Today was to be the day for travel to the nearby ancient town Suzhou... but alas, we were thwarted! Though there are a reported 60 train trips available between the two cities, we couldn't get a...
Blog posts from China
Shanghai 2017: Nanxing
After a leisurely breakfast, we spent a couple of hours Friday morning on FaceTime with family and friends wishing everyone a happy Thanksgiving back in the States (where it was still Thursday...
Shanghai: Thanksgiving Dinner
Before we left for our relaxing trip to Hangzhou, I had made a dinner reservation for Thursday night at Cucina at the Hyatt. Unfortunately, neither of us checked WHICH Hyatt the restaurant was...
Shanghai 2017: overnight to Hangzhou
Wednesday For the middle of our trip we decided to visit one of the nearby cities, Hangzhou, which is famous for its leafy West Lake. To get there we took the metro about 45 minutes to the cavernous...
Shanghai: Qibao Ancient Town + Shanghai Circus
Rain was in the forecast and arrived as promised on Tuesday morning. After breakfast, we waited a bit for the rain to let up then jumped on the subway for about 40 minutes to Qibao Ancient Town....
Shanghai: Yuyuan Gardens + Tianxifang
Our hotel was about a ten minute walk from the famous Yuyuan Gardens, so we decided to start there. After making our way through the maze of stores we found the small ticket counter, where it was...
Shanghai 2017: overview, arrival, and hotel
Beijing was our first trip to mainland China two years ago, and it left us with a bad taste in our mouths. Literally - the air quality was so bad when we visited that it hurt our throats. But China...
Beijing 2015: Hiking on the Great Wall of China
One of our top goals of the Beijing trip was to experience the Great Wall given that sections of it are only an hour away from the city. After quite a bit of research we decided to try a hike along...
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...
Beijing 2015: 798 Art District
After a filling dim sum lunch, we tried to take an Uber out to the 798 art district, only to be thwarted by the language barrier. Thankfully we were at a hotel so we asked one of the staff to hail...
Beijing 2015: The Palace Museum (Forbidden City)
Saturday morning we awoke to an even smoggier day, but decided to continue with our plans to see Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Unfortunately, we found the smog obscuring Tiananmen Square,...
Beijing 2015: Lama Temple
After my morning at the Temple of Heaven and Leandra's morning in her cooking class we met back at the hotel to warm up and plan the rest of our day. Lama temple had been recommended to us, and...
Beijing 2015: Temple of Heaven
Temple of Heaven contains quite a few centuries-old religious buildings where the emperor would make sacrifices for the harvest, fortune, etc, and is now a large urban park. Just a few miles from...
Beijing 2015: Dumplings Cooking Class & Market Tour
I found a few options for cooking classes ahead of our trip to Beijing but I really wanted to learn how to make dumplings, so Beijing Cooking School seemed to be the best choice for me. I opted to...
Beijing 2015: Introduction
Earlier in the year Leandra went to Hong Kong because of a good airfare deal and to keep her Platinum status for 2016. After that, she needed another long trip and Beijing was pricing well for...
Our Itinerary
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, UK (Jun)
London, UK (Jul)
Long Island, NY (Jul)
Slovenia (Sep)
Treviso, Italy (Sep)
Bologna, Italy (Sep)
Turin, Italy (Oct)
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)
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)