2017 – Outbound Blonde

March 14, 2018

Visiting the Real Equator Line in Ecuador

After a late night at the wedding, my 6am wakeup call was a little brutal. I packed up my last things and headed to the new hotel where I met up with my new friends with whom I’d be spending the next two weeks.

During our welcome meeting, we met our wonderful tour guide Mayra who prepped us on what to expect. The first day we would be spending in Quito and since I had already done a city tour I only joined them for the first part of the day – visiting the Equator. Although it seems pretty obvious, I had never thought about the fact that Ecuador is named after the equator that runs right through it! Anyone who knows me will not be surprised by my lack of historical knowledge. My brain just has other priorities… like lyrics from songs written in the early 80s.

I did learn some history though, like the fact that we went to the newer “more accurate” location of the equator line at the Intiñan Solar Museum instead of the previously marked equator line at the (Ciudad Mitad del Mundo). According to our guide the solar museum was built years after the initial equator had been established, when mapping abilities had become more sophisticated, and they realized that the true equator line was 200M northeast. Sounds like a mistake I would make.

We were able to see a bunch of cool things including an example of native Ecuadorian Tribal Dancing

Straddling the Northern and Southern Hemispheres

First group pic!

Watching the water go down counterclockwise in the Southern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Northern hemisphere which were mere feet apart. Even more strange, right on the equator it goes straight down without spinning.

With enough practice, you can balance an egg on the flathead of a nail on the hemisphere. I gave up about 30 seconds in and counted it as a win that I didn’t drop and break the egg.

We also tried to walk on the equator line with our eyes closed and despite being fully sober (I think it had been enough hours since the wedding 😉 ) no one could balance in a straight line because SCIENCE. I’m sure they told us, but the most important thing really was that I tried and failed.

The group next headed off to see Quito and I went back to my first hotel for a much needed nap alongside Kiki before going to the new hotel to meet the group for dinner. I opted out of that night’s brewery tour, because I can’t drink beer, but also you know, SLEEP. Even though it meant I didn’t know people quite as well on day 2, that sleep was necessary before we left for 12 jam packed days.

nicole

March 7, 2018

Hopping around Quito

On the second day, we used the hop on/hop off city bus to visit the sites of Quito. Usually, I avoid the hop on/hop off buses because I love to explore on foot and see bits of a city that may be missed by driving around. For Quito, however, I only had one day to explore the city so I would recommend this option.

While waiting to get going a couple of us negotiated with a man on the street to buy our sick panama hats that I’m fairly certain annoyed Kristin for the remainder of our time together 🙂 (Spoiler: getting that hat back to SF was a nightmare… yet somehow… it made it)

Our first stop was the Basilica del Voto Nacional.

I’m still trying to conquer my fear of heights so I joined the group in climbing up one of the towers

But I’m not crazy enough to climb the flimsy ladder on the OUTSIDE of the tower that went to the tip top. I still had nearly 2 more weeks including the Galapagos Islands which I paid a pretty penny for so dying before getting there was not on my itinerary.

This view was sufficient for me.

Another one of our stops was El Panecillo.

The statue of Madonna is on the top of a hill where you can see out over the city of Quito both from the ground, or you can climb up to a little deck in the middle of the statue (below the dome).

Our final stop on the bus tour was this cute and colorful street called Calle La Ronda

This was an actual barbershop! It looked like a museum exhibit from the 1950s.

That night, all the “young people” went to a bar in Cumbaya called “Shots Only” where we proceeded to play beirut and take many shots. Remind me if I ever get married to not do this the night before my wedding.

Waking up the next morning (Saturday) was a little rough, but our first activity was a massage at the hotel spa which was a glorious start to the wedding day. My new travel goal: get at least one massage during every trip.

We then spent most of the day being a little lazy before prepping for the wedding. Jason and Valeria’s wedding was hands down one of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. Everyone looked so beautiful dressed up in black tie attire.

Yes, it’s blurry… but our car caught up with the bride and groom on the way to the ceremony so we had to wave hi

Unfortunately, with my group trip beginning the next morning at 8am, we left the wedding around 2:30 upon which I finalized packing and sorting items that would be going back to Massachusetts. I snoozed a few hours and before I knew it, it was time to wake up and join the group!

Nicole

Continue reading “Hopping around Quito”

February 14, 2018

Butterflies and Hummingbirds in Mindo

My first day of vacation was spent flying San Francisco to Fort Lauderdale, then Fort Lauderdale to Quito, but luckily it was uneventful and I arrived in Quito to see a sign with my name being held by a driver Kristin had arranged. That always feels fancy until I realized I was carrying two backpacks and looked like I needed a shower.

I got into the hotel and tried to creep into our shared room without waking Kristin, but still managed to, and then even as I was in my bed under the covers I kept saying “we just have so much to catch up on!” Next thing I knew though it was lights out and I was being woken up for breakfast and our first day trip!

The bride and groom (Jason and Valeria) very kindly organized a trip for us out to Mindo. We made a quick pit stop along the way to use the bathrooms, but also got to see these views!

After a couple of hours in vans, we arrived at the butterfly sanctuary (Mariposas de Mindo Butterfly Garden). I’ve never seen so many butterflies in one place! You could take a bit of the mashed up banana to attract them and pick them up. Unfortunately we made the mistake of putting on bugspray first, but still were able to catch a bunch.

The best part of this video when we entered the butterfly garden was someone saying “sounds like the life… mating, sleeping…” 🙂

The next stop was in Mindo where we broke up into groups to do waterfall rappelling and a chocolate tour. Since my next leg of the trip would include the waterfalls, Kristin and I joined the chocolate tour at El Quetzal de Mindo and enjoyed the more relaxing itinerary where we learned how Ecuadorian chocolate is made start to finish. We finished before the other group so we were also able to fit in a trip to the San Jorge de Milpe Orchid & Bird Reserve where we watched hummingbirds zip around.

After reuniting with the other group, we piled back into vans for the ride home and decided to make it an early night at the hotel and rested up for day 2 in Ecuador!

January 9, 2018

Photo Diaries: A Night at The Museum of Ice Cream

Quick pause on my Ecuador explorations since how can you go to the Museum of Ice Cream and not share all the amazing pictures?! No, the fact that I’m lactose intolerant and going to a museum based on dairy was not lost on me, but at least I got to play even if I can’t eat it. In case you’ve never heard of it, The Museum of Ice Cream (MOIC) was started in NYC and from the first day I saw it, I was jealous that NYC was getting yet another cool museum/experience. Luck was on my side as they decided to make it a touring event and San Francisco was a destination! Thanks to Amex I was able to get pre-sales tickets to one of the most coveted events in San Francisco. My friend Alyssa and I showed up at MOIC on Sunday, November 5th (yes, I’m still that backlogged here…) for a 9pm entrance prepared for similar silliness as the Color Factory I previously visited. As another place considered an “Instagrammer’s dream,” how could we not take a million pictures?

Please note my discontent with the lack of dairy free ice cream.

Words of love one week after the Sonoma fires began and Dub Nation that was put up that morning when Steph Curry and his family visited.

Cotton Candy – something I could actually eat!

Casually trying to pull a popsicle out of the wall

Alyssa wouldn’t pose with the unicorn, but I still got a rainbow pic. Same same.

Hangin in a tiny mirrored box

Time to prep for the sprinkle pool (that would later have us finding sprinkles everywhere for a few days)

Life sized candy!

One last swing

Time to say bye!

It was really great how they limited the number of people entering at once. That said, getting a 9pm entrance meant we had just under 1.5 hours. In a place like this you don’t want to rush! I think if I hadn’t been to the Color Factory already this would have topped my dreams as the most fun “immersive art exhibit” (as some have described it), but I gotta say… MOIC came in second in my heart. In any case, if it comes to a city near you then definitely try to get tickets!

Now I’ll get back to detailing Ecuador 🙂

nicole

October 11, 2017

Checking Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands off My Bucket List as a Solo Traveler

My latest adventure took me to Ecuador. My childhood bestie, Kristin (as seen in my Norway posts!) invited me to join her family at her brother’s wedding in Quito and of course I could not turn down a reason to visit a new country. I may have semi-invited myself but I like to think she was also happy to have me. 🙂

Traveling to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands was a trip of a lifetime. I am so lucky to have a best friend who invites me to join things like this family celebration. Our initial plan included the two of us continuing on to travel after the wedding, but due to extenuating circumstances Kristin had to head back to the US. I, on the other hand, decided to take advantage of my company’s “unlimited” vacation policy since the wedding was in July and that happens to be one of our slowest months. Plus, there’s no way I’m flying to Ecuador and not exploring! When else would I have a reason to buy a flight down there?

I always had the Galapagos Islands on my radar as a bucket list trip, but I never thought I’d be crossing it off my list so soon! Once I knew that I’d be venturing out on my own after the wedding I started researching how to travel throughout Ecuador and how to get myself to the Galapagos Islands. One of the biggest challenges I quickly realized would be standing in my way – I don’t speak Spanish. I took about 6 years of French so that doesn’t help and despite living in California the extent of my Spanish does not go far beyond “Yo queiro Taco Bell” (I had to google the spelling of that) and huevos rancheros, no queso – which is delicious. In parts of Ecuador very minimal English is spoken. I’m all about immersing yourself in a new culture, but realized that it would be safest for me to join a tour group. My concern was that this would make the trip too “touristy” but as you’ll come to see this was not a problem at all!

The next major problem was traveling solo. When I book my own solo travel I just have to account for the fact that I’m not splitting any costs. When you book with a tour company, especially the ones running through the Galapagos Islands, they were charging me based on a double room. This means that I would have to pay for myself and depending on the company up to 90% of the cost of the other person who would have shared my room. That alone could make the trip over $6,000!

Hours of research later, I discovered Contiki. They’re a tour company geared towards 18-35 year olds and solo travelers. They organize everything and assign roommates so you can join a trip without having to find people to come along. I was very skeptical, but watched many youtube videos and read some other blogs that spoke highly of Contiki. They were hosting a trip that left the day after the wedding traveling through mainland Ecuador and out to the Galapagos Islands over the course of 12 days. I took advantage of their customer service and called to ask questions about missing part of the first day because of the wedding, etc. and after speaking with my contact for about 25 minutes I was already giving her my credit card for a deposit.

So that’s how I ended up on a 17 day trip to Ecuador! We fit A LOT into this trip so there will definitely be a post dedicated to each day… and maybe more than that because this trip was jam packed with amazing sights and experiences.

First up – Quito and Mindo!

Nicole

October 4, 2017January 6, 2018

Photo Diaries: The Calistoga Motor Lodge and Spa

Lauren and my Labor Day Weekend activities didn’t end with The Color Factory. Having never visited wine country together, we planned a day that included visiting some wineries and catching some sun. I couldn’t guarantee SF would be warm so I concocted the idea to visit a spa and use their pool.

I landed on a GiltCity deal for The Calistoga Motor Lodge and Spa and was easily sold. If we did a 50 minute treatment (or 2 that added up to 50 minutes) we could have access to the Moonacre Spa and pool for 2 hours before our appointments. We decided this was the weekend of “treat yo self” and booked their “Perfectly Muddled” and “Splish Splash.”

The heat continued through the weekend so we scrapped our plans of pool time and stuck to enjoying the spa. We ended up being the only people in the spa at that time so we got lots of extra attention.

From the moment we walked in, the spa was made to be photographed and was “inspired by the tradition of American roadtrips in the 1950’s” with a modern twist and offerings.

Walking through the changing room into the general spa waiting area

A close up with a cheeky “how-to” partake in the different spa activitiesThe water station where you could choose which infused option you’d like including one infused by crystals. Spencer Pratt would be all over this, but I’m sure he already puts his beloved crystals in the water he drinks.

Before starting our “perfectly muddled” treatment, we began with exfoliating ourselves in these glorious outdoor showers

Then, our lovely host mixed up a bowl of mud for each of us to coat ourselves, beginning with just the front side of our bodies. We laid out and nearly fell asleep before we were back to the showers to rinse off.

This is the part were I could insert a picture of us laying out while our mud dried, but I’ll save your eyes this time. We then repeated this by coating our backs as best as possible before laying down and having them finish painting us. Repeat the nearly dozing off and we were back to the showers.

Try not to be jealous of our robes (they were actually cozy) or our sweet sandals they provided (which purely served as function).

Next they brought us into the most glorious bathing room where we picked the salt we wanted for our baths (from the options on the wall as we walked in).

We were left to lay in our nice warm tubs and relax for the next 30 glorious minutes before our time was up. We tried for the steam room, but unfortunately I went full panic mode and thought I couldn’t breathe… so that brought our trip to an end.

All in all, I cannot wait to go back up and fully intend to find a weekend to stay overnight and fully enjoy the hotel. As Travis from Clueless would say “Two thumbs, way up” Just a quick forewarning though, it is close to the Calistoga speedway so there was some noise, but it was only noticeable at first. As we left, the staff filled us in that they’d only been open 3 months since full renovations! *pats self on back for finding this still hidden jewel*

Next I’m going to FINALLY talk, in very great detail, about my trip to Ecuador! Stay tuned, because we fit in A LOT in the 2 weeks I spent there.

September 18, 2017January 6, 2018

Photo Diaries: One Night at The Color Factory

August 31, 2017August 31, 2017

24 (Instagram Worthy) hours in Palm Springs

I usually spend the 4th of July at Lake Tahoe, but since we were unable to wrangle our full group, I did the next best thing. One of my best friends from college – and one of the people who pushed me to take the leap and start writing this blog – Nicole lives in San Diego so I looked up flights and invited myself down. We’ve talked about going to Palm Springs a million times so I was able to coerce her into adding a quick overnight trip there to our itinerary.

Thanks to my frequent flyer status on my favorite airline, Virgin America, I decided to book the flight with points and with my status got upgraded to main cabin select! Virgin America is my ride or die airline since they go everywhere I nee to go within the US and their planes are by far the best. All it took was a quick 1:15 flight and I was stepping off the plane, into Nicole’s car, and we were off for Palm Springs!

We spent the next 24 hours stopping by ALL the Instagram hotspots and taking pictures while pretending to be former Bachelor contestants. Heyo Flat Tummy Tea – sponsor me! (JK. Well, kind of…)

For a dinosaur lover like me, a stop at the Cabazon Dinosaurs was a must. From posing with an brontosaurus to climbing inside the mouth of a T-Rex, this was a stop that any 5 year old would love. Nicole practically had to drag me out of there as we were melting under the desert sun.

Treating the T-Rex like a jungle gym and if you look closely you’ll see me clinging to the Brontosaurus and not wanting to leave.

Wearing our bestie shirts that will make another appearance and I can’t take Nicole anywhere haha

Playing arounding in the gift shop. Surprisingly, I was not technically too big for that ride, but I got weird looks from the kids.

One last dinosaur photobomb

Our next stop was to the luxurious Ritz Carlton Rancho Mirage that was just 10-15 minutes outside of downtown Palm Springs and set up into a hill, with incredible views.

The views right when we checked into our room and again as the sun was setting. So stunning!

Since our room wasn’t ready yet, Nicole and I switched into our bathing suits and popped down to the pool. We made a wrong turn and couldn’t find the adults pool (shocker, right?), but the general one was still and they quickly got us set up with towels, lounge chairs, an umbrella, and of course, a glass of champage.

Every few minutes our server would come by and offer us fresh ice water and ask if we need anything. Even when we were standing in the pool and splashing some water up onto the edge so that we could rest our arms, our server quickly came over and brought a towel as a cool place to rest, fresh ice water, and even offer to take a picture saying “this would be such a cute instagram!”

For dinner, I’d highly recommend The Tropicale. The food was absolutely delicious. I had the Tom Yum Soup and the Chilled Iceberg and Lump Crap Wedge Salad. Our waitress warned us about the large portion sizes and I should have listened because my salad had probably about a baseball sized portion of crab on it! That said, we had a fridge in our hotel room so I took my salad leftovers back and snacked on them in the car the next day on our way back to San Diego. Now that I think of it, I sound like “Scallop Fingers” from this week’s episode of Bachelor in Paradise, so judge me if you want… In any case, we sat on the open air back patio, but the interior was absolutely beautiful so I wish I’d had a few minutes to take some pictures!

Outside the restaurant

The view from the restaurant’s back patio where we sat to eat

The next morning after filling up on the Ritz’s impressive brunch spread we explored the property a bit more and then took a drive around Palm Springs.

Caught scoping out the fire pit

The view out to the fire pit and over Palm Springs

My beautiful travel companion on the steps leading up into the hotel from the pool

Pretending to be instagram models at all the pretty houses:

Best Instagram Wives

After driving back from our amateur photo sessions, I saw something weird out of the corner of my eye and made Nicole turn off the main street. Lo and behold we found Robolights! Apparently this is a big attraction in the winter with Christmas lights, but it’s still crazy to see on a random day. Not so sure that I’d want this in my neighborhood because you know, nightmares (look at the crazy tank…), but a driveby is worthwhile.

The one thing we sadly were not able to do on our girls getaway was to have a drink at the Parker Palm Springs’ Lemonade stands. As a heads up – they only allow hotel patrons at the pool even if just for a drink. That said, the interior, including the small mirrored bar, was absolutely so of course we unabashedly took lots of pictures.

Artwork in the lobby

My gracefulness caught in action

Paparazzi for hire

All in all the service at the Ritz Carlton Rancho Mirage was amazing. I found the deal via my Amex Platinum Card – one that I highly recommend for people who travel a lot because the perks and points you accrue are amazing. Now, you can get the card made of metal which feels pretty baller. We were able to get a room, $100 onsite restaurant credit, free breakfast (valued at over $30/person), late checkout, and an upgraded view room for just $220. While it was pretty scorching in Palm Springs, it was a nice warm up in comparison to the June Gloom that was continuing in San Francisco. Even though it was a holiday weekend, it paid off big time to visit in the “off season.” From the fresh ice water at every turn to the bath salts they offered for our in room jacuzzi. I would absolutely return (maybe) even paying full price.

Plus one final pic because we’re corny and of course bought matching Show Me Your Mumu tanks 🙂

24 hours in Palm Springs ✓!

Nicole

August 24, 2017

Final Thoughts – Norway

So, what were our final thoughts on Norway? First and foremost, GO! This country of beautiful sights and kind people should absolutely be on your bucket list. Maybe start moving it closer to the top now that Bachelor nation has helped increase the visibility of Norway for us here in the states. 😉

Things we loved:

TROMSØ!
- If we went back, I would allocate a couple more days in Tromsø, especially in more moderately temperature months. There is so much to see including whales, birds, and other wildlife that we couldn’t fit into our schedule
Radisson Blu Hotels
- These are not the same as Radisson hotels in the states
- Our rooms were beautiful, comfortable, and that breakfast spread (prayer hands)
Norwegian Air:
- While considered a “low-cost” airline, this still puts many US domestic airlines to shame. The flight prices within Norway were reasonable and included great seatback entertainment options as well as food that I could eat even with my lactose and gluten intolerances
Food menus that listed all allergens in dishes according to a code on the menus – this was at most restaurants and made eating so much easier for me to navigate my lactose and gluten intolerances
Friendly Norwegians! Basically everyone we encountered spoke English and they were such kind people. It’s definitely a place you can easily navigate without knowing the language and people are happy to help you and answer questions.

This trip was especially meaningful to me as Kristin and I finally were able to match our schedules so I had the chance to travel with my best friend. Most of my travels are solo so it was great to have someone to share this all with.

What we wish we had seen:

More Fjords!
Bergen
Lofoten
Train rides – Winter was tough to arrange this to fit seeing the actual countryside in daylight hours while not losing an entire day. I wish we had time for a short rides as the views are supposed to be amazing year round.
Kakslauttanen Arctic Resort – This is one of the hotels where you can sleep in a glass igloo to look out at the night sky. Unfortunately, in our one week trip it was too far away!

This post has been super delayed saying as how I’m recapping December in August, but let’s just ignore that factor. I’ve since taken a few more trips with lots more stories and pictures to come!

August 20, 2017August 22, 2017

Holmenkollen Ski Jump & I’m bad with art

After waking up a little later in the morning, but without any post-NYE hangovers (yay!), we made our way to my second favorite experience in Oslo – Holmenkollen Ski Jump. This one took us about 30 minutes via tram to get to, but in my opinion was completely worth it. Some of our pictures below may look slightly familiar if you’ve watched the latest season of the Bachelorette, because Rachel brought the guys here! It’s funny to look back at the hotel we saw and talked about how beautiful it was and then of course it was used in a reality tv show. Unfortunately I have to reign in my champagne taste to fit my sparkling wine (dry please!) budget from time to time so we skipped out on staying there.

Be prepared to trek up a fairly long hill once you get off the tram since the elevator to the very top starts halfway-ish up the hill. There is a small initial lookout space, but if you’ve come all this way you should go to the top. We walked around the Skimuseet which was incredible to learn the history of the ski jump, 1952 Olympics and the Norwegian royal family’s participation. There was also an area to see a film of the Northern Lights in case you miss them in real life.

If you’re up for it, they have an interactive exhibit where you can get into a pod-like machine that plays video and audio and moves around simulating the experience of the downhill ski jump. Kristin sat this one out, but the other people in the pod had a good laugh at me squealing when it would suddenly lurch forward or drop down.

I think I neglected to mention so far that they are very big on their trolls in Norway. Obviously we had to take pictures with them.

The final part of visiting the Holmenkollen Ski Jump is going up to the very top! We waited in a long line to go up since the viewing area itself isn’t very large. It took probably 20-30 minutes since the lift can only fit I think 15 people so it was about 2-3 minutes between each batch of people getting to go up.

It’s probably important to mention here that both Kristin and I are afraid of heights. The elevator you take to the up was pretty terrifying and I’m pretty sure everyone else in the lift with us was laughing at the sheer terror on my face as we went up a hill in a GLASS elevator. It was cruel.

Being that it was December, the winds were INSANE. We got out of the lift and climbed one last set of stairs that brought us to the lookout. I understand why the walls were so high. If they were any lower surely one of us would have been swept away.

You can see down the famous ski jump and to the left of it the small area with snow where you could still actually ski.

Definitely plan for this to take half a day. We thought it would be a quick in and out experience but after getting there, walking up the hill, going through the museum, and riding the elevator up took about 3 hours alone.

Our final stop took us to Frogner Park. I imagine in the summer that this park is packed with people doing all sorts of activities as well as relaxing. Apparently there is even an outdoor public pool! Even in winter it was beautiful and a nice way to walk around and get some fresh air. My favorite part of Frogner Park was the Vigeland Sculpture Park that includes over 200 different sculptures made by Gustav Vigeland. If you recall I previously mentioned that the intrigue and interest in most art is kind of lost on me. That said, these sculptures were worth a look even if I didn’t take them seriously. Sorry Gustav, but some of these I just don’t get.

Exhibit A – the sculpture of a man kicking babies!

Hanging with my friends:

The way I prefer to hold cats:

With a limited schedule, this was the last but we got to see in Norway as we flew back to the states the following day. I’m sure there are a million things we didn’t see, but I’m happy we got a little taste of what Norway has to offer. I’ll give our final thoughts on Norway in my next post!

Nicole