I arrived in San Francisco International Airport at about 10 p.m. It was the first time I ever flew AirTran Airways, and well it was a flight. I heard it was a cheap airline and was the cheapest for my trip from Philadelphia to San Francisco, just over $600 including a layover in Atlanta, GA. In all I traveled about 10 hours with a two hour layover. Even though the flight cost was ridiculous I would probably pay a little more to get a direct flight to the West coast next time.

Courtesy of hoteldiva.com

From the airport a friend and I took a $15 each shuttle to Hotel Diva on Geary Street, not far from Union Square. If you are traveling with more than one person I would recommend taking a taxi to and from the airport as it was only $35 from our hotel and of course does not make any stops.

Walking around Fisherman’s Wharf during a recent trip to San Francisco, I was scared silly when a homeless man jumped up from behind some bush twigs yelling “arghhhh!” I thought it was just one among several homeless people in the city that came up with a whacky idea to make money. I later found out it was the world famous Bushman!

What out, he's gonna get ya!

According to Wikipedia his name is David Johnson and he reportedly “makes $60,000 on a good year.” They claim crowds wait around to watch him in action. The day we went, it was just three of us that were traumatized on our way to book a tour to Alcatraz. Coming from Philly where the homeless aren’t as much fun, I was kind of pissed of. But I’m happy to be one of the lucky ones to screech at this San Fran fixture.

It may not be as much fun now that you have been warned, but I definitely recommend visiting the guy who will creep up somewhere along the piers.

So as I previously posted I like to try out new and interesting dishes for my traditional Christmas Eve dinner. This year I went for a Cajun Christmas Eve. Some things worked and some did not. Here is what I learned and what was good.

Turducken just out of the oven.

Turducken: I ordered mine from Hebert’s in Louisiana. While my entire family was raving about the dish, I was quite disappointed. First, of all I did not read the instructions when I received it and didn’t notice that it had to be thawed 4 days ahead of time, so the night before I left it in a bucket of cool water in the refrigerator to thaw. That may have affected the taste, but I doubt it. Overall, I thought it was too salty and for the price you could hardly taste the duck. There was also a ton of pork sausage stuffing, which I did not like at all. I found myself just picking out the turkey, which bothered me because I could have just bought a turkey at a much cheaper price than the turducken. To sum it up, the turducken is not all it’s cracked up to be.

This summer I am planning on biking the East Coast Greenway from New Jersey to Maine. According to their website, it’s “a continuous, traffic-free path, the East Coast Greenway spans 3,000 miles between Calais, Maine and Key West, Florida.” I am just starting to plan my route, stops along the way, and training to prepare for the trip. I just wanted to know if anyone has ever biked it before and had any tips. This will also be my first long bike trip, so any training tips would help as well.

Every Christmas Eve I try and serve something different for my guest to eat. We’ve had lamb, tuna fat, duck, and much more. But I’m especially excited for TURDUCKEN this year. You may have seen John Madden next to one during an NFL Thanksgiving game or you may have caught it on the Food Network. Regardless it looks a but cooquie, but sound delicious.

Courtesy of amazon.com

I usually make everything from scratch, but I’m leaving this concoction up to the experts. Several places claim they made the first turducken, but I believe Herbert’s in Louisiana. Since I mailed a turkey/duck/chicken in all the way from LA, I think it’s only natural I accompany the centerpiece in my menu with other southern classics. Here’s what I’ve got so far. Any recommendations or recipes would be greatly appreciated.

Turducken

Candied Yams

Jambalaya

Scalloped Potatoes with Carmelized Onions

Green Bean Casserole

Cornbread Stuffing

Cornbread

Pecan Pie

In the NatGeo photos of the week, there is a photo of a woman in a transparent suitcase going around the luggage conveyor belt at an airport in Munich. Amnesty International sponsored the event to protest human trafficking. It was the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on Thursday.

Amnesty is great at symbolizing human rights violations and getting attention for it.

One of the people I studied abroad with in London is backpacking South America in January and created a website to log her travels. She is an advid travel and adventurous chick, so it will definitely be good and very informational for anyone interested in South American travel.

In October I wrote an article about “Eat, Pray, Love” author Elizabeth Gilbert’s store in Frenchtown, NJ, Two Buttons. She owns it with her husband Jose. It’s an amazing store in an old factory building with tons of South East Asian imports from the couples many travels. I visited last weekend for their holiday party. It’s a wonderful place to visit whether yu are a Gilbert fan or just a travel buff. They have the most wonderful stuff. It would definitely make for some one of a kind holiday gifts.

A look inside Two Buttons

I’m going to San Francisco for New Years. We were looking at a club called Slide (an old speakeasy) for New Years Eve, but I have no idea. Anyone have any advice on the nightlife or just visiting in general. Thanks.

So I have a huge problem with charging things. I just always forget or don’t feel like reaching for a plug before I go to bed. It’s a huge problem since I have a serious dependency on wireless electronics.

But I guess nowadays you don’t need an outlet to recharge. My dad told me the other day about new backpacks with solar panels. You can recharge your cell phone, camera, etc. on this baby. Definitely comes in handy when you’re in the middle of nowhere.

I’m not sure what the better quality brands are for the solar backpack so any feedback would help. But I was looking at this Voltaic Systems Backpack. It’s pretty roomie (1,850 cubic in.) and has a space as well as padding to protect your laptop. It has 4 watts of solar power and 11 adaptors. Cost: $249

The Voltaic Systems backpack.

It would be great for hikers that are out in the sun all day. Instead of building a fire to eat, bring along a hot plate and warm up some oodles and noodles.