Travel Recap 2018

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 2nd 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.

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!

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.

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?

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Seattle and Vancouver

I have been neglecting you guys!! My loyal blog-readers. Well I am back, hopefully with a vengeance. Things in my life have been crazy recently, between realizing we couldn’t afford the crazy rent increase for our apartment, trying to find an apartment within 2 weeks’ time, applying for an apartment… ok, this whole apartment business deserves its own blog post, which is coming soon.

Anyway, I’ve been busy. And one of the reasons is because I’ve been gallivanting around the west coast of the US and Canada with my best friend. I know, I know, play the world’s smallest violin for me. Too bad, so sad.

I had a blast. I can’t share all of the details from my trip on here because, quite frankly, you don’t want to read them. But I will give a highlights reel in bullet-point form, because lists are easier to read, and hopefully this way you don’t skim through all of my hard, carpal-tunnel-inducing work on LongLegsBigCity.

  • Flight actually left on time. WHAT? Crazy. Yes, this requires its own bullet point. I highly recommend JetBlue to absolutely anyone. Also, their points NEVER EXPIRE. And they have free wifi! And legroom! This trip was off to a great start.
  • Late night happy hour at Toulouse Petit. Their menu touts that it was rated 5th Greatest Restaurant in the USA by TripAdvisor. It was good but that is very aggressive.
  • First Day: Food tour of Pike’s Place Market. Highly recommend, yet again. I’d been to Pike’s Place before, but I learned so much history from the tour guide! Also, we got to eat at 6 different places (Daily Dozen Doughnut Co., Elleno’s Greek Yogurt, Beecher’s Handmade Cheese, Pike Place Chowder, Chukar Cherries, Piroshky Piroshky AND Etta’s Seafood). How could that be bad??
  • Drove to Vancouver. Holy hell that took a long time. Who knew that border-crossing lines took long than Disneyworld pre-fast-pass? We arrived 2 hours later than planned. Thank goodness we bought $30 in gas station snacks for the 3-hour (turned 5-hour) drive.
  • Our air BnB was awesome!! It was an adventure trying to get the keys though. There was a fire exit involved. Also, the way the host gave us the keys… he just left the door propped open? For how long, no one knows. I made my friend come with me and check every closet and shower (there were 2.5 bathrooms!) for a hiding serial killer. Spoiler Alert: there were no serial killers.
  • The Parking pass our Air Bnb guy gave us for the parking garage (one of the reasons we picked this air bnb) clearly stated 6-hour-parking all over it. Also, the spots in the garage said that. We were worried all weekend that we would be towed. Air bnb man did not speak English very well in his messages and his response “Sure! 😊” to our question “The parking pass says 6 hours. Can we park there overnight? Will we get towed?” did not help. Spoiler Alert #2: we were not towed. PHEW!
  • Discovered 2 liquor stores within 3 blocks walking distance. Purchased booze at said liquor stores. This also came in handy later.
  • Hooked up to the wifi, googled best dinner places. Found a place called Gringo. The reviews for the food were FAMAZING, and they had drinks called “White Girl W@$sted” and “Poor Man’s Sangria.” We knew we had to go. The wait was 45 minutes AND it was raining. But after 20 minutes, we were tipped off that we could go inside and take tequila shots while we waited. Game changed. Food was AMAZING (especially after the tequila shots).

  • Day 2: Hit the free gym in the condo complex first to sweat out some tequila. Works every time. Pro Tip: Running on a treadmill with a hangover is bad in every country. Even with the lights dimmed.
  • It stopped raining! Tried to go on a walking tour of Vancouver. Couldn’t find the fountain meeting place. Asked inside a museum. Was informed that the plaza was “re-landscaped” aka paved over, and there was no fountain anymore. Still couldn’t find the walking tour. Did come across a man cleaning a public restroom. He found a Livestrong Bracelet in the toilet. Remember those? We gave up on the walking tour.
  • We decided to instead give ourselves a walking tour on our way to brunch. Great compromise. We walked around downtown and then ended up at Lamplighter Pub for a Bluegrass Brunch. It was amazing because they served poutine and did a bluegrass version of Hit Me Baby One More Time. It was already a great day.
  • We walked alllll the way to Granville Market mostly because we had time, and it had stopped raining. Also, because I had just eaten poutine. Granville was adorable. Lots of food booths, but after our 80-minute walk we were tired.

  • We took a cab back to our condo. I LEFT MY CELL PHONE IN THE CAB. Uber doesn’t exist in Vancouver, so we had no way to track it. Of course my cellular data was off because I was in Canada so I couldn’t call it. I tried to track down the cab from my credit card charge, but it wasn’t even pending yet. I found a Parking Police Person. I asked her what to do. She told me to try and remember what color the cab was, and find the company to call based on that color. Unfortunately, I thought it was blue and my best friend thought it was yellow. Also, I didn’t have a phone to call a company. My best friend google-image-searched Vancouver cabs, and was CONVINCED it was from a company called Black Top Cabs based on the photos. I scheduled a cab by using their website. Two minutes later, a cab pulled up, and it looked just like the one we were in… but it wasn’t. I asked the driver to call dispatch and ask about a cab coming from Granville where the customer left a phone. Sure enough I hear someone over the radio say “Yep, I’ve got it.” (WTF!?). The dispatch said “Either you can go get it or he can bring it to you but he may charge a $15 delivery charge” (aka like $12 American). I am not an idiot so I said PLEASE PLEASE BRING IT. I prepared to wait on the street for a while. Less than 3 minutes later, the guy pulled up with my phone. I handed him $20 American, and he seemed thrilled. It worked out for both of us. Cue the 3-minute walk to the liquor store because I REALLY needed it at that point.
  • Pre-drinking at the condo. Planning out Spain girls’ trip for May. (SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS!) Googled “Best Indian Food in Vancouver.” Discovered Salam Bombay. So. Delicious.
  • We wanted to go dancing and failed miserably the night before, so we tried harder the second night. We even waited in a non-moving line at a club. We eventually gave up and started wandering looking for a bar. We came across Relish The Pub. We saw a woman dancing like crazy inside. Just one woman. She was a bodybuilder. She did bodybuilding poses every 2 minutes within her dance marathon. We knew it was up to us to join the party. They had an amazing DJ who played all of our requests. We danced for 3 hours straight. We got 14,000 steps after midnight. My Fitbit registered more than 2 hours of “aerobic activity.”
  • At one point in the night, my friend pointed to the floor and said “look.” I looked. It was $100!!! In American money, nonetheless. She told me later she thought it was $1! This paid for our next night.

  • Late night shawarma.
  • Meaning well, we set the alarm to go to the gym. It didn’t happen. I checked my fitbit. Remembered the 14,000 steps after midnight. Decided it was ok.
  • Drove back toward Seattle. Both of us had Global Entry so we got to drive in the fastpass Nexus Lane. It saved us at least an hour at the border!
  • We stopped for a stretch break and walk at Deception Pass. Photos do not do it justice. SO. BEAUTIFUL.

  • Lunch in La Conner, WA at Santo Coyote. We had amazing (and inexpensive) food this whole trip.
  • Relaxed at my bff’s house for a quick bit, while her psycho-energetic-puppy jumped all over us. Then we googled “Best Ice Cream in Seattle.” I can’t help myself! #30Years30IceCreams will stay with me forever. We met up with one of her friends at Kurt Farm Shop, where we had cheese ice cream, and many other unique and delicious flavors. It left a weird film on the roof of my mouth, but besides that, it was pretty darn good.
  • Even with this bullet list, is this blog getting long? I think it is. I’ll try to wrap up. We did so many things!!
  • Day 4: MLK Day. Hike up Little Si with Charlie (the girl puppy with a boy name). She was happy we brought her. The views were amazing! A totally clear day in January in Seattle. Complete miracle.
  • I met my best friend’s boyfriend at dinner. We went to Tai Tung, which is famous for being Bruce Lee’s favorite restaurant. He even has a table dedicated to him. But more importantly, I got to meet my BFF’s bf. This is important because I have a history of hating her boyfriends. I know hate is a strong word, but it’s entirely appropriate here. Anyway, I actually liked this one! MIRACLE. Also, he picked up the tab. Doesn’t hurt. We made him take home the leftovers.
  • Went to VERY divey dive bar called Joe’s. VERY. Divey. Cash only. They don’t even have a website for me to link. I was introduced to pull-tabs. We won $4!! We spent $20… but still. All drinks paid for by our found Benjamin.
  • Late night 2nd Dinner at Ba Bar. Vietnamese. Pho. Moscow Mules at Late Night Happy Hour price. Who could ask for more?

  • Day 5: SEGWAY TOUR OF SEATTLE!! Y’all know I love to Segway. The tour guide kind of sucked, but Segway-ing is so fun it didn’t even matter. Plus, we got a Groupon! Plus, it wasn’t raining! PLUS, it was called Magic Carpet Glide. It couldn’t be bad.
  • Lunch at Ivar’s. Fish and Chips. So. Good. Plus the view was amazing. It still wasn’t raining!
  • Stopped at Tiffany’s. Had to make sure my BFF knows the kind of ring I want. You never know, right? 😉 LOL
  • Spent the rest of the afternoon on the couch watching Sex & the City DVD’s to round out a perfect trip.
  • My flight back to NYC left EARLY! JETBLUE FTW. 21 days ‘til my next flight. Also JetBlue because I am now a loyal customer.

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