Wil paid the remainder of our Carros de Foc fees today. Now, mind you, it's 6 nights room for two people, plus 3 meals per day. But, still, 498 Euro is now $750. Yikes. And apparently that doesn't include porters, guides, or horses. Just kidding. (Okay, it *doesn't* include any of those things, but we didn't expect that....)
Really really pleased that our holiday is just around the corner!
Monday, June 29, 2009
Saturday, June 20, 2009
thank heavens for the Swiss
Discovered on Friday that our flight reservation from Barcelona to Tangier had been cancelled -- not that the agency had told us, but I logged in to look up the flight times and numbers saw it on our itinerary. Oh. Great. Wil called them and the less-than-helpful staff said, "Oh, um, maybe the flight was sold out." (Which it wasn't, since anyone with a European credit card could still book them through Jet4You.)
So Wil went back to the drawing board and found a Swiss/Italian flight called Bravofly. Because they are able to process payments via Paypal (crazy!) we decided to give them ago. Oh, and they didn't add a huge fee on top of the flight cost, AND we were able to pay for our luggage in advance. Sure, it still took a day for them to confirm the ticketing info with Jet4You, but in the end we were able to book. Bravo, Bravofly.
Scary to see the countdown ticker show less than 3 weeks. Very very scary. Seems like lots and lots to do... but very little that we can do right now.
So Wil went back to the drawing board and found a Swiss/Italian flight called Bravofly. Because they are able to process payments via Paypal (crazy!) we decided to give them ago. Oh, and they didn't add a huge fee on top of the flight cost, AND we were able to pay for our luggage in advance. Sure, it still took a day for them to confirm the ticketing info with Jet4You, but in the end we were able to book. Bravo, Bravofly.
Scary to see the countdown ticker show less than 3 weeks. Very very scary. Seems like lots and lots to do... but very little that we can do right now.
Friday, June 19, 2009
new gear
Two words: squishy bowls.
We got one set of green ones....
...and a set of black ones....
No bonus points for guessing who gets what.
Oh yeah.
We got one set of green ones....
...and a set of black ones....
No bonus points for guessing who gets what.
Oh yeah.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Carros de Foc
The first part of our trip will be spent completing a trek that I've wanted to do since the day I read about it in 2003: the Carros de Foc. It's a 39-mile loop through Aiguestortes National Park in the Spanish Pyrenees. The great thing is that you spend every night in a mountain refuge. It's not fancy, but it's a bed and a blanket and 3 meals per day. So essentially, you can complete a multi-day trek with a day pack. Heaven!
At your first refuge you pick up your "forfait", which you have stamped at each of the 9 refuges you pass by. The warden will list the time and date you arrived at the refuge. When you complete the loop by having your forfait stamped again at your first refuge, you get a t-shirt. Having read some people's description of the hikes, a lot of them, at one point or another, are motivated simply by getting the shirt. Well, probably that and a warm meal.
We're doing it at a leisurely, 7-day pace. At that rate, our longest predicted day will be up to 8 hours of hiking. But one day will be as little as 4 hours of walking. It's hard to know. We cross mountain passes almost every day, and there is always the possibility that we'll get lost. But every afternoon, we'll arrive at a beautiful hut in the mountains and be fed a nice hot meal complete with red wine. After a potentially less-than-perfect sleep in a big dormitory, we'll wake up to breakfast, and be sent on our way with a packed lunch. Very sweet. And did I mention the t-shirt at the end?
We're starting by taking a bus from Barcelona to Vielha, spending the night there, and then setting off in the morning. We'll pass the Restanca refuge, pick up our forfait and other goodies, and then go in a counter-clockwise direction, spending our first night in the Ventosa i Calvell refuge. The next day's trek to Estany Llong is described as the toughest stretch -- good to get that behind us. The third day takes us to Colomina -- the longest stretch, but easier than the previous day's. Then on the fourth day we'll take it very easy -- a 2-4 hour trip to the beautiful Josep Maria Blanc refuge.
Things get a little tougher -- or at least a little longer -- on day 5. We're going to do the 3-5 hour trek to Ernest Mallafre... and then continue on to the nicer Amitges refuge. Day 6 is another 2-refuge day, where we'll hike 2-3 hours to Saboredo, and another 2-3 on to Colomers, where we'll spend our last night in the mountains.
On the 7th day we'll get up early and head back out past Restanca again... FOR THE T-SHIRT ... and then back to Vielha. Ideally, we'll be able to catch the 1:30 bus back to Barcelona. And find ourselves a nice hot bath. And perhaps a washing machine.
Lots more info -- and some spectacular pictures -- from the official Carros de Foc website.
At your first refuge you pick up your "forfait", which you have stamped at each of the 9 refuges you pass by. The warden will list the time and date you arrived at the refuge. When you complete the loop by having your forfait stamped again at your first refuge, you get a t-shirt. Having read some people's description of the hikes, a lot of them, at one point or another, are motivated simply by getting the shirt. Well, probably that and a warm meal.
We're doing it at a leisurely, 7-day pace. At that rate, our longest predicted day will be up to 8 hours of hiking. But one day will be as little as 4 hours of walking. It's hard to know. We cross mountain passes almost every day, and there is always the possibility that we'll get lost. But every afternoon, we'll arrive at a beautiful hut in the mountains and be fed a nice hot meal complete with red wine. After a potentially less-than-perfect sleep in a big dormitory, we'll wake up to breakfast, and be sent on our way with a packed lunch. Very sweet. And did I mention the t-shirt at the end?
We're starting by taking a bus from Barcelona to Vielha, spending the night there, and then setting off in the morning. We'll pass the Restanca refuge, pick up our forfait and other goodies, and then go in a counter-clockwise direction, spending our first night in the Ventosa i Calvell refuge. The next day's trek to Estany Llong is described as the toughest stretch -- good to get that behind us. The third day takes us to Colomina -- the longest stretch, but easier than the previous day's. Then on the fourth day we'll take it very easy -- a 2-4 hour trip to the beautiful Josep Maria Blanc refuge.
Things get a little tougher -- or at least a little longer -- on day 5. We're going to do the 3-5 hour trek to Ernest Mallafre... and then continue on to the nicer Amitges refuge. Day 6 is another 2-refuge day, where we'll hike 2-3 hours to Saboredo, and another 2-3 on to Colomers, where we'll spend our last night in the mountains.
On the 7th day we'll get up early and head back out past Restanca again... FOR THE T-SHIRT ... and then back to Vielha. Ideally, we'll be able to catch the 1:30 bus back to Barcelona. And find ourselves a nice hot bath. And perhaps a washing machine.
Lots more info -- and some spectacular pictures -- from the official Carros de Foc website.
adaptability
Slowly but surely I'm checking things off lists. Today had a couple of hours to kill in downtown Bellevue so stopped in at Bergman Luggage to pick up TSA locks and power adapters. We need to pack a couple -- we may find ourselves in situations where we have to charge both cameras and the netbook at the same time -- so I bought 3. Yeah, I'm nuts. I know. My backup camera battery and XD card also arrived in the last day or so, so that's sorted as well. Still waiting to get final confirmation from the airline about our flight from Barcelona to Morocco. Sigh.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
another day, another hurdle...
Hi, my name is Sunny, and I'm a compulsive planner. ("Hi Sunny")
When Wil and I first started talking about this trip, we didn't want to over-plan. Just book the big things -- like the flights to and from Europe, and the nights in the refuges during the trek portion. But the more we researched, the more we realized we needed to book some things in advance. Like when we discovered that, for some reasons, all the economy class flights between Morocco and Egypt were sold out during the 4-day stretch we wanted to travel.
Originally I that thought that we should take the train from Spain to the coast, take the ferry across the strait of Gibraltar, and arrive in Tangier. I don't know... the idea of the night train from Barcelona to Madrid seemed charming, romantic even -- as did a long train journey down through Spain, and a ferry ride across the strait. And then we started looking at costs -- both in time, and in money. I mean, what if the night train to Madrid was late, and we missed the day train down to Algeciras? I was already building in a day of padding in Barcelona in case we missed the 1:30 bus from Vielha. How much padding is too much padding?
So then Wil discovered a flight on a Moroccan budget airline (um, have more frightening words ever been typed?) called Jet4You. Not only was it a 90-minute, direct flight from Barcelona to Tangier, it was at a great time, departing Barcelona in the early evening, arriving in Tangier in the early evening, and it was dirt cheap... quite possibly cheaper than the two trains + ferry tickets. And it would save us 36 hours of travelling. They even had a slick website, where you could reserve a seat (for a fee), prepay for your bag, and order an e-ticket. The only problem was that their systems can't accept American-registered credit cards.
We even tried having Wil's dad make the booking for us -- over an hour this morning talking via Skype while Tony valiantly and patiently tried using his cards. Still, no dice.
Jet4You suggested using a travel agent; unfortunately we couldn't find a travel agent. I did some research and found a travel agency that's based in Oregon and specializes in Moroccan travel. I wrote them a friendly little note, asking if they were a booking agent. I received a curt reply: "We only book flights as part of a tour package." No salutation, no signoff, and certainly no apology. Not even any "would you like to learn about our fantastic tours?" sort of selling. Just a dismissal. Meow. I love good customer service!
Anyway, Wil did some research as well and discovered a site that would allow booking... for a hefty fee. There didn't seem to be any place to reserve a seat, or any way to prepay for bags. But we *think* it went through. (We've received confirmation from the site, but not from the airline... we shall see.) So now it's more expensive than the train... but it will still mean we save over a whole day. And on a trip like this, that's worth more than money.
When Wil and I first started talking about this trip, we didn't want to over-plan. Just book the big things -- like the flights to and from Europe, and the nights in the refuges during the trek portion. But the more we researched, the more we realized we needed to book some things in advance. Like when we discovered that, for some reasons, all the economy class flights between Morocco and Egypt were sold out during the 4-day stretch we wanted to travel.
Originally I that thought that we should take the train from Spain to the coast, take the ferry across the strait of Gibraltar, and arrive in Tangier. I don't know... the idea of the night train from Barcelona to Madrid seemed charming, romantic even -- as did a long train journey down through Spain, and a ferry ride across the strait. And then we started looking at costs -- both in time, and in money. I mean, what if the night train to Madrid was late, and we missed the day train down to Algeciras? I was already building in a day of padding in Barcelona in case we missed the 1:30 bus from Vielha. How much padding is too much padding?
So then Wil discovered a flight on a Moroccan budget airline (um, have more frightening words ever been typed?) called Jet4You. Not only was it a 90-minute, direct flight from Barcelona to Tangier, it was at a great time, departing Barcelona in the early evening, arriving in Tangier in the early evening, and it was dirt cheap... quite possibly cheaper than the two trains + ferry tickets. And it would save us 36 hours of travelling. They even had a slick website, where you could reserve a seat (for a fee), prepay for your bag, and order an e-ticket. The only problem was that their systems can't accept American-registered credit cards.
We even tried having Wil's dad make the booking for us -- over an hour this morning talking via Skype while Tony valiantly and patiently tried using his cards. Still, no dice.
Jet4You suggested using a travel agent; unfortunately we couldn't find a travel agent. I did some research and found a travel agency that's based in Oregon and specializes in Moroccan travel. I wrote them a friendly little note, asking if they were a booking agent. I received a curt reply: "We only book flights as part of a tour package." No salutation, no signoff, and certainly no apology. Not even any "would you like to learn about our fantastic tours?" sort of selling. Just a dismissal. Meow. I love good customer service!
Anyway, Wil did some research as well and discovered a site that would allow booking... for a hefty fee. There didn't seem to be any place to reserve a seat, or any way to prepay for bags. But we *think* it went through. (We've received confirmation from the site, but not from the airline... we shall see.) So now it's more expensive than the train... but it will still mean we save over a whole day. And on a trip like this, that's worth more than money.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
One month and counting...
One month from today we'll land in Barcelona and kick off our 2009 Dream Trip... 4 weeks in the Spanish Pyrenees, Morocco, and Egypt. I keep making lists... that's how I keep myself sane. It seems like there is a lot to do, but at the same time, I know that we could just throw stuff in our backpacks and get on a plane and be fine. Oh, as long as we remembered to give Matt -- our dear friend and cat-sitter extraordinaire -- his set of keys to the house...
In the month to come we'll tell you more about our plans. I'm feeling both excited and nervous at the same time.
In the month to come we'll tell you more about our plans. I'm feeling both excited and nervous at the same time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)