One thing I loved about my trip to Sonoma Wine Country was seeing the vineyards during leaf changing season. I’d flown up from Los Angeles, the evergreen city with palm trees and summer weather even in December, and a short 90-minute flight later I found myself in fall weather again, just like in Seattle six weeks earlier.
I’d never seen grapevines with changing leaves – I am not sure I even knew they were changing colors! – and loved the bright red and yellow colors in each winery I visited and every vineyard I passed in my car.
The wine tastings I did were fantastic, too – at the Korbel Winery for example, where I sampled California champagnes, or Virginia Dare Winery, recently purchased by Francis Ford Coppola. I got to tour the wineries and see the entire production line from wine making to corking and labeling the bottles which was incredible, got to sample wines that aren’t available anywhere but directly at the winery, and learned so much about wine in those few short days that I feel inclined to do some further studying now.
By Dani – Full Story at Globetrotter Girls
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This past week was one of the busiest travel weeks since returning from Italy in September – I admit it, I am exhausted. After a long weekend in L.A. (where I was amazed by the still oh-so sunny and warm weather!) I flew up to Santa Rosa in Sonoma Wine Country for a week of wine, art, good food and hiking.
One of the highlights of the week was an afternoon spent hiking in the Armstrong Redwoods. The Redwoods are home to the tallest trees in the world, which live to be 500-1,000 years old, grow to a diameter of 12-16 feet, and stand from 200-250 feet tall. Walking through the forest where these imposing structures were towering over me, with moss-covered trunks of fallen trees on the ground, made me feel like I had entered some fairy tale world.
I wouldn’t have been surprised had a fairy appeared in front of me, asking me to make a wish. Because of the height of the trees, barely any sun rays make their way through the branches, keeping the forest darker and in deeper shade than most other forests I’ve hiked through, which only added to the mystic aura.
It’s December – and Christmas is just around the corner! For the third time, I’ve put together a gift guide for the travel lover in your life – 13 gift ideas that I put together with travelers in mind, but you might also find a couple of things in here that make great gifts for family members or friends who aren’t globe trotters. I am also aiming to keep my gift ideas affordable, so most of these gifts are under $30.
I also recommend you check out my previous two gift guides, because many of the gifts I recommended in previous years are still products I use all the time and love, like the scarf with the secret pocket or my pickpocket-proof underwear, the scratchable world map and the cool airport merchandise from Airport Tag for frequent flyers.
To be completely honest: I didn’t want to spend my last few days in Mexico in Puerto Vallarta. I wanted to stay in San Pancho or in Sayulita, which are both smaller beach towns north of Puerto Vallarta, and where I had spent my birthday. But because the season was just about to start in San Pancho most cafes were still opening at unreliable hours (if it all), and I needed wifi to get work done.
In Sayulita, there were a few places I knew I could work at (with okay wifi, but still not great speeds) but struggled to find decent accommodation. Since I had several deadlines looming over me, I decided to do what seemed the most reasonable: to return to Puerto Vallarta, which I knew had a much bigger selection of available accommodation and great wifi. As much as I loved the vibe in the smaller beach towns, sometimes the digital nomad has to put work first, especially after a slow month in November.
And after a couple of days back in Puerto Vallarta I realized how much I actually liked the town that had seemed like a big resort town at first. Yes, there are casinos, golf clubs and cruise ships. Yes, there are giant all-inclusive resorts. But there’s also the Old Town, the Zona Romantica, with cobblestone streets, with ornate churches and bright pink bougainvillea trees that form a perfect contrast to the whitewashed colonial houses.
I started the month with a few days in Los Angeles, which were not in my travel plans at all… followed by a full four weeks on Mexico. Which, well, also wasn’t part of my original plan, but in hindsight, I couldn’t have asked for a better turn of events, leading me to Puerto Vallarta eventually, where I am writing this now. You might remember from last month’s round-up that I was basically stranded in the U.S. after my trip to Istanbul fell through… read on to find out how I ended up in Mexico instead.
I flew into Guadalajara, Mexico’s second city, where I spent a week, including a day trip to Tequila, and headed west from there to spend some time exploring the most popular towns along the popular Riviera Nayarit: Sayulita, San Pancho and Puerto Vallarta.
I had originally toyed with the idea of also visiting Guanajuato and San Miguel Allende, two towns north of Mexico City, but I quickly scrapped these plans – I didn’t want to travel too much and rush around, knowing I’d be having a limited amount of time because I would be flying back to California in early December. And even though I felt like I wasn’t moving around all that much, I ended up sleeping in 11 different beds over 30 days, meaning I was moving to a new places roughly every three days (that said, I moved places within cities several times, ending up sleeping in four different places in Puerto Vallarta, for example.)
The last few days in Guadalajara were rainy, grey and cold. I had planned to stay there longer, but the weather made me change my plans. Instead of spending more time inland, I’d head straight to the coast. My first stop would be Sayulita, a small surfer town on the Pacific, and then I would visit San Pancho, a few miles further north, even smaller than the already tiny Sayulita, but a few of my friends had spent a winter there a few years back and loved it.
I couldn’t have made a better decision than traveling to the coast. I started my journey on a rainy morning in Guadalajara (it was pouring down the second day in a row) and a couple of hours into the bus ride, the rain stopped and the scenery began to look a lot more tropical. Four hours after hopping on that bus, I was let out on the side of the road right next to a guy selling coconuts fresh off a palm tree. The air felt sticky and hot. This was the climate I felt right at home in.
If experiencing a safari game drive in South Africa is on your travel ‘bucket list,’ there’s never been a better time to do it. From the elephants to rhinos and lions to the monkeys and warthogs, observing the wildlife in their natural habitat from such a short distance can be an incredibly surreal and once-in-a lifetime experience, one that any avid traveler would likely rate as unforgettable.
South Africa is also a destination becoming increasing popular with the LGBTIQ community. Post-apartheid, it’s a country that was among the first to outlaw sexual discrimination as the fifth country worldwide to legalize same-sex marriage.
And while the country has much to offer with cities such as Cape Town, Sun City, Durban and Johannesburg, the main attraction of the country by far is visiting safari game lodges. In partnership with South African Tourism, I was fortunate enough to join a variety of international media representatives for a Safari South Africa experience at Shamwari Game Reserve (Sarili Lodge) in Port Elizabeth.
It’s a ‘must-do’ experience and most safari lodges are easily accessible via short flights from most major cities. Located just over an hour drive from Port Elizabeth airport; our lodge is set within more than 25,000 hectors of land with 6 separate (and equally stunning) 5-star lodges, animal education and rehabilitation facilities and an explorer camp. And while it’s an indulgent experience for solo or couples traveling together, it’s also family-friendly so everyone can relax and explore. The lodge is also a safe and friendly environment for all individuals and at no point in my stay did I feel anything other than completely welcomed.
I’ve decided to change things up a little bit with my Things I Love About… series. Instead of telling you all the things I love about Seattle, I’ll share 35 places I loved with you (It was supposed to have 33 places, but somehow I ended up with 35!)
These are my personal favorites from a month in Seattle, so there is list is pretty biased and focuses on the things that I love: craft beer, parks, speakeasy bars, great views, cool neighborhoods, food, and of course COFFEE.
I feel like I only got a taste of Seattle during my four weeks there, and with so many rained-out days, I also didn’t get around to visiting all the places I had on my to-do-list, so please consider this list by no means complete. These are some of the places I loved, so feel free to use this post for some inspiration for things to check out on a trip to Seattle. For practical information, scroll down until the end.
1. Golden Gardens
This gorgeous beach in the north of Seattle made me wish I was visiting during the summer months, but even on the chilly October day I visited it made for a nice autumn walk along the beach. There are several hiking trails and two wetlands. I think this is also an amazing spot to watch the sunset.
Periodically we’ll feature one of our properties here to let our readers know about some great gay friendly places to stay:
Travel at the speed of you. Leave the tour buses behind. With The Blue Walk discover new places, have authentic experiences, and reconnect with a simpler way of moving through life. Enjoy leisurely, small-group, walking vacations along beautiful coastlines, village squares, and open spaces of Europe.
Less about history or architecture, our passion is sharing the sights and surroundings of select destinations. Live large on the French Riviera, tour Northern Italy via rail, island hop through Greece.
Discover the meditative quality of walking by large, lovely bodies of water, the expansiveness of taking in the canopy of blue sky. Take time on your own to explore an out of the way gem or sit quietly over a coastal outcrop. It’s your vacation. We create opportunities for unique experiences that touch the heart and mind to be remembered long after returning home.
No hiking boots or backpacks required, just lovely walking trails, coastal meandering, and urban strolling. Based in 4 and 5-star hotels, travel with a friendly group of like-minded people who soon become friends. Our vacations, perfect for couples, multi-generational, friends, and solo-travelers alike, are designed with lots of options to serve a variety of activity levels.
When it rains, it pours, they say, and that couldn’t hold truer for the past couple of weeks. And I don’t only mean that because it is pouring as I type this – I haven’t seen that much rain since leaving Seattle, but Guadalajara got so much rain today that the streets were flooding – but, as so many of us, I’ve been struggling with the events of this week. That combined with a string of bad news since the beginning of the month has put me in a slump which I’m trying to get out of.
Coming to Mexico was certainly a good decision and is helping me getting my mojo back: As soon as I walked out of the terminal building last week and saw the familiar OXXO convenience store across the street, I felt like I was coming home. And there aren’t many places that make me feel this way. The familiarity of Mexico has also helped me ease into solo travel again, which I haven’t done in a while now, and the weather has been perfect for most of the week – after my depressingly wet and cold October this was much needed.
Guadalajara, which I picked as the starting point for my current Mexico trip, was an excellent choice. I’d never been to Mexico’s second largest city, and it was time to fix that.