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In honor of Independence Day, here are some of my favorite summertime photos from the USA. I hope everyone enjoys their freedom this weekend and celebrates our beautiful country in the company of friends and family. Bon voyage! Eva & Chris 
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I planned on taking maternity photos three weeks before Benjamin's due date. It was the ideal time - my belly was big, spring was at its peak and the weather was typically beautiful over Memorial Day weekend. Our plans were foiled when, Benjamin, eager to get in front of the camera, swiftly arrived the afternoon of our scheduled shoot. Lesson learned: schedule maternity photos two months ahead of time. Luckily Chris and I had scouted a few spots the day before so here are some of our (practice) maternity pictures taken around Cambridge. These picture are particularly special to us because they were taken the day before we met our baby boy!       During our trip around the world, we spent a month in Italy over the summer. Initially, we only planned to stay near Orvieto for three days, but we fell in love with Umbria and and extended our stay almost two weeks. During out drive from Tuscany to Rome we stumbled, randomly, upon an agroturismo online called La Rocca, located in the countryside near the old town of Orvieto. In Italy, an agroturismo is a working farm with guest accommodations. They are ideal for people traveling via car since they tend to be less expensive than accomodations in town, parking is easy (it's a farm after all), and the scenery is usually to die for! Also, your room fee supports the farm, which typically produces the delicious fresh produce and wine sold in the region. As I mentioned above, we'd only planned to stay for three days, but fell in love with our apartment and the laid back pace of life in the Umbrian countryside. We we were so delighted with our countryside discovery that we came back with Chris' parents after our adventures in Rome, Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast! During our stay, the owners were doing work on the property - mainly improving the already beautiful pool area by the apartments. I recently revisited their website, and they have completely updated and rebranded themselves as Altarocca Wine Resort which encompasses not only their apartments, but a hotel, various restaurants, cooking classes, a spa, and weddings & events. Although we stayed in the apartments, we had visited the resort area for breakfast and a swim but had no idea how comprehensive the rest of their services were! We'd recommend the apartments in a heartbeat, for the stunning views, the pristine accommodations, the comfortable beds (a rare find in Italy) and the pools set among the vines. We LOVED having an apartment with a full kitchen and spent our days picking up fresh food from the local markets and enjoying our spoils on a private patio overlooking the golden fields surrounding Orvieto. Here are some pictures from this gem:        Why I Want to be Locked in a Room in Munich, Germany (plus a special offer for BV readers!)6/11/2015  Photo credit: HintQuest.com The Wall Street Journal recently published this article about the swarm of travelers that will inundate Europe this summer, thanks to the strong US Dollar, the continued rise in tourism from Asia and the World's Fair in Milan. Some of the more famous attractions are actually asking people to delay their visits to avoid overcrowding. Like most people, Chris and I abhor crowds. While we love visiting museums and historic attractions, we try to visit during non-peak hours. We also love finding activities that are unique to each destination and less frequented by the masses. Sometimes, these are the most memorable experiences of our trip. I was recently made aware of an alternative attraction, called HintQuest, located in Munich, Germany. It is a "live escape game" or a real life version of those video games where you have to solve a series of puzzles to unlock a room. While I have not experienced it myself (yet!), I thought it was an intriguing idea that might appeal to BV readers. The Concept: You and a group of 2-6 people are locked in room and given 60 minutes to figure out how to escape. You must work as a team to solve a series of puzzles & riddles in order to unlock the door to your room before time is up. The game requires all group members to work together creatively and efficiently!  The challenge: Use the clues in this room to unlock the door. Photo credit: HintQuest.com Ok, admittedly being locked in a room with a group of people may seem like a rather odd activity to try in Munich, but if you think about it, it could be a lot of fun and the source of many funny stories for years to come. I see this being a particularly fun activity for a couple of scenarios:
HintQuest receives phenomenal reviews on TripAdvisor, with over 220 ranked as "excellent". Sadly, Chris and I won't be in Munich for a while to try it out, but I reached out to HintQuest for more information and they kindly offered a 10% discount for the first 20 Beyond Voyage readers that book a room! Just mention our blog when you make a reservation. Upon further research, there are several of these live escape games located in major cities throughout the world, so if you can't make it to Munich, there might be a similar activity at your next destination, or better yet, in your hometown. If you try HintQuest or any other live escape game, PLEASE write in and let us know what you think! Note: HintQuest did not sponsor this blog post. I'm writing about it because I think it would be a fun activity and a unique way to spend a couple of hours in Munich :)  A few weeks ago, ETSY (ET & SY) from etsyexplores.com nominated Beyond Voyage for a Liebster Award. What, you may ask, is a Liebster Award? The word Liebster is German for "dearest" or "beloved" and , while no one is certain how it began, the award is something bloggers give to other blogs that they love. Though it's not doled out by an esteemed panel of travel writing and photography critics, it was awarded to us by a fan of our site, which is a huge compliment and the recognition means a lot to us! So thanks for the shout out ETSY and BV readers - make sure you check out their site and IG feed! Here is how the Liebster works: 1) ETSY nominated us for the award and asked us to answer 11 questions. 2) We answered their questions below. 3) We created 11 new questions and nominated five of our favorite blogs to do the same. So without further ado, here are our answers to ETSY's questions: 1. Which is the most underrated country you've been to and why? Germany. We expected to find Germany interesting from a historical perspective - which it was. But we were blown away by the culture, the lovely people and the phenomenal creative / design / art scene. Berlin is now one of my favorite cities. And Chris was a huge fan of the orderliness & politeness!  Berlin LOVE. I could easily live here one day. 2. What excites you most about travel? We love to learn, and when you travel, you are learning something new every minute of the day. 3. What is the strangest thing you've eaten? Eva: It's a tie between grasshoppers or Luwak coffee (made from coffee beans pooped out by a Luwak) Chris: Guinea pig is the strangest thing he knows he has eaten, but there is a good chance he has unknowingly consumed far more peculiar things than that. The man has sampled his fair share of mystery meats!  One of the stranger food we've consumed: liquid poo (aka Luwak Coffee) 4. What inspired you to start a blog? We started Beyond Voyage as a way to keep friends and family updated on our trip around the world. 5. What was your most embarrassing moment while traveling? In Sirince, Turkey we accidentally turned down a pedestrian only street in our rental car. The street was too narrow to turn around and too twisted to back up. Luckily, a shepherd (as in a man who herds sheep for a living) escorted us through networks of pedestrian streets on foot. People had to dismantle their kiosks so we could drive through. The whole town was outside watching us. To make matters worse, or rental car was an obnoxious bright orange Volvo.  We were escorted out of a Turkish mountain village by a shepherd on foot whilst in this car. So embarrassing. 6. What is the most off the beaten track experience you've had? We've had a lot of off the beaten track travel experiences, but one of the most interesting was being shown around Bali by local friends who live in a small village near Ubud. We attended the village temple ceremonies, visited a local school, met local families and even had a private Balinese welcome dance performed by the village girls. It was a truly unforgettable experience!  Chris, showing a local Balinese villager how a contact lens works. Mind blown! 7. How has travel changed you? I know it sounds cliche, but travel has made our lives richer and more exciting. It has also made us more empathetic, braver and appreciative of everything we have. 8. If you are craving comfort food while on the road, what would you look for? Eva: A coffee and a pastry, or some kind of yummy cheese with freshly baked bread. Chris: Meat and a pint of beer. 9. What is your favorite travel hack. The old throwaway ticketing trick. In other words, booking a cheaper connecting flight going through your destination to another city, and ditching the second leg. 10. Which is your favorite foodie destination and why? Tie: South Africa and Mexico. We love South Africa for the abundance of fresh delicious produce and interesting tasty game meats. Mexico is home to our favorite type of cuisine, and nothing beats motulenos for breakfast and fresh margaritas on the beach! 11. What is the one travel website you can't live without? Tripadvisor The five bloggers we nominate are:
1. Allasia & Casey @ The Piece Collection (professional global shoppers) 2. Andrew & Adrienne @ A and A Take The World (beautiful nomadic couple; fab IG commentary) 3. Shobha @ Just Go Places (adventures in family travel) 4. Rafael @ Pixamundo (gorgeous photos from some of my favorite places) 5. Ana @ The City Sidewalks (city focused travel guides) ...and here are our 11 questions for them: 1. Where are you going next? 2. What destination or experience are you scared to try? 3. If you were to open a bar on a beach anywhere in the the world, where would it be, what would you name the bar and what album would you play every evening at sunset? 4. What is your favorite travel photo that you've taken and why? 5. What is the most unique hotel / accommodation you've ever stayed in? 6. What is the worst travel experience you've ever had? 7. What was your favorite music discovery while traveling? 8. In your experience, where are the world's friendliest people? 9. What is the most memorable meal you've had while traveling? 10. Who is the most interesting person you've met while traveling? 11. What is the one clothing item you always pack when traveling? Apologies for the delay since my last post. We had quite a surprise last weekend - our son decided to make his debut three weeks early!! He arrived swiftly and with purpose, and we made it to the hospital in the nick of time! Meet little Benjamin - the newest Beyond Voyager.  Only a day old and already laughing :) For now, our travel adventures are confined to about a three block radius - Harvard strolls, the grocery store and the pediatrician - as we learn how to care for a newborn. But we are hoping to plan some bigger trips for the fall. In the meantime, we have a trove of past adventures to write about and future travel plans to dream about, so stay tuned to Beyond Voyage! We chose to name this site Beyond Voyage because we didn't want to limit our adventures to just one or two voyages a year. Instead we wanted to incorporate what we love about travel into our daily lives. Whether we are half way around the world or close to home, we seek adventure in food, music, new cultures and experiences. Now we are taking another step "beyond the voyage" by starting a family and learning to travel, both near and far, as parents - seeing the world through the eyes of our son and watching him learn along the way. For us, being good travel companions has meant being good teammates, often in very stressful situations. After a week with a newborn, that teamwork has definitely paid off, just in a different, and even more rewarding way. We are a bit out of our comfort zone, but that's a great thing, because we've learned that's where the magic happens :)    Our friends made this onesie for Benjamin. It's a little too big for him now, but it should fit him in about three months! A few weeks ago, we attended a beautiful baby shower in honor of our little boy due this June. Our family & friends organized a brunch party at a delicious Italian restaurant called Cinquecento in Boston's South End neighborhood. Chris and I had been here for brunch before and had LOVED the food, atmosphere and service, so we were delighted that our baby shower was held in their private room downstairs.  Me & Baby B ready for the shower at Cinquecento in Boston's South End. Everything was beyond our expectations - the food, drinks, decor and best of all - time with our family & friends. Our little guy is incredibly lucky to have so many wonderful people in his life. The party planning team consisted of my parents - Abuela & Grandpa (the hosts), Chris' parents - Grammie & Papa and Aunt Jen (the decor team), and good friends Lisa & Kim (the fabulous organizers). The shower was safari-themed which was wildly appropriate since one of our favorite world destinations is South Africa. Here are some pictures of the details:  Safari themed invitations from Tiny Prints
 Baby B now has a drawer full of creative, colorful, funny and clever onesies - all made by friends and family.  We left the shower with a barrel of safari animals used to decorate the room. They are currently eagerly waiting to play with their new friend.
Aunt Jen found us this adorable "guestbook" poster on Etsy. Guests signed the balloons and stuck them to the poster which will be framed and hung in baby's nursery.  Party favors!!! Everyone loves a Lindt truffle. Like I mentioned earlier, the food was phenomenal and I highly recommend Cinqucento for brunch if you happen to be in the Boston area. This was our menu:
There are many wonderful places to host a private party in Boston, but I really liked Cincquecento for a few reasons:
Here are a few snaps from the party:  [Pictured Above] The beautiful grandmas! I know, they look WAY too young to be grandmas.  Wallman-Barbier family photo. I think this one might be framed for small fry's room!  We had some pretty adorable kiddos in attendance. These two little ones give the BEST hugs.  The lovely party planners - Lisa & Kim. I swear we didn't coordinate outfit colors.
 Grammie announcing the answers and winners to the Chris & Eva trivia game. Who knew us best?  It was a tie between long time friend Hanna (an occasional BV guest blogger!) and baby bro. Luckily it was an easy prize to split in half.  Buddies! These three, along with our friend Mike, are part of an elite club called Steak Hunters. Maybe one day Chris will write a Culinary Delights feature about it (hint hint).  We had an amazing time at our shower! Thank you to my parents for hosting, our family & friends that helped plan the party and everyone who joined us to celebrate our little guy. The three of us are so lucky to have you in our lives!
xoxo, Eva & Chris The USA's new relaxed restrictions on travel to Cuba has resulted in a flurry of buzz and interest among US travelers. Google searches in the US for "Cuba" skyrocketed after Obama's December announcement about normalizing relations and search interest has been up year over year ever since. Check it out:  Source: Google Trends If you are one of the many people interested in visiting Cuba, you have probably contemplated where to stay during your visit. Many Americans will travel with a special interest tour group, in which case accommodations might be pre-arranged. However, if you are traveling independently and/or have a choice in the matter I strongly encourage you to consider staying at a Casa Particular. What is a "Casa Particular"? In a nutshell, it's a private home, similar to a B&B. When Cuba re-opened to tourism in the mid 1990's, there was a shortage of decent hotel rooms. The government's solution was to allow Cuban citizens to apply for licenses to rent out extra rooms in their homes. These houses are known as Casas Particulares. The Cubans say "particular" instead of "privada" when describing privately run (or non-government run) businesses because the word "private" carries negative connotations in a communist system. Why should you stay at a Casa Particular over a Hotel?
 Chris with Pavel & Haifa in front of their home in Vedado. We highly recommend this casa particular because the hosts were wonderful!  We originally inquired about staying at Ana & Pepe's casa particular but they were full at the time and referred us to Pavel & Haifa down the street. We still enjoyed a dinner at Ana & Pepe's house followed by an impromptu dance party. We also booked a tour with Pepe to see Miramar, Vedado and Old Havana. Here we are with Pepe at El Bodeguito del Medio bar, listening to a fantastic local salsa group. Are there any downsides to staying at a Casa Particular?
Here are a few pictures of our apartment at Pavel & Haifa's casa. Knowing that our readers have very diverse tastes, some of you will find this appealing while others might ...well...cringe. Please keep an open mind, prioritize cleanliness (this place was spotless) and remember that the one of the major benefits of visiting Havana is getting to know the people (not a fancy bed).  We had our own private kitchen. While we ate breakfast downstairs in Haifa's dining room this was nice for storing water and snacks. If you plan on staying longer you can prep meals here and eat out on the private balcony!  Our room off the kitchen had two double beds, a wardrobe, TV & A/C (neither of which we used) and a bathroom.  My favorite part of this casa was the private side entrance and balcony. It was the perfect little spot for a drink and cigar after a long day touring Havana! How do I find Casa Particulares?
For more information about Cuba, check out the following blog posts: Traveling to Cuba - Tips for Americans Havana, Cuba Photo Tour Meeting My Family in Cuba Traveling to Havana, Cuba (via Mexico City)  Hotel Secreto on Isla Mujeres In honor of Cinco de Mayo I've updated our Riviera Maya page with a few pictures from our trip there several years ago. On this page you'll find our 10 day itinerary, hotel recommendations, a list of activities that we enjoyed, a few tunes and some general tips. Here were a few highlights from our trip: Best Margarita: Mezzanine Hotel bar Best Beach: While it's REALLY hard to choose I'd have to go with Tulum Best Snorkeling: Garrafon Reef Park in Isla Mujeres Best Non-Beach Activity: Dos Ojos Cenote Tour in Tulum Best Meal: Huevos Motuleños at La Hotel Tortuga in Playa del Carmen Check out our Riviera Maya page for more information, pictures and a few tips about dealing with corrupt traffic cops!  
Attention cheese lovers! Vermont should hold high rank on your travel bucket list. With 45 different cheese makers scattered across this small state, you'll surely find a new favorite snack at one of these farms nestled in New England's mountains.
In early April, Chris and I decided to embark on an impromptu self-guided tour of Vermont's cheese trail. For years we have enjoyed Vermont cheeses sold at local markets in Boston, but we have never ventured out on the cheese trail to taste freshly made cheese directly from the source. 
The Vermont Cheese Trail map along with some pamphlets we picked up along the way. You can print your own map here or see it in Google Maps:
I quickly learned two lessons from our cheese tour experience:
1) Early April is not the best time to go. Many of the cheese makers are closed for the season and the weather is unpredictable. The first day was sunny and a balmy 70 degrees F. The second day was freezing,windy and snowy. Early May might have been a better choice. 2) Going on a cheese tour while pregnant can be a bit...well...tortuous. Much of the cheese is freshly made with raw milk - a no-no food for pregnancy. Luckily there were a couple of options made with pasteurized milk so I could partake in sampling. A tip for the pregnant ladies: you can eat raw milk cheese as long as you heat it up. So bring on the grilled cheese!
During our two day tour, we visited three cheese makers:
We would have been able to squeeze in two more had we planned our trip beforehand and called ahead to arrange a time at those creameries that are appointment only. But this was a last minute get-in-the-car-and-go trip so c'est la vie! Not only is it fun to taste the cheese, but the drive through Vermont is beautiful and each property has a really fascinating history. Here is a brief recap of each: Plymouth Artisan Cheeses: Presidential Roots
The charming and tiny town of Plymouth, VT. It's the birthplace and childhood home of USA President Calvin Coolidge and long time home to Plymouth Artisan Cheese. The former President is buried across the street.
Above the store is an exhibit of old fashioned cheese making tools and the history of the factory.
Present day cheese factory. Unfortunately, they weren't making cheese while we were there.
Our favorite snack -The Mapled Nut gourmet almonds! I also loved the unique design of each cheese label.
Cabot Creamery Cooperative: Strength in Numbers
Chris sampling various Cabot cheeses at the shop. There had to be at least 20 different types!
Three cheers for pasteurized cheese! We purchased the horseradish (my favorite) and chipotle cheeses.
Shelburne Farms: A Vanderbilt Legacy
The Shelburne Farms tasting room and shop. The woman working here was very helpful and knowledgeable, but too shy to pose behind the counter for the picture.
This is the Farm Barn - home to the bakery, cheese making facilities administrative offices, an elementary school, the children's farm and more. It's the most spectacular barn I've ever seen!
The backyard of the Inn, facing a frozen Lake Champlain. I'm looking forward to coming back here when the lake has thawed and everything is green.
This concludes our very first experience on the Vermont Cheese Trail. There are still 42 more cheesemakers to visit so I know we'll be back on the trail again soon.
If you are curious about where we stayed, we played it by ear knowing it was shoulder season in Vermont and demand would be low. We ended up getting a deal via Priceline at The Essex Resort just outside of Burlington. We booked the room on our phone a few hours before checking in. Our room was very cozy and comfortable and we were only about 20 minutes from Burlington where we spent the evening and dined at Church & Maine. Check out more photos from Burlington here. |
AuthorEva has been traveling for 15+ years, including an 8 month journey around the world. Archives
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