As I mentioned in my intro, Chad and I are not really “beach people.” We’d rather spend our vacations exploring cool stuff than relaxing the day away with a cold drink in hand (though evenings are good for the cold drink segment). However, for Chad’s folks’ 35th wedding anniversary, they wanted to do a family…
Category: Abroad
OLD BLOG – Sleeping on the Move
My husband and I are big fans of Rick Steves’ travel guides. Steves is a big proponent of maximizing your travel time by “sleeping on the move,” meaning taking an overnight train or boat between destinations so that you spend your waking hours at the places you want to see. On our 2011 trip to…
OLD BLOG – Roman Chinese Food is Great
Or, A Funny Coincidence By the time we got to Rome we’d been in Italy for a week, and as much as I love Italian food, there’s only so much pasta I can eat. On our 3rd day in Rome, we took a train out to the ruins at Ostia Antica. A large, young American…
OLD BLOG – The Northern Lights Chase Tour Was Necessary & Worth It
We had the unexpected opportunity to go to Oslo in 2011, and decided that, since we’d be in Norway in November, we’d really like to try to see the Aurora Borealis, aka the Northern Lights. I did a bunch of research and found a city called Tromso that is known for sightings and is large…
OLD BLOG – You Know That Resort Where Dirty Dancing Takes Place?
You know that resort where Dirty Dancing takes place? We found something similar, albeit smaller, in Italy. And it was the best place we stayed on our whole trip. It is called the Cuccaro Club and is in the hills outside the Cinque Terre, about 30 minutes from Levanto. I titled my Trip Advisor Review…
OLD BLOG – At least Try to Speak the Local Language (except in Scandinavia; nobody expects that)
Even when your attempt at Italian comes out in Spanish, they seem to appreciate the effort. We discovered a Europe full of English speakers, as long as we never assumed that the person would speak it. Start in the native tongue, no matter how garbled (but it has to be genuine), and we found that…
OLD BLOG – The Math on Why the Airport Lounge Entry Fee is Worth It
You’re traveling with your spouse or partner and are facing a 3-hour layover in a busy airport. Here’s the calculation my husband and I use to know that the $100 (when the fee is $50 per person) we’re forking over to our airline to enter their lounge area is worth it: Wi-fi $10 This…
OLD BLOG – Always Say Yes to “Frutti Di Mare” (or “les fruits de mer” or “sea fruits”)
One thing we learned in France and Italy traveling along the Mediterranean coast: if a dish includes “frutti di mare” or “les fruits de mer” (which I guess literally translates to “sea fruits;” a server in Italy adorably translated it that way the first time we asked, rather than the more correct-sounding “sea food”), order…
OLD BLOG – Surviving the Layover
If you live in the Midwest like we do, it can be hard to find a direct flight to the destinations you want, and even when direct flights exist they can be budget breakers. A one-stop flight isn’t a bad option if you know how to make the most of a layover. Here are our…
OLD BLOG – You Don’t Really Need 3 Meals a Day
(or at least we don’t) So you’re a foodie. Or actually, you hate the term “foodie” but are a person who recognizes and appreciates good food. Also, you want wine with your meal, or at the very least a beer, and yes, something sweet at the end as well. Can this be done, when you…