As the fifth of our six cities, we knew that we’d be spending our time in Bali relaxing and unwinding; a vacation from our vacation, if you will. After haggling a ride from a local taxi driver at the airport, we made our way to Seminyak, the first stop on our tour of the island.

We checked in and headed out into the night, walking a half mile from our hotel towards the beach. We were soon greeted with the light of the half moon and the stars in the sky, the sound of crashing waves and the feeling of soft sand between our toes. Heaven!

Continue reading “Bali the Beautiful”

We used our last day in Vietnam to explore the famed Ha Long Bay. As we would learn from our guide, “One has not visited Vietnam until they have visited Ha Long Bay.”

The trip from Hanoi would take three and a half hours each way over bumpy rural roads, busy with buses and motorbikes. Our guide, Minh, noted that it was a busy weekend due to an upcoming national holiday. When we arrived, the port was flooded with hoards of other tourists boarding boats, busily chatting in unfamiliar languages, anxious to see the national landmark. Frustrated with the crowds and the long trip, we made our way to our boat, wondering whether the effort would be worth it.

Continue reading “Hello Ha Long”

Landing in Vietnam was an experience in and of itself. There were mass amounts of locals – men, women and children alike – pushing their way off the plane, eager to get back home to their families. Most stood up immediately after landing, before we had even taxied to our gate, grabbing their bags and making way to the exits. As far as first impressions go, we were a bit nervous.

Thankfully our hotel had arranged taxi transportation from the airport to the city, which took about 45 minutes with traffic. Never in our lives had we ever seen so many motorbikes, carrying so many bodies. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to traffic either; no lights or yield signs, no stop signs or crosswalks. Just chaos – or so we thought at first.

Continue reading “Happy Hanoi”

The traditional foods from each of the European countries we visited (Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary) had many parallels. Most dishes were a combination of a game meats, cheeses, and/or potato dumplings. Maggie was begging for vegetables by the time we were on our way to Asia. Most notably, each country had their own version of goulash, a stewed beef dish in a brown gravy sauce, as well as a unique schnitzel preparation.

While we enjoyed everything we tried, we wanted to detail a few unique food experiences we had as promised.

Continue reading “European Eats”

The train to Vienna was stress free and relaxing; we caught up on our blogging responsibilities and continued making our way through season one of Suits. We reviewed our Budapest itinerary and prepared for our walk out of the train station and over to our B&B.

Thankfully, our host in Budapest provided us with thorough instructions on how to navigate the tricky train stations and avoid the taxi “hyenas” (as they’re referred to by locals) to make our way to safely to the hotel. We arrived at our B&B around 10:30 am and were greeted at the front door by a handsome 30-something native, who spoke flawless English.

Insert Albert, the owner of Kapital Inn and the coolest person on the planet. He immediately welcomed us with hugs and sat us down at the kitchen table for fresh pastries, coffee and shots of the local appertives. We picked his brain about the best of Budapest and he asked us more about our adventure. After the hour-long conversation, it felt like we were old friends.

Continue reading “Buda — Pest”

Vienna, in one word, is elegant. Picture a tall, blonde haired, blued eyed ballerina walking gracefully through a rose garden in the summer sunshine, with a wrinkle-free tutu and hair slicked back (with zero “fly-aways”) to perfection. That ballerina = Vienna.

The buildings are sky-high, well manicured and painted in beautiful pastel tones — yellows, pinks, greens and white. They demand attention with their detailing and fancy buttresses. We could have stared at those buildings for days, clicking away on our cameras.

You get the picture, right?

When we stepped off the train from Prague to Vienna, we had no idea what to expect. In the first five minutes of our walk to our apartment, we stumbled upon the Belvedere Palace and gardens. This was probably our favorite experience in our two-day tour of Vienna; maybe because this was our first stop, but also because the grounds are absolutely breathtaking.

Continue reading “Lady Vienna, You So Fancy!”

Fun Fact: The city of Prague grew and prospered in the 1300s under Charles IV who ordered the building of several of the city’s most important landmarks still today: New Town, the Charles Bridge, St. Vitus Cathedral and the Charles University.

In our second day of exploration, we decided to take in more of the beautiful history and charm of the Czech Republic’s largest city, starting with the river Vltava.

Based on recommendations from friends and tour books, we decided to board one of the many Prague tour boats that offer hour-long, Jazz and dinner river boat cruises. We decided on the hour-long ride; it was the perfect amount of time to enjoy a Coca Cola Light and snap pictures of the gorgeous Castle Quarter and Charles Bridge from the waters below.

Continue reading “Exploring Prague”

Our experience in Prague was absolutely wonderful — from the historical sights and sounds of the Vltava river to the homemade goulash and freshly brewed pivo (beer) — it was the perfect first stop on Cash/Graham world tour.

Europe is a stunning reminder of just how young our homeland, the United States, actually is. Upon arrival it was immediately evident that the homes, churches and buildings in “Praha” were hundreds of years older than our own. Even our hotel — the Bohemian Plaza Residence — was a historical landmark to the Bohemian empire. It was built in 1879 and was then referred to as the “Wheat Tower” because grain supplies were brought into Medieval Prague through the tower’s gate. The Tower suffered massive damages following the Second World War/arrival of communism, but in 2002 the site underwent restoration(s) and is now back in business. The Bohemian Residence is located close to the heart of the city, about half a mile outside of “Old Town”.

Continue reading “Czech us out”

This entire day has been extremely surreal – the trip that we’ve been planning for 365 days is here! It’s TODAY, it’s TODAY!

The only time I’ve ever planned or prepared so long and hard for something was back in the first grade for my Disney princess birthday party (yes, this is Maggie… not Patrick).

We are currently snuggled up at JFK, sipping on cocktails (Amen) and waiting to board our flight to Prague. We’ll be taking off at 7:45pm ET and landing around 10:00am “Europe-time” tomorrow.

Continue reading “It’s Go Time!”