Unique digital nomad travel adventures from around the U.S.
I recently had a very close encounter with a pickpocket in Lisbon, Portugal. Thankfully, nothing was stolen. But I learned and relearned a few important lessons that I wanted to share here with you. My hope is that my story and a few tips on …
R and I spent six weeks living, working and playing in Savannah, Georgia, in January and February. It really was a dream. Here are our trip recommendations for Savannah if you will be traveling there during the winter season: Trees, squares, architecture and food Savannah, …
Charleston, South Carolina, one of the best cities in the south brimming with American history, charming boutiques, and tasty restaurants. President’s Day Weekend in Charleston is a terrific time of the year to visit.
I have been fortunate enough to spend President’s Day Weekend in Charleston, South Carolina in 2023 and 2024. The weather this time of year is just starting to warm but it is still cool enough that humidity and bugs (and other tourists) aren’t swarming the city. In short, it is a perfect time to visit this southern belle. Here are some of our favorite spots in one of our favorite cities. Note: If you are a foodie, this city is for you. Don’t take our lack of food recommendations as evidence that this place doesn’t do food right. We are just too plebeian to appreciate it.
Charleston, South Carolina does a lot of things really well: charming stores, good food, and historical seeping out of it. It makes an excellent place to visit on a long President’s Day weekend. After writing this post, I’m thinking I might go for a three-peat. I hope to see you there!
Weekend getaways and microtrips are a great way to do more exploring. We recently enjoyed a quick weekend getaway to the compact and historic city of St. Augustine, Florida. Below are our recommendations from that trip. Spending six weeks living and working remotely in Savannah, …
On a recent visit to the Balkan Peninsula, B and I found ourselves spending one full day in beautiful Montenegro. This country is blessed with sweeping mountains, azure seasides and historic medieval towns. It is simply wonderful. Here are the five Montenegro must-sees that we …
Washington DC has a lot of great attractions and makes a great girls’ weekend getaway or microtrip. I have visited several times over the last few years and have never run out things to see and do. However, during my last trip to DC, I ventured off the Capitol Mall for a few stops. Here are five places in DC to visit away from the Mall.
The Pentagon is the largest administrative office in the world. As we took a nighttime Monument tour, our guide told us it has its own police and fire force and two postal zip codes. Seriously big. I’ve driven past the Pentagon before but never went in the gates. I actually never knew there was a memorial there until our driver pulled in.
The memorial is on the west side of the building, the side that the American Airlines flight 77 crashed into on September 11, 2001, at 9:43 in the morning. The memorial is made up of benche, one for each of the 184 people who was killed on the flight and in the Pentagon. The designer placed many symbolic details throughout the memorial.
Each bench is engraved with the name of the person who died. The benches are long like a wing and point one direction if the person was on the plane and another if they were in the building. They are ordered by the age of the victim and spaced evenly according to age. This means that the first few benches are slightly apart from the others because the victims were children.
The Pentagon building is located in Virginia, just across the Potomac River from Washington DC. You can get there on the Metro.
I was very moved by this memorial. It was the most unexpected place I visited on the trip and I’m so glad we ended up there. If you have ever been to the Oklahoma City Memorial, this was very similar.
Arlington is the most famous cemetery in the United States. It is the final resting place of roughly 400,000 men and women and their family members who served our country.
I’ve been to Arlington before but I’ve never opted to take the shuttle bus tour until this trip. I learned so many interesting facts from this tour and recommend you take it when you visit. Arlington’s original land was owned by George Washington’s step grandson. He left the land to his daughter who lived there with her husband, none other than Robert E. Lee (Head General for the Confederacy in the Civil War.. Crazy, right?
The cemetery is huge and organized into sections. Most gravestones are uniform, with engraved white markers. They allowed different markers for a while so you’ll see a variety, but to me the most impressive sections only have the rows of white.
Arlington national cemetery is located in Arlington county, Virginia, close to the Pentagon. It is very close though downtown DC.
For family reasons, this cemetery means a lot to me. But even without that, these are hallowed grounds for any American.
We timed our visit to watch the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. This gray marble monument holds the remains of unidentified soldiers from World Wars 1, 2 and Korea. It pays tribute to all servicemen who have died without their remains being identified. A member of the 3rd Cavalry of the US Army stands guard in front of the tomb 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
During the changing of the guard, one servicemen approaches the soldier on duty and relieves him of his duty while a supervising officer makes sure the new soldier meets the standard and knows his orders. Once the soldier takes over he paces 21 steps, turns, adjusts his rifle and marches back.
When George Washington wasn’t living at the White House, he lived on a farm called Mt. Vernon in Virginia. George Washington’s Mt. Vernon (it’s full name) is a popular destination for tourists and dignitaries. The night before we arrived, the President of the U.S. hosted a dinner for the President of the France.
Mt. Vernon was in the Washington family for some time and George became the owner in 1761. He added several floors and wings to the original house (although it still isn’t that big). The property is very pretty and there are gardens, orchards and fields around. George was big into farming and he used the 500 acres well.
Visitors to Mt. Vernon can tour the grounds and see how life was back in the late 1700s. You can take a peek into the kitchen, laundry house, and visitor’s servant’s quarters among other buildings. The piece de resistance, though, is the house. Conservationists and historians work hard to make this look just like it did back in the day, matching wallpaper and paint to what they think it would be like after extensive reviews with a microscope. Most of the furniture is what the Washington’s used and you can see their writing desks and the bed where George passed away.
There is a nice museum on the property and as we toured through we learned a lot about George’s life. Oh yeah, we also saw his dentures. It turns out that the story of them being made of wood is a myth; they were made of cow and human bone and metal. We couldn’t figure out how they stayed in. I’m guessing Fixident wasn’t a thing back then…
Mt. Vernon is located on the banks of the Potomac river near Alexandria, Virginia. Nowadays, ol’ George could have just commuted into D.C. as it isn’t that long of a drive, maybe 30 minutes or so. You can get there via the bus and a Metro, but we just drove on over.
Washington ties Lincoln for the most popular president ever, and Mt. Vernon is a shrine to this man. My view of him is that he was humble and low key (not sure if that’s right but I hope so). He probably would have been mortified to know he has demi-god status at this place, but oh well. If you like yourself some GW, visit Mt. Vernon and you won’t be disappointed.
In 2008, some real estate investors decided to build a gi-normous conference center 20 miles south of Washington D.C. More investors followed suit and today National Harbor is a happening place to go to eat, shop and visit.
We stayed at the Gaylord National Resort, along with what felt like enough people to man a mid-sized city. Just outside the hotel there are several blocks full of shopping stores and restaurants. On Saturday night, we were turned away from several food establishments because the wait list was over an hour.
If you aren’t into eating or shopping (as if!), you could entertain yourself with people watching, watching a giant outdoor jumbo screen TV, or taking a spin on the lit-up ferris wheel.
National Harbor is kind of a pain to get to, unless you drive. We caught Ubers back and forth to the city (usually around $25). Public transportation exists, but you’d have to Metro, then bus, then shuttle to get there.
This is a strange little suburb of Washington D.C. But it is kind of fun because it is like a getaway. You can visit it if you are tired of all those dang monuments and historical markers when you visit DC.
Gettysburg is a small town in south central Pennsylvania. No one would probably have heard of it, had it not been for an important battle 1863 that changed the course of the Civil War…United States…world as we know it.
Gettysburg itself is a a little town with Civil War buildings sprouting up all over. The real reason to visit this area, though, is the Gettysburg National Military Park. The National Park service manages the battlefield, which is very large (you drive around an auto tour to see different skirmish areas). The Gettysburg Foundation runs the museum and theater where visitors learn all about the history of this battle.
We visited on a weekend during the busy months, which meant we were able to see two different regiments of Civil War reenactors do their things. Our demonstrations taught us how soldiers loaded their rifles, aimed and fired. I gotta say, war would have been terrifying. During the early wars of the Civil War, men still stood in lines, pointed guns at the enemy, who was standing in lines shooting at them. I have no idea how they didn’t duck and cover.
The battlefield is really pretty. Historians have studied pictures taken right after the fight and have tried to turn the land back to what it was in 1863. There are open spaces, hills and orchards. It must have been really peaceful until almost two hundred thousand men converged there and left three days later, without 45,000 men who were killed or wounded.
About four months after the battle, President Lincoln visited the area and dedicated the Gettysburg National Cemetery on Cemetery Hill. It was here that he gave a short talk, forever immortalized as the Gettysburg Address.
We rented a car at National Harbor and drove about two hours to get to Pennsylvania. You can probably find an organized tour from D.C. if you really wanted to visit the battlefield without driving.
Why you should go
Most people have heard of the Gettysburg Address. It is really cool to visit the place where such an inspiring message was shared. The battle must have been horrific, with three days of scrappy fighting. General Pickett made his famous charge at this battlefield (unsuccessfully). Robert E. Lee almost pulled off a victory that could have changed history. Even if you never paid attention in history class during school, I think you’ll find things that resonate with you at this battlefield.
If you have been to our nation’s capital many times and have visited the Smithsonians more times than you can remember, it might be time for you to branch out and check out places in DC to visit away from the Mall.
A trip to Bali was just the birthday present S needed to celebrate her big day. Luckily, she invited B and me along to Indonesia and together we explored Bali and threw in a little Java for good measure. This post will discuss our 13-day …
![European Christmas [A Travelogue]](https://i0.wp.com/janeseestheworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/IMG_6735-e1521154486919.jpg?resize=760%2C400&ssl=1)
For 2017, we opted to try out a European Christmas instead of our usual celebrations. B and I joined together with four more people to take on The Continent during the holiday season. We’ve discussed the importance of keeping a travel journal, so we wanted …
As we might have mentioned once or twice, we spent Christmas this year in the Benelux region of Europe. Apparently, these countries are pretty small and close to each other geographically and culturally, so they get their own cute acronym. (BElgium, NEtherlands, LUXembourg.) We had a fantastic time over the holiday season and this post highlights ten reasons to visit Europe at Christmas.
People in this region know how to do Christmas lights right. We didn’t see one blow-up Santa or the Grinch. Instead, lights are strung tastefully on the already adorable buildings. This is even more impressive when you think about how the buildings are mainly tall and skinny and you’d have to get real creative to string lights on the highest gables. In Amsterdam, residents who lived on the houseboats in the canals decorated their homes (?) boats (?) so when you looked down the canals you’d see twinkling in your peripheral vision.
City centers were the main concentration of lights and nothing was better than the Grand Place in Brussels. This is a must see for Christmas in this area. So cool!
As we learned in the movie, Elf, “the best way to spread Christmas Cheer, is singing loud for all to hear.” Well, Christmas cheer was around us several times on this trip thanks to random Christmas Carolers. The funniest one was when we were walking down the street in Ypres, Belgium, and heard music coming at us. Turns out a group of people dressed as polar bears were making the rounds playing different instruments.
Most of the towns we visited had small ice skating rinks set up in the center of town. It was really sweet to see all of the kiddos out there having a great time as they circled the rink. A few of us in the group were slightly injured and not quite up to ice-skating form, so we didn’t actually skate ourselves, but it warmed my heart every time I saw one of these rinks set up.
Alright, in all honesty, we didn’t eat any desserts that were specific to Christmas. However, as Christmas is the time to indulge in all matter of deliciousness anyway, it was terrific to be able to partake of these delicacies in a place that just does them so much better than we do here in the states. I have no idea why pastries taste so much better in Europe (maybe massive quantities of butter?) but they just do. Pretty much every meal ended with some sort of waffle, doughnut or chocolate.
Christmas is a busy time to visit Benelux. We definitely didn’t have the place to ourselves, and usually massive amounts of tourists make for grumpy locals. But at Christmas time, it seemed like everyone, no matter if they were visitors or residents, was happy. On Christmas Eve we had reservations for dinner at a small, fancy place. The staff were all dressed up and at one point they all headed outside to get a group picture. I bet stuff like that doesn’t happen in the middle of the summer rush of tourist season.
Belgian chocolate has a well-earned reputation for being some of the best chocolate in the world. During Christmas time, you can just straight up eat the chocolate bars and truffles. Or…you can drink your chocolate, liquified, with a little milk. I’m sure you can order hot chocolate at most restaurants throughout the year. But at Christmas time, you can purchase cups of it in the street at the markets. Instead of starting with hot water and adding powdered sugar (?) cocoa (?) whatever it is, hot chocolate in Benelux starts with steamed milk, most likely whole, and then chocolate is mixed in. That’s it–chocolate and milk. At chocolate shops we found wooden spoons with a massive hunk of solid chocolate on the end that you can take home and warm up your own milk, stirring until the chocolate dissolves. I have to be honest–it’s hard to go back to our hot chocolate after having this stuff.
You can just feel the merriment in the air. Probably because they have fun things set up like amusement rides and races. I’m actually not 100% sure whether the carnival-type atmosphere was just for Christmas, but it looked fairly transient, so I’m thinking so. Around the markets there were fun things like carousels and Ferris wheels. In Brussels we had to wait for about ten minutes to cross the street to our hotel because hundreds of runners dressed up in Santa hats were racing in a 5K. I defy people to be unhappy seeing that many Santas.
I don’t really ever need an excuse to shop, but shopping in Europe at Christmas was a goal before I left. We lived in Germany when I was a kid and my mom got some great wooden ornaments that we still use on her Christmas tree that I just love. I wanted to see if I could find some that were similar. Sadly, I didn’t, but I did get some great ornaments that will look smashing on the tree next year. Most stores had cute Christmas items put out and as the dollar was doing pretty good next to the Euro, we had some fun shopping.
There seem to be cathedrals on every corner in some of the cities. In Ghent, I had my heart set on seeing the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, which lives in St. Bavo’s Cathedral. We had a slight problem by not being able to locate which, of the five cathedrals we came across in a quarter of a mile, was St. Bavos. The point is, cathedrals in Europe are frequent, beautiful and inspiring. It seemed especially nice to visit these during Christmas time. We had hoped to join a Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, but that didn’t work out. Next time!
When it comes to the reasons to visit Europe at Christmas, I saved the best for last. Christmas markets consist of cute little wooden sheds all stacked up next to each other in rows. People sell a variety of knick knacks, handicrafts, beer and food and everyone just mills around and soaks up the Christmas cheer. We visited markets in most of the cities we came to; some had the ice skating rinks nearby, most had music playing and all had Christmas trees placed around decoratively. It was so wonderful! I spoke with a local who said you have to go to Germany to really experience the Christmas markets, but I’m not sure how these will be topped. (I’m all for accepting that challenge, though.)
Update: we have now experienced Christmas markets in Germany and have a whole post dedicated to that experience.
There are plenty of reasons to visit Europe at Christmas. We were barely able to scratch the surface of things to see and do, but visiting during Christmas time added an extra element of specialness to our trip. I think I might have been converted; I told B that Christmas in Europe might be my new thing.
Salt Lake City is not the most exotic location on the planet. However, there are plenty of fun things to do and see there. It is an especially good location to begin a trip out west. Due to its proximity to Idaho, it makes an …