When we decide on a trip we generally have food and wine expectations and those expectations have even been the reason we've selected one country over another. Hence we may now never see the pyramids in Egypt. We were trying to decide between Egypt and South Africa. We chose South Africa because they produce wonderful wines. We know that, as a rule, primarily Muslim countries … [Read more...]
Archives for 2013
Ten things to know about shopping in foreign countries
Our call center does not have adequate staff for all of the calls coming in asking for advice about shopping in foreign countries. So we are writing this informative post to save you having to learn lessons we (like to think) we have already learned. These are the top 10 things you should always ask yourself before making a purchase in a country other than your own (and … [Read more...]
Home Exchange – Wish we knew then what we know now
Don't we all! For one thing we wouldn't have married the men we did. Whoops - got off topic - sorry! This is supposed to be about our home exchange experience! Late last year Blonde listed her (then) Boston home on HomeExchange.com . A fellow blogger had convinced her to take the plunge. The process is like Match.com. You put a picture of your home looking better than it ever … [Read more...]
How to plan a beach getaway
The first snow hits the ground or the sun doesn't come out for a week and all of a sudden someone says "Let's plan a trip to a beach". Someone else agrees and they each have totally different thought bubbles over their heads as to what this means. Unless you think and talk through these things ahead of time you may find yourself wanting to get away from your partner or spend … [Read more...]
OMG GoWithOh 2 PRG!
We don't want to alarm our readers but we have come to the considered (over some wine) opinion that people, places and things change over time. When we started our blog, BlondeBrunetteTravel, a year and a half ago we were young and wide-eyed with enthusiasm! Regrettably it does not appear that we benefitted from professional haircuts but the enthusiasm is palpable! We wanted … [Read more...]
Whiskey, a hooker then a gun – 18 hours in the west of Ireland!
There's an old Irish proverb that God invented whiskey to keep the Irish from ruling the world. We don't have any data to back up this statement but after an evening at Zetland Country House Hotel spent sampling (with enthusiasm) their whiskey, sushi and chocolates we can't imagine that ruling the world would be more enjoyable. We were on a trip in the Wild Atlantic West … [Read more...]
A visit to Cnoc Suain (easy for you to say)
Blonde and Brunette weren't exactly chipper when we received our morning wake-up call to go to a family-owned homestead to learn about authentic Gaelic experiences. We would have preferred some authentic sleeping in and we are usually loathe to learn actual information when we travel. However, this proved to be a case of the educational aspect being interesting (and some more … [Read more...]
5 Reasons to Take a River Cruise with Scenic Cruises
They’re from a good family –Scenic Cruises is privately owned. As such they do the things they believe are best for their customers and the environment, not their stockholders. That can make all the difference in the world! Also, with their more than 25 years of experience we would feel confident that they could quite capably deal with any unexpected development that might … [Read more...]
Day trip from Dublin
Blonde and Brunette were in Dublin to attend a two day travel bloggers' conference. After Day One our extraordinary intellect had already absorbed the critical information from the conference for both days (remarkable) so we played hooky and went on a day trip out of the city. Our first day in Dublin we'd met with with Simon O'Connor who is the co-director of the City of a … [Read more...]
Capture the Color Photo Essay Contest
For a change we will try to leave the speaking (primarily) to the photographs: White: We were visiting Turkey but had no plan to see whirling dervishes. We thought they would just be cheesy shows put on for tourists. But our guide took us to an evening show at a caravanserai outside Cappadocia. There was nothing cheesy or fake in any way as we watched in fascination as … [Read more...]