The Polite Traveler

Probably best known for its connection to Cannery Row, made famous by John Steinbeck’s novel of the same name, Monterey is a delightful blend of funky, sublime, and an ode to the working class.  Funkiness abounds on Cannery Row with its quaint, stuck-in-time business facades simmering in a cannery atmosphere.  There’s no escaping it nor would anyone wish to.  It’s just downright fun. Of course, there’s much more to Monterey than that one street with the cannery influence and that is why we chose this area of Monterey, and more specifically, Pacific Grove.  We chose Pacific Grove for its quiet and focus on nature , which excelled excellently.  As for this small portion of Monterey, well... Recently while watching Obama’s new docuseries, Our  Great National Parks , we learned that the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary is the largest in the continental U.S.  It’s a mind-blowing 6,094 square miles with 276 miles of shoreline.  As a native C...

Dear Polite Traveler, The initial indication that this museum would be first-class was outside its doors.  Fenced and crawling in front of the museum are ten world-famous David Černý's " Babies " created to draw our collective attention toward how we dehumanize ourselves.  Within the same area is The Fault Line Meditation by Everette Solomon aka JEVPIC .  Ingeniously, his installation reflects CA’s San Andreas Fault while also helping us understand that “the fault is just a fault” and not to dwell on our mistakes, but to understand them, learn from them, and move forward.  Beautifully lit up at night, this brilliant art installation spoke to me as none has in quite some time.  Is that a car resting on its front bumper? A car balanced on a pool of water, Gonzalo Lebrija’s  History of Suspended Time (A monument for the impossible) is a wonder.  It’s a must-see, if just for the fun of it.  Whoa!  Marilyn is Ginormous! Forever ...

  No trip to the big island would be complete without a trip to the volcano, which was on the opposite side of the island.   The drive takes the entire day, but it is worth the time.   This particular island is so diverse, so this is the best way to experience it—my opinion anyway.   We began our journey on the main highway, Highway 19 north and then east.   The terrain changes quite quickly as we traveled north and as we turned east toward and through Waimea.   In fact, driving through the outskirts of Waimea reminded me a bit of Washington State—green, lush with lots of trees .   Beware the Cooler Temps Up North Before making our turn east toward Waimea, we decided to drive up to the lookout at the end of Hwy 270 to view the Pololu Valley. It is an amazing view. The highway dissolves into neighborhood streets, so drive slowly and watch for locals.   Two of which were two local dogs who decided that the street made for a nice warm place t...

  My dear polite travelers, Beware, this post is particularly negative.   It is also written when Covid was not an issue. I feel like a dope for falling for the free $100 in Hilton bucks and discount card offered by the Hilton Vacations Club.   The Vacations Club is basically a different name for timeshares.   Our time obligation (to sit numbly through the spiel about how great their plan is and how plainly stupid we would be not to completely buy into it) was supposed to be around 90 minutes.   We sat chained to our chairs being belittled for not wanting to sign up and spend our hard-earned cash for 3 hours!   Yes, I did say 3 hours.   Incredible.   I was beginning to feel trapped and wanted to claw my way out of the little room, beginning with the painted-smile lady .   So, here’s my advice for what it is worth, avoid anything that has to do with that part of the Hilton organization.   I love Hilton but this branch of it......

  My dear polite travelers, Beware, this post is particularly negative and before Covid. For our Big Island vacation, we decided to attend the Hilton’s luau.   Imagining the music, dancing, roast pork...um...I’m in heaven.   A bright-eyed salesperson informed us that for a few (quite a few) extra bucks we could sit up front, have our own personal attendant, and unlimited drinks.   Sounds like a great deal, right?   Well, not so great when rain comes to visit.   Rain is a problem?   I’ve heard tents are great for this. It rained the night of the luau, so it was forced, with the rest of us dupes, inside.   As promised, we did sit right upfront.   But that wasn’t an issue in such a small room with roughly 60 attendees.   Our personal attendant served us, even though the buffet line was a mere 10 steps away.   The servings were small, and the meal was less than spectacular.   As if that wasn’t disappointing enough, t...

Finally!  A Macadamia Nut Factory My dear polite travelers, Today we decided that we would travel up north, the farthest one could travel on the Big Island.  Traveling from Kona north on highway #19 to #270 we passed through the ubiquitous old black lava chunks, into greener pastureland, and finally to the coast.  We happened upon a working port, Kawaihae Harbor.  It was quaint and most likely catered to the fishing enthusiast.  Its biggest draw for me is that it was very near our first stop, the Hamakua Macadamia Nut Factory.  Since we missed my favorite Mauna Loa in Hilo, I very much needed my macadamia fix and this was the perfect diversion.  MacNuts of All Kinds Live Here Now, this isn’t a fancy shop, no-frills, but they make up for it by offering great customer service and excellent quality.  Of course, there were lots of samples, a seemingly endless supply.  We helped ourselves to the many flavors of nuts, one of which was thei...

  Choosing a good travel agent for scheduling a cruise can mean the difference between a long airline layover or special treatment.  Fortunately for us, we chose Zoe’s Cruises & Tours .  On their escorted cruises, a client can expect daily goodies, festivities, and special tours—all free.  One of our special tours was “The Galley Tour.”   Now, a tour is offered to all cruise guests.  However, for Zoe’s clients, we have an extended, private tour.  On ours, we not only learned how much of this and that is prepared each day but also how the galley crew keeps all of us safe from cross-contamination and nasty germs.  Very interesting. A Shopping List Unlike Any Other The only similarity to a home shopping list to the ship’s is that it is a list of food and beverages.  The finest foods from all over the world—over 110 tons on a single cruise—makes Princess’s list.   At first glance, that seems extravagant, until considering...

How to Get the Most Out of Your Visit to Universal Orlando I could have gone to Paris for my 60 th , but no.  That would have been too...grown up. What did I choose instead?  Yep, the inner Potter Head in me had to jump on a plane to visit the new expansion of Universal Orlando’s The Wizarding World of Harry Potter—Diagon Alley.  Of course, to truly enjoy all it has to offer, I had to try the rides.  Is that a dragon on your rooftop? As soon as my hubby and I entered Diagon Alley—amazing btw—we couldn't help but notice a huge, chain-adorned dragon atop Gringotts Bank at the end of the block.  Of course, the fire it spewed every 15 minutes rather gave it away.  And boy oh boy is it hot! All HP fans will recognize our fire-breathing friend as the dragon our three heroes release and use to escape Gringotts in the final book/movie. Seeing the dragon in the ...flesh...well, let’s just say it was very realistic.  Unforgettable ...