King’s Cross/ San Pancras to Gare du Nord

There is a very distinct different culturally and architectural between the public transportation services in London and Paris. Never once in London did we feel unsafe, like we typically do using public transit in Southern California. The stations also may have felt worn and well used in places in London, but never terribly dirty and…

Buckingham Palace and Ye Olde Mitre

I’ve been writing about our adventures in pieces because these first few days of our honeymoon are so fast pace. I’m stealing this time waiting in line for the Catacombs of Paris. We are packing so much in, we probably should have packed more comfortable shoes. By the time we finished with Westminster Abbey on…

Westminster Abbey

Two separate people recommended Nando’s Peri Peri Chicken to us. It’s a chain that serves a South African style chicken. Obviously, we had to try it out. The restaurant was bright and colorful, and very popular. Phil and I got a plate to share, though after tasting it we could probably have devoured one each.…

Tower of London

Our first impression of London was that it was looked cleaner, felt safer, and smelled better than the cities in Southern California. We walked from the hotel back to the Tower of London after sleeping in for our first full day (and only) in the city. We didn’t have any tickets purchased or really any…

Butler Peak, Big Bear

Last summer, Phillip and I went up to Big Bear to search for a wedding venue, but made a weekend trip out of it with all there is to see and do in the area. People often ask us why we chose Big Bear as a place to get married, which we answer with a…

Mist and Snow: Mt. Rainier

The Pacific Northwest is perhaps my most favorite place in the world. There is something magical about the richness of the greenery, the mist that surrounds the forests, the eerie silence of the wild. Phillip took me up to Washington for my birthday this past year, partially to see his grandmother, who lives in Redmond,…

Camping in Borrego Springs

April is probably the latest you’d want to go out in the desert of Southern California, unless baking in the sun and hallucinating mirages cartoon style is your idea of a good time. Even though the mornings were cool and the nights breezy, the blistering heat of the sun meant that sunscreen was a necessity…

HI – Day 6 – The Fair Wind II

As one of the earliest days that we’ve had, we arrived in Keauhou Bay at 8:30 to board the Fair Winds II, a boat that would take us to Captain Cook Bay – officially Kealakekua Bay. While we were still metabolizing our Dramamine and finding our sea legs, the crew served us breakfast and sailed us…