Abroad

How to Travel in Iceland Affordably

January 5, 2019

One of the most beautiful places we have ever traveled is Iceland. I never like to visit a place twice because there is so much in the world to see, but I would definitely go back to Iceland.

Some of the questions that seem to come up when looking into traveling to Iceland are:

-How can I do this affordably?

-When can I go to see the northern lights?

-Where should I stay?

-Should I do tours or rent a car and explore?

Well… I can tell you how we chose to travel Iceland and I am SO glad we did it the way we did.

First off, we did not stay in hotels. The hotels I researched were around $300-500/night! That is just outrageous for us. If you have read any of our previous travel posts you know we backpack, stay in hostels, or go with our cheapest hotel options.

This time, we used Airbnb and it was amazing. We had never used it internationally, but I’m glad we took the risk! We booked multiple cabins/apartments throughout the country for different days. This was usually around $100/night. It’s not hostel price, but much more affordable than staying in hotels. Our Airbnbs were all fantastic! Here is a look at our first cabin.

Isn’t this beautiful?! It was a one bedroom cabin, very isolated, surrounded by sheep and horses… I. Was. In. Love. We were tucked away in the country side, and sure enough, we got to see what we came all this way to see. The Northern Lights!!

This was the view from our cabin that evening. My husband and I couldn’t believe it! And little did we know, it only got better for us as the days went on.

So this is one of the questions I read about… “When can I go to see the lights?”

Well, we went at the end of October for my husband’s birthday and we were afraid it would be too early, but it definitely wasn’t! We got to see the lights multiple times throughout our stay. More pictures to come!

By staying in these cabins, not only did we get to watch the light show from our bed, but we were able to buy groceries and cook every night which saved a ton of money.

Eating in restaurants was so expensive compared to what I’m used to. Restaurants could run you $50-$100 a meal! Well, that’s if it wasn’t a Subway… So hubby and I meal planned what we would eat and purchased it all at local grocery stores. This put us between $50-$100 for the whole trip.

Examples of what we ate were:

Breakfasts:
-Cereal/almond milk
-Eggs
-Granola bars

Lunches:
-PB & J often!
-Chips
-Granola bars
-Jerky
-Nuts

Dinners:
-Spaghetti and meat sauce (multiple nights)
-We did spot a Quizno’s running a deal for one large sandwich with a drink and chips for $10 and we shared it a few times.

The next thing I am SO glad we did was RENT A CAR! The country is so beautiful and peaceful and never crowded. So traffic was NEVER an issue. We also got to go visit sites and see things on our own time. My husband and I are GO-GO-GO people. As soon as we land in a country, we want to see everything and waste no time. So often enough, we create a list of things to explore and map it out. This worked fantastic for us.

*Note: If you do rent a car in Iceland, they are all pretty much manual transmission vehicles. If you aren’t sure how to drive a stick, definitely get some lessons in before you arrive! Or talk with you rental car company about alternatives.

Here are some of the things we saw…

Driving to tourist spots, we got to see beautiful mountains and sunsets.

The Geysir and the steam fields were so neat to see. They are in an area called the Golden Circle which is home to quite a few fun and interesting sites. We arrived at the end of the day so the sun began to set which made for fabulous pictures.

I mean how gorgeous is that???

I would highly recommend planning to see the Geysir and Gulfoss in the same day. They are extremely close to one another and would make for a 2-in-1 trip.

Þingvellir National Park
Tectonic Plate Split

Waterfall at the end of the walking trail through the tectonic plates

We began a trek across the country towards a highly desired tourist spot called Diamond Beach in Jokulsarlon. It would take us about 4 hours one way, but the country side was amazing to see. There were glaciers, waterfalls, and black sand beaches! I was quite worth it to see.

This black sand beach was the coolest thing to see. I’ve been to Hawaii where they claim to have black sand and green sand beaches on the Big Island, but that did not even compare to this!

And then we finally made it to our destination… Glacier Lagoon and Diamond Beach!

I have never seen “icebergs” before… Only in movies really. So it was surreal to actually see huge pieces of ice floating around and seals bobbing around them.

This is one of my favorite travel pictures we’ve taken. This beach was worth every minute of driving we did.

Our last stop was the city of Reykjavik. We explored the city around the bay. This is where we ate out more mostly because we were only here about 24 hours. Plus it was my husband’s birthday so we shouldn’t have PB & J right?

Since my career revolves around food, I couldn’t help but snap this quote.

As we went back to our little apartment to rest up and get ready for our flight out the following day, we got to see the most beautiful light show over the ocean.

This was the perfect end to our 10 day Iceland excursion. We took this photo sitting on our back patio of our little Airbnb apartment sipping hot tea in our pajamas. It was so incredible that we got to watch these dancing lights for hours. It doesn’t even look real as you are watching it in real time.

I hope you’ve gathered what you come to this article to read! You can travel affordably and smart. Just plan and budget!

Happy travels!

Things To See And Do In China!

January 18, 2018

While we were still young with few responsibilities, we decided we should experience Asia. It is a continent that has so much culture and many monuments explaining large parts of Asian history. Not to mention home of one of the 7 wonders of the world! So we booked a trip from March 1-11th, 2017 to experience another world.

I didn’t know much about China other than it was really large, home of the Great Wall, and that it housed millions and millions of people. The travel itself was very long from Alabama. Basically a full 24 hours of constant travel. So plan for that time when scheduling a trip. Also prepare for the major jet lag once you arrive because they are basically a day ahead. Nights and days will be backwards for probably 2-3 days. For us being from Alabama, the time difference was 14 hours ahead.

We chose to work with a touring company, Gate 1 Travel. This was our first time to pay a touring company to guide our trip, and I am so glad we did. Most countries we travel to, we enjoy exploring on our own. But since we were very unfamiliar with China, the languages, and what exactly to see, hiring a touring company was a great way to go.

We began our trip strong in Beijing by shopping for jade and visiting the Great Wall of China! China is well known for their history with producing jade and creating beautiful jewelry from it. We were brought to a jade jewelry store for a lesson on how to tell jade from a fake. Especially when shopping in markets and passing street vendors. Of course I was more than happy to shop 🙂

Our next stop after jade shopping was to see the Great Wall. This was the most amazing experience I’ve had traveling. The Great Wall is only something I’ve seen pictures of. It is very steep, so be sure to practice climbing stairs before this trip. All the Great Wall is, is stairs. Those quads and calves will be feeling the burn!

You’ll also notice the smog in the background. This is not from it being a cloudy day. This is pollution. I do recommend bringing a scarf to wear to assist in filtering out some of the pollution as you walk through towns or climb this amazing piece of history.

(I just love this photo above. My husband is quite the photographer. )

The stairs are also very uneven, so you must watch closely as you climb. Pieces could be missing, some stairs are 1 foot tall, others could be almost 2 feet tall. Utilize the hand railings when they are available. Keeping all of this in mind, you’ll want to make sure you have plenty of water, hand sanitizer, and sunscreen.

Hand sanitizer will be your best friend since there are so many people around you all the time. And you’ll begin to notice that hygiene is not a priority in this country. The sunscreen is also important because even though you are surrounded by clouds of smog, UV rays penetrate that smog and can still cause quite the burn. So take a seat every few hours and reapply your sun protection!

Be sure to pack comfortable walking shoes and a wind breaker. I chose to wear active gear the whole trip since we were always on the go and it was lightweight. This helped keep more space in my suitcase for souvenirs 🙂

About packing light, I HIGHLY recommend it. My husband and I have learned to travel with a carry on for any trip. This is the best tip I could give anyone traveling through Asia. We had to carry our bags through many cities over the course of our 10 day excursion. With that being said, keeping up with more than one bag is a pain. There are lots of stairs you carry your bag up and down. Trust me when I say, only bring your essentials and keep it light.

Ming tombs are very interesting to see. Within these Ming tombs, silk, pearls, and jade were displayed because they were valued highly during this era. And they continue to value these commodities today.

The architecture is so interesting the way the corners of all the roofs point upwards. Building materials are carved and painted with so much detail.

The food is very interesting. I’ll be honest, my husband is much more adventurous than I am. Our Chinese guide made a joke. “We eat anything with four legs that isn’t a table!” And he wasn’t kidding! Foods range from a Peking Duck gourmet meal to a pig organ soup with the an almost congealed broth. The variety is VAST! And if you’re American, when you order chicken in a restaurant, you can expect it will be white breast meat or dark meat. When you order a meal with chicken in China, you may get any part of that chicken in your meal. Could be organs, joints, or meat you are used to. So be mindful of that when you’re ordering meals. Don’t hesitate to ask what parts of the animal it includes if you’re particular.

Sickness for Americans is common when visiting Asia. This is for many reasons. Our tap water is drinking water. Whereas in China, you CANNOT drink from the tap. You MUST drink bottled water. This country is still developing and the water is not quite there yet. They can also tolerate microbes in their water that you definitely cannot. Raw fruits and vegetables washed with water prior to serving? Do not eat them. Ice, do not drink with it. Brushing your teeth, use bottled water. These little things we do out of habit can force you to wind up with a nasty 24 hour GI bug in a heartbeat. I would know, I had it twice. And I am VERY careful to watch for these things since we travel often. But your American ways make it very easy to forget.

If you’re a coffee drinker, this trip will be tough for you! You can find it- mostly instant coffee. In bigger cities like Beijing and Shanghai you may come across a Starbucks, but that’s about it. However, tea is available in abundance so take advantage of all the different teas. We really enjoyed that part.

While we were still in Beijing, we did visit Tiananmen Square. It was very high security and we were not to discuss the history that some may know. The famous video of the Chinese man standing up to the tank is not to be mentioned. Remember, China is a communist country and the people seem to really fear their government. We were not able to access YouTube, Google, Facebook and many other sites while we were there unless it was through our phones utilizing our American data plan.

After leaving the square, we went to the Summer Palace to see more historical monuments.

Emperors used to create large displays to show wealth and abundance of materials. As you can see this marble boat below could never be utilized as a boat. Because it’s marble. This was the first time I realized that I had come across water in Beijing.

Here I got my first dose of the squatty potty! I had never used a toilet that was not westernized. If you’re wondering what I mean by this, a westernized toilet is a sitting toilet. An eastern toilet is a porcelain hole in the ground that you hang over. It definitely took some getting used to. So if you’re planning a trip, get to strengthening those quads for hanging!

While walking the Summer Palace, I began realizing that most of the tourists we were seeing were from different parts of Asia. We RARELY ran into other Americans. So this made you the highlighter in a box of pencils. Our tour group of 6 people got SO many stares and requests for pictures. Most of the locals wouldn’t ask us for permission which eventually got a little difficult to tolerate. Mainly because you could be washing your hands after using the bathroom while someone was trying to take your picture. But I now understand how exotic I must have looked to be fair skinned, tall, with light brown hair.

We were able to stop at a panda zoo, but it was nothing like I expected. It was mostly cement with little space for the bears.

Visiting old Beijing was really interesting. We got to see how people live, how they craft to make money, and more of the local cuisine. It truly is wild how much property costs in old Beijing due to the amount of people in the city. Beijing is home to a little over 22 million people. And that’s just Beijing!

We traveled within China by plane and it wasn’t as difficult as I expected air travel to be. We were flying to our river boat for a 3 day cruise on the Yangtzee River. This was a great way to see ancient China. We made stops along the river to different towns that looked so tiny, but housed millions of people. We got to see ancient coffins buried in the side of mountains as we cruised down the river. And we also got to stop and explore more architecture, street vendors, and view different types of landscape.

If you are expecting extreme luxury, a trip to Asia may not be the trip for you. Remember, China is still a developing country. This was our river boat. Each room did have a balcony door, a bathroom, and two twin beds. All overnight accommodations will provide two twin size beds. If you are asthmatic, China is not the place for you. Between the smog and the cigarette smoke, you may not be able breathe well.

We visited a food bazaar which was really neat since I’ve only seen them on The Travel Channel. They sure do have some of the most interesting things for sale. This is a showcase of many different parts of a duck for sale. Marinated and prepared of course. Most of the cases offered things like insects, organ meats, etc.

This is a view from the back of our river boat cruising. Still very mountainous terrain. It was very beautiful scenery at times.

As surprising as it may sound, areas like the one shown above could be home to more than 1 million people. It looks like you may only have a few thousand. We continued to pass towns like this only to hear the captain mention how many millions of people inhabit the area.

One of our stops was to visit the Red Bagoda. It was quite interesting since it was built without any nails and built into the side of a mountain.

We would pass more intricate artwork along the way. We thought this yin and yang was really cool.

We also learned that the Chinese people that are native to their area will wear clothing to represent their culture. Here is a photo below.

After our cruise was finished, we ended in Chongqing. This is one of the largest cities in China housing close to 28 million people. We traveled to Shanghai next to experience futuristic China.

I’m so glad we got to experience Shanghai last. It was as close as we had gotten in the 10 day trip to having westernized culture again. The toilets, the hotel rooms, etc. The one thing that stands out the most about Shanghai was The Bund. It is the “Wall Street of China”. You must see it at night. It is breathtaking at night vs. daytime.

Here are some shots in the daytime.

They even have a Wall Street bull!

These buildings in the background are exhilarating at night.

And here is The Bund at night viewing the Chinese architecture.

And here is a photo of the British side of the Bund. Clearly showing British architecture. They even have a “Big Ben”.

This was where our trip came to an end. We took a flight out of Shanghai and made our long and exhausting trek back home over a long 24 hours. If I have any advice about the trek back home, make sure you have a day or so for recovery. You have to adjust again to that huge time difference. That takes quite a toll on your body. Especially if you’re planning to go back to work.

I hope this post has been informative about what to see and do in China. Or at least provided some helpful travel tips. This was an experience I’ll never forget and I learned so much. It really made me grateful to be an American. I appreciate my freedom to speak my mind, my freedom to utilize the internet without bans, to take deep breaths outside without fear of inhaling pollutants, and to drink fresh water from any tap in my country.

Thank you for reading and please leave any questions you may have the comment box below!

Things To Do If Visiting Cuenca, Ecuador

February 3, 2016

We spent the 2015 holiday season (December 19-January 2) in Cuenca, Ecuador! My fiancé’s mother lives there so we knew exactly what we wanted to experience in the 2 weeks we had available.

So if you plan to visit in the near future, here are some things to consider adding to your list of experiences. I’ll also throw in some helpful tips when traveling the area!

*I apologize for the mixture of photo quality! We had phones and a Nikon DSLR to capture many different moments.

MIRADOR DE TURI

This trek is a lengthy 439 stairs straight up to a beautiful view of the city! It is quite breath taking and you can also roam the peak to check out shops or grab a snack.

Your view overlooks the entire city of Cuenca!

If you live in an area where you are at sea level or close to it, your climbing stamina may be hindered. Be sure to stop and rest. There are plenty of benches along the climb to sit and admire the view.

Biblián

Biblián is a small quaint little country town we passed through on the way to Ingapirca. As we were driving to visit the Inca ruins, we stopped at a beautiful cathedral. You will always find cathedrals like this sitting on mountain peaks. The cathedral itself was built out of stone that came from the mountain it sits on.

The inside of this cathedral was absolutely stunning with an alter made of white marble. And as you can see in the photo above, there are many stairs to climb and remember you are at a high altitude. So climb slowly if you live in an area at (or close to) sea level.

INGAPIRCA

These Inca ruins are located in the Cañar Province, Ecuador. This is about a 1-1.5 hour drive outside the city of Cuenca.

This center area is where the Incas would worship and the small rock walls are where the Cañaris and Incas lived. They had quite the community.

This is a very popular area for wild llamas to gather and graze. We got to see a small herd of llamas, but they would not let us get too close. Unlike a future encounter you’ll see shortly!

PARQUE NACIONAL CAJAS

This excursion to the Cajas National Park was by far the most eventful for me on our Ecuador vacation. This photo was taken at the start of a 4 hour hiking trial, and as you can see, the tundras were beautiful and the view (in every direction) belonged on a postcard.

After about 10 minutes of hiking, we found a side trail to a giant boulder overlooking the tundras and small lake. As we stood admiring this amazing view, Eric suddenly dropped to one knee! And OH MY GOODNESS the thoughts that ran through my mind!!!

Thought #1: ” Oh no, his knee (due to soccer injury) must be bothering him! Dang, how am I going to carry him back uphill?”

Thought #2: “Wait a minute, he’s smiling and not saying anything…”

Thought #3: “Okay, I think I know what is happening!!”

And sure enough, Eric asked me to marry him and I couldn’t say “YES!!!” fast enough.

After hugs, kisses, and lots of excitement he says, “Oh yea, I do have a ring too”. I had completely forgotten a ring goes with this moment. When he pulled out the ring it was absolutely perfect. A beautiful blue sapphire engagement ring. I could not believe it and I thought “He knows me so well!”

So of course as a woman, you have a million questions and luckily I had a 3 hours and 50 minutes to get them all in! Questions like:

“Were you planning this the whole time?”

“How long had you known you wanted to do this?”

“Did you always have the Cajas in mind when you were wanting to ask?”

“How long did you have the ring?”

“How in the world did you keep this a secret?”

“Did you tell anyone you were going to do this?”

…And so on and so forth…

And eventually, we got back to our touristy selves and enjoyed our hike!

It seemed like everything went perfectly the rest of the day!

We had a little visitor grazing in our hiking path. It turned out that he just so happened to like people! Or maybe he liked his photo taken… but he posed for quite some time. Not pictured are his dos amigos peludos marrón (two brown furry friends).

Every now and then you would run into very small flowers. It is a different type of weather and scenery compared to Alabama. It looked very desert like, but the weather was fairly cold and is always unpredictable. If you plan to go hike, definitely go in the morning. By the afternoon, the weather becomes unpredictable. My fiancé hiked the Cajas the previous year and by the afternoon, it began hailing. So definitely be sure to hike with the appropriate gear and snacks.

AMAZON RAINFOREST

Arutam Ecotours is the company we used to take us on an Amazon excursion. We stayed in a hotel in Limón and had a very personal tour of the local town and the rainforest. We hiked trails only locals hike and got to experience so many different things.

The colors of all the different insects within the rainforest are so fascinating. The wildlife from insects to birds are so bright!

Shown below is a hummingbird nest (nido de colibrí). I have never known much about hummingbirds, but Ecuador contains hundreds of different species.

This photo is a really neat shot I took of Eric to show how dense the rainforest actually is. He is snapping a shot of the red walking stick shown 2 photos above.

The ancient petroglyphs were so extraordinary to see! You can easily feel with your finger that these petroglyphs were made with a tool of some type. It was a lot of fun to try and decipher the messages carved into rocks all across Limón. These rocks are not protected from weather and they are not in one central location. We came across them often as we hiked around the area.

The plants within the Amazon have the wildest shapes and colors as you can see below.

And of course, being a dietitian, I had to snap a photo of a wild Latin American pineapple growing in a field!

The last afternoon we had in Limón, we had planned to hike to a sacred waterfall and make sugar cane juice with a local. The hike down the side of the mountain was SO steep! It was a true test of physical fitness. I must say, I am so glad we made the trek. The force of the wind and spray coming from the waterfall was exactly what I needed after the intense hike down.

We made a quick stop by the Zamora River which is one the more dangerous rivers around the Amazon in regards to the strong current. Not so much wildlife here due to the Chinese mining this area for gold. We could spot whirlpools as we watched the water race by us.

Shortly after all of our hiking, we were ready to eat! This was a traditional meal made by the Shuar tribe. They prepared a mixture of chicken, white cabbage, and yucca, wrapped it in leaves that look very similar to banana leaves (but they definitely aren’t), and served it. The flavor from cooking this meal in these particular leaves was so savory! I could not believe they didn’t use any herbs or spices. All the flavor came from the leaves.

Pictured below is the community center where we ate our meal. This is where the tribe will gather for many reasons. One of these reasons may be to have an ayahuasca experience. Ayahuasca is a plant the Shuars (along with many different religions and tribes) believe will bring you closer to the “God of nature” and provide you with a spiritual experience. This psychedelic will usually last about 4-8 hours after ingested.

One of the more exciting parts of our Amazon trip was the tubing down the Indanza River! No worries, I made sure there was nothing that would eat/bite/kill us before jumping in.

So this moment was when things were just fine. However, the water was not quite high enough to keep me from flipping over after going through the rocky area. If you’re looking for a good way to panic your fiancé , send your empty tube down a fast paced river in the Amazon!

Sugar cane juice is quite delicious! But so much work to produce. Here you can see Eric and our guide Xavier pushing this giant log as a local man feeds the crank a sugar cane plant. The green bucket is catching all of the juice excreted.

The sugar cane juice was mixed with a little limón, and voila! We have a delicious beverage!

In the background on the fire, you can see the boiling pot of sugar cane juice. The juice being boiled for a 4 hour period provides you with syrup. Luckily we got a jar to go home with us!

HOLIDAY TRAVEL FESTIVITIES

The International Chorale is a national chorus group that happened to come sing at the Catedral Viejo (old catherdral) for a Christmas concert. Everyone sang Christmas carols (in many languages) by candle light. Such a peaceful evening.

Again, look at that magnificent architecture.

A Christmas parade is held in downtown Cuenca every year and can last all morning through the afternoon.

They decorate their cars with garland, candy, alcohol, and of course a roasted pig! This parade is a symbol for the gift of plenty. The roasted pig is a sign of having plenty of food which Ecuadorians celebrate.

Many cultures around the area are celebrated as they dance in the street wearing their cultural attire, or just simply dressed as angels and shepherds.

New Years is definitely quite the event in Ecuador. It is tradition to purchase an effigy of yourself from local vendors (which are on every sidewalk) and at midnight, set it on fire in the street! This is a symbol for burning away the old you to enter a new year with a new you. It was so much fun to see all of the piles in the road going up in flames!

Below is a photo of Eric’s mother (left), me, and then Eric. You’re supposed to choose an effigy that looks like you… Eric however, just enjoyed scaring us with his super creepy effigy.

This is Eric adding his effigy to the fire.

Once we set our effigies on fire, we went back inside to catch the firework show all across Ecuador. Once the clock struck midnight, the BOOMS and CRACKS from fireworks were coming from every direction. These fireworks went off until 6AM the following morning.

TRANSPORTATION

Transportation is something to consider when visiting Cuenca. If you are in fairly good shape you can walk mostly anywhere. If you do want to have options other than walking, here are some things to keep in mind.

Bus: When taking the bus you MUST have a quarter to ride. The public transportation is cheap and convenient, but you must have change.

Taxi: It is VERY helpful to be able to speak some Spanish when taking a taxi because your driver may know nothing in your native language. You also want to make sure they reset the taxi meter before you start driving. A taxi ride cost wise can be between $1.25-$3.50 depending on how far you go. It was only around $3.50 when we were going to or from the airport. Most rides were $2 or less. Again, you will needs some loose change.

CUENCA (IN THE CITY)

The Architecture is amazing. All of the colors and detail in all of the buildings is breathtaking. This photo below just happens to be a plastic surgery clinic downtown and I thought it was beautiful.

This door is the entrance to the Catedral Nueve (new cathedral). I put the photo of us first so you can judge the size of this door. The colors and detail within these buildings is quite phenomenal.

This door is actually the entrance to these blue domes shown below. The view of the white and blue domes can be seen all over the city. This was a great help when trying to determine exactly where you are while walking downtown.

The Tome Bambo River runs along side of the city. You’ll see locals relaxing under trees nearby or washing some clothing. It is an extremely peaceful spot when trying to move away from the sound of the city’s hustle and bustle.

MERCADO: The mercados are definitely worth stopping and browsing. The mercados that contain all of the fresh fruit, produce, and meat were so interesting to see! Maybe it’s because I am so intrigued by food… But looking around at all of the different types of fruits and vegetables was right up my ally. I can’t believe how many types of foods are out there that we don’t get access to here in the US.

CUISINE

RESTAURANTS: The traditional Ecuadorian meal is quite starchier than I am used to. I will admit I really missed my vegetables. Most of the traditional meals contain a meat, potatoes, rice/beans, and maybe fried plantains.

However, one of my favorite places to eat was Pedir De Boca. If you are visiting Cuenca I highly recommend you stop in for a meal. The cook there is so friendly and makes the most beautiful food.

This soup was actually made my the cook’s mother who is 100 years old! This soup was not on the menu and made for us personally. It was the most amazing avocado soup I have ever had. Presentation is definitely important to this establishment and you see it in every single dish.

I ordered a ham and cheese sandwich (sandwich de jamon y queso). Here is how it came out. Absolutely beautiful and definitely delicious.

SUMMARY

Visiting Ecuador was the trip of a lifetime! I got to experience a whole new culture, become more familiar with a different language, see some of the most beautiful sites in the world, and come home with a fiance.

I hope this post was helpful for you if you plan to be visiting the area in the future. Please feel free to comment or share using the social media icons below!

¡Gracias por leer!

¡Chau!