Nationals at Reno

This year volleyball Junior National Championship was held in Reno, NV.  I've been in Reno once but it was long time ago.  It is a small town with bunch of casinos. Casinos are not as big as in Las Vegas, but not as small as in Chicago.  But let me start from the beginning.

The plan was to fly to Oakland, CA. Rent a minivan (we had 4 people with luggage) . There was some trouble with leaving Chicago. On the day we were supposed to leave, there was a big storm that caused a lot of delays.  Our flight was about 4 hours late. I did not plan for it, but we were not in hurry since the tournament did not start until in the afternoon of the following day.  All it meant was that we would arrive in Reno at around 9 or 10. No big deal.

This was the first time that we actually got the car we reserved! There was even a choice of colors!

Every time I visit San Francisco area, I have to have a meal at Fisherman's Warf and desert at Ghirardelli.  Oakland is just across the bridge. So, lunch was nice. Desert was nice (my usual hot fudge sundae was excellent as usual :) After that about 3 hours later we were in Reno. On interesting thing we saw was Oracle boat that was supposed to compete in the American Cup! BTW, they beat Australian team to win the Cup!

Next 4 days were mostly volleyball. Brian's team did great. They ended up 5th in the Nation! Best result among non-California teams! It's hard to compete with California in volleyball. Looks like boys had a great time. That was the last Junior

After the tournament we have decided to visit Lake Tahoe. It's about an hour drive from Reno. The weather was great, the drive was easy. We had a lunch right by the lake. We even touch the water (it was kind of cold, as expected).

This trip ended up being a little vacation. I even had a chance to gamble, not that successfully I must say. Poker was ok, I won some and I lost some. Blackjack, on the other hand, I don't think I won a hand. Oh well, that is why they call it a "gambling". I don't expect to beat the casino.

On the way back home, we drove to Napa valley to meet some friends. The vineyards looked great and while we were driving the grapes were everywhere! Unfortunately we did not have a time to visit any winery. We will have to do it next time we visit northern California.

Flight back was not as exciting as flight to Oakland. So that is it for our visit to probably last Junior Volleyball competitions, at least for a long while :)






 

Los Angeles

My first time in Los Angeles.  We had a little issue with the van. The reservation was there, but the vans were not available. So, there was a long line of people waiting for it. So, we switched to an SUV. Ride is a little rough, but we had enough room for everybody and the luggage. Our first stop was Anaheim. Our hotel was few blocks (walking distance) from the Disney Land. But we never got there.  The volleyball tournament was taking all day and boys were too tired to do anything other then watch TV and play video games after

After Nationals we drove to LA. I was not too impressed with the city even  though I love California. LA is too spread out. If you need to get to anywhere, you have to take a highway. It's always packed. Sometimes everybody go 75, sometimes 10, if at all. The weather is nice, the ocean view is nice, but the commute is a killer.

We went to Hollywood.  I expected something much bigger. May be we did not do the complete Hollywood, but the street with the stars was just a few blocks. That place is basically a tourist attraction: wax museums, gift shops and restaurants that have pictures of the stars. I did not get it.

What I did like was the space shuttle exhibit in Science museum.  There is a short video about the move of the shuttle from the airport to the museum. That was impressive. There is very interesting (in my view) historical presentation about all the shuttle missions for all the shuttles. I liked it and recommend for people to visit. The museum is smaller the Science and Industry museum in Chicago, but Chicago does not have the shuttle.

Next trip is Reno: Juniors Volleyball Nationals

 

On my way home

I am finally going home. It's interesting how now days one can blog from anywhere, even from the airport (Las Vegas airport does have free wifi!!!)

Anyway, the trip was ok. I have seen the whole CES! Miles and miles of walking. My legs are still hurt. I did not rent a car on purpose, so I was walking everywhere. I will share the CES album, when I get around to it. :)

Here is one advice: unless you are fan of walking or waiting for shuttle bus, when in Las Vegas, stay on the Strip. It is more fun and a lot easier on your feet. I stayed about 1 mile off the Strip. There was a shuttle, but it was running once in an hour, so I ended up walking all the time. Good exercise though!

My gambling wasn't that exciting this time around. If I look at it as entertainment, which I do, I think I got good deal (I lost, but I spent decent amount of time doing it :). If I look purely from number of dollars spent  (which is important, but not critical) then not so good. I ended up loosing overall. On a good note: I did win a poker tournament!!! But I am not planning to participate in World Series Of Poker any time soon :) But I am still looking forward my next trip to Las Vegas.

 

Las Vegas

I am going to Las Vegas!!! It is work related, but still, it's Vegas...

I've reserved air and hotel.

The airfare was pretty strange: direct flight both ways was about over $1600, but if I have layover, the price dropped down to under $700!!! So, layover in Phoenix :( I will be home late.

With hotel, I have to follow the company policy even if it costs more. I had to make reservation in a hotel that does not have a casino and it's not on the Strip. But it's 5 star with the cost of $250 per night!!! I probably could have gotten suite in PH for half the price. Oh, well. I did not make the policy, I just have to follow it.

Stay tune for when I come back.

Back from Israel, Part 3

This is the last part of our trip to Israel. One thing I should mention about our being in Golan Heights is our visit to Golan Heights winery. It seems that there was no physical labor at the place. Everything was computerized! We had a chance to try their wine as well. It was good! So, when we came back, we checked around and found out that the wine is available in US! We have tried YARDEN brand. The other brands are Golan and Gamla. Enjoy!

From Golan Heights, we drove to Tel Aviv with the half a day stop in Haifa. Haifa is a port city. We saw few interesting ships. Apparently, it's also a home to the Baha'i religion. For those of you from Chicago area, you might of heard of Baha'i religion because of the Baha'i temple in Wilmette.

The last few days we've spent in Tel Aviv/Jafa area. We stayed in a very nice hotel. It was the closest hotel to Jafa, so we ended up going there every evening. And this is where I got some desert! It wasn't pure chocolate, it was halva, but they had variety of different flavors, including chocolate, chocolate chips, coffee, etc, you name it! 

Market in Tel Aviv was interesting. We arrived in Tel Aviv on Friday and our tour guide suggested that we should visit the local market. So, we did. Unless you want free perishables (mostly fruits and vegetables), you don't want to go to the market on Friday before start of the Shabbat. The vendors were throwing fruits and vegetables and anything that can spoil over the weekend to the ground and washing it off, right in the middle of the walk way. So, we saw that and decided to come back on Monday. Smart decision! On Monday, it was clean and back to normal.

One day we spent on the beach. The beach was great! Water in the Mediterranean Sea was great! Not too cold, not too warm. Felt like we were in Miami!

The flight back was long. We had a 12 hours flight from Tel Aviv to Toronto. It's very strange system for customs and security checks there. We had to pick up our luggage and carry it to the US customs. They just took it and put it on the belt to who knows were. Why did we have to take it? They could have done that automatically.

This was the end. The trip was very emotional, informational, interesting, tiring and relaxing at the same time. We definitely enjoyed it! I would recommend it to everybody. I would also recommend starting the trip in Jerusalem, not in Tel Aviv, like most of the tours do. The reason is that you would start the trip from where it all began. You get a lot of information at the beginning of the trip, not at the end when you are already tired and overloaded with all the information from the trip. I would also recommend the travel company: Gate1. They were very well organized, everything was on time. They even had an ear piece for people so they can better hear the tour guide. So, mention my name or talk to me before making your reservations to the Israel. I am sure I have missed few details in my postings. But I am also sure I will be able to recall few things if you ask me.

I can't wait until our next trip!

Boris D.

   

Back from Israel, Part 2

Sorry for a long delay, but here it is...

First half of the trip:

It was great! We have achieved everything we wanted! We spent 3 days in Jerusalem (including on Shabat), walked around Old City for couple of days, visited Scroll museum and military cemetery. This was very emotional. We got to see and experience all the things that we've read and heard about! Since we had an afternoon for ourselves, we ended up walking around looking for knitting store. We found one so Lana was pretty happy. :)

There was some event in Jerusalem, so we had to go to Dead Sea night earlier. That actually worked for us because we arranged a taxi to drive us early next morning to Masada. He waited for us and got us back to the hotel before breakfast! We had to get up at around 4am, started walking up to Masada at around 4:50am. Took us an hour, but we made it with few minutes to spare. Sunrise was gorgeous! You can see pictures for yourself. The rest of the morning and early afternoon we were back on top of Masada, this time via gondola with our tour group.

When we got back to our hotel, we had to go for swim in the Dead Sea. The water was warm and they tell me it was over 30% salt. I don't know, I did not tasted it :) But when I went in no matter what I tried (I did not try diving) I could not get under the water, so it must be true :) The pool at the hotel was great too!

Next two nights we spent in Kibbutz Levi in Galilee. It's Orthodox kibbutz. It was interesting experience. The food was kosher and very good. We had a question/answer session with one of the residents of the kibbutz. It's interesting that the number of kibbutzes in Israel is shrinking. There are about only 20 left in the whole Israel. Since the idea of Kibbutz was based on the Socialism, it's obvious to me what is happening. Socialism does not work on global nor local scale.

During these 2 days we have visited Galilee and Golan Heights. It's amazing to see all the green gardens in the middle of the desert. The Jordan river that is used for irrigation is just a little river. In some places you can probably walk across, it's no more then 20-30 feet and yet that area feeds the Europe in the winter (I am sure it's done all year around). The harvest 3 times a year! Just amazing!

Part 3 to follow...

Back from Israel. Part 1

We are back from Israel. I am finally over the jetleg, so here is a post-mortem of the trip.

First of all it was a great trip. It was exausting, but it was worth it. We have achieved everything we wanted to achieve and more! The pictures are posted. If, for some reason, you can't access them, let me know. It's probably more fun to watch them with my commentaries. :)

Any way...

- Communication: the unclocked phone worked. There was a need to buy a SIM card AND minutes. SIM card came without any minutes. Also, for those of you who have microSim, I could not find one. I am glad I brought a phone that had a regular SIM card. Somehow, I burned all the credits that I bought pretty fast. At least I was able to communicate my number to US and then people were able to call me, since incoming calls are free on that SIM card. If someone is going to Israel during next 11 months, let me know and we can make a deal on the SIM card :)

- About flying. In Zurich, we had a layover of 3 hours. It is a safe bet, but 1.5 to 2 hours is enough. Passengers had to go thru security check, but did not have to take the bags. Since we lended pretty early (about 6am local time) there was no lines other then people from the same plane. On the way back, in Toronto, we had 2 hours. I would recommend to make sure you have at least that much. The problem is that first, you need to pick up your luggage and second, there are a lot of passengers going to US via Toronto. We had to wait for the luggage and security check.

Stand by for Part II.