Thursday, August 10, 2023

Airalo. Yes. Technology that makes traveling so much easier. And it’s affordable.

I’m starting to hit those middle-aged years where I find myself avoiding learning new technology. When I was a corporate manager I had some older staff that I inherited and they would drag their heels when we upgraded software and it would drive me insane. But now I’m that older staff. Thankfully I work for a governmental organization now, so software upgrades aren’t really a thing.

But I’m dragging in personal life, too. I still haven’t tried any AI tools yet. I tried ChatGPT, had some static trying to set up my login, and then just quit and said fuck it. And even though I primarily use Instagram (which also is lately considered for “old people”), I still miss Facebook because honestly it had (and still has) easier usability. And just this week for the first time am I actively trying to change my habit of pulling out my debit/credit cards and instead using my Apple Pay. #boomerlife

So what inspired me to be such a trendsetter, you ask??? I can’t sleep on airplanes > I get off the airplane and I’m a zombie > the last thing I can/want to do is figure out where in the airport I can buy a SIM card > if I can figure it out I don’t have the brain power to figure out what to buy and manage that process. So, eSIMs to the rescue, and totally worth the new knowledge in my Swiss cheese brain.

Side note, I just wondered what SIM stands for and Googled it. Subscriber Identity Module. I never would have guessed that. Sounds like something from a dystopian future like Black Mirror.

I’m sure I learned about eSIMs and Airalo from a travel blogger/vlogger out there but can’t remember who. But huge thank you to them.

At first I was sure my phone was too old for this. I still have an iPhone XR. I’m old and I’m frugal so I don’t get new phones until I have to. But they have a great list on their website of which devices are compatible, and I was a winner.

Next I saw how cheap the coverage was for our next upcoming trip (that Iceland and Greenland trip we just finished). Iceland (our first stop) was $7.50 for 15 days worth of coverage (up to 2GB). And I found a referral code online that gave me $3 off my first purchase. So even if the whole thing sucked I wasn’t out much.

Then I dug around the internet and found reviews where people detailed their first experiences. Almost everyone said they had a hard time setting their eSIM up correctly the first time. The tips were to be in a stable WIFI environment for awhile when you set up your first one (like your hotel), turn your phone off/on after you download the eSIM, and to use the customer service link in the app to chat/message for help. So that’s what I did. Unfortunately in Reykjavik we were in an entirely off time zone for an active back and forth chat, but when I woke up in the morning I had gotten the answers from the customer service rep and was able to complete the setup.

By the time we got to Greenland I remembered everything from the Iceland setup experience and was able to complete my Greenland setup without the extra help. Quick and easy.

And zero complaints about the coverage in those two countries. Worked great. Even when we were on a cruise ship within view of land in Greenland I could get coverage!

The only thing that didn’t work seamlessly for me was SMS texting. Some yes, some no. I imagine it has something to do with Apple? I don’t know. But I could use WhatsApp at all times, so good enough.

So yeah, try it. Use STACY6621 for your referral code to get your own $3 off.

Now go enjoy some travels and GET OFF MY LAWN!

Saturday, August 5, 2023

I went to my first fiber festival ever! And it was the first year that this fiber festival was ever held. So I’m like a pioneer.

Flock Fiber Festival was held at Magnuson Park here in Seattle and I’m so glad I went. I didn’t go with any particular projects in mind but still managed to walk away with my bank account hundreds of dollars lighter.

I met knotbadbritt in person – she likes yarn, Ballard, and the Kraken, too. I was too ~~shy~~ introverted to ask for a photo. I got a couple of goodies from the Makers of Color Collective booth that she was operating.

I’ve long admired Hello Lavender’s stitch markers/progress keepers and scored myself a couple of gorgeous sets.

I discovered Sewrella and loved the perfectly coordinated yarns that were available. Not sure what I’ll do with these lovelies, yet.

The Yarn Nouveau booth was wonderfully moody with a color palette that spoke to my soul. I’m anticipating a striped sweater for these beauties.

And I couldn’t leave without stickers. I’m a bit of a sticker whore. Kind of like when I was a kid. But when I was a kid stickers were like ten cents.

Monday, July 24, 2023

This is the day we traveled home from Reykjavik, so here’s the post-mortem on this trip.

The Wins

Scott still wins as best travel partner I could ever hope for or dream of. I am so, so lucky to have him as my life partner.

Reykjavik is a lovely city. I’m really glad we had some time here before and after, with the bonus day due to the cruise itinerary change. I don’t think it’s a candidate for a long-term stay during retirement but when we come back for a road trip we will definitely budget in some time here again – maybe a week? We love a city stay where we don’t feel the need for a car.

Both of our Reykjavik hotels were good and the breakfast buffets made us smile. Unless I could get a similar rate at a hotel up by Laugavegur, I would stay at the Storm Hotel again for sure. And using travel hacking/Hilton AmEx points to get a free stay at the Hilton was a big win.

Another food tour FTW! Wake Up Reykjavik knocked this out of the park. Highly recommended to anyone that will listen. This is the post where I detail what we did.

In addition to the hotel breakfast buffets and the food tour we also had good food and beverage experiences around town. I’m looking at you, Einstok, Te & Kaffi, Icelandic Street Food, Bastard, and Bjor Gardurinn.

Walking to/from the cruise port worked out really well for us on this trip. Obviously it saved us some money but there is so much sitting on a cruise that the walks also just felt really good. This won’t be a realistic option in a lot of cases, but in this situation the city’s walking culture, the weather, and the hotel locations made it work well.

Renting a car in Akureyri was the right call. Super simple and convenient to the cruise port (the Avis/Budget office) and we had a fantastic day of freedom in the countryside! Godafoss was a highlight of this trip. And I learned that driving on Route 1 aka the Ring Road is super easy – well signed, well paved. Well, at least the section we did that day. Confidence for a future Ring Road trip boosted! Here’s the post about that day.

The ATV tour we did in Isafjordur has put ATV tours on our radar for future vacations. We had so much fun! This is the post where I detail what we did.

I saw icebergs for the first time ever thanks to Greenland. Epic. The first picture is horrible because it was a frantic “THIS IS MY FIRST ICEBERG EVER!!!” photo, but keep scrolling the rest are better.

Overall the weather on this trip was better than we could have hoped for, with loads of sunny days and pleasant walking weather. We had that rain on our Nanortalik port stop day, and high winds kept us out of Djupivogur. Climate change made us miss two stops in Greenland. But overall I think we just really lucked out since all of our days in Reykjavik were super pleasant for long meandering walks, and on the day of our ATV tour in Isafjordur the tour guide said it was the best weather he had seen all summer.

Airalo FTW! I’m going to do a post about this app for eSims eventually, but this was my first time trying it and it was fantastic. The coverage was inexpensive – I paid $4.50 (incl. $3 off for first time user with a referral code) for Iceland for 15 days/2 GB and $8.10 for Greenland for 7 days/1 GB. And if we were on the boat and sitting next to a window with view of land the coverage actually worked from the boat! My referral code is STACY6621 if you want to try it and get your own $3 off. But more details to follow in a future post…

The Lessons Learned

I learned a lot about how I can make cruising work better for me in the future. I anticipate we will be on a cruise ship at least once a year for the rest of our lives, so this knowledge is good to accumulate. There will always be a bit of a discomfort just because I’m so introverted, but I know I can figure out how to enjoy them since I do love me some down time.

Unless there’s some sort of extenuating circumstance, I doubt we will ever go on the Norwegian Star (or any other Dawn class ships) again. Looking back on it I think my main complaint was the minimal natural light anywhere inside the ship. The windows felt small. And the sea weather wasn’t good for any outside time. It just felt crowded and claustrophobic.

We should have spent the money on Thermal Suite passes. In the moment the extra $500 felt like a lot, but considering the lack of natural light in the ship, how crowded everywhere felt, and the extra sea days I think it would have helped a lot to have these lounge chairs available (not my photo).

Although I’m a knitter which is the best downtime hobby in the world (I’ll fight you), I need to have more downtime hobbies because cruising is a lot of downtime. Especially if you’re introverted and a bit snobby when it comes to typical onboard entertainment offerings. My ADHD is pretty bad so reading books is like impossible. I could use downtime to be better about keeping up on this blogging hobby. I could. But what else can I get into with minimal packing needs that could hold my attention? Maybe Scott and I should learn how to play cribbage and a couple of other card games.

Next time I will take a closer look at the cancellation policies of any tours/activities we book for cruise ports if they are booked with a local operator (i.e., not thru the cruise excursions). We completely just lucked out this time that the kayaking operator in Djupivogur refunded all of our money when that port was cancelled due to weather.

I learned that I don’t think I like geothermal hot springs because of the smell. I think I’m willing to try one more time at another location to make sure, though.

Next Time Cruising

I’m very glad that whenever we cruise next with NCL we will have Platinum status. This will get us priority embarkation (which should improve my mood that day) and priority tender boat boarding (never again with a 3 hour wait to get off the ship). We will also get a free bag of laundry and an extra specialty dining meal.

On all future cruises I will be looking more closely at the common areas that are available on the ship. And I need natural light! We’ve begun looking at doing an Alaska cruise next summer, and the NCL Bliss has this observation lounge that looks perfect.

Unless it’s a particularly scenic cruise (like Alaska maybe) I’ll be fine with booking a cheaper interior cabin again. Especially if I book a Thermal Suite pass like I plan to on all future cruises. Again, the NCL Bliss seems to have what I’m looking for…

Next Time in Iceland

We definitely want to go back and spend more time on land in Iceland. That will likely look like a Ring Road trip with a side quest up to the Westfjords. Previous to this trip I assumed we would want to do a campervan trip but now that I’ve experienced the cold and the wind even in a warm summer month, I’m thinking this will be more of a road trip with scattered hotel stays. Being able to get warm every night and have hot showers will increase my interest in all of the outdoor exploration – hiking, kayaking, etc. – that Iceland really deserves. This next Iceland trip will probably happen post-retirement so we don’t feel rushed, and when we can again stack up points and miles for flights and hotel stays.

Overall Rating… Great trip! I’m glad I memorialized it here for future reminiscing. Peace out from Keflavik airport on our way home.

Sunday, July 23, 2023

This was Scott’s birthday! We made sure to book an extra night at the end of our cruise in town so he wasn’t spending his birthday traveling home from a vacay – how depressing is that?

We disembarked our cruise in Reykjavik with a plan to take a city bus to our hotel. But I failed to take into account that this was a Sunday and we would have had to wait an hour for the bus by the time we got to the stop. And we are too frugal to spend inflated prices on a taxi. So instead we walked the 2 miles dragging our luggage. But the weather was pleasant and the route was really pretty along the coastline trail.

Since we didn’t have any more Hilton points, I opted to book us in a local hotel called Storm Hotel for our outgoing night. Kind of on the outskirts of what I would call super centrally located, but definitely much closer to the action than the Hilton was. I failed to take any room pictures but this was definitely a great choice (bravo to me). Very clean, modern, quiet. Modest-sized room but this wasn’t a place we were going to hang out for long periods of time. Nice breakfast buffet – it couldn’t possibly compare to the Hilton’s buffet, but it was certainly good. Highly recommended.

We wandered a bit around town including another stop at Te & Kaffi – we loved their food treats!

We took a long walk out to visit the dedicated Omnom shop, which we thought was going to be like a big flagship store with free samples but ultimately we could have gotten the same selection at a lot of tourist shops around town. The chocolate was… ok. Still a lovely souvenir option for folks back home, largely due to the lovely packaging and portability.

We had lunch at Icelandic Street Food. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Soups were super yummy, affordable, and you got free refills! We were very very happy here. Scott’s even smiling at a receipt, and that isn’t normal.

After wandering around town for awhile and refreshing at the hotel, we hit up 3 spots to celebrate my man’s birthday.

First, Bjor Gardurinn which happened to be on the ground floor of the hotel across the street from our own. This is totally our jam. Large list of taps (mostly local, including their own house beer), lovely environment, and we got a brie snack. Again, highly recommended.

We, of course, had to make another stop at Einstok. We were so thrilled that their Reykjavik tap house is as lovely as their beers (more photos in yesterday’s post). Please start distributing in Washington State!

Finally, Bastard Brew & Food. Yes, I know that doesn’t sound very Icelandic. But they also had a great tap list, and check out these beautiful flatbreads!