Wilkommen.
Welcome to our travel-life-blog where we're going to post pictures of our food, our dog and our travels.
Welcome to our travel-life-blog where we're going to post pictures of our food, our dog and our travels.
Far from an exhaustive list of tips, but we'll try and drop the occasional piece of wisdom we've learned (read: thing we totally botched the first time) from our travels. Some will be specific to a locale, others will be general tips for how to be a good traveler, from our limited perspective.
Generic picture of chefs being chef-y. Oh. So. Chef-y.
If you're traveling to a new and unfamiliar place, Portland or Portugal, generally you've chosen it because of an event, or because someone you know told you about it. One of the best ways I've found to help navigate a new place is to choose a restaurant, recommended from a friend, and go there on my first night. Ask to talk to the chef, and if they have the time to come visit (don't be an impatient asshole if they're wicked slammed), tell them that a good friend recommended their restaurant, and you loved it, and could they recommend a place to eat tomorrow?
"Where do you eat when you have a rare night off?"
Depending on the chef and depending on the answer, this tends to lead me on a culinary journey of amazing food. And when you get to the second place, you say something along the lines of, "I was talking to the chef at FirstPlace and he said I just had to come in here... This was amazing. Where would you send me next?"
I've had chefs call ahead and reserve me a nice table, I've had a bottle of wine waiting for me, and I've had stunned looks of confusion as to who the hell I am and why am I bothering them. Your mileage may vary, but I've found this to be a very good way to find meals and restaurants in a new city, which is often a difficult task.
The best times I've had traveling are almost always when we have a friend wherever our destination is. This isn't just because you have someone to commiserate with, but because you instantly make the switch from tourist to guest. An example...
We had arrived in London early in the morning. It was Lacey's first time in the city. We went to Trafalgar, walked by Big Ben, saw the London Eye (but did not ride it). Checked into our hotel. Walked through Hyde Park. A day of random touristy wanderings. Then we met some friends of mine for drinks that evening at a pub of their choosing. We see friends of friends, get introduced as the jetlagged Americans and proceed to have some drinks purchased for us, buy drinks for others and have a good time. And in that moment, we went from being just another tourist, to a local's guest... and we were treated differently by the people in the pub and by the bar man. The chef trick above can help to shortcut this process if you don't know someone wherever you're headed.
The absolute best way to get around London is an Oyster Card. You can even get a Visitor Oyster Card mailed to your house before your trip if you're feeling all organized. I keep mine tucked away in a ceramic pumpkin my mom made in 1981 and topped up for whenever my next visit will be.
Seriously, if you arrive at Heathrow or Gatwick, don't leave the airport without one. It makes London a piece of cake to navigate on your own. That being said, at least once while you're there, hop in the back of a Black Cab and take part in 'The Knowledge' and see what it's like when a city respects their cab drivers and expects them to know where they're going.
Lacey and I have a consistent rule for when we're wandering and visiting a new city, especially with no plans on the docket. Walk to something cool (medieval church, any body of water in the city, shiny new building) and then, follow the stream of people. As an example, this has helped us find a weekend market tucked away in the Altstadt on a rainy Nürnberg afternoon, find the Bohemian Bards rocking on a street corner while someone literally blacksmith'ed a classical weapon in Prague, and meander our way to Tales & Spirits in Amsterdam... although, to be fair, we were always going to find that place. Kismet. Ta'veren. Call it whatever you want.
