Archive for the Category »Travel the World «

Azerbaijan Planning the World’s Tallest Building

AzerbaijanGrowing up a military brat, it was common for us to move every so often. My first few years of life, before I could sort my experiences away as recallable memories, were spent in Korea, where I was born; Ft. Meade, MD, just outside of Baltimore; and the New Jersey area where my family lives. My first memory of life was while living near Stuttgart, Germany, and I didn’t even realize I wasn’t in the United States.

I’ve developed a wanderlust because of my travels. In addition to living in different cities, I’ve visited many more. Visiting new places has become an addiction, even if it’s a small blip on the map. My dad and I visited a place called Kingman, AZ, on our way to the Hoover Dam, well, just because it was on the way.

So, I have an extensive list of places to visit. Atop the list, naturally, is Kenya, where Nduku and I will be going in the coming months. My ideal adventure for the longest time was the Taj Mahal in India, back when I was a romanticist and hearing the story of its origin. Then came The World, a man-made collection of islands shaped like the world near Dubai. Nduku and I are going to Dubai as well, but not sure if we’ll be able to sail out to The World.

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Category: Bucket List  Tags: , ,

Najwa at Fayetteville’s Only Landmark

It’s amazing how after all these years, this is the first time I actually visited Fayetteville’s only landmark — the Markethouse. Probably because back in the day it was where they sold slaves, but still. I called a couple of my people and they all not only mentioned they never visited it, but they asked why I was there.

Regardless, we took Najwa downtown Fayetteville, NC, where there was a little festival and people walking around in character to Dickens’ Scrooge. I don’t know the story like that, but did Scrooge have a slave?

Fayetteville NC

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Najwa is just determined to get her hands into the water at all costs.
 

Najwa’s First Trip To The Beach

David Gaines and Najwa Gaines at Rehoboth Beach in DelawareWhen Najwa was 3 months old [maybe 4] giving her a bath was like subjecting her to waterboarding. Maybe the water’s too hot? Not hot enough? Maybe all babies let out bloodcurdling screams when the water touches their bare bottoms?

If Nduku ever wanted me to do something, all she had to do was say we were about to give Najwa a bath. “Wash the car? I’m on it.” “Watch more reality TV? We can DVR it and rewatch it after it goes off.” “Vote for a Republican? It is secret, right?” Standing pat while torturing Najwa with a bath was a bit more than I wanted to bear so early into fatherhood.

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Where in the World is Davita McKelvey?

Davita McKelvey's blog about traveling the worldMost people are just happy to get away to an island for a few days. Then there are those who save up and take a dream vacation. My brother got to live in Korean and Italy while serving in the United States Air Force. I’m personally looking forward to the end of the year when the ladies and I are going to Kenya for a couple weeks when I’ll finally get to meet her family.

But that’s not enough for Davita. To celebrate turning 33 this year, she has created an itinerary of 33 countries to visit this year. Thirty-three!? Most people are glad to visit just any three of the countries she’ll be stepping into. The list may change [political unrest, natural disasters, etc.] but the goal will remain the same, unless as she says, she runs out of money first. But with a $20k budget and knowing Davita, a thoroughly thought out agenda, she’ll probably have enough left over to add a country or two to her list.

I wonder if there’s any chance of her going to Kenya?

As her 8-month tour gets underway, follow Davita travel the world on her blog 33 at 33. Sign up for email updates to envy her travels like me but be inspired to see more of the world before we get too old to really enjoy it.

Safe travels!

Spending Valentine’s in City of Brotherly Love

David Gaines and Nduku Malombe at Philadelphia's LOVE sculptureFor Valentine’s weekend, the ladies and I went to Philadelphia to visit the city of brotherly love. We checked out the LOVE sculpture seen over and over in movies based in Philly. We visited the Liberty Bell, which was smaller than I was expecting, Independence Hall [which was wrapped in scaffolding for renovations], South Street, Broad Street, JFK Plaza and we even went out to Cherry Hill, New Jersey where our homegirl Natalie Bargeron took the time to come visit us and meet Najwa for the first time.

Natalie came down from Philly last summer to the BaByQ Shower/Cookout and got us a gift basket which included one of the coolest books that I read to Najwa. She’s lived in Philly forever, visited DC [and Atlanta when I still lived there], but I finally got to visit where she lives. It was a bit windy so we didn’t get to do everything we wanted to do, but we’ll be back…

[Click on FS in the bottom right corner for full screen view]

Philadelphia

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Fastest Route to Japan? Try Kayaking

Google Maps has since claimed the belt as being the best mapping software out there for directions, but their suggested route from the U.S. to Japan is a bit, well, challenging. There’s something about kayaking across the Pacific Ocean that just seems a little dangerous.

Click on the map below and check out steps 31 and 46. It’s only 6,635 miles of kayaking…

Just kayak across the Pacific Ocean

Category: Travel the World  Tags:

Taking a Morning Stroll in New York

Statue of Peter Stuyvesant in New YorkWhenever I’m in New York, I feel compelled to run around the city, without a map, snapping pictures of whatever gets in my way. Everywhere you look, there’s a photo op. From the architecture and monuments, landmarks and historical buildings to the local art, the neighborhood hangouts and just about everything else in between.

During our most recent trip to New York, we stayed at Hotel 17 near Stuyvesant Square. One morning, while everyone slept, I snuck out with the digital camera my homeboy Chad McKelvey loaned me to capture as much of the neighborhood as I could in a couple of hours.

Stuyvesant Square
Around the corner from Hotel 17 [where we were staying for the weekend] is Stuyvesant Square. It was still early when I got out there, so other than an occasional dog walker, I had the park to myself.

It’s named after Peter Stuyvesant who owned the land back in the 1800s. In 1836 his great-great-grandson, also named Peter, sold four of the acres to the City of New York as a public park originally to be called Holland Park. It was sold for a token $5. Add a bunch of zeros and you might be able to buy some property there today!

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If You Need a Place to Stay in New York…

Hotel 17 in New YorkSince we’re talking about hotels, let me share about the one where we stayed in New York for the Prince concert. At first we [Nduku, Najwa, Mike and Jenny] were going to stay in one using an employee discount Joanne English, a friend of mine, was offering. The issue, being a week before Christmas, the only ones available were not in Manhattan. The plan was to get a room at a hotel on Staten Island until my homeboy Chad explained the only way to get there was by ferry. Then we considered New Jersey, but we didn’t want to keep paying the tolls and fighting the traffic.

Eventually, we went the William Shatner route and took Priceline.com for a spin. Amazingly, we found a hotel a few blocks from Union Square that was in line with our price. Of course, when you’re paying $150 for a night in New York, you have to wonder what the catch is. With bed bugs being the latest craze in travel [and full body x-ray machines to get on a plane], we took to the reviews and felt pretty comfortable with this option.

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Surprise! Where the World’s Best Hotels Are

Tortilis Camp in KenyaIf you’re planning a vacation anytime soon [or ever for that matter], you have to check out Travel+Leisure’s Top 500 World’s Best Hotels. Considering Nduku and I will be traveling to Kenya next year, I was curious to see what Kenya had to offer. Living in Washington, DC, we have 6 on the list. Virginia has two Ritz-Carlton hotels in the DC region listed, and Maryland has, well, I’m sure Maryland has some nice hotels as well.

Kenya doesn’t strike me as a place where you have some of the world’s best hotels. I can see South Africa, Egypt, even Botswana or Zambia on the game reserves or national parks. The magazine grouped Africa with the Middle East, so naturally the sail-shaped hotel in Dubai and a little something in Israel or Jordan would be listed.

Heh.

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Can a TV Show Prepare Me For Kenya?

Next year Nduku and I will be going to Kenya. The Malombe family and I will finally meet, they’ll get to meet their granddaughter Najwa, and Nduku gets to immerse me in the Kenyan culture. Hopefully she doesn’t tease me as much as I tease her when she doesn’t always get American culture.

The thought of being in Kenya got me thinking of a TV show I’ve become addicted to. One day [most days] there was nothing on the 500+ channels we pay Comcast a lot of money for. Since I couldn’t take another show on Sprout [Najwa likes that channel], I accidentally clicked on the OnDemand button instead of the power button. Clever remote control design.

While in the world of instant cable satisfaction, why not browse through the hundreds of options? Let’s see — nothing, nothing, nothing and more nothing. Eventually, I found something that looked promising. I’m not much of a TV person, especially comedies not starring Jamie Foxx or Redd Foxx, but one trailer looked pretty funny…

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Road Trip: Chesapeake Beach, Maryland

Nduku and I took another road trip, this time to Chesapeake Beach, MD…

Nduku Malombe at Chesapeake Beach MD

Road Trip: Solomons Island

Nduku and I took a road trip down to Solomons Island, just a day trip getaway…

 

Nduku Malombe at Solomons Island Maryland

Greetings From The Navajo Nation

I am David Gaines and I'm in Navajo NationThese are photos from a trip out to The Res [as in the Navajo reservation] during my visit to see my dad in Flagstaff, Arizona. Every time I’ve visited and attempted to explain to anyone what it’s like out on The Res, the words just never seem to do justice to the environment.

I can’t even say the photos will do it justice, but it does help give you an idea of what it’s like.

A few days later we took a trip south of Flagstaff to visit a couple of National Parks. Below are photos from our visit to Montezuma Castle and Tuzigoot National Parks…

 

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Ethiopia Running Out of Coca-Cola?

Coca Cola in Ethiopia

 

You know times are hard when an entire country runs out of Coca-Cola! Well, technically, there wasn’t enough hard currency in Ethiopia for imports to buy bottle caps…

The American soft drink Coca-Cola has become a symbol of Ethiopia’s deepening financial troubles. The beverage is flowing again after a brief pause, even though it drains the country’s precious foreign exchange reserves.

Truckloads of Coca-Cola began rolling out of the bottling plant in Addis Ababa Friday, ending a nearly two-week Coke-drought. The local bottler had to shut down this month when it became impossible to obtain the hard currency needed for imports such as bottle caps.

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Special Deal If You Actually Plan Holidays

Four Points by Sheraton Hotel in MiamiAt one of my previous jobs, we had a saying, which you may have heard before: “Plan your work then work your plan.” At the end of each day, we would write out what we had planned for the next day. When the sun came up, we’d file in like cyborgs, work our plan, then as the hour hand on the clock made its rounds, we’d starting planning for the next day.

Obviously the concept can be applied to everything. Especially — Memorial Day Weekend 2009!

My homegirl, The Mysterious Moshi B, sent me some information to pass along to my friends. If you’re reading this, that qualifies you. She has a deal for you — three nights/four days [May 22 — May 25] at the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel in Miami. On the beach. And airfare is included [insert asterisk here]!

If you’re in DC like us, it’s yours for $500 [airfare included]. I asked Moshi what if you lived in, say Charlotte, Philly or New York. She said she can still do a deal, but the price may go up or even down depending on airfare. I mean, Memorial Day Weekend in the Queen City, the City of Brotherly Love or the Big Apple!? Take whatever she gives you!

Send her an email if you’re game or have any questions. But you have to plan early because you have to have it paid in full by April 13, 2009!

And if Moshi has anything to do with it, it’s a guarantee to be the place where everything and everyone is going to be!

$4000 to do Volunteer Work!?

United PlanetThis past Tuesday evening I attended a Volunteer Fair hosted by Idealist.org, not sure if I was going to find anything to interest me, but I went nevertheless just because you never know. I originally thought it would be local non-profits looking for volunteers, just worried they would be looking for volunteers for programs I didn’t have an interest in. My main focus is finding programs to assist the underprivileged [primarily young African Americans] with developing skills for finding work, developing a career or something to tighten up those who really want it but just need some direction and a serious kick in the ass!

Well, not only did I not find that, but every single organization there was looking for volunteers to travel abroad. And nearly all of them had minimum requirements from 4 months to a year. And I gotta pay for my own plane ticket, which ranges from $1600 to $4000! And I’m a volunteer!

But what really struck me was how many people were running around looking for the perfect opportunities to volunteer abroad when there is so much work needed right here in our backyard! Illiteracy in Bolivia? Do you know how many middle schoolers right here in DC can’t read and write? Environmental Protection Education in Cambodia? Have you ever swam in the Anacostia River? And let’s not even talk about HIV Education in Namibia!

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Back to The Big Apple

The fellas in New YorkThis past weekend the fellas and I rolled up to New York and just kicked it. Eric, Mike and I caught the express bus [we didn't do the Chinatown buses; we rode the new "high end" bus out of Dupont Circle], caught up with Chad and Mark and did New York.

Back in The Big Apple

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In the bottom right corner of the gallery, click SL for the slideshow or FS for full screen

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Thanksgiving in Charleston SC

My mom and I rolled down to Charleston, SC, to hang out with my brother and his family. It had been a minute since I’ve seen him, and may be the last time for a minute since it’s looking like his next stop is Italy.

While there we canoed [or whatever the boat was called] Cypress Gardens, a famous swamp where movies have been shot including a scenes from “The Patriot,” checked out a butterfly house and hung out near the beach.

Thanksgiving 2007

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I love my mom!
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My Dad and I Hanging Out at Hoover Dam

Dad and I at the Hoover DamAfter watching dozens of programs on Discovery Channel about Hoover Dam, I made it a point to visit it during my second trip out to Arizona to visit my dad. Leaving from Flagstaff, it took us only a ouple or so hours to get there, arriving at the massive structure and all its glory. And it’s truly massive.

The amazing thing about it is that it’s in the middle of absolutely nowhere. Tucked between Nevada and Arizona, the landmark only gets more impressive once you take the tour and learn more about its history. Built in the 30s when technology wasn’t anywhere near as accurate and advanced as it is today, to see how the concept came about and the sacrifices made to build it makes you appreciate it even more. It leaves you in awe.

In the bottom right corner of the gallery, click SL for the slideshow or FS for full screen

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Another Gaines Men Reunion — Flagstaff, AZ

The Gaines MenIt’s been years, many, many year, since my dad, brother and I stood together. Unless a moment slipped my mind, the last time was in Houston for my brother’s Kuk Sool Martial Arts Tournament sometime in the late 90s.

Well, again we rendezvous, this time in Flagstaff, Arizona, while visiting my dad. It was my second trip out there, my brother’s first. We hung out in Flagstaff, catching up with what’s been going on, and spent a night out in the Navajo Nation on the reservation.

We got caught up on a lot, mainly remember what it was like to wind down and just talk about whatever. Usually we’re on the phone and 15 minutes, maybe an hour at a time. This weekend, we had nothing to do but converse, reminisce and talk about life.

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Yet Another One-Way Road Trip

And just like that, I’m on the road again.

I guess there comes a time in everyone’s life when they have to reflect on where they are in the present and where they want to be in the future. My goal is to own my own island, and reflecting on my present situation, working at Verizon Wireless isn’t going to get me there anytime soon. Constantly I am heard making this statement about life:

Whether you like it or not — you will wake up one morning, and you will be old.

When I turned the Dirty 30 last year, I was told life may appear a li’l different than just the day before in my extremely late 20s. “Doubtful,” I told myself, “considering it’s just 24 hours later.” Well, when I did wake up on the Ides of May, 2004, something was a li’l different.

It’s not that arthritis kicked in or my vision started to blur; it was more like reality kicked in that life will not wait for anyone to get their act together. Time does not discriminate. We are all brought into this world as li’l young crying babies, and if we don’t straighten up and fly right, we will die as big old crying babies.

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