Perhaps the most memorable part of Istanbul was the food, with lots of nuts, honey, olives, etc, and much of it grown or produced domestically. Breakfast Eric found two great breakfast options near...
Blog posts from restaurants
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: 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...
UK 2015: Glasgow nights
We only had two nights in Glasgow, but based on our experiences here we definitely want to go back; hopefully, next time we will experience some things in the day too! Thursday night Situated just...
New Zealand – Te Anau lodging and food
After quite a lot of driving and many, many sheep, we arrived at the Te Anau Lodge around 6pm, just beating a rain storm. We stayed in the Bishop's Retreat which was a stand alone building next to...
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...
France Nov 2014: Toulouse evenings
In Toulouse we tried several restaurants plus two different Belgian beer bars. Le Point D'ogre - Eric's colleagues took us here on our first night, and it was Leandra's first 3+ hour French-style...
Candidasa: Food & Drink
Le-Zat Many restaurants in Candidasa offer car pickup which was a really nice feature - even though the main part of town was a manageable walk from our hotel, the narrow roads and alleys make it a...
Sonoma County: where we ate (and drank beer)
There are lots of great places to eat and drink (outside of the plethora of wineries) and we visited a few interesting places on this trip. Santa Rosa Belly Left Coast Kitchen - Planning to go to...
London 2014: food and drink
Food La Brioche -- After landing and enjoying a refreshing shower on Friday morning, I was on the hunt for a good breakfast spot. I wanted to go to the Natural History Museum so I started my search...
Toulouse, February 2014
In mid-February I returned to Toulouse, France, on another work trip. Much of that trip I was quite busy, and given the early winter sunsets, I didn't manage much sightseeing. However, several...
San Diego 2014: bars and restaurants
San Diego has no shortage of great restaurants, so I did a little research before we left and set up an outline of places to have lunch and dinner plus some nearby options for grabbing a drink as...
Summer Euro 2013: Lanzarote wine tasting
One of the more unexpected things on a dry, volcanic island like Lanzarote are the vineyards. The hills in the La Geria region are dotted with semi-circle stone walls, each housing a struggling vine...
Scotland 2013: food & drink in Callender and Stirling
The Lade Inn -- We were only in this area for one night, so when we found out that this place not only had good food and their own beers on draft (thanks RateBeer!), but live music on Saturday...
Scotland 2013: food & drink in Edinburgh
Bow Bar - Our first pub of the trip, we ordered a Black Isle porter and an Edinburgh #3 from Stewart Brewing. Beers were good but the standout was the delicious blue cheese and steak pie for 2£! At...
Montreal: food & drink
Restaurant Mai Xiang Yuan - I have always been a fan of dumplings in many forms, steamed, fried, whatever, so I couldn't turn down a chance to try this dumpling shop that had stellar reviews on...
Budapest 2013: food
Belgian Brasserie Henri -- We walked quite a lot on our first day in Hungary and found ourselves on the Buda side near dinner-time, so we choose this Belgian pub as a place to grab a beer and and...
Nashville and Franklin, Tennessee
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--...
Our Itinerary
2024 Trips
San Diego, CA (Jan)
Sarasota, FL (Feb)
Madrid, Spain (Mar)
Valencia, Spain (Mar+Apr)
Palma, 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)