Pay to potty?

Since I have written a couple of posts about travel, reading another blog made me want to write a bit more. This time about travel abroad.

I have never had the desire to go abroad. I definitely wouldn’t want to travel somewhere they don’t speak English. Remember, I said I don’t like being a tourist because I hate not being in control? Well, the language thing is huge for that control factor! I have, however, thought it would be fun to go to London and/or Paris, until I read the blog post by someone who has just returned from London. You must pay to use the restroom! Someone else posted a comment saying the same thing goes for Paris. I think I’ll stay in the U.S. where I can run into a mall, department store, restaurant, or even gas station and use the restroom without needing the correct change.

How do you travel?

This question has been at the back of my mind for months now, and I really want to address it, but it may be too big to put in one post. I have been reading Kay’s blog, over in Hawaii, and that is where this idea has been born. She too is a retired school teacher, and she and her husband, also retired, travel A LOT. And when they do, they GO GO GO. Terry and I travel a little. And when we do, we STAY, STAY, STAY. Reading Kay’s travel logs often makes me so tired I feel I need to go lie down! They travel often, with elderly relatives, and they do a million things each day, staying in a different place every night.

Don’t ask me to go on a tour bus. I did lots of bus trips with high school students for 21 years. Since I am not fond of water, I have no desire to get on a cruise ship even though the idea of staying in one place for the whole trip does appeal to me. I’ve not done any train travel except for commuter trains up and down the California peninsula, but I think I would like that mode of travel. Sitting in a car for long periods makes me antsy. I like to fly; not so much the process, but the getting a long distance very quickly. You see, I don’t like the going there, I like the being there.

I don’t like being a tourist. I like to know where I am, where I am going, and what to do when I get there. I like comfort. I like to be able to do things on my own timetable. I like to sit and people-watch for long periods. I like to eat at restaurants I know. Even better, I like to eat my own cooking, so that leads me to my favorite way of traveling. I like to go to one place, rent an apartment or house, and stay for a long period of time, getting to know that area very well.

Perhaps the next post can be about suitcases and such.

Cabin in Three Rivers

 

Our apartment at Pier View Suites in Cayucos is the set of windows on second floor, right.

The apartment building in San Francisco

The casita in New Mexico 

just about me

A few of the blogs I read have these lists about one’s self.  So, I decided to copy Lynn’s and make it my own:

1. I was born in Madera, California. My dad was a cotton farmer and my mother was the bookkeeper, houseskeeper and occasional farmworker.

2. I’ve lived in Fresno since 1970.  The air is bad, the economy is poor, and I would gladly move to San Francisco.

3. I have no desire to travel as I don’t like being a tourist.

4. I am a teacher. I have taught at one high school for 20 years.

5. Before I was a teacher I worked in industry–magazine publishing and cottonseed sales.  Both companies are gone.

6. I have been married to the same man for 34 years.  

7. I have one grown daughter, a minister, who lives in San Mateo.

8. Above daughter is pregnant so I should have a granddaughter in May.

9. I love my yearbook class.  Even though the deadlines sometimes rattle me, and the kids don’t always do as I wish, it’s still fun to see the finished product in June.

10. I cannot speak any other language than English.  That is sad.

11. I love to write. 

12. In the late sixties my father died.  I was 16.

13. My brother was 20 years older than me.  He died three years ago of lung cancer because he smoked.

14. I don’t smoke, nor have I ever lit a match.

15. I attended Fresno State College in the early 70s and got my bachelor of science degree in marketing there.  I returned in the late 80s to get  a teacher credential.

16. I love cats, have four of them, and also feed all the strays.

17. I have been involved with the San Joaquin Valley Writing Project.  It’s ok.  They love English teachers and I’m not one.

18. I am politically liberal. 

19. I am a Mac user. 

20. I cannot sew anything.  Well, not completely true.  I can still thread a needle without needing my glasses and put a button back on a piece of clothing.

21. I live in the FigGarden neighborhood of Fresno.  This was once all fig orchards and the ground is hardpan.  I cannot raise flowers.

22. This summer I will be 57 and I want to spend it in San Francisco.

23. Both of my parents have been dead for years.  Daddy for 40 years; mom for 8 years.

24. I want to make time to just sit quietly.

25. I love to talk to people and so this has been fun for me.  Hope you enjoyed reading.