The Wupatki ruins, pueblo, though historically significant and visually pretty damn cool with its red flat stone dwellings and glimpse of Sinagua living, consumed only an hour or so of our time. So from there we cruised eastwardly to take in the famed Petrified Forest (because no road trip is complete without a visit to a desert location that has the largest accumulation of fallen tree trunks turned to stone). And as remarkable as it was, we knew we had many miles to go that day and we’d better jam soon if we were to get to the Hubbell Trading Post (the oldest continuously operating trading post on the NavajoNation) in the town of Holbrook—to buy some jam before closing. Unfortunately, since the Navajo Nation clock is set back an hour ahead (go figure) we pulled up there just in time for the last counter clerk to remind us that we had only ten minutes before they boarded shut the door. Old counters with glass casing offered up staples like tobacco, canned meat and crackers (but, no jam. It was sold-out for the day.) Animal skins and wool clothing was available next to old muskets and tourist souvenirs. The potbelly stove in the center of the store looked perfectly in place.

Now that the day was closing fast, I thought it would be a good idea to check for emails via my mobile phone. I knew that I might need to factor in some work time before dinner. But, no signal—damn. However, that was not a problem; we’d be spending our first night at a hotel which was, not only really special, but had Internet.

The La Posada Hotel is a destination in itself. It was the crown jewel of the old Fred Harvey railway inns—located in Winslow, Arizona. (Yup, the very one immortalized in the old Eagles song: “Take it Easy.”) La Posada was designed by Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter, who is considered the first great female American architect. Even if you decide to stay someplace else there along old Route 66 in Winslow, one has to tour the historic hotel that was only recently renovated to its original splendor. The rooms are like visiting a museum—but far more comfortable. The place has its own depot, gardens, libraries and cozy verandas to watch trains go by from. And since our room (the “manager’s suite”) was so close to the lobby, I was able to get a very strong Internet signal. (Several clients had some minor website updates for me to make, which I concluded before we headed over to the hotel’s restaurant for the best meal of the trip. Oh, how I like working from places like this!) BTW: the restaurant in La Posada, The Turquoise Room, is considered one of the best restaurants in the USA. (Try the stuffed squash blossoms.)

The next morning we breakfasted in our room to save both money and time. (We had packed a whole bunch of fruit, vegetables and whatnot to eat before leaving Prescott—to save us money. Plus, road food can be both bad and expensive in these parts. And forget about finding decent fruit in places that we were heading to.) Anyway, Betsy (the car) would, soon take us out of Winslow northward and to the Painted Desert.

The Painted Desert gets its name from bands of red, white and yellow sediments and clay of the Chinle rock formation that have been exposed by erosion. (Yup, I gleaned that description from the Internet.)  The Painted Desert is the sort of place that is humbling beyond words: though it makes one feel very small and insignificant, it makes you appreciate life. There we had a picnic lunch before road-tripping over to another Fred Harvey/Mary Colter landmark, the Painted Desert Inn, which is now only a National Park site and museum.

As we continued northward within the Navajo Nation, we arrived at the entry point to Canyon de Chelly (pronounced: “de shé) National Monument. However having gotten there just before sundown, we could not view the canyon until the morning—plus we were too late to score an accommodation within any of the three available inns in that area. (I would have called in for a reservation, but not having a mobile phone signal that day meant that we had to just wing-it this time.) Fortunately, Canyon de Chelly has a very well kept—and more importantly, free—campground at the very entry point to the site. We had brought with us a couple of sleeping bags and a tent in case of such an instance. So, we enjoyed another picnic meal before sleeping outdoors for the night. (Note: the only mobile phone service here is through the Navajo Nation’s service.)

The next morning we got up early and headed to the Holiday Inn restaurant so my friend could see, for herself, what an authentic American buffet breakfast was—that, and so I could avail myself to their free Wi-Fi. There I checked my emails (did some work rather hurriedly) as well as make a room reservation for the night.  And before the tour operators could herd their groups into buses, we bolted on over to Canyon de Chelly.

What an amazing place this site is. One starts off looking down into canyons from one of many scenic overlooks off the narrow road above, to eventually have the opportunity to hike down from the South Rim Drive. This lesser-known canyon is not as immediately spectacular as, let’s say the Grand Canyon, but it does have sheer sandstone walls rising up to 1,000 feet, a couple of well-preserved Anasazi ruins (White House Ruin is the best known and preserved) and an insight into the present day life of the Navajo who still inhabit and cultivate the valley floor. One could easily spend a day or two here alone, but our rather tight schedule reminded us to hit the road by early afternoon.

Being relatively close to the Utah border, Dao suggested (strenuously, I might add) that we check out Monument Valley National Park. Since she had grown up watching old westerns (mostly John Ford films) on French television with her father, many of which were filmed in Monument Valley, it was more than just a good idea. About a hundred extremely scenic miles further north we arrived in the town of Kayenta, which is where one stays the night before driving the last 30 miles to Monument Valley. (There’s nothing to do in Kayenta but sleep.) However, since we wanted to see the valley during sunset, considered the best viewing time, we used the extra hour to visit the windswept settlement of Goulding’s. This place boasts the oldest outpost and inn for that vast area. It’s a funky little tourist draw, but worth a detour should you find yourself near the Four Corners area. As for Monument Valley itself—well, what could one say that hasn’t already been seen hundreds of times in photographs? It’s awesome. It’s huge. And though there are daily jeep and self-guided tours available for getting into the canyon (for those who want to see their monuments really close up), we opted to enjoy the sunset and scenery from the vantage point of the View Inn’s veranda where we sipped hot tea until it got dark. Afterwards, we returned to our budget motel room in Kayenta to munch down the last of our road food, reply to emails (it seems that nearly all hotel and motel rooms now have free Wi-Fi, even in the more remote places) and plan out next leg of our road trip: The Grand Canyon.

(End of Part 3. More on this road trip to come. View images of the Road Trip)

Enjoy Ricardo’s account?  Read Part 1 and Part 2!

By Ricardo

Jet lag hits me harder than a jalapeño margarita. I don’t mean, simply, restless sleep for a night or two after a long (trans-Pacific) flight, but all encompassing type of jet lag: dizziness, inability to sleep more than four hours for up to six days, nausea, the acute awareness that my mind and body are not in sync—the full-on zombie enchilada. This condition is realized at least a couple of times a year—for about eight years now. So, I’m way weary of this dilemma. When I fly from Los Angeles to the far east, and especially when I travel west to east on my return trip (the mother of all hellish routes—jumping 15 time zones) I know I’ll be out of commission for at least five, maybe six, days. I simply dread it. My curiosity was, therefore, quite peaked when I read a recent on-line article (Starving yourself may fend off jet lag) announcing a Harvard University study about the relationship between one’s internal clock and how it is affected by meals. In a nutshell, it concluded that fasting during long flights may trick one’s body into lessening the impact of jet lag.

Let me state, first of all, that I am not one of those new-age, holistic, “power-cleansing” type of guys. To me fasting means missing a meal. And since the Science study stated that one should fast at least sixteen hours of the flight time from their example set forth (Tokyo to Los Angeles), I had to seriously equate—what I was sure would be a torturous ordeal—with the benefit of not having to suffer five to six days of feeling crappy afterwards. I decided, in the interest of jet lag-relief science, to be the lab rat and test out this so-called remedy.

Last week I flew from Bangkok to Los Angeles. My flight departed at 5PM. At the airport, right before the first leg of my flight (there would be a quick plane change in Taipei), I ate a big meal. This would be my last meal for 18 hours. Additionally, I followed another common remedy which is to not sleep—an option not mentioned in the study, but seem equally logical to me. “Yeah, right”, you are no doubt thinking. “No food and no sleep on a (combined) flight of 15 hours, that’s not possible.” But, I did it. No food at all, just lots of water. And after about five hours of flight, my hunger actually dissipated. It was like my brain was saying “Oh, it’s past dinner time. You must no longer be hungry.” And by the time the plane was about to land, I had also noticed that I was not nearly as tired as I should have been. I was landing in Los Angeles at 8PM and my body was feeling like a person that was (more or less) 8PM tired (granted after an exceptionally hard day) and only a couple of hours late hungry.

That first night in Los Angeles I wolfed down two plates of pasta, had half a glass of red wine and went to bed at about midnight—my normal time. The following morning I woke up at 6AM. I felt rested and not at all loopy. This, however, did not convince me that I’d dodged a bullet. My jet lag usually does not hit me until several days after the flight. But the fact that throughout that first full day back I was, for the most part, clear headed and energetic was promising. I was even able to get quite a bit of work done on the computer.

The second night’s sleep, however, was not as sound. I got in only about 5 hours—but that could have had something to do with going out to a 3rd street tequila bar with my hosts. That second day I was a little more tired than the first day—due to not getting my full eight in, not the tequila—but, still little jet lag was felt and I was still able to work several hours. That night I slept six hours and the following day (day 3), at around 6PM, I felt like taking a serious power-nap. But as I laid there on the sofa of my friend’s home, with my head begging for some nap time, my body was not concurring. I could feel how out of sync the two were. So, I sat up and forced myself to stay awake. An hour later, and after a couple of episodes of Family Guy, I was no longer sleepy. That night I slept for nearly 8 hours. And on the fifth night back, I again slept well. On day four—the day I’m usually impacted the hardest by a trans-Pacific flight—I still felt pretty good, even though I had flown eastward another two time zones that day. That night I slept nearly nine hours and that day I declared myself jet lag free.

Conclusion? The combination of fasting and not sleeping during a long flight makes a big difference. As sensitive as I am to jet lag, it was a relief this time to have gotten past it with relative ease. Yes, there was still some residual jet lag, but only about half (perhaps even less) as severe as in previous years. So, on your next long flight, starve yourself. What do you have to lose?

Today, though, I am enjoying my ability to nomad. When my mother in law decided we should all go to Costa Rica I knew I could continue to work so our family was able to double our time with her here as compared to the extended family.

We flew in yesterday to San Jose and have spent our first night in La Condesa Hotel in Heredia (a neighboring area to San Jose. This must be one of the most beautiful locations anyone has ever found to build a hotel and the place that was built is quite grand in a “grand old hotel” way. The picture I’m including is the view from our room. The rooms are 2 floors high with a loft layout so that each room has it’s own staircase. The central dining area is open air and the grounds are extensive. There is free wifi in the room which I’m using to write this blog.

This isn’t a place most of us could stay for an extended nomading experience because the price isn’t cheap, but if you wanted to treat yourself to some luxury for a night or two this is definitely the place to do so.

Heredia is a charming place with many small shops and the hustle-bustle of lots of pedestrian traffic. Many cafes boasted “Internet” on signs so I’m led to believe it would not be difficult to work in this town. You can expect numerous church spires rising from this town that sits at the base of small mountains. We were also treated to the site of many fruit vendors, a lovely town square, and homes from cute little bungalows teeming with flowers to the gated homes of the president’s extended family who made their fortune in coffee.

I would definitely encourage anyone to check it out! Today we move on to an eco-lodge in Sarapiqui.

1) Location is still important.  If you are planning an extended stay, think like a native.  What is the cost of living in your destination? What kind of public transport is available?  What area will ease your day to day life the most while giving you the opportunity to enjoy the surrounding area?

2) Cleanliness and comfort are also still important.  Most of us don’t enjoy cockroaches or lumpy mattresses.

Here come the nunomad specific criteria:

3) What is the availability of wifi or internet either in the place you are staying or in the surrounding area?  If it is available where you are staying – is it free or is a fee associated? Be sure to ask.  Many hotels boast wifi in each room only to find it’s $10.00 US per day.  This can add up. 

4) What access do you have to telephones? Can you use the phone in the house you are renting for long distance? If not, is there mobile service in that area?  Can international calling cards be purchased for reasonable prices in the area?

5) What are the safety issues?  Will you feel comfortable walking in the surrounding neighborhood with your laptop on your back or even leaving it in the apartment while you are gone?  If not – think twice about that location.

6) Will someone be available if you have questions?  If you are renting a house or apartment, is there a management office to consult with for daily issues or will you be completely on your own?

Generally, I have found that renting houses or apartments where native people live is my preferred type of accomodation over hotels or other institutions geared towards tourists.  Having access to a kitchen, laundry, etc., greatly eases your travel experience and saves money.  In addition, your neighbors will be experts in the area, unlike being surrounded by other tourists who know as little as you.  Many websites exist now for apartment and house rental in other countries.  Take a look!  Above you see the bedroom of our apartment in Paris.