Travel

Eating in Vienna

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Austria was once the center of the Habsburg Empire that stretched from France to Russia. Austrian cuisine has evolved over the centuries, greatly influenced by its diverse heritage. Many of Austria’s distinctive dishes reflect the country’s mixed nationalities. The coffee culture, one of the important traditions in Vienna was introduced when the Turkish army invaded Europe and introduced coffee beans to the Viennese. Similarly, the wiener schnitzel originated in Italy, and the sausages were German delicacies.  All this different food plays a major role in Austrian cuisine today, and we couldn’t wait to try it all.  Here are the some highlights of all the food we tried:

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Photo of the Week: Pagoda

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IMG_2136Hanoi, Viet Nam

This picture was taken of Tran Quoc pagoda, located on a small island near the southeastern shore of Hanoi’s West Lake. This temple dates back to the sixth century, making it one of the oldest in the city.  The main tower consists of eleven octagonal floors representing the various stages of of Buddha’s life. On the grounds of Tran Quoc, you’ll find a bodhi tree, supposedly grown from the  cutting taken from the original tree where Buddha sat and achieved enlightenment.

Standing on the shore, you can see the pagoda clearly reflected on the surface of West Lake. Even though it’s in the middle of a noisy bustling city, there is a sense of calm and tranquility when you step onto the island.  People speak in hushed tones in deference to the religious silence observed throughout the temple.   Like many people over the years, we had gone there to pray and pay homage to Buddha when we visited Vietnam a few years ago.

Every Monday of each week, I’ll share a photo with you from my adventures around the world and at home.  Most of my photos have little or no post processing.  If you would like to see more, please click the ‘Follow’ button.

Trip Report: Hong Kong

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Hong Kong is a mix of modern ideas and ancient traditions that exists harmoniously side by side.  Steeped in its Chinese roots and colonial influences, Hong Kong blossomed into a vibrant metropolitan city.  Similar to New York, Hong Kong is well known for its expansive skyline and dense population.  Hong Kong is intense, there is a constant buzz that creates an energy that radiates throughout the city.  Every time you visit, you peel back the layers and discover more things to love about this city. This trip report summarizes all the blog posts related to our trip to Hong Kong and provides a break down of the cost.

  • Time Cost
    • Total Days In Hong Kong: 4 days
    • Total Days Off From Work: 2 days

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Photo of the Week: Horseback

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IMG_1476Reykjavik, Iceland

A few years ago, there was an episode of the Bachelorette where they went to Iceland.  A few months later, we saw a promotion for a self-guided tour around Iceland inspired by that episode that included horse back riding.  Horseback riding is fun in theory, but when the temperature out is below zero, it can be uncomfortable to say the least. 

We took advantage of the promotion and headed to Iceland for our honeymoon. We were there during the winter time when everything in Iceland is frozen and covered in frost.  If we were smarter, we would have opted out to go sit in a lodge with a hot cocoa, but where’s the fun in that, right?   Instead, we went out horseback riding in the freezing cold. We layered up, and if I remembered correctly I had on at least 5 layers of clothing.  I looked like a giant orange marshmallow on a horse, here is a picture of me on horse back. Continue reading →

Airport Drama

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I can write a whole series about the episodes of our airport dramas.  Ever since we started traveling 7 years ago, we’ve been delayed, had our flights canceled, our luggage lost, interrogated, searched and that’s just the run of the mill stuff.  One time we couldn’t get out of Thailand because of civil unrest when protesters took over the whole airport.

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Hong Kong: Occupy Central Photo Essay

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We were in Hong Kong as protests broke out across the city.  It started in Central and grew in size, overtaking some of the major areas of the city. The people of Hong Kong were protesting the Chinese government for the right to elect their own chief executive in 2017.   The movement gained momentum and support over social media as it got prominent coverage in the world press.

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Photo of the Week: Grand Canyon

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IMG_3629Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA

The Grand Canyon is awe-inspiring in its vastness and has long been considered one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World.  On a clear day you can see sweeping views that stretch out for hundreds of miles in all directions.

The Grand Canyon has always been on my bucket list, so when we were in Vegas for a week in February, we decided to rent a car and drive to Arizona.  What I didn’t know was that Arizona can get quite cold in the middle of winter.  For some reason, I thought it would always be hot there. Shows how much I know.  

Along the road, snow accumulated as we drove further up in elevation.  We were not prepared and were not dressed properly for the colder temperatures.  So in the end, we drove for 4 hours, ran out of the car for a quick look at the canyon and hurried back inside, away from the biting wind at the rim.  We will have to return another time for a hike down to the bottom of the canyon.  

Every Monday of each week, I’ll share a photo with you from my adventures around the world and at home.  Most of my photos have little or no post processing.  If you would like to see more, please click the ‘Follow’ button.

Hong Kong: Top 7 Things To Do

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View of Hong Kong harbor from Victoria peak

Hong Kong is a world class city.  Getting to and around Hong Kong is easy and effortless – from the customs and immigration process to figuring out public transportation.  We got off our flight and were at our hotel within an hour.  We took the airport express, which takes about 24 minutes from the airport to Kowloon station, and costs about 70 HKD (~$10USD).

When we were there, it was September and the weather was still unbearably hot.  Every time we walked outside, we would turn into a puddle of sweat within a few minutes.  It made walking around difficult, but we persevered. In no particular order, here are some of our favorite touristy places to visit in Hong Kong, most of which are free to do:

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Photo of the Week: Blooming

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IMG_0018Kauai, Hawaii, USA

I took this picture of a plumeria flower on my trip to Hawaii a few years ago.  This is one of the most common flowers on the island, they bloom everywhere and are typically used to make leis.  For me, this flower brings back a lot of memories.  Growing up in tropical Viet Nam, I was quite familiar with the fragrant smell of the plumeria, and they say smells strongly associate with memories.  When I get a whiff of this sweet smelling flower, it brings back memories of my childhood at my grandmother’s house and makes me feel quite nostalgic.

Every Monday of each week, I’ll share a photo with you from my adventures around the world and at home.  Most of my photos have little or no post processing.  If you would like to see more, please click the ‘Follow’ button.

Error Fare to Rio de Janeiro

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[via tourists360.com]

It was 11 o’clock on Thursday night, we were in bed, hunched over our computer, frantically searching for the cheap airfare to Rio de Janeiro.  Earlier that night, my sister messaged us and told us to check out the cheap flights from Toronto, Canada to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for less than $400 on American Airlines.  This is obviously an error fare, the question is whether or not American Airlines would honor it.  Tickets were flying off the shelf at an alarming rate so you had to act fast. In fact the deal was dead by 10 am the next morning.  Usually when we find great airfare deals, we will try to share it on our Facebook page or on our blog. Continue reading →