London 2016! We’re back.

Posted by Andrew on Nov 2, 2016 in England 2016, London | 4 comments

Well, we are back in London for 2016. With transition of Chelsie’s new job and constant changes at SCE, this trip is long awaited and a well needed holiday. We were looking for some place where we could relax. Most folks would consider heading to Hawaii or a tropical island to lay on the beach to unwind; not us. London is our home away from home. Here we have our favorite spots in town and are very familiar with the tube and is easy for us to navigate. Our focus is to further explore the fantastic dining options while casually visiting our favorite landmarks. To continue the relaxing theme, we will condense a few days into each blog post. This way we can document our adventures without having the stress of nightly posts.

We departed LAX on a Sunday afternoon (October 30th) via Virgin America. We were lucky enough to have upgraded seats to Premium Economy on the new Dreamliner. The flight was fantastic! Chelsie took advantage of the comfortable seats and nearly slept the entire trip. As we flew over the eastern part of Canada, we were able to capture some amazing photos of the aurora borealis. They are so breathtaking to witness. With Chelsie enjoying her slumber in window seat, I struggled to capture the 15 second open shutter photo. Luckily one of the attendants allowed me into the Upper Class areas where I had full access to a window.

Our Airbnb flat is centrally located within walking distance of Carnaby Street. Conveniently, it is also within walking distance of two of our favorite restaurants, Bao & Nando’s! We generally have a travel dining rule to always explore new restaurants instead of revisiting. However, these two are worth breaking this rule and we did it on our first two meals. Nando’s is a South African food chain and is a great option if you don’t have time to research your next restaurant or need something quick. Bao’s Fried Chicken and Classic Bao was one of the reasons we decided to come back to London and select this location. Our favorite!

After dinner, we head to Westminster Tube station Exit 1 to view the London Eye & Big Ben.  If anyone is going to visit London for the first time, I always recommend taking this exit, especially in the evening. As you emerge from the Exit 1 tunnel, you are greeted by the twinkling light from the London Eye across the Thames River. While sulking in the view of the London Eye, you continue up the stairs and the towering Big Ben becomes visible. Its absolutely amazing. It was such an fun experience for us the first time, we continue to recreate it every time. Our evening ended with a walk to Westminster Abby.

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We’re home!

Posted by Chelsie on Aug 28, 2012 in Europe 2012 | 0 comments

Well, after a very long travel day on Saturday we’re finally home. Our day started out very early in Füssen where we got out the door by 5:00 a.m. Unfortunately for us it was raining quite hard. Thanks to Andrew for driving so carefully in the pouring rain in the dark on a two-lane highway that we had never driven on before. After about 2 hours we finally arrived safely at the Munich airport and turned in the BMW :( We got on the plane no problem and flew two hours back to London. When we finally parked (after the longest taxi ever) we walked about a mile, got on a bus and drove another mile or so to another terminal to catch our international flight. Unfortunately for us, we had to go through security again at the new terminal and then check in with Virgin Atlantic to make sure they transferred our luggage from Lufthansa to our flight home. We turned in our paperwork and hoped for the best. We had a little time to sit down and eat in the airport and do a little last-minute souvenir shopping before heading to the gate. Once we got there, we had a 30 minute delay due to unknown reasons. By this point is was pouring rain. We finally were able to board the plane and we taxied around for a while and by the time we were ready to take off, the skies had cleared and we had smooth sailing almost all the way to LAX. It was a long flight, but we watched movies, caught up on the latest season of Dexter, and napped a little bit. After landing at LAX it took us another 30 minutes to get to our gate because there was some kind of mix-up and the gate they assigned us to was a little too small for our airplane. They did a little creative maneuvering and before long we were parked. Unfortunately after that the Captain made us sit for a while longer while authorities boarded the plane apparently to remove an unruly passenger although he wasn’t in our section so we didn’t get the full story on that one. We got through security pretty quickly and then it was on to customs where we waited with our fingers crossed that our luggage actually did make it on the plane. Sure enough, after a few minutes there it was. We also got through customs easy-peasy and they even let me keep my tulip bulbs. Score!! Andrew’s dad was able to pick us up from the airport and take us home (thanks Dad!) where the pugs were so excited to see us that they were squealing and jumping around out of breath for about a half hour.

It was an amazing trip and we are sad that it’s over, but it definitely won’t be our last. Thanks to everyone who followed our blog while we were gone. We appreciated all your comments and were glad that you got to come with us to Europe once again. Until the next trip…

Cheers,

Chelsie & Andrew

Travel Pugs

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Hiking in the Alps

Posted by Chelsie on Aug 24, 2012 in Europe 2012 | 3 comments

This morning we woke up around 8:00 a.m. and headed down to the hotel’s breakfast. While it was fabulous compared to most other hotel breakfasts, it didn’t hold a candle to the spread in Salzburg. We are so spoiled now :) We stocked up on protein and carbs because our plan for our last full day in Europe was to do some hiking in the Alps. On the way out of town, we picked up some pre-made salami sandwiches from a local bakery since there wouldn’t be any food options where we were going. We followed a local map to the trailhead which promised Alpine lakes and incredible castle views. The trail started out with about 300 steps up a steep mountain. All along the way were lovely stops with small churches that depicted Catholic paintings of the stations of the cross. At the very top of the summit, there was a large crucifix and a platform that afforded us what were arguably the best views anywhere around. Facing Northwest we could see all of Füssen and the surrounding countryside and facing Southeast there were incredible views of the alpine lake Schwansee and two Bavarian fairy tale castles–Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein. We apparently timed it just right because we reached the platform at exactly 11:00 when the church bells in Füssen were ringing out and echoing beautifully all across the valley.

After enjoying the views for quite some time, we headed down the backside of the mountain to the pristine alpine lake Schwansee which was almost untouched by humans. We did pass a few other hikers, but for the most part it was just us and the forest. We continued on toward the castles and eventually reached another lake called Alpsee which was the most brilliant turquoise color you could ever imagine. There was a small shack on the lake where they were renting rowboats so we decided to rent one so we could eat our sandwiches out on the lake. This was Andrew’s first time rowing a rowboat and I have to say, he did a great job. Unfortunately for us, as soon as it was time to return the boat, a windstorm kicked up blowing the exact opposite direction that we were trying to row. We made it exactly back on time though thanks to Andrew’s hard work with the oars. Every so often we would hear the echo of someone playing a horn on the lake. We later found out that it was some older German guy with no pants on (see the picture below). Haha!

On our way back to the trailhead of another, less strenuous hike back to town, we walked right by Hohenscwangau, the smaller of the two Bavarian fairy tale castles. Unfortunately, the bigger one which was the inspiration for Walt Disney’s Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, had scaffolding on most of the outside of it due to repairs. It was okay though as we spent an entire day enjoying the amazingly beautiful Bavarian Alps. All in all we hiked about 6.5 miles with a total elevation change of 2,800 feet and although it was quite strenuous at times, we enjoyed every minute of it. It was a beautiful way to spend our last day here in Bavaria.

When we got back to the hotel we were quite tired, but decided that we would pick up a few last-minute souvenirs in Füssen before heading to the same Italian restarant we had dinner at last night. Since we enjoyed it so much yesterday, we figured it would be a great way to spend our last night here. We ate some more delicious food (pictures below) and wandered the town one more time before heading in to pack our things for tomorrow’s journey home.

Of all the trips we have taken, this one seems the longest (in a good way). Andrew and I both really needed to get away and enjoy some time together as our day-to-day lives with work and school can be quite hectic at times. It was an amazing journey and we’re so glad that you we’re able to share some of the memories with us back home. I doubt we will have time to post anything tomorrow as we will be up at 4:30 a.m. to catch flights from Munich to London and then London to LAX, but I will try to post one final time once we get home. If all goes well, we will be landing at dinnertime on Saturday evening.

Cheers,

Chelsie & Andrew

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The Open Road and Füssen

Posted by Chelsie on Aug 23, 2012 in Europe 2012 | 2 comments

This morning we finally remembered to take the camera down to breakfast in order to get some pictures so you guys can see what we’ve been raving about the last few days. As you can see, describing it in words, just doesn’t cut it. We pretty much stuffed ourselves and then headed back to the room to pack up and check out so we could get on the road to Füssen, another Bavarian town at the very southern tip of Germany. Before we left we thought it would be a good idea to pick up some lunch for the road even though we were far from being hungry after the giant breakfast we ate. We have this really great travel guide that recommended a spicy sausage stand in the old part of town so we headed that direction figuring we could find a parking spot somewhere near the river to avoid having to drive in old town Salzburg. Our guidebook says, “Mozart never drove in old town and neither should you” and based on what we have seen so far, the book is right. Unfortunately we were not able to find a parking spot so we just continued on hoping that the extra yogurts and to-go Nutella packets we swiped from the hotel breakfast would hold us over until Füssen.

The drive was about 3 hours, but it went by pretty fast due to the fact that everything here is postcard perfect and every time you round a bend, another fabulous sight awaits. We only stopped once at a small grocery store so Andrew could get some iced coffee and snacks. The highlight of the store was this bread vending machine where you press a button and bread pops out. Andrew of course was so intrigued that he bought two pretzels. Some of the drive was on the highway (Autobahn) and other parts were on two-lane country roads where inevitably we were constantly getting stuck behind big rigs, RVs, and even cows crossing the road at one point. We didn’t mind too much though as we were just cruising with the windows down. It smelled like cows (in a good way) and freshly-cut grass for most of the trip.

When we we arrived in Füssen, we found our hotel really quickly, but took a few turns in two of the cities roundabouts before we figured out where to park to check in. The guy at the front desk Sebastian was really friendly and helpful. He really made us feel welcome in Füssen. After we unloaded our stuff from the car, we decided to explore the small town which actually has a good amount of things to see considering its size. As soon as we got outside it began pouring rain, but that didn’t stop us from ducking into a few shops and finding a great Italian restaurant on TripAdvisor for Dinner. Ristorante Pizzeria il Pescator was just a few blocks away from our hotel in the pedestrian shopping area of town. The food was absolutely delicious, again surprising considering the town’s size. I posted some pictures of it below in case you are interested in seeing what we ate. By the time we were done eating, the rain had completely vanished and the sun made a quick appearance before setting over the Lech River. We grabbed some quick gelato (again, this being so close to Italy, Italian food choices abound) and headed back to the hotel to call it a night. Tomorrow we are planning to hike to some amazing nearby Bavarian castles so that should be fun.

Cheers,

Chelsie & Andrew

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