Category: Travel

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Hockey in Sicily

Hockey and Sicily don’t seem like two words that should find themselves in the same sentence.  It’s hard enough to find ice for drinks let alone a whole sheet of ice to play a sport on.  Luckily ice isn’t absolutely necessary and luckily I didn’t leave my hockey equipment in the States when we moved here to Sicily.  From everything I could find online there wasn’t going to be a chance for me to play hockey.  This was a tough pill to swallow since I have played competitively for the past 30 years!! Yes I am old!   I packed my hockey equipment anyway Continue reading “Hockey in Sicily”

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Heaven? – A Trip to Santorini

Detroit is a funny place.  It has a terrible reputation for its economic situation.  On top of that it is always at the top of the wrong lists, such as crime and murder rates across America.  Growing up in the Detroit area you turn a blind eye to these problems and enjoy amazing Greek food.  Im not sure what the initial catalyst was, but there is a huge Greek population in Detroit.  So much so that Detroit has a “Greek Town”, which is a neighborhood in downtown Detroit where you are surrounded by Greek restaurants, bakeries, and now Greek Town Casino.  As a family we would regularly venture to downtown Detroit (with our windows and doors locked) to satisfy our Greek food addiction.  It was a great experience going into these restaurants.  Giant flaming saganaki cheese plates warmed your face as a nearby waiter would yell a loud  “OPAAA!!”  The ceilings in these restaurants Continue reading “Heaven? – A Trip to Santorini”

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Surfing in Sicily

Before moving to Sicily we lived in San Diego for 10+ years.  When I moved to San Diego from Michigan I immediately got in the water.  Surfing was my daily obsession after work and whenever I had any free time.  Eventually I learned how to avoid drowning and then moved onto actually surfing and I was hooked.  I was lucky to have a bunch of friends through hockey that were also excellent surfers.  They taught me and protected me when I made stupid mistakes with the locals.  These are the negative types of experiences that end surfing for a lot of people.  To say that surfing Continue reading “Surfing in Sicily”

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Super Fast AVE Train to Madrid Spain

I found a new love in traveling…. Trains.  Let me count the ways:

  1. Easy on and off compared to Airports – No rubber gloves 🙂
  2. Relaxed enviornment on the train compared to planes – Especially if you pay a little extra for a quiet car 😉
  3. Smooth ride with the ability to enjoy the countryside of the country that you are traveling in.
  4. Speed – This AVE train from Seville to Madrid made it in less than 2.5 hours, where driving would take over 5 hours!!!
  5. City Center to City Center traveling.  Eliminating airport transfers makes a huge difference in the amount of time to be enjoyed in your destination.

I had heard that trains were the way to go in Europe, but after this 3rd train ride in Europe it became glaringly clear.  With the time spent getting to the airport and getting through everything,  the time advantage for flying is shrinking more and more it seems.

Needless to say we arrived in Madrid in Continue reading “Super Fast AVE Train to Madrid Spain”

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An Introduction to Tapas in Seville Spain

Growing up I remember my dad having a joke that he was whispering to my grandparents.  He was whispering so that my brothers and I couldn’t hear what the joke was about.  My dad (we call him Pop.. might be a mid western thing ) didn’t realize that I have super hero hearing and heard most of the joke.  At the time I was around 8, so I didn’t really get the whole joke, but it was about bulls, matadors, and meatballs.  A man repeated a restaurant Continue reading “An Introduction to Tapas in Seville Spain”

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Lipari Island – A Sicilian Getaway

What do you do when you are on an island for an extended period of time? You go to a smaller nearby island. Sorry for the random thought, but I think its funny how many islands we have been to over the past couple years. We might have an obsession with them or maybe some type of “hermit” psychological brain condition that we should spend some time looking into. But who has time for that when there are so many islands to visit in the Mediterranean. MUST SEE more islands. One thing that I like about islands is that they always have their own identity. Lipari definitely has its own identity despite the fact that it is less than an hour away from Sicily via hydro boat (or is it hydrofoil? Continue reading “Lipari Island – A Sicilian Getaway”

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Lech Austria – Shhhpegetti and Skiing

Your probably wondering about the title and  if Nick has been drinking and writing again.  Although I am a little delirious after the Easter feast we just had,  I misspelled Spaghetti because this was how our Austrian friends pronounced it.  This still cracks us up today whenever anyone says spaghetti…  we don’t get out much.  Anyways now that that is all sorted out, onto the trip.

This past winter season we promised ourselves that we would test our skiing skills on the Alps.  The birthplace for skiing.   Trying to pick Continue reading “Lech Austria – Shhhpegetti and Skiing”

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Sicily Gets “Best Beach in the World” Honor!

Tripadvisor has put out their “Best of 2013” and a Sicilian beach scored the best beach in the World!  Yes, beating out all the Hawaiian beaches, Caribbean beaches, and Mexican beaches.  The beach is called Rabbit beach and its on an island off the southern coast of Sicily called Lampedusa.   We have yet to go to this island, but it was on my radar before this.   Its about an hour flight from Catania airport or a boat ride from the southern coast.  Darwin airlines (whom I have never heard of) seems to be the only airline that flies direct to the island.  Then once your there you have to take a boat to the beach, since that is the only way that it can supposedly be accessed.

Im excited that  Sicily got such a great honor and Im equally excited to check the beach out this year sometime.  I will report back with pictures of course.  This beach looks very similar to Continue reading “Sicily Gets “Best Beach in the World” Honor!”

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Cassis France – Southern France Surprise

Cassis isn’t a typical town that comes to mind when folks talk about Southern France.   When you have Nice, St. Tropez, and Cannes as neighbors its probably tough to get some attention.  We actually liked Cassis better than all those towns.  We found out about it from one of my San Diego friends that is married to a French girl.  Also it turns out that Rick Steve’s talks a bit about it as well in one of his France tour guides.  We really enjoyed how the town didn’t have any type of touristy vibe to it, but had a lot to offer.  One of the days we Continue reading “Cassis France – Southern France Surprise”