Over the past few years we have accumulated a stash of Lufthansa miles but using them on an award ticket can be expensive due to fuel surcharges ($600-$800 per ticket!). Booking with their...
Blog posts from International Travel
Netherlands 2015: daytrip to Utrecht
So many cities are accessible from Amsterdam that we couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit a city new to us. The hardest part was deciding which one to visit! After a little Google research, we...
Netherlands 2015: Amsterdam flowers and art
We spent most of Saturday with our friends, so our touring of Amsterdam was primarily on Sunday. In the morning we went to the Bloemenmarkt, something we had inexplicably missed on our first trip....
Netherlands 2015: Amsterdam food & drink
Saturday After a lovely overnight in Den Bosch, we headed back to Amsterdam, checked into our hotel and met up with friends for a walk through Vondelpark and beers. Craft & Draft - For the first...
Netherlands 2015: Den Bosch
While planning a previous European trip I came across a Dutch town named 's-Hertogenbosch (aka Den Bosch) that was known for old walls, canals, and as the hometown of Jheronimus Bosch, an artist...
Netherlands 2015: Introduction
After a summer at home we were itching to travel again, and visiting The Netherlands was an easy way to transition back to suitcases, airplanes, and lots of photos. We'd been to Amsterdam in August...
UK 2015: London – Day 2
Friday morning we awoke to a beautiful morning of blue skies, so we decided to explore Notting Hill. We started along the famous Portobello Road, and quickly found several interesting shops and road...
UK 2015: London – Day 1
Thursday We arrived in London's Kings Cross station, adjacent to the beautiful old brick St. Pancras station. Due to our unfortunate visit to the lost & found office, we also saw the famous...
UK 2015: First Class train to London
There was enough drama with our connecting flight from London to Edinburgh (AA and BA changing the flight time - multiple times) that we were happy we chose the train for the return leg. Because we...
UK 2015: Edinburgh
Tuesday We dropped off the car after a long day of driving and walked back toward the airport's tram station. For 5£ each we were in the heart of Edinburgh in about 20 minutes. Thankfully the key...
UK 2015: Speyside to Edinburgh
Our group discussed a few options for what to do along the way to Edinburgh, and Eric and I were outvoted in favor of a trip to the east coast for castle and shore views. Our first stop was in...
UK 2015: Exploring Speyside
Monday was our day that revolved completely around whisky tasting in Speyside. We started off rather early with a 10am reservation for the 'Essential' tour and tasting at Benromach. Although we...
UK 2015: Grantown-on-Spey
After our long day in the car, I needed to get a quick walk around town to check out the snow. As I was taking photos of the church, the pastor's wife waved me over and invited me for post-church...
UK 2015: Glencoe and Ben Nevis
Heading north out of Callander we stopped briefly at the Trossachs Mills for a few shots of Hamish and Honey, the wooly highland cows. A few miles down the road, and though my car registered the...
UK 2015: West Trossachs & Callander
We got a bit of a later start due to our late night before... but after coffee and some pastries we were ready to roll. On our 2013 trip we explored the east side which was twistier with more scenic...
UK 2015: Glasgow nights
We only had two nights in Glasgow, but based on our experiences here we definitely want to go back; hopefully, next time we will experience some things in the day too! Thursday night Situated just...
UK 2015: Southern Scotland daytrip
One of the major to-dos on our trip was for our friend to visit her family castle, MacClellan's Castle. Located in southern Scotland, we decided to make it a day-trip from Glasgow and visit several...
UK 2015: Stirling
We landed at the Edinburgh airport in the late morning, and feeling reasonably energetic, we decided to make a side trip to Stirling instead of heading straight to Glasgow. The rental car took about...
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)