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While we were in Istanbul, we were bound and determined to get the full experience of visiting an authentic Turkish bath. We began researching the different options after we’d arrived in Istanbul and quickly found out that the true Turkish baths have separate male and female sections (that makes sense… not trying to be ogled by strange men). But, after scouting out TripAdvisor and a few other websites, we gathered that many of the “true” Turkish bath visits involve excessively awkward experiences, compliments of lots of old-person nudity.
Throw in a language barrier, and we (hesitantly) opted for the more conservative route with a much more touristy [...]
We walked across the Golden Horn Bridge one morning after trying to take the tram to the “newer” area of Istanbul, along the European side of the Bosphorus River. No one knew why the tram never arrived, but, later that day, we found out that someone had suicide-bombed a police station, so they had closed all the tram lines as a pre-caution. Yikes.
After walking around the newer area, we headed to Dolmabahçe Palace, Turkey’s largest palace, which is located right on the Bosphorus River and was used as the center of the Ottoman Empire between 1856 – 1922.
It was ordered to be built by the sultan, Abdulmecid I, as his current residence, the [...]
On our trip from Myanmar to Vietnam, we lucked into a 48-hour layover in Bangkok, one of our very, very favorite cities in the entire world. We first visited Bangkok in 2011 and it was our first foray into Asian culture. We loved it more than we ever thought we would and dove into Thai food and Thai culture head first – and haven’t looked back since.
Can’t get much better than a Bangkok sunset
After visiting a few other Asian cities and countries by now, Bangkok is still at the top of our list and we think it’s a great city to get your feet wet- [...]
When we arrived in Mendoza (after bussing over the Andes – see our review of our bus trip here), we took a cab to the Park Hyatt Mendoza. The front facade of the building is perfectly gorgeous and majestic, just like many of the other Park Hyatts we’ve visited (have I mentioned it’s my favorite hotel brand?!).
The 5-star hotel is a bit smaller than several other Park Hyatts, but it’s perfect for a small city like Mendoza. I really love how Park Hyatts stay true to the culture and history of the city and especially loved the restored 19th-century Spanish colonial façade.
The hotel lobby is grand and full of marble, with large, [...]
Our impression of the Keraton started long before we stepped foot in the hotel. Admittedly a bit wary about spending the next few days in Jakarta (thanks to our friendly hotel owner in Bali!), I was a bit on edge as we arrived at the airport — where we were the only tourists around. My thoughts of dread quickly turned around, though, when we were met with a hotel representative at baggage claim with our name and the Keraton logo on an iPad. He grabbed our luggage and escorted us out of the airport.
Fleet of Mercedes
We came upon a huge fleet of Mercedes Kompressors and we jumped in one with chilled towels (with [...]
We were head-over-heels excited to be able to squeeze in a quick stopover in Bangkok on our travels from Myanmar to Vietnam. It was our second visit to the city and we couldn’t wait to go back to our favorite spots and uncover more treasures in the bustling capital city.
Bangkok was our first foray into Asian culture back in 2011 and we’ve found ourselves daydreaming about the city ever since we left. The food, the people, the glistening gold temples — everything about this place we loved and we were thrilled to return.
View from our room on the 26th floor
We hurriedly booked our nights at [...]
We headed to the Blue Mosque first thing one morning to try to avoid the crowds as much as possible. Luckily for us non-morning people, the famous mosque was only a few blocks from where we were staying.
By: Jenny – CC BY 2.0
By: Jorge Dalmau – CC BY 2.0
The Blue Mosque (also known as the Sultan Ahmed Mosque) was built between 1609 and 1616, and made bigger and higher than its across-the-street neighbor, Hagia Sophia (then a church, currently a mosque), in an effort to show Islam’s dominance over Christianity. The [...]
Taking the bus from Santiago, Chile, to Mendoza, Argentina, turned out to be one of the most memorable parts of our trip and made for a day of sites that were postcard-worthy. It’s always fun to try new ways to get around – I’m so glad we chose the bus route rather than just taking a short flight because we were able to see more of the countryside and an up-close view of the Andes as we drove right over them.
I was (secretly) dreading our day-long bus trip. What if it snowed and we couldn’t cross? And, more importantly, what if the roads were so bumpy and curvy that even I got car sick… and then had to stay on the bus for 5 more hours? [...]
We knew before we ever left the US that we wanted to do a bike tour of Ubud. I’d done a bike tour of Tuscany when I studied abroad and it was one of my favorite memories from my time, so I was really looking forward to learning more about the area in Ubud with a long bike tour. Plus, what’s more romantic than a bike ride through the rice paddies on your honeymoon? Many tours were advertised for appx $30, leaving at 7 or 8am and returning by 2pm, so we knew it wouldn’t be hard to do once we arrived.
As luck would have it, we were chatting with the Swiss owner of our hotel (Villa Semana) upon arrival and he very kindly [...]
