Ramblings about moseying, wandering, curiosities and more moseying. ...
GEOMED is rarely, if ever, in a city with an international airport. As a result, it is a multi-part trek to get there, then get back home. Today was day 1 of my journey home. I took the 8:40 train from San Sebastian to Madrid, arriving around 14:00. It was a long ride. Some nice scenery. But it was another scorcher here, and it seems they do the bare minimum AC for economy with a number of people…
I had a lazy morning today. I did not set an alarm, and allowed myself to just lounge. Eventually I got up and found a place I wanted to eat breakfast, which was about a 25 minute walk away. Walking to breakfast, I snapped some pics on San Sebastian to share. Looking out to the Atlantic along the Urumea River: A really cool tree/shrub called a Tamarisk with its leaves turning this lavender/pinkish…
Today is my last day in Pamplona, I took a bus to San Sebastián in the afternoon. Before leaving, I wanted to walk at least a little of the Camino de Santiago, especially since the path is literally just outside the hotel I stayed in. I walked north to the Portal of Zumalacarregui or Portal de Francia o de Zumalacárregui and found some really neat old city walls. It looks like Pamplona was quite…
Last day of GEOMED!
Today was another very hot day in a Brutalist building. The conference is really neat, but very long days with sessions starting at 9:00 and ending at 7:20pm, then dinner starting at 9pm! And I keep forgetting that I had pneumonia until I try to scale stairs and become exhausted quickly. I left the conference a bit early (~6pm) and ventured back to my hotel, then found the nearest place that would…
The balcony of my room overlooks Calle de la Estafeta, a street that is the longest straight section on the Encierro - the running of the bulls. Pretty cool. Spanish iced coffee It’s very hot here. And while there is air conditioning, it seems like it is used just enough to keep one from roasting, but not cool enough for the base of your neck to stop sweating. When I first walked into my hotel…
I had breakfast at ‘Mi Habitacion Favorita’, or “My favorite room’ and thought sitting at one of the sidewalk tables would be nice. And I'm glad I did because "nice" is what people hope; what I got was real. Delivery trucks pulling up a mere 2 feet away, street sweepers going by, construction workers hoisting things, occasional apologies, a woman asking for my breakfast literally as soon as it was…
I was very close to not going on this trip. I'm still recovering from Indonesia, however GEOMED (the impetus for this trip) is one of my favorite conferences and I think it will be very helpful for my PhD work. So I decided to treat this trip as a bit of an experiment in traveling without expectation and pressure to see all the things and do all the things. We'll see how it goes. Boston to…
Landed in Tokyo right on time. There was an empty middle row across the aisle from my seat and I asked the flight attendant if I could sit there, and she said yes. So I was able to lay down fully and sleep most of the flight, which was wonderful. The Tokyo airport might be my favorite yet. It is very clean, people working here are genuine, earnest in their work, and they have all sorts of simple…
last day in indonesia This morning, Rana — the driver who spent two days with me in Ubud nearly two weeks ago — texted to ask if I needed a ride to the airport tonight. He remembered when I was leaving. I hadn't asked him to remember. He just did. I've felt more genuinely connected to the Indonesians I've met on this trip than to any of the Westerners — with maybe one or two exceptions. Though I'm…