The American movie The Bucklet List came out in 2007 and featured Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman as two terminally ill men (who seemed to be in shockingly good health) doing all the things they wanted to do before they died, or "kicked the bucket." The term was around long before then but it really took off in popularity after the movie's release. We don't actually use … [Read more...]
Cloaked in mystery: Women’s clothing in Muslim countries
Both before and after our visits to Muslim countries (6 and counting) the question we are asked the most frequently at home is "Did you have to wear one of those things?". Some people mean were we covered head to foot in burqas and others just wonder if we had to cover our hair. When we say "no" we are met with varying degrees of disbelief. So with massive disclaimers … [Read more...]
Stopover in Doha, Qatar
Six months ago Brunette was the thrilled and lucky winner of 2 Business Class tickets on Qatar Airways. Our plotting commenced immediately. We were in a dither of excitement about traveling in our own little people pods with flat beds, entertainment centers and good food and wine. But where would we go? With Qatar Airway's home being Doha we decided to go there and see it … [Read more...]
We are off to collect more beautiful ceilings!
As Blonde and Brunette prepare to embark on our next adventure we hope to bring back memories of food, nature, architecture, horrifyingly inappropriate giggling fits, high falutin' hotels, nervousness navigating customs out of our comfort zones and fabulous ceilings. Ceilings? Blonde is a sleeper who would sweep the gold medals if the Olympics included sleeping as a sport. In … [Read more...]
How to use TripAdvisor®
We are power-users (if there is such a thing) of TripAdvisor® and we are both rated as "Top Contributors". We meet people who claim all of the reviews are fake, who just look to see which hotel is #1 or who read the reviews and react negatively or positively to things that don't really have anything to do with them. But you read us, so you're superior to those people! Here … [Read more...]
Trip insurance: get the right coverage (Not exciting, but important)
We know this isn’t a sexy topic (although we’ll at least try to get some questionable taste comments in here) but if you are spending a fair bit on a trip, and you don’t have the budget left to fund unforeseen events, you’d be very smart to buy trip insurance for issues that could potentially cause you to incur major additional costs. Ever since we started buying trip … [Read more...]
The confusion and surprises of eating around the world
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...]
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...]
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...]