Expedition Amsterdam – Arrival Day

January 10, 2020January 10, 2020 / Denise Smith / Leave a comment

Last May, we saw a great deal on a four night trip to Amsterdam. As we had never been before, we decided to ask some friends to join us and take on this new adventure! Here is a glimpse of our trip day by day.

Overnight flights can be rough – but this one was direct and we arrived in Amsterdam at 8:30am local time and hit the ground running.

We took a taxi to our hotel – IBIS Amsterdam City West – checked in (we were fortunate that our rooms were ready so early in the morning) and headed out to explore the city around 12:30pm.

Our adorable “double” room at the Ibis Amsterdam City West. Comfy and quaint.

No bells and whistles, but certainly clean and comfortable including a lovely breakfast each morning.

This bathroom is neat – it is like a bathroom “pod” – it reminded me of a cruise ship bathroom.

We bought a four day transportation pass (24 Euros each) and took the bus into Amsterdam Central (about a 15 minute ride). From there, we explored the inner canal area, including the Red Light District and surrounding areas. We ate an early dinner then headed back to our hotel around 6pm. All and all, it was a bonus day that we enjoyed, getting our bearings, seeing the Red Light District during the day and figuring out the layout of the canal rings. Tomorrow – the Jordaan District and Anne Frank Museum.

Here is a picture Diary of the day – the PG-13 version!

Our first photo upon arrival.

Well, this sums up Amsterdam – a cannabis shop, a snack shop and “Pimp” Steak! All that is missing is a Waffle or Pancake shop!!!

Truer words were never spoken for me!

I enjoyed hearing these guys clipping and clopping along during the day.

Classic canal pic!

Our first selfie.

Red Light District – and I thought Vegas was a bit racy:)

Beautiful architecture.

I love this.

I mean, wow!!!

American tourists!!!

I can handle snorting chocolate – yes, folks, snorting chocolate! That is right up my alley!

As evening settles.

Canal at night.

Venice of the north!

Crepe number one in the books!!!!!

Strasbourg, France

January 9, 2020December 31, 2019 / Denise Smith / 2 Comments

I have to admit, I am a Francophile. I love France and all things French, so when we arrived at our second port of call, Strasbourg, I immediately felt at home! As this was our only port in France, I really soaked in the French culture, but also admired the unique marriage with German culture presented in Strasbourg. After all, in 1914 alone, the Alsace region of France changed nationalities eight times!

We enjoyed our Christmas Market touring and also became truly besotted with the charm and enchantment of Strasbourg. Some would say it is too German to be French, and too French to be German, but I think it is just right!

Here is my photo diary! I hope you enjoy it!!!

Many of the streets of Strasbourg are lined with beautiful sycamore trees. These nests are for storks!

The tram system in Strasbourg is pretty special! In many places, it runs on grass to help reduce noise and a couple of the trams have mower blades underneath to keep the grass neatly mowed! Cool!

How do you deliver packages to the medieval streets of Strasbourg?

The architecture!!!

Notre Dame Cathedral of Strasbourg

The decorations were beautiful and sometimes, a bit outrageous!

We were in Strasbourg during the day and did not get to see the lights, but I bet it was gorgeous!

Classic Europe

The old winding city streets were so charming!

Vin chaud? White or Red?

Even early in the day, the Christmas Markets were busy.

The rivers are the lifeline of Strasbourg.

Some new friends – swans everywhere!

I was in France – a banana and Nutella crepe was a MUST!!!

More bird friends outside my Juliette balcony on board.

Strasbourg river walk.

The happy tourists!

Amazing Alps

January 7, 2020December 24, 2019 / Denise Smith / Leave a comment

When we travel, we love day tripping!!! We have day tripped our way around the French countryside, southern and northern Italy, Scotland, England and now, the Alps!

Day tripping allows for a GLIMPSE of a place. It is hard to “dive in” when you only have a short amount of time, but when we travel abroad especially, we want to see as much as we can, so the old American pastime is right up our alley!

This trip to Germany, Switzerland and France for our Christmas Market river cruise really lent itself well to a day trip. While staying in Basel pre-cruise, we took a day and headed to the Alps. We picked up our rental in Basel early morning, drove about an hour and 45 minutes to Interlaken, and decided to go a bit further, up to Grindewald (elevation 3,392 feet). There, we parked and bought the world’s most expensive train tickets (about $200 US per person – YIKES) for a 45 minute cog train ride up, up, up to our first train station, Kleine Scheidegg (elevation 6762 feet).

Grindelwald, Switzerland

Grindewald from the window of the train.

The cogs! The lifeline!

This teepee is at the Kleine Scheidegg station. I do not know why!

Time to change trains! And yes, it was snowing.

Here, we checked out the place, and boarded the Jungfrau train – another cog that brought us THROUGH the mountains to the highest train station in Europe (which happened to be IN the mountain) – Junfraujoch, elevation 11,333 feet!!

One of the small settlements on the way up to Jungfrau (young girl). Do you see the glaciers in the background? Amazing!!!

The train station in the mountain.

Outside the observatory. It was cold and windy!

In the ice castle IN the mountain!!!

We explored but it was snowed in – but we wouldn’t have changed that experience for anything! It was so cool!!!!!

After we got back down from Kleine Scheidegg, we drove to Lauterbrunnen, explored briefly at dusk, went to a pizza place (yeah, seriously) and then drove back to Basel. This was a fabulous day trip and we took SO many gorgeous pictures.

Here are the rest of our favorites!!!!

Looking back as we journey towards Klein Scheidegg.

Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland. We had spent much of the day in Grindelwald and climbing Jungfrau (by cog railway), then decided to take another small mountain pass at dusk and were treated to this delight!

This gorgeous waterfall is the first thing you see when you enter this valley. Absolutely stunning!

If a cemetery can be pretty, this one fits the bill.

Well, you have to have beer with pizza!

Any European road trip must include a stop at the Autogrill. The rest stations in Germany (just like Italy) did NOT disappoint – adorable trinkets, great food options, but expensive water – you should buy it in town at the local corner store – not here – oh, and if you need to use a bathroom – bring along a Euro!

My German isn’t that great, but the word for “exit” is kinda funny! And I feel like a 10 year old when I say it:)

Basel, Switzerland

December 31, 2019December 24, 2019 / Denise Smith / Leave a comment

As with many flights to Europe from the east cost of the US, ours was an overnight affair. We departed Boston Friday evening, arrived in Munich, Germany mid morning Saturday, then flew to Basel, Switzerland – arriving early afternoon. We flew Lufthansa as it was the best price (paid to pick our seats and for stowed luggage) and while we were a bit cramped, we had a fine flight. Great in-flight entertainment and the service was just fine.

We arrived easily in Basel, picked up our luggage, and sought to navigate the public transportation to our hotel in the Old Town area. This was free (it seems that all hotels in Basel offer guests a “Basel Card” that gives them free access to public transportation – buses, trams and the like) and we are pretty adventurous, so we took on the challenge.

Public transportation is big in Europe – especially the cities where parking is at a premium – it is not unlike the US, but Europeans embrace this opportunity to take the bus, ride a bike or scooter, or walk. Finding our bus stop at the airport was easy, thanks to the clear and helpful directions from our hotel, and while we had to figure out the switching of bus lines once, it was easy and the bus literally dropped us off outside our hotel!

Our hotel was Hotel D and the location was fabulous! I paid $149.00 per night, which for Switzerland is a deal! Our room was small (typical for Europe) but very comfortable and quiet. The bathroom was great as well and we were very happy. Our hotel stay did NOT include breakfast, so we winged it each day and were very happy with that. Breakfast at Hotel D was continental style and cost 26SF (Swiss Francs) per person – um, no thanks! Have I told you yet that Switzerland is expensive!!!

Outside our hotel window….

Where do you keep your liquor cold?

Our first night we roamed, explored the walk along the Rhine, got my hubby set up with LIME (the best thing EVER), scooted and walked around a small portion of the Old City and enjoyed a most fabulous al fresco dinner (Europeans eat outside all year long….with those big propane heaters and a blanket – it was awesome!).

Warm goat cheese salad! Heaven!

White wine, beer and pumpkin soup!

LIMES! You download the app, scan your ride and off you go! We LOVE these!!! In Switzerland it was 1 SF to unlock it then .35cents per minute.

People….the sweets were AMAZING!

The next day, we got up and rented a car (about $100USD for the day) and drove to the Alps (about 1.45 hours away) and spent the day fulfilling a dream!!! That post will be coming up soon – it deserves its own!

The Rhine River at around 7:15am. Stunning!

We wrapped up Basel with a lot more walking around, getting breakfast and lunch from one of the many local corner stores (I HIGHLY recommend this because restaurants are SUPER expensive in Switzerland) and having a picnic lunch by the river. It was everything I wanted it to be!!!!

Look at the detail on the soffit of this roof!! Amazing!

Many European cities have free flowing fountains perfect for drinking! They are functional AND beautiful!

Gorgeous post structured home.

The “munster” in Basel.

Another gorgeous fountain.

(Free) public bathrooms! Gotta love the Swiss – they aren’t uptight about life!

Look closely at the AGE of these homes.

The detailing of this home is amazing.

Our stash from the corner store – about 20 Swiss Francs total!

Best bite in the city!

Christmas Market Joy

December 27, 2019December 24, 2019 / Denise Smith / Leave a comment

You know, sometimes you have an opportunity to take a trip that resets your soul. Just over Thanksgiving, I had that opportunity!

If you follow my business Facebook page, Live It Well Travel, you will have seen some of the highlights of the fabulous Christmas Market river cruise my husband and I took over Thanksgiving. It was everything I believed it would be and more!

Let me give you and overview of our trip here and post some of my favorite pictures, then I will dive deeper into my river cruising experience, each of our destinations and then some fun facts and finds from our trip! It promises to be a cool series to wrap up this years’ blogging adventures!

We departed the Friday before Thanksgiving and arrived in Basel, Switzerland the following day. We got settled in our hotel, and attempted to stave off the effects of jet-lag by taking a wonderful walk around the old city of Basel. We enjoyed a wondrous walk, an alfresco meal and a great first night’s sleep!

The next morning (Sunday) we awoke and walked to a nearby hotel where we picked up a car we had rented for the day. We drove to the Alps and took the cog train to the highest train station in Europe!

Monday we walked around Basel some more (and Limed, too), checked out, then boarded our river cruise, the Monarch Countess. This was our first river cruising experience and to say we loved it is an understatement!

Over the next 6 days, we visited Strasbourg, France, Frankfurt, Wertheim, Wurzburg, Bamberg and Nuremberg, Germany. We visited Christmas Markets and wandered ancient streets. We sipped wine on the Main River and traversed 52 locks between Basel and Nuremberg. We met people from all over the US and made friends with so many more. We learned some German, practiced our French and broadened our perspective.

It was splendid! Here are few of my highlight photos! Be on the lookout for posts to follow!

Strasbourg, France. Some of my new friends – I made a LOT of feathered friends on this trip!!!

Our home for the week docked in Frankfurt. This is the beautiful Monarch Countess.

Christmas Market at Frankfurt, Germany.

An evening toast to the good life. We are standing on the Old Stone Bridge in Wurzburg, Germany, marveling at the fortification in the background and enjoying a common daily activity.

Early morning sun on the Main River between Wurzburg and Bamberg.

Bamberg, Germany. Photo taken of one of the seven hills that make up the city. The colors are breathtaking!

Bamberg, Germany

Main Christmas Market, Nuremberg, Germany.

My Yearly Travels as seen through my Ornaments

December 24, 2019December 21, 2019 / Denise Smith / Leave a comment

I used to find it really hard to choose a special keepsake from each of our trips. I loved so many cool “things”, but it just isn’t reasonable to get them all! So a while back, I decided to get an ornament from each of our trips.

Every year, when we put up our tree, it is a wonderful opportunity to remember our travels and stories as a family. It is something I treasure and our tree is really full of US.

Here are the ornaments I got this year.

Paris. January 2019

Disneyland Paris. January 2019

Symphony of the Seas. February 2019

February 2019

Disney World. February 2019

Tuscon Arizona. April 2019

Tombstone, Arizona. April 2019

Bearizona. April 2019

Las Vegas, Nevada. April 2019

O’hau, Hawai’i. October 2019.

Strasbourg, France. November 2019

Switzerland 2019

6 Things I learned in Hawai’i

November 26, 2019November 17, 2019 / Denise Smith / Leave a comment

I loved so much about Hawai’i. Not the least of which was visiting my sister and nieces. But some things surprised me about Hawai’i and I wanted to share those thoughts with you! I loved visiting a state in the US that was so different and because of its distance from the mainland and/or its unique history, has maintained so much of its Polynesian heritage and held tight to the characteristics that make it so wonderfully distinctive.

Here is my list….

1. Everyone called me “Auntie”. I heard this a dozen times or more from Hawai’ians – as a sign of respect in their culture, a woman (I cringe to say “older”, but let’s face it, I AM older than those who called me Auntie) who is older is afforded this lovely term of endearment. I would imagine this is similar to women being called “ma’am”. Now, I am guessing with how foolish some people are, some women would be offended by this title – but clearly they do not understand the honor. An Auntie is a mother – but better! Someone who can nurture and love; direct and give advice. They are the favored adult as they offer much of what a parent does, without the harshness that should befall parents as they train their children. Being called Auntie was a treasure.

I am the Auntie of these two adorable princesses!! Here we are at the beach at Hickam AFB!

2. While I did see some stray kitties here and there, chickens roam the island at will! This was fun to see, as all the hens had chickies following them around this time of year! They were fun and adorable and we got to see a lot of Hay-Hays!

Hay-hay!!!!

3. I don’t believe there are any squirrels in Hawai’i – but they have the mongoose, which takes its place as they island scavenger.

I didn’t get an mongoose pictures, but here is Char with one of the resident kitties at Hanauma Beach.

Sable meets a kitty that lives at Kualoa Ranch

4. This makes sense but I hadn’t thought about it before in these terms – the cost of things in Hawai’I are really high. Of course, that is somewhat a reflection of the tourist economy, but it more so a reflection of the cost to import all these everyday goods to an island stuck literally in the middle of the Pacific!

I have some group space reserved on a Hawai’ian island cruise for June 2021 on Norwegian’s Pride of America. This is probably one of the more expensive cruises most people I know will take, but there is a good reason for that. This particular ship, Pride of America, is one of the only sea-going cruise ships registered in the US. That is really important to note because of regulations for vessels registered in the US – the crew MUST be Americans (who demand a higher wage, require health insurance, workers’ comp and so on and so forth) and the registration is much more expensive than the typical cruise ship registrations in the Bahamas (where most US market cruise ships are registered). Add to the US regulations for US registered vessels, and you have the high cost of goods needed to outfit such a cruise weekly – once these things are examined, it is easy to see why Hawai’i is so expensive. For the traveler considering either a Hawi’ian island cruise or a trip in general, you have to ask yourself is the cost worth the trip?

5. Black Sand Beaches are hard to find!!! This was one of my desires, but it just didn’t work out!!! This leaves something cool for me to seek out when I go back in 2021!

I’ll be searching for those black sand beaches when I go back….but clearly, there was nothing to complain about!!!!

6. All beaches in Hawai’i are public! This is so cool and neat to think about – even the fancy hotel BEACHES are public (not the pools and amenities) so you can go to Aulani on O’ahu and even if you are not staying at the resort, you can still swim in the cove that has so many neat tropical fish and snorkel there!

Hanauma Bay

Beach and cove at Aulani

I really enjoyed my trip tremendously and look forward to the next! I would love to hear about what YOU found interesting about your visit to Hawai’i! Explore the world, learn from your surroundings, and bring home the best souvenir available; a new perspective!

Dole

November 19, 2019November 17, 2019 / Denise Smith / Leave a comment

One of the cool places we visited during our trip to Hawai’i was the Dole Plantation. The grounds of this beautiful farm were luscious, well manicured and a delight to enjoy for a few hours. There was a FABULOUS gift shop with all manner of hand-made, authentic Hawai’ian gifts as well as the “cheap” touristy baubles you may expect to find. And of course – there was DOLE WHIP!!!!!

At the Plantation, one can get lost in the “World’s Largest Maze” – this was gorgeous – and the maze was made out of hibiscus plants!! Also, you can tour the Dole Plantation botanical gardens (which we did not do in the interest of keeping the toddlers with us entertained) and you can also take a 22 minute train ride tour of the plantation. Char and I did the maze (again, no toddlers – we would probably still be searching for them) and we all did the train ride!

Such beautiful gardens….and Char and Sable make it even more beautiful!

This maze was gorgeous!!!

This lei gets around!!!

The beautiful red soil of inland O’ahu seems perfect for growing not only pineapples, but also sugar cane, bananas, veggies of all sorts and fruit! In fact, I am not sure what wouldn’t grow there!!! The train tour highlighted many of these plants and told the story of the Dole Plantation as well as the rich history of cultivation on the island. It was fun and informative!

This old machinery was pretty cool looking!

Banana groves

Check out that gorgeous soil!!!

Sable on the train wearing her fancy Hawai’ian gear!

Something else I noticed a lot of on the island as a whole and certainly at the Dole Plantation, was the initiative to use green energy – Dole has a small solar farm on the Plantation and I would guestimate that somewhere between 20-40% of the homes on the island also use solar energy. I mean – why wouldn’t you???? Every home in the military communities near where my sister lives have solar arrays and businesses do as well. I haven’t had a chance to research the incentives or company practices for solar, but I love seeing communities embrace the advantages of green energy!

Visiting the Dole Plantation was super fun day and a stop in O’ahu that I would certainly recommend for anyone! It was easy going, informative, entertaining and worth the money for the tours we took! I think when my family returns in 2021, we will definitely go back to the Dole Plantation!!!

Hanauma Bay

October 29, 2019October 30, 2019 / Denise Smith / Leave a comment

As I ventured around the island of O’ahu, I could easily see how import the preservation initiative is there in Hawai’i. There is definitely a lot of development, but the afterthought of that development is on the minds of Hawai’ians and those who visit. The conservation effort and protection of the ‘aina, or land, is viewed as a matter of Hawai’ian kuleana (responsibility and privilege) and I wanted to highlight one of the efforts I saw on this short trip.

We visited the amazing Hanauma Bay State Park. This bay has a long, beautiful history that includes use by native fisherman to the recreation of kings. In the mid 1900s, this location gained fame as a fabulous snorkeling area due to its unique horseshoe bay shape and volcanic rock coral beds. This area is home to species of fish that are only found in this sweet little bay. By the early 1990s, efforts to “save” this bay from over exposure to humans and maintain the rarity of its ecosystem spurred a conservation effort whose results are seen today.

The snorkeling here is nothing short of amazing! I saw more species of fish here than I have anywhere else! And we even saw an octopus that was beyond amazing!!!! I tried to get a video, but my phone in a water-safe bag just didn’t do the trick as well as I would have liked!!!! Our video isn’t the best quality, but you can see the really awesome octopus we saw! Thanks to my videographer, Char!

One of the fabulous initiatives at the Hanauma Bay State Park is the request that those who enjoy the park’s gorgeous swimming area adhere to the upcoming Hawai’ian Reef Safe sunscreen law that will take effect January 1st, 2021. Hawai’i is the first state in the US to ban the sale of sunscreens containing the coral-harming chemicals oxybenzone and octinoxate. With my own reef safe sunscreen in hand, I enjoyed the beautiful snorkeling in this gift from mother nature!!

There are so many ways we can help maintain the glories of this earth and still enjoy them. Using Reef Safe Sunscreen is an easy choice to make. Also, making sure we pack out what we pack in, we didn’t feed the fish (although I wanted to) and we did not step on or remove any coral from this reef. Here are a few more pictures from Hanauma Bay. I look forward to returning here with the rest of my family and enjoy once again the majesty of this gorgeous place!

A Hui Hou

October 18, 2019October 18, 2019 / Denise Smith / Leave a comment

If you know me, have read this blog or follow my Facebook business page, you KNOW that I am a huge Disney fan! I won’t bore you with the particulars, but let’s just say I take every opportunity available to do anything remotely Disney related! And when I found out I was going to be able to visit my sister in Hawai’i, I immediately found out how we could make a visit to Disney’s Aulani a reality!

For three amazing days and two fabulous nights, we felt like queens on vacation – gorgeous beaches, fabulous pools, no shortage of activities and sunsets beyond compare. We enjoyed meeting characters, the lazy river, snorkeling and a sense of calm and rejuvenation – which by itself was miraculous while traveling with two toddlers!!!

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then I will seriously go over the recommended blog parameters. I kept taking so many – because it is SO beautiful!!!! I would love to share with you my favorite pictures from Aulani – descriptions in the captions.

I love how Disney gently weaves the history, culture and Hawai’ian experience throughout this incredible resort – from the shave ice stations, to Dole whip…..yes, mom – DOLE WHIP, to the exposure of Hawai’ian words and folklore into the very space surrounding guests. As with all my experiences with Disney so far, I feel enveloped in the theme of Aulani and have to say A Hui Hou…..until we meet again!

Koi Pond with the lobby in the background

Main pool at Aulani

View from the 11th floor towards the garden/pool area

Lagoon 1 – Aulani’s beach area – Fabulous snorkeling and if you are staying at Aulani, there are free beach toys, boogie boards and beach chairs! Paddle boards and snorkel gear for rent.