What a dreary sight out our window. Fingers crossed that the rain here won’t delay our departures, and that the snow back home will not delay our arrival home. It’s nice to have a car service, so we don’t have to worry about driving. We do need to worry that our driver will stay on the road, and that no one rams into us. Fingers and toes crossed!
We got on the tram to the gates. Steve successfully picked the right tram to go on. If we picked mine, we might still be circling the terminals! Just kidding, it would have been only a few more stops. After dropping off our bags we found the signs for TSA pre-check and off we went. We did have a complaint that the TSA pre check sign was not very visible, but we successfully found the entrance anyway. Once again, only one or two people ahead of us in line. Here is a statue of President George HW Bush.
That’s our hotel! Glad we got to use underground trams instead of walking and walking.
We passed by a bar in the terminal. I hope this doesn’t give CB any ideas! Although I looked closely and it seemed many bottles were repeats. It still was impressive!
For breakfast we couldn’t find Ruby’s, so we had breakfast at Cat Cora’s Restaurant. I think that she is on the food network.
Steve had scrambled eggs, that he liked very much.
I was debating between the waffle and the fried eggs. The waffle has whipped marscapone on it, so I got the eggs. I do not like mascarpone at all. The breakfast was tasty. The coffee was burnt and thin.
We had found our gate prior to breakfast and then returned to sit there for an hour before our boarding to La Guardia.
We were not sure if we would have delays on our trip home as there was snow in the New York area. There were rumors that we would have a 2.5 hour delay. That was not going to be fun!
We were off! Goodbye Houston airport, you can hold a lot of cars in your parking lots! 
Yummy warm nuts. 
I watched the Mr. Roger’s movie. It made me cry. 
Lunch was the macaroni and cheese with grilled chicken. It was no better this time around. 
There was snow on the ground. I think this was a cemetery. We ended up landing right on time. We also didn’t have to wait for our luggage, as it had flown out on the earlier morning flight!
It took us longer than expected on the drive home, but no one ran into us, and our driver didn’t run into anyone so it was all okay.
I hope you enjoyed our trip to Belize and back!
Did you vote for George HW Bush?
Do you watch the Food Network?
Do you make home made macaroni and cheese?
Good morning! Today we leave Copal Tree Lodge for Belize City, and then on to Houston where we will spend the night. Then we fly to New York on Wednesday.
I enjoyed my glass of watermelon juice. I would have preferred the fresh squeezed pineapple, but none were ripe in the garden. We were told that a large percentage of the food is from the property. The little boy in the background was trying to get a closer view of the hummingbirds. They had canopy suite 14, which was across the pool are from ours. They had a lot of people in that room, the two parents, a nanny, two smaller children and a nanny. Not sure where everyone slept!
I had the french toast, with toasted pecans.
Steve had the egg burrito. He ate it with a a fork and knife. Otherwise he would have ended up with a big mess.
Steve is not exercising, he was reading a book about fly fishing in Belize and practicing for next time. I asked Steve is there were pictures of the different places to stay in that book. He told me that it was basically about the fishing, anglers don’t really care about the accommodations as most of the non anglers do. The anglers only want to know, what kind of fish is there, and how many. Steve related to me that one lodge was described as fairly basic. Definitely not a lodge for me!
We said good bye to the GM and told them that we were looking forward to coming back to Copal.
Good bye to the one lane bridge.
Good bye Punta Gorda, although this sign says “Welcome!”
This family had their laundry hanging outside to dry. I think it was going to get very dusty from all the cars that drove by. Most of the time it is dry season, and very dusty here. During the rainy season, I am sure the mud was very bad.
The airport in Punta Gorda was very small.
This is a map of Belize. We will fly to Placencia and pick up more passengers and then go to Belize City. On our way to Copal, we stopped at Dangriga also. 
Our plane was a small one. 
We sat right behind the pilot. There was no assistant pilot on the flight. Of course I told him I would be able to help if needed. How many times does he hear that? I am sure too many!
Not much leg room here. 
We were happy. Steve is giving the camera that crazy eyed look. One of these days i will find the license he was given to fish in the NYC watershed area. We joked that if you took a look at the picture you would want to lock him up! 
Here is a view of the island where the cruise ships stop. Those ships are humongous! 
These are shrimp farms. 
We landed at Belize City airport and went to pick up our luggage. 
It was pretty cold in the airport again. I was bundled up in my anti bug scarf that made me look like I had a schmatte on my head (schmatte is a Yiddish word for rag). Steve bought a big KitKat bar and a dark beer for a snack while we waited for our plane. I had a water. You can see a few of my grey hairs in this picture. I may need to have to buy a face cream with a little tint to it to cover up my age spots. On second thought, I am 62, and people who are 62 are old and can therefore have age spots. My crows feet are in good shape, and as long as I keep yapping my nasolabial folds don’t look that bad. The scarf covers my neck so we can’t discuss whether or not I have a turkey neck. 
After a four hour wait we finally got to board the plane. The man in front of me ordered a Prosecco, so I did too. What could go wrong?
We were offered warm nuts and more alcohol. I had another glass of Prosecco, this time in a proper glass. Steve had his usual wine. 
I ordered the barbecue short ribs with kale and yams. Meh. 
Steve had the spinach ravioli. 
We had to circle Houston for quite awhile. There had been rain storms. 
We had to collect our luggage and bring it back to the hotel with us. Steve is noticeably unthrilled here. 
Especially as he knew I was going to take more room pictures! 
Soon it was lights out, except for the airport outside our window and we went to sleep.
After our wonderful trip to the Tango show the night before we got up a bit late. We had originally planned to go on a tour of the Opera House (where Marcel and his lovely wife had their first date!) and then go see the Jewish Museum in Buenos Aires. I had even troubled the front desk at our hotel Hub Porteno, the night before to help me order and print the tickets! Even if you have a tour lined up, if you don’t have your own driver and private guide, you are likely to say “Screw it, I just want a lazy last day”.
At breakfast, I had the waffle again, with the Dulce de Leche on the side. That stuff if so sweet, the dentists in Argentina must make tons of money filling cavities! 
Steve had something with some strange sausage. That sausage looks like short Lincoln Logs! I am dating myself by calling them Lincoln Logs, but you already know that I am 62! If you don’t, well, now you do! 
We had fun at the restaurant admiring the green ferns growing from the wall hanging. 
This is the picture of the famous tree in our restaurant. This view was from our suite looking down toward the restaurant. 
We decided that Plan B would be to go window shopping at the Hermès store and then go to the mall and look for Boca Jr. Soccer jerseys for our dear daughter Sally and her boyfriend Collin. Before we left for our trip to Argentina I had fallen into a forum about high end purses. 
Here I am proudly holding the bag! S was on a waiting list for her bag for over there years! After her wait, she probably had the privilege of paying over $12,000 for the bag also! 
We said goodbye to our Hotel, the Hub Porteno, and wandered off.
We passed by the Park Hyatt. This was a former palacio of a rich merchant.
We took a peek inside the Hyatt, wouldn’t you? There are some gorgeous flowers available for sale in the Park Hyatt! Wouldn’t you just love to have one of these arrangements in your room?
We found the Hermès store. It had been on another block but moved without telling me. We went inside and looked around. No Birken bags could be found! Phew, saved Steve a shitload of money! 
The day had gotten quite warm, and we passed by a group of tourists enjoying their walk in the Recoleta district. Steve and I would have loved knowing more about the history of some of the gorgeous old buildings, but we both hate wandering around in the sun. We kept to the shade, and didn’t try to join the tour group. 
Steve and I found an upscale mall. We were hoping to find soccer jerseys for Sally and her boyfriend Collin. 
We found the jerseys and then went to lunch. Here is Steve perusing the menu. There were lots of people in the mall. Many ladies were having lunch and enjoying a glass of champagne. 
A great bread basket always deserves a picture! 
I asked for a glass of ice to go with my Coke. Steve used to say that my favorite food was ice and my favorite drink was water. That was 35 pounds ago!
It’s been 3 months so i have no idea what this was or who had it!
This has shrimp on in so it must have been mine. Steve doesn’t eat much shrimp. His must have been a pasta dish. 
This is a view of the restaurant from the level above. 
We went back to the hotel where we hung out at the garden patio for a few hours, and then when it got too hot went back to the lobby of the hotel. Finally it was time for our driver to pick us up and bring us to the airport.
We finally made it to the airport! 
There were all sorts of cute penguins you could buy at the airport gift shop. Birkin or penguin or neither. If you guessed neither you were correct!
Here is our plane ready to take us back to the good old USA and grumpy Steve thinking “Enough with the pictures!”
Steve and I sat behind each other. Here he is unpacking his stuff. Although what is my bag doing on his seat? 
Hmm, what could be in the box? Could it be a trinket or jewelry bauble Steve bought me without me knowing? 
Of course not! It’s United chocolates given to all Business Class flyers! 
I don’t like white chocolate (which isn’t really chocolate at all). The dark chocolate was filled with gooey caramel. 
First map shows the placement of Buenos Aries. 
It’s going to be a long flight! 
Good bye Buenos Aries! 
Hello warm nuts! I think American Airlines serves the best warm mixed nuts! 
First course was salad. 
Then melon with prosciutto. 
Then some kind of chicken. It looks particularly unappetizing. I had ice cream for dessert. 
An Ambien and several hours of sleep and it’s 4:56 a.m. and time for breakfast! 
Almost there! 
Hello New Jersey! 
We landed and it was off to Immigration and Customs. We have our Global Entry card so all that was a breeze. Unfortunately it was a work day morning and our drive home took us over three and a half hours. It should normally take only 2 1/2 hours from the airport to our house. Remind me not to land in JFK on a work day!
They did have their line of Sak’s Fifth Avenue bedding. I remembered from the blogs that you were supposed to ask for something that tends to run out but for the life of me I couldn’t remember what it was.
It seemed like we had everything that we needed. Steve looks pretty happy, doesn’t he?
We got our pre departure beverages. Water for me and white wine for Steve. Also some chocolates. Steve didn’t share these chocolates either. 
We got amenity kits. They seemed pretty snazzy.
They were filled with the usual stuff, eye shades, ear plugs, lip gloss, tooth brush and tooth paste, and some collectible trading cards celebrating the anniversary of United’s fleet. Pack rack that I am I kept my cards and Steve’s although they were the same cards. PS Don’t let Steve know that I kept them. 
This was going to be our flight path. Pretty much due south for 10 hours. 
I thought the bed blanket presentation was pretty snazzy. I didn’t see anyone try to stuff them in their carry on bags. 
We got our warm nuts. I still think that no airline beats the warm nuts on American. 
Steve decided to eat dinner. I passed. I was pretty full from dinner and I was hoping that the ice cream sundae that I ordered would be delivered early. Of course it wasn’t, and I had to wait until the dessert trolley rolled down our aisle. 
Here is my sundae. The ice cream was fake so I am taking points off. I should have gone right to bed. Steve had fish for his dinner. Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of it. 
This was breakfast. I slept not so well. These seats were incredibly tight. I think we were really spoiled with our flights to South America on the Dream Liner from LAN airlines and the recent flight on Qatar. Seating was in a 2-1-2 configuration. I was sitting window, and could not go to the bathroom once Steve fell asleep. I did sleep, but not well. In the middle of the night I woke up and felt my left calf, the one that I had previously had a blood clot in. It felt tight, so I massaged it like crazy and did some toe pointing. It went away, so all was good. I was just thinking that I was going to have to go to the hospital in Buenos Aires. Steve said he had problems sleeping and his calves were tight also. I can’t imagine what the two of us would have been like flying economy. 
Here we are almost there. Will we make it? Of course, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this blog!
We flew over some river, it looked pretty muddy. I hope Steve’s rivers are much clearer. 
We finally landed and got off our plane. This is what our plane looked like from the terminal. I didn’t tell Steve I was taking the picture, so he got ahead of me, and then turned around looking for me. Lucky for him, and for me, I caught up. He had the passports. 
We got through immigration and customs okay. We met our guide who had a sign that said Lucy and Linda Lant. I told Steve his nickname was now Lucy, he insisted that the sign was Lucy Linda Lant. 
Here is a little of the chaos at the airport. Looks like JFK to me but warmer. 
You enter through the restaurant called Saison. At the greeter station you announce your name, they look it up on the touch screen and you are escorted in. 
Through the restaurant we go. 
Through the secret door in the back of Saison.
Then you see the sign for Classified. You also see the ladies bag who was behind us. I had to take the pictures quickly. 
The Restaurant is small. It only seats about 34 people. Not just anyone can get a reservation . There must be a special algorithm, and since I am a social media blogger of world renown (if only in my own special world!) I got the invitation. I tried to log into the website using Steve’s frequent flyer information, but was rejected! The waiter told us that he thought that selection was random. This information did not appeal to my vanity. 
If you used your United credit card and were the primary user you would get 20 % off
We were given an amuse bouche of something, that was quite tasty. It might have been artichoke on bruschetta. 
Since the restaurant is behind security lines, the knife was plastic. The fork was metal. 
Ordering was via touch screen. It took some getting used to. They requested you input your bar code from your boarding pass. It wouldn’t take the screen shot of our boarding pass bar code, even the server couldn’t get it to work. Finally I used my United App. That worked, and you can see what we ordered and that I got the discount! Yay! I love my discounts. Steve thought it was a pain, but I told him my $12.90 saving was worth it to me. 
I thought we were going to have a nice quiet evening in the restaurant. Ha ha. Of course a well behaved family sat next to us. Unfortunately well behaved families lead to absolutely no good dirt, or snark. And that’s why you read the blog, correct?
We each got a Caesar Salad. Steve got chicken as he is supposed to keep his beef levels down due to his hemochromatosis. I got the steak, as I love my red meat.
Dessert were chocolates. Steve liked his, I was hoping he would take a bite and then give me the rest, but he ate all his. Insert grumpy face. 
Here is the proof that Steve got to be in the restaurant. 
This is the bathroom that I only peeked into. 
Steve had minor issues trying to find his way out of the restaurant. He was supposed to go-right, but he can’t see in the dark. He was lucky I was there to guide him out. I must admit that it was very dark. However due to my superior sense of direction and good memory I remembered that we needed to go right at the end of the hallway. 
This was the menu board at Saison. It was pretty much the same as Classified. Classified had dimmer lighting and no loud music playing. I enjoyed my dinner. Have you been invited to Classified yet? What did you think?