Reykjavik Iceland’s capitol city is a very manageable size, hustle and bustle free without being a slacker, and so honest that even if two women were stupid enough to leave their car doors locked but the back gate to their SUV unlocked for hours, allowing anyone instant access to the contents of a medium-sized electronics store with a respectable selection of women’s clothing … [Read more...]
Places we’ve loved: The Garden Route, South Africa
This post was going to be about Hermanus, South Africa. But Hermanus is just one of several spots along The Garden Route with eyegasm-inducing scenery, charming cafes and and enough whales and dolphins for an entire season of Mammal Planet. Prior to leaving on our trip to South Africa we announced that we were going to rent a car and drive from Cape Town along The Garden … [Read more...]
The Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi is as advertised – grand!
On a recent trip to Dubai Blonde and Brunette's itinerary included a day trip to Abu Dhabi. This was a guided tour which is generally something we avoid the same way we do Donald Trump and poisonous spiders.But the price was right and Dubai didn't sound like a good place to "wing it" for two very Western sisters, one with a decided tendency to not behave demurely. For several … [Read more...]
Phangna Bay and James Bond Island, Thailand
Back when Roger Moore was James Bond and making the 10th Bond movie, “The Man with the Golden Gun”, it was filmed, in part, on an island near Phuket, Thailand. Even though the film was shot close to 40 years ago, was a critical dud and one of the lowest ranked films of the Bond franchise, the rock is somehow still a major tourism draw. The gun may not have been golden but the … [Read more...]
Our Dubai Desert Safari
Dubai has a serious Napoleon complex and appears to exist in part to achieve, document and proclaim superlatives. The world’s tallest building, the world’s tallest 7 star hotel, the word’s most twisty building (seriously), the largest shopping mall in the world and the world’s longest automated, driverless metro system. Brunette gets plenty of Napoleon complex at home from her … [Read more...]
Lost in Dubai
Sorry we have temporarily vanished while we're out exploring and collecting new material for you! Right now we are in Dubai gawking at people who are gawking at us. Here are a few photos from today so you can tell we're really here and to get you to wait anxiously for our next real post! … [Read more...]
The evolution of trip planning
When Blonde and Brunette were wee lasses our packing was all done by our mother. Our part of pre-trip planning was getting over-excited and giggly and hoping our grandparents would give us spending money. When they did give us money Brunette would add it to what she had already saved. Blonde hadn't saved a penny and would spend all of her money at the first Howard Johnson's … [Read more...]
Weekly Photo Challenge: Lost in the Details
These weekly photo "challenges" are generally a fairly easy way to generate a post. But this week the theme generated ideas for selecting pictures but not much for generating prose. Mulling this existential conundrum (not that it's really either) on a flight from Pittsburgh to Boston this afternoon helped Blonde gain some insight into the difficulty of the assignment. Neither … [Read more...]
Home Exchange – Why didn’t I do this years ago?
For a good 10 years Blonde has contemplated the idea of doing a home exchange in order to travel more cheaply (financially, she's already quite cheap morally ) and stay longer in one place (sounds sexual too). But contemplating and actually doing it never got together (home exchange, that is) until meeting Nola of NewTakeTravel at the TBEX bloggers' conference in Girona, Spain … [Read more...]
Is it time travel if you don’t know if you traveled in the time?
Huh? OK, that was an obtuse question for most people but for Blonde, it's a real question. Last Sunday Blonde spent 11 hours in the emergency department of the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Why? Was she sick at her stomach? Did she have a high temperature? Had she broken her leg? Gone in to see if she actually has Tourette's? Ruptured her appendix? Was she having … [Read more...]