China is celebrating another holiday this weekend call the Dragon Boat Festival.  For this holiday the food of choice is call Zongzi which is made from a special glutinous rice, egg yolk and pork wrapped in reed leaves.  They are eaten at room temperature.  My wife’s friend made them this weekend for all her friends.  It is definitely a texture food with the glutinous rice and I have tried it but it not my favorite food because of the texture for me.  My wife and the in-laws loved them and eat them all.

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http://www.travelchinaguide.com/essential/holidays/dragon-boat.htm  

I was recently introduced to Tommy John Underwear and yes it is the most comfortable underwear I have used.  It is lightweight Pima Cotton (there are several other material options) and after my long 9 hour drive from Vegas to San Francisco it was so comfortable and NON-sweaty.  This will be my preferred travel underwear, yes it is pricey around $30 per pair but so is the Travel Underwear by Exofficio I where on my trips as well. 

The Exofficio is a great for travel but has several drawbacks for me.  It dries fast because it is made from Nylon (which is plastic) and causes me to sweat more often.  The second drawback again being plastic material my pants/shorts tend to slide down more often because it is slippery.  This is my experience and I continue to use them because I can pack light and they can be cleaned overnight and dry in the morning.    

The Tommy John underwear is a great alternative because it is lightweight Cotton which will dry faster than traditional underwear which is non-lightweight.  Also, they are so comfortable with their design which is needed for long flights.  I cannot wait to use them on my next new non-stop flight from Los Angeles to Nanjing China.  It will be a great test.

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Wish I had known about Uber in San Francisco before our trip which we later found out it is a great alternative in San Francisco to the traditional taxi.  One of the many reasons I like to travel is sharing experiences with other travelers and when were ended our day of sightseeing we relaxed in the hotel spa and met several travelers whom we shared stories and found out they used Uber and it only cost $7 per trip.  I did not think about Uber because in Vegas it is currently banned because of the highly influenced taxi companies.  We learned about Uber too late during our visit but it would have been worth to us it since our hotel was near the airport which was a good distance from the attractions and the parking was difficult.  But again when you travel and meet new travelers you learn new experiences and tips.  Also, what was the most convenient method to get around is google maps which saved us so much time rather than using traditional paper maps, set it and forget it!

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Last weekend we had a wonderful first time in San Francisco other than connecting flights at the airport to China, which their international airport is excellent.  We drove from Las Vegas to San Francisco which took about 9 hours straight through with minor stops.  It was interesting to see all the agriculture and the massive cow herds and the wind mills alongside the highway.  I want to review some of the travel tips I learned the hard way and wish I had known.

Parking is a challenge in any major city but is more difficult in San Francisco with the steep streets.  I practiced my parallel parking before going because we do not parallel park much in Vegas.  Travel Tip; when parking on the street you must turn your front wheel toward the curb and it must touch the curb or you can get a ticket for $75 and the meter maids are everywhere.  This makes sense for steep streets if your brake gives away than the curb acts like a wedge and your car will not roll downhill.  Also, compact cars are preferable which we took my wife’s compact car and it was great my full size truck would have been a nightmare for us.  How I found out was our first stop was Chinatown and I parallel park nicely then a car drove by with younger kids and they yelled at me my wheel my wheel.  I thought I had a flat tire and the lady on the corner looked at my tires as well and she was Chinese and spoke to my wife and she said because my front tires was not touching the curb inward.  Another positive travel experience with locals, 2 random locals saw my issue and offered help without me knowing.  Also after 6pm the meters are free and Sunday they are free.  The next day we could not find parking spaces anywhere is we knew would be difficult so we found a parking garage in Chinatown which was our base of operation per say.  The cost for the parking garage in this area was $12 per day which was a lot more reasonable than the Fisherman’s Wharf area at $20-30 per day.  My advice for any major city like San Francisco would be do some basic research on public parking if you plan on driving a car.

San Francisco is a great city and we had an awesome time, more tips to come

Travel Smart and Safe

Our thoughts are with all the people from the tragic accident with the Yangtze sinking.  We hope there are many more air pockets with much more survivors.

We read that many of the travelers were older people whom their children provide a holiday trip for them.  The ship started from Nanjing my wife’s home city.

Again our hearts go out to everyone touched by this accident.