Santorini, Greece: Blue Angel Villa and TravelKeys Vacation Rentals Booking & Pre-Stay Experiences

On our trip to Greece, the place that Shorty was the most excited about was Santorini. In fact, the whole trip was based almost entirely around her desire to wake up to the gorgeous Santorini views on her birthday. She spent a massive amount of time researching places to stay. Which town was best? Which side of Fira offered the best views? Was a villa or hotel better? And in her research, she found photos of a villa that she absolutely fell in love with: the Blue Angel Villa in Fira, Santorini.

 The view that Shorty fell in love with and weaved many daydreams out of!

Travel Photo Tuesday: Gloriette at Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna Austria

The Gloriette is a gorgeous building built at the top of the hill behind Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, Austria. I have visited there each time I've been to Vienna, and have many nice memories of hiking up the hill in the heat to get to the cool and relaxing cafe inside! There's also an old fashioned hand water pump behind the structure where you can refill water bottles! I can't wait to see it again when I visit Sis for her wedding a year from now!

Travel Photo Tuesday: Angel's Flight in Downtown Los Angeles

Angel's Flight is a unique piece of Los Angeles history! It originally opened in 1901 as a way for the wealthy residents of Bunker Hill to make it down into downtown Los Angeles, and then it was refurbished and reopened from 2010 to 2013, then was closed to investigate safety issues, which are still ongoing. It's unfortunately not running today, but you can check in and see if it's up and running again by following the Angel's Flight Railway page!

6 Day Wander in Florence and Milan, Italy

Quick break from my Portugal posts, because my dear friend, X, is taking a long overdue trip to Italy this summer! She will be visiting family in Rome, but also wants to see some other parts of Italy while she's there, particularly Florence and Milan. We recently had dinner when I visited NY for work, and I was more than happy to offer to do some research on itineraries for her! You could also take this itinerary and add a couple days at the front or end in Rome and/or Venice, and have a pretty solid 10-12 day trip to Italy!

DESTINATION:  
Italy - Florence, Milan and some surrounding areas, with Rome as a starting point

DURATION:
6 - 8 days, 5 - 7 nights
Base trip is 6 days, 5 nights, with two optional additional days/nights

Milan

Taruga Tours: Benagil Cave Tours in the Algarve, Portugal

As I started to write about the Algarve, Portugal, I realized there was really an entire post's worth of what I wanted to write about the awesome tour we took to see the sea caves off the coast. At least, there's an entire post worth's of photos to share!

I actually learned about this tour originally from Pinterest - I found this amazing pin of a gorgeous sea cave in the Algarve that I immediately wanted to visit.

The cave photo that made me want to do a tour!

Algarve, Portugal

Next up on our Portugal itinerary was part of the southern coast of Portugal know as the Algarve region. It's the most popular tourist destination in Portugal, so, of course, we debated long and hard on if we should go, as we tend to like off-the-beaten path places a bit more. But, we were going slightly off season, and there's also a very Moroccan/African/Arabic influence in the Algarve, which we wanted to see. Plus, it boasts gorgeous beaches and coastlines, along with the first ever navigational school, Prince Henry's School of Navigation, in Sagres (established in 1418), so we ended up deciding to spend a few nights in the region.

Panoramic view of the Sagres coastline.

Lisbon, Portugal

Lisbon was both the first and last stop on our tour of Portugal in October 2015. (Itinerary HERE!) 

We didn't spend a ton of time in Lisbon, as we wanted to check out as much of the country as possible... so we had a half day in Lisbon the day we landed, and another half day when we returned from Porto. We will definitely return to Lisbon to check out more of the city, as what we did see of the city was fantastic.

Panorama of Lisbon from one of the many view points.

London: Meantime Brewing Company

I've mentioned Meantime on the blog before, but hubby and I were talking about beer and London a few days ago and it reminded me just how much we'd loved our tour. So, I figured they deserve their very own post!

Hubby and I, along with SD, hit up a tour at the Meantime Brewing Company last October. SD suggested it, and since hubby loves Greenwich so much, we figured it was a perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon! The tour costs 20£, and was absolutely worthwhile.

8 Nights in Portugal: An Overview

When hubby and I started planning our trip to Portugal last October, we changed our itinerary about a half dozen times. We knew we had 8 nights, but there was so much we wanted to see!

 Landing in Lisbon

We went back and forth - should we do four nights each in Lisbon and Porto, with accompanying day trips and exploring from each base? Should we work our way around the country with a night in each location? How hard would it be to incorporate a quick overnight to Gibraltar and Morocco? In the end, we decided this hopefully wouldn't be our only trip to Portugal, but we wanted to get a small taste of different parts. We settled on two nights each in Lisbon, Lagos, Sintra and Porto, with the nights in Lisbon book-ending the rest.

Travel Photo Tuesday: Red Beach, Santorini

Greece was amazing! We had a really great time on our girls' trip, and I'm sure there will be many blog posts to come on this amazing trip. Today's photo is from one of the really unique beaches we made it to on the islands - Red Beach on Santorini. The coasts and beaches there were so amazing due to all the volcanic rock.

Greece Girl's Trip: The Packing List

We're going on vacation! Yes, yes, I know it's not exactly unusual for someone who writes a travel blog to be going on a trip. But. This is a girls' vacation, and I am thrilled. There are a couple of us going who don't travel regularly, so a few weeks ago, they asked me what I would be packing.

 For this trip, swimsuits and a sun hat are a must! (I don't typically bring a hat like this with me unless I'm going to be beaching. Also, I'm bringing two swim suits, because I've been to humid climates where suits don't dry overnight, and there's very little more annoying than putting on a wet bathing suit!)

Now, that's sort of a loaded question. I'm a firm believer that what you pack is pretty personal and varied, so this list is what I would bring with me. In addition to that, what you pack is also pretty dependent on where you're going, and when. Perfect case in point: I'm packing for a spring trip to the Greek Islands. If I were packing for a fall trip to London, my bag would be drastically different! My best advice is to take your itinerary (even if it's rough!) and try to figure out what you'd be comfortable in for each day/adventure.

London to Brussels: The Chunnel Train

The Chunnel train is something that both Hubby and I were super excited to go on. We both love public transportation, and trains, and it seemed like the ultimate one - a train that goes under a channel!

 Inside the "standard" class car on the Eurostar train.

TRAVEL TIP: Buying train tickets in Europe for "long" trips (1.5 hours +) is almost always cheaper if you buy in advance online. Also - if you don't have a credit card with a chip (a lot of US banks are now issuing them), leave time to go into the ticket booth, as the ticket kiosks usually only take chip cards. When we were in Belgium, we missed two trains from Brussels to Bruges because we had to hunt down the ticket office and then stand in line!

Travel Photo Tuesday: Tower Bridge, London

Tower Bridge, London

It seems as if I've been on a bit of a London kick lately! We had a really nice time in London last October, I think when you have good friends in a place it makes that place 8x better for you. Anyway, Tower bridge is one of my favorite places in London - there's just something about it that I love so much! I took this shot from a boat back to London from Greenwich - something I highly recommend!

Travel Photo Tuesday: London Eye

The London Eye & Big Ben

Walking along the river in London is one of my absolute favorite things to do there. I don't know what it is - there's just a lot of life and bustle and so many things to see! Stop off for a cup of coffee or tea, a beer or cider, a bite to eat, or to just sit for a few minutes and people watch... so many options!

Travel Photo Tuesday: Brooklyn Bridge

One of my absolute favorite places in New York is the Brooklyn Bridge. There's just something about it - the light posts, the wooden planks, it's just really neat. I took the train from Manhattan to Brooklyn, then walked back to Manhattan. The skyline views were awesome, and you could even see the Statue of Liberty in the distance!