Good morning Antarctica! It was like dreaming; waking up and seeing glaciers, icebergs, and mountain ranges right outside our cabin window. Breakfast was pretty full today; we usually got a table at the front of the restaurant but this time we walked all the way back to find a free table. The view was spectacular,… Read More Antarctica Cruise – Danco Island/Orne Harbour
I woke up by the rocking of the ship and when I looked out to the window, huge waves were crashing on our windows! It was no kidding when people said the Drake Passage is known to be the roughest sea! The prescribed medicine worked, otherwise, I would be in the bathroom at this point!… Read More Crossing the Drake Passage to Antarctica!
The day we all waited for – the official start of our cruise! We woke up early, had a quick breakfast at 6 AM at the hotel provided by Hurtigruten, got on our bus arranged by the cruise company to the airport, and boarded their chartered flight from Buenos Aires EZE Airport to Ushuaia –… Read More Ushuaia to Antarctica on board Hurtigruten’s MS Fridtjof Nansen
The next morning, we packed up and were ready to move to the hotel (Emperador Hotel Buenos Aires) that our cruise has booked for us (included as part of our cruise itinerary, they called it Day 1). We tried out the empanadas at a local store nearby the Intercontinental before the check-out and they were… Read More Buenos Aires: Recoleta Cemetery and El Ateneo Grand Splendid
The next morning, we had breakfast in the hotel which was free for being an IHG diamond member. The breakfast spread was okay with some local specialties. The view from our table urggggg, I rather they put up a painted wall instead! After breakfast, we walked over to the famous Sunday market at San Telmo.… Read More Buenos Aires: Sunday market at San Telmo, La Boca, and Taxi Scams
Reaching the 7th continent has been on my bucket list for a very long time and I didn’t even think I would achieve that in the coming years due to its cost (usually over $10k per person and not possible by points & miles!). During the early days of the pandemic in 2020 when the… Read More Buenos Aires: Pre-Antarctica Cruise!
Our last stop of the trip – our 47th country – Belgium. It was a 5 hours drive from Colmar to Brussels so I picked a place to stop along the way for lunch – Dinant, this small Belgium town has been on my list to visit. We parked near Le Wiertz Restaurant where we… Read More 47th Country: Belgium – Mussels & Chocolate
So sad to say it was the last day of our Alsace fairytale villages adventure 🙁 We got up early and took some quick pics at the picturesque La Petite Venise when there was almost no one. The good thing about visiting in October was that sunrise was around 7:30 AM so you don’t need… Read More Alsace’s Fairytale Villages – Riquewihr, Ribeauvillé, Bergheim, and Dambach-la-ville
On day 2 of exploring Alsace’s fairytale villages, we went to Kaysersberg, less than 20 minutes drive from Colmar. We arrived around 8:30 AM and it was quiet, there is a big parking lot outside of the village center marked as “Parking P5” in Google Maps. Parking cost €1 per hour, reasonable. The weather wasn’t… Read More Alsace’s Fairytale Villages – Kaysersberg and Turckheim
In the crack of dawn, we made our ~4 hours drive from Cochem, Germany to the Alsace region of France. Alsace is known for its wine route but to me, its fairytale villages! We visited Colmar 5 years ago (yes already 5 years) and made a quick trip to the nearby village – Eguisheim, we… Read More Alsace’s Fairytale Villages – Eguisheim and Colmar
