Travel Archives - Page 4 of 11

20 Pounds In 20 Weeks: Week 10: Disney World Weight Gain

March 28, 2011 TechyDad 20lbs in 20 weeks, Disney, DisneySMMoms, Fitness, Food, Travel, Vacation, Weight Loss

It was to be expected. I gained weight while at Disney World. It was always going to be a battle between the calories burned by walking throughout the parks (and sweating in the Florida heat) and the calories consumed from the wonderful food Disney World has to offer. The food won. When I left for Disney, I weighed 188 pounds. Upon returning home, I weighed 193 pounds. That’s a gain of 5 pounds.

Starting Weight	205
Current Weight	193
Goal Weight	185
Lost	12
Left Until Goal	8

This setback, though expected, means that I now have 10 weeks to lose 12 pounds. I also have Passover looming on the horizon. During Passover, I’m not going to count points as Passover food tends to be high calorie and high in carbs. Matzoh alone is 120 calories and 27 carbs per sheet and I can easily eat 3 slices for breakfast slathered with cream cheese before I feel full. There is no option of low calorie/low carb bread or rice during Passover. Matzoh seems to permeate everything that gets made and so it won’t be a good situation to be tracking points in. I’ll try to give myself a fighting chance by loading up on fresh fruits and veggies and by not buying a ton of Passover cakes/cookies (no loss as they tend to taste awful). Still, I expect weight gain during those two weigh-ins.

I guess that just means I’ll have to try extra-hard to lose weight during the 8 weigh-ins that I have left during which I’ll be tracking points and (hopefully) losing weight.

From Way Up Here, It’s Crystal Clear

March 17, 2011 TechyDad Disney, Travel, Vacation

Hi, TechyDad is not here at this time. He is off to Disney World. Don’t worry, though. He has scheduled a bunch of posts to go live and will likely write some more during the nights after the kids are asleep. In fact, this is one of the posts that he is scheduling. While he is doing so, he is wondering just how long he can keep referring to himself in the third person.

Ok, I think that’s long enough. At the point that this post goes live, my family and I should be high above the clouds. We’ll be trying to keep the boys entertained on the aircraft (most likely with varying degrees of success) while we get closer and closer to Disney World. Hopefully, the boys don’t utter too many “Are we there yets.”

In fact, considering that we’ll likely have to wake them up at 5am, if not earlier, to get to the airport on time, I hope that they’ll be asleep for part of that trip. I’d love to be asleep myself for part of it too. Somehow I doubt either of those will happen.

Stay tuned because I might be posting pictures from our trip during the nighttime. At some point, we might not have Internet access, though. I considered getting guest posters for this period of time, but other matters came up and I never set this up. So if my blog goes dark for awhile, don’t worry. I’ll be back shortly with much Disney goodness to share.

Disney World Characters and Autographs

March 16, 2011 TechyDad Disney, Photos, Travel

I originally intended this to be a Wordless Wednesday, but I figured I should give an introductory paragraph or two. We’ve taken the boys to Disney World twice over the past couple of years. On the first trip, we bought them an autograph book and pen. Then, every character we met, we got their autographs. Here are photos of my boys with the characters they met and got autographs from in the order that they met them. (Not pictured are characters like Lightning McQueen, Mater, Sully or Mike Wazowski who don’t sign autographs.) Their book currently has room for 12 more autographs. Whose shall we get this time?

How many characters can you name?

20 Pounds In 20 Weeks: Week 9: Last Pre-Disney Weigh-In

March 14, 2011 TechyDad 20lbs in 20 weeks, Disney, DisneySMMoms, Fitness, Food, Travel, Vacation, Weight Loss

This marks the last time I will weigh-in before we go to Disney World. (At least, the last “official” weigh-in before Disney. I might weigh myself just before we leave out of sheer curiosity.) While at Disney, I’m putting the weight loss plan aside. This doesn’t mean I’m going to pig out just for the sake of pigging out, but neither am I going to count points. Let’s face it. This is Disney World we’re talking about. The food there is incredible and I’m not going to ruin our good time by trying to figure out which dishes are the lowest in points. Besides, going to Disney World means a lot of walking. (Last year, I only wound up gaining half a pound during my trip.)

Starting Weight	205
Current Weight	188
Goal Weight	185
Lost	17
Left Until Goal	3

All that said, I weighed in at 188 yesterday morning. This puts me a mere three pounds from my goal. Were Disney not a factor, I could probably reach my goal in the next two or three weeks. I’d say I’m doing pretty well. Now, I’m off to prepare to celebrate in Disney World!

Aloha Friday: Flying Fears

March 11, 2011 TechyDad Aloha Friday, Fear, Travel

I’ve written about my fear of flying before. When the airplane I’m riding in takes off or lands, I get very nervous. Just writing and thinking about it is causing my hands to shake a bit.

I try to fill my mind with statistics which prove that air travel is safe. I tell myself that the number of accidents involving fatalities in the past 5 years is only a handful compared to the tons of flights that take off and land uneventfully day after day after day. Still, the Hollywood image runs through my mind of a plane coming in for a landing when something goes horribly wrong. (Perhaps Hollywood Airlines should get some better planes because a plane in a film or TV show almost invariable encounters problems along the trip.) The fear remains with me no matter how unreasonable I tell myself it is.

Still, I’m going to have to endure this if I want to go to Disney World. I could do this with no problem, but this year there’s an additional fear: Airport Security. I’m all for security on airplanes, but I’ll admit I’m afraid of the enhanced security procedures that I’ve heard are in place. From Rapiscan scanners (seriously, could they have come up with a worse name for it?!!) that effectively display a nude image of you while exposing you to radiation to TSA personnel who must pat you down in areas that only my doctor and wife ever touch.

And it isn’t mainly me I’m afraid about. Were it just me, I’d steel myself for it and get through it. It’s my kids I’m worried about. Will they ask JSL to step into the scanner by himself? Will they want to pat down NHL such that our Stranger Danger lessons get triggered? The boys are excited about the Disney World trip and I’d hate for an airport security nightmare to mar the experience.

My Aloha Friday question for today is: Have you travelled with kids recently via airplane? How was your airport security experience? If not, do you have any fears about your kids handling airport security?

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the McLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #78

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