Gasparrilla Art Fest

This year was the first year that I went to the Gasparrilla Festival of the Arts in the Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park. I went with my parents, one of my sisters, and my husband. The only thing that they have in common with the Gasparilla parade is the name and that they are scheduled around the same time of the year. A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the Gasparrilla Parade if you want to know more about it. It was a perfect sunny day to be out. We only stayed for about 2 hours and walked around all of the booths. Some of them were great, some other not so great. I wanted to take more pictures of my favorite paintings, but artists are very reserved with pictures. I understand why and I didn't do it unless it was something out of the ordinary like the airplanes made of soda cans. Maybe my mom will have a booth next year. She is a great painter and it would be nice for her to show her work. We are trying to encourage her to do it. 

We enjoyed to be out doing something different in one of my favorite places in Tampa. Seeing so many creative artists makes me want to do something again. I used to draw a lot, but since I don't practice everything I do looks terrible. I still appreciate other people's good work. I was also excited when one of the food vendors was an arepa stand. Arepas are typical Colombian food that we normally eat for breakfast. It is something like a corn bread and you can eat it with cheese or meat on top. I like it with just cheese and butter. I can buy arepas at the latin markets, but I was happy to have more options besides hot dogs and hamburgers. 

Gasparrilla Art Fest 2012

University of Tampa in the background

Tampa Museum of Art

My favorite were these airplanes made of soda cans

If you want to see more pictures of Downtown Tampa see them here. 

Hawaii Underwater

Several months after coming back from our honeymoon in Hawaii, I finally took the underwater disposable cameras to develop. Sadly, the results were not what I expected. The water was very deep and we didn't get to see many fishes. We were basically floating since the life jackets made it impossible to go deeper. We saw a couple of turtles while we were snorkeling. Hawaiian green sea turtles (Honu) are an endangered species and they are protected. You can't touch them and you must keep a distance from them. If you want to see the pictures from outside the water click here. 

Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle

Our Catamaran

The Diamond head in the background

We have an upcoming excursion to snorkel with the Manatees in Crystal River located about one hour north of Tampa. Before revealing these pictures I was planning to buy more underwater cameras. I'm excited to see how close we can get to the manatees. Supposedly, they are very friendly and you are allowed to touch them if they come near you. I would love to be able to take a few (nice) pictures of them. I don't want to spend a lot of money in an underwater camera. Can anyone recommend a cheap/good one available?

Orlando for Floridians

Last year was the first time that I got the Florida Resident Walt Disney World Annual Pass. We bought it because we were saving our vacation days for the wedding and honeymoon. Orlando is only one hour away from Tampa. Sometimes if we find a good hotel deal we stay there. It is always nice to spend the night in Orlando after a long day at the parks. I feel that if I sleep in a hotel, I'm on vacation. Disney was a good option for us since I hadn't been to Magic Kingdom since 2000 and to Epcot since 2007. I had never been to Animal Kingdom or Disney Hollywood Studios. Andre's last visit to a Disney park was in 2008 when his family visited from Ecuador. In the past 11 months, we've visited each Disney Wold park once.

Epcot is my favorite Disney World theme park. My favorite part is the World Showcase with shops, attractions and restaurants from 11 countries: Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, United States, Japan, Morocco, France, United Kingdom, and Canada. My second favorite thing in Epcot is "Soarin". This simulated ride makes you fly over California. This is probably the only ride where we waited in line for over 1 hour. We don't do lines that are longer than 15 minutes. What I love about the annual passes is that there is no reason to do a 90 minute line because you can return any other day. The pictures below are from our previous visit to Epcot.

Epcot's Flower & Garden Festival 2011

Japan

Venezia

Paris

Epcot's Flower & Garden Festival 2011

I want to go at least one more time to Epcot and once to Animal Kingdom. If you want to see the pictures from our last visit to Animal Kingdom click here. 

I have to be careful with Minnie next time

Our Disney pass will expire in April. Until then, we will make a few more trips to Orlando. I don't think that we will be renewing it. I want to buy the Busch Gardens/Sea World Annual pass. I love Busch Gardens and I have never been to Sea World. It's time to meet Shamu.

Hand feeding the giraffes at Busch Gardens (2005)

There is a latin music festival, Viva la Musica, every April where famous latin singers/groups play at Busch Gardens and Sea World. This year El Grupo Niche will be playing in Sea World. They are a salsa group from my hometown in Colombia. They sing many songs about Cali and La feria de Cali. Cali is known as the Salsa capital of the world. When you live far away these songs make you very nostalgic. My sisters and I are big fans and we will be there to see them. Andre doesn't like to dance. We went to a party in Cali where El Grupo Niche was playing, and Andre enjoyed it very much. I'm sure that the aguardiente that night had a lot to do with it. He might come with us just to get out of town.

There are many other things to do in Orlando that I haven't done like the Blue Man Group show or having a drink at Ice Bar. I love going to Downtown Disney to walk around, or to have dinner at Bongos (Gloria Estefan's Cuban Restaurant). Cirque du Soleil has a permanent show, La Nouba, that I've seen several times. This show is probably the best of all the Cirque du Soleil shows that I've seen. Universal Studios & Islands of Adventure will probably be the season pass that we will like to buy the following year. I have been countless times to these parks, but still haven't been to the Harry Potter attraction. I have heard many good things about it and after watching the 8 movies I want to visit Hogsmeade. Orlando will always be a great option to change our routine and it is less than 80 miles away. 

How to Accumulate Airline Miles

Several friends have asked me before how to get more miles. I can be very obsessive with this subject since I am always trying to get a few extra miles. I've tried to explain this several times, but I probably overwhelm the person who asked with so much information. There are many ways to earn miles other than flying. Flying to Colombia only accumulates 3,000 miles round trip, so I would need to fly 10 times (round trip) to get an award ticket in low season. It took us over 2 years to accumulate 60,000 Delta SkyMiles (each) for our upcoming trip to Chile. Also, last year we used 45,000 American Airline's miles to fly to Hawaii for our honeymoon. I can't complain with the frequency of the awards flights that we've got in the past year.

The credit cards are a great way to get a lot of miles since most of them offer a big bonus when you open an account. If you are responsible and pay your balance every month this is really the best way to earn miles. However, I don't have a good history with keeping a low balance in my credit cards. That is why my latest obsession is with Delta since my bank has a debit card that accumulates miles. It is perfect not to pay the high interest and still earn miles. Delta is a little more "expensive" with their award tickets as you need to use more miles for a ticket compared to other airlines. I have been an American Airlines frequent flyer member for almost 8 years. I have earned many miles and several free tickets. I always try to use American Airlines. Sometimes, I have to fly to Colombia with Avianca because the price difference is extremely high. I have a frequent flyer number and several thousand miles with them as well.  The number of miles to redeem a ticket are the same, but the taxes with Avianca are $250 instead of $100 with American. Avianca's airplanes are better than American's, but I only claim the miles for a flight from Miami to Colombia since their hub is in Bogota, Colombia. As you can see, I am breaking the number 1 rule to earn miles quickly which is to be faithful to one airline. 

I use the dining rewards program constantly as well as the eshopping program. For the dining rewards all you have to do is register your credit cards and find restaurants that give you a number of miles (3 to 5) per dollar spent. This is probably the easiest way to get some extra miles in your account. American has the AAdvantage Dining Program and Delta has the Skymiles Dining. I tried registering my credit cards for both dining programs only to discover that you don't earn double miles for the same meal. They send bonus offers all the time. The shopping program is my favorite way to earn miles. I shop online a lot because of this. Instead of going to Barnes and Nobles to buy travel guides, I order them online and get 5 miles per dollar. Most retailers offer free shipping, so its only a matter of patience. Groupon is part of this program and with 8 miles per dollar is probably my favorite. You have to create a user name and password for both programs. Also, you have to always open this website first to log in, and get redirected to the retailer that you want. Delta has the SkyMiles shopping website. I haven't used it since I always see that AA offers more miles for the same retailers. Other airline programs also have the dinning and shopping programs, but I'm not sure how good they are. 

Using the airline partners is also a good way to earn miles. On our last trip to Ecuador we used LAN which is an AA partner, the miles were added to our AA account. I will continue to fly LAN as much as I can. Their seats are better than Delta’s or American’s because you get a personal TV with lots of movies and games options. Also, you can drink as much Chilean wine as you want for free. Avianca has the same seats with the personal TVs, but I prefer to accumulate AA miles. The only thing missing to make LAN my favorite airline is that they don't have direct flight to Cali, Colombia (my hometown). Not all partners give you miles just because you use them. I was convinced that I would get credit for the Hawaiian Airlines flights from California to Oahu (in 2008). When I asked for the credit, I found out that they will only credit the miles for inter-island flights not from the US mainland to Hawaii. I love Hawaiian Airlines, but I don't go to Hawaii often enough to open an account with them. Recently, I started booking rental cars using the AA website. I only earn about 50 to 250 miles per rental but it's a way to get closer to a free ticket. You can also book hotel rooms and get miles per every stay.

I used the AA mileage multiplier on my last trip to California. This is basically a way to buy the same amount of miles that you will be flying at a cheaper price. I think I paid around $70 for 2,500 miles. Not bad at all. I'm not sure if the other airlines have a similar program.

Hands down, American has the best value for their miles. I'm not saying that AA is the best airline but they do have a great program. I truly believe that the AA miles program is superior than SkyMiles. However, I will continue to earn miles for both. Tampa is not a hub for any airline, and that would probably win my loyalty forever. There aren't many direct international flights from TPA. I have to either stop in another airport or drive to Miami or Orlando. In the mean time, I am happy if once every 2 years I get one international free ticket from either American or Delta. Some people like to accumulate miles to reach higher member levels and get more benefits. Keep in mind that miles expire, but as long as you have some activity in 12 to 18 months they wont. Does anyone have any other tips to accumulate miles? I might be missing out on some. 

Sunset from Cypress Point Park

After meeting with a group of photographers last week, I rediscovered Cypress Point Park which is located just a few blocks from my office. The day that we went for the Photowalk was cloudy. Also, I got there when the sun was almost down. I returned to this park on a clear day to take better sunset pictures. The sunset that day was breathtaking!  

As soon as the Daylight Savings start I will go to this park to do cardio after work. This is a lot nicer than a treadmill. Last Thursday, there was a group doing a bootcamp class at the park. I checked and the class is at 5:15 PM. I normally work until 6:00 or 6:30 PM otherwise I would join them. 

Travel Dilemmas Solved

Last month, I was ready to book 2 tickets to Paris using our Delta miles. One of my good friends from childhood lives there and she offered to host us (again) for a few days. The plan was simple, we would just spend one week in Paris and enjoy the City at a slow pace spending as very little money as possible. We were already making plans and looking at places that were close for short day trips. We even extended this simple trip into a 2 week trip to go to Berlin, Prague, and Budapest with my parents. They will be in Germany celebrating my dad's 70th birthday in May. The perfect excuse to visit new places.

When I went online to book our tickets, there were no more seats available for 60,000 miles. The same flights were 75,000 or 90,000 miles each. Sadly, we only had 60,000 miles each. As much as I've complained about American Airlines, their award program is the best! I found tickets to Europe for the same dates for 40,000 miles!

I was frustrated and disappointed until I saw tickets to Santiago, Chile available in May. Andre and I have never been to Chile. We booked our tickets on Sunday night! I have been reading Emily's and Kyle's blogs for a while to know that Chile is a beautiful Country that I want to visit. After all of those pictures it is time to see the places in person. We will be there in May for 11 days. Actually, we will be in Santiago for a couple of days and then we will fly to Buenos Aires for a few days. We will probably also make a short trip to Uruguay!!

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

When I started traveling Buenos Aires was number 1 in my list of places that I wanted to go. I have 2 childhood friends in Buenos Aires. We might stay with them a few nights. Most of my best friends live far away!! It is almost a karma that I have. Thanks to the internet is easy to stay in touch. When I finally get to travel where they live and hug them is the best feeling in the world. I expect that most of this trip will involve many bottles of Chilean and Argentinean wine and great food. I just have to start counting days and try to wait (patiently?!) 

A different Kind of Sunday

Today I had my first photography class. It was great! I loved the instructor, the material, and the field practice after the class at Glen Oaks Park. We went over composition and basic camera functions. It was a lot to digest and it will take practice to figure out what works best for what situations. I will stop asking my photographer friends to give me basic guidelines for camera settings since I finally understand why every situation is different. 

The day was intense! We woke up at 8:00 AM!!! On a Sunday that is probably 4 hours before my normal wake up call. We got home after 6:00 PM. I really enjoyed the class and Andre did too. He didn't want to go at first, but he decided that he also wanted to take better pictures. I promise, I didn't force him. He likes doing these things, but he probably loves his lazy Sunday time more. He majored in Television in College, so I am sure that it is a lot easier for him since the concepts are very similar. 

These kids were posing for Andre as soon as we got to the park. It was funny to see them asking for pictures and then reviewing the pictures! I couldn't get a great picture of them, but I'm sure that Andre got several good pictures of his models. I will post his best pictures when he downloads them. 

A quick paparazzi shot

We didn't get to see the alligator 

Lots of birds

This park was not my favorite setting, but it was fun to go with a group of beginner (or wanna be) photographers and the instructor available to ask him questions. I really need a lens with more zoom. There were so many animals that I wanted to photograph and couldn't get close enough. Any recommendations on what kind of lens to get? Nothing too extravagant or expensive please. I need to start with the basics and if I do get better at this I will eventually invest more money.