This is the story of how the Wall Street Journal Discovers Cajun Explorers. We are featured online. We both love shopping at Costco, especially when traveling. So, when planning our trips, whether within the U.S. or abroad, we always make time for a Costco stop to explore local products and snacks we can’t find in Texas. You never know what will turn out to be the perfect souvenir to bring back home. We also love to… Read more: Exciting News! The Wall Street Journal Discovers Cajun Explorers
This is our first time in Phuket, Thailand. Our plan is to stay a few nights in Phuket Old Town. Then, we’ll spend a couple of nights in Patong Beach. After that, we fly back to Singapore and head home. Checking in and getting settled We flew into Phuket from Singapore and arrived early in the evening. The bus to town takes about an hour and 20 minutes because of the stops it makes. So, I… Read more: First-Time In Phuket Thailand: From Old Town To The Beach
The Republic of Singapore is the smallest country in Asia, approximately 34 miles wide by 17 miles long, with a population of over 6 million people. It’s actually made up of 63 islands and has 4 official languages with English included. It’s both a country and a city. The only two other city-states in the world are Monaco and Vatican City. First Impressions Our first big wonder we immediately noticed while exploring Singapore is how clean,… Read more: Big Wonders on a Small Island: Exploring Singapore
I’ve recently posted about our week exploring the beautiful sites of Hong Kong. So I begin this post as we board our Atlantis Cruise in Asia aboard the Celebrity Solstice. We’ll soon explore Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore. Atlantis—an LGBT+ travel and tour company—chartered this cruise. It’s not only our first cruise on Celebrity, but our first gay cruise with Atlantis. No, you don’t have to be gay to join the cruise. But, you do have to… Read more: A 12 day Atlantis Cruise in Asia: Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore
We are spending a week exploring some of the beautiful sites of Hong Kong, also known as the City of Skyscrapers. Here’s a travel tip for you. If you’re looking for an inexpensive and easy trip from the airport into Hong Kong, look into CityFlyer. This is a double decker, air conditioned express bus with free WiFi. It takes you to many hotels in Hong Kong for around 42 HKD, or $5.40 each way. Our hotel… Read more: The beautiful sites of Hong Kong—the City of Skyscrapers
There are a number of exciting Des Moines day trips from covered bridges to windmills that are definitely worth visiting. In my previous post, Discovering things to see and do in Des Moines, Iowa I shared the fun sights and local dining experiences we enjoyed during our week stay in downtown. The two day trips we planned during our visit include: 1) the city of Winterset and the covered bridges of Madison County and 2) the… Read more: Exciting Des Moines Day Trips from Covered Bridges to Windmills
We are spending a week discovering things to see and do in and around Des Moines, Iowa. So, why Des Moines you might ask? Well, we wanted to get away for a quick trip and we threw a dart at a map. Bullseye lands in Iowa. I must admit we’ve never been to Iowa. Since Des Moines is the capital, I knew that there would be lots of sights to explore. So, off we go on… Read more: Discovering things to see and do in Des Moines, Iowa
We are traveling with friends to Key West, Florida for our first time visit. It’s been on our bucket list for quite some time now. Three people in our travel party (Rob, Danny and Tom) are celebrating their birthdays in March, so it’s the perfect time to spend a week exploring the Key West sites and discover what the city has to offer. Our Key West trip begins with a rocky start We decided to car… Read more: Exploring The Sites in Key West For The First Time
After returning the rental car from our Grand Pacific Drive road trip, we flew to Melbourne, Australia for a week. It’s a quick flight, just over an hour. We checked into our 40th floor apartment in a downtown high rise. What an incredible view from our balcony! Arcades and Laneways Melbourne’s laneways are small, tucked away alleys. The arcades are covered shopping plazas. They boast a diverse array of hidden, cafes, boutiques, shops, restaurants, and bars.… Read more: A One Week Getaway to Melbourne Australia
We love shopping at Costco, especially when traveling. Recently, we visited several Costco food court Australia locations. We wanted to discover if there are any regional food court menu options and products in the store. While traveling, we always search for unique items not available in Texas. You just never know what you’ll find. I’ve already posted on our visits to Costco Canada, Costco France and Costco Honolulu. I’ll now add Costco Australia to our list.… Read more: Costco food court Australia and the special menu options
There are 87 scenic coastal miles in Australia’s Grand Pacific Drive in New South Wales (NSW). You can certainly drive it nonstop. But, you wouldn’t really see much while behind the wheel. Although I won’t be the one driving. I’ll be chauffeured by my wonderful husband, like “driving Miss Daisy”. I planned many stops along the way to explore each area and travel beyond the suggested drive. So, 10 days it is. It also gives us… Read more: Australia’s Grand Pacific Drive in a 10 Day Road Trip
Saying goodbye to the Crown Princess and “G’day Mate” to Sydney Australia Our arrival in Sydney by cruise ship gave us a unique view of the city, Opera House and Harbour Bridge. The captain delayed our arrival until 7:00 a.m., so we would have daylight to enjoy the view. Our escort into the harbor is a special celebration that includes water canons and skiers because this is the inaugural trip of the Crown Princess into Sydney.… Read more: A One Week Exploration Of Spectacular Sydney Australia
All of our friends know we love shopping at Costco, especially when traveling. Recently we stopped at the Costco food court in Honolulu, Hawaii while on our South Pacific Cruise. While planning our trips both in the US and in other countries, we always search for local product options not available in Texas. You just never know what you’ll find. I have previously posted on our visits to Costco Canada and Costco France. I’ll now add the Costco Honolulu… Read more: Costco food court Honolulu and the special menu options
Welcome to part three and the final post of our 31 day South Pacific cruise. We left Tahiti and we are now sailing 5 days toward New Zealand. Here are the links if you missed the first two posts: Amazing 31-day South Pacific Cruise to Australia—1 (Hawaii) and Amazing 31-day Cruise in the South Pacific—2 (French Polynesia). On Sunday, October 13th, the 20th day of our cruise we crossed the International Date Line. When we woke… Read more: Amazing 31-day Cruise in the South Pacific—3 (New Zealand)
Welcome to part two of our 31 day South Pacific cruise. We will visit Moorea and Papeete, Tahiti in French Polynesia. Click here to read my Part 1 post covering Hawaii. It’s another 5 relaxing days at sea before we arrive at our first stop in Moorea. French Polynesia is a territory of France, so we’ll be able to use our French speaking skills while we’re here. There are approximately 130 islands which comprise this French… Read more: Amazing 31-day Cruise in the South Pacific—2 (French Polynesia)
We arrived early to board the Crown Princess for our South Pacific cruise and were on the ship within 30 minutes. Great job Princess! I’ll share just a few Crown Princess facts: capacity is 3,080 guests and there are 1,200 crew. Although this is an older ship built in 2006, it was completely refurbished in 2018. There are 14 dining and restaurant options, 8 bars, 6 pools and splash pads, 7 spas and a host of… Read more: Amazing 31-day Cruise in the South Pacific to Australia—1 (Hawaii)
We are celebrating my 65th birthday with a 65 day vacation adventure. I know, it’s not a coincidence with the matching numbers. We’re both retired now and since I planned the details for this trip, then why not travel for 65 days? Exploring Hearst Castle and the beautiful Paso Robles vineyards will kick off our trip. I’ll share more details later about the rest of our plans. Our neighbors Tom, Cary and Angie joined us for… Read more: Exploring Hearst Castle and the Beautiful Paso Robles Vineyards
We enjoyed a wonderful weekend of fun and cooler weather in Scottsdale, Arizona on a trip with our friends Cary, Tom and Autumn. Danny & I had never visited Scottsdale before. So, it was time for a new adventure. First stop, a party at the groom’s house. For our Houston friends and football fans, you may recognize the groom, Greg Mancz. Greg played football with the Houston Texans from 2015-2020, before playing with other NFL teams.… Read more: A beautiful wedding weekend in Scottsdale, Arizona
We celebrated the arrival of 2024 with a one-week New Year’s Eve cruise on Harmony of the Seas. There were 10 of us who departed Galveston, Texas to visit Costa Maya, Roatán and Cozumel. This is our first time to cruise from the port of Galveston and we are excited to set sail. Before our trip, I noticed that we had a total of 3 sea days. I wondered if there would be enough to see… Read more: Fun New Year’s Eve Cruise on Harmony of the Seas
Last weekend we drove to my hometown of New Iberia to attend the 80th annual Sugar Cane Festival (and to celebrate my birthday too 😉). It’s probably been 25 years since we’ve been to this festival and who doesn’t like small town Cajun fun? Our usual first stop each time we head back home is to visit one of our favorite drive thru daiquiri shops. Danny knows from experience that the large size just fits into… Read more: Parades, Music and Fun at the 80th annual Sugar Cane Festival in New Iberia, LA
September has arrived and it’s time for my birthday get away. We enjoyed our amazing adventure in France this year, but now we’re looking forward to a relaxing and stress free roadtrip closer to home. So, we decided to drive up to Oklahoma and visit friends we haven’t seen in a few years. I am not a fan of long roadtrips as they stress me out. My max time in a car is about 6 hours… Read more: Stress free roadtrip to Oklahoma City and Wichita Falls
I originally published this post in 2022 based on our pre-COVID visit to what I think are the 3 best Paris flea markets for antiquing. I promised to update the information and photos below from our recent 2023 vacation. After visiting all three flea markets, I’m happy to say that these are still tops in my opinion. My favorite past time when traveling is antiquing. I can spend hours everyday wandering through antique shops and flea… Read more: The 3 best flea markets for antiquing in Paris-2023 update
The Costco France food court has a few menu items that we don’t have in the US. We just returned from France in June 2023, after spending almost three months vacationing there. Our typical routine at home is a weekly shopping trip to Costco. Of course sometimes, Danny makes more than one trip a week. I guess you can say we’re avid fans. A favorite activity during each of our travels is to visit a local… Read more: Costco France food court and the special menu options
This post is the update to our original post Car Rental vs Lease Part 1. Part 1 outlined how the Car-2-Europe short-term lease program saved us $1,000-$1,600 off the cost of a 45-day car rental to drive around Europe. Part 2 shares our Car-2-Europe experience with Auto Europe and the results of the process involved with leasing. I originally booked our lease several months before our departure. Auto Europe confirmed everything and we received the executed… Read more: Car-2-Europe experience for vacation in France. How to find the cheapest price (Results-Part 2)
Welcome to chapter 16 of our travel adventures— A Summer in France: Paris, Week 4. This is the final post in our Summer in France series. We are flying home tomorrow. Air Balloon Flight Since we arrived in Paris, I’ve been trying to take Danny aboard the Balloon de Paris. It’s the world’s largest balloon, according to their website. The balloon is also an airborne lab measuring the ozone quality and many other atmospheric conditions. The… Read more: A Summer in France: Paris, Week 4–Our First Bucket List
Thanks for coming back to read our travel adventures— A Summer in France: Paris, Week 3. We kicked off the weekend going to flea markets. I’ve posted before about my 3 best flea markets for antiquing in Paris. So I wanted to visit post-Covid to see if they’ve changed. Marché aux puces de la Porte de Vanves I’m happy to say the Puces de Vanves is still a great place to shop and spend a morning.… Read more: A Summer in France: Paris, Week 3–Our First Bucket List
Thanks for joining us again for chapter 14 of A Summer in France: Paris, Week 2. This is part two of our month in Paris, the final leg of our journey. This week is another busy week of fun with Tom & Cary in town. We’ve created a routine enjoying the sites all day and cooking dinner in our apartment in the evenings. A stroll through the heart of Paris One day we started off by… Read more: A Summer in France: Paris, Week 2—Our First Bucket List
Thanks for joining us again for chapter 13 of A Summer in France: Paris, Week 1. This is part one of our month in Paris, the final leg of our journey. The weekend before we arrived in Paris, we spent with our friends Valerie, Laurent and Maxine again. I hadn’t realized how tired we were and that we needed a break from our travels. It sounds crazy that you need a vacation from a vacation, but… Read more: A Summer in France: Paris, Week 1—Our First Bucket List
Welcome to chapter 12–A Summer in France: Provence Villages. In my last post, we stayed in L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue to use as a base to explore several towns and villages in Provence. If you’re not familiar with the Provence-Alpes-Côté-d’Azur area of southern France, here’s a map to highlight where it is. We were able to visit several villages during our week: Apt, Bonnieux, Ménerbes, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence and a very quick trip into Avignon to meet up with friends. There… Read more: A Summer in France: Provence Villages—Our First Bucket list Continues
A Summer in France: L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue is chapter 11 of our trip. This small town is famous for its many antique shops and hosts antique markets on Sundays which takes over the entire town center. If you’ve parked inside the old center, there’s no getting in or out that day. This is probably the largest antiques area in France outside of Paris. There are over 300 permanent antique dealers in this small town of 26,000 people and as many… Read more: A Summer in France: L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue — Our First Bucket List Continues
This is chapter 10 of Summer in France: Montpellier. We arrived from Barcelona a couple of days ago, but our first stop was Les Grands Buffets that I recently posted about. So, we’ve now had some time to recover and can resume our sightseeing. Montpellier is the seventh largest city in France with a city population of about 300,000. Students comprise one fourth of its population. It’s also a very old city mentioned in documents since… Read more: A Summer in France: Montpellier—Our First Bucket List Continues
Welcome to chapter 9, Summer In France: Les Grands Buffets. This is a special post about our experience at an all-you-can-eat gourmet buffet in Narbonne, France called Les Grands Buffets. We enjoy most buffet restaurants back home, but they are very rare in France. Even more rare is one that advertises as gourmet, upscale, elegant fine dining and with a dress code. So, of course we couldn’t resist and had to try it out. Getting a… Read more: A Summer In France: Les Grands Buffets — A Spectacular Feast
Welcome to chapter 8 – A Summer in France: Barcelona. We’ve arrived in Spain for a few days after leaving Andorra. Neither of us have ever been to Barcelona, so we’re looking forward to our stay. Barcelona has a city population of 1.6 million people, while the metropolitan area has 4.8 million. It is Europe’s 5th most populous area. Here’s an aerial view of the city I captured on a funicular ride up the mountain. There… Read more: A Summer in France: Barcelona – Our First Bucket List Continues
Ok, I’ll admit the title Summer in France: Andorra is a little misleading. Andorra is not in France. Landlocked between France and Spain, Andorra is a small country, a principality, outside of the European Union. Many people have never even heard of it, including Danny. So naturally it’s on my list to visit. Andorra is headed by two co-princes: the bishop of Urgell in Catalonia, Spain and the President of France. It’s the world’s only co-principality and the… Read more: A Summer in France: Andorra – Our First Bucket List Continues
Welcome to chapter six, Summer in France: Albi. Albi is an UNESCO World Heritage Site and is less than an hour from Toulouse. First settled during the Bronze Age (3000-600 BC), the crusades (1209-1229) virtually destroyed this city. Here’s a short video clip I took while standing on the bridge overlooking the city. Note the bridge with pink bricks in the foreground of the photo above and the video below. It’s called Pont Vieux or Old Bridge and was… Read more: A Summer in France: Albi – Our First Bucket List Continues
This is the story of how the Wall Street Journal Discovers Cajun Explorers. We are featured online. We both love shopping at Costco, especially when traveling. So, when planning our trips, whether within the U.S. or abroad, we always make time for a Costco stop to explore local products and snacks we can’t find in Texas. You never know what will turn out to be the perfect souvenir to bring back home. We also love to… Read more: Exciting News! The Wall Street Journal Discovers Cajun Explorers
This is our first time in Phuket, Thailand. Our plan is to stay a few nights in Phuket Old Town. Then, we’ll spend a couple of nights in Patong Beach. After that, we fly back to Singapore and head home. Checking in and getting settled We flew into Phuket from Singapore and arrived early in the evening. The bus to town takes about an hour and 20 minutes because of the stops it makes. So, I… Read more: First-Time In Phuket Thailand: From Old Town To The Beach
There are a number of exciting Des Moines day trips from covered bridges to windmills that are definitely worth visiting. In my previous post, Discovering things to see and do in Des Moines, Iowa I shared the fun sights and local dining experiences we enjoyed during our week stay in downtown. The two day trips we planned during our visit include: 1) the city of Winterset and the covered bridges of Madison County and 2) the… Read more: Exciting Des Moines Day Trips from Covered Bridges to Windmills
We are traveling with friends to Key West, Florida for our first time visit. It’s been on our bucket list for quite some time now. Three people in our travel party (Rob, Danny and Tom) are celebrating their birthdays in March, so it’s the perfect time to spend a week exploring the Key West sites and discover what the city has to offer. Our Key West trip begins with a rocky start We decided to car… Read more: Exploring The Sites in Key West For The First Time
We celebrated the arrival of 2024 with a one-week New Year’s Eve cruise on Harmony of the Seas. There were 10 of us who departed Galveston, Texas to visit Costa Maya, Roatán and Cozumel. This is our first time to cruise from the port of Galveston and we are excited to set sail. Before our trip, I noticed that we had a total of 3 sea days. I wondered if there would be enough to see… Read more: Fun New Year’s Eve Cruise on Harmony of the Seas
Last weekend we drove to my hometown of New Iberia to attend the 80th annual Sugar Cane Festival (and to celebrate my birthday too 😉). It’s probably been 25 years since we’ve been to this festival and who doesn’t like small town Cajun fun? Our usual first stop each time we head back home is to visit one of our favorite drive thru daiquiri shops. Danny knows from experience that the large size just fits into… Read more: Parades, Music and Fun at the 80th annual Sugar Cane Festival in New Iberia, LA
I originally published this post in 2022 based on our pre-COVID visit to what I think are the 3 best Paris flea markets for antiquing. I promised to update the information and photos below from our recent 2023 vacation. After visiting all three flea markets, I’m happy to say that these are still tops in my opinion. My favorite past time when traveling is antiquing. I can spend hours everyday wandering through antique shops and flea… Read more: The 3 best flea markets for antiquing in Paris-2023 update
This post is the update to our original post Car Rental vs Lease Part 1. Part 1 outlined how the Car-2-Europe short-term lease program saved us $1,000-$1,600 off the cost of a 45-day car rental to drive around Europe. Part 2 shares our Car-2-Europe experience with Auto Europe and the results of the process involved with leasing. I originally booked our lease several months before our departure. Auto Europe confirmed everything and we received the executed… Read more: Car-2-Europe experience for vacation in France. How to find the cheapest price (Results-Part 2)
This is chapter 10 of Summer in France: Montpellier. We arrived from Barcelona a couple of days ago, but our first stop was Les Grands Buffets that I recently posted about. So, we’ve now had some time to recover and can resume our sightseeing. Montpellier is the seventh largest city in France with a city population of about 300,000. Students comprise one fourth of its population. It’s also a very old city mentioned in documents since… Read more: A Summer in France: Montpellier—Our First Bucket List Continues
