Posts Written ByTara

Café in the plaza

Trying to channel my inner artist and writer, I searched endlessly for Cuatro Estaciones Café, a café known as a popular meeting place for artists and writers. After asking hotel guest services, several locals on the street, the girl behind the jewelry shop counter, and the man in the restaurant opposite the plaza, all of whom had no idea what I was talking about, I thought I might never find it. But lo and behold, the third person we asked at the tourist bureau knew what it was and where to find it. And when I finally saw it, I…

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Tranquility at San Cristóbal

So I’m supposed to be doing this travel writing thing; supposed to be documenting the things I see in the places I go. But I can’t stalk out a story. I can’t just show up at a historical site, or restaurant, or cultural location, and start to write. The story finds me. It manifests itself anywhere, at any time, and demands to be written. So when I found myself at Castillo de San Cristóbal, one of the forts of San Juan, and a truly recognizable symbol of Puerto Rico, I figured I should probably write something about it.  I stood there,…

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A flight at the end of the tunnel

Aah, the airport. The bookends of all my greatest travel stories. I am finally here, finally feeling the familiar rush of the traveling I have so missed. The crowded, always too narrow walkways are strewn with people trying to figure out where to go. Inevitably, the charming, old couple who appears to have never traveled before, always gets in line right in front of me, asking for advice and wanting to know if they are in the right place. I oblige them with a smile, after all, this is all part of the experience. I watch as lovers part and exchange…

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Life is good again

I finally did it. I opened my wallet, logged on to cheaptickets.com, arranged my flight, and clicked the beautiful blue ‘CONFIRM’ button that would restore my happiness in an instant. I am going to Puerto Rico! The separation between travel and I has been bleak. There were many long nights spent lying awake dreaming of travel, dreaming of what I would do when we saw each other again. I imagined myself in the airport and what I’d be wearing when we met. I thought about travel every day. There were moments of watching others in the ‘honeymoon’ phase of their…

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Through the window of a shrimp truck

My search for a travel friendly, cubicle-free lifestyle ended with a shrimp truck. Well, not ended exactly, more like made a pit stop. Yes, a shrimp truck, as in prepare shrimp, cook shrimp, and serve shrimp right from the truck. I never imagined what I could see from the inside of a restaurant on wheels. Actually, I suppose I never imagined I would ever be inside a restaurant on wheels. But the travel bug makes me do crazy things. Throughout the bustling and trend-hungry streets of Los Angeles, there is an underground culinary culture that is ‘The Food Truck.’ And…

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Las Vegas: An escape from life as you know it

Vegas. In a word: Craziness! Extended backyard visit #2 (I am really working on this backyard adventure thing)…road trip to Las Vegas! Aah, Vegas. One of those places that fills the heart with excitement at the sound of the name. Well, either excitement, or worry…depending on what kind of mischief your personal Vegas excursions might entail, but for me, excitement. A brief glimpse into the life of a Vegas adventure: Decide to go on Thursday. Go to work (or don’t…if you’re me) Friday–leave work early (or take your time, paint your nails, take a nap, watch a movie) pack, and…

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On the beaten path

I said I was setting out to explore my backyard, and I did. I finally went somewhere! Well I guess 385 miles to San Francisco is more like my very extended backyard, but it’s still in my state! Half shrouded in fog and almost disappearing completely in parts, the Golden Gate Bridge really is incredible (and not in the opening scene of Full House kind of incredible…the real kind). It. Is. Cold. Even though it’s just 52 degrees this marine air makes it feel much chillier as the damp breeze pinches your cheeks and frizzes your hair. Somehow, it’s still so…

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Today, travel came to me

Today I am a traveler, and I haven’t even left home! Lines of locals and tourists alike littered the streets trying to get into a street food fair in downtown Los Angeles. I am seeing new parts of my own city. Who knew we had a food fair? I get to eat food ALL day?! Definitely my kind of day. I think this might be a small slice of heaven. Its almost like an assembly of all these different countries got together to share their fabulous food with me (and a thousand other people). They even gave me a passport!…

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I will travel again

Stage 3: Affirmations.I will travel again. I will travel again. I will travel again. Now that the void left in my life from lack of traveling has reached a whole new level of huge, I have resorted to positive affirmations. Another stage in this disease and I am trying to cope. Maybe it will help, you know, self-fulfilling prophecy, “The Secret”…whatever. If I imagine myself with my toes in the sand somewhere far away, I will get there. At least I have recently managed to gain some perspective. I had the horror of learning that a colleague (a pre-travel-bug-employment-sabotage colleague…

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Take the donkey

You know when something seems like a great idea and then by the time you realize it really isn’t, you are in way too deep to do anything about it?  Yes, well in this particular case it was kind of a near-death experience… It all began one misty day at Laguna Quilotoa, Ecuador. This was the most incredible volcanic crater lake (okay, the only one) I have ever seen.  “Want to climb down the mountain to get a better look?”  “Of course!”  So, on we went, traversing the slightly trodden and very uneven terrain, sliding and almost falling when there was…

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