Author: Tiff and Greg

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Sailing – How to Test the Waters

So lets assume that you read our previous article “Volunteer Crewing 101” and though you may have some reservations, the idea of travelling around the world on someone else’s luxury yacht for months on end visiting far flung tropical islands with your only expense being the cost of groceries appeals to you.

(Look, if the opportunity to travel to Tahiti for free doesn’t get your attention then there is simply something wrong with you.  😉

Let’s also assume you have never once in your life set foot upon a ship.  How do you go from clueless landlubber to salty swabbie?  Or at least how do you check this out for yourself and see if the sailor’s life is, indeed, for you?

Continue reading “Sailing – How to Test the Waters”

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City of om-nom!

San Antonio, TX

When you’re lucky enough to be exposed to a new culture with one of your good friends as a card carrying member, you get to breeze by all the touristy stuff and get a back stage pass to what real people do for a good time.

And what you do in San Antonio, is you eat

And eat…

Continue reading “City of om-nom!”

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Something Worth Going Home For

Enroute San Antonio, TX

A few posts back we posed a question to you: when is it worth it to go home?

We told you there were several reasons why we came back but we didn’t go into a lot of details on our reasons.  Remember we didn’t just fly home from Auckland.  We left in Tonga a guaranteed free ticket to Australia on a private motor yacht to hop a flight to Auckland then onto the United States.  Why the heck did we decide to leave then?

To understand this story, we have to take you back to Bora Bora.  Shouldn’t all good stories ending in San Antonio involve a detour though Bora Bora?  We think so…

Bora Bora Mountain

Remember the Bora Bora business day we had where we made phone calls to, among other people, Greg’s old business partner?  Right well he had a little more than business to discuss.

Michael – “I’m getting married and I was wondering if you wanted to be the best man.”

Greg – “Oh you bastard…”

Continue reading “Something Worth Going Home For”

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So THAT’s where everyone went!

Atlanta, GA

So, as thirtysomethings (oh, now that’s frightening…) we’ve been wondering.  For the past several years actually…

Where the heck did everybody our age go!? Continue reading “So THAT’s where everyone went!”

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Greg stars as “The Nanny!”

Atlanta, GA

One of the reasons we came back was to spend a month with our dear friends.  They had an urgent need for some help with child care for a month so Greg headed over to Atlanta, GA while Tiffany moved on to our next destination a little early to help out one of our friends with his business.

Greg remembers the first time he saw Atlanta.  He was a new ensign in the Coast Guard and by new, we mean he got his commission about a month before and was driving to his first duty station in Florida.  At about midnight he was heading down the I-75 when he crested a hill and the whole city of Atlanta lit on a clear night spread out before him.

Atlanta at nightIt was a sight he’ll never forget but then getting pulled over 30 minutes later by the Atlanta police for speeding stuck in his memory too.   What’s the deal with him and cops?

Continue reading “Greg stars as “The Nanny!””

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Local’s guide to San Jose, CA

San Jose, CA

Last time we looked at the more popular tourist sites of Greg’s home town but really, San Jose does not easily lend itself to tourism outside abject worship of assorted technology businesses.  Only so many people want to drive by Apple HQ.  However, when you know where to look, there are actually quite a lot of good times to be had.  Luckily, Greg has “normal friends” (yeah, that’s always a relative term) who we hung out with around town.  So here’s what we do to have fun – Continue reading “Local’s guide to San Jose, CA”

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Visitor’s guide to San Jose

San Jose, CA, USA

So let us assume for a moment that you are not a video game and / or D&D junkie (and you remember things like corkscrews when bringing over bottles of wine to your friend’s house).  Barring that, what does one do for amusement in Greg’s home town?

city of San Jose

Let’s start with the touristy stuff…

Continue reading “Visitor’s guide to San Jose”

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Wine… From Bananas!

More from the Grog Files:

Wine tasting in rarotongaIn this installment of our adventures in international drinking we explore wine made purely from bananas and blueberries in the Cook Islands.  We also sample the beer they ferment on this tropical island.

Oh yes, we also started including websites of the purveyors when available so you can order this stuff and taste around the world a bit for yourself!

Just go to the navigation bar above, hover over “Grog Files” and select “Cook Islands”

 

Or just click on “Cook Island Grog Files”

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Bring Forth The Multi-Sided Dice

San Jose, CA, USA

When in San Jose Greg likes to party.  He likes to party a lot.

But perhaps we should take a moment to define this word, as its meaning could be somewhat…skewed depending on your perspective and life experiences.  To many people, this would involve nightclubs, expensive bottles of vodka, private tables, next day hangovers, loud music and expensive, if somewhat revealing and usually uncomfortable, clothing.

Greg’s mother loved Greg’s high school partying habits.  He had no curfew, none.  This conversation happened regularly in his home as a child:

“Mom, I’m going to a party, I’ll be back tomorrow.”

“OK, just be sure to call at 10.”

Usually he forgot.  But that was ok and not because Greg had a cell phone.  Greg’s mom just knew where he was.

Continue reading “Bring Forth The Multi-Sided Dice”

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Do You Know the Way?

San Jose, CA, USA

San Jose is Greg’s home town.  Many of you have been told, by Greg himself even, that it’s San Francisco but it isn’t.  Why were you misled? You see, the San Francisco Bay Area is huge.  It’s simply massive…a mega-city that’s 7.15 million people strong.  It’s actually comprised of three large cities with several dozen large towns all filling in the gaps.  The entire bay is inhabited so town lines are sometimes a bit… arbitrary.

Continue reading “Do You Know the Way?”

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