April 2018 Roundup

April has been one of the fullest months of travel I’ve ever had, so be ready for a very full April 2018 Roundup! We amazingly found the time to travel to seven different countries (a few were just day trips) and see some fantastic things. This is our second month in Big Trip 2.0 as we’re now lovingly calling it. Since we had a jam-packed month of travel, that means I’m even further behind blogging than I should be, but it’s a good reason to be behind. Check out how we spent this whirlwind month of ours!

TRAVEL ROUNDUP

PLACES VISITED

⋙ MOROCCO: Fez, Marrakech, Casablanca

⋙ THE NETHERLANDS: The Hague, Rotterdam, Kinderdjke, Delft, Lisse (Keukenhof) and Amsterdam

⋙ BELGIUM: Bruges

⋙ CROATIA: Zagreb, Plitvice Lakes National Park and Dubrovnik

⋙MONTENEGRO: Perast, Kotor and Budva

⋙ BOSNIA + HERZEGOVINA: Medjugorje, Mostar and Počitelj

⋙ENGLAND: London

TRAVEL HIGHLIGHTS

EXPLORING MARRAKECH’S BEAUTIFUL PINK  MEDINA: I love that there are so many brightly-colored medina’s throughout Morocco. I loved the terra-cotta-pinks that covered Marrakech’s old city. We went to a gorgeous archaeological site, strolled through the crazy souks and even found some amazing street art.

 

SPENDING A FOGGY MORNING AT KINDERDJKE: This UNESCO World Heritage site is just such a quintessential Dutch landscape that getting to stop here was amazing. We stayed with a family friend in The Netherlands, and she took us here on our way to Belgium for the day. It was super foggy which just made seeing these huge windmills pop out of the fog and the canals even more beautiful! I loved it.

 

EXPLORING THE BEAUTIFUL TOWN OF BRUGES: I’d wanted to see this town since seeing the movie In Bruges. It looked so stunning and I can say, it is! We climbed the tower to look down on the gorgeous architecture and even went to a chocolate museum. We also sampled all the things this part of Belgium is known for: fries, waffles and beer!

VISITING THE LARGEST FLOWER GARDEN IN THE WORLD: Matt was in charge of planning our travels in The Netherlands, and he did an amazing job. Tulips are my favorite flower, and Dutch tulips are world-famous. One of my biggest dreams was to get to see them, and Matt made that happen. I got to stroll through the gardens and check out literally millions of blooms!

PAYING HOMAGE TO ANNE FRANK: My mother bought me ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ when I was a young girl. It was the first time my 4th grader mind was really exposed to the reality of evil in the world and sparked an interest in WW2 in me that has continued throughout my life. Anne’s diary affected me greatly as a kid and sparked my interest in civil rights and equality as well. It was a very poignant and moving visit and a great reminder of just how quickly things can change when one evil man takes power.

EXPLORING ZAGREB’S OLD TOWN: This was our first destination in Croatia and it was just amazing. It had a great mix of museums, amazing architecture and so much charm. We visited amazing churches, scoped out some really cool street art and even strolled through this massive tunnel that was created as a bomb shelter during WW2 and walkway. The people here were lovely and I just really enjoyed it.

SEEING DOZENS OF WATERFALLS IN PLITVICE LAKES NATIONAL PARK: This National Park was the first thing that ever drew me to Croatia. We found out when we arrived that a lot of the park was flooded, so we didn’t get to do all the hikes and the water wasn’t quite so blue, but we still saw so many amazing waterfalls. It was so beautiful!

 

OUR DAY TRIP TO MONTENEGRO: Montenegro was a destination that we weren’t positive we were going to make it to and now I can’t imagine our trip without it! We stopped in three different towns along the Adriatic Sea, took two boat rides, explored old towns and soaked it all up. Budva’s Venetian Old Town was perfectly picturesque with the crystal-clear turquoise waters surrounding it. Kotor’s mountain surroundings made it a whole different kind of pretty.

 

SEEING STARI MOST FROM THE MOSQUE MINARET: Visiting Mostar has been high on my list since seeing Rick Steves’ visit. It did not disappoint. The gorgeous rebuilt Old Bridge is so stunning and best seen from Koskin-Mehmed Pasha’s Mosque minaret. It’s a super tight 89 steps up but worth it for the amazing 360 views of Old Town, including the most famous landmark Stari Most – the beautiful bridge.

TRAVEL LAUGHS + MISHAPS

EXECUTING OUR TRIP IN MOROCCO: Well, we just had all kinds of difficulties in Morocco. We made a booking for a room, walked there the day before we stayed there and it was in a terrible location. No restaurants or anything in the area and I felt unsafe in the neighborhood as well. We ended up canceling the booking even though it cost us money. We missed out on the desert excursion because we didn’t plan enough in advance, which was a huge bummer. We booked a gorgeous place in Casablanca, but it was a huge pain (and a lot of money) to get to, which was another fail. It was just unfortunate that we couldn’t make it work for us over and over.

TOTALLY MISCALCULATING THE COST OF OUR CAR RENTAL IN CROATIA: We decided to drive from Zagreb to Dubrovnik because we wanted to have the car for exploring Plitvice Lakes National Park. Plus, we love road tripping. We had found a decent deal that only put us over the cost of the bus tickets by $30 or so. A decent amount but worth it to have the freedom for a handful of days. We knew gas would be high, but not $80 for a fill-up high because we were “upgraded” to a diesel cross-over instead of our super feel efficient economy car. Plus, they didn’t tell us that we had to pay €54 for the green card to cross any borders, which we had to drive through a sliver of Bosnia + Herzegovina to get to Dubrovnik. Oh, and, of course, the $25 in tolls we had to pay. We can laugh it off now, but that $30 changed into well over $100 more. Needless to say, we took the bus back to Zagreb for our flight home.

APRIL TRAVEL FAVORITES

FAVORITE PLACE WE STAYED: My favorite accommodation for April was our friend Tessa’s apartment in the Hague. Tessa was so much fun to spend time with and was so welcoming. Plus, our bed was amazing, we had a sweet view of some rooftops and we had a kitchen to use for the first time in a while. We probably wouldn’t have been able to financially swing The Netherlands if it hadn’t been for Tessa’s generosity, and we definitely wouldn’t have made it to Belgium without the ability to split a rental car with her.

FAVORITE SITE: Keukenhof or Stari Most from the Minaret. Keukenhoff in Lisse, The Netherlands is the world’s largest flower garden and being a major plant-lover, Matt scoped this out for us to visit. My favorite flowers are tulips and we just so happened to be there for the famous Dutch tulip season. That was a major wanderlist item for me! Stari Most in Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina is the iconic bridge, is one of the most amazing examples of Ottoman architecture. The original was constructed in 1566 and stood there until 1993 when it was sadly destroyed during the Bosnian War. It was reconstructed, however, in the exact same manner as it was originally built over 400 years earlier. It’s such a beautiful piece of architecture with a long, moving history.

FAVORITE MEAL: Pizza at Tobasco’s in Dubrovnik. This isn’t exactly a cultural revelation or anything, but we had the best brick oven, mushroom pizza here. I’d been having a serious pizza craving and this so hit the spot.

FAVORITE DRINK: A delicious session IPA at Bourgogne des Flandres in Bruges, Belgium. It was really tasty, but very mild. Plus, the location was amazing because the brewery sits just off of a canal in an old stone building.

FAVORITE FREE SITE: The Peace Palace or The Old Towns in Montenegro. The Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands has a really wonderful museum in their visitors center that explains how their courts are there to solve issues peacefully, the devastation of war and the history of the building and courts. It was very interesting and ended up providing some information about Yugoslavia that we were able to relate to while visiting Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia. I also really loved the wish tree outside. It reminded me of some of the Buddhist temples we’d visited through Southeast Asia. The Old Towns in Montenegro of Kotor and Budva were unbelievably stunning. Each walled town had its own unique charm and style. Kotor’s mountain backdrop and tiny alleys made it stand out, and Budva’s gorgeous ocean-front view and Venetian Walls were its standout qualities.

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This piece is about a lesson I learned in Morocco: you don’t have to love every destination. Morocco was a place I had dreamed of visiting for many years and although I have some fantastic memories (and photos) from this country, overall I was disappointed. It hit me hard to not love a place I had so looked forward to, but you can read more about that here.

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WHAT’S COMING UP IN MAY?

We’re continuing our London adventures with my in-laws! Later this month, my brother-in-law + sister-in-law are coming to London too! Then, we’re all flying to Ireland together for a week. After that, we’re all coming back to London, where we’ll say goodbye to our family, grab a rental car to visit Snowdonia National Park, Wales. Then we’re off to Iceland to continue our journey across Europe. Be sure to follow along by subscribing (it’s totally free). All you have to do is enter your email and you’ll be able to keep up with our travels.