Just a Dash

I wish I was told what jacket/coat to buy!

October 10, 2012October 10, 2012by SymoneFLeave a Comment

I wish I inquired a little bit or someone told me about buying jackets for different seasons… especially for Seattle. It seems it should go like this:

Winter: (hooded) wool coat/puffer jacket

Spring: hooded lightweight jacket/blazer

Summer: same as Spring but a linen blazer

Fall: lined hooded anorak

Three years in and I still do not have all of these. So I intend to try to help someone else transitioning to a different climate with this post. I can say I am more aware of what I need but it’s just a matter of finding exactly what suits my style and wouldn’t decline my card haha. I have 3 pleather jackets (went crazy at with a sale for those), 1 wool coat, 1 peacoat with a detachable hood, 1 shearling cargo jacket, 1 hooded puffer vest, 1 hooded puffer jacket, 1 light denim jacket and I’m sure there are more but they aren’t coming to my head and I’m too comfortable to get up and check… So that’s about 9 jackets for now (not including blazers of which there are 4). Seattle isn’t know for being the warmest place and I find it interesting that I have just been randomly collecting jackets and not really understanding the seasons and the weather that comes with it. Just like my boot collection – I’m yet to get a pair of snow boots which Dave and I will both have a pair by the end of Winter. But now I know, and I’m making a conscious effort to buy the right thing and not just buy because it looks good. I mean, of course I will buy extra if I find a great deal but it’s not a priority.

While I was home, I was online looking for coats. I found one on Old Navy (click for link to the anorak) that had a removable liner (perfect for Spring/Summer/Fall) and I ordered it in a S but needed an XS. Unfortunately the cut just was not suiting my body type and my husband and friend told me I should return it lol so I shall tomorrow…

I ordered another jacket around the same time from Asos that came yesterday and I have to say that this one is definitely a keeper. It fits perfectly (considering I was totally guessing my size) and hubz and friend approve it :D.

Seeing that I am yet to find a lighter coat for fall with a hood (after all it rains so much buying another coat without a hood would be useless) I will be on the hunt every chance I get to find the perfect coat.

To recap, here’s what would be useful:

Winter – (hooded) wool coat &/ puffer jacket
Spring – (hooded) lightweight jacket (“April showers”)/ blazer
Summer – nothing, but for Seattle a lightweight hooded jacket/ linen blazer
Fall – (hooded) lined jacket to brace you for the impending cold weather

I hope this helps!

Travel, Uncategorized

Have a seat, and come home with me

October 8, 2012October 7, 2012by SymoneFLeave a Comment

Trips home are never about relaxing. One would think so but that’s never the case. Days after I return to Bellevue from a trip home, I’m guaranteed at least one person telling me off and asking why they didn’t get to see me. You have no idea how much this irritates me.

I currently live over 3000 miles away from Barbados and every other trip we try to stay by each other’s parents. Sometimes we have a car, sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we do not want to do anything because we’re simply no longer used to the heat and are extremely exhausted and other times you just don’t make that list of people we have to visit. We’ve discussed the option of sneaking in and staying somewhere for a few days of relaxation (not even immediate family would know) and then alerting people that we’re here after feeling a bit refreshed. But it just hasn’t happened as yet.

On the trip we just came back from, the primary purpose was for our best friends’ wedding. We were home for 12 days and I can tell you it wasn’t enough. The first week was spent helping them out and simply hanging with them (they live in England now) and then we used the last week to stock up on stuff to bring home and spend time with a few people. They had a mini-honeymoon in one of the top resorts in Barbados (The Crane) and the views from there made us want to find out the staycation rate (of which I forgot to get before leaving the property and the island). It was simply amazing, beautiful, peaceful and breathtaking. Yea, I just used all of those adjectives because they are exactly what come to mind when I think of it. I posted a picture in my last post from the same hotel. Yep! That one!! Wasn’t it lovely? Here’s another view.

Anyway, I would love that one of these years David and I can return home and not feel obliged to go and see anyone except our grandparents. That everyone would come to us. Would this mean not getting a car again to use an excuse? But then we’d not have our own transportation when we need to get somewhere… I told him, we have to have a date night while home to just calm and enjoy ourselves from the mad rush, but again, that never happened. It’s not that we do not like seeing our friends or anything, but everything is such a mad dash that it becomes exhausting and we feel like we need another vacation after to relax from that one! I know there are plenty people out there who know exactly what I am talking about. And I hope that this doesn’t offend any of my friends because we always see the ones that really matter or they make an effort to come and see us, which is always appreciated. Hey, I’m just keeping it real…

Now on to promoting Barbados! I really wanted to visit Harrison’s Cave this trip and as you can tell from that line I didn’t. It was to be something touristy for Dave and I to do but we never got there. We’ve both been as kids but they have since remodeled the cave and it would be nice to go and see it again. So mark that as something to do when you visit as I have to as well.

Dinners are a way of us meeting up with groups of friends that we can see all one time and every time we go home, we’re trying different restaurants and enjoying some amazing dinners. This trip, we went to two new restaurants: Lemongrass (Thai food) in Limegrove mall (with hubs’ parents) and to Shakers (a bar; with a bunch of our school friends that we are still very close to). We had breakfast a few times from The Coffee Bean, a coffee shop I had the privilege of working at for three weeks yeeears ago and David was just wreck when he found out in the last 3 days of the trip that they had Jamaican patties (his favorite). So I can tell you with confidence that if you visit, pull up this post and look for these places to eat. And how can I forget Chefette? Just go there, I demand you do!

On our final night, my parents took us to Oistins. For the whole night David kept saying we should’ve gone earlier in the trip because it was truly the highlight and it would’ve been nice to go twice (hehe nice rhyme!). By day, Oistins is a fish market, but on Friday and Saturday nights, the party truly comes alive. You can buy arts and crafts from local artisans, dine of fresh seafood and other meats, enjoy the ballroom dancing to oldie goldies by Lexi’s Bar, or go over by the stage with the more modern music and everyone is up on the stage dancing. It was so much fun to see the characters and enjoy some grilled mahi-mahi and sweet potato pie.

All in all, it was a good trip even though we were dying from the heat. Our friends had a beautiful wedding; it was nice to have my nephew request that we pick him up from school at least twice and my niece actually came to me when I picked her up from the nursery (she can be indifferent sometimes :(). We spent some time with our grandparents, and again got a chance to meet up with those who really matter and meet new people. Trips aren’t guaranteed to be relaxing but I still get excited knowing that I’m going and whom I will see. Family first and fun after!

Barbados will always be home no matter where I roam.

Uncategorized

Another travel rant…

October 7, 2012October 7, 2012by SymoneF1 Comment

I had a lovely post about my recent trip to post today and I have to put that off until another day. Instead, I’m sharing an experience in hope that others will speak up and get what is due to them from these irresponsible companies.

Yesterday I took three flights to get home. We left Barbados at 730a (GMT -4hrs) and arrived in Seattle at 9pm (GMT-8hrs) – one full day of travelling. We always use American Airlines because it is the only airline that we can use right through to Barbados from Seattle. I always felt like AA was never consistent with their customer service. For the last flight, I went to switch our seats to be together as we were separated by one seat. The agent told me it’s a full flight and he could put me next to my husband and notify the person in that seat of the change. Just before boarding I was called up again, and to my surprised we were bumped up to first class. Now, this was a huge surprise and I was just elated that for the last flight we could be a little more comfortable and have a nice meal. The previous flights went smoothly, without any hiccups and overall we just thought this was a nice trip back.

Until we got our luggage.

When we arrived in Miami (our first stop) after going through immigration, we had to re-check our luggage. When I picked it up, my luggage was fine, so between Miami and Dallas, this had to happen. That dent is the size of my fist, and it has a crack. This piece isn’t even a year old yet and neither my husband nor myself are able to push it out. It’s a hard material and would need to be hammered out if anything. What upset me the most, is that when I pointed it out to the agent at Baggage Claim, she pointed to a sign and said this would be counted as wear and tear and they are not responsible for any dents or cuts or cracks. If this was an old piece of luggage, I wouldn’t have been as pissed. I travel a lot but domestically and use a carry-on. This piece went to Barbados and back twice. We spent money on luggage to ensure that we wouldn’t be buying new pieces constantly because we are aware of the bad treatment luggage gets. But to look at me and say this would be classified as wear and tear? I blew the roof and I had a little twitter rant. Please excuse the language but remember I was pissed.

Of course I mentioned American Airlines, and they responded with the following:

It was basically a link highlighting their conditions for accepting liability. Fine print really, and that just sent me over the roof even more. A link? Really? The second link telling me to share my experience with customer service was even more interesting. There is no number to call. You have to submit a written letter. I guess this was a blessing in disguise for whoever was going to be on the other side of the shit storm I was about to bring. I had a shower and wrote the following email to them:

I am very disappointed and upset with the service I received today while travelling on your airline. I picked up my luggage after flying for over 12 hours on three different flights, only to have damaged luggage (a dent the size of my fist plus a crack in the hard material) that the agent says you are not liable for. That piece is less than a year old and was first and last used for our trip to Barbados for Christmas 2011. As customers, we spend money on luggage to ensure the protection of our belongings and then to see them treated like this is just unacceptable. I was on the verge of praising your company again because I always felt like I received shitty service for this to happen now. I was hoping to attach a picture but there is no option for that and I am not spending money on a stamp to mail you a letter because right now I feel like you do not deserve a cent more from me. You can check with your Twitter correspondent as I posted it there. We just purchased our tickets to go back to Barbados for Christmas and I honestly feel like it was a huge mistake. I am from Barbados and unfortunately you are the only consistent airline that flies there. You make me not want to fly home, but I have family I want to see. I expect some sort of compensation for this. It was a new piece!

To add insult to injury, when I opened up my luggage TSA made a mess of my stuff. I bring back a seasoning in a jar that is commonly used back home. It has a bit of liquid in it from the onions etc but is mainly finely chopped ingredients. The last time I brought some back, I sealed the bags and left a note asking TSA to reseal properly and they did. This time I did the same hoping that I would get the same result but unfortunately I didn’t. The one bottle they opened (they were in packs of three) they closed back but didn’t put it back in the bag and the liquid spilled on my husband’s clothes. Imagine, I was livid from the dent in my suitcase but to open up my husband’s when we got home and see that, I totally blew the roof. I had 4 3-packs of the seasoning and they took every single one out of the bags and just left them out. I am very thankful none of them broke as I had the clothing protecting it. I also sent them an email. I was really on a roll last night. But this morning, as I was emptying my dented suitcase I also found that they had ripped one of the tabs used to snap the detachable pouch on. I really didn’t know what to think anymore.

I find it ridiculous that we pay lots of money to travel now, we don’t get any food, and what we have to pay for has the potential to put us in the hospital from being sick from it. Then we have to deal with people tossing our luggage around like garbage and our stuff is damaged and we are left to foot the bill for their irresponsibility. Then when we actually try to do something about it, we’re given a run around that just makes you want to leave everything after a while. I intend to follow through and at least know I was heard and have them held accountable for this at some level. I don’t remember the last time I was this angry. I was coughing and my heart was racing and no matter what my husband did, he couldn’t calm me down. So I headed to church this morning to ask for peace and guidance in dealing with this situation and forgiveness for losing my cool the way I did. It’s the least I could do for now.

I’ll post the good post tomorrow to bring the blog back to it’s happy state. Thanks for reading and please feel free to share your thoughts below!