London

Monthly Recap: May 2018

Happy June! And welcome to a brand-new feature of my blog: the Monthly Recap!

I read a lot of travel blogs, and I have to admit I really enjoy the monthly (or weekly) recap posts some bloggers do. I’ve been thinking about starting a similar series for a while, but I held back because I wasn’t sure I’d have enough interesting material to fill it, or that anyone would want to read about my life outside of travel. But then I realized 1) this is my blog and I should write whatever I want; 2) it will encourage me to post more regularly and keep track of the fun things I’m doing; and 3) since I really enjoy reading these updates from bloggers I don’t know, who’s to say that those reading my blog won’t enjoy reading these updates from me?

And I’m starting off on a high note, as May was a particularly great month for me in terms of travel (featuring my first international trip in a year and a half!) as well as welcoming summer with a few fun DC traditions. So, here it is: my first-ever Monthly Recap!

National Gallery, London

May 2018 Monthly Recap

Where I Traveled: London, Paris, Versailles, New York City, Washington, DC.

I began the month in the best way possible: with a week in London and Paris! I also visited Versailles for the first time (verdict: it’s certainly impressive and I’m glad I went, but it was a bit of a hassle and I probably will never go again. At least it’s checked off the bucket list!) Then I was in New York City for a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it two-day work trip in the middle of May.

Best Meals: Without a doubt, the prize here goes to my favorite Parisian restaurant, Le Relais de L’Entrecote, where I enjoyed steak and frites to cap off my three days of eating very well in the city. I also enjoyed the food at 28-50, a posh wine bar in London where I sampled Icelandic specialties of lamb hot dog with French fries (American, yet not really…I love it), as well as several varieties of wine.

Best Drinks: The hot chocolate l’africain at Café Angelina in Paris was, naturally, the winner in this category.

Cafe Angelina hot chocolate!

Best Cultural Experiences: It’s hard to narrow this down in a month that saw me visiting the Louvre and the Musee D’Orsay in Paris, but I’m going to give this award to the National Gallery in London, which reclaimed its spot as one of my favorite museums in the world. I hadn’t been there so long that I’d forgotten just how impressive their collection really is, and how beautifully designed the building is as well. And unlike the amazing Parisian museums, it’s free! I promise never to return to London without paying a visit.

Best Read: I’ve just begun The Restless Wave by Senator John McCain. I’m three chapters in and really enjoying it so far, particularly his perspective of the 2008 presidential campaign.

Best of DC: I don’t want to neglect my hometown in these recaps! This month kicked off the annual tradition of Jazz in the Sculpture Garden—weekly Friday evening summer concerts held outdoors at the National Gallery of Art’s Sculpture Garden. These are hugely popular and I got there early to snag a spot on the grass for myself and my friends. We had a great time, crowds and lack of foresight to bring a picnic blanket notwithstanding. I also took advantage of a free afternoon before the concert to visit the National Gallery of Art and check out some of my favorite European painters, including a new exhibit on Cezanne portraits (which to be honest, I just stumbled on).

What’s Next: This month I’ll be in Kenya for a week for work, and hoping to fit in a little time on my last day to do touristy things. I’m also beginning to plan my August European vacation in earnest (more details to come soon!)

So, what did you think? Are you a fan of monthly recap posts, or are they just ridiculously self-indulgent narcissism? (Please pick the first option). What exciting things did you do in May?

DC, France, London, Monthly Recaps, Paris, Travel Musings, US travel

Jun

2018

Highlights of A Week in London and Paris

Melissa Kaplan0

I’m back from my first big adventure of 2018! Actually, it was my first big adventure since the middle of 2016, given circumstances beyond my control that kept me pretty much homebound for the past year. I can’t begin to express how happy I am to have left that stage of life behind and plunged back into exploring and experiencing the world. I missed travel. (I mean, really, really missed it).

My first trip of the year was to two cities I know well: I lived in London for a year and have lots of family there, and I’ve been to Paris several times and adore it (because, obviously, Paris). I wanted this visit to mix discovery of new places and returns to old favorites I already knew and loved. I think I did a pretty fantastic job of combining the two, and would wholeheartedly recommend stealing any of the following experiences for your own London/Paris trip (which hopefully you’re planning as we speak, right?)

Anyway, here they are: my favorite things that I saw, did, ate and drank in London and Paris.

Fortnum and Mason’s tearoom wall, London. Is this not the cutest thing ever?!

Melissa’s London and Paris Highlights

London:

The National Gallery. This has always been one of my favorite museums in London, but honestly, I’d forgotten what a cool experience a visit there can be. Not only is the art untouchable (I spent lots of time with the Impressionists, Turner, and Constable), but the inside of the museum is majestically designed and the location right on Trafalgar Square can’t be beat.
Fortnum and Mason’s. How did I live in London for as long as I did and never visit the Queen’s grocery store? Fortnum’s was such a delightful experience: I shopped for shortbread and tea (Harry and Meghan’s special wedding blend, which I brought back for a friend), and enjoyed hot chocolate (good) and an ice cream sundae (amazing) in one of their dining spaces. Also, the walls where we ate were covered in cartoon-style drawings of every British monarch going back centuries. Love it!
Hatchard’s and Stanford’s bookstores. Okay, once again—how did I never visit Hatchard’s bookstore before in all my time in London? It’s an institution I was somehow oblivious to, located right next to Fortnum and Mason’s and pretty much guaranteeing you a perfect afternoon combo. The choice of books is overwhelming, and as a store attendant helpfully pointed out: “We have a whole section just on Churchill, in case you were wondering just how British we are.” Ah, London. I also popped into Stanford’s travel bookstore, one of my favorite places in the world, which is chock full of guidebooks, maps, globes, travel literature, and books about any place you might ever want to visit.
Café Nero. Every time I go to London, I hit Café Nero at least once for their excellent Hot Chocolate Milano—thick, Italian style hot chocolate topped with whipped cream. Happiness in a to-go cup.
Green Park. I had a wonderful time (on a rare good-weather day) strolling through one of my favorite parks just off of Buckingham Palace. I love nature retreats in big cities!
Spending time with family. My mom is English, so I have a large family who live in or not far from London. We had a family gathering at my aunt’s house in Bath, where I got to catch up with relatives, some of whom I hadn’t seen in a decade (!), as well as a dinner with several cousins in a posh wine bar called 28-50 Mayfair with excellent food in central London; highly recommended. It was great to spend time with family and friends in London before moving on to Paris solo for a few days.

Paris:

Cafe Angelina hot chocolate!

Café Angelina. Whenever I’m in Paris, this is one place I always make sure to visit. And if I have friends going to Paris, I tell them they absolutely have to check it out. Angelina’s is a beautiful (albeit tourist-thronged) café just a stone’s throw from the Louvre, which serves the ABSOLUTE BEST HOT CHOCOLATE IN THE WORLD. (Though strong honorable mention to Les Deux Magots. It’s hard to choose, really! Paris’s chocolate bounty overflows, which makes me kind of want to move there someday…)
Musee D’Orsay. I’d only been to the D’Orsay once before, ten years ago, and as a lover of Impressionist art, I was keen to revisit it. Although I had a bit of a snag buying my ticket online (and ended up having to buy another one the day of—ugh), and got there later than I’d planned after my excursion to Versailles, I still really enjoyed the museum, and can’t wait to return and spend more time there. Not only is the art itself fantastic, but the location—a former train station—is pretty hard to top! Plus it’s right near my favorite cafes and restaurants in St. Germain de Pres.
Wandering St. Germain de Pres and the Latin Quarter. I did a ton of walking over my two days in Paris, most of it taking me to or through the fifth and sixth arrondissement neighborhoods—the Latin Quarter and St. Germain de Pres. Both are favorites of mine, and I had a wonderful time browsing through the stacks of books at Shakespeare and Company, poking into the shops along Boulevard St. Germain, and having my second epic chocolate chaud in two days at Les Deux Magots—while pondering the fact that if I return often enough to sit at every single table, eventually I’ll have to hit one that Hemingway and Fitzgerald once sat and wrote at. Yet another excellent reason to keep going back!
Dinner at Le Relais de L’Entrecote. One of my favorite restaurants on earth, and definitely my top choice in Paris. It opens at 7 pm for dinner and there was a short line out the door, but it moved fast and was more than worth the wait. All this restaurant serves is steak and frites, with salad and bread as accompaniments—excellent quality, and they keep refilling your plate till you’ve had enough, so the quantity is pretty impressive too! Only 26 euros for the entire meal: a steal, especially in this popular neighborhood.
Climbing all the steps up to Sacre Couer. As this was my first time staying in Montmartre, I figured it would be worth checking out the Basilica Sacre Couer. I saved it for my last day, and I have to admit I didn’t quite anticipate the number of stairs I’d have to climb; every time I thought I was done, I realized there was another layer I hadn’t seen from below! But I knew I might never be back, so I pushed myself to reach the top and I’m so glad I did. The church is beautiful inside (there was a sign saying not to take photos, which I abided by even if others didn’t, so you’ll just have to trust me on this until you can visit yourself). I did get some nice photos of the outside from up close to commemorate my trek!

As you can see, my week in London and Paris was pretty much perfection, and I’m already plotting my return. I’d love to make London/Paris a yearly trip if possible, knowing there will always be new discoveries awaiting me to complement the old favorites I can’t wait to visit again. And really, isn’t that what travel should be about?

Have you visited London and Paris? Do you love them too? What are your favorite spots in each city?

France, London, Paris

May

2018

Europe, Here I Come!

Melissa Kaplan0

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged (not much happening on the travel front except lots of trip planning) but today, I’m excited to finally embark on a return trip to one of my favorite parts of the world: Europe! I’ll be spending the next four days in London with my family, then hopping the Eurostar to Paris for another three days. Yay!

I’ve already written about my trip plans, and will be sure to post some fun memories when I return (it’ll be nice to finally have new travel stories to share!) But I wanted to check in on the blog today mostly to express my own excitement. It’s been nearly two years (!) since my last overseas trip–life has made taking a break from travel unavoidable--but I am so, so ready to get back out into this beautiful world we live in. Even the prospect of a seven-hour flight fills me with giddy anticipation.

Here’s to a week of museums, bookstores, cafes, restaurants, gardens, palaces, fromage, and of course, chocolate. ALL the chocolate.

Hope your weekend is wonderful and full of travel magic!

London, Paris

Apr

2018

Paris (and London) in the Springtime

Melissa Kaplan0

Usually, when I plan a trip, it’s to the most exotic, exciting, adventurous place I can think of—South Africa, Thailand, Israel, or at least somewhere in Europe I haven’t visited yet. But there’s something wonderful about re-visiting places you know well and love. And that’s why I’ve booked my first big trip of 2018 to Paris and London!

To say I’m excited is an understatement. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I haven’t been out of America since September 2016 (ah, Slovenia, what a great adventure you were!) and I am SO READY to venture out into the world again. I’ve missed traveling. I’ve missed the excitement of trip planning, the joy of arriving at a new destination, eating local food, attempting to speak a new language: all of it. Traveling is a fundamental part of what makes me who I am, and not being able to do it has been tough. But in six weeks, I’ll be back on the horse (or rather, the plane) once again!

Trafalgar Square, London

As you may remember, my original plan for my first big trip of the year was just a tad different…I was planning to go to South America. Chile and Brazil were at the top of my travel wish list, and while I still very much want to visit both, the timing didn’t work out this time around. So I’ll be going next February instead (yes, I’ve already planned most of my 2019 travels—I can’t help it, this is how I roll!) In the meantime, I figured my spring trip should be to a place where I could visit family, and also revisit places that I love while discovering new ones. So I picked London, where I have loads of family I don’t get to see very often, and added on a few days in Paris because, well, Paris is always a good idea, oui? (Bien sur!)

I’ll be leaving at the end of April and spending four days in London followed by three days in Paris. My plans are still tentative, but so far, here’s what I’ve got:

The Louvre in Paris

Melissa’s London and Paris Itinerary

London—I always hit the British Museum and the National Gallery when I’m in London, as well as my old haunts in Covent Garden and Soho (like Stanford’s travel bookstore!) This time, I am also thinking of tea at Harrod’s or somewhere similar (a London experience I haven’t had yet!); popping by Buckingham Palace (The Crown has exerted its influence on me); and possibly doing a tour of the WW2 underground bomb shelters, which a friend recently did and highly recommends. I want to have at least one Brick Lane curry. And of course, I’ll spend lots of time catching up with aunts, uncles, cousins, and cousins’ kids.

Paris—I’m lucky enough to have been to Paris several times already, but it’s a place I can never get enough of. I’m sure there’s still loads for me to discover there, which is one reason I decided to book an AirBnB (for the first time ever—thanks, friend-of-a-cousin, for having an amazing rental available!) in Montmartre, where I haven’t spent much time before. I’m excited to be able to live like a local there for a few days, wandering around the streets, discovering new restaurants and soon-to-be-favorite cafes, and just relaxing and taking in that magical Parisian feeling that’s so hard to put into words.

But, it wouldn’t be a trip to Paris without revisiting some old favorites! I’ll be hitting the Louvre (and as a corollary, Café Angelina across the street, which has arguably the world’s greatest hot chocolate!); the Musee D’Orsay; the cafes of St. Germain-de-Pres (if Fitzgerald and Hemingway wrote and/or drank there, I’m in); and one of my favorite restaurants on the planet, Le Relais De L’Entrecote, where they serve nothing but steak, frites, and salad…basically my culinary heaven on earth. And I plan to eat all the Parisian pastries I can handle (maybe I should start building up my tolerance now?)

Hot chocolate at Cafe Angelina in Paris

Versailles—One totally new place I’ll be visiting on this trip: the Palace of Versailles! I’ve never been, because I could never bear to tear myself away from Paris long enough to go there. But my mom has been raving about her trip to Versailles for as long as I can remember. She saw it when she was 21 on her first big trip to Paris, and she’s been urging me to go for years. Yes, Mom, it’s finally happening!

All in all, this should be a fantastic trip filled with reconnecting with people and places I love, while discovering just enough new ones to keep things interesting—a perfect itinerary for diving back into the world again after a long break.

And of course, eating All. The. Chocolate. All of it.

Have you been to Paris and London? What are your favorite places/things to do there? All suggestions welcome!

France, London, Paris

Mar

2018

Travel Resolutions: 2018 Edition

Melissa Kaplan0

New year, new me, right? Well, I’m still working on that second part, but happily I am on my way. Within a few months, I hope to be back to full health and able to pick up on globetrotting around the world once again!

Last month I shared some of my tentative travel plans for the next year. In a similar spirit, I’d like to now offer my 2018 travel resolutions—things I want to do, or continue, or get better at, all somehow relating to my life as a traveler. Here goes:

Melissa’s 2018 Travel Resolutions

See more of South America. I have one of those scratch-off world maps hanging on my wall that shows how many parts of the globe you’ve visited. And I must admit, mine has a glaring empty corner so far: South America. I’ve only briefly been to Buenos Aires, which was fantastic but hardly representative of an entire vast, diverse continent. Luckily Argentina is big so my map doesn’t look quite as embarrassing as it might otherwise, but still. I’ve been longing to visit Chile and Brazil for ages, and this year I plan to make it happen and begin to fill in the gaps in my South American experience.
Finally make it to Russia! I was going to do this last year, but life intervened. Well, suck it, life, because this year I am going to Russia and nothing will stand in my way! (Fingers crossed, of course. Yes, I’m always paranoid when I make pronouncements like that…maybe “be more confident” and “worry less” need to go on my general resolution list. Anyway…) I sincerely hope that 2018 is finally the year I set eyes on St. Petersburg and absorb everything this magical-looking city has to offer.
Spend time in England with my family. My mom is from England, so I have a large extended family spread throughout the southern part of the country (and a few who’ve moved to Ireland, France, and Australia!) I love London and try to fit it into any trip to Europe; I was last there in 2016 just before visiting Slovenia and Croatia. But my London trips always last just a few days and I barely have time to reconnect with family and pop into the British Museum before it’s time to leave again. I’m hoping to carve out more time for England and visiting family this year, hopefully outside of London too. I’d love to spend a week in the country, with a few days in London and a few visiting family elsewhere (Bath is most likely, as my aunt, uncle, and cousin all reside there). Not exactly sure if I’ll do a stand-alone trip to the UK or add extra time to another trip, but “more time with family in England” is definitely high on my list this year.
Add on a destination to a work trip. I should be doing some more international work travel this year, so it may be feasible to tack on a quick trip to a nearby country/island. We shall see….but I have quite a few new countries I’d like to seize the opportunity to visit with a few extra vacation days!
Visit a new U.S. city. While my travels are largely international, for the past few years I’ve tried to visit at least one new U.S. city. Seattle in 2015, Portland in 2016, and I guess Philadelphia sort of counted in 2017 as I hadn’t been there in 12 years. This year, New Orleans is on my wish list, but a few other places are calling my name as well….
Look into carbon offsets. I meant to start doing this last year, but since I didn’t fly very much it didn’t end up happening (I guess one positive to my being mostly homebound is that it was a slight boon to our environment?) But this year I definitely plan to explore offsetting the environmental impacts of my long flights, as well as trying to combine trips together when possible to avoid lots of separate plane rides.
Take advantage of NYC work trips to eat all the food. I get to travel to NYC a few times a year for my job. While I like the work part of these trips, I’ve never been enamored of the Big Apple. However, not only do I enjoy seeing friends and family when I go, I must admit that I love the NYC food scene! I don’t believe I’ve ever had a bad meal there (credit goes to those same friends and family who bring me to awesome places to dine). Not only that, but NYC does desserts and sweets very well. I really want to check out City Bakery for its delicious-looking hot chocolate (I’m a connoisseur so my hot chocolate standards are high, but this place does seem amazing). And apparently there’s also a trendy new place that serves edible cookie dough?! Yep, I’m there.
Do a birthday yoga retreat. I’ve been toying with the idea of a yoga retreat in Costa Rica for a while, and I think my birthday next December will be a perfect time to do it. This will give me all year to save and plan, and provide a lovely way to end what will hopefully be a much better year for me than the last. See a new country AND do yoga, swim, and get massages all day long…sounds pretty much like heaven to me.
Figure out how to travel hack better. See number 6—I meant to do this last year but it ended up not mattering much since I traveled so little. Time to get on the ball now. Maybe a new credit card to earn miles and privileges is the way to go? In any case, I need to ensure I’m enrolled in all the appropriate airline miles programs (hangs head in shame…I am the worst-hacking traveler ever, and I know it). Here’s to doing better in 2018!
Keep planning and saving for new adventures in 2019. As much as I hope to travel this year, I want to do just as much, if not more, exploring in 2019! So I want to be sure to steadily save money and keep my eye on my 2019 travel goals, especially as my big 2018 trips should mostly wind down at the end of summer. New Zealand? Bali? Russia and Mongolia? It’s all on the table…stay tuned for more news this time next year. In the meantime, having new adventures on both the intermediate and more distant horizons is always a balm for my soul.

I could probably keep going, but ten resolutions seems like plenty, wouldn’t you say? I like to be ambitious, but best to keep all of these resolves at least somewhat grounded in reality. If I achieve even a fraction of what I’ve put on this list, I think I’ll have a pretty fantastic travel year!

(Oh, and also, I’m going to read more—I finished 18 books last year, which is okay, but I’m hoping to hit 25 this year. Not strictly travel related, but I wanted to toss that in there to help hold myself accountable.)

Here’s to a year of adventures, exploration, and happiness ahead! With as many beaches and European cafes tossed into the mix as possible….

Do you make travel resolutions? What are you hoping to achieve in 2018?

Central America, London, Russia, South America, Travel Musings

Jan

2018

My Best Travel Moments of 2016

Melissa Kaplan0

It’s that time of year again! Time for holiday celebrations, festive lights, lots and lots of hot chocolate (not that I ever need an excuse, really), and of course, end-of-the-year roundup blog posts.

Honestly, when I look back on my travels over the past year, I’m still pretty astounded I got to see and do so much. I had travel goals and dreams at the beginning of the year, but what I actually was able to see and do and experience blew them out of the water. This was an incredible year for me, and I’m so grateful for every single new place I visited, every new adventure I embarked on, and above all, the people I met around the globe who reaffirmed my hope that, fundamentally, the world is full of good and decent men and women who just want to live the best lives that they can.

Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

This was the year I visited Cambodia for the first time, and was blown away by this majestic country. It’s the year I made it to East Africa, experiencing a taste of safari in Kenya and learning about the history and contemporary life of Uganda. It’s the year that finally saw me accomplish my decade-long goal of visiting Slovenia and northern Croatia for the very first time. I traveled to Portland with my best friend and had a great time in this fun, funky, donut-and-ice cream-laden city. I visited my family in England and got reacquainted with one of my all-time favorite cities, London. And oh yes, I made it back to Paris and it was every bit as delightful as I remembered.

What an amazing year. I’m so thankful I got to experience every moment of it.

View of Soca river…can you believe that water color is real?!

As December draws to a close, I thought I’d do a quick roundup of some of my favorite moments/experiences over the past twelve months. Read on for my favorites around the globe in 2016:

Best Massage: Bliss Spa, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. An hour and a half of heavenly pampering for only $30. Can’t wait to go back!
Best Hot Chocolate: Les Deux Magots, Paris. I sneaked in for an hour with a French newspaper and a chocolate chaud after a long day of work meetings, and it remains one of my favorite memories of Paris.
Best Sunrise: Across the magical vista of my lodge near Nairobi, Kenya. Watching the sun rise over East Africa at 6 am—and thinking how far I’d come to be able to experience that moment—made the early morning wake-up call totally worthwhile.
Best Meal: Paris again—Le Relais D’Entrecote. I’d remembered this fantastique steak-and-frites legend from an earlier visit but couldn’t find it on a map or in my guidebook…then I stumbled across it by pure chance while wandering around the neighborhood. Fate! And it was every bit as delicious as I remembered. That steak is reason enough to visit Paris.
Best Body of Water: As beautiful as the Plitvice Lakes in Croatia are, I have to give the edge to the Soca River in Slovenia. This ribbon of turquoise snaking through the beautiful Slovenian countryside is a marvel. I remember just sitting and staring at it during a break in my busy day-trip from Lake Bled, wishing I could gaze at it forever and never leave.
Best Museum: Also in Slovenia—the Museum of Contemporary History of Slovenia in Ljubljana is a bit out of the way from the city center, but it’s very impressive and does a great job of telling the powerful, inspiring story of the country’s journey from Yugoslavia to independence to European Union membership over the past 25 years. It’s a must-see if you’re going to be in the capital.
Best Bookstore: This is an easy one (even though I got to revisit some of my favorites in London this year). I fell in love with the legendary Powell Books in Portland, Oregon when I visited this fall. SO many titles I wanted to take home, but I limited myself to three, and I still have two of them sitting on my nightstand that I can’t wait to crack open. This place is huge, diverse, and heaven for book lovers!
Best New City: While I enjoyed Phnom Penh a lot, and found Zagreb really charming, my hands-down favorite new city from the past year is Ljubljana. The capital of Slovenia is a gorgeous mélange of pastels set on a river and filled with beautiful architecture, excellent restaurants, and too many charming cafes to explore during my all-too-brief time there. I need to go back and revisit this delightful city soon—it made me so happy and I honestly didn’t want to leave!
Best New Country: Cambodia wasn’t even on my radar a year ago except in the vaguest way, but when a work trip sent me there for two weeks, I was thrilled to get a chance to check it out. It honestly was one of the most significant trips I’ve ever taken in my life. Not only is it an incredibly beautiful country with charming cities and impressive ruins to explore (hello, Angkor Wat!), it was filled with some of the kindest, most interesting people I’ve ever met, and I was inspired and humbled by how the country has worked to move forward after the horrors of its not-too-distant past. Cambodia is vibrant, fascinating, easy to explore even solo, and very affordable. It’s now one of my top country recommendations for all travelers. Cambodia, I’m so glad I got to know you a bit in 2016, and I hope to see you again soon.

What were your favorite 2016 travel experiences? What are your plans for 2017?

Africa, Asia, Cambodia, Croatia, Eastern/Central Europe, France, Kenya, London, Portland, Slovenia, Travel Musings, Uganda

Dec

2016

Slovenia, Here I Come!

Melissa Kaplan0

Do you have a dream destination? A little corner of the globe you’ve been gazing at longingly for years in guidebooks and on maps, fantasizing about the day you’d actually get to experience its magical lure in person?

It should come as no surprise that I have such a place. Actually, let’s be honest, I have TONS of them (hello New Zealand, Bali, Vietnam, Russia, Australia….). And I’ve been fortunate enough to visit many of my one-time dream locations already (Buenos Aires, Istanbul, South Africa, Thailand, Europe….).

But my bucket list is endless when it comes to travel and exploring this beautiful planet. And for years, there’s been one small pocket of Europe I’ve longed to visit and have somehow never made it to. But this August, that will change.

Hello, Slovenia, I’m finally coming for you!

(And Croatia and London, I’ll be swinging by you as well….)

Melissa’s Slovenian (and Croatian) Adventure

This Slovenia trip has been a dream of mine for years, and I’m so excited that it’s finally happening. For roughly a decade, ever since I lived in Central Europe and began exploring the magical cities and charming, history-laden small town that dot its landscape, I’ve wanted to see Slovenia. I almost went a few times, but something always got in the way (by which I mean, some other destination pulled me in just a bit more strongly).

But Slovenia kept calling to me, and its pull only got stronger as the years went by. I had originally been intrigued by its charming, café-filled capital of Ljubljana, which looks like heaven for those of us who have a thing for medium-sized Central European cities (I miss that part of the world badly). And lately, I’ve been more and more drawn in by photos of Lake Bled, which might just be home to the most stunning castle-on-an-island-on-a-lake in the world. Slovenia seems like a perfect blend of beautiful cities, small town charm, and natural abundance in the form of mountains, lakes, and even beaches. It looks absolutely perfect. What’s not to love?

So this year, I decided it was time to finally stop delaying and making excuses, and to jump into Slovenia with both feet and discover all that this beautiful country has to offer. I booked my plane ticket a few weeks ago and have been on a high ever since!

So what is there to see and do in Slovenia, you might ask? Plenty! Here are some of my plans:

Ljubljana—I plan to spend a few days here soaking up the architecture, taking in the views of the castle and the famous bridge, and acquainting myself with as many outdoor cafes as I possibly can.
Lake Bled and Lake Bohinj—While Lake Bled is legendary, I’ve heard Lake Bohinj is even more of a stunner—and less crowded! So I clearly have to take a few days to explore them both! I’ll be based in Bled but do a day-trip to Lake Bohinj to see which one I like best.
The countryside—I’m looking to find a day tour that will allow me to see a lot of the gorgeous, varied Slovenian countryside in one trip. I’m hoping this will include some time at Mt. Triglav, Slovenia’s famous peak; the Vrsic pass in the mountains; and perhaps rafting on the Soca river (or at least getting up close to its stunning blue waters!)

But, this trip won’t be only about Slovenia. Because the country is so compact and so close to Croatia, I just have to make a return visit to one of my favorite countries…but this time, I’ll be exploring a different part of it. When I visited Croatia back in 2007, I stuck to Dubrovnik and Split, fairly common for first time visitors (and well worth seeing, especially Dubrovnik). This time I’ll be staying in the north of Croatia, basing myself in the capital city of Zagreb (another charming Central European city, yay!), and then hopping down to the Plitvice Lakes to see the famous waterfalls.

So if this trip has a theme at all, it’s clearly water. Or nature. Or both.

Finally, I’ve booked myself a flight into London, one of my favorite cities in the world and my one-time home, where much of my family still lives. I’ll have three days in London before I fly to Slovenia, so I’m excited to hit a few museums, spend time with my aunts, uncles, and cousins, and eat all the curry. (Oh, and stock up on that chocolate chip shortbread that only UK Starbucks seem to sell).

I’m so happy that I’m finally going to be able to make my Slovenia dream trip a reality. It’s still more than two months away, but I’m already feeling the anticipation. Slovenia, Croatia, and London, here I come! I couldn’t be more excited to explore new dream destinations while revisiting one of my favorite cities in the world.

Let the summer of Slovenia begin!

Have you visited Slovenia or northern Croatia? Any suggestions or tips for me? Do you have a dream destination you have always longed to visit?

Croatia, Eastern/Central Europe, London, Slovenia

Jun

2016

Oh, the Places I’ll Go! (In 2016)

Melissa Kaplan2

Happy Sunday! I’m sitting at my computer typing while watching the first real snowfall of the season fall softly outside my window. It’s a picture-postcard kind of afternoon (even if the snow is pretty minimal, which I don’t mind as I have plans later on today I’d like to be able to keep!) Anyway, it feels like a perfect setting for contemplation and looking ahead to what’s in store in the new year.

And for me, as always, that means travel—hopefully lots of it!

I’m still firming up my 2016 travel plans, but I’m excited to be able to share at least the broad strokes of what I hope to see and do this year. Here’s my travel plan/wishlist, so far….

The Places I’ll Go in 2016

The Big Trips

Guatemala: My first trip is one I’ve already shared on this blog: I’m going to Guatemala next month! It’ll be my first visit to the country, and I’ll be spending most of my time around the stunning-looking Late Atitlan, with a brief stopover to check out Antigua as well. I can’t wait!

Central Europe and the Balkans: I lived in Europe for two years, and every time I’m there, I realize how much I miss it and how much I need to go back for an extended period to see new places and revisit old ones. So this summer, I’m planning a European vacation. The main focus of my trip will be Slovenia, which I’ve wanted to visit for as long as I can recall, as well as a quick pop into next-door-neighbor Croatia to see Zagreb and the Plitvice waterfalls. I’m also planning to spend a few days in London to see my family there and get reacquainted with one of my favorite cities, where I was lucky enough to live for a year during graduate school. But of course, once you’re in Europe it’s incredibly tempting to tack more onto your visit, since everything is so close (relative to America anyway) and Easyjet can hop you around the continent for next to nothing. So I’m seriously considering extending my trip a few days and taking in another city in a new country: Riga? Estonia? Belgrade? Suggestions welcome!

Bali: This is the really big trip I’ve been dreaming about for ages and am determined to make happen this year. I have a milestone birthday coming up in December, which I firmly believe calls for an epic voyage. So I’m going to spend a week or so in Bali, chilling out on beaches, exploring green rice paddies, taking yoga classes, getting endless massages, and eating all the food. Sounds like a perfect transition into the next phase of my life!

The Smaller Adventures

New Orleans: Recently I was catching up with a friend who lives in another part of the country and we were tossing around ideas for a girlfriends’ getaway. My idea—New Orleans! I’ve wanted to visit for ages, it’s a fairly quick flight and can be done in a weekend (the highlights at least), and I’ve heard nothing but good things from everyone who’s been there about how magical the city is. Great food and jazz around every corner; how can we go wrong?

Portland, Oregon: Another city that’s been on my US list for quite a while. My best friend and I have a tradition of meeting up every year for a reunion weekend, either at my place in DC or hers in Connecticut. She really loves Portland and has spent loads of time there, so I suggested we shake things up and move our weekend plans out to the West Coast this fall. Not sure if it will happen this year or not, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Going Home: While my home now is the DC area, I’ve made plans already to visit my parents in Florida several times this year, and also want to do a trip back to Connecticut to see old friends I haven’t caught up with in person in way too long. Time for an Amtrak road trip!

The Possibilities

This will hopefully be the year I finally fulfill one of my personal and professional goals: international work travel. I don’t know anything for sure yet, but there is a pretty good chance I’ll get to visit some fairly exotic destinations for my job this year—including potentially East Africa. If so, I’ll definitely make sure to tack on a few vacation days to be able to take in a part of the world I’ve never been to and have long wanted to experience. More to come on this as things develop, but I’m excited by the idea of exploring some completely new-to-me corners of the planet.

Been to any of these places? Suggestions to offer? What exciting places will you go in 2016?

Asia, Bali, Central America, Croatia, Guatemala, London, Slovenia, Travel Musings, US travel

Jan

2016

The Things I Miss Most About London

Melissa Kaplan0

Last week, I was partaking in one of my annual holiday traditions: watching Love, Actually while drinking hot chocolate and writing Christmas cards. This movie is one of my favorite holiday-themed films (don’t judge, haters), and it never fails to get me in the yuletide spirit.

But more than that, watching Love, Actually again made me nostalgic for London, a city I was lucky enough to call home for a year that was probably the best one of my life. London is the setting for (and plays almost the role of a character in) the movie, and looking at the famous landmark sights, the streets decked out for Christmas, and the double-decker red buses made me reflect on how much London means to me, and what I miss about living there.

So here goes: My list of “Top Things I Miss About London”:

Pubs and pub quizzes. I love pubs in London far more than bars in America—they’re so warm, welcoming, friendly and, in many cases, classy. I miss being able to walk in and order a Pimms and a cottage pie with chips and gravy (this combo needs to catch on in America, fast). And I used to have a ritual of participating in a Monday night pub quiz with my cousin and her friends at a pub near Piccadilly Circus…we never won, but the attempt was always a blast!

Bookstores. London is chock-full of bookstores, both chains and unique historical outlets, but my absolute favorite is Stanford’s, the travel bookstore. That’s right: an entire bookstore devoted to travel! Not only does it contain every guidebook you could ever want, but it’s also filled with maps, globes, and travel literature, both fiction and non-fiction. I was a regular customer at Stanford’s when I lived in London, and God, do I miss it. Nothing in the US can compare.

Museums. Sure, I live in Washington DC now, one of the world’s foremost museum cities, so I’m hardly deprived in this regard, and I do love DC’s museums. But that doesn’t prevent me from occasionally getting nostalgic for all those London has to offer. How amazing would it be to be able to pop round to the British Museum right now and take in millennia’s worth of history for free? Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, take your pick; it’s all there. And I miss the National Gallery too; there’s nothing like spending an afternoon surrounded by famous artwork only to step out of the museum doors onto Trafalgar Square in the heart of one of the world’s most energetic and exciting cities.

Curry. Damn, how I miss curry. Yes, we have a good Indian restaurant up the street from my house, but that’s a world away from being able to take the tube to Brick Lane and wander up and down the street full of curry vendors all competing for your business, and knowing that pretty much anywhere you choose to eat will be superb. Plus, I miss being able to order curry at my house for dinner. I don’t believe I ordered a pizza in the entire year I lived in England, but I ordered curry all the time with my roommates to devour while watching Britain’s Next Top Model. Oh, I miss that too.

Public Transport. And speaking of the tube…I miss being able to arrive on a subway platform and know that a train will be arriving in no less than four minutes. I don’t think I ever waited longer than that at my stop on the Piccadilly line, whereas coming home from a night out the other day in DC, I arrived at the station only to find the next train wasn’t due for 20 minutes. On a Friday night. God, I miss London efficiency. And those bright red double-decker buses too—I didn’t ride them that often but I loved it when I got a chance to, especially sitting on the top level and watching all of the city unfold at my feet below.

Londoners. This may seem like a bit of an odd choice, as London isn’t necessarily known as a warm and fuzzy city on par with some others. But personally, I loved London and the people who live there. They’re friendly, but not pushy. They’re polite and patient (no shoving to get onto the tube, even at rush hour), and they respect personal space, both physical and mental. I love being among people who can be friendly and kind without feeling the need to chat up every stranger with incessant small talk for no particular reason. That probably says more about me than it does about London, but honestly, in that way, I felt like London and I understood one another very well. Living in the city felt like coming home, and visiting there still does.

Here’s to a return trip in 2016!

Have you spent time in London? Do you love it too? What do you miss the most from the city?

London

Dec

2015

Why I Love the World

Melissa Kaplan0

I had a very different blog post planned to write today, but it will have to wait. In light of the horrific terror attacks this weekend in Paris and Beirut, I can’t seem to focus my mind on much else. I suspect many people feel the same way.

On Friday night, I was out with some friends for the evening as the word began to trickle in about the Paris shootings, and the scope and horror became increasingly clear. One of my friends, shaking her head over the awful news, commented that hearing about events like this makes her want to turn on her favorite fictional TV show and forget all about the world.

I understand this sentiment; I really do. But I can’t agree with it.

Because the truth is, no matter how many horrible tragedies may mar its beauty, I still love the world.

Ever since I was a child, I’ve been fascinated by events around the globe. I was a news junkie even as a little kid growing up at the tail end of the Cold War, watching the news with my parents in the evenings. I may have had a limited understanding of the things I saw and heard, but I was developing a sense from a very early age that this big, mysterious place—The World—was important. What happened out there mattered.

I went to college to study political science, moved overseas twice, got a graduate degree in international relations, and have traveled to almost thirty countries, all for the same reason: because I love the world. Even when it horrifies me. I can’t stop caring about it, about what happens on our planet and to the people who live here. I can’t stop myself from exploring it and always wanting to learn more.

The world can be ugly and frightening, but it’s so much more than that. It contains so much beauty and wonder that it would be a tragedy to stay home, hide under the covers, and miss out on experiencing it.

The world is the magical allure of Paris, the Eiffel Tower reaching to the sky, its broad boulevards and museums cafes and patisseries inviting weary travelers to come in a while away an hour, or two or three.

It’s the spectacular art in the Sistine Chapel in Rome, and the glorious seaside town of Positano looming in the hills over the Amalfi Coast.

It’s London’s red double decker buses and endless rainy drizzle and how it feels to duck in a warm pub or café or bookstore to escape the grey day, surrounded by camaraderie and friends.

It’s the view from a table on the beach in Tel Aviv, Israel, eating falafel and hummus before heading to the Dead Sea to float for an afternoon.

It’s the windmills and whitewashed houses and impossibly blue waters of the Greek Islands.

It’s the magnificent gold-pattered Aya Sofia in Istanbul.

It’s tapas and sangria in Barcelona.

It’s drinking wine looking out over a sweeping green vineyard in Stellenbosch, South Africa.

It’s the thundering of Gullfoss waterfall in Iceland, pierced by a double rainbow.

It’s all of these places, and it’s the people who live in them too. It’s the strangers who gave me directions when I was lost in foreign countries, who open their homes to travelers passing through, who share a meal or a kind word with people they barely know. It’s billions of people we haven’t met yet, just trying to live their lives and in the process, making our planet a slightly better place.

It’s easy to despair about the world, especially in times like this. The world isn’t an easy place to live in. It never has been. But I refuse to give up hope.

I’ll keep traveling, keep exploring, keep trying to learn as much as I can about the people and cultures and countries of the globe. And no matter what may happen in the future, I won’t turn my back on them or let fear keep me away.

Because no matter what, even on its worst days, I still love the world.

France, Iceland, London, South Africa, Spain, Travel Musings

Nov

2015

London

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