Favorite Travel Destinations

For our final Travel Week post, we asked a handful of seasoned travelers their favorite destinations and I love the wonderful descriptions they gave:

"I would have to say that going to North Haven, Maine is my favorite vacation destination.  Although, now, after so many years of going, it feels like I am going home again.  The minute the ferry leaves the dock I'm happy.  I love the local people.  I love the many friends that I only see in August.  The sun (if it's out) is brilliant.  There's light everywhere.  There's never a dull moment.  Lazy breakfasts with children running in and out of the house.  Boat picnics.  Afternoon naps. And delicious feasts every night with many, many (sometimes too many) family members.  Sleeping by the sea is sublime.  And then it starts all over again.  Same routine but somehow always different."

"Thailand: culture, food, history, beaches… it has it all and on a budget.  I’m happy that I did Southeast Asia when I was young and child free, because there’s just something special about meeting other backpackers from around the world while drinking cheap Thai whiskey out of a plastic bucket.  Now that I have kids, it’s at the top of my list to take them as well, because visiting temples, riding trains, exploring markets, snorkeling and relaxing on the beach are all kid friendly.  Even though it’s an exotic destination when you’re from North America, it’s an easy place to travel and so many people do it.  Oh, and I can’t say enough about the people.  They’re so helpful and it’s called the land of smiles for a reason!"

"Venice.  Because, obviously.  The first time I went to Venice was for a few hours; I figured that was enough, that I’d seen it and I didn’t need to go back.  But then we were lucky enough to live near the "water city” for a couple of years, and each time we visited, it became more magical.  With three small boys, it was fantastic to ride the water taxi for hours, visiting all the stops on the island of Venice as well as neighboring islands, with no whining or complaining, because, well, we were on a boat - cool!"
[**You can see Cori's amazing pictures of Venice on her website, here]

"Camping in France.  We left from Cologne, drove south through Lyon, Avignon, Marseilles and Nice.  At one campground, the owners came by in the evening on their golf cart to take orders for morning baking.  Croissant?  Baguette?  And some local preserves to go with that?  At another, we camped on a beach across the bay from St. Tropez, and the restaurant served a lovely meal of clams in wine sauce.  Fresh and local?  You bet!  You don’t need to bring a can of beans to camp in France. Most campsites have a restaurant and many have pools.  We did this with a one year old and it was a great family holiday."

"Imagine standing on a station platform, looking down the track to your left. In the distance, growing larger, is the headlight of the train that is going to take you on an adventure away from your structured life, and the excitement begins right there. It doesn't matter whether it's a 3.5 hour ride to NYC or 10 days traveling around the country on the trails. Both journeys provide an escape from the day to day. Both journeys provide time for reading, reflecting and napping without interruption or a nagging sense that you should be doing something. The longer, overnight trip has the added benefit of an opportunity to meet interesting people in the dining car: a mother going to help her daughter shear sheep on her ranch in Nevada, a retired policeman from Louisville, the former pilot for Pan America flight #1 (around the world), an actor playing opposite Brian Dennehy in the play 'Death of a Salesman', a husband and wife who run a vineyard in Sonoma, CA. Most travelogues that describe train travel talk about the scenery outside the train. Actually, for me, the scenery is inside the train. Furthermore, the communication that springs up between passengers is not going to grow into a relationship that makes demands on each other. It's just for now, and then it's gone.
 

"My favorite place to travel is Italy. Anywhere in Italy. I love the relaxed culture with its emphasis on a slower life with lots of pasta. I love listening to people speak Italian. I love the beautiful, old cities and towns, and popping into churches while wandering around or sitting at a cafe with a spritz, people watching. And most of all, I love Italian food."

"Bonaire has been one of the most idyllic places that I've traveled to over the past decade. As one of the ABC islands located off the coast of Venezuela, it's securely nestled in a relatively safe area free from the frequent hurricanes. I originally planned my trip to Bonaire because of its incredible scuba diving, but once I arrived on this fantastically manicured Dutch island, I discovered that it also had a rich slave and salt mining history. The little slave huts located near the salt mines are an incredible reminder of the harsh living conditions of the slaves who were essentially housed in what looks like dog houses. The best part of my trip though, was the scuba diving. There are innumerable off-shore dive sites with beautiful coral reefs and magnificent marine life. We saw frog fish, moray eels of ginormous sizes, dolphins and loggerhead turtles. There are also a number of expats and artisans who live on the island, and there are some fantastic restaurants."

"North Haven, Maine is my most favorite place in the world. I love the little island that generations of family have called home in the summer; the sound of the fog horn on a brisk August night; fresh lobster from the crate hanging off our dock; eating oysters from the farm down the road and throwing the shells back into the ocean; the accent of a hardened Mainer; waving to each driver on the road; the Camden Hills; and fond memories of treasure hunts up the Knob when the fog was too thick to see Vinalhaven."

Where are your favorite places to travel? We'd love to hear....
 And, if you missed them, here's the first Travel Week post on our favorite travel memories and the second on how we travel.

How We Travel

Living in Italy allows us lots of opportunity for travel adventures and we've been able to take advantage of this. Over the past four years, we've figured out our travel style and what works best for us.

In the past, I used to meticulously plan every detail of a day trip, long weekend or end-of-hockey-season-excursion. I would read guidebooks (this one is usually spot on), book restaurant reservations and order museum tickets online, all weeks ahead of time. Sometimes this is good, especially if you're traveling at a touristy time and you want to eat at a popular restaurant or make sure you get the tickets you want at the time you want.

Then, two years ago we went to Rome. We tried to cram everything that you're "supposed" to see into three days which is basically impossible. We ended up running all over the city, from the Colosseum to the Forum to the Pantheon, eating scheduled meals in between sights. It was completely exhausting and we slept for about three days when we got back to Cortina.

So, now we have a new strategy: we plan a few things (like what museums we want to see or if there's a great restaurant we want to try). But we also make sure to spend an afternoon or a day wandering around the town exploring on our own. We pop into churches, stop for cappuccinos at local cafes and try regional wines at tiny wine bars.

Instead of solely relying on our guidebook, we ask locals, friends who have already been or someone who works at our hotel where the best places to eat are, and what kinds of things we have to see before we leave. A lot of times, these people can give you undercover advice that you wouldn't even know about from a guidebook!

We also make sure to make some time for naps....after all, it's supposed to be a vacation! There are only so many sights you can see in one day - plus, if you're too tired, you'll never enjoy it.

We're in the early planning stages of our end-of-the-season trip now and we're picking out a few destinations/tours/restaurants/museums that we want to see and do. But for the rest of the trip, we're winging it, taking recommendations from locals (or readers!) and going wherever we feel like. With plenty of time for naps in between.

PS - My article on the different Italian regions is in the Steamboat paper today, here.

And did you see our first Travel Week post?

Our Favorite Travel Memories

As I mentioned earlier, we're starting to plan a big trip for a few weeks in March and April (any ideas?!). We've already been lucky enough to have had some amazing travel experiences these past four years in Europe (and at home in the US!), so we compiled a few of our favorite moments:
 
From Ryan:

Florence. To me, Florence embodies everything Italian: it has culture, history, incredible food and great wine. Plus the city is so manageable - you can walk everywhere. I've only been once, for a few days, but it was my favorite trip we've taken in the past four years. When I walked into the Accademia and came face to face with The David, I was completely taken aback. Its size, the details, the beauty of it and the idea that a person could make that - the whole thing was incredible.

Moab/The Grand Canyon/Mesa Verde. This was an impromptu trip that we took in May of 2014. We were sitting at home in Colorado one day when I suggested that we go on a two-night camping and hiking trip in Moab (Sophie had never been). Sophie is more of a planner but to my surprise, she agreed to leave the next day. The hiking was great, the summer crowds weren't around yet and we were having so much fun that we decided to continue on to the Grand Canyon (where Sophie had also never been before). We did two nights there and and then went down to Mesa Verde for one more night before heading back to Steamboat. I loved showing my wife these amazing western landmarks that she had never seen and I loved taking her on a camping trip. Camping was a favorite activity of mine when I was young and it was fun to recreate that with her.

Lake Como. We went to Lake Como in January (!!) of 2012 for a weekend. It was one of those trips where sometimes you just need to get out of town and have a change of scenery. When we got there, it was completely empty and quiet and peaceful. We ate dinner in the same restaurant both nights (and had this amazing pasta dish with buckwheat noodles, sage, cabbage, potatoes and tons of butter), had coffee both mornings in the same cafe and stayed in the only hotel that was open. All we did was walk, play cards, nap and watch sunsets over the lake. It was perfect for re-charging and we got to see a side of Lake Como that only the true locals see.

From Sophie:

Siena. The first trip that we took together was to Siena in November of 2011. We figured out the train schedule (and got on the right train, which is half the battle), found the hotel easily and ate dinner in a tiny restaurant where we shared a table with two charming gay Frenchmen and ate an amazing pine nut cake for dessert. We arrived at night when it was already dark but when we woke up in the morning and opened the shutters, we were looking out over a sea of red tile roofs....not what you see in Cortina! It was so much fun to explore a new part of Italy together AND we learned that we're pretty good travel partners which is important for our lifestyle.

Prague. On our way to Prague, we made it to Innsbruck before we realized that our GPS didn't have maps of the Czech Republic and could only take us as far as Germany before we were on our own. The only thing we could do was buy a paper map and wing it. In a country that loves to put together as many consonants as possible, it's not a good idea to travel sans GPS! I don't know how this happened, but we drove around the city for a while before stumbling on our hotel by the side of the road. It was truly a travel miracle. And not only did we successfully find the hotel, we remained in good spirits which is half the battle. That was a time when I knew I had married the right person.

 Moab/The Grand Canyon/Mesa Verde. This impromptu camping trip was a huge learning experience for me. My previous self-imposed camping limit was two nights, max. When I ended up camping for five nights, voluntarily, I was really surprised. This trip really pushed my boundaries and I was happy to find that I LOVED it. I wasn't worried about my dirty hair (actually I brought dry shampoo with me, so I guess I cheated a little, but whatever) or lack of fresh vegetables and I felt healthy and strong from all the hiking. I proved to myself that I could do something that I thought I couldn't or didn't want to and I was really proud of myself (and Ryan was too).

We'd love to hear....what are your favorite travel memories?

Also coming up this week: how we travel, why we travel and favorite places to visit.

It's Travel Week!

This week is Travel Week on Here We Go Again! We're getting excited for our big end-of-the-season trip and we can't stop thinking about all things travel-related so this week we're going to talk about it.

Here's the deal with our trip: for a few weeks in March and April we're going to travel around Italy, stopping in different cities and towns that we've never been to before. We're going to visit churches, vineyards, museums, beaches...anything and everything.

We'd love your suggestions on places to stop, things to see, what to do, where to eat, anything you can think of and want to share.

In the meantime, this week we're going to talk about our favorite travel destinations, memories and experiences. Hope you enjoy!

PS - A few of our favorite trips so far: Trieste, Prague, Rome and Lake Como in January.