Roving Wanderer

It’s been a dream of mine to go to Spain ever since I had my first tapa. My desire to travel there was rekindled after I watched Anthony Bourdain’s trip as he indulged in the fresh and canned seafood near the port. Of course, I also wanted to go to experience the culture and learn more about its history, but come on. It was really about the food.

I was torn between traveling to other areas in Spain or simply staying in Barcelona for the week I was there. Ultimately, I decided to just stay put in Barcelona. One week really isn’t that long and there was plenty that I wanted to do. Normally, I travel with one other person, but unfortunately my travel buddy was not available for this one, so I was on my own.

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When I first stepped into the Boston Convention center, I was overwhelmed with the amount of people who gathered together for Pax East. For those that don’t know, Pax East is a video game convention in Boston, MA where a bunch of AAA and Indie developers get together to showcase their coolest products. This was my very first convention and I was there with a media pass. Probably the best and only way to attend these kinds of conventions. While I was there on “official business” I was able to fully enjoy myself and revel in the geekery around me.

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Let’s face it. We all want to travel more, but it takes a lot of time and money. How can we afford a vacation if we don’t have any time off left from work? That kind of thinking holds us back from taking a trip of any kind. Rather than focus on taking one very long trip, why not consider taking many short trips throughout the year? You may not be able to travel to a different country, but you’ll be able to get out of the house and explore places you otherwise would not have visited. If you don’t have vacation time, or you want to save it up for a really big trip at some point, schedule on the national holidays that your company observes. Prices may be a little higher, but you won’t have to use vacation or sick days.

Travel Tip #1: Travel Off Peak

Airfare is expensive nowadays even within the US, so it can be hard to find good rates. While it might be time-consuming, the best way is to go to sites like kayak.com and check up on the rates daily.

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If you’re traveling to St. John and St. Thomas, you’re pretty much guaranteed amazing views and beaches regardless of where you go. There are, however, a  handful of places that you should definitely stop by during your visit. Forget Magen’s Bay, it doesn’t have have anything on some of these beautiful beaches.

Lindquist Beach

This is, by far, the prettiest beach on St. Thomas. Prettier than Magen’s and Sapphire combined. The water just looks prettier. Maybe it’s because of the soft, white sand or maybe it’s the fact that the waves don’t crash that hard on the beach. Either way, it’s incredibly relaxing. They actually filmed a couple Corona commercials at this location, so you can imagine just how scenic it is. There is a small fee, but you get lockers, a shower and life guards. It’s a hidden gem of a beach. If you’re looking for it, look for a sign that points to Smith Bay.

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“Let’s take the  6.30am car barge to St. John so that we can get to the Reef Bay Trail.”

“Uh…so that means we have to wake up at 5am?”

“Pretty much.”

“…Ok.”

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View from the Inn at Blackbeard’s Castle

The warm breeze hits me and that’s when I know, I’m in the Caribbean. This is no place for my sweater. Even in the middle of November the weather is perfect 83 degrees. Paradise? Yes. Everything is like a scene out of a movie. Even the airport is scenic. And of course, the main thing to remember about being on an island, everything moves a little slower. Everyone is on island-time.

After getting our rental Jeep, we soon realized that getting around the island wasn’t as easy as we were expecting. Streets were not labeled and roads that were supposed to connect with each other led to a dead end. We circled around the same way at least ten times before deciding to commit to a route. Eventually, we found our hotel, The Inn at Blackbeard’s Castle. We were greeted by several nudists (we were warned beforehand that there was a nudist party) and led to our room. For $90/night, the room had all the necessities: two beds, air conditioner, shower and toilet. It wasn’t the  most luxurious, but it certainly did the trick. On premise there were also three pools, a bar and also several different sites that we were able to go to for free since we were staying at the hotel: Blackbeard’s castle, 99 steps, Rum Factory, The Amber Museum and more. They’re all fairly close to each other and eventually lead down to Charlotte Amalie for some excellent Duty-Free shopping.

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If it hadn’t been for Jill, I most likely never would have gone down to Lexington, KY. I’m glad I did despite the travel mishaps. There was a lot to see and plenty of cool places to go. Besides that, it was also an incredibly scenic place complete with a cute city and gorgeous, wide-open plots of land. It’s such an interesting mix of landscapes and fun people (especially that chick in the superhero outfit), I couldn’t help but like it.

You might just be going down to Kentucky for the Bourbon trail, but there’s so much more that the area offers. There are some great bars, food and of course the horse tracks. No trip to Kentucky is complete without seeing at least one race and experiencing what Lexington and the surrounding area have to offer.

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Serious Grilled Cheese Sandwich

If you’re looking for some delicious food to go along with the home-brewed beer at Country Boy Brewing, then look no further than their parking lot. A variety of food trucks stop there to feed the drunk masses, however our visit allowed us to taste delicious food from Fork in the Road. There you will find traditional fare with a twist and a good dose of butter. There’s nothing better than a hearty meal to go along with that Jalapeño Smoked Porter or Peanut Butter Stout. You just need to travel to Lexington, Kentucky.

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If you happen to be in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, you should definitely stop to have lunch at Lakeside Restaurant. There might not be a lake next to it (at least none that I saw) but it was delicious.

We came upon this restaurant after visiting Four Roses distillery and before we made our way to Wild Turkey. We had never heard of the place prior to coming there and found it, surprisingly enough, by GPS. I cannot thank Jill’s Australian-accented GPS enough for that find.

It’s unsurprising that when we arrived the restaurant was fairly empty. It was around 2pm so most of the people had most likely had lunch and were on their way to bigger and better things. The emptiness didn’t necessarily deter me, but the decor definitely made me think that I might regret stopping in. I’m glad I was wrong.

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