Sitting in the airport lounge watching all the planes...

Watching all the planes go by!

Vancouver

I remember a song back in high school we did in a play that went like "standing on the corner watching all the girls, watching all the girls go by". For some reason it just popped in my head.

We got here to YVR early to try to get better seats on the plane. We didn't want to be in the lavatory access line-up seats - ugh! There is nothing worse than a bunch of 'urgent' people standing (should I say leaning) on you while they've got no where to go well, atleast no where to go fast.

Instead we're in an exit row so Mr. Ricky Long-Legs doesn't get cramped up. Tee hee.

No first class this time but no matter. We got to avoid the ticket line up and the security line up so far. Now we're sitting in the air canada lounge just watching all of the transport vehicles drive under the building. Richard seems very enthralled. I think he'd like to go down and drive them for a while. Has that look in his eye and his tongue hanging out when he thinks I'm not looking. In that 'mmm beer' Homer Simpson sort of way.

Yes, we're incredibly early but no biggie. We're just enjoying each other's company. I don't think Richard believed me when I told him the lounge had a bar. He just about flipped when he saw it was self-serve. And the fact that there are 2 of 'em. :) We're going to take advantage of the red wine later so that we'll get a good night's sleep as we fly over Greenland.

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Frankfurt

While we were at YVR (aka vancouver airport) we saw an ad for the 'open to the public' airport lounge. Similar to the new pay as you go lounge on the Spirit of BC ferry.
We're now sitting in frankfurt waiting for our final leg of our flight and sitting in another lounge. Let's do some math shall we?

That public one charges 30$ per person.

3lounges x 30$ x 2 people = 180$!!!

Holy macaroni! And this is just on the way there!!! I don't even want to THINK about it in Zlotys or Euros or Pounds. (All different currencies we'll have to deal with on this trip).

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Krakow

It's 10pm in Krakow Poland and we're just about ready to fall asleep. 3 flights in less than 18 hours through 4 countries. Sleep meds are stating to kick in (need to combat jetlag right away).

The things we do for friends eh? Fly 1/3 of the way around the world to witness Matt's wedding. I know he appreciates the effort.

We're ok. We promise. Regards from Krakow!

Signing off as my eyes won't stay open.

Krakow - Here comes Kat!

A week today, I will be on a plane to Poland. I've never been there before and I'm really looking forward to it. This travel itinerary has NOTHING TO DO WITH WORK!!!!

One of my dearest friends in the world (Matthew) is getting married in Krakow on April 2nd.

We're going a few days early to see the sites of the central city and just in case flights don't work out, we don't want to miss the wedding entirely.

Normally, I'm a lot more prepared for trips but this time, I'm going to actually be RELAXED before (aka NOW), during and after.

Speaking of after, we're heading to London to see the sites for a day and a bit after the wedding. Plans are to go up the London Eye at night (early evening) on Sunday April 3rd and to see the Douglas Coupland exhibit at Canada House at Trafalgar Square on Monday April 4th. Yes, Douglas Coupland is the author of Microserfs and Souvenir of Canada vol 1 & 2. Lives in Vancouver but I've got to go all the way to London to see his art. Go figure.

We're only gone for a week, but it should be a lot of fun. Seeing a new country means I can add it to my list of countries I've been to. There are NOT many on that list so one more is always a good thing.

From the top of my head the list of countries I've been to:

• USA (duh!)
• Canada (eh!)
• Mexico (ole!)
• US Virgin Islands
• Dutch Leeward Islands
• France
• Germany
• Scotland
• England
• Netherlands

Now you can see why adding one more is a GOOD thing. I hope that this list will expand a great deal over the next year or two. I've yet to make it to the Pacific Rim. Hopefully that will change. Australia in November would be nice.

I promise to send an update on what we did and saw when we get back. Until then, I'm going to pretend I hear you all saying "BON VOYAGE!!!"

-Kathryn

PS: On a completely different topic: If anyone (in and around Vancouver) is interested in coming to my chamber choir's final performance of the year, we're performing as a special guest for the Spirit Alive concert at the Chan Centre on April 30th. Tickets are available at ticket master at http://www.ticketmaster.ca/artist/941769/

What/Why "Kool K@ Nip"???

Good questions. Both of them. How do I begin. Well... At the beginning. Sort of.

I have a friend who recently moved from here in beautiful BC (Vancouver) to St. John NB. He had always sent me the funniest/wittiest emails I'd ever seen. Just stories about himself and his family.

When he left the company and picked up stakes to move all the way across the country, I begged him to keep the emails coming. Actually, I had suggested to him when he still was here in Vancouver to take up Stand-Up Comedy à-la-Seinfeld. He continued to send me updates on how family life was in the deep-freeze and I continued to laugh.

One day, he decided to start a blog. It just started a month or two back but I'll tell you. I've been reading his posts every week. Funny little stories. If you're interested you can take a read at http://rileypix.blogspot.com/. The most recent two, "To Serve and Protect the Parking Lot" and "Sometimes I Am a Smartass" are really funny.

So now... what is KATHRYN doing? Is she crazy? (Yes, of course - but you already knew that).

Kool K@ Nip is my first Blog-site.

What's in a name? You ask. Riddle me this you logical/engineering types.

K K N + ool @ IP = "Kool K@ NIP" (pronounced KoolKatNip)

Get it? Got it? GOOD! On to the background on the name itself.

When I was in grade 6, I changed schools. Everyone had trouble spelling my name so the teacher (and some of the students) asked if they could call me Kathy. I thought it would be a short-term thing. Yeah. Right. It lasted right through until I graduated high-school.

When I started work, email became my new nightmare. People kept spelling my name "KathEryn" and the email would never get to me. So, I would say to them, "Just type KAT HUNT, you'll find me". And yet again, a nickname stuck.

Cats have been a part of my life for ages. Cats I've lived with: Pumpkin, Pepper, Tiger, Princess, and Flower. Also, Gringo, Chi(-Chi), (Barra)Cuda, Nibs, and Puffin have been around me more indirectly when I was younger. So (logically) has catnip. You can do the math on how I came up with the rest of the name.

As to why I'm doing this... Well... Yes... I do tend to travel a lot. (Mostly for work but then again not ALL the time. Disneyland in February was LOTS of fun!!!) People ask me what I did on my trips. I love to tell them. But, I undoubtably forget to tell some key piece to one person and some other tidbit to another person. No one seems to get the whole story. I used to write a "Dear Travel Diary" that I would email to friends. Why not POST the information for you to see whenever YOU want to. Maybe even a picture or two.

Well, that's it for me on my first/introductory post on my Kool K@ Nip blog. My next one will probably be a posting of all of my previous "Dear Travel Diaries". C U SOON!