It’s fall in the mountains which means everyone and their mother (literally) want to come up to Asheville and leaf-peek, hike, eat and drink.
And I get it, my home is beautiful– especially when the leaves turn. I often get asked for recommendations on places to hike and things to eat and drink. I love to get outdoors, but admittedly I am a bit of a hermit and I don’t eat out much. But I do have a few favorites! Here goes!
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This picture is unedited! The sky was really that blue!
My birthday this year was a big one. I turned 30. Eeek! I’ve been a little anxious about getting older, but George, my husband, softened the blow with a trip to Seattle. I didn’t know where we were going until a week before the trip, so I didn’t have much time to plan. And that was A-OK. In my everyday life, I plan like a squirrel on steroids, but I don’t like to plan every detail of trips. It takes the adventure out of it. Continue reading
One of the main reasons George and I live in an Airstream is so we can save money to travel. I’ve never been overseas and I wanted desperately to do some international travel before my 30th birthday. After much worrying about the cost, we decided that we could afford it and we booked a trip to Iceland.
Why Iceland? Well, it’s gorgeous! And flights, in comparison to many other countries, are relatively cheap. Iceland has it’s own airlines, Iceland Air and with the help of a connecting flight, we could fly right out of our home airport. The tickets were about $600 per person. That’s only $100 per person less than our flight to California will be this summer! Iceland Air even does this stopover program where you can stop in Iceland for up to a week before heading to another European country. It’s definitely something I’m going to consider if we ever make it to Europe.
Geysir, Iceland
We booked our hotel through Expedia because we stayed in Reykjavik, the capital city, for the entire week and simply commuted to various locations throughout the island. I like to check all the major booking sites using Kayak before I choose one. Our hotel was a budget hotel and we paid for 6 nights at $557.81. Not too shabby. It also helps that we visited in the winter when prices are cheaper. If we really wanted to cut costs, we could have stayed in hostels. We did stop by a few hostels for coffee or maps and were truly impressed with how clean they were! We stopped at this hostel on the way to Geysir and wanted to stay!
Iceland’s magic small horses!
We simply jumped out of the car to see these cute friends. No tour needed!
The one thing I really did cheap out on was a rental car. I found SAD cars online and I should have known it was almost too good to be true. We rented a car from them for about $300. The other rental cars from well-known companies were over $1,000 for the week! The car we rented never broke down, luckily, but to keep it from overheating we had to run the heat on full-blast the entire time. Not fun when you have on four layers of clothes!
Many of the sites we wanted to see in Iceland were accessible by car. By having a car, we were able to go out on our own schedule and we didn’t have to pay for a tour. We drove the Golden Circle by ourselves, visited a glacier and the black sand beaches in Vik— all without a tour guide. That being said, gasoline was very expensive. I knew it was going to be quite a bit, but it cost about $130 to fill up our tank. And we filled it up twice. Ouch!
Vik, Iceland
We did splurge on relaxing in the Blue Lagoon and one tour with Arctic Adventures. There were a lot of awesome tours available– like snowmobiling, cave exploring, a Game of Thrones tour(!) and many, many more. We decided on snorkeling in Silfra. It’s an internationally recognized dive site and you swim between two tectonic plates. It was truly amazing and well-worth the $150 per person price tag. And it truly wasn’t cold. They put you in puffy, down suits and wet suits to keep you warm. Our tour guide was really lovely and and took great care of us.
We snorkeled there!
The water was insanely clear!
The other pricey part about Iceland is the food. Much of the food is imported and every meal we ate at a restaurant cost over $100 for just us two. To save money on food we picked up dinner from the grocery store several times, ate breakfast at our continental hotel breakfast and brought snacks with us in our luggage. We also ate chips (or fries for us Americans!) for dinner one night and ate hot dogs for breakfast one morning when we needed to sleep in! Not the healthiest of meals, but hey, Iceland is famous for hot dogs and we were on vacation. 🙂
Gorgeous and cold!
Prior to our trip, I did buy a few things that I considered travel costs, like a few pairs of long underwear. I bought a cheap pair and a more expensive pair. For snorkeling they recommended a synthetic fiber to wear under the suits, so I bit the bullet and bought some fleece CuddleDuds. They, of course, were more flattering and warmer than the cheapo $10 pair I bought. 90% of the time I wasn’t cold. The only time I did get chilly was when we went out to see a glacier and the Golden Circle. I was slipping and sliding everywhere. I even ended up falling once. Do’h! The one thing I did wish I bought were Crampons. Word to the wise: They are worth it if you decide to visit Iceland during the winter.
Overall it was an amazing/beautiful/unforgettable trip that was well worth the money. I’ve got the bug and I can’t wait to travel more in 2016!
love,
melanie
Life’s been crazy lately. I’ve had too much work to do and not enough time to do it all. That’s why a couple of weeks ago, we took a much needed break to celebrate the birthday of a good friend. We traveled up to the mountains of my home state, stayed in a hundred-year-old cabin and took in all the colors of fall. Continue reading
As someone who is goal-oriented it can be hard to remember that the end goal is not always the goal. As people, our final destinations are the same, but our journeys are different. And the journey is what counts.
Let me know how you’re making it count in the comments.
love,
melanie
A couple of weeks ago, George, two friends and I boarded a plane for Buffalo, NY. About a year ago, a college friend had planned to get married that weekend. Fast forward about 6 months and that friend called off the big wedding and just had a small thing. That’s cool, no hurt feelings, but we had non-refundable plane tickets. Instead of moping about our used vacation days, we decided to make the best of it. And by making the best of it, I mean seeing something slightly more exotic than Buffalo. Toronto and Niagra Falls are nearby, so we hopped in a rental car and went looking for some adventure.
We didn’t really plan on seeing the Niagra Whirlpool, but we saw so many parks and signs for it, that we just pulled over!
We stopped at a park and discovered the 237829371283 stairs it took to get a closer look at the whirlpool. Although my legs were burning on the way back to the top, the view from the bottom was worth it.
After the whirlpool, we decided to mosey on over to the American side of the falls. Most people had told us it was dirty and not worth it, but we figured it wouldn’t hurt to check it out.
The American side of the falls was surprisingly clean and of course, breathtaking. Seeing that much water rush over the side of a cliff is spectacular.
The view from the top of the tower.
After the American Falls, we headed over the border to Toronto. We stayed in Hannah’s loft while we explored the city. She has a great view from her balcony. We ate a lot of food and visited the CN Tower.
Finally, we finished up the trip by visiting the Canadian side of the falls. We went “Behind the Falls”– it’s kind of self explanatory– and we rode on the boat that gets you up close and personal with the falls. We did a lot of touristy stuff on this trip, but we still had so much fun. The people you travel with can really make or break the trip.
Not only are my friends fun, they are also thrifty. Here’s how we saved some dough on this trip.
Thanks for letting me live vicariously through my travel photos. Ha-ha. Have you ever been to Niagra Falls or Toronto? Talk to me in the comments!
love,
melanie
*Affiliate links, but the Airbnb link gets you $31CAD off your next trip!!!
I’ve been under a lot of stress at work, so when I finished up the huge conference I was planning, I threw caution to the wind and decided to go on a little weekend getaway. I’ve been on a spending fast for a while, i.e. I only spend $100 per month on unnecessary stuff. I knew this would totally blow my budget, but I did it anyway. Travel is so important to me, but I also know that if I travel too much, I’ll never save any money. It’s a Catch 22.
We did a lot of things to cut costs for this trip. Charleston is only four hours from our home so we drove there in my fuel-efficient car. I found a budget hotel and used my credit card points to book it. We packed snacks, we participated in free attractions (we found a gorgeous park and visited the beach!), we had a continental breakfast each morning at the hotel and, although we ate at restaurants several times, we also picked up dinner from a local grocery store.
We even took Bambi with us! That was an adventure, but places were much more accommodating than I imagined. And after she got used to the hotel and not barking every time someone shut a door, she calmed down. By the end of the trip, she was a road dog. We even took her on a horse-drawn carriage ride around the city. Ha-ha. I’m sure we looked insane, but I love that little girl.
How huge are these houses?!
Charleston is so pretty and I’m glad we got to share it together as a family. After the trip, I felt much more relaxed and ready to take on the world.
What are your favorite tips for budget travel? I want to hear all about it in the comments!
love,
melanie
Hogwarts! And those clouds! No filter on this one!
So this is the last round of road trip pictures, I promise. I don’t want this to turn into my road trip blog, although it probably could. I want to live in these pictures forever. Anyway, I was most excited for was our trip to Universal Studios. I had been to Universal before, but not since they opened the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
Butterbeer!
I am a huge HP fan. Like so big. I may or may not have pushed some kids out of the way just to get into the park faster. 
The Wizarding World of HP is only part of the park, but really it’s the only part I cared about or took pictures of. The park designers are quite simply amazing and the park looks so similar to the movies. There are a ton of details and if it wasn’t 90 degrees and there weren’t an uncomfortable amount of people there, I’m sure I could have wandered around the World of HP all day.
The ride that is inside Hogwarts was definitely the highlight of the trip. It was a simulated ride, but you get to fly on a broom! Just waiting in line for the ride was pretty stunning. The line takes you through Hogwarts– there were talking pictures, Dumbledore’s office, the Herbology greenhouse and so much more.
The Sorting Hat!
I think I squealed when I saw the sorting hat.
Fawkes!
But alas, I couldn’t stay in HP land forever. George had somehow convinced me to camp out with him at a chopper motorcycle fest. Not really my thing, but hey, he did take me to Harry Potter.
George blowing up the air mattress because he loves me 🙂
And the mountains of North Carolina are super pretty. I almost didn’t mind sleeping outside… almost.
I’m still waiting for my owl to tell me I was accepted at Hogwarts, but I’m happy to be home.
love,
melanie
This road trip was a total blur, but we did have a chance to relax on the beach one day.
Literally, one day. George got so sunburnt that he had to wear my pajama pants! (See above!!!!) To be honest, I got a little burnt too and I never burn!
I still love this handsome dude even if he wears pajamas to dinner in Key West.
George and I flipped over this banana tree. I guess we’ve never seen one in bloom. It looks like something from “Little Shop of Horrors,” no?
The Southernmost house
My pictures don’t do it justice. Next time I’m scheduling more beach time and maybe getting a base tan first!
love,
melanie
When George and I decided to make a stop in Key West, I knew we had to visit the Hemingway house. I’m not the biggest Hemingway fan, but I was an English major and I’m a total cat lady.
6 toes!
Do you know about Hemingway’s cats? Apparently when he was alive he had a whole menagerie of animals. His sons even kept raccoons as pets! But the most famous of his animals are his cats. His cats’ descendants still roam the property today. The cats are said to be lucky because most of them have 6 toes.
I was dying to get one of the cats to sit on my lap and bring me good luck. But like most kitties, they wanted nothing to do with me, the human. The cat pictured above, named Hairy Truman, let us pet him so that quelled my inner cat lady a bit. The 40-or so cats roam the property freely and pretty much have it made.
The architecture of the house is as equally stunning as the cats. I was dying over the tile in the bathroom (pictured above.)
The chair in which Hemingway wrote.
Hemingway’s bed, complete with a cat!
Have you ever visited Hemingway’s Key West house? Did you pet the kitties?! Let me know in the comments!
love,
melanie