TX Girls in Edinburgh

To continue our Scottish tour, the girls and I headed to Edinburgh for 2 days, mainly to visit the Panda Bears, Tian Tian(F) and Yang Guang (M). My friend Gennie has a slight obsession with Pandas, or should I say is obsessed with Pandas so I've waited all this time for her to come visit so we can see them together.

We took an early morning train down and spent the first part of the morning visiting the Edinburgh Castle. They were setting up for the Military Tattoo and had some sort of filming going on so we got to see a guy jump a ramp with some music playing in front of the castle. Not sure what they're going to use it for, but it looked cool.

From there, we headed to the Zoo for our Panda viewing time. Yes, viewing time...we had to book time slots to view the panda's since they are so popular and they have to do crowd control on them. Getting to the panda area was an adventure as the Zoo is situated on a hill and Gennie wasn't as mobile with her broken knee cap. Nessa and I  decided to push her in a wheel chair, and we were struggling! I just want to give props to those who have to push wheelchairs on hilly surfaces on a regular basis. It's harder than you think! Anyhow, when we went to view the pandas, they were sleeping. Tian Tian looked like she was hungover....

....and Yang Guang all cuddled up. As I was watching Yang Guang, I noticed he was moving and got really excited...have a look for yourself =)

Aside from that surprise, we didn't see much else with the bears. Pandas normally sleep 15-18 hours a day! So I was happy to see that much. This was my first panda viewing experience and I love them already, who wouldn't with their cute black and white coat. 

That evening we saw an amazing sunset over Edinburgh and took an underground ghost tour in the vaults. Spooky, but glad we had each other. I still can't believe there use to be a whole underground city in Edinburgh. 

The next morning we had a quick stroll to Holy Rood and Arthur's seat area and then lunch at the yummy Jamie Oliver's Italian. The restaurant just opened about 2 weeks prior to us visiting and just like my Manchester meal, it was delish! I love how the decor in his restaurants are unique to the buildings he builds the restaurant in. This one is housed in The Assembly Rooms. 

Edinburgh is really starting to grow on me and I hope to visit more often in the next year.  Anyhow, a trip to Aberdeen is not complete without visiting Stonehaven and Dunnotter Castle so that will be our adventure the next day =) I forgot to mention that we've been having amazing weather. I truly believe our visitors bring them so please come visit and bring the great weather with you....

TX Girls in Ballatar

I spent the past week with two of my TX girls, Nessa and Gennie,  and we had such a blast. The girls wanted to do "Scottish" things and to us, that means, castles, whiskey and nature! We started the week with a trip out to Ballater to visit the Royal Lochnager distillery and then to the Queen's summer home, Balmoral Castle.

Gennie wanted to see a waterfall, so on the way to the distillery, we stopped by the Burn 'O Vat for a beautiful view of Loch Kinord and a waterfall. I really can't get over how beautiful this country is. I've been to the Burn 'O Vat a handful of times now, but each time, it's different and seems more prettier than the last. With the Burn 'O Vat, sometimes the water is too high and you can't get in, but it was perfect for our visit. My AWA friend, Jill, came along with us and also played photographer for the 3 of us, thanks Jill!

After getting our photo op for the day, we headed out to our whiskey tour. None of us are big whiskey drinkers but most of our guy friends are, so we had a wee dram in their honor. I learned that Royal Lochnager only uses sherry cask in storing their whiskey which gives it that sweeter taste. Most other distilleries use a mix of bourbon and sherry and then marry them together, so this is what makes this distillery stand out for me.





Despite the great weather we had early on that day, the rain started coming down when we got to Balmoral Castle, but that didn't stop us from enjoying the lovely castle grounds with the hills in the background. With this view, I can see why the Queen enjoys coming out here for some peace and quiet away from Buckingham Palace. Inside the castle, there was a display of a 60 year old whiskey that the Royal Lochnager made to honor the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. The bottle was made out of crystal in the shape of a diamond. By far, the coolest whiskey bottle I've ever seen. The set goes for a whooping 100,000 pounds, and they only made about 60 or so. After visiting the inside of the castle, we walked around the gardens and then headed back towards Banchory for some salmon jumping at the Falls of Feugh.




















































I've always wanted to come here and it took the girls coming out to visit for me to do so. That's the nice thing about visitors, they force you to get off your butt and see things you haven't seen...hehe. Anyhow, this was probably the highlight of our day! Upon arriving at the bridge, there was only a father and son peacefully watching the salmon jumping and then here comes us, 3 girls, screaming with excitement after each attempted jump we saw. The jump for the salmon looks quite tough and I'm not sure they'll ever get over, but they never stop trying. We can learn a thing or two from these salmons...haha.

The girls had a busy first day out in Scotland and onto Edinburgh we go!

The Open

Last weekend, Gerald and I went to Manchester for The Open. The Open took place at Royal Lytham & St. Annes in Blackpool, England. Blackpool is about an hour drive from Manchester, so we used Manchester as a base and rented a car. We flew into M'chester on Friday afternoon and didn't really have anything planned. We arrived to the hotel and with it being the DoubleTree, we got the infamous cookie upon arrival. I think the cookie is worth staying at the DoubleTree for, haha. Gerald probably ate about 5 of these during our 2 night stay. Oh yah, we brought the bears along for some golfing fun!

We wandered around town looking for a lunch spot and stumbled upon Jamie Oliver's Italian, which is housed in an old bank, and decided to eat there. I think the I was more fascinated with the building than the food, but both were great! The basement of the building had a vault room that is used for special dining occasions and all the toilets had the original style Crappers, very vintage looking.

We had a variety of different dishes with inspiration from the Almalfi Coast, where Jamie studied culinary under a good friend. Per the waitstaff, a lot of the ingredients are flown in from Italy. My favorite, the Tuscan pecorino cheese with chili jam and Gerald, the meats!

Okay, enough about Jamie. The golf tournament was a blast. We got awesome weather and it was a great course. We spent the first half of the day roaming around the grounds and hanging out by the practice grounds for autographs. We got to see most of the big name golfers walking through, but unfortunately, I was only able to score one signature, Hunter Mahan, which was fine by me.  We weren't allowed to take pics, but I did anyways, everybody else was =)

The second half of the day was spent following Tiger Woods and Adam Scott play.  We were lucky to score great spots at every hole we decided to watch. Looking back, even though we were following Tiger and Adam, we still got to see the Champion,  Ernie Els,  play a lot since he was just a few games ahead of them. Overall, we had an awesome day on the course and hope to be able to go to next year's open in Scotland, if we're still around.  Still sad that Adam didn't win, but I had great eye candy for a day =P

We did a little bit of exploring around China Town on Sunday before heading back home to greet our visitors, Nessa and Gennie! I've spent a good 5 days with them so far, and we've had lots of fun around Scotland. Tomorrow we are off to Berlin for some more fun! Here's a sneak pic of what we've been up to....

 I'll catch up with ya'll soon! Have a great weekend!

Free Week...Not!

Even though I had things going on this past week, I considered it a pretty free week for me. We have a few different guests visiting over the next 3 weeks so I'll be busy playing tour guide, and traveling with them =) So exciting!

Anyhow, the weather wasn't the greatest this past week but managed to squeeze a walk in with my friend, Jill,  and her sweet dog, Angus, on Monday. We went to Fyvie Castle in Old Meldrum.

Magic Mike came out on Wednesday and we made a girls night of it. First of all, I never knew Channing Tatum use to be a stripper, second of all, where did they find the girl to play the love interest, and lastly, did they really think we'd care about having a story line for the movie? It did however bring back memories of my bachelorette party in Miami. Oh, the fun we had...

I decided to give cake pops another go with my friend Ellen and I still don't know how Bakerella does it! www.bakerella.com Her cake pops are always so cute and perfect. Ours, on the other hand,  can never seem to stay on the stick. We did managed to get a handful of good ones in, but that's after throwing a bunch away. One day, we will perfect this.  They're still tasty though.

You know Charlotte's dog form Sex and the City? Well, my friend Tanvi has one and he's super        A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E! It was my first time ever seeing this breed. We had a game night at her house on Friday and I got to play with him a bit; his name is Lucca! I'm still begging Gerald for a dog, but I understand we're not in the best situation to have one at the moment =(

We took Gerald's coworker around Aberdeen for a day so he could see the beautiful Scottish countryside. We went to Gadies for a meal, visited Gairloch distillery and strolled around Pitmedden Gardens. The garden is so pretty!

I still can't believe I considered this a free week with everything going on. Over the next 3 weeks I will be in: Manchester, Blackpool for the British Open, Berlin and London for the Olympics. That's not even including taking our visitors around Scotland! Wish me luck =)

Travel Young

If you're wondering weather or not to take that trip you've been thinking about for months, just do it!

Read this article and it will explain why. A friend shared it with me yesterday and I believe every young person should read it and follow through. Thanks Sophia A.!

http://convergemagazine.com/featured/travel-young/

Through this blog, I've been sharing all of our travel experiences, but never thought of it as "defining my life," until reading this article. My first time traveling abroad was to Europe in 2007 and I've been addicted ever since.

cannes, france















Everywhere I go, I've learned something that has made me become who I am today. I learned how to eat, from the Italians; how to not have a care in the world, from the Aussies; how to work hard (and smile) no matter how tough you think life is, from the Cambodians; how to live a simple life, from the small towns around the world; how to drink like a champion from the Germans; and last but not least, how to appreciate the beauty of nature and mankind by the Africans. The list can go on and on, but overall, these are the ones that define me: foodie, laid back, hard working, simple, and appreciative of all that I'm given. You're probably wondering, what happened to the drinking like a champion? Well, if you know me, you know that fits in somewhere with everything else...haha.

All kidding aside, I agree that everyone, if given the opportunity and situation allows, should travel young and make the most of it. Learn about the history, culture, and people in all places you travel and trust me, you won't be sorry; I've never been disappointed by traveling.

So get out there, travel, see the world and come back and share your experiences with me. I'd love to hear about them! Have a great weekend!

South Erradale, Scotland

For the Cristobal's and Sheryl's visit to Scotland, we decided to take them out west to a little town called South Erradale. What's in this town, you might ask?  A whole lot of nothing but it had everything we wanted: peace and quiet.  It seems that these days, our destinations in Scotland revolve around which B&B is available that appeal to our taste. Gerald found Croft 23 http://www.croft23.co.uk/ via trip advisor and decided that's where we were going for our 2 day road trip with our guests.

On our way to Croft 23, we had to do the typical tourist stops along the way: Glenfiddich Distillery, Loch Ness, Inverness, and Eilean Donan Castle.















































I love how the drive out west changes as you go through the various regions. We went from a grey city, to beautiful trees and rivers, to forested highlands, up and down barren mountains and lochs, and ended on a peaceful white sand beach with teal water. We were lucky to finally have some great weather, since the past two times Gerald and I went out that way, we couldn't see any of this.

The trip mainly consisted of driving and stopping along the road to take in the Scottish scenery. Although we are very grateful for Gerald's driving, we did have some scary moments turning corners on these single track and narrow roadways. I think the gang wanted to buy T-shirts that said "We survived Scotland with Gerald's driving!" He's really not that bad, but I guess if you're not use to it, it can be an adventure.





























Croft 23 was the perfect place to relax before hitting the road again the following day. It's a sustainable bed & breakfast with a light and airy feel. Free range hens were roaming the grounds and the glass atrium granted us with lots of sunlight. We had a nice dinner in the little town of Badachro and visited the nearby beaches of Red Point the day after. I went a little picture crazy here.  I forgot to mention that the owner is also a talented photographer and I would have been more than happy to camp out at his B&B to get some of the shots he had. It was the best trip out west so far and we all really wished we could have stayed longer as the weather was perfect! Enjoy the pics!

 

Danica Joy Campos

11 years ago,  I met a wonderful friend named Jen. 2 years later, Jen met Herman and introduced me to Gerald. 5 years later, Jen married Herman. Now, 4 years later, they have a beautiful daughter named Danica Joy and have asked Gerald and I to be her godparents.

Danica will be my first godchild and I feel very honored that Jen & Herman have chosen us to play this special role in her life. After all, I have Jen to thank for my wonderful husband.

Meet Danica Joy!

I used the new Martha Stewart app for the design above. My friend, Vicki, had it on her blog and I thought it was awesome!
http://travelingsimile.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/thrilling-thursday.html. 

You should totally download it =)

Fifty Shades - Hotel Max

I just wanted to share this post because I thought it was cool how Gerald and I have stayed at Hotel Max, long before the Fifty Shades package was introduced...haha.

http://www.cnngo.com/explorations/escape/how-create-your-own-50-shades-grey-fantasy-weekend-249407?hpt=hp_bn9

I don't even remember the part of the book where they went here, so if you know, please refresh my memory.  Here's a look at the hotel in case you're thinking about making a visit.