Safely Home!

Lori McNally — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 05:18:58 +0000

Hey Jet Setters, I’m back! I was in Korea and Japan for the last two weeks and have to say that Asia was amazing! I can’t wait to share pictures and stories with you all very soon.

First, I want to tell you about the crazy flight experience I had leaving the U.S. On Sunday, May 9th, I boarded Continental Flight #9 from Newark International Airport for a 14 hour flight en route to Narita International Airport in Japan. Shortly after take-off I heard a loud boom and then the plane started to shake, and it felt like the plane wasn’t climbing like it should have been. Next thing I know, the captain makes an announcement saying “Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a problem with our hydraulic system…it’s not working, and so the back-up system has kicked in, but we will have to land again, but before we do, we must circle first to dump fuel.” Well, we circled for about 45 minutes, dumping 170,000 gallons of fuel (I later found out). People were throwing up all around me, flight attendants were running up and down the aisles…it was scary!!! Right before we landed one of the flight attendants made an announcement saying “Ladies and Gentlemen, we will be landing shortly, please be advised that our landing will be harder and faster than normal.” And it was! We hit the ground pretty hard, and the plane swerved right and then left (from all of the fuel still inside). There were emergency vehicles waiting on the runway for us (just in case), and they escorted us back to the gate.

We all got off of the plane (shaken and confused as to what happened), and were handed food vouchers to go eat while they determined what would happen. Continental decided to give us a new plane, and we finally left for Japan that night at 8:30pm! We all later found out that part of the wheel broke off during take-off, and so the landing gear couldn’t go back into position after take-off (hence why the plane couldn’t climb and why it was so shaky). We also later found out that what had happened to us on that flight made the news!!! Yes, it was on CNN and all of the local news channels! Click here to read about it. I have to say in all of my years of jet setting, this was the first time something like this has ever happened to me. It’s nice to be back home safely!

Written By: Lori McNally of Chic Galleria Magazine

Geothermal And Circle- A Golden Combination

Lori McNally — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:35:51 +0000

For every destination, there is always a to-do list of things you should see and experience while jet setting. In Iceland, two of those things include an outdoor bath at one of Reykjavik’s geothermal pools, and a drive to the Golden Circle. That’s how we planned to spend our second day in this beautiful country. We hired a local taxi to drive us around for eight hours. Since there were four of us, the cost was about $200USD per couple.11AM- We headed to Laugardalslaug Pool- Reykjavik’s biggest pool, and also the largest pool in Iceland. The price to get in is $360ISK per person. There is an awesome water slide, a large pool and smaller hot pots that are similar to hot tubs. Volcanic water keeps the temperature at a mellow 29*C for the large pool and between 37*-42*C for the hot pots. Note: The city’s pools are free of chemicals, so you must shower naked before getting in. Don’t worry, men and women have separate locker rooms- but if you are shy about being nude in front of others- this may not be for you.12:15PM- Back in the taxi and on the road to the Golden Circle. Gulfoss, Geysir and Pingvellir are unique sites commonly referred to as the Golden Circle.Pingvellir is a national park about 20km east of Reykjavik. This is a place of spectacular beauty- a place where you feel like your pictures cannot do it justice.It is like being in another world when you are here- it truly is amazing! You can spend hours walking through this immense rift valley which is caused by the separating North American and Eurasian tectonic plates.We then continued on to Gulfoss- Iceland’s most famous waterfall. It is a double cascading waterfall that is the biggest in Europe.

After Gulfoss, we got back into the car and went to see the Geysir.Its pronounced Gay-Zeer. This is another of Iceland’s most famous tourist attractions. It’s the original blasting hot water spout (temperature of 230*C) after which all other geysers around the world are named. There are a few in the area to see, some bigger than the others. The most reliable geysir of all is named Strokkur- which goes off every 5-6 minutes. So have your camera ready! Also be warned that it is sort of smelly like rotten eggs from the sulfur. That night, back in Reykjavik, we went to The Fish Company for dinner.The restaurant came highly recommended from our waiter the night before at Dill Restaurant- and he was right! Here’s what we had:

Fried Icelandic Lobster, butter cooked carrots, sheep sorrel jelly & Brennivins eggfoamJamaica spiced tunafish, pear-lime foam, deepfried softshell crab & bacon powder

Butterfried rack of lamb in fresh herbs, saltkiot & parsnip, burned mushroom & blueberry-baconsauce

Olive oil sous vide Baccalo from north of Iceland & squid in pirl pirl, plum tomato & black marengFor dessert we had banana & coconut cake, that came with roasted coconut chips, fresh papaya foam & homemade vanilla ice creamDinner was another incredible experience!Afterward we stopped next door to Restaurant Reykjavik to the Ice Bar. Believe it or not, this is the ONLY ice bar in all of Iceland!Actually, I should point out that it’s not really even a bar, but instead a converted meat locker within the restaurant that has walls lined with ice blocks. You pay $1500ISK per person to get in and they give you a big coat to put on- then you go in and they give you a drink.You can either choose to have Brennivin or a cocktail which is made with vodka, wine and sprite- it’s very fruity, but very good. Although the experience is sort of cheezy, I woulod definitely still recommend it. It’s really cold in the room, so if nothig else, it’s fun to bundle up and take some pictures.A bit of walking around and we worked up a mini appetite again! We went to Devito’s Pizza for a slice.This place was voted best drunken slice and best pizza in Reykjavik. We had a pepperoni slice. Everyone puts garlic oil and lemon pepper on the slices- DELISH!

Written By: Lori McNally

Chic Galleria » jet setting

Safely Home!

Geothermal And Circle- A Golden Combination