90 miles to Cuba

My dad was born and grew up in Cuba. Eventually he made his way to the US as a refugee. I’ve never been able to visit for a lot of reasons. Hopefully someday I will. But for now, the closest I’ve been is The Florida Keys. I got to go to Key West with friends…

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a warm closet welcome to these cuties

Last post, I mentioned I finally decided it was time to buy a new pair of sneakers. To break the seal, I got 3 (with the intention of keeping 1…but you coulda guessed I’d end up keeping 2). I returned the baby blue Air Force 1 Premiums. Honestly, I reallllllly liked them. But they had…

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Welcome to Pa Tong!

This beautiful crescent shaped beach is on the west coast of Phuket. The waters are insanely blue and the nightlife is just plain insane. We stayed at the Le Meridien on the beachfront. The Andaman Sea is sandy and clean. We took lots of tuktuk rides, ate lots of street food and found a pretty…

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Exploring Bangkok

Welcome to Krung Thep Maha Nakhon! (otherwise known as Bangkok) That’s right, Bangkok’s real name is 168 letters long. Technically, it’s less of a name and more of a descriptive phrase that means City of Angels. This wonderfully busy city is and endless mashup of new and old. Perhaps most known for its street life,…

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Just Don’t Do It

My dad and his family fled Cuba in 1961. Their lives were in immediate danger. They escaped to the United States–a feat many Cubans have staked their lives on for decades, past and present. The journey was a dangerous one–full of intrigue that could have ended disastrously. But along the way, people stood up for my family–advocated…

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Shoes Fit for a Trek Across Norway

I’m a big believer in ALWAYS packing in a carryon. Yes, that can be extremely tricky when you’re going somewhere for over a week–but it’s absolutely doable. For my Norwegian adventures, I decided I would bring two pairs of shoes. Both Nikes as you might have guessed–my sweet classic highs and these beauties: The matte…

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Every Town Should Have an Honorary Dog Mayor

A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to visit Happy Acre Farm in Sunol, California. Sunol is a teeny tiny town with a population just under 1,000 people. Back in the early 1980s, Bosco Ramos, a black Labrador and Rottweiler mix, beat out two (human) candidates in the mayoral election. Bosco ended up serving…

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What lengths are you willing to take to save a little travel dough?

If there is one thing I know for a fact about Switzerland, it’s that this country is expensive! In hopes of getting around paying bundles of cash on a hotel room for a night, we booked a hotel for 5 nights in Paris on points, took a budget airline early morning from Paris to Geneva, then…

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checkin’ a few more items off the good ole gotta-do-this-before-I-die list (2018 edition)

It’s that time of year again–when we take stock of big events and personal hurdles. I find it encouraging and exciting to go back through the last 365 days come the first of every January. If you couldn’t already tell, my current pass times of choice are travel, art, music, as well as good food…

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Catching that Parisian Sunrise

My guy is a Points Wizard. He snagged this unbelievable room in Paris for 5 nights for FREE! Scroll down and you’ll find a video inside our room at The Renaissance Paris Arc de Triomphe. The hotel is only a few blocks from the Arc, which you can spot from the balcony along with The…

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