Never Travel Without My Butler

May 12, 2019October 27, 2019

Three Perfect Days in Hanoi, Vietnam

Vietnam has been on the top of our travel list due to my obsessions with Pho and boy did the food in Vietnam live up to my expectations!

When $500 round trip tickets from Newark to Hong Kong with United popped up on our twitter feed, we immediately booked our tickets.

Our first stop was in Hong Kong to visit my best friends and their adorable baby Olivia. Since this wasn’t our first time in Hong Kong, we just hung out with our friends and ate a lot of amazing food. If the first sentence of this post didn’t give it away a lot of this is going to be about food. Read our where to eat in Hong Kong page for more restaurant recommendations.

We flew VietJetAir from Hong Kong to Hanoi, some other budget airlines that fly to Hanoi are Jetstar, AirAsia but after all the flight issues lately better to fly with a reputable airline.

Before you go to Vietnam, make sure you get an e-visa here. Make sure you use this link because there are other links that come up with the Google search that are not legit, for example the link my dad used. It only took Ross and 15 minutes to get through security and pick up our bags, while it took my parents 1 hour and 20 minutes due to this slight oversight.

My good friend Phat gave us a ton restaurant recommendations and you can find our review on the food we ate on our What to Eat in Hanoi page and What to Eat in Hoi An page. Spoiler alert: everything was AMAZING, thanks Phat!!

Day ONE.

Our first pho stop turned out to be the best pho we have ever had in our entire lives, the place was called Pho Ga Truyen Bat Dan. The line was pretty long but Phat had warned us that it’s so good that lines would be long. The line went by fast because the restaurant was just churning phos out. We were very glad that we stayed in line because it was the best pho we have ever had!

We stayed at the L’opera MGallery by Soffitel hotels which was an incredible location and connected to the historic Soffitel hotel.

Day TWO.

Our journey to Halong Bay was a bit turbulent because we hadn’t booked the tour until 7 pm the night before. I had contacted a company called IndoChina Junk before we left but there were so many different companies we thought we could get a better understanding of the tour once we landed. Unbeknownst to us, the only full day we had to do the tour was also Vietnam’s Independence Day so 99% of tours were booked!

My dad tried to book two different tours with a Chinese company, Ross tried to book tours through IndoChina Junk and I finally found one on Viator for $55/person but was very skeptical until the driver came to pick us up the next day at 9:10 AM (when they said they were coming between 7:45 AM and 8:15 AM, I was freaking out the whole time).

Side note: If you’ve never used Viator to book tours, they are a great cost efficient option for booking tours. Viator is owned by Tripadvisors and we haven’t had any issues with the tours we’ve booked through the website so far.

The drive to Halong Bay takes about 3 hours and it was pouring rain the entire time, we were so excited about making it onto a tour that it didn’t even occur to us that we might not be able to make it on the cruise due to the weather.

According to legend, the bay was formed when the gods sent down dragons to protect the Vietnamese from invaders. These dragons dropped jewels from their mouths into the bay, creating the islands and a sort of barrier against invading ships. Instead of returning to the heavens, the dragons plunged into the bay and remained resting in its waters. In fact, Halong Bay means “where the dragon descends into the sea.”

Once we arrive to the dock, our tour guide tell us that the government has shut down the ticket sales to all the cruises due to the weather but they hope that the government will lift the ban soon… Usually during these travel hardships I would be freaking out but I think I used up all my freaking out cells praying that the tour would pick us up that morning I thought, as long as we get a good photo of the bay the drive will be worth it.

About 45 minutes of standing in the rain, smelling the sewage, and fighting the local folks for a spot under the building awnings the government lifted the ban and we were on our way to our cruise boat!

First on our itinerary was a mediocre lunch which consisted of cucumber salad (which we were scared to eat), grilled shrimp, friend spring rolls, sautéed cabbage, a fish and a stir-fried chicken dish. Drinks were not included in the tour price.

The bay was beautiful but so many cruise boats were also on the bay it was hard to enjoy the serenity, maybe there are different tours that take a different route?

Our second stop was either a bamboo boat ride or kayaking, we opted for the bamboo boat so we could all be together. We enjoyed the bamboo boat ride immensely being closer to the water and able to see the beauty of the bay up closer.

The third stop was the biggest caves on Bon Hon island. Our guide pointed out special formations on the cave walls such as Santa Clause, a man peeing, and a nipple. The cave was also very packed but I guess this is what happens when traveling to a tourist spot on a national holiday.

Overall our voyage to Halong Bay was decent, the formations were beautiful but we would recommend you guys to look for either a more private tour or a tour to Cat Ba island. I wouldn’t pay more than $55/person to do the tour, the prices range from $35-$200 with the same views.

When we returned to Hanoi we took a cab to Cha Ca Phan to try Cha Ca. The cab we took charged us $12 when it only cost $5 to go the same distance!

*PROtip: look for the green taxis for lower rates

And if you try Cha Ca but are still craving it when you get back, here’s a recipe on it!

Day THREE:

With only a half day before we had to head to the airport for Hoi An, we ate pho for breakfast then stopped by the following museums:

1. Vietnam National Museum of History

(Photo reference: Eviva tour)

A bunch of artifacts, not worth spending too much time but the ticket came with the revolution museum.

2. Vietnam Revolution Museum

(Photo reference: Wikipedia)

Lots of photos and interesting information about the history of Vietnam from the French Revolution through the Vietnam war to today.

3. Hua Lo Prison also known as “Hanoi Hilton”

Largest most secure prison in IndoChina where revolutionaries during the French Revolution and US Air Force prisoners of war were kept during the Vietnam war. Many high ranking persons in the later ruling Communist parties were tortured in the Prison and many photos of the US POW having a grand old time in the prison.

The architecture in Hanoi had clear French influence with great road infrastructure with embassies littered throughout the city. We learned that all the yellow buildings are government buildings and even though Vietnam is still a Communist country, it didn’t feel to be less developed than the other bordering South East Asian countries.

What kind of trip is complete without a famous Instagram spot, I had actually forgotten about this but my dad reminded me of the train street. Luckily the train had just passed by so we had 20 minutes for a full photo session. #everythingwedowedoforthegram

Hanoi has a population of 9 million people but can you guess how many scooters there are? ….. 6 million! And none of them follow the traffic laws!

If you find yourself in Hanoi, make sure to be prepared to fight for your life to cross the road. It was quite a stressful experience but we made it out without a scratch, our advice to you is to put your hand out when you’re crossed the street or just close your eyes and pray!

Our next stop in Vietnam is Hoi An, continue reading on our Three perfect days in Hoi An post.

If you have more time, you can also visit the Sapa rice fields. The photos looked beautiful but we didn’t have enough time, maybe next time!

(Photo reference: Chapter Travel)

XOXO,

Nina & Ross

November 21, 2018January 17, 2019

Cape Town, South Africa – The Perfect 4 Day Itinerary

South Africa has always been on our bucket list so as soon as we saw a flight deal for $700 round trip on Virgin Atlantic, we booked it immediately! Cape Town completely exceeded our expectations and is now our favorite place that we’ve traveled to.

Before we get started on the itinerary, here’s a *PRO TIP: South Africa use different outlets that are not a part of international converters- we bought ours on amazon.

Day ONE.

We started our trip in the city of Cape Town. we stayed at PepperClub Hotel & Spa for the first two nights. The rooms were large, breakfast was great and location was superb! We were exhausted after our 23+ hour journey so we took a little nap then started the day!

Our first stop was brunch at Lola’s Cafe where we had an egg croissant on Long Street which contains lots of bars and two streets up was Bree Street where there are cuter cafes, restaurants and shops but a lot of them were closed because it was Sunday.

Ross was already wearing his safari hat, nonstop.

For dinner we went to check out the V&A waterfront but we found the area to be very touristy and we were very glad we didn’t stay there.

For more food recommendations visit our what to eat in Cape Town page.

Day TWO.

We woke up around 6 AM to get the day started. (Also because we were super jetlagged) After breakfast at the hotel, we headed out to conquer Table Mountain. The lift area was only about a 10-15 minute drive from our hotel, we parked at the lift area and walked around 20 minutes to the start of the hike. The hike took about 2 and a half hours, make sure to bring plenty of water! The only thing keeping me going were these cute motivational quotes someone had written onto the rocks! (You got this! etc.)

The views along the entire hike and once we reached the top were incredible, because as Miley Cyrus puts it: it’s about the climb.

After grabbing some celebratory beers, we took the cable car down (with a great view of Lion’s Head) and headed to lunch.

We also wanted to hike up Lion’s Head for Wally’s Cave but unfortunately that trail was closed due to a recent death. Life is more important than doing it for the gram!!

We drove down to Houts Bay in search of fish and chips from Snoekies but we weren’t in the mood for fried fish and chips after our glorious hike. We did drive by a restaurant with Africa’s Favorite . com written across the facade, which we thought was hilarious!

We ended up at Camps Bay, Ross found a great hidden gem called Cod Father. The menu is freshly caught seafood and a conveyer belt sushi.

The drive down from Camps Bay to Hout Bay was gorgeous, we wanted to keep going to Chapman’s Peak Drive but saw there was a toll and we were planning on going down to Cape of Good Hope the next day so we headed back to town.

*PRO TIP: We found out the next day that if you just want to go to Chapman’s Peak and not go all the way through you don’t have to pay the toll

Before heading back to our hotel, we stopped by the Ellerman House for some drinks and because we love all Relaix & Chateau hotels.

For dinner we had Mama Africa with awesome live music but the food was ok.

Day THREE.

We started our day at the amazing buffet breakfast from PepperClub then stopped by Bo-Kaap (which was walking distance from our hotel).

Onwards to Cape of Good Hope!

The toll for Chapman’s Peak is only $3.26 and so worth it!

We took the scenic route through Noordhoek which has lots of horse farms and you can do a beach horse ride with a company called Dirty Boots.

Before getting to the entrance, we stopped by an Ostrich farm that had baboons across the road!

The entrance fee to Cape of Good Hope is pretty expensive, instead of charging by car the fee is $21/adult and $10.53/child. There was also quite a long line to enter so try to go earlier in the day.

Once we were in the park, we stopped by the information center were there were pamphlets on many hikes you can do. We wanted to do the Cape of Good Hope Scenic Walk but our legs were still too sore from Table Mountain. We did climb up to the highest point at the Cape of Good Hope start of the walk and saw orcas in the water!

We drove over to the lighthouse but didn’t go up because we were hungry for lunch!

After we left Cape of Good Hope, we drove to Simon’s Town and ate at Lighthouse cafe. It was sooo delicious and cute inside!

Time to find the penguins! We ended up turning into the first penguin sign we saw which led us to the Institute for Maritime Technology where we saw about 40-50 penguins and it was free! Unless you are SUPER into penguins, that was good enough for us. For penguin lovers, you can drive a bit further to Boulder Beach where the entrance fee is $2.50/per person.

Before heading to our new hotel, I wanted to go to one last stop: St James Beach. We ended up parking the car but it was really windy and there was a ton of traffic so we decided to skip it, here’s a photo of what could have been.

I’m glad we didn’t spend too much time there because our next hotel was AMAZING! We stayed at the Cellars-Hohenort, another Relaix & Chateau hotel. The hotel sits on 4 hectares of absolutely stunning gardens. We wanted to go to the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden but we were already staying on such beautiful gardens we decided to explore our 4 hectares.

We had dinner on the property because the Cellars-Hohenort was a bit more remote than the last hotel and there were two amazing restaurants on the property. The Conservatory and The Greenhouse, more details on our where to eat page.

Day FOUR.

Breakfast at the Cellars-Hohenort was also incredible, there was a mini bloody mary bar- so cute!

After breakfast, we set off to explore the Cape Winelands! Check out our weekend in Cape Winelands post to continue reading.

Overall, we absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVED Cape Town.

What are your favorite things to do in Cape Town? We would love to hear your feedback!

XOXO,

Nina & Ross

October 27, 2017January 24, 2019

Honeymoon in Mykonos Greece, Part Two

After an amazing 4 days in Santorini, we flew to Mykonos on Aegean. During the summer you can take a ferry between the islands but since we went a bit off season we had to fly.

Day ONE.

We stayed at Bill & Coo with the most amazing staff because it was the last weekend of the season. We even got a beautiful blanket for being the last guests of the season!

Here we rented a small Fiat 500 from a local rental company through our hotel. Mykonos is a larger island than Santorini so we were happy we rented a car but the roads were very narrow similar to Santorini. Our hotel was not in town, it was about a 5-10 minute walk but you can read more in our Where to Stay in Mykonos post.

We loved walking through the old town of Mykonos, we got lunch in the old port area. This is where the ferries come in during the summer.

Lots of different options by the water and we ended up going to Kazarma because it had the most people but the food was just OK. Check out our Where to Eat in Mykonos post.

We explored the windmills and walked to the top of the town for more windmills.

Day TWO.

We rented a car just for the day and drove around the island, we stopped by Cavo Paradiso.

The weekend before was the last party and the evidence was everywhere!

A must visit when in Mykonos is this tiny tiki hut called Kikis, the food and atmosphere is absolutely amazing! We went with a couple that we had met on the Santorini Yacht Sailing tour.

We drove around to different beaches and Ross even went for a swim! I was too cold!

Day THREE.

On our last day, which was also Bill & Coo’s last day of the season the hotel staff kept on bringing more and more food out. I definitely wasn’t complaining!!

After the amazing breakfast, we walked around the old town. We loved all the white washed walls and doors in different shades of blue.

We even ran into a local celebrity! Petros the Pelican!

Our stay in Mykonos was amazing, we cannot wait to return to check out some other islands.

Some of the islands that are on our list are:

Milos
Crete

Let us know about your experiences in Greece!

Xoxo,

Nina & Ross

October 25, 2017January 17, 2019

Honeymoon in Santorini Greece, Part One

After celebrating our wedding, Ross and I took off from Nantucket to Santorini. From our favorite island to another amazing island, we were on cloud nine.

Day ONE.

Once we arrived from Santorini airport we rented a car from a local company called Motor Inn. Luckily Ross knows how to drive manual so we are able to rent cars wherever we go. We rented a little smart car because we read the roads were narrow and we were inspired by Just Married with Ashton Kutcher and Brittany Murphy.

This trip is also where @nevertravelwithoutmybutler started because Butler is Ross’ last name and he’s such a great butler!

Since it was our honeymoon, we decided to splurge and stay at Andronis Luxury Suite in a gorgeous suite with a private Jacuzzi. How amazing is this view?

For other hotel options check out our Where to Stay in Santorini page.

After checking into our amazing hotel, obviously we relaxed for a bit on our private terrace with fresh fruit and free booze! Usually I’m a travel bully and I try to pack as much in our itinerary as possible but since it was our honeymoon and we were exhausted (with happiness) from our wedding we just relaxed!

Ross was in HEAVEN, this was his type of vacation!

After what I thought was enough relaxing, we sought out the famous Santorini sunset and dinner because I get hangry! Even though we went during “off season” there were still lots of tourists in the Oia area.

In Santorini there are two main cities that you can stay in: Oia and Fira. We decided to stay in Oia because the area is a bit more “luxury but more touristy.” Both towns were very cute and in our opinion both a bit touristy. We stumbled upon a really cute bookstore called Atlantis Books then went to dinner at Lotza.

Day TWO.

Every morning we got to select unlimited options from an extensive menu of amazing greek breakfast items such as greek yogurt, fresh fruits, pastries, and egg dishes. Our favorite dish was Kagiana. (Side note, we tried this recipe after we came back with fresh oregano that we bought from Greece and it was AMAZING!)

We ate amazing food in Santorini, some of our favorites were the greek salads! The tomatoes were so fresh and the oregano! To die for!! Check out our what to eat in Santorini post for more food information.

The weather in Santorini changed drastically between daytime and nightime. During the day the weather was sweltering hot (89 degrees) and at night there was a cool breeze (50 degrees).

We tried so many times to do a jumping photo but this is as close as we got to a good shot, you can see the frustration in our faces! Ha!

After hanging out by our private pool we drove to Domaine Sigalas Vineyard for some wine tasting. We had the most amazing tomato salad called Ntakos with the most amazing cheese which we found out later the recipe just calls for local cheese.

After tasting some delicious wines, it opened up our appetite for dinner! Who are we kidding, anything will open my appetite!

We decided to check out the the Ammoudi Bay area to do some research on sailing tours and fresh seafood! We ended up eating at Sunset Ammoudi because of all the celebrities that ate there but we weren’t impressed with the food. We heard good things about Ammoudi Fish Tavern but we didn’t have time to go back down to Ammoudi to try it. The views from the water were gorgeous though!

Day THREE.

We woke up to another amazing breakfast and relaxation session in the jacuzzi. We could really get used to this life!

Today we decided to check out Fira, we heard that the hike from Oia to Fira was amazing but since we didn’t have that much time we just drove there. Fira was cute, we got the best gyros from Lucky’s Souvelaki!

We finally saw a good sunset when we were wine tasting at Santos.

Day FOUR.

For our last day in Santorini we booked the Santorini Yacht Club morning tour. I bet the sunset ones are beautiful but since we were 1 for 3 on the gorgeous sunsets and the weather gets a lot cooler in the afternoons we decided to get a little tan and do the morning tour.

The yacht company comes to pick you up from your hotel and we did the semi-private tour for 140 euros per person.

The cruise consisted of three stops: volcanic red beach, white beach, and volcano hot springs. We didn’t get to stop at the beaches, you just see them from a distance.

*PRO TIP: do not wear a white bathing suit if you want to swim in the volcano hot springs because the minerals will stain your suit!

The excursion also came with delicious greek food and the scraps were dropped into the water, I almost died taking this photo because all the birds were flying around and I’m glad I didn’t fall into the water because the photo was not as epic as it looked in real life…

After the sailing, we spent our last hours wandering the small streets of Oia.

Reluctant to say goodbye to Santorini but excited to head to the next stop on our honeymoon: Mykonos. See our Honeymoon in Mykonos Greece, Part Two to keep reading.

Some of the islands that are on our list are:

Milos
Crete
Corfu
Paros
Patmos
Rhodes

Did you know there are 6,000 greek islands but only 227 are inhabited?

Let us know about your experiences in Greece!

Xoxo,

Nina & Ross

August 27, 2016February 8, 2019

Melbourne, Australia – The Perfect Three Days with Road Trip to Twelve Apostles

Exploring the land down under has always been at the top of our bucket list. I personally just love the Australian accent, Nicole Kidman in Australia am I right?

After finding a flight deal with United for $570 roundtrip from TheFlightDeal.com we booked it immediately!! That’s the trick to getting these amazing fares, buying the tickets as soon as you see a flight deal.

The flight had a one night layover at LAX so we saw some of our LA friends for brunch and a little walk on the beach, LA life seems so nice… one day…

Love how Ross and I are the only ones in our bathing suits, we’re like such New Yorkers. Sun? Clothes Off!

In LA we stayed at the Ace Hotel Downtown, the hotel itself was very nice and the rooftop was jamming but the area still needs some time to develop.

When we booked the flights, all of our friends asked us how long the flight was. The flight from NYC to LA is 6 hours and LA to Melbourne is 16 hours! Honestly Ross and I don’t mind long flights. You watch movies, the flight attendants bring you food, you sleep then wake up and do it all over again. It’s amazing!

Day ONE.

We arrived in Melbourne around 7 AM and had to drive off site to Fox Rent-A-Car, this was a huge mistake. Even though the company was very nice and the car was cheap and cheerful, we have not booked another “off site” car since then.

Our first stop was breakfast then checking out the graffiti at Hosier Lane.

Lucky Becky…

After walking through the graffiti, we walked around downtown Melbourne.

After relaxing by the Yarra River, we hopping into the car to drive down to Phillip Island to see the penguins!

The drive from Melbourne to Phillip Island takes approximately 2 hours, people warned about seeing kangaroos on the side of the highway but we didn’t see any. In fact, we didn’t see any kangaroos the entire time we were in Australia!

Can you tell we were excited to try out our gopro selfie stick? And by we I mean me?

*PROTIP: Get to Phillip Island before 8 AM to save on parking. Parking between 8 AM to 8 PM is $3.40 AU/hour

Penguins arrive at sunset every evening but the actual time varies with the seasons and it is recommended to get tickets before hand or you will have to stand in a long line.

Here’s us standing in line but we were so excited to see the cute little penguins!

Other things you can do in Phillip Island are:

Koala reserve
Nobbies Centre

Day TWO.

Driving out to The Twelve Apostles was the most memorable activity we did in Melbourne. We set out early to do the entire drive in one day. The journey takes approximately 5 hours on the way there and on the way back there is a inland shortcut that reduces the trip to about 3 hours.

The views were incredible the whole drive to the twelve apostles, it was hard not to get out of the car every 10 minutes to take photos!

Once you reach the twelve apostles, you can walk down to the beach to get a different perspective of the formations. Not sure what I saw in the water…

Or you can walk across a bridge to get an above ground view of the Twelve Apostles.

Interesting fact, the twelve apostles only has eight left- the ninth one dramatically collapsed in July 2005 due to erosion.

*PROTIP: If you do the drive in the winter, bring lots of warm clothes because the weather can be windy.

If you have extra time along the drive, you can check out the Ironbark Basin Walk.

(Image Source: AdventureMe)

This is us trying to set up our gopro- we have about a million photos like this. Who can relate?

Day THREE.

Hiking Fly Treetop was on my list to check out in Melbourne but it costs $25/person to hike. After doing more research it looked a bit too touristy for nature so we decided to do the 1000 steps walk in Yarra Valley.

Me during the whole hike:

Some other popular hikes in Melbourne are:

Point Nepean Walk in Mornington Peninsula

(Image source: AdventureMe)
Bushrangers Bay Walking Trail

(Image source: AdventureMe)

To read more, check out the best walks near Melbourne page.

After the strenuous 1000 steps we had a relaxing visit to Peninsula Hot Springs. At the natural hot springs you can experience 30 different bathing spas from cold plunge pools to cave pools.

The next stop on our trip was Port Douglas to snorkel in the Great Barrier Reef, to learn more about our snorkel trip check out our Snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef post.

Need more Nina & Ross in Australia? Check out our Australia video!

XOXO,

Nina & Ross

April 9, 2020April 9, 2020

Perfect Weekend Itinerary in Nashville

Before the world had to stay at home, the last trip we went on was with our best friends heading to the Honky Tonk capitol of Tennessee. We were excited to get our eat on and our dance on! Luckily we did both and now we can tell you where all the best food, bars, and instagram spots are. (when we’re allowed to travel again)

We stayed at an airbnb with our best friends Alisha & Salman in 12 South nearby the I believe in Nashville mural and five daughters bakery. We really liked how Nashville has many neighborhoods that all had different vibes, Nashville Guru does a great job breaking down each neighborhood with where to eat, where to stay and cute places to shop.

DAY ONE.

We started off the day by going to a yoga class at Inner Light Yoga which was downstairs from our airbnb. Luckily we got a workout in because our next stop was Five Daughters Bakery. Look at the size of these doughnuts and they are croissant style filled with cream and custard. We got 5 for the 4 of us and I wasn’t able to get a photo because we ate them so fast!

We had the below flavors, in order of my favorites:

Chocolate Sea Salt
The Purist
King Kong (this one had bacon on top!)
Vanilla Cream
Seasonal Doughnut

(Yelp)

The area around 12 South is very quaint, nice houses and good restaurants. Reese Witherspoon’s Draper James flagship has lots of adorable y’all merchandise if you’re looking for a southern souvenir or some free sweet tea!

Next up mural time, since we only had a weekend in Nashville we did not stand in line for murals. Just because every influence and her mother has taken a photo with these murals doesn’t mean you need to waste 20-30 minutes of your precious life standing in line to get a photo. We took some really cute photos with the striped wall against Draper James and I think it’s way cuter!

Not saying you shouldn’t try to take photos of the murals but because we were in Nashville over President’s Day weekend I think it was a lot busier than usual.

For brunch we went to Urban Grub, I had the shrimp and grits which were AMAZING but they also have an amazing brunch buffet spread with snow crab legs!

(Image source: yelp)

After we stuffed ourselves (forgot how big portions were in the south), we headed downtown. We rented a car and drove downtown because we didn’t realize how expensive parking would be! Every lot we pulled into was around $30-40 until we miraculously found street parking which was about $1.25/hour until 4 PM. Sweeet!

We strolled down to Broadway in search of a good Honky Tonk, the street was extremely crowded and had country music blasting out of every Honky Tonk! With so many options, it was hard to pick one.

We ended up going to Honky Tonk Central because they had nice large balconies and 3 floors, we grooved to the bands and drank a couple Bud Lights and White Claws and went on our way.

Here are some other Honky Tonk options:

Robert’s Western World

(Image source: Tripadviser)
Rippy’s Honky Tonk

(Nashvile Guru)
If you want a honky tonk but make it fashion? Check out Acme Feed & Seed with an awesome rooftop

(Acme Feed & Seed)

(The Tenneseean)

We walked over to the bridge to take some photos and see the river, found a guy who took at least 30 photos of us from all different angles. Must have been a well trained instagram husband/boyfriend!

Next we were on a mission to find a speakeasy on Painters Alley.

We stumbled into Skull’s Rainbow Room a jazz bar that does burlesque shows starting at 11 pm. We had some pre dinner cocktails since we were all still stuffed from brunch.

(Earth Trekkers)

We tried to get into Puckett’s Grocery & Restaurant but the wait was over an hour and a half long so we took our chances and went to Party Fowl where we got sat at the bar and got some hot chicken and beer.

(Photo credit: Party Fowl)

Here are some other amazing restaurants to get dinner:

Hattie’s B’s Hot Chicken(Image credit: Joseph Woodley)
Puckett’s Grocery

We ended our day at The Patterson House to get some curated cocktails which had another wait of around 45 minutes but we decided to stick it out since we hadn’t waited for anything else during our day. The atmosphere and ambiance was great but the cocktails were extremely sweet but what do you expect in the land of sweet tea?

*PRO tip, get a whiskey or bourbon sampler instead of a cocktail

(The Opinionator)

DAY TWO.

We started our day with the most amazing brunch from Henrietta Red. Everything we ordered was beyond delicious and we got to explore Germantown which is a neighborhood with chic restaurants in restored Victorian buildings and eclectic boutiques.

We stopped by a couple small boutiques, Alexis + Bolt was converted from a house and had mimosas in their kitchen which is a pretty cute concept for a store.

(Alexis + Bolt)

Even though we were stuffed from brunch, we love checking our farmers markets wherever we go. Nashville Farmers Market would great if you’re looking for a casual meal in between site seeing. The farmers market had everything from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream to fresh produce to a garden center at the end.

(Nashville Farmers Market)

Afterward we drove downtown to find some posters and records, we stopped by the Hatch Show Print museum and Record store.

We bought a record at Third Man Records which had people recording live inside the store but it is definitely not in the best area. We also went to some thrift shops that had lots of vintage records for way cheaper.

The wings mural is located downtown but the line wrapped around the corner so we found these chicken wings instead outside of Porky.

If we had more time we would have loved to go to a hockey game or drive out to Cheekwood Estates.

(Cheeckwood Estates)

On our way to the airport, we stopped by the beautiful Vanderbuilt campus and the Parthenon. We didn’t get to go inside but it houses many 19th and 20th century artists along with rotating exhibits.

Until next time!

Xoxo,

Nina & Ross

November 27, 2018October 27, 2019

How to prepare for a Safari at Kruger National Park, South Africa

After we booked our tickets to Cape Town, we didn’t even know there were safaris in South Africa. (How naïve, I know…) So we did some research, there is a safari closer to Cape Town or we could fly two hours to Kruger National Park. Our thought was, we have already flown 23+ hours- what’s another 2 for a more authentic experience.

Before you leave, some shots are RECOMMEDED. Key word- recommended. Since Ross and I are both last minute procrastinator types, we both went to the doctor the day before we left. Ross somehow got a combo-shot of Hep A / Hep B but my travel doctor told me it was a little late for me and I wouldn’t die from it so I opted to just get the malaria pills and some antibiotics just in case we got severe food poisoning. If you want to be on the super safe side, you should take the vaccinations at least 4 to 6 weeks ahead of your travel. Check out this website for more travel vaccination information.

What to pack

Bug Spray or Bug Bracelets
Hiking shoes/ tennis shoes
Wind proof jacket
Anti-Diarrhea pills
Linen Shirts/Pants
Camera with Zoom Capability
Binoculars even though we never needed them because the animals were so close!

Looking up where to stay can be pretty confusing because there are so many different options!

Option ONE: Self Drive and stay in a tent

This is what the roads look like, very easy to drive.

Option TWO: Stay at all inclusive resort with private drives

Motswari Private Game Reserve

Option THREE: Stay at a luxury resort with private drives and ball out $$$$$

Camp Jabulani, a relaix & chateaux resort with an orphaned elephants sanctuary

After doing extensive research, we decided to go with an option between two. We flew in from Johanneburg to Hoedspruit and rented a car with Avis from the Hoedspruit airport, if you want a car with 4wheel drive you have to book early. We rented a VW golf and it was fine, the roads were all in great condition.

When booking your flights, make sure you book the closest airport to your lodging because there are 3 airports that border Kruger National Park.

About 5 minutes after we left the airport, I had already seen an Zebra and a giraffe! At the entrance of Kruger National Park, there is a toll of 150 RAND to enter. Don’t worry, they take credit card. Once you are in the park, you must drive 50 kph which is around 31 mph aka VERY SLOW. There are signs that say there are fines but we were not convinced that there were cameras but tons of animals were walking back and forth along the road so it is for the safety of the animals!

Before we got to Motswari, we had already seen tons of impalas, warthogs, a leopard, and elephants! I think if you don’t care to see the “Big 5” you can do self drives because the animals were everywhere!

It took about an hour and a half to get to Motswari from the airport due to the speed limit, Motswari can also arrange transportation to and from the airport but it was around $60/person/way. Our rental car was only $38 for the 3 days we had it.

The daily itinerary at Motswari was:

5 AM wake up and do first drive

9 AM breakfast

10:30 AM guided hike

2:30 PM lunch

4 PM second drive of the day

7 PM sundowners

8 PM dinner

Andeis and Petro, our guide and tracker, were amazing! We safely saw the big five and loads of other incredible animals.

The other incredible part was how close the animals got to the safari defender, our only two scares were when a Rhino tried to ram into our car and when a leopard came so close to Ross he could have reached his hand out and touched it!

If you read our Cape Town post, I wrote that I had a revelation while at the safari and it was that challenges and adversity keep life interesting. When I thought that Rhino was going to ram into our safari defender, I had never felt so alive. If everything was just fine and dandy, you wouldn’t remember anything about your life or feel anything. So let’s be grateful for the challenges that make life interesting!

We shared our drive with Daniele and Suzy from Switzerland, Daniele had already been on 15 safaris and it was Suzy’s first time. They were hilarious and definitely made our trip more memorable. You know that saying, it’s not about where you are but who you’re with? Yep, hopefully one day we’ll go out to visit Daniele and Suzy and ski the Alps with them!

Not sure what Ross liked better, seeing all the animals or being in the defender. It’s his DREAM car!

Overall our first safari was AMAZING and we can’t wait to go to another one with different landscapes, Daniele said that Botswana was her favorite.

First time experiencing the moon rising, it was incredible!

We just LOVED everything about Motswari, their slogan is come as strangers, leave as friends! The food, service, and location of the reserves was amazing. We highly highly recommend it!

Would love to hear your thoughts on safari tips and favorite safari landscape!

Xoxo,

Nina & Ross

November 23, 2018February 1, 2019

Weekend in Cape Winelands, Cape Town South Africa

The landscape of Cape Winelands completely blew Napa out of the water! The wines were also really great, looking back one of the wines from our wedding was from South Africa.

We drove from Cellars-Hoehenort directly to our first vineyard, Fairview Wine & Cheese, where there were lots of goats! The wine and cheese pairing was perfect!

Our next stop was my favorite winery, Babylonstoren! It is not only a vineyard but also a beautiful farm and garden, I wanted to go to Babel but there were no more reservations for the rest of the year! So if you want to go there too, I suggest you make a reservation as soon as you book your flight. We ended up getting some snacks and meeting the cutest baby at Greenhouse, food was very good and the greenhouse next to it inspired me to one day make Ross build me a greenhouse just like it!

Here’s a map of the grounds- babylonstoren_garden_map

Cape Winelands has three major areas: Paarl, Stellenbosch, and Franschhenok. We decided to stay in Franschhenok because of the world’s best boutique hotel- Akademie Street Boutique Hotel.

The photos seriously don’t even do the hotel justice, everything about it was absolutely perfect. We had custom made cocktails before dinner and sun downers after dinner.

Don’t even get me started on the breakfast! Breakfast and drinks were served in the amazing greenhouse and in the afternoon they have a fire going in the fireplace!

We were reluctant to leave Akademie Street Boutique but we also wanted to go to other vineyards so we started the day driving up the hill to Mont Rochelle Nature Reserve where there is a beautiful scenic vista.

Our next stop was Delaire Graff because it’s a Relaix & Chateau hotel. We were a bit disappointed because it was a bit more commercial than the other ones we had been to but we did go into the Graff diamond store where I tried on a beautiful pair of diamond butterfly earrings! Our 5 year anniversary is coming up Ross!

My friend Abby had just gone to Cape Town earlier this year and one of her recommendations was to book a picnic at Boschendal, luckily I looked into it earlier since I’m such a planner because you need to book the picnic 24 hours in advanced! We are so glad we booked it because the food and views and photos came out amazingly!

Transportation:

If drinking and driving isn’t your thing, you can take the Franschhoek wine tram. Pricing is very reasonable, only $16.63/adult!

We checked out the town of Stellenbosch before heading to the last vineyard we went to on our way to the airport was Hidden Valley Wines.

Our second favorite meal in Cape Winelands was at Foliage, everything we ordered was delicious! What we liked was that it was a tasting menu but you could select how many courses so you weren’t stuck with a 7 course meal!

For other food in Cape Town, check out our What to Eat in Cape Town page.

Since coming back from Cape Winelands, we have tried many other South African wines in New York!

What’s your favorite vineyard?

XOXO,

Nina & Ross

November 22, 2018December 29, 2018

What to Eat in Cape Town

Usually when we visit a new country, I like to research what are must eats because we love to eat!

Our favorite restaurant in Cape Town was Cod Father in Camps Bay. It’s tucked away a little behind the main road of restaurants. On one side of the restaurant, there was a fresh fish market and on the other side was a sushi conveyor belt. We ended up ordering something from both the fish market and conveyer belt.

If you are staying in Cape Town, Mama Africa has a great atmosphere and ok food. The game meats were interesting.

Another restaurant that we liked in town was Lola’s cafe. Very simple, fresh and delicious fare.

If you are in Simon’s Town posing for pictures with penguins, make sure to stop at Lighthouse Cafe. The food was ammmmazing! I had the seafood stew and Ross had chicken pot pie, both were incredible!

We went to check out V & A waterfront because it is very popular on other blogs as the “safest” area of Cape Town but we found it to be very touristy. We ended up eating at a relatively new restaurant called La Parada, which we later found out is a chain with multiple other locations around Cape Town.

La Parada is a spanish tapas restaurant and obviously wasn’t as good as the tapas in Spain but it was decent. The interiors of the restaurants were better than the food. I did try Savanna Light which is a delicious refreshing South African cider.

At the Cellars-Hoehenord, we ate dinner at The Conservatory because The Greenhouse was sold out. Dinner was delicious but nothing extraordinary, it was a classic 5 star hotel meal.

The cheese souffle was amazing and here’s the recipe for it.

All the breakfasts we had at our hotels were also amazing, some staple items were eggs, stewed tomatoes, and sausages.

The one thing that we LOVED and were craving after we got back was Biltong. Biltong is the perfect mix of beef jerky and prosciutto. We didn’t have this when we were in Cape Town but the safari we went to at Kruger had these during our sun downers and they were amazing!

Since coming back from South Africa, I’ve bought these from Amazon and it’s quite expensive!

To read more about our trip, check out our 4 perfect days in Cape Town.

What are your favorite restaurants in Cape Town?

XOXO,

Nina & Ross

October 21, 2018December 26, 2018

One year anniversary in Nantucket

On our one year anniversary, we went back to our favorite island Nantucket! We stayed at the Wauwinet where we got married and got to stay in the Coatue suite. The Wauwinet is a magical retreat away from everything, even though Nantucket is just on the coast of Massachusetts it feels like you are in another world!

And the sunsets are incredible!

Our goal is to back to Nantucket to celebrate our anniversary every year and try all of the restaurants on the island. So far we have tried the following restaurants and we’ve ranked them in the order of our favorites:

Toppers – $$$$ in the summer you can take a boat from the White Elephant to the Wauwinet or a 30 minute shuttle ride from downtown Nantucket
Black Eyed Susans – $ best breakfast on the island (CASH ONLY and BYOB!)
The Nautilus – $$$ best tapas and most inventive menu
The Proprietors Bar & Table – $$$ we had our rehearsal dinner here and everything was amazing!
The Pearl – $$$$ came here one of the first times we were on island, incredible fresh seafood
CRU – $$$$ great scene, food is very expensive!
Dune – $$$ great food and atmosphere
The Club Car – $$ great food and also great cocktails
LoLa 41 – good sushi
Fifty Six Union – $$$ family owned, delicious food!

When shopping, we stumbled upon James Cromartie’s gallery and met James! We loved hearing all about his stories of Princess Diana and his other patrons. We ended up going home with one of his famous 007 paintings.

If you’re going off season, make sure to check to see which restaurants are open because some are closed during off season. Here’s a great website to check which are open all year round.

Another great time to visit Nantucket is when they have annual events such as:

Daffodil Festival ~ end of April

Cranberry Festival ~ mid October

Christmas Stroll ~ beginning of December

How to get to Nantucket:

Having our wedding in Nantucket, we researched all of the different ways to get to the island.

Option 1: Fly via Jetblue from LGA, JFK, Boston or DC to Nantucket

Option 2: Fly to Boston and take CapeAir directly to Nantucket

Option 3: Drive to Hyannis and take the ferry
Two types of ferries go from Hyannis to Nantucket
– Hy-Line fast speed ferry – $ 77/round trip takes 1 hour each way
– Steamship Authority fast ferry – $ 69/round trip takes 1 hour each way
– Steamship Authority slow ferry – $ 37/round trip takes 2 hours and 15 mins
each way
*TIP- if you plan on going to Nantucket more than once or are traveling with a larger group, you can buy 10 one-way tickets on Hy-line for $275.

Next time we want to try doing some hikes. Does anyone know of any hikes that we can try?

October 1, 2018November 7, 2018

The History of Nina and her Butler

It all started one night in studio during freshman year at Georgia Tech, I was working/procrastinating on one of my projects for Architecture school and Ross walks in with one of our mutual friends, Paul.

Fast forward 8 years later, Ross writes me a facebook message asking to catch up. We end up getting brunch and 5 years after our first date, we’ve been married for a year!

Nina & Ross Wedding394.jpg

Throughout those 5 years, we visited 20 countries:

Canada
Mexico
USA, obviously
Bahamas
Costa Rica
Spain
France
Ireland
Czech Republic
Sweden
Denmark
Netherlands
UAE
China
Hong Kong
Singapore
Thailand
Malaysia
Korea
Greece, for our honeymoon!

Next week, we are going to add South Africa to the list!

October 27, 2017January 22, 2019

What to Eat in Santorini

My favorite food is Mexican, Japanese, and Chinese but after this trip Greek food is a close runner up!

As I mentioned in my Honeymoon in Santorini post, the greek salads were the best and we are still making greek salads at home with the oregano we bought from Athens. We are starting to run out which means another trip to Greece!

Our favorite restaurant in Santorini was Melitini. The place was casual, small and delicious!

(Image source: Melitini)

The grilled octopus was so good- we ordered two!

And no vacation meal is complete without dessert! Baklava (Ross’ favorite) and Meltinis (the name of the restaurant). Both were delicious!

Our second favorite was the greek Natkos from Domaine Sigalas Vineyard. The cheese on the tomatoes was amazing!!

If you are in Fira, you HAVE to go to Lucky’s Souvlaki’s. THE best gyros I’ve ever had and only 2.5 euros! It’s very small, we sat at the bar, this was recommended to us by a friend. Lots of locals and tourist!

On our first night we went to Lotza in the town of Oia, we smelt the food walking by and had to check it out! My nose was correct, the food was great and views were also very nice!

(Image Source: Tripadvisor)

The rice with mixed seafood was so good! It doesn’t sound or look the best but it was delicious! We saw the people next to us get it and it smelled amazing!

We got cold from watching the sunset so we also got the soup of the day, it was a fish soup that day and was very good. So good we forgot to take a photo before digging in, I must have been hangry- per usual.

The second night we got dinner in the town of Ammoudi Bay, there were so many restaurants to choose from down by the water.

We ended up at Sunset Ammoudi because there were lots of celebrity photos in the restaurant and we thought if it’s good enough for famous foods, it’s probably good enough for us!

The food was decent, maybe we ordered the wrong things because the food was a bit more expensive than the other dinners we had. We met some people later that said the food at Ammoudi Fish Tavern was really good, so maybe check that out instead?

The only way to get down to this area is to drive or take a million stairs down from Oia, we drove down. The area feels very touristy so maybe just catch the sunset and a late dinner elsewhere?

After the sailing tour, we decided to get a snack at the gyro place in Oia called Pitogyros. It definitely wasn’t as good as Lucky’s and a couple euros more expensive! But Ross did get to try some Crazy Donkey beer with another couple we met on the sail!

The breakfast at our hotel Andronis Luxury Suites was incredible, we felt so lucky and grateful every morning! If you need help on picking a hotel, check out our Where to Stay in Santorini post. We love trying local food and new cuisines but it’s not about what you eat but who you eat with!

Let us know if you have any favorite Santorini restaurants that we can add to this list! To read about what we did in Santorini, check out our Honeymoon in Santorini post.

XOXO,

Nina & Ross

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