China was my first culture shock trip—nothing was like anything I had ever seen before. This was probably the first time I really felt like I was surrounded by strange language, different customs, and perhaps truly traveling. Twenty years ago locals got around by bicycle and bike lanes made up two thirds of the major roads. […]
Dublin, the capital and largest city of Ireland is on the mouth of the Liffey River in the province of Leinster on the east coast. The Greater Dublin area has a population of 2 million. Originally settled by Vikings, the city became part of the British Empire and grew rapidly in the 17th century. In 1922, […]
Now and again, you just have to spoil yourself. For us we decided that a 20th wedding anniversary was a good occasion to do this. We set out to do a tour of southern Ireland and stay at castles along the way. There is certainly no shortage of castles and ancient ruins in Ireland. Around every corner […]
Road tripping through Ireland isn’t for the faint of heart and can at times have some hair-raising moments, even more so, I imagine, for those (like us) that are used to driving on the right side of the road. Plenty of narrow winding roads must be taken to reach some interesting sights or off the […]
The beauty of the islands is in a class of its own. High mountain peaks raising out of crystal-clear waters, lagoons of a thousand shades of blues, fiery sunsets, lush foliage, delightful smells emanating from exotic flowers, and the enthralling beat of Tahiti’s dance, the Tamure, all contribute to making this one of the most […]
We’ve always wanted to go to Portugal, the land of ancient explorers and navigators. So, when we saw TAP airlines, Portugal’s official airline, offering discounted direct flights from Miami we didn’t waste any time in planning an impromptu vacation to Portugal. We knew that we wanted to visit Lisbon and Porto, so we looked for […]
We just got back from a short trip to New York City. Having unused upgrades that we didn’t want to lose was a good incentive, so we looked around for a good travel deal. The New York Times Travel Show was coming up and that was an excellent excuse to return to the “Big Apple” […]
A few years back the opportunity to move to Austin presented itself and we took a leap of faith by leaving Montreal, our hometown, the place where we grew-up and lived all our lives. It wasn’t an easy decision to make with our family and friends there, but the opportunity was a good one and […]
On a whim after seeing flights from Miami for just over 100$ return we decided to visit Puerto Rico. This was our first time here and as a US territory it is simple to get to. Miami had literally a dozen direct flights daily and the short 2.5-hour flight was a breeze. We enjoyed seeing the aqua blue […]
Following our escapade in Normandy we returned to Paris for a few days. It was our third visit (in 15 years mind you) so much of this was just to go back to familiar haunts and get some fresh pictures of our favorites including the Notre-Dame, Sainte-Chapelle, Pantheon, Sacré-Coeur, Arc de Triomphe, and of course […]