Tag Archives: Travel and Tourism

Road Trip to Antwerp, Belgium

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Road trip, road trip, ‘bout to go on that road trip!! >> This sentence was totally inspired by our latest Booking.com commercial, which features Rebel Wilson and Keegan-Michael Key – it is way too catchy for my mental health (you can check it out here – I can’t stop singing!!) In timely fashion, the beau and I also decided to embark on our own long weekend road trip down to Belgium . . . cue Booking.com road trip theme song!! IMG_5735 copyAs mentioned in my last post, our first stop was in Lisse where we roamed the stunning tulip fields, but as with all great road trips, there were of course multiple stops along the way :) After frolicking through fields of flowers for a few hours, we decided to hit the beach for lunch. The day was HOT, and the heat wave had us excited to sip Raddlers and dip our toes in the sea. We didn’t route out our beach trip out ahead of time, but instead just drove west, and somehow landed at the beautiful Noordwijk aan Zee. We hit up the first seaside restaurant we came across (which was De Koele Costa), kicked off our shoes, and ordered some frosty beverages and a feast to share. Continue reading →

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Vernazza, Italy

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For the past 18 months, I’ve been dreaming of Italy. Shortly after my breakup with B, I had an irrational brainwave (probably inspired by a Pinterest board) imploring me to roam the Bel Paese (or beautiful country, in Italian). I spelled out the dream holiday previously in this post – the trip would involve exploring Tuscany, grooving my way through Rome, and splashing in the sea on the Amalfi coast. At the time of my fantasy, I did not know Cinque Terre existed. If you did not know Cinque Terre existed, you are in for a delight. IMG_0761Cinque Terre means The Five Lands in Italian, and is comprised of five stunning seaside villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. Hiking trails and trains scale the lush, hills of the Italian Riviera, connecting the villages. Boats also ferry between the villages, however a major part of Cinque Terre’s charm lies in the fact that the villages aren’t quite accessible by car. Olive and lemon trees speckle the hills, terraces run along the rugged, steep landscape, overlooking the sea, and seafood is plentiful in the local cuisine. Essentially, Cinque Terre is an Italian lover’s dream, and so when Amie made her semi-annual pilgrimage to Amsterdam, we booked an inception vacation (a vacation inside Amie’s vacation) to the stunning Italian Riviera, to visit none other than Cinque Terre. Continue reading →

St. Tropez, Part 3

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Hi blog friends! It’s been a while since my last check-in. I hopped across the pond last week to spend some time in Maine with the family, and of course came down with a pretty bad cold the second I was off the plane and under my mom’s watchful eye. So I’ve been alternating between trying to be on holiday and trying to sleep off this nasty cold, which took up a good chunk of time! Now, I’m finally back in action (wooo), and I have some fun USA posts to share – but before I do, let’s finish up St. Tropez!IMG_7513Our last day in St. Tropez was spent at the beach. After a quick breakfast on the terrace at the hotel . . .  Continue reading →

Sunlight in Barcelona

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I love taking photos, but in the winter, I tend to leave my camera at home. In January, the world is dark and most of the Northern Hemisphere is smothered in a blanket of black. Amsterdam is no exception, and in addition to very few hours of sunlight, we also get snow, hail, and rain . . . none of which are very conducive for a photographer who prefers shooting in natural light. However, Barcelona in the winter is a different story. Despite the Earth’s tilt, Spain still remains generally mild in the winter, and the sunshine is almost always present, despite the season. So although we ate a lot of amazing food, wandered down colorful alleys, past historic monuments, and into cozy cafes, my favorite part of Sunday was simply cradling my camera around the city with some great company.

IMG_5576On Sunday we left the hostel quite early, despite having all tricked in sometime around 7am. Side note: I’ve never stayed in a hostel before!! I’ve travel a lot, but usually spring for a unique AirBnb or jazzy hotel justified by the fact that I really *need* a luxurious bathtub while on holiday (life is sad in a small Amsterdam apartment without a tub!) But in Barcelona we stayed at the Box Port Hostel which was my first hostel experience. It was clean, and our accommodation was fun since the 16 of us gals literally took up one whole room. It was like a massive girl’s camp weekend, or elementary school sleepover, complete with bunk beds! The only part that sucked was the one shower. When 16 women all want to bathe at once, shit can get real (or just really early, and no one wants to wake up at 8am on holiday to bathe!) So after a marathon of blow dries and back to back showers, we hit the road early in search of some hearty hangover food. Continue reading →

Prague

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Wow. Has it really been 15 days since my last blog post?! November is flying by, figuratively and literally. I’ve been on more planes this month than I can count on both hands – in the past two weeks alone I’ve been to Prague, Denmark, and Milan. My busy travel schedule means lots of client dinners, late nights in transit, and extra work on top of day time meetings, so I haven’t had much blogging down-time. I also haven’t had a lot of alone time, sleep time, eat healthy time, clean my house time, or binge on Netflix time. Tonight my only plan is to put on pajamas and read in bed until I fall asleep. But before I retire into a puddle of laziness, let me tell you about Prague.

IMG_4506Two weeks ago, a colleague and I hopped on a plane to Prague for the European Planning Conference. The conference was super informative, but also very full-on, and didn’t leave for much time for city-exploration. Continue reading →

City Insider: Meet Lou in Paris

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A few weeks ago, I was featured on Lou’s brilliant blog. Lou is a British gal living in Paris, and her blog serves up a delicious slice of Parisian life. The photos are beautiful, her tone is personal, and her French adventures are just so darn charming. As I was headed to Paris myself last weekend, I decided to ask Lou some insider questions before the trip. And as they were so fantastic, I thought, why not share them with you here?! So as a preamble to my own Paris adventures, here are some lovely Paris tips from a lovely paris insider :)

Welcome to the blog Lou! Can you tell me about yourself, Paris, and your blog?

Hi Ali – thanks for having me on the blog. So, my name is Lou and I’m originally from the UK. I’ve been in Paris now for 5 years and my main reason for moving to Paris was to be with my boyfriend. I blog at www.lou-in-paris.com and originally started the blog over 2 years ago, for friends and family to keep track of my life on the other side of the Channel (like you right?) Over the past year I’ve made more effort to write for a wider audience and about things going on in the world that interest me, as well as the more personal stuff.

Continue reading →