Long over due, we know, we know 
Here are our photos from Puerto Vallarta to celebrate our first anniversary. Enjoy!
Archive - travel
RSS Feed
WARNING! Scammers in Puerta Vallarta airport!!
Eric and I have never been to Mexico before and after researching which hotel to stay at and what/what not to eat we never saw anything about actually getting into Mexico. I have never been to any other locations in Mexico so I can only speak for the Puerta Vallarta airport however be very careful with who you trust!
We got off the plane and walked towards the signs that said baggage claim. Since we did not have any baggage we proceeded towards the exit where we were going to meet the car to take us to our hotel. We walked through the first of three double-doors to the “exit” and were greeted with a man in a vest who had a badge on and a logo on the vest who asked us which company was meeting us and asked us for the voucher we had to confirm who was meeting us. We told them what the name of the company was, Olympus Travels, a partner of American Express. We were ushered over to this row of people behind a counter who all wore a vest with a badge, it made it all seem very official. We were speaking with a guy named Germaine who told us our car was en route and that it would be there in 15 minutes but since it was our first time visiting PV he would show us the map and give some suggestions on where to go. After 5 minutes we realized Germaine and all the guys in the vests were trying to rope you in to sell you a trip or an activity while you are in town, by doing so they also earned a commission off of it. It was all a very well set-up process they had there and it all seemed legitimately set-up by the airport officials which really frustrated me. We finally walked away from Germaine only to go through a second set of double-doors to be greeted AGAIN by another man in a vest who asked to see our car voucher and that our car would be here in 15 minutes. Let’s just say that I had enough of this “help” from the guys in the vest and their scam was quickly blowing-up in their faces as we replied, “well how come Germaine in there just told us the car would be here in 15 minutes…15 minutes ago?!” This new guy tried to persuade us otherwise but we just walked away and through the third and last set of double-doors to where we found our chauffeur.
If you are traveling to PV soon DO NOT BUY INTO ANYONE’S SCAMS AND JUST KEEP WALKING UNTIL YOU GET TO THE DOORS THAT LEAD OUTSIDE!
Thankfully we did not buy anything from anyone but it definitely gave me a bad taste. Fortunately we had a great anniversary trip with no more scams!
Kemah [ki-mah]
during the 4th of July weekend we took a quick trip down to Kemah with Richard where there was a fun boardwalk. It was interesting to see the difference between the NE and South Central versions of a boardwalk; in the NE everything is loud and obnoxious (aka if you’re near the Jersey Shore crew or VA Beach) or quaint and rickety (Cape May, CT, NH, RI, etc) but down at Kemah everything was new and clean and sturdy. Kemah’s boardwalk even hosted amusement park type rides like a wooden roller coaster, and what I like to call the turny-thing-that-makes-you-throw-up ride. There were two unique things I have not seen before there including a huge sidewalk fountain that spritzed-up every now and then and the kids LOVED it and also a Cool Zone where you could walk under these misters to try and cool off (note: these did not really seem as effective as you would hope!).
the carreras are moving to houston!
About a month ago, Jennilee got this awesome job offer, and after days and weeks of thinking it over, we decided that it was a great move! Not only was this move a great career boost for Jennilee, but the cost of living down in Houston is ridiculously low, especially compared to the Northeast. Of course, the decision didn’t come easily since we’d essentially be moving away from most of our family in the east coast. But we do have some family in Houston, which definitely made it easier. Family is pretty big for us =)
And what about my job? Well luckily for us, my job doesn’t require me to be in an office (in fact most of my company is spread all over the US and Canada), so Jennilee and I will be off to start our new adventure at the end of the month. We figured we’re newlyweds, we don’t have any kids, we don’t own any property…nothing to tie us down so why not go?
We’re pretty excited about the move. In a few weeks, we’ll have a brand new city to explore and experience. Like I told Jennilee, we’ll look a back at this and say to ourselves “wasn’t that fun?” ;)
cooking in thailand
Those who know Jennilee and I know that we love food. We love tasting new things and we love cooking new dishes. Cooking is something we both enjoy, and we’ve found that cooking together is a great way to spend time with each other, especially during the busy work week. I mentioned in a previous post that before going to Thailand, Jennilee and I put together a list of things that we had to do while over there, sort of like a Thailand bucket list. In Bangkok, we crossed watching a live muay thai match off the list. Next up, taking a cooking class in Thailand!
