On the road again: Shenandoah, Luray and Deep Creek

August 7, 2017

First and foremost, it feels great to be back on the road! After we got home on July 11, we spent a week tidying up things at home and then retreated to the beach for some much needed R&R. It was great to be home and see everyone for a brief moment, including getting to celebrate Nolan’s brother's 30th Birthday.

Aside from catching up on things, we started to plan our American road trip. To start, we decided to stay closer to home just to make sure we could handle this whole camping & living out of our car thing. We planned on two nights in Shenandoah National Park and two in Deep Creek, Maryland. Before we took off, we spent a LOT of time at REI getting outfitted and even turned our car into a place where we could sleep if we wanted to. Check out the guide to that here

All in all, we are back at it and it feels terrific. We cannot wait to explore the US for the next 2-3 months!

Shenandoah National Park

We were quite anxious as we arrived at the gate to Shanendoah. We both had not been camping in probably 15 years and had no idea what to expect. After we got settled and found our way to the campground, we obviously had to stop at the store and stock up on some firewood. What’s a camping trip without a fire?! The first thing we realized when we arrived was that US park rangers look exactly as you would expect them to. The second thing is that bears are a real thing. We got a full rundown on what attracted the bears to our campsite, which was basically everything. Terrific.

We found our little plot and and got the camp set up, though it took some work. We had a lovely MRE (Meals Ready to Eat) dinner over a single burner and then tried to get some sleep. The first night was a little creepy getting used to sleeping outside. Probably the worst part were our camping neighbors. They were up late and certainly did NOT abide by the 10pm curfew. Oh well, once we finally fell asleep, we woke up 12 hours later. Guess we were tired…

The next day we did a 6.5 mile hike through part of the Apalachian Trail, explored Loft Mountain and had lunch at Doyles River Falls, which was awesome. Thankfully we did not encounter any black bear friends on our excursion. We also got some amazing views of the park itself and the takeaway was this: endless hills of forest. Literally. As far as you could see in any direction was sprawling deep forests covering mountains. It was beautiful!

Shenandoah Views (those black spots are gnats flying around...ugh)

Night two went smoother and we woke up early to head to Deep Creek and also stop at Luray Caverns on the way. After our first two nights- no bears, not too smelly and feeling fresh. Think we might be OK!!!

Luray Caverns & Deep Creek

On our way to Deep Creek, we stopped at Luray Caverns, which are the largest caverns on the East Coast and the fourth largest in the USA. They were discovered in 1878 by some explorers and while they are now a huge tourist attraction, once you get down there, they are breathtaking! The rock formations, many of which are still active, are crazy! We definitely are not the biggest fans of tours, but this one was worth it. If you are nearby, and have two hours to spare, do it!

After Luray, we kept heading north towards Deep Creek Lake, which took us through a portion of West Virginia and man was it rural! It actually looks a lot like Shenandoah with rolling hills of forest, but we were definitely glad we had a full tank of gas because there wasn’t much in the way of civilization.

Deep Creek itself is part of a state park in Western Maryland (our home state) and neither of us had ever been. Upon driving in, we realized it is definitely beautiful. A huge lake surrounded by cabins and forests. Since we were now pros at camping, we got our camp set up and a fire going in no time! We also splurged and did some hot dogs and s'mores over the fire…again #campinglife.

Our Deep Creek campsite was way more spread out and quiet. That also adds to a level of creepiness because at night you can hear things…but, after we settled down we slept great and conquered another 6 miles hike around the lake before ending up back near our campsite. We also were able to head down to the “beach” near our campsite and swim. It was a great way to end the day!

Tomorrow we are off to visit some family in Kittanning, PA for the weekend, where we will be spending time on the Allegheny River. This is where Nolan learned to waterski very young. While we both haven’t skied behind a boat in many years, I think we will have to give it a try once again!

Back in the USA!!!

July 26, 2017

Back in the USA (but the trip shall continue)

So a little news to share: we are back in the States! Below is a bit of our thought process around this decision -

We were originally going to spend the last few days of our European leg in Paris and then head east to start a tour of Southeast Asia and eventually the rest of Asia. However, we realized we needed to be back home during the month of October as we have a few things we cannot miss: a big birthday, a big wedding and our first niece is due! October was originally going to be our halfway-point break after having done Europe & Asia, but after moving WAYYY to fast through Europe we decided that 2-2.5 months to do Asia was just not enough time and would be exhausting to even attempt.

With all of that in mind, we decided to return to the US and explore another part of the world that was at the top of our list: America! We have lived and worked in the US our whole lives and have barely even explored our own country outside of the major cities. Our country is filled with diverse landscapes, incredible national parks and small towns we have never even heard of. We knew we had to explore our home country before this was all over. So, given the time frame, we decided we would spend the back half of the summer and early fall doing just that.

Our plan is to drive from the East Coast across the country eventually exploring the Pacific Northwest, heading down the coast of California, through the Southwest, across Texas, through the South and eventually returning up the East Coast. The focus will be on experiencing our national parks such as Yellowstone, Yosemite, Glacier, Grand Canyon, etc, etc. We have an ambitious itinerary planned and we have no idea how much we will accomplish, but we couldn’t be more excited!

If anyone has any specific recommendations, feel free to shoot us an email. Or, if anyone is interested in tagging along for part of the trip, we would love to have you! Even better, if you live near one of these places and feel like having some houseguests PLEASE email us…we can use all the help we can get.

While we weren’t sure how long we would last, we have loved traveling together and want to keep exploring as long as we can! The plan right now is to tour America, return home for our family obligations and then continue to S. America for the late fall and finally Asia in early 2018. The nice thing about this is we can always change our plans if we need to!

Here’s to hoping the budget is friendly enough to us to allow for all of this. In the meantime, America here we come!!

France – Our Last European Stop

July 19, 2017

Well, technically we got into France weeks ago. When we left Spain we flew to Paris to pick up a car. Why? Because we learned the hard (read: expensive) way what happens when you rent a car in one European country and return it in another. Since we knew Paris would be the last stop, we picked up a car there and it was with us for the next 2.5 months and travelled all over France, Switzerland and Italy. So even though we broke France up a bit, here is what we experienced:

Bordeaux, France -

Our first stop after picking up the car in late May was Bordeaux (notice a wine theme yet?). We were excited to explore the wine growing regions of this world famous area and see if we could learn and taste some of the most expensive wines in the world. We quickly realized however, the French don’t exactly do things like the rest of the world. There is no “showing up” to vineyards to taste the wines. No, you have to be somebody important and set up reservations well in advance. We are not anybody and definitely did not set anything up, so we just figured being in town would be good enough.

Our first night we were exhausted from a long drive from Paris. We decided to go into the tiny town of Blaye and seek out a wine store. We found a cute spot that was serving tapas and started inquiring about some wines we could bring home. Zero English. Before we knew it, the owner summoned an older lady from down the street who spoke English to help us with a wine selection. She seemed quite knowledgeable so when we asked her what her background was she answered, “Well, I am a winemaker.” Boom! Kirby worked her magic and before we knew it we had a friend in Bordeaux! She recommended a few places to go and taste, some terrific wines to experiment with at home and before the end of the week gave us an extensive tour and lesson of her own Chateau (more on that in a bit).

Over our three days in Bordeaux we explored the amazing town of St. Emilion, the actual city of Bordeaux and explored the left bank where some of the world’s most sought after wines are made from producers such as Chateau Margaux, Latour and Mouton-Rothschild. The French Bordeaux classification system is something we took a lot of time to learn while we were there and we would describe it best in one word: complicated. Furthermore, a lot of the rules the French still live by are from Napoleon! Weird. Too much to get into here, but we thought when we had a few hours we would produce our version of a European Wine Guide. May be helpful for anyone going to check out these regions.

Anyways, we did tastings at Chateau de Ferrand near St. Emilion and Chateau Lamothe-Bergeron in Paulliac, but the most memorable experience was visiting our friend Florence at her house Chateau Cantinot. She gave us a tour of her winemaking facilities, let us taste her wines and even explained how she and her family came to be winemakers: Her husband Robert had been a broker and decided, no matter what, when he turned 50, he would fulfill a lifelong dream to become a winemaker. Amazing! Over the last 15 years they have learned trial-by-fire and now produce over 150K bottle per year! Quite an achievement and the wine was actually pretty darn good.

Our friends Florence and Robert at Chateau Continot

Even though we didn’t get to taste the big boys everybody talks about, experiences like Chateau Continot are what make trips like this awesome! Totally by chance but we got the best lesson about Bordeaux wines we ever could have by folks who live and breathe it everyday!

Provence (Stop #1)

Our next stop was to the Provence Region of France, which is in the south of the country and features many of France’s national parks, picturesque beaches, mountainous regions and of course the famous lavender fields. The latter is what we were after so we picked a spot smack in the middle of Luberon Natural Regional Park right next to a tiny town called Viens. We had an amazing Airbnb here that was situated at the top of a large hill overlooking fields and fields of green lavender. Wait green?!?! Yes, because we did ZERO research as to when the lavender actually blooms, we quickly realized we were about a month and a half too early. Whoops!

So over the course of the next three days we hiked, caught up on some sleep and explored as much of this area of the world as we could. One thing is for sure, the Provence region of France is beautiful and we cannot imagine what it must look like when all of those green fields turn to purple. We made a pact that if we could fit it in, we would return on our way back to Paris to try and catch a glimpse of this famous lavender.

As we left France and headed to Switzerland we basically had to drive through the entirety of the Luberon Natural Regional Park and we could not believe how beautiful it was. We also were shocked at how mountainous it was! Steep peaks, windy mountain roads and sprawling landscapes took us all the way from Viens into Switzerland.

Nice-

We had spent five days in Switzerland and another 25 in Italy before we returned to France yet again. We started our time back in Nice, France which is one of the bigger French Riviera cities. We were originally going to stay for a few nights but ultimately decided we wanted to chase down that lavender so only stayed two.

During our short stay, we explored this awesome beach town and also did a day trip to Monaco, which is only about a 30-minute drive from Nice. While in Monaco, we explored the famous Monte Carlo casino and gawked at all the giant yachts and expensive cars.

Nice is an awesome place to relax in the south of France. The beaches are beautiful (though they are made of rock, not sand) and we found it to be way more relaxed than the surrounding areas, such as Monaco and Cannes. Furthermore, it is a great launching point for the various day trips you can take in the south of France.

Provence (Stop #2) -

Since we were so dead-set on seeing the famous lavender fields, we cut our time in Nice short by a night and headed back into the Provence region. This time, we find a small B&B in the town of Gordes to park ourselves for the night.

The first thing we did on the drive was find our old Airbnb and drive the narrow road down the mountain to see if those fields had indeed turned purple. To our luck, they had! Even in July we were still probably a few weeks early to truly get the rich deep lines of purple you see all over, but it was still awesome to have seen it green and now transformed. We spent some time photographing our old fields and then headed to our hotel where we enjoyed a nice dinner and a pool table before crashing.

The next morning we got up super early and went to explore the world famous Senanque-Abbey. If you have ever googled a picture of “lavender” or “lavender in France” or any variation of that, you have probably seen a picture of the Abbey. It is a working Christian Monastery but is home to some of the most beautiful fields of lavender in the world. The monks there maintain these fields as well as make honey on the property. While again, the fields were not totally in bloom, it was still magical to explore this sacred place as the sun was rising. We had heard the monestary can turn into a tourist nightmare, but arrived early enough so we could explore in the peace and quiet. We could even hear the monks chanting as we walked around the grounds, it was pretty cool.

After some photographs we headed back to the hotel, had some breakfast and then packed up for a drive to do some more wine research!

Burgundy -

Ahh another wine stop for us…however, if there was one we were looking forward to the most it was probably this one. While Burgundy is easily one of the most famous wine growing regions in the world, it is also home to our two favorite wines: Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. In fact, 98% of what is grown in Burgundy are these two grape varietals. Perfect for us!

Our Airbnb was located in the tiny town of Magny-les-Villers, which is situated at the top of the Cote de Beaune, where some of the world’s most well-known and expensive Chardonnays are grown. Right above us was the Cote de Nuits, where some of the world’s most well-known and expensive Pinots are grown. Add them together, and you have the Cote d'Or, one of the world’s most famous wine growing regions on the planet, and we were right in the middle of it! While Burgundy actually has five growing regions, we focused on these two because together they are home to the majority of the “Grand Cru” wines from this region.

After we arrived we quickly realized a few things:

#1 – There are grapes everywhere, but they seemed to be concentrated in a narrow band that runs north/south and along the steep hills above.

#2 – We did not see any “estates” or “chateaus” or anything resembling a working vineyard.

#3 – The grapes themselves were pristine. Pruned, cared for and constantly being tended to by workers 24/7. It was cool to see.

What we learned over the next three days was one of the coolest things we have encountered in trying to learn wine: everything in Burgundy (the quality, the ratings, the classifications) all focus on the terroir (“ter-WAH”), which essentially means all of the environmental factors (geography, geology, etc.) that affect each vineyard. This means that all the wine producers, estates etc. share the land and hope their grapes are grown on the best terroirs. So awesome! This simple fact explains why all the grapes grow together and are in pristine condition, because everyone in town has a vested interest in that land.

During our time here we tasted at a few different estates, shops and learned as much as we could. Perhaps our best was driving the famous, “Route de Grand Crus” across the various regions and passing by some of the world’s most famous producers such as Domaine Leroy, Romanee Contee and Gevrey-Chamberton. It was a very cool experience for us especially since we now understand how everyone in Burgundy shares the land. It was awesome to drive through the various vineyards and see the markers people put on certain lines of grapes signifying "this row is mine".

If you're a fan of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay or just wine in general, Burgundy is a must-go! The towns are charming, the people are friendly and you will see a way of life that totally revolves around the land; unlike anything we have ever seen or experienced. It also is a bonus that we now know how to read those pesky French wine labels!

Paris –

After three amazing days in Burgundy we headed north for our last stop in Europe…Paris. The “City of Lights” has a special meaning for us, because it was the first city in Europe we went to together. We went to Paris last year for Kirby’s 30th Birthday and it is probably what set this whole travel idea in motion. It was fitting we would end the first leg of our journey here.

The other bonus was that we got to spend our few days in Paris with some of our best friends: Hunter and PJ! Hunter and Nolan have known each other since grade school and he has been one of his best friends ever since, so it was awesome to see some familiar faces in such an amazing city.

Our first day, we explored Versailles. We had heard horror stories about this place from a tourist perspective. But, we got up early, got in line and went inside the palace and found it to be not nearly as bad as everyone made it out to be. After we toured the main chateau we rented a golf cart (yep a golf cart) and toured the grounds. By far the BEST way to do it since Versailles is huge! We saw the various gardens, fountains and explored both Trianons, one of which was Marie-Antoinette’s home. The complex is crazy and certainly embodies the wealth and privilege the royal family afforded themselves before the French Revolution…

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Day Two started by saying goodbye to an old friend, our rental car :( It was time to move on and prepare to head to our next destination and the car would no longer be necessary. The Toyota travelled with us over 8000km, through three countries and countless meals, tunes and podcasts.

After we got the car back, we walked…all over Paris. We had done this on our last trip, but that was in January and now in July it was hot. We started by the Louvre and headed over to our favorite museum: the Musee D’Orsay but arrived too late to see it again. We then walked up the entire Avenue des Champs-Élysées and climbed to the top of the Arc De Triomphe, which gives you one of the most incredible views of the city. This is something we had not done last January, so was awesome to see.

After all the walking we were smoked, so we recharged at a café and then walked to the Eiffel Tower to rest and wait for sunset as well as the “lighting of the tower.” Since it was a Friday night there were lots of people having picnics, playing music and sipping wine. It was a lot of fun to rest, cool off and watch the sun go down and tower light up. After this we walked back towards our place, but on the way stopped to photograph the Notre Dame at night, find our lock we put up in January 2016 and then crash before our early am flight.

While this time around we did not do any museums, we were comforted knowing we had seen all the big ones last January and also got to experience some new things we had not done before such as Versailles and the Arc. It was also a ton of fun to spend three days in this amazing city with great friends.

Our last stop -

We got quite sad leaving Paris early Saturday morning. Not only were we leaving an amazing city, but also leaving Europe. We left home on March 28th and had been nonstop through (mainly) Europe since then. It felt quite strange to be leaving it behind, especially since it felt like we had just got there! We think it will take us quite a while to take a step back and appreciate all the things we have seen and experienced thus far. While we realize that sounds absolutely crazy, we still do not think it has fully hit us!

While this chapter has come to an end there is no question we are going to continue! We have loved every minute and learned a ton about other cultures, ourselves and each other. We originally were going to head east and start our journey in Asia, but decided to make a sudden change to experience something else that was on our bucket list….but stay tuned for that!

Europe, it’s been a blast! See you next time!

~Kirby & Nolan

Italy, Italy, Italy....

July 10, 2017

Italy…what a place! When we planned this trip many months ago we knew Italy would be a big focus. Why? Because it contains so many of the things we love: pizza, pasta, wine, gelato and large portions! OK, it wasn’t just the food. The amazing history and beauty of this country also drew us in and It certainly did not disappoint. We ended up spending nearly a month touring this amazing country. The length of time we spent here kind of caught us by surprise, but when you realize all the amazing places to see and experience, it almost felt like we needed more time. So, without further adieu here is our 4 week tour of the big boot:

Florence–

After we left Switzerland we headed straight south to Firenze to begin a big loop of the northern part of Italy. It was not the most efficient way to travel, but we designed this portion of our trip to intercept some friends in Lake Como (more on that later). Yes, we passed Lake Como on the way to Florence, but we needed to kill some time, so off we went.

When you drive into Florence you realize two things pretty fast: the historic center of town is incredible (the Duomo and the steeples immediately grab your eye) and driving around this city is like being in a full contact go-kart race. Thank goodness Nolan was used to driving in NYC because it was nuts. Once we finally found our Airbnb, we realized we were smack in the middle of historic Florence, steps away from the famous Basilica of Santa Croce (the principal Franciscan church in Florence). Incredible! We parked the car and didn’t touch it for three days as we explored this city.

On the first day all we did was walk. We started near the Duomo and made our way over the famous Ponte Vecchio bridge and around the outside of the city, ending at the Piazzale Michelangelo. We had our first Italian dinner at a family-style restaurant that was recommended to us. The look on Kirby’s face said, “Yep, eating pasta EVERY SINGLE NIGHT we are in Italy.” This premonition came true btw…

On the second day, we climbed stairs...lots of them. We climbed the famous Giotto's Bell Tower and then later in the day climbed the Duomo. The perspectives from atop these two vantage points were very similar, yet very different. The Bell Tower not only gives you amazing views of the city but also of the Dome itself, completed in 1436 by Brunelleschi. When you climb the Dome itself you get amazing sprawling views of the city, but also get to see the amazing paintings inside!

We even were able to get in late to see the amazing sculpture of David. This iconic piece of work is huge and takes your breath away when you see it from the gallery hall. It is one of those things that totally lives up to all the hype it receives. Incredible to see it in person!

Our last day in Florence, we got our art fix. We got up early and toured the halls of the Ufiizi Gallery. This has to be the Italian equivalent of the Louvre in Paris, so many historic works to take in. The highlights for us were of course the famous “Birth of Venus” by Botticelli and the originals by DaVinci, particularly “The Adoration of the Magi".

Florence was an amazing way to start our tour of Italy. We were able to return to the Piazzale Michaelangelo on our last night for some sunset photos and found ourselves just taking in the view. The skyline is iconic and absolutely stunning. Very different from any other city and something everyone needs to experience at least once in their lives. This was actually Nolan’s third time and it still was not old to him…

Venice –

The second stop in our Italian tour was Venice. Since we were driving in, you quickly realize that this city is truly built on water. There are NO roads! We had to park in a huge garage outside the confines of the city and then take all of our stuff on a water taxi to our new Airbnb. Quite an intro! A little side note we learned while we were here: Venice was built in the early 1500's A.D., consists of about 118 small islands connected by numerous canals and bridges, and the foundation is mostly made of WOOD! Incredible engineering by the Italians!

To us, Venice was basically one big museum. We did not plan very much, but found that just wandering the narrow corridors, crossing the bridges and experiencing the canals was enough. It is amazing. Some of the coolest things we saw were when we were wandering around and got totally lost! The whole city has this romantic aura about it. The gondolas, the architecture and the canals are all just so beautiful.

Over our three nights we experienced the famous St. Marks square, climbed the bell tower, took a gondola ride and crossed more bridges than we had in multiple years living in New York City. But again, perhaps the best parts about Venice are the unplanned. Just walking this city is an experience, particularly at night. We will never forget the moonlit canals with the faint sound of accordions in the background. It was like walking around a movie set. If you are going to Italy, Venice has to be on the short list as well!

Lake Como–

After we spent six nights exploring two amazing cities in Italy, we were ready for a little R&R. As soon as we pulled into the Lake Como area we knew were going to get it! The Lake is huge and the towns that hug the shores are all iconic. Steep slopes, colorful homes built on top of one another and beautiful Italian boats everywhere. It was awesome and we can see why George Clooney chooses this as his go-to vacation spot.

We also got a bonus appearance in Lake Como from our friends, Paul & Karen Russo. Karen, who Kirby used to nanny for in grad school, was Kirby's Matron of Honor in our wedding and their son Mac was our ring bearer. They are like an extension of our family so it was great to spend a few nights with some familiar faces. We all shared a house in downtown Menaggio, which could not have been a better spot to explore the area.

We explored the town of Veranna one day, including a huge hike to the castle that sits above it. We also went to dinner on Comacina Island where the restaurant has been serving the same traditional menu since 1947. It was an amazing experience. But, our favorite day was our last, where we rented a boat for the whole day and explored the entire lake from the water. It was incredible to see all the different towns, extravagant villas and amazing landscapes this area has to offer. It was an awesome day and one of the best days of the trip so far!

Camogli -

After Lake Como, we decided we wanted a little more sun so we went south to a tiny Riviera town called Camogli. The town is located in between Recco and Portofino and sits right on the Mediterranean. We splurged a bit here and did a hotel and basically spent our time sitting on the beach, drinking Aperol Spritz's and doing a whole lot of nothing. It was great!

Camogli is a fishing village and really is a hidden gem. It has a population of less than 5,500 people and does not get the hype the surrounding Riviera towns do, which was fine by us. It was very cool to walk into town and eat dinner at these tiny restaurants and enjoy seafood that was caught just earlier that day. The people are extremely friendly and we came out feeling extremely relaxed and ready to tackle Italy's capital city.

Rome–

From Camogli we headed further south and made the long drive into Rome. Once again the drive was stressful (Italians seem not to pay attention to lane lines) and when we arrived we realized that Rome is HOT! The city in the summer is scorching during the middle of the day. We planned around this and did most of our sightseeing either early in the mornings or at night.

We aren’t huge “tour group” people, but in Rome we actually did two of them. The first, was a morning tour of the Vatican where we were ushered through the halls bright and early and got an early look at the Sistine Chapel before the hordes of people got there. It was worth it! We had 10-15 minutes just to stand and admire the masterpiece all around us. No photos are allowed inside the chapel but it will be forever engrained in our minds. Just beautiful all around! After this we toured the Vatican itself as well as St. Peter’s Basilica, which is enormous and easily dwarfs other iconic cathedrals such as the Notre Dame in Paris.

On day two we toured the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. This was also incredible and very helpful to have a guide explain how these structures were built, what they were actually used for and what they looked like back in the day. It was very cool to see and experience this and we can safely say that no one builds things like the Romans did. After we recovered from the heat, we waited until dark and explored the Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps. We were amazed to see how many tourists there still were at 10pm! It was crazy, but we cannot imagine what these would have looked like in the middle of the day.

On the last day in Rome, we walked through Piazza Navona and also visited the Pantheon (one of the few monuments that is free in Rome). This was also impressive to see. It is one of the only remaining structures that is mostly intact from ancient Rome and the engineering is remarkable. Very cool to see and experience.

While Rome is hot in the summer and very busy it is an incredible place to see and visit. It was the political capital of the Western World for so long and it was fun to try and imagine what the place looked like all those years ago. So much history, one could easily spend weeks there trying to see it all and still come up short.

Amalfi Coast –

After Rome we decided a nice five nights on the Amalfi Coast was in order. We rented a beautiful home in the small town of Praiano, which sits in between Positano and Amalfi. It was the perfect spot to stay for the next week!

We also got the added bonus of picking up another friend from home, Wes Wharton, who is currently on his own adventure around the world alone! His Instagram is a great follow for anyone who is interested (@tomcheddy). Wes is terrific and decided to spend four nights with us exploring this beautiful part of the world.

Our days were filled with plenty of Aperol Spritz’s and enjoying the sun and the blue waters of Praiano. Though, one day we did manage to do the steep hike “The Walk of the Gods” (we didn’t last long). But once again our favorite day involved a boat: we rented a small boat to explore the entire coast and even did a loop around the gorgeous island of Capri. Once again, it was incredible to see the steep towns that grace the coast from the water and to swim amongst the yachts. We found a few hidden spots, including a few caves to park ourselves and had an amazing day.

The Amalfi Coast is easily one of the most beautiful places we have ever been. Each town has its own characteristics and charm and the waters that surround it are some of the clearest dark blue waters we have ever seen. The other best part about it is, because the towns are so steep, you don’t feel as bad eating pizza all day since you get your workout in just coming in and out of your place! An amazing place to spend a week and it will definitely be on our list of places to come back to again!

Pompeii –

Even though we could have easily stayed in Amalfi for another week, we had to unfortunately head north to Tuscany...such a tough life right now. On the way though, we decided to spend a day exploring the ruins of Pompeii.

For those who aren’t familiar – Pompeii was an ancient Roman city that was destroyed by a massive volcanic eruption from Mt. Vesuvius. In fact, when we were in Rome, we were told that due to the extreme heat, many of the Romans used to head to Pompeii to spend their summers. The city itself was buried in volcanic ash for centuries until 1748, when it was re-discovered and slowly excavated. Now, the ruins sit almost as they did in 79 A.D. before the eruption. In some cases, whole structures are just as they were. It is as if the city is completely stuck in time.

A few things struck us about this place: 1) It is huge! We had no idea how spread out the site would actually be, 2) We cannot imagine how long it must have taken archeologists to reveal this city as it sits today. You are even able to see microscopic details when entering the old homes and structures, such as fresco paintings on the walls...it is crazy! Lastly, it is very eery to walk the town and constantly see Mt. Vesuvius out of the corner of your eye staring down at the town it once destroyed.

While Pompeii is not the easiest place to navigate or get around (the stone roads are quite uneven), it was incredible to explore this place. We are not sure you can find another place so densely filled with history. It is literally as if parts of this city were untouched for centuries! Highly recommend a day spent here!

Tuscany –

Our last stop in Italy was Tuscany. We decided to spend five nights here because: a) We love wine and b) We wanted to no longer feel intimidated by Italian wine lists. This was not vacation, it was research!

We stayed in arguably our best Airbnb yet on a farm with an Italian family on the outskirts of the town of Murlo. Murlo basically sits right in the middle of three important wine cities of Tuscany: Montalcino, Montepulciano and Siena. It was an incredible place to explore, but more importantly our host family took us in as if we were one of their own! They cooked for us two nights, their son gave us a full cooking lesson another and they constantly wanted us to be in the gardens picking fresh fruits and vegetables to eat. Oh and not to mention, they produced their own wine and olive oil right there! It was awesome!!

We focused three days on wine exploration, so spent a day in Montalcino (where Brunellos are produced), a day in Montepulciano (where Nobile de Montepulcianos are produced) and a day in the city of Siena (which is arguably the center of the Italian wine trade and right on the border of where Chianti is produced). These three days were awesome and great learning experiences. So much history in Italian wine making and we barely scratched the surface: Italy has 20 growing regions and we only hit three!

Most importantly though it was amazing to sit outside of our Airbnb, take in the amazing rolling hills in Tuscany while drinking amazing wine and eating some of the best home cooked Italian we have ever had. It was a great way to spend five nights and we literally got sad when we had to say goodbye to our extended Italian family and leave Italy…

Pisa -

OK, one last stop. We had to see the Leaning Tower before the left Italy. We took a quick detour on our way to France, parked the car and made our way to the square where the tower sits. It's exactly as you would expect and really does lean. We still aren't sure if we thought it was better seeing the tower or all the people lined up on the walkway trying to nail the perfect picture "holding" the tower up. Ahh well, here are ours -

We crammed a lot into four weeks but Italy certainly knows how to leave an impression on you. From the amazing and diverse cities, to the incredible landscapes, it is truly one-of-a-kind. Furthermore, the culture, the people and the FOOD are all top notch. We hope we can make it a regular occurrence to return to this amazing country and to be immersed in this culture again and again. We also learned a few recipes and a few wine tricks to bring home with us as well!

After Italy, we made a few stops in France, including: the beach, lavender, wine country, and finally, the Eiffel tower! We will have the France blog up by the end of the week (hopefully!?) and then will fill everyone in on what is next for us....

We <3 Switzerland

June 15, 2017

Nothing we can write here will capture how much we loved Switzerland. The beauty, the people, the cleanliness, the culture; it was all amazing. The only thing that not as desirable was the cost. It was expensive! All in all, however it was one of our favorite countries we have visited thus far. In fact, Nolan said, on the whole, it is the first place outside of the US he could see himself living…

After we left Spain we had spent a short time in France. We explored the Bordeaux wine region and then some of the Provence in the southern part of the country (we will detail our time in France later because we are returning in a few weeks). From there, we drove east and into Switzerland via Geneva and immediately the beauty of the place captured us. The landscape was extremely green, the mountains in the distance had snow on them and the lakes were a light blue color we had not yet seen. It was awesome.

We decided to park ourselves in Bern (Switzerland’s capital) for four days. We picked Bern because it is very central and we knew we could explore other areas of the country easily with our car. Once we arrived, we were greeted by our hosts who introduced us to our most favorite Airbnb stay yet. We had a beautiful modern two-story apartment on the outskirts of Bern that featured an amazing kitchen & dining room, a large living room with a terrace and a second level with a sunroom and yet another terrace. Furthermore, we were tucked in amongst some of the mountains that surround Bern, so the views were awesome from all sides. We took full advantage of our place so when we weren’t out exploring, we were inside enjoying our place.

Day 1: Bern

The city of Bern is gorgeous and sits right on a sharp bend of the Aare river, which runs down from the Alps. The river is a chalky white color due to the composition of the glacial sediment in the water. One of the highlights for us was getting a taste of Bern culture: the Aare swim. Our hosts told us in the summer the locals head down to a park on the river’s edge and take a swim. Can you imagine swimming in a river around one of the US capital cities?!?! This experience taught us a few things: #1: Swiss river water is coooooold, #2 the currents are extremely strong. We walked about a quarter mile up river to start our polar plunge and it only took us about 30 seconds to blow past the park just floating. It was a very cool experience swimming in the river with the city right there.

Day 2: Exploring in the Mountains

On our second day we headed up the mountains to explore Lake Thun, Lauterbrunnen, Interlaken and Lucerne. It was a full day trip but we could have easily spent weeks exploring this area. The mountain lakes are so clear blue it is insane. Of course, we had barely made it around Lake Thun and Nolan had to jump in. It is almost impossible not to. Swimming in the lake with the mountains on all sides was an experience we will never forget. After this, we headed further up the mountain to the town of Lauterbrunnen. We had seen pictures of this town, but they cannot do it justice. The small town sits in a valley that is a gorgeous green, with steep cliffs on either side. The river runs right through it and is fed by huge waterfalls on either side. Again, describing it here just cannot fully capture what it is to see it in person. We could not believe places like this exist! Moreover, the Swiss love parasailing. Up the mountains we saw at least a hundred people leaping off the steep cliff faces and gliding down to the valleys below. It was awesome! As we followed the river down we watched it feed into Lake Brienze and looped around through Lucerne before returning home for the day. Truly an epic day.

Day 3 - Geneva & Chocolate?

On day three we headed back towards France to explore the Lake Geneva area. Fun fact: Switzerland has four official languages – French, German, Italian and Romansh. What language you hear/see/speak depends on where you are in the country. Even the highway signs change mid-drive. As we got back to the Geneva area, we quickly realized we were back in the French part of the country.

Lake Geneva is huge, blue and stunning. We ended up spending a lot of time in the town of Montreaux, which sits at the very east end of the lake. The town is beautiful with vineyards running down the cliffs all the way down to the lake. Furthermore, there are some beautiful castles sitting on the shores of the Lake such as Chillon, where we had lunch.

Kirby’s favorite part of this day, however, was on our way back where we toured the Maison Cailler chocolate factory. It is one of the oldest chocolate producers in the world and is now owned by Nestle. The history of the place was pretty cool to learn about. For example, did you know the Swiss were the first to introduce milk into chocolate? We toured the factory, learned about the process and got to sample all the chocolate we could eat…again Kirby was very happy to end our day here.

Our sad, last day-

On our final day in Switzerland we decided to take a stab at seeing the famous Matterhorn. We had to drive south anyways to head towards Italy so we extended the drive to try and catch a glimpse of the famous peak. We quickly realized though that we had some things going against us: for one, the weather was not ideal. As we drove further up the mountains near the town of Zermatt the low clouds and storms blocked every possible view we would have. Secondly, we did not realize that getting to Zermatt was actually not possible by car. We had to drive to the town of Tasch, park the car, and take a train the rest of the way. Between these two challenges, we abandoned our journey and instead opted to just explore the valley below. Still amazing and some of our favorite pictures we took while in the country.

From there were took the most insane, long drive through the alps down into Italy where we would start our tour of Italy for the next few weeks. The total journey included a new experience for the two of us: a car train! We literally drove onto the flatbed of a train car and sat in the car as the train traversed a steep mountain pass and an incredibly long tunnel. The drive overall took us forever, not because it was long, but because it was so stunning. We must have stopped 20 times to take pictures and take in the landscape. Waterfalls coming off the mountains, lush green valleys and snow covered mountain peaks. Just incredible!

As we passed into Italy, we almost got sad. When we started this trip we yearned to experience the big countries of France and Italy together, but we wished we had spent more time exploring Switzerland. Just something about the place drew us in. Not just the beauty, but the people we met along the way could not have been more friendly and welcoming to us. You could tell they care deeply about their country and their culture and it is probably why the place is so clean. The beauty of the country is absolutely being preserved and in this world we live in, that was refreshing to see! There is no question it will be on the top of our list of places to return to, for Nolan even maybe on a permanent basis :)

We are currently sitting in the beautiful town of Camogli after spending three amazing days in Lake Como. We have already been through Florence and Venice and are off to Rome next. We are loving Italy so far and will have plenty of pictures and experiences to share over the next two weeks before we end our time in Europe back in France.

Speak soon!

Spain

June 9, 2017

Madrid, Spain-

We landed back in London on May 14th, which seems like forever ago! We gave the family a big hug in the airport and took a flight from London to Madrid, Spain.

Post Africa, we made a pact that we would not experience a city for less than three nights. We hustled through the top part of Europe and as we said, it totally wore on us. While three nights even sounds like a short period of time, it seems to work pretty well for us. The other pact we made was we would try to target Airbnb’s right in the heart of the various cities so we could truly feel like we were living there, however short that may be. So, we used Airbnb to rent an apartment right in the heart of a vibrant neighborhood in Madrid to start our Spain adventure and we were not disappointed!

Right away we got a sense for the Spanish culture: it seemed like everybody slept in late, worked for a few hours and then started hanging out in the various town squares around 5pm (with a drink in hand) and late into the night. Works for us! We spent a few nights right outside of our door in the square enjoying the people, the food and the weather. It was awesome!

While in Madrid we also spent time walking to the various landmarks and parks including the Plaza Major, the Royal Palace and the large El Retiro Park.

Valencia, Spain-

Valencia was a destination that Kirby had picked. We weren’t entirely sure about it, but knew the weather would be great and it had a beach. A trend that has emerged seems to be to lower the expectations we have for a place and the more it blows us away. Valencia was definitely one of those places!

While the city itself is not the prettiest, we got a sense once again for the amazing culture. People emerged late but spent a ton of time outside in the various parks and squares and just seemed like they were enjoying life. There was a cafe with outside seating on every corner! Probably the best part of Valencia for us was our Airbnb in the neighborhood of Russafa. While we weren’t close to the beach, we had an apartment on the top floor of a building that had a killer balcony. We ultimately spent a lot of time there enjoying the sun and the views of the city right from our place.

When we did go out, we experienced the old Turia river bed, which is now a park that runs through the entire city center, the beach, and the City of Arts and Sciences, which yielded some awesome night photos. Once again though, it felt great not to be rushing around checking sights of our list. We slowed down, enjoyed our place and truly felt like we lived in Valencia for a few short days.

Barcelona, Spain-

The cultural center of Spain, what a city! Where we may have slowed down a bit in Madrid and Valencia, we experienced a ton in Barcelona. There are just too many amazing things to do and see.

The first morning we got up before sunrise to drive up to the Tibidabo Amusement Park and the Temple of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. These are basically seated at the top of a big mountain that overlooks the entire city of Barcelona. We just made it for sunrise and it was a great way to start our stay here as we got incredible views of the whole city.

From there, we went right into Park Guell to experience one of Gaudi’s gems before the crowds hit it. We walked the whole park and then down the hill to see a few of his other creations in the city: Casa Mila and Casa Batllo. We covered a ton that day and all before noon! We were smoked, so we did what you do in Spain: took a siesta and then explored the waterfront for dinner. Another theme in Barcelona was we did as much of the Spanish cuisine as we could (i.e., lots of paella).

Our second day, we actually decided to do a rare workout and ran from the waterfront, where our hotel was, back to the top of Park Guell. We then came down, got some coffee and spent the afternoon exploring La Rambla. We walked the entire thing and also spent some time in the famous La Boqueria market, which is incredible and overstimulating. We also explored the tiny streets of the Gothic Quarter.

Perhaps the most remarkable part was reserving a time to go see Gaudi’s La Sagrada Familia. It is an absolutely incredible sight! The cathedral started under Gaudi in 1883 and is still being built today! In fact, at the time of his death in 1926 it was less than 25% complete. When you go inside, you can see why. The insanely complex detail of the stonework, the stained glass and the overall architecture are a marvel. We could have easily spent hours inside staring at the intricacies of the church. It really is stunning and probably the most beautiful place of worship we have experienced thus far.

On our final night we hit the Barcelona boardwalk for a beachfront dinner filled with sangria, paella and of course gelato!

Mallorca Spain–

Mallorca was a last-minute call for us. We had debated rushing back across Spain to experience Portugal, but we made a pact not to crush ourselves so decided instead to take a short flight to the island of Mallorca and get in some beach time. It exceeded all expectations!

We rented a car and an Airbnb inside the tiny village of Muro in Mallorca’s northeast. Our place had two floors, two private terraces and an amazing kitchen. Once we arrived, we hit a few of the towns small grocery stores and made ourselves at home. It was lovely!

Over the next few days we mainly drove the north and east coasts experiencing Port de Soller, Port de Pollenca, and Playa del Muro beach. The coolest part about Mallorca is you can drive along these amazing cliffs and then find a place to park and hike down to these small hidden coves with beaches. While we weren’t the only ones who had this idea, we had a few beaches almost to ourselves and swam in the most incredibly blue water. The not so coolest part about Mallorca is the roads! Kind of reminded us of Ireland, but adding in hundreds of cyclists. Not easy to get around, but the tough drives made the hidden spots even more amazing.

Our last day we drove to the east coast to experience Cala Varques. This cove was once a hidden gem for the locals but now has gained some popularity due to people pumping it on the internet (like 10 people read our blog so I don’t think we will ruin it). You have to park on the side of the road and hike about 30 minutes to reach it, but once there, you are rewarded with an amazing beach, cliffs, caves and even some ruins to explore. There is even a guy who sells beers and tapas on the beach. We spent the day here and soaked up our last few hours in the sun. Nolan even did a few very non-graceful cliff jumps to the amusement of the sailboats parked in the cove below. A great day to wrap up our time on this paradise island!

After we left Africa we were exhausted. The hustle through northern Europe hurt us and the long flights to/from Africa got to us a bit. It was also tough to spend an amazing week with our family and then head out on the road again. In fact, our trip out of London was probably the biggest emotional low of the trip so far for us. We had some homesickness creep in and we weren’t sure we could keep going living out of backpacks. However, we stuck with it and are sure glad we did. Spain was incredible and was a great way to shake off the lows and get back into seeing the world!

While we flew from Spain to France and spent a few days there, we are saving our France blog and gallery for a few weeks since we are ending our European adventure there at the beginning of July. The reason we did it this way was because it was way cheaper to do a roundtrip rental car from France (something we learned the hard way). From France we spent 5 days in Switzerland, and all we can say about that is, WOW! We will have pictures and a blog from our time there next week!

South Africa

May 31, 2017

As we ended our time in London, the excitement we felt as we headed to Heathrow was evident. We could not wait to see our family! Even though we knew we had a very long travel day ahead and were missing a few members, we could not wait to see familiar faces and experience Africa together.

A little background on how this part of our trip came to be: the two of us did our honeymoon in South Africa in 2015. We spent a few days in Cape Town, nearly a week on safari at two different camps and then spent a week on a beach in Mozambique. It was absolutely incredible and a trip we thought would be once-in-a-lifetime. However, once we were on our first game drive we just knew we had to come back. A trip to Africa is the kind that changes you as a person…

Fast forward a year and Nolan’s parents decided they needed to take everyone on a big family trip. Schedules were getting busy, grandkids were likely on the horizon** and it was getting harder and harder for everyone to get together for an extended vacation. After a ton of debate on various locations it was unanimous that everyone wanted to experience Africa (the two of us also did our part is swaying the conversation in this direction). So after a ton of planning, we got the dates settled and the trip was a reality.

Also to note – this big family vacation was planned over a year ago and well before the two of us decided to pack our bags and explore the globe. Part of the reason we decided to start in Europe was because we knew we could intercept the family on the way to Africa via London Heathrow and this is exactly what we did. Hard to imagine after months and months of planning and anticipation this trip was upon us. So, we headed to Heathrow quite early to take advantage of the BA Lounge there. We spent the afternoon catching up on photo editing, blog posts, etc. and then grabbed the family before boarding our flight. It was amazing to see everyone!

After the long overnight flight from London, we landed in Johannesburg and took a short flight into the Timbavati Game Reserve where we would spend the next four nights at King’s Camp. As luck would have, the head Ranger (Grant Murphy) accompanied us for our entire time, which could not have worked out better. Once we were shuttled to our luxurious accommodations, we went out for our first game drive. We will never forget the look on everyone’s faces when they saw the first giraffe just after we pulled out of the lodge. Mom cried and the rest had mouths agape. Within minutes this trip was worth it!

Morning game drive coffee stop (yes those are matching shirts courtesy of Mom)

Over the next four days we saw the Big Five, birds of all kinds, wild dogs, and even witnessed a live impala kill by a pack of hyenas (something Grant had never even experienced in his lifetime spent in the African bush). Perhaps the most magical moment however, was pulling off to have coffee one morning in front of a lake as a pack of elephants literally played feet in front of us. We also celebrated Nolan’s birthday on safari, where he was surprised with a birthday dinner in the bush, including professional African dancers (see photos attached). There are too many other amazing moments to recount them here, but to have the family with us to experience it all was just perfect.

We completed eight game drives before heading to Cape Town for the second leg of our trip. Due to a problem with our original hotel, we got upgraded to a penthouse at the Waterfront and we all agreed it was probably the nicest place we have ever stayed or ever will stay! Over the next four days we experienced the Stellenbosch and Franschoek wine regions, a tour around the cape (including Boulder’s Beach and the penguins), Table Mountain, the botanical gardens, and tons of amazing meals. In fact, our amazing local Cape Town guide (Ali) was the same who shuttled the two of us around a few years back. Awesome!

Our honeymoon in 2015 was a trip the two of us will absolutely never forget, but one of things we remember saying then was, “we wish we could bring our family to experience this as.” Well, this dream became a reality thanks to Nolan’s parents putting it together and it couldn’t have been more perfect. We wish they could meet us in all the places we plan to visit going forward, but maybe after everyone gets some rest we can convince them!

We weren’t quite sure how to divide the pictures for this part of our trip (there are a ton). But, in the end decided to keep in uniform so everything is in our South Africa gallery. We hope you enjoy them.

We are currently writing from the Provence Region of France and have only been in the country for about 5 days as we traveled throughout Spain post our Africa trip. We will have lots of amazing pictures and experiences to share from this part of the world. Lastly, we enabled commenting in the blog section of our site, so feel free to share, leave a comment, post feedback or whatever! As always, you can drop us a line on the contact page as well.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend, speak soon!

** Part of the reason Nolan’s parents chose this year to go on a family trip was the hope and anticipation of grandkids. Well, they nailed it because Nolan’s brother and his wife are expecting their first child in October. So exciting! Unfortunately, this came at the expense of his wife missing our South Africa trip and was the key member of the family not present (as mentioned in the post above). She was truly missed, but exciting times to come for the Matthews Family for sure!

Ireland & UK

May 18, 2017

Ireland-

After three amazing nights in Amsterdam, we left our roommate (Miep the cat) and flew to Dublin. Once we arrived, we picked up yet another car, but this time we were met with the challenge of our first experience of driving on the left side of the road. This took a bit of getting used to, but we eventually figured it out and headed towards Killarney.

Along the way, we made our second family-related stop of the trip, this time into the town of Cork, where Nolan’s great-grandparents were from. We had a fish and chips lunch in the town, along with a Guinness and explored a bit before continuing on our way.

In Killarney, we stayed at the magnificent Killeen House Hotel, where Nolan’s family has stayed in the past. The hotel is still run by proprietors Geraldine and Michael, who were insanely gracious hosts and made sure we felt right at home. We spent the next day and half exploring this amazing part of the world: The Dingle Peninsula, Valentia Island, the Skellig Ring and the Ring of Kerry. We explored the sights on a rare bluebird day and the landscapes were some of the most stunning either of us had ever experienced. Where the narrow Irish roads allowed, we pulled over at every chance we got to snap a photo. The highlight of this day trip was visiting the Minard Castle on the Dingle Peninsula, where we had the entire beach to ourselves. The photos and drone video cannot do it justice; it was incredible and an experience neither one of us will forget for quite some time.

After an awesome two nights in Killarney, we headed into Dublin for a night. We explored St. Patrick’s Cathedral and of course toured the Guinness Storehouse, where we learned the history of the beer, how it is made, and how to properly drink it! While it was a bit touristy, it was a lot of fun and worth the trip.

Manchester, England-

We flew from Dublin late (after our Guinness tour) and arrived in Manchester, England and were greeted by a wonderful Airbnb host who gave us all kind of tips on Manchester and visiting the Lake District, which we had intended to do on our first full day. We also got to catch the Anthony Joshua vs. Wladimir Klitschko boxing match, which had the entire country of England screaming at their televisions just as we arrived.

While in Manchester we spent full day visiting the Lake District on a recommendation from Nolan’s dad and it did not disappoint! Beautiful scenery of rolling hills, old stone walls and stunning lakes. Oh, and sheep everywhere! We stopped at a grocery store and had a picnic before embarking on a 3-hour hike up Cat Bells just outside of Keswick for amazing views and photos. It also reminded us how utterly out of shape we are…

Nolan on Catfells getting a few shots of the sheep

On our last day up north, we grabbed coffee in downtown Manchester and decided to take the scenic route (the long way) to London. We stopped in the Cotswolds for lunch, which was incredibly picturesque and then drove to Stonehenge. While this latter stop was quite touristy and in the middle of nowhere, we are glad we took the time to experience it before making our way to foggy Londontown.

London, England-

We spent the next three nights in London, which had been on Kirby’s bucket list for quite some time and we had an amazing time! We stayed in North Kensington and had a blast hiring bikes to explore Hyde Park and the surrounding neighborhood of Notting Hill. We also had a proper touristy day of exploring Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, riding the tube and having afternoon tea. We even spent our final night taking sunset shots of the gorgeous Tower Bridge.

London was also great because we were well-connected! We got a lot of work done, caught up with some of Nolan's old work colleagues and were even able to do some laundry, which was much needed…. We spent the better part of our last day enjoying the beautiful BA lounge at Heathrow as we anxiously awaited the arrival of our family and trip down to S. Africa!!

We cannot wait to get the pictures and blog up from our week in South Africa. It was incredible, so stay tuned!

European Road Trip (Part 1)

May 15, 2017

This is well overdue...and we are sorry for the delay. I don't think either one of us realized how hard it would be to keep this updated while traveling. But like many things with this trip, we are learning as we go. So without further adieu...

We absolutely hustled through Northern/ Eastern Europe. We spent 13 days in 10 European cities (8 of which we stayed at least one night). We are rather certain if we could go back, we would have slowed down immensely. The pace and the travel wore on us for sure. But, we were motivated and jammed a lot in. Here is a stop-by-stop view of what we did/saw/experienced:

Berlin, Germany-

The day we left Copenhagen to travel into Germany was probably the lowest our morale has been thus far on our trip…

We rose early to begin our 7-hour drive to Berlin, but about 10 minutes into our drive we got a flat tire. This forced us to pull over during the morning rush and put on the spare. As luck would have it, as soon as Nolan got under the car to start working, it began to pour! Classic. Once we got the donut tire on the car, we knew we had to make alternative plans because there was no way this tire was taking us all the way to Berlin. We stole some Wi-Fi from a coffee shop, found a local Hertz branch and began the exchange process.

Once we exchanged rental cars, we drove 10+ hours (with tons of traffic and accidents) to Berlin. Despite the beautiful cars the Germans make, we did not find them to be the best of drivers! When we finally arrived in Berlin, we realized we were missing a bag…come to find out, in the car exchange, one of the camera/electronic bags got left behind! Full disclosure: it was Nolan’s. We panicked, especially since at this point in the night every office in Europe was closed, so we fired off a few panic emails and tried to get some sleep. Luckily though, the next morning we received an email from Hertz Copenhagen that they had our bag and we entrusted the folks at LuggageFree.com (who were super helpful) to get the bag sent to a future hotel destination (Munich, Germany), where we would receive it a week later. It was a whirlwind of emotions, but luckily it ended positively!

Once the bag situation was under control, we explored the city of Berlin, which was rich with history, including the Reichstag Building, Brandenburg Gate, Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe and the Berlin Wall Memorial. Graffiti was also abundant and is a huge part of the culture there. We also enjoyed a few of the local specialty coffee shops, including Ben Rahim and Five Elephant Kreuzberg, which both had excellent pour overs.

We also had a lovely night out with our Airbnb hosts, who were super friendly and gave great suggestions for food and drinks. Even though Scandanavia tried to keep us (and our luggage) we enjoyed spending our first few days in Germany’s capital city, which would set the tone for the next few stops in our journey…

Prague, Czech Republic-

After a few nights in Berlin we drove to Prague, which was a mostly flat drive with HUGE wind turbines everywhere. We arrived at our hotel in Prague in the early evening and went out for a traditional Czech meal in the middle of the Old Towne Square. We had an awesome dinner, which included weiner schnitzel, sausages, veal tartare, and of course Pilsner Urquell. We experienced the Prague Astronomical Clock, which is the world’s oldest operating medieval astronomical clock. It comes to life on the hour with the “Walk of the Apostles” show of figures and other moving sculptures.

Kirby enjoying a Trdelnik at the market in Prague

The next morning, we once again explored Old Town Square and went to Easter Mass at the Church of Our Lady Victorious. En route, we walked over the Charles Bridge and got stunning views of the city itself. Furthermore, on this particular weekend, the city was insanely vibrant with street festivals and lots of people out and about due to the holiday. It was a great way to celebrate Easter Sunday and one we will not soon forget…

Oswiecim, Poland; Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum-

After we finished mass in Prague, we had some lunch and then drove a few hours into Poland. We stayed in the small town of Oswiecim at an amazing boutique hotel called the Hotel Gallenica and Spa. We also had an awesome dinner with traditional polish fare before crashing.

The next morning, we woke up very early and went first thing to embark on a self-guided tour of the Auschwitz concentration camps. Words simply cannot describe the unforgettably moving experience we had visiting the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum. We only snapped a few pictures from outside the camp (for obvious reasons) but the experience itself will be one neither of us will ever forget.

While we know this trip will be full of lots of beautiful places, we also had to remind ourselves that there are a few dark places that are part of our world’s history that are necessary to experience. This was certainly one of those places and helps to put everything into perspective.

It took us about an hour of driving in silence until we discussed what we had just experienced. To this day, it is impossible to communicate the emotions felt, but we are glad we made this stop to recognize this time in history and pay our respects to all of those affected…

We made a brief stop in Krakow for lunch to regroup before driving south to Budapest.

Budapest, Hungary-

By far one of the best cities we have ever visited! Everyone was friendly, the food and coffee were great and the city had an energetic vibe to it that we really enjoyed. Budapest almost feels like Paris and our Airbnb was right in the city center and the building we stayed in was over 100 years old and used to be the home of the owner of the Hungarian National Museum (which was right across the street).

The Hungarian chicken paprikash with spaetzle was delicious! We must learn how to make it when we get home! We also learned that Hungary has a very rich wine history, dating back to at least the Roman times, but many believe they may have been making wine even before then! The wine regions of Hungary actually sit on very similar latitudes to those in France and we actually drove through some of the vineyards on our way out. It was beautiful.

While in Budapest, we got some good photos atop St. Stephen’s Basilica and the Citadella. We also had a beer at a very interesting ruin pub called Szimpla Kert. Ruin pubs are located in abandoned buildings of Budapest’s District VII neighborhood, near the Great Synagogue, which was once home to a flourishing Jewish community pre-WWII before tens of thousands of Jewish residents were deported. It’s amazing how many countries across Europe were affected by the atrocities of the Nazi occupation.

We spent a total of three nights in Budapest and wish we had stayed longer. It was probably the biggest positive surprise of the trip so far. We had a blast walking around this stunning city and will absolutely have it on our list of places to go back to and spend more time! Highly recommend!

Vienna, Austria-

We arrived in Vienna in the afternoon of April 19th and it was snowing! Let us rephrase: it was a blizzard. Obviously, this was extremely abnormal given the time of year, which we confirmed with our Airbnb host. This was certainly not the “spring in Europe” we had envisioned! For whatever reason, between the long drive and the poor weather we both hit a wall the first day we arrived. I think we went to bed around 8pm without seeing an inch of the city, but we needed a recharge.

The next morning, we got up early and pretty much had the city to ourselves. We strolled the streets of Vienna all morning and early afternoon to quickly experience a bit of the city’s atmosphere and architecture. We enjoyed a lovely breakfast at a traditional Viennese café called Café Central, which initially opened in 1876 and was a regular meeting place for many historical people, including Freud and Trotsky.

We walked through the old city center and were enamored by the amazing architecture and beauty of the city. We also visited Belvedere Palace, where the flowers had just bloomed. While it was a quick stop for us (1-night) we felt like we got a taste for the city and can see why it came highly recommended by so many people. I think we also started to realize we needed to get a little more strategic with our travel times and length of stays. Again, we are still learning!

Passau, Germany-

From Vienna, we drove east toward Munich, Germany. But, along the way we decided to stop for lunch in the quaint town of Passau, where Kirby’s great-grandmother grew up and eventually immigrated to the United States from.

We loved this town! It was beautiful and situated right where the Danube meets the Inn and Ilz rivers. The town itself almost felt like it was stuck in time: old cobblestone streets, family businesses and beautiful town squares. We even talked to a store owner who knew of Kirby’s family. Crazy!

We had an amazing lunch at a small family-owned and operated restaurant before ascending to the highest point across the river so we could get some aerial shots of the town. It was gorgeous to see the city below and the rolling farm hills off in the distance. We were so glad we made this stop and we know Anna Roth Kirby was smiling down somewhere!

Munich, Germany-

Beer.
Schniztel.
Beer.
Pretzels.
Beer Halls.

We arrived in Munich in the evening and went straight to our first beer hall. Nolan wanted the authentic experience and we sure got it! Long wooden tables, no English and seated in close quarters with complete strangers who gave us ugly looks and only wanted to drink their beers and eat their food without anybody bothering them. It was pretty cool!

The next day we finally got some spring-like weather and discovered the open-air farmer’s market in the city center as well as the various landmarks such as the Marienplatz and the Englischer Gartens. We spent our second night at (surprise surprise) the Augustiner-Keller Beer Hall, where we befriended a few gents from Manchester, UK as well as three young locals. Due to the quick comradery we had a few more pints than we bargained for, but it was a great way to experience Munich and learn about the city and culture from some folks who lived there!

Brussels, Belgium-

The drive from Munich to Brussels was very picturesque, which was quite welcome due to our beer-hall induced headaches. We drove along the border of France, through Luxembourg and into Belgium. Rolling hills, wind mills and even a few hot air balloons graced the sunset as we drove into town. Had there been places to pull off we would have taken a ton of pictures! Simply stunning.

After we got settled, we went out for a traditional Belgian dinner, including a Belgian waffle for dessert! We then visited Grand Place where Nolan got some incredible night shots. It was amazing to experience this old town square at night with the beautiful buildings lit up.

One of our good family friends gave us a tour around the city the next day and shed some light on life in Brussels. It was a lot of fun to catch up and converse with some friends from home. We even went to one of the oldest beer halls in Belgium (as if we hadn’t had enough) for a pint as we walked the narrow city streets on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon. We also ended with a stroll through the Parc de Bruxelles to see the Royal Palace.

Even though we used Brussels as a stopping point for 2 nights, it was still a beautiful city that we could see ourselves visiting again. We also know we skipped a few day trips (such as Bruges) that would have been worthwhile if we had planned a bit better. Next time for sure!

Amsterdam, Netherlands-

While we had heard amazing things about Amsterdam, we couldn’t believe how magical this city was! The canals, the homes, the culture…it was all just incredible. We decided to stay 3 nights here, but could have easily stayed much longer.

We started our visit by going to see the incredible tulip gardens and farms at Keukenhof. The tulip season in Holland is from mid-March to mid-May so we could not have timed this better. Kirby probably could have stayed there all day and neither one of us had ever seen so many flowers in one place. It was remarkable. After walking through the gardens we stopped at a few farms and there were fields of tulips for miles. It was crazy. We also stopped on our way home to visit the famous windmills outside the city.

On days two and three we walked the entire city of Amsterdam. We walked through centrum, the various canals, the red light district and stopped by the Rijksmuseum. While we heard the Anne Frank house was a MUST visit, the two of us were mighty sobered enough by our previous stops that we decided to skip it this trip. We also learned the hard way the difference between a Café and a Coffeeshop…look it up.

On one particular day we even walked home through the evening commute where we could not believe all the cyclists coming home from work dressed better than most who frequent a board room! It was an incredible sight to see and it seemed most of the daily commuters had better bike handling skills than anyone we have ever seen cruising in the US (particularly NYC)! We also couldn’t believe the beautiful homes strewn along the canals and the beautiful houseboats that rested below the streets.

This city is a must-go for anyone traveling to Europe and if you are into flowers, definitely try and visit in the spring! The unique charm and character that we felt in Amsterdam is definitely something we had never experienced before in a city.

We traveled to Ireland & the UK next. Stay tuned this week for an update from that part of our trip!

The rest of Scandinavia (minus Finland)

April 28, 2017

After we left Iceland, we flew to Bergen, Norway and spent the next two days exploring Norway’s west coast including Sognefjord. Sognefjord is Norway’s largest fjord and is the world’s second largest. The views were absolutely breathtaking and certainly gave Iceland a run for its money! The day we visited the fjords we did not have the best weather, but it was still truly amazing to see the scenery and we have made a note that we want to go back and spend more time in this part of the world.

We then drove across the entire country, including two snow covered mountain passes and made our way to Oslo where we spent a night and then drove to Stockholm, Sweden for a night as well. We moved pretty fast through these two cities but stayed with some local hosts who gave us the lay of the land so we could taste the local flavor in such short stays. It was a lot of driving and probably not the best design, but we are learning as we go…

Nolan under cherry blossoms in Stockholm, Sweden

Our last stop in our Scandinavian tour was Copenhagen, Denmark. We decided to spend three nights here because we had heard so many amazing things about this place and it certainly did not disappoint! The canals, the beautiful homes and all the bikes! It was a pretty spectacular city.

We are currently in Ireland and off to the UK tomorrow, which will be our 15th country!!! We have been moving pretty fast and are naturally quite behind with updating photo galleries and blogs. We will get to it in the next few days (hopefully) as our schedule slows down. Hope you enjoy the photos!

Amazing Iceland

April 11, 2017

Our first stop on our adventure to explore the world was Iceland and it did not disappoint! Iceland is truly a remarkable place with incredible landscapes, changing geographies and insanely volatile weather. I am not sure we will ever experience the sudden changes that we experienced in Iceland. One minute we would be driving in lush, green valleys and the next we would be in an all-out blizzard with not more than a few feet of visibility. Furthermore, when we got to the outskirts of Ring Road, we would drive for hours without seeing another car or human being. It is quite a stunning place!

We landed bright and early in Keflavik on March 30 and we got our first taste of the aurora activity in our plane! A few hours into the night flight we looked out the window and noticed the lights. It was so incredible that neither of us never really slept since we were just staring out the window the whole flight.

Since we knew Iceland was a wild place with tons of opportunities to sleep under the stars, we decided to go the camping route. We also knew that if we could last a full 7 nights camping, maybe the rest of our travel accommodations would be easy by comparison. So, after we landed, we went and picked up our camper van thanks to Happy Campers Iceland (https://happycampers.is/).

Kirby in front of our camper before the aurora kicked off...

After we stocked up our van at a grocery store, we headed straight to the northwest to see Kirkjufellfoss, not only because it was a beautiful starting point, but also because we received a tip that (due to the weather) this was our best chance to chase the northern lights during our entire week in the countru. Not only did we make it to the falls for an amazing sunset, but we also found ourselves smack in the middle of the most insane aurora activity as soon as the sun went down. It was freezing but we could have been out in the elements all night watching and no words or pictures could ever do justice to standing there and seeing them. As we camped that night, we had the constant glow of dancing lights above our heads. It truly was amazing and an incredible way to start our Icelandic adventure and our trip!

Over the next few days we circumvented Ring Road by driving counter-clockwise. We covered the Golden Circle on Day 2, explored the Solheimasandur plane wreck, discovered Glacier Beach in the north, drove through the Myvatn lava fields, did our natural hot spring bath and then spent our final 2 nights in Reyjkavic exploring the largest city in Iceland. It would be impossible to cover everything we did in a single blog post, the hidden gems along ring road are truly endless!

We have gotten some feedback that a few people would like us to post our full itinerary with specifics on what to see and how. If you are one of those people definitely contact us. We plan to add a page to the navigation bar called, “guides” and we will post our full itineraries with all the details on sights to see, places to stay and eat (including the best coffee spots), navigational guides, etc. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy the pictures and our little promo-video on Instagram thanks to the drone. It was quite hard to widdle down the pics, Iceland is quite a photo-rich environment…

We have been on the move big time these past few days. After Iceland we were in Bergen, Norway for two days, drove to the fjords and Oslo (in the same day), stayed in Oslo for one night, drove to Sweden and no are currently in Copenhagen catching up on e-mails and enjoying this amazing city for the next few days. We will get pics from our most recent adventures up in the coming days.

Speak soon!

Latest Posts

February 2018
- Feb 5, 2018 Mainland China and Special Guests Feb 5, 2018
January 2018
- Jan 26, 2018 Holidays in Asia Jan 26, 2018
- Jan 18, 2018 3x in Thailand Jan 18, 2018
December 2017
- Dec 28, 2017 Myanmar Dec 28, 2017
- Dec 13, 2017 Luang Prabang, Laos Dec 13, 2017
- Dec 5, 2017 Vietnam Dec 5, 2017
November 2017
- Nov 27, 2017 First stop in SE Asia: Cambodia! Nov 27, 2017
- Nov 14, 2017 November 2017 Update Nov 14, 2017
- Nov 8, 2017 Texas & "The South" Nov 8, 2017
October 2017
- Oct 26, 2017 Quick Trip Through Colorado Oct 26, 2017
- Oct 23, 2017 The Many Parks of Utah Oct 23, 2017
- Oct 16, 2017 The GRAND Canyon Oct 16, 2017
- Oct 10, 2017 California Oct 10, 2017
- Oct 2, 2017 "The Great PNW" Oct 2, 2017
September 2017
- Sep 18, 2017 Oh Canada Sep 18, 2017
- Sep 11, 2017 Montana! Sep 11, 2017
- Sep 5, 2017 The Great American Eclipse Sep 5, 2017
- Sep 5, 2017 Wyoming: Devil's Tower, Jackson, the Tetons and Yellowstone Sep 5, 2017
August 2017
- Aug 28, 2017 Badlands to Black Hills Aug 28, 2017
- Aug 15, 2017 Kittanning, Chicago and Manchester Aug 15, 2017
- Aug 7, 2017 On the road again: Shenandoah, Luray and Deep Creek Aug 7, 2017
July 2017
- Jul 26, 2017 Back in the USA!!! Jul 26, 2017
- Jul 19, 2017 France – Our Last European Stop Jul 19, 2017
- Jul 10, 2017 Italy, Italy, Italy.... Jul 10, 2017
June 2017
- Jun 15, 2017 We <3 Switzerland Jun 15, 2017
- Jun 9, 2017 Spain Jun 9, 2017
May 2017
- May 31, 2017 South Africa May 31, 2017
- May 18, 2017 Ireland & UK May 18, 2017
- May 15, 2017 European Road Trip (Part 1) May 15, 2017
April 2017
- Apr 28, 2017 The rest of Scandinavia (minus Finland) Apr 28, 2017
- Apr 11, 2017 Amazing Iceland Apr 11, 2017