Traveling with a baby: Fun? Crazy? Naive? We didn’t know but decided to roll the dice and see. With me being on mat leave and D having left over holiday time, we wanted to take advantage of our time away from the office and go far away. After considering our warm-weather options we decided on a month-long adventure to New Zealand’s North Island, leaving in mid-November. We had never been, the climate seemed nice, the photos we had seen were stunning, and it is a very safe country to travel in with excellent health care. So with that limited amount of knowledge we booked flights from Vancouver to Auckland and a campervan and bought two travel books that we didn’t really even have time to read until we arrived.
Category Archives: Travel
Whistler Getaway
Last week we skipped town, packed up the Phil & Ted’s travel crib, and went for a little getaway to Whistler. We stayed at Nita Lake Lodge and had no real plans except to relax. It was great to have a change of scenery and to stay in a hotel, with no laundry, dishes, or cleaning to do… having someone to make the bed and fresh towels every day felt like a luxury after my last three months with a baby taking up a lot of my time and energy. It was sunny for half of our time there and rainy for the rest, which was fine by me as that was the perfect excuse to sit by the fire and drink wine and eat baked goods from Purebread. Usually I like to go to the spa when I’m in Whistler (either at Scandinave or the Four Seasons) and go to a yoga class at YYoga NeoWhistler, but neither of those things happened this trip. Instead, this trip was all about family time, leisurely walks, and happy hours. Here are a few iPhone snapshots from our trip.
The Perfect Wine Weekend: Oliver, BC
Now that I’m not pregnant anymore, it’s time to return to one of my favourite subjects: wine. I really like wine tasting (and wine purchasing!) in Oliver, British Columbia. Over the years, it’s changed quite a bit. The result is more wineries than ever to visit, some great restaurants, and cute little guest houses to stay in. D and I spent a great weekend here last September before we got pregnant. Looking back on it, we really couldn’t have timed it any better – it was basically a wine-filled last hoorah after a great summer and before alcohol was off limits to me. I look back on this weekend fondly. On that note, here are my tips for a great weekend away in this little gem of a region.
New York Trip!
What an amazing city! I love New York. D and I recently spent a week there on vacation. We decided to go before Baby Bean arrives in June and as it turned out, February worked really well with our schedules. Our time there overlapped with New York Fashion Week, the NBA All-Star Weekend, and… freezing cold temperatures (average of about -10 C!). This West Coast girl is not used to that kind of cold. At least it was clear and crisp with blue skies, so it was actually quite pretty and it wasn’t so bad as long as we layered up before venturing out. So much for all my careful outfit planning and packing though – my little leather jacket and stiletto booties didn’t see the light of day, and instead I mostly just wore my warmest clothes and a hat the entire time. Oh well, I’m not complaining one bit. It was a wonderful trip and I’m so glad we were able to go!
As for what to do in NYC, there are whole websites devoted to this topic and it’s really hard to cover off in a little blog post. However, I’ve tried my best to sum up what we got up to while there and to compile a list of recommendations in case you find yourself in the Big Apple anytime soon.
Weekend Recap: January 9-11, 2015
I always know it’s going to be a good weekend when Seattle is involved. I love that city and promise to do a more comprehensive Seattle post soon. It has great food, good shopping, and it has a casual coolness to it… not to mention they’ve got that happy hour thing down. I spent my weekend split between there and Vancouver and it was a good one. My recap of the weekend is below…
Oregon Road Trip
Oregon is the perfect place for a road trip. There’s lots to see and do, and the amazing stretch of coastline makes for a spectacular backdrop for your trip. D and I went at the end of the summer this year and had a blast. We hit the coast, wine country, and Portland. Each of these regions is distinct and has a lot to offer. Here’s a list of the highlights:
Just Maui’d: Our Honeymoon
I love Maui! We went there for our honeymoon in August right after our wedding. It was so incredibly perfect – it’s romantic, relaxing, and beautiful. We normally do more adventurous travel (last year we went to the Middle East and saw some camels and the Dead Sea, the year before that we were in South East Asia) but for our honeymoon we wanted a slower pace to just enjoy each other’s company, plus the idea of an easy-to-get-to destination from our home base of Vancouver was appealing. If you’re thinking a trip to Hawaii is in your future, here are my Maui tips:
karineinthecity 