Toner's — Located about a ten minute walk from our hotel, this pub was listed as the best place to try Guinness in Dublin so, of course, we had to check it out. On Friday night it was absolutely jam...
Blog posts from International Travel
Dublin: daytrip to Wicklow
I found a crazy cheap rental car deal for the weekend so on Saturday we headed south out of town for the day toward Wicklow Mountains National Park. Light rain turned to light snow and as we...
Dublin: where we stayed
For whatever reason, hotels were quite pricey for the weekend we were in Dublin and we weren't finding any good deals near the river. Leandra found a great rate on a car rental, so I expanded the...
London: Lumiere + The Play that Goes Wrong
Upon arriving back in London for the afternoon, Google alerted Eric that the Lumiere Light Festival was starting that evening. My aunt had mentioned it previously but we assumed we would miss it....
London: food + drink in Berkshire Co.
Bracknell The Yorkshire Rose — We weren't terribly hungry after a substantial Sunday roast lunch, so we were drawn by the options of small plates. Not too busy on a Sunday night with just two other...
London: Sunday Roast with Aunt Kim + Jules
We purposely left Sunday morning free to meet up with Kim and Jules, who proposed lunch at a pub on the Thames. To get out there we took the Tube to the Kew Garden station and met up at Tap on the...
London: Imperial War Museum, a Polish Kitchen + the death of my phone
Our flight landed early at Heathrow and because we have done this trip over a dozen times it took us no time at all to get to our hotel in Earl's Court. As it was Saturday morning there were...
2017 Travel Overview
Previous years-in-review – 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009 Some of our travel stats for the year: 122k+ total air miles on 6 airlines: American Airlines, Southwest, British Airways,...
Shanghai: M50 & Jing’na Sculpture Park
Today was to be the day for travel to the nearby ancient town Suzhou... but alas, we were thwarted! Though there are a reported 60 train trips available between the two cities, we couldn't get a...
Shanghai 2017: Nanxing
After a leisurely breakfast, we spent a couple of hours Friday morning on FaceTime with family and friends wishing everyone a happy Thanksgiving back in the States (where it was still Thursday...
Shanghai: Thanksgiving Dinner
Before we left for our relaxing trip to Hangzhou, I had made a dinner reservation for Thursday night at Cucina at the Hyatt. Unfortunately, neither of us checked WHICH Hyatt the restaurant was...
Shanghai 2017: overnight to Hangzhou
Wednesday For the middle of our trip we decided to visit one of the nearby cities, Hangzhou, which is famous for its leafy West Lake. To get there we took the metro about 45 minutes to the cavernous...
Shanghai: Qibao Ancient Town + Shanghai Circus
Rain was in the forecast and arrived as promised on Tuesday morning. After breakfast, we waited a bit for the rain to let up then jumped on the subway for about 40 minutes to Qibao Ancient Town....
Shanghai: Yuyuan Gardens + Tianxifang
Our hotel was about a ten minute walk from the famous Yuyuan Gardens, so we decided to start there. After making our way through the maze of stores we found the small ticket counter, where it was...
Shanghai 2017: overview, arrival, and hotel
Beijing was our first trip to mainland China two years ago, and it left us with a bad taste in our mouths. Literally - the air quality was so bad when we visited that it hurt our throats. But China...
Paris 2017: food & drink
Thursday Lunch @ Le Petit Marche - Having just landed and dropped off our bags we needed lunch, quickly! Even at 1:30p this restaurant was packed, but they managed to squeeze us into a small table....
Paris 2017: picnic in Luxembourg Gardens
After visiting the Musée de l'Orangerie and several other sights on Sunday, we took the metro down to the Saint Germain area and picked up picnic supplies for a relaxing lunch in the Luxembourg...
Paris 2017: sights
On this trip we spent a lot of time inside the major museums and a palace, which will have their own posts. In between we wandered around the city enjoying the many Parisian sights, taking full...
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)