Bringing Down the White Picket Fence
A Couple's Quest to Live Globally
Archives
For a couple of years now we’ve been quietly stashing away points in our United airlines app for the trip of a lifetime: Japan. Once we’d accumulated enough points to obtain two roundtrip tickets from Newark to Tokyo, we paid the $100 in taxes and fees and finally booked the flight. It would turn out to be one of the best decisions of our lives. On June 23rd, we Ubered to the… Read More
It has been about a month since we returned home from our first trip to Portugal, and we can’t stop talking about it. Paul’s YouTube subscriptions are now overflowing in the category of “expat tips for moving to Portugal”, and upon my arrival home each day after work, he’s eager to show me every video he could find highlighting some small city, town, and/or village he thinks would suit us best. He… Read More
Before I start this post about Healdsburg and Santa Rosa, I’d like to take some time to talk seriously about the English muffin experience we had in St. Helena. If you read the First Stop: Yountville post, then you know we made a stop at The Model Bakery on the way to Calistoga to get our very first taste of Oprah’s favorite English muffin. After reflecting on this experience over the last… Read More
It all started with a postcard taped to a former colleague’s desk. A simple postcard from the Wythe Hotel, Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Intrigued, I inquired, and my colleague raved. She had gotten married there and her 5 star review made me swoon. I came home and put it on our list. A pandemic put that list on hold, and on President’s Day Weekend 2022, after months of hiding from Omicron, we finally… Read More
We’ve been embracing train travel more than ever these days. Amtrak has become therapeutic in delivering us from point A to point B without the stress and exhaustion of navigating a car on America’s increasingly dangerous highways. We are comforted by the chug of the train beneath us as we pop in our AirPods and watch the window show. It thrills us that we are well on our way to earning a… Read More
We’ve suffered a great deal of loss in both 2019 and 2020. In fulfilling the commitment to take care of our parents and give back to them everything they so generously gave to us, we’ve spent the past few years practically living in intensive care units, emergency rooms, waiting rooms, other small rooms (the ones they take you to when they have nothing good to say), and fluorescent lit and underemployed rehabilitation… Read More
I never got to eat at Dooky Chase’s restaurant, and because of that, I never had the honor of meeting Leah Chase, a culinary icon of New Orleans. Sadly, Leah Chase died on June 1st at the age of 96, leaving behind a legacy bigger and more famous than the delicious gumbo she served up to presidents, civil right’s activists, celebrities, and travelers. Leah Chase transformed her husband’s small sandwich shop in… Read More
What do you know about this quote carved into the marble of the southeast wall of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C.? If, like me, you read the words and thought, that’s powerful and pertinent, but what’s the context? Did he say it? Write it? Who was it directed at? So, I did a little research. This is from a letter that Thomas Jefferson wrote to Samuel Kercheval, a Virginia lawyer and… Read More
Of all of the photos that Paul has taken over the years, this is one of my favorites. The lady in the hat, sitting by the Seine in front of the Louvre. It is often assumed that I posed for this photo, but I assure you, my arms and legs aren’t nearly that toned, and I do not own a purse or hat that glamorous. The tourists flock to the museum to… Read More
This city exceeded our expectations. From food to friendly, Cleveland rates 10 + on the cities we love list. Every local treated us as if we were their friend. Many tried to talk us into moving. The exploration of a new city can sometimes leave you feeling slightly unsure of how you will be greeted upon arrival. Will you feel safe? Will you feel welcome? Cleveland will make you feel all of… Read More
Bringing Down the White Picket Fence 