Budapest 2013: overview

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May 17, 2013
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bathroom

Leandra's grandmother was born in Budapest, and that has fueled her interest in visiting Budapest for several years. This past April we made our first trip, spending most of our time exploring districts 1,5,6 and 7. Some of our findings: the Hungarian language was just as hard to comprehend as we thought it would be. Luckily, most everyone spoke at least a little English, and we never too much of an issue. wow traffic! Budapest is a city on the move via all kinds of transport- car, bike, … [Read more...]

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Nashville and Franklin, Tennessee

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April 24, 2013
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Last weekend we took advantage of our Southwest Airlines companion pass to visit our friend Leah in Nashville. Saturday We arrived Saturday morning and were impressed by Nashville's arrivals area-- they have 10 minute pull-through waiting spaces (with electornic timers) right next to the terminal for picking people up. Very civilized! We hopped in to Leah's car and drove over to Marche in East Nashville for Saturday brunch. The restaurant was very busy so we had to wait about 20 minutes, … [Read more...]

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A New York weekend: Long Island

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April 23, 2013
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Sunday morning we woke to sun, so after breakfast we headed over to Breakwater Beach in Mattituck. Looks inviting, but in April it is still chilly - After about 20 minutes beach combing for sea glass and shells, Leandra learned how windy it can be on a beach in the spring! Returning home we met back up with my parents and headed to Grana in Jamesport for lunch. All their wines were the same price ($30 bottle) so we ordered a Pugliese Pinot Grigio and three 'personal' pizzas...  I … [Read more...]

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Curacao 2013: food & lodging

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March 13, 2013
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hote-bathroom

Hotel Floris Suites -  Unlike most of our trips, for this getaway we booked a package deal with airfare and hotel through AA vacations. We considered 6 different hotels, and though the Floris Suites is not on the water, their combination of price and reviews won us over. Upon arrival the lobby is a little confusing, as the large desk you see is unoccupied. Instead, check-in was in an office to the right. Initially we were given a room next to the kitchen (room 1) which would have been noisy … [Read more...]

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Asia/Australia 2013: Sonoma wine tasting

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March 7, 2013
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As you might expect, we visited a few wineries during our two day trip to Sonoma. Kunde Family Vineyards - this was on our lone wine stop on Thursday (i.e. the longest day of our lives) and we made it there about 4:30p. We had an enjoyable tasting but nothing really striking. Since we knew there was no corkage fee at Fig Cafe we bought a bottle of the sauvignon blanc to have with dinner that night. Also note that this was the only place we visited that didn't refund the tasting fee with … [Read more...]

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Asia/Australia 2013: Brisbane

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February 25, 2013
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cheese

Our time in Brisbane unfortunately overlapped with the rather-strong remnants of Tropical Cyclone Oswald. Rain came and went on the first evening but Eric was able to get some interesting shots of the CBD from our apartment balcony. The next day featured intermittent showers, so we were able to get out and explore a few spots on a wet Saturday. free city hopper water taxi... slow, but cost-effective The free ferry took a winding 30 minutes to get to the South bank dock, just … [Read more...]

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Asia/Australia 2013: Yarra Valley wine tasting

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February 13, 2013
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Our first winery stop was Innocent Bystander in Healesville, a bustling restaurant and shop with a wine tasting area near the front door. They offered a free tasting that was ok but not really memorable, mostly their everyday varietals that are available in the U.S. Thinking there had to be more interesting wines available, we decided to split the $10 tasting of their Giant Steps wines. "Do you mind heights?" asked the cashier. After answering "No," we were taken across the operations floor … [Read more...]

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2012 retrospective

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January 8, 2013
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Leandra recently completed our now annual (2011, 2010, 2009) year-in-photos recap with a 3 minute video overview highlighting our travels (domestic and international) and home renovations (backyard) from the last year. Eric and Leandra - life and travels 2012 on Vimeo. As you can tell from the video we travelled quite a bit in 2012, eventually racking up 83,755 total air miles on four airlines (American Airlines, British Airlines, Sky Airlines (Chile), and Southwest). Our … [Read more...]

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Belgium 2012: overnight in London

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December 23, 2012
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On our way home from Belgium we had a 20-hour layover in London, so after clearing customs we dropped our carry-on luggage at the hotel and took the tube into central London. Our intended destination was Camden Town, but due to work on the tracks we couldn't get there by train and had to scramble for some new plans. In the meantime the station was rather chaotic with the cancelled service so we decided it would be best to get out on the street and walk for a bit. Leandra and I visited … [Read more...]

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Belgium 2012: where we stayed

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December 4, 2012
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IMG_0056

Grand Hotel Casselbergh, Bruges On our last two trips to Bruges we stayed at the Oud Huis de Peellaert, and while we enjoyed our stay both times, on this trip their sister property, Grand Hotel Casselbergh, was substantially cheaper and closer to the main square. We decided to give it a try and are glad we did. The breakfast was tasty and had quite a few options, and the front desk was very helpful with making restaurant recommendations and reservations. Our room was a good size with two … [Read more...]

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