Tag Archives: Friends

Holiday Crashing in Rome, Italy

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St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican

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First class treatment in Vienna

After circling back across the majestic Slovakia countryside, we arrived in Vienna, Austria where we had to change trains. The next leg was on a night train with sleeping compartments that required reservations. The Vienna station was packed with other travelers and the ticket lines were extremely long. While Sara saved our place in line, I found the first class lounge and learned they could help us with tickets. (We have a first class Eurail pass because it’s the only option for travelers over age 25) When I told him we wanted a reservation to Rome, he chuckled at our last minute request and said the train was full. Instead of a direct train, he confirmed beds on a train to Venice and then seats on another train to Rome. Although we would get into Rome later, the new option gave us time to enjoy the first class lounge. Skipping long lines, plus free drinks and snacks – we could get used to first class travel!

Overnight Train Hassles

Our only option in the sleeper train was two upper bunks in a six berth couchette. We boarded, got settled, ate a quick dinner from the market and tried to sleep. A few hours later, our noisy and smelly bunk mates arrived. We got back to sleep only to wake up again but this time covered in sweat. The room was so hot and stuffy that we figured the air conditioning must have shut off. I told the conductor who said it would be back on soon, but hours later we realized it was never going to Continue reading →

A Countryside Escape to Hastings, England

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Breakfast at Regency Cafe in London

Despite how tired I was after having a fun weekend in Glasgow, it was very hard to sleep in the uncomfortable seats on the overnight Megabus. Tiredly arriving in London, our first goal was to find coffee and breakfast. My brother in law, Todd, is our personal London guide because he has several extended visits under his belt. He had emailed us a list of pubs and a breakfast place we couldn’t miss. Being 7:30am, we headed to the breakfast place, Regency Cafe, which was just a few blocks from the Victoria Station. Walking in felt like a throwback to the 1960s. It was a cute little neighborhood place where the set breakfast needed to be ordered just right at the counter (thankfully Todd gave us a heads up). Everything was delicious. The large portions in the typical English breakfast was the perfect thing to recover from a rough night of sleeping and a weekend of drinking.

After a filling breakfast and wandering around a few blocks looking for a Continue reading →

Cruising the Scottish Isles from Glasgow, Scotland

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Top deck view on the Waverley

After the easy airport transfers in Doha and Dubai, the bus from London Heathrow felt unnecessarily difficult and like it took an eternity. First, the busses didn’t accept payment onboard because they have a prepaid system using Oyster Cards. Then, we learned that the bus station does not sell the Oyster Cards. We had to go down to the tube station to find a kiosk and then guess how much money we needed to put on a card for the one bus ride. With all the confusion, we missed the first bus and waited an hour for the next one. I don’t understand why some cities make public transportation so difficult for visitors. We had a similar fiasco with Sydney’s busses but eventually the bus driver let us pay cash.

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Broke out of the hotel for a pub meal in Croydon

We were headed to the Hampton Inn in South Croydon. Sara had some hotel points which we used for a three night stay. As a bonus, the room included breakfast which was a full buffet with everything needed for a proper breakfast. We locked ourselves in the hotel room until we were more caught up on posts from Africa. This website can be quite a bit of work, especially when Continue reading →

California!

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I wrote this on the plane to Shanghai last Thursday, but due to internet limitations I’m am just now able to post.


We finished out our United States tour with a great visit to Las Angeles. We were able to spend time with our niece and took her to a 90 year old carousel. She didn’t enjoy the ride too much, but she really liked dancing to the old timey music. We then took a trip out into the desert to surprise our uncle for his birthday. Walking into his house we were surrounded with hundreds of hummingbirds! I couldn’t believe how many there were and how they were not timid – If you stood still you could be within inches of the feeding hummingbirds.


The next day we took a road trip up to Mammoth Lakes to visit family friends – what a wonderful town! On previous visits we only skied, but neither Sara or I wanted to risk getting hurt since the snow conditions were poor. Instead, we explored the area including “Mono Lake”. It’s one of the few lakes that doesn’t drain to the ocean. Because of this unique topography it is very salty and has large petrified springs rising out of the lake bed. Mono Lake and the surrounding Mammoth Lakes scenery was breathtaking!

The next day our mission was to find one of the local hot springs. After getting vague directions such as “turn down a dirt road and it is near a sandy hill” we set off on the hunt. After 45 minutes of trying different dirt roads near sandy hills (there were a lot!) we finally a suitable spring where we could soak and relax.

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