Marrakesh...

We arrived into Marrakesh without much ado. After a painless customs and baggage (1 bag now instead of two…) retrieval, we got in a cab and headed for our hotel. This of course involved the usual bargaining. The city was super packed with foot, bike, scooter and car passangers. Apparently it was some kind of holy day, explained our cabbie.

Our hotel room was a bit dank, bit overall more pleasant than expected. It had a flush toilet, shower, tv and wifi (I heart Skype)!

We headed out on foot to find dinner, and found the Medina (market) lively with food vendors and patrons. It was late in the night, but still showed no signs of closing down. Gregg found himself some kabobs, and I settled for some super oily aubergine and couscous.

I was up into the wee hours updating travel plans, and looking through my pictures and updating my journal – hoping this wouldn’t result in a late awakening the following day. We elongated our stay in Morocco by 4 days, in order to see Fez, and the desert.

Morroco!!!!

We are on a plane for Marrakesh. This airport experience was remarkably different then the flights a few days ago. (I say that, although it isn’t finished yet). We just heard from the loudspeaker someone has been smoking in the bathroom, and will be in trouble upon landing. I assure you, it was not me.

Paris was a wonderful experience – both the city itself and the time spent with my cousin and Samuel, her boyfriend. Far too short a visit if you ask me.

We recovered one of our lost bags at the airport – but Gregg’s is still in limbo. We hope to reunite with it someday. We are still quite tired, but enjoying everything.

Strolling through Paris

We strolled all through the city today – first through the outdoor market – where every last piece of produce is perfect in color and shape, and displayed with the utmost care and arrangement. I have never seen such perfect eggplant and such succulent strawberries anywhere before.

The city was relatively quiet as we walked through. We marveled at the architecture – and enjoyed the best of the best strolling in and out of high end furniture shops. Since the airline had lost our luggage – we headed to the Gallerie Lafayette and shopped in that district for the afternoon.

I had a bad feeling when we were leaving SLC, and had asked Gregg to buy travel insurance for our baggage. Luckily, we now had 500 dollars each to spend on replacement clothing. Later in the day I spoke to British Airways, and the also let us know we could purchase what we needed, and get reimbursed later.

So, we each got a few things in Paris – it was only with the promise of reimbursement that we were able to afford even the most basic of clothing with the horrible dollar to Euro conversion.

The Louvre

Today we walked from Alana and Samuel’s apartment to the Louvre. It was a bit drizzly, but an incredibly enjoyable walk. The Louvre was astonishing, from the outside in - I could have spent days strolling the art, as well as the exterior gardens.

I started getting super sleep about halfway through – as I was jetlagged and up most of the previous night (compounded with the past 2 days of sleepless travel). I actually fell asleep sitting on a bench, leaning on Gregg. We saw the winged victory of Samothrace, my favorite sculpture of all time – the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo – and several other gems that I shan’t list all by name. We looked at tickets round the world to see where our travels would take us – and have opted for the Carribbean. We are flying home on April 12th to NYC – and then will travel onto Miami from there, and then onto the Carribbean. I am not sure which locale at this point.

We came home to a fantastic Shabbat dinner, Gregg’s first experience with Shabbat.

Paris, finally

Okay our high wore off a bit, and our luck continued to be poor. When we arrived at our new layover in London, Heathrow, we discovered it was the opening day for their new terminal 5. Huge delays ensued, and we were exhausted from a straight day of sleepless travel. There was no information posted or to be found, and we continually were goade from terminal to terminal. The plan took off hours late, simply because the employee who pulled the walkway from the terminal to the plane, was busy. The plane sat in the tarmack filled with passengers waiting for get off (and new ones like us waiting to get on) for ages. In Paris, our luggage, not a surprise, didn’t arrive. However, 55 other people from our flight were without their luggage. We anticipated this, ad asked as soon as we got off the plane. A little while later, the line for baggage information was very long.

After a bit of bumbling, we found the bus to Charles de Gaulle Etoile – near to where my cousin and her boyfriend live. It was an hour public bus ride, that cost us 63 round trip (40 each). By the time we arrived at Alana’s the sun had long since set on our second day of sleepless travel. Her boyfriend, Samuel (what a great name, huh!) Greeted us, wined and dined us with delicious Pringles, and was a great host until she (my cousin) arrived a bit later on in the night. Their place, like the whole of Paris is BEAUTIFUL down to the last detail.

Still going.....

So what a difference a day makes. As the day wore on, my travel arrangements got more and more screwed up, and I cared even less. Our rerouted flight to O’hare was late, and we missed our connection to Paris. We did have another booked through Frankfurt instead, and then onto Paris, but were told when we arrived at the United terminal that we need to go to the AA terminal to get paper tickets for the United flight. Even though were were in their system, we needed to go two terminals away, get a paper ticket, and come right back. Ludicrous. We waited near the shuttle, realizing there was no way we would make the flight. But we didn’t care. En route to Chicago, we realized our plans just didn’t work anymore with the way things had gone in our lives. I didn’t have a job or steady income – and thus, I didn’t need to work, for the most part. I didn’t need to be tied to the internet – and I didn’t want to be. We couldn’t afford Europe now – and we didn’t want to try. We dreamed up all the wonderful places we would go to instead. On the top of the list was Bali – and we got signs supporting that locale for the rest of the night.

While waiting to board the shuttle in Chicago – a super nice guy (who overheard us discussing the ridiculous beaurocracy of the ticketing situation) asked us if there was anything he could do to help us – we started talking and immediately took to him – he had been EVERYWHERE! (over 50 countries!) (and was married to an Israeli!). 5 minutes later, when the shuttle arrived at Terminal 3 – he gave us his business card. Richard Stump. Hat last name is not common, and I knew I’d heard it.

“Do you have a brother?” I asked, realizing this might explain his vague familiarity.

“Yes, Greg” says he..

“Where does he live?” Inquires I, knowing I know this Greg person, but still unable to place him.

“Seattle!” says Richard Stump.

And it clicks.

I met Greg Stump, his brother, in Seattle, right before moving to Israel. In fact Greg Stump even came to my going away party! He is an amazing cartoonist, and I had met him in the Victrola coffee shop on 15th in Capitol Hill. What a ridiculously small world!

The second I had given up on our Europe itinerary, the world changed.

I didn’t care anymore. For the past year, I have been so wound up, dealing with construction, buying a house, mortgages, almost buying investment properties, investment properties falling through, the crazy stock market, moving to SLC, starting my freelance business full time, running that business, lawsuits, getting used to SLC, depression of loved ones, 60 hour work weeks, no personal time, no time for any artistic outlet, materialism and forgetting how to be who I used to be.

Not having an itinerary, not knowing where I would go, not having deadlines was the most amazing feeling. It has been so long since I’ve lived like that, and I had forgotten how important it is to me. I feel I have spent every moment of the past year doing work or favors for other people – or busting my butt to make enough to support the house projects, and me and Gregg. None of my time has been calm, soothing, and well, mine. The prospect of 2 uncharted, essentially work free months, gives me such jubilance!

We will still fly into Paris, because I really want to see my cousin – We haven’t gotten to know each other too well in the past, and I am really hoping to now. After a few days in Paris, we will still fly to Marrakesh, Morocco, as planned – but beyond that, we don’t know. We may lose money on flights and deposits – but it will probably still come out cheaper in the long run.

The next hour or so of dealing with corporate AA on the phone (granted it was Gregg on the phone, not me), and at the counter flew by almost unnoticed. We still worry about how in heck our bags will find us – but the flight, the airport, the trip – right now, are overwhelmingly liberating for me. (We will see how I feel when I finally arrive at my cousin’s in Paris late tomorrow evening without having slept much)

And we are off...sort of...

We are sitting in the SLC airport, waiting for this trip to happen. I woke up this morning, got coffee, turned on the news, and the very first story I heard was

“American Airlines cancels 10% of it’s flights today”


After the way things have been going lately, I barely had to look to know that 10% most likely included me. It did.

AA’s customer service got us a flight on United about an hour later than our original flight – and the trip was saved. Because of the way we acquired our United ticket – we had to first wait on a long American Airlines check in line, and then a United one. There we were informed our new flight (through Chicago) was delayed, and that we had 30 minutes to make our connecting flight once we landed in Chicago. Unfortunately, the connecting flight is in different terminal. We have been ‘backup booked’ on a later flight through Frankfurt and then onto Paris, just in case.

The security line would have been a dream, had we both not been targeted for a special search.

Just when I thought my bad luck was over, I got a breakfast bagel – slathered in Swiss cheese. Gross.

Setbacks aside, we are super excited to get away. We need it. We are so stressed and so overwhelmed, it is definitely time for this here vacation.

Getting Ready...

One day until leaving day! Things have been super stressful around Casa GeminFarb.

Gregg and I have been having hard time reconciling the lack of appreciated we receive for favors done. Gregg has done numerous favors for an elderly neighbor of ours, in fact we even had her over for Thanksgiving – But recently we found out all kinds of bad things she has been saying about us (actually about every single person in the neighborhood) – and this upset Gregg greatly. I have had issues with a close friend- client who has met my claims of many hours of uncompensated work with a barrage of defensive insults. (I worked for nearly a year with just about a month's compensation)

We have both tried to be generous with our time and the people around us, but have continually struggled with situations in which no matter how much we do, people just want more and don’t stop to appreciate the time we have given them.

In addition to the falling out with the client-friend, I found out my primary company, who gives me about 90% of my income, was forced out of business by a frivolous lawsuit, effective immediately. I cannot emphasize enough how much I loved this job, loved the people, loved the company, the work, and especially the income.

We had been counting on my income, and this was, is and will continue to be a HUGE hit. We have been surviving in part from Gregg’s savings, but mainly by my earnings. I had plans to start a different branch of my web company when I return from Europe – but that will have to be expedited. Send all your friends that need sites to me!

Also, right before leaving, it was finally time to pick up our Blazer from the repair shop. The one that got hit nearly two months ago. We left the dealership, realizing they had left us no gas in the car. We headed for the gas station at the end of the block - but ran out of gas on the way. They hadn’t even left us enough gas for one block!

We scurried through the rest of the day to prepare and pack - dealing with all kinds of annoyances that we couldn't wait to get away from. It is really time for a vacation. I have always been the kind of person that needs to build trust with new people I meet – where Gregg trusts them immediately. In the past few days, we both feel defeated.