Month: May 2015 (Page 2 of 4)

Backpack v. Suitcase – Which is the Best Option?

May 21, 2015 / Matt / 8 Comments

A few years ago when David and I traveled to Italy, we were trying to decide what the best option would be to take all our gear and what would be versatile enough for the type of trip we were going on. We were going on a 11 day multi-city tour of Italy and would be doing a lot of walking from one transportation site to the hotel/destination and vice versa. We did not want to be to burdened with having items in our hands while we try to figure out where we needed to go or in case we needed to hold onto a rail in a subway/train. We were left with the age-long conundrum of do we use a suitcase or do we get a backpack? We decided to go to a local Backwoods store and see what our options were and if there was a backpack that would fit our trip.

Before we knew it, we stepped into a whole new world that I was never expecting. There was a backpack for every occasion! There were backpacks that talked about liters and weight, and the next thing I knew I was lost. I never had to think about all this with a suitcase. There were straps everywhere and some had secret compartments for valuables or sleeping bags. After thinking about it and looking at our options, we thought the backpack was best for this trip, but we also had to weigh any future trips since the initial investment was around $300-$350. Would we be able use these bags more than once? Can we use them for hiking trips? Are they durable enough to go on multiple international/domestic flights? Neither of us wanted to spend all this money for just one trip. After weighing our options and thinking about future trips, we decided on the backpack.

Itineraries-Attraction & Restaurant Planning

May 20, 2015 / Rachel / 0 Comments

So, you’ve got it in your head to take a trip. There are many factors to think about when planning…location, transportation, how far away is it from your home, what you’ll do, and time of year you’ll visit. While there are a host of things to think about as you plan, one of the main considerations is what will you do when you get there?

Taking into account your preferences for things you like to do is key. You may want to visit Prague like David and Rebekah, but you may want to sit in cafes or pubs and enjoy your reading list. For our family, we like a good mix of exploring, learning new things, trying local restaurants, and resting together.

Each new place you visit has something to offer–and typically you know ahead of time where you want to go because you’ve heard about one particular place or have a desire to visit. So you decide to visit, but what else are you going to do while you’re there? And where are you going to eat?

This is where all the fun research, daydreaming, and planning happens! I love this part of trip planning; making reservations, finding flights, etc., that’s all well and good, but the researching and figuring out what you will be doing when you visit a new place is almost as good as the trip itself. I enjoy it simply because it builds anticipation for the trip and excitement for whatever I’m about to experience. Today I’ll be sharing some of my favorite strategies for trip planning!

First, if I know someone where we are about to visit, I ask them for their favorite places to take friends and/or eat. If you know a local, that seems to be the best starting place. If I don’t know a local, I might consult friends who have visited or put a post on social media to see what suggestions others might have. Next, I use a combination of TripAdvisor, Groupon, Yelp, UrbanSpoon, and the city or state websites (most of which have websites dedicated specifically to attract visitors).

We love to find unique things to do, sometimes the timeline that we are planning to go on a trip coincides perfectly with a local festival or city event. Being able to find those gems and plan them into our trip is always a highlight.

As I said, I use a combination of tools to find things to do; reading reviews on TripAdvisor or Yelp and visiting attraction websites, is a great starting point. For attractions that seem interesting, I type up all the pertinent information: days & hours of operation, cost, ticket needed, is there a tour, parking, specific highlights of the attraction, or any specific notes from reviews such as best time of day to visit, etc. Once I’ve gathered all the relevant information, I try to “organize” it into a loose itinerary.Our family likes the structure of planning what we’ll do each day but by gathering the extra information such as days & hours of operation we also have some flexibility.

I use a similar strategy, although using primarily Yelp to finding restaurants and places to eat–this includes any snacks or dessert options. Once we have a good idea of what restaurant options are available, we may plan to bring or make breakfast/lunch foods from home. Again, I try to gather relevant information such as address, days and hours of operation, as well as get an idea of the type of cuisine and cost.

Once I’ve gathered all the information about things to do and places to eat, I’ve found it most helpful to map everything. This is an extra step that I don’t always take, but have found it to be very helpful, especially if you’re trying to save on fuel and mileage on your car. For example, during our Madison trip, our hotel was on the far west side, the first night we got into Madison, we ate at a restaurant that was less than a couple miles away. It would have been a pain (and made us more hungry) to go all the way to downtown or the east side of Madison just to eat that day. So, we were purposeful in planning all of our east, central, and west side attractions and restaurant groupings.

What tools do you use to plan your trips?

Traveling with a Baby (0-6 Months)

May 19, 2015 / Rachel / 2 Comments

We hope you’ve enjoyed the last couple weeks of posts featuring Prague and the Czech Republic. We are taking a bit of a break the rest of this week to share a couple one-time posts and then will jump back in next week talking about Český Krumlov.

While we have yet to take Eva (who is now almost 6 months) on an international trip, we have taken her a couple different places overnight. Since everything seems to change with a baby/kids as they grow and develop, I wanted to try to catalog at each stage what things have been helpful for us as we travel with her. Before diving in, let me first apologize to readers who don’t have a child(ren) as this post is rather focused on travel with a kiddo.

From other parents we’ve talked to, traveling from 0-6 months really seems to be easy! I was slightly intimidated at first, but honestly, they need very little entertainment, and your main concerns are their basic needs. We’ve only taken a short (3-4 day) trip so far, but here’s what we learned:

Enjoying the Carseat

Packing: Lists are super helpful for me, so the week before we went on our trip I started a list of things we would need to pack. I did a couple different inventories of diapers, food, etc., and planned to run errands the day before (or earlier if for a longer trip) for anything we might need. It was helpful for me to do this ahead of time so that 1) I felt confident we had the things we would need, 2) I had time to pick up anything last minute, and 3) I had time to really think about if I would actually need all that was on the list originally. Most of the packing was done the evening before or the day of.

Travel: Carseat. We’ve only done road trips with Eva thus far, so the essential for us is the carseat. She gets sick of it after awhile, but I also get sick of sitting in the car after a couple hours too. I brought several of her favorite little toys and switched them out when she became bored or slightly fussy which was helpful to distract her. We learned that it does not work for me to sit in the back seat with her–the fussiness becomes exacerbated because she can see me. Stroller. I originally thought we might bring her small stroller–this ended up being one of those things that we decided to punt. We knew we weren’t going to be doing a ton of walking or sightseeing, and we knew we would be with people who would want to hold her, so it didn’t really make sense to bring it. Carrier/Sling/Wrap. We have an Ergo, and I knew I would want it; when we were with a lot of people, it was perfect to be able to put her in the carrier so she could feel secure enough to sleep.

Feeding: Eva is formula fed, so we had to plan how that would all work out. Essentially we ended up portioning into baggies the amount of formula we would need for the number of bottles she would take during the trip. This was so nice because we didn’t have to worry about pre-mixing or keeping the pre-made bottles chilled. It was also great because it meant we weren’t lugging around the container of formula, we would just load up 4 baggies and 4 clean bottles into the diaper bag and go. This plan did require us to take dish soap and a drying rack to clean used bottles, but we easily devised a system to wash the bottles at night. This is a category that will obviously change as Eva just started cereal and baby food. Another thing to note, when we took our trip, Eva wasn’t quite able to fit into a highchair, so most of the time we ended up holding her while we ate. It was slightly inconvenient, but by the next trip we take, she should be able to hold herself up better to be able to use them.

At a restaurant in Austin

Sleeping: We have a pack n’ play which is super easy to set up and tear down. We used this in our hotel room and put her in a dark corner of the room. It worked out really well; partly because she is already fairly used to sleeping in a pack n’ play and partly because she was exhausted by the end of every day! For naps, most of the time she slept either in her carseat while driving or in the Ergo. She fell asleep a couple times in our arms, but since we were out and about, she never had the opportunity to take a nap in her pack n’ play.

I say all these things with a couple caveats: 1) you know yourself best 2) you know your kid best. What worked for me, may not work for you. What worked at this stage, probably won’t work at the next. And what worked for a 3 or 4 day trip probably won’t work for a 7 or 8 day trip.

When traveling with an infant, what helpful tips would you share?

Vyšehrad – Prague

May 18, 2015 / Rebekah / 0 Comments

You must go to Vyšehrad (VEE-sheh-rahd) when you visit Prague. Check out how we spent our time in our Prague overview post. I always enjoy finding the things that are out of the way for tourists and see how the locals enjoy their home. We took the Red metro line that stops at Vyšehrad. Follow the signs when walking across the platform, then through a residential area. Just when you think you have walked too long and missed a turn, you will see the fortress. We chose to walk back to the Charles Bridge along the Vltava River catching a great view of the Dancing House, know as “Fred and Ginger.”

Looking out over the Vltava River

Vyšehrad is a 17th century fortress, now park. Walk around the gardens for hours getting lost in the trails and stopping at memorials, statues, a cafe, and even a contemporary art gallery. If you really want to enjoy the park, bring a picnic and take in the green lawns with the swaying trees above you. It is a breath of fresh air and calmness compared to the city center.

The Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul 24

From inside the cemetery looking at The Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul

After walking along the ramparts of the fortress and seeing some great sights of the city, the Vltava River and the Prague Castle, we stopped at the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul and a National Cemetery. For me, the cemetery was one the highlights of the whole trip!!! And I don’t think I have ever said I enjoyed going to a cemetery before.

Dvořák’s Graveside

Many Czech artists, sculptors, and musicians have been buried here. There is a map at the entrance gate to help you navigate the cemetery. Artists such as Mucha, and composers Dvořák (one of my favorites) and Smetana are a few to visit. But the things that impressed me the most was the BEAUTIFUL and THOUGHTFUL care of the cemetery as well as the artistic graves. It was a great insight into Czech artistry and the way they honor the past.

When I saw the statue of the woman, featured at the top of the post, I was mesmerized. I long to be this woman, looking peaceful and going to be with her Creator. I could not leave her. I just wanted to keep taking pictures to capture the feeling of being there. Our time in the cemetery was a powerful expereince in our trip to Prague.

This sculpture of the hands was another grave that was a beautiful piece of art. After wandering around the grounds, you too will find your favorite spot!

The Great Burger Adventure

May 15, 2015 / Matt / 0 Comments

Every Friday we take a break from our regular blogging schedule to allow the authors an opportunity to feature a certain topic they are passionate about. In the past you’ve read about art, studying abroad, and experiencing culture through food. Through this and other future posts we hope you’ll enjoy reading, we hope to share with you our personalities, passions, and interests on a more personal level.

My feature is once again on food. What can I say, I love food and love talking about it. Many take the military philosophy of consuming food in the quickest amount of time possible without enjoying a morsel of it. Food can serve as a reminder of all that went in to making the meal you are about to partake; each dish takes a great number of things: a farmer, grocer, cook and many things in between. Food is one of those things that stir up memories in us–sometimes we can remember what we were eating during a really good (or bad) situation and it can remind us of loved ones that are no longer with us. It reminds us of home. Food is a way that tells a story of our lives. Food helps us remember, but also gives us things to look forward to. Food can cause the most introverted of people, a person that hates to debate, to become a staunch debater as they clamor for their favorite food or restaurant being the best. Food is my passion, and one of my favorite foods is the hamburger.

I have been on a personal quest to find the best and greatest hamburgers in the U.S.. Throughout my life, I have loved burgers. I would probably eat a burger every day if I could.

Burgers are wonderful because they are fairly easy to make, but doing this simple act right is difficult. That is the beauty in this quest. Many fondly recall the times in the backyard, camping or at the ballpark eating a burger that just came off the grill. It probably had American cheese on it but there was something to that smell, the seared crust, and freshness. The burger’s greatness allows people to put either a few ingredients on it or 20 different ingredients if they chose; it is that versatile.

This post is not a grading rubric like the barbeque, Tex-Mex, or brewery tours, but simply sharing my personal quest to find the best burgers around and what I love, enjoy, and look for in a good burger. A possible rubric will be done in the future, but this is just my passion for a good burger.

What I look for? Those that know me know I am a “traditionalist.” This means that typically I like foods the way they were meant to be served. This does not mean I only eat burgers. or that I don’t try new things. I love food adventures, however, I generally prefer food in its most traditional sense. I am fine every once in a while taking a classic dish and putting a new spin on it. That is great and honestly some dishes need a modern twist, but I don’t want that all the time. If I want chili, I want a legitimate chili that is simply a traditional chili. I don’t want to order a chili and get it with a bunch of things like carrots and corn or anything else that belongs in a salad. I don’t want to order stroganoff and get some weird deconstructed plate that has a foam as a sauce, some tofu for the protein and quinoa as the carb. I want my classic stroganoff. I will of course try the weird stroganoff, but I would probably prefer the classic dish done perfectly than the weird dish for the sake of being weird or different.

So how does this pertain to a burger? If I was to evaluate a burger place, can I truly assess a normal burger at one place with a specialty burger at another? I think it is great to have 20-30 different topping options like bacon, grilled peaches, a fried egg, or foie gras; but those options don’t necessarily tell me that restaurant knows how to make a good burger. At that point, I probably can’t taste much of the meat. To know if a burger is good, I believe you have to keep it simple–once you know and enjoy the simple, then you can move toward the pineapple, goat cheese, and ghost pepper concoction. A simple burger to me means an all beef patty, cheese, a favorable bun-to-burger ratio, sauce (if any) and traditional toppings of tomato, lettuce, and pickles.

The burger must truly be an all beef patty. I am not the type that will go to a burger place and order the chicken sandwich or a salad (the healthy realtor can tell you all the best chicken sandwiches and salads to get at burger places, but that is not me). I want my burger to be juicy and not overly done; for me, the patty should be a medium, however I know some places will do medium-well (my max burger doneness) or well done. Likewise, some people don’t like the juices (or grease) getting all over their hands, that doesn’t bother me. That is what napkins are for and when no one is looking, just lick your fingers.

I love cheese as do the other authors. I know American cheese is probably the classic burger cheese in America, but I can’t do that. It is fine every now and then as it offers a sense of nostalgia. I really enjoy a good cheddar or blue cheese on my burger. The flavors of goat cheese are making their way up the list of favorites but this is not a traditional flavor and will probably never overtake cheddar.

Other factors: The bun-to-burger ratio should be proportional and not be out-of-whack. I also don’t want a bun that can’t stand up to the patty as the bun disintegrates and becomes a sloppy, gooey mess. If the burger has toppings, it has to be able to stand up to the patty and bun. If there is tomato, lettuce and pickles, it better be good–not wet, limp, and/or mushy. There must be enough sauce (whether that is mustard, mayo, ketchup, secret sauce, whatever) and it enhances the flavors, but not be so overpowering such that sauce is all you taste. Some of my favorite burgers are served on a poppy seed bun, which is probably my preference, but few places serve this bun.

My favorite burger places are typically dives, that don’t have a ton of options. I appreciate places that give you customizable choices and can appreciate the value from a business perspective, but there is something to the simplicity of a menu that just says, “1. Burger 2. Cheeseburger.” The toppings can cover a bunch of mistakes, but take away from the quality of a good burger. Everything on a burger should enhance flavors and not take away from the original design. I know there is a restaurant in New York that serves a $100 hamburger. The thing is, if I go to a nice restaurant, I don’t know if I want to pay more than $12-$15 for a burger. After all, it is a burger and not a steak.

During some of my future feature posts, I will share some of my favorite burgers and burger restaurants in different cities and states. Also, I will share with you some of my favorite fast food and “fast casual” burgers. For now, here is a *brief* preview of some of my favorite burgers in DFW:

Legit Burger Places (non-chain, Independent places): I do not have an all-time favorite as I am just on this quest to find the best burgers offered. I also feel like I have not found a truly great, tell all your friends burger yet. In the Fort Worth area, Rodeo Goat was recently voted the best burger in the area. I think they are good but not great. The Chaca Oaxaca (beef and chorizo) is good and I like that they have burger wars, but I just feel disappointed when I leave and don’t feel like they are the best. The Dirty Love burger from The Love Shack is a favorite, as it includes bacon, “love” sauce, and a fried quail egg. One more favorite is from Burgundy’s Meat Market. This farm turned their meat market into a restaurant and offers organic, grass-fed burgers that are dynamite. They have a limited menu of Burger, cheeseburger, hot dog and chili.

In Dallas, I like the simplicity and atmosphere of Keller’s Drive-In. You order by turning on your hazard lights. The number 5 (double meat) on a poppy seed bun with the sauce is simply wonderful. Best of all, Keller’s offers a quality burger, fries and drink for a very reasonable price. I love Twisted Root (also voted a best burger by some magazines) as they offer a good variety of options including game burgers, but try the Western which has Pepperjack, bacon, fried onions, and jalepenos.

This is not a comprehensive list as these are just some of the burgers that stick out the most to me. As long as my heart allows, I plan to keep eating burgers across the U.S. to find one that is truly memorable and that will leave me wanting to go back to that place just for a burger.

Month: May 2015 (Page 2 of 4)

Backpack v. Suitcase – Which is the Best Option?

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Itineraries-Attraction & Restaurant Planning

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Traveling with a Baby (0-6 Months)

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Vyšehrad – Prague

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The Great Burger Adventure

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Backpack v. Suitcase – Which is the Best Option?

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Itineraries-Attraction & Restaurant Planning

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Traveling with a Baby (0-6 Months)

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Vyšehrad – Prague

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The Great Burger Adventure

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