After staying 3 nights in the southern part of Lofoten, I planned to stay in the northern part at Svolvaer for the next 2 nights. However, I was checking the aurora forecast at NOAA and it was expecting a solar storm in 2 days with KP index of 7+! I told Jason about the news… Read More Norway – Svolvaer, Lofoten Islands
The weather finally cooperated, at least for the morning, so I switched the itinerary to do the Reinebringen hike. The view from the deck of Eliassen Rorbuer was unbelievably photogenic. I realized a red cabin was right underneath the mountain across from the lake! The mountain ranges on the back were snowcapped overnight. Snowcapped mountains… Read More Norway – Lofoten Islands 2000 Steps Up Reinebringen!
The next morning in Svolvaer, the weather looked much better….at least not raining. At times, we could see the blue sky! On our way back to the southern part of Lofoten, we stopped at Leknes for lunch at Makalaus. We got there when they first opened. I ordered the seafood pasta, it was good and… Read More Norway – Last Minute Change to Chase The Northern Lights
It took us 4 flights and almost 24 hours to get to Leknes, Lofoten Islands. We left Boston at 6:05 PM and arrived the next day at 8:45 PM; that was how remote the Lofoten Islands are (in terms of getting from Boston). Leknes airport was small and efficient, we picked up our car from… Read More Norway – Lofoten Islands from Reine to A
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
New England foliage is incredible and I am sure no one will disagree. I love our foliage road trip in 2021 to Vermont to photograph those cute farms. I always wonder what would those fairytale villages and castles look like in the fall in Europe? At the end of September last year (2022), I booked… Read More Afternoon Stroll in My 46th Country – Luxembourg
After the rainy night, it was all cleared up in the early morning. As an IHG Diamond status member, we got free breakfast, finally, IHG offers that! From the breakfast room, you can see the Ljubljana Castle on the back while the old town was partially covered by the buildings. The selections are pretty good… Read More Ljubljana and Lake Bled, Slovenia
Nested in between Nice and Menton is one of the richest and smallest countries in the world – Monaco. It was a scenic 30 minutes ride by Bus 100 which the bus stop was a block away from our hotel and only cost €1.50 per way per person (or a day-pass for €5.50). After having… Read More 44th Country – Half Day in Monaco and the Colorful Menton
Right after the hotel breakfast, we checked out and made our 3.5 hours drive to our 43rd country – San Marino. San Marino is one of the smallest countries and also one of the world’s oldest republics. Its capital, also called San Marino, is built on top of a hill with roads zip-zagging up. The… Read More San Marino – Small Country But Lots to See
Given our recent visit to Romania and we had a hard time finding good food due to 1) we thought their cuisine is on the salty side, 2) heavily meat-based, and 3) I didn’t do much research prior to the trip, I want to share with you this guest post on the 5 traditional Romanian… Read More Guest Post – 5 traditional Romanian dishes you must try
