New York City has thousands upon thousands of places to eat, so this spot is probably one of a hundred great Mediterranean choices. That being said, Omar’s is awesome. Recommended by a local friend of Lebanese descent (he knows good hummus when he eats it), this unassuming little restaurant has amazing Chicken Shawarma, delicious hummus, and a very tasty complimentary piece of baklava for desert (only if you dine in). Be sure to try whatever the white and red sauces are that are on the table (I should have asked…my Lebanese buddy called them “the usual white sauce” and “the spicy sauce”…). And for the amount of food you get, the price of $11 is actually quite good for New York City.
I’ve also been told that at lunch time, the line can go out the door and that the wait (at worst) is 20 minutes. Probably not worth it if you’re in a hurry, but if you’re not, I’d take the time. So, if you’re around Midtown East or checking out Rockefeller Plaza or Times Square and you’re in the mood for a little Mediterranean fare, take a walk to Omar’s.
Raffles Hotel is like the “Cheers” of Singapore. It’s a super touristy site that you kind of have to go to if you’re in Singapore for the first time. The hotel itself is pretty cool; it’s one of those turn of the 20th century looking, old school hotels that gives you the feeling when you walk in that you’re a European on some grand, exotic journey.
It costs a pretty penny to stay there, but most people only visit for its claim to fame–the site of the creation of the Singapore Sling. Note: There is no dress code to get into the bar, despite what the guidebooks say. There is however a dress code to enter the hotel, but when we visited they weren’t letting non-guests into the lobby to take pictures anyways, something they supposedly normally do.
Singapore Slings
I had heard of this cocktail before, but as far as fruity cocktails go I never really tried it because a Pina Colada, Mojito, or Daiquiri was always closer to the top of my preference list. When in Singapore though, get a Singapore Sling. So we went to the bar, waited a generous 20 minutes or so to get in, dove into the free bowls of roasted peanuts they have out (there are peanut shells all over the place so if you’ve got an allergy, stay away) and ordered our whopping $31 SGD Singapore Sling cocktail. The drink itself is essentially pineapple/cherry juice with gin (a whole lot more juice than gin I’m afraid…). Was the drink worth that price? No. Was it good? Actually yeah, it was super refreshing after a hot day of walking around.
Afterwards, you can pop into the nearby St. Andrew’s Cathedral which is down the street. It’s worth seeing while you’re there, but nothing special so you can just make it a quick stop.
The museums aren’t worth visiting just for the historical lesson; they are a great excuse to get out of the heat! If you only have time for one museum, this is the one that I would suggest prioritizing. From this museum we discovered that for such a small city, Singapore does have an incredibly rich history. The closest thing I can compare it to is Jerusalem. Singapore, like Jerusalem, is a giant melting pot of so many Asian, European, Arab, and Australian cultures, and much of that history is on display at this museum.
National Museum of Singapore
A lot of the museum is dedicated to Lee Kuan Yew who in 1965 was elected the country’s first Prime Minister after years of French, Dutch, and Portuguese colonization. The highlight of the museum is watching him give his acceptance speech and pointing out that Singapore is “not just Malay, not just Indian, not just Chinese,” but a the “multi-racial” country that values all its diversity.
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One rather unique exhibit is the Glass Rotunda upstairs. In there, projection lights shine through stain glass displays creating a pretty cool revolving show. And if time permits, stop into the Food for Thought café in the museum lobby. The food is more expensive than you would typically pay for in Singapore, but a portion of the proceeds go to aid charities.
The Peranakan Museum is dedicated to the local Peranakan culture and is an idealistic showing of how their local culture is a successful mix of several races into one. The museum is broken up into separate rooms, each displaying different parts of Peranakan culture: weddings, religion, home life, education, etc.
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The big exhibit consists of really impressive glass beaded artwork from blankets to kitchenware to clothes. Other items on display include a cool food and feasting gallery, a room filled with shrines worshiping deities (including an odd Asian Christian one that has Jesus Christ surrounded by bunch of Asian stuff) and funeral room exhibit.
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The funeral room in particular is a little creepy to be honest (there are signs warning visitors that it might not be good for children) with a coffin on display and examples of unsettling mirrors marked with a big “X” to mark the death of a family member. I’m not usually weirded out by that kind of stuff, but it did send a bit of a chill down my spine (though nothing compared to what would come in Hanoi…more on that later…).
Fort Canning Park and Marina Bay
Singapore has a ton of green space and a great harbor that are fantastic areas to just lounge around, people watch, and relax. Problem for us was that it was raining–a lot. So our trip from Marina Bay to Fort Canning was a deluge of a mess. As such, we opted not to spend the $$ to go to up to one of the popular rooftop bars on the water just to get the same sight that I saw on Table Mountain in South Africa…
On a cloudy day, the view is awesome.
That being said, the walk around Marina Bay is worth doing.
It’s also not hard to see that Fort Canning Park is a great spot to take a long walk as well on a sunnier day. One thing we did miss out on that I really wanted to see was the Battlebox Museum. Our Lonely Planet guide gave us incomplete visiting hour information–while the museum, yes, is open during the range of hours that the guidebook provided, it’s only open to those who have a guided tour, which happen only at 3 or 4 selected times during that range of hours…I was none too thrilled to discover that.
Also, if you happen to be around Fort Canning on a Sunday, and you time your walk right, you can catch the ceremonial changing of the guard at the Istana (President’s residence) on Orchard Road.
Singapore is the perfect Asia layover. It’s what I would call “Asia for the non-ambitious traveler.” What I mean by that is Singapore is incredibly comfortable, making it also incredibly standard. It’s a very, very easy city to negotiate; it’s super clean, modern, and everyone speaks English. The tap water is potable, and you really don’t need to worry about the food at all. The money is in Singapore dollars (SGD) and the exchange is an easy 1 SGD for every 75 U.S. cents (essentially making everything there a tad cheaper). Also, the subway is the most user friendly public system I’ve ever been on; it puts the subways in the U.S. to shame.
So would I go to Asia to visit Singapore specifically? No. But I would definitely use it as a jumping off point for the rest of the continent as it’ll help ease you into the area while you recover from jet lag. Which is what we did for a weekend before heading off to Vietnam for 2 weeks.
I would highly recommend the Quincy Hotel, but only if you don’t mind walking about 20-30 minutes to get to the historical sights. Keep in mind, it can get really hot in Singapore, so that 30 minutes walk gets pretty long. If you’re okay with that walk every day, then stay here. Also, it’s located just off of Orchard Road, the main boulevard with dozens of shopping malls (literally dozens of 9 level shopping malls), so if shopping is your thing you’re right where you need to be.
This surprisingly chic hotel has super modern rooms with some perks I’ve never really seen at any other hotel I’ve stayed at. The first big perk is this: free minibar access in your room. Yes, free. Every day they restock it with a few sodas, juices, and a couple beers that you can dive into without costing you extra.
Free minibar, restocked daily.(If you don’t watch “Fresh Off the Boat”, you should. It’s funny as hell.)
The second perk is they’ll wash 2 pieces of laundry a day for you. Again, because you’re in a country that’s right on the equator, you’ll want to take advantage of cleaning up some of your sweaty garb. The breakfast buffet is excellent and the gym and pool are extremely nice. The pool in particular is outdoor, but covered, and the water runs to the edge giving it an infinity pool feel right into the Singapore skyline. And the hotel is relatively affordable; it only cost us a reasonable $150 U.S. a night (through Expedia).
Where to eat
Singapore is world-renowned for having amazing food. I don’t see why. I don’t mean to sound snobby, but the reality, in my opinion, doesn’t live up to the hype. I’m not saying the food was horrible; quite the opposite, the food was actually very good. It all tasted very fresh, and was super cheap (most entrées are under $5 SGD). And the Kopi coffee is delicious. But is it deserving of this whole, “Oh my god, Singapore has the best food in the world” reputation? Nope, not in this travelers opinion. But I’m fully willing to admit that maybe I didn’t go to the right places or maybe I am just a snobby dick. Who knows? But anywhoo…
Hawker Centers & Food Courts
These bad boys are where the local folks, tourists, pretty much everyone goes to get their grub. Many locals told me they rarely cook because it’s just cheaper to eat out. The Food Courts are usually located in the giant malls that I mentioned before on Orchard Road and other areas. They are a step above Hawker Centers which are their own standalone collection of food stalls. Both offer the same types of food, it’s just that the Food Courts are a little cleaner and a bit more expensive. We went to both, and both had very good fare at a very cheap price. But again, a lot of the food that you find in the Hawker Centers and Food Courts you can easily find in an American Super 88 Asian market. People would rather travel 10,000 miles to get the “real thing” than go probably 30 minutes down the highway for the same thing in the U.S.…
Keep in mind, not all Hawker Centers are 24 hours (a mistake we realized after going to one and finding it closed for lunch), so check the times. Also, for some reason Singaporean food centers seem to hate napkins. I don’t know why, but there were no napkins anywhere. So either bring your own or I hope you like having food grease on your pants (thank god for the free laundry service at the Quincy…).
The Hawker Center we ended up going to is the popular Lau Pa Sat, which is open 24 hours, and got a slew of entrees including Char Sew Noodles, Hainanese Chicken Rice, Basil Chicken (from a Thai stall), and Fried Kway Theo (essentially chow fun noodles).
We also stopped into a Food Court chain called Food Republic and had their version of Hainanese Chicken Rice, and a roasted duck dish.
Din Tai Fungs are located throughout Singapore, and I later realized when we got there that it’s actually an international chain that we’ve been to! We went to the location in Sydney in 2015 (I clearly need to read my own blog more often…). So it’s not exactly a local spot, but the locals themselves seem to love it as the location we were at inside the Wisma Atria on Orchard Road was packed. As with most of the locations, the Din Tai Fung kitchen is open for all the customers to see the dumpling chefs hard at work.
Just like in Sydney, I wasn’t blown away by the good, yet unspectacular food. However, their claim to fame in Singapore is the Truffle & Pork Xiao Long Bao, a steamed truffle/pork soup dumpling (I legitimately don’t remember this offering being in the Sydney location, and looking through the Aussie menu now I don’t see it). It ain’t cheap, even in American dollars. One dumpling is $5 SGD (to give you a reference, 6 of the regular pork dumplings is $8 SGD). But that one dumpling…ooh boy…it was damn good. It’s a delicious mix of truffle mushroomy, earthy, salty pork meaty, brothy, explosive flavor–all packed into one little bite. I chewed very, very slowly and let the flavors just marinate on my tongue.
My love of travel didn’t come out of no where. I’ve been fortunate enough to have parents who have taken me around the world and see the benefit of exposing their children to the vast diversity of cultures on our planet. So with that, our guest post today comes from none other than Mom! It’s a little lengthy, she’s big on narrative, but worth a read to avoid having to go through the horrible experience she just went through. Here she is:
“I have always enjoyed travel. The last few decades had seen me in many countries around the world and since my retirement, the frequency of my travel has increased. I just recently returned from a trip to Bangkok, flying from JFK, with a lengthy layover in Beijing on Air China. The flights to and from Thailand were so terrible that I need to share the experience with you.”
“As any seasoned traveler would know, one usually chooses an airline based on price and service. The Thailand trip was actually a vacation package deal including all airfares, international as well as domestic. The price was very reasonable because they booked us on Air China, which offered the lowest airfares.”
“Both the outbound trip and return trip each took approximately 15 hours in the air. Two meals were served between JFK and Beijing. The flight attendants could not speak English well (I think they probably understood English much better than they spoke it) so with the first meal served, I could only grasp the concept of either duck or beef for choice of entrée–I chose duck. The duck tasted like the back end of the fowl; it was absolutely offensive. The accompanying rice was cold and dry. I ended up eating just a dinner roll with a pad of butter. The second meal came maybe 8 hours later. Again, I could barely understand the choice of beef or chicken. Still reeling by the duck experience, I chose the beef and onion stir-fry. I had one bite and stopped. The beef and onion had a slimy texture, the type of slimy food would get just before turning rancid, usually after a day or so without refrigeration. I was nauseous for the rest of the flight.”
“Also, for the entire 15-hour flight, beverages were served only twice when the two meals were served. There were no beverage carts going up and down the aisles for the passengers at any other times during the other 14 hours. Fortunately, I had an aisle seat, so I was able to make frequent trips to the galley to beg for water. And when I did ask, the cabin crew had the audacity to give me attitude for asking! For water! Food and service on the return flight was no better; I chose not to eat and I was so hungry and dehydrated when I got off the plane.”
“Now, let’s get to the bathrooms on the plane. With over 200 passengers sharing 6 bathrooms in the economy section for 15 hours, it goes without saying that maintenance of these bathrooms is pretty critical. I’m not sure of the airline’s policy, but I was not impressed by the condition of the bathrooms on either flight. There was a clogged toilet in one bathroom and I stepped into a giant puddle of some liquid which I’m assuming was urine in another. Needless to say those shoes didn’t come home with me.”
“And that’s not all. At the Beijing Airport, I chatted with a family waiting for the same flight back to JFK (Two parents, an elderly grandmother, and a 10-year old son). Air China had scattered them all over the plane, not keeping this party of four together. The father asked the ticket agent at counter for, perhaps, just two seats together so that one parent could be with the young son. The counter agent couldn’t accommodate such a humble request of finding any two seats together on a Boeing 777. She told them to ask the agent at the gate for the seat changes. When they spoke to the agent at the gate, they were told that they should have had the counter agent to change seats, not at the gate. Ultimately, the family was able to switch seats with other passengers so that the child would not have to travel alone without parental supervision. It was the passengers who resolved the problem. The airline was no help at all.”
“This brings up the most important issue to anyone traveling and my final note–the airline’s willingness and ability to help during an emergency situation. Air China could not deal with a simple problem like seat changes for a family booked as one party. I doubt the company will assume responsibility for major issues like damaged luggage, lost children, or injury. On an international flight between Beijing and New York with passengers from different countries, the inability to speak fluent English by the flight attendants worries me greatly. If an emergency arises at 35,000 feet, I doubt the ability of the Air China crew to help me. I would not be able to understand their emergency instructions. Knowing the words duck or beef will not help at all. Personally, I will avoid flying Air China in the future.”
No trip or review of South Africa can be done without addressing the Apartheid. Before I came to South Africa I knew the Apartheid existed; and by I knew it existed means I had seen Lethal Weapon 2 and knew the whites were the bad guys.
But…you’re blek…
So I had a general awareness of Cape Town’s racist history. But I’m telling you folks–it was REALLY racist. Full on, government sponsored racism. And right up until the early 90s!! Although we didn’t get to go to Robben Island, a couple of our guides had amazing stories to tell about their time as a black person during the Apartheid. I can’t really tell you everything, but here are just a few highlights:
One of our guides hadn’t eaten with a fork and knife in a restaurant until 2000 when his tour group invited him to join them for dinner in a previously “Whites Only” restaurant.
Scattered throughout the city used to be Whites Only and Non-Whites benches (most have been removed at this point). The penalty for sitting on the wrong bench? 3 months in jail. So how do you know if you’re white or black? Well…
You would need to be classified as White, Colored (something like Asian or very light skinned African would be classified this), or Black by a government official per the Population Registration Act. From there, based on how you looked according to this one guy, you’d get either all the benefits or jackshit for benefits…and the craziest part–if the guy labeling you couldn’t tell if you should be black or colored, he’d drop a pencil in your hair. If the pencil stuck, you’re black. If it didn’t, congrats you’re colored.
Like I said there’s a lot more, but if you ever visit South Africa I’m sure you’ll meet plenty of people who’ll tell you their own stories. And after hearing their stories, it makes me really appreciate what a great man Nelson Mandela was for having the patience and the forgiveness in him to advocate non-violence once he became president. Because I know personally, if all that crap happened to me, I’d wanna take out all those motherf**kers.
So in order to really get immersed in what racism was like we needed to leave the comfy confines of the waterfront and make our way to the townships. The townships were the designated areas where blacks and coloreds could live. These days those that live in the townships are still in pretty dire straits, and the housing there can be described as a rundown gated community at best. The black townships are extremely poor and the people who live there are living on the bare minimum.
A lot of these townships also still have their tribal traditions, some of which are pretty brutal. Warning: The following story is pretty graphic. When we visited the Langa Township, we were shown a wooded area that was fenced off and used as a coming of age ground for men. Boys have to survive in this wooded area for 3-6 weeks to prove that they were a man. Okay, whatever, I can roll with that.
However, that’s not all. Boys, ranging from age 16-20, also have to go through a circumcision procedure, done not by a trained doctor, and without anesthesia. I am very not okay with that. Our guide told us 10% of all the boys that go through the ritual do not survive and that if they don’t do it, they won’t be considered a man by the tribe. Oh yeah and after they survive the circumcision the “now” man would get part of his finger cut off so that public could see he fulfilled the ritual (and yep, one of our drivers had part of his pinky missing…).
Every man in our group listening to this story was squirming nauseously in their seats.
Now this is just one tribe; they do not all do this, in my opinion, super barbaric ritual (our tour guide’s tribe doesn’t have any comparable rituals). But it is interesting that in the 21st century this kind of stuff is still around.
Anyways, moving on to the township itself…I’ll give you a second to breathe and get over that story…the residents in the area were all very friendly (at least in the one we visited). They lived in housing ranging from cargo containers to run down apartments. Obviously some were nicer than others (the coloreds had low income housing essentially), but they were all still crazy overcrowded. During peak apartheid however there’d be like 14 families in one 3 room apartment. It’s absolutely nuts.
There were also several memorials around, such as the Gugulethu Seven and Amy Biehl memorials, that commemorated those that died to end apartheid and their stories. I highly recommend clicking on the links and reading about them.
Looming over Cape Town is the beautiful Table Mountain, a must visit on any Cape Town trip. Just like stupid Robben Island, Table Mountain is subject to worker strikes that may or may not make your excursion possible. On our visit, there was a strike going on and there was a 50/50 chance of us being able to go up. Unlike Robben Island however, we were able to make this stop actually happen because the day of our visit the workers and employers and come to an agreement.
That being said, it was a little cloudy on the day we went which is not uncommon, so keep that in mind. But we were lucky enough to catch a few breaks in the clouds to get some spectacular views of Cape Town.
On a cloudy day, the view is awesome.
There are multiple trails of varying degrees of difficulty to hike up or you can take a 4-minute, 255R cablecar ride that has a pretty cool 360 degree rotating floor. As a group, we took the cablecar, but a return trip to South Africa to hike up the mountain has been added to my to-do list. Once at the top, there are 15-, 30-, and 60-minute trails to walk around the top of mountain as well as cafes for refreshments. A rock climbing company was also at the top offering tourists a chance to scale down the side of the mountain (another on my to-do list), and you’ll most likely run into a dassie or two, an indigenous animal that looked like a mix of a squirrel and a gopher.
Back in 2010 South Africa hosted the World Cup and several of my friends went down there on a trip I unfortunately was unable to attend. They came back and raved about the country and everything it had to offer. Luckily my chance to visit South Africa happened with a family holiday trip.
Our journey started in Cape Town, a beautiful European, non-smoking, English speaking (1 of 11 national languages) city with Southern California weather; it reminded me very much of Sydney. It didn’t feel like Africa, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing after a 14-hour flight, and quite honestly, as I discovered throughout the trip, South Africa is a really easy country to negotiate for foreigners (just watch out cause they do drive on the left there).
One major thing to note is this: The tap water in Cape Town is fine. Our tour guide, Warren, insisted that we ignore what the guidebooks said, so we took the chance and didn’t have any problems. I wouldn’t go drinking it in large amounts, but for brushing teeth and eating vegetables it’s perfectly fine. (Warren was a great tour guide, I’d highly recommend reaching out to him if you ever visit: warrenmorris34@gmail.com) We also discovered that South Africa is also pretty progressive, as it’s the first country in Africa to legalize abortion and gay marriage; just a small step towards making up for the years of racism, which I’ll touch upon in depth later.
We stayed around the Victoria Wharf waterfront, which is super touristy, but very comfortable. The waterfront, with live calypso bands playing constantly, is the center where most of the activities, food, the aquarium, and shopping can be found. And there is plenty of shopping and eating to be had. The exchange rate when we were there was a generous $1 to 13 South African Rand (R), so let’s just say we indulged in some very nice meals for the price of a trip to Olive Garden.
Here’s a rundown of a few things you can find at the Victoria Wharf waterfront.
I’m going to start my coverage of South Africa with this. 1) Buy tickets in advance for Robben Island. They should be around $23. 2) Even then there’s no guarantee you’ll make it there. We did NOT go to Robben Island. Robben Island is like the Alcatraz of South Africa, the place where political prisoners were held, including the great Nelson Mandela who was imprisoned for 27 years. And we didn’t make it there. Why? Who the hell knows. The official excuse was that the ferry broke down. The unofficial theory is that there was some form of corruption in play that apparently is not unusual that stopped the ferries. Even though we got our money back, it was unfortunate and disappointing to say the least. So if you’re planning a trip to Cape Town, yes you have to try and go to Robben Island because it’s like the Statue of Liberty of Cape Town. But it’s annoying that you may travel all the way there and something might throw a wrench into that plan.
If you’re looking for a place to stay, Protea Hotels (the Protea is the national flower) are all around Cape Town, but the Breakwater Lodge is the location that’s closest to the waterfront; it’s about a 10-minute walk. The hotel is super clean, very modern, and has a fantastic breakfast buffet. The hotel is located on Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business, which also happens to be a former women’s prison, so it’s unique to say the least. But it’s the proximity to the waterfront that is it’s biggest selling point.
Two bedroom
Quay Four
4, W Quay Rd, V & A Waterfront
Cape Town, 8001, South Africa
Pronounced “Key Four” (dropping some knowledge on you there), this was our first meal in Cape Town and was quite honestly one of the best. The restaurant is right on the water and is composed of two parts. The downstairs is a bar and patio with cheaper fare, whereas the upstairs and upstairs porch is a bit more fine dining. We grabbed food upstairs and I had my first taste of Kingklip, a regional fish popular in South Africa. The fish was quite good, a lot meatier than I thought it would be, and it was served with potatoes and butter sauce. I’d also recommend their calamari appetizer.
This seafood restaurant is actually located in the mall, and you can’t miss it because of the crowd of people sitting in the atrium tables they’ve set up and the line of hungry patrons trying to get in. After we saw the line we figured it had to be good and worth trying. While in line, they offer a wine tasting to ease the waiting period. We were told the sushi was the most popular dish by our wine server, so that’s what we tried. They have a “4 X 4” sushi platter which is a combo of their popular rainbow reloaded roll (tuna) and spicy creamy rock shrimp roll. The food was great–the service, well…the waiter was pretty smarmy. I couldn’t tell if it was him being just being a dick or if it was a South African attitude thing, but it rubbed some in our group the wrong way and it takes the restaurant down a peg.
If for some reason you’re craving steak there’s a restaurant option in the mall called Belthazar that was actually pretty good. They claim it’s rated the best steakhouse in Cape Town, which could easily be made up, but also could easily be true because I’m guessing there aren’t THAT many steakhouses in Cape Town to compete with. Regardless, the steak was damn good, and as I mentioned before, pretty reasonably priced, but again it’s only really worth going to if you’re craving steak.
These are just two of several places to go shopping on the waterfront aside from the traditional mall, which is like any other mall you’d find in the U.S. The Watershed and V&A Food Market are quite charming and offer some non-chain products from locals. In there you can find local artisan foods and goods, such as jewelry, nuts, fudge, teas, textiles, home goods, etc. It’s worth a walk through if you’re looking for a souvenir.
London. It’s the city that boasts Big Ben, royalty, pubs galore…and evidently the best Caesar salad? Returning from her honeymoon just a few days ago, I asked my friend the usual travel question, “What was your best meal?” You don’t expect a lot of things from English food–maybe perhaps a great fish and chips, bangers and mash, or Indian food. But I was quite shocked when she said an out of this world Caesar salad. Here she is:
“Jet lag set in, which required a bit of a nap, and by the time we awoke most restaurants in the neighborhood had already closed, as it was a Sunday. We decided to pop down to the hotel restaurant for a bite to eat, and once settled in to the dimly lit, cozy lounge with its plush velvet chairs, serendipitously happened upon what was undoubtedly the world’s most exquisitely delicious Chicken Caesar Salad. Classic in its elements, though deconstructed enough to make it interesting at a glance, the salty, creamy, freshness of this salad made it one that I would plan another trip to London for. It was so mind melting, that my husband is planning on writing to Bon Appétit to beg that they publish the recipe so that we and the rest of its readership can feast privately on this edible masterpiece in the privacy of our own homes forevermore.”
So yeah…
Unfortunately, she was too busy eating her salad to take a picture, but I trust her culinary taste-buds like they were my own. Where in London does one find such a delicious dish?
“We stayed at The Zetter Hotel in Clerkenwell which was amazing and the bar/restaurant is called Club Zetter Wine Room & Kitchen. Right behind the hotel is The Zetter Townhouse, which is a much smaller sister hotel built into a Victorian townhouse, and hosts a super quirky cocktail bar, also pretty bomb. I had an absinthe cocktail there and sat in the chair with the yellow pillow :)”
The Zetter Townhouse Cocktail Lounge, Clerkenwell
Thanks Jenny Eggert Bourque for the Quick Hit! And remember, if anyone has any quick recommendations or stay-away-froms, feel free to send them to Here and There Travel!
In early August a group of friends and I decided to take a weekend off and rent a house in Heathsville, Virginia to decompress from our work lives D.C. We found this house on AirBnB and it worked out pretty darn well for us, so I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to get away from the hustle and bustle of the work week.
Located two and half hours from D.C., this house easily held the 9 of us staying there. The host was very generous, attentive, but also left us alone to enjoy our weekend once all the rules were covered (there weren’t very many). It should be noted that the house is the owners actual residence that she rents out, so it’s furnished like a real home and not a summer home. Here are the details of the house.
4 bedrooms (2 queens, 2 doubles), 1 living room with queen pull out couch, 2.5 bathrooms
great historic architecture; each room is “themed” by different countries the family has lived in. For example, the son’s room was British themed, one of the adult bedrooms was Australia themed, etc.
It’s a bit of a hike for the two people who get the kids rooms upstairs FYI, and the ceilings are pretty low in those rooms
Fully stocked kitchen with plenty of dishes, silverware, and cooking supplies
A/C in every room except the hallways which was key since it was ridiculously hot out
Grill on the back patio for use
Sun room (which we didn’t use because it was too hot)
In addition to the house itself, the property offered several activities for us to entertain ourselves with. (The videos below were provided by Kristal Ernst Przeklasa)
A beautiful salt water pool with basketball hoop was where we spent most of our time
There is a Bluetooth speaker attached to the pool house which provided the tunes for the weekend, along with plenty of towels and chairs provided by the host
One thing to note: At the height of summer, the salt water pool gets pretty warm. Like almost bathwater warm. So if you want to go for a icy, refreshing swim, you’ll need to do that in the morning
A soccer net and huge field to play football/bocce/croquet/etc. surrounds the property
There’s a quick walk to the river (although down a steep and rocky hill, so be mindful of that) with the owner’s kayaks, and cages for crabbing available
In the immediate area there’s one neighbor who isn’t very close, so noise isn’t a factor. The house is also a 10-minute walk to Athena Vineyards, which wasn’t anything to write home about in terms of their wine, but the $5 tasting of ALL their wines (I think it was 8 total) is a steal. They are however turning it into a cidery at some point.
If you need supplies, such as food, sunblock or bug spray (something only I and not necessarily the group needed because all the f**king bugs were attracted to me), there’s a Wal-Mart and Food Lion a 10-minute drive down the road. (Some of the photos were provided by Victoria Zapata and Chad Barrington)
Be wary of Get Your Guide if you’re planning to travel to Iceland.
When you travel, you always need to expect the unexpected. Even if everything is planned perfectly, things can change on a dime. Sometimes the changes are good, but sadly in this following example the changes are bad.
It’s a pretty simple thing–If a tour company confirms a booking for a tour, that means you have a spot reserved right? Apparently not with Get Your Guide. I’ll let my friend’s experience speak for itself:
“We had a tour booked to go to the Blue Lagoon, around a fishing village and some of the country well in advance of our trip. And then, 5 days before our tour, they told us that time was booked and asked if we could go an hour earlier, and we said yes, not really a big deal. Then they told us 2 days before we were supposed to go, that they didn’t have any slots. WHY did we wait this whole time, if you never had any spots to open to begin with?? So then, by the time they told us all the slots had been taken, the individual Blue Lagoon tickets themselves were sold out.”
I always want to give people, and even companies sometimes, the benefit of a doubt. But if I’m going to pay money to fly all the way to Iceland, booked one of the key sights well in advance, and then 2 days beforehand they cancel — that’s totally unacceptable. You tell’em Joe.
To end on a happy note though, my friend ended up booking a different tour with Reykjavik Excursions that took them to another one of the less-touristy hot springs which they thoroughly enjoyed, despite not seeing the main attraction they wanted to see most, and said their guide was amazing. Here she is again:
“We took a 9 hour tour around the Golden Circle, waterfalls, and geysers. The small hot springs they took us to ended up being a really cool experience. They actually cook their own bread under the sand along the beach, where one of the hot springs bakes it. They bake it for 24 hours, and when we got there, they had finished a loaf, and so we got to try it!”
All’s well that ends well I guess! And a special thanks to Laura Remis for the heads up!
Here and There 