We positioned ourselves in Wanaka both coming from and heading back to Christchurch. For simplicity's sake we decided to stay at the same B&B both times and we're glad we did. Suzy and Caroline...
Blog posts from International Travel
New Zealand – Route 6 drive to Haast Beach
For our first day in Wanaka we decided to head north for views of Lake Hawea and Lake Wanaka, then on through the lush Haast Pass. Thankfully there were numerous pull-outs which let us enjoy some...
New Zealand – drive to Wanaka
On our first morning we woke up early, feeling mostly refreshed after two previous evenings on planes. We decided to skip the pricey buffet breakfast at the hotel and just head back to the airport...
New Zealand: planning and flights
New Zealand has been a travel goal for years with good reason - wine, mountains, waterfalls, craft beer... it definitely seemed like our kind of destination. In 2014 we finally managed to book a...
Hong Kong mileage run: departure
By now I was much more adept at navigating my way around the Sheung Wan and Central Stations, so finding my way back to the airport express train was a breeze. I had a little cash left over from my...
Hong Kong mileage run: day 2
I didn't sleep well the night before, so I awoke early and made myself a list of things to do before I headed out tomorrow afternoon. 1. Buy French macarons I had researched a famous place before I...
Hong Kong mileage run: day 1
Saturday I woke up early after a restful night's sleep and got some computer work done after breakfast and before heading out to two different gardens. Hong Kong Park — This is a lovely greenspace...
Hong Kong mileage run: arrival
Technically this trip started on Wednesday evening as I flew to Dallas and spent the night before continuing on to Hong Kong on Thursday morning. I am glad I did this because the middle seat was...
Belgium 2014: Daytrip to Ghent
Belgian Rail had a Christmas rate for 11 euros (round trip) that applied for some weekends and the days leading up to Christmas, so a day trip to Ghent was definitely in order. As with our previous...
Belgium 2014: Fun in Brussels
Sunday After our night in Antwerp we took the train back to Brussels and met up with our friends Andrew and Kristin (on their honeymoon) and Jeremy and Tracey (who recently moved to Amsterdam). The...
Belgium 2014: Antwerp and the OBER Christmas beer festival in Essen
We learned about the O.B.E.R. Christmas Beer festival several years ago, and ended up building our Euro-Asia trip around attending. The festival features ~200 winter beers, many of which are rare...
Exploring Taiwan: day 3
Thursday For Thursday we decided we wanted to hike some of the Taipei hills, so we choose Elephant Hill which is renowned for its view over the city. As usual, we took the MRT, this time to...
Exploring Taiwan: day 2
Wednesday Weather forecasts had predicted that Wednesday would be the coldest of our trip so we decided to stay closer and explore the city with an all day MRT pass. We started at Xingtian Temple,...
Exploring Taiwan: arrival and day 1
Monday After two days of travel we landed at Taipei airport just as the sun set. Immigration was only a short line and then we were out in the main terminal where our first order of business was...
Taiwan the long way: where we stayed
Hotel 73 - Taipei, Taiwan After getting turned around coming out of the Dongmen MRT metro (note: Taiwanese maps don't always have north at the top, and maps in different parts of the metro station...
Taiwan the long way: a day in Vienna
When setting up our trip we needed a long layover in Europe, and Vienna was a familiar place for it since it is relatively easy to get into town from the airport, plus - Christmas markets! On...
Taiwan, the long way
For our final 2014 trip we booked a near-round-the-world ticket to Taipei, Taiwan, with stops in Europe in both directions. As with most of our longer trips we used miles, in this case US Air miles,...
France Nov 2014: Bordeaux food and drink
Bordeaux Beer Shop - walking down Rue des Faures toward the Basilica of St. Michael I noticed the word 'beer' out of the corner of my eye. Leandra was across the street and chatting with the...
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)