When three of our teenagers (ages 12, 13, and 15) first expressed interest in getting scuba certified, I was thrilled (and then a little nervous)! My husband and I have been certified for years, but I wasn't entirely sure how it would go with the kids. Teenagers can...
Two weeks ago, I headed to Las Vegas, Nevada for the Author Nation conference, which was a fantastic conference. Unfortunately, it's a week in Vegas every year. I have managed to avoid Vegas for 10 years. Last time I stopped there on the last night of a National Park...
Every year, three of my friends and I pick a new location to go for an extended weekend and we always have a wonderful time. We all met during our early days at IBM (over 20 years ago now), which was the first full-time job that most of us had after college. We all...
Last week, I finished up my Portugal series with a post about the beautiful Algarve region. This week, we go midwest local because our very next trip was to...Omaha. Wah. Wah. I've been to Omaha plenty because my grandparents lived there. While most people actively...
Our final stint in Portugal was a road trip to the Algarve region along the Southern coast. I have been looking forward to seeing this region for decades -- ever since I saw my first picture of kayakers near Lagos in beautiful green water weaving through coastal...
The Douro River Valley is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is filled with wineries and olive oil presses. It makes for a lovely day trip from Porto. We had a wonderful time touring the valley, learning about the wine and olive oil industries in Portugal, and drinking...
Our trip to Portugal would not have been complete without a visit to its second-largest city, Porto. We absolutely loved Porto and it is the city we are dying to get back to after just a few weeks away. Here's a bit of what we saw and did while in Porto. Porto...
Just outside of Lisbon is a city with gardens, multiple palaces, an old Moorish castle and a view of the Atlantic that can't be beat. Nestled in the verdant hills outside of Lisbon, Sintra may be the single best day trip from Portugal's capital city and it's just a...
At the end of June, we took a trip to Portugal. It was half a vacation and half seeing if Portugal might be a place we'd enjoying living in the future. We. Loved. Portugal. From the Douro Valley wine region to the cliffs of the Algarve, we loved that little country....
Two weeks ago, I got the chance to check off a major bucket list item: my 14-year-old daughter, Alison, and I hiked the epic Inca Trail in Peru that finishes at Machu Picchu. The whole trail is a 4-day, 26 mile hike, ebbing and flowing between 11,000 and 14,000 feet...
My daughter, Alison, and I just got back from an epic trip to hike the Inca Trail in Peru and see the Sacred Valley. The Inca Trail is a four-day trek that I've had on my bucket list for about 20 years. It exceeded all of my expectations (both good and bad) and it's...
I have three friends now living in San Diego, so I decided to finally go for a visit. What I expected was a warm, welcoming sun-filled few days. What I got was a mostly cloudy, somewhat chilly, but still lovely time touring all kinds of different sites. Here's what we...
The last stop on our Christmas tour of New Zealand was the largest city on the South Island, Christchurch. You might recognize the name because Christchurch made worldwide headlines in 2011 for having a massive earthquake that destroyed about 10,000 structures,...
It's no secret that I love New Zealand and within New Zealand my favorite city has always been Wellington. We visited for a second time with the entire family in December and it did not disappoint. Here's what we did while we were visiting New Zealand's Capital. Where...
Rotorua is a small city on a huge lake that's packed with a lot of activities, from ziplining to geothermal wonders. Last week, I showed you what there is to do around Mount Maunganui. This week, we travel an hour away from the Bay of Plenty to take a look at Rotorua....
New Zealand is one of the most stunning places I have ever been. I'd waited two decades to go and finally got my chance two years ago. I knew that if I loved it as much as I thought I would, I could always go back. And, I LOVE New Zealand. It is probably my favorite...
I've always loved to travel. An unfulfilled dream of mine is to leave all of my worldly possessions behind and travel around the world for months or years at a time. That plan is also my back-up strategy for if the United States takes a real dive in quality of life....
A month ago, I went on a girls' weekend trip to Glenwood Springs, CO. Aside from that group of ladies being delightful, it was just what I needed to get some extra rest and relaxation. Here's what we did. California Zephyr Train We could have driven from Denver to...
Today, as I write this post, it is my oldest daughter's 14th birthday. It's another reminder of why I quit my job in May to focus on things like family and travel. Time goes by so fast and, in my opinion, you may as well spend it traveling. This post is about the...
The final city on our Italian tour was Florence, Italy (we also visited Rome and Cinque Terre). We were in for a treat because our first day there happened to be the first day of the Tour de France, which departed from Florence this year. So, we got to see what the...
I've got a long list of lifetime travel goals. Cinque Terre, a bright mountain-and-seaside picture-perfect spot has been on my list since a co-worker came back from her trip there twenty years ago. I finally got to visit these five beautiful villages and hike the Via...
"If the whole world lived in their favorite vacation spots, then the whole world would live in Hawaii and Italy and Cleveland." Floyd to Liz, 30 Rock, Season 1, Episode 20 "Cleveland" That is one of my favorite TV Show quotes ever. What Floyd from 30 Rock is really...
We just got back from a wonderful one-month trip to Europe, starting with the United Kingdom (UK) and ending with Italy. This post is all about the third part of the UK tour: London. To hear about the rest of our itinerary including Bath, Manchester, and Edinburgh,...
My husband and I had the wonderful opportunity to travel in Europe for a month this June. The first part of the trip was in the United Kingdom (UK). Our full itinerary and information about Bath and Manchester can be found here. Today, I'm going to talk about my...
Nearly two months ago, I reached Financial Independence (FI) and quit my full-time job. There are a lot of things I'm planning to do with my extra time off, but my first order of business is enjoying longer-term travel. Here in the United States we get a sad number of...
We've been traveling in Europe for almost a month and have met a lot of interesting people. One thing we noticed right away is that travelers from outside of the United States are often taking 4-6 week trips, something unheard of in the United States. In the U.S., our...
I took my daughters (10 & 13) to Paris last week and we LOVED it! Parisians seem to prioritize life differently than Americans. They optimize for taste, beauty, relationships, and leisure, while we optimize for career and money. It was an entirely refreshing look...
Last week, I wrote about the first half of our spring break trip to Hawaii's Big Island. This week, we dive into the second half of our Hawaiian Vacation: the island of Maui. Maui was by far my favorite of the two islands, but that may just have been a reflection of...
We visited Hawaii's Big Island and Maui as a family during spring break this year. I travel a lot, but haven't shared many travel experiences with this audience in the past. After my New Zealand posts, I've gotten some requests to, so here it goes. Hopefully it will...
This is the third and final installment of my New Zealand travel series. I wrote two previous posts: one about the North Island and one focused on Wellington. This one chronicles our final leg of the trip to the South Island: Te Waipounamu. The View from our AirBNB in...
Graham and I honeymooned in New Zealand last month, visiting both the North and South Islands. Our tour through the North Island is outlined in my last post. Once we'd finished in Rotorua, we flew into New Zealand's capital city: Wellington, to see friends and check...
Greetings from The Shire!! I'm taking a departure from my normal work-related blog posts to give a little trip report on our honeymoon to the North & South Islands in New Zealand this past January. New Zealand has been at the top of my bucket list for ages and it...