Mt. Pisgah- www.afriendafar.com #mtpisgah #northcarolina

A Favorite Place: Mt. Pisgah in North Carolina

Mt. Pisgah- www.afriendafar.com #mtpisgah #northcarolina

I have many a favorite place, but one that will always have a special place in my heart is Mt. Pisgah on the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina. One reason why Mt. Pisgah is so dear to me is that when I was growing up my family often took a trip up to the mountains in the summer to camp since it’s much cooler than back home in Atlanta. I still enjoy camping today, and Mt. Pisgah is somewhere I like returning to over and over again. My husband and I even visited Mt. Pisgah when we got engaged. There’s also an Inn to stay in if camping isn’t your cup of tea and an adjoining restaurant that serves up pretty tasty meals, including mountain trout.

Mt. Pisgah- www.afriendafar.com #mtpisgah #northcarolina

The beauty of Mt. Pisgah never gets old. Gazing out at the Blue Ridge Mountains makes you forget the hustle, bustle and busyness you left behind in day-to-day life and brings you back into living in the present. No dwelling on the past or looking forward to the future but being mindful of the moment, brought back to live in the here and now. Conquering the hike to the summit of Mt. Pisgah makes you feel accomplished but also affords an incredible view that simultaneously makes you feel on top of the world and reminds you of what a small space you occupy in it.

Mt. Pisgah- www.afriendafar.com #mtpisgah #northcarolina

 

 

 

 

 

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Shot of the Week

Shot of the Week - Pommard,  Bourgogne, France - www.AFriendAfar.com

We fell in love with this view as we entered into Pommard on our bicycles in Burgundy, France last week! This lovely town on the Route des Grands Crus is surrounded by vineyards and produces only red wines. You can see more of our favorite Route des Grands Crus pictures here.

Mariage Frères - www.AFriendAfar.com

J’Adore: The Mariage Fréres Tea Shop in Paris

The Mariage Fréres Salon de Thé in Paris is my personal definition of luxury. When I’ve spent all morning navigating the Louvre or wandering down cobblestone streets, a nice, long break to savor the flavors of Paris is exactly what I need. It’s the most wonderful tea shop in Paris and a feast for the eyes!

Mariage Frères - www.AFriendAfar.com

The Mariage Frères Tea Emporium – a beautiful shop with Old World charm. [Photo credit: Blueberration]

The Most Wonderful Tea Shop in Paris

Stephanie and I first discovered Mariage Fréres tea at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Bangkok, where we were looking for an escape from the city. We had been living in Bangkok for months, and while we thrived on the city’s chaos and excitement, we needed to treat ourselves to occasional peace and quiet. It was there that our obsession with fine teas began.

Mariage Fréres is a French tea company that began in 1854 and served as a wholesaler of fine teas until opening its first Salon de Thé on Rue du Bourg-Tibourg in 1983. The company currently has brick and mortar stores only in France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan, but you can order anything from 100g of tea to a $2,000 gold-plated teapot on their website. I’ve visited their Japanese store in Ginza and their Parisian stores at the Louvre and in the Étoile neighborhood.

Mariage Frères - www.AFriendAfar.com

With this many beautiful options, how does one choose? I brought home 3 different canisters of tea for myself, and another one for Stephanie. We’ll be having some glamorous tea parties very soon! [Photo credit: Blueberration]

During my time in Paris last week, my mother and I dined in the Salon de Thé at the Louvre while my husband searched for his perfect Tour de France viewing spot in the rain. We had different goals for the day.

The Mariage Frères Salon de Thè - www.AFriendAfar.com

The Mariage Frères Salon de Thè [Photo credit: Blueberration]

The ivory-suited waiters took wonderful care of us, providing us with a menu of their tea selection, which is so vast that they also handed us a book that cataloged each tea. A large catalog of options can be overwhelming, so you can always count on their recommendations. I can be a creature of habit, so I chose my absolute favorite tea, their Marco Polo black tea and a delicious tiny canelé cake. My mother ordered the Paris Breakfast tea with a scone. Our teas arrived in their Art Deco tea pots, which went wonderfully with the beautiful white marble tables and vintage decor of the store.

The Mariage Frères Salon de Thè - www.AFriendAfar.com

Afternoon tea at the Mariage Frères Salon de Thè in the Louvre

It was the perfect mini-vacation from our exciting day in Paris. The most difficult part was deciding what to bring home from the shop! No, I didn’t splurge on that lovely gold camel teapot, but I did bring home the matching tea spoon and a few canisters of tea!

This is the first of many posts on our Tour de France. Click here to read other great posts, and see our favorite pictures here.

stonehenge feature photo- edited

Epic Site Reviews: Unimpressed and Impressed Tourists

A couple of articles I read on Afar and CNN recently inspired this roundup of bad versus good reviews about iconic sites on Yelp and TripAdvisor. Are these reviewers even talking about the same place? I have to laugh at some of these otherwise they’d make me cry! Here are some epic site reviews!

Eiffel Tower

eiffel tower

Bad: Just make sure you go with someone you love, or buy your tickets online, in advance – because you are going to be spending a hell of a long time with them in a queue that moves at a snail’s pace.[…] I’m gonna do it, and maybe this is the period talking, but I’m actually giving the Tour Eiffel THREE STARS.  That’s it!

Good: I live in Ohio and they have a tiny version at an amusement park called kings island .. it was much more impressive to see the real thing. It’s so big you see it from all over Paris .. at night is my fav.

[Yelp]

Machu Picchu

Peru 345

Bad: This is the most expensive tourist destination I’ve been to, after Antarctica. Train, bus, entrance fee, small place, expensive food… Sure great view, same as what you see on guidebook and website, thats it. I made revisit and things have gotten only worse (better 7 years ago). I recommend this place only if you have so much money to waste.

Good: Visiting Machu Picchu was a lifelong dream, and the trip far exceeded my expectations. Pictures cannot capture the beauty and majesty of the site. Getting there is quite a journey, involving multiple planes, trains and buses, but the experience is worth the effort.

[TripAdvisor]

Stonehenge

Bad: Some rocks in the middle of nowhere. Was part of a tour and we immediately vacated to go somewhere more interesting. The story is intriguing. The physical artifact not-so-much. I suggest the Roman Baths in the City of Bath as a sightseeing alternative. If you really, really, really love Stonehenge then look at the pictures.

Good: How do you not give this amazing cite 5 stars.  WTH, this place is amazing, gorgeous and just something that makes you feel history.

[Yelp, Photo credit: Laura Brown]

The Grand Palace

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Bad:Expensive and same same” Temple, temple and temples again. There all the same and it’s really expensive. 400 bahts (10 euros!). Plus, it’s unaccessible with public transport. Requires tricycle or taxi.

Good: “Bejeweled temple heaven” The most beautiful manmade place we have ever seen. It’s a must see if you are in Bangkok – not to be missed. Gorgeous Thai architecture and design. We didn’t have this on our bucket list, so we added it just to cross it off. We had no idea. Crowded but glorious.

[TripAdvisor]

Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon

Bad: Whoopity do, Grand Canyon.  You are a giant hole in the ground.  You were caused be erosion.  You don’t have roller coasters or dippin’ dots.  Jeeesh.  Can you say “overrated?”

Good: Who knew that a big hole in the ground could be so cool!  That is so for the biggest highlight in my life.  They do it if you can go lower every time you walk down.  You can also touch the rocks and see the different reds oranges and colors of rocks!  I loved the trails and the different was that you could go, I loved how it was built out, my one tip it can get boring after 4-5 hours spending time at the same place but, at first it is amazing!

[Yelp, Photo credit: Laura Brown]

Please leave any thoughts in the comments below. We’d love to hear from you!

Shot of the Week

Shot of the Week- Provence Lavender Field- #afriendafar #shotoftheweek #provence

Ah I’m dying over here with all these photos of lavender fields, wineries and chateaus in France. Meagan & her husband Ryan are doing an amazing job documenting their trip abroad with Meagan’s mom. I’m loving this shot of a lavender field in Provence- take me there now! Follow us on Instagram @afriendafar to see more gorgeous photos.

Guest Post: Making the Best of Interrupted Travel

Today’s post is by our good “friend afar,” Melissa! She’s my oldest sister and along with my niece met my husband and I in Greece in May. The flight to meet up with us in Athens didn’t quite go as planned so she shares her story of making the best of interrupted travel.

Ninety-nine percent of the time that I’ve traveled, travel plans work the way they are supposed to. That is saying a lot for two multi-week trips to Europe that both involved multiple flights and trains to connect between cities. However, eventually something is going to go awry the more you travel. You can either let it ruin your trip and be miserable or enjoy the experiences that you wouldn’t have had otherwise. We have talked about these experiences since our trip more than those that were planned.

To maximize our time in Greece, the well laid plan was to arrive in Athens in the morning, meet up with our travel companions, then take the ferry from Piraeus to Hydra to stay for a couple of nights before exploring Athens. The only direct connection to arrive in Athens in the morning is via JFK and when bad weather and a closed runway there caused our delay out of Atlanta, we missed our connection, and were switched to the flight through Frankfurt. Due to the delay we arrived in Germany when we were supposed to be arriving in Athens! Instead we had a four hour layover and then another four hour flight. Since we were only spending four days in Greece before continuing our travel to the UK we were both discouraged especially since our delayed arrival in Greece would be after the last island ferry and we would be staying the night in Athens rather than on the island.

After eating a good German breakfast and enjoying strong coffee and letting our travel companions know of our delay, my 20-year old daughter was ready get some sleep in the chair at the airport, which gave me time to use the airport’s wifi to rebook travel plans. I’m the travel planner in the family but my sister had researched and booked most of the Greece portion of this trip. I also have not traveled alone nor with just one of my children to unfamiliar places so I knew I needed to come through for us since the two of us would be spending the night alone. We wanted to stay near the port and take the first ferry the following day. I quickly began to wonder what travelers did about interrupted plans before the internet as I settled in to research some options! Not yet an avid user of Trip Advisor (I’m a top contributor now because it has been so helpful) I started by googling hotels near the Port of Piraeus and stumbled on a blog listing several. I didn’t want to spend much since I thought I would already be paying for a night on the Hydra I wouldn’t be using (they didn’t end up charging us) and having to rebuy ferry tickets (you are only able to cancel in person at the port before the scheduled departure…difficult when you are in another country). I found that Hotel Argo Anita got good reviews and was listed for a reasonable price. I ended up booking it through Booking.com which I also had not used before. This was great because I could book the room but it didn’t ask for a credit card so I could avoid another wasted night (just in case).

Once finally arriving in Greece….sitting alone at the baggage claim carousal…. and finally wandering to the lost baggage counter our adventure can finally begin….

We had already planned to take the bus to the port anyway and meet our party there so I was pretty set on that part. The guy who sat behind us on the bus happened to be the same one I had inquired with about how to purchase a bus ticket. I asked him how I would know where I should get off at the port and he said he wasn’t going that far but that we should move to the front and ask the bus driver to tell us where to get off when we got to Piraeus. I discovered this would be invaluable for the remainder of my trip because unlike the subway, there is no way to know where you are or where you should get off and everyone just seems to know.

I had written some vague directions I found on the hotel website about where they were located once we arrived at the port but thankfully Hotel Argo Anita wanted to be  found as they had attached yellow and black printed signed with Hotel Argo Anita and an arrow to many of the local street signs. After twisting through several blocks that seemed a little deserted and seeing several stray cats picking through trash we found our much desired destination (a bed) and were relieved to find it more welcoming than the surrounding area.

argo

Welcoming Lobby of the Hotel [Photo credit: Hotel Argo Anita]

The owners were very accommodating and quickly located the booking I’d made online while I inquired about securing a reservation on the 8am ferry. They rapidly had the company bring the ferry tickets to us and rather than take a taxi to the port in the morning they suggested we use their transportation which was free which you purchased breakfast. I reserved it figuring it would be the same or cheaper than a taxi anyway. Not wanting to venture back into the surrounding neighborhood in the dark, we ate dinner in their little restaurant which consisted of a wavy potato chip appetizer , our first Greek salad in Greece, pizza (served with bread?), and my new favorite Mythos beer. It was a wonderful way to end a very long travel day.

Hotel Argo Anita- www.afriendafar.com #athens #pireaus

Photo credit: Hotel Argo Anita

We were able to start the next morning with wonderful Greek yogurt, be transported to the ferry by a cute Grecian grandfatherly looking gentleman, and were finally on our way to our island destination, Hydra. What could have been a miserable experience and a wasted vacation day in one of the most beautiful places in the world turned out to be a memorable experience that neither of us will soon forget.best

Picture of Carey and Mel on the Ferry to Hydra!!

Picture of Carey and Mel on the Ferry to Hydra!!

By the way, the travel plans for the rest of the trip went without any more hiccups. An important tip when checking luggage is to carry on the essentials (chargers, converters when traveling overseas, etc) and enough clothes for a couple of days. Between the two of us, we had what we needed before being reunited with our checked bags at our hotel back in Athens. We didn’t have our swimsuits on Hydra though which gave us the perfect excuse to shop in a cute little boutique with very personal service. Another experience we wouldn’t have had except for our diversion.
What are your travel plans gone awry that turned into great stories?

[This is not a sponsored post. I just wanted to share the places and websites that helped us out during our interrupted travel!]

5 Travelers to Follow on Instagram Right Now

Is browsing Instagram the cure for our wanderlust, or is it making it worse?

There’s no telling, but we’re not about to slow down any time soon! We’ve found so many great travel photographers and bloggers on Instagram lately, and we want to share them with you. Here are 5 of our favorites right now! Follow their travels, and show them some love!

Patches of the world
Patches of the World
“Travelling open doors to new adventures or to beautiful Santorini.”
Teagan is a solo female travel blogger from Sydney, and her photos are creative and gorgeous!

Wherever Magazine

Wherever Magazine
“Hunting for…fishing, in Costa Rica”
We love this new magazine with artsy photography and wonderful stories. Their tagline: the print magazine of travel literature, travel culture and travel politics. nomadic | expatic | sarcastic. world citizen? We get it.

Traveling_Chic
Traveling Chic

“Lovely homes on a lovely street in lovely London”
Jenny’s an attorney by day, blogger by night. We’re right there with her.

Lucy on the Luce

Lucy Dodsworth – Lucy on the Luce
“This time last year I was celebrating my birthday in lovely Strasbourg, wandering the canals in Petite France before watching fireworks over the city.”
Lucy is a part-time traveller and full-time travel obsessive. Her blog is fantastic!

The Belle Abroad
The Belle Abroad
“Kensington for days.”
She’s a southern belle on an adventure abroad living in London. Sounds amazing!

Quote of the Week

Paris

Meagan arrived in beautiful Paris over the weekend and is sharing all her photos live on Instagram! Expect lots of blog posts on her France trip upon her return. Because after all, “Paris is always a good idea” according to Audrey Hepburn. And we agree!