Fall Travels

I got around in October and November. It was a busy couple of months on top of Q4 at Amazon and the ongoing house remodel, but traveling is good for the soul, and I also earned Alaska Airlines MVP status for 2018. Things are finally starting to look up for ol' Brian.

Copenhagen

Felicia and I spent four days in Copenhagen with our friend Lauren, who we also traveled to France with in 2015. The three of us stayed in a cozy Airbnb near the heart of the city, and we were able to get around exclusively on foot. The cobblestone streets and abundance of shops make Copenhagen a charming place for pedestrians. Everyone we interacted with was friendly and spoke English, which was a convenient surprise, and public places were spotlessly clean.

We saw the Little Mermaid, and we're not sure why everyone is obsessed with it. It's basically Copenhagen's Lil' Sebastian. We also viewed the Danish crown jewels at Rosenborg castle, and tons of viking artifacts at the National Museum of Denmark. The rune stone exhibit was my personal favorite.

Copenhagen has some fun contemporary attractions as well. We took a canal boat tour from Nyhavn, stuffed ourselves at a permanant street food festival in an abandoned paper mill, and spent an afternoon in the anarchist district of Freetown Christiania. We also had a delicious and eclectic sushi dinner at a Sri-Lankan owned restaurant. I was very impressed by the botanical gardens, which are free to the public. Unfortunately, Tivoli Gardens was closed while they prepared for their Halloween season.

Amsterdam

Felicia and I took a $40 flight from Copenhagen to Amsterdam for the last few days of the trip. Amsterdam was wild. I don't know how else to say it. I overdid it with the drugs and lost control with some strippers. It was bad. Security had to drag me out the banana bar with my pants around my ankles. That's not true - I wrote that on the bus and I wanted to have some fun with the person next to me. The banana bar is a real place, but I didn't go inside.
 
Amsterdam wasn't too different from Copenhagen, visually. Both cities feature canals, cobblestones, and cute townhouses. The city is very diverse culturally, and very open about sex and drugs. It's hard to walk 10 minutes without seeing a 'coffee shop' or sex toy store. At first I thought the red light district would be sad and uncomfortable. Prostitutes line the street in human-sized fish bowls while they wait for the next customer, but the women I saw working were having a good time and the atmosphere was very festive. Sexual assault, human trafficking, domestic violence, and STD rates would all go down (and tax revenue up) if prostitution was legal and well-regulated in more countries.

We did lots of touristy stuff on the rest of our trip. We had a great day with some fresh stroopwafels in the morning, visits to Hortus Botanicus and Vondelpark, and a pizza dinner on our evening canal tour. We also took a sobering tour of the Anne Frank House, and saw lots of classical art at Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum.

	me too, sister

Cajun Style

Less than a week after we got back from Europe we jetted to New Orleans for a group birthday weekend. Shout outs to Thomp and MarMar. We rolled 11 deep on this trip, and if you weren't paying close attention then you probably mistook us for a category:fun hurricane!

We got started with some hand grenades and jello kerosene shots while we walked down Bourbon street. Eventually we settled at a place called Ticklers to drink and watch the dueling pianos. There's no shame in my game, but I'll never be able to run for political office if I share too many pictures from that night.



I loved New Orleans. I want to compare it to Las Vegas because I go there once a year to have a fun long weekend, but that seems unfair to NOLA. Everything about Las Vegas is fake, but New Orleans is authentic and magical. The people, food, music, art, and architecture are all wonderful.

In one day we picked up street art at Jackson Square in the morning, caught a jazz show at Preservation Hall in the afternoon, then took a spooky ghost tour in the evening, where we learned about the LaLaurie murder mansion. In between events, we drank hurricanes at Pat O'Briens and ate beignets at Cafe Du Monde. Shout out to Cajun Carl.

The French Quarter is an amazing place to be even if you're doing nothing at all. If you grab some drinks and chill for a day, you might witness half a dozen second line wedding parades. Between parades there's always some ambient brass instruments playing. If you get hungry you're never more than a few steps away from a po' boy, gumbo, jambalaya, etouffee, red beans and rice, fried gator, or fried okra. You might even wind up at a BBQ and blues festival like we did. It was a ton of fun. I'm looking forward to returning and checking out all the cool stuff that we didn't have time for.

Scoop

My grandfather is a great man. We call him Scoop because he was a hall-of-fame journalist, but also because he loves ice cream. He's 88 years old and he's had some serious health scares in the past, so I didn't take it lightly when I found out that he was in the hospital. Thankfully there are dozens of flights daily between Seattle and the Bay Area, so I was able to squeeze in a couple of trips to visit him. I've mentioned earlier that I don't see my family often enough, and so it was a silver lining that I got to enjoy not only Scoop's company, but also many of my immediate and extended family.

From what I heard on the phone I expected the situation to be bleak, but when we were all togeher morale was high and we had a jovial visit. The Swindell men bonded by watching the world series together. Normally when I see Scoop it's during a huge family gathering. It was nice to have some quality time together in a more intimate setting.

Trouble in Paradise

Felicia and I spent Thanksgiving in the Bahamas to watch the Battle 4 Atlantis (A basketball tournament that Arizona was playing in). This is normally my favorite week of the year as a college sports fan because the basketball tournaments overlap with the football rivalry games. I was excited to soak it all in just like 2014 in Maui. Unfortunately, the tournament was an unprecedented disaster for the Wildcats and the football team lost the Territorial Cup as well.

Sports crisis aside, we still enjoyed ourselves in the company of some friends that also made the trip from Seattle. It's hard to have a bad time when you're basking in the hot sun, warm water, and cold drinks of Paradise Island. We had some fun outside of the resort as well, swimming with reef sharks and grubbing on Bahamian food at the Arawak Cay Fish Fry. Shout out to my new acquaintance "The Genie" who, within five minutes of meeting, offered to sell me cocaine, sex, and turtle meat.

Until Next Time

We'll be in Tucson over the holidays to visit family. After that I'm thinking either the Galapagos Islands or New Zealand. I'd like to visit some natural wonders and exotic animals before it's too late. Don't forget to reduce, reuse, and recycle.

TGIB

28

I turned 28 a few months ago and I forgot to keep up with my briannual tradition of blogging about it. I've been busy! Better late than never ;)

Growing up in the land of opportunity I always had something to work toward. I spent 12 years working toward the next grade in school. While I was in school I worked to buy a car, so I could drive myself to work in the evenings after spending the days working towards college. Then I worked to pay rent while working toward my degree. Then I worked toward getting an internship - then a job - then a better job, so I could work to pay off my college debt. Before I knew it I was 27 years old and working was all I knew how to do.

I'm blessed by the opportunities to provide for myself, but in the year 2017 I believe there's more to life than just grinding. In one of my favorite songs Get By, Talib Kweli says

    just to get by
    We commute to computers
    spirits stay mute while your egos spread rumors
    We're survivalists, turned to consumers
    just to get by

My values don't align with consumer culture, but as time goes on I've found myself increasingly succumbed to its pervasiveness. 27 was the year I decided that I didn't want to be a supporting actor in my life's story. Transitioning into the spotlight doesn't happen overnight, but when I revisit this blog decades from now, hopefully I'll be able to say that this is when it all began :)

I needed to change my habitat in order to become the person I want to be. We were living comfortably, but I felt like I didn't have room to spread my wings. We wound up purchasing a fixer-upper house with lots of space for activities - a basement, a garage, and a big yard with room for a greenhouse. The house will get a post of its own when we're done remodeling, but the introvert in me is excited about all of the growth opportunities I'll have access to within my home.

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The real goal of this paradigm shift is to maximize my time. The house is complimentary to that because I don't need to travel in order to enjoy my hobbies, but I'd like to make bigger strides in my routine.

There are 168 hours in a week. I spend about 56 sleeping, 45 working, and 13 commuting. That leaves 54 hours/week that I'm in charge of. Subtract 5 of those for my morning routine, 5 more for errands and let's say 10 more for time spent cooking/eating. 34 waking hours per week remain. Right now I spend about 6 working out, 5 hours hanging out with my friends, 10 hours relaxing, and the other 13 are miscellaneous. Right now we're pretty busy with the remodel, so a lot of that time is spent at home depot or answering questions for the contractor.

I'd like to reallocate some of the work/commute hours into the other half of the equation, and I'd like to make the work hours more meaningful. Just like buying a home, career planning has proven to be a time-consuming and meticulous process. Thankfully I don't hate what I do now, so I can afford to be patient and selective with opportunities. I used to be thrilled by any job that came my way, but now I can't keep up with the messages that I get from recruiters looking for software engineers in Seattle. It's a bizarre feeling, but a welcome one for sure.

27 was the year I decided to make some big lifestyle changes. Maybe I'll fully turn the corner on these things before I hit 29.

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I almost got lost in all that introspective stuff and forgot to mention my actual birthday. I had an amazing weekend with my family on the lake in Coeur D'Alene. I don't get to see my dad or brother very often, and their better halves are outstanding company as well. It goes without saying, but the icing on the cake was getting to spend some quality time with my favorite niece.

TGIB!

A Special Weekend

Corporate holidays are really backloaded in America. January through April are a real slog while you recuperate all the PTO that you spent at the end of the previous year, especially in the miserable Seattle winter. But when May rolls around the sun comes out, and the only thing raining on us is good news!

Felicia and I went to Arizona to celebrate a bunch of things with our families, and we had a blast. First up was Andrew's college graduation. He's truly a special young man and he's overcome more than you could imagine to reach this point (with a degree in Electircal and Computer Engineering, no less). We're so proud of him - I had to stop myself from crying at the speech that he gave when he walked. Congratulations, brother.

The next day we celebrated the marriage of my brother Randall and his amazing bride, Alyson. We couldn't be happier for them. We spent a day at the Westin La Paloma resort swimming in the pools, getting drinks at the swim-up bar, and riding the waterslide a million times with my favorite neice. Randall and Alyson are a fiery couple and they bring out the absolute best of eachother. I can't wait to see what the future has in store for their little family. You can keep up with them musically at https://www.facebook.com/Swindymusic/

After that was Mother's Day. Felicia and I are lucky because our moms live in the same city. Our families got together for a casual brunch and just enjoyed eachothers company. Moms get taken for granted a lot. Make sure to appreciate yours :)

While all of that was going on, Felicia and I spent hours working remotely with our Realtor up in Washington. We were happy to deliver some good news of our own - we bought a house! Much more on that soon.

TGIB

Pura Vida

In an intro college Spanish class, I had a project to create a travel brochure on a Latin American country, and "sell" it to the rest of the students.  I was arbitrarily assigned Costa Rica.  I learned that they have a ton of flora and fauna, free public education, a strong economy supported by tourism, and that they produced an astronaut in the 80's.  I developed a mental image of the country as paradise, and promised myself that I'd visit someday.  After letting that image bake in my head for almost a decade, I finally went there, and I'm thrilled that the experience met my idyllic expectations.

Compared to my other international trips, I felt at home in Costa Rica.  The smaller timezone difference might have something to do with that, but I think the bigger factor was being able to speak the language.  I refreshed my Spanish skills with a 94-day Duolingo streak before we arrived, and I leaned heavily on my ability while we were there.  Being able to have nuanced conversations with locals really makes the world feel like a smaller place.


The country is tiny, but it's overflowing with natural beauty.  Costa Rica is the convergence zone of several ecosystems, so there's a lot of variety between terrain and the animals that live there.  The Costa Rican people - Ticos - are aware that their environment is special.  It's hard to go very far without hearing the colloquial term "pura vida" which kind of means "hakuna matata."  The weather is warm year-round, and the availability of fresh ingredients makes the local cuisine simple and delicious (Felicia fell in love with the casados - plates composed of rice, beans, salad, fried plantains, and some kind of protein).  It's easy to understand why the Ticos celebrate just being alive.


Arenal is an active volcano in the northern central valley.  It last erupted in 1968.  We were drawn there by the mountains and rainforests, and the plethora of activities that are offered by tourism companies.  On our first day we went swimming under the La Fortuna waterfall, then took a zipline tour through the canopy hundreds of feet above it.  The next day, we shared a raft with a German couple and toured the class III whitewater of the Rio Balsa.  We also learned how to process sugarcane on a local farm, and took shots of the sugarcane moonshine.  We spent most of our third day in Arenal hiking the Cerro Chato trail.  Cerro Chato is a smaller volcano in the shadow of Arenal.  The hike was rugged and challenging, but we were rewarded by the lake that fills the crater on top with colorful mineral water.

the trail to Cerro Chato

we made it to the crater!

Arenal is basically Death Mountain, minus the Gorons

The lava beneath Arenal provides heat for several hotsprings. We visited a different one each day we were there. My favorite spot was Rio Tabacon, which is a 100+ degree river that flows from the volcano into the expensive resorts nearby. It's kind of a hidden place that you can only get to if you know where to pull over on the side of the highway, but the search is worth the alien experience of bathing in a heated river.

Arenal was an amazing way to explore the inland volcanoes and rainforests, but Costa Rica is also renowned for its beaches.  We decided to visit a place called Drake Bay (named after Sir Francis Drake) on the southern Pacific coast.  We decided on Drake Bay because of its remoteness. Recent travels have taken us to Paris, Tokyo, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, and we were ready for a change of pace.

There are pros and cons to visiting an isolated place.  The biggest downside was the difficulty in getting there.  We spent most of one day driving, flying, shuttling, and boating from Arenal to into Drake Bay.  On one hand, I missed the efficiency of Japan's bullet trains.  On the other hand, there's a real sense of adventure flying at low altitude on a tiny plane, and riding a small boat down a winding river in order to reach your destination.  We found lodging at a lovely B&B just a short walk up the dirt path from the boat landing.

Corcovado biological reserve is about an hour's boat ride away from Drake, and it's an animal lover's dream.  The reserve is heralded as the most bio-diverse place on Earth.  In one day there, we saw five different species of monkeys, two-toed and three-toed sloths, coatis, acutis, tapirs, a bull shark, and lots of exotic birds including toucans and macaws.


On our last day, we took a snorkeling expedition to the warm waters of Cano island.  We swam with turtles, sharks, sting rays, and tons of other exotic fish.  We took a midday break on the crabbiest beach I'd ever seen.  A full day of boating and snorkeling left my back with a wicked sunburn, but thankfully there are few better places to nurse a sunburn than Seattle in January.

Costa Rica didn't feel like the most foreign place that I've ever visited, but it was the best vacation I've ever taken.  When (not if) I go back, I'll make it a point to visit the Caribbean coast.  I'd love to visit a turtle sanctuary, and apparently rafting the Sarapiqui river is a must-do.  I've also been told by multiple people that the food on the Caribbean side is incredible.  The only question is, who's coming with me?

Pura Vida!
TGIB