Living La Vida Loca

A Global Adventure

Travel

  • Getting My First Taste of Nepali Arts & Family Traditions

    Staying at a monastery guest house was one of the most peaceful, serene experiences I’ve ever had. Smack in the middle of chaotic Kathmandu sits this oasis of spiritual grounds, devout monks going about their business, and spartan but very quiet hosting rooms and cafe gardens….except this morning when a concert of what sounded like… Read more

  • Monastery, Markets, Monkeys, Meditation & More

    I awoke at 5am to a chorus of bells and barking dogs, with some bird songs chiming in. Being on the grounds of a monastery that sits in the midst of a huge and bustling city, I shouldn’t have been surprised at any of this. I’d had a restful night’s sleep in any case. The… Read more

  • Alaska: America’s Final, Fantastic Frontier

    With all the international travel Andrew and I have done over many years, it’s taken this long to explore our own country’s vast wilderness state – Alaska. Even when we were living in Seattle, we never quite made it that far north and now we finally did. Admittedly we did this on a very luxurious… Read more

  • Winds of the World  | By: ChatGPT

    While on our latest trip to Italy and down the Danube River, I decided to try my luck at letting ChatGPT write a story about two couples with wanderlust…I felt compelled to share this and keep it for posterity…Enjoy! After forty years of marriage, Andrew and Esther still looked at each other like travel partners… Read more

  • The Rest of the Danube River Cruise: Greenery, Scenery, Town Squares and Memorials

    After our few days in Budapest, we sailed along the Danube River which – thank goodness – had enough water level the entire way to avoid any detours and bus rides that others had experienced other seasons as the river ebbed and flowed. With the exception of our last stop in Prague where we had… Read more

  • Cruising the Danube

    After our wonderful week in Puglia, we flew from Bari to Budapest. This is where our Silver Seas cruise on a beautiful riverboat began. We spent a couple of days exploring the city and found it to be both charming and humbling. The Hotel Matilde is very close to the waterfront and adjacent to some… Read more

  • Puglia Images: So Much to See, Never Enough Time

    It would take a Herculean effort at this point to document all the incredible experiences we had and sights we saw while in Puglia. We visited a number of lovely smaller cities during the week we were there, and I’ve collected a few choice photos to share. The memories that stick with me… Trani: A… Read more

  • A “Cesarine” Cooking Experience: So Yuuuum!

    We agreed that a quiet breakfast and sleepy midday was in order as we had planned a cooking class for the afternoon and evening. Cesarine is an Italy-wide organization that connects tourists with families or individuals who would like to host a cooking class. We were lucky to have been the first group to experience… Read more

  • Martina Franca and Wine Tasting

    We decided to visit Martina Franca – a nearby town – specifically because we’d heard about an antique street fair street fair from the owner of the bed-and-breakfast. We had rented a car so we could venture out easily to the many small towns and cities in the Puglia area and this turned out to… Read more

  • Grotti di Castellana

    The breakfasts at the main house of the bed-and-breakfast we stayed at were plentiful each morning. Micaela, the owner, does all the baking of breads, and there was always a spread of cereals, yogurts, fruit meats, and great coffee. We got to meet some of the other guests and particularly a couple from Amsterdam. He… Read more