Year: 2015

All Posts Musings Planning Travel Tips & Tricks Wanderlust Friday

HTL Travelers’ Gift Guide: 2015

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Gift time!! Just kidding — the holidays is one of the reasons we decided against the permanent nomadic lifestyle. We love evenings spent with friends and family, sipping whiskey in the warm glow of the fireplace and of course christmas tree (or as we call it — […]

Read More
All Posts Musings Reviews Wanderlust Friday

Who, What, Where, When and How of TBEX

Given my misgivings about attending a travel blog conference (and really, I would have very similar feelings about any other networking event, especially one that stretches over several days), I attempted to calm my nerves by researching what to expect of TBEX. I was able to find quite a bit of information, which reassured me […]

Read More
Albania All Posts Destinations Europe

Castle Hopping in Albania

Is it surprising that Albania is a great destination for castle hopping? Like, really great. Albania is not a large country, and there are by no means countless historic fortresses and edifices — which means that castle sightseeing is not overwhelming, there’s no FOMO, or castle fatigue. Another huge plus – you don’t have to have a PhD […]

Read More
All Posts Musings North America Reviews US Wanderlust Friday

Should you Attend a Travel Blog Conference?

So, travel blogger conference. I made the decision to go to TBEX North America 2015 kind of on a whim, a month before the event. I spent the rest of the 4 weeks prior to the conference questioning, and even regretting, my snap decision making abilities. First of all, I am not a huge networker […]

Read More
How to spend one day in Tirana, Albania
Albania All Posts Destinations Europe

One day in Tirana, Albania

We’ve spent more than one day in Tirana, Albania — three days, in fact! — and found it to be a very pleasant experience to amble between our coffee shop of choice, several green spaces in downtown area, and a few monuments and notable buildings. Tirana is not going to win any awards for the […]

Read More
All Posts Destinations Musings North America US Wanderlust Friday

How to Travel with an Office Job

We’ve been getting this question  a lot lately – how do you travel so much? Or rather, do you work? I guess that’s the appeal of travel for so many – it’s the opposite of the office, of work, spreadsheets, meetings. In fact, work was the driving factor that lead us to get off the […]

Read More
All Posts Destinations Europe Macedonia

Skopje, Macedonia – A Study in Contrasts

One of the biggest clichés in travel writing is how this one place or that other place is full of contradictions. Grand, old buildings mixed-in with cutting edge, modern architecture, a striking mix of cultures or religions in cafes and on the street, old money next to new money and how that contrast pales next to […]

Read More
All Posts Destinations Europe Serbia

Belgrade’s Warring Identities

So, where are you from? – oh, you are Russian? No wait, you don’t have an accent… Oh you are American too? After many such conversations in a course of a year plus in travel, we don’t tend to over-think this part of getting to know other travelers too much. In general, we feel equally […]

Read More
All Posts Musings Wanderlust Friday

Wanderlust Friday

Driving through the Everglades National Park, Florida.  So many things to talk about today! First a BIG announcement — one half of our team (me!) is going to be attending TBEX in Fort Lauderdale, FL this month! Yesterday, Jet Blue had this crazy sale for $31 fares anywhere in the country, so this was what […]

Read More
All Posts Musings North America US Wanderlust Friday

One Year

The magic hour in LA, California. It’s hard to believe we’ve been back in the US for one year. What’s it been like? Wonderful. We’ve watched close friends get married and have babies. We’ve attended multiple happy hours, dinners, and parties. We’ve set up our house just the way we like, and bonded (again) with […]

Read More
Albania All Posts Destinations Europe Hungary Macedonia Serbia

Traversing the Balkans

Pet the Goat – a cool game you can play while driving down the Albanian one-way highway. Having read a bit about transport in and across the Balkans, I was slightly petrified of what could go wrong as we climbed aboard the train in Budapest to start our adventure across three country borders in as […]

Read More
All Posts Musings North America US Wanderlust Friday

Wanderlust Friday

PCH. On the road through Muir County, CA. We’ve had massive 17 days. We were on the road with no stops till Brooklyn (eerrr Bloomingdale, Washington DC) from East Coast to West Coat and back to the East Coast. Between the two of us, we’ve covered 10 states and at least a dozen new to […]

Read More