The Italian Marco Polo is probably the world’s most famous traveler and one of the world’s first travel writers. The famous Venetian is believed to have left Venice at age 17 to embark on a 24-year journey through the Persian Gulf and Asia, spending much of this time in China in the court of the great Mongol emperor Kublai Khan. Polo’s book, Description of the World, offered one of the first detailed descriptions of the then mysterious eastern cultures to Europeans and would even inspire Christopher Columbus. The world that Polo described seemed quite strange and unbelievable to most readers, and even today many historians question the veracity of many of his stories. Some historians even doubt whether Marco Polo existed at all. Intrigued? I was very interested in learning more about this famous man and will share what I found during my research about the man, his amazing travels,… Read the rest
Archives for March 2014
Travel Blogging with a Purpose: A Need to Give Back
For those of you lucky enough to be able to travel frequently, do you ever feel a need to give back? We enjoy travel blogging and our blog is mainly focused on dispensing travel tips, advice, and stores from our travels around the world. However, we also feel a need to try to give back to the world. I just realized this week that while we have posted a page about our upcoming charity travel efforts and mentioned them in a couple of guest posts, we have not really discussed them in any of our own blog posts. So I thought we’d take the opportunity to share our upcoming summer plans to help support a charity and test our fitness by climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. While we are heading to Asia (S. Korea, Cambodia, & Vietnam) for the first time in four weeks; our planning has been slow as… Read the rest
A Visit to Grasse France: Creating My Own Perfume
Grasse France might be the sweetest smelling city in Europe, widely known as the perfume capital of the world. Known for its leather tanning work in the Middle Ages, this hilly French town would eventually become the center of the French perfume industry after it began manufacturing perfumed gloves in the 16th century and farming a number of flowers used for fragrances. Grasse still enjoys an international reputation in the perfume industry and is the home of dozens of fragrance companies. Even the flowers used for making the world-famous Chanel N°5 are grown and harvested here. In addition to the perfume industry, Grasse also provides travelers a break from the crowded Riviera coastal towns and offers a glimpse of the real Riviera away from the tourist route. We spent a full day and night in Grasse and we’ll share what you need to know to plan your own trip to… Read the rest
Itsu’s Fishing Supplies: Our Favorite Shave Ice (a.k.a. Ice Shave) on the Big Island of Hawaii
Now that Spring has arrived, I am finally able to return to blogging from my outdoor patio (yeah!) and this warm weather has me wishing for some Hawaiian shave ice. Shave ice is where a block of ice is “shaved” and formed into a ball with flavored syrup poured on top. The treat is typically served in a paper cone or cup. Often the flavor and calories are amped up by adding sweetened condensed milk on top, adding ice cream to the bottom, and/or adding azuki bean paste. It’s similar to a snow cone except the ice has been shaved rather than crushed, resulting in “fluffier” ice. This dessert, which is believed to have originated in Japan over a 1,000 years ago, has become a local island food in the state of Hawaii, particularly on the Big Island. On the Big Island, it is also called ice shave by many locals,… Read the rest
Lettr: The New Digital Way to Send Custom Postcards
As frequent travelers, we love buying and sending postcards and we were very excited to hear about a new service called Lettr. Lettr allows you to create custom postcards online that are then mailed to anyone worldwide. While traveling, we love sending postcards from awesome locations with short notes to people back home to let them know we are thinking about them. But as much as we love the perfect photos on the front of postcards, we have wished before that postcards could be a bit more personalized. Lettr is a new online service that solves this issue by allowing you to take and use your own photo for the postcard. So instead of sending your mom a postcard of the Eiffel Tower, you can send your mom a custom postcard with you in front of the Eiffel Tower! While you customize the postcard online, a printed postcard is still… Read the rest
Alcatraz Night Tour: Our Visit to The Rock with Alcatraz Cruises
After over 3 years of living in the San Francisco Bay area, we finally made it to Alcatraz Island last week and did the Alcatraz Night Tour and explored the famous prison. While primarily known and visited because of the 29 years it served as the home for the infamous Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, the tiny island has a rich and varied history. Long ignored by native people, the island would in turn serve as a strategic place for a lighthouse, a military fortification, a military prison, a federal maximum-security prison, the site of a 19-month occupation of Native American protesters, and finally a national recreation area and top tourist destination in San Francisco. Ironically, while for many years people would have done almost anything to get off and escape from Alcatraz, Hollywood celebrities now come here to shoot films and paying tourists line up in droves to come over and… Read the rest
A Visit to the Impressive Gothic Köln Cathedral in Germany
Dominating the skyline of Köln (a.k.a. Cologne in English) in Germany, the Köln Cathedral is one of the few structures that remained standing after the vast majority of the city was flattened by aerial bombs during World War II. While construction of this gargantuan Gothic church begun in 1248, the building (including what is today much of the façade) was not actually completed until around 1880 due to a series of wars and lack of funds. Standing in front of this immense and powerful Gothic church is enough to make anyone feel like a tiny church mouse. Given its status as Germany’s largest Gothic church, designation as a UNESCO World Heritage site, and being a long-held important stop on the Roman Catholic pilgrimage route, it is not surprising that Köln Cathedral is the most visited landmark in all of Germany. We’ll share all the basic information you need to visit… Read the rest
California Roadside Attractions: Pea Soup Andersen’s in Buellton CA
Pea Soup Andersen’s is one of those quirky, roadside restaurants that has a strong cult following in California and its fame can be attributed to the humble pea. For generations, locals and travelers alike have swung by this old-fashioned restaurant for friendly service and a hot bowl of pea soup! The restaurant is probably one of the largest purchasers of peas in the world, serving thousands of bowls of the hot green stuff each day, and is known as the “Home of Split Pea Soup”. What began as a small roadside café in 1924 opened by Anton Andersen and his wife Juliette has morphed into two restaurants, an inn, gift shops, and even a small museum. However, the primary reason to stop is still to try a bowl of their homemade pea soup made from Juliette’s original French recipe. If you’ve driven Highway 101 along California’s Central Coast, you’ve probably… Read the rest