European Adventure

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.” ~Henry David Thoreau

You know that feeling of checking something off your bucket list and having a life long dream come true?
Yah, it is pretty magical!

I recently had the opportunity to travel to Europe.  A friend of mine already had plans to go, and well, YOLO*.  What began as a half-hearted ‘Let me look into it’ turned into a dream come true.  All my life, I always dreamed of being spontaneous, booking a flight to Europe, wandering around, just because.

“Not all those who wander are lost.” ~ J.R.R. Tolkien

Check.

I flew into Dublin and had a 12 hour layover (Dublin was SUPER cheap to fly into). Having only 12 hours to enjoy, I stopped at a nearby pub, made friends with the locals where I learned that Garth Brooks is still popular and taught my newly made friends what an Irish Car bomb is and what *YOLO means.

Then the next day, hopped a flight to Prague to meet up with my friend.

Prague, you win.

It is like a fairy-tale.  Very clean, preserved. It’s like walking back in time.  I had heard it is a beautiful city.  Words don’t do it justice.  It’s like walking through a real-like Hansel and Gretel. Although it isn’t a very touristy city (as in comparing to Rome with so many things to see and do) it is a nice, relaxing, walkable city that transport you into a dream.  Here are some pics to make you jealous:

  

Plus the most magical souvenir of all (because I love puns!)

After 2 days (and I do say, 2 days was just enough to dabble in the gloriousness of the city, although 1 more day would have been perfect), it was back on a plane to head to Amsterdam.

This was just as I had imagined.  Canals lined with buildings. Bikes galore. Coffeeshops.  A tad disappointed upon our late arrival, hardly ANY restaurants were open past 10pm.  Why not eat some pizza then…after devouring pizza that would put any pizzeria in Italy to shame, back to the hotel to rest up for the next 2 days of touristy stuff!

From walking throughout the city to shopping to apple pie* to canal cruises to I Amsterdam to Heineken – I’ll be sure to make a trip back (I didn’t do the museums – I know SHAME!).  Maybe you’ll understand why – look at this!

        

*this, THIS apple pie, looking all sweet and innocent.  UNTIL I take a bite and boom, raisins.  Lets just say, you all probably know how that ended up.  Thank you @Chicagoista for rescuing me.

Exactly.

Next up – back to Dublin.

Sorry to report – Dublin is somewhat a dud.  I even tried to make a fun pun at customs in Amsterdam…

Border Patrol: Where are you headed to?

Me: You can find me in the ‘Dub (you know, a play off of 50 Cent’s ‘You Can Find Me in the Club’ – note, puns do NOT translate well).

One positive aspect – Guinness.

Here’s a few photos to document our day in the Dub:

 

Notice a trend…beer in Prague. Heineken in Amsterdam. Guinness in Dublin.  My kind of souvenirs.

And that, my dear friends, is a recap of my whirl-wind 1-week-Euro-adventure-to-check-off-my-bucket-list.  Until my next trip…

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” ~Mark Twain

Tease!

Just a lil tease…

stay tuned for upcoming blog posts about:

• Adventures in traveling
• Fooooooood
• Dating
• Tuesday thoughts
• Small triumphs

I know, the suspense is torture 🙂

 

A Little (or a LOT) London Love

First, I must apologize for the delay (ahem, 2 months late) for this post.

Second, I’ll try not to bore you with all the fun I had and make you jealous.

I recently had to go to London for a work conference.  Granted, I had been to the great city 10 years ago. Albeit for only a weekend as a poor college student studying abroad.  However, now that I was going for a work gig (hello – dream come true!) and I had (some) money, I decided to extend my trip and enjoy some personal time.  Well, personal time turned into my mother and Aunt joining.  In efforts to keep you interested – unless you would like to see my 4 page Microsoft Word spread sheet itinerary –  I will do just the top 10 highlights of my trip:

10. Sightseeing!  There are so many wonderful things to see in London.  Upon landing, all jet-lagged, I opted to do the double-decker tour bus.  Really, it’s a fabulous way to acclimate yourself around the city and it allows you to see every tourist sight you could imagine (and then some).  I had purchased tickets ahead of our trip from The Original Tour.  I swear, I could have spent 3 days just taking advantage of everything they offer. I highly recommend this company.  And to prove of everything we saw, here are some photos:

Big Ben and Parliament

Westminster Abbey

London Bridge/Tower Bridge (technically, London Bridget isn’t fancy, it’s the Tower Bridge that is iconic)

and Crown Jewels (we couldn’t take pics of the Jewels so I got this guard outside instead)

London Eye

Red phone booths

Kensington

 

9. Afternoon tea! I’m Italian, so coffee runs through my veins.  But, while in Britain…do as the Brits do and indulge in afternoon tea.  I opted to go big and fancy (and pricey!) at Brown’s Hotel. It. Was. Worth it.  Never ending finger sandwiches and desserts and who would have thunk, that I’d enjoy some white tea.  I highly recommend it (see what I did there, HIGH…tea…)

8. Dirty Dancing! Musicals are not in my top 10 things to see and do, but we were staying in the theatre district in London.  Surprisingly, the one show that my mom, Aunt and I all wanted to see: Dirty Dancing.  PHENOMENAL.  Plus, there were drinks.

7. Day trip to Brussels! I had originally intended on doing some sort of day trip.  We considered Bathe and Stonehenge – both about 2 hours away.  Also, Paris.  Granted….going to Paris is practically on everyone’s dream list, buttttt I’ve visited. Twice. So the next foreign country within 2 hours – BRUSSELS.  I hadn’t heard much about it – that could be good or bad.  I thought – beer, chocolate and waffles. Count me in.  I wasn’t necessarily disappointed, but I won’t make a special trip back to visit.

6. Buckingham! Our hotel was literally a mile down ‘the mall’ (it’s just a really long road).  There weren’t any tours available to go inside, so we had to settle for admiring from passing by.  And I passed by – twice daily – to and from my work conference. Here are some snapshots:

5. Changing of the Guards! While at Buckingham, of course we had to see the Changing of the Guards.  It was a lot longer than I recall from 10 years ago, but we lucked out and got front row seats!

That, that would be a horse’s ass.  The bobby on horse patrol was working.  Like I said, we had front row seats!

*There was a little incident the day before (some random guy with a gun tried to enter…) so security was intense!

4. Food! I didn’t remember the food being all that wonderful.  Not to mention, after living and visiting Italy I knew what good food was.  Surprisingly, it was alllll good!  I actually even really liked the Italian food from a local chain, called Prezzo. Convenient too since it was located directly across the street from. We also found an adorable cafe within immediate walking distance called Embankment Cafe. Cute, good food (and coffee!), and affordable.

 

Also stumbled upon a typical British pub near the hotel – The Sherlock Holmes. The door men and service was great, fish and chips and even a scene dedicated to Sherlock Holmes!

3. The Hotel!  The work conference was being held at the swanky London Hilton on Park Lane.  We did have the work conference discount but we opted to stay elsewhere.  At Club Quarters Trafalgar Square.  Awesome location, nice rooms, affordable, secure.  Can’t complain!

Views from our room!  That folks is Trafalgar Square and Nelson’s Column

 

2. Shopping! I wish I had more time do SHOP!  Even the grocery stores are awesome-sauce.  Of course I went into vacation mode and hit up the souvenir shops – where I got my now favorite sweatshirt and tshirt. Perhaps the greatest discovery: TK Maxx.  So we have TJ Maxx in USA and TK Maxx in Europe.  What’s next…TL Maxx?

1. David Cameron! And the number one experience (random at that) was seeing the Prime Minister!  Upon returning from a work reception, we exit the black car and see black private town cars and about 4 police officers standing outside.  Of course my instinct was that something had happened.  I ask if it is ok to enter the hotel and one female officer said

“oh absolutely.  You are in the safest part of London right now.”

Me: “oh, why is that?”

Her: “The Bravery Awards are going on right now – 300 officers from across Britain are being honored.”

Me: ” Um, what are the Bravery Awards?”

Her: “Exactly what it sounds like – example: a cop ran into a burning building to save a family.”

Me: “oooohhhh.”

Her: “And the Prime Minister is in there as well.”

My Coworker: “Oh Laura, you should go flirt with him!”

Her: “I’m not sure Mrs. Cameron would appreciate that very much.”

Me: (bows head in embarrassment) “Great ok let’s go in and have a drink now!”

So I made my mother and Aunt indulge in a drink in the hotel bar while I casually (ok that’s a complete understatement) awaited for Mr. Cameron to exit.  My mom thought I would be arrested for stalking but I just said I’m being American.  Boom, after 30 minutes he walks out, hastily, but I was ready with my cell.  Here is the half blurry photo from the unexpected spotting of the Prime Minister!

*That’s my Aunt Janet’s right eye.

After the whirlwind experience, I was sad to leave.  London, you now have a special place in my heart.  Who wants to buy me a plane ticket to go back? Or better yet, Prince Harry….call me!