A Tourist In My Hometown

Travel Link Up – Favorite Staycation Spots

Categories A Tourist In My Hometown, Ms Hala Travels, Review2 Comments on Travel Link Up – Favorite Staycation Spots

Travel bloggers come together monthly for the Travel Link Up, a fantastic way for bloggers to come together to write and share posts of a particular theme. Even though I’ve been behind, I try to join whenever I can. This month’s theme is “favorite staycations” and I just had to take the opportunity to brag a bit about my hometown region and a far away favorite. 

Staycations are like adding a fun boost to the weekend that’s usually set aside for family, laundry, errands and TV binge. When you are in need of a vacation but can’t go so far or for so long, it’s good to hop in a car, a train, or even a short flight to enjoy a quick break from the mundane.

Here, I’m going to focus on two of my favorite staycation spots since I’ve lived in two different parts of the world. One being in my hometown of the Bay Area and the other being from my expat life in Qatar.

Let’s go far then bring it back home.

Muscat, Oman

IMG_20161209_112439-01.jpegDuring the five years of my expat life in Qatar, I was lucky to be able to go on weekend trips to near by countries like the UAE and Kuwait. Many of which literally meant time with family and friends or at a hotel spa getting a well deserved pampering session. I got to do a little bit of both with some adventure when friends and I headed to Muscat in 2016 for a long birthday weekend.

Barely an hour flight away (think SF to LA), once I landed, I went straight to the hotel where I indulged in a mani-pedi pampering session before chilling on the warm private beach with a good book. Yes, Muscat in December is like a sweet summer day in San Francisco. It’s seriously perfect beach weather, warm but not too humid, light breeze and clear skies for the most part.

As an IHG member, I got a sweet deal at the Crowne Plaza Muscat. It’s very much a chill out hotel that I’d go back to again. Great spots to eat, excellent services and did I mention they had a private beach?

IMG_20161209_165408-01.jpegOnce my friends caught up though, we went exploring! Headed to Bimmah’s infamous sinkhole and clear beaches before driving out the city to the canyons of Wadi ElSham. This is a trek everyone should do once in their lives, absolutely beautiful and breathtaking.

Canyons are no joke and as an out of shape person, it wasn’t too hard to trek through some of the rocky narrow parts. And if you’re a swimmer, you’ll love the varying spots where you can take safe dive, come back up and trek some more. I went as far as I could before the path was too narrow for me and alas, I’m no swimmer but I still enjoyed exploring and watching the waters ripple below.

Nature truly beckons here in Muscat, where you can lose yourself in awe of your colorful surroundings.

Monterey Bay, California

I’ve been a tourist in my hometown since repatriating back home over a year ago. There is still so much for me to rediscover as I eat my way through town and see the changes that have happened over the course of my absence. I did get to rediscover an old favorite for a few staycations, including a birthday weekend late last year (I know, I’ve developed a pattern! =P ). On a good day, it’s a short hour and a half drive to this small historical beach town.

IMG_20190331_134903-01.jpegOnce a mainstay for sardine fishing and canning, Monterey has become a hub for marine preservation and exploration. My brother got his scuba diving license there before we took my nephew to his first aquarium adventure. He got to see all the different kinds of jelly fishes up close before finally seeing his favorite, the hammer head shark, swim by.

Just a half hour away, one can head to Moss Landing for an afternoon of dolphin and whale watching. It’s an absolutely glorious experience, highly recommended!

Make it a true girls trip and head to the Monterey Plaza Hotel for a beautiful room, a day at the spa and dinner by the sea. The hotel even offers perks and packages, especially if they know you’re there for a special occasion. They were sweet enough to offer us freebies from my favorite coffee spot there, Tidal Cafe -home of the best chocolate scones, EVER!- as a birthday gift.

So tell me, where are your favorite staycation spot(s)?

I Jumped Off a Plane, Willingly!

Categories A Tourist In My Hometown, San Francisco Bay Area

Under the sun but above the clouds. Floating with the wind until your feet touches the softest patch of grass. The entire experience of it all, from beginning to end is absolutely surreal even as I write this rant.

Who hasn’t put skydiving on their bucket list? Who hasn’t thought about it a few times but never really motivated? That was me. I’ve always wanted to go but never really motivated until my brother’s birthday came up. He wanted to do something wild and skydiving was one thing my siblings and I said, “let’s do it!”

Lots of anticipation, excitement, fear, and anxiety builds up between the three of us until we got on that plane. I can’t imagine going up 13,000 feet without those two with me, let alone jumping before me. Totally not jumped in the order we planned, I’m a good big sister, I swear. But before processing my brother’s over the shoulder look or my sister’s scream, I looked down -yikes!- and willingly jumped off the plane!

A few seconds of disorientation before I’m synced, remembering the instructions told to us just a few minutes ago. Part of which is spreading your arms when you get tapped since you’ve got to hold the harness for the jump. I catch Brad, my flying camera dude, in my sights. With fists in the air, I scream, “Oh my God!”

The hardest part for me was the parachute pull, it’s a backwards jolt that caught me by surprise. Think of it as a hard break while driving 120 miles per hour. Again, it takes me a few seconds before I’m synced and I’m literally just floating. My tandem dude, Toshi, makes sure I’m good and comfortable before maneuvering the parachute to allow me a 360 degree view of my surroundings.

The Bay Area can fit in my hands. Mount Diablo, the highest mountain in California, is just a mole. The entire world below is so small, but oh so beautiful. Our planet is beautiful, peeps. In that moment, there was a sense of peace all over me. By the grace of God, I breathed in the cool air breeze, I couldn’t close my eyes, I spread my arms as if they were wings and had to be conscious enough not to kick poor Toshi. Ha!

Before I knew it, we were slowly descending towards our landing point. My short self finally got to shout, “look out below!” as we landed on a soft patch of grass. Brad came up to me to capture my thoughts. “That was fucking awesome!” was my first response. Did I just fly? Did I just land? Wasn’t I just on a plane? Oh my God, I jumped off a plane!

Before you go on your first skydiving adventure, please do your research. Note that you will be signing waivers because you are taking a risk when you go skydiving. My experience may not have been what I expected, may not have been perfect but at the end of the day, when you go with a good crew, your experience is all the more better. We went with Bay Area Skydiving in Byron, California. Per our research, they’ve been flying for over 25 years so it made sense to go with them for our first jump. While there is room for improvement, the team deserves props because they actually enjoy what they do and share in that excitement of flying with us rookies.

I’ve officially crossed “Skydiving” off my bucket list!! Have you? Share your thoughts with me in the comments below or via Twitter.

Picture of the Day

Categories A Tourist In My Hometown, Picture, San Francisco Bay Area, Social Media

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Market Street, Forrest Hill, Twin Peaks and the clouds crossing above San Francisco. Captured this view yesterday from my office building’s eighth floor after a multitude of meetings.
Happy Thursday, peeps!

Picture of the Day

Categories A Tourist In My Hometown, Picture, San Francisco Bay Area

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25 December 2018: Throwback to another drive by photography! Believe it or not, I was able capture the city in holiday lights as we drove across the upper deck of the Bay Bridge. Only took several attempts with a five minute window (for once there wasn’t much traffic on the bridge) before I was able to get this shot but totally worth it.

And no, I was not driving, safety first and always.

SF Sundays – Celebrate, Laugh and Eat!

Categories A Tourist In My Hometown, I'm Always Hungry, News and Events, San Francisco Bay Area, San Francisco Sundays

Hope you are all surviving this Bay Area cold. Luckily the weather seems to be calming down after those rain storms. At least there are a few things to enjoy outdoors if you’ve got a nice coat and a sturdy umbrella.

I’m not sure what’s more exciting, the long weekend of celebrating the great Martin Luther King’s life, laughing to tears or all the food that’s involved.

HAPPENING AROUND TOWN

Martin Luther King week is already in full gear! Tomorrow, January 21st, the MLK march will start at 11am at 4th and King Street before ending at the Yerba Buena Center. This is where the celebration festivities will be held until about 5pm. Some may head straight to the center but you don’t want to miss Caltrain’s Celebration Train that’ll be at the King Street Station just before the march. There are more activities, festivals and celebrations to partake in as listed by the NorCal MLK Foundation.

Want to explore the San Francisco African American Freedom Trail? As recommended by San Francisco Travel, this is a great way to not only learn about how African Americans changed the world from our humble Bay Area, but a great way to explore the city on foot. This is a great learning adventure for the whole family, just wear good, comfortable shoes.

If you haven’t already, the 18th Annual SF Sketchfest, founded by David Owen, is still happening now through January 27th. With this shutdown mess, we could all use a laugh from the likes of Andy Kindler, Sasheer Zamata, Michael Ian Black and local favorite, Peaches Christ.

YUMMINESS ACHIEVED

San Francisco Restaurant Week is starting just as Oakland Restaurant Week comes to a close. From January 23rd through the 31st, almost 130 restaurants will participate in showcasing what makes this city the most gastronomic city in the country!

c/o sfrestaurantweek.com

During the week, participating restaurants will be serving exclusive menus for either lunch and/or dinner. Two course lunches will be between $15 – $25 and three course dinners between $40 – $65. It that isn’t a biting deal, I don’t know what is! When you’re out and about, show off your eats by using the hashtag #SFRW on Instagram or Twitter.

Disclaimer: This rant was not sponsored or paid for by the events or restaurants listed. If you’d like me to check out and rant about a happening around town or an eatery in town for my SF Sundays series, please email me at ha@mshala.co.