Our flight back to the US left out of Madrid, so we spent our final night in Spain here again. This time we stayed next to the Puerta de Atocha train station, as we were arriving there, plus it...
Blog posts from International Travel
Spain 2022: Cuenca
Cuenca is known for its historic walled city sitting on top of a rocky bluff between two rivers. Located roughly halfway between Valencia and Madrid, with a stop on the high speed train between the...
Spain 2022: Valencia street art
Before we left on this trip, I researched a bunch of street art places and muralists that I wanted to see. As with most street art, a lot were still visible while others had been painted over or...
Spain 2022: Valencia food & drink
Our week in Valencia was filled with food and drink experiences, from quick snacks to full-on meals. Bar Oliví is a lovely little wine place with a bar on the right and some additional stools on the...
Spain 2022: Valencia museums
To be honest, I feel like we struck out a bit with the 'formal' art institutions in Valencia. The street art was a lot more interesting to us than the two museums we tried. That said, both art...
Spain 2022: Our Lady Of The Forsaken Festival
Midnight on Saturday and BOOM! BOOMBOOMBOOM...!!! Leandra got up to see what was going on and is surprised by a large fireworks display taking place a mile away in the Turia Park, but visible from...
Spain 2022: Valencia – El Cabanyal
We centered our Saturday afternoon around reservations for a late lunch at Casa Montaña, and we were very happy with our choice to do so! From the old town we used google maps to help find a bus...
Spain 2022: Valencia gardens
Jardí Botànic - This small university-affiliated garden has a reasonable admission fee of 3€ and surprised us with its number of specimens and blessedly shady interior. Palm trees, massive oaks,...
Spain 2022: Valencia Ciutat Vella
Our apartment was located in the heart of the old town, so over our five days we saw most of the sights multiple times. The Mercat Central / Central Market was a definite highlight - located just 2...
Spain 2022: introduction
Two years. In February 2022 it was two years since we'd left the US, and we were ready to go somewhere for a spring trip. We weren't keen on having to test to get into a country, but as luck would...
Grand Cayman: snorkeling
Grand Cayman is famous for Stingray City, but we were not interested in a (pricey) boat tour with a bunch of other tourists. Instead, we went snorkeling from the shore at two locations south of...
Grand Cayman: food
Grand Cayman is known as a pricey destination, and we definitely found that to be true. However, we were pleasantly surprised at the general quality, so at least you are getting a commiserate value...
Grand Cayman: Kimpton Seafire Resort
The main reason to go to Grand Cayman was to use two free night certificates from IHG that were expiring. After investigating several California properties, we decided we'd rather go to the...
UK January 2020: Bracknell
Bracknell is a convenient town for accessing my UK office, but it generally lacked interesting restaurants. After a multi-year development the downtown is completely re-done, including new...
UK January 2020: London
In mid-January I had a work trip to the UK which gave me some time to head into London. Leandra wasn't able to come on this trip, so I focused on theater shows and museums she was less likely to...
Patagonia: Puerto Varas food + drink
We arrived into town on a sunny Sunday and after checking into our B&B we decided to walk into town and grab lunch. Puerto Varas has some lovely views of the lake and volcanoes, and as with...
Patagonia: Alerce Andino National Park
For our last full day in the Lake District we ventured south to Alerce Andino National Park to visit a couple of waterfalls and scenic lake overviews. Unfortunately, this was also our most...
Patagonia: Puyehue National Park + Las Cascadas
We awoke to a grey and drizzly morning, but with hope that the rain would be relatively minimal, headed north on the 2+ hour drive to Puyehue National Park. Our GPS was set to avoid toll roads as it...
Our Itinerary
2026 Trips
Parrish, FL (Jan)
Medellin, Colombia (Feb)
Wilmington, NC (Apr)
Asturias, Spain (May)
Galicia, Spain (Jun)
Ireland (Aug)
Vietnam (Nov)
Laos (Nov)
Cambodia (Dec)
Singapore (Dec)
2025 Trips
Tampa Bay, FL (Jan)
Buenos Aires, Argentina (Feb)
Villa la Angostura, Argentina (Feb)
Bariloche, Argentina (Feb)
Iguazu Falls, Argentina + Brazil (Feb)
Miami, FL (Feb)
Richmond, VA (Mar)
Boston, MA (Apr)
Kathmandu, Nepal (May)
Bhutan (May)
Doha, Qatar (May)
Bristol + London, UK (Jul)
Long Island, NY (Jul)
Slovenia (Sep)
Treviso, Italy (Sep)
Bologna, Italy (Sep)
day trips from Bologna (Oct)
Turin, Italy (Oct)
Greensboro, NC (Nov)
2024 Trips
San Diego, CA (Jan)
Sarasota, FL (Feb)
Madrid, Spain (Mar)
Valencia, Spain (Mar+Apr)
Palma, Mallorca (Apr)
Croatia (May)
Long Island, NY (July)
Faroe Islands (Aug)
London, UK (Sept)
Puglia, Italy (Sept)
Matera, Italy (Oct)
Rome, Italy (Oct)
Mosel Valley, Germany (Oct)
Frankfurt, Germany (Oct)
London + Manchester, UK (Dec)