When my step-sister and I planned out our five months of international travels, we knew we would need a relaxation break at some point. We were staying in a new city every month, traveling from country to country, sightseeing as much as possible in limited amounts of time. We wanted to experience as much as…
If you’re visiting Sicily, one of the absolute best things to do (besides eating your body weight in pasta, pizza, and cannoli) is taking a tour of Mt. Etna! It’s one of the world’s most active volcanos, and while you can see it from afar in tons of towns in the area, nothing compares to…
I’m gonna be extremely honest with you all for this blog post: Sicily was a very slow month for us in terms of dining out. We spent most of our time relaxing at our oceanside Airbnb (can you blame us?), and it was the middle of October on the Italian coast, so all the beachside…
One of the best things (for me, at least) about traveling literally anywhere is trying a bunch of new foods, and Budapest had plenty for me to choose from! Pretty much everywhere we ate in the city was delicious, and I tried so many dishes and treats I’d never had before, which made our stay…
One of the coolest things about visiting Budapest was the fact that the food there was so different than any other cuisine I’d tried before. Sure, they have Starbucks and McDonalds there, too; but I was so excited to eat new traditional foods that I’d either never heard of or hadn’t gotten a chance to…
Traveling abroad full-time has given me the incredible opportunity to see some amazing places all over the world, and doing so has sparked a love of architecture within me. I’ve always found interest in different architectural styles, but getting to photograph so many different beautiful buildings and landmarks has been a really cool creative outlet…
If you had asked me five years ago where I imagined myself traveling in my twenties, I probably would have listed twenty countries before Hungary. Honestly, it wasn’t even on my radar until less than a month before I traveled there–but after visiting (and spending a whole month there), I can’t imagine Budapest not being…
Before I saw the movie Rocketman, I’d only really known a few of Elton John’s biggest hits–but after watching, “Take Me To The Pilot” quickly became my favorite song of his. It’s just an all-around feel good song that makes you want to sing and dance without being overly energetic, and I knew I needed…
This song is the epitome of how it feels to be overly confident, drunk, and rowdy at a bar with your friends–and so is this cocktail. It’s brash, it’s strong, and it’ll get the party started (if not a bar fight). I knew it was going to be a beer cocktail right away, if not…
(Truthfully, I don’t think I could ever make a good enough cocktail to actually do this song justice, but this is my attempt.) If you’re like me, you can’t hear “Tiny Dancer” without thinking of Almost Famous. You know the scene: the entire gang gets on the bus after Russell’s acid-trip-induced pool dive. The vibe…
I had a hard time choosing the sixth song in this collection, mainly because there are so many more Elton John songs I love and wanted to make cocktails for. Once I was able to gather my ideas for the other five cocktails, I began to get a sense of what I wanted this one…
Elton John’s Farewell tour is named after this song, and it’s one of his most classic ballads ever, so I wanted this cocktail to be simple, letting the flavor and appearance speak for itself. Something classic but not necessarily basic–it needed to match Elton John’s uniqueness while still paying homage to this gorgeous song. I…
The Bitch Is Back – Elton John Honestly, just the title of this song says it all. This is one of my all-time favorite Elton John songs, and trying to plan out a cocktail that could do it justice in both taste and appearance was tough. It needed to be fruity, flamboyant, and pack a…
Stepping out of the bar into the brisk January air, I felt warmer than ever. Twinkling lights surrounded us, setting alight the streets filled with other groups of friends on their way to find their next pint. Raspy voices could be heard crooning into microphones every time a pub door opened, inviting in the drunk…
In case you didn’t know by now, my favorite part of traveling to a new place is finding new food to try (duh). I was especially excited to be in Belfast for a month because I’m a huge sucker for pub food, and when in Northern Ireland, you’re basically in pub heaven. Even though we…
Simply put, Belfast was a dream. I’ve wanted to explore the UK and Ireland more than any other area since I knew I wanted to travel, and when my friends reached out last year wanting to visit the UK for a month I couldn’t have been happier. Unsurprisingly, Belfast, Northern Ireland was decently cheaper to…
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I LOVE guided bus tours! I think they’re an incredible way to explore new areas without the added stress of planning the trip yourself. There are so many options no matter what country or city you visit, and this tour in particular was one of my…
Belfast was the first city I traveled to with friends who were just as excited about and interested in food as I was–that’s essentially the whole reason I travel, and I remember feeling so relieved to be on this adventure with people who also made huge lists of new foods they wanted to try, saved…
I’m a huge proponent of taking guided tours when traveling to new places–why stress out about planning your own excursions and tours when you could spend nearly the same amount of money and have someone do it for you? I’ve taken guided tours in almost every single city and country I’ve been to, and I…
I put my suitcase on the luggage rack and slumped into my seat on the tram, finally able to stretch my legs a bit and relax. It was around 8:00pm, already dark outside, and I had a 30 minute ride plus a 30 minute walk to my apartment, hoping my re-used UK SIM card didn’t…
“Edinburgh surely has no shortage of great food across the city. From lively upscale bars with smoking dry ice cocktails, to cozy little pubs with chunky chips and local beer on barstools, Edinburgh has an incredible selection of all types of cuisine no matter what you’re in the mood for. “
“If you’re not a meat-eater, or are super easily squeamish, you might want to steer clear of this blog post. Otherwise, welcome to the weird, wonderful world of Scottish food–particularly the country’s national dish: haggis.”
“I’m as obsessed with Italian food as the next person, but even though I was absolutely ecstatic to actually be traveling to Italy and eating authentic cuisine straight from the source, I was still pretty nervous about their dining culture–what if I couldn’t read the menu? Do people actually not tip, or will I look like a jerk if I don’t?”
“Dining in a foreign country can be intimidating when you’re a newcomer in a place that’s totally different than where you’re used to living. The culture is different, the foods are different, and the menus can be confusing, regardless of where you are in the world.”
Walking through winding city streets, crossing bridges and busy streets, we were eager to make our way to the famous Villa Borghese Gardens for a bit of natural scenery–what we weren’t expecting was to find an incredible oasis in the middle of the biggest city in Italy. It was as if the surrounding noise of…
“Being the capital of Tuscany, the cuisine in Florence is rooted in traditional Tuscan dishes and ingredients, like Bistecca alla Fiorentina (Florentine steak), crostini Toscani, trippa (cow stomach), wild boar, and truffles (my absolute favorite).”
The end-of-summer sun beat down on my bare arms as I leaned my back against the bridge, just as brutal in September as it was in July. My hair was hot to the touch as I brushed a few strands away from my face, content with my chosen resting spot overlooking the Arno River. Unwrapping…
As we pulled our suitcases down the steep cobblestone hill for the last time, passing by the weathered pastel buildings home to wine shops, produce markets, and souvenirs galore, I reveled in the fact that there was no one around yet. No tourists arriving for their vacations, no vans honking at pedestrians to give way…
I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face if I tried to that day. My jacket and shirt were soaked through, and my hair had probably never looked worse, but I sat in a restaurant full of chattering Italians listening to a new friend order food and wine for the table as if we’d known…
“While Leicester may seem unassuming at first, the amount of different restaurant options in the city was really impressive! From Indian food to fish and chips, to classic Italian cuisine to good old American cheeseburgers and fries, there’s restaurants to satisfy any palate, and then some.”
When we chose our home-base for our six weeks in England, we knew we wanted to stay in a city that was far enough away from London that we’d be able to relax, not being right in the center of a huge city. Leicester was the only place with an Airbnb cheap enough to fit…
“One of the best parts of visiting the country was the incredible food you could find pretty much anywhere (at least in the cities we went to). Edinburgh in particular had such a variety of cuisines for every craving imaginable, and I might have said it before, but I truly didn’t have a bad meal there (except one).”
I turned 26 (ew) during the last week in July, and all I wanted for my birthday was to see Scotland–so that’s what we did! Scotland and Ireland have both been at the top of my travel bucket list for many years, and I would’ve been insane not to visit at least one of them…
The one thing my mom wanted to do on our parents’ trip to visit me and Amanda in England was to explore the Cotswolds. Granted, there are about 800 square miles of land that make up the Cotswolds, but she did her research for weeks to find a town truest to the *English countryside aesthetic*…
We took an eight-day trip around Southwest England at the beginning of July, and it was filled with amazing new places, people, and most of all: food. I have more blog posts about all the fun things we saw and did on our trip that you can find here, but if you’re looking for food…
Day 5 of our sightseeing trip across southern England was spent on a guided tour of Stonehenge and Bath. We figured that instead of trying to find the cheapest trains and buses and make as few changes as possible to get ourselves there, we might as well just take a tour and have someone else…
We got to Watford in the late morning on day 3 of our trip, and we stayed in another super walkable area. We had a little bit more planned out for our two days here, so it was nice to have more of a timeline for both our activities and free time. We had one…
If you know me at all, you know how big of a deal this tour was for me. If you don’t know me, the fact that I cried tears of joy while riding Harry Potter and The Forbidden Journey at Universal Studios as a full-grown, 23 year old adult should tell you everything you need…
I’m currently staying in central England for about six weeks with my step-sister Amanda, but at the start of July, our parents flew out to visit and take us sightseeing throughout London, Bath, and Bourton-on-the-Water. We spent eight days exploring new cities and all the food, sights and history they had to offer, and I’m…
I spent two full days exploring London, and if you know me, you already know what my favorite part was: the food. I’d need waaaay more than two days to truly get a taste of London as a city, but I didn’t have a bad meal (or drink) the whole time I was there, so…