Charleston: Rich History and Southern Charm
In 2023, we found a deal where we could status match our Marriott Gold status for Spirit Gold for a year for just $99. We jumped on it because many of Spirit’s flights were less than $50, and with gold status we could get a carryon and a checked bag, choose from any of the preferred seats, get a drink and snack, and priority boarding all for free! We’ve used it quite a bit, but it expires in a week, so we decided to play Spirit roulette and use our status one last time. The rules were that it had to be a) a non-stop flight b) to somewhere on…
Chasing the Northern Lights in Finland
My best friend Lizzie likes to travel just as much as I do, and recently she went on a trip with a luxury travel group to Turkey. I thought it was an amazing itinerary with nice hotels and interesting activities, so I started to peruse their site to see if there were any trips that I’d like to take. One of the trips immediately caught my eye, a trip to stay in a glass igloo and see the Aurora Borealis, which had been on my bucket list FOREVER. I quickly realized however, that I would not be able to afford ANY of the trips that they were advertising. I wanted…
London, Wales, and a little bit of Brynna….
This year my middle daughter Brynna graduated from college. Not only did she do it in three years, and graduated Summa Cum Laude, she also maintained a 4.0 grade point average over all her collegiate coursework! To celebrate her success and the fact that she’s way smarter than I am, we told her that we would take her on a graduation trip to wherever she wanted to go (within reason lol), and she decided on London. We flew American Airlines from PBI to PHI to LHR. Most flights from the East Coast of the US to Europe depart at night and arrive the following morning and this one was…
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,…
