#holiday

The Travel Tree

| saraconsultant

I love souvenirs.  I very easily can get suckered into those “I ❤ NY” t-shirts on the street and tacky little things that cost a fortune but don’t mean much, so a few years ago I decided to narrow my focus when it came to travel souvenirs or “merch” as Scube jokingly calls it.  As a result, instead of bringing back a $10 two inch Statue of Liberty or Leaning Tower of Pisa, I look for Christmas tree ornaments.  It’s my thing, and it drives Scube nuts, especially if we’re traveling somewhere in say, April.  But thus far, my success rate is at 100%, not without some required creativity.  Tip: Buy a magnet if no Christmas ornaments are available, loop a ribbon and with a glue gun, adhere the ribbon to the back of the magnet. Insta-ornament.

So as Scube and I put our tree up a few weeks ago, I was all excited to deck the halls with some new ornaments that we collected this year, from St. John, Capri, Ogunquit, Maine and Portland, Oregon.  What I love so much about these keepsakes, as with each ornament I dig out of the box, I’m taken momentarily back to that trip, a memory and moment in time that I can revisit each year on our “travel tree”.  Be it biking across the Golden Gate Bridge (and being scared out of my mind! It’s so narrow, there are so many people!), to gorging at a buffet at the Cosmopolitan in Vegas with the senior citizen crowd (jet lag had us up soooooo early, and who can say no to ice cream for breakfast?? Not this girl!), or meeting Sylvia, the third generation ceramic shop owner in Capri who thought she would study languages and travel the world before taking over for her Mother, and who now hopes her daughter will take over for her.  It’s all there, wrapped in paper towels and unearthed each year.

While our tree also has the requisite snowmen, Santas, and glittery balls,  our memories littered throughout seem to matter so much more.  And what started out as an almost silly way to avoid useless crap, it’s turned into something that I look forward to sharing with my own children and grandchildren someday.  The ornaments are a gateway to my memories, and hopefully our future spawn will think we’re pretty cool someday, when they’re not too busy being embarrassed by us.

What is your souvenir of choice?

Ogunquit, Sydney, AUS, and Rhode Island all in one little corner.
Getting saucy in Sausalito!
Vegas and London, baby!
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Vacation Blooper – Blue Grotto Snuggles

| saraconsultant

Being American, I love to hug, snuggle, cuddle, whatever.  But as one of my favorite movies so aptly puts it, “No hugging, dear. I’m British. We only show affection to dogs and horses”*, not all cultures are as huggy as well, me.  So why is this important?  Well, entering the Blue Grotto in Capri involves very close quarters potentially with strangers.

When the seas are gentle and the Blue Grotto is open, about 20 – 25 row boats are ready outside the grotto waiting to accept passengers from other boats or from those taking the stairs (like moi).  Since the physical entry to the grotto itself is fairly small, everyone, including the boatmen have to lay completely flat upon entry and then can pop back up once inside the glittering blue expanse.  Fast forward to me and Scube getting in a boat with an Austrian couple in their late 40s.

Knowing we had to lay down I said to the woman, “It’s okay, don’t worry about it, we’ll all be friends here after this experience!” with a huge grin on my face.  Her face however was ashen and horrified.  She flat out refused to lay on me.  She cowered in a small nook on the boat inches from my spread legs and cuddle ready arms and at the last moment tipped her head back to avoid injury.  Once inside the grotto, her no touching policy continued.  And I get it, not everyone wants to lay on a young, chesty American woman who’s bosom is ready to welcome anyone with open arms in these circumstances, but in the spirit of new experiences, would my breasts have killed her?  Or maybe they would have?  We will never know.

The madness of the Blue Grotto
Come to the stairs and pick us up por favore!

blue grotto

 

*The cult classic Amanda Bynes film What a Girl Wants featuring Colin Firth…swoon.

Pic of the Week – Capri

| saraconsultant

Capri is an absolutely magical and beautiful island with so much to offer.  I’ll be blogging about our trip to Italy in the upcoming weeks, and I hope you followed along via Instagram as we traveled around Capri and the Amalfi Coast.

Below, the pic of the week is taken from atop Mount Solaro, the highest point on the island, in the town of Anacapri, which can be reached via walking, or a 13 Euro round trip chairlift ride.  The views are breathtaking during your ride up, down, and upon arrival at the top.  Enjoy!

View of the Il Faraglioni from atop Mount Solaro in Anacapri
View of the Il Faraglioni from atop Mount Solaro in Anacapri

Renting a car on vacation? The dos and don’ts

| saraconsultant

Inevitably, you may take a trip that requires you rent a car.  While my husband and I are officially over that (thanks Portugal), sometimes it’s necessary to see the really cool, beautiful site that you may not be able to view without one.  So once you decide that renting a car is a must – here are a few things you should take care of first.

  1. Sign up for their free preferred or gold member status.
    1. Many rental car agencies Avis, Hertz, National, have their own type of free preferred status.  Ever see those car commercials where renters seemingly just walk to their cars and avoid lines?  That’s what this will allow you to do, and will very much come in handy in the US and abroad.
  2. If planning your trip far enough in advance – watch for coupons that result from joining rental car rewards programs for free.  Who doesn’t love a discount, right?
  3. Determine if you have a credit card that provides additional car rental insurance
    1. American Express commonly provides this with many of their cards, so check to see if some other credit card vendors provide this service.  Having this option will save you a bit of money as you can avoid paying rental agency fees for insurance.
  4. If traveling abroad, go old school.  Print off driving directions before your visit, download static maps, or spring for the navigation system.  No need to use precious data if you don’t have to.
  5. If abroad, make sure you have enough local currency on-hand or a credit card with a chip
    1. When gassing up – many gas stations only accept credit cards that have a chip in them, if your card does not work, make sure you have enough cash to avoid higher than expected gas charges from the rental company
  6. Video and photograph your car before you agree to take it off the lot…and when you return it
    1. We learned from an awful experience that rental car agencies uses minor scrapes on the car to get additional money out of you – even for scrapes under the car!  So definitely don’t bottom out, but in order to avoid additional charges or fees, video everything
  7. If you can’t drive stick, don’t rent a stick car (seems obvious, right?)
  8. Be careful and enjoy your trip!

IMG_6236*Just an FYI – I do not get paid to promote any companies on this blog (I’m so little! I have one follower!) but any links are provided to companies I have used and trust during my travels.

Hello world!

| saraconsultant

Hi world, it’s me!  One of many explorers.  I have seen only a fraction of your beauty and hope that when I go, my future grand kids will say how cool Grandma and Grandpa were.

With this blog I’m not going to pretend to provide you with tips and tricks you’d see on sites like The Points Guy (though follow-him, his insights are amazing), or provide you with the tools to track down the cheapest airfare and the best hotels.  My goal is to tell you about my travels, some food I’ve eaten along the way and the successful or not so successful attempts at recreating them at home.

I love to shop and I love dessert so undoubtedly shopping and dessert will be featured heavily wherever possible.

So sit back and relax, and come on this journey with me.