Twice Dead at the Sea

Posted by Laura & Claire on Feb 14, 2012 | 8 comments

Laura and Claire have both taken mud baths, floated in the salty water, and dealt with the blazing heat at the Dead Sea… But little did you know…

We didn’t take the journey together.

We went at different times and with different people! Claire went in 2010 with her mom and Laura went in 2011 with a group from college.

We’ve compared our two trips in photos…

Laura and her friend

Funny!

Claire enjoying a refreshing mud bath

Laura enjoying her mud bath

Claire - the only living thing in sight

If you’re headed to the Dead Sea, make sure you follow these rules:

Have you ever been to the Dead Sea?

Out the Window

Posted by Laura & Claire on Feb 2, 2012 | 8 comments

Have you ever taken a moment to look out your window, and really appreciate what you see? Maybe it’s a view of the mountains, the ocean, or possibly something even more pleasant? We’ve encountered some amazing and interesting views from windows, whether it be from right in our own homes or from a hotel in a foreign country.

When we were in Positano, Italy, we had the absolute most beautiful view off our balcony.

In Israel, Claire had a great view of a mosque and the beautiful ocean!

In Greece, Laura had a stunning view over the city at nighttime, with a view of mountains in the distance.

Laura also had a great view from her room in Switzerland…

The plane always offers great views, too.

But what about straight out our windows at home???

Well, Claire has a great view from her dorm room of Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, TN.

If you think you’ve seen it all now…. Think again….

Laura has the best view of all…

Elephants in her backyard!

A circus train was unloading elephants in her backyard of her apartment in Nashville last week. Does it get much cooler than that?

Tell us about the view out your window!

Traveling as a Vegetarian

Posted by Laura on Jan 10, 2012 | 4 comments

If you know me at all then you probably know that I (Laura) have been a vegetarian my whole life. People always ask me if I have a hard time finding things to eat while traveling. While I once had to live off of corn tortillas and refried beans for a week in Guatemala, I would have to say that for the most part traveling as a vegetarian is pretty easy.

Buildings of London

Posted by Claire on Dec 22, 2011 | 6 comments

One thing I really just love about the places I visit are the buildings. I know that’s so lame but they just fascinate me… Plus I’m pretty much obsessed with taking pictures of them. I love how different buildings have a different architectural style, were built in different times, and have their own little uniqueness.

What really intrigued me about my trip to London, of course, was the buildings! So I’ve put together a little snippet of buildings and things…

The tops of many of the buildings like this one had so many intricate parts… I just love it.

Of course with it being Christmas time, the buildings were even more beautiful at night!

Moonlight on the London Tower… ahhhh.

Felt like I was in a medieval town. Such pretty architecture.

Felt like I was back in time visiting a castle… I’m so glad they kept and restored the Tower of London.

London Bridge.

One of my favorite buildings. So unique.

Even their court buildings are beautiful!

Of course Big Ben is a favorite.

Westminster Abbey. Amazing architecture and style.

The fence at Buckingham Palace. So beautiful…

Where in the world are your favorite buildings?

Xtreme Travel Sports

Posted by Laura & Claire on Nov 8, 2011 | 4 comments

Whenever we go on a trip, we try to take part in some sort of activity or sport that we normally wouldn’t back at home. Here a few we have tried out:

Surfing

In Australia we took surfing lessons at Point Leo, Victoria. It was so much fun and we caught quite a few good waves… Check out some photos:

Do you like our cute wetsuits?

There we are on the right learning some surf moves with our “beginner” group before heading out.

That’s Laura in the middle catching a huge wave. The sharks can’t catch us!

Here we are after becoming pros out there in those 40 foot waves. Notice our hat heads from our helmets.

Next time we plan on hanging ten ;)

Paddleboarding

In Tybee Island, Georgia we rented some awesome paddle boards. If you don’t know what a paddle board is, it looks like a surf board, except bigger and you usually don’t have to catch a wave to stand up. You stand and paddle! Check out our experience:

Here we are ready to go paddle boardin’… “Watch out, Ocean!”

Defying the seas. (Okay, it’s a lot harder than it looks)

After a few struggles and falls, we got back up again..

Paddlin’ away to the Pacific.

Kayaking

Yep, we went kayaking on Tybee Island, too!

This was a lot of fun!

This is our whole kayaking group.

See those green marshes in the background? Yeah… we kayaked through that ;)

Mopeds

Another time we went to Tybee Island we rented these awesome mopeds. It’s so fun to ride these around a little beach town/island like Tybee.

Pedal Boating

In Positano, Italy (favorite place we’ve ever visited, by the way), we rented a pedal boat! It was so fun to just pedal out to wherever we wanted, for example, this cave/cliff thing…

We thought about going into the cave but decided not to take any risks. Probably a smart choice.

Taking a break from pedaling to relax on our little boat in beautiful Italy.

Horseback Riding

In Australia we took a bush/beach horseback ride. Although our horses were very stubborn, it was one of the most amazing things we did in Australia! Here are some of our photos…

Along the gorgeous beach… we were slacking behind the rest of the group, as you can tell. Also we were the only ones on the beach… it was like our own beautiful private beach!

Through the bush. Check out that stunning view! No civilization in sight.

We had so much fun. A spectacular experience.

Some other Xtreme travel sports we enjoy…

Snorkeling, snow skiing, water skiing, wake boarding, fishing, boating, boogie boarding, hiking…

Some of our Facebook fans told us which Xtreme sports they enjoy…

Adam from Travels of Adam went skydiving over the Great Barrier Reef in Australia!

Leonnie also went skydiving in Darwin, Australia!

Shirlene from Idelish went ice climbing on a glacier in Alaska!

What Xtreme sports do you take part in while traveling?!

The Best Meal in Nashville!

Posted by Laura on Sep 24, 2011 | 0 comments

Last night I (Laura) went out to dinner with some friends at Bella Napoli in Edgehill Village, right near music row. It is a traditional Italian restaurant and the chef, Paolo, is from Naples, Italy. They use a brick oven straight from Italy to make the most authentic pizzas. I ate pizza every day for a straight week when I was in Italy with Claire and I can honestly say that the pizza I had at Bella Napoli tonight was just as incredible! We sat outside under strings of lights and listened to a band play. I got the Margarita Pizza and I cannot wait to go back and try some other items from the menu! Also, the ingredients are fresh and healthy…read about them here…Nashville Pizzeria | Bella Napoli

After dinner we went to  Jeni’s Ice Cream in east Nashville. They “build every recipe from the ground up with luscious, Snowville milk and cream from cows that eat grass.” They have the most interesting flavors like “goat cheese with red cherries,” “parmesan and zucchini bread,” and “wild berry lavender.” I went with “salted caramel,” “dark chocolate,” and  ”brown butter almond brittle” (three scoops for five dollars). It was literally the best ice cream that I have ever tasted…AND I just found out from the website that they will deliver to your home! Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams