Category: Travel tips and itineraries

An unexpected delight Madrid has been on my mind a lot lately, for many reasons. I am thinking about the delicious restaurants, the wide, open plazas, the striking architecture, the markets that felt like home. But my time in Madrid represents one of the absolute best parts about travel for me: surprise. Before traveling there,…

Here’s a trip I have been dreaming up since last year. Once I knew we were going to Valencia, I began to dream up an itinerary for a Costa Blanca trip. The Costa Blanca (white coast) stretches over 120 miles in the south eastern coast of Spain from Denia to Pilar de la Horadada in…

Lima: More than meets the eye Growing up in Chiclayo, going to Lima was a big deal. Our capital was home to many of our family members, but in the 90s, it was my connection to all things cool – a metropolitan and lively city with delicious food and fast food (we didn’t have fast…

Monterey – an actual dream of ours “So,” I asked my crush of 3 hours, “if you could live anywhere and find a job there, where would it be?” Without skipping a beat he said, “oh, the central coast of California. Around Monterey.”  I had only traveled to Pasadena to visit my sister, so I…

The dream of Italy in my least favorite season To celebrate surviving long distance, Nick wanted us to take a vacation before starting my first, fresh-out-of-grad school job. The trick was that it would have to be in January, as I started the job in February. Anyone who knows me knows that winter is not…

“So where are you all staying?” my sister asked. “With friends…here and there, we will figure it out,” I mustered.  “And how long will it take?” she insisted. “Not sure…a week, maybe 2?” Her silence echoed inside my head, combining judgment and confusion.  Me. The planner. The girl who had gotten through the tough courses…