I was a guest of Toyota on the Million Dollar Highway. All opinions are my own. Put most simply, I am by no means a daredevil. I shudder at the thought of a roller coaster. Skydiving is not on my bucket list. Despite being a Colorado native, I don’t enjoy skiing. Before you assume I’m simply no fun, I can explain. I was born with a predisposition to worry. While I try to not borrow trouble before trouble borrows me, I can’t help myself. As I gripped the armrest of my Sienna minivan with fervor, I shrieked at my husband behind the wheel, yelling, “Careful!” With no guardrails to keep us, no Continue Reading
Swimming in Fear and Solitude in Sardinia’s La Maddalena Archipelago
I carry an abnormal fear of authority. I get nervous walking into a liquor store despite being well over the age of 21. I’ll be driving the speed limit, but the minute I see those lights on top of the car behind me, I panic. Despite all reasoning, I assume I was speeding and I’m somehow not allowed to buy beer and I’ll wind up in jail. I felt this abnormal fear of authority meeting me as we prepared to board a car ferry from the Italian island of Sardinia to the Maddalena Archipelago. Scattered in between the islands of Sardinia and Corsica, just off the Costa Smeralda, La Maddalena Continue Reading
In Sickness and Health, How To Survive Food Poisoning While Traveling
Over six months have passed and I think I can finally talk about my worst trip to date. I can tell you the exact moment the norovirus hit me on my last trip to Europe. I was walking into a hotel in the Frankfurt Airport, ready to go home the next day after dealing with a Croatian sailing trip from hell, and then something didn’t feel right. Within the hour, the bathroom became my best friend and I thought it was very possible Germany would be the last country I would ever see. I'll need to back up a bit. My husband and I decided to take advantage of an offer from a sailing company to write Continue Reading
Montenegro: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Boats bobbed outside my window on the Bay of Kotor. In between the noise, flashes of light periodically lit up the sky. It was the only light that night, other than my cell phone flashlight and a glowing forest fire on the hill opposite my water view. We sat in the dark for a while, hopeful that the power would return to the town of Perast in Montenegro. We waited and waited, resolving, as my grandmother used to say, that things would look better in the morning. Any yet in the morning, we were still in the dark. I never really had an urge to visit Montenegro. When we decided to visit, it Continue Reading
Could This Be The Perfect Travel Tote? A Look at The Lo and Sons O.G. Bag
The search has been long and hard. It has produced broken straps, bags that couldn’t withstand the contents and that lingering feeling that something was missing. There weren’t enough compartments. I would wish the zipper would go all the way around. After buying what seemed like a $50 tote bag from various chain stores for every trip since I was 18, I finally caved and splurged on the Lo and Sons O.G. bag. Could this finally be the one? A few years ago, I posed the question, “Where art thou perfect travel tote bag?” Many others joined in on their troubles of locating the perfect bag for Continue Reading
Cuenca, Spain Wishes You Were Here
In many ways, I ran to Cuenca. Roughly two hours outside of Spain’s capital in the Castile-La Mancha region, the small town of my refuge teeters on a rocky ridge. Like a tightrope walker, I tip-topped through this UNESCO World Heritage city, almost as if I wasn’t supposed to be here. Then again, I wasn’t. Cuenca was never on my Spanish itinerary, until perhaps by happenstance, we checked into what could have been a minimum-security prison in Madrid. Just off of Puerta del Sol, I lost a little piece of my soul in that Madrid hotel. The accommodations reeked of trash, attracted salty characters Continue Reading
Stop and Smell The Roses: A Pinrose Travel Perfume Review and Giveaway
Scents latch on to memory with a firm grip, leaving us lingering in places long after we have left them. While photographs are all fine and well to remember where we have been, I tend to find the scent I was wearing while on the road one of the best ways to remember the places I have been. Like magic, that scent transforms from liquid in a bottle to the fastest flight of my life. I am put back in Greece for a moment or the Southern U.S. depending on what I wear on any regular Tuesday. At the same time, traveling with scents isn’t always a walk in the park. Big bottles of perfume are either Continue Reading