travel
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Packing for France
This is one of two posts dedicated to what I am packing for France. This post will focus on what I am packing for myself while the next one will be about what I am packing for my 4 boys. Next Monday, I will have a post showing some of the outfits that these following items can create. We will be traveling to France end of May/beginning of June for 2 weeks including our traveling time. We will fly to Barcelona, Spain and travel up north to my friends who live east of Paris with stops on the way to visit other friends. From our past trip in 2013, I…
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Entertainment on a plane
Over the years, I actually I have started to pack less for my children’s entertainment. As they get older they do not use as many things and as I like to pack lightly, I have learned from our experiences. This post is dedicated to plane rides since I usually try to bring less. Food Yes, food is entertainment. It helps pass the time and can pacify children. Baby: My youngest will be 18 months old on our next flight to Europe. Travel times will be around 11 hours but actual plane time will be close to 8 or 9 hours. I will pack the following for the plane: fruit loops…
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Republic of Georgia, part 4, canyon and caves
After returning to Tbilisi for a few days, we traveled to Kutaisi, a city in West Georgia. We used an app called Map.Me to get there. This app was a life saver since it does not use date but the gps on your cell phone. You can use it in any country! Kutaisi is a great home base to visit wonderful monasteries (Gelati and Motsameta), the Bagrati cathedral, Prometheus Cave and Okatse Canyon. Bagrati Cathedral We visited this cathedral a few times since it was a 5 minutes walk from our hotel. It is an 11th century cathedral that is a UNESCO world heritage site. We attended liturgy there on…
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Republic of Georgia trip, our road trips (part 3)
Welcome back to our little series recapping our trip to the Republic of Georgia. Today I will share our 3 day excursion outside of the capital. We were hosted in a little house on someone’s property in the town of Surami. It is about a 3 hour drive from Tbilisi. Our hosts welcomed us with a meal when we arrived and the rest of our meals were prepared in our little kitchen with the food we brought with us. Electricity was turned off a few hours that evening and we did have access to spotty wifi which we only needed for posting pictures on Facebook and Instagram. We spent one…
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Tbilisi, the food, the market (Republic of Georgia part 2)
Welcome part to my series of post about our trip to the Republic of Georgia. Today I will share about the food (I could fly there right now just for some hachipuri or kinkali!) and my visit of the market. Fresh food One thing you will notice when you visit the Republic of Georgia is the fresh food. Meals are most often served with a tomato and cucumber salad, cheese and fresh bread. Ingredients come fresh from the market if possible and our experience at Hotel Gomi and our stays in the country proved that! The food is delicious! The market After our first visit, I knew that I wanted…
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Republic of Georgia family trip (Part 1)
I wanted to dedicate several post to our trip to Georgia last May because if you are like I was a couple years ago, you may not know where Georgia is on the map and may not know there is a country called Georgia. We actually have a number of Georgian friends and had already been introduced to the culture and food. Georgia borders Russia and Azerbaidjan as well as Armenia and Turkey. It is a beautiful country full of history, Orthodox churches and monasteries, and breathtaking scenery. This past trip was our second trip there. We are grateful to have friends there and each time my father in law…
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Find deals on international flights
As I have mentioned before, I grew up in France and have always loved to travel and discover new places. I lived 30 minutes from the Spanish border so that was always an easy destination and we visited Rome once as children. I also lived 2 years in Mexico City when I was a high schooler and have lived in several states in the US. While it is harder on your budget to travel as a family, it is still possible! Here are the steps I follow to find a good deal on airplane flights and have a reasonable budget for the trip. Choose your destination I typically choose a…
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New Orleans: Family fun on a budget
Last fall, our family decided to spend a long weekend in New Orleans. My husband travels there for work a few times a year and raves about the food and the architecture each time he comes back. So we decided to take advantage of a long weekend break in October to visit. We used our Hilton Honors points and treated ourselves to a fancy hotel, the Waldorf Astoria! We took advantage of the one sunny afternoon to enjoy some pool fun. As it turned out, our visit coincided with the beignet festival which made our trip even more fun. The event was free but you had to purchase the different…
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Choosing lodging on a budget
When choosing a destination for your vacation, take into account the length of your stay, the location and your budget! You have several options: Stay with friends Stay in a hotel Renting a house/condo on a site such as vrbo or Airbnb Camp/rv When staying with friends, make sure to bring your hosts a gift and if you have a large family like mine, help out with groceries! Saving money on hotels If you have a credit card associated with a hotel institution like IHG or Hilton Honors, redeem points for free hotel rooms. You may need to change your plans if you realize that your original idea is too…
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Saving money on food while traveling in the US
When we go on vacation to the beach, the grocery store options are limited or not in close proximity. We would rather spend money on a fun excursion than on paying twice the amount on our groceries for the week. Plan Plan most of your meals: what will you eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Which items are pricier and which items do you already have in your pantry http://passionatepennypincher.com/2017/03/free-editable-menu-plan-grocery-list/ Bring Bring your staples and more expensive items from home: I usually do a quick run at Aldi for items I know will be cheaper there and I also buy items so as steaks or what we plan to grill…