One of the most exciting parts of our trip to Belgium was getting to stay at our first Air B&B! If you've never heard of it, its a website/company which allows normal people to rent out part or all of their home to people. It sounds a little weird but its based on the concept of a bed & breakfast. This concept is very normal for me as my aunt & uncle run a B&B out of their beautiful home in upstate NY. So I was very gung-ho about trying this concept - Steve not so much. He's a fan of normal hotels but since budget is always a factor in our travel, renting an apartment for $75/night vs a hotel room for $150 I figured it might be worth a try.
After a pleasant Eurostar ride into Belgium & a terrible experience with Enterprise (this will be covered in another post) we were pretty exhausted. Mind you it was also HOT in Belgium - something I don't remember. It was in the high 80s, not that hot coming from Atlanta but when your packed and dressed for high 60s it felt like the Sahara.
Catherine, our Air B&B host was so sweet, we were running late because of the rental car fiasco & she was still there waiting on us with cold waters. We took a tiny elevator up to her 3rd floor flat and opened the door and wow! The photos on her posting don't do it justice. She gave us a quick tour of everything - kitchen was fully stocked with pots, pans, plates - everything you could ever ask for in an apartment. The views out of the kitchen window were amazing. She handed us they key and the place was ours for the weekend. Coming from our box filled flat this was just perfect. The bathroom was more like a spa then an apartment & the bed was very comfortable. If you are going to be visiting Belgium for 3+ days I highly recommend this listing! Its a great value, in a wonderful neighborhood & has everything you could ask for. Catherine is so sweet and speaks enough English to be a great host.
I'm sold on the concept, Steve is still weary but I think he would give it a go again. Sorry for the lack of photos - totally forgot to get them but you can see all the pictures as a part of her listing.
Showing posts with label travel Tuesday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel Tuesday. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
Travel Tuesday
In spite of the aforementioned tummy bug I had this weekend I sucked it up so Steve & I went to Oxford for the day. It's only about 20 minutes by train from Reading and it was like a whole new world.
Reading is a very modern town. Its got 2 malls, a big John Lewis & M&S. There are old buildings everywhere but there are also six Starbucks! Yes - six! Why we need that many I will never know, but it's besides the point. The most exciting historical thing, the Abbey, has been closed to visitors since 2009 because the society for historical preservation isn't convinced its worthy enough of a grant (it was build in 1121AD). -_- that's my not impressed face. The city is far more focused on being a big hub for the train to Heathrow airport and an IT center then a quaint British town. Needless to say Oxford is the exact opposite. It's steeped in tradition, has only one Starbucks & lots of gorgeous architecture.
We started off the day with the bus tour - yes they seem lame and annoy the locals but since it provides hop on hop off access for the full day its pretty useful way of getting around. It covers the big sites and tells you stuff you wouldn't have known about.
If you liked this post check out Across The Ponderings! It's an adorable blog written by Julie about her life living abroad in Oxford for a year. She gave me some great ideas of things to do while we were in Oxford.
Reading is a very modern town. Its got 2 malls, a big John Lewis & M&S. There are old buildings everywhere but there are also six Starbucks! Yes - six! Why we need that many I will never know, but it's besides the point. The most exciting historical thing, the Abbey, has been closed to visitors since 2009 because the society for historical preservation isn't convinced its worthy enough of a grant (it was build in 1121AD). -_- that's my not impressed face. The city is far more focused on being a big hub for the train to Heathrow airport and an IT center then a quaint British town. Needless to say Oxford is the exact opposite. It's steeped in tradition, has only one Starbucks & lots of gorgeous architecture.
We started off the day with the bus tour - yes they seem lame and annoy the locals but since it provides hop on hop off access for the full day its pretty useful way of getting around. It covers the big sites and tells you stuff you wouldn't have known about.
Alice's Sweet Shop (Alice In Wonderland)
Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to go in, so we are adding it to our next time list.
Downtown Oxford - 99 steps for the best view in the city
Another site we are adding to our next time list!
Covered Market
Oxford University Graduate
It just happened to be graduation weekend so all these happy kids were walking around in their full Oxford dress.
Theater
One of the 38 colleges that make up Oxford University. The entire city looks a little like Hogwarts. Some of the buildings were used for scenes for the movies but they were closed (likely due to graduation)
Bridge & the alley to Turf Tavern
The sign to Turf Tavern (where we had lunch).
I read about it on LonelyPlanet.com - a site I highly recommend. You simply type in the city you are going to and it gives you top attractions, restaurants and a basic overview. Perfect when you don't have time to buy the guidebook.
Down an alley we went
Signs of life?
The famous Turf Tavern!
History of the oldest pub in Oxford
Our "favorite" president used to hang out here
Punting on the River Thames
After lunch we wondered down to the river to see about renting a boat. Unfortunately the line for punt boats was well over an hour (it was a beautiful Saturday afternoon) so Steve and I took the next best thing.
Row row row my boat Steve!
Steve rowed me up and down the Thames for the better part of an hour. I just enjoyed the weather!
The post box for the editor of the Oxford English Dictionary. It was put in place just for him as he received so much mail!
The pub J RR Tolklien & C S Lewis used to frequent
If you liked this post check out Across The Ponderings! It's an adorable blog written by Julie about her life living abroad in Oxford for a year. She gave me some great ideas of things to do while we were in Oxford.
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
Travel Tuesday
So since I already covered our travel into London and its Tuesday (I started this post on Tuesday, so I sticking with it) I figured I would reveal where we are headed for our first big out of the country trip - Ireland. We are headed to Dublin at the end of May for a 3 day weekend! We are both excited, this will be Steve's first time outside of England & I will get to see my childhood nanny who lives in Ireland. We are going to Dublin so we don't have to rent a car, but in the future I want to rent a car and drive all over the country and explore castles and sites. But that will be the next trip.
My family & I went to Ireland right before we moved back to the US, so somewhere around 2000. I don't remember a whole lot, we saw the Book of Kells and mom & dad drank some Guinness, but that's about all I can remember.
We're going to try something different as far as where to stay, since its a bank holiday weekend there as well hotels are very expensive. So we keep seeing adds for Air B&B on the TV here, its like normal people who rent either a bed, a room or their entire home out for a fraction of the cost of a hotel in the same area. So Ive found a few places that will work, for about $75/night. If it goes well we can keep doing the Air B&B thing, if not its back to earning lots of Hilton points.
My family & I went to Ireland right before we moved back to the US, so somewhere around 2000. I don't remember a whole lot, we saw the Book of Kells and mom & dad drank some Guinness, but that's about all I can remember.
We're going to try something different as far as where to stay, since its a bank holiday weekend there as well hotels are very expensive. So we keep seeing adds for Air B&B on the TV here, its like normal people who rent either a bed, a room or their entire home out for a fraction of the cost of a hotel in the same area. So Ive found a few places that will work, for about $75/night. If it goes well we can keep doing the Air B&B thing, if not its back to earning lots of Hilton points.
We took this tour company around London and loved it, so we will do the hop on hop off buss tour on Saturday to get our a good overview of the city.
Howth is a bay just outside of Dublin, a its a part of the city that I have never seen. I'm hoping for some great sea food, beautiful views & some shopping!
What would a trip to Dublin be without going to the Guinness brewery? We got a tip from a friend to go strait to the tasting for the free beer and do the self tour backwards. Beer first? Yes please!
This is my only real memory of my previous trip to Dublin so I'm excited to take Steve to see this beautiful piece of history. Plus we get to see all the cute Irish college boys ;)
Steve is a huge scotch fan, but in Ireland we drink whisky so visiting the Jameson distillery is on our list of must sees.
One of my favorite kinds of tours are these land & water ones so if we have time we will take one of these around Dublin.
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Travel Tuesday
Hello!
So here is the plan for the schedule for the blog:
Monday - anything
Tuesday - Travel Tuesday (I'll either write about a place we want to go, or if we traveled that weekend)
Wednesday - Wordless Wednesday (I'll try and keep it themed)
Thursday - anything
Friday - anything
Saturday & Sunday - I sort of hope to be to busy doing stuff to post but you never know :)
So for my first official Travel Tuesday I'm gonna finish up the moving saga.
Before we got all of our stuff packed into boxes and shipped off we had a bit of a going away party at Mellow Mushroom at Brookhaven. It was so wonderful to see all of the people we love and care about and are going to miss so much come out and see us before we left. I am super proud - I only started to cry but I didn't & if you know me that's a big deal - I am a serious crier! We got a coffee table book of Atlanta photos and asked people to sign it - still haven't read the messages in fear they will make me even more homesick :(
Here are some pictures from the party!
Another really important dinner we had before we left was with my theater teacher from high school - Bonnie Spark. She was and is like a grandma to me, in a old but not really old way. So she's more like an Aunt. Mom, Dad, Steve and I met her at her favorite restaurant in Atlanta - Violet. Side note - OMG this place is really good, expensive but if you're looking for a real dinning experience & good food for a nice date or anniversary I highly recommend this place! I hadn't seen her in a number of months so it was great to catch up with her... aka gossip like mad about people from high school. Bonnie's a sorority girl at heart, just don't tell her I said that. On a side note I did ask her to sing at the wedding in some capacity (yes she is Jewish and yes it will be a catholic wedding, but its mine and ill have a crazy NY jew sing if I like). She also filled us in on Father Dan, who is still in Atlanta and I need to find to ask if her can preform the weeding for us. Yes, its gonna be like a big Pius party but that's what I want.
So after we had packed everything we owned into storage, shipping boxes and suitcases we had one final evening with our closest friends to enjoy one last big group mean and laugh and not cry (again - no tears from me which is unheard of). We went to Taco Mac in Buford, big surprise there I am sure. We were pretty much regulars there without anyone like the staff knowing or recognizing us, that's ok. Its still kinda like our place. So the 8 of us got together and had one last meal together, which was really wonderful. It made the last night in the US happy, not sad, which I really needed because I was second guessing our decision to move at all, but seeing our closest friends be so excited and happy for us made all the difference. Here is the group photo we took that night - sorry the quality is shit, our waiter was a big supporter of 4/20 and couldn't hold the phone still (I tried to fix it). Lesson? Bring the DSLR and tripod when the photos are important!
So here is the plan for the schedule for the blog:
Monday - anything
Tuesday - Travel Tuesday (I'll either write about a place we want to go, or if we traveled that weekend)
Wednesday - Wordless Wednesday (I'll try and keep it themed)
Thursday - anything
Friday - anything
Saturday & Sunday - I sort of hope to be to busy doing stuff to post but you never know :)
So for my first official Travel Tuesday I'm gonna finish up the moving saga.
Before we got all of our stuff packed into boxes and shipped off we had a bit of a going away party at Mellow Mushroom at Brookhaven. It was so wonderful to see all of the people we love and care about and are going to miss so much come out and see us before we left. I am super proud - I only started to cry but I didn't & if you know me that's a big deal - I am a serious crier! We got a coffee table book of Atlanta photos and asked people to sign it - still haven't read the messages in fear they will make me even more homesick :(
Here are some pictures from the party!
Everyone!
Me & Christine - we survived both SPX & GSU!
Me & Doreen, best Carter's trainer ever!
Jordan, me & Courtney AKA World Market Crew
Another really important dinner we had before we left was with my theater teacher from high school - Bonnie Spark. She was and is like a grandma to me, in a old but not really old way. So she's more like an Aunt. Mom, Dad, Steve and I met her at her favorite restaurant in Atlanta - Violet. Side note - OMG this place is really good, expensive but if you're looking for a real dinning experience & good food for a nice date or anniversary I highly recommend this place! I hadn't seen her in a number of months so it was great to catch up with her... aka gossip like mad about people from high school. Bonnie's a sorority girl at heart, just don't tell her I said that. On a side note I did ask her to sing at the wedding in some capacity (yes she is Jewish and yes it will be a catholic wedding, but its mine and ill have a crazy NY jew sing if I like). She also filled us in on Father Dan, who is still in Atlanta and I need to find to ask if her can preform the weeding for us. Yes, its gonna be like a big Pius party but that's what I want.
So after we had packed everything we owned into storage, shipping boxes and suitcases we had one final evening with our closest friends to enjoy one last big group mean and laugh and not cry (again - no tears from me which is unheard of). We went to Taco Mac in Buford, big surprise there I am sure. We were pretty much regulars there without anyone like the staff knowing or recognizing us, that's ok. Its still kinda like our place. So the 8 of us got together and had one last meal together, which was really wonderful. It made the last night in the US happy, not sad, which I really needed because I was second guessing our decision to move at all, but seeing our closest friends be so excited and happy for us made all the difference. Here is the group photo we took that night - sorry the quality is shit, our waiter was a big supporter of 4/20 and couldn't hold the phone still (I tried to fix it). Lesson? Bring the DSLR and tripod when the photos are important!
Bryan, Laura, Andrea, Jake, Me, Michael, Steve, Matt & Rachel
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