Airbnb – Here and There

August 24, 2016August 25, 2016

Looking for a getaway in Virginia?

For booking click here: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/8123738

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)

October 31, 2015

Loro Ciuffenna

After our long weekend in Amsterdam, we hopped on our flight to Italy and began that segment of the trip in the Loro Ciuffenna region. Located about an hour south of Florence, Loro Ciuffenna is a nice Tuscany getaway from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Our group rented out a giant villa via AirBnB near the small town of Arezzo, which is easily accessible by train from Florence. The villa itself however requires a car, so if you want to stay there, renting one is a must.

Here’s the link to the villa we stayed in.

There’s not a whole lot to do in Loro Ciuffenna, which is perfect if you’re looking to just relax and enjoy the rolling hills and vineyards. However, with your car you’re within driving distance of Siena, Florence and several other Italian cities that make for good day trips.

We spent only a few days in Loro Ciuffenna, and most of it consisted of getting good and drunk off of delicious Chianti wine. Our group also hired a chef to come to the villa a couple times and cook us some Italian meals (they clean up too). But here are some other highlights from Loro Ciuffenna before I get into the ins and outs of Florence in the next post.

Toscana Mia Cooking School
Località Poggio S. Polo, 2, 53013 Gaiole In Chianti SI, Italy

This was A LOT of fun. I would highly recommend this cooking class, especially if you’re in a group and want to experience Italian cooking in a local’s home. It’s a bit far outside of Florence, so you’ll really need to either be in the Loro Ciuffenna area or in Italy for a while and can afford to spend a whole day doing this activity. The standard menu that they’ll teach consists of Bruschetta, Mushroom Tagliatelle, Tuscan Chicken, and Panna Cotta (and of course plenty of Chianti is provided throughout). Though when booking the class you can request any particular Italian fare you want to learn how to make.

The family run cooking school isn’t as “individual” as I had hoped; I thought that each person would have a station and everyone would be able to make their own individual meals. However, there was plenty of food to be made for the whole group, so everyone had ample opportunities to help cook each segment of the meal. This class is great fun for any group, family, or couple looking to get a little messy and enjoy a fantastic meal that you can say you helped create.

Ristorante La Cantinella
Localita’ Montemarciano
70/G, 52028 Terranuova Bracciolini AR, Italy

This is one of the best meals I had the entire trip (if not the best). Ristorante La Cantinella is a fantastic restaurant to go to if you end up staying in that villa. I’ll be honest, the food was amazing, but not amazing enough to travel far to try, so if you’re staying in Florence, I’ll have recommendations in the city for you in a few posts. But regardless, the meal was truly wonderful, and the ambiance was classy, but relaxing at the same time. If you’re able to get a table on the patio, you can watch the sunset over the Tuscan hills. And this place was very affordable – for the type of food we were getting, the price was probably half of what you would pay at a nice Italian restaurant in the States. Even the good bottle of wine we had was only about 16 euros. My recommendations: try the Pici with Duck Ragu and the Rabbit with Spinach.

Antica Macelleria Falorni
Piazza Giacomo Matteotti, 71, 50022 Greve FI, Italy

If you do go to the cooking school, stop by the nearby town of Greve. Within the main piazza is Italy’s oldest butcher shop. Packed with wall to wall meats, this place is every vegan’s nightmare, but certainly is a sight to see. Be sure not to miss the cheese cellar downstairs as well.

September 22, 2015

Amsterdam, Netherlands

It’s easy to say that I’ve had a pretty good year of traveling in 2015 and my final trip of the year started off with a weekend in Amsterdam and then a week in Tuscany/Florence. Amsterdam has always been on my bucket list and this city offers far more than its deviant reputation of the Red Light District and legal marijuana. It boasts several amazing museums, canals and bridges that arguably trump those in Venice, and a great nightlife. And it is all very doable in a 3-4 day weekend.

Our trip didn’t start off too well however. I won’t get too much into the details so I’ll truncate it a bit. First off, don’t fly United Airlines internationally. Just don’t. Secondly, if you’re going to use AirBnB be aware of a few things. 1) Their help numbers didn’t work when I tried to reach them in an emergency. 2) If you book an apartment through AirBnB, be sure that the apartment you’re choosing has been thoroughly reviewed positively. It should have at least 15 reviewers give it a thumbs up. We rolled the dice on a place and let’s just say our first morning of Amsterdam constituted of an unguided walking tour of the city with our luggage. (In the end, we got into the apartment we rented, but it was completely unprepared, dirty, and smelly and the apologetic owner claimed that she had cancelled her AirBnB account the week prior…)

After that unfortunate morning, we put aside our frustration because we were set to explore. The first thing you’ll notice in the city is how big of a biking culture it is. I’ve never seen so many people on bikes in my life. Be sure to be careful on the sidewalk, because unlike in the US, the bike lanes are part of the sidewalk and not the street, so if you stroll into one, you will most likely get in the way of the cyclists.

Getting around the city center is easy by walking and almost all of the locals speak impeccable English. With words like “flüggåәnkб€čhiœßølįên” (for you EuroTrip fans) you’d think getting around Amsterdam would be more challenging, but the Dutch are all very fluent in English (at least the ones we met) and it came close to feeling like we weren’t even in Europe at various points because of how comfortable we felt.

One other thing we were told is this, and you should know it going into your trip. GET ALL TICKETS IN ADVANCE. It’ll save you a ton of time waiting in line for the museums. They offer package deals as well that include various combinations of canal rides and museums that I would highly recommend you take advantage of to save some money. Also, apparently the locals don’t go out on the weekends because they don’t like dealing with tourists, so their “going out” nights are Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Here are a few of the things we did on the first day:

Heineken Experience

This is worth checking out, especially if you’re a beer drinker who’s done a few brewery tours in the U.S. This is like a U.S. brewery tour on steroids. No need to get an audio guide because the whole thing is in English. The tour itself begins with a pretty standard history of Heineken, the beer making process, and then a tasting. Then it gets a little wild. First you go on a “Star Tours” like ride where you’re in a room that moves and sprays mist and stuff at you while a movie plays showing the beer making process as if you were in “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids”. Then you walk through an Epcot Center like multimedia chamber with all sorts of random games, light things, music, etc. The end of the tour consists of a lounge area that looks like a nightclub where you can get two fresh, cold Heinekens as part of your ticket fee. Be sure to check out the tables with the electronic table tops. You’ll notice that wherever you set your beer, an electronic “coaster” pops up underneath it.

NJOY Cocktail Bar
Korte Leidsedwarsstraat 93
1017 PX Amsterdam, Netherlands

Be sure to grab a drink at NJOY. We actually just chose this place randomly to get a quick drink before exploring for the evening and it paid off. First off, the drinks were amazing. Expensive, but amazing. If you’re lucky enough to get the bartender we had, order an Envy (it’ll be a flaming cognac drink) or a “Rum Old Fashioned” which isn’t on the menu but a libation that our guy put together himself. Secondly, the bar looked like it was owned by Prince. Everything was in purple. For the people in DC, imagine if Little Miss Whiskey’s on H Street was actually a classy place — that’s NJOY. What really set the place apart though was the staff. The staff were friendly and sociable enough, but what put them over the top was that they went out of their way to put together a full two page list of things we needed to see, do, where to eat, drink, etc. And we utilized this list to a great degree throughout the trip and never came across anything on it that wasn’t a very good experience including where we went to dinner afterwards…

Castell BAR-becue Restaurant
Lijnbaansgracht 252-253-254
1017 RK Amsterdam, Netherlands

Which brings me to Castell. In general, Danish food isn’t anything to write home about. In fact, they love American hamburgers in Amsterdam so much, there was practically a burger joint on every block. But this place Castell could arguably be the best meal of the trip (it was definitely my buddy’s favorite, though I reserve my favorite for a Tuscan place I’ll blog about later on). The place was packed when we got in, so make a reservation. We just happened to be lucky enough to grab two open seats at the bar. Castell has a dive bar vibe, but at the same time hip, trendy and classy. The bar area ended up being pretty awesome because it had really, really comfortable bar chairs, and the counter was cushioned on the end to put your elbows on comfortably. The steaks, oh my god the steaks. Perfectly done. Can’t say anything else about it, just perfect. Now admittedly, we were drunk when we ate here, but I’m fairly confident the food is amazing there no matter what condition you’re in.

Next up: I’ll get into what Amsterdam is notorious for — The Red Light District.

August 20, 2011June 13, 2013

Lisbon, Portugal Part I

Before I got on the plane with my two friends to Portugal a few weeks ago, I had really no real idea what to expect; because of work I didn’t really get to do much research beforehand. I guess my impression of Portugal was that it was like the forgotten middle child of the European countries, with no defining landmark like the Colosseum, Eiffel Tower or Buckingham Palace, or signature food such as Pizza or Paella, or even a reputation for vices like what you would find in Amsterdam. But even so, I jumped at the opportunity to visit the country that I knew probably had a lot more to offer than what I imagined.

Our trip took us to three parts of Portugal – Lisbon, the capital of the country on the southwestern coast, Porto, up in the northwest, and Lagos in the beach area of Algarve along the southern coast. We flew a red-eye flight on TAP, the Portuguese national airline, which was to be honest not the most comfortable ride in the world. Expecting the plane to have the amenities of most European airlines (with cushioned seats, and video on demand screens on the seats in front of you), instead we had an older airbus with extremely worn seats and no movie/music options. Needless to say, I was underwhelmed and feared at the end of the trip having to fly home on the same old creaky plane (Luckily for us, we had a much more normal/modern plane on the way back with all the comfortable amenities). So just be warned if you fly TAP, you might land on an older plane.

Once we landed in Lisbon, we headed to the apartment we booked through Airbnb. (Watch out for the cabs from the airport – they will cheat you. The cab from the airport to our apartment cost us 28 Euros. The cab back going the same distance at the end of the trip – 7 Euros) The apartment we got was fantastic. It was clean, in a great area right in the historical region of Alfama, and our host Ema was super helpful in getting us settled with tips about taxis, telling us where the closest supermarket was, and giving us advice on good places to visit. If you’re planning on visiting, please get in touch with me and I’d be happy to give you her info. The rate for her two bedroom apartment, one bathroom, living room with kitchen/laundry was 60 Euros a night ($85 a night).

Here’s an outline of some of the things we did the first day:

-After walking around the city we quickly figured this out so be warned – the city is extremely hilly. Make sure you know that before you come to visit if you’re with the elderly or injured.

-Several of the sights in Lisbon are free to all and/or free on some days (usually Sundays) making the trip very affordable if you plan ahead accordingly.

–Igreja de Santa Maria Maior Se or Se de Lisboa (Patriarchal Cathedral of St. Mary Major): One of the first of many churches we visited on the trip, the fortress looking building was free to enter. Several of the parts of the church you should check out are the room with the high adorned papal robes and hats and the gargoyles patrolling the church. Other parts of the church such as the cloister and treasury cost a few Euros to enter and I hear are worth seeing if you’re a history buff (we unfortunately didn’t make it in, opting to save the Euros for other parts of the trip).

– Fado – One of the quintessential Portuguese arts is Fado, a traditional singing performance consisting of a singer and a guitarist or two. You can’t visit Lisbon without going to a restaurant at least once with a Fado performance. Although you probably won’t understand a word their saying – much like opera – the delivery of the singing is what makes the music so moving. Times vary and there are definitely tourist traps that lure visitors in with their Fado. But we did find one small place with several locals called A Tasca do Chico in the Alfama. The food wasn’t great to be honest, but the atmosphere more than made up for it. There were rotating male singers (all of whom looked like regular schmoes off the street) along with two very talented guitarists. They sang three songs each with a half hour break in between, the time we spent talking to the others we shared a table with. It’s definitely a relaxing time and a good way to unwind after a long day of sightseeing and meet some locals. Grade: B-

– Pois Cafe: For a laid back, coffee house experience with a staff all fluent in English check out Pois Cafe. Just down the street from Se de Lisboa (see above), this bohemian style coffee shop offers a venue where one can lounge around in their cushy sofas and grab any of the books or periodicals along the walls – think of it like an Urban Outfitters with food. With a menu of sandwiches and salads, the place hits the spot if you’re looking for a quick respite. Try the Mozart Sandwich (Cheese, Prosciutto, Salad, and Balsamic Vinegar) and their flaky apple strudel. Grade: B

Recap

Where I stayed:

Emanuela Pendjer Mendes’s apartment through Airbnb.com
Beco da Lapa
Lisbon, Lisbon 1100
Portugal

What I saw:

Igreja de Santa Maria Maior Se or Se de Lisboa (Patriarchal Cathedral of St. Mary Major)
Largo da Sé
1100 Lisboa, Portugal

Where I ate:

Pois Cafe
R. de São João da Praça 93
1100 Lisboa, Portugal

A Tasca Do Chico
Rua do Diário de Notícias, 39

This slideshow requires JavaScript.