After a night in Panama City due to circumstance not desire, our friend Carol picked us up (in a car!) from our hotel to whisk us to our next destination of Valle de Antón, two hours away. The “Valley” is a pueblo tucked inside the heart of an ancient crater and surrounded by mountains and lush cloud forest. Because of…
We landed in DC for a few reasons… 1) Greg, believe it or not, had never been and January seemed like an ideal time to hole up in the plethora of free museums and sites, 2) it was easy to get a centrally located housesit for a couple of weeks so we didn’t have to pay for accommodation, 3) it…
Using only 20,300 Chase Sapphire points (equivalent to $253) for both of us, we jetted across the pond from Paris to Montreal. And, as we landed, we knew it was safe to say we were going to get out snow fix in Montreal. After all, for about 100 days a year, Montréal has at least a centimeter of snow on…
Are we happy our holiday housesit took us to Brussels? Yes. After Prague, it is the best European city we had ever spent Christmas in and there was so much to explore and see. Also, while Brussels doesn’t have the obvious charm of Bruges or Antwerp, it’s still a highly walkable city with a lot going for it. Famous icons…
A simple fact about our relationship is that Greg had about a 10-year jump start in the international travel department, so Mandy is always seeking the opportunity to scoot a bit closer to her competitive conspirator. But, once she knocked one off for Belgium, she realized that was not sufficient. Thus, along came a six-hour, flu-inducing solo ride to one…
From Brussels, we hopped a 1.5 hour eastbound train to the Dutch border city of Antwerp and were elated to find that the railways were offering 50% off on all round trip tickets in Belgium so it was 17€ for both of us! Whoohoo! The name Antwerp literally means “at the wharf.” It is home to one of the most immaculate…
Brews, Bruges & A New Family Greg and beer go together like wine and cheese, peanut butter and jam or strawberries and cream. But not just any ‘ol beer. As a former home brewer with a full-scale* operation in our basement, and full-time beer aficionado from the Beervana Capital of the US (Portland), beer for him is an absolute experience…a…
The first time in this city, Mandy was sick. The second time she got her first case of bed bugs. We could only hope that the third time in Romania's capital would be a charm. And it was! But, perhaps that was just uh...Christmas? When we went to Bucharest in December 2022, we had spent Christmases in the States, Sri…
