The Great Philly Cheesesteak Adventure

One of the best things we did while on the East Coast in October was extend our stay in Philadelphia in order to check out the best places for Philly Cheese Steaks. A college friend who has relocated to Philly took us around to the two most famous places, along with HIS favorite place. Kellie and I split a cheese steak at each location, and at the end decided which one was our favorite based on overall taste, meat, bread, and location.

The three places we visited were: Pat's, Geno's, and Jim's. (Apparently, in order to have a good Philly cheese steak place in Philly, your restaurant has to be named after a person.)

Pat's was first on the list. The first thing we had to learn was how to properly order a Philly Cheese Steak. Fortunately, we had this handy dandy "how to!"



At Pat's, we ordered a "wit provolone." We wanted to get a good sense of a real cheese steak, so we ordered them all with onions, even though they're not my favorite thing in the world. And they did add good flavor. The overall flavor of this sandwich was good, but (gasp) I thought it needed a little salt, and the cheese wasn't nearly melt-y enough for me. The meat was the toughest of the three places we went, and I think had the most fatty bits. The bread was AMAZING at Pat's, though. No indoor seating, but they had lots of outdoor tables, and it was decently clean.

Next, we walked right across the street to Geno's. Pat's and Geno's are long time rivals because of their proximity. I'm sure there's history behind them that I'm missing, but I haven't looked it up yet.


At Geno's, we ordered a "wit whiz." And quickly discovered that when it comes to Philly Cheese Steaks, this is the ONLY way to go. I'm not kidding. My first response to the option of Cheese Whiz was "Ewww. Seriously? It's not even real cheese!" And maybe it's not real cheese. But it is delicious, cheese-like goodness that was obviously sent from heaven to accompany cheese steaks.

Anyway, the cheese whiz brought the cheese steak to a new level of fabulousness, and made us believers in the Philly Cheese Steak. The overall flavor of the Geno's steak was better, mostly due to the whiz. The meat was a bit more thinly sliced, and had fewer fatty bits, which was a plus for me. The bread was not quite as good as Pat's, but still hit the spot. Like Pat's, they only had outdoor seating, but again it was plentiful and clean(-ish).

Also? Pat's and Geno's are both open 24/7. How flippin' awesome is that!?

Last on our list was Jim's, which we actually had to get back in the car to get to. We went to the Jim's on South St, which is an area my friend Max told us to check out. The line was almost out the door, but it moved fairly quickly.


We again ordered a "wit whiz," and this time were actually blown away. This sandwich was by far my favorite of the three. The overall flavor was amazing - the meat was a little more seasoned and they added just the right proportion of Cheese Whiz. The onions were chopped smaller and grilled longer, creating a more caramalized flavor than a raw onion flavor. The meat was diced at Jim's, instead of just sliced, and that made a huge difference, too. The bread was soft and chewy, and soaked up all the flavors of the sandwich very well. Jim's had indoor seating, though it was very limited - a counter downstairs and an open room up a set of incredibly steep stairs. But it was also the cleanest of the bunch, and we had no trouble finding a spot to chow down.

Overall, both Kellie and I liked Jim's the best. Our order was: Jim's, Geno's, and then Pat's, but we later decided we'd been a bit unfair to Pat's because we'd gotten provolone instead of Cheese Whiz on the sandwich, and the whiz made a serious difference when it came to flavor. It's my opinion that each place had something good to offer, and it ultimately comes down to personal preferences.

Also, Geno's lost points with me because there was an air of arrogance surrounding the entire establishment. Also, they were prominently featuring a photo of the owner with Sarah Palin, and we all know how I feel about that whacko. Geno's was outspoken about only speaking English at their store (because "we're in America"), but they were also overly dedicated to supporting the local police and fire departments, so they balanced out. I guess Pat's and Jim's just seemed a little more down to earth and less pretentious.

Regardless, the adventure made me a true fan of a REAL Philly Cheese Steak, and I have been on the hunt for them since I got back to LA. The closest I've found is a place called Philly's Best. It's DELICIOUS. They have a sandwich with three types of cheese and mushrooms, and it's our favorite one to order there.

So tell me. Have you been to Philly? Did you try any (or all) of the places we tried? Which was YOUR favorite?

Group travel is... tough?

Planning a trip with a group can be tough. There are so many things to consider - people's tastes, what people want to do and see, where to stay, where to eat. It's exponentially easier when you have a group of friends like mine - we're all pretty flexible, and we're not against the idea of "subgroups" going and doing their own thing for a while. We're low key people, and I have a feeling it's going to make planning our trip to Italy next year for our friends' wedding a fun process rather than a tedious one.

The one thing to keep in mind is the constant changing of plans - take, for example, the itinerary. Granted, the itinerary I posted for the trip was SUPER rough, but it's only three days later and things are already changing. When I did that itinerary, I was thinking that the majority of people would want to do their own thing after being in Florence. I knew one friend wanted to visit the people she worked for in the Alps, and thought it might be fun to detour there. But I forgot that about half the people going have never been to Italy, and that for them, Venice might be more important than the Alps. So I took the two days assigned to the Alps, and put them in Florence and in Venice instead. That way, my one friend can still go visit her people, but others have more opportunity to explore the areas they're interested in. I also made a split on one day - some people want to stay in Rome a day longer while some want to go up to Siena with the bride and groom.

Here's the newest version of the itinerary:

Wednesday, June 22: nighttime flight to Rome from LAX
Thursday, June 23: arrive in Rome, night in Rome
Friday, June 24: Rome, night in Rome
Saturday, June 25: Rome, OR train to Siena, night in Rome or Siena
Sunday, June 26: Train to Siena, OR Siena (morning trip to San Gimignano if possible), night in Siena
Monday, June 27: WEDDING! Night in Siena
Tuesday, June 28: Train to Florence, night in Florence
Wednesday, June 29: Florence, day trip to Pisa, night in Florence
Thursday, June 30: Florence, OR train to Alps, night in Florence or Alps
Friday, July 1: Train to Venice, OR the Alps, night in Venice or the Alps
Saturday, July 2: Venice, OR train to Venice, night in Venice
Sunday, July 3: Venice, night in Venice
Monday, July 4: Venice, overnight train to Vienna (I have a good friend who lives there!)
Tuesday, July 5: Vienna, night in Vienna
Wednesday, July 6: Vienna, night in Vienna
Thursday, July 7: Vienna, night in Vienna
Friday, July 8: Fly home from Vienna, arriving on Friday night

I'm still very, very excited for this trip! I can't wait to figure out exactly who is interested in going, and get started on the nitty gritty part of the planning!

Italy 2011 - A tentative itinerary.

So I just found out that one of my bestest friends in the world is going to get married next year in Siena, Italy! I am SO stoked, and less than 24 hours after finding out, I'm already planning my itinerary.

Wanna see what I'm thinking? I thought you might!

The wedding is on June 27, 2011. The bride and groom are planning on going to Rome for a few days before the wedding, and having people who want to meet up there so that we can all caravan to Siena. So this itinerary is based on that - and the fact that BF and I want to make a great trip of this and go for a solid 2 - 2.5 weeks.

The dates I'm thinking (at the moment, subject to change, of course!) are June 22 - July 8. Flying out June 22 at night, and arriving in Rome on June 23. We're thinking of flying into Rome and flying out of Vienna.

Wednesday, June 22: nighttime flight to Rome from LAX
Thursday, June 23: arrive in Rome, night in Rome
Friday, June 24: Rome, night in Rome
Saturday, June 25: Train to Siena, night in Siena
Sunday, June 26: Siena (morning trip to San Gimignano if possible), night in Siena
Monday, June 27: WEDDING! Night in Siena
Tuesday, June 28: Train to Florence, night in Florence
Wednesday, June 29: Florence, night in Florence
Thursday, June 30: Train to Northern Italy (A friend of mine spent some time working with a family in the Alps, and we want to go visit!), night in the Alps!
Friday, July 1: the Alps, night in the Alps
Saturday, July 2: Train to Venice, night in Venice
Sunday, July 3: Venice, night in Venice
Monday, July 4: Venice, overnight train to Vienna (I have a good friend who lives there!)
Tuesday, July 5: Vienna, night in Vienna
Wednesday, July 6: Vienna, night in Vienna
Thursday, July 7: Vienna, night in Vienna
Friday, July 8: Fly home from Vienna, arriving on Friday night

Totals would be:
Rome = 2 nights
Siena = 3 nights
Florence = 2 nights
Alps = 2 nights
Venice = 2 nights
Vienna = 3 nights
Train = 1 night

15 nights, and it's a pretty ambitious plan. But I figure - we're not going to have another chance to go out to Italy for a while, and we might as well make the most of it! What I like about this plan is that it gives us options to change - maybe we'll want to spend a night in Pisa, or something like that. And with this plan, friends can join us for parts of it, and pick and choose what they want to see, too! (I hope, at least...)

Anyone out there have any thoughts on this idea?

Ireland: Galway

We were only in Galway for 20 hours or so - we dropped off our rental car around 1pm on a Sunday and were on a train back to Dublin at 10am the next morning. But we did rather enjoy exploring and running around - even though it rained pretty steadily the whole time!

Galway is a college town. Lots of bars, lots of tourists, lots of kids 18 - 23. It wasn't really the place for us, but I can see it making a great base for checking out the surrounding areas. We checked into our hotel, grabbed lunch, then walked. And walked and walked and walked. We walked along the "Claddagh," and kept mostly to the coastal areas that most tourists were avoiding. It was invigorating and lovely, and we were so thoroughly exhausted when we got back to the hotel that we had some tea and just crashed. Plus, it was Sunday, so a lot of things weren't open. I think we even skipped dinner that night!

Main shopping drag in Galway

The River Corrib runs through Galway


Can you believe that these people were actually surprised when a bird flew into their car??



It was so rainy!

There were "Supermac's" all over the place, and they had a cheap and tasty breakfast for when we didn't want to waste a lot of time!

On the train again, and back to Dublin!

Ireland: Driving in the northwest.

We spent a good chunk of our trip in Ireland in the North West part of the country, and we were SO happy we did. There are far fewer tourists, and it's far less "touristy." I decided to do a photo post of our driving adventure, because it was simply gorgeous.

The first lake we happened upon - it was huge! We drove next to it for about 30 minutes before we got to this point - and we were barely near the middle of the lake!

Kylemore Abbey - it was a castle, then was turned into an Abbey, and is now a museum. It was pretty expensive to go in, and we had very little time, but we still thought it was pretty incredible!

A cemetery that we found while driving down a random road looking for the ocean. And a restroom.

Then we saw this guy with a surfboard on his roof and decided we had to follow him!

The "wild Atlantic" really was wild! The sets of waves were soo crazy and close together, but that surfer still went in. BF was jealous!

I love shells and rocks - we took this one home as a souvenir!

Ocean road with - oh no! - another car! He pulled over for us and I quickly put the camera away and drove!

Hi, cow.

A little cove - the tide was really, really low.

Me on the beach! We love beaches!

Driving on the left! BF took this one from the passenger side as we drove back to Galway!

Ireland: Driving on the left.

Once we got to Galway, we rented a car. The functionality of it was fairly perfect - you get off the train in Galway, leave the train station, turn left, walk half a block to the main square, cross one street, and you're at the Budget Rental Car office. Easy peasy, even in a light rain.

Once there, however, they really get you. Extra $ for a "premiere" pick up location, extra $ for taxes, extra $ for BF to be a driver too, etc, etc. When I booked our car online, it quoted me $250 for Friday afternoon through Sunday afternoon for an automatic car and a GPS system. I considered bringing my GPS, and getting the Garmin update for Western Europe ($99), but figured the $45 they were charging would do us just fine. Problem was? After all was said and done, the rental car cost us $450! $40 of that was them charging ahead of time for a full tank of gas, which we had refunded when we brought the car back with 3/4 of a tank, but oh wow did the extra fees sucker punch me. Next time, I'll do my best to pick up the car from an airport, preferably in Dublin where there are numerous companies and some actual competitive prices.

We finally got done with the paperwork, etc, we had to trek to the parking garage. They give you the car keys and the GPS and send you merrily on your way with a map to the parking garage and not a whole lot else. You go to the garage, talk to the guy to get a ticket so you can get out, and then take a rickety elevator up to the third floor and hunt for your car with the description and license plate number they give you. Yeah, it was an adventure. We finally found the car, loaded up, and started on our way.

Tip #1: Get your GPS working before you go into the parking garage. There's no signal in the parking garage, so if the GPS isn't working before hand, you'll leave the garage and be tossed into driving on the wrong side of the road with absolutely nowhere to pull over, loads of impatient drivers, and no idea of where you're going.

The first 10 minutes in the car were the only time the whole trip that we fought.

The hardest part for me was getting my bearings and my spacial awareness down. It's very strange to have more car to your left! I almost sideswiped several cars, especially when the road we were on took us through the incredibly busy and quick moving Eyre Square. BF says I bumped into some guy's sleeve, but I'm not so sure. It was incredibly stressful, however, until we got the GPS working and had a destination in mind so that I could fully concentrate on the driving part. I'll admit that there was a moment there where I just wanted to stop, cry, and let BF take over. But I did it, and I'm so happy that I did! Once I got a hang of it, it was a breeze! And fun, too - such a different experience.

Tip #2: In Ireland, the white lines are the lane divider lines, and the yellow lines mark the shoulder of the road. That one took me a while to get used to, as here the white lines mark the shoulder.

The car was totally worth it, as we were able to go all over the place, and to any little nook or road we wanted to. We drove North from Galway, ending up in Ballyshannon for the night, drove farther north the next day, then back to Ballyshannon for another night. In the course of the day and a half of exploring in the car, we drove over 700 km (430 miles) - a lot of driving in approximately 18 hours.

Tip #3: Irish roads are an adventure. With the exception of a couple highways, we mostly drove on small, country roads. And they were all two lanes, even though it didn't feel like it half the time. When the road isn't wide enough for two cars, and there's another car coming, whoever can pull over first, does. It's a very polite system, and we never had an issue with the roads, except for one by a lake that had some blind curves. We were almost hit head on by a BMW on that one, and he had to back up so that we could pass each other!

Our little car, on a "two way" road by Lough Eske in Co. Donegal.

By the time we returned the car on Sunday afternoon, I was an old pro. I was finally driving the speed limit, and cranked our Hyundai Accent up to 110 kmph (A risky 68 mph)! I mastered the round-a-bouts, and even backed the car into the parking spot when we returned to the garage. I'm definitely all for renting a car if you want to tour Ireland and get off the beaten path!

Ireland: Dublin

Let's cut right to the chase:

Dublin is... a city. I don't mean that in a bad way - cities have their fair share of charm and excitement - but there wasn't a "WOW" factor to it for us. I think when we planned the trip, we were hoping for green and countrysides and epic views, and Dublin wasn't that. I was elated to be back in Europe - in a place where tea was an acceptable alternative to coffee, and people drove on the left side of the road, but other than the general feel of being back in Europe, Dublin didn't do a whole lot for us. For one, we didn't meet all that many Irish people in Dublin. There are tons of transplants - so many people from different countries and cultures! Which was great in its own respect, but we were chomping at the bit to get a good feel for the country.

The first thing we did when we got off the plane was have a beer. Well, BF had a beer, I had coffee. It was only 9am, after all, but we were on vacation!

The first Guinness!

We spent our the day wandering around, checking out the gorgeous Trinity College campus, Grafton Street, Temple Bar, the river, the layout of the city.



**Travel tip: Something we hadn't counted on in Dublin was how difficult it would be to get a plain, simple, brewed cup of coffee. Almost everywhere BF ordered "coffee" in Ireland, it was one of two things: instant powdered coffee, or espresso and water. So strange. West Coast Coffee (pictured above) was the only place we discovered that served brewed coffee. I'm sure there are others, but it was a very friendly place - AND their coffee was fantastic!

After our jaunt west, we returned to Dublin on Monday afternoon. Our flight home wasn't until Thursday afternoon, giving us three days to wander Dublin. We had considered a day trip to Belfast, or to the Wicklow mountains or someplace nearby, then just decided to soak up the city and relax for the rest of the trip, since we'd been go go going since we'd arrived.

Some of what we did is kind of a blur at this point, but we saw a ton of the city, and did our fair share of touristy stuff.

- The Guinness Storehouse: BF and I both thought the other was really wanting to go to the Guinness Factory, when in fact, both of us could have skipped it. But, we went anyway, and it was ok. We thought it would be an actual brewery, when it was really just a fancy, overpriced museum. It cost us about $45 to go in, and we got to pull our own pints, which was cool. We definitely won't do it again, though. And there are lots of pubs in Dublin that let you pull your own pint, and probably for a lot less than $22.50. Skip this one, unless you're a die hard Guinness fan, or just rich and bored.


- Temple Bar: It's a famous area in Dublin, and kind of a cute tourist trap. Too many tourists for us, though, and the only time we really hung out there was super early the morning we left, before anything opened. If you're really into crowded pubs and nightlife, or some really nice, pricey restaurants, this is a good place to for you. If you're trying to budget your way through, steer clear of the restaurants here!
- Dublin Castle: We toured the castle, because it was pretty cheap (€4 I think?), and a fun way for us to get out of the rain for a while! It was a fairly standard tour, but offered some interesting insight about Irish history, and at the end of the tour, they take you underground to an old section that is really cool to see.

- Christ Church: Gorgeous building from the outside, and we visited and walked around for a while. But it was €6 each to go inside, and we agreed we'd rather spend that money on pints. Is that terrible? Next time around, we'll probably spend the money, as it was a truly lovely building.


- St. Patrick's Cathedral: This one we did go into, and it was so beautiful inside that it was worth it! Gorgeous stained glass and some very cool history, and surprisingly, it had one of the best gift shops that we visited, and we ended up getting a bunch of gifts there.


- Trinity College: Like I mentioned before, it's a great campus. Really cool building. We skipped the Book Of Kells, which I wouldn't mind checking out the next time we're in Dublin. We saw some young guys (we think high school, they were too young for college) at rugby practice, and it was nice to wander around the campus for a bit.

- Eddie Rockets: This was a super touristy restaurant that's basically exactly like Johnny Rockets out here, but they serve beer! We got burgers and beer, and BF was elated because it was the ONLY place in Ireland that we found hot sauce! Seriously, it was like there was no hot sauce in the entire county.

Travel tip: If you're going to Ireland, and like spicy food, bring your hot sauce with you!



- The National Museums: There are a couple of them, and the only one we went into was the Archaeological Museum. And what an awesome time we had! It was INCREDIBLE. Entry was free, and they had all these amazing exhibits! We're nerds - we spent hours looking at the bog bodies and the Vikings displays. The bog bodies were 2,000 - 2,500 years old, and some of them were so well preserved. And those Vikings? They were awesome too! Some of their technology was so advanced - and they dated back 1,500 years! It was really an amazing experience. We had tea in their little cafe, and enjoyed their shop, as well. One of the best things we did the entire time in Dublin, and with the free entry, was the cheapest thing we did as well!

The rest of the time we spent shopping for friends, eating, and chilling out in our hotel. Our sleep schedule stayed rather out of whack, and we were often asleep early and up early.

Reminders for tourists - it was tough getting used to looking that way first!

The River Liffey and all the bridges were pretty.

Our hotel (Trinity Capital) shared a building with the Central Fire Station.

Our last day consisted of more wandering around, then went back to the hotel to wait for the shuttle to the airport. The one we'd missed when we got in. And it was a good thing we were waiting for it, as it literally came and was gone within about 2 minutes! Customs in the Dublin airport were really easy, and we were soon back on our Aer Lingus flight home.

Ireland: Getting there!

The first thing I noticed about flying to Ireland last year was that flying to Europe as a 27 year old is much different than flying to Europe as a 20 year old. I was not expecting to be jet lagged - and it took a bigger toll on me than it used to. But it didn't matter too much, because hello, we were going to Europe!


It was reassuring to watch our bags get loaded onto the plane leaving LA. Even though I've taken loads of flights, and only once have had a bag lost, once is quite enough to be paranoid about it.

We had a stop over in Chicago, which was an interesting experience. Aer Lingus is a really small airline, and so we flew domestic to Chicago, had lunch at a Chinese food place that had REALLY good sesame chicken, and then exited security only to get on a tram to the international terminal, and go back through security.

**Travel tip: If you're traveling through Chicago, and you have to go from a domestic terminal to an international one - eat in the domestic terminal. You won't be able to carry liquids through security to the international terminal, but there is NO food on the international side - just sodas and candy and water.

Fortunately, we didn't have to wait in the international terminal long and got on the awesome plane to Dublin!


We got our own TV screens and remotes, and there were only two seats in the aisle. It was a pretty awesome way to spend the flight.

I highly recommend Aer Lingus - the service was friendly, and the experience was great - we'll be following their website for sure!

Ireland: Buying tickets, and our itinerary!

In June of last year, I started to get the travel bug. Bad. It made me obsessively check Travelzoo, and Kayak, and all of my other favorite travel sites. We had considered a trip to Ireland for a while, and when I started seeing air fare rates drop on Aer Lingus, we decided it was high time to do it.

After monitoring AerLingus.com for a few weeks, we found a fantastic deal: Los Angeles to Dublin, round trip, for $482 per person, after taxes. We booked directly through the Aer Lingus website - Los Angeles to Chicago to Dublin, and back.

Then, it was just about figuring out our itinerary. We wanted to get a good taste of Dublin, but we didn't want to spend all of our time there. We wanted to see the country, and decided that renting a car was our best option. My boyfriend wanted to see the North West of the country, I wanted to see as much coast as possible.

After much consideration and debate, our 8 day, 7 night itinerary looked like this:

Wednesday, September 2 - Depart LAX to Chicago, then Chicago to Dublin
Thursday, September 3 - Arrive Dublin @ 9am, night in Dublin
Friday, September 4 - Morning train to Galway, rent car, night in Ballyshannon
Saturday, September 5 - Driving adventure of Co. Donegal, night in Ballyshannon
Sunday, September 6 - Return car to Galway, night in Galway
Monday, September 7 - Morning train to Dublin, night in Dublin
Tuesday, September 8 - Dublin, night in Dublin
Wednesday, September 9 - Dublin, night in Dublin
Thursday, September 10 - Dublin, Depart Dublin to Chicago, then Chicago to LAX

In retrospect, we spent entirely too much time in Dublin. When it came down to it, we had almost 4 full days there, and we later realized we'd much rather have spent at least one or two of those days driving around.

We did enjoy having a little "down time" after the sightseeing filled days we'd packed in on the west coast, but we're the kind of people who would take lakes and coasts over museums and shops.

Next time, if given the same number of days and nights, we'd do it this way:

Wednesday, September 2 - Depart LAX to Chicago, then Chicago to Dublin
Thursday, September 3 - Arrive Dublin @ 9am, rent car, night somewhere in between Dublin and west coast
Friday, September 4 - Driving adventure, night on west coast
Saturday, September 5 - Driving adventure, night on west coast
Sunday, September 6 - Driving adventure, night on west coast
Monday, September 7 - Driving adventure, night somewhere in between west coast and Dublin
Tuesday, September 8 - Return car to Dublin, night in Dublin
Wednesday, September 9 - Dublin, night in Dublin
Thursday, September 10 - Dublin, Depart Dublin to Chicago, then Chicago to LAX

That would still give us an afternoon, full day, and morning in Dublin, and we'd have four full days to drive and explore.

Where to go on the driving portions is great to leave open, since everyone has different priorities when it comes to what they want to see. Some people would prefer to go south, and see Cork and places like that - we prefer the less touristy areas. The areas a bit more off the beaten path that have lots of character and a genuinely Irish feel to them.

Another option would be to bring the car back a day earlier, and either spend more time in Dublin if it was your first time visiting, or else to take a day trip to the Wicklow Mountains, or another area nearby. That was another thing we'd have liked to have done, but by the end of the trip we were wanting a fairly low key few days.

Hopefully, Aer Lingus will keep up their low fares, and we'll get a chance to try out another itinerary!

Been a while!

Wow have I neglected this blog.

I suppose that as someone who doesn't travel nearly as much as I'd like, that's to be expected, but has it really been almost eight months? Terrible.

Well, the good news is that in the last 8 months, I actually went on a trip that was noteworthy!

Last September, we traveled to Ireland, and had a fantastic time. Over the next few weeks, I'll be sharing some stories and tips about that trip - if you read my "daily" blog you may have seen some, but if not, you're in for a treat.

First up: our itinerary, and a little background about our trip.

Write you soon!