Archive for "Travel"
The Roasterie Tour
Posted on November 26, 2016 by Ching under Things to Do, Travel.
Since Brian loves coffee, I went ahead and scheduled a tour of the Roasterie factory in Kansas City. A tour of Boulevard was already on the agenda and the Roasterie is conveniently located just down the street from the brewery.
If you’ve never had coffee from the Roasterie, you’re totally missing out. Brian tried it for the first time and he’s convinced that it’s the best coffee ever. I’m not a coffee connoisseur so I honestly can’t tell you the difference. However, I do know that I don’t like drinking coffee (unless it’s like a super sweet latte or mocha or cappuccino of some sort) and I don’t mind drinking Roasterie coffee without any sweetener, creamer or other additives.
The tour went off to a bit of a rocky start. Unlike the brewery tour where you just show up, the Roasterie requires you to reserve your spot for the tour on their web site. I checked the schedule and everything and we made reservations for the 12:30 PM tour. I got an email reminder and everything.
Being the punctual people that we are, Brian and I hit the road early so we could arrive in plenty of time for the tour. We arrived at the factory around noon and we saw that the prior tour was still finishing up. We milled around for a bit, checked out the goodies, and took some selfies and such.
At the end of the other tour, we approached the girl who was doing the coffee brewing demo and asked her where we needed to be for the 12:30 PM tour.
She was like, “There isn’t a 12:30 PM tour. We switched to our holiday hours so the next one is at 1:00 PM.”
This obviously made me more than a little cranky because I received an email that clearly said 12:30 PM. She offered to get the manager but I was like “Don’t bother.” I’m just going to tweet you jerks and blog about your ineptitude. I’m kind of passive-aggressive like that. LOL.
Kidding aside, it’s a free factory tour. So we thought we could do this first and eat lunch after. It’s not their fault that we were getting “hangry” and so I was like, whatever. I asked Brian if he was all right waiting a little bit longer and he was fine so we continued to mill about the store.
Anyway, a few other people showed up after us and I think they received the same wrong information that I received. I thinking that the tour people probably realized that something was amiss because we ended up starting our tour around 12:45 PM instead of 1:00 PM as the girl had previously stated. I’m not sure what happened but I was glad they came to their senses and our wait was cut short by 15 minutes.
The tour starts with a short video (less than ten minutes) about the company’s origins and operation. I couldn’t find the whole video on YouTube but I did find bits and pieces of it. Here’s the bit about how it all began:
Here’s the bit that talks about coffee:
Here’s the bit about air-roasting:
Now for some pictures…
This is a picture of the cafe at the factory. The most important thing to remember is to wait until after the tour to go to the cafe because if you mention that you took the tour then you get a discount on your purchase.
They have this little alcove with a neat backdrop and so naturally we took a selfie.
This is a picture of the previous tour that was finishing up when we got there.
They have this whole airplane theme because of “air-roasting” and so in the retail store, they have an area with an airplane chair and wood backdrop. They also have different hats and props but Brian has this thing about putting hats that other people have worn on his head (he thinks it will give him lice or something) so you don’t really get the full effect here.
The idea is you put on a pilot’s hat or use some other prop (there’s a coat tree with various objects you can use) to make your photo more interesting. Alas, this is Brian we’re talking about so the above photo is all I got.
This is us trying to entertain ourselves while we wait for our tour to commence. You can see the coat tree behind us with the various hats and props to play with for the special photo station. At least that’s what I concluded they are for; there weren’t exactly any instructions.
All of the people from the previous tour are gone now. Brian and I are just milling about while waiting for the 12:30/1:00 tour to begin. I’m taking pictures because that’s what I do to pass the time.
Here’s a view of the factory from the retail store.
If you don’t have time for the whole tour, you can always observe the operation from the retail store area.
I took photos of the various artifacts they had on display.
Can you tell I was bored? LOL. That’s what happens when you arrive for your 12:30 tour and you’re told there isn’t one until 1:00 PM.
We managed to occupy ourselves, though. There were plenty of interesting things to see like old coffee-related items in the cupboard.
And just various objects on display around the open space next to the store.
Finally, it was time to tour. They gave each of us hairnets. They also had beard nets for the bearded fellas.
This was one of our tour guides.
He was wearing an interesting outfit, which led me to the conclusion that being a hipster was one of the qualifications for being a Roasterie tour guide.
I wish I had a more to say about these photos but I really wasn’t paying that much attention to what he was saying.
I was too distracted by his outfit. Just kidding!
It’s actually really noisy in there so it’s hard to have conversations or hear anything.
I do know that the hole in the coffee bag is not actually a hole. It’s a one-way valve that allows carbon dioxide to escape the bag because freshly roasted coffee needs to de-gas. It’s so the coffee bag doesn’t explode.
Here’s some helpful information for brewing the perfect cup of coffee at home.
At the conclusion of the tour, we got to watch (and also taste) the same coffee, Ethiopian Natural (pictured above), brewed using two different brewing methods: French press and pour over.
It was all very interesting and we learned a lot. One of my key takeaways is that I actually don’t mind drinking coffee as long as it’s good coffee. LOL.
Also, Brian likes the pour over method for this coffee blend. The thing to remember is different methods lend themselves well to different blends you’re probably going to prefer different methods for the each.
Once you’ve found the blend of coffee you like, from whichever region, then you’ll want to brew it using different methods to see which method you like best. We tried the same coffee and it really did taste different.
Just between us, both methods seemed like a lot of work to me for a single cup of coffee. She said that after doing it a few times, you actually get used it. It becomes so easy you can even do it half asleep; which is good because if you’re like Brian then you’re not really fully awake until after you drink your first cup.
Anyway, here are pictures of some of the goodies and gift sets available at the store.
Don’t worry. You don’t have to drive to the Kansas City factory store to purchase these gifts. Many of them available on their web site. Although, visiting the factory store does have the added perk of a free factory tour.
And, for those who have everything, they also offer “coffee experiences,” which can be arranged for a fee by calling the office.
Before I go, I’m going to leave you with this short film about the Roasterie that I found on YouTube. I think this might have been the old video they used to show before they switched to the new version. Anyway, it’s super informative. Enjoy!
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Experiencing the KC Streetcar
Posted on November 25, 2016 by Ching under Things to Do, Travel.
Brian finally got to experience riding the Kansas City Streetcar this week. The streetcar runs up and down River Market and Union Station seven days a week.
I’d been using it to load up on Pokemon balls and to hunt for Pokemon after work some nights. It’s cool because you can hit several stops as the streetcar moves along, sort of like when we hired that party bus specifically for Pokemon hunting.
I’d ridden the streetcar several times before and the operator never says anything. You don’t even realize they’re there. Except for Brian’s first ride. The operator was like, “How’s everyone doing?” And she goaded us all to cheer. She was like a tour bus driver, all enthusiastic and stuff. It was quite unusual.
“They’re not all like that,” I told Brian.
When we got to Union Station, where the ride ends and you have to wait a few minutes for the streetcar to change direction, the operator emerged from the booth to move to the other end of the streetcar. That’s when we realized we met “Streetcar Sandy,” the jolliest streetcar operator of them all.
I had to get a selfie with her because she’s a bit of a celebrity. She was featured in an article about the KC Streetcar in the Kansas City Star back in May. Feel free to click on the link to read the article.
There’s also this short informational video:
I really love the KC Streetcar. It doesn’t go a long distance right now. It only spans about two miles. But I’m excited for when the streetcar actually gets extended all the way to Country Club Plaza and UMKC. That will be awesome.
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Getting Out of Orlando
Posted on October 25, 2016 by Ching under Travel.
I was really hoping that I would be able to fly out of Orlando in time. No such luck. I’m glad that my friend Tammie talked me into changing my flights so that I would be flying out Tampa instead. Had I not taken her advice, I probably would have gotten stranded in Orlando after Southwest canceled my flight.
Tammie flew with Delta so she had a noon flight out of Tampa. I ended up tagging along with her, which I am super grateful for because I’m not sure how I would have managed the two hour drive to Tampa by myself.
We were initially concerned about the weather on Friday so we talked about spending the night in Tampa. There’s a Marriott attached to the airport, which would have been really convenient. However, we had to nix that idea after we couldn’t find any available rooms. Not just at the Tampa Airport Marriott but throughout the area. Brian tried to find a hotel for us. The closest hotel that had availability was 51 miles from the airport.
He was like, “I’m on the phone with the hotel. You need to tell me now if you want me to reserve these rooms for you guys.”
“Just hang up,” I told him. “I need to talk to Tammie first because that hotel is too far from the airport.”
After I told Tammie she was like, “My mom lives 50 miles from the Tampa airport! We will just stay with her.” Tammie’s mom and stepdad live in Winter Haven, which is between Orlando and Tampa.
Tammie’s mom and stepdad were kind enough to put me up for the night. I event got my own cozy room (above photo), which Brian was curious about. He wondered if Tammie and I were bunking together because we always chat on video before bed each night. It would be weird to do that with someone in the room with you so he was super relieved that I had my own room for the night.
Interestingly, since we used Tammie’s mom’s SUV to drive from Orlando to Tampa, her stepdad was going to fill up the tank for the drive the next morning. Well, after driving to half a dozen gas stations that were all completely out of gas, he just gave up. It was wild. I’d never been in this kind of situation before.
Lucky for us, Tammie’s stepdad’s truck had a full tank of gas and both of us just had carry-on sized luggage that could easily fit in the covered truck bed so they were able to drive me and Tammie to the Tampa airport in the truck the next day. We left first thing in the morning on Friday.
Tammie was worried about her extremely short layover in Atlanta but we got to the airport early enough that she was able to get on the earlier Delta flight. She left Tampa around 10 AM instead of noon. As for me, I was flying with Southwest and my flight wasn’t until the evening. I had a lot of time to kill at the airport.
I was going to use the time to see my friend Dawn who now lives in the Tampa area but they were expecting some bad weather (just tropical storms, not hurricane weather like in the Atlantic coast). The weather actually wasn’t too bad but it scared both of us enough not to chance it and we canceled our plans ahead of time.
Since I had so much time to kill, I decided to eat some breakfast. The Qdoba inside the Tampa airport serves the most delicious breakfast burritos. That was a plus.
I found a good spot (conveniently located next to a power outlet) at the Tampa Airport Marriott to setup a mobile office and used the opportunity to catch up on email. It worked out great.
I grew tired of sitting around after a while and so I decided to walk around. The Tampa Airport Marriott is actually pretty neat. They have a nice outdoor area complete with a ping pong table. It’s such a shame that it was wet outside and I had no one to play with. Ping pong would have been a great way to kill some time.
There’s a cute little gazebo in the outdoor terrace/patio.
The outdoor area is actually quite spacious and nice.
There’s even a pool and a hot tub.
They also have a branded bag-toss/cornhole game. I wish the weather would have been better and I had someone to play with.
Thankfully, I found a nice, comfy reading couch.
There were several of these sitting areas throughout the hotel.
I nabbed one for myself and decided to do some reading. Many times I’ll bring a book with me for inflight reading but I end up visiting with my seatmates that entire flight and so I don’t actually end up getting much reading done, if at all. It worked out well because I was able to finish my book.
I also got to video chat with Brian on his way home from work.
The rest of the trip home was pretty uneventful, which was fine by me. I really couldn’t handle any more excitement.
My flight from Tampa to St. Louis had a late departure but I wasn’t too concerned because I had a long layover in St. Louis. The flight from St. Louis left on time and arrived in Wichita a couple of minutes early. It was still really late, though. And, since we live all the way on the East side of town, it was almost midnight by the time we got home.
I was so tired that I actually subbed out my Zumba class the next morning so I could do laundry and catch up on rest before driving to Kansas City on Monday. All in all, it was quite an exciting week.
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Fun Times at EMACS
Posted on October 25, 2016 by Ching under Travel.
Here are a few fun pics from the EMACS conference a few weeks ago.
West sponsored a fun networking event at Howl at the Moon and it was kind of rainy that day so they bussed us over there from our hotel.
The EMACS group took over the entire place.
Sherii’s birthday was coming up in a couple of days so they greeted her on the board. That was pretty cool!
Here’s a picture of Alicia and Alex.
And Faith and Sherii.
That was a fun event. Thanks to West for sponsoring the outing and for Chartwell for putting together a fun customer experience conference.
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Hyatt Regency Orlando
Posted on October 19, 2016 by Ching under Travel.
I got to experience the Hyatt Regency Orlando (the hotel we stay at every year during ZINCON) outside of ZINCON and it was like an alternate dimension.
The first photo is what the lobby looks like during ZINCON and the second photo is the lobby outside of ZINCON. It’s like a whole other world!
I had to take a picture of B-Line because it was completely dead. Usually when we’re here for ZINCON it’s buzzing with colorfully-clad people.
I also had to take a pic of Faith’s massive suite.
She had a dining table, living room, and balcony!
I had forgotten how amazing the hotel fitness center is.
I had to take some pics of it.
Their beautiful workout studio would put most dance studios to shame.
They even have a spin studio with spin classes every morning on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. No need to miss group classes while you’re traveling!
The hotel not only has a great fitness center but the pool area is amazing. It’s even more amazing when it’s not super crowded like it is at ZINCON. I enjoyed a very nice afternoon reading and taking a nap by the pool with Kelsey on one of the days.
As hotels go, the rooms are well furnished with everything you need. It even includes a bathroom scale.
The reason why there’s two in this photo is because Kelsey, who recently started a weight-loss program at the time of our trip, had to weight herself everyday so she decided to bring her own scale. I could have sworn that I told her ahead of time that the hotel supplied bathroom scales in all of the rooms. I guess she forgot.
They think of everything. The only thing missing from the rooms is a microwave, which they don’t have because — as the concierge explains — it’s a fire hazard. However, they’ll provide one by request if it’s needed for medical reasons.
All the staff members were on their A-game while we were there. Kelsey and I asked for a microwave for her room (for her special diet), walked over to Walgreens to get her flavored waters, and her microwave was already in her room by the time we got back (less than 30 minutes later). At the hotel I stay at in Kansas City, it would have taken half a dozen phone calls just to get the simplest of things done. Seriously.
Customer service at the Hyatt Regency Orlando has always been pretty good during all the times we’ve stayed there but they were operating at another level that week. I wondered if everyone received a pep talk right before the EMACS Customer Experience Conference came to town. I joked about this to one of the bellhops that I ran into in the elevator one day and he said they did have a big huddle a few days before. You definitely don’t want to mess up with a bunch of Customer Experience experts because thousands of people will find out about it. LOL.
But, one of the funniest parts was when Kelsey and I went to get coffee at the onsite Starbucks. I happened to be wearing my “WE MOVE THE WOLRD” shirt from this year’s ZINCON. When I got up to the counter the barista read the writing on my shirt and was like, “WE move the world… You’re a Zumba person?!!”
“Yes, I am.”
“But that was months ago.”
“I never left,” I told her. “I’ve been here the entire time.”
You should have seen the shocked look on her face. You could tell she was trying to process it and it took a moment for her to realize I was kidding. And then she told me how much they love the Zumba convention and all of the Zumba people because they are always so happy and loud and they bring life to the place. She said everything seems so lonely and dead after the Zumba convention. She also told me that it’s the only time that they’re open until 8 PM. The rest of the time they close at 4 PM because it’s just so dead.
Having experienced the hotel outside of ZINCON, I understand what she means. It’s really not the same. It made me so nostalgic for ZINCON and I can’t wait until we are back again next year.
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