Low-key Turkish breakfast :)

Is Istanbul on your travel bucket list yet? If not — ohhh friends — it needs to be. ♡

We booked our trip there this past fall on a whim, thanks to some crazy-cheap plane tickets that we happened to spot online. But while Istanbul had always been on our “someday” travel bucket list, neither Barclay or I admittedly knew all that much about the city or its culture or its food beforehand. We happen to have some good friends here in Barcelona who are from Istanbul, though, who loaded us up with lots of great recommendations for places to see and things to do before we set off. We also thankfully made the decision to pre-book more tours than usual, especially since we didn’t speak the language and knew so little about Istanbul’s history. (Also because Barclay and I couldn’t agree on which food tour to pick — whiiiich meant that we ended up booking two, which ended up being one of the most delicious decisions of our lives.)

And wow, you guys, this city literally blew us away at every level.

We loved Istanbul! ♡♡♡

History-wise, the city was endlessly fascinating, with so much to study and so many great places to see. Accessibility-wise, the neighborhoods that we wanted to visit all ended up being super-walkable and easy to navigate with trams and ferries, and we loved the cute, centrally-located little neighborhood (Karaköy) where we stayed. Relaxation-wise, we splurged on a bucket list fancy hammam during our last morning there, and loved every single minute of the experience. And food-wise, ohhhhh my goodness, it’s no exaggeration to say that our five days in Istanbul were some of the most delicious days of my life. Thanks to the two food tours and to Istanbul’s meze (small plates) style of eating, we got to sample a record number of local dishes on this trip. And I was in Turkish food heaven.

Anyway, tons of you messaged on Instagram asking for our trip recs and for my thoughts on traveling to the city. And I would just say — if Istanbul also happens to be on your travel bucket list, bump it up to the top and make your way there as soon as you can. The city seems to be poised in that sweet spot right now where tourism is quickly developing, but it hasn’t yet reached that saturation point where everything is overdeveloped and overpriced and overrun with visitors. So this felt like a really special window of time to be there and see the city. And if you are looking for some great recommendations, here are all of my faves for:

• Where To Eat In Istanbul
• What To Do In Istanbul
• Where To Stay In Istanbul

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Everyone has their favorite places in the world to visit, and Mexico City is hands-down one of mine.

I absolutely love this city. ♡♡♡

I love its eclectic, colorful, friendly vibe. I love its refreshingly mild weather and open-air everything. I love its clean minimalist modern architecture juxtaposed side by side with gorgeous colonial old-world homes and vibrant technicolor murals. I love its ancient pyramids and compelling museums and sacred cathedrals around every corner.

I love every single bite of its food.  I love its horchatas and aguas frescas, its mezcals and margaritas. I love its huitlacoche and achiote and street elote. I love sampling as many of its tacos as humanly possible, and learning more about its new-to-me prehispanic foods, and tasting what its modern chefs are up to lately. I love wandering all around its markets and passing by a thousand street food vendors each day. I love that — not just one, but multiple — salsas are served with every meal.

I love the kindness and generosity of the people who live there. I love the deep pride they hold in their culture, and admire how hard they are working right now to make the city a welcoming place for visitors. I love their eagerness to dole out a long list of personal recs for exactly where to eat the best tacos around town. I love how their Spanish pronouns err on the side of respect, and the quirky bits of Spanglish that get woven into daily conversation, and all of their fun sayings (¡que padre!). I love the warmth of their welcome.

For these and so many more reasons, I just love this city and think it is a total gem.

And for those of you who live in the States, good grief, it is also so close. (Just a 2.5 hour flight outta Houston!)  I mean, the coasts of Mexico are beautiful and will always be a great option if you’re looking for a relaxing beach vacay. But if you have been itching to get south of the border and are up for a bit more adventure, I would wholeheartedly encourage you to consider the urban heart of this country. The climate in Mexico City is fantastic, there is so much to do, there are so many great places to eat, the cost of traveling there is very affordable, and we felt completely safe both times we’ve been there. (More of my thoughts on safety below, since so many of you asked me about that on Instagram while we were there.)  And of course, if you do go, I have lots and lots of recommendations to share with you!

So without further ado, I’ve finally compiled all of my notes from our recent 4-day trip and am excited to finally share my best recommendations for where to eat, visit, and stay in Mexico City. Per ushe, I’ve also included a few zillion photos from our trip, although feel free to just click the links below if you would like to skip straight to the recs. If you have visited the city yourself and have more gems to share, please leave them in the comment section below too. And if you head there sometime soon and use any of these tips, would love to hear how your trip goes! I have a feeling you are absolutely going to love it.

Alright, let’s talk all things Mexico City!

Where To Eat
Where To Visit
Where To Stay
Travel Tips ♡
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Somebody pinch me — how is this our life right now?! ♡

A few weeks ago, Barclay and I realized that we had one free weekend left before all of our springtime visitors would start arriving in Barcelona to come stay with us. So we decided to hop onto Google Flights to see what cheap flights might be available for a last-minute trip. And right off, we happened to spot some 29€ round-trip tickets to Naples — which immediately made us think of our friends’ Alex and Sonja’s trip to the Amalfi Coast last summer. I still vividly remember all of the dreamy photos and stories that they shared from their time traveling around Positano, Ravello and Capri. And the more we thought about the possibility, the more Barclay and I liked the idea of a sunny destination with lots of hiking available, especially since it was still going to be too chilly to swim anywhere in Europe in early April. Also, neither one of us will ever turn down a chance to eat more Italian food.

So — we booked it! Well actually, my finger miiight have slipped and gone ahead and booked us two extra nights while we were at it, turning our spontaneous little weekend trip into a full five-night vacation in Positano. And oh my goodness, you guys.

We absolutely loved the Amalfi Coast.

I mean, Italy will forever and always be one of my places to visit, period. But this romantic part of the Western coast — with its picturesque villages carved up into the hillsides, brilliantly blue Mediterranean waters below, flowering wisteria and vibrant lemon trees everywhere you turn, dramatic cliffs and hidden grottos and world-famous hiking trails waiting to be explored, Caprese salads and fresh seafood pastas and lemon everything waiting to be tasted, plus some of the most charming locals you will have the chance to meet — the Amalfi Coast is just magic.

We chose to plant ourselves in Positano for the duration of our stay, and then took day trips from there, including one full day spent in Capri, one full day hiking the world-famous Path Of The Gods, one day combining visits to both Amalfi and Ravello. And then — as we love to do when we can — we also had one 100% down day, where we basically just read books and went for walks and took naps and lingered for hours at cafés. (Basically my dream kind of day!) Oh, and we also stopped for lunch in Naples on the way to Positano at our favorite pizzeria in the world, which I highly recommend doing if you are flying in through that airport.

In writing, it all sounds like a lot. But in reality, the pace of the trip was actually super easygoing, and we agreed it was one of the most relaxing and restorative vacations we have taken this year. Also, one of the most delicious.

That said, we didn’t realize until we arrived in Italy that the beginning of April is still technically the off-season there. So most of the recommended restaurants that we had on our list were still closed for the winter — whoops. On the flip side, though, we were able to enjoy the coast before the throngs of tourists arrived. Which meant that the towns were all blissfully tranquil, the hotels were much more affordable and discounted for the season (which we realized after the fact), and we were easily able to get into all of the restaurants that were still open for the season. Off-season perks!

All in all, we had an absolutely amazing time. And while we were there, I received soooo many messages from you all asking about our hotel and various travel recommendations. So if you happen to be one of the lucky ones traveling to the Amalfi Coast this coming year, or if it’s on your bucket list for someday, or if you just want to see 4.3 million photos of our trip, here’s my full trip report from our five days on the Amalfi Coast.

We feel so incredibly lucky to have had the chance to go back to Italy again, and hope that it won’t be our last!

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Well, I think this officially wins the award as the latest trip recap I’ve ever posted. (My apologies to those of you who keep asking for our travel recs!)  But this week, I finally finished editing our photos and travel notes from our trip to Lisbon and — wow — I was reminded all over again what a fantastic trip this was!

We actually planned this one at the very last minute, thanks to some $30 round trip airline tickets that we happened to spot online a few days beforehand. (Still can’t get over these European airline deals!)  But Portugal had been at the top of our traveling bucket list ever since we had moved abroad, and we had a free weekend ahead. So even though it was a bit chilly at the time in mid-October, we decided to do what all of our European friends are teaching us to do and just go!

Sure enough, Lisbon did not disappoint. ♡

From its laid-back, gorgeous, history-meets-hipster vibe, to sparkling mosaic streets, to legendary Fado and hole-in-the-wall live music venues, to the iconic bright yellow trams, to sampling all of the tinned fish, caldo verde, salted cod, Ginjinha, vinho verde, and pastel de nata a girl could ask for — we fell hard for this beautiful city and its rich culture. We also really enjoyed learning more about the country’s development over the past few decades after transitioning into a democracy. (Interestingly, Portugal was liberated from their dictatorship in ’74, just a year before Spain in ’75.)  So as you can imagine, all of the locals we talked to had fascinating stories to tell about these past few decades, especially about how the rise in tourism has completely changed their everyday lives, naturally both for better and for worse.

Without a doubt, though, our main takeaway from our trip was just how much pride the locals had in their beautiful culture. Everyone we met couldn’t wait to introduce us to their favorite bottle of wine or local cheese, or direct us where to find the best live music in the neighborhood, or explain in detail exactly why pastel de nata is the best dessert in the world, or add to our ever-growing bucket list of other places in the country that we needed to visit. Which — of course — just made each experience all the more special. We loved how much everyone there loved Lisbon, and really hope to return someday!

That said, if you’ve been thinking about making a trip there yourself, I would totally say go now if you can before it gets even more inundated with tourists. (The city felt comfortably full of tourists while we were there in October, but everyone we talked to there was expecting tourism to rise exponentially in the next few years — oof.)  We are hoping to pop back over this year when it warms up to balance out our Lisbon experience with a visit to the beachy side of Portugal, working our way up the coast to Porto. So hopefully, more Portuguese travel recs to come soon.

But for today, here are all of the best places we went in Lisbon! As always, most of these recommendations came directly from your messages, so thank you for helping make our trip all the more delightful and delicious. If you have any additional recommendations, please leave them below for future travelers. And if you happen to go and use this guide, I would love to hear how your trip goes.

Alright, without further ado, here’s Lisbon!

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Alright guys, cozy up. (Long post alert!)  Today I’m finally sharing all about our recent sail through the Baltic Sea with Viking Ocean Cruises!

As I mentioned in my post about spending three days beforehand in Stockholm, this trip was both Barclay’s and my first time visiting each of the countries on this cruise — Sweden, Finland, Russia, Estonia and Poland. So we were excited and curious to experience this part of Europe. (Spoiler alert: we were surprised how much we loved it!)  And also, super curious to experience our first Viking ocean cruise.

As some of you might remember, we actually had the chance to sail through France on a Viking river cruise a few years ago, which we both really enjoyed. But we were curious how the Viking vibe would translate to a much larger ocean cruise ship, and how the experience overall would differ. Turns out, it was pretty different. But also, incredibly fun. We had a blast, and were hopelessly spoiled on board, and didn’t want our week to end. So to answer the question a hundred or so of you asked — yes, we would totally recommend it!

That said, the Viking ocean cruise experience was definitely apples-and-oranges different from our Viking river cruise experience. So for any of you considering an upcoming cruise for yourself, I wanted to follow up my river cruise post with an ocean cruise post, and tell you all about it, and also offer a few thoughts about how to choose which kind of cruise might be best for you.

So here’s the scoop on everything about our Viking ocean cruise, including details on:

• The Ship (staterooms, restaurants, spa, entertainment, gathering spaces, and more)
• The Cruise (our itinerary, tours, things to do, destination travel recs)
• The Food (this one gets its own category, naturally)
• Our Best Tips (a few things we’ve learned)
• Ocean Cruise vs. River Cruise (some closing thoughts)

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Hej hej! I’ve finally sorted through a few million trip photos and am excited to tell you all about our trip to Stockholm, Sweden.

As many of you saw on Instagram, Barclay and I flew north to join Viking Ocean Cruises for a dreamy weeklong sail around the Baltic Sea, which I will tell you all about in another post soon. But before our cruise set sail, we decided to make the most of our time in that part of the continent and prowl around Stockholm for a few days. And wow, did this city steal our hearts.

We absolutely adored Stockholm. ♡

It was both Barclay’s and my first time to ever visit Sweden (and Scandinavia in general), and we were ready for the meatballs and chilly temps and clean designs and islands galore. But we were totally unprepared for how endlessly charming the entire city would be. From the abundance of fresh and healthy meals, to the cleanest and most easy-to-understand subway system we’ve ever seen, to the kindest locals with their flawless English, to a deep and fascinating country history that was pretty much all new to us, to the most beautiful interior design everywhere we turned, to the Swedish tradition of “fika” with those downright magical cinnamon and cardamom buns (where have these been all my life?!?) — we had the best time getting to know this gorgeous city.

We also had the chance to spend two of our afternoons in Stockholm with my friends from high school, Jake and Kara, who have been living in Stockholm for years as expats and made our time there extra-special. From taking us for a sail around the archipelago in their boat, to introducing us to Swedish Thai food (the one cuisine that is tricky to find in Barcelona!), to answering our million questions about Swedish culture and healthcare and politics and education and beyond, they were a total highlight of our trip. And I’m so happy we were able to spend time with them! Wichita expats…unite!

Anyway, we were only in Stockholm for a little under three days, so we only got to skim the top of our list of recommended places to visit. But of all the places we traveled on our cruise, Barclay and I decided that Stockholm was easily the destination that we hope to return to again sometime in the future. We loved it, and have lots of recommendations to share. So since you all have been asking — here’s the full story on where we stayed, ate, and visited all around Stockholm!

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For our very first year as European expats, Barclay and I decided to make the most of our time here and go big by planning one another epic bucket list trips to celebrate our birthdays.

Barc’s instant choice for his 40th birthday trip was Rome, where we flew this past March while his brother was here visiting, and celebrated by seeing all the sights and eating all the carbs. And it was amazing. We squeezed a ton into our five days there, and loved every minute of it. But by the time my 35th birthday rolled around in May, especially after a busy spring hosting 50+ days of visitors at our flat here in Barcelona, I was definitely craving more of the relaxing vacation vibe than the go-go-go trip kinda vibe. So once our schedule opened up at the end of the month, we decided to take entire week off and flew to the country at the very top of my bucket list…

…Greece. ♡ ♡ ♡

For the past decade or so, this magical country has been chillin’ at the top of my bucket list and Pinterest boards. So to finally have the chance to go there felt like a total dream come true! We decided to save Athens for another time, especially since we had just been to Rome, and focus our time on some gorgeous Greek islands instead. And when Barc asked about my hopes and dreams for the trip, my priorities were pretty simple:

1. Soak up beautiful views
2. Read lots of books
3. Eat as many Greek salads as possible

I’m happy to report…major wins on all accounts. Oh my goodness, the country was even more breathtaking and beautiful and serene than we had even imagined. The food was outstanding. We had dozens of reading dates all week long. And by the end of the trip, we both agreed that we were heading home feeling legit rested and restored and all the “re-‘s”…which is the mark of a good vacation, right?!

Truly, Greece took such great care of us, and we loved every minute of our time there. And of course, we also gathered up lots of good travel tips and recommendations to pass along to any of you who might be planning a trip there yourselves. So as promised, here’s our big trip roundup, including a few zillion photos (all taken with my iPhone and this lens, affiliate link), plus all of our recommendations for where to stay, eat and visit in Santorini and Folegandros, Greece.

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Last month, my favorite guy in the world turned 40! So to celebrate, I asked him to dream big and pick any place in the world that he might like to go to celebrate. Without missing a beat, he already knew his answer:

ROME! ♡

The Eternal City has been at the top of Barclay’s bucket list for years and years. So now, living just a 1-hour (and — still can’t believe this — only €20 flight) away from Italy, the timing for this big birthday trip felt perfect. Even better? Barclay’s younger brother had already planned a trip to Barcelona to come visit us the month of his birthday. So halfway into his time here with us, we told him to pack his bags for an adventure, then surprised him at the airport with tickets to Rome. And oh my goodness, you guys, the sheer delight on his face was priceless. I’ve always said that Barclay is my favorite person to travel with because he’s always so incredibly grateful for every adventure we get to have. But having his brother along for the ride — who was absolutely thrilled to have the chance to visit Italy for the first time in his life — made the trip extra special and full of gratitude all around.

Also speaking of full — oh man, you guys — I’m pretty sure we set some records for how much Italian food that three humans can eat in five days. Our trip was quite literally a moveable feast, designed entirely around the fantastic restaurant recommendations you all messaged me on Instagram. And wow, wow, wow — you all did not disappoint. From adventures in daily gelato-ing, to some of the best carbonara and cacio e pepe of my life, to a dreamy bistro devoted entirely to design-your-own cheeseboards, to toasts galore with Italian wine, to the best spots for suppli, prosciutto, bruschetta and more, your recommendations were on point every step of the way and made all of our Italian dreams come true. With a 5-day trip to Rome, we also decided at the last minute to squeeze in a quick day trip to Naples, for the sole purpose of eating as much pizzas possible in one day (six pizzas, woot!). And your recs and even some real-time navigation from you local readers there were spot-on as well. Grazie!

Anyway, ever since our trip, I’ve received lots of messages from you all asking for our full list of Rome travel recommendations. So — with my complete apologies that it has taken me a month to get around to uploading this one — here they are! If you or your loved ones find yourself heading to Italy for your own Roman holiday anytime soon, I hope that this list will be helpful. And if you have your own faves to add, please leave them in the comments below too to serve as a resource for other future travelers. Your recs are the best!

Also, apologies in advance for the blurry photos below. My phone got pickpocketed two days after we arrived home in Barcelona, before I’d had a chance to upload all of my Rome pics, and I lost every single photo I took on the trip (and then some). Major blerghhhh. But. Thanks to Instagram’s new feature where it save your old stories, I was able to go back and do a bunch of screenshot-ing, and also fill in the gaps with a few pics that Barc had snapped on his phone. So while all of my original photos are missing, I’m so thankful that we were able to at least retrieve the ones below. (Sidenote PSA: right now, everyone please stop what you’re doing and download the Google Photos app if you haven’t already. It will automatically back all of your photos up to the cloud, and hopefully prevent any more missing photo tears. :))

Alright, without further ado, here are the highlights of our Roman holiday! Scroll below for details on what we did, what we ate, and where we stayed.
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Ever since we moved to Barcelona this past October, our bucket list has been growing with new places that we hope to explore around Europe these next few years. So many places, you guys! And they’re all so dang close! (Although I should note that people here consider a 3-hour trip to be “very far away”, which always amuses us Midwesterners.)  ?

Now that we’re finally feeling a bit settled in here (and now that we’ve found an awesome dog-sitter, yay!), we’re excited to make the most of our time here and start traveling around as much as we can. But before we start hopping around to other countries,  Barclay and I really want to take a deep dive into Spain first, and get to know more about this fabulous — and fabulously diverse — country that we’re now living in. Our list of recommendations for day and weekend trips within Spain seems to literally be growing by the day. So a few weeks ago, we hopped on a 200mph-train and officially kicked off our Spanish tour with trip into the heart of the country…

…to Madrid! ??????

And it was so fun!

Also? Fascinating. Ever since we moved to Barcelona, we’ve been learning more about the differences between various regions around Spain. But I think both of us were totally surprised when we arrived by how completely unique the vibe felt in Madrid, just a few short hours away from Barcelona.

I mean, there were some of the obvious differences that we expected, such as the fact that everything in Madrid was in Spanish (not split between Catalan), there were Spanish flags flying everywhere (which are rarely seen in Barcelona, especially during this heated political time), and the sprawl of the city felt vast to us (compared with densely-packed Barcelona). But I think we both underestimated how different the actual culture itself would feel too. From the architecture (much more grand), to the nightlife (more jazz, flamenco, and generally more people out late), to the fashion (much more classy and dressed up), to the food (more complimentary tapas!) — we were totally nerding out the whole time on how distinctly Madrid the whole place felt. We decided that Madrid seemed to have the older, elegant sister vibe in the country…with Barcelona being the more bohemian, beach-loving younger child. Both part of the same fam for sure, but remarkably different. We love them both!

That said, I will admit that the thing I was most excited about experiencing in Madrid was their tapas culture. We’ve learned since moving to Spain that Barcelona is known for eating tapas, but it’s more traditional to plant yourself in one spot for the night doing so. By contrast, Madrid has more of a tapas culture, where it’s traditional to hop from place to place all evening, grabbing a quick tapa/drink or so at each place. (Which is basically my dream come true…all I want in life is one bite of everything!)  So as you can see by the restaurant list below, we took full advantage our time in the city and had a fun time tapas-ing our way around town. And also somehow managed to squeeze in some sights between the food. ?

So for all of you who asked, here is the full list of our travel recommendations — where we stayed, what all we did, and where we ate. Many of those recommendations, by the way, came from your kind messages and emails and comments — thank you! If any of you have more recommendations to add, please leave them in the comments below, and we can get a master list going. Your recs are always the best!

We’ll be continuing our little Spanish tour this month with little 2-day trips to Valencia and Mallorca, so stay tuned. More travel recs to come!

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Hey hey, we’re back from our ??!

Well, actually, first of all I’d like to just celebrate the fact that we actually got to go on our honeymoon. As many of you heard, I realized about a week before our wedding that my passport was missing (whoops). But, since we still had a week before our trip to Mexico, I was able to quickly connect with an expediting agency who assured me that a new passport could be mailed to us the day before our wedding. So hakuna matata! We were good to go!

Wellllll…long story short…the expediting agency goofed.

And we found out literally 20 minutes after our wedding ceremony that my passport was in fact not going to arrive in time for our trip the next day. Which meant that all of our honeymoon plans would have to be cancelled. Which meant that we got to spend a romantic first few hours of our wedding night stuck on hold with multiple airlines and our hotel to let them know we would not be there the next day. Ha, not exactly the beginning to our marriage that we had planned. ?

But…it actually all totally worked out for the best.

Because after an incredible (and very busy) week of festivities, Barclay and I left our wedding on the biggest high, feeling so overjoyed and thrilled and thankful. But, ha, we were also so pooped. So the chance to just have that first weekend to chill and relax and staycation at home here in Kansas City ended up being exactly what we needed. Then, once we opened our laptops a few days later to look into re-booking our trip, we heard back from our original hotel that they had an opening a week and a half later, beginning on a Monday. Yay! So, since we already had that weekend before off from work, we decided we might as well make the most of those days. So we impulsively booked two extra nights in Mexico City on our way to Puerto Escondido. And oh my goodness, we were so thankful that we did.

Our “new and improved” honeymoon ended up being the perfect mix of a vacation.

We started with two full days of adventuring all around bustling Mexico City, which we absolutely loved and can’t wait to visit again soon when we have more time. (PSA – two days there are definitely not enough!)  Then afterwards, we had an entire week of total relaxation at Hotel Escondido, which is pretty much the most dreamy and beautifully-designed and delicious boutique hotel ever in Puerto Escondido (in the Oaxaca region of Mexico). So it was go-go-go…then chill-chill-chill. Two of my favorite kinds of trips, all wrapped up into one fabulous honeymoon.

And the best part? It was all with my favorite guy. ?

Anyway, I wasn’t originally planning on posting here about our honeymoon. But we came home with a few zillion photos (of course) and a long list of places we would wholeheartedly recommend visiting in Mexico. So for anyone interested, here’s an abbreviated trip post including a few of our top travel recs.

And muchísimos fotos. ?

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