What one month of traveling taught me
It started with the idea of “let’s make August memorable, where should we go?”
Since “home” is technically by the beach, we tend to look at cities for travel, but not just any cities.
They need to either have history, great food, proper culture or just incredible energy.
That’s how we got the itinerary looking like:
14 days in NYC, US
4 days in Boston, US
4 days in Amboise (Loire Valley), France
3 days in Blois (Loire Valley), France
5 days in Paris, France
Not your typical holiday travel plan, I know. There’s no beach club, no resort, nothing that’s viral or hyped and yet it was the perfect combo.
Why NYC?
Manhattan will forever be NYC for me.
And as I can feel some eye-rolling coming up, I knowwwww, there’s a whole controversy: is Long Island, Bronx, Queens, New Jersey or Brooklyn the real New York OR is Manhattan just “the city” and technically New York is the combo of all boroughs? Is a person living in Brooklyn or Long Island a New Yorker or not really? (please keep this in mind for later)
Anyway, for me Manhattan is THE NYC, the Big Apple, the place where you have a pressure cooker buzzing of energy, of Broadway plays, of serene pockets in Central Park, of shopping madness on 5th Avenue, of fast walking daze, weekend farmers’ market in the heart of the city in Union Square with freshly squeezed lemonade, and where people would queue for hours for a slice of Joe’s Pizza or walk 10 blocks for Billy’s hot dogs.
And yet… why NYC? Because it has an energy that’s hard to describe and it’s hard to find anywhere else.
The first day when I landed, after checking in, I went to Bryant Park, one of my favourite places to grab a coffee and just observe the world passing by or grabbing a book from the reading corner and escape in my own bubble. Usually I take a red-eye in NYC as it’s easier to stay awake during the day once I land, so in 2 days the whole 9 hour jet lag is gone.
Here I was in Bryant Park with my sunglasses to protect my red-eyes, a coffee and I just see the cutest puppy coming around named Marshmallow. The owner of said cuteness was a born and raised New Yorker in Manhattan, now retired, having a stroll on a beautiful summer day with her friend that came to visit from Long Island and as we chatted for about 10-15 minutes she kindly shared some of the highlights of her life’s story.
How she had a happy marriage, how oddly enough her husband was born in a town 1h drive from my hometown in Europe and how they just sold their holiday home of 30 years in countryside France (funny enough around where we would spend a few days later in the trip). We ended up saying how beautiful it is that somehow we are all connected. And this was just one of the stories that I got to learn about while in “the city”…
Once you experience NYC with its energy and its people, it’s hard to not get drawn back to it. I’m not pretending that there isn’t the less charming side of it, with lots of pressure leading to mental health issues and people giving up on life, but I’m here to share it from my POV, as we all see things based on our own background, experiences and personality.
I am fully aware that visiting VS living in NYC are two completely different things.
Therefore I’m putting my rose-colored glasses of an excited visitor, that has been many times before, and sharing a bit more than just the touristy aspects. Ready? Here we go…
The next day ended up racking up almost 43K steps. It’s a city that keeps you going and I had to visit old places and explore new ones too:
Roaming around the Greenwich Village, the neighbourhood of Carrie Bradshaw, with its beautiful brownstone buildings and stopping for a coffee and brekkie at:
Sant Ambroeus West Village, which is across the street from Carrie’s supposed apartment. Their avo toast with poached eggs are always delicious.
Then heading to Rockefeller Center for gorgeous views of the city and the park.
Touring the NBC Studios where legendary shows like Jimmy Fallon and Kelly Clarkson run. Please book tickets in advance and if you’re there during filming season, make sure you book the evening tour time slots. PS: August is their summer break time.
After we had 2 options: going to MoMA or making our way South. Since we’ve seen MoMA many times, we decided to go South, but I’d definitely recommend it if you’re a lover of the arts. It’s the home of Dali’s famous “The Persistence of Memory”, one of my favourite, but you have entire floors of art to explore.
Making my way down to the Seaport and discovering McNally Jackson Books Seaport. Their coffee shop / bookstore combo is absolutely lovely and the second floor is such a hidden gem. Could have spent DAYS exploring their shelves.
Then grabbing a couple of pastries, pretzels and drinks from the Market Place - Tin Building, across the street from McNally and people watch at the Pier 17 with a beautiful view of Brooklyn Bridge.
After grabbing a taxi and going back to Midtown for a good old Broadway show. Hamilton is not hyped, can confirm, but there are so many amazing ones. We have a list of the ones we’ve seen and liked on our NYC tour guide.
Now I’ll fast forward a few days as there were filled with co-working spaces (recommending the Studio next to Rockefeller Center), and sharing some of the highlights:
Got to see some incredible Broadway shows, including one with the icon Jean Smart (you might know her from Hacks) in Call Me Izzy - a 1.5h of a monologue, a one lady show, with a heartbroken life story. A poet that life has dealt a shitty hand to, and after years of suffering and misery, she chose herself first.
Refreshed the wardrobe with new pieces from some of my favourite shops like TFS, Fabletics, Aritiza, Levi’s, Skims Flagship, Uniqlo, etc.
Got to meet the one and only Kim Perell and get her new book signed at Barnes & Noble 5th Ave
Ate incredible and soul nurturing food like the matzo ball soup from Katz’s Deli. Yes it’s the place where Sally faked an orgasm in the movie “When Harry met Sally”, but that soup always reminds me of my grandma’s cooking.
Talked with strangers from all walks of life from all over the world - from business owners, to other tourists. I’m always fascinated about people’s stories. That’s how I met Josie, the former co-owner of Caffe Napoli established in 1972. Her, her sister and family started with a couple of chairs and a table. Now it’s still a family business with real homemade pasta and pizza.
Visited the New Yorker’s 100 years anniversary exhibition at New York Public Library and learn more about its story, how it started and their founders: Harold Ross and his wife, Jane Grant.
Witnessed New York City from inside out. From the people walking by in a rush to get to work, to the first time tourists gawking at the dizzy skyscrapers around them.
I could talk about New York City for hundreds of pages, so we’re putting a guide together to give you an idea of things you might want to do and avoid or just watch out for in NYC.
Tea anyone?
Next stop, Boston! Being the first time in Boston I just didn’t know what to expect.
Heard mixed things about it, and yet once I got out the train station I found a windy, clean and a tad nippy city, that has it’s charming neighbourhoods like Charlestown, a tumultuous history, amazing seafood and is home to lots of universities including Harvard.
Like any good visitor would do, we checked-in at the beautiful Langham hotel and started to walk the Freedom Trail. I think every city with a story should have one if you ask me. It’s a great way to learn about the history and visit the landmarks in a scavenger hunt / story unfolding way.
The Boston Tea Party is a well known event in any history book, but what I didn’t realize is that the amount of tea that was dumped in sign of protest was worth about $1.7 million in today’s money. Now that’s a party!
Some of the favourite things to do while there:
Have a Lobster Roll and some raw bar bites from Row 34
Breakfast at our hotel in the gorgeous ballroom Grana
Visit inside the warships USS Constitution along the Freedom Trail
Have a stroll through Charlestown and check out the gas lamps
Short visit to the Mapparium, see what a difference 80-90 years can make
3-4 days is more than enough, but if you want to explore the Providence, Salem or any other places around, Boston is a good home base, only 1-2h away by train.
When life gives you lemons at the Chateau
After about 2 weeks in the States, we flew over the Atlantic and 8h later landed in the land of France. We quickly made our way to the Loire Valley or the Valley of Rois (Kings) thanks to it’s crazy numbers of castles and incredible domains.
Funny story how we landed on this part of the trip. It actually has been in the works for over a decade. One New Years Eve in London, a last minute reservation of the former Paramount landed us at a sharing table where we got to meet people from Austria, UK and well a couple that were true citizens of the world.
As I was latching to every word from their stories while living in Singapore, Paris and Seattle (amongst a couple of dozens of other cities and countries), I mentioned that I absolutely love history and a good castle. Next thing I know they recommended the Valley of Rois or Loire Valley. They mentioned how their friends just bought a property there and it’s a lovely place for a summer holiday. “Just rent a car and go from castle to castle” she said.
And so we did … 10 years later. We stayed in 2 places for us to also enjoy the region and take our time through the castles and in between them. If I’m being honest we should have added 3 out of those 5 days in Paris to another place around the Valley.
First region was Amboise.
Small, quaint, beautiful and filled with great people that take pride in what they do.
I couldn’t recommend our hotel Le Clos d'Amboise more and the chef that curated a 7 course meal for us, served in a 17th century dining room with original floors, fireplace and some of the furniture pieces.
Across the street from our hotel another place called Restaurant l'Ilôt has the most delicious and unique food that the chef cooks in the middle of the dining room and yes he is watching between sautés to see if you are truly enjoying the food or not. The place tends to be fully booked every night so reservations in advance is a must.
It usually has 1 menu written in chalk on a big piece of blackboard with 2 options for starters, 2 for mains and 2 for desserts. That’s it. And trust me you can’t go wrong with any of them.
On our last breakfast at our table next to us were 2 couples from US. One pair visiting France for the first time, the other first time in the region. We started chatting as you usually do, and we find out that the couple next to us - she is from Pennsylvania, he is a New Yorker born and raised in Long Island. She can’t stand the city (New York City aka Manhattan) and wouldn’t move there even if she was Bill Gates, he called her out, like any good husband :)) and said when they were young they couldn’t afford living there anyway. They met when they were in college and got married young. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that the city she wouldn’t even move to, is one of my favourite.
She met her girlfriend (the lady from the couple next to them) during the college days and they kept in touch ever since. Now they are all visiting the Loire Valley and we exchanged tips on visiting castles and pleasantries about our life stories. Their energy was a tad contagious. As I was just trying to gulp down some well needed cups of coffee to wake up, the lady from Pennsylvania especially had already an infectious energy that I only wish I could turn my coffee into.
That’s the beauty of traveling. You realise that we’re not that different and even if we might have different preferences and POVs, curiosity is what keeps us exploring and learning about one another.
There’s so much to cover from Amboise area, so we’re putting together a full guide about how lunch time in the area is only from 12 to 2pm and other details, but I’ll call it - it’s one of the most beautiful areas in Loire Valley.
Next stop - Blois.
About 30 min driving from our place in Amboise, Blois is a tad bigger, with more dramatic architecture and history. Less of the petit charm, is has its pros and cons, but the castles around the town are a tad less impressive inside than the ones in Amboise. However is still a good home base to visit some of the further away castles such as Château de Chambord, which is one of the grand castles in the area, majestic, impressive and imposing. I’ve done a full guide of castles in the Loire Valley so you don’t have to waste time and money figuring out which ones are worth it.
Overall Blois was a tad disappointing, especially after our experience at Amboise.
Our hotel Fleur de Loire Spa Hotel & Restaurant while gorgeous from the outside and at a Ritz price point, was lacking a lot in their professionalism, amenities and offering. We got the Deluxe Room, and while the design was nice, it wasn’t near as close to what a hotel at that price point should be.
The main restaurant was closed most of the time, the breakfast had a few old pastries, their eggs and omelettes were tummy ache provoking and if their tiny restaurant was fully booked, they didn’t save spots for their guests (which weren’t that many anyway). I’d be very careful should you chose to go with this one, as they have a “way of working” very unprofessional, composed of charging your credit card 3 days in advance for “pre-authorization” even if you marked for the bill to be paid at the hotel, a hefty deposit (even Ritz Carlton has a flat fee, but not them), extra charge for parking and another separate invoice for your stay when you check out. All of this topped up with cobwebs in the room and corners filled with flies in the lobbies and hallways.
On a more positive note, we got to explore the castles around, having lemonade and orange juice from castle’s orangery and after our short stay, we drove back to Paris for a few days in the city.
Where are the boulangeries? The eclairs? The fresh croissants?!
13 years ago, I remember the mornings were filled with delicious scents. There were so many bakeries (boulangeries) at each street corner that the smell of freshly baked croissants, pain au chocolat, pain aux raisins, baguettes, eclairs and profiterole were hard to ignore.
My goodness, just a pure decadence of freshly made and baked goods straight from the source. Not to mention all the Bistros that had amazing fresh food with chicken rotisserie, escargot (snails cooked in garlic butter), and steak frites (steak with french fries).
In 2025 that is mostly a distant dream.
If you want to experience proper french cuisine you need to know where to go and you probably need to book it in advance as a lot of the Bistros that you see on the street are doing “fresh frozen” food nowadays and the best food in town if you ask locals will probably be a Japanese or ramen place. How sad is that?! There’s no french food in Paris. Unless you know where to find it…
…Introducing Le Procope. A hidden gem that could easily be a museum, opened its doors in 1686, being the first restaurant in Europe to introduce coffee and democratised it by offering table service in beautiful delicate porcelain cups.
Here you’ll find the traditional coq au vin, escargot, beef cheeks, steaks and so on. You just can’t go wrong with anything on the menu. Named Le Cafe Des Revolutionnaires (The revolutionaries' café) the place was a crucial meeting place for revolutionaries to discuss ideas and plan actions during the French Revolution. It hosted people such as Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau), so you’ll be dining with history.
It took us a few attempts to experience the good places in Paris that are authentic, still following the french recipes and cuisines, but we found them. We’re putting a Paris guide together on what to do, see, eat and explore so you don’t have to waste your time, energy and money, but rather enjoy the Parisian life. Stay tuned!
After a month of traveling across 2 continents, living in 2 big cities and exploring 3 smaller ones, here’s what I learned, and will take with me next time I’m traveling for longer periods:
Plan your activity days, your work days and your DO NOTHING days
You always want to make the best out of your time somewhere abroad, but it’s also ok to do nothing. To just roam the streets and have no aim or plan. Yes, I plan my DO NOTHING days. It’s just so refreshing to give yourself those moments and get out of the FOMO feeling. Those days might surprise you.Take time to just look around, observe and absorb where you are
The noise, the smells (yes even the stinky ones), the movement, the architecture, the sky and the clouds, the people, the fabric of the world, the honks of the cars (or the lack of), the rustle of the leaves and the rays of sunshine that peeks through the branches, the wind and the birds, look at the color of the flowers, the bees and butterflies, the flavor of your juice, coffee or ice cream, whatever you’re savoring… Just take it all in!Chat with people and understand the culture
I would have never met Josie (former co-owner of Caffe Napoli), Billy (with his world famous hotdogs) or Marshmallow’s owner, learn about them if I wasn’t open to a conversation. Hearing their stories, life lessons and just how they conduct their businesses in Josie’s and Billy’s case, are some of my favourite memories that I’ll cherish with me forever. Now when I think about Little Italy in Manhattan, I’m thinking of Josie’s Caffe Napoli. Her tip for having a long lasting business is to fire fast the bad hires and reward and appreciate the good ones. There are people that have been with her for over 40 years and that’s what makes good business. “You need to care and enjoy life” - she said.Stick to your routine - you can thank me later on this one.
It’s easy to go with the flow and not take care of the things that keep your body and mind happy and healthy. For me, just because I walked all day doesn’t mean it’s a substitute for weight training or my little morning ritual of having a coffee in bed. You need to keep some sort of routine to enjoy your holiday to the fullest. A couple of hours here and there won’t take away from your travel experience.Don’t chase hypes and checkboxes
Not everything needs to be instagrammable, a trend or popular. It just needs to bring your joy. You do you! If you don’t like museums, skip them. If you don’t like hiking, by any means, do something else. But find the things that do bring you joy, rather than just taking a picture for the sake of it.Look past the traditional souvenirs
I’m talking artwork, food, limited edition collections and collectibles such as Angelina’s hot chocolate, t-shirts, caps, bags or just old newspapers, books, pins or postcards. It doesn’t have to be expensive, but think more of it as special or unique.Always underpack! :))
I don’t know about you, but I always pop in shops that I love if they are available in the city I’m in, so I end up needing to buy another suitcase, instead of just packing light to begin with. PS: pack your own shampoo, conditioner, and even hairdryer if you can. Those should take priority over yet another outfit that you’ll never wear. The hair products and dryers in hotels tend to be a catch-all which long-term will damage your hair.It’s ok to spend a day in bed with hotel room service
It’s so easy to get distracted and excited about new cities where you always have new things to do and explore, and yet why are those room service days feel so good?It’s ok to work from bed in the mornings or the train, plane, airport gate, park, co-working space, bench, coffee shop, when it’s needed. Work / life integration is the way to go. On a train for 3h between NYC and Boston? No problem, it’s the perfect time to catch up on some work. Plan the small moments, to avoid the big bursts.
Enjoy the food
There’s no better way to experience the culture than to indulge in the food scene. Skip the Caesar salad and try those tacos, hotdogs, slices of pizza, beef cheeks, eclairs, etc.The world is big and small at the same time
We’re not all that different, we all want the same at the basis (e.g spending time with family and loved ones, indulge in yummy food), yet we act like we have such a big gap in our cultures. Met a couple from Chicago in the queue one night for a slice of Joe’s Pizza. While we come from different worlds, we all agreed on New Orleans amazing food scene, family and talked about our travels.Be forever grateful for routine, home and excitement for life
I had the chance to meet people that were in their 20s acting like their life is over, and people in their golden age with more energy and excitement for life than a teen. On the other hand I’ve also had witnessed people that just gave up on life. They are fully in their own reality, often homeless and just looking to keep their alternate reality going at any expense. Which made me more grateful than ever for the work-related stress (because I have something to be stressed about), my home, the fact that I can have a routine that sets me up for a good day and that I still have a hunger for life which gets fueled by a long list of things that I want to do. The energy and excitement for life needs to come from within and we sometimes forget to be grateful for the things we have in life.Aim for the Sun and land on the Moon
With anything I set to do in my personal life (sometimes even professional), I always say “Aim for the Sun and land on the Moon”. It’s ok to have big audacious goals and things that you want to do and experience, but it’s also ok if you end up close to them. Just the fact that I managed to just travel straight for one full month still feels like it was a dream, considering that my whole life the longest holiday I took at a time was two weeks. The little 5 year old in me was always filled with hope and she just knew we’ll get to where we always wanted to be, but I must say, for a while there, I started to doubt her.
Would I travel for a whole month again?
Yes. I loved the month away and next time I know what to do and what not to do.
Is it for everyone?
I don’t think so. It can take a lot for your body to adjust if you’re not used to it.
I’m sharing my trusted travel kit from decades of experience, plus jet lag tips, to help you out, but you still need to consider the long flights, sleep deprivation (you can only borrow against sleep, you can never just skip it), and just the fatigue that tends to set in towards the end of the trip. I’d say start with 2 weeks at a time and go from there.
