travel blog – LongLegsBigCity

Niagara Falls

October 18, 2023 3 Comments

Last weekend I went on a belated birthday trip with Chris to Niagara Falls. This trip was supposed to be a surprise. Back in June, Chris surprised me with a belated birthday trip to Chicago. The main problem with me planning a surprise, though, is that I have no mental capacity for planning or surprises. Also, Chris loves to use credit card points and frequent flyer miles. So, instead of making it a surprise, I said, “do you want to go to Niagara Falls for your birthday two weeks late?” and he said yes, and then he booked us the flights and hotel rooms. Yes, two different hotels, we will get to that later.

Thursday, we had a 7 am flight. This departure time, of course, was thanks to my sweet husband who doesn’t require 8+ hours of sleep like my depressed self does. Despite his favorite hobby, morning-of-trip-packing, we managed to make it to the airport on time and we were even upgraded to first class. The trip was off to a great start. The plane didn’t have TVs, but thankfully it was ungodly early, and the entire flight took 50 minutes so I mostly dozed. We landed and we were at our hotel in Buffalo by 9 am. Unfortunately, since hotels don’t allow check-in that early, we took up residence in the lobby and we asked the front desk to hold our suitcases. Thankfully, the lobby was huge because we both had very full days of work. I know what you are thinking, “this blog sucks, no one wants to hear about you taking an hour-long flight to make zoom calls in a different part of the state.” I agree. Don’t worry, it gets better, but not quite yet.

Finally, our room was ready, so we went upstairs to check it out. We opened the door and found a massive table, a desk, a coffee bar, a fireplace, and a sofa. No bed. There was a conference table that sat 12 people, but no place to sleep. I started laughing hysterically because I truly thought Chris booked us a meeting room instead of a hotel room. It was only then that he remembered that the front desk had said we were in 1501/1502, so we went back into the hallway and sure enough, our keys opened the adjacent room as well, which thankfully had a bed. We later discovered a third door in the hallway that we could close so that we could prop the two rooms open and create a suite. It was a bizarre set-up but it did give us two bathrooms, so I couldn’t complain! We went out to get a late lunch/early dinner, and then, as it happens when you wake up at 5 am, we went to sleep. What a thrilling first day!

Day two started the same way, with work and emails. Eventually we ate breakfast together and continued with our work day. Around lunch, I went for a walk and explored the Erie basin. I came across the African American Veterans Monument, and multiple Navy ships including the USS Little Rock and USS The Sullivans. I had no idea there would be ships docked in Buffalo, but you learn something new every day. I walked back toward the hotel and came across the McKinley Monument, which I later found out was built because President McKinley was shot in Buffalo when he attended the Pan-American Exposition in 1901. Every time I go somewhere in the United States, I realize how little I learned in high school AP US History.

Back in the hotel I worked some more, and thanks to Chris’s hotel status, in addition to the executive suite we also got a 4 pm checkout. This was when the real adventure began. I decided to shower before we switched hotels, and just as I was getting out of the shower, housekeeping walked into the room. Chris explained, as I was in a towel, that we were checking out in 45 minutes. 10 minutes later, a different housekeeping person walked in. I put on clothes, and 10 minutes later, another random man entered the room with a key, the guy staying there after us. This had never happened to me before. Three people walking in? Including a subsequent guest? While I was in a towel? My husband (a man) did not seem phased by this at all. In fact, he didn’t even mention it when we checked out. A woman would never.

Anyway, we finally checked out and went to continue our adventure on the other side of the US-Canada border. The problem, of course, was that there was an international border. My sweet husband, who I really cannot blame because I did exactly zero research or planning myself, said he checked Reddit and that it would be “no problem” to cross the border. Unfortunately, there was a problem. You couldn’t order an Uber, and the hotel couldn’t guarantee that if they called a cab, they would be able to take us across. We decided to take an Uber as far as we could and figure it out. Chris said we could walk across the bridge. With our bags. I was not pleased. Do not fret, we left our Uber at the border, and a man approached us and asked if we needed a cab. Me, a woman, would have said “no thank you, stranger, I do not want to get into your car.” Chris, a man, said, “that would be great.” Readers, do not worry, I am still alive to tell the tale. Our cab driver ended up being a main character of the weekend. It turned out he used to live in Manhattan and had a store 2 blocks from our apartment. He told us that we could see what we needed to see in Niagara Falls in 4 hours, and then we should go to Toronto HAHA. A true New Yorker. I will admit that made us feel better, since we only had a day and a half there, and I was scared we would miss out.

We went into our hotel room and the view was amazing. We were on the 37^th Floor, and our room overlooked Horseshoe Falls. But the sun was setting quickly, and we wanted to go down and get an up-close view, since it was supposed to rain the entire next day. I assumed the Falls would be impossible to see at night, since they were natural, but I learned quickly that I was wrong, they are lit up by multicolored LEDs from 6 pm – 2 am every night. Anyway, I didn’t know that at the time, so we thought we were on a time crunch. The valet told us that we could walk down to the Falls, or we could take the “incline,” which would get us there in 4 minutes. We opted for the lazy way, and found that the “incline” was just a 30-foot funicular. It was hilarious because we could have easily just walked up the hill, or they could have built a staircase, but they didn’t and instead charged $7 roundtrip. We were on vacation, so we splurged and took the 15-second trolly ride.

This is where we found out cab driver. On the side of the road.

It was worth it. It was truly spectacular. I didn’t know, but “Niagara Falls” is made up of three Falls, the American Falls, Bridal Veil Falls, and Horseshoe, or Canadian Falls. While the first two are all in the United States, 90% of Horseshoe Falls is in Canada (Americans will be quick to tell you that all three are technically in the USA). Despite where they are located, the direction of the Falls is such that they are much better viewed from Canada. From the United States, it’s more like infinity pool vibes and you can’t actually see where the water drops down to. According to their official website, 3,160 tons of water flows over Niagara Falls every second. That is so much water. It’s hard to wrap your brain around.

Chris and I took many photos at the Falls. Of the Falls. Selfies of us at the Falls. Then we had some strangers try to take photos of us at the Falls. We learned quickly that strangers are mostly shorter than us, and while we are fantastically photogenic, if you take photos from below, you will get great pics of us, but you will have exactly zero of the scenery in the background.

I learned a lot of facts about the history and usage of the Falls, but I won’t bore you with all of them. I did find it especially interesting that 50-75% of the water is diverted to hydroelectric power stations depending on the time of day and year, and those stations supply more than one-quarter of all power used in New York State and Ontario. The water is then returned (unpolluted) to the river. This means that the crazy amount of water we saw and experienced was less than half of what it could be. Also interestingly, some people try to go over the Falls. Most of them try to do this in barrels, and most die. But some survive! In fact, the very first to do it successfully was a woman, Annie Edson Taylor, who achieved her daredevil dreams on her 63^rd birthday. She tested her barrel in advance by putting a cat in it (who also survived!). There are now steep fines for people who attempt this, but as our tour guide advised us, you only have to pay if you survive!

Speaking of our tour guide, Saturday was the big day. The one thing I did to plan for this trip was book a tour. I specifically booked a tour that went to both the American and Canadian sides. The universe, which has recently not been working in my favor, had another joke up her sleeve, and decided to forecast for rain the entire day. WOMPWOMP. Good news is, we were planning to get wet anyway. Our tour guide told us that rain is actually great because it reduces your inhibitions of being wet at the Falls, because you’re wet anyway. My therapist loves a good reframe, so I decided to opt into this one, too.

We started the day with a bang: my favorite part, the Maid of the Mist boat ride. We suited up in our ponchos and boarded the double decker boat. It was spectacular. We rode right into the basin of Horseshoe Falls, where it felt like we were in the side wall of a hurricane. The water, wind, mist, and turmoil was all around us, and then the boat did a 360 while we were poured on from the waterfall. It was awesome. In case we weren’t wet enough, our next stop was to the “Cave of the Winds.” Despite the name, this is not an actual cave. It was a cave, and there were tours from 1841 to 1920, but a rock fall collapsed it, and now it’s a series of walkways built into the outside of Falls, which is actually torn down and rebuilt every single year. The walkways bring you right to the base of Bridal Veil Falls, and there’s even a Hurricane Deck, where you are basically inside the Falls. It is very. Very. Very. Very. Wet. My feet were not dry until many hours later when I got back to the hotel.

The rest of our tour took us to a few other amazing views, including Three Sisters Islands, where we could walk little pathways into the middle of the Niagara River, and see where it flowed down to the Falls. Then we headed to the Whirlpool Rapids, which were absolutely stunning with the changing colors of foliage. Again, from their website, “Horseshoe Falls crushes into the narrow Niagara Gorge, creating the whirlpool rapids […] where the gorge abruptly turns counterclockwise. The river’s abrupt change of direction creates one of the world’s most mesmerizing natural phenomena.” Our final stop of the day was the Skylon Tower, where we took a 52-second elevator ride to observation decks 775 feet above the Falls. The views were amazing, but the ride up was my favorite part!

We headed back to the hotel where we took a nap, because we’re old, and then we went to dinner at a nice restaurant in our hotel with a view of the Falls, again lit up for the night.

We had an amazing time, and just like our cab driver said, a day and a half was plenty of time. We saw what some people call, the 8^th natural wonder of the world. Some do not say that, but some do. We spent time together. We slept 8 hours/night. We ate great food. And we were home by 3 pm on a Sunday. That’s what I would call a successful trip.

Selfie with our best tour guide #TeamJessica
Chris loves state parks!
Squint and see which pink ponchos are Chris and me!
Selfie before getting soaked
Actively being rained on by waterfalls
Cute, not yet saturated.
About to be saturated…
Very, very wet.
Such a majestic view.
I was ready to hit Bridal Veil Falls and the Hurricane Deck!
Chris and I soaked.
It’s hard to explain how loud it was here.
Inside Bridal Veil
HURRICANEEEE
Whirlpool Rapids in all of its fall foliage glory
View from Skylon Tower. Breathtaking.

Grief and Pregnancy Loss, Travel

Peru Part Uno

September 28, 2023 3 Comments

It has been a LONG time since I’ve written a travel blog, so I’m excited to bring you new, world-traveling content this week (and next!). My original plan was to split this blog into two: one where I talked about all of the positives about traveling, getting away with friends, exploring new places, seeing amazing scenery, eating local delicacies, etc., and one where I talked about the difficult co-existing emotions of going on a trip during this #veryhardyear. Then, I was chatting with one of my loss-mom internet friends and she said it was inspiring to see me “finding joy amongst the griefyness,” and that’s why I decided to write this instead as a fully integrated post. The good, the fun, the sad, and the complicated. However, a 2-in-1 post means this one is a pretty lengthy, so strap in. It’ll be posted in two installments, but stay tuned, I included pictures.

Let’s start at the top. Many months ago, my therapist asked me what used to bring me joy so I could try to find it again. I could barely remember, but I told her I guessed it was traveling with friends. She suggested I start small, like a brunch. But I didn’t want to go to brunch, and I didn’t want to see my friends.

In my past life, I traveled in the early autumn every year because I always had extra time off from work. 4 months ago, when I realized I wouldn’t be tied down with a baby this season, and when I realized I’d have three friends having babies in September (blog about this coming soon), I requested a week off from work mid-September. My time-off request was approved. A group of my friends started talking about possible places to go. My therapist was so proud of me. Many, many messages and ideas were sent back and forth. Then in July, I fell off the face of the earth. I deleted my social media and I stopped answering any texts. The trip planning ceased, at least on my end. I couldn’t think in advance even one day, nonetheless a few months ahead, and I couldn’t fathom booking activities when I was just trying to get through the current hour.

Then in August, since I hadn’t been on any group chats, I fired up a group message via text and asked if anyone was still up for going on a trip. I was honest about my lack of planning abilities. I said I’d still be down to travel, but that I just needed someone to tell me where to book a flight and that I’d be mostly useless on planning. Ideal travel buddy, right? Thankfully, my friend stepped up and suggested Peru. It seemed like the ideal location because there were nonstop flights from NY and FL and only a one hour time difference, which was great since we had about 9 days total and didn’t want to deal with jetlag. My friends booked flights. I couldn’t get my act together until the next day, when flights went up $150 but it is what it is. It’s just money #thingsprivilegedpeoplesay.

Anyway, we settled on Peru and we started planning. By “we” I mean, not me. My main contribution was asking other people for Peru recommendations and throwing them in a google doc. The one thing I did was book us an Airbnb for Lima. My friend liaised with a travel group in Cusco and did the extremely heavy lift of coordinating everything with the travel agency. The agency took care of everything from tours, airport pickups, train and hotel reservations, and anything else we could have wanted, like advice on how much to tip drivers. Did I mention this was all done 3 weeks in advance? We had extremely low expectations given that this was a slapdash, last-minute trip, and we were all extremely pleasantly surprised.

Our trip started with three girls (including me) in Lima, and we had zero plans. We had a few lazy days exploring the city. We slept in, left the Airbnb around 11 am, got iced lattes, and went on a few free walking tours. We explored the Huaca Pucllana pre-Incan ruins that are right in the middle of the city. We also did some solo exploring, first at the nearby John F. Kennedy Park. The strangest thing about this park is not that it is named for a US President, but that it houses hundreds of stray cats. One of the friends I was with is obsessed with cats, so of course me made multiple visits to the park. These are not just dirty street bodega cats, thankfully. There is an association, Gatos Parque Kennedy, that cares for, feeds, and provides sterilization for the cats living in the park. There’s even an adoption process in case someone wants to take one home. I don’t think you’re allowed to transport cats across the border, otherwise my friend may have tried to smuggle one home (she did not).

We went on a tour of the historic city including the Gran Hotel Bolívar, the Plaza de Armas, the House of Peruvian Literature, and the Santo Domingo Church. At one point, we passed a woman dressed as a zombie bride holding a dead bloody baby, and she had 3 other bloody babies at her feet. I’m not sure if anyone else on the tour noticed her, but I did. At first, I thought I was making it up so I brought it to my friend’s attention. I said “do you see all those bloody babies?” It was not in my head, they were indeed there, but they were dolls. At another point we went into the Church of San Francisco, where our tour guide said “see all those little toy cars by the statue of Jesus? Each one was put there by a parent for their dead child. Ok! Let’s move on.” He was a fast-moving guide. It took me a few moments to shift gears.

We ended the tour with a Pisco tasting in a souvenir shop, where we tried 8 types of Pisco, and then we were hustled into buying souvenirs (we got adorable pom pom hair ties).

The next day, we went on a free walking tour of Barranco, which started out with a bang because we had to take a local bus there with the tour guide. We were surprised to find out that the buses do not actually stop at stops, but instead just open their doors while moving and expect you to jump out. What an adventure. Thankfully we all survived.

Barranco is known as the artsy neighborhood of Lima filled with murals, street art, and lots of great local food. In Barranco, you can also find the famous Bridge of Sighs, where legend has it, if you’re able to walk across the bridge while holding your breath, your wish will come true. I won’t tell you my wish, but I bet you can guess.

Throughout my trip to Peru, you’ll see that eating was a main theme. Lima has become a bit of a food destination, and it’s often called South America’s culinary capital. While we didn’t do any of our fancy eating until the last few days of the trip (stay tuned!), we did a good amount of eating throughout the trip. On the front end of the trip, we ate a lot of street food. I was thrilled to be traveling with fellow adventurous eaters, so we tried and shared a lot of Peruvian delicacies, starting with antichuchos (beef heart). We also tried a classic dessert called picarones, aniseed-flavoured doughnuts with mashed squash. We bought a caramel-filled churro from the street, as well as an ice-cream-looking cone, but it was more like marshmallow fluff? Later in Cusco, we tried alpaca and guinea pig (I’ll save you the pictures). Alpaca tasted like bison, guinea pig was a little bit like rabbit. We knew we had to try the classic rotisserie chicken, but since we like to go big or go home, we went to a chicken place and got chicken three different ways. All three were amazing. We also sampled Inca Cola, which I hated, but I don’t like soda so I wasn’t surprised.

In between our eating, we got our steps in by exploring the city. We walked to the shoreline along El Malecon, a cliffside walking path. There’s a mall there as well, called Larcomar. We walked around and chatted while we sat on a bench and were approached by many locals who wanted to practice their English (and ask us for money). It was beautiful and peaceful. There was also a “Love Park,” which was dedicated on Valentine’s Day. It features a massive sculpture of two people embracing, and it’s surrounded by mosaics with romantic lines from Peruvian poems.

On our final day in Lima we decided to book an excursion to the Palomino Islands. According to TripAdvisor, they promised we would see Humboldt penguins and sea lions, and that we’d get wet suits and have the opportunity hop in and swim with them. The reviews were less stellar. Most of the recent reviews said that the sea lions were extremely stinky, and that the water was too cold and the sea lions wouldn’t get in. We decided it was worth a try anyway. I don’t know why, but I expected we’d see maybe 10-15 sea lions. I am not exaggerating when I say there were THOUSANDS. I’ve never seen anything like this in my life. We donned our wetsuits and were told to put our feet up in front of us to show the sea lions we were not aggressive. Soon enough, the sea lions were hopping into the water off the rocks and swimming all around us. It was absolutely breathtaking, and not just because they were smelly (they were). Our guide had goggles he passed around, and when I looked under water, they were all around us. Hundreds of them were swimming below and alongside us. It was insane. Truly one of the coolest experiences I’ve ever had. In theory, sea lions sometimes come up to you and kiss/lick your feet, but none of them did this to me. I was a little disappointed but also relieved because they are HUGE up close and intimidating. It was a real adrenaline rush.

In our $2 Uber back to our Airbnb to shower off the sea lion smell, I couldn’t stop thinking about how amazing the experience was, and I started getting soooo sad. My thought process went like this: “wow that was the coolest experience ever. I can’t believe I got to do that. I wish I hadn’t been able to do that. No, that’s not true, I’m really glad I got to do that. I had so much fun. I wish I hadn’t had fun. No that’s not true. I’m glad I had fun. But I wish I had a living child instead. If I had a baby, I wouldn’t have been able to do that. I’d rather have a baby. But I don’t get to choose. I wish I could choose. Why don’t I get to choose? Everything is so unfair. Why am I upset every time I’m happy? Why am I like this? Why can’t I just be happy? I hate who I am now. I don’t want this life.” Etc. etc. in circles. It’s really frustrating to be mad at myself every time I’m happy. Some may call this survivor’s guilt, but it isn’t really guilt. It’s more like a consolation prize. I’m happy I got a prize, but it pales in comparison to the real prize, the one I really wanted. And if I had a choice, I’d give up the consolation prize in a split second for the real prize. But I don’t get to choose, and that just fucking sucks. This was the first of many times during this trip that these spiraling thoughts happened to me.

There were many nights where I cried myself to sleep, but I am a pretty quiet crier, and I think mostly no one noticed even though I was sharing a room. Mornings used to be hard, back when I’d first wake up and realize my life wasn’t all a bad dream. But now, nights are the hardest, especially when I’m away from Chris, the one person who I feel truly understands what we have been through. Even he doesn’t always understand how I feel, but he understands best.

As we prepared to go to Cusco, which is approximately 11,500 feet above sea level, we were told to buy altitude sickness medication from a pharmacy and to start taking it one day before arrival. Since Manhattan is about 250 feet above sea level, I thought it would be smart to be prepared. However, as I googled the side effects, I realized that there may be some contraindications with my blood pressure medications I’ve been on since my pregnancy. I scrambled to message two of my doctors and hoped they would write me back. Thankfully they both did, but one of them recommended I down-dose my other meds, depending on what my blood pressure was reading at high altitude. I probably should have brought a monitor, but I didn’t. I spent the next 4 days worried I’d pass out in the street and end up in a Peruvian hospital. Thankfully, that did not happen, but the constant low-grade anxiety was not ideal. These are all just fun continuing repercussions of having a dead daughter, I guess.

The next morning, after taking two doses of altitude meds, we headed to the Lima airport to take a short, 80-minute flight to Cusco, where we would meet our fourth friend and begin our hiking adventures. Don’t get it twisted, we did not do the Inca Trail 4-day hike, we took a train to Machu Picchu. But we did do a good amount of walking and stairs over the next few days. We saw some of the most amazing landscapes I’ve seen in my life. I don’t usually go for blog post cliffhangers, but this one is already long, so get ready for Cusco and Sacred Valley adventures next week!

Can you see how many sea lions are behind us?

Travel

3 Last-Minute Days in Stockholm

September 27, 2022 3 Comments

Remember back in August after our honeymoon, when I said I was going to be in town for 6 full weeks? Well, that is not exactly what has happened. I was looking forward to a slow and relaxed September with 0 flights on the agenda, but the world had other ideas. First, on Labor Day weekend, someone in my husband’s family was in an accident so we went down to Texas to visit. Then, 2 weeks later, my sweet husband said, “I kind of want to go somewhere between jobs, what are you doing next weekend?” I didn’t have any plans, and I was expecting he would suggest upstate New York or something. But no, he suggested Stockholm, Sweden. I know you’re probably wondering if there was some deep reason why he picked Sweden, but the answer is simple: Delta flies there nonstop, and the prices were semi-reasonable for a 3-days-in-advance booking. Chris loves his Delta flights. And I love him.

Honestly, I was a bit anxious about the trip. I am already spending a lot of money and energy planning a trip to Australia for October, and I am heading into my busy season at work. Also, Chris loves to sit in a hotel room but I have this compulsion to explore new places and see ALL THE THINGS. It’s a lot of pressure to plan an itinerary solo with 3 days’ notice! I know this is serious first-world-problems, but I put a lot of stress on myself. Thankfully, a lot of people on the internet have done research for me. I googled “3 days in Stockholm” and sure enough, I found a lot of blogs and sample itineraries, things to see, and food to buy on a budget.

We booked it, and we were on an 8-hour redeye Thursday night, to get in at 10 am Friday Sweden time. The actual trip to the airport was more stressful than any other part of the trip (except the trip back, I’ll get to that later). We forgot it was the UN General Assembly, so traffic was standstill, basically a parking lot. We asked our Uber to drop us off at the subway instead, however, we had packed LARGE bags and I definitely regretted going to the gym earlier that day. After 2 subways and an Airtrain, and a walk because the Airtrain station at our terminal was closed for construction, we got there in time to check our bags and go to the Delta lounge for a small pre-flight dinner.

The flight was uneventful, although I couldn’t sleep at all. When we arrived, thankfully the hotel had the room ready so we could take a 2 hour nap. We stayed in Gamla Stan, or “the old town,” which is a perfect location for sightseeing right next to the Royal Palace and Parliament. We quickly realized that the next day was the Stockholm Half Marathon, and the finish line was around the corner! Before you ask, no, I did not braid any hair.

Since I have a big trip coming up next month, I didn’t take any days off of work, which meant that I had to work from 3-11 pm Stockholm time on Friday and Monday. After my nap, I went to a cell phone store to try and get a sim card (unsuccessful), and then I went to a hotdog stand that I read about in my research. It was called Bruno’s Korvbar, and they had 25 different types of sausages, spicy to mild, and many topping choices. I got a “baguette double” with the House spicy sausage and the lamb merguez. It was AMAZING. Possibly the best thing I ate in Sweden. And it was $9. I headed back to the hotel to work, and then later went to the lobby restaurant for Chris to eat dinner even though I was still full. The couple sitting next to us struck up a conversation, and it turned out the woman randomly knew me through my work AND had seven mutual Facebook friends with my dad. What are the chances??? Small world.

The next day was Saturday, so I was ready to hit the town early for some sightseeing. Chris… was not. But that’s ok, I know we vacation differently, so I knew I’d be a solo tourist. I started the day with a cinnamon bun, or kanelbullar as they say in Sweden. To be honest, I started EVERY day with one of those. Anyway, after an iced latte and sugar fuel, I headed to a 9:30 am Free Walking Tour. Free walking tours are the best when you first arrive in a new place because you learn things, get your bearings, AND it’s an easy thing to do solo and meet people. There are other tourists to take pictures of you, and the guides are always willing to give tips on things to see, places to eat, and where to spend your time.

The tour guide gave me my next destination, the changing of the guard. Supposedly this happens at the Royal Palace daily. It was a lot of pomp and circumstance and it took FOREVER. I left after about 40 minutes of the band playing and young soldiers marching around. I headed next to the Wooden Horse Museum, which is a souvenir shop, but it was still pretty cool. Wooden dala horses are kind of a symbol of Sweden, dating back thousands of years. After that, I went to the Nobel Prize Museum, which was small, but I learned a lot! Supposedly the Nobel Banquet is televised every year on December 10^th and goes on for 5 hours. Meanwhile, I had never heard of it. I also learned that at the banquet, the only acceptable dessert to serve pre-2010 was ice cream. I had no idea. Me… an ice cream connoisseur!! They serve the famous ice cream in the museum café so of course I had to get this for lunch. It had sorbet, ice cream, and cotton candy. Also, it had Hanukkah gelt! (It was actually a fake chocolate coin Nobel Prize, but same thing.)

I searched Atlas Obscura for other strange things to see and explore, and found myself at the Public Library, which has supposedly been named one of the most beautiful libraries by Conde Nast Traveler. Unfortunately, there was quite a bit of construction happening, but I still got a chance to walk around the 360-degree balconies of books. After my exploring, I needed a snack, so I checked out another food stand I found in my research. This one was known for fried herring. I was extremely hesitant, but I ended up LOVING it! I got a smaller portion, kind of like an open-faced rye bread sandwich, for $4. The best part is, the half marathon was running right by the stand, so I took a seat on the bench and watched people run 13.1 miles while I reflected on my day of food: cinnamon bun, ice cream, fried herring.

I headed back to the hotel and woke my husband (it was 6 pm) for dinner. I saw from my quick online research that many people recommended a place called Pelikan for authentic Swedish food. It was in a neighborhood we hadn’t been to called Södermalm, which was described to us as the Brooklyn of Stockholm. I thought that was sus, but sure enough, I understood why they said that. The streets were filled with too-cool-for-school people, vintage stores, coffee shops, and bars. Very BK-esque. I ordered the Swedish meatballs for dinner (or just… “meatballs” in Stockholm), which were delicious and SO filling, I could only eat half! I was very glad we had a 30-minute walk home to digest.

Day 2! Are you exhausted yet? Thankfully I was not because Sunday was our ONLY sunny day. After my Day 1 discovery of the kanelbullar, I decided to google the best ones in Stockholm. Of course, they have an annual cinnamon bun competition, as one does. So I set out early to two bakeries that made the top 5 list to conduct my own taste test. That meant heading back to Södermalm. While I was there, I went to two lookout points to take in the sunny views, and it was absolutely breathtaking. I went back to the hotel to share my five pastries with Chris, and then we headed out to the HIGHLIGHT of the trip: Segways!!!

I am not going to go too much into Segways, because a full blog is coming. I actually can’t believe I haven’t written one yet! This was one of the best tours we had been on, mostly because the people were fun, no one was a beginner, and it was LONG! We got to go all around Stockholm and learn things, like that there is a whole island in the archipelago dedicated to ship-building, and that Sweden supplied torpedoes and other things to the Nazis (not too many locals advertise this). We only had 3 other people in our group and we had a BLAST zooming around the city for 2 hours.

We worked up an appetite and felt like something more substantial than a pastry, so we went for burgers at Boo Burger. I had no blog recommendations for this place, only google reviews, but they did not lead me astray – it was delicious!

Ever since I started researching Stockholm (3 days prior) I had heard it was the “Venice of the North” and I was dying to get on the water. Unfortunately, when I researched over lunch, I realized that the sightseeing tours only leave at 10:30 and 2 pm, so we missed out. Good news though, Stockholm has an extremely efficient public transit ferry system. We hopped on a ferry, which was very easy to access by just tapping our credit card at the entrance, and we did a little self-guided tour on Ferry 80, thanks to Google and “wikivoyage.” We had a very busy day, so we rewarded ourselves with a few hours at the hotel spa. They had a sauna and cold plunge but we just hung out in the “warm room” and read books. We capped off the night at Pharmarium, a cocktail bar that is in the building where the first pharmacy in Stockholm opened in 1575. It was cozy and the drinks were delicious.

Monday was our final day in Stockholm and by this point I bet you can guess how it started: pastries. I saved the top museums for the final day because it seemed like the perfect rainy morning activity before I had to start work. Chris came with me to museum #1: The Vasa Museum. The Vasa was a ship that went on her maiden voyage in 1628… for 20 minutes. Then it sank. 300 years later they found her at the bottom of the water almost completely preserved. The ship stands in its 98% original form in this museum and it really is remarkable. We did an English guided tour and explored for a bit, then Chris took the ferry back to the hotel. I went to the Abba Museum, which the internet specifically said not to go to alone, but I’m not one for rule-following. I did some singing to Dancing Queen, I did the photobooth, and I learned a LOT about ABBA that I did not know before (I knew almost nothing).

I went back to the hotel and worked for the afternoon and evening, until we went to dinner at the pièce de résistance: the Grand Hôtel in Stockholm, “home to celebrities, high-profile events and everyday bon-vivants since 1874.” This hotel is magnificent, and they host a nightly smorgasbord buffet at a reasonable price. Unfortunately and fortunately for us, it happened to be a seafood buffet that night. Unfortunately, because it was 2.5x the price, fortunately, because it was delicious and we ate all of the lobster and shrimp and crab and salmon and all other fish to our heart’s content. The views were also impeccable. It was a special way to cap off our trip.

But our adventures were not over! The next morning, we headed to the airport… without Chris’s passport, which he had left in the safe in the hotel room. We made it to the airport within the check bag window by 5 minutes. This was the second time in 7 years that he forgot his passport for an international trip. That man sure does love to keep me on my toes!

If you’re interested in seeing videos of my days, I made an Instagram Reel for each day of my trip!

And of course, a compilation of food.

Travel

The Honeymoon Phase

September 2, 2022 No Comments

Well guys, we got married. I guess that means we are now in the “honeymoon phase.” However, we have been together nearly 7.5 years so I think that era is long-gone (sorry, babe).

Good news is, getting married did give us a great excuse to take a vacation! And I know what you’re thinking, wasn’t your wedding in Cabo? Wasn’t that vacation enough?? And the answer is clearly “no.” Cabo was gorgeous and we had the most amazing time with family and friends, but we wanted time to hang out with each other and relax, and a wedding is not that.

When choosing where to go on a honeymoon, I was thinking of far-flung, once-in-a-lifetime places. Like Africa. Or the Maldives. But my husband, Mr. Finance, wanted a place that was in a relatively similar time zone in case he needed to check emails, and preferably with a nonstop flight since the flight delays and cancellations this summer have been terrible. Also, we planned to go in August so we had to think about hurricane season, and try to avoid it. Since we went to Aruba last summer, we decided to go to Curacao, its slightly larger next-door neighbor. The ABC (Aruba-Bonaire-Curacao) islands are below the hurricane belt, and JetBlue flies there direct 3 times per week!

The best part about a honeymoon is the feeling that you can splurge. And yes, I probably should have started this blog with an acknowledgment of our privilege but, yeah, we were not thinking about money at all during our trip. That said, things are not too expensive, so we didn’t spend a crazy amount. We did upgrade to EVEN MORE SPACE seats, though. BALLIN!

We decided not to stay at an all-inclusive resort. There are certainly pros and cons to both, but not having food included in the price opened up our budget to try new restaurants, new neighborhoods, and to be honest, it meant I drank a lot less! There’s this feeling at an all-inclusive that you need to eat and drink your money’s worth. At a regular hotel, there was all-day availability of drinks, and when I wanted one, I got one! I had an Aperol spritz almost every evening while getting ready for dinner. That said, it felt less like a booze-fest because I was more thoughtful about getting drinks and there was no alcohol in the room. Another big advantage of no all-inclusive was that we felt we could be more flexible about when and where we ate. For example, after jet-skiing (more on that later), there was a little bar at the pier and we decided to stay and hang out and do happy hour there. Since the drinks weren’t included at our hotel, there was no feeling of having to get back to “take advantage.”

More about the hotel, since we didn’t stay at a crazy all-inclusive resort, we were able to book the BIGGEST suite in the entire hotel. It was wholly unnecessary for 2 people and we felt like king and queen of the resort. I even filmed an MTV cribs-style video of the whole thing, it took 3:15 to walk around!! We had 2 separate wrap-around balconies, two full bathrooms, a living room, a kitchen, a bar, a dining table, a soaking tub, it was MASSIVE. And it was $200 less per night than the cheapest all-inclusive.

Our suite had double doors, that’s how you know it was big.

It’s no secret that Chris and I like to vacation differently. That’s why you see me always going on vacation with my friends. My friends and I love to explore and do ALL the things. I usually come back from vacation and feel like I need another immediately. Chris, on the other hand, likes to take vacation to RELAX. As in, he likes to stay in the room. In bed. Hang out. Watch tv. Be on his laptop. The good news is, we’ve been together a long time so we know this about each other. I tried to be respectful of his ideal vacation when I was looking at activities for our honeymoon. I tried to think of our top 3 activities we were both interested in doing, and then mixed in days between where we relaxed. Extra perk – I got a great tan reading on the beach and I finished two books! I also spent a lot of time on Alabama Rushtok. Typical honeymoon, amirite?

Last summer when Chris and I went to Aruba, we went on an ATV tour and had a blast. This year, we wanted to do something similarly adventurous, but a little different so we decided to jet ski. To be completely honest, it was not great. We chose to go at 4 pm so between the sun setting in our eyes and the salt water spraying in them, the visibility was abysmal. Also, I had never been on a jet ski before and the instructor didn’t really want to instruct. To make matters worse, my jet ski was broken and started to beep uncontrollably when I slowed down, and then stalled out. This meant I had to constantly go very fast, on a vehicle I’d never been on before, and when I couldn’t see. Not ideal. Halfway through, the instructor switched jet skis with me, which was terrifying on open water, but definitely helped because I never stalled out again! I pulled my adductor gripping on to the thing for dear life, which is still recovering, but I don’t regret doing it. It’s a story!

The next adventure we did was a full day boat trip to Klein Island, or little Curacao. This was way more our speed. We showed up to the dock, and they drove us around. The waters on the way there were ROUGH, but I had read about that in a lot of the reviews. I am not exaggerating, we ran out of barf buckets and had multiple people just heaving into plastic bags. Once Chris and I went to the top level to get away from the vomit, things went a lot smoother. We spent a leisurely day at the beach, on the boat, snorkling, and hiking to see an old lighthouse. It was a great day and while it was technically an excursion, it didn’t involve too much energy expenditure.

Our final big excursion was a day of beach hopping. We went to Grote Knip, where we heard the beach was one of the most beautiful on the island (it was). We went to Playa Forti to jump off of a cliff. By “we” I mean “me.” But my husband did an excellent job of watching our towels and filming the content for Instagram. An equally important role. We also went to Playa Piscado to snorkel with sea turtles, and I actually saw two! The water was SO clear it was amazing. We attempted to see wild flamingos on the way back to town, but unfortunately they were hiding from us, or from the heat.

Throughout our trip, we ate at great restaurants, and being on a small island for a week meant we had time to revisit some of our favorites. We had breakfast twice at BijBlau, where it was inexpensive, delicious, and you could sit literally on the beach. We had dinner twice at Rozendaals; Chris still dreams of the apple tart dessert. We had lunch and snacks twice at Gouverneur de Rouville and watched as the Queen Emma Bridge swung open and closed for boats. One night, we went to Coconut Night at Shelterrock Paradise, where they cooked our dinners in coconuts over an open fire, and ended with a lively night of karaoke led by both staff and guests. Chris impressed the crowd with his version of Frank Sinatra’s My Way, and I killed it in a song fitting for a honeymoon: Let’s Hear It for the Boy.

My honeymoon outfits were *chef’s kiss” if I do say so myself. I brought a combination of outfits I had bought specifically for the honeymoon, dresses I bought for our wedding in Mexico (look at me, so thrifty!), and I also subscribed to a month of Rent the Runway so I could have fun, new-to-me clothes. Unfortunately, despite my research prior to the trip, while the airport had plenty of American-style electric outlets, our hotel had zero. So my hair tools did not work and my hair… has definitely looked better. I tried my best using my limited resources, and I’d say we still had a great time despite my hair looking awful.

Our favorite breakfast spot on the beach

Since we went to Aruba last year, a lot of people have asked me which island we preferred and it’s tough to say! We had very different trips. For one, in Aruba we stayed at an all-inclusive and did not rent a car. While we did a few excursions, we mostly stayed on the hotel grounds. Also, it’s much smaller so a car isn’t needed as much. In Curacao, we were there longer, we explored more, we drove around the island, and we ate all of our meals outside the hotel. There was no room service at all, so we really explored restaurants and snacks/drinks places. It also felt a lot more foreign! The first language in Aruba seemed to be English. Everywhere we went, people greeted us in English and took US Dollars. In Curacao, it seemed we were the lone Americans. Most tourists were Dutch and spoke Dutch, and the menus were all listed in Antillean guilder (ANG), or NAf. Both islands had gorgeous beaches, perfect, sunny days, and amazing Aperol Spritz. And of course my adorable husband!

Now we are back to real life and already dreaming of our next vacation.

Travel

Portugal – Lisbon, Algarve and Alentejo

October 3, 2021 2 Comments

Olá! Jet-setter here. I just returned from 5 days in Iceland, 10 days in New York, then 11 days in Portugal. Have you missed me? I’ve missed you. For Portugal, we didn’t book flights until 8 days before. That meant we did very little planning. The whole time we were there, we said we wished someone had written a blog about the places we went, things to know, and the necessary things to see. Maybe someone did write one and we just didn’t have time to research. Or maybe no one has and that’s why I’m writing one now. Don’t worry, I won’t take you step-by-step through our journey because it was so long! But there are a few things we did that I wouldn’t want you to miss.

First of all, you need to know where we went. We landed in Lisbon (non-stop flights FTW), stayed there for a few days while some of us worked remotely. Then we went to the south coast (Algarve). We stayed in Portimão but traveled to Sagres, Lagos, and Albufeira. Then we drove up to the Alentejo region where we stayed in Cuba and traveled around to wineries and Evora. Then we drove back to Lisbon and stopped in Montemore-o-Novo for lunch at A Ribeira. See below, you won’t want to miss that place.

Tram 28 in Lisbon (I ended up falling asleep due to jet lag, woops).

Let’s start with things you need to know about Portugal:

First of all, they are very laid back around time. Things are super sleepy in the morning, and just like siesta time in Spain, most things close from 3-7 in the afternoon. Don’t expect to eat during that time. One of my friends had to settle for gelato, which, tbh, is never a bad thing. Also, since the dinner time is relatively short (8-11 pm), you’ll need a reservation in most places. Our first Airbnb in Lisbon had a binder of useful info, and we learned one of the best tips from it: the app called TheFork. This app is a combination of TripAdvisor, Groupon, Seamless and OpenTable. You can read reviews, see the menu and pricing, book a table, and best yet, a lot of restaurants offer huge discounts if you book a table through them! We ate at 4 different restaurants where we got 30% off our meal (food only, not wine) just by reserving a table on the app. You can’t beat that. Also little-known fact, since parts of India were Portuguese colonies for 400 years until the 1960’s, there are a lot of amazing Indian restaurants. When we were tired of seafood, we had Indian (twice) and it was a delicious change of pace.

Important tip: taxes are HIGH. Like 23% high. This means that if you are renting a car, expect those extra charges to add up big time. 5 Euro/day/extra driver is a lot more when you add 23% tax! Good news is, tipping is not really a thing, so restaurants are still way cheaper than in the US. At least cheaper than New York by far. And remember to use TheFork!

Another important tip: ROUNDABOUTS. The Portugese loveeee them. There are barely any traffic lights outside of the main cities. At first, we thought they were super fun. That is, until we realized they have super complicated laws about them and they are STRICT. We saw 3 police cars pulling people over for violating the rules in a very tiny town. Read up on your roundabout rules, especially for the 2- and 3-lane ones.

Fun fact (sorry about this Mommy): Strip clubs. We were approached by a promoter in Portimão to come to a strip club because it was 10 Euro entry fee and it included a drink. WHAT? So cheap. Most importantly, the strippers are on salary. I guess this makes sense, since they don’t want people throwing coins on the stage at unsuspecting half-naked (or full naked) people. But the fact that they are not begging for money makes it an entirely different experience. It’s like a drink and a show instead of a crazy hectic pushy environment. Also, at this particular club is was men and women strippers that switched off. Unfortunately we were too busy having fun and dancing at a nearby bar so we only got there 10 minutes before closing, but this was still a hot tip I couldn’t leave out.

Hot tip: take a unique tour. I didn’t write a blog about Iceland, but I was supposed to do a snowmobile tour on a glacier and it got canceled. After that experience, I really wanted to do something unique. We knew we needed to get on the water in the south so we could view the caves, particularly the famous Benagil cave, from a unique view, and we booked a sunset boat tour. Unfortunately, when we got to the port, the boat was coming in from the last tour and they said they had an engine problem and couldn’t take us out. That may or may not have been true, but we knew we needed an alternative plan. We got some gelato (always the answer) and started trying to rearrange our itinerary for the next day so we could take a different tour. One of my friends was pushing for a kayak tour, because she thought we would be able to go into smaller caves unreachable by boat. She was right. I was nervous about my arms (10 days of no Peloton and copious amounts of wine meant I was very out of shape), but we took a tour that was half catamaran, and half kayak, about one hour on the kayaks. It. Was. AWESOME. We went in about six caves, and we were able to pull up on the beaches and walk around. It was seriously one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. Plus we got a workout and amazing photos.

If you aren’t sure where to eat, check google and TripAdvisor reviews. You never know what you will find. For example, on our way back from the standing stones, Almendres Cromlech, we wanted lunch and looked to google for suggestions. We found a restaurant that mentioned singing and stand-up comedy. We were sold. We didn’t realize it would be singing, stomping and clapping on a center table the whole time. It took us an hour to realize he was singing THE MENU. We were in for a real treat when we paid the bill – he sang the entire thing to us in Portuguese while pointing to the things on our table and explaining. And he made sure to add “plus whatever you want to give me as a tip” at the end. It was a true experience. Plus it was cheap and delicious!

Last hot tip: WINE IS SO CHEAP. This is true everywhere in Europe, but honestly you can buy wine for $4-6 American dollars for a BOTTLE. The “expensive” wine from the wineries is still under $15/bottle. Related hot tip: red wine doesn’t really give you a hangover. Also cheap: UBERS. I mean dirt cheap. We took $4 Ubers all throughout the south coast. We couldn’t understand how they made money! We had a rental car, but this way we didn’t need a DD. They didn’t have many Ubers available in the Alentejo region, but along the south and in Lisbon, they were readily available. Even our Uber from the airport was $13 USD.

Now for a quick list of places NOT to miss:

Sagres: we went there in the morning for a quick excursion, and we were so glad we did. This used to be thought of as the end of the world. It’s the Southwestern tip of Europe. Portugal was the world power in exploration in the 15^th century, and many famous explorers left from here, never knowing if they’d make it back. The views are breathtaking, and you can climb along a lot of the cliffside.

Lagos: Again, cliffside climbing but here there are boardwalks with railings so you can feel safer. You will see a lot of people climbing all the way down the cliffs but there are many, many signs warning people not to do this. In fact, there are spots where you can see the cliffs have collapsed. Stay on the boardwalks or far from the edge.

Evora:

Chapel of Bones. This place is literally made of human bones. It’s creepy but also very cool! Only 5 Euro and includes a museum that has hundreds of Nativity scenes made from different materials.

Aqueduct and Roman Ruins: If you haven’t been to Rome or Athens, Evora is an awesome place to view Roman ruins and step wayyy back in time. The Aqueduct is truly impressive. We ate in an Italian restaurant right under the aqueduct and asked our server if the water was from the aqueduct. He either didn’t understand our joke or just didn’t think we were funny.

Sintra: This is a very adorable town 30 minutes from Lisbon. We took an Uber there because they were so cheap, but you could also take an inexpensive train. There is a big castle (Pena Palace) at the top of a hill which you could walk to, but we took a tuk-tuk and it was SO much fun. Our driver was a little bit crazy (he had a little flag that said “tip driver, help buy wine”), which made it even better. The views are spectacular, and they have huge gardens to walk through as well as a chalet made of cork that looks like it came straight out of a fairy tale.

Overall, the trip was so much fun, and I feel like I need to go back to Portugal so I can explore the north, like Porto and the Douro Valley. I’m feeling sad because I don’t have any other international trips on the books for 2021, but who knows – maybe I’ll book something with 8 day’s notice again soon!

Travel

Alaska – The Last Frontier, My First Foray Back into Travel

May 27, 2021 2 Comments

I just returned from the trip of a lifetime to The Last Frontier! It’s been a LONGGG time since I’ve written a blog about my travels, but I am #vaxxed and ready to explore again! Initially, I wanted to travel internationally but it was incredibly complicated and then they canceled our flights last minute soooo we decided to go domestic but as FAR as we could get from New York.

My best friend and I booked our flights 7 days in advance. They were $259 round trip. If that isn’t a meant-to-be price, I don’t know what is. Plus, it opened up a lot of our budget to do amazing cool things basically every day. I won’t bore you with ALL of the details, but our rough itinerary was:

Night 1: Fly into Anchorage, arrive at 2 am Alaska time, 6 am Eastern Time. Woof.

Day 1: Explore Anchorage, drive to Seward

Day 2: Kenai National Park Fjord Tour (on a boat), explore Seward

Day 3: Drive back to Anchorage, stop along the way at the Wildlife Conservation center and in Girdwood at the famous Alyeska ski resort to take the tram to the top. Drive to Thunderbird Falls for a quick hike, then to Eklutna Lake for more photos and scampering about.

Day 4: Matanuska Glacier Hike. Drive to Denali, stopping along the way in Talkeetna.

Day 5: Drive to Fairbanks, stop in Nenana, explore a bit of Fairbanks, see the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, see NORTH POLE Alaska, say hi to Santa, go to the Chena Hot Springs, dinner in Fairbanks at a BBQ place recommended by Guy Fieri

Day 6: Denali Bus Tour (the only way to see the park besides multi-day hikes), drive back to Anchorage

Day 7: Fly on a TINYYYY plane to Lake Clark National Park. VERY long hike (was supposed to be 3 miles, ended up being 8, oops), cook dinner for ourselves

Day 8: Fly back on tiny plane, explore Anchorage, see world’s largest chocolate fountain, the railroad depot, and a suburban street where every house has its own airplane hangar (atlas obscura FTW).

Are you tired reading that? I am! I need a vacation from my vacation! Honestly, this blog could be 20 pages long, so instead of going into each of those things in depth, I’ll talk to you about the highlights:

Food and Drink

As I read many blogs in the 6 days between booking our flights and getting on the actual flight, a lot of people talked about how expensive the food is because everything in Alaska is imported. We didn’t have that experience, but that is likely because of 2 things: 1. We live in NYC where everything is ungodly expensive so anywhere we go, things are cheap in comparison. 2. We ate 1-2 meals a day because we were so busy.

Mostly, we went to breweries. There were bars and breweries EVERYWHERE! Maybe because there is not much else to do, or maybe because after hiking, all you want is a beer. We went to Seward Brewing Company, Denali Brewing Company, and 49^th State Brewery (twice!). The food was great, kind of like elevated bar food. Most days, we opted for seafood because it was amazing and fresh. We had fish and chips with fresh Alaskan Halibut, we had clam chowder/seafood chowder more than once, we had panko-encrusted tilapia, etc. etc. Also, we tried some gamey meats. Reindeer sausage skillets, yak burgers, etc. Honestly, everything was delicious. My favorite was probably the crab artichoke dip or the crab cakes. If you go to Alaska and want food reccos, come to me!

We also tried lots of local beers, usually only one per day because of the amount of driving we were doing. But in Anchorage, there were multiple breweries walking distance from our hotel – score! Also, we bought 3 bottles of wine at Walmart on Day 1, so we had some alcoholic supplies on the road for the hotel rooms after our longer drive days.

Freedom of a Rental Car/Having Two Drivers

Speaking of drive days… WOAH did we drive! We picked up the rental car the day after we arrived (or the day we arrived, technically, since we landed at 2 am and passed out immediately). The car was by far our biggest expense ($1500 for the week, plus $20/day for an extra driver), but it was necessary. We never would have been able to see what we saw without one. It was fun to have the freedom to add or remove stops whenever we wanted. Like on the last day, I decided to go to 3 random places I saw on Atlas Obscura. And on our drive to Fairbanks, we realized we were 15 minutes from the Trans-Alaska Pipeline so we went to go see it.

Not to mention the freedom of leaving all our crap in the car. As a New Yorker, I forgot about that! On Day 1 we bought a case of water and we drank almost all of it. Great way to stay hydrated on the road and not have to physically carry much. Also snacks. So many snacks. We were slightly worried about being BEAR AWARE with all the snacks in the car, but thankfully we moved them all to the trunk each time we parked and we were safe.

The best part of a road trip: two drivers. There’s no way I could have done multiple days with almost 8 hours of driving by myself. Most days we switched off every 2 hours, but on days with a lot of driving, or when it was getting late, or we got up really early, we switched off every hour. Sometimes we had a place to stop along the way, and sometimes we just pulled over and did a quick switcheroo.

Long Days

I mentioned long driving days, but I didn’t mention that the days were literally LONG. I’m talking 5 hours of darkness long. This really came in handy because we had days that were packed from sunrise to sundown, so like, 6 am-midnight. Knowing we weren’t trying to beat the sun meant we could drive longer, eat later, and do things until far into the night. Also, it meant we didn’t need to worry about being stuck in the forest on a hike with no cell service in the dark. This came in handy because we got lost on a hike. As in… a 3 mile hike turned into an 8 mile one. Woops! Good news, it stayed light. Bad news, we were STARVING because all food was required to be in bear-safe containers, which we didn’t have, so we didn’t bring any with us!

Wildlife

Speaking of bears… the wildlife in Alaska is top-notch. First, moose. They are EVERYWHERE. Actually! Most roads have 12-foot fences because they roam onto the road. In fact, they are killed often by cars and you can even get on a roadkill list where they will give you a killed moose to eat! We saw 3 while driving, just standing beside the road, and we saw many, many more in Denali National Park. Also along the road, we saw porcupines! I had no idea these were in the wild. In Denali we also saw Dall sheep (the only white sheep in North America), hawks, and many, many caribou.

But even cooler than the land animals were the sea animals. On our second full day in Alaska, we went on a boat tour to the Kenai Fjords and National Park. It was the craziest day for wildlife viewing that our boat captain had ever seen. He kept saying “Wow ladies and gentleman, what a day for a sail. I’ve been doing this a long time, and… we are having a very lucky day.” We started straight out of the port with a bald eagle. Then we saw many seals laying about. THEN WE SAW WHALES. Not just saw, they literally swam up to us, around us, under us. It was crazy. The humpbacks were the largest animals I have ever seen. After the humpbacks we saw Orca (killer whales) and they were jumping all around us! We also went right up to the Holgate Glacier.

Glaciers, Waterfalls and Other Amazing Scenery

Everywhere we went in Alaska, the scenery was breathtaking. On our very first day, we drove down to Seward and along the way we stopped at a place called Beluga Point, trying to see Beluga whales. We didn’t see any, but the views were actually unreal. They looked fake! I kept saying I felt like I was on the Truman Show. Throughout our trip we were constantly in awe with the beauty of nature. We stopped multiple times in the middle of a drive just to look around and take pictures.

My two favorite parts of the trip revolved around amazing nature: the Matanuska Glacier Hike and the Hike to the Tanalian Falls in Lake Clark. The glacier hike was pretty difficult. We were in the port-o-potties when they assigned groups, so when we came back, we needed to quickly tell them if we were in the “advanced” or “slow-moving” group. We picked advanced, not sure why, since we are city dwellers who have never donned a pair of “micro-spikes” before, but there we were trekking along with our helmets. It was AMAZING. We got to see crevasses wider than cars, and moulins (basically the black hole/kitchen sinks of glaciers), and we even got to refill our water bottles from a glacial waterfall.

Speaking of waterfalls, the Tanalian Falls were so beautiful. Honestly impossible to capture in photos or in words. Even though it took us 3 hours longer to get there than it should have, it was worth it.

Planes!

The last amazing piece of the trip was the planes. Planes, planes everywhere! Supposedly you learn to fly in Alaska when you are 14 and there are more unlicensed pilots in Alaska than in any other state. There was a lake right by our hotel in Anchorage where planes take off and land from the water all day and night. And we even went to a suburban neighborhood where each house sits on a private runway and has an attached airplane hangar like a garage! Totally wild. For our final adventure to Lake Clark, it is only accessible by plane. We took a 10-seater and tried not to pee our pants. It was VERY scary but SO COOL. They let us sit in the front seat as copilot (me on the way there, my friend on the way back), and the views of Alaska from the sky were even more breathtaking than from land.

If you were thinking about going to Alaska – do it!!! Warning, they barely wear masks at all there, so get vaccinated first. If you have questions or are building an interior Alaska itinerary, I’d be happy to give you all of my recommendations. Now today I’m off on my next adventure. I’ll update you on that soon!

Travel

Lake Tyler Covid Getaway

September 11, 2020 1 Comment

Well guys, it’s been 6 months of quarantine/social distancing. SIX. MONTHS. HALF A YEAR. How is it possible that I feel SO TIRED from doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING?? I know I am coming in strong with the all-caps. I promise to calm down. I wanted a great way to express my frustration with 2020. Yelling via capital letters seemed fitting.

After 5 months of sitting in the house, my fiancé and I decided we needed a weekend away. Or rather, I decided I needed a weekend away, and he said he’d come with me. I promised to do all of the work as long as he split the cost. I know there are people out in Instagram-land who are now comfortable traveling by land or by plane, gathering with friends, renting houses together, going to the beach together etc., but the more I look at the science and facts about Covid, the less comfortable I am doing any of those things, which limited the scope of my “weekend away” plans. I had three goals in mind:

Change of Pace/Change of Place
Alone
On the water.

For the past 6 months, we have been staying at my fiancé’s family’s house. Don’t get me wrong, we are thankful. It is beyond generous that they have allowed us to stay this long. But I have not lived with kids or parent-figures in 15 years. And I have lived ALONE with my boyfriend for more than 3 years. It is not the same to have kids running around asking if I’m working (yes, it’s Monday), or if I can play (no, I’m working). There are also (cough cough) certain parts of a relationship that are difficult when there are 6 other people constantly in the house.

And as for a change of place on the water… I really miss the beach. I am a Florida girl at heart, and despite not living by the beach for a decade in New York, I ALWAYS make at least 2 trips to the beach per year. Sometimes it’s the Jersey Shore, sometimes it’s Greece and Italy. Being land-locked in a state larger than most countries has felt a bit like being in jail. I missed the water. A lot.

I went on VRBO and started looking for waterfront properties within 5 hours driving distance of our house. I set a budget of $400/night. If there was a hammock, it got extra points. I whittled my list to 5 properties and sent it to Chris to pick. (This a strategic thing I always do, so that if the property ends up being bad I can blame him. But if it’s great then of course it’s because I put the list together!) On the list, I had a few lake-front properties in Texas and Louisiana, and one in Galveston on the Gulf of Mexico. We went with a place in Whitehouse, Texas, on Lake Tyler, which was only 2 hours from our home. It was $199/night and only slept 2 people – perfect! Our plans were almost ruined when the dueling hurricanes in the Gulf threatened to hit our place, and I felt very lucky that Chris picked a property in Texas, not Louisiana. Go Chris!

We drove to the house after work on Thursday, and thankfully Chris drove so I could snack. Sure, the drive was only 2 hours, but I packed enough road trip snacks for an approximately 24-hour drive. We hit a slight roadblock when Google Maps led us to a road where there was no house with the number on it. Thankfully, the property owner picked up his phone right away and explained there were TWO roads with the same name. After a 15-minute detour, we got the right place and unpacked our things.

If you are looking for a blog about all of the things we did on our vacation weekend, you won’t find one, because we did NOTHING and it was GLORIOUS. Most of the time was spent sitting outside on the covered deck. Eating meals. Reading books. Listening to music. Reading more. Listening to an audio book. Watching Love Island. Eating some more and lounging around. It was fabulous.

I am a HUGE Fitbit fan, and despite working from home, I have been trying to keep up with my 10,000/day step goal since social distancing began. The last day I had not met my 10K goal was April 6^th. The first day at the lake I got 3.9K steps. And I was proud of that.

The second full day we were there, we did a few activities. We rented paddle boards from the owner of the house, I floated around in blow-up floats I bought from Amazon for the weekend while we listened to country music on our Sonos speaker, and then we played Corn Hole on the owner’s lawn. There were so many games in the house including mega-Jenga, Horseshoes, Poker, and cards. We played a few rounds of Phase 10 in between episodes of Love Island.

Not to be corny, but it felt like we were on our own love island! The house itself was AMAZING. We didn’t know at the time of booking, but it was set back behind the owner’s house, completely separate from his home, and surrounded on all four sides by water. It was fully renovated with a dishwasher and bathroom and water views from every room. Also, there was a covered and uncovered deck. The décor was adorable, with “Lake Life” and “Lake House” accents everywhere. Also, it was tricked out! They had a state-of-the-art dishwasher/fridge/ice machine/blender/convection stovetop, fully stocker Keurig, etc. They even had a wine cooler. There was an Apple TV (we brought our own, because duh), and a Bluetooth speaker we could bring onto the deck (we also brought our own because duh), and I wish I could have stayed there a whole week.

The only issue with Covid “vacationing” is the food. We had to BYO everything and we weren’t sure about the availability of delivery. Especially in Texas, we wanted to limit our time in grocery stores/anywhere in the sticks where people are less likely to wear masks. There were many trips back and forth from the car; 3 meals a day for two people is a lot of groceries! Not to mention a case of beer and pina colada mix. To make cooking easier than it is at home, I made Chris sit down and meal-plan with me before we left. We had options for each meal. Breakfast: eggs/cinnamon rolls/sausage. Lunch: Sandwiches/grilled cheese/tacos. Dinner: Burgers/Frozen Pizza/Chicken Parm. Cooking was easier with only 2 people’s dishes and a dishwasher. For some reason it felt WAY simpler than cooking at home.

The owner was available for any questions all the time, and we saw him a few times when he came down to take his boat out (not included in the house LOL), but he always texted first to warn us. Also, he gave us a better deal on the paddleboards than he advertised on his listing, and provided life jackets, which was nice of him. He was kind enough to mention to me that we just missed the Trump Boat Parade the weekend before. (Not the infamous one from last weekend. See pics below, there were still plenty of boats left with flags on them.). Chris lost his Goodr sunglasses in the lake and I left my flip flops on the grass (guess I had too many ciders playing corn hole) but besides those two losses, we had only wins and successes. My best friend had been telling me for months how important it was for mental health to get away and have a change of pace; I should have listened to her earlier.

We booked one more weekend trip for this upcoming weekend, our LAST weekend in Texas! This time, we got a BIG house, lakefront again, and we’re bringing the whole family as a last hoorah! I can’t wait to share more with you about it. And if you’re ever in the Lake Tyler area in Texas, I’ll send you the VRBO listing, I can’t recommend it enough!

Travel

Pre-Travel Tips and Tricks

September 25, 2019 2 Comments

It’s almost time for another vacation! Even though I didn’t blog about my recent adventures to Italy and France, you probably still know that I travel A LOT. When I turned 27, I realized I had barely traveled outside of the USA/Caribbean, and I starting budgeting and credit card churning to make sure it happened more often. I’ve been making up for lost time, and for this upcoming trip to Greece, I paid for my flights completely on credit card points!

When you travel as often as I do, you get it down to a science. I want to share a few tips with you that I use to make my packing and traveling seamless. Last year, I took 10 round-trip flights, and if you include train travel, I made even MORE trips. I’m a pro.

Tip #1: Have a Good Suitcase.

For more than a year, I had a suitcase that only had two wheels and one of them was jacked up. I basically had to drag it through airports using sheer strength. Don’t be like me. I ordered a new suitcase from Amazon that was $60 and had a year-long warranty. It has 4 working wheels and it is a breath of fresh air. Especially when you live in New York and your pre-travel travel includes blocks of walking, subway turnstiles and many stairs, a good suitcase is essential. I won’t say “invest” in one because they’re NOT EVEN EXPENSIVE!

Tip #2: Use Packing Cubes.

Nowadays, you basically always need to use a carry-on bag because airlines charge you for everything from a seat to air. Suitcase space is limited and very important. The best way to cram as much stuff as your can into your suitcase, while still remaining organized, is packing cubes. First, I accidentally purchased a set of varying sizes and only the smallest two sizes worked for my purposes, so I found smaller ones that work much better. They were $21 and life-changing. You can basically view them as zip-able drawers for your suitcase. I usually separate underwear, swimsuits, socks, and sports bras in one, workout clothes in another, dresses in another, and jeans (rolled) in the 4^th.

Tip #3: Keep Your Travel Toiletries Ready and Together.

This is probably my biggest time-saver. I keep a Ziploc bag pre-packed with travel body wash, travel/disposable loofah, shampoo, conditioner, razor, lotion, zit cream (I’m so refined), toothpaste etc. It’s all in one place so I can just throw it in my bag when I go on my next trip! The key here is that you need to refill everything when you come home and replace the loofah. This way everything is set to go next time!

Tip #4: Use & Keep a Pre-Made Packing List

THIS IS CLUTCH. Personally, I use an app called Wunderlist on my phone. I put EVERYTHING on this list. Every. Thing. My current list has 84 items. I even put toothbrush and toothpaste as separate items. This insures that I do not forget anything! I only check the item off when it is physically in my bag. If I am wearing my sneakers to travel in (more on that next), I do not check it off until they are on my feet that day. Also, if I forget anything, I add it to the list ASAP. This happened fatefully on a girls’ trip to Spain with LOTS of drinking when I had forgotten Advil. Never again.

Here’s a tip: you can have multiple lists for different kinds of trips (international, business, leisure beach, leisure in the winter), OR, you can just have one big list and include anything you’d want for any type of trip. I choose to do the latter and I check off the items first that I know I don’t need. For example, there’s no need to bring my Global Entry card or electricity converters for a domestic trip, but I just check those off first when I’m going within the country. Another tip: don’t check the item off if you want to triple check for it before you leave the house (I do this with “Passport”).

Tip #5: Plan to Travel in Your Largest/Heaviest Outfit.

This goes without saying, but clothes take up space, especially if you are 5’11” like me. Shoes also take up space. I try to wear my largest items like my jacket and my sneakers (or boots, depending on season). Like I said before, having a small/light suitcase is more important than ever, so try to remember that strategically!

Tip #6: Bring an Empty Reusable Water Bottle.

Once again, airlines have started to suck more and more. Some airlines refuse to offer water now. Even on international flights. This just happened to me on my way to France. Be aware of the airline you are traveling on because dehydration on planes is a huge thing! You are allowed to bring a water bottle through security as long as it is empty. Every airport I have been in recently has water fountains by the gates, so fill up your bottle before you board. You’ll thank me. You can also use it when you get to your destination. DRINK MORE WATER, PEOPLE!

Tip #7 & 8: Print Everything and Give Someone A Copy of Your Itinerary.

I know we LOVEEE our phones. Trust me I know, I have 3 Instagram accounts. But sometimes phones mess up, or get stolen, or there’s no wifi, etc. Print out your arrangements before you leave, whether it’s hotel reservations, train or museum tickets, or Groupons for Segway tours (duh). Also, write down your itinerary, bring a copy with you, and give a copy to someone else stateside for safety! If you are a crazy person (like me and my friends), you can just put it in a Google Sheet, print a copy, and share the document by email with your emergency contact. Safety First!

I have many more tips, but I should probably stop writing and start packing – I leave in 48 hours! Hopefully I will have time when I get back to tell you about my trip and share GORGEOUS photos. If you aren’t already, follow me on Instagram for daily updates!

Travel

Mystery Weekend in Hudson, New York

February 14, 2019 No Comments

I love surprises. I don’t understand people who don’t. Why would anyone not like the suspense and excitement behind someone planning something for you!? It’s the best! Thankfully, my mystery (emoji) boyfriend knows this. I mean, he better, it’s been a while, ya know? In honor of Valentine’s Day, here’s a blog about one of the best surprises he’s pulled off.

He has taken me on many mystery date nights before. From random restaurants he has found, to dinner at a restaurant I love but he doesn’t, and even to row 4 tickets of a Broadway show! You may remember that he even took me to a staycation once in a hotel room that overlooked the freedom tower. I know, I know, I bagged a good guy, here. Well, not to gloat, but he outdid himself. This time he planned a whole getaway!

I went to Washington DC for MLK weekend, and since I was going to be away all weekend, he asked me what I was doing the next weekend. I assumed he wanted to Netflix and chill, because we are old and that’s the usual date night for us. But then he asked me what my plans were for all weekend, and I knew he had something up his sleeve! I told him I’d reserve the weekend for him. The next Friday, I packed an overnight bag, and we walked 4 blocks to Avis. He had told me that Amtrak was too expensive (it generally is, if you only book a week in advance), so he rented a car instead. I had no clue which way we were going until we got on the west side highway toward the George Washington Bridge and realized we were going north.

I wish I could tell you I figured it out then, but I didn’t. Plus, with traffic, we were barely out of the Bronx an hour later. And then I had to pee. Word to the wise: don’t drink coffee before a road trip. We had to stop at McDonalds for a pit stop and a few Chicken Selects. Because duh. We finally arrived at our destination at 10:15 pm, thankful for the fast food sustenance along the way.

We were in Hudson, New York! Not Hudson Valley, Hudson Hudson. I knew we were driving for a while, but I didn’t realize how far it was until our Uber driver later told us he lived in Albany. I gasped and said “wow, you must have taken a long trip to get here!” And he told me it was 40 minutes. Woops.

Unfortunately, we arrived so late that only two restaurants in town were open, so we took an uber to one of them, and had drinks and appetizers. The food was good, but we were exhausted. We went back to The Wick, where we were staying, and fell asleep within minutes.

Thank goodness for these drinks after a long drive!

Hudson, New York is home to a very quaint strip of restaurants and stores, and is supposedly a food destination. This is why my emoji man chose it for our getaway. What he didn’t know, is that it is also home to Etsy headquarters. I happen to have a good friend from the gym who works for Etsy, and she spends a good amount of time in Hudson. As soon as she saw I was there (because if you don’t Instagram it, it didn’t happen), she started sending me recommendations. Funnily enough, when she goes to Hudson for work, she stays in the same hotel we were in! She told us the best food and drink spots around town, and we took one of her recommendations, Le Merche, for brunch. She did not lead us astray! This place was fab. I had an egg sandwich on SUPER fresh bread, and my bf had the Croque Madame, which was delicious, fresh, and HUGE. I tried it, of course. And the side of potatoes… let’s just say that the food was so good I barely had time to take a photo of it. And we all know how rare that is.

My delicious breakfast sandwich on freshly baked bread.

The rest of afternoon I spent doing nothing, while my bf worked. I asked him before we left if he was sure he wanted to go away with so much work to do, and he assured me that he did, and a change of scenery would be nice. Meanwhile, I read a book and styled my hair 5 different ways. I need to keep creating content for Braid in Manhattan to keep my followers happy! Also, my bf is becoming quite the insta-husband. He is so great at taking hair photos! I told he better be careful or I’ll make him go full-time.

So many hairstyles.
And even more hair pics.
Spot my gray hairs?
Emoji man loves to take pics when I’m not ready.

After many hours of blissfully doing nothing, we went to dinner at W.M. Farmer & Co., which we heard was the SPOT. In fact, every online article about food in Hudson mentioned this as the best restaurant. We made a reservation. Unfortunately, we are underwhelmed. The food, although farm to table, and not bad, was not overwhelmingly good, and it was very expensive, even for people from Manhattan. The one remarkable part was the cocktails. I would recommend this place to anyone looking for a GREAT drink. We each had two and were very impressed.

Since the only reservation available was at 6:30 pm, we had plenty of time after dinner to mill around. Unfortunately, it was 20 degrees outside, so we speed walked to a bar my friend had recommended. It seemed like a cool vibe, but the inside was very smoky (maybe because they are famous for a mezcal slushy?) and we decided it was too much for us. We went to a bar next door and had a beer. Then, surprisingly, after a day of doing absolutely nothing but eating, we were tired and went back to the hotel. We watched Marvelous Mrs. Maisel in bed and went to sleep. We really are an ancient couple. But that bed was so comfy!! I just love a king size bed. Someday when I move out a shoebox NYC apartment, I’m going to get one of my very own!

The next morning, we packed up and got ready to leave. The life of a man in finance means work on a Sunday, so we had to get back to the city. However, we needed sustenance first! Thankfully, my friend offered a final breakfast recommendation 10 minutes outside of Hudson, Gracie’s Luncheonette in the Catskills. We went from watching Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, to pretty much being in an episode of our own. We ate more delicious food and got a freshly-made donut for the road. We tried to leave quickly, because it started to snow as we ate. Not just flurry, but SNOW! I’m from Florida, and my bf is from Texas, so neither of us are too used to driving in a white-out. Thankfully, he took the wheel and I handled the donut. I’m pretty talented at feeding the driver, if I do say so myself.

We took toll roads back to the city, and got back within 2 hours! My bf dropped off the luggage and me, then returned the car, and I settled back into regular life and meal prep. Overall, it was a great 42-hour getaway with plenty of food and relaxation, and time with my better half. I have to keep reminding him of how much fun it was, so he knows to plan more surprises for the future! I promise to keep you guys posted. Do you have any fun mystery date ideas? Do you know my mystery man behind the emoji? Send him a text with an idea!

Morning Catskill Kisses in the Snow.
Evening FREEZING stroll. Doesn’t my bf look cold? 😉

Travel

Travel Recap 2018

January 1, 2019 No Comments

PHEW what a year! People always comment about how much I travel, but I honestly didn’t realize until I saw it written out in black and white. If you weren’t one of the lucky 73 people to get a holiday card from me and my emoji bf, I recapped the travel we did this year, and spoiler alert… it’s a LOT. I would simply post a PDF of the card, but that would require a lot of emoji-placement on my sweet boyfriend’s face, so instead I’ll just recap my travel here. There is still going to be some emoji-placement.

Maybe after you see how I spent half of 2018 in airports, you’ll forgive me for posting infrequently here. I left the state every single month of the year with the exception of July, when my best Australian buddy was here in the USA so I had to stay and eat Tim Tams with her.

January – Seattle, Washington and Vancouver, British Columbia

I wrote a blog post about this trip, which you can back-reference here, but the main highlights were a lot of amazing food, gorgeous views of Granville Market and Deception Pass, having an all-night dance party, finding $100 on the floor of a pub, Segway-ing up the crazy hills of Seattle, and of course spending QT with my bestie! Lowlight (is that the opposite of highlight?) was leaving my phone, which was on airplane mode, in a cab. Somehow it was miraculously recovered! Not a lowlight after all.

February – Los Angeles, California

I didn’t blog about this trip per se, but I did go to a lot of ice cream places and blogged about that! I had to continue my #30Years30IceCreams with a travel edition. Also, I’m 31 now, but ice cream is still just as good. This trip was mostly for work, but every time I am in LA I try to tack on a few extra days to hang out with my college roommate! I also got to see another friend from college and watch the Olympics with him. Side note: LA is SO FAR! I always hate that long transcontinental flight, only to land in the SAME COUNTRY! I’d rather go to Europe.

March/April – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

I went to the first Passover Seder at my sister’s house in NYC, then the 2^nd at my parents in Philly! I dragged my emoji bf with me as well. He is a Seder pro now. It also happened to be my mom’s birthday that weekend. My family surprised my mom by chipping in for a YMCA membership for her birthday, the one thing she wanted. She was so happy, she cried, and the video warms my heart! Thankfully, Philly does not require an airplane ride, and for this trip, I took my sister’s car. Much more convenient!

April – Chicago, Illinois

I wrote a post about this trip! (Maybe I wasn’t as bad at blogging this year as I thought!?) My work’s annual conference changes place every year, and this year I was super excited to go to Chicago because I’d never been! Technically the conference was in Skokie, but I extended my trip with my work bestie to explore the city! Highlights included: A Segway Ride, gorgeous weather, deep dish pizza, a GORGEOUS view from out penthouse Air Bnb, which had the electricity turned off for non-payment while we were staying there. Oops.

Vancouver Exploring
Gorgeous Walk to Granville Market
FOUND: $100!!
Road trip with purple bear back through the Canadian border to Seattle.
Quick stop at the GORGEOUS Deception Pass.
Deception Pass Pics
Hike in the mountains outside Seattle with her adorable pup, Charlie.
Segway with the Space Needle!
California Nitrogen Ice Cream
Quick Stop to pose with famous art at the Getty
Why so prickly? (#cactusgarden)
My happy place.
Road trip up to Malibu to a secret beach.
Can you tell she’d been crying?
CHICAGO!! Beautiful view from our penthouse AirBNB before the electricity was turned off.
Always gotta pose with Long Legs where I find them.
CHI-TOWN & SEGWAYS!
How gorgeous is this??
Also gorgeous: deep dish pizza.
Chicago Bronze Cow.
THE BEAN.

May – Cordoba, Seville, Granada, Madrid, Spain

Yeahhhh… this must have been when my blogging fell off because HOW DID I NOT TELL YOU GUYS ABOUT THIS TRIP!? It’s also when my Braid in Manhattan Instagram began, and I’m pretty sure there’s a correlation/causation there. Anyway, SPAIN. GO THERE. I fell in love with all the places we went, but my favorite was Granada. They have free food! Literally! Buy a drink, get amazing food for free. How can any place like that be bad? Also, we planned this trip during the famous Patio Festival in Cordoba, which was breathtaking. Cordoba now has the most UNESCO heritage sites as of this year! Jump on it before everyone else does. Trust me.

I loved traveling abroad with a group of girls. We all packed in backpacks and took trains around the country. I can’t wait for the next excursion.

June – Charleston, South Carolina

My best friend and I went to visit another friend in Charleston, SC and it was my first time there. It was fun to travel with a friend, especially since I usually fly solo (plus purple bear). We had lots of girly time, and I discovered the amazingness of Truly, a sparking water that is alcoholic. What? Amazing. We hung out at the pool, and the beach, and we rode around her neighborhood in her new golf cart. The next time we see each other will be at her wedding in ITALY! I’ll definitely have to tell you guys about that.

July – Beacon, New York

I said I didn’t travel in July but that is sort of a lie, I went upstate to Beacon, NY for my friend’s bachelorette! There was no airport involved (thank goodness) but it was still fun to get out of town for a bit. If you missed my blog about it, you can find it here!

Backpacking for the first time ever!
First train of MANY.
Our adorable Air bnb in Cordoba, actually one of the famous patios!
1st day Cordoba exploring.
First of a LOT of ham and sangria.
Free walking tour! We did one of these in every city.
The famous
Calleja de las Flores (Street of Flowers)
GORGEOUS patios.
Inside the Mezquita ( The Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba, aka the Great Mosque of Córdoba)
City #2: Sevilla!
Spanish Square (Plaza de Espana)
Alcazar
Blogger Photo at the Alcazar
Secret Flamenco show in Seville
More Trains Busses and Automobiles!
On the way to Granada
ALHAMBRA!
SO. MUCH. HAM.
posing on a hike up into the gypsy cave territory.
Flamenco show in cave of the Sacromonte of Granada
Final city of Spain: Madrid!
Mojitos on the top floor od a department store with an amazing outdoor patio
Charleston with my ladies!
Golf Cart Chillin.
Truly Sparkling and a FAB pool.
Bachelorette Party to Beacon!
Wine Tour commence!
How many vineyards can we hit in one day?
Hiking off the wine from the previous day!
More Vineyards
Out of Order Charleston Cycling
Any Airport with an insta-frame in a friend of mine.

August – WEDDING SZN! New Jersey, Philadelphia, Brooklyn

Within 5 weeks’ time, my emoji bf and I went to 3 weddings in 3 states. Gratefully, they were all accessible by train, and we even hitched a ride home from the New Jersey one in my cousin’s car.

September – Dublin, Ireland

What. A. Whirlwind. Thanks to my job and the many many Jewish holidays in the Fall, I was able to take a trip with my mom without taking any vacation days. We based ourselves in Dublin and took a few day trips out of the city to Cliffs of Moher, Cork, Galway, Blarney Castle, Rock of Cashel, and many other sites. We went to the Guinness Storehouse, Kilmainham Gaol (a historic jail), The Whiskey Museum, and a National Camogie Championship game. Then, as if sightseeing all day wasn’t enough, it happened that my friend from Florida was in Dublin at the same time with friends, so I went out and partied with them every night! I think I slept a maximum of 4 hours/night. It was SO fun, and I can’t wait to travel again with my mom.

October – Cancun, Mexico

This trip was for one sole purpose: relaxation. I definitely needed it after Ireland. Also, this trip came at the perfect time because it was in the middle of The Great Bed Bug Scare of 2018! It was Emoji-bf’s birthday, and all we wanted to do was sleep in and lay by the pool and read. Sure enough, that’s what we did! We also drank a lot, went to a glow party, and made new friends. But mostly, we relaxed.

November – Los Angeles, California

I went to LA again for work and hit up my favorite spots: Santa Monica beach path for a few runs, Philz for coffee, and Sidecar Doughnuts because DUH. Also, I got to have dinner with my college friend, and extended my visit to stay with my college roommate! We saw the BEST burlesque show EVER, Cherry Boom Boom, and now I follow them on Instagram and fall in love with every post. Also, we took a day trip to Joshua Tree National Park which was AWESOME. When we got back to Santa Monica, the smoke in the air from the wildfires was very intense. It’s been a rough year for the LA region.

Wedding #1! I was a bridesmaid in this one.
Wedding #2. How snazzy is my date?
Wedding #3! Same emoji, different dress.
Sister-Sister!
IRELAND! Whiskey barrels.
And lots of kegs.
Visiting one of the oldest jails.
GUINNESS!
Inside the Four Courts.
Up early… out late!
Cahir Castle and a few cannons
Inside the Cahir Castle.
Blarney Stone!
Climbing in and around the Blarney castle (my mom skipped this one).
Rock of Cashel!
Croke Park and CAMOGIE.
Outside the stadium
Cliffs of Moher
Selfie at the Cliffs
More Cliffs of Moher.
Largest glass of whiskey out there.
Galway City.
Trinity College
Selfies in Dublin.
RELAXIN in Mexico!
Beach and Bf = happy Emily
Glow par-tay.
I must be back in LA… SIDECAR!
My happy place.
First time at Joshua Tree. So gorgeous!
Explorin.
Joshua Tree Handstand.
How gorgeous is this??
KING OF THE WORLD!

November – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

After we spent real Thanksgiving in NYC because I was in the Macy’s Parade (did you guys really think I wouldn’t bring that up again??), we went to Philly for the weekend to see my parents and celebrate a belated Thanksgiving. This meant two feasts, which I will never say no to. My brother came, too! We ran a 5K together as a family and I did surprisingly well, considering how I swore off running for 6 months to heal my ankle. Most of our time in Philly was spent relaxing, but we capped off the weekend with a DELCIOUS third feast at a dim sum restaurant in Chinatown called Ocean Harbor.

December – Delray Beach/Boca Raton, Florida

At the beginning of the year, I was determined to travel more internationally, which meant forsaking a trip to Florida for the first year since I moved to New York! But by September, I really missed all my friends and I found a $207 roundtrip ticket on JetBlue and packed my bags. It’s so fun to visit my friends and soak in the warm temperatures.

December – Dallas, Texas

Every year we visit my emoji-bf’s non-emoji family in Texas for Christmas. It’s fun to get together and hang out, watch movies, wrap presents and eat way too much! I even snuck in a workout class and a run with his sisters. Even my brother drove from San Antonio to spend a few days with us. We went out for dinner and yummy cocktails with a college friend in Deep Ellum one night but other than that, we stayed pretty close to home. Also, Santa got me a new phone! Better resolution braiding pics coming soon!

Are you guys exhausted reading this? Because I am!! I love traveling, and I hope to do more of it in 2019. What are your plans for the new year? Any exciting destinations?