That place looks fake, right?

Well, fake it is not. It’s a village on the Indonesian island of Flores. We were there in late August 2009, four months into our recent round the world tour. M brought us there to climb an extinct volcano. I appeased him by huffing and puffing my way up and down Inirie, not an easy task – believe me. In exchange, we spent our recuperation day hopping around villages like the one you see above, shopping for ikat. This was the first of many little Indonesian villages we bought ikat from. In retrospect, it was by far the most memorable.

This is how ikat is sold in this part of the world. The red piece hanging second from the left was my ultimate choice but looking at the lovely work hanging there, I wonder why I didn’t buy it all.

Nineteen months later, I hold this beautiful hand-woven Indonesian Ikat in my hand in San Francisco. It has traveled across the world, shipped thousands of miles from those cute Indonesian smiles, the picturesque village and that kickass volcano. It’s been living in our lockers, waiting to be put to some use. Looking back at these photos, I kick myself that it’s been living in obscurity for so long. It deserves to be apart of our daily life.

After much deliberation, I’ve decided to make four pillows from it for the couch in our salon. It will hurt my heart to cut it up, but I can’t find another use of this lovely cloth. So cut I must.

This weekend’s project: turn our memory of Flores, Indonesia into tactile home decor (and try not to get too weepy when cutting the ikat).

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I’m going out on a limb to call Thanksgiving what it is: a foodie holiday. Sure, it’s a time to remember why you’re thankful. Yes, it’s a nice break from the work-a-day grind and OK, seeing family is pretty great. But let’s call a spade a spade. Thanksgiving is just a big excuse to eat good food.

It’s actually not unlike the original reason for the gathering. Following their first successful corn harvest, the Plymouth colonists grabbed their helpful Native American friends and had a feast – for three days (according to History.com). So when you think about it, what we’re all reenacting each November 25^th is what all good foodies strive for: the most famous dinner party ever thrown.

It is the unapologetic celebration of food that most appeals to me about this holiday. Stop at any grocery store on November 24^th and you’ll find it overflowing with shoppers. People all across the country come together to cook and share a meal that (for most people) have taken an entire day to prepare. In the age of microwavable dinners, meal replacement shakes and fast food, surely we should be thankful that people care to take a full day to cook a meal.

With that in mind, and in the name of all things slow-food, Martin and I cooked a full-blown meal even though it was just the two of us celebrating. This year’s menu was dubbed American-Swede with a dash of Italian:

Starter

Ramos Fizz (on an empty stomach, as every first-drink-of-the-day should be taken)

Appetizers

Smoked Salmon with Swedish Crackers (Rokt Lax pa Knackebrod)

Wine: Hook & Ladder Gewurztraminer 2008

Main

Caramelized Onions (Cipolline Agrodolce)

Char-grilled Vegetable Salad

Swedish Meatballs (Svenska Kottbullar)

Lingonsylt (Swedish berry preserve that taste like cranberries)

Stuffed Cornish Game Hens

Hawaiian Sweet Bread

Wine: Alexander Valley Sangiovese 2006

Dessert

Classic Homemade Pumpkin Pie with Basil Cream

All in all, the meal was a total success. We ate until we rolled off our seats, we drank until we felt sober and we did the dishes before we felt sober – the perfect combo. The night was topped off with a little dancing in the living room to Mom’s old Kenny Loggins’ vinyl and a ridiculous photo shoot – because really, what do you do at 10pm when you live in the country and have no television?

My hope is that all of your Thanksgivings were full of amazing food and people you love – because, really, it’s what the holiday all about.

That and the mystery that is drinking until you feel sober.

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It’s not that I wasn’t curious about other places. I have memories as a child of standing in my parents garage, staring at a world map that hung there. Splayed across the pastel-colored continents were little red pins, marking my father’s travels. What would it be like to be in those far off places, I wondered, but just as quickly I would turn and run to our backyard to play. Why would I need to travel when all the joy and happiness I knew was found right there at home?

It’s that sort of mentality, combined with a fair deal of shyness, that kept me close to home for most of my life. If you’ve been following this blog, you know that I have a very different philosophy about travel today. So what gives? What happened between the Saturday morning, cartoon missing tantrums and taking a year off to travel the world?

A rash decision made my final year of college.

Checking out what I looked like as a study abroad student 11 years ago

Driven by a foolish desire to impress a worldly boy, I signed up to study abroad for a year. Sadly, the boy remained unimpressed but it was a decision that changed my life.

As a lifelong lover of old masters (that’s art-speak for guys that painted a long, long time ago), I chose to study in the ground zero of Renaissance Art: Florence, Italy. I shared an apartment with seven – that’s right – seven other girls, just five minutes from the Duomo, Florence’s central cathedral. The location was unreal, the roommates were amazing and the wine flowed like $2 magnum bottles should. Wine aside (sort of), the experience was a once in a lifetime slap in the face. Finally I understood what all the travel hype was about.

I came home alive, buzzing with the love of travel, thirsty for more. It took that initial step out the door – to Italy, in my case – to see what traveling is about. It’s not just a pin on a wall map (though you can be sure I’m going to have one of those in my future garage). It’s a glimpse of what else is out there: the amazing people, the awful people, the delicious food, the crazy there’s-no-way food stuffs, the foreign culture that feels just like home and the culture that opens your eyes.

Sharing the study abroad experience with me were seven amazing women – who ten years after our tear-filled good-byes, I was able to meet up with again recently in New York. Many of them are married. Some have children. All of them are just as great as I remembered them. Ladies, if it wasn’t for our time together 11 years ago, I wouldn’t have had the courage to see the world.

Thank you.

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Shrouded in mist we celebrated summiting with a photo session and lunch.

Lunch was followed by a short tour of the summit’s two craters. Though we’d opted out, many of the westerners who’d been there had written their names in rock on the crater floor. I’m usually up for a challenge, but I guess it just didn’t feel right. I don’t know – something about being near a volcano crater is a bit unnerving. Being next to it, yes fine, but in the crater? Not my thing.

I write this post because we just received word that Gunung Sinabung, the (theoretically docile and extinct) volcano is now erupting. Local residents are being evacuated, though it’s still too early to tell what is going on.

Photo: Jakarta post: Antara/Irsan Mulyadi

For now, our hearts go out to the people affected by the eruption. May life return to normal as soon as possible.

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Yikes.

Such utter lack of attention to our beloved website begs the question: why have I abandoned writing for this project? My simple answer is also a confession. Not posting anything is my one and only form of protest. We’re not traveling anymore and god dammit I’m bummed about it. There, I said it. Not writing was really all I had to use as a protest. I’m an adult so tantrums were out. I’m a relatively responsible person, so running back into the world with our little re-entry savings is out of the question, too. All that was left to do is go on with life. But I could stop writing for our travel blog! Yes, that’s the ticket. I’ll stop writing and that will make me feel better.

My return to these pages shows you how great a solution that was. The reality is this: I miss travel blogging. I miss the community of fellow travel bloggers. I miss our readers and their comments. Writing for this site was an important part of our life for over a year so why would stopping it suddenly make me feel better? It wouldn’t – it doesn’t – plain as that.

Sweating it out in Jaipur, India

No, I’m no longer struggling in an Indian internet café in 110 degree heat with 1,000% humidity, being swarmed by mosquitoes to get a few line post up. We’re not dealing with that caliber of travel, but the adventure hasn’t necessarily ended. We’re currently living in a trailer in a retirement-age mobile home park (seen in the photo above) an hour outside Yosemite National Park. We have most of next month booked for road trips. I’m working on an independent website project (more to come on that later…) No – I’d say the adventure is far from over.

Consider this post my cure. I’ve stopped my silly no-writing-protest.  In its place are plans for future blog posts here at SeatOfOurPants, updates on our twitter account and the occasional tantrum that (fortunately for you all) only Martin will have to deal with.

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My Dad's old race plane

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This is the Jersey Shore, a surreal strip of boardwalk that has been featured in a number of popular reality television shows recently. We were in the area and decided to stop by for an afternoon to see what the hype was about.

The boardwalk itself surprised me. It has a classic old fashioned vibe. Pastel colors abound, as do fun games and the usual bad souvenir shops. The beachfront has calm water (it’s the Atlantic ocean, after all) and white sand. It’s paradise – in theory.

The reality is this: the Jersey Shore isn’t about the waves or the sand (you have to pay to access the beach anyway). It’s all about the people watching. Yes, you could make the argument that all boardwalks are about people watching and I’d have to agree with you. But this one takes the cake. It’s, well, it’s just plain ridiculous.

Most striking, in my opinion, are the extreme measures the kids (most of the people strolling the boardwalk were high school age) took their bodies to. The boys were heaving around overworked upper bodies on little chicken legs. The ladies looked like they had just rolled out of a tanning bed because, you know, you have to tan before you go to the beach to tan.

The food was terrible, as Martin describes here, but the people were unlike any we’ve ever seen. And coming from two people that just spent 14 months traveling the world, that’s saying something. If you’re in the New York area and have a half day to kill, head on over to the Shore. Pack a lunch, plenty of sunscreen and at least $7 to get to the beach. Otherwise you might have to spend your day in the shade of the carnival games, vying for one of these fabulous prizes.

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That is, until we returned to the States a few weeks ago. Bieber fever hit our little pig and hit hard.

Justin Beiber: a voice for all the world’s little creatures.

P.S. Sorry JB. I don’t mean to knock you that hard, but some things about my reentry into American culture are wierding me out and you are definitely one of them.

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My sister hated to go to school. She could come up with a million and one excuses why she shouldn’t go. Her throat tickled. She hadn’t slept well. Her stomach hurt. There were bumps in her socks (that was one of her favorites).

Just over a week ago, in New York’s Madison Square Garden, she was awarded her diploma as a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. My school-hating little sister, driven by her passion and determination has become a doctor.

Kheli – I am so proud of you. The world’s animals should count themselves fortunate to have you on their side.

P.S. Way to show up your older sister. Geez.

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Before letting you in on our cheap little secrets I’ll get the painful bits out of the way: there are two absolute must-do sites in Istanbul that are not free. There’s no getting around it. You’ll want to see them, you’ll be sorry if you don’t, so plan to spend around $10/person for the Hagia Sophia and $5/person to see the Byzantine Cistern. More on those two in a moment.

Right then! Let’s get to it. We’ll begin our day with it’s most important meal: breakfast. Any decent hotel/guesthouse/hostel will include the cost of it in your stay. Our breakfast was simple fare: an egg, bread, olives, tomato and cheese but it will cost you nothing (above the cost of the room itself). Many of the hotels in the Sultanahmet area have rooftop decks with spectacular views of the Blue Mosque. Delicious, nutritious Turkish breakfast overlooking the Istanbul skyline: Free!

Take time to soak in the morning views over breakfast, but it’s best to set out early. The Hagia Sophia, Istanbul’s jaw-dropping 1,700 year old church-turned-museum opens at 9:00am and you’ll want to be there on the dot. We were lucky and beat the busloads that poured in as we were leaving. As I said, expect to pay around $10/person to enter but take my word for it – it is worth every penny.

Once we had our fill of the amazing Byzantine-era church, we checked out the ancient water Cistern located conveniently across the street. A few flights below street level, the Cistern is a dimly lit colonnaded Byzantine-era water tank. It still holds a pool of water and giant fish, to boot! Again, it will set you back $5/person to enter but you don’t want to miss it.

Istanbul waterfront

A short walk from the Cistern exit is the Bosphorus waterfront, a popular place to grab a ferry. In the interest of saving money, we opted out of the ferry, preferring to spend the afternoon walking. As long as you have a good pair of shoes, walking is the absolute best way to check out a new town. Taking a stroll along the waterfront: Free!

By this time we’d worked up quite an appetite. Thanks to some great advice from @ayearinmotion and @noplacelikeoz, we knew just the spot for a great inexpensive Istanbul waterfront specialty: the fish sandwich. Passing up the more expensive fish restaurants in the area, we found a great little vendor on the far side of the bridge. A fresh caught grilled fish sandwich: $2/person

A short walk up a steep hill after crossing the Galata bridge is Istiklal Caddesi in Beyoglu, a fantastic area recommended to us by @italofileblog. We walked up the hill, but the area can be reached by tram if those legs are starting to tire. Chic restaurants and great window shopping abound here. Exploring the maze-like backstreets of Istaklal Cad: Free!

Our next move was a return to the Sultanahmet area for a much needed cup of Turkish tea and a plate of baklava. We opted to sit on a main road to people watch while divulging in the sweet, crunchy goodness. A little people watching while satisfying our sweet tooth: $2/person

Carpet vendor in the Grand Bazaar

A little pep talk was needed before our next destination. It went something like, “I will not spend money. I will just look. I will not fall in love with anything.” Our destination (which you might have guessed): the glorious Grand Bazaar. Housing over 4,000 stalls, this maze of glittery, golden temptations is something you have to see to believe. Our tip: don’t show an interest or you’ll walk away with the object. The shop keepers are that good. Fortunately we’d already bought our souvenir a few weeks earlier, so we walked away without spending a dime (well, lira to be exact). Spending an hour playing what-would-we-buy-if-we-had-money in the Grand Bazaar: Free!

Blue Mosque Interior

The final site for the day was the Blue Mosque. Our tips: check out the closing times, as it is a place of worship and closes several times a day for worship. They enforce a strict dress code, but have helpful swaths of cloth for those who might need a little more coverage. Donations are welcome, but they charge no entrance fee. Spending time checking out the interior of this enormous Muslim holy place: Free!

Dinner was an exploration of another Turkish specialty: the kebab. This was followed by a cone of (strangely stringy) Turkish ice cream while watching the last of the sunset over the Blue Mosque.

It takes stamina but a day in the the fascinating ancient city of Istanbul is possible for just under $20/person. Thank you Istanbul for the kind of day that makes us know we’ll return (with a long list for the bazaar) soon!

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