November

Bronx River Trail

On the first weekend in November, we ventured north, to the border of Westchester County in the Bronx, to ramble the Bronx River Trail.  We started at Muskrat Cove and almost made it the full 9.5 miles before heading towards the nearest subway at Bruckner Blvd, just north of where the Bronx River joins the East River, due to waning daylight and no clear path across the rather busy expressway. The ramble was mostly disappointing as it's not very well marked (hence our early departure), still under construction in parts (which caused us to miss "one of the most striking features...the roaring waterfalls at River Park"), and not terribly picturesque due to all the litter.

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon inflation

Moving on towards the end of the month, our Thanksgiving celebrations began on Wednesday night when we ventured over to the Upper West Side to watch the balloons get prepped for the next day's parade.  We wound up missing the actual parade on Thursday morning but still had a lovely day, leisurely wandering down to our restaurant in the Financial District.  We had such a great time stuffing ourselves full of salmon, beef and turkey that we completely forgot about giving thanks.  Though we didn't think to take a moment over dinner to give thanks, we are of course thankful that we were able to stuff ourselves full of salmon, beef and turkey.

Sleepy Hollow, Old Croton Aqueduct trail

We rambled the rest of November away, venturing north to Sleepy Hollow to walk the Old Croton Aqueduct trail and out to Queens to visit the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge.

Westchester County, from Tarrytown to Irvington, was just lovely.  The people were super friendly, the towns we passed through were super charming, and the vibe was super artsy (craft ales, art house theater, etc.). We can't wait to venture back up to Tarrytown again, this time heading north to the Rockefeller State Park Preserve and beyond.

Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge

The Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge was disappointing.  The refuge itself was hit rather hard by Superstorm Sandy and parts of the main loop trail were completely washed away.  Though the view of Manhattan was rather interesting, the views in the other directions were dismal at best, with a lot of orange construction tape in the bay on one side and JFK airport on the other. Overall, I couldn't believe this was actually a national park. We went to a similar arrangement in Mallorca, the S'Albufera Natural Park, which was exponentially more impressive in regards to the facilities alone. One would expect a national park in New York City to be better maintained than a similar situation on a small island in the Mediterranean, far from any major city. Very disappointing.

Lyndhurst, Westchester County

As we wrap up November and begin the final days of 2013, we'd like to wish everyone a belated Happy Thanksgiving, a delayed Happy Hanukkah and a preemptive Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Happiness and good health for all!

Birthday Month Surprise

Mike & I have just returned from an amazing 19 days in Mallorca, Spain.  You might remember that back in February, just after purchasing the non-refundable tickets, we had to cancel this trip.  But, because Mike was feeling very good about where he was with this semester's project, a week before our original departure date we decided to use our tickets.

Before we officially decided to go we needed to find a hotel room within budget (which was non-existent since we hadn't planned on going).  I went directly to Booking.com and found an amazing deal, Bellevue Club in Port d'Alcudia for only €405 for all 18 nights.  Although this was a resort, which we're not big fans of, we would be staying self-catering and, ultimately, the low price, along with the studio having a kitchenette, made this an amazing deal which we were unable to decline.

We'd be arriving pretty late in Mallorca, after the public buses stopped running, so I visited Tripadvisor's travel forum to get some advice about airport transfers.  Based on forum comments, I purchased two single tickets with Resort Taxis for less than £18 (we'd be using the public bus for our return trip, which wasn't much cheaper at €14).

With the transfers, hotel, and airfare handled we rationalized that even if we ran out of money we would have a roof over our heads and a return trip home.  On a beach vacation one can spend every day on the beach for free.  Sure, we'd have to eat but we are pros at eating on the cheap (rice and sardines anyone?).  Yup, with only a week's notice we had put together an amazing three week budget holiday which would have both of us celebrating our birthdays in Spain (4 April and 21 April).  We were pretty proud of ourselves.

Good News Sandwich

Good news: Mike confirmed with his tutor yesterday that his programme's semester ends a month earlier than planned, at the end of April rather than the end of May.  This means that we're able to relocate to London a month earlier than scheduled and stay for four months instead of three.  Desi is beginning enquiries now regarding employment and accommodations.  Mike has already started enquiring about internships.  We're really looking forward to being London residents for the summer.

Bad news: Because Mike is losing four weeks of this semester and because his education is our highest priority, even above travel, we've cancelled our trip to Mallorca in April.  Mike can't afford to lose seven weeks of this semester and he'll have to work through spring break to finish his project in time.  Moreover, we can't afford both three weeks in Mallorca and a relocation to London to occur within the same month.  We're pretty broken up about this but it's the right thing to do.

If you haven't had a chance to see what Mike's been up to, head on over to his blog, which has been highlighted twice this semester alone by DJCAD via their Twitter account.

Good news: Desi got the call yesterday offering her the job she was hoping for.  She's absolutely thrilled!  She starts work Monday.

Spring Break 2011

Although we just returned from an extraordinary trip to Paris we are already looking forward to our next trip abroad.  Today we finalized our flight to Mallorca in April.  We'll be staying on this Spanish island for 18 nights, in the north east coastal village of Puerto Pollensa.  We're pretty excited!