Goodbye and Hello

We left Miami on Sunday morning, August 14 around noon. Saying goodbye to Stacey wasn't easy but she is in a good apartment, she has good work to do, she has some family around and she is a strong determined young woman. So we said our goodbyes and postponed thinking about our empty nest in Regina by focusing on our trip to Tallahassee.

We took I-95 to around Orlando and then crossed over to I-75. Its about a 7 and a half hour trip on wide, open fast highways. There are lots of trees lining the Interstates so it was difficult seeing the countryside. For most of the trip we were lost in our own thoughts which is unusual as we normally talk a lot while we drive.

Tallahassee is a very pleasant, spread out city. I get the feeling that there is lots of room here - unlike Miami where everything seemed pushed together despite the long distances between where ever we were and where ever we wanted to go.

Jay, Dori and Riley live in a beautiful house in the north end of the city. Their neighbourhood is very treed and seems like they live in the middle of a forest. The trees, bushes and flowers make the surroundings very lush and beautiful.

Jay welcomed us with a traditional Kesten Sunday night dinner - hot dogs and french fries - it was a welcome relief from the restaurant meals we have been eating for the last few weeks.

A young woman comes in to take care of Riley so we are free to play with Riley all we'd like but then Bree can take care of her while we do our own things. After playing with Riley Monday morning we found our way to Costco and bought a few things including a new GPS. We then used the GPS to explore a few parts of Tallahassee.

We're going to explore the city and find a few things to have fun with here over the time we are here.

Phase 2 complete, family and phase 3

In some ways this has been a long trip - the five day road trip to Miami (Phase 1), helping Stacey find and settle into a new apartment (Phase 2) and now we're off to Tallahassee to spend time with Jay, Dori and Rile (phase 3).

The problems with the first apartment Stacey found and watching and helping while Stacey found and moved into her new apartment caused a lot of stress and anxiety. This was offset by Stacey's smile when she realized that she was just about there in creating a new home for herself - the irritation, stress and anxiety disappeared.

But tonight was totally different. We spent the evening with my cousin Harvey, his wife Marcia at their daughter Jodi's home in Pinecrest. Harvey's two son's were there too with their children - which brought the children total to 5 - 4 boys and a girl!

I haven't seen Harvey for a number of years so there was lots to catch up on. Marcia comes from Regina so there was lots to talk about.

The Kesten family is complicated so we spent some time trying to remember who fit where.

It was a great evening - Paul and Jodi were great hosts - the kids were full of energy and the food was good.

Its so rare that we spend time with family that we need to capture the moments and cherish them.

So tomorrow begins Phase 3. We've rented a car and will be on the highway on the way to Tallahassee by midday.

It will be tough to leave Stacey but she is going to be doing good work and is in Miami for a good reason - I'll miss her.

Phase 2

Well it is at least a week late but tomorrow morning we'll be starting on phase 2 - helping Stacey turn a rented, furnished apartment into her home. At 11 tomorrow money and keys are exchanged and Stacey is in!

Finally a place to park that doesn't cost $26 a day.

Today was returning the rented car, doing laundry, finding the Festival Mall to buy me bifocal sunglasses (we were successful)

And having a great dinner with Stacey at a place called Inka's - just down the street from the Conrad. Stacey is staying in the hotel tonight so there won't be driving to and from Boca anymore on this trip at least.

Tomorrow we'll get all of the packages, parcels, bags and cases into her apartment and then the process is turned over to Stacey

getting used to this place

I'm actually beginning to feel at home here in Miami. I can maneuver a bit by foot and by car. I even know some things by direction - not bad for a directionally changed man!

And I'm getting to understand the weather patterns too - clear, hot, humid, clouds, rains, more humidity, go to sleep and hope for a repeat.

we spent some time wandering around the U of Miami - it is a beautiful campus with a lot of construction going on.

The feel on this campus is typical campus - serene places - especially around the lake - and bustling places - especially around the food court and book store.

I hope to spend a bit more time in the bookstore - I'll try to fit it in around the things that Stacey wants me to do.

Adventures, catastrophes and life

Life is an adventure - sometimes it is a series of catastrophes - sometimes its both. But it is always hard to figure out if personal perception creates the adventure or the catastrophe.

Life is frightening - adventure is frightening - and catastrophes are frightening.

Which sometimes means that adventures can be seen as catastrophes because of the fear they create.

We have been experiencing life in its full manifestation this trip - the adventure of the long road trip with a loaded car. I often thought about the incredible job it would have entailed if we'd have gotten a flat tire and I would have had to unload the trunk to get at the spare.

Other adventures/catastrophes awaited us as we arrived in Miami - the need to get rid of Stacey's first apartment, finding a new apartment that would be suitable and available almost immediately, finding out that real estate people (and evidently owners) don't like to work on the weekend.

It has been stressful (when we look at the catastrophes), exciting (when we look at the adventures) and frightening (when we look at everything)

But it is all for a good reason. Stacey has the opportunity to thrive in an exciting, dynamic city - she will be engrossed in what appears to me to be a fantastic, fascinating graduate program. There is a bright future.

Stacey found an apartment today and made an offer to rent - we're hoping she gets this apartment and can move in and get settled as fast as possible - she has a great deal of work to do, lots of running around to do and an intensive course that starts soon.

With a bit of strength, focus, determination and exertion everything will get done and I know it will get done well.

Life is made up of adventures and catastrophes - all we need to deal with life is a sense of humour, confidence in a good future and a bit of self-confidence

Weekends and Superficiality

I've discovered some very interesting things.

We've spent the last two days scratching our heads about the way real estate agents work in Miami. It seems they prefer not to work on the weekends!!! One fellow told us that his listings don't allow showings on the weekends but only during weekdays and during office hours. I asked if people were expected to take time off work to find a place to live and his answer was "yep, if they want to find something."

Wow.

So as a result we have been sitting here - Saturday and Sunday - without seeing anything at all in terms of an apartment for Stacey.

The other interesting thing I've learned is the depth to which insincerity can go.

When we checked into the Conrad (described as a luxury Hilton) we were given vouchers for two free drinks in their bar. The desk clerk gave me the vouchers and pointed out that the vouchers would get my two drinks but I'd have to sign for the gratuity - I thought "fair enough."

The bar is on the 25th floor, as part of the lobby, with a nice little, narrow, long deck with tables and chairs. Unfortunately they allow smoking on the balcony.

So that night Helene and I went to the bar and used our vouchers to have a drink each. What made an impression was the lackadaisical attitude of the folks that worked in the bar. It took forever for them to recognize us, a longer time for them to serve us and they never did offer us bar nuts, food or anything else. but the bill came with an automatic 18% gratuity.

Breakfast is included here too. Same business - forever to seat us, forever to get coffee, flip almost rude (well not almost - rude) behaviour - very little attention paid - but an 18% gratuity included.

A built in tip leaves no incentive for the server to try to be helpful or nice. They provide the semblance of excellent service but the reality is far from excellent

On the surface this place looks luxurious and the rhetoric is right up there with the luxurious facade. The letter slipped under our door on the first night said "Exceeding your expectations is our goal." And on the surface it seems that they do exceed expectations.

For instance take the towels in the room. The are huge, fluffy, folded beautifully to show the embroidered "Conrad" and look soft and cuddly! But using them is like trying to dry off with aluminum foil or waxed paper. Looks beautiful but isn't functional.

By the end of the second night here I had it with the rudeness and the inefficiencies (we asked to have the electrical outlets checked as our cel phones didn't charge on the first night. They promised us it would be taken care of right away. We left for the day and when we got back in the evening the outlets still didn't work. they sent an engineer up immediately who discovered that the outlets weren't plugged in - a 30 second service call - the rhetoric of excellence - shoddy experience).

I spoke to someone at the front desk and let them know what I thought of their service including the 'upgrade' to the room (they upgraded us to a bayview room - we see water from our window - right beside the elevator so we get to hear everyone's conversations as they wait for the elevator - all night!! To their credit they offered to move us but we are staying here for 9 nights and were all unpacked already and we refused to move)

And here is the hypocrisy - this morning we were greeted by name as we walked into the breakfast area - the waitress served us within seconds, the hostess came to chat as did the Canadian supervisor. Tonight when we got back to the room there was a cheese and fruit tray sitting on the desk in our room with a note apologizing for any problems we may have had during our stay.

So it seemed that the default mode here is rude, careless service within an atmosphere that tries to convince you that you are in the lap of luxury. Good service is provided it seems once they are called on it which leads me to believe that the good service isn't really sincere.

I don't believe this is the Hilton chain mentality. We have used Hiltons almost exclusively since we came back from Africa. Our experiences at the Sandton Hilton and at other Hiltons including a Hampton Inn in Troy, Alabama were spectacular - its why we come back to Hilton's. At these places we have been dealt with in courteous, respectful, agreeable ways from the second we walked into the lobby.

I have never had to complain before to get 'adequate' service.

Phase 2 Day 1

Well phase 2 was supposed to be unloading the car and getting Stacey settled into her new apartment. It didn't work out that way.

A bit of background first.

Stacey flew to Florida on Sunday, July 31 in order to get her keys and inspect her new apartment. when she and her broker met with the landlord's broker at the apartment they found a filthy, messy apartment - a frying pan with the vestiges of a fried egg was still on the stove.

Stacey pointed out that this was not acceptable and that many other things were either to be fixed or removed - the drawers in the chest of drawers were broken and wouldn't pull out.

evidently her broker had advised her that some of the things she saw when she first visited the apartment could easily be taken care of before she moved in - she was wrong.

The landlord's broker expressed his dismay and brought in his own cleaners - that took a few days - then he and stacey looked at the apartment again.

There were many personal items left by the owner or whoever of their relatives that had previously lived in the place - a broken tv, filled shelves and worst of all family pictures and other pieces of art filled the walls.

The broker said he'd call his client. Meantime Stacey's broker seemed to have disappeared.

So today - 5 days after Stacey was supposed to move in - the owner told the broker that she would not remove the art from the walls.

Stacey had been told that the art was extremely expensive - which lead us to point out to the broker that it was unreasonable to have a tenant responsible for 'extremely valuable art' in a furnished apartment and that in our opinion the art was not properly hung. We told him if the art was not removed then we felt that the landlord had not lived up to their side of the bargain and that Stacey would not be renting the apartment. The broker told us that the lease would be nullified and that our deposits would be returned - we'll see about that!Q

So as of tonight Stacey is working with a new broker looking for a furnished apartment!!

Best laid plans..............

Last day of Phase 1

We made it!! Close to 5000 kilometers, 9 different states, 2 provinces and some beautiful scenery. We didn't rush to get here but we also felt the need to get in the car and go. There are some wonderful things in places I'd never thought about so the next time we'll take even more time to explore.

Troy, Alabama is an even more interesting place in daylight. The accents are spectacular making checking out of the hotel, buying coffee and buying gas a delightful adventure.

Then back to the open road.

A friend pointed out that the terrain would change and we got closer to Florida and she was right. The scenery through Alabama and Georgia to get to Tallahassee was filled awesome forests, tall pines and oaks with a lot of what we'd call bush. But Florida opened up to short scrubby fields, some trees and a lot of swamp land.

The GPS (Dolly - short for Dolores) sent us off the interstate system to get to Jay's house in Tallahassee. So for an few hours we travelled the back roads of Georgia and Florida. Awesome

And then a few hours with Jay, Dori, and Riley - even more awesome. They are settling into their new home and I'm looking forward to spending time with them in a few weeks. Riley is beautiful, brilliant and an amazing child - but then again I'm biased.

One of the most exciting things today )at least for me) was to cross the Suwannee River - think of the songs Swannee(Al Jolson) and the Old Folks at Home (Stephen Foster). Despite the misspelling it is this river that these songs are about. I sang for a while after that crossing = it wasn't pleasant in the car, I am sure!

What I don't like about the southern interstates is that they are isolated. We could have been going by beautiful countryside, interesting towns, etc. but we'd never know because the highways are protected by rows of high trees and other kinds of shrubbery.

Tomorrow, onto Phase 2!

I've been everywhere, man. I've been everywhere

Well not exactly everywhere but it was a big day today. We woke up in Chesterfield, Missouri and are about to fall asleep in Troy, Alabama. In between we've been in Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama. Quite the day of travel.

The gps is working beautifully - taking us around cities and generally avoiding any serious traffic. Unfortunately we occasionally slow down for some construction.

And without jinxing anything (I hope) I am tickled pink with the car. Today for a time the outdoor temperature registered at 42 degrees Centigrade (well over 100 F) and yet the air condition works well and the car is happy to travel at high speeds for hours at a time without getting unhappy.

We are enjoying the scenery - lots of trees, hills, small mountains (I am used to the Rockies so many of the 'mountains' here seem small). And lots of water - rivers are high, lots of washed out areas - although the highways seem fine - and enough wet, unplanted fields. On the other hand we have seen more corn growing - miles and miles of corn.

Tomorrow Tallahassee for a few hours and then onto Highland Beach!

Phase 1 Day 3

I may be getting old!!! despite someone calling Helene on her cel by mistake this morning at 6 a.m. I slept until close to 9 a.m. - I haven't slept this long since I was 20!! Maybe I'm tired from driving? or could it be the free poured Jack Daniel's I had at the restaurant last night?
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Regardless we were out of Sioux Falls by 10 a.m. and on our way to Kansas City - except we didn't realize that I-29 was basically closed between Council Bluffs and Kansas City. So we took the detours - a few hours worth of detours - but it was worth it. The "back country" of Iowa and Missouri are beautiful areas - corn growing as far as the eye can see. What was interested to us was that there were no farm yards or farm houses - just acres of corn - likely corporate farms - we were reminded that this is the Valley of the Jolly Green Giant and he is owned by big agriculture.

We finally got back to the big four lane highways and realized that Nashville was out of reach.

So here we are in Chesterfield, Missouri - just outside of St. Louis - a nice little community - with a Maserati dealership and a great restaurant called Annie Gunns.

We tucked away in the Hilton Garden Inn - as usual I am grateful to Conrad for having his hotels everywhere and looking forward to a big driving day tomorrow - unless of course the construction and detours get in the way