Tag Archives: travel

Mediterranean Trip Report: Disney Magic

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I started writing this entry way back during Thanksgiving weekend. ?!? Totally forgot about it in all the craziness of the holidays.

Oh! Before I forget – my blog celebrated it’s 12th birthday on 1/17! WOWOW. Awesomesauce.

So I’ve recapped all the ports we visited while on our Mediterranean cruise and now I thought I should share some thoughts and pics from the time we spent on the ship itself.

Neither Rob nor I had ever been on a cruise before and I have to admit we were a little apprehensive. I mean, what if we hated being stuck on the ship with no other options for food and/or activities? And the recent disasters on the Costa Concordia and the Carnival Triumph were fresh on my mind. But we figured a Mediterranean itinerary would be a good way to get our feet wet since we’d be spending more time on shore and using the ship primarily as a hotel.

We had no reason to worry, though — we had a GREAT time on the cruise! I’m pretty sure we’ll go on another one just as soon as I find an interesting itinerary. 🙂 I’m also convinced that a cruise is a great vacation option for a family with young kids because accommodations and most food and beverages are included and there are tons of activities and kids clubs available on board to keep them busy.



The first sight of the Disney Magic was amazing — I got goose bumps! It’s such a beautiful ship! When our taxi driver asked us where we were going, he said “Mickey?” Haha. Then he even took a photo of the ship for his kids. Love it.

The entire security & check-in process was easy and we even lucked out and got an upgrade to a navigator’s veranda for only $340. Woohoo. When I completed our check in online, I got a port arrival time of 11am which put us in boarding group 4 but by the time we arrived and got through check-in, they were already on boarding group 25+. OOPS. Since we weren’t in a rush we got our picture taken with Minnie and then hopped in line to board.



When you get on the ship, they ask for your family name and announce you as you board. Such a fun, welcoming touch.

Random note since everyone seems to ask — I DEFINITELY felt seasick that first night after we set sail. Like an idiot, I had packed Bonine (motion sickness medicine) but forgot to take it the night before as recommended. The movement really got to me for a few hours making me feel really nauseous and just unbalanced somehow. It completely went away after a good night’s sleep (and a dose of Bonine!). Rob had no issues at all.

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Mediterranean Trip Report: Amalfi Coast

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It’s been a really busy few weeks. Immediately after getting back from Turks & Caicos at the end of October, I made two trips up to San Francisco for work. I seriously don’t know how frequent travelers do it. I was tired after three weeks of traveling. Then this past week I got sick with a cold and sore throat. Just what I needed.

And now here we are with the holidays upon us. YIKES! I feel so behind at life.

Ok, continuing on with my Mediterranean trip report. Today I’m covering our day along the Amalfi Coast.

Thursday, September 5

The port was Naples, which is another one with multiple destination options. Some people visit Naples itself, Pompeii, or Capri. Rob & I chose to visit the Amalfi Coast, specifically Positano and Sorrento. We seriously considered Pompeii but I knew it would be way too hot and we’d end up being too tired for that. The Amalfi Coast seemed more scenic and relaxing, which is what we needed at this point in the trip.

We decided to use Rome in Limo again and even went with two of the same people (a hilarious mother/daughter pair) from our Rome excursion. It ended up being just the four of us (we were originally scheduled to have a group of 8 but the others bailed) making it a really intimate day.

Our driver Giovanni picked us up at the port and right away I knew it would be a good day. He was hilarious! He had that really dry, subtle Italian humor. SO GREAT.



Almost immediately after we started our drive, Mount Vesuvius came into view on our left. But the more spectacular vantage point came once we got to the other side of the Gulf of Naples.



This is the view looking towards Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast. The island of Capri is just beyond this peninsula.



The stretch of coastline on the southern side of the Sorrentine Peninsula is the region known as the Amalfi Coast. The roads are winding but the view is so beautiful you don’t even notice.

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Mediterranean Trip Report: Rome

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Rob & I just got back from a week-long trip to the island of Providenciales (aka Provo) in the Turks & Caicos Islands along with my brother-in-law and his wife. It was HEAVENLY! I’m one of those people who gets a little stir crazy at the thought of spending hours and hours at the beach but that’s pretty much what we did each day. 🙂 I’ll share some pics whenever I get around to downloading them from the camera.

In the meantime, let’s head back to the Mediterranean — this time to Rome!

Wednesday, September 4

Since we only had one day in port, we knew we wanted to go on a guided excursion to do and see as much as possible. It was my second time in Rome but Rob’s first so of course we wanted to hit the main tourist spots like the Colosseum, Vatican Museum, etc. Thanks to Cruise Critic, we not only discovered Rome in Limo but we also found a couple of other parties to share our tour costs. We had a small group of 8, an air-conditioned van, a driver (Nick) and a private guide for the Vatican Museum (Katarina). It was an awesome experience!

Nick picked us up promptly at 8am at Civitavecchia harbor and kept our van entertained the entire 45 minutes it took to get to central Rome.

Our first stop was the Pantheon.



Rob at the Fontana del Pantheon.



The exterior.



The Pantheon Dome with an opening to the sky.



So much to see inside — paintings, sculptures, the tomb of Raphael.



On the way to our next stop, we drove by the Piazza Colonna.

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Mediterranean Trip Report: Cinque Terre

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I celebrated my 34th birthday last Friday. YIKES. It sure sounds old, hehe. I had a great weekend celebrating with good friends & family. 🙂

Rob’s been playing a lot of Grand Theft Auto V lately (ie. monopolizing the TV) so I have time to write the next installment of this report…

Tuesday, September 3
The second port on our cruise was La Spezia, a city and province in northern Italy. At this port, most cruisers head to either Pisa or Florence. Pisa wasn’t that interesting to me (seems like there would be nothing to see there except the tower – please correct me if I’m wrong) and while I would LOVE to visit Florence (I’ve never been), the drive is 2+ hours each way, which I thought was way too long when you’re already dealing with limited port time. Hopefully we’ll be lucky enough to make it to Florence on a land trip someday.

In the end we decided to visit the Cinque Terre, which is a collection of 5 villages located along a rugged coastline of the Italian Riviera. Like Monaco, I originally thought we would explore on our own — I especially wanted to walk along Via Dell’Amore, which is an easy trail between Riomaggiore & Manarola, the first 2 villages, where there are supposed to be beautiful views. But after recent floods, that part of the trail has been closed. I kept checking to see if it opened before our trip but no luck.

The plan was to use the train or water taxis to visit a few of the villages but I got frustrated trying to figure out all the schedules so I finally decided to let Disney hold our hand again and I signed us up for the Cinque Terre Scenic Boat Tour, which was a half day trip — this would end up being the perfect amount of time since we had to rest up for Rome the next day.



The Disney Magic anchored at the port. I adored the ship. It just looks so stately. <3



We met our group bright and early at the Walt Disney Theatre then we were led on to our boat for the day. We found a seat at the top for the best views but also lots of sun and heat!



After leaving La Spezia, we sailed past a beautiful village named Porto Venere.

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Mediterranean Trip Report: Monaco

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Happy October everyone! October is my favorite month because of… birthday reasons. Hehe. 😉

Onwards with the trip report!

Monday, September 2

The first port of our Mediterranean cruise was Villefranche, which is a gorgeous village in the Côte d’Azur region of the French Riviera.

At each port, there are so many options and limited time, which is par for the course with a cruise (and is the biggest reason why overall I still prefer land vacations — though I definitely want to cruise again). In Villefranche, we were debating between Nice (to the west) and Monaco (to the east). We decided on the latter. Originally we planned to visit Monaco on our own by taking the train and then getting around to the various sites by a combination of walking or bus. But a few days before our trip, Rob’s foot started acting up (it flares up once in a while making it painful for him to walk on it a lot). So we changed our plans and decided to book an excursion through Disney Cruise Line — Monaco, Monte Carlo & Eze. At least this way we’d have transportation everywhere and Rob could take it easy on his foot.



Our first look at the port of Villefranche!

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Mediterranean Trip Report: Barcelona

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Hola! 🙂

It’s been over a week since we got back from our Mediterranean adventure and life is back to normal. Wahhh wahhh.

I know my blog has evolved into a travelogue over the past few years and I’m not quite sure how that happened! I just don’t obsess over TV or fandom the same way I used to before (I reserve the right to take this back after a few more episodes of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD). I mean, I still watch huge amounts of TV (that won’t ever change) but I don’t really have a connection with the shows I watch anymore. Anyway, I guess my blog has never had a point. LOL. It’s just nice to have a place where I can write about whatever I want. And I enjoy looking back, reading old posts, and either laughing or cringing at myself. 😛 I hope you’ll all continue to stick with me! Especially since writing these blog posts helps to keep me occupied until our next adventure…

So we had an AWESOME Mediterranean vacation — I didn’t want it to end (so cliche)! This was our itinerary —

8/28 Departure flight
8/29 Arrive in Barcelona
8/30 Barcelona
8/31 Cruise embarkation day
9/1 Day at Sea
9/2 Port in Villefranche (Monaco)
9/3 Port in La Spezia (Cinque Terre)
9/4 Port in Civitavecchia (Rome)
9/5 Port in Napes (Amalfi Coast)
9/6 Day at Sea
9/7 Debarkation day + Barcelona
9/8 Flight to Paris
9/9-9/10 Disneyland Paris Resort
9/11 Paris
9/12 Back home

It’s been 7 years since I was in Europe and I hope it won’t be that long until I get back again. I have dreams of visiting Greece and the Baltics. Ahhh, someday!

Thursday, August 29

Our first stop was Barcelona — neither of us have ever been to Spain so we were excited! Unfortunately, on our very first morning, we were targeted for petty theft IN OUR HOTEL, the Le Meridien, and even though everything turned out fine, I HOLD GRUDGES (plus, it was totally my fault). I’m actually still a bit miffed at the whole situation. I had done my research so I knew all the scams and thought I was prepared but unfortunately I was super jet lagged and I let my guard down because we were sitting in a lounge inside our hotel. While Rob was outside, one guy distracted me while another guy took Rob’s backpack from the chair right next to me. ARGH!!! The terrible thing was that I didn’t even notice. Luckily Rob spotted the guy walking out of the hotel with his backpack and got it back without a fight. PHEW. That could have been a disastrous start. After that, all I wanted to do was get into our room and sleep, which is exactly what we did the rest of that first day.

Before that mess, though, we walked along Las Ramblas to La Boqueria, which is a wonderful market filled with fresh meat, seafood, fruits, vegetables… basically anything and everything. It was AMAZING! Take a look…



We had a yummy lunch at one of the many tapas bars in the market and we also picked up juice, fruits and ham & cheese to snack on over the next few days. It was THE BEST.

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mediterranean adventure

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Annnd we’re off again on our next adventure! To celebrate our recent 5th anniversary (wow!), Rob & I are heading to Barcelona this week to board a Mediterranean cruise (with stops in Italy & France) and then we’ll fly to Paris for a few days (Disneyland!).



Neither of us have ever been on a cruise before so I’m a little nervous we’ll hate it. But I figure that we’ll be in Europe so we won’t care anyway!

I’ll try to update my Twitter (username: CooKie01) and/or my Instagram feeds (username: cookiekel) when I find free internet access. Follow me! I’m excited to share our adventures with you. 🙂

valentine’s weekend in portland

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Way back on Valentine’s Day, Rob and I took a quick weekend trip up to Portland. Both of us always seem to be excruciatingly busy with work in February so this was a perfect time for a foodie getaway to a new city. 🙂

We don’t know how to start our mornings without caffeine so on our first day we walked over to Stumptown, a locally owned shop and roaster known for its quality coffee.



I am NOT a coffee connoisseur (what can I say? I love my Starbucks) but I thought it was excellent!

Although the main focus of our trip was to eat our way through the city, we managed to squeeze in a little sightseeing. We rented a car for a day and headed east to visit the waterfalls along the Columbia River Highway. Too bad for us it was the one day that was super overcast and rainy that weekend.



But Multnomah Falls was so beautiful! Even despite the rain. I’m sure it would be even more stunning during the Spring and Summer when the surrounding trees have grown back their leaves. I had originally wanted to hike the half mile up to the Benson foot bridge that you see in the photo but the rain started coming down too hard and the pathways were getting slick and muddy.



We also made a pit stop at Wahkeena Falls.



Our last stop before heading back downtown was the Vista House, which is an observatory and rest area for travelers.

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Japan Trip Report: Tokyo, Part 2

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Annnnddd again with my unintended hiatus from the blog! Is anyone still here?! 🙂 I wish I could say that I was off doing fun things but really, I’ve had a tiring and emotional few weeks.

First, I was in San Francisco at the beginning of the month seeing a colleague and friend off on a new adventure. That was sad enough.

Then the following week I flew to Manila with my dad after learning that my grandma had passed away. I spent 4 very packed and emotional days saying farewell to my beloved Lola. She was 95 and had been in the hospital for almost a year so I’ve been preparing myself for this news for some time now. Although that doesn’t make it any easier to accept. She lived in the Philippines but when I was very little, she would spend extended time with us in California almost every year. I remember going to garage sales with her and coming home with piles of $0.10 books. I’m pretty sure my love of reading came from her. She also used to spend many afternoons making the yummiest filipino desserts — I wish I could remember the recipes now. They’re still some of my favorite sweet treats. I love you, Lola, and miss you very very much.

And finally on the other end of the emotional spectrum, last week Rob & I took a long weekend trip to our happy place, Vancouver. I tried postponing the trip but I’m glad it didn’t work out. It was so great to get away and detox emotionally.

So that’s what’s been going on with me this month… how about all of you? 🙂

I know it’s been 6+ months since this trip but I need to finish what I started so here’s the final installment of our Japan trip report…

Monday, November 19
Food is a very important part of travel for us. And we’re huge fans of Japanese food in particular. So we had a checklist of various types of food we wanted to try… tempura (check), okonomiyaki (check), ramen (check), sushi (pending)… and so on.

On our third day in Tokyo we headed to Kichijoji for steak at Steak House Satou.



I read about the restaurant on this travel blog and have been anxious to try it ever since.

It didn’t disappoint.

We made sure to arrive right around opening (11am) because I had read online that lines are not uncommon since it’s a tiny restaurant on top of their own butcher shop. You walk up a very narrow and steep flight of stairs and are greeted with the most delicious smell of meat sizzling on the teppan grill. Trust me, it smelled fantastic.

Rob and I both ordered the Matsuzaka steak set that came with a salad starter and veggies on the side.



Oh man, it was INCREDIBLE. Definitely the best meal of the trip for me. SOGOODOMG.



After lunch we stumbled upon a Doughnut Plant in the Shinjuku station.



We were going to skip it since we’d tried it when we were in New York but I saw that they had green tea flavored donuts. I can’t resist anything green tea! YUM.

So our plan for the day was to do some sightseeing in Harajuku.



I just love the Harajuku station — so charming!
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Japan Trip Report: Tokyo, Part 1

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I can’t believe it’s been 3+ weeks since my last entry! I wish I could blog more regularly — but as I get older, it takes more time for me to put each entry together. Plus, on weeknights after work, I am L-A-Z-Y.

Anyway, before I launch into the next installment of my trip report, I have to ask — is anyone else annoyed with Google for shutting down Reader?! I know it’s ridiculous but I read quite a few blogs and it’s so easy to keep up with all of them in one place. So far I’ve tried a few different potential replacements and haven’t found “the one” yet. LOL. Feedly has a sleek look but I’m not loving the magazine style layout. The Old Reader was my top choice because it’s pretty much a carbon copy of Google Reader but DAMN, it is SLOOOOOWWW. Bloglovin is my favorite so far but I wish blogs would get marked as read when I scroll through rather than me having to do that manually. UGH. Are there any other options out there that I should try?

Onwards with my Japan trip report! After leaving the Tokyo Disney Report, we headed into Tokyo Proper for the last 4 days of our trip…

Saturday, November 17
Sadly it was raining HARD on our first day in Tokyo. I was too busy trying to keep myself dry that I didn’t take nearly the amount of pics I normally would, hehe.

Our first stop was the neighborhood of Asakusa and the Sensoji Temple.



As you enter the temple, you first walk through the outer gate known as Kaminarimon (or Thunder Gate). Ugh, the rain.



From the outer gate, Nakamise shopping street leads you towards the main hall.



And that’s the main hall behind me.



From Asakusa, you can see the newly built Tokyo Skytree, which is the tallest building in Tokyo. With our limited time in the city, we didn’t have a chance to visit (I guess we’ll save it for next time :)).



It was so incredible to be walking around in this vibrant city!
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