A Pit Stop at Hoover Dam

After a brief visit to Las Vegas we embarked on our four hour drive to the Grand Canyon! Fun fact -  about a half an hour into the drive, we run right into the Hoover Dam! It was definitely worth a pit stop for some beautiful pictures. If you do this trip yourself, pro tip - drive past the first three pay-to-park lots. If you drive across the dam, there is FREE parking available there! After we parked (for free!) we hopped out of our car and made our way out on the dam. It was absolutely beautiful!

It was a bit of a trek to reach the main area, but it was definitely worth it! There are even bathrooms out on the dam. They are up in these little towers and everything! 

The views were spectacular, and I'm glad that we took the time to check out this piece of Americana. 

I will say the sun was absolutely brutal. Definitely load up on sunscreen, grab a hat and brace yourself. The desert sun is no joke! It didn't take us a long time to check it out, so we were all glad we took the time to check it out. 

If you ever want help planning your own adventure, let me know! Check out my website at MilesIntoMemoriesTravel.com, or send me an email at Malena@MilesIntoMemoriesTravel.com.

A Night in the Beautiful Bussaco Palace

On our road trip around Portugal, we made a pit stop at the GORGEOUS Bussaco Palace in Luso, and boy, was it beautiful! It is technically a five star hotel, but the accommodations aren't what you would typically think of as a five star hotel. It is literally a palace, which means it's old and it does show it's age a bit. Somehow, that only seems to add to the beauty of the place. 

It is honestly like a fairy tale! It's so beautiful!

You can spend literally hours hiking around the grounds. The palace was used as a hunting palace a long time ago so the grounds are expansive. There are so many fun walkways and path ways, I doubt you'd ever have time to explore them all.

You can even stay overnight in the palace - our room was darling! As I said, not a lot of fancy adornments, but it was very sweet. We thoroughly enjoyed the comfy bed, and the bathroom was very nice as well. No complaints there!

And finally, I don't have a picture, but I HIGHLY recommend enjoying a fancy dinner out on the terrace. My husband and I had a magical time. The food was amazing, the atmosphere was phenomenal! It's probably one of my favorite memories from the trip. 

Overall, the palace is a little out of the way (hard to access via public transportation), but it's worth the drive. We had a magical time and absolutely would visit again.

A Magical Day in Lisbon, Portugal

Lisbon is a beautiful city, and one that we were very excited to visit on our honeymoon! We originally planned to visit some of the museums but our schedule got bumped a day due to a delayed flight, resulting in us visiting the city on a Monday. Pro tip - don't visit Lisbon on a Monday. Pretty much everything is closed. Luckily, we were able to do a bit of research in our hotel room and come up with a new plan!

First up was our visit to the World's Oldest Bookstore!!! SO COOL. I have a whole blog post about our wonderful stop by this store, but to recap: it was beautiful, go visit if you can!!

Next up we decided to hike through the Alfama district to check out Castelo de Sao Jorge. It was a bit of a hike, but we didn't need directions. We just kept our eye on the castle and explored along the way. We weren't disappointed!

We had such a fun time exploring the castle! We got to walk along the parapets and explore the different areas within the castle. There was even a nice little cafe where we sat and enjoyed the scenery. There were even stray kitties and peacocks wandering about! Right next to our table! So fun!

And of course, we got an AWESOME view of the city. It was breathtaking and possibly my favorite part of the day. It was truly memorable standing above the city with my new husband just taking it all in.

Our final stop of the day was to the Oceanarium. It was really neat! I wasn't too excited about this stop initially, but my husband insisted. And of course, he was right. It was pretty fabulous and definitely worth the visit!

 Finally, just a note about Lisbon - don't expect prompt food service. We loved the city, culture and views, but man! It took forever to place an order, get served and PAY at every restaurant we went to. We waited 45 minutes just to hand them our credit card, despite asking the waiter for it twice! So weird! 

All in all, we had a tremendous time exploring the city, even if we didn't make it to the Carriage Museum like we originally planned. If you'd like us to arrange a tour of Portugal for you and your family or group, check out MilesIntoMemoriesTravel.com. 

Stand Up Paddle Boarding in Lagos, Portugal

In addition to trying our hand at coasteering while in Lagos, Portugal, my husband and I went Stand Up Paddle Boarding for the very first time! It took a bit of getting used to, but we eventually got the hang of it. We started out on our knees and after making our way out toward the cliffs, we were able to stand up (with just a few minor wipe outs).

The cool part of doing our Stand Up Paddle Boarding in Lagos is all the beautiful caves! 

We had to go on our knees while inside the caves so we didn't hit our head along the way.

After a while, our knees started to hurt so most of us ended up just sitting down on the board.

And towards the end, I was really getting the hang of it! It was quite an adventure! We definitely had a blast and are so glad we got the chance to go on such a fun adventure. 

MilesIntoMemoriesTravel.com

City Highlights - County Wickland, Ireland (The Monastic Site at Glendalough)

I recently toured through Ireland, Wales and England and we took a lovely day hike through the Monastic Site at Glendalough in County Wickland, Ireland. It's just outside of Dublin and was so much fun! Word to the wise - when they say easy, they mean challenging. My group happened to be a soccer team, so fitness wasn't an issue, but ooh man! Those Irish folks must be in mighty fine shape if they considered that hike to be easy! It had steps and rough terrain galore. 

There weren't any giant waterfalls, but the nature was absolutely gorgeous, nonetheless. As is the way in Ireland, it was a bit rainy, but nothing we couldn't handle.

We even got to see some wildlife! If you look carefully in the picture above, you can make out several wild mountain goats. 

And this picture I think captures the hike perfectly. It literally looks like a painting! 

All in all, this was a beyond beautiful experience and an easy drive outside of Dublin. If you have a free day in the city and are looking for a bit of adventure, I highly recommend exploring this area!

If you'd like some help setting up your trip, I'd be happy to help! Visit MilesIntoMemoriesTravel.com.

City Highlights - London

London is a beautiful city and one worthy of exploring! Over the past few years, I've found a few of my favorite spots:

Starting out with the classics - first up, The London Eye. This ginormous ferris wheel is absolutely worth a ride. Each capsule is fully enclosed in glass and unless you pay through the nose for a private ride, you'll be sharing the experience with at least 20 or so other people. Like most major tourist attractions, I recommend buying your ticket ahead of time online and skipping the line. The ride lasts about 30 minutes and it provides some of the most amazing views of the city. 

The London Eye

The London Eye affords a magnificent view of Big Ben, but it's definitely worth checking out up close as well. It's absolutely beautiful, especially at night! Something to note - you won't actually be able to go up inside Big Ben, so just be ready to enjoy the splendor of the clock tower from down below.

Big Ben across the water

Finally, I recommend just exploring the city and soak in the culture. Ride in a black cab, visit Harrods, take a bus tour and find yourself a telephone booth!  I made some truly amazing memories just by wandering through the streets of London with friends and family and seeing what we stumble across. We've found amazing little pubs with huge, amazing English breakfasts , unique specialty she eps and even found hole-in-the-wall museums!

A fun shot of me by the classic telephone booth! Although inside was a little gross - I'm talking needles, beer bottles and who knows what else! Be careful.

London is an amazing city with plenty of sites to see! You can't forget to make a pit stop to places like the London Tower, The Globe Theater and Buckingham palace, but the London Eye, Big Ben and general exploration are my top three must-do's while checking out London.

How To Pack Carry-On Only

With airlines charging more and more for checked-baggage, many travelers, myself included, have opted to just pack in carry-on luggage whenever possible. I've had years of practice and have legitimately packed for a month-long trip doing carry-on only. Here are my top tips for avoiding those baggage fees and packing light!

1) Try to minimize the number of shoes you bring. I know it's tempting to bring a different shoe for every outfit, but instead try to pick just a few shoes that are more versatile. My go-to shoe packing tends to be one pair of running shoes, my Sperrys and a pair of flip flops that can get wet - for the shower, pool, walking in the rain. etc I also shy away from boots or other bulky shoes as they take up quite a bit of space in your luggage. If you do need to bring a pair of boots, I recommend wearing them on the plane. They may be a bit of a hassle going through security, but they will save you weight and space in your luggage.

2) Wear bulkier layers on the plane. Planes tend to be cold anyway, so if you are bringing a big sweater and a puffy jacket, wear them! Packing them will take up valuable space. Not to mention, they'll keep you nice and warm during the flight and can even double as a pillow. You can always take them off and stuff them in the overhead bins if you get hot.

3) Bring re-wearable items go together. I highly recommend packing a pair of durable jeans and a favorite hoodie or sweater. These items can be worn multiple times and re-worn with different outfits. By color-coordinating majority of your clothing items, you'll be able to mix and match and save yourself quite a bit of space as a result! Same goes with accessories - I recommend picking jewelry that goes well together and that you don't mind wearing multiple times.

4) Bring "small" items of clothing. By bringing items such as dresses (which are an outfit all by themselves), leggings and t-shirts, you'll save room! If you bring several pairs of pants and a sweater for each day, you'll run out of space quite quickly.

5) Pack travel-size toiletries. You'll be limited on space an
d will have to keep your liquids to a minimum. I recommend little things like using a powder foundation and bringing a shampoo bar, because those things will add up and save you quite a bit of space!

It may not be the most luxurious way to travel, but I personally prefer packing light. I like knowing that my luggage is going to make it to my destination and that I won't have to wait at baggage claim. It also makes me really think through my packing. I tend to forget less things and have more coordinated outfits than when I just throw things into a bag.

Here I am on my backpacking trip through Holland and Germany. It was amazing to be able to just pick up my things and move on to the next town so easily. All in all, I highly recommend packing light!

If you're up for some adventure  I'd love to help you plan - MilesIntoMemoriesTravel.com

Top Tips for Thailand

I had an amazing time in Thailand with my fiancé Schuyler. We primarily stayed near Bangkok, but we did manage to travel a ways outside of the city too. There are a few things you should know before heading off on your own adventure!

1) Be wary of street peddlers and taxi cab drivers. It's a fairly common occurrence for merchants and cab drivers to take advantage of unsuspecting tourists. It's nothing too scary, but you should be aware of their games! We had a cab driver try to convince us that he needed to make a pit stop for gas - he didn't! The scheme is to "stop for gas" and then try to sell us an experience or take us to a certain shop. Just insist they keep going or drop you there - that's what we did and SHOCK he made it to our destination just fine. We also had a similar scam when we bought a water bottle off a street vendor. He asked where we were going next, and we said Wat Pho, he immediately had a counter offer. He was trying to convince us that the temple was closed. He proposed we go on a tuk tuk tour that would drop us off at the temple when it "reopened."This was completely a total scam. While we may have had a nice tour with this convenient tuk tuk driver, we knew very well that the temple was open. We had just visited and needed to break our money so we had the correct change, which was required to enter the temple.

2) Carry smaller bills. There were several occasions where we needed to break our money because several attractions required exact change. I highly recommend carrying small bills whenever possible so you don't find yourself wandering around searching for anything small to buy, just to break a bill!

3) Tuk-Tuks are terrifying and fun all at the same time. - but worth it. Yes, they weave in and out of traffic, but hey. We survived. You can also haggle with them, and usually, they'll drop the price quite a bit!

4) Thailand is cheap, so treat yo-self! We ended up at a REALLY fancy hotel for only $40USD a night! To give you an idea, the toilet had like 30 buttons and a seat warmer... it was pretty ritzy! AND the hotel had TONS of free snacks! Of course, we stocked up on those before venturing out each day.

5) Embrace the culture. Like anywhere in the world, it's going to be unique and probably pretty different from your home town. Embrace the experience and go into it with an open mind. I also highly recommend doing your research ahead of time so you are more familiar with that country's cultures and customs. Enjoy yourself, but be respectful!

If you're up for an adventure, check out MilesIntoMemoriesTravel.com

Rotterdam - Every Bit as Beautiful as Amsterdam

Holland will always have a special place in my heart. My earliest memories are of riding my bike along the city streets and skating on the canals when they froze over. I grew up just outside of Amsterdam, and had an AMAZING childhood enjoying the beauty that is Holland. Recently, I had the pleasure of reconnecting with some old friends who have actually made the move over to Rotterdam. I've stayed with them a few times, and I must say - I love Rotterdam! It's gorgeous!

This was the view from where I stayed.

The back of a nearby windmill! 

I was even lucky enough to get to visit right around Christmas time. The beautiful lights were spectacular! I had a great time walking through the streets and admiring the sights.

The architecture in Rotterdam is every bit as beautiful as Amsterdam and well worth a visit! There's even the famous Euromast, which is pretty awesome in and of itself. 

The Euromast!

In Rotterdam, you'll still get the full dutch experience, but it's much less touristy. One of my favorite things about travel is going off the beaten tourist path and really diving into the culture. Rotterdam is still a city, so it's easy to get around and see a lot, but it's so unique! It is a major shipping port and there are beautiful boat tours where you view everything. 

If you're interested in diving deeper into culture and not just tourist areas, I'd love to help. Check out my travel company at MilesIntoMemoriesTravel.com!

Beautiful Ireland

As I sit thinking about where to honeymoon, I was reminiscing on my time spent in Ireland. It really was magical. We spent time in the Dublin city center, but also went for a lovely hike near Dun Laoghaire. I will say, Ireland is every bit as green as you'd think. We managed to squeeze our hike in between spurts of rain - though we carried ponchos just in case. It seemed to always be raining!

We even got to see some goats along the trail! The trail itself was marked moderate, but let me tell you - it was way more intense than that! I wonder what Americans would have labeled it? It was basically straight up for a good long portion and my bum knee sure was feeling it by the end. Regardless, it was totally worth it. 

Just a friendly tip, if you're planning on traveling to Ireland any time before mid summer, BRING LAYERS. I am not sure I've ever been so cold in my life and I had on tights, corduroys, thick socks, boots and something like 4 jackets. It was like the rain was blowing sideways! 

Anyway, if you're interested in taking a trip to see the land of the Irish, I'd be happy to help you! MilesIntoMemoriesTravel.com.

Thailand Adventures (Swimming with Elephants!)

Hello!

I'm sorry for the delay in this post - it's long overdue, I know.

So as I'm gearing up for my next adventure (more on that later) I was looking back at my Thailand pictures and realized I never made a post about it!

Our trip to Thailand was probably one of my all time favorite travel experiences. We only had a few days in Bangkok, so Sky and I made the most of it. We hired a tour company, as coordinating a car and organizing certain activities would have been nearly impossible on our own.

We flew in Friday night and made it to a rather ritzy hotel - the toilet had like 20 buttons! It was incredibly cheap for the quality, but welcome to Thailand.

The next morning, after a fun asian breakfast, we were off for a day packed with adventure! Our first stop was the River Kwai.

The bridge actually has a really cool history and we enjoyed learning about it from our guide!

Next up was the floating market which was actually incredibly cool. We literally rented a boat and floated up and down buying snacks and cool knick knacks. And it was SO beautiful to boot!

The food was delicious and we both had a blast!

Then we made our way to what was surely the highlight of the trip - swimming with elephants! Now I do want to specify here, we went to an elephant sanctuary in the middle of the jungle. These elephants are well taken care of by their trainers, called mahouts. It was beautiful and we were so lucky to have been able to visit with these beautiful animals.

Schuyler, King of the Jungle (one of the Mahouts made him a crown!)

Posing for the tasty orange!

Me and my elephant!

The best water fight in the world!

Look at that jungle!

Oh and I got to backflip off an elephant... so that was amazing beyond all belief

Swimming with elephants was SO FUN but also quite the work out! We headed back to the hotel absolutely exhausted

The next day we took some time to explore some temples. These were beautiful and so fun to explore. My only negative experience was with the rather shifty street vendors (telling you certain attractions were closed so they could give you a tour instead etc.). We had a blast and even got to ride in a tuk tuk!

Overall, Thailand was phenomenal and I 1000% would love to go back!

Lots of love,

Lena

Santa Fe Round Up

Santa Fe was nothing short of amazing. We were a little scared it was going to rain so we squeezed both hiking destinations into one day. It turned out to be a lot more than we bargained for, but we definitely had fun and aren't even too horrendously sore.

Stop one was Bandelier National Park! It was truly beautiful and we had an absolute blast. Though the signage was horrendous (we wound up trying to figure out where to park and where to pay for parking for something like 20 minutes, but we got there eventually!) Once we got started we got to witness some pretty beautiful views. We got to climb straight up the side of a canyon using these crazy ladders and super narrow trails. It was a little scary, but really, really cool. We got to see how people lived hundreds of years ago.

Then we even decided to tackle the water fall trail. Due to construction (which we had no idea was gonig to be in our way) it took us an extra mile to even reach the trail head turning a 3 mile hike into a 5 mile hike. Yeesh! It was totally worth it though. The trail was very different than the others, it felt less traveled and more like you were actually in the wild.

We were meant to grab lunch in between hiking destinations, but Arby's betrayed us! Again, terrible signage got the better of us. We failed to locate said Arby's and mistakenly assumed another fast food establishment would pop up along the freeway before we reached the Tent Rocks. WRONG. We wound up eating trail mix for lunch (not ideal) and arrived a little tired, but excited. Tent rocks are these interesting  rock formations where a harder rock is sitting on top of softer rocks that have worn away so it looks like a boulder sitting on top of a small pillar. That hike was intense! It started off not too bad, the whole thing was only 3.2 miles, but man! A chunk of it was straight up. We had to climb over boulders and make our way through narrow passages, but the view from the top was spectacular. You could see for miles and miles. It was exhilarating! The drop off was literally right next to the trail. Talk about a rush! No worries, we made it back down safely.

We finished out the trail with only the occasional snake sighting (NO THANK YOU) and made our way back to town. We definitely stopped and ate a HUGE meaal at... Arby's. No shame. We had earned it!


The next day was our museum day! We essentially spent the day looking at Folk Art, History and an old beautiful church called San Miguel. The museums were very interesting and we had a great time! It was nice to sit down and admire the galleries (we were definitely tired from yesterday's hike!). I even bought a beautiful turquoise ring made by a Native American. I actually got to meet the artist and it was just a great experience. We finished out the day at a restaurant recommended to us by Schuyler's sister. It was called Santa Fe Bite and the burgers were delicious! We called it a night and were asleep by 9pm. Bliss.

Today we departed Santa Fe and took the quick route back to Albuquerque. We bopped around Old Town, had lunch at a local favorite (and had us a lunch time adult beverage because vacation), and did a little bit of light shopping. I found a New Mexican book store and bought a little souveneir. Surprise, surprise I bought a book.

We then headed over to the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History and took a look around. It was intense, sad, scary and fascinating all at the same time. It was pretty incredible to get a look at what we, as a race, are capable of.

Then we headed to meet up with Schuyler's family and get the guys fitted for their tuxes so we are all ready for the wedding! We went out to a Thai restaurant and are now relaxing at the house we are staying at.

Tomorrow we are taking on our big hike! La Luz Trail is around 8 miles, uphill. Let's do this!!

Malena

New Adventures!

Hello again everyone!

I know I haven't been updating this lately, but that's because I have had so much going on! Not the best excuse, I know, but there it is.

Anyway, back to the point of this post - I am going on an adventure! I will be taking a very last minute work trip to Europe for 5 weeks! 5 weeks. Dude, I know. 

I will fly out Wednesday evening, stop in Copenhagen Thursday morning before making my way to Manchester. I have some business there, then I'm off to Dublin to meet up with the team! The first part will be training, so I'm only around for half a tour. I will be with the team in Dublin, Manchester and London but then I'm off to Barcelona. 

I did not think I would be back in Barca so soon, but hey! I'm not complaining. From there I'm off to Lake Como, Venice and Milan in Italy. 

I close out my trip bopping back and forth between Barca and Madrid. Craziness.

This trip is coming up so fast and I still have a lot I need to do. I worked a ton at the radio station this weekend and its my last weekend with my boyfriend for a good long while so I've been trying to find a balance. Ah! Oh well. I know it will all come together soon. 

I am currently trying to figure out if I want to pack in carry-on only or if I should just bite the bullet and bring a bigger bag. It is 5 weeks after all.  My plan is to just figure out what I need to bring and then pick a bag based on that. I want to be comfortable, but not overloaded because goodness knows I won't be in one spot for any length of time.

Malena

The Beauty That Is Wrinkle Releaser

Everyone who has ever packed a backpack and headed out for adventure knows the struggle - your clothes WILL be wrinkly. You just have to accept it... or do you?

I give you Wrinkle Releaser.

It even comes in travel sizes - though I opted for the big bottle and put small amounts into a travel bottle.

Now, I know its not perfect, but it really does help. All you do is as soon as possible you take the clothes you want to wear out of your pack and hang them up. Once they are on the hanger (granted this is much easier done in a hotel, it is still possible in most hostels) you thoroughly spray them with the Wrinkle Releaser. A few tugs to help smooth out the wrinkles, and you are good to go! The next morning your clothes will be acceptable (though not neatly pressed obviously). 

A lot of my travels are work related and it would not be appropriate for me to parade around in wrinkly clothes. This, combined with athletic-type fabric, leaves me looking presentable for my line of work!

Hennef and London 4/27 - 4/28

Yesterday was really hectic as it was our last day in Germany. It was another tournament day but I did get to ride in a German ambulance when one of our kids got hurt (he was fine, no worries). That was an experience!
Later that night a group of us went out to eat with some of the Germans. It was really nice down by the river and the restaurant owners were so so nice.
One of the German coaches and I had to work late because after dinner we had to round up the luggage and store it. The end result was a late night for me!
Today had an early start too. I woke up around 5 and finished packing then headed off to the airport with the early group. I had some work to do regarding ticketing but in the end everyone left for home!
Now I am in London in a hostel.

 I spent the afternoon exploring the city! I may take a nap because surprise! One of the Germans decided to tag along on my London trip. We struck up a friendship over the course of the trip and he had some time off and things just kind of worked out :) his plane gets in late tonight and they had an open spot in one of the male dorms so he will just crash at the same hostel I'm at. Tomorrow we will explore!

A Day Out In Bonn 4/26

Today we spent all day in Bonn and had a grand old time. We started out by stopping by the local soccer shop for a bit then hopped on the bus and drove to Bonn. Jonas is a local German coach and he came with us, thank goodness. He was a huge help in showing us around.
We went down to the river and did a 4 hour boat tour.
For the first two hours we ate lunch and watched the scenery. Then we went up top. The weather was beautiful! Nice and warm :) I even dozed off for a few minutes on the way home. It was very pretty and I got some nice pictures while relaxing a little bit.
Then we split up and did some shopping. I didn't buy much but I really enjoyed just exploring! I love eating local food and just observing the culture.
Dinner went about as planned but with fewer people. We had a nice German dinner and enjoyed the atmosphere!

This weekend is the tournament for the kids and then we fly out on Monday and I'm off to London!

Malena

Touring Cologne 4/23

This morning the kids had training like usual then we went downtown for lunch. One of he German coaches was very nice and helped us translate the menu! I (think) I had a chicken kebab- not too be confused with kebob. It was German-Turkish and was served in a pita. It was delicious!

Then we got back and hopped on a bus to Cologne! It was so beautiful!

They even had a lock bridge like they did in Paris.

Lock Bridge in Paris

Lock bridge in Cologne

We toured through the city center and went in the cathedral. It was huge!!! And so so pretty. Because we were with the kids we didn't have as much freedom to explore but I am still so glad we went. Tomorrow is the stadium tour! Woohoo! Nw I will have seen Madrid, Barcelona and Cologne's stadiums :)

                                                   

Anyway, I am very tired - long, but fun, days mean I sleep well at least! I have to get up early to arrange laundry, so goodnight!

Malena