bikini – Bucket List In A Bikini

One Month In The Philippines: Best Bang For Your Buck-et-list.

With inflation on the high end, I have found it difficult to go on vacation without paying attention to how expensive everything has gotten. I truly despise this because who wants to go on a vacay and talk about how much everything costs? No, no, no. It is almost impossible though to go to a bar and not gasp at the $17 margarita or $35 piece of fish at middle-of-the road-places. Even my beautiful Costa Rica has fallen victim. When I moved to Costa Rica my dollar went so much further than it did in the USA. Now I am going to my regular restaurants and getting charged $17 for a kid’s menu chicken nuggets and fries. Are you kidding me? So are there any vacation destinations where you can achieve reasonable prices without sacrificing the beauty or quality of your trip? Why yes there is kids! The Philippines is my top choice so far in my travels which combines reasonable prices with paradise, adventure, and great food.

The Philippines is quite a journey. I knew with so far to fly and so much ground and sea to cover, I needed a month (at least). As this trip began to take form, it became very clear that the Philippines had those two qualities that seem to be nonexistent these days. Reasonably priced and beautiful! The best combo ever right? I booked a 30-day trip running an average of $100 per night. Like wow….I impressed myself with this. This is definitely my lowest average price per night for a vacay and it did not feel like it whatsoever. Let me say, these stays were not cheap…they were reasonable. There is a difference as we all know. Cheap means poor quality. Reasonable means a good price without compromising the quality, aka good bang for your buck! I did a combination of accommodations to include a couple of nice hotels, one cheapy hotel, Airbnb, campground, hostel, and houseboating. The houseboat was actually the most expensive part but should not be missed, which I will get to later. True and crazy fact…I spent less in 30 days traveling in the Philippines than I would have spent if I stayed home living my normal life in Costa Rica. I actually saved money to go on a bucket list trip!

Route

My route took quite a while to figure out. I really didn’t have any interest in doing anything but the islands and there were so many to choose from. In fact, there are over 7,600 islands in the Philippines so it almost feels endless with possibilities. Here is what I went with. Siargao – Cebu – Siquijor – Bohol – Puerto Princessa, Palawan – El Nido, Palawan – Coron, Palawan. Seven stops in 30-days! The most challenging part of this planning was the ferries. With so many ports, it is important to plan all of this ahead. Some ports don’t go to all of the islands, and some have several stops, while others are direct. I also found that it made much more sense to take the little hopper airplanes when the ferry rides were really long. On one of the legs, a one-hour plane ride was only $20 more per person compared to the five-hour ferry ride. So, lots of research to be done but once you get your route, the rest is a piece of cake.

Chapter 1: SIARGAO

Now that the trip is over and I can compare all the stops, Siargao is at the top of my list and only tied with one other stop for my absolute favorite place in the Philippines. I’m sort of crazy for palm trees and this island is literally covered in them. It is considered online to be one of the prettiest islands for this exact reason. It is also the surfing capital of the country. So if you are a surfer or simply want to stay in the most lively part of town, most definitely choose the area of Cloud 9 to General Luna. I stayed right smack in the middle of the two at Bravo Beach Resort. I was incredibly happy with this hotel and this was for sure one of the nicer places I stayed over the month. It is right on the beach with an excellent restaurant/bar. The sun rose every morning directly in front of the hotel. Being that the time change was a 15-hour difference from what I was used to, I was lucky to be up and sleepless three out of the six mornings for sunrise. Watching the sun come up is truly my favorite way to start my day and practice gratitude. These sunrises were some of the most beautiful I have ever seen! I even brought the bed sheets down to the beach for a little shoot because if you can’t get up for sunrise, it’s best to bring your bed to the beach! Ha ha

Enjoying the sunrise at Bravo Beach Resort.

Transportation

Another reason the Philippines is so reasonable is because it is so inexpensive to get around. My husband is a very experienced motorcycle driver so we opted to rent a scooter every day for about $6 per day. This is the main mode of transportation. I even saw teenage girls riding them all over the island solo. I don’t think I trust my driving enough for all that. I’m much more of a sit on the back and take pictures kind of gal. Regardless, this is how most people get around and it is certainly easy on the wallet. My mom will kill me for this photo but it does represent how I bopped around town. Barefoot and in a bathing suit. Don’t worry Mom, I did wear a helmet most of the time. 😉

Exploring the island of Siargao barefoot and in a bikini. Maybe that should be the new name of my blog!

Top Things To Do

Surfing Cloud 9: This is the reason Siargao has the title “Surfing Capital of the Philippines”. The Cloud 9 break is world-renowned and fit for all surfing levels.

Maasin River– Quite possibly the most Instagrammable site on Siargao. It’s absolutely beautiful and I can see why so many people come here to get that post-worthy photo. As always, the early bird gets the worm, beats the crowd and heat, and gets the photo with no one in the background. I love to have places like this all to myself so when it comes to exploring sites like this, you can catch your girl rising early.

Sugba Lagoon – Another must on Siargao! This is a full-day adventure. Plenty of tour companies are around to take you round trip from your hotel to Sugba and back to your hotel. We had the scooter so we did this all on our own, which was a much less expensive way to go. Once at the dock, you ride by boat out to the lagoon which is about a thirty-minute ride. It is truly paradise. Lots of activities including paddle boarding, kayaking, and snorkeling. Also, a very high diving board on the lagoon where I did my super daring jump and scream move. Impressive I know!

About to impress all the bystanders with my jump and scream move. LOL

Get a massage – Esse Massage and Spa was number one on Tripadvisor and did not disappoint! Absolutely amazing one-hour massage for $6. I went twice. This is a great thing to do if it’s raining or after a long day of exploring. And I mean you can’t beat an hour massage for six bucks! Add spas to the list of reasons this trip is the best bang for the buck. Very reasonable, not cheap. 😉

Palm Tree Viewpoint – Hands down the best viewpoint on the island! Miles and miles of palm tree heaven.

Palm Tree Viewpoint. This is pretty much how my dream backyard would look.

Nightlife/Dancing

I love a relaxing vacay and I love exploring during the day. But I also love the option to enjoy the night which is why Siargao was one of my favorite places in the Philippines. There was so much nightlife! There were dance clubs on the beach, reggae bars with live music, and after-parties that went on until the sun came up. My favorite was the live reggae music at Strums. Turn The Lights Down Low by Bob Marley is one of my favorite reggae songs. They nailed it at Strums!

Best Eats

Of course, my favorite thing to do on vacay is eat! The food on Siargao was really good. There was a variety of restaurants that were all reasonably priced with really healthy options.

CEV – The best ceviche of my life and that says a lot because I live in Costa Rica where I eat ceviche every week. I also broke at this restaurant and had my first restaurant margarita in three months. OMG…phenomenal!! I am a true margarita snob. It was nummy nums.

Shaka – As this blog goes on you will see how much I loved Shaka! It’s a chain throughout the Philippines and I ate there every time I came across one. It’s good, clean, healthy eats serving acai bowls and delicious treats. Super casual and reasonable, but amazing quality food!

Kurvada – Traditional Philippino food that is cooked by a family.

I started to take notice right away that the Philippino people are so genuinely happy and welcoming! I’ve been to a lot of countries where I have felt this way. This adds so much to my love of a location. It’s one of the main reasons I moved to Costa Rica. But on this trip, it became obvious right away that these are some of the nicest people I have ever met on my travels. I had to adjust to being called Mam. It will be “Mam” and “Sir” everywhere you go. I also felt so safe. I cruised around alone, as I do quite often on vacay. My hubby works a lot so I tend to wander off by myself to the local gym or explore around. Never ever did I feel threatened. Only the first stop and I am already head over heels for this country! Next island, Cebu!

Chapter 2: CEBU

Siargao was pretty far away on the map from the other islands we were visiting, so we flew from Siargao to Cebu. This was a four-hour plane ride so you can imagine how long the ferry would take, right? Cebu is the activity capital of the Philippines. This is the most popular place to swim with whale sharks. Sign me up! After six days of adjusting to the time change and staying in a nice hotel, I was ready to get active and adventurous!

Once we landed in Cebu we saw that this is a huge city. We were headed to the small little town of Moalboal which was another three-hour drive from the airport, so this was a full travel day. This town was so cute and def one of the best places to stay as a home base for your activities. We stayed in our first-ever hostel at Crazy Bears Hostel. I can’t believe it has taken me so long to stay in a hostel. $20 per night got us a private room with a shared bathroom. One great thing about staying at a hostel is that you meet people. Believe it or not, I’m actually on the shy side. Staying at a hostel forces you to get out of your shell and socialize. This was not a big hostel so we ran into the same people all the time in the common areas. Most of them had shared dorm rooms at $6 per night. Just goes to show how affordable travel can be!

Staying in my first-ever hostel. AC and a private room for $20 per night.

Top Things To Do

Sardine Run – This town is really small so no need for a scooter here. Everything is walkable. The Sardine Run is located in Moalboal and is not to be missed! Again this was something we did on our own (no tour). Being just down the street, we left the hostel in our bathing suits with our go pro in hand and rented snorkel equipment right on the beach. We snorkeled the afternoon away with millions upon millions of sardines. This was a first for me! One minute you are snorkeling alone and the next you are caught in the run and can’t see anything but sardines. So cool!!

I took this photo while I was in the middle of the run with millions of sardines.

Swimming to get in the run. You can barely see them in the background.

White Beach – In all fairness this was not on the itinerary. We had planned to go canyoneering on day two. Kawasan Falls is another famous Instagrammable place to visit and a stop along an adventurous day of canyoneering. I was so excited for this day but I went a little aggressive with my plans for four days in Moalboal. After a long travel day and a sardine run on day two, we were tired! So we bailed our 6am wake-up call to canyoneer and opted to sleep in and go to beautiful White Beach. Honestly, we needed five days (not four) on this leg because this was an incredible day to spend too! I actually know better than to book back-to-back active days. Downtime here and there is a must for us. This beach was just a short tuk-tuk ride from Moalboal. Just a beautiful white sand beach with stunning turquoise waters. A perfect place to bring some sangria and order a fruit platter from a nearby beach stand as you watch the sunset, which is exactly what we did. It was a perfect day!

White beach. Relaxing, eating fresh fruit, and drinking sangria. Perfect day!

Swim with whale sharks – Drum roll…..The absolute best!! Here is the truth about this experience. The good, the bad, and the honest. Pros: Swimming with these gentle giants was one of the coolest things ever! I get a little nervous in the deep ocean but I felt so at peace with these creatures. Cons: It’s crowded. When you arrive, you are shuttled through stations from orientation to waiting for your boat to take you out to the sharks. An employee calls the group over the loudspeaker and it does feel a bit like a Disneyland ride. I mean I can see why it draws so many people every day so I guess they need to organize the crowd. You will only have 30 mins in the water with the whale sharks, and it goes fast. The staff feeds the sharks while you swim with them so it is not like a wild encounter. It is very much worth it though to get up close and personal with the whale sharks! Tip: Rent fins! You will only be given a snorkel mask with your ticket. Rent the fins to enjoy actually swimming with the sharks. It would be impossible to have the experience I had without fins. I swam alongside them while everyone else had to stay next to the boat as they held on dipping their head below water to look at the sharks. It’s exhausting to swim in the deep ocean without fins so trust me on this. The price for this excursion was 1,000 Php or $17 USA dollars. Ok, someone please tell me where you can have such a unique experience for such a low price. The list continues to grow for” best bang for my buck” vacays. This was the same price that I paid for my child to eat off the kid’s menu (for lunch) at one of my go-to Costa Rican restaurants. My mind was blown! Lastly, I originally planned to do the whale sharks and come back to Moalboal. Not a good idea, which we figured out in Moalboal. I suggest packing up and doing the whale sharks on the way out of town as you are headed off the island. It’s hours of driving to get to the sharks and on the way to the ferry station. So, I think it’s best to pack up and bring your bags with you to do the whale shark activity. We left our luggage in the car with our driver who waited for us. Then, head straight to the ferry station at about noon to head to the next island.

Thank goodness I rented the fins so I could actually swim next to the whale sharks.

Food & Nightlife In Moalboal:

Thailicious – Amazing Thai food, hence the name!

Shaka – Two for two! We ate here in our bathing suits for a super healthy meal post-Sardine Run.

Hungry Monkey – My favorite! The menu is like 15 pages long. So lengthy with lots of healthy options.

My Greek Taverna – Excellent Greek food but also one of the more pricier meals we had during our trip. Delicious but not reasonable for Philippine standards.

Nightlife – Not much to speak of. There were a couple of bars on the main strip with DJs but we opted to head back to our hostel to drink $2 cocktails and play jenga with cool peeps. Next island is Siquijor!

Chapter 3: SIQUIJOR

Pronounced suh·kee·hr. Cebu to Siquijor was another full travel day. We left our hostel at 6:00am, swam with the whale sharks, and then took two ferries to get to Siquijor. This is a pretty undeveloped island and not many options when it comes to getting there by ferry. This island is small but mighty!! It offers beautiful beaches, waterfalls, and a bit of nightlife. We arrived at our beachfront $80 per night Airbnb pretty late and hadn’t eaten anything. There is no food served on any ferries, just FYI. Our Airbnb host squeezed all three of us on her scooter to drive us to find a place to eat at 10:00pm. Just so incredibly nice!

It’s only noon and I have swam with whale sharks and drove three hours to get to the ferry station. Waiting at the ferry station to take the boat to Siquijor. I thought backpacking meant you were packing light. Ha ha.

Our Airbnb was located on the grounds of Republika. This was the only leg we had a tv and I don’t think we even turned it on. A one-month vacay with no tv…my kind of trip! It was nice to have a restaurant and bar right downstairs. I was impressed by their fresh-squeezed cocktails and healthy food. The fruit platter was enough for four people and I ate the whole thing myself. Delish.

Top Things To Do:

This entire leg was really chill. After sleeping in, working out in the room, and eating breakfast at noon, we would venture out for the day.

Lugnason Falls – Not to be missed! This was the first waterfall hike we had done on the trip. These falls are much less crowded and just as beautiful as Cuanago Falls, so that sold me on my choice between the two. You will be sent down the trail with a guide which is very important if you plan to jump or do the rope swing. I was not up for this because of the height of it all. Heights ain’t my thang. My hubby did all the jumps and the swing (as always). This is not for the beginner jumper! My husband said it was the scariest rope swing he had ever done. We actually saw someone swing and they got too scared to let go and ended up swinging back into a tree just hanging for dear life. This is where the guide comes in handy. If you don’t want to risk seriously injuring yourself then you can do what I did. Sit back and swim in the pools with a glass of wine people watching the crazies.

Yup, you can catch your girl relaxing and people-watching, not jumping.

Paliton Beach aka “Little Boracay”: Boracay was the one island that we didn’t make it to that I really wanted to see. It was out of the way of my route and the month filled up so quickly on me. Boracay is known for its pristine beaches and beautiful hotels. So, I was happy to enjoy Paliton Beach because it is nicknamed “Little Boracay”. This beach provided the most magical sunset ever…and I have seen my fair share of magical sunsets. Spend the whole day here kayaking and paddle boarding in crystal clear water, stay for sunset, and then stay an hour later. It gets prettier and prettier!

This sunset was just spectacular. The colors kept getting prettier and prettier.

Best Eats On Siquijor

Salamandas – This is the nicest restaurant I could find on the island and was #1 on Tripadvisor. Let’s go over my bill shall we? Two entrees and five cocktails at a beachfront restaurant with tiki torches lit all around and live music. Our drinks were top shelf and we spared no expense when ordering food. $32 FINAL BILL. Say whaaaaaa!!! We were trying to have a really fancy dinner and this was as pricey as we could get the bill. So now we have reasonable accommodations, transportation, excursions, and food. Why didn’t I move here?? LOL

Shaka – Three for three!!

Angel Wish – Huge raw seafood buffet to choose from. Pick your seafood, have it weighed, and they cook it how you want it. Blackened, baked, fried, etc. Delish! Two huge fresh seafood entrees and four cocktails. $35.

Dagsa – Very cool vibe at this place. Had live music and excellent seafood curry with a beautiful ambiance.

Next stop Bohol!

Chapter 4: BOHOL

The ferry from Siquijor to Bohol was $15 per person. Like, so reasonable! When we arrived we were surprised to see McDonalds and 711. This was our first experience of staying in a city and we were pretty excited to change it up! We decided to camp at Glamping Alona. Upon arrival, we upgraded our tent to a small cabin for the air-conditioning and ability to lock the door for $5 more per night. The total price was $30 per night. This place was so cute and one of our favorites! There was a beautiful pool in the middle of the property, a bar, a restaurant, and fire pits roaring at night. We did have to walk to the bathrooms but the plus was it was a hot water shower! Hot water showers were hit or miss to this point on the trip. I think most girls can agree that we hate shaving our legs in a cold shower. So, even though I had to walk the campground in the dark in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, I was quite pleased with the hot water showers.

Top Things To Do

The first order of business was to rent our scooter which we did right from the campground. The second order of business was to get a pedicure. Your girl was way overdue! We headed over to the Alona Bliss Spa for two pampered pedicures. This was a two-hour pedicure for $16. I love these prices!

Two-hour pedicures at Alona Bliss Spa for $16. Yes, please!

Alona Beach: Not my favorite. I found it to be overcrowded and touristy with too many boats in the water. It is lined with a boardwalk of restaurants and bars, all of which are quite pricey comparatively. This island isn’t known for the best beaches in the Philippines and it is better to head inland for activities.

Chocolate Hills: OMG…as I’m typing this I have to laugh. Google told us this was a three-hour drive round trip. So, we slept in a bit and drove the scooter. Google, I hated you on this day! You betrayed me Google! This ended up being six hours of driving round trip, not three. Have you ever ridden on a scooter for six hours? Not very comfortable at all. This is way too far to go on a scooter from Alona Beach, so opt to rent a car for the day or hire a driver. The drive was really beautiful though, and it was cool to see traditional Philippino villages instead of just the touristy stuff. The Chocolate Hills are a slight mystery to locals and visitors alike. Sometimes called the Eighth Wonder Of The World, the attraction is exactly what it sounds like: rounded hills that go brown in color during the dry season so they end up looking like giant chocolate truffles. There is no exact count but some count as many as 1,700 hills. It really is pretty magnificent. Be warned: You won’t be able to climb the hills — aside from the 214 steps to the observation deck at the Chocolate Hills Complex, a resort atop the biggest hill, in the town of Carmen. The complex also includes accommodations, a restaurant, and a gift shop. My hate for Google continued when we left as our Google Maps quit working on us and we had to go off of memory to drive the three-hour drive home in the dark through the mountains. Why did we sleep in? Why did we drive the scooter? It was scary not knowing where we were or if we were going the right way in pitch black for three hours straight. Sketchy is an understatement!

Spas – Spas are everywhere in Bohol. And after that scooter ride, we were in desperate need!!

Eats & Drinks

Garlic n Lemon Bistro – #1 on TripAdvisor for the area. The red chicken curry is to die for. Def go!

Wonderland Thai – Best Thai I had on the trip. Traditional and so delicious.

Shaka – Four for four! This was the best Shaka of all with a full menu of amazing food and a full bar.

Four for four at Shaka and the best one I found so far. That is a mango they made into a flower acai bowl.

Bamboo Place – My favorite craft cocktail bar. Since I started a much more strict diet months back, I became very picky about my cocktails. This place had the best craft cocktails of the entire trip!! Also, a DJ spun on most nights so this quickly became our nighttime hangout place.

Paddy’s Irish Pub – Located in the outdoor mall/plaza of Alona Beach. This is a true Irish Pub and one of the only ones in the Philippines (per the owner). Funny, I hadn’t noticed one Irish-looking person on the trip yet. But this bar was filled with Irish-looking people. They had accents and all from overhearing conversations. I guess the Irish take their Guinness very seriously! Kind of like me with my craft cocktails. Ha ha. We bellied up with the owner who kept pouring shots and the next day I came to find out that whiskey and gin do not mix. Ouchie!

Having a little too much fun at Paddy’s Irish Pub.

On our last day, we just relaxed and worked poolside at the campground. Super chill day before moving on to Puerto Princessa and El Nido. Next island (actually islands), Palawan!

My last day relaxing in the pool at Glamping Alona. Bye Bye Bohol. Next stop Palawan!

Chapter 5: PALAWAN

The province of Palawan is composed of the long and narrow Palawan Island, plus a number of other smaller islands surrounding it, totalling roughly 1,780 islands and islets. A little island hopper flight from Bohol to Puerto Princessa and we were in Palawan. What can I say about Puerto Princesa other than this? Skip it! Sorry, not sorry. We stopped here instead of taking a second flight straight to El Nido, Palawan. You need to fly here first from Bohol as there was no direct flight. I had planned to do the Underground River excursion here but the weather was absolutely terrible. We cut this leg down by a day because we really didn’t enjoy the area very much. Maybe I would have felt differently if we had done the excursion, which I read to be a magical experience. But it wasn’t in the cards for us unfortunatley. To boot, the restaurant selection was pretty bad and the bay was not the prettiest. The highlight of this leg was going out on the town and bumping into an actual dance club Tiki Resto Bar. To my surprise, they had a Lady Gaga cover going on. Oh hells yeah! I was mad I looked homeless in sweats! I had no idea we would encounter any fun here after a day of nothing to do. It ended up being an awesome show! I’m a little biased because I absolutely love Lady Gaga, but truly it was a freaking good show. The drinks were flowing and once the show ended we retreated to the hotel where we ended up having a late-night dance party with the staff. OMG….LOL. If I am ever feeling down in life, all I need to do is watch the video we made dancing the night away with the staff. It was hilarious and I’m pretty sure the front desk girl called in sick the next day. Ha ha. Goes to show you, that you can have a good time anywhere you go! Next stop, El Nido, Palawan.

Had the time of my life in my least favorite spot that I visited. Ha ha. Late-night dance party at the hotel.

Chapter 6: EL NIDO

Six-hour drive from Puerto Princessa to El Nido. We hired a private transfer for this and it was a bit of a scary ride as it was a torrential downpour for the entire six hours. Come to find out we were actually having a typhoon hit the area. When we arrived, we walked through town barefoot to get to our massage and dinner. It was pointless to wear shoes! I am not a barefoot walker so this was a first for me. Ha ha.

Another drumroll please… El Nido is the entire reason I booked this trip! The photos of El Nido are the epitome of beauty in the Philippines. Huge limestone cliffs line the white sand beaches and crystal clear ocean. It is truly magnificent!! This leg I booked the fanciest hotel of the trip and we stayed beachfront at the gorgeous Mahogonay Resort and Spa. It was absolutely perfect! We were away from the noise of downtown but still able to walk if we wanted to get to all the action. El Nido is known for some of the best nightlife in the Philippines, which by now you know I love my nights as much as I love my days. So, El Nido provides beautiful beaches in the day and the best nightlife in the evening. Def my favorite leg of the trip!

The most beautiful ocean waters are surrounded by huge limestone cliffs. Gorg!

Top Things To Do

Nacpan Beach – When the typhoon passed, we scooted as fast as we could to explore more. This beach is about a 30-minute drive from downtown El Nido and an absolutely beautiful drive. Nacpan Beach is a perfect place to post up for the day. It is lined with chairs and umbrellas for rent. The ocean was a little wild but very pretty. The road was really muddy to get in and out of this beach so I rode home barefoot and in my bathing suit (again). I did wear my helmet though Mom. We also stopped for some yummy street food on the way back.

Street food stop in my riding gear. Ha ha.

Taraw Peak – This is the highest peak in El Nido. Climbing to the top is definitely not easy. The terrain is rocky and steep with sharp limestone rocks, and it can be dangerous if you are not careful. I am kicking myself that I didn’t do this hike. Too much exploring by day and nightlife at night left me too tired to get up early. Go with a guide at sunrise and see the most beautiful view of El Nido. Don’t forget your drone!

I so regret not getting my lazy butt up to do this hike at sunrise.

Vanilla Beach – This was about a ten-minute scooter ride from downtown and a really great place to stay as well. You can’t walk downtown from Vanilla Beach, so I did prefer our area better. But if you have transportation downtown or don’t mind taking a tuk-tuk every time, Vanilla Beach is awesome! I think it’s a great place to stay for families and would be my choice to call home if I had my kiddos with me. To get to the beach you walk through an outdoor mall that includes McDonalds, shops, massage, a gym, and ice cream. I would feel fine letting my kids cruise up there from our hotel to have some freedom to roam around. They also have a zip line here for the young and young at heart. The beach is calm, safe for swimming, and oh so stunning. It is lined with nice hotels and beachfront bars with DJs spinning house music. It’s a chill vibe and a good mix of adults and kids.

Vanilla Beach sunsets with DJs spinning house music beachfront.

Spa – Hands down Namaste Spa. Truly amazing massages and I did a yoga class here as well.

Island Hopping On A Boat – This is the creme de la creme of El Nido and a not to be missed experience! There are four different tours in total and each tour is a separate day of exploring little islands. Due to the storm, all tours had been canceled but finally opened up on the last day we were spending here. Thank God! El Nido has year-round sunshine so the timing of this storm was absolutely terrible for us. But the gods shined down on us the last day. The tours opened up for us to close this leg out the way it was meant to be…out on a boat exploring. We did Tour A and went private. I highly recommend going private for this. They will tailor the day for you to avoid the crowds. This day was my favorite day of the entire 30-day trip! And as usual, my favorite days on vacay are on a boat. I felt so incredibly lucky that we were able to get to see the islands off of El Nido. It was a day filled with “pinch me” moments. If you only have one day to do a boat tour, I would choose Tour A. It is the best and most popular island hopping tour in El Nido. You will discover beautiful lagoons, beaches, snorkeling spots where you can swim and admire the corals, the colorful fauna, and its hundreds of fish species.

Postcard perfect on Tour A off of El Nido.

Because we had a private boat, we had this beach to ourselves for an hour before other boats came in. So worth it to go private.

A true paradise on Tour A of the boat tour.

Tour A was my favorite day of the entire month-long trip.

Fav Restaurants And Bars

Downtown El Nido is filled with amazing restaurants and bars. You could never scratch the surface in five days, which was what I had. Here are some of my faves.

Big Bad Thai – Downtown beachfront amazing and reasonable Thai. Need I say more? Order the green curry. Aaaaamazing!

No Mames – Excellent Mexican food with a chill vibe, sunset view, and great bar.

Sava – The best place to watch the sunset for live music and great appetizers.

Tribu Kuridas Bar – Favorite beachfront bar with live reggae music in the sand. No wonder it’s my favorite.

All in all this stop barely beats out Siargao Island (my first stop). They are different, so it’s hard to compare but the limestone cliffs that meet the crystal clear water were some of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever seen. In fact, while out on our boat tour, we found ourselves alone at what my husband and I said was the most beautiful beach we had ever been to. Mix this with all the great restaurants and bars in El Nido and this takes the cake for my favorite stop. Another reason I find it to be the best choice is the location. Siargao is pretty far away from the other islands. I made it there because I had a month to spare. El Nido has more islands to hop to nearby. People travel all the way to the Philippines just to come to El Nido and I can see why. If you plan a trip here, this is a not to be missed stop. Last up, Coron!

Chapter 7: CORON

This was the flight I referred to earlier in the blog that was only $20 more per person for a 30-min flight vs taking a five-hour ferry ride. We flew Air Swift last minute and we were so happy with this change.

Coron is home to Coron Town which is a bustling and fun little city. But what I was most excited about was our first three-night stay on a houseboat located a short boat ride off the coast in the middle of a beautiful bay. Paolyn Houseboats!! This has been on my bucket list for years!! I don’t think I can write words to give this experience justice. In my opinion, this is a must when traveling to the Philippines.

Paolyn Houseboats – As we entered the calm bay by boat where all the houseboats are located, my breath literally escaped me. The bay is surrounded by huge green mountains and limestone cliffs. The houseboats are extremely private and very spread apart. Bathingsuits optional. LOL. I booked the Bamboo Houseboat which could have easily fit my family of six. Two queen beds, three twin beds, a full bathroom, an outdoor covered U-shaped dining room table for all your fresh meal deliveries, a huge deck, two stand-up paddle boards, snorkel gear, and a kayak. This houseboat cost me $297 per night and included three meals per day for two people. This was the most expensive leg of my trip. I do not suggest doing this with someone unless you absolutely enjoy each other’s company. You will be spending every minute of the day together with no other people in sight other than the staff at mealtime.

Our own little slice of heaven at Paolyn Houseboats.

The food at Paolyn was absolutely incredible. You will place your orders for all three meals 24 hours ahead. We opted to eat breakfast and lunch on our houseboat. Then at night time, we had the staff pick us up in the dingy rowboat to take us to the floating restaurant. I suggest eating one meal per day off the boat.

Breakfast in the sheets. No rush to do a thing.

Rowboat dingy ride home with our doggy bags of wine.

So what can I say about this leg that you most likely haven’t already figured out? It is very relaxing! We slept in, ate, worked out on the deck, ate again, took a nap, and did lots of water sports. We ate breakfast in the sheets and did some skinny dipping. It was very romantic and so great for us to really have time to say goodbye to the outside world and just focus on each other. We had the staff put the mosquito net around our bed and kept all of our windows and doors open to the ocean. So amazing to wake up to the calm bay just steps from my bed. Speaking of steps, I think I had a total of less than 2,000 steps in four days on this leg. Proof of how relaxing it was. LOL

Waking up to the calm bay just steps from my bed.

On the last day of our stay at Paolyn Houseboats, we rented a private boat to go snorkeling and to take us to the surrounding islands. This is all arranged through Paolyn and I highly recommend it. The beaches were so gorgeous and it was nice to break away from the houseboat for the day. This was it for us. After this day, we were headed to Coron Town which was the beginning of the journey home.

A perk of having a private boat driver is you have a personal photographer.

Deserted beaches that are only accessible by boat. Thank you Paolyn Houseboats for organizing this day for us.

As we boarded the boat to head to Coron Town, it was just so surreal that this amazing 30-day travel experience was coming to an end. Not much to report on Coron Town and we weren’t there very long. It’s lively though! There are lots of great restaurants, bars, spas, and a great gym. The one thing I can suggest here is hiking up the 721 steps to the top of Mt. Tapyas. The view was incredible at the top and they even have a Coron sign that is twinning with the Hollywood sign in the hills of California. A lot of people have messaged me about where to go for a ten-day-ish trip to the Philippines, as that is around the time most people have to get away. I know that my itinerary doesn’t work for a lot of people simply for the time needed. It really is difficult to do a month-long vacay, which is why it took me so long to take this trip. For a 10-day trip, I recommend El Nido, house boating in Coron, and Coron Town before flying back out. If you have a little more time, I would add on Cebu for the activities. You can thank me later for cutting out days upon days of research for you. 😉 Well, that’s a wrap. Time to fly home!

Waaaaoooow…..this was a long blog. This is by far the most work I have ever put into a blog to share with you guys. I had to write notes all the way through the trip because there was no way I could remember all of these details. Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed and found all of this info useful. Most importantly (as always), I hope I inspired you to take a trip to the Philippines. You won’t regret it! And if you copy my travels, you may just save money by taking this trip vs staying home like I did. BEST BANG FOR YOUR BUCK-ET-LIST. He he.

Me writing my notes for this blog in my tiny cabin at Alona Glamping on Bohol.

Big shout out to my forever photographer and travel partner. None of this would be possible without you. I love you Tim.

Nicaragua: A Border Run Vacay.

Those that follow along with me on social media know that I am still settling into living in a new country, Costa Rica. Being that I am not a resident (yet), I am required to leave the country every 90 days. People (expats) like me do what is called a “border run”. For us, this means driving to the Nicaragua border, crossing from Costa Rica into Nicaragua, and circling around to come back to Costa Rica with a new visa stamp that is good for another 90 days. This entire process is quite quick. However, I decided to make a mini vacay out of my first border run, and explore the coast of Nicaragua for six days. This trip was a long time coming for me. My grandparents and mom migrated from Nicaragua, and I still have a lot of family members that live there. I have always had a huge desire to visit this country and see the roots of my heritage. I was blown away by the raw beauty of Nicaragua! Living in Costa Rica, I am used to areas being underdeveloped. However, Nicaragua is even less developed than Costa Rica. True raw beauty! I explored five beaches in six days, enjoyed the nightlife dancing until the early morning, and took a motorcycle through the jungle. Nicaragua is very reasonably priced, has nonstop perfecto waves for surfing, and the food was fresh and delicious. I highly recommend that the expats of Costa Rica spend at least a weekend in Nicaragua while completing a border run. It was only a three hour drive from my home in Costa Rica to my hotel in Nicaragua.

Bye bye Costa Rica. This is the very first trip I have packed in a backpack. I impressed myself.

GETTING TO THE BORDER

A lot of people hire a driver to take them to the border for border runs. This makes everything easy as they will help guide you through the process if you are a first timer. Once you have one border run under your belt, you will have it down and can easily drive yourself for the next run. If you choose to stay in Nicaragua, there is a family-owned parking lot that charges a small daily fee to watch over your car at the border. This is probably the cheapest option if you are going to spend some time in Nicaragua. Luckily for me, my parents were in Costa Rica and drove me to the Penas Blancas Nicaragua Border. Easy peasy. It took a minute to figure out the process, but if you just keep asking for direction, there are plenty of people who will help you to navigate. Side note….there will be miles of trucks lined up to cross the border. I was told they wait for days to weeks to cross. Once you see the trucks, keep driving past them all the way to the front of the line. This is the border crossing.

SAN JUAN DEL SUR

I paid my exit taxes in Costa Rica and my entrance fees to Nicaragua and crossed through. It is important to have small USA dollar bills on you for this process as they don’t give change. I also packed light. This was the very first trip I had ever packed solely in a backpack. I impressed myself. Ha ha. As you enter Nicaragua, it is very busy. Make sure to have phones, cash, and passports put away. I got a bit swarmed as we entered. Once through, I jumped in a taxi and headed to my first stop, San Juan Del Sur. SJDS is only a 25 minute drive from the border and a $25 cab ride. It’s a very popular spot to vacation. Everything in SJDS is walkable and there is no car needed for exploring this lively beach town. I chose to stay at the Hotel Alcazar. The location is perfectly set right in the middle of town with views of the ocean. I got the most expensive room at $80 per night. So nice to splurge for the best when the price is so reasonable! My room was on the top floor with a large private balcony overlooking the beach. There are so many dining options that are lined up beachfront, but my favorite place to eat was Dale Pues. I ate here 3 times and ordered the same thing every time… a schnitzel sandwich. So delicious!

Cheers to a successful border crossing on foot. Costa Rica to Nicaragua.

My balcony at Hotel Alcazar overlooking San Juan Del Sur Beach. Amazing! I slept in late this morning from all the late night dancing. So much fun!

My favorite restaurant in San Juan Del Sur. Dale Pues!

San Juan Del Sur is a party town! It had been a minute since I danced my butt off until the early morning hours. I certainly took advantage of the packed nightclubs on the beach bumping great music all night long. So fun! I felt completely safe in this area walking around at night. Of course, I always practice common sense while traveling. I found this area to feel very safe and non-threatening. The key for me is to blend in. I don’t wear jewelry, I don’t dress in any way to create attention, and I stay in areas that have a lot of people around. It also helps that my husband is a pretty built guy. We truly never have any trouble when we travel, and I’m sure his build has something to do with that. Regardless, I did walk around alone and felt very secure.

After hopping around and exploring all nooks and crannies of SJDS, we decided to rent a motorcycle to start exploring different beaches in the area. My husband is pretty much the only person I would trust to drive me on dirt roads through the jungle of Nicaragua. LOL. He is very good at driving a bike. However, if you aren’t experienced in this area, you can rent a car in the town of San Juan Del Sur to explore the surrounding areas.

Exploring by dirt bike on dirt roads through the jungle and to the beaches of Nicaragua.

We hopped from beach to beach. My favorite beach (by far) was Playa Maderas, which was about a 25 minute drive north of San Juan Del Sur. We took the bike there and stayed all day watching the surfers ride nonstop perfecto waves while sipping margaritas and eating fresh seafood. It’s a smaller beach but absolutely paradise. After spending the day there, I knew I wanted to spend a few nights. This area is much different than SJDS. There is no nightlife whatsoever to speak of. People come here to surf, enjoy the beach, practice yoga, and disconnect.

Another great beach that I loved was Playa El Coco. I would have loved to stay a few nights here as well. However, the ecolodge is only open on the weekends and the timing didn’t work out for me. If you aren’t able to stay here, this is definitely worth driving to spend the day here. I had the best seafood soup since moving to Central America at Playa El Coco. This is a huge beach with great waves. What I loved most about it was the ecolodge. There are cabanas and hammocks all along the beach to relax the day away in a breathtaking setting.

After four days of exploring the coast and four nights of late night dancing, we moved hotels and headed to Hush Maderas to relax. This adult only slice of heaven sits in the treetops with the howler monkeys and overlooks beautiful Playa Maderas. I stayed in the penthouse suite, which was the entire top floor of the hotel. It was floor to ceiling windows, a wraparound balcony, a gym, and a living room in the suite. This is hands down the largest hotel room I have ever stayed in, and came with a price tag of $120 per night. I told you Nicaragua was affordable! Hush Maderas offers many other rooms to fit any budget, including dormitory rooms. Everything about this hotel is top notch. The food was so fresh, healthy, and delicious. The drinks were all fresh squeezed. I sat poolside at the infinity pool with the most incredible views of the ocean. I felt so spoiled. They offer yoga lessons at the hotel and in room massages. We got one of the best couples’ massages of our lives in our hotel room for $30 each. Winning!

This was my stunning view from the balcony of the penthouse suite. $120 per night is a steal!

Wraparound balcony of the penthouse suite.

Pool overlooking the ocean and Playa Maderas. Heaven!

Fresh squeezed margaritas and healthy fresh food. Happy girl!

Power bowl and veggie burrito. The food was ridiculously fresh and healthy.

After six days of exploring Nicaragua, I really didn’t want to go home. I felt as though I had just scratched the surface of this country. There is so much to see! I headed back to the border and crossed with a new visa stamp to stay in Costa Rica for another 90 days. Border run turned vacay was a total success!

First border run a success. I love my forever travel partner!

Amazing trip to see where my family migrated from. Until next time Nicaragua!

For my unedited photos/videos of this trip, you can head over to my Instagram account @bucketlistinabikini and watch my “Stories” of Nicaragua.

Much love,

Jessica

UPDATE TO NICARAGUA BLOG 08/01/2022

TreeCasa Resort. San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua.

I have just arrived home from another “border run vacay”, except this time we made it a family vacation and brought along the kiddos for their first trip to Nicaragua. As you read above, the last time we stayed at an adult-only hotel. For this trip, I wanted to find a very family-friendly hotel that the kids would love. We chose TreeCasa Resort which sits high up the mountain in the treetops above the beach of San Juan Del Sur. This resort features treehouse family accommodations with a stunning pool that includes a waterslide and rock waterfall to jump off of. My husband and I lazed the day away as the kids enjoyed all the fun the grounds had to offer. A true playground for adults and kids!! There are so many activities to choose from including hiking, biking, horseback riding, private beach, spa, and a complimentary shuttle down the hill to the town of San Juan Del Sur.

Treehouse family accommodations at TreeCasa Resort.

TreeCasa Resort is a true playground for adults and kids!

Living our best life at TreeCasa Resort.

Waterslides are always a hit on vacay with the kids.

Jump 11,873 off of the rock waterfall. Ha ha.

Although this is a family-friendly resort, my husband and I did get to sneak away for some adult time on the grounds. These grounds are huge, safe, and secure. After dinner, we tucked the kiddos back in the room with a movie and headed out to get some cocktails at the bar. It was so nice to have no worries at all and know the kiddos were happy as could be back in the spacious room. We also snuck in a morning couples massage at the spa while the kids went to breakfast. It was amazing!! Lastly, we took a guided hike one morning while the kids slept in. We hiked to the highest platform on the property. The views looking down on San Juan Del Sur were incredible.

Couples massage time while the kids are at breakfast. Yes, please!

Guided hike up to the highest point on the property. These views were incredible!

If you read along with me you know I am quite the foodie. I basically spend my life dieting saving up to go crazy eating while on vacation. Hashtag TRUTH. The food at TreeCasa is over the top delicious, healthy, and filling! You will not go hungry at this resort. I indulged in the enormous lobster tails two of the nights. Just wow! My other favorite dish was a 2 pound fried whole red snapper. I ate the entire thing. LOL. I will start the diet when the trip is over. Ha ha.

Me enjoying another night of lobster tail dinner paired with bacon wrapped asparagus, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes, and a little bubbly.

Nicaragua continues to be our go-to for our border run fun. It is just such an easy hop from our home in Costa Rica. If the kiddos are with us, TreeCasa will continue to be our resort of choice. TreeCasa makes a great vacation just staying on the grounds of the property. However, the location of this resort is so central that you can also explore surrounding areas very easily. You can take the shuttle down the hill to explore the town of San Juan Del Sur or hop over to Playa Maderas for some epic surfing. It really is a perfect home base. So close to everything but also tucked away in the serenity of the treetops with the birds and monkeys.

I spent so much time relaxing in this hammock on my balcony listening to birds and howler monkeys.

A family vacation we will cherish forever at TreeCasa Resort. San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua.

I have already booked our next trip to Nicaragua and this time my parents will be joining us as we explore the cities of Nicaragua. Stay tuned!

All of my unedited moments from TreeCasa Resort can be found on my Instagram Stories “TreeCasa”.

Thanks for reading!

Jessica

Greece: Land Of Party Time, Views, And Rich History…Opa!

Greece has always been at the top of my bucket list. It was #2 on my list to be exact. I assure you that I can not accurately describe in words how over the moon excited I was to take this trip! I will say this right off the bat..this certainly was not the cheapest vacation I have ever taken. I started out with a budget, and went way over. I had to take side job after side job to cover this dream of mine, but it was worth every penny.

Greece has so many islands, all which are very spread apart. Unless you are taking a cruise or traveling for a long period of time, you need to plan what islands you want to see. It isn’t one of those places that you can island hop day by day and see all there is to see, like my trip to the British Virgin Islands or Croatia (which is next up on my list to do a barbeboating trip). I had two weeks in Greece so I chose the Cyclades Islands . I decided on three stops: Mykonos, Santorini, and Athens. I was so happy with these choices! Each stop was so polar different from the other, and it really mixed things up. Mykonos was party time, Santorini was relaxing time, and Athens was a beautiful city.

route map — My route for my trip to Greece. Mykonos, Santorini, and Athens.

MYKONOS:

My stay in Ornos Beach

San Francisco to Mykonos is quite the journey. Long travel days are not ideal, but if that’s what I have to do to get to places like this, then that’s what I have to do. I will never skip a place to see in the world because the flight is too long. After a long day and night of travel, I arrived at my Ornos Suites Airbnb in Ornos Beach, Mykonos at about 2:00am. I was about 90 feet from the sand, which is why I chose Ornos Beach. It was really difficult to find Airbnb properties that were oceanfront on Mykonos. I was excited to check out my surroundings, anxious for my first Greek cocktail, and feeling a little hungry. I assumed I would have zero options at that hour. Wrong!!! All the bars and restaurants stay open super late, and are straight up crack-a-lackin all night long. Ornos Beach was beautiful and actually ended up being my favorite after I had explored the entire island. Mykonos beaches are filled with beach clubs that thump music played by world renown DJs from the day to the night to the morning. It doesn’t stop. I wouldn’t call this island the most relaxing. It was party time….all the time. Ornos Beach was just the right amount of party mixed with the ability to unwind and relax. I would say it is one of the more quiet beaches on Mykonos. It is a beach cove lined with amazing restaurants in the sand. The bars play music here, but they don’t have that beach club vibe that most of the other beaches had in Mykonos.

Scorpios

Being that I enjoyed my first meal and cocktail at 3:00am it was safe to say that I was sleeping in the next morning. A bit of an understatement as I woke up at 4:00pm panicking that I would miss my sunset table reservation at Scorpios Sunset Party. Scorpios is said to be one of the best beach clubs in Europe, and I can see why. This is by far my favorite beach club I have ever been to in my life! And it is the ONLY place to be on a Sunday. They throw their weekly sunset party on Sundays, and honestly it is a “must see” when visiting Mykonos. The music and vibe at this club were so good! Dress to impress in your sexy beach wear and get ready to see a very beautiful crowd of people. I danced the night away, which turned into dancing the morning away back at one of the bars in Ornos Beach, and then lead to watching one of the most beautiful sunrises I have seen. I’m not much of a morning person so this was a huge perk of not being adjusted to the time difference just yet.

greece2 — Perfect seats to say goodbye to the sun before Scorpios turned into a full blown raging dance party.

Lohan Beach House

On day two I slept half the day away, and I rented an ATV to explore the island. I landed at Lohan Beach House. Lindsay Lohan went from Hollywood star to Beach Club Owner in Greece. Talk about reinventing yourself! This beach club has a sexy boho chic vibe with a great DJ on a beautiful beach. I want to copy her decorating style and make my home look exactly like her club. It was beautiful…you go girl!!

Mykonos Town

Mykonos Town is filled with all the classic white and blue traditional Greek homes. Wandering around here truly makes you fall in love with Greece. It also has tons of shopping, and lots of bars and restaurants. I visited Mykonos Town once in the day and once in the night. Just exploring the streets of Mykonos Town is worth the trip to Greece alone! While here, you can also check out the Windmills and Little Venice. The entire area is pretty small and walkable. At night you can choose from an array of amazing restaurants (OMG the food in Greece is so good) and do…what else…shake your booty all night long at any one of the fun bars that are everywhere. I chose to eat a seafood dinner at Nice and Easy Restaurant . It’s right on the water and the seafood was to die for!!

More beaches to see exploring on a quad.

We wanted to see every square inch of Mykonos, so we rented a quad to do more exploring. Honestly, this is a “must do” recommendation of mine. Riding a scooter or quad in Mykonos is extremely common, and it is how most tourists get around on their own. Of course you can rent a car, take the bus, or call an uber, but I really encourage you to explore on a quad at least for one day, if you are experienced enough to drive one of course. Most people don’t wear helmets, and although this was a bit scary to me, I went with it. Not only did I go with it, but I ended up getting comfortable enough to cruise around in a bikini. LOL. Driving through the mountains and seeing the most beautiful views of Greece would have been enough of an adventure, but we beach hopped the day away.

Cruising through the middle of the island on the mountain tops.

greece 7 — Typical parking lot at Mykonos beach clubs.

Elia Beach: This is the most beautiful beach on Mykonos (IMO). It was also the most relaxing on the island. Definitely the most family friendly as well. The water was crystal clear! It was absolute paradise. There is a restaurant and bar here, so you can post up for the whole day in total relaxation mode.

greece 5 — Floating in the most beautiful ocean water at Elia Beach.

Psarou Beach: This beach is where the world famous beach club Nammos is located. We had planned on spending an entire day here, but the locals talked us out of it. Although it is the most famous club in Mykonos, it is also crazy expensive. We were told to expect to spend $1,000 in our afternoon there. Although an experience to dance on tables, spray champagne on each other, and stare at multi-million dollar yachts sounded amazing, we opted to save our duckets.

Paradise Beach and Super Paradise Beach: These beaches are right next to each other but are separated. Seriously, these places were wild. They had world famous DJ’s thumping the beach while everyone, and I mean everyone, danced their butts off. I’m sure it has become clear through this blog by now that coming to Mykonos means sleep when your dead!!

greece 6 — Always a dance party. Sleep when your dead!!

ON TO THE SECOND LEG TO THE ISLAND OF SANTORINI

We took the ferry from Mykonos to Santorini, which took close to three hours. The ferry was really nice, and fast. That baby was cookin’, and it was so beautiful to see all the little Greek Islands along the way.

greece 8 — Catching a ride to the next island, Santorini.

I can’t even put into words (again) how magnificent the views on this island are. This island is straight up and straight down, but truly the most beautiful views I have ever seen. Santorini was so different from Mykonos! It is so incredibly romantic, scenic, and relaxing. I was ready for this after all that hooting and hollering in Mykonos.

My Stay in Oia

I chose to stay in a traditional cave Airbnb property in Oia. It is called Armenaki. It was awesome! It was a true cave room that had the most postcard worthy view of any other place I have ever stayed in. A cave room is exactly what it sounds like…a room that’s a cave. It was sort of a studio tube in the mountain with a bedroom, full kitchen, bathroom, and breathtaking porch. It was perfect for a couple. I love staying in hotels, but this Airbnb property was a genuine Greek experience. Let me just say that this is one of those vacations that I am so thankful I took while I am able, and in shape. The hike up/down from our cave room to town was no joke, and would never work for anyone with any sort of disability, elderly, young children, or someone who isn’t in decent shape. If you fall into any of these categories, I would suggest staying away from the mountainside properties in Oia, and recommend going to a hotel.

greece 10 — Eating breakfast on my beautiful porch in Oia, Santorini. Pinch me!

greece 25 — Making some coffee in our cave in Oia, Santorini.

Hike Oia to Fira

The hike from Oia to Fira is a must! You need to be in good shape, but it is just breathtaking! The hike is around 8 miles (one way). It is much more challenging from Oia to Fira, as it’s all uphill. If you were going Fira to Oia, you can count on a pretty easy walk downhill. I can officially say I sweat out all of those Mykonos toxins on this day. Haha! But you don’t do this hike for the work out, you do it for the views. These words come to mind: grandiose, magnificent, stunning, unbelievable, and scary. Again, just the most amazing views I have ever seen in my life. Fira is much more laid back than Oia. Oia is filled with romantic restaurants, art galleries, and very high end hotels. Fira is the Capital of Santorini and has bars, cheaper eats, great souvenir shopping, and cheaper stays. It is a really great place to stay if you don’t want to pay the Oia prices, but still want to be close by.

greece 24 — The most magnificent views on the hike from Oia to Fira.

Exploring Santorini by road.

Next up was exploring the other side of the island. We rented an ATV and ventured out to explore. I wore a helmet everywhere in Santorini. The roads were nothing like the back road feel of Mykonos, and felt much more like highways. Although a lot of people went without helmets, I did not feel safe. You’re welcome mom! 😉

greece 31 — Exploring the other side of Santorini.

Astarte Suites: I was invited to stop at the Astarte Suites to have a drink and enjoy the beautiful hotel. Huge perk to writing a Travel Blog! I initially wanted to stay at this hotel for my Santorini leg, because it simply looked like the most beautiful hotel on the island from the internet. I decided to go Airbnb, but if I had chosen a hotel, this would have been my dream place to call home for my time on the island. It was everything I imagined!!! It starts off with a stairway to heaven. It’s true! These steps have become pretty Instagram famous, and I see the stairway entrance to this hotel everywhere on the internet. Astarte Suites had a very boutique feel, yet so luxurious and high end. It was relaxing, while still playing great music that was loud enough to create a vibe, but not too loud to disrupt the peacefulness of the property. The best part was the most beautiful infinity pool overlooking the ocean. This is the definition of pool goals! And of course, the cherry on top was the swan floatie. You can never go wrong with a swan floatie!

You had me at swan floatie! Pool goals at Astarte Suites.

Red Beach: The road to Red Beach feels like you are headed to no where. If you feel like you are lost the entire time, you are on the right path to Red Beach. After questioning our directions for quite a while, we decided to ask Siri for help. Believe it or not, she got us there. This is an absolutely beautiful beach with red rock and sand. It has a restaurant and bar too, so you can post up.

Surprisingly on the right path to Red Beach.

Parissa Beach: This is a very laid back beach lined with restaurants. Most of the restaurants own umbrellas on the beach in front of their places. After a meal, they will set you up with an umbrella and chairs, and serve you drinks in the sand.

Exploring Santorini by sea

OOOOMMMMGGGG!! Exploring Santorini by sea was my favorite day of the entire Greece trip! It was the one thing I wanted to do that was somewhat of an “excursion”. The problem (which is always the problem) was that my husband hates group activities. So that leaves us always having to do days like this privately, which is usually four times the cost. We knew we wanted to rent a boat without a captain. A boat in Santorini without a captain is so over the top expensive. So I found the absolute cheapest option possible. I kid you not, this boat looked like a big dingy with a motor. It was a total piece of crap. Piece of crap that cost $400 for the day! But it didn’t matter. It was all ours for the entire day to explore the beautiful ocean around Santorini. Old Betsy did the job, and we had the most amazing day! Having the freedom to explore at our own pace was the best. We swam in caves, bobbed in the water at the volcano eating cheese and drinking wine, went to lunch at a private beach club that you can only get to by boat, and watched the sunset before heading back to the marina. It was a full day at sea, and we swam in the ocean all day long.

santorini-2 — Looking for our cave room from below.

santorini1-2 — I swam in the warm waters ALL DAY LONG. Paradise!

THIRD LEG IN ATHENS

The ferry ride from Santorini to Athens is about 5 hours. We opted for first class, which is not much more, but it was very nice to have a bit more plush of a ride for that length of time. As we arrived at our Airbnb by cab we unloaded our bags to the sidewalk. We couldn’t locate the apartment right away, and apparently weren’t paying enough attention, because bam….we got robbed. Our backpack was plucked within minutes out of our pile of stuff sitting right next to us. This bag had our computer, Ipad, credit cards, batteries, money, and worst of all, our passports. What do you do when you lose your passports and you are out of the country?

Step 1 – Call your parents for advice. LOL.

Step 2 – File a police report so that you have proof of your loss, and you can hopefully make a claim through your insurance back at home.

Step 3 – Head down to the US Embassy to have emergency passports issued.

greece 15 — Anything for a photo shoot! LOL. New Passport photos!

greece 16 — Proud to be an American in a sticky situation. The Embassy treated us like gold!

We only had three days in Athens and one of them was now designated to spending it at the Embassy. I was really thankful this happened at the end of our trip! This was completely our fault, and we know better! We consider ourselves to be very aware travelers but this goes to show you, anything can happen. Lesson learned…never again! On a more positive note, the US Embassy treated us like gold. I have to say, in a bad situation such as this, it felt pretty good to be an American.

Enjoying our final days in Greece

Athens is an absolutely beautiful city! Our Airbnb property was a penthouse apartment with a view of the Acropolis. This was the cheapest leg of the trip, and I got this penthouse for just over $100 per night. So cool to sit out on our patio enjoying some wine while staring at this beautiful site. Right below our apartment, the streets were lined with little alleyways of great bars, coffee shops, and shopping. We loved roaming around this area and getting lost in these alleys. Besides getting our bag stolen upon arrival, I never felt unsafe here. We roamed around into the wee hours of the night, and I never felt threatened.

greece 12 — Drinking wine on my patio. What a beautiful front row seat to the Acropolis!

With one day left to spare, we decided to head up to the Mont Parnes Casino on the recommendation of my aunt. I had planned to spend an entire day at the Acropolis, but we decided to sacrifice that day for the day spent at the Embassy, since we were able to stare at the Acropolis from our balcony. So we headed to the Casino to see if we could get a stroke of good luck. The gondola ride up to this casino was a bit scary, but wow what a view! Athens is huge, and we got a bird’s eye view of just how big the city really is. Once up there, we didn’t hit it big, but we ended up winning a couple hundred bucks to pay for our day of fun. It felt good! We finished our trip off with a huge shared plate of seafood spaghetti at the harbor in Athens. We cheersed a lot to how every moment of this trip was different. Opa! As always, I was feeling like I wanted a couple more days to spend here. This truly was the trip of a lifetime. Check off number two on the bucket list for Jessica Lynn!!

greece 14 — Gondola ride up to the Mont Parnes Casino in Athens.

Enjoying a huge shared plate of seafood spaghetti at the Athens harbor. Final meal in Greece!

Panama City, Panama: Old World Charm Meets Modern Day.

I flew into Panama City on a red eye and was lucky to be picked up by business associates of my husband, who gave us a tour of the city. I learned a lot in those three hours, along with having the best empanada of my life. Street food is safe to eat in Panama, and delicious! There are also fresh juice stands which are quite common, and so refreshing. I had two large fresh juices, which didn’t quite sit well with my three hour car ride. Best to always have quarters on you in Panama City as the bathrooms are public, but cost 25 cents. I learned interesting facts along this tour, such as the tap water is safe to drink, everything is negotiable in Panama (even the high end retail stores), and I got a detailed explanation of the definition of a Push Button. A “Push Button” in Panama is a very private motel (aka a love motel). Complete discretion and privacy is the main goal of these establishments. They are called “Push Button” because typically you can pull up to a window, push a button, slide some money through a slot, get a key, and head to a room all without actually seeing a person. Being that prostitution is legal in Panama, I’m sure these motels come in quite handy for those in need of privacy. This was personally not the most useful information to me, however it made for a very comical conversation. Our final stop along the tour was at the Fish Market for some ridiculously delicious, fresh, and cheap ceviche. After a red eye flight and a three hour tour, I was ready to relax at my hotel.

I decided to stay in the Casco Viejo area of Panama City. Casco Viejo (Spanish for Old Quarter) is the historic district of Panama City. It was built following the near total destruction of the original Panama City, which was attacked by pirates in 1671. I guess you can say it is the new old Panama City. After reading blog after blog about how this neighborhood is the hip and trendy area of the city, it sounded like a good fit. In the Casco Viejo neighborhood, you will find a huge difference from the busy metropolis of Panama City. This area is filled with old world charm of Spanish colonial buildings, boutique hotels, rooftop bars, and amazing restaurants. You won’t find any chain hotels or restaurants here. Everything is mom and pop.

Chasing sunsets on the rooftops of Casco Viejo.

Panama City metropolis vs Casco Veijo neighborhood.

I booked a room at the absolutely stunning American Trade Hotel. It is located in the heart of Casco Viejo, and everything you would want to see in this area is within walking distance. This hotel is the epitome of mixing old world charm with modern day luxury. This is one of the only hotels in the area with a pool. Let me tell you…it is necessary. Panama is hot and humid and I did not accomplish to have even one good hair day during my stay. Back to the hotel….Did I mention it was stunning? From the beautiful balcony room, food, ambiance, location, pool, grounds, service, adjacent jazz club, bar….I could go on and on. I spent a lot of time at the hotel on this trip, and it truly made my vacation unforgettable.

Old world charm meets modern day luxury in the lobby of the American Trade Hotel.

Having some vino on my beautiful balcony.

Headed in for some smokey scotch, cigar, and smooth jazz at Danilo Perez’s Jazz Club, which is part of the American Trade Hotel.

The food in Panama was phenomenal! I love to eat, and some of the dishes I had here completely blew my mind….dishes I had never heard of or tasted before. The cocktails are also superb. Rum is Panama’s alcohol of choice, however those that read my blogs know that I am a spicy margarita kind of gal. Panama did not disappoint! Every cocktail I had was fresh squeezed, and delicious. As you take the first sip of these drinks, you already want a second one.

Enjoying some fresh squeezed spicy margaritas at the rooftop bar Casa Casco.

I was only in Panama City for six days. I can officially say that I ate and drank my way through Casco Viejo. My favorite dining experience for traditional Panamanian food was Diablicos. They put on a show while you eat, and it was very lively, and fun. It is located directly in front of the President’s Palace, so you get to check that out during your walk to/from. My favorite Rooftop Bar? Well, I have two! Casa Casco, which is directly across the street from the American Trade Hotel, is a super chill spot with great drinks and postcard perfect views of Panama City. If you want a more lively rooftop scene, the best place to go (hands down) is the Tantalo. It is the closest you will get to a nightclub experience in this area. It is all outdoor on the rooftop with great music to dance to and a VIP area. BTW, the restaurant at this hotel is also amazing! I had my favorite meal of the trip at the Tantalo Kitchen. It was a clay pot of tamale mash on top of a bed of slow roasted pork. YUMMMY!

Eating traditional Panamanian food and enjoying the show at Diablicos.

Ok, I think I have beaten in how great the food and cocktails were in this old world Spanish neighborhood. On to the Panama Canal! If you go to Panama City, you simply can’t miss out on visiting the Panama Canal. It is the number one visited site in Panama. The Panama Canal is a waterway that has created a shortcut between the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans. It takes ships (on average 8-10) hours to travel the Panama Canal. This compares to 2 weeks if a ship tried to bypass the canal, and travel around South America. The best place near Panama City to see the ships go through the lock system is Miraflores Visitor Center. The viewing center is directly in front of the locks, so you get a front row seat to watching these huge ships pass through. They also have a restaurant buffet where you can eat lunch, and have wine while taking in all the action. You can visit the museum, and watch a film in both Spanish and English about the history of the Panama Canal. The best time to visit the Panama Canal changes daily, depending on when ships are scheduled to go through.

Having a Titanic moment…waving hello and goodbye to ships passing through the Panama Canal.

When you look at the Panama Canal on a map you can see why they chose this location to create this shortcut.

With one day left to spare, and being so close to so many beautiful islands, I decided it was time for a change of scenery. I got up at 6:00am to catch a 1.5 hour ferry ride to Contadora Island. I felt like I had been transported to another world! It was a small and jungly island with beautiful white sand beaches, and crystal clear waters. I purchased a day pass from the Mar y Oro Hotel which included lunch, two welcome drinks, and umbrella/chairs on the beach. It was absolute paradise, and a really relaxing ending to my trip! If I had one more day (which I always wish I did on vacay), I would have most definitely visited the San Blas Islands. Here you can rent private cabanas to spend the night in paradise. The cabanas don’t have much to them. They have no electricity and sand bottom floors. But who cares, because you can almost have the entire island to yourself for the night. Although still in Panama, these islands belong to the Kuna Indians On this excursion you can snorkel with star fish, and see how these indigenous people live. It wasn’t so bad leaving something behind that I was desperate to do and see because now I am anxious to go back. Until next time Panama!!

Beautiful Caribbean Ocean of Contadora Island, Panama.

Contadora Island is a mix of jungle and beach.

Seoul, South Korea: A Quick Trip Of Business Mixed With Pleasure.

My trip to Seoul, South Korea was a quick one. I had three nights and four full days to explore this beautiful city. Surprisingly, I left feeling like I knew it pretty well. Let me just say that nothing pleases me more than beginning a trip that is far away with a red eye direct flight. A lot of people can’t sleep on planes….I am not one of them. I flew Korean Air and it was totally awesome. The economy seats are so roomy, and recline so much more than your average seat. So comfortable! I flew out of San Francisco at midnight, slept a solid nine hours, and arrived in South Korea very early in the morning. I felt so rested. I checked into the hotel, showered, and was immediately ready to begin exploring the Capital of South Korea!

What to pack?

I am from California, and women here tend to dress a bit on the sexy and casual side. I always research “proper attire” to wear before visiting a new country. What I found was Koreans cover up below their collar bone and their shoulders. It is ok to show your legs but your shoulders and chest should be covered. No cleavage. This is what is respectful to them. They dress to impress! I loved reading this, and it was true. No flip flops and sweats. Everyone dresses to impress from sunrise to sunrise. Many of my photos on this trip seem to be breaking the rules. I packed additional outfits for photos or always had a sweater on me to cover up. I assure you guys, I followed the rules. Always good to be respectful when you are in another country.

What Neighborhood To Choose??

When you look at Seoul on a map, it is overwhelming to decide which area to stay in. It’s a huge city! I began to research “best neighborhoods to visit in Seoul”. What I found was a wide array of diverse neighborhoods offering everything from culture, history, shopping, food, and nightlife. I visited five different areas of the city in my four days spent here. I decided to book my hotel in the area of Itaewon. After visiting the different neighborhoods, I felt really happy that I chose this because it ended up being my favorite district. I stayed at the Imperial Palace Boutique Hotel. I didn’t plan on staying at the hotel much, so I really wanted something inexpensive. The standards are so much higher in Seoul. If it says three stars, I can vouch that it is more like 4 compared to USA standards. I paid $88 per night for this room, and the hotel was perfect! The ambiance and decor were very modern. The room was nice and the price was right. Yet what I found to be the best part was the location. It was located in the heart of Itaewon!

imperial — Imperial Palace Boutique Hotel.

Matching the lobby at Imperial Palace Boutique Hotel.

How cute is all the decor at Imperial Palace Boutique Hotel?

Right outside the hotel door were so many restaurants, bars, cafes, and nightclubs. Everything is walkable in this area, and having a car is just not necessary. It was the perfect area to be in after a day of sightseeing. It was lively and busy, yet somewhat smaller than the other areas I visited. It was difficult to get lost. Coming from someone who tends to lose direction in unknown places, this was a plus! This area felt very safe and I did not feel scared to walk around everywhere until the wee hours of the night. The Hamilton Hotel is also located in Itaewon, and the alley that is located behind it is filled with international cuisine. It has everything….Greek, Italian, Mexican, Thai, Japanese, Pizza, and so on. In my opinion, the Korean food was the best. My favorite dinner in Itaweon was at the Maple Tree House Restaurant, which served traditional Korean BBQ. Yummy! I also loved Thai Licious for when I wanted a break from traditional Korean food. The soup was seriously to die for! To be honest, I never had a bad meal in Seoul. I ate from hole in the walls to fine dining, and everything was delicious. The area of Itaewon is also filled with nightlife. This is one of the main reasons I actually chose it. I always like to choose my hotel in an area where I will like to end up spending my time at night. It really felt as though Seoul didn’t sleep. These nightclubs were thumping all night long and the streets were filled with party-goers. I only made it until 4:00am (one night), and I was blown away at how alive the city is until then. Even older people are out all night long.

One of my favorite restaurants in Itaewon! Thai Licious. I am in absolute heaven in this photo!!

Other Areas To Visit:

Day 1:

This trip was a business trip that I tagged along on. The first day was spent in Jongno District. This area has been the center of the city for over 600 years, and it is referred to as the face and heart of Korea, due to its important roles in politics, economics, culture, and history. The South Korean’s president resides here. I spent the day tagging along doing banking, and hanging out in government buildings. Let me just say, it was a bit of an adjustment navigating around a city that doesn’t speak any English. Translator is an absolute must when traveling to Seoul. I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere without it. It was cool to trek around this area but I was eager to explore more. The first evening was back at home in Itaewon for dinner and an early bed time. I was still a bit tired from traveling.

exif_temp_image — Can I please get some major respect for the soups that Koreans prepare? So yummy!

Ha ha…trying to find our way around to find specific offices in banks and govt. buildings. Thank goodness for Translator!

Day 2:

The “work” portion of the trip wasn’t done, and I really didn’t feel like spending another day in banks. I headed off to explore the city all by myself. When I say this city is safe, I mean really safe. I felt completely comfortable exploring on my own. The most difficult thing was communication. So, I jumped in a cab with my camera, tripod, Translator App, and set off to explore a beautiful palace called Gyeongbokgung Palace. It was built in 1635, and is the largest of the five Grande Palaces. It was huge! Once upon a time it had more than 7,000 rooms. It was really cool to wander around this large property. So many visitors were dressed up to the nines in traditional Korean attire. I loved roaming around, and people watching.

I just loved people watching! So many people were so fancy in their Korean attire.

From there, I got back in a taxi to visit Bukchon Hanok Village. This was probably one of my favorite stops in seeing sights! It is a traditional Korean village, and sits on top of a hill. It has a beautiful view of modern Seoul, yet feels so peaceful and quiet even though you are right next to the hustle and bustle.

If I lived in Seoul, this would be my porch. I loved this neighborhood, and would call this area home above everything I saw!

After two stops, I was getting hungry, so I headed over to the Myeongdong area for lunch. This area is a huge shopping district. Myeongdong was listed as the 9th most expensive shopping street in the world. The streets and alleys seemed endless, and ranged from mid to high priced retail stores. It is also filled with cosmetic shops. Korea is huge for beauty and skin care products. The one thing I loaded up on while shopping here was face masks. So many to choose from! I had lunch here and ate…what else??…Korean BBQ! I wish I knew the name of the place because it was so good! The truth is that it was a tiny hole in the wall down a random alley that lured me in with it’s loud Bob Marley tunes. Haha! I’m always a sucker for reggae music! The plus was my babe was done with work, and we got to eat lunch together.

With a full belly, it was time to head back home to Itaewon. I had this brilliant idea to take the subway. I had read that the subway in South Korea was so easy, and not intimidating at all. Well, what a sh*t show that ended up being for a first timer! I believe the subway is most likely not intimidating for those that can read and speak the Korean language. For those who don’t know the Korean alphabet, the language is incredibly intimidating. I tried the entire trip to master “please” and “thank you” with no success. Needless to say I got completely lost on the subway. Luckily we found the nicest man who spoke English, and got us home. Always ask for directions. As long as you are kind to people, they are mostly likely kind in return. BTW, I feel like I would be way better at the subway on my second try. Just saying.

LOL! Sure…this doesn’t look intimidating at all.

The nicest man who got us all the way home to Itaewon.

Happy girl because we got directions to the correct way home.

We headed home to rest up, as we wanted to enjoy the Itaewon nightlife this evening. It was so much fun! This area comes alive at night. There were soooooo many nightclubs and bars to choose from to do some hard core booty shaking all night long. What a blast! My favorite nightclub was Club Compton. Ha ha! You could hookah and listen to good hip hop that reminded me of home. Most places that I went to played American music.

Day 3:

Today I got to spend the entire day sightseeing with my babe. He was stuck on exercising, and I was stuck on sightseeing. We decided to head up to the Namsan Seoul Tower. This is a place that is very special for couples, as you can lock a padlock of love onto the railing that overlooks the most beautiful view of Seoul. It is actually the second highest view in Seoul! We got dropped off in a cab at the bottom of the hill. You have to walk (literally) straight up for about 20 mins to get to the tower. Exercise mixed with sightseeing. Winning! We had purchased a lock from a hardware store before heading up, but found there were stores selling them near the tower. Once at the top, you can eat, have cocktails, and soak in the most incredible views. After a little vino, we locked our love in at the Namsan Seoul Tower. It was super cute and romantic….an absolute must for couples or those who love photography. Definitely my favorite thing I did in Seoul!!!

Locking in our love at Namsan Seoul Tower.

I hope to come back one day and find our lock of love! How cool!?

The most romantic thing we did the entire trip.

For our last night out, we decided to go to the Hongdae District. This is the University area of Seoul. The nightlife here was crazy…in a good way! So many bars and nightclubs filled with college students partying the night away. It was like Itaewon, but felt 20 times bigger. With all of this crazy nightlife, I never once saw anyone out of control. No one was acting stupid or overly drunk. Just such a good vibe everywhere you went. This was the night I stayed out until 4:00am, and you would have thought the night was just getting started when I headed back to the hotel for bed. People were still standing in line at 4:00am to get into clubs and the streets were absolutely packed! We ended our night (or began our morning I should say) with eating pizza with two Korean guys at 4:00am. We got lucky…they spoke English! They were so cool and it was an awesome ending to our trip to have a meal with locals….at 4:00am. LOL

seoul 12 — The ending to our trip…eating pizza at 4:00am with two Korean guys who spoke English and were so cool! What an ending!!!

Being I went to bed so late, I spent the final day sleeping and relaxing until it was time to go to the airport. I was fine with wasting the last day in bed, because partying in Seoul at night was just as much of an experience as seeing it in the day.

All in all, my write up of Seoul is that it is a clean, safe, beautiful, modern city that doesn’t sleep. Oh, and has amazing food, shopping, nightlife, and sweet people! I am always so focused on being next to a beach when I travel. It really surprised me how much I enjoyed a “city” vacation. Two thumbs up!

7 Weeks In Hawaii: Vacation Like A Local, Not A Tourist.

You really can’t go wrong with Hawaii! I have visited Maui, Oahu, Kauai, and “The Big Island” of Hawaii, and each island is amazing in its own special way. Each island has a different “vibe” unique to itself. I was extremely lucky as a child, as I had family that lived in Hawaii, and I was able to spend extended periods of time there each year. Staying with family, I got to feel as though I was living there while on these trips. I did keiki deep sea fishing tournaments, and spent so much time trolling in the ocean on my family’s boat in hunt of the big kahuna marlin. This is most definitely where my passion for deep sea fishing began!

Little Jessica in the keiki (child) deep sea fishing tournament. Kona, Hawaii

Since my childhood, I have been visiting Hawaii in a much more touristy fashion. Staying in hotels, and doing as much touristy stuff as I could fit into my vacation has been the norm for me over the years. Although each and every trip has been absolutely amazing, I wanted to plan a trip that reminded me of the time I spent in Hawaii as a child. I wanted to experience feeling like I was living there as a local. To achieve this feeling, it had to be as long of a trip as I could make it. I decided on 7 weeks in summer while the kiddos were out of school. Now, which island to choose? I am most partial to Kauai (North Shore) for how lush the landscape is. But for this long of a trip, I chose the island Maui. Maui has beautiful landscape, but it also has a bit of a livelier vibe compared to Kauai. I thought it would be a good mix of beauty and things to do. Let the planning begin!!

I get a lot of questions about how I’m able to take extended trips like this. My husband and I work from home, and can really work from anywhere in the world. These extended trips are obviously working vacations which add to the feeling of actually living there instead of vacationing.

Accommodations

To stay 7 weeks, I wasn’t trying to stay at the super high end places in town. I needed something reasonable, but also large enough to accommodate my family of six, and a home office set up. I landed at the Sands of Kahana. What a perfect choice! We had a huge three bedroom condo on the beach with a pool, kids pool, mini golf, gym, community beach bbq’s, and a restaurant on the property in case we were feeling too lazy to cook. We also had so many walk-able dining options in the village of Kahana.

Hawaii02 — Our view for the next 7 weeks. Sands of Kahana was reasonable and a perfect fit!

This little village of Kahana sits right in between Kaanapali and Kapalua. It is so much more reasonably priced than its neighbors, but still right in the heart of all the action. I highly recommend this area if you are on a budget. For the nights when you would like to put a huge dent in your bank account, you can just hop on over to your neighboring towns to get some fine dining, or an expensive round of golf. You are also just a short drive to Lahaina, where most of the island nightlife resides.

hawaii32 — Downtown Lahaina for 4th of July celebrations.

Rental Car

Next, I needed to get a rental car. Getting a rental car for seven weeks isn’t cheap. I found Kimo’s Rent A Car online. They have vehicles of all price points but the one I rented was basically less than a basic vehicle. They gave a great rate on monthly rentals and I spent around $1,000 for the entire 7 weeks. It really was exactly what we needed, and the price was right. I have spent $700 on a car for one week in Hawaii, so I was pretty excited about this deal.

Ok, so now what did we really do on this trip to make us feel less like tourists and more like locals? First off, I hit Costco and stocked up. We bbq’d and ate dinner on the beach about 70% of the time. There was no rush to do anything, and we snorkeled until the sunlight was gone while bbqing on the beach…..that was our evening schedule. I found a bunch of beach equipment on Craigslist for us. I bought boogie boards, ice chest, chairs, an umbrella, beach toys, and I paid $35 for everything. This is a great tip to check there for your stuff because buying these items brand new will be hundreds. When we didn’t feel like bbqing, we would get seafood off the food trucks. We would take our food and paper plate it to watch the sun go down, hike, or chill at a park.

hawaii34 — Costco run for the essentials. LOL! For the record, this was not completely all for us. Haha!

Hawaii17 — Too lazy to cook so snagged some food off the food truck and watched the sun go down at the beach.

Road to Hana

What did we do with our time outside of being beach bum bqqers? My favorite adventure as a temporary local was going camping for the weekend in Hana. The Road to Hana is so beautiful!! It has waterfalls around every twist and turn, and is the epitome of the “it isn’t about the destination, it’s the journey” quote. I have driven the Road to Hana many times, and have even driven around the entire island in one day. I LOVE IT….but it’s not for everyone. You are truly in the car all day, and the road is very curvy. People with weak stomachs may call it the road to hell. I have definitely learned over the years (having a large family of six) that not everyone likes what I like. And although I can explore and drive from sun up to sun down, my family would be miserable. However, there was no way I was going to Maui for 7 weeks and not driving the Road to Hana. So I checked into camping. What an amazing experience! I rented all of our gear from Camp Maui which we picked up on the way out of town to Hana. Camp Maui stocked us. We had everything….tent, pads, pillows, sleeping bags (which weren’t necessary), stove, flashlights, propane, etc. It was so reasonable and I didn’t need to pack anything from home other than clothes. We camped at Waianapanapa State Park with hiking, black sand beaches, and water caves. You need to get a permit in advance to camp here so plan ahead. This place gets crazy busy during the day with tourists coming in by the bus loads. We were able to go explore the ins and outs of this park early in the morning and late at night, completely skipping all the crowds.

hawaii21 — Camp is all set up at Waianapanapa State Park.

Hawaii20 — Getting up at 5:00AM to feed my baby has its perks. Good morning Hana!

hawaii22 — Exploring the black sand beach that was right below our camp. Just walked down a little path and here we were.

The best part about this camping trip? We got to explore Seven Sacred Pools for the entire day. This place is gorgeous, and could be my favorite place on all of Maui. It is so far to get here if you are driving in for the day, so most tourists only get a short visit as they have to get back on the road for the very long drive home. Not us! We stayed all day swimming and rock jumping and then drove 15 mins back to our camp for a bbq. This mini vacay was beyond amazing and pretty eye opening for me. I was so happy that my family didn’t want to drive to Hana for the day because it forced me to find a way to achieve exploring this side of the island along with keeping everyone happy. There is more than one way to skin a cat! Ps- I really hate that saying…who came up with that anyway?? Skinning a cat is just wrong. Plus, I love cats.

hawaii24 — Beautiful Seven Sacred Pools. Absolute paradise!

Our oldest being brave and rock jumping. I love the boy all prepared to jump from the shorter rock looking up at her. Girl power!

Hawaii25 — When you are 3 months old and in paradise, swimsuits are optional.

Making Friends

Back at home in our little village of Kahana we began to make friends with a lot of locals who lived there. I think Kahana is popular with the locals because its cheaper but still so central. When you eat and drink at the same places quite often you begin to run into the same people. We met a local who took us all surfing for a private lesson for next to nothing. No waivers or contracts…just a local teaching us how to ride the waves. This local became our friend, and he spent an entire second day with us taking us to a private property to go fishing.

Hawaii11 — Surfs up! Private lesson from our local friend.

Hawaii15 — My hubs really makes friends everywhere we vacation. This guy really showed us a great time on the island.

hawaii27 — Fishing on private property. No one around but us.

Best Date Nights/Days

Before arriving on this trip, I found a babysitter to come on a schedule to give my husband and I some adult time. With the grandmas back on the main land, this was an absolute must. I hired a nursing student who was training in Labor and Delivery at the Maui General Hospital. Can you get a better resume for a sitter? She also had nursing student friends to replace her when she was busy.

For most of our dates, we would pack an ice chest, and hang out at the beach all night. But my favorite date night was attending a Reggae Concert at the Maui Tropical Plantation. Maxi Priest and Big Mountain were the big headliners, and it was probably one of the best concerts I have ever seen. Super fun, and definitely something I wouldn’t have squeezed in on a one week vacation. We also spent several nights partying in downtown Lahaina. Fleetwoods was my favorite place to get a drink and listen to live music.

Date Night = $6 raft, a homemade margarita, and watching the sun go down in the ocean with my sweetheart.

hawaii29 — Reggae concert with Big Mountain and Maxi Priest at the plantation. SO MUCH FUN!

Hawaii7 — Date night at Fleetwoods in Downtown Lahaina

My favorite Day Date was snorkeling at Honolua Bay. It is untapped serenity…so beautiful, and so peaceful. We loved it so much that we planned a second day here to bring back the kids to enjoy with them.

Hawaii3 — Day Date snorkeling at Honolua Bay.

hawaii38 — Had to bring the kids back to Honolua Bay to snorkel with them. Too beautiful not to share.

Favorite Touristy Things to do

We didn’t book many tours on this trip, but one that we did do was a snorkeling cruise to Molokini Crater. The snorkeling there is awesome! We saw dolphins along the way and snorkeled with a ton of beautiful fish. The kids loved this cruise! One of them actually started crying when we had to leave the crater. LOL.

hawaii40 — Snorkeling at Molokini Crater.

One of the seven weeks we had Grandma and Grandpa visit, and we did zip lining and parasailing. I mean you have to get high at least once in Hawaii, right? The kids absolutely loved both these days. This was definitely the one week where we packed in a lot of touristy adventures. After parasailing off of Kaanapali Beach, we ended our day at my favorite happy hour spot on the beach….Hula Grill. You can sip Mai Tais with your feet in the sand while listening to live music. Heaven!

hawaii8 — How many Grandmas are up for this stuff? Grandma and baby girl ziplining.

Hawaii28 — Crazy Grandma having fun parasailing with her grandkids.

Hawaii5 — Just finished parasailing, and having happy hour at Hula Grill with Grandma and Grandpa.

To finish up our one “touristy” packed week we ended it with a traditional Luau. There are so many great Luaus on Maui. They are no doubt pricey! I chose Royal Lahaina Luau for the simple reason that for every paying adult, you get one child for free. It worked out pretty well with four adults and four kids. This was a perfect way to end our week spent with my parents!

Hawaii05 — Royal Lahaina Luau. Great way to end our action packed week with my parents

Best Beaches

You can stay anywhere on Maui and will be happy with your choice, but the majority of people choose the west or south shore. I’m more partial to the west shore since it is so close to Lahaina, and is a bit more lush. But the south side is beautiful too. So beautiful it is in fact my favorite beach on Maui…Makena Beach. Makena Beach is split into Big Beach and Little Beach with Little Beach being bathing suit optional. From our village in Kahana, it was about a 45 minute drive to get there but so worth it. Stay the entire day!

Hawaii14 — Sharing beautiful Makena Beach with my beautiful daughter.

My favorite beaches on our side of the island were Napili Bay Beach and Kaanapali Beach. Napili Bay Beach is literally the most fun beach I have ever been to with kids. The rolling waves are like an ongoing roller coaster and you can hear the screams of excitement and laughter from the road as you park your car. Boogie boards and floaties make this day an absolute blast. Be careful of the waves wiping out your entire beach set up. It happened to us! Try to sit as far back as possible on the beach away from the water.

hawaii35 — Napili Bay Beach. Home to the never ending roller coaster waves.

Kannapali Beach is home to the famous Black Rock. It is a very popular beach. The snorkeling is awesome and you can jump of the rocks at Black Rock. Super fun!

hawaii37 — Black Rock at Kaanapali Beach. My face is so swollen from my snorkel mask! Haha.

Favorite Land Activity

You really can’t go to Maui without being blasted with marketing materials everywhere in your face about bike riding down the Haleakala Crater. I have done this ride several times but unfortunately it wasn’t in the cards for us on this trip as our littlest kids weren’t big enough for a ride like this. I have to include a little write up though because it is truly such an experience. You need to get up early for this at 3:00am and take the two hour drive up the crater. It’s cold when you get up there so bundle up! You watch what is hopefully the most beautiful sunrise you have ever seen in your life. Once the sun is up, you begin the bike ride down the crater. There are a million tours going down where you all follow each other in one line all the way down the crater. Not for me!! I’m not big on group activities with strangers. I have always found a company who drove me to the top of the crater, handed me my bike to ride down alone and at my own pace, and then met me at the end of the day to pick me up. Most tours end at the bottom of the crater but I like to continue the bike ride to the Maui Pineapple Winery. The extra ride is rolling hills closer and closer to the coast. It is a beautiful ride! The bonus is you get to end the 18 mile ride with some wine tasting and a picnic.

hawaii0 — The sunrise at Haleakala Crater is truly the most beautiful I have ever seen.

A few trips back on the top of the crater freezing my buns off. Hence the bright red nose. How cool is the moon behind me as I’m watching the sunrise in front of me??

Biking all the way to the Pineapple Winery. I have no idea what year this was but by looks of the photo quality, it was a while ago.

What To Do When It Rains

Maui isn’t as beautiful as it is without getting rain. My favorite “ohana” day spent during the rain was the aquarium. The Maui Ocean Center is one of the coolest aquariums that I have ever been to. We learned so much and got to see so many fish that are in the Hawaiian ocean waters.

Favorite Family Friendly Hike

As I said, this was a working vacation. I had to keep the kids busy on many days when my husband was holed up in the condo working. My favorite day I spent with them was a very moderate but beautiful hike to the Iao Needle. It was really pretty, and we learned so much history on the battles fought in this area back in the old days.

Hawaii9 — Mama bear and her cubs hiking to the Iao Needle while daddy is home working

Favorite Restaurant

Well it wouldn’t be a good blog if I didn’t write a bit about food. There are endless amazing dining options on Maui. My all time favorite is Mama’s Fish House. Bring your camera because the location is right on the beach and is quite the photo op. This is definitely an expensive dinner but worth the splurge! And you simply can not visit the island of Maui without going to the famous Cheeseburgers In Paradise. The cheeseburgers are delicious, the cocktails are tasty, the view of the ocean is to die for, the live music is a blast, and the location in downtown Lahaina makes it easy to bar hop around after dinner. Lastly my favorite “cheap eat” on Maui is Ohana Tacos. Seriously…if I didn’t watch my weight, I would live a fulfilled life having Ohana Tacos for every meal! It is the bomb.com! It’s pretty much fast food so perfect to take on the go while adventuring.

Island Fever?

So after spending six weeks on Maui we started to get panicky that we only had one week left. We had zero island fever. We really didn’t want to go home. Our time here really allowed us to enjoy everything at our own pace and we truly felt like we were living there. Mission accomplished!!

In our last week we had two back-to-back hurricanes hit. If this had been our only week of vacation, it would have been a huge disappointment! But we felt really lucky to experience it. It was very cool to watch Mother Nature do her thing and once they passed we were left with the calmest ocean and most beautiful sunset of the entire trip. It was quite a farewell.

This child was born to live on the beach.

Hawaii6 — After 7 weeks in Maui, it’s time to go back to the main land. We didn’t want to leave!

How to vacation more like a local and not like a tourist in a short vacation

My all time favorite read prior to visiting Hawaii is the Maui Revealed book. The authors have a book for every island and I have purchased the newest edition for every single trip I have taken to the Hawaiian Islands. It gives you hidden secrets that you would never find without it. I’m talking directions like “Hit the 42 mile marker, hike a quarter mile to the left, enter the broken chain link fence, go through the bamboo forest, hike a quarter more mile through the dirt steps and you will find a huge lagoon with a rope swing to spend the day at”. Haha. I have led the way with directions from this book on so many adventures with people I am on vacation with. Believe me I have gotten the stink eye from people traveling with me as they follow me to these secret places. But once there, everyone has always thanked me for such a special experience. Buy the book before going! It is truly the best vacation guide I have ever read!!

Joshua Tree Oasis: Get Wanderfully Lost.

It’s that time of year again. Time to celebrate my anniversary with my hubby! We get to travel out of the country, and stay in hotels for most of our trips so I always try to plan something “different” to celebrate this with him. It was going to be difficult to compete with last year’s anniversary trip to Havasupai . This year I decided on Joshua Tree. Joshua Tree is located in Southern California, and is where the Mojave and Colorado deserts meet. The desert setting is gorgeous! Joshua Tree is well known for camping, music festivals, and getting in touch with one’s “real” self. For this trip, I wanted to sit back and relax and enjoy the pretty scenery. I wanted to hole up…have a staycation! I always plan our trips with my husband’s opinion in mind. I know what he likes and doesn’t. For the most part though, my husband goes with the flow of whatever I choose. His mama didn’t raise no fool!

Haha…truth! No, joking aside, I really do plan my trips with what I think will make my husband happy.

I turned to VRBO and Airbnb to look for the perfect place and stumbled upon Joshua Tree Oasis. It looked perfect in the photos. It was a bit higher than I wanted to spend, but we weren’t going to be going out and spending any money on wining and dining. We were going to hole up and cook at home. Taking that into consideration, it definitely penciled out, and we were able to splurge a bit on the accommodations. This has turned out to be my favorite VRBO/Airbnb yet. I loved it so much that I wrote a blog on it!

Joshua Tree was about a 10 hour drive from our house. We stocked up on very gourmet goods to cook our meals, including all the ingredients to make some amazing cocktails. We also picked up a ton of wood for the outdoor fire pit on the property. It felt like we were going camping. We pulled up to our private gate, and entered the property. It was so much more than I expected! The house was decorated to the nines. We had views from every room, the kitchen was well stocked, we had a bumping sound system that went through the entire property, and the best part was there was not another soul in site. We literally had this huge slice of earth all to ourselves (except for the coyotes who kept photobombing me). We had complete privacy for the next five days. It was perfect for an anniversary trip! This place was a two bed/two bath with an in law unit with another bed/bath. We loved it to enjoy as a couple, but you could fit a large family or three couples perfectly.

I can’t believe I didn’t get the coyote in the background. It was running behind me trying to photobomb me! LOL

The first morning we woke up with bacon jalapeño bloody mary’s in hand, and jumped right in the hot tub (bathing suits optional). We spent the day doing all there was to do on the property. Hot tub, cowboy tub (which was very refreshing), horse shoes, more eating and drinking, bbqing, napping, repeat, and finished the night off with a gourmet meal and a campfire.

Bacon jalapeno bloody marry in hand to enjoy my first morning in the desert.

This property is also located about five minutes from the Joshua Tree National Park entrance. On the second day we explored the park, saw all the sites there were to see, scouted our favorite campground for the next trip, and hiked the day away. Cholla Cactus Garden and Skull Rock were fun, and perfect photo ops. The park is huge, and there is so much to explore!

There isn’t much to the actual “town” of Joshua Tree. This property is just a short five minute drive down the hill to the town, but there really isn’t much to see. We did stumble on a fun saloon called Joshua Tree Saloon (of all unique names). It was super fun! They had live music, karaoke, pool, darts, and a beer garden. Being the incredibly brilliant young lady that I am, I wore the highest heels I own to enjoy this beer garden. Always trying to look my cutest for my man! Well, I then returned home to my desert property only to walk through a cactus garden in those five inch heels. Low and behold, I ate it hard, and took a fall straight into a cactus (hands first). No matter how much I enjoyed that beer garden, it couldn’t numb me enough for the pain of diving hands first into a cactus. That ish hurt! My husband had to sit me down and pull out the needles, one by one. I may have shed a tear or two…and maybe had a shot of tequila or two. Maybe. I actually had needles deep in my hand for over a month after this trip. Very wise advise to share with you guys…don’t wear your high heels to enjoy a beer garden and follow it up with a walk through a cactus garden. Cactus 1, Jessica 0. I still love the desert though!

Belize: You Betta Belize It!

Jungle or Beach??? Why not both??

Belize is located in Central America. It is a tiny country on the western edge of the Caribbean Sea. Belize is located below Mexico, east of Guatemala, and north of Honduras. Half of Belize is covered by dense jungle. Belize also has many coral reefs, cayes, and islands in the Caribbean Sea. Most of these form the Belize Barrier Reef, the longest in the Western Hemisphere.

When I first began planning my trip to Belize, I read that most first timers break up their trip between the jungle and the beach. I’m very glad I listened to these reviews! Fast forward through an 8 hour plane ride, and a 2 hour drive into the jungle and I landed in the middle of the Belize rainforest in a city called Belmopan. I chose Sleeping Giant Rainforest Lodge to call home for this leg of the trip. It was a larger lodge in comparison to others in the area with 25 rooms and casitas, pool, bar, and a restaurant where you eat every meal.

sleeping giant — Sleeping Giant Rainforest Lodge

I’m typically a beach baby, and was nervous about spending time in the remote jungle. Would it be boring? It was a bit of an adjustment upon arrival….no TV, no internet, and no phone in the room. I’ve never been on a trip where I was forced to completely disconnect. I gulped down my rum welcome cocktail, and went to unpack. Now what? That first night I explored the grounds, ate ridiculously amazing food, and closed down the lodge bar. The next four days were filled with adventure, mind blowing food and cocktails (all made fresh), and forced restful recharge.

My activities included a hike through the thick jungle, a bike ride to the orange orchards, paddle boarding on the river, relaxing by the pool, a massage on the river, and a full day of adventure exploring the famous ATM Cave of Belize. ATM stands for Actun Tunichil Muknal. The ATM Cave was the top rated tour to do for adventure, and it did not disappoint. I hired a private guide for this tour which I highly recommend. If you can’t swing private, definitely ask how many people will be on the tour with you, and go with a smaller group. I saw large tours with 10 people going through in a line. They just weren’t getting that much attention from their guide. If you are 10th in the line, how can you learn anything from your guide who is leading? Plus, I had very heightened nerves on this tour. Being the 10th person in line of a tour would have been terrifying (for me). Our guide led us through 6 miles of adventure. We crossed the river (neck deep) six times, hiked, and explored the ATM Cave which you have to swim into. Once in, you climb and swim your way through two miles of total darkness with only a headlamp for sight. I literally had a minor panic attack going on for about three hours. But just like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, the only way out was through. It was pretty amazing learning about the Mayan people, and what this cave meant to them. We came across many artifacts and skeletons that were human sacrifices to the gods. Our guide was Gonzo from River Rat Expeditions. He was so knowledgeable, and actually spends about three months per year living in these Belize caves doing research. He took his time educating and calming my nerves all the way through. Once out of the cave, I was on an adrenaline high. I was so proud I finished but I’m in no rush to do it again. Haha.

cave — Just completed the six miles of adventure exploring the ATM Cave.

For beginning my adventure in the jungle with the question of “will I be bored here?”, I actually began to freak out by day three that I wouldn’t fit in all there was to see. I fell in love with the jungle! I’m usually pretty attached to my phone and staying in touch with my family. For this leg, I had to forget about all of that, and it was all about exploring and recharging.

Once my stay at the jungle lodge had come to an end, I was ready to put my toes in the sand, and have more than one dining option. Five days in the jungle was perfecto, but now it was on to the beach for another nine days. I decided on Ambergris Caye. It is the largest caye (island) of Belize. From the jungle, it was a 2 hour drive to the ferry station and a 1.5 hour boat ride to Ambergris Caye. I chose Captain Morgan’s Retreat as my hotel on Ambergris Caye for the sole reason that they had true beach huts in the sand for much cheaper than your average hotel room. However, we were still part of a huge resort with all the amenities including the only Casino on the island.

OOOOHHHEEEMMMGGGEEE!!! Opening my porch door and stepping into the sand was truly paradise. When I arrived I was warned how bad the bugs were from another guest. He told me to soak myself in bug spray every day. After four days of literally getting eaten alive, I accidentally forgot my bug spray one evening, and didn’t get any bites. I ditched the spray and never had a problem again. Thanks for that sweet advice bro!

Relaxing under a palm tree off of my beach hut porch on Ambergris Caye.

The coolest thing about Ambergris Caye is that there are very few cars and the mode of transportation is by golf cart equipped with off road tires. Oh hells ya! Look out for me! I drove that golf cart up and down, and back and forth. We mostly only ate breakfast at our resort and spent the rest of the days beach and bar hopping our way around. Ambergris Caye is so lively! Whether you are eating pizza or the abundant fresh sea food they have to offer, it was always a party. Live music was everywhere. My favorite drive was a 40 minute golf cart ride to Secret Beach. It was a bumpy adventure through the center of the island to a beautiful beach with food and music. A must see (or drive) while on Ambergris Caye.

Belize is famous for it’s ocean life. I’m sadly too big of a wimp to dive but the snorkeling was the best I have ever seen with my own eyes. Belize has the second largest coral reef system in the world, with Australia’s Great Barrier Reef being the largest. If you like diving and snorkeling this is truly a wonderland, or wonderwater I guess. Our captain took us to Hol Chan Marine Reserve . As soon as you get in the water there are a gazillion fish around you. I saw huge spotted eagle rays, eels, large puffer fish, endless schools, oh ya….and sharks! Our second stop that our captain took us to was Shark Ray Alley where he chummed for sharks to come right up to the boat. My crazy husband jumped into the water to swim with them. I volunteered to be his photographer from inside the boat. 😉 The day was perfect. I wish I had spent more time exploring the reef of Belize because (not to be lame) it was magical.

Well after exploring every nook and cranny of Ambergris Caye, pigging out at all the fresh seafood restaurants, bar hopping to every bar, and hearing every live band on the island, I jumped on the ferry to explore the sister island of Ambergris Caye….Caye Caulker. It’s a 30 minute hop to this tiny island that has a super laid back vibe. There were a lot of backpackers, and simple people who love to party. If you bring more than a bathing suit, cover up, and flip flops to this island, you have over packed. You walk everywhere on Caye Caulker, and I spent most of the day at a place called the Split. A hurricane split this island in half, and they turned it into the largest place to party with a picture perfect setting. They have a bar there called the Lazy Lizard that has everything from hot bodies to grannies with fanny packs twerking and taking shots. I took the last ferry ride home to Ambergris Caye, which was a very fun ride home at night. I wished I packed a backpack and stayed overnight. One more day would have been fun to run back into the friends I made there in such a short time.

One last day on Ambergris Caye to stuff my face with fresh seafood, drink too many fresh squeezed margaritas (the ice was safe), and listen to one last performance of live reggae music (my favorite). The people of Belize are so incredibly friendly, and I always felt safe day and night. Belize was a great trip and mixing in the jungle with the beach was a twist I enjoyed more than I realized I would. I also brought home five dread locks! Lol.

Italy For A Month: How To Plan From Scratch.

So, let’s start from the very beginning…straight-up from scratch. Probably the most common question that I am asked is how I plan my trips on my own. Where do I start? Well it usually involves me staring at the computer scratching my head with a glass (ok a bottle) of vino in hand. And little by little my trips take form. I hope to write multiple blogs from this 30 day trip to Italy but for this blog, I’m going start with how to plan it. I did all of this planning on my own and felt so overwhelmed when I started. This is my story of how my Italy trip came to life.

I rarely take big trips in the summer. I always get my big break right after Christmas. I’m running out of new places on my bucket list to explore in a bikini at Christmas, so this year I opted for a summer vacation. I chose Italy. I didn’t know where the heck to start as I really had never vacationed there. I went about 20 years ago but I just drove across the border and ate lunch. Doesn’t count. As always, I was on a budget for this trip, and I knew one month in Italy isn’t cheap. Hotels were out! I went VRBO and Airbnb all the way through, and kept my budget at $200 per night. If you haven’t traveled through these two sites, you are missing out. Click on this link to join for free and get a credit for your first reservation: Airbnb They are awesome!

I was traveling with my husband and two children (ages 8 and 3). I knew it would be nice (and less expensive) for us to have a kitchen and cook at our rental vs. being in a hotel. Having to order room service for every meal gets pricey. When I’m vacationing, I’m usually planning my next trip so the more I save from one trip is more I bank for the next. Also, hotels in Italy don’t work like they do in the USA. In the states you can get a “double” room and have two double/queen beds. It is easy to stay with two small children in one room with that bed setup. In Italy, a “double” room means two twin beds. If you have four people, you need to upgrade to a suite, and I quickly found that my budget of $200 per night in the areas I wanted was simply not going to fly. VRBO and Airbnb was the answer for me!

Step 1: Plan your route. When you think of Italy, what do YOU want to see? Me personally… Venice, Rome, and Positano were at the top of my list. Then I thought, I’m going to fly all that way and when will I get to Italy again? Maybe I can do one extra week and see more? I decided on 30 days to explore but you can do this in three weeks if you are ambitious or just choose a few places and go for two weeks. There is SO much to see in Italy. So much history that you feel guilty sleeping in. You have to go, go, go, so you don’t miss a thing. I booked a longer trip to really work in relaxing too. I wanted one day to explore for every one day of relaxing.

When traveling through Italy it is best to go top to bottom or bottom to top.

I decided to go top to bottom because I knew this would be a busy trip, and I wanted to finish it off on the beach relaxing on the Amalfi Coast.

Step 2: Once you have an idea of your route, you have to check flights to make sure they will work with your itinerary. At the time of my planning, AirBerlin was the cheapest ticket from San Francisco to Italy. They were actually $500 cheaper per ticket which is a lot when traveling with four people. I later found we paid the price for that cheap ticket but we will get into that later. AirBerlin flew into Milan (top of map) and they flew out of Naples (bottom of the map). The flight out of Naples only went on one day per week so I had to plan for that. Once I figured out what my flights were, I broke the trip apart leg by leg. I decided on this route:

Lake Como: 5 nights/ Venice: 4 nights/ Florence: 5 nights/ Cinque Terre: 6 nights/ Rome: 4 nights/ Amalfi Coast: 6 nights. One month in Italy!!

Step 3: Find the VRBO/Airbnb to stay at sticking to my budget of $200 per night. This was the fun part to me. How did I choose which places to stay? I read review after review on the VRBO/Airbnb sites….like hundreds of reviews. I hate the reviews that say “it was a nice place…I highly recommend!”. Ok well thanks for those riveting details, but you didn’t say crap about the property. I want to know things. How far to restaurants and bars? Do you need a car? How does “this” area compare to “that” area? I want details people! If I can’t find exact answers to my questions through the reviews on VRBO/Airbnb, I usually Google the exact question I have with the word “Tripadvisor” after the question. If I’m between two areas to stay, I will Google “Positano vs Amalfi, which is better? Tripadvisor” Most of the answers to my questions come right up on Tripadvisor which is where I read hundreds more reviews. Tripadvisor, Oh How I love Thee! None of my trips would come to life without the reviews on this site.

Step 4: Plan transportation. I did not want to rent a car in Italy. Many people do and give reviews about their days explored with the freedom of their own schedule in their own car. Not for me. First off, the roads are pretty wicked in Italy. I consider myself to be a very bad driver on the safe roads in California. We are talking about a girl that totaled her car 3 times during her 16th year of life! Oopsie! So, driving on these winding roads that seem like they have one lane, honking as you approach a sharp turn to warn oncoming traffic that you can’t see. Hmmm, yes I don’t think this blog would have ever come to life because I probably would have died attempting to drive these roads. Another reason? When I travel, I tend to eat and drink my way through for most of my entertainment. I wanted the freedom to indulge in lots of great food accompanied but lots of great vino.

I chose all accommodations to be in the heart of the action in each destination so that I could walk everywhere or take a cheap cab ride. To get through the country we rode the Trentitalia train. One month of traveling through Italy on this train cost me less than the cabs to/from the airport. The train system is so easy, so affordable, so comfortable, so reliable, and such a nice way to travel! You get to see the country as you travel through, which was just lovely. Each ride was only about two hours with the exception of one four hour train ride. Tip: Get to the station early to buy some snacks and wine. More important tip: Have all the electronics charged for the littles so that you can enjoy those snacks and wine while riding in style.

train — Training to Cinque Terre. Sipping on vino while the kiddos play electronics.

I sprung for three long and pricey cab rides (transfers). One from the Milan airport to our first property in Lake Como. After flying for 13 hours with two small children, we just wanted to get there. The train from Milan to Lake Como isn’t as convenient as the other legs as the train we needed only left every three hours. Just didn’t want to hassle with that after a long flight. The second transfer was taking us to our last leg of the trip, Naples to Positano. When heading south to the Amalfi Coast, the train won’t take you any further than Naples which is about an hour from Positano/Amalfi (see map). We got off the train in Naples and took a private transfer (cab) to Positano. Not very cheap at $130 Euro but it beat getting off the train and walking to the nearest bus stop which was reported to be incredibly crowded. You may have to stand the entire hour plus ride on the bus and deal with pickpocketers. It was so worth the private transfer! Last high priced ride was Positano to the Naples airport. This flight left once per week, so we could not have anything go wrong and risk missing the flight. We also had to leave at 4:30AM, so the transfer allowed us to sleep the entire ride to the airport. And that’s a wrap on transportation! It was right around $700 for four people to travel through Italy for 30 days. You certainly can’t rent a car for that.

Step 5: Plan to pack. Please someone tell me how in the heck I am supposed to pack light traveling to Italy with a toddler and 8 year old for one month? There are things you need when traveling with kids…car seat, stroller, toys, electronics, etc. I have to share with you the biggest find for packing light if you have a toddler. It is Care’s Fly Safe safety restraint system. Cares Kids Fly Safe Airplane Safety Harness. This gem is FDA approved and buckles your toddler into the airplane seat just like a car seat except it’s a just a belt. Not only does it keep your little one safe but it also keeps them from running all over the plane, all while packing up into a small little carrying bag that fits in your purse.

seat belt — Little guy all comfy for his 13 hours of traveling, and I didn’t hit 20 people in the head carrying a huge car seat onto the plane. Winning!

I then purchased an airplane stroller that is specific to traveling and folding up small for planes and trains. I bought it off my Facebook for $10! Tip: I made $2,700 selling things out of my garage on Facebook that went directly to paying for this trip. I also allowed my kids to pack a scooter each. With as much walking as we planned to do in each location, I knew they would get so worn out and our days would be shortened due to exhausted kids. Instead of walking everywhere, they scooted the days away and we were able to explore as much as we wanted.

Lastly, I got three pieces of luggage that were the largest we could go without going overweight, and incurring fees on the airline. There is soooo much debate online about how big of a bag is too big of a bag to travel through Europe with. It’s really a simple answer…you can pack as large of a bag that YOU can handle. There is no one to help you up the many many stairs in between changing trains. There is no one to help you load your bag onto the train. No one to help you load the bag on ferries or cabs. And if you plan on walking after getting off the train vs. taking a cab, you will be the one lugging that bag through town. You get the point. Luckily, I married a man with big muscles. My bag was a big one, and I got to pack as many bikinis as I wanted. I don’t recommend this for everyone but it worked ok for us.

This brings me to my final plug of the trip. Remember that great deal I got on my airline tickets that was $500 cheaper per ticket than all the other airlines? Well, you get what you pay for. The airline ended up losing our son’s bag on the way there. Thank goodness it wasn’t mine! Ha ha. I can’t tell you how crazy it was to see how long the lost luggage line was at the airport in Milan. It took us about 30 mins to get through the process of reporting our lost bag and we were 2nd in line. Can you imagine how long it took the 20th person in line to get through this process? What a terrible way to kick off your trip! We were very hopeful that our bag would arrive any day on our trip, but in fact…it never came. My kids went all the way through a 30 day trip in Italy with nothing but the clothes on their back. This lost bag also had all of our liquids, including all of my beauty products. Of course we bought things along the way but it was such a pain in the butt! I later heard that this is actually a common problem when traveling to Europe (explains the super long lost luggage line) and in actuality, your bag is just sitting in the airport waiting to be delivered. Due to under staffing, there is just no one attending to these lost bags. In fact, no one even answers the phone in that area of the airport. Trust me I called a million times. Horrible! How will I make sure that this never happens again?? GPS in my luggage…DUH!

LugLoc Luggage Tracker – The Worldwide Smart Lost Baggage GSM Locator – Track The Exact Location Of Your Bag Globally (not just bluetooth like others) – Rechargeable battery that lasts 15 days

OMG, what a genius idea! You never lose track of your bag and you know where it is at all times, even if the airline claims that it is lost. I will never travel without one again! My kid’s bag was found and delivered to us two days after we arrived home in California…32 days after it was lost.

Losing the bag was devastating at first but in the end, we had so many laughs about my son going all the way through Italy with one pair of underwear and them wearing the same outfits in all our family photos.

Venice

Positano

Rome’s Colloseum

Havasupai and Grand Canyon: The Trip Everyone Reads About, But Few Experience.

The Grand Canyon was always something I had heard about growing up. One of the Seven Natural Wonders Of The World? OK, you have my attention! This beautiful place at the bottom of the Grand Canyon kept popping up on my Facebook feed. It was an Indian Reservation that you hike down to, and camp right on the water with the most gorgeous waterfalls you have ever seen. It looked like a cartoon almost. Ok, so again it had my attention. It was called the Havasupai Indian Reservation. I called the reservation line and got no luck. After researching, I found that it is one of the most desired places in the USA to see. Wanderlust at its best! I did more research and found that if I ever wanted to secure a reservation in the peak season, it was going to take a ton of tenacity. Once the phone lines opened up, I gave it my all for 4 days. A busy signal for 4 days straight can make you go kinda nuts. Everyone told me to give up. “I’m not giving 4 days of my life to something with nothing to show for it” said Me. I actually kept trekking for 7 more days, calling 8 hours per day, every day. I clocked over 4,100 calls getting a busy signal (yes, I tracked it). You ever felt like a stalker? I stalked the hell out of that phone number….and guess what?? After 11 days someone answered.

“Hello?”

“OMG. Hello, I have been calling for 11 days (tear) and would like to make a reservation”

“Sorry, we are full and all booked up for the summer months.”

I won’t go into the embarrassing things I said to secure this reservation but the point is that I got it. Never take no for an answer! When it’s important to you, make it happen…..write that down.

grand canyon — Here I am starting this 39 mile journey. GET OUTSIDE OF THE BOX! I don’t need to sip a cocktail on the beach for every vacation. I love a new challenge.

To get to the bottom is about 11 miles down. You need to carry everything in. Your tent, your sleeping bag, your food, your wine (which is not allowed and I never break the rules), clothes, etc, etc, etc…you get the point. I was going into the Canyon for four days. I consider myself to be in great shape however I found this hike to be much more pleasant by throwing my 65 pound pack on a horse which met me down at the campground. I think it’s awesome how hard core people are to carry those huge packs on their backs for miles and miles. But quite honestly, it was 90 degrees out and I had much more fun climbing rocks and taking selfies while being pretty much weightless. To each their own!

Only water, snacks, camera, and lipgloss on my back for the trek down.

Once, I reached the Havasupai Reservation it was completely surreal. This village at the bottom of the Canyon was a little city. School, post office, church, store….everything you need. It’s considered America’s most remote Indian Reservation. My camp was another 2 miles past the Reservation where there aren’t many Indians, and the grounds along the creek are filled with campers feeling like they won the lotto. I picked up my pack from the stables and set up camp right on the water.

I spent the next two days hiking to the most majestic waterfalls I have ever seen. Sounds so cheesy but it’s true. The water is the most beautiful color of turquoise. Every day I had to filter my water right out of the creek, and make my dehydrated meals, which were surprisingly delicious. I also indulged in the yummiest Frybread. It is an Indian specialty, and there was a little stand selling this at the campground. Mmm mmm good!

I had to cross this bridge with my 65 pound pack to set up camp. Also, every time I needed to use the restroom…even in the pitch black. Luckily, I never fell in!

The most beautiful falls of all were Havasu Falls. Photos of these falls is what really ignited my desire to get here. It was just as beautiful as the photos! No filter needed.

There are other beautiful falls and hikes to see while you are down there. I did Mooney Falls on Day 2, and also hiked further into the Canyon. I wish I had more time to see everything. One more day would have been perfect. If I am lucky enough to visit again, I will plan on five days total down there.

If you want your pack on a horse on the way out, you need to wake up while it’s still dark to pack up, and have your pack to the stables at 6am. This, in my opinion, was much more important than having a horse carry your pack on the way down. The way out is 13 miles straight up from the campgrounds…no thank you to that 65 pound pack! So many people we met at camp were actually thinking they would take the helicopter out because they had no idea how they would be able to hike out. People wait in that helicopter line all day long in hopes to get flown out, and the line is so long that some people have to wait until the next day to try again.

I dropped my pack at the stables and power walked my way out passing all these people who looked like they might die from heat exhaustion. It was so freaking hot! September in the Canyon is no joke. And these people carrying those huge packs…so core!

Reaching the top of the Canyon was one of the most exhilarating feelings I have ever felt. I hiked 39 miles on this journey. Another trip that tweaked me a little as a person. I grow just a little bit from every adventure.

Hotel I stayed at before hike: Grand Canyon Caverns Inn. This place is in Peach Springs on Route 66. It is as close as you can get for lodging prior to starting the hike to Havasupai. Bonus, it has the largest dry cavern in the United States. Going down into the cavern on a tour was interesting…and scary. You can actually rent the space and sleep down there. It is super cool!!

Havasupai Tribe: People of the Blue Green Water.

Route: I flew into Las Vegas, rented a car, checked out Hoover Dam, and cruised Route 66 to Peach Springs. After hiking Havasupai, I drove an hour towards Las Vegas and stayed in Kingman. I soaked in the hot tub, ate an entire medium pizza to myself, and watched movies before catching a flight out in the morning. Las Vegas to Oakland.

Recommend this trip to: EVERYONE!! Well, I take that back. No young kids. You have to be in good shape to hike this trip. But if you’re not in the best shape, you can just take the helicopter. You can also scrap all the do it yourself work and headache of securing your own reservation and join a tour. I opted to do this on my own because I like the freedom to hike at my own pace, and wanted my camp to be my own little space. I don’t mean to sound antisocial because I love meeting new people, especially when I camp. But I love my own area too. To each their own! The tours hike down together, camp together, and eat together. It’s all inclusive so they cook you gourmet meals which is pretty cool. The price ticket is much higher for a tour but some prefer being in a group in adventurous situations, and from the reviews it is also a great way to go. Either way, find a way to make it here sometime in your life. It will change you…I promise.

route 66