Play That Tape Back

Despite cancelling/revising all of our December travel plans (thanks, Omicron!), we still managed to leave a pretty incredible end of the year behind us.  Since there's no telling yet what 2022 is going to look like, and seeing as I'm presently planted on our couch in the thick of another Netherlands lockdown, I'm more than happy to take a few minutes to press rewind and trek down our Fall/Winter memory lane.

Let's hit it!

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October: Kraków, Poland

For the past few years, Jack has spent about 2-3 weeks each fall in Kraków for work and come to develop something of a love affair with the city. Seeing how much he loves the place, and that I'd still never been, it was obvious Kraków would earn a spot on our must-visit list. 

We finally found our way over in October and I'm happy to report that it did not disappoint. In fact, I think this goes down as one of my favorite trips we've taken together! I too became enamored with Kraków and it's unbeatable prices, tasty food (pierogies! duck! cherry wine!) and scenic city center.  Plus, we got to hang for a night with his coworker Michal, who took us out on the town and showed us a true local experience, Polish shot bars and all.  I'm happy that Jack likely will continue his annual visits to Kraków upon our return to the US, since I'm already planning on crashing the next one. 

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October: Barcelona, Spain

Warm sunny temperatures?  A scenic beach?  Stunning architecture?  Winding cobblestone streets?  Ridiculously delicious paella?  Fantastic tasting menus?  Yup, Barcelona has it all.

I came down with an absolutely killer cold part way through this trip, which thankfully was not covid but definitely was enough to mess with our itinerary.  While we weren't able to squeeze in everything I'd hoped, what I did see made this city one I'd love to come back to (aka: continue eating my way through).

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November: Milan + Lake Como, Italy

Visitors!!  We're so grateful Jack's family was able to join us for a long weekend in Italy.  We spent a night just the two of us in Milan and then met them at the incomparable Lake Como.  While known for being especially beautiful in the summer, I was blown away by the rich fall colors.  There's several cities you can choose as your home base in the Lake Como region, but we stayed at a sprawling villa-esque Airbnb in Cernobbio and enjoyed ferry day trips to explore both Bellagio and Como.  Jury's still out if our villa was haunted, but that's a story for another time...

Thank you again Toscano fam for such a wonderful visit!

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November: Tenerife, Canary Islands

We doubled our socialization by 200% in November as we celebrated Jack's big 3-0 on another joint trip, this time with our friend from college, Chris, and his girlfriend, Maddie. Chris and Maddie live nearby in Bristol, UK, but due to travel restrictions we hadn't yet seen them since moving to Europe.  Since they are avid scuba divers, they were more than happy to propose a visit to the tropical Canary Islands over the Thanksgiving holiday.  Despite experiencing some very uncharacteristic rain, we reveled in the 80 degree temperatures and the break from Amsterdam's gloomy November skies.  Although Jack's first venture into ocean snorkeling highlighted a "growth edge" for him, which his competitive nature enjoyed about as much as you'd expect, our Michelin-starred Thanksgiving dinner helped ease the pain.

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December: Brussels, Belgium + Aachen, Germany

Flexibility was the name of the game this December.  I'd been so looking forward to our planned trip to Strasbourg/Alsace for my birthday and our NYE weekend in Paris and Reims.  I mean, being in Champagne for New Years Eve, of all days?  Iconic, right?  

Sadly, those trips both got the axe since as of December 15th, France no longer recognized Jack's J&J vaccine as sufficient for entry into any restaurants/museums/indoor sites.  Since we weren't yet eligible for the booster in Netherlands (they rolled it out by age and were still in the 45+ group at the time our trips were booked) and since the alternate option of testing for access every 24 hours seemed a bit risky, seeing as we'd be stuck in France for an extra 10+ days if Jack was to test positive, we decided to play it safe and cancel.  

I still had my heart set on seeing at least one European Christmas market before our rotation ends, so we quickly pivoted and booked a train trip and quick 2 night stay in Brussels + Aachen instead.  Since being stuck in Amsterdam in a total lockdown was not exactly what I'd envisioned to kick off year 29, I'm so glad we were able to salvage my birthday and see two new cities in the process.  We came home with suitcases stuffed with hand blown glass ornaments, Christmas market mugs and of course plenty of German printen, a traditional Aachen treat best described as "pretzel gingerbread."

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December: Amsterdam Staycations & Reservations at Chez Toscano

I'd also be remiss to not spotlight Amsterdam a bit!  Our travels often take center stage in these posts, but we also made some great memories this holiday season in our one-and-only.  Prior to the December 15th lockdown, we snuck in an especially great canal belt staycation at our favorite hotel, which is where we also celebrated our fifth (!!!) anniversary in October. 

As for the holidays themselves:  After what I feel was an appropriate period of mourning the cancellation of all my hand-picked French dining reservations, we bucked up, put on our chef hats, and decided to cook our own holiday meals.  It felt like such a flashback to our early quarantine days a la March 2020, when I really stepped up my cooking game.  With all our travel this year and how busy we've been with work, making anything elaborate in the kitchen had definitely gotten put on the backburner these past few months.  It honestly was really nice to pick out some recipes and enjoy some quiet time at home before heading into the New Year.  

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BE HERE NOW

Annnnnnd that takes us up to January!  Although there's obviously a lot of uncertainty around what travel may look like these next few weeks, we've optimistically pressed onward with booking our next trip for early February, as soon as Jack's busy season wraps up.  For now, while this month may not be the most exciting season of our rotation (I'm voluntarily taking a data analysis course, for pete's sake!), we're keeping our spirits high.  Having both FINALLY gotten our booster shots this morning and seeing our updated EU Green Passes sitting in our QR apps, I'm feeling a renewed sense of hopefulness about the remainder of our time here.

Ready for ya, 2022 -- whatever you may hold.  Hopefully, that includes all of the planes, trains and visitors. 

xo,
- Lou

PS: Remember when I thought I'd do a huge recap of each of our destinations, complete with restaurant recommendations and travel tips?  LOL!  While I've definitely been slacking on the blog front, I genuinely LOVE to talk about our experiences and have beyond-detailed spreadsheet itineraries of each of the trips we took.  If you're traveling to any of the places we've been or contemplating a visit, don't hesitate to reach out as I'm dying to give you the lowdown.