So… yup it’s one of those. But another chapter in my ever unpredictable life. If you are busy, scroll on because this will take a few minutes to read. If you have time, maybe there is a lesson in here or at the very least, a chuckle and gasp Well as most of you know these past few weeks, while we have all been hunkering down at home, the family and I were preoccupied with the whole induced coma ventilator pregnant niece thing, complicated by where could we buy toilet paper and eggs thing. This past Monday afternoon with life finally seeming to come back to a bit more normal with Ashley’s improvement, the moment changed instantly with a phone call. But for now, lets take a little side track for context.. The Set Up: Ever watch Shark Tank or Survivor? I don’t watch a ton of TV (at least … Read More

It is that time, if you are in a rush, you might want to scroll by.  Or if you have a few minutes, here is just another moment in time I captured, and it humors me. So… Today, (March 6th) is always a super special day in the world of Manny and Anna Pecus’s descendants.  Why you ask? Because it was on March 6, 1971, we stepped foot on US soil for the first time as we emigrated from Pakistan. Every year of course it is a big deal to my siblings and me as we never take for granted the huge gift our parents bestowed on us.   I’ve written about it before on Facebook, so this little blog is not really about that moment itself.  But I needed to set the background… So… early this morning after my alarm goes off, and I groggily take my first steps, my … Read More

So meet Mar Del Plata.. the 7th largest city in Argentina ( around 700,000 people and slightly larger than our summer beach stop in Nice, Fr), and the #1 domestic beach destination for the country. ( By the way, in the Argentine Summer MDP balloons well over a million people). Often this cool place gets over shadowed by it’s more glamorous International neighbor, Punta Del Este, but seems we’ve stumbled onto something well worth exploring. Truth be told, we were heading to PuntaDelEste, but when the hotel room nights were anywhere between $500-600 USD a night, we thought, hey a beach is a beach right?.. Ok not exactly, but when our total hotel stay is the equivalent of one night in the other place AnD we are staying at a luxury spa boutique hotel, it was a no brainer. One thing we didnt count on was the slight trip south was … Read More

One of those pondering moments open for discussion. Yes this will take a few moments, so if you are in a rush, you might be better to scroll past. But if you are interested, I’d love your opinion… Those who know me well, know that I’m constantly reading books (average about 1 a week). All non fiction, all business or self improvement related, and many are biographies. My current book is “Principles” by Ray Dalio. You may or may not know who Ray Dalio is, but if for one moment you will accept my endorsement of his intellect and business success, we can move on to this section in his book. I just read the following excerpt and lets for a moment give him the validity of information he presents. If all is true, then how exactly do you feel about it and what makes YOU tick… “However, when we look … Read More

What a day! I checked off the bucket list a couple things today which I wasnt sure I was really ever going to do. So… Tommy and I hopped on a train for Monaco which is less than 25 minutes from Nice. I didn’t have a full plan, just figured we get off the train and explore where our heart took us. However first a little info in case, like me, you didnt know why we also say Monte Carlo and not just Monaco. I used to think Monte Carlo was the capital, but then after really thinking about it, how could a sovereign city state ( about 2 square kilometers) have a capital. To put the size in perspective, Coronado where I grew up is 25 sqkm for land. Well there are 4 maybe 5 Quartiers ( quarters as in areas of a city) in Monaco. Monte Carlo happens … Read More

And for those of you that wonder it is pronounced “Kan” with a hard N at the end… This seaside resort of 75,000 or so people has a much outsize International reputation for lifestyles of the rich and famous. Not quite Monaco, but surely you wouldn’t be surprised to catch George and Amal or Julia and Madonna or … sitting at a seaside chic cafe nursing a spritz.. The trip to the town is just a quick 20 min train ride from Nice and as easy as can be. You are dropped right in the middle of town ( make sure to take the correct Cannes stop as there are two). It is a lovely walkable city but.. there is a higher sense of glitter and tourism ( there was a massive, and I mean massive) cruise ship anchored and the town was filled with boat people. It does have a … Read More

SO… Yes this is a detour from my travelogues but when inspiration hits, you know I have to write about it. So if you don’t have time or interest, scroll by because this will take some time to read… This morning something crazy happened to us for the first time ever on trip anywhere! Tommy and I were in groggyland having barely woken up. Just starting to get aware of the morning, still in our fabulous sleeping attire which we have worn since our birth.. And then it happens… This ultra loud screeching sound which we thought we accidentally triggered something crazy with the coffee machine. Then we are hearing loudspeakers in the hallway speaking in French of course, and we figure out the fire alarms for the hotel are going off. We have to evacuate at this very inopportune moment. More on this later… But now back to 37 … Read More

Nice, Cote d’Azur where have you been all my life? Welcome back to Travelogues by Ken..A little background first. Planning this trip had caused me great pain because every two years I feel the need to make a pilgrimage to my favorite city in the world.. Barcelona ( after San Diego of course)… However this year we decided that it was time to see something else in France other than Paris. What was so painful is to know we would fly over Barcelona ( twice), land and take off at it’s airport, yet never touch foot in the magical city. In the Rock, Paper, and Scissors of Destination planning, Barca came out on the short end in favor of another return trip to Sitges.. which was quite fabulous. However the hurt and possible regret lingered all the way, until that is, 1:03pm today when our taxi started driving out of … Read More

So… See there is always a Choice for how you react… We were grateful that the airlines and airtraffic control took safety as the most important thing which caused all the delays and missed flights… BUT because we had Soooo much time sitting on the runway in Boston, my little travel agent Tommy got on the phone with Delta. The automatic computer had rebooked us tomorrow morning but it didnt have Tommy to guide it.. Instead, he got us rebooked to San Francisco tonight whose flight was also delayed in landing which allowed us to switch.. and this flight has LAY DOWN beds ( Score 1).. Then got us booked to SD via LAX and we get there at 9:30am.. go home, pack the other suitcase in case our suitcases don’t arrive, and we are back as the airport by 11am for our flight to SLC with only an hour … Read More

We knew coming to Singapore that it had one of the finest, if not THE finest airport in the world. Changi International is a world of wonder and on our outbound trip to Bali we had a chance to explore it for several hours during DestinationUnknown game. However, coming back into the airport, we had a chance to experience the efficiency to see if it was all that and a bag of chips. Let me tell you, this airport is the best experience of any International Destination we have experienced. Efficiency, cleanliness, spectacular amenities aside, this airport was amazing for how they greeted you into the country. Yes, the immigration officers, all up and down the isle were smiling and greeting guests. When you were standing there and they were looking at your passport, they cheerfully asked the normal questions and smiled back. Then they offered you candy and welcome … Read More