Why the hell are you going to Qatar?
It’s no secret that we play the miles game, or that we love to travel and want to see All.The.Countries. When people heard about our most recent trip, instead of the normal, “oh that’s awesome!”, many of the comments we got were – “Why the hell are you going to Qatar?” The answer to that quite simply is, “because I want to go everywhere and I got a really good deal!” If you had asked me this time last year, I could not have told you anything about Qatar. Not what the capital was, not what the people were like – all I would have been able to tell you…
Cruising in Style on the Scarlet Lady
A cruise with no kids, all specialty dining, free gratuities, free fitness classes, free basic beverages and free WiFi – sounds like a dream, right? Well now your dreams can come true on the Scarlet Lady, the new cruise ship from Virgin Voyages. Owned by British billionaire Richard Branson, Virgin invites sailors to expect the unexpected and unleash your wanderlust. We originally signed up to sail in October of 2020 for my 50th birthday celebration, but we all know what happened that year and the launch of the Scarlet Lady was delayed. When cruises started up again in 2021, we decided to give it another try. At the time all…
Alaska – Land of the Midnight Sun
I told each of my three girls that when they graduated high schooI, I would take them on a trip to somewhere that interested them. My oldest Kaleigh went to Ireland, as she wanted to learn more about her roots. My middle daughter Brynna is a budding photographer and wanted to see the Greek Islands for her graduation trip – but, Covid had other ideas. We were very fortunate in that we were all able to get vaccinated earlier in the year and decided that we would find a destination in the United States where we could visit yet be socially distant. Alaska seemed like it might fit the bill. …
Miami Culinary Tours
For Christmas my best friends and I all get each other an experience rather than an actual present. We’d much rather get the chance to spend time together, and the holidays are the perfect reminder to stop and enjoy the company of the people that you love. This year my friend Liz got us all tickets to Miami Culinary Tours (MCT). MCT is an award-winning Food Tour in Miami, Florida, that has several different options including a Little Havana Food & Cultural Tour, a Little Havana Culture & Bites Tour, a South Beach Food & Art Deco Tour, a Wynwood Food & Art Tour, a Coconut Grove Food & History…
B Bakery Bus Tour
When we went to London, I knew we had to partake in the longstanding tradition of afternoon tea, but it sounded a little stuffy and boring to me. Then we found B Bakery Bus tours. I love all things quirky, and what could be quirkier than having afternoon tea on one of the iconic red double-decker buses?!? The B in the B Bakery Bus stands for Brigit’s Bakery and along with tea you enjoy a good assortment of Brigit’s baked goods. The experience combines afternoon tea with a tour of Central London that takes you by Big Ben, The Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, St James’s Park, Hyde Park, The…
Christmas Time in London
Last year in October, we took a trip to London and I fell in love with this amazing city. Every time we go on vacation, I buy a Christmas ornament to commemorate our trip and London was no exception. I bought a (very expensive) red phone booth ornament from Harrods. I hated paying that much, but to make it authentic in my mind, it just had to come from Harrods. I was so excited to put it on the tree that year, that I told the kids I had to do it myself because if they broke it, I would be upset. I got on the step ladder, put it…
Desert Vibes
I am a very introverted person, and the thought of a group tour – especially one with the possibility of having upwards of 40 people in it, literally makes me break out in hives. I avoided them for a very long time, and then, I decided I wanted to visit Morocco. There are so many places that I would visit and plan my own itinerary – but Africa is not one of them. I had no idea what to expect and had heard so many horror stories that I thought it would be safer to visit with a tour. (After visiting I think we could definitely have done it ourselves,…
Hanging out in Hawaii
For our summer vacation this year, we decided to take the girls to Hawaii. We had enough frequent flyer miles to get all of us there, so we only had to pay the taxes on each ticket ($11.20). So, for a grand total of $56.00 we were on our way! Because it’s hard to find award availability for five seats, we booked early – and because we’re cheap, we gave it to the girls as a Christmas present lol! We told them we were going on a trip and gave them some clues to the destination which ended with them opening a box of leis. We decided to fly to…
An Afternoon in Old San Juan
Old San Juan Recently, my girlfriend Debbie and I decided we wanted to take another Caribbean cruise and began looking for one that stopped at island countries we had never visited before. In order to find a cruise that visited the more Southward islands in less than a week, we had to change our Port of Departure. We settled on Norwegian’s 7-Day Southern Caribbean cruise which began in Puerto Rico. (To see a review of the cruise, click here) We had never been to Puerto Rico before, so we figured why not! We flew into Puerto Rico on Spirit airlines the night before the cruise. We didn’t want to risk…
Ummm… What country is Prague in?
My girlfriend Debbie and I recently took a trip to Prague – and had an amazing time in this wonderful little city. Prior to this trip, Prague was not even on our radar. I was sitting there minding my own business one day, when Travelzoo sent me an email with their Top 20 deals for the week. I will not admit how often this happens and I end up dreaming about all the places I could go if I had the time and the money – when I noticed the number one deal was a 5-night trip to Prague for $699 – with air included! I must admit, I knew…
