Spent a little less than a week in Portugal recently and enjoyed it very much.
We split the week between Lisbon and Porto and I’ll get into it more below, but in my opinion Porto > Lisbon.
It’s been a long time since I spent time in Europe during the summer and wow is it pleasant. The week was filled with seafood, pasteis de nata, and good cheap wine.
Maybe this impression was affected by two red-eye flights within 3 days, but Lisbon was just alright. There were some nice areas, but it also felt a little seedy?
- Alfama was a fun neighborhood. For an afternoon, we just walked around and followed the twisting and turning cobblestone streets. Around each corner were small beer garden-like areas with outdoor stalls selling drinks and bar snacks.
- The view was from Miradouro de Santa Luzia was beautiful, with the expanse of red clay roofs as far as the eye could see. A few musicians were playing guitar and singing which added to the peaceful ambiance.
- Belem was nice. Belem Tower was cool, but the line to get into Jeronimos Monastery was annoying. The timed tickets didn’t mean anything so we ended up waiting over an hour under the sun. The pasteis de nata we had at Pastéis de Belém were our favorite from the trip though!
We took a three-hour train from Lisbon to Porto which was pretty smooth sailing and a convenient way to hop cities. Porto, known for it’s port wine, was smaller than Lisbon but very cute and nice. I felt like we got to really know the city in our 2.5 days there.
- There were tons of churches in the city
- Palacio do Bolsa (palace of the city’s commerce association) was a cool little tour. The architecture inside was gorgeous
- Very much enjoyed spending a sunny afternoon across the river in Gaia sipping wine and drinks from a waterfront port lodge.
- My favorite spot was up on the hill at Jardim do Morro, where we spent our last sunset on the grass drinking a bottle of vinho verde out of paper cups we snagged from McDonald’s. There were some DJs spinning music and some bachelorette party groups, the vibes were simply immaculate.
We also discovered the perfect summer drink called a Porto Tonico, which is basically just port wine + tonic water + a little citrus and mint. Let the summer of Porto Tonicos begin!
I started off the new year with two weeks in New Zealand! The country was absolutely gorgeous.
Spent a week on each island and throughout the trip, every day was packed with stunning views. Around each corner there were beautiful waterfalls, turquoise blue lakes, or epic mountain ranges and glaciers.
Some interesting tidbits:
1. Driving on other side of the car and the other side of the road was initially very jarring, but was eventually easier to adjust to than I thought. It didn’t help that I had to pick up the rental car from a parking lot was very narrow and packed with cars. Sweaty palms and all, I cautiously navigated out and was able to get used to that goofy style after a couple days of driving.
2. New Zealand was pretty rural, especially the North Island where we drove by many pastures of sheep and cattle. The “big” cities weren’t very big and we were surprised by how early most restaurant kitchens closed (8pm!).
3. Hobbiton was really cool! I’m not a huge Lord of the Rings fan or anything, but have seen the movies and it was awesome to explore the Shire in person. The tour was great and packed with a lot of interesting facts from behind the scenes. I also had a delicious meat pie at the cafe on site.
4. I bungy jumped for the first time, 43 meters off the Kawarau Bridge! This was actually the original spot where bungy jumping started, so it was cool to take my first jump here. It was a blast! Though it was still scary of course, as everything in my brain told me not to jump. I wouldn’t say I’m an adrenaline junkie, but I like forcing myself out of my comfort zone and love new experiences, so this definitely fit the bill.
5. I also flew in a helicopter for the first time. I was surprised by how stable the ride was, which in hindsight makes sense. We flew onto a glacier and got to have a little snowball fight up top.
6. So. Many. Spectacular. Waterfalls.
7. I was impressed by all of the amazing public parks for kids! They were huge and had really expansive play structures, like full on rock climbing walls, giant slides, mini ropes courses, and one even had a full-on obstacle course (think America Ninja Warrior) and dirt bike park.
8. Last but not least, the whole reason for the trip was to attend my good friend’s wedding in picturesque Queenstown. E+J, it made me so happy to celebrate with ya’ll and thanks for giving me an excuse to finally check New Zealand off my bucket list.
All in all, New Zealand met all of my highest expectations and was a much needed outdoorsy vacation to kick off the year.
2022: Creating my own New York Moments
At the end of last year, I expected growth and transitions in career and personal life, and those came to fruition with a bang.
I did also start a new job, but this year was defined by my move to New York City, where I spent the last nine months of 2022.
I didn’t move across the country to the big city to find myself. I went to explore and tap into a part of me that had been dormant for awhile: starting from (almost) scratch and learning how to live in a new place again. And that I did. I experienced many firsts: hauling my laundry to a laundromat, learning a subway map and taking the train on a frequent basis, and just living through the daily ups and downs in a real “big city” city. I had to put myself out there in new social circles and make new friends.
There’s something just very “in your face” about New York. I always felt this when I rode in a packed subway train, standing shoulder to shoulder with a bunch of other people from different walks of life. You can’t hide from it. There’s a grittiness to it and for better or for worse, a sense that we’ll all get through this (life) together. In a way, that was both inspiring and comforting.
But what I loved most about New York was the energy and that the potential of each day was so big and wide and new. It was the mecca of spontaneity. I could step outside of my apartment in the morning, just keep saying yes and seeing where that would take me.
I had days where I started out with one group of friends, was introduced to friends of friends, and then ended up taking in a completely new experience with them. I bumped into an F1 driver while on a date. I spontaneously played drinking games off a random bench we found on the street in a bachelorette party while waiting in line for pizza.
I had nights where I’ve kept the party going until the sun came up again. I met someone who had a single brother with my name and a mom with my mom’s name (what are the odds??). And on my last night, I went out with friends on a Monday night, to a Christmas bar, a Bay Area bar, and capped it off with a competitive game of shuffleboard to gift away my plant.
These were some of my New York moments.
I’m a natural planner, but I hope I can take some of that spontaneity of New York with me. And who knows, maybe I’ll end up back there soon again.
I’m writing all of this out while on a plane to New Zealand to celebrate a good friend’s wedding. It feels a bit weird that, through the magic of a long flight and time zones, I will have departed on December 30, 2022 and will land on January 1, 2023. I’ll be missing the symbolic New Year’s Eve celebration, but nowadays the years feel like they fly by faster and faster…
Looking ahead to 2023, I’m hopeful to find two things: a place of my own and love (again).
I’ve been in a little bit of a lull in progressing towards my goal of visiting all 50 states, but was recently inspired by a friend to pick it up again. While I’m out here living in the Northeast, I figured I might as well hit up the states nearby, so over the last couple months, I’ve gone on a few weekend road trips to do just that.
During Labor Day weekend, one of my friends was in Baltimore, Maryland for work so I met up with her to explore. The transportation was a little different this trip as I took a bus on the way there and a train on the way back through Delaware.
Most of what I knew about Baltimore was from watching The Wire (an all-time great show btw). I was able to check another baseball stadium off my list by watching the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards. It was a fun atmosphere with the team finally back in playoff contention. I had the best crab cakes I’ve ever eaten at Faidley’s in Lexington Market. Half of the stalls in the market were vacant though and felt like a sad sign of where the city had fallen. Baltimore seemed like a city that was once bustling in it’s heyday but was now on the downswing. It reminded me of Detroit, with a downtown area that felt a little deserted and neglected. I hope it’s make it’s recovery someday.
After Baltimore, I hopped on an Amtrak train to Delaware (our nation’s first state!). Riding Amtrak was super smooth and convenient, made me wish that we had better train systems throughout the country. I arrived in Wilmington, Delaware and spent a day exploring President Biden’s hometown. There were a lot of interesting historical buildings downtown, including the old public library. It was definitely small town and I wished they had rental bikes to more easily explore. Instead I had to use my feet and walked the greenway all along the Brandywine Creek and visited their art museum.
Maryland and Delaware were states 45 and 46!
The next weekend, I decided to do a solo road trip through Vermont and Maine. The Fall foliage in the Northeast is something else and I was in awe surrounded by beautiful vibrant colors the entire drive. Along the way, I stopped in Hartford, Connecticut for some pizza and a walk through Bushnell Park. After that, I made a pit stop in Springfield Massachusetts to check out the Springfield Armory, a now historical site where lots of guns were produced for wars in the past. I made it into Brattleboro, Vermont in the late afternoon and got to enjoy a beer while watching a gorgeous sunset on the river. My last stop of the day was at my hotel in Keene, New Hampshire. It’s kind of crazy that I stepped foot in 5 states in the span of 10 hours. There’s so many states so close to each other up here!
I continued my trip to Portland, Maine, where I visited the Allagash Brewery, which produces one of my favorite beers, and indulged in lobster rolls. The Old Port District was cute with shops and restaurants between cobblestone and brick streets. Fun fact: Portland, Oregon was named after Portland, Maine. As I traveled South along the coast, I stopped by three lighthouses (Bug Light, Portland Head Light, Nubble Lighthouse), which were pretty picturesque when it wasn’t too foggy. They each had their own unique designs.
Vermont and Maine were states 47 and 48!
My last mini road trip was to Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia. I did the Diamond Heights hike up a mountain and took in the sunset overlooking the city where the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers meet. I caught the tail end of Fall foliage and it made for a beautiful backdrop as fallen leaves littered the hiking trail.
On the second day of the trip, I swung by Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. It was extremely foggy and misty all morning, which made for nonexistent overlooks and some spooky looking trails. Despite the weather, I was able to hike two trails: The first was the Compton Peak trail which led me to a unique set of rock formations. The second was to Dark Hollow Falls, a really cool multi-leveled waterfall.
West Virginia was state 49! Only one left to go…
Last weekend, I had the honor of being the best man at my best friend’s wedding. The couple actually got officially married two years ago (such is pandemic life), but this was the real party.
The last of my best man duties was to give a speech at the reception and not going to lie, I was definitely a little anxious in the days leading up to it. I had known this day was coming for two years (hah), and every now and then I would jot down some notes. But I didn’t really piece stuff together until my long flight back home and then edited and rewrote a bunch of times in the few days leading up to the big day.
I had been to enough weddings to know what I needed to do, but it was surprisingly hard to write out. First, it was crazy to think that V and I have been friends for almost 15 years. So much has happened between us that it was hard to pick out which stories I wanted to tell. And for the most part, I retained the memorable feelings from all that time together rather than the specific details of those many moments.
But I eventually figured out a good flow for the speech and rehearsed 5-10 times and felt ready.
Come wedding day, I had a few drinks after the ceremony during cocktail hour to loosen up and the rest was kind of a blur. Before I knew it, I was up at the front with the mic and a glass of champagne.
Nerves aside, I took a risk and went without notes because when was I ever going to get to chance to do this again, talking about two of the best people I know in front of two hundred family and friends… probably never. And hey, if I lost my place, I wouldn’t have a problem ad libbing and just talking about my best friend. This was speech topic I knew really, really well.
I had intended to lean more humor in my speech, but I felt quite sentimental writing it and delivering it. Fortunately, I think most of my jokes landed and it went off without a hitch. Certainly helped that I had a lot of friends cheer me on all through out.
Walked back to my table to cheers of “Stan-ley! Stan-ley!” where a glass of Henessey awaited my arrival. Felt a weight off my shoulders and got to enjoy what was one of the greatest parties I’ve ever been a part of. There’s nothing quite like seeing your best friend get married and then being able to celebrate.
Looking back, I was honestly so happy to get the chance to give the best man speech and get to play a role in the festivities. V, hope you’re ready to give a speech in the future.