peanut butter sandwiches a day to hardly eating any. A bit of a tragedy I must say. Lately I’ve been having some peanut butter on toast, peanut butter on a bagel, peanut butter on an English muffin. I’d honestly forgotten what I was missing. Now, as I sit on the old porch over-looking Duvall Street in Key West enjoying my coffee, bagel, and peanut butter I’m not thinking of the warm sunshine. I’m not thinking of the warm Gulf waters. I’m not thinking of the massive sail fish waiting for my lure. I’m thinking of peanut butter and my lost youth full of... Miscellaneous jeffesler 2007-12-27T17:37:29-06:00