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🇹🇷 🇭🇺 Istanbul to Budapest: A Security Surprise, Bullet Holes & Wine Tasting
Phone. Wallet. Passport. On the move today. New experience unlocked: in Istanbul, you have to go through a full security check just to enter the airport. They aren’t messing around. But they are also not especially organized. A massive crowd, and total confusion about which line you’re supposed to be standing in. Good times. So, heads up…
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The Highlight Real: A Baltic Uber Cautionary Tale
We’ve been traveling for the past 2-1/2 weeks – on our first river cruise – to Eastern Europe. A wonderful trip, but now it’s time to pay the “travel tax” – the process of re-entry: unpacking, laundry, mail, groceries, seeing which of my plants survived being neglected for 2-1/2 weeks, etc. So, while I catch…
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📚 Destination Bookshelf: What I’m Reading Before Our Danube River Cruise
Before we take a trip, I always try to come up with a reading list that connects with our upcoming destination(s). I usually gravitate toward my favorite genre – historical fiction. I find historical fiction helps make history more accessible and relatable. My husband is more of a non-fiction guy, but I don’t have the…
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Never Go On Trips With Anyone You Do Not Love
I have a travel mantra – words I live by. It’s a quote by Ernest Hemingway from his memoir, A Movable Feast. He wrote it after a disastrous trip he took with his good friend, F. Scott Fitzgerald. I believe these to be ten of the most important words ever written about travel: Travel isn’t…
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🍷 🛳️ What to Drink on a Cruise: A Sip-by-Sip Guide to Mediterranean Drinks Culture
Cruising is a double-edged sword. One of the things I like most about cruising (well, the two cruises I’ve been on, anyway) is also one of the things I like least. Cruising give you an opportunity to see many different places, and you only have to unpack once. Huge plus for me. But (and it’s…
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🛳️ Trip Reflections: Cruising the Mediterranean in the Hellscape of Summer
I don’t know what I was thinking. I mean, I knew it was going to be hot. But I didn’t think it would be Vatican hot (for reference, this is approximately two degrees less than the surface of the sun, and my new metric for unbearable heat). I cannot stand being hot. I’m Nordic –…
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🇫🇷 Convalescing in Corsica
After yesterday’s heat-induced calamity, Anna and I decided we would see Corsica from the ship today. It’s 93 degrees outside this morning, and as much as I was looking forward to counting statues of Napoleon, we’re going to stay put – and stay cool. God-willing and the creek don’t rise, we have a full day…
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🇪🇸 Isolation Day: Mother-Daughter Bonding in Barcelona
Isolation Day – Lots of mother-daughter bonding today. The ship doctor offered to find me another cabin while Anna is isolated, but honestly, what’s the point? I’ve been sleeping 2 feet from her for the entire trip. I’m either immune or doomed at this point. This was our view of Barcelona today (first photo below).…
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🛳️ A Day at Sea: We Did Nothing, and Loved It
A day at sea: we did a whole lot of nothing today – and it was wonderful. Disclaimer: I’m generally not very good at doing nothing while on vacation. If I travel halfway across the word, I want to see something. Do something. But a day at sea forces you to do . . .…
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🇮🇹 A Food Tour of Naples: There’s Something Wrong With This Water
I’ve said it before, and I’ll continue to say it: one of the best ways to learn about a place is through their food and drink. You can explore a place all you want, but without a guide, you aren’t likely to zero in on the true local flavors and experiences. To this end, I…
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The Highlight Real: Schnaps, It’s Good for Digestion
Often when we travel, we have a “real” experience or interaction (good or bad) that just sticks with us. And because I keep my on-the-go travelogues to 2,000 characters or less, I don’t have room to tell the story then/there. Trying to come up with a name for this occasional feature wasn’t easy: {Update: The…
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🍸 What to Drink in the Baltics: A Guide to the History of Baltic Drinks Culture
Vodka Anthropology: Drinking Habits and Traditions Under Soviet Rule in the Baltics I’ve been studying wine & spirits for over a two decades. One of the things I’m most interested in when we travel is what I call cocktail anthropology – what can you learn about a country through their cultural drinking habits and traditions.…