We like to get off the beaten path when traveling and relish those times that we feel like we are the “only” tourists (we know this is never really true). We like being in restaurants with mostly locals or the only Caucasians on a local bus, because it feels like a more real experience. But…
Tag: Travel
Puebla, Mexico
We really needed to get back to the real Mexico and Puebla was our perfect next destination. We spent several weeks in Bucerias, (near Puerto Vallarta), in a neighborhood filled with other gringos avoiding the rainy spring in Canada and the Northern US. It was Mexico… but we didn’t have to speak Spanish in most…
European Snowbirds?
We are currently in Costa Rica in an Airbnb in a condo development that is filled with North Americans. Some are only here for a week or so but most are staying the whole winter. We have seen this many times now… it is usually 25-75 units surrounding a pool which becomes the meeting place…
Alicante, Spain
The last stop on the European leg of our fall trip. We have spent September in France, and October in Spain, and we knew we would be a bit weary from all that European culture travel so we had planned 9 days at the Spanish beach town of Alicante. We were envisioning a quiet week…
Altea and Elche day trips
We stayed 9 days in Alicante, Spain and we anticipated doing a lot of day trips along the coast. Alicante has a light rail (tram) that goes a long ways North and hits several different beach towns. On our first day in town, we walked a few miles along the beach to Playa de Albufereta…
Barcelona, Spain
We were in Barcelona in 2007 and remember being blown away by the number of tourists from all over the world. Walking down the Ramblas, you can here many different languages while trying to stay in the flow of the mob of people. It seems like there are now twice as many people and we…
Montpellier, France
During my last few years of working when I was dreaming of retirement, I was picturing a nomadic life, staying for 2-3 months in European towns that weren’t too touristy. I wanted to live in Europe, not be a tourist. Montpellier is the type of town that I had pictured. It has 300k people but…
Our Least Favorite Question
We get this question a lot! Our friends and family ask us…. as well as strangers we meet while traveling… and we still don’t know how to answer it…. What is your favorite travel destination? I can’t tell you my favorite child or favorite nephew. I don’t know my favorite band or even my favorite…
People and/or Places
We are just completing our Seattle summer back at home. We have spent 3 months seeing a lot of friends and family and getting reconnected after spending most of the year in other countries. The summer flew by but we did have many opportunities to spend some time with people that we really missed. We…
Bucerias, Mexico…Again?!?!
Why do we keep coming back? In early 2021, we were one of the first people to get the vaccine so we were able to travel again. We spent a month “Working from Home” on the beach in Bucerias Mexico- just North of Puerto Vallarta. I wrote about it here when this blog was mostly…
Places that punch above their weight
Being from Seattle, I always smile when I see something from my city in a different part of the world. Our city of just 800,000 people (3 million in metro area) has a lot of athletes, artists, musicians, movies, buildings, and companies that are recognizable all over the world. I saw a lot of Nirvana…
Gili Air, Indonesia
We had 9 lazy lazy days on the island of Gili Air for our last destination on this trip. Gili Air is about the size of our Stretch Island in Washington state. On the first day we walked the entire 3.4 miles around the perimeter which is the exact same as my kayak trips around…
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
As we struggle to figure out the best pace of travel, we made another mistake by only allowing 3 nights in Malaysia’s biggest city, Kuala Lumpur (KL). We know that after 9 weeks on the road, we have 2 things we are not fond of – 1) travel/transit days and 2) trying to see everything…
Penang, Malaysia
Yes we are still on an island but it doesn’t really feel like it. Penang has 2 long bridges that connect it to the mainland and it is a big city. Over 1 million people depending on how you define the “metro area”. The tourist area is the old town of Georgetown and we stayed…
Langkawi Island, Malaysia
After 4 nights on the island of Langkawi, we still don’t really know what to think of it. After 6 weeks in Thailand we were ready for a change, and Malaysia is certainly a lot different from Thailand. In Koh Lipe Thailand, they were selling pot plants at road side stands, but most of the…