Central America bound

Guatemala, here I come! After easily snagging a Business Class seat from Portland to Seattle tonight, I'm about to board the next leg of my standby journey: Atlanta. My Atlanta to Belize flight in the morning looks too full to score Business Elite class, but I should at least get an Economy Comfort seat.

(Update as I leave Atlanta: I'm sitting in a Business Elite seat to Belize, after all!)

From Belize City, I'll hop a bus to Guatemala to spend the evening and next day in Tikal. The jungle bungalow near the entrance to the Mayan ruins still had one more vacancy, so I jumped on it.

Follow my photo journey on my private Instagram Story!
(When I have WiFi)

On Monday night, I'll bus it back to Belize to meet Kathy in Caye Caulker (we're doing separate vacations, really). We're splitting up the next day so she can lounge on the beach while I do Garth stuff: Jungle hiking, swimming, snorkeling, and cave tubing.

Belgium, Pt 2 of 4: Bring out the Ghent

...Continued from

Belgium, Pt. 1: Australian Surfboard Upset (link)

Not to belabor an already archaic 90's reference with a GIF, but...

via GIPHY

21 month old Levi pilots his very first Boeing 767 to Europe!  More adorable cockpit photos are below.

Previously, on Pt. 1:  Last month’s Australian surfing weekend was a bust for me, though my parents (and Mike and Summer, this month) enjoyed their visits Down Under.  After hanging out with my good buddy Joseph in Hollywood, I flew home to gather my family for another overseas trip.  Sadly, caring for our sick four-year-old daughter delayed that trip an additional week.

Once Lena’s fever broke, the Hamiltons flew standby from Portland to Atlanta to shop for some open international flights.

En route to Atlanta: “Hey Mommy, let’s watch ‘Frozen’ for the third time this week!”

Our late evening touchdown at the Atlanta airport dashed any hope of same-day overseas connections.

We checked into the Atlanta Sleep Inn, which conveniently had a Ruby Tuesday restaurant 75 feet away from the hotel lobby.  Weirdly, that Tuesday’s location was somehow out of every single menu item that poor lil’ Lena ordered.  After several unsuccessful return trips to the kitchen, the friendly waitress predicted that the manager would comp us a Tuesday's appetizer or drink for Lena's disappointment.

Nada.  Thanks, Ruby Tuesday.

This Ruby Tuesday location has a skimpier kid’s meal selection than a small town diner's during the zombie apocalypse.

Lena and Levi tag team Daddy in the Sleep Inn lobby

The next morning, Kathy and I debated the merits of various international destinations.  We finally settled on Belize for its exotic outdoor adventure potential:  hiking, volcano climbing, surfing, cave diving… But then I discovered the return flights to the States looked too full.

The Wi-Fi network crashed at the Sleep Inn, so we shuttled back to the Atlanta airport to continue the trip planning on our phones’ internet browsers.

ATL curbside check-in

Overseas flights from Atlanta with open seats were limited that day.  I boiled it down to two final choices:  Germany’s Cannstatter Volksfest (the world-famous family fair near Stuttgart) versus western Belgium.  After estimating a whopping savings of 250 Euros for passing on the Volksfest, the inexpensive hostels in Belgium won out.

I’d already visited Brussels a few times and was obviously looking to branch out (check out this link to my previous father-son Belgiumtravelogue).  I tweeted my Twitter friend Sofie from the Belgian-based Wonderful Wanderings travel blog, asking her #1 pick for Belgium.  We didn’t expect Sofie to have a chance to reply before our departure, so we checked in and hustled to the gate.

Levi and Lena requested multiple do-overs on the ATL people mover

Levi boards his first international flight, with veteran traveler Lena

Learning that this would be Levi’s first overseas trip, the Delta flight crew lets both L’s in on the cockpit action before takeoff.

A pilot group stole..., er, "regrammed," my Instagram photo below, and Levi's adorable photo got 4,700+ likes!!

Levi took his first international flight to Europe last week, and @delta gave him a front row seat!

A photo posted by Garth Hamilton (@garth_hamilton) on Oct 12, 2015 at 5:59pm PDT

15 hours later...

Though we got split up between Business Elite and Coach Cabin seats during our flight overseas, all of us landed safely together in Brussels.

A tweet from Sofie came through as we cleared Belgian Customs., She had a few ideas and an enthusiastic recommendation for our next stop.

Ghent it would be!

Coming up on Garth’s Blog…

Belgium, Pt. 3 of 4:  Going Medieval on Ghent

South Korea: The bumpy road to Seoul

Kathy and I are one overbooked flight away from missing our chance at a South Korean anniversary.  Today's flight from Seattle to Seoul has plenty of Business Elite cabin seats open for standby passengers... except we haven't even reached the Sea-Tac airport yet.


Blog readers who follow our international travelogues (the occasional on-the-record trips, anyway) may remember from December that Kathy and I are no strangers to getting bumped off of South Korea flights.  Who would've thought that our PDX-SEA flight options would be the weak links today?  Both morning flights filled up overnight.  We obviously should've hopped a train to Seattle for this first leg.


Kathy already ruled out visiting a few of my friends in Singapore for this weekend.  Next time, Luisa, Jim, and Heidi!  So if we can't get a seat on this next Seattle flight (and it doesn't look promising) to connect to South Korea, we may fly out later and visit some friends in the U.S. instead.


One flight at a time, baby!

Lima, Peru: The buddy pass has landed

My hiking friend Sandra's arrival in Lima, Peru early yesterday morning has been a long time coming. Just as Kathy and I discovered en route to Rome, Italy last weekend (link), flying standby can require a lot of flexibility and patience.

Following a hike last summer, Sandra told me at Dairy Queen about her dreams to spend a year backpacking around South America, followed by Europe, and then Australia... But I'll let Sandra share her complete, ongoing story on her own blog.


Here is a photo from our Mount Hood area hike:

Hiking up Tom, Dick, and Harry Mountain with NW Wilderness, for my buddy Chatchay's birthday

Sandra excitedly took me up on my offer of a Delta buddy pass to fly from Portland to South America (hopefully in the Business Elite class cabin!) on the cheap.


But things went sideways last week, the result of scheduling conflicts which pushed back Sandra's itinerary a bit. The remaining flights to Peru, Argentina, Chile, and even Australia looked uncertain. Long story short, a planned overnight stay in Atlanta with her cousin Bob was extended by four nights until she FINALLY got an upgraded seat to Lima. And two of those nights were spent in the ATL airport. Without earplugs!

Sandra sustained an impossibly positive attitude throughout what became my longest buddy pass ordeal to date, by far. It was all part of the adventure. In contrast, I've sponsored other buddy pass riders who scored Business Elite seats overseas with less effort and also a bit less graciousness (including a good friend who nurtured a cold shoulder until recently regarding a trip to Italy, and another who was strangely harsh to Kathy). But the opportunity to do my small part to help so many other friends like Sandra achieve her dreams make it worth the risk!

Sandra's sunny outlook has finally landed her in the sunnier climate of South America. And she'll be backpacking through for quite a while... until she reaches the next continent.


Safe travels, amiga! Our paths may cross again in some of the most unlikely corners of the world.


Readers can stay up to date with Sandra and her world travels by following her travel blog, appropriately titled www.bucketlistchecker.blogspot.com. The link is also on my sidebar below.

From Rome: Traveling to Africa, Nicaragua, South Korea, or ANYWHERE?

Flying standby overseas in early December is usually pretty easy for us.  Flights loads are lighter.  But our recent winning streak of hassle-free international trips came to a screeching halt this week.

Update 12/8/14:  Originally uploaded from Italy on Saturday morning, I reposted this story today with some bonus photos from Rome.  Plenty of more Italy photos are coming!

Kathy's and my South African safari should have wrapped up on Friday, freeing up this weekend to swing by Italy to see some friends.  Even if I ran out of time to make it to their villa, we could still meet in Central Italy for a Saturday night out in Rome.  It all seemed like a sure thing.

But then this week happened.

Nervous, Kathy?  Not to worry, Kathy totally gave me permission to share this pic, en route to Seattle.

Attempt #1:  PDX to Atlanta to South Africa

Kathy was fearful of traveling back to South Africa on Monday, even more so than our recent overseas trips. The anxiety was too much for poor Kathy, and for days there was nothing I could do or say to console her. To make matters worse, last October our South African outlet adapter had literally caught on fire in our dorm in Spain. We knocked out the power to the entire wing of our Madrid hostel!

The night before we were scheduled to fly down to South Africa for our safari, I mercifully suggested an alternate destination. South Africa would be our first of many attempts this week.

Attempt #2:  PDX to Atlanta to Nicaragua

I stayed up all night on Monday reworking our plans: where to surf in Nicaragua, which active volcanoes to climb, and which hiking trails would be enjoyable for Kathy. But Tuesday morning, we were unable to get on our Atlanta flight to connect to Managua. We flew Business Class to Seattle instead, attempting to catch a red eye flight to Atlanta. Shortly after we landed in Seattle, the red eye became completely oversold.

Central America was out, and we were stuck overnight in Seattle until Wednesday.

Attempt #3:  Seattle to South Korea

Wednesday's Seattle flight to Seoul looked open. We overnighted in Burien with our good Warner Pacific friends Michael and Melanie. Readers may remember Michael from little Lena's first Daddy-daughter trip to Seattle this fall. Here's the link to that story.

Camera one, camera two.  And camera three?

But on Wednesday morning, we were unable to get on our flight from Seattle to Seoul. And all flights to Atlanta (or to any of Delta's international hubs) were oversold for days.

Making progress:  Seattle to Los Angeles

Finally!  We got unstuck from Seattle and flew to L.A on Wednesday afternoon.  This was our last chance this week to transfer to Atlanta and fly overseas, though the LAX-ATL red eye flight was slightly oversold.  Regardless of which country we visited first, the clock was ticking until I had to be in Italy on Saturday night.

More progress: Los Angeles to Atlanta

Against all odds, we didn't get stuck in LAX overnight. The oversold red eye flight to Atlanta gradually opened up enough for Kathy and I to grab the last two seats. Together!

Upon landing in Atlanta before dawn on Thursday morning, we discovered that our doable international connections from ATL now looked horrible until the NEXT day. We had run out of time to visit any counties prior to our arrival in Rome, which wasn't even our main destination.  Italy was merely intended to be a fun way to cap off a week of continent hopping.

The white flag:  Atlanta it is.

We made the most of our extra day in Atlanta. We hiked to the top of Stone Mountain, negotiated an outrageously low rate for a premium hotel suite, and kicked off our tour of the Atlanta nightlife with the Cowboys vs. Bears game at J. R. Cricket's.  Dallas steamrollered Chicago, of course.

A quick afternoon hike to the top of Stone Mountain, Georgia

Our flight to Rome was less than a day away. But Kathy decided that she was content with our unplanned domestic vacation as is. The night before our flight left for Italy, she eagerly removed her name from our listing and booked a flight home to Portland instead. The tail end of our vacation week would be solo.

Back on schedule: Atlanta to Rome

This is where our vacation went back to normal (for us): A Business Elite cabin seat over the ocean, an early arrival in Rome with plenty of time for sightseeing with my friends, and an opportunity for the craziest Saturday night out that Rome has ever seen!  Let's hope!

But that will be a story for another travel post.

12/8/14:  Here are a couple pics from my upcoming Rome post:

The Roman coliseum: Who knew that the Eternal City would take an eternity to get to?

Seattle: A warmup for Daddy-daughter travel season

Plans to return to Munich, Germany over the weekend were shelved for a couple of nearer adventures here in the Northwest.  On Saturday, a dozen of us got together for a 17.6 mile hike/scramble on Mount Hood to the Mooney plane crash site and Mooney Tarn, including the Elk Cove trail, Pinnacle Ridge, and some off-trail action.  Stories and photos are coming soon!


Garth's Blog skips over many of my international travelogues (or I often post them later).  Friends who follow my blog grudgingly accept this.  But hopefully I'll be uploading more international posts now that Kathy is almost ready to let me take Lena along overseas!

For now, here is our OTHER adventure from this weekend:

We've come a long way since Lena: International Baby of Mystery (link).  At three years old, Lena already has Daddy's sense of adventure, exploration, and restlessness.

And I'm praying that our 8 1/2 month old Levi will, too!

Lena's vacation in Spain last Fall was so long ago...

En route to Madrid, Spain

...So, with Mommy's permission, I figure it's WAY past time to get Lena flying again.


Flying Lena to Seattle on Friday for lunch with my friend Michael Alben (living in Burien) was a good place to start.  Let's call this a "dress rehearsal" for some upcoming kid-modified, Garth-style international trips.

PDX Airport

Mommy holds back tears long enough to drop Lena and me off at curbside.  Kathy's dry eyes lasted all the way to the PDX cell phone waiting area, where she awaited my text assuring her that Lena and I were assigned seats on board.

A groggy Lena tugs her little roll-aboard luggage though the TSA checkpoint, charming everyone.

Lena's is giddy for her favorite part of flying:  The airport people-mover!

Delta'a PDX rampers Jeffy and Cindy load up our Skywest CRJ for departure.  Lena's car seat is sitting on the ground, next to the aft belt loader.

Seattle - Burien

Rather than this church parking lot, imagine Lena dragging her luggage to a kid-friendly hostel or friend's house in Italy... or anywhere in the world!

After Michael picked us up from SEA-TAC airport, he showed us around his house, his church, and the town of Burien.

Michael gives us a tour of Burien Evangelical Church (don't let the name "Evangelical" fool you), including the music room upstairs.

Downtown Burien

Seahurst Park, on Puget Sound

The journey home to Beaverton

Vine video-  End of a Daddy-daughter trip:  A sleepy Lena boards our flight home from Seattle to Portland.

Flying back to PDX:  Lena is too young to fly standby in Business Class, so we sat in the comfy Economy Comfort row again.

Riding the Max train home from PDX airport to Beaverton:  Lena is in desperate need of her afternoon nap.

Reunited with another future traveling, hiking, and climbing companion:  Baby Levi!

Garth's Blog will return in late October with...

Climbing Mount St. Helens again!

Butchering the Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon

Though this week's post is about our May marathon in Cincinnati, all my friends out there who completed either Hood to Coast or the Triple D challenge in Oregon last weekend deserve a shout out.  I appreciated all the invites, and wish I could've joined you guys.  Great endurance, everyone!

Our two local Delta teams (out of 40), PDX Porklandia and the PDX Sassy Squealers, regroup after running the 26.2 mile Flying Pig Marathon relay in Cincinnati.
Back: Garth, Patti, Renee, Dayle, Curtis, Sandy.  Front: Lisa, Dawn, Jackie.

At long last... Here is the promised follow-up to my prequel "Is the Flying Pig Marathon ready for us?" (link) blog post, uploaded last May from Minneapolis!

Earlier this year, Delta Airlines employees from our PDX station began raising money for the Flying Pig Marathon foundation (no relation to the Flying Pig Beach Hostel in the Netherlands that I blogged about here, where we had that party last Fall in Noordwijk). Funds raised would go towards various charitable organizations, such as the ALS Association, Alzheimer's Association, Autism Society, City Gospel Mission, Team World Vision, Shriner's Hospital for Children, and dozens of other charities.

A spot on the Porklandia team opened up for me a few weeks before the race. Although my left foot was still recovering from a freak hiking injury caused by a dog who started a rockfall on a VERY sketchy trail (the full hiking story is here, and my foot has fully recovered), I eagerly filled in.  My only "training" for the race was allowing my foot to heal.



On May 3, PDX's Sassy Squealers and Porklandia (and Dawn!) took to the skies to meet up with the 38 other Delta teams the day before the marathon.

The nine of us landed in Cincinnati on Saturday afternoon to check into the Millennium Hotel, complete our registration, pick up our race packets/ bibs/ Delta team t-shirts, and browse the PGE Health and Fitness Expo for impulse racing gear.

The Health and Fitness Expo

Somehow I got talked into buying and wearing this:

Even KATHY insisted over the phone that I buy this pink tutu at the expo (for little Lena's sake, of course) and race in it the next day.

The night before: Evening merriment at the Via Vite Italian Bistro and Fountain Square Festival Stage

Vine video (Shot on Fountain Square's actual Vine Street-- nifty, eh?):  Click the upper left corner to hear the audio.

5:45 am Sunday: Ready, set...

The morning of the marathon was chaotic, to say the least. Thousands of runners were spilling out from hotels and attempting to find their various starting positions. Porklandia and the Sassy Squealers were running the marathon as a relay, so this was the perfect setup for...

Oops #1: The bus mix up

We followed the crowds to the bus stops where we expected to be shuttled to the our respective baton hand-off locations at the beginning of Legs 2, 3, and 4... only to discover that this huge mob of runners was actually headed to the starting line instead.

Our Leg 1 runners Patti and Renee powered away from the starting line at 6:30 a.m. sharp.  The rest of us were left to pass around and squint at our lone map.

By the time we made our way back to the actual pick up point, the final bus for Leg 2 had already departed. I walked even further to a place where several other Leg 2 runners in the same predicament had been calling cabs. I split the cab fare with another team and our taxi driver dropped us off outside the race course.


It was an additional mile walk uphill to our baton hand-off point at the end of Leg 1.

Leg 1 runners Patti and Renee ran up the hill, handed off the batons to to Jackie and I, and we set off!

The hand-off had been smooth, our pace was steady, and Jackie and I were on our way to pass our batons to Curtis and Sandy.  But something wasn't quite right.

The intensity of the crowd strangely began to build to a ridiculous crescendo.  It began to dawn on us where we were, and there was no turning back.  Jackie and I were about to bump into...

Oops #2: Crossing the finish line (instead of handing off the batons)

Enough said. As Leg 3 runners Curtis and Sandy patiently waited for us to hand off our batons at the end of Leg 2, Jackie and I accidentally kept running until we crossed the "Finish Swine" of the entire Flying Pig Marathon!

Embarrassed and bewildered, Jackie and I graciously accepted the cheers of the crowd before pulling aside the nearest race worker. Our mere mention of the end of Leg 2 resulted in a knowing look, and these instructions from the volunteer:

You too, huh? This just keeps happening. Don't worry, we have drivers who are shuttling the Leg 2 runners from the finish line back to the beginning of Leg 3... and the latest shuttle JUST took off. Sit tight. The next van will be leaving for Leg 3 shortly.



What went wrong? Simple-- The race course had split into two lanes at some point. Several Leg 2 runners had been missing a crucial turnoff, following the main crowd of runners to the Finish Swine instead. To complicate matters further, spectators (who probably thought they were standing on the sidelines) were scattered around on the right side of the course itself in that area, obscuring the Leg 2 turnoff lane.


Jackie and I could hardly contain our laughter as the van drove us all back to the intended hand-off point. But not everyone could appreciate the humor in this situation. An ultra-competitive relay runner who sat in the van's middle row was grumbling about how she'd NEVER missed a turnoff sign in previous Flying Pig races. She was visibly upset.


The shuttle van stopped at the beginning of Leg 3 long enough to hand off our batons to Curtis and Sandy, and then drove us back to wait for everyone at Finish Swine.  Curtis and Sandy ran Leg 3 AND continued on with Leg 4 runners Lisa and Dayle, just for fun.  What a supportive team!

Post-race festivities, prizes, and refreshments

Irresistible rockabilly ruckus from Northside Garage

PDX station manager/ marathon cheerleader Dawn checks on the status of our remaining runners from Legs 3 and 4.

PDX teams Porklandia and the Sassy Squealers join forces to cross the Finish Swine together

The overly dramatic finish

Our two PDX teams didn't break any records that day, but no matter.  Dozens of charities benefited from the money raised!  And our Delta Airlines' runners proved that nothing could prevent us from finishing the race.

...Snow in the yard

The previous Snow on the mountains... post (link) was all about a highly anticipated day of skiing and snowboarding at Mount Hood Meadows in March.


But what happens when the Portland metro area gets hit with a tiny bit of UNPLANNED snow and ice on the valley floor? Well, that depends on whom you ask...

NW Oregonians/ SW Washingtonians:   "Cancel everything. Avoid the roads at all costs. If you must brave the roads, drive as painfully slow or as recklessly fast as possible (whichever is most dangerous and inappropriate for the conditions). And for Pete's sake, don't miss a second of that around-the-clock local TV news coverage of the previous evening's snowflake sightings."

The rest of the country: "Go with it. It's only weather. Have some fun."



Breaking from Pacific Northwest tradition, The Hamilton 4 tend to side with the rest of the country during snow days. We enthusiastically agree that snow is beautiful and fun. And yes, we capitalize the 'T' in our "The."

It wasn't an option to mope around about the unfortunate cancellation of Warner Pacific College's Homecoming weekend events and about the 4 1/2 hour icy commute from PDX airport.  Beaverton rarely gets sticking snow, so we relished those snowflakes like a beach bum soaks up sunshine.

Sledding in the yard

Walking the desolate backroads of Beaverton

Slipping and sliding around with neighborhood friends and family

Walking errands with Todd, Lena, Kathy, Levi, and Shannon

The end is near:  Lena and Grandma Mimi use our last remaining snow to build a snowman.

As Lena and Lora's snowman can attest, the snow and ice quickly melted.  In fact, the local freeze barely lasted through the weekend.  The freeway photo that I live tweeted and later blogged in the "Snow on the mountain..." post of my record long 4 1/2 hour commute home from PDX airport became a melt-y memory.  And now, months later, the Portland metro area is experiencing a record heatwave while I am visiting friends here in Amsterdam!

By the time I returned to work the next week, the ice that had blanketed the streets had mostly turned to slush.  The warm-up was very noticeable on the Delta ramp.

We deiced every one of our Delta airplanes prior to departure, even though the PDX air had warmed up enough that it wasn't really necessary.


Earlier that morning, Kathy had ignored my pleas to stay in bed as I left for the airport...

...selflessly getting up instead at 3:50 a.m. to help me chip off ice off from the Jeep windows.  Do I mention often enough that I have the greatest wife in the world?



By national standards, this year's Portland metro snow event may not have been all that eventful.  But we managed to make an event out of it.

Snow happens.

Coming up on Garth's Blog...

More friend visits in the Netherlands,

Tony drops by from Afghanistan,

Running the Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati,

... and more recent overseas adventures with the Hamiltons!