Yearly Archives: 2015

Those moments when you go from feeling like a seasoned veteran to realizing you’re a jerk who knows nothing are a common, humbling part of traveling. As was the case with my plan to take Lauren to a traditional hammam experience in Morocco. Rob and I went to a centuries-old Turkish hammam (bath house) when we…

Monday, Thursday and Saturday are the market days in Chefchaouen – the day when the farmers of the Rif valley come down to the tiny blue streets to sell their wares. A perfect day for Lauren and I to go for a bit of shopping on her last day of vacation. The prices here were…

Things began looking up the minute we started leaving Fes. We loaded our bags into the handcart pulled by our host’s father-in-law and left the medina for the last time. We had asked for a large car to take us and the two bikes to Chefchaouen, but last time – that resulted in a Mercedes…

I am normally extremely good at looking on the bright side of things. It’s my profession and almost my vice. My instinct is to be polite about Fes, but really…I just disliked it so, so much. I’m angry at the city for wasting our time and money – and a secretly bit glad that Rob…

On the second day of our time in Fes, we stayed inside for the morning while a rainstorm passed over. Along with cooler temperatures, it gave me a chance to attempt to take pictures of our 700 hundred year-old house. You saw the terrace yesterday, below that there’s a small bedroom. On the next floor…

Matt, Lauren, Rob and I barely made it to our flight from Barcelona to Fes. We were running full-speed through the airport the minute the gate was supposed to be closing thanks to RyanAir’s insane baggage drop-off lines. And at the same time, fairly grumpy because we loved Barcelona so much and didn’t want to…

Barcelona isn’t as much a city as a lifestyle. It’s slow mornings with a cafe con leche and a croissant (and quite often a beer), followed by slow three course lunches with a glass of wine. A siesta where you take a break from eating to rest up for a pre-dinner vermut and tapas before…

We had a lovely night at our equestrian estate in the Montseny valley. Our host at Rural Can Vila took a pre-breakfast photo of the whole gang. Big spread of pastries, cereals, hams, cheese, cornbread, jams, yogurt and fruit along with lots of cafe con leche for breakfast in the dining room. The boys took…

Day 3 of our bike + drive adventure in the Catalan country outside Barcelona! The boys headed off after a breakfast together in the main plaza of Caldes de Montbui. When the helpful staff at the Hotel Thermes Victoria spotted our bikes the day before, they offered to arrange for the non-riders to use the…

After the long day of wine tasting in Penedes, we had a quiet night at the Hotel Guilleumes in Monistrol de Montserrat and had breakfast in the hotel restaurant. Rob and Matt set off for another big day of mountain biking across the countryside while Lauren, Shane and I took the cremallera train up to…