#wherearchthou

[wherearchthou]

Australia

G’Day, Mates! We were happy to find that people in Australia really do use the word ‘mate’ all the time. When we were in the planning stages of this trip, Australia was hands down one of the most challenging pieces to plan. Knowing we only had a week, and Australia is almost the same size as the US, we relied heavily on advice from friends who had been to Australia or had lived in Australia. It seemed like each person we asked for advice had a different opinion than the last person. Some pieces of advice included: “Go to Sydney, it’s amazing.” “Skip Sydney. It’s touristy…so go to Melbourne instead.” “You can’t miss the Great Barrier Reef. “ “The Great Barrier Reef takes a really, really long time to get to.” “Go to Darwin- it’s the most authentic city in Australia.”

While the advice was all beyond helpful, informative, and detailed, given our time frame, you can see why it was challenging to plan. We quickly came to the realization that we clearly couldn’t see all we wanted to see in a single week. We knew we would love whatever we decided because...it’s Australia. After an overnight flight from Bali, our first stop brought us to Sydney where the weather was sunny, yet much cooler than the warm weather we experienced everywhere else on this trip. We were happy to finally use the winter weather clothes we packed. We had an amazing AirBnB host who let us check in early and gave us a brief overview of the neighborhood where we were staying. We set out for brunch at a small local restaurant called Yellow, where Nicole Kidman (!!) dines when she is in Australia. We spent the rest of the day wandering the must see areas of Sydney. When we turned the corner to see the Harbor Bridge and the Opera House it was one of those ‘knock your socks off’ views. Similar to seeing the Eiffel Tower or the Statue of Liberty. You just don’t forget the feeling when you see something so iconic. It’s also impossible not to think about Finding Nemo and continuously say, “P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney.” Which I obviously did the whole time.

Based on a recommendation from our AirBnB host, we hopped aboard a ferry to Manly Beach. We had an afternoon snack, coupled with a beer called Jet Lag, which was exactly what we needed to fight off the jet lag from our flight. The ferry ride gave amazing views of the Sydney Harbor. On the way back, we saw the Opera House lit up at night, which was equally as stunning as seeing it in the sunshine.

Our next day in Sydney was spent exploring smaller neighborhoods. We took a train across the Harbor Bridge and found a tiny park called Wendy’s Secret Garden. A woman named Wendy built this entire park in front of her house for the public to use in memory of her late husband. 

We walked back across the Harbor Bridge to an area of Sydney called The Rocks. It was filled with pubs and cobblestoned streets. At this point, it started to downpour, so we popped into the Hyde Park Barracks museum. Second to visiting the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, this museum was one of my favorites. It took me 30 years, but I’ve finally realized I truly value museums that let you experience something the way that it was actually experienced. In this museum, which gives a glimpse into how and why convicts were transported to Australia during the 1800′s, it meant taking a rest in replica hammocks where the convicts slept.

After exploring neighborhoods in Sydney such as Surry Hills and Woolloomooloo, we boarded our flight to Melbourne. Melbourne greeted us with cloudy skies and another very friendly AirBnB host who immediately gave us recommendations. His suggestions set us off to the Queen Victoria Market, just a couple of blocks away. The massive market had us oogling at fresh produce, meat, seafood, and cheese. We then walked through the central business district to Chinatown to grab some delicious dumplings. The picture below is actually from a restaurant in Manly beach, but I loved the meaning behind it and it just fit better in this spot.

Our next morning in Melbourne took us to our rental car company, where we cautiously rented a car to drive on the other side of the road. Props to Nick who drove us safely out of Melbourne, which meant tackling a right “hook” turn, tram tracks, and roundabouts- within the first 2 blocks of renting the car. 

We rented a car to be able to drive the Great Ocean Road (GOR) along the Southern Coast, also known as the Surf Coast. We stopped at absolutely amazing sights such as Bells Beach, The Twelve Apostles, Loch Ard Gorge, The Arch, London Bridge, and The Grotto…to name a few. We stayed 2 nights along the GOR. One night in a youth hostel (admittedly, I booked this thinking it was a great way to save money…let’s just say that cinder block walls don’t give off a very cozy vibe on a cold night) and one night in an adorable AirBnB (I also booked this and redeemed myself for the youth hostel). We enjoyed traveling the GOR at our own pace, eating PB and J while driving through amazing scenery, and experiencing a very popular spot during the low season.

We arrived back in Melbourne for two more nights of city exploring. Melbourne is very trendy and hip and we made every attempt possible at making the few pieces of clothing we packed come across as mildly trendy (obviously, this was unsuccessful). Nonetheless, we loved this city. Alleyways filled with street art, graffiti artists painting as you walk by, damn good food, a free tram in the middle of the city, really good coffee, and adorable stores to lazily wander in and out of…what’s not to love?! [shoutout to Nancy in the 3rd picture below]

We are continuing our way hopping across the globe and are now on the South Island of New Zealand (Gasp! We didn’t go to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia…we know…as I said, it was a very hard decision). It’s been almost exactly 10 years since I was on the South Island studying abroad in college and I couldn’t be more excited to be back here to show Nick why I love this country. Completely unrelated, but I’ll leave you with this adorable pic of my third favorite FaceTimer, Sam. He’s so chatty…I can barely get a word in….

[wherearchthou]

London

We more than enjoyed spending 5 days in our first stop. It felt like we were constantly on the go the whole time we were there, yet we left saying, “We’ll just have to come back” because there was so much we didn’t see. 

We narrowly avoided an AirBnB disaster, which I would say was our lowest point yet. When we arrived in London, we took our time knowing that we couldn’t check into our AirBnB until 4pm. We had a delicious Indian lunch at a restaurant called Dishoom, which was recommended by many people who gave us their “must-do in London” lists. After Dishoom, we hauled it up to the Tube with all our luggage to check-in to our AirBnB. After trying the electronic lock code on the door so many times that it started making strange beeps and flashing lights, we attempted to contact our AirBnB host to no avail. No phone call answer. No e-mail response. No message response. By this point, it had started pouring rain. So we take all our luggage and go to a coffee shop and then proceed to call corporate AirBnB because we didn’t know what else to do. They were somewhat helpful, essentially saying they would put us in a (similarly priced) hotel for the night until it was able to be straightened out. But we had to find the hotel. We decided we would try the lock one last time and sure enough, on our walk back to the apartment, we got a call from our AirBnB host profusely apologizing, saying there was, in fact, an error on the lock and he reset it. If you’re still reading after this long and boring story, you should know that we did get a credit from corporate AirBnB for our troubles. If you find yourself in this situation, go ahead and call corporate AirBnB so they can help. 

We forced ourselves to stay awake our first day in order to adjust to the time change [read: Nick forced me to stay awake...I was ready to call it a night at 6PM]. We went to a local pub called Prince Alfred. Here, I was greeted with my first luke warm beer and the fanciest looking pub I’d ever seen. Needless to say, a full nights sleep had us up and ready to explore London the next morning. 

We spent our first full day in London walking 13 miles around the city. We had breakfast at a Middle Eastern restaurant called Honey and Company. The rest of the day was spent oogling at many of the “must see” tourist sights including Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Parliament, Buckingham Palace, and legitimately getting lost in Harrods. Since Nick studied abroad in London in college, I felt like I had a personal tour guide. When we walked out of Westminster Abbey, we were stopped by large barricades, police, and people with cameras. Turns out, we had JUST MISSED THE QUEEN. You can ask Nick, but I was really upset about this for about an hour. I never actually thought I would get that close to a royal sighting, so it was almost more disappointing to just miss her. Apparently, the King of Spain was visiting for the first time in 31 years so there was much more “pomp and circumstance” (police officer’s words) than normal due to his visit. The road leading to the Palace was lined with Great Britain’s flag and Spain’s flag. Nonetheless, we saw a marching band followed by a horse parade. 

We left our almost Queen sighting to walk toward our fancy afternoon tea at Fortnum and Mason that we decided to treat ourselves to. While this was delicious and neat to do, it was most likely a huge waste of money. We weren’t hungry enough to eat everything and we don’t know anything about tea. We both like Earl Grey tea. Pretty sure Earl Grey tea is the most basic form of tea you can drink. We also didn’t have the best service (for the amount of money we were paying) so that probably left us with a sour taste as well. Worth it though was watching Nick look so uncomfortable in a fancy and proper place. We split two trays of fancy biscuits, tea sandwiches, and scones. There were many knives given to us. I just assumed I was supposed to use them all, so I did. We will never know what all those knives were for. If I’d seen the Queen, I bet I would have known how to use the knives. You can see the not so fancy aftermath with the pile of knives left on my plate in the pictures below.

Our apartment was in an area called Little Venice. We enjoyed wandering the canals and looking at people’s extremely narrow houseboats that they lived on. We wandered our way to another local pub, Warwick Castle, for dinner. We walked into this pub to realize that it was “Game Night” aka Trivia Night. They were halfway through and we immediately noticed a huge difference in how trivia is played. In the UK, the trivia person simply reads the questions, you write your answers down on your own piece of paper, and then you SELF-GRADE your paper. Stark contrast to how trivia is played in the US where you take your answer up after each question for someone else to grade and there are constant reminders about not using your cell phone to cheat.

The next morning, we went to the most adorable breakfast place called Clifton Nurseries. We were in need of some healthy food options and this was a great spot. It was very quaint, tucked all the way back into the greenhouse of a local nursery. Continuing with the royal theme, we walked to Kensington palace, took a self-guided tour where we saw that (a long time ago) the Queen got shafted on her living quarters in relation to where the King lived. The highlight of Kensington Palace was the Princess Diana fashion exhibit. The exhibit highlighted how socially aware Princess Diana was in terms of making sure she was wearing clothing appropriate to the setting (e.g., ‘comfortable’ clothes when she was around children). Years ago, my mom, Nancy, and I saw Princess Diana’s wedding dress when it was on display at an exhibit in Atlanta. My mom was more than obsessed with Princess Di and I know she would have loved this fashion exhbiit.

Our last two days in London brought a visit to the Churchill War rooms, a walk through Trafalgar Square, multiple stops for cheap coffee and snacks at the ever popular Pret a Manger, a climb up St. Paul’s Cathedral for a 360-degree view of London, and walks over the Millenium Bridge and the Tower Bridge. We also managed to sneak in a performance of The Lion King one night, explore Borough Market for a mid-afternoon snack, and then found some tiny breweries in the Bermondsey area. We capped off the trip with a stop at an underground pub called Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese for a classic fish and chips meal complete with mushy peas, because well, we had to. 

London was good to us and if we learned anything, it’s that not only do the British sound lovely when they talk, they are resilient, respectful, and honest people- the way that trivia is played really sealed the deal for me on that one. We ended up at many of the sights of the recent London attacks and, from what we could tell, the people of London didn't let these acts stop them from living their lives.

More updates to come soon, but for now, we are enjoying the blue skies, plentiful wine, and warm weather in Lisbon, Portugal. 

[wherearchthou]

Lombok

After an overnight layover in the Singapore airport, we made our way to Lombok, Indonesia, which is about 30 miles east of Bali. Getting to Lombok was a breeze from Bali. We had a short 30-minute flight and then about an hour cab ride to our hotel on the beach. Leaving Lombok was more challenging, but I’ll get to that later. Upon arrival, I was all smiles because we made it to the most relaxing leg of our journey! The only thing we actually needed to remember was to take our malaria medicine each day. Unlike my husband, I could sit at the beach all day and read my book. My challenge was to make Nick sit still long enough to realize the beauty of sitting all day and reading a book on the beach.

Our first day was spent with zero plans, except deciding where to sit on the beach. We did just that and Nick seemed to enjoy sitting for the day...it helped that he had a soccer game to follow on his phone...I’ll take what I can get. That evening, we walked to the neighboring beach, Sengiggi, for a cheap beer and new views.

We decided to spend our next day in Lombok in the Gili Islands. In between Bali and Lombok, there are three little islands nestled close together. We learned that each island has its own character and charm. Gili Trawangan is known for backpackers and partiers, Gili Meno is known as a honeymoon destination, and Gili Air is a mix of restaurants, bars, and relaxation. We chose to go to Gili Air which was a very short boat ride from Lombok and seemed like an ideal spot for us to relax and experience the Gili vibe. We were spot on in our decision making and we had a wonderful day. We began our island adventure by starting a walk around the island (you can walk around the entire island in an hour and a half) to get a feel for the area. We spent the morning in beach chairs fluctuating between swimming, playing cards, and napping (a nice blend of my style of relaxing coupled with Nick’s need to do a little more). After eating lunch we found a spot to rent snorkel gear. We snorkeled for a little while and then wrapped up our walk around the island before catching the public boat back to Lombok. While on the narrow, wooden, and crowded public boat, let's just say I was happy to be able to see land the whole time.

Our evening at the hotel wrapped up with happy hour gin and tonics watching the most beautiful sunset. The mountains in the distance are in Bali.

While getting to Lombok was a breeze, leaving Lombok was slightly more challenging because there were no flight times that worked for us. We decided to go with the alternative option of taking a boat from Lombok to Bali and then taking a shuttle to the airport. There happened to be a family from London leaving our hotel that was also going on our boat, so we shuttled to the boat dock with them. The wife was an elementary teacher in London, who was also slightly wary of taking a boat all the way back to Bali, so we immediately bonded. All was fine until the workers on the boat started passing out motion sickness pills and throw up bags. I’ve never been so thankful that Nick or I do not get motion sick. I’ve also never been more terrified of all the people packed in around us who were potentially about to blow. I basically kept my head out the window like a dog to avoid the potential smell/sound risk of someone else getting sick. It was a bumpy ride, to say the least, but we made it to Bali. We learned on our journey to the airport that Bali gets 8 million tourists a year, yet there are only 4 million people that permanently live on the island. This means the infrastructure of the island is not setup to handle that many people. It took us 3.5 hours to go 27 miles! After driving in cities like Boston and Atlanta, I can accurately say that Bali, Indonesia has the worst traffic I’ve ever seen. That’s ok though because now I will channel views like this when I’m stuck in traffic.

After another overnight flight (can you tell this is a great way to save money when traveling?!), we made it to Australia. Our biggest challenge is remembering to walk on the left side of the sidewalk (we should have gotten this by now). We are working hard to master this skill this before we rent a car, where it becomes significantly more vital that we stay on the left. Cheers!

[wherearchthou]

Thailand

Admittedly, and naively, I always told Nick that I had little interest in traveling to Asia. In my mind, Asia seemed far away, chaotic, and to be frank, challenging. When we were planning this trip, we knew we needed a stop in Asia, not only to help get us around the world, but also because it seemed like a great opportunity for Nick to convince me that my preconceived notions about Asia were not entirely correct. Let’s just say…Nick was right…and I’m feeling bad for casting a giant net of invalidated opinions on an entire continent. 

We had two long flights to get us from Lisbon to Bangkok. The first flight was 8 hours long and the second flight was 6.5 hours long. Our layover was in Dubai and as we walked up to the gate to board the flight, the woman checking us in told us we were upgraded. Immediately, I put on my, “Oh yeah, of course we were upgraded. This happens to us all the time” face. In reality, my head was spinning and thinking, “OMG! Things like this never happen to us! We just got upgraded on Emirates! On a double decker plane! For a long flight! I hope that once we’re on the plane it’ll be delayed!” Armed with smiles of disbelief, we moseyed onto to the upstairs of the plane like we knew what we were doing (we are traveling with backpacks - we clearly did not belong on the upper deck in business class). When the flight attendant offered me three different types of champagne, I literally said, “Awesome!” I struggle to sleep on planes and this flight helped me find the solution - lie flat beds! It looks like I’ll need to find another career if I want to continue getting any sleep on planes.

With 4 hours of sleep under our belts, we landed in Bangkok with sleepy eyes, yet eager to explore Thailand. Bangkok provided quite the hustle and bustle for my first glimpse into a city in Asia. From the airport, we easily hopped in an Uber to our hostel and Nick was tasked with the challenge of keeping me awake. He accomplished this by taking me to a local outdoor market, as well as to a yummy outdoor restaurant for our first taste of local Thai food. 

While our time was short in Bangkok, we managed to get to two amazing temples where I immediately regretted the hesitation and preconceived notions I had about Asia. First, we saw the Reclining Buddha and then walked a few blocks to the Grand Palace. While the Grand Palace was stunning, I have never, ever been thrown in the middle of so many tourists with no shoes on (you take your shoes off to go into the temples). The slight stench of stinky feet aside (mine included), the architecture, attention to detail, and grand scale of these temples had me at awe. I’ve never seen anything like it and Nick says he felt the same way on his first trip to Asia.

After a whirlwind day in Bangkok, we hopped on a flight to Chiang Mai, a much smaller city in Northern Thailand. Many, many friends recommended traveling to Chiang Mai. So many friends recommended Chiang Mai, that we were constantly busy and never lacking in something to do. We checked into our hotel - yes, hotel [insert those praising emoji hands here]- in the afternoon and set out to explore. We found a restaurant to order spicy shrimp soup, massaman curry, and a pork and basil dish for dinner. And this is when we realized the food in Chiang Mai would ignite our love affair with Chiang Mai.

Sunday morning, we lazily woke up and then I got a legit head, neck, and shoulder massage (for $8) by the tiniest and strongest woman I’ve ever seen, while Nick wandered the streets and got his bearings. I opted for “medium” pressure during the massage and I can’t begin to imagine “strong” pressure. While many aspects were similar to a massage in the US, a Thai masseuse does a lot more moving and stretching of your body (and I didn’t even get a traditional Thai massage!). At one point when I was in a completely contorted position and she was trying to stretch me even further, she kept saying, “Relax! Relax!” as though I would stretch more if I relaxed. Had there not been a language barrier, I would have said, “I promise I am the most relaxed I’ve ever been. But no matter how hard you try to stretch me, it’s not happening. Despite years of yoga, I remain quite inflexible.” We grabbed lunch at a chicken restaurant called SP chicken where they are known simply for their chicken and rice, which is precisely what we ordered and devoured. We stopped by Wat Phra Singh, a temple within Chiang Mai, before we went to a Thai cooking class. There is no public transportation in Chiang Mai, so in lieu of buses, there are trucks with bench seating (it’s more legit than it sounds or looks). 

So, we hopped into the back of a truck with 2 people from Spain and a family of 4 from France and we set off into the Northern Thailand countryside for our cooking class. Our 4-hour class was perfect. The backdrop of a beautiful rural landscape provided an amazing setting for learning how to cook some traditional Thai foods, including mango sticky rice, pad thai wrapped in an egg, roasted morning glory, and green curry. Everyone in the class had their own cooking station and the company did a great job helping you attempt to learn how to cook Thai food in 4 hours.

Monday was one of the most surreal days Nick or I have ever had. We spent the entire day hanging out with 2 elephants named Miguel and Boon Peng (both female). With advice from a friend, we went to the Elephant Nature Park. The Elephant Nature Park is about an hour north of Chiang Mai located on 300 acres of land. The volunteers and workers care for and rehabilitate elephants that have been harmed in the tourism and logging industries in and around Thailand. Many of the elephants have broken bones, are blind from being beaten, or have severe psychological damage from how they were once treated. When we initially looked into the park, all of the “visit the park” morning or afternoon trips were completely booked. Of course, the only option left was the more expensive option that included extra time with the elephants or things we normally wouldn’t choose to pay for. Not wanting to miss out on the opportunity, we decided to spring for a trip called “Pamper a Pachyderm.” This tour took us outside the park for the morning to visit with locals who once treated the elephants poorly and now work with the Elephant Nature Park to rehabilitate them. We were supposed to be with 4 to 6 other people, but we seem to be on a lucky streak (it’s probably over now, because I am typing this, therefore jinxing us) and there was nobody else on our tour! Nobody else! We began our tour by cutting cucumbers for the elephants to eat. 

We then fed them 3 laundry baskets of cucumbers by placing the cucumbers in their trunk or in their mouths. Miguel and Boon Peng were on the older side, which meant they were particularly gentle, which allowed us to be able to get so close to them. 

After the cucumber feast, we went on a walk with our elephant friends walking alongside us. During the walk, we fed them bananas, which they also devoured. We stopped near a waterfall to have a beautifully prepared Thai lunch while the elephants guzzled down their own lunch of bamboo leaves.

Next, we got in a river with the elephants! We tossed buckets of water on them as they sprayed water with their trunks to cool down. 

After saying goodbye to our new gal pals, we got in a raft and headed downstream to the nature park. There was a moment before we got in the raft that I was pretty sure my life was going to end on this rapidly flowing Thai river. Despite a wild raft guide who knew justttt enough English to make you feel mildly comfortable putting your life in his hands, we made it safely to the Nature Park to learn more about their mission. 

At the end of the day, Nick and I both said that our tour was worth every penny. Our guide, Deng, was smiley, knowledgeable, and friendly. When not talking about elephants, we spent the rest of our time with him talking about English idioms and how challenging it was for him to learn them. He kept saying, “Why would you say something like, ‘Beat a dead horse?!’ Nobody wants to beat a dead horse!” We had some good laughs and are beyond grateful for the experience and humbled by the opportunity to literally hang out with these gentle giants.

Our last night in Chiang Mai was filled with more food. Chiang Mai is extremely well known for their food and it is most evident in their street food. We found the well known “cowboy hat lady” where we ordered her famous dish of roast pork, rice, and a soft-boiled egg. We also found sukiyoki which is sautéed cabbage, beef, and noodles with sauce. Last but not least, we thoroughly enjoyed the most famous northern Thai dish of all- Kao Soi, a Middle Eastern rooted spicy soup with chicken or beef. Our last day in Chiang Mai was spent exploring temples. All are unique in their own way and all continue to leave me in awe. We left Thailand with full hearts, happy bellies, and a friendly reminder to smile often.

We are currently staying overnight in the Singapore airport- which is quite a nice airport to be stuck in for a layover- and headed to Bali in the morning. Our trip has been amazing and wonderful, yet traveling can be very challenging and exhausting. At least for a few days, we are excited to have our decision making only involve deciding which beach to sit on.

[wherearchthou]

Packing, Nantucket, and Goodbyes

We decided to make a total plunge, go for it, once in a lifetime decision to spend our summer traveling the world about six months ago. We’ve been planning, organizing, and booking airfare thanks to credit card points ever since. The “Eek! This is happening!” portion our traveling journey began a few weeks ago when we realized the packing “challenge” (nightmare) that lay ahead. 

In a few short weeks, we needed to: graduate/celebrate Nick completing school, Abby needed to complete work, we needed to pack our apartment with things the movers would put in storage in Seattle, pack Abby’s classroom, pack the car for our cross country drive (which includes camping), pack for our trip abroad (which includes summer + winter climates), and pack for the beginning of our time in Seattle (which includes Nick working and me- hopefully- interviewing or working). I love when people post beautiful and organized photos of their packing. I tried. I would call this a “Pinterest Fail.” Not surprisingly, Nick was very organized and Type A in his packing. You can see his things neatly packed into those cool handy green packing cubes. Much to Nick’s horror, this is what my area looked like for hours....

Alas, a week later, my bags were packed, we said goodbye to all our things on a moving truck, and we’ve been soaking in our last few days in Boston, the city that finally decided it should be warm. We spent our first official weekend of summer feeling very lucky that we got to go to Nantucket with my Aunt Kit and Uncle Peter. Kit’s family has an adorable cottage and we spent our evenings eating fresh clams, sipping gin and tonics, reading, and watching the sunset. Couldn’t think of a better way to kick off our summer of travel. 

We head out of Boston for real tomorrow, which sadly means we are leaving our two wonderful roommates, Jen and Emily. These two ladies not only kept me sane this year, they provided constant entertainment, laughs, fun, good food, and always a good drink. Last night we all had a final goodbye cookout in my Aunt Jenny’s famously fun backyard to say goodbye to my aunt and cousins. Some might say we were “#blessed” to have all these great people close to us during our two years in Boston. I would agree.

We hope you can follow us along on our summer travels. 

For now, Pittsburgh, here we come! 

[wherearchthou]

Portugal

Portugal brought us blue skies, tiled sidewalks, castle views, cheap wine, abundant fresh seafood, and our first hostel experience of this trip. If you make it to the end of this far too lengthy post, you will read my ‘wise’ words of wisdom about my experience as a 30-year-old in a hostel.

We landed in Lisbon, or Lisboa, in Portuguese, on Saturday afternoon. We got our bearings exploring the city on foot. We walked along the waterfront and then trekked uphill for stunning views of the city at sunset. We had dinner at a restaurant called Bota Alto, where the waiter gave us a crazy look because Nick and I ordered, “What the Portuguese order.” The waiter served us a sample to make sure we liked what we were going to eat. Little did this waiter know that we eat basically anything.

Sunday morning we walked up hilly cobblestoned streets and flights of stairs to the Alfama area to see a castle. We didn’t end up going inside the castle, but we did enjoy gorgeous views of Lisbon from above. We stumbled upon a restaurant for lunch, thanks to the Rick Steve’s guidebook, that was the perfect meal for a hot day after a long walk. We enjoyed sitting on a vine-covered patio while sipping on vinho verde (green wine, which is wine that is aged for a shorter period of time than my usual boxed red wine) and eating cheese, a salad, and prawns. We ended the day at Time Out Market, which was recommended by many people. The huge market is essentially a food hall mecca for locals and tourists alike. One side has authentic Portuguese food while the other side has hamburgers, Chinese food, pizza, and pretty much any other food you could imagine. We stuck to the Portuguese side and were pleased with our choices of (more) cheese, (more) local wine, and (more) seafood. If you’re sensing a trend with our dining habits in Portugal, you are correct. 

Monday morning we finished our last Rick Steve’s self-guided walk in the Bairro Alto/Rossio area of Lisbon. Before catching a train to Sintra, we had an interesting detour to the US Embassy. To make a long story short, I had to get paperwork notarized for my new job. I tried to get the paperwork before we left, but it didn’t come via email until after we left, and of course, the paperwork has to be notarized before we come back to the US. We tried to get an appointment in London to no avail and were very lucky to snag an appointment at the Embassy in Lisbon. US Embassies are not easy places to get into. After presenting documentation and explaining why we were there, they almost made Nick wait outside. I pulled the, “We are on our honeymoon card” which possibly made the guard feel sorry for us, so he let Nick accompany me into the heavily gated- yet beautiful looking- pink building with a ceramic tile roof. Annnddd this is now a very long story. 

Our time at the Embassy brought us an important travel lesson at the expense of a woman who was in a very unfortunate situation. While we were waiting in the very boring waiting room (no cell phones allowed- the guards hold them for you before you are allowed to go in), people were coming and going, many were dual citizens and working out passport issues, etc. Anyway, one woman from the US came in hysterically crying. She explained to the people behind the giant glass window that she had everything stolen. Passport, license, credit cards, debit card. Everything. She walked 2 hours in the afternoon heat to get to the Embassy. While she had her credit cards and passport information online, she was not allowed to actually withdraw any of the money that was being wired to her because she didn’t have a valid form of identification. The Embassy credit card machine was broken that day, so she couldn’t even have money wired directly to the embassy. This was a good reminder to us that when you are traveling, you should try to keep your important documents spread out a little. Potentially, if she had her credit card in a different bag, or her passport back at her hotel room, or her debit card buried in the bottom of her bag...maybe she would have had at least one thing working in her favor. After an annoying wait, and a lot of money for a damn stamp, I got my papers signed and notarized declaring that I am in fact a US citizen. I went up to the crying lady to give her the 4 Euros we had, where she politely kept declining them until I essentially threw them at her and said, “Do something good when you can!” before I hastily ran away and quickly put my sunglasses on because I wanted to start crying for her.

After that not so exciting side trip to the Embassy, we were finally able to board our train to the adorable town of Sintra. Luckily, Sintra is only a 40-minute train ride west of Lisbon, so it was really simple to get there. We got off the train and headed to our hostel to check in. Our room legitimately had an unobstructed view of 2 amazing castles, so I was in heaven. We realized we had time to get to the Moorish Castle before it closed, so we quickly hiked uphill and were in awe of the views and the architecture of this castle. To put it simply, the castle looked just like those sand castle molds you use at the beach. That evening, we had my favorite dinner yet: arroz con marisco- rice with seafood (and an amazing sauce not included in the name). 

Tuesday morning brought some travel woes, but they’re bound to happen, right?! We had some transportation struggles (missed buses, delayed buses) trying to get ourselves to the cute little beach town called Cascais. For starters, I had some major pronunciation issues with the name of this town. After working hard on pronouncing it- which meant me repeating it over and over to myself- I still butchered the name, big time, while trying to tell the bus driver where we wanted to go. When we did finally make it to the adorable beach town, I realized I forgot to pack my bathing suit for this day trip. These were all ‘me’ problems, so let’s just say it’s a miracle Nick hasn’t already moved onto our next destination without me. We ended up having a lovely lunch and walk along the water in Cascais and headed back to Sintra in time to see the amazing architecture of the beautiful and colorful Pena Palace....where we even found a courtyard named for us, further convincing me of my destiny to be royal, even with a new last name!

Our last full day in Portugal brought us back to reality. While we squeezed in a trip to the town of Belem, just 4 miles away from Lisbon (to see the monastery pictured below), we also faced the reality that we really needed to finish travel plans (activities, lodging, food) for the latter half of our trip and that we needed to do laundry....in a hostel....

Which leads me to my lessons learned in a hostel as a 30-year-old. I will preface this by saying: we did not stay in any shared dorm rooms. I’m gathering that if the guesthouse/hostel offers a shared dorm option, they still call themselves a hostel. We opted for the private room with a shared bathroom in a centrally located area. Knowing the duration of this trip, we knew there would be sacrifices including staying in places with shared bathroom facilities, minimalist rooms, and loud street noise. If we’re focusing on positives...our hostels have included nothing but kind people, clean linens, and lovely breakfasts...for about $60/night, which you can’t beat. I should also note that when I booked these hostels (yes, I booked these, not Nick), I was apparently feeling more adventurous than I am now. Not unsurprisingly, my biggest hurdle has been the shared shower, even though the showers haven’t been thaaat bad. But I learned that there are only 2 ways to get through it: either make sure you don’t have your contact lenses in and/or make sure you’ve at least had half a bottle of wine. Depending on if I shower at night or in the morning, one of those things has to happen for me to leave the shower feeling clean. Quite the task was me trying to rinse out our laundry in the said shower, which was also on a 20-second timer (so you had to keep pushing a button to keep the water going), which also ended up flooding some small pools of water into the hallway, while trying not to drop my now somewhat decently clean laundry on the floor while also not touching the walls of the shower. In between swear words, I kept repeating to myself, “Beach. Beach. Beach.” Another part of the reason we stayed in a place with a shared bathroom is so that we can stay in a somewhat nice place when we get to the beach part of our trip. That ridiculous story aside, it really hasn’t been too bad. And if it allows us to travel on this amazing trip (that we will never replicate again), then I suppose that it’s well worth some of the minor inconveniences. 

After a very long day of travel, we just made it to our next stop, Thailand. Thailand which will no doubt be much more chaotic, but we couldn’t be more excited for the next leg of this adventure.

[wherearchthou]

America the Beautiful

Lesson learned: put your technology down and get outside. 

We spent the last week camping our way across the US. Yes, for 6 days straight I camped. In bear country. 

But before our camping adventure began, we had a great visit in Milwaukee with Dom and Kra. I kept telling Dom and Kra I felt that Milwaukee was a hidden gem. It has all that you need in a city but it isn’t crowded, sits on the lake, has walkways along a river, tons of breweries, and an amazing cheese store with all you can eat cheese samples. We walked and talked catching up on life and also went to SummerFest- a huge outdoor music festival right in downtown Milwaukee. We can’t wait to meet Baby Tassoni very soon!

After Milwaukee, we had a long, long day of driving. We made it all the way to Badlands National Park- an amazing landscape filled with “Beware of Rattlesnake” signs and mountains that looked like monstrous versions of the drippy castles I used to make at the beach. We stayed in a campsite within the park that was...fine. It was filled with RV’s and not a lot of trees...so you get the idea. We watched a huge storm roll in from the distance and went to sleep to thunder and flashes of lightning. It was all fun and beautiful until the wind started thrashing against our little tent as the rain was pounding down. While our tent held up shockingly well, we slept very little our first night of camping, but luckily that was our “camping low” and things only got better from there. Badlands is a truly amazing and unique National Park. Around every bend, there were valleys of amazing landscapes and fields filled with prairie dogs.

A day of exploring Badlands led us to our next stop- Mt. Rushmore and Wind Cave National Park. We snagged a secluded campsite in Wind Cave and hit the road to get to Mt. Rushmore. Being at Mt. Rushmore the day before the Fourth of July was a cultural experience....to say the least. We saw every Old Navy Fourth of July t-shirt from the last 15 years, plus quite a few solid American flag socks. Our conclusion was that while Mt. Rushmore is a cluster of people- all staring at a giant rock- it is really amazing to see and learn about how it was made. Worth the visit.

After Mt. Rushmore and camping at nearby Wind Cave, we had another long day of driving to get to Yellowstone. We entered Yellowstone via Grand Teton National Park which gave us amazing views on the drive in.

Arriving at Yellowstone on the Fourth of July was another cultural experience. We arrived at Grant Campground (southern side of the park) to more Old Navy America t-shirts, RV’s galore, and an hour line to check into our campground. Chalking it up to the “Yellowstone Experience,” we listened to our bear safety talk and had some extra time for people watching.

Our campsite at Grant was amazing. It was close enough to the bathroom yet far enough away that you didn’t feel like you were close to the bathroom. We set up camp, cooked dinner, and got our first shower in 3 days! After dinner, we made ourselves a drink and went to the nightly Ranger Program held at the campground. We learned all about wolves in Yellowstone- which then made us try to go find wolves at dusk the next day- to no avail. I was impressed at all the kids eager to listen to the Ranger Program. Nick and I left feeling that there should be an adult version of the “Junior Ranger” program. We felt we earned a badge. 

Yellowstone has next to no cell reception and it was evident in all the kiddos riding bikes, playing with sticks, and swimming in rivers. We felt we earned a badge. We spent our days hiking and exploring. In Grand Teton, we hiked along Jenny Lake and in Yellowstone we hiked Mt. Washburn. Both were filled with postcard-worthy views every time you turned your head.

Aside from the natural beauty, the other amazing thing about Yellowstone is the sheer number of animals you see at every turn. Bison, goats, bears, elk, coyote, deer.....just to name a few. These animals have Yellowstone as their backyard and it is an amazing experience to see them up close- whether you’re on a hike and goats literally stroll past you, you’re in your car and a herd of bison decides they want to cross the road, or you notice a black bear chowing down on some grass 25 feet from the side of the road.

Yellowstone and Grand Teton brought us relaxation. Not having cell service for 4 days was the best thing that we didn’t expect. I am embarrassed to say that I completely felt disconnected and was pretty convinced the world had ended and we (along with everyone else in Yellowstone) were the only people who didn’t know it. Clearly, the world continued on despite my lack of cell service. And Nick and I kicked off our summer with just the right amount of relaxation and adventure. Anyways, Yellowstone and Grand Teton are beyond beautiful. They are absolutely stunning and worth every minute of fighting the crowds. If you have the chance- go! 

After Yellowstone, we had our last long day of driving to get us to Seattle. We’ve spent the weekend in Seattle gearing up for the next big leg of our trip. We are extremely grateful for many people in Seattle who are helping us with logistics since we will be gone for the next six weeks. We are thankful to have friends taking care of our car, friends storing some of our bags, and friends watching our indoor plant. We literally couldn’t do this next leg of our trip without all the help we’ve gotten. Tomorrow- after a quick stop to see my new classroom- we board our flight to London! 

Until then, let yourself put your phone down and get outside! The world won’t end (and your Instagram and Facebook will pick back up where you left off).

[wherearchthou]

Pittsburgh, Kidneys, Detours, and Detroit

We took a trip down wedding memory lane during our time in Pittsburgh. We went back to the History Center and actually walked around the exhibits (but this time, without our awesome photographer in tow). We visited the set of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood (I visited his real set when I was little!) and Nick was in Penguin hockey heaven.

Our time in Pittsburgh also brought visits with my Grandmother, Aunt, Uncle, and cousins which is always lovely. To cap off the visit, I had a Skype interview and got offered a Kindergarten job! I prepped for my interview in what I am calling our “mobile office command center.” The mobile office features a desk (pillow), astounding views, a chauffeur, coffee, and USB ports. It can also be converted to fully functioning mobile kitchen. What more could we ask for?! Poor Nick has spent hours listening to me yap away while catching up with people on the phone.

After leaving Pittsburgh, we made our first detour of the summer. Rather than going to Chicago as planned, we headed north to Detroit to see my bff Kate. A few months ago, Kate told me she was donating her kidney to her cousin (through a multi-match program, so not directly to her cousin…it’s confusing). Knowing Kate so well, I was not in the least surprised that she was giving her kidney to someone else. Kate is the most generous and selfless person I’ve ever met and she would literally do anything- even surgery- to help someone else. When we realized our detour to Detroit would be a short hour out of the way, I basically told Kate we were coming whether she liked it or not. We saw her the day of her surgery and the next morning and are thrilled to report she and her cousin are both doing amazingly well. Kate and I bond over food (and wine), so I am most proud of her for not eating for 24+hours. When we visited Kate, she insisted I take a picture of her wearing her FitBit proving that she is ready to get those steps in roaming the halls of the hospital....and hopefully get out of the hospital today!

We also got to visit Nick’s cousin in Detroit who we hadn’t seen since our wedding. It was great to see her as well and we caught up over drinks and delicious food (at a restaurant recommended by Kate, of course). Detroit has some neat up and coming areas and we enjoyed exploring and grabbing a few local beers while we were there.

We are en route to Milwaukee now. The mobile office is coming in handy for blogging.

Happy Weekend!