a lifestyle, family and travel blog
As I mentioned in my earlier Tulum post, I instantly fell in love with this crunchy, eco-chic, boutique beach town located just south of Cancun. When it came time to pick a destination for my Bachelorette party, I couldn't shake visions of me and my besties sipping frozen beverages on Tulum's picturesque beaches or dancing the night away in a jungle bar under the stars. And so, we were off to Tulum!
Like most people, we've had to cancel several trips due to COVID-19 and have been dying to get out of our city condo and travel somewhere - anywhere. Knowing the virus is still very much at large and airline travel is primarily for essential needs only, we needed to find somewhere within driving distance. Emerald Isle is a bit of stretch since it's a good 15 hour trip from Chicago but sun, sand and salt water were all trip requirements and geographically speaking, we weren't going to find anything much closer. Besides, Kevin and I never scare away from a good road trip.
Never have I visited a spot that so many claim as their "favorite place EVER." It is for this sole reason that we elected to stay on the island of Capri for two days over the popular day trip alternative from one of the neighboring Amalfi Coast towns.
Pronounced (CHINK-weh TAY-reh). I hate to say it but I had pretty low expectations for Cinque Terre. Of course all the colorful, cliff dwelling towns are picturesque but everything I had read talked about how uncomfortably packed the five small fishing towns are with tourists, the unwelcome cruise ship ports and the threat of imposing tourism limits. I was pleasantly surprised when Cinque Terre turned out to be one of my favorite stops in Italy!
Kevin and I love taking small spontaneous weekend trips that require absolutely zero planning or preparation. Sometimes it totally backfires on us (cough *our first night on Catalina Island* cough) but other times I feel like it's the best way to truly experience a new city with no expectations or biases.
Zanzibar was the final stop on our honeymoon tour of Africa. We purposely chose to end in Zanzibar because we thought it would be nice to leave on a "relaxing" note after the "active" portion of our trip. Turns out, the Safari was just as relaxing as lounging by the pool all day. All the same, it made for a good excuse to visit and explore this beautiful island off the coast of Tanzania.
We knew we wanted to travel for our wedding anniversary but we had such a busy month of September that we never pulled the trigger on a trip. That left us scrambling the week before to find something that "felt special" (my sentiment) but practical (Kevin's sentiment). That's how we stumbled across Santa Catalina Island. It's super easy to access from Southern California but still has an island getaway feeling. My only regret is that we discovered Catalina so late in our SoCal years because I would have loved to have spent more time here!
I see destination weddings as an opportunity to explore new destinations or visit old favorite haunts and we recently did just that in New England! We began our trip in Boston but only had 24 hours to explore this charming city.
Our trip to Italy in 2017 started in Naples which is a great starting point for the Amalfi coast. It's hard to believe that it's already been two years since we visited Italy but life has been an absolute whirlwind since our trip. Perhaps it's because because Kevin and I got engaged in Positano and we've been on a roller coaster ever since!
We chose The Bahamas for our Babymoon because it's one of the very few Zika free tropical destinations within a reasonable distance to the U.S. Having both been to The Bahamas before - think college spring break style circa early 2000's - we were a little unenthused about this destination at first since that wasn't the vibe we were going for on this particular trip. However, a little research led me to discover the Out Islands and we instantly fell IN LOVE with the pictures and description of Harbour Island.
KARA VALLARI 