The weather today was quite random - sunny and calm one minute, windy and raining the next. A good day for indoor wine tasting! Lawson's Dry Hills - Our first stop of the day, we just beat a large...
Nelson: wine tasting on Thanksgiving Day
After sleeping in a bit we headed out on foot to pick up snacks at the grocery store and explore Nelson. Eric went into the city center to check out some gardens and I picked up a tea towel with...
Wellington: flights & arrival
After a fairly long 12.5 hour flight from LA in AA's Main Cabin Extra seats we landed in Auckland. I got pulled out of the automatic immigration line (again) because of the angle of my face...
Leandra’s 40th: food & drink
Thursday First day in the city, we checked into the hotel then walked a few blocks to a cider place nearby - Cider Riot!. Eric had a nice collaboration triple with cascade while I had the dry hopped...
Eric’s 40th: Reykjavík
We spent our first and last evenings in Iceland's capital and main city, Reykjavík. Tuesday Our apartment was two blocks from the famous Hallgrimskirkja, a church design inspired by the Icelandic...
San Diego Breweries
Looking back through my draft posts, I realized that I never completed the beer post from last year's trip to San Diego. So! To keep better records, here is what we tried in 2016 and a list with...
Beijing 2015: food & drink
Friday Great Leap Brewing #6 - located in a hutong, this brewery was a bit tricky to find - thank goodness for working GPS! We grabbed a table in the nearly empty tasting room and ordered a sampler...
Seattle 2015: Breweries & Pubs
Post Doc Brewing - Our flight landed a bit early, so we had just enough time to stop in here for a quick beer before they closed. The bartender was very friendly and mentioned there was no rush as...
Istanbul 2015: Asian side
After spending several hours at the Topkapi palace we decided to take the ferry across the Bosphorous and explore Kadıköy, a neighborhood on the Asian side of Istanbul. As soon as we exited the...
Netherlands 2015: daytrip to Utrecht
So many cities are accessible from Amsterdam that we couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit a city new to us. The hardest part was deciding which one to visit! After a little Google research, we...
Netherlands 2015: Amsterdam food & drink
Saturday After a lovely overnight in Den Bosch, we headed back to Amsterdam, checked into our hotel and met up with friends for a walk through Vondelpark and beers. Craft & Draft - For the first...
Netherlands 2015: Den Bosch
While planning a previous European trip I came across a Dutch town named 's-Hertogenbosch (aka Den Bosch) that was known for old walls, canals, and as the hometown of Jheronimus Bosch, an artist...
UK 2015: Exploring Speyside
Monday was our day that revolved completely around whisky tasting in Speyside. We started off rather early with a 10am reservation for the 'Essential' tour and tasting at Benromach. Although we...
Auckland wineries: Warkworth region
Our first choice for the day, Mahurangi River, was not open due to a private function, so we headed to Brick Bay. This is quite the site, with sculptures, gardens, sheep and a very modern building...
New Zealand – Wanaka
We positioned ourselves in Wanaka both coming from and heading back to Christchurch. For simplicity's sake we decided to stay at the same B&B both times and we're glad we did. Suzy and Caroline...
Belgium 2014: Daytrip to Ghent
Belgian Rail had a Christmas rate for 11 euros (round trip) that applied for some weekends and the days leading up to Christmas, so a day trip to Ghent was definitely in order. As with our previous...
Belgium 2014: Fun in Brussels
Sunday After our night in Antwerp we took the train back to Brussels and met up with our friends Andrew and Kristin (on their honeymoon) and Jeremy and Tracey (who recently moved to Amsterdam). The...
Belgium 2014: Antwerp and the OBER Christmas beer festival in Essen
We learned about the O.B.E.R. Christmas Beer festival several years ago, and ended up building our Euro-Asia trip around attending. The festival features ~200 winter beers, many of which are rare...
Our Itinerary
2024 Trips
San Diego, CA (Jan)
Sarasota, FL (Feb)
Valencia, Spain (Mar)
Mallorca (Apr)
Croatia (May)
Faroe Islands (Aug)
London, UK (Sept)
Bari, Italy (Sept)
Rome, Italy (Oct)
Frankfurt, Germany (Oct)
2023 Trips
San Diego (Jan)
Orlando (Feb)
Richmond, VA (Apr)
Northern Italy (Apr)
NC Mountains (May)
Long Island (Jul)
Wisconsin (Aug)
Chicago (Aug)
Oak Island, NC (Sept)
Brooklyn, NY (Sept)
Bordeaux + Rugby World Cup (Sep)
Castilla y León (Sep)
Seychelles (Nov)
Willamette Valley (Dec)
2022 Trips
Florida (Feb)
NC Mountains (Apr)
Washington DC (Apr)
Valencia, Spain (May)
Hilton Head, SC (May)
Pacific NW (Jun)
Long Island (Jul)
Florida (Sept)
Chicago (Sept)
Poland (Sept)
NC Mountains (Nov)
Euro Xmas Markets (Dec)