One of the things that we really like about traveling around the world is observing how people in other places take care of everyday needs. Grocery shopping in Portugal is pretty fascinating, at least from the perspective of Americans.
Tag: Charity
Big Mountain, Small World
The name of our mighty undertaking here is Big Mountain, Small World. We were struck by this name, partly because our last name is Kuahiwinui which literally means Big Mountain in Hawaiian. The small world part captures our curiosity about life, human experiences, and the many commonalities we’ve observed during our travels.
Living in Portugal: A Once-in-a-Lifetime Cruise that Changed Our Lives
Sometimes life really does feel like a dream. It just requires taking it one step at a time and a whole lot of checklists. Our Mediterranean cruise was a major catalyst for so many things. Looking back I can see how it shaped where we are today, living in Portugal.
Keep St. Johns Weird-er
Since we moved out of the hustle and bustle of downtown to the ‘burbs of Portland and squarely into the quirky neighborhood known as St. Johns – named for a hermit who first settled the Peninsula. It is said that he was a quiet, saintly man — and also that he didn’t frequent the local…
What a Marvel…
In preparing for our European adventure, we put one city on and took them off the list several times – unsure if we should visit or not. It is Spain’s 3rd largest city and not one of Rick Steve’s Best of Europe. We did, however, enjoy Samantha Brown’s episode describing the amazing aquarium and science…
Poh-ta-gee Revenge!!
So in a way very much like Montezuma’s Revenge wreaks havoc on the poor, innocent traveler to Mexico, Maylene and I have fallen wickedly prey to da Poh-ta-gee Revenge in Portugal. We have both been stricken by food poisoning (we think). I had it for five days and Maylene is now on day 3. I…
They’re Harmless…Really…
When booking our hotel room in Madrid, there were a lot of considerations – as always. A strong one was that since I couldn’t find availability anywhere – including our hostel – for Fri/Sat night, we could only stay for two nights and we needed to be in a central area. I chose a “cheap”…
Playing High Roller in Monaco Baby!!
Before beginning our journey vagabonding around Europe, we knew we wanted to go to Monaco — Maylene’s “things-to-do-before-she-dies” list included playing a round of blackjack there and we wanted to visit a tiny country – we’ve missed them all so far except for Monaco! When I began searching for a hotel, of course I found…
Nice…it’s nice…
We were so happy to arrive in Nice after spending so much time in Northern Europe. This part of the French Riviera is right on the coast and has a broad promenade with a pebble-beach where you can soak in the sun. At least 10 degrees warmer than in Paris, we wore short-sleeves and loved…
Where the Magic Happens
Where the Magic Happens Is there anything more magical than being in Disneyland on your birthday? At any age, I contend there’s not. We had just finished with a wonderful six days of touring Paris and decided to use one of our free nights from hotels.com to stay on the Disney resort at the Santa…