Puerto Natales is a small town that definitely caters to people visiting Torres del Paine. Unimarc is the main grocery store in town. The parking lot was a mess with cars parked along the perimeter...
Blog posts from Food & Drink
Oregon Wine Tasting, Dec 2019
Since we are members of two wine clubs in the Willamette Valley, we wanted to get out to there to do some tasting of the wines that had been released and get a feel for what would be released soon....
Japan: Osaka, Day 2 – Minoh Falls and small whisky bars
At this point in the trip we were longing to experience some nature so when the sun came out on Wednesday we looked at public transit to Minoh (Minoo) Falls. Apparently, there was a delay on one of...
Japan: Kyoto, Day 3 – Fushimi Inari Taisha, Higashiyama, Yakitori, Hot Springs
Even though our feet were pretty worn out at this point of the trip we couldn't skip the 3.5 km hike through thousands of painted orange gates at Fushimi Inari Taisha. Many people suggest going...
Japan: Kyoto, Day 2 – Daigoji Temple, Konchi-in Temple, Tonkatsu, Bar Cordon Noir
A visitor is spoiled for choice in Kyoto when it comes to temples, so after eliminating a few options that seemed expensive or were partially under construction, we landed on Daigoji. It's located...
Japan: omakase dinner at Sushi Harumi
While planning for this trip, I was looking up affordable places to try an omakase dinner experience. Omakase is translated as "I leave it up to you" and features a chef preparing multiple courses...
Japan: long layover in NYC
Our flight up to New York on Jet Blue was smooth and left on time. After landing, we were slightly delayed getting off the plane due to jet bridge issues but thankfully we were in no hurry. Uber and...
Dinner at Yamazushi Japanese Restaurant
Yamazushi has been on my want-to-go list for years but I knew Eric would not be into all the fish. When their website was redesigned recently, I noticed a price increase starting in 2020 so I talked...
Namibia: Qatar business class
As mentioned in the intro post, we booked our trip with miles into business class. We had flown Qatar once before on our way to Oman, so we were quite excited to fly them again, and this time try...
Namibia: Windhoek
After our last breakfast buffet of the trip we packed up the car and headed south to Windhoek, stopping briefly at a small waterhole just north of the Anderson Gate. ...450km later(!) we arrived in...
Namibia: Otjiwarongo
The drive from Omaruru to the Hadassa Guest House in Otjiwarongo was straightforward and full of warthog sightings! He was not in a hurry or his tail would be straight up! Upon arrival, we were...
Namibia: Roidina Safari Lodge
As requested in their pre-arrival email, we called the lodge from the winery to give them a heads up on our arrival time, and they said they were expecting us. From the gate it's a about a 15 minute...
Namibia: Erongo Mountain Winery
On the way to our next lodging spot outside of Omaruru we stopped to taste a few wines at one of the few wineries in Namibia, Erongo Mountain Winery. The winery itself is located at the end of a...
Namibia: weekend in South Africa
In the middle of our Namibia trip we flew down to Cape Town, South Africa, for a long weekend with Leandra's aunt and uncle. Thursday Our flight from Walvis Bay was was quick and easy, arriving in...
Namibia: Swakopmund + Walvis Bay
After our long drive through the mostly boring desert, we got into town around 2:30pm, parked the car in the secure parking area at the hotel and relaxed for a couple hours in our room (#2) at the...
Namibia: Moon Mountain Lodge
By the time we returned from the Water Kloof hike our bags had been delivered to our room, so after a refreshing welcome drink of sparkling lemonade we headed over. Our tent was quite large, bigger...
Namibia: Desert Camp
After gassing up and a quick lunch in Solitaire we completed the rest of the (very bumpy) drive to our accommodations for the next two nights — Desert Camp. We were assigned the last unit on the...
Portugal 2019: Douro daytrip
Our Douro Valley daytrip with EFun Tours had a late start due to three Brazilian ladies who couldn't find parking. Thankfully we got along fine with the other couple on the tour, two retired...
Our Itinerary
2025 Trips
Tampa Bay, FL (Jan)
Buenos Aires, Argentina (Feb)
Villa la Angostura, Argentina (Feb)
Bariloche, Argentina (Feb)
Iguazu Falls, Argentina + Brazil (Feb)
Miami, FL (Feb)
Richmond, VA (Mar)
Boston, MA (Apr)
Kathmandu, Nepal (May)
Bhutan (May)
Slovenia (Sep)
Treviso, Italy (Sep)
Bologna, Italy (Sep)
Turin, Italy (Oct)
2024 Trips
San Diego, CA (Jan)
Sarasota, FL (Feb)
Madrid, Spain (Mar)
Valencia, Spain (Mar+Apr)
Palma, Mallorca (Apr)
Croatia (May)
Long Island, NY (July)
Faroe Islands (Aug)
London, UK (Sept)
Puglia, Italy (Sept)
Matera, Italy (Oct)
Rome, Italy (Oct)
Mosel Valley, Germany (Oct)
Frankfurt, Germany (Oct)
London + Manchester, UK (Dec)
2023 Trips
San Diego (Jan)
Orlando (Feb)
Richmond, VA (Apr)
Northern Italy (Apr)
NC Mountains (May)
Long Island (Jul)
Wisconsin (Aug)
Chicago (Aug)
Oak Island, NC (Sept)
Brooklyn, NY (Sept)
Bordeaux + Rugby World Cup (Sep)
Castilla y León (Sep)
Seychelles (Nov)
Willamette Valley (Dec)