In Search of Haggis – One Day in Scotland
All the way back in 2009 we spent one day in Scotland and I have wanted to go back ever since. This was an impromptu trip to the U.K. brought about by a random airline price mistake – $250 for a nonstop roundtrip from Chicago to London in the spring. […]
All You Can Eat: The Great China Buffet
On our first day in Beijing, we woke up at 5 am in our hotel room, jet-lagged from the long flight and starving. I tried to fall back asleep and wake up at a more reasonable hour, but the growling from my stomach was too loud to ignore. “Do you […]
The Eighth Wonder of The World
I was surrounded by people on all sides, pressing and pushing against me, the momentum of the crowd carrying me forward whether I wanted to or not. I could see Victor’s head bobbing up and down ahead of me and I tried to keep an eye on him but couldn’t […]
Another Day, Another Istanbul Market
In two prior posts, I described our thrilling shopping adventures at the Grand Bazaar and Spice Bazaar in Istanbul’s Sultanahmet district. Yet, the market that we fell in love with the most was located away from the tourist hordes – on the Asian side of the city. It is hard […]
Let’s Spice it Up: More Shopping in Istanbul
In the last post, I described the fun of visiting and bargaining at the Grand Bazaar. And although my parents and I enjoyed the craziness of this behemoth ancient market, we found other markets in Istanbul that we loved even more. Several days before visiting the Grand Bazaar, we spent […]
Top 20 Things to Do in Mexico City
As we wrote before, Mexico City is one of our favorite cities. We’ve been there half a dozen times and every visit we discover something new and fun. Here are our 20 reasons why you should visit. 1. Explore Zocalo and Centro Historico Zocalo, the city’s main square, is the […]
More Money, More Problems
Please start with the previous post “Money, Money, Money” where we ask money questions about Cuba, and then continue here, where we answer them. As we were settling into a colectivo (a shared taxi), one of the fellow tourists started rummaging through his backpack. Unable to find what he […]
Money, Money, Money
The biggest headache in planning the Cuba trip wasn’t the itinerary, flights, or visa. It was money. Due to the official embargo, Cuba banks do not recognize U.S.-issued debit and credit cards. So, paying with credit cards and withdrawing cash through ATMs is absolutely not possible for anyone using American […]
How to Sneak into Cuba
There were two types of reactions to my last post about visiting Cuba and bringing gifts of hygiene supplies and medicine: “Did you really have to bring soap and pills with you? I thought Cuba had everything by now…” Or “Wait… You went to Cuba? Is that legal? How did […]
More Souvenirs: Part II
Last month, we wrote about some unique souvenirs that we brought back from our travels. Today is Part 2 of that post. African masks, Egypt In our collection, we have eight African masks, which is a lot, considering that we have not really visited Africa yet. The only nominal African […]
An Honest Conversation in Havana
There is a conversation that happens in every country we visit. The locals earnestly ask, we honestly answer, the locals are thrilled, and by the end of it, everyone is happy. But this one time, it went off script. “How do you like Cuba?” the taxi driver asked, flashing us […]