Barbara's Travel Blog

Thank goodness we've finally cleared that up

In case you hadn't heard, the new smoker-friendly airline Smintair has finally settled the debate about the risks of smoking. According to an article posted in their "Informative Downloads," smoking does not cause lung cancer.

I for one just want to say "Bravo!" to Smintair for the objective and definitive answer we've all been hoping for for so long. Now let's all go have a perfectly safe and long-awaited smoke, just like the man in this inspirational Smintair promotional photo!

How do you say "Where is my bag?" in Thai?

My upcoming travels will include some time in Thailand, so I was distressed to read about the problems the new Bangkok airport has been having with baggage handling. Here's hoping they get it worked out before December!

Read more about the problems at http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2006-10-09-bangkok-lost-luggage_x.htm?csp=34.

Pumpkin patch pics

I headed into the countryside recently to pick pumpkins with my friends Tori and Angel. No story to tell, but we snapped some cool pics:

So much for spontaneity

Amidst all the layoff stuff, I forgot to post this blog entry I wrote a couple weeks ago…

Last weekend (now several weekends ago) I spontaneously headed to the coast with Jen (former roommate and co-conspirator since high school) for a girls' getaway. A little too spontaneously, it turned out - but in the end it all worked out for the best.

We hopped in the car Saturday morning and headed first for Oceanside, a tiny coastal town that Jen visited this summer and fell in love with. Apparently she wasn't the only one, as there were two weddings being held in this teeny-tiny town, which of course meant their limited selection of cabins, hotels and B&Bs were all sold out.

After a bout of self-pity, we headed to the nearest, equally-tiny town - Netarts - in search of other options. It seems mid-September on the Oregon coast is wedding season though, because they had a couple going on too, and a similar lack of available lodging.

Onward and northward we headed, hitting town after town with no luck. I was starting to think we might be heading back to Portland that night - or sleeping on the sand - when we rolled into Cannon Beach and finally struck gold. Someone had cancelled a king suite at the Surfsand resort mere minutes before we arrived.

The hotel got a huge thumbs up from both Jen and I. Not only do they have a wooden puffin outside, but both the rooms and the service are on the scale of a Westin or a W Hotel, and we had a fantastic view from our balcony of Haystack Rock (of Goonies fame).

The rest of our evening was the perfect antidote to the headaches of the day's hotel hunt. We had a great dinner at the hotel restaurant, where we each ordered a whole crab, but to our surprise received a crab-and-a-half each - which took about two hours to work our way through. We then headed for our balcony to enjoy a bottle of wine, dessert, the sound of the surf and the best view of the stars I've seen in quite a while. We even got to enjoy the view of several campfires on the beach, but without that lingering campfire-in-your-hair smell.

Sunday we enjoyed brunch followed by some time chilling and people-watching on the beach, then headed home. What a perfect way to wrap up the summer!

Request for help

Dear friends, family and random strangers who stumble upon my blog,

As most of you know by now, I was informed a couple weeks ago that I am one of the thousands of Intel employees being laid off this month. I have decided to take some time off to travel before looking for a new job, and I have a request for all of you.

One of the highlights of my travels will be 6 weeks spent doing volunteer work with children in Dharamsala. The town is in northern India across the border from Tibet, where the Dalai Lama and many other Tibetan refugees live. I will be volunteering through Cross-Cultural Solutions, a non-profit volunteer organization that places volunteers in countries around the world for a variety of community development projects.

All Cross-Cultural Solutions programs are run solely by volunteer contributions, and therefore each program has a fee. The fee for this six-week program, including all meals, lodging, travel medical insurance and in-country transportation, totals $3,576. I am fundraising to help cover the fee, and I hope you will help with a contribution. If you can spare $100, $50, even $20, it will help me achieve this dream and help support a community in need.

If you would like to contribute, please visit www.crossculturalsolutions.org/makepayment by Dec. 1, and reference my e-mail address (btgrimes99 at yahoo.com). Please notify me of your contribution, so that I can track it here for everyone to see my fundraising progress. If you choose to lend your support to this cause, you'll be pleased to know that all contributions are 100% U.S. tax-deductible.

Should you have questions about the volunteer program, please contact me or call Cross-Cultural Solutions at 1-800-380-4777. Your support is greatly appreciated. I look forward to sharing this extraordinary experience with you here on my blog.

Thank you in advance,
Barbara

Sometimes life throws you a curveball

This week I was notified by my employer (Intel) that I'm being laid off. It came as a surprise, but I'm trying to look at is as an opportunity. After almost 10 years at Intel, I think it was time to move on to something new anyway.

So, what next? Along with thousands of other affected employees, I'm trying to figure out the ins and outs of the separation options. It's looking like I will have to enter the "redeployment pool" for two months, during which I remain employed and my full-time job is to look for another job within Intel. That's a bit of a joke, since there are next to no jobs available right now, but if I choose the immediate separation package, it looks like I would forfeight my right to unemployment benefits.

I have to make up my mind by Oct. 13, and whatever I end up choosing, I plan to take some time off after my official end date to travel. I'm pretty tired of the rat race at this point, and would love to go do some volunteering in India or Vietnam, and spend some time exploring parts of the world I haven't seen yet and getting back in touch with myself before I worry about securing another job.

Anyway, thanks to everyone who's heard about my layoff and has expressed sympathy and support. This has been much easier to deal with because I have such great people in my life.

XOXO,
Barbara

Flacks gone wild

Last week I was in San Fracisco for a work conference (I'll skip naming it so as to not hit Google searches for the event).

I tend not to blog much about San Francisco, since I travel so frequently there that it feels like my second home. I'll make an exception this time though, since I am armed with photos from a very drunken Tuesday night with my PR colleagues. The photos speak for themselves...

I think my favorite part of these photos is tracking Bill's hand placement in the last four. Here's hoping HR doesn't read my blog. ;-)