Want to skip straight to the recipe? Click here! Life is pretty bleak right now. As the weeks and months wear on, my hopes of visiting any European Christmas markets this December are fading away. I’ve already canceled two trips this summer: one to Mongolia and another to see relatives in South Africa. I’m spending my time in books, most recently reading Lafayette, John Adams, and On War. But my heart hurts for the loss of Christmas markets, particularly the…
My year of reading started innocently enough. Emily invited me to see the movie Mary Queen of Scots to relive part of our trip across Scotland, and after the movie, I bought biographies about both the first Stuart queen (Guy) and Elizabeth I (Weir). A few weeks later, I decided to read Chernow’s Hamilton, since Emily had secured tickets to the touring production of the musical. The problem occurred when I was putting those three works away. I stood staring…
Now you know how I became a shoe model. (If not, you can read the story here.) But how did I actually feel about the shoes I received? A little background: Happy Feet Plus is a Florida chain that sells “footwear for a healthier you.” They are well known for selling Birkenstocks, and since I had never owned a pair, I had never thought to go into a Happy Feet. My first experience with the store was the night I…
I want you to do a little role playing. Ready? You’re at the mall (yeah, yeah, no one goes there anymore…but stay with me here). You’re at the mall with your friends, contemplating whether you should buy that pair of pants at Contempo Casuals or go to the food court and get some Sbarro. Your super-geeky friends are ogling a princess in the Disney store (I’m really bringing it back here), when all of a sudden someone walks up to…
Note: I’ve written this from the viewpoint of someone who has halfheartedly watched the television show, skimmed a few chapters of the first book, and chatted a little with a professor of medieval history. Game of Thrones is cruising towards its final episode, and at the same time, fan theories are spiraling into oblivion like the swirling symbols of the white walkers in the north. I’ve enjoyed many of them (my favorite was that Bran was the Night King), but…
First off, many, many thanks for all of your suggestions. They were, quite literally, all over the map. From China, Japan, Thailand and Vietnam to Costa Rica, Peru, and Argentina to the Amalfi Coast, Azerbaijan and Disney World. I particularly enjoyed the random text messages I would receive when someone thought of another place! I finally whittled down the list to Suriname, Switzerland and Namibia, and I seriously considered a tour of the Balkans and a week sailing the Mediterranean Sea….
WWWWhew! It’s been a while (but I did warn you I was a world’s worst blogger nominee). I was on a roll with the blog! Until, I went to Scotland. Yup. Went to Scotland in June. Haven’t posted about it yet. Instead of diving into whisky vs. Outlander, I want to talk about something a bit more divisive. Something that will split families, destroy friendships, and cause countless articles to be written about it: Photoshop. A recent study determined that people…
Occasionally I like to do a little blog maintenance, even if that means I’m not actually writing anything: I log in, I erase the spam, and I log out. Today, I decided to extend that spring cleaning to the @travelorelse Twitter account too. And wow. I’m a little depressed, and not because of the fact that Twitter is a bit of a dumpster fire anyway. When I started Twitter, I did so with the idea of focusing primarily on travel,…
One of the really cool things about Tallinn is its proximity to other countries along the Baltic Sea. Daily ferries run to Stockholm, Helsinki, and St. Petersburg (Russia), or you could take a longer, bigger cruise that stops at all of these locations (although, I can’t imagine Old Town Square is quite as idyllic stuffed with Royal Caribbean passengers). Double D and I wanted to spend most of our holiday in Tallinn, learning the ins and outs of our neighborhood…
What is it about being in a foreign country that makes deciding where to eat so difficult? Not knowing the language, not knowing the customs, and not knowing the cuisine can be overwhelmingly intimidating. But finding an extraordinary restaurant can be the highlight of any trip. One of the great advantages of staying in an AirBnB is that the host almost always recommends restaurants. Sometimes those recommendations are off the mark, like our host in Paris who apparently thought people…