Trip Contest via Jaunt

Heroes of a different kind

Goin' down the Bayou

My love of New Orleans knows no bounds. I have been there several times and can never get enough of it. There is always something fun and exciting to see or do.
A must do when visiting the area is to take in a swamp/aligator tour.
We took the Honey Island Swamp tour, and it was amazing. Small boats riding down the bayou and swamps taking in the local sites, sounds and smells of an area very few actually get to see. The plants and animals of the bayou are unique and diverse.....scary and beautiful. Gators, Nutria, pelicans, herons, egrets, snakes, turtles and much more call this place home.
The most exciting part - when the boat driver tosses marshmallows into the water to draw the gators closer to the boat for an added thrill.

Travel Guides

I love reading travel books, guide books, maps and magazines.
In this blog I will be sharing with you all of my favourites or each.

Whenever we plan a trip anywhere, I always head to the book store and pick up the DK Eyewitness Travel Guide book on that city or country.
These books are awesome. They give you a good idea of what to do, where to go, places to stay and good restaurants to dine at.
Each book contains maps, neighbourhood guides and lists of attractions.
What sets these books apart from other guid books is that they not only include the typical tourist information and attractions, they also include many places places to see and things to do that the average tourist may not know of or even consider.

I would never leave home without one of DK's books.

Barking Crab

While on a trip along the Northeast coast of the US, we spent a few days in Boston. After visiting the Boston Museum of Science and the  New England Aquarium we walked along the harbour taking in all the sights.
Along the way, we were drawn to a giant Hood Milk Bottle - we are suckers for roadside attractions of large oversized objects......and off we went.
we stopped at the Barking Crab for a bit of lunch on the way. Its a little place tucked away along the waterfront just off of Seaport Blvd....under a tent.
The place was packed - apparently it almost always is. The food looked amazing with a wide array of fresh seafood offerings.  I tried the soft shelled crab sandwich which was awesome (see photo) and Nick had the fried oyster sandwich - niether of which disappointed.
This is a very casual dining experience - it is under a tent afterall. People were having a great time, and there was alot of wonderful items being served around.
If you are in Boston any time soon, I would check out the Barking Crab...and dont forget to go to the Boston Children's Museum just a block away....you dont need kids to go...just be a kid at heart.

Oh the Places you'll go

Springfield Mass. The birthdplace of the one and only Theodore Geisel. Dr Seuss to those who don't know - as if anyone doesnt know.
While on a trip to Boston, we stopped in Springfield and saw many lightpost banners advertising the Cat in the Hat at the Springfield Museum. Being a huge fan of all things Seuss, I insisted we check it out.

Located between State St., Chestnut St, Elliott St and Edwards St., The Dr Seuss Memorial Garden is a collection of sculptures of many of Dr Seuss' most famous characters from his books. The Grinch, Cat in the Hat, Thidwick, Horton, Things 1&2, Yertle the Turtle and many more.

The sculptures were done by Dr. Seuss' stepdaughter and they beautifully recreate so many of his most memorable characters.

ps: dont sit on the chair on a hot day in just a pair of shorts: ouch!

Daily Photo

Daily Photo

Daily Photo

Daily Photo

The Amazing Race in New Orleans

New Orleans, 2005
While filming a segment for the Family Edition of the hit CBS reality show the crew of The Amazing Race stopped by the city of New Orleans. We just happened to be there at the same time and managed to catch a glimpse of host Phil Keoghan and the crew setting up shots.
We ran back to our hotel room to grab our camera and rushed back to the location, and captured a couple of images of Phil, who was a little bit camera-shy.  A few weeks later Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city and devastated the people.

I Scream...U scream...we all scream for....

Bar Harbor, Maine is a beautiful place to visit.
While there, dont forget to visit Ben and Bill's Chocolate Emporium for a sweet treat.
They have a wide array of delights to indulge in, chocolates, candy, confections of all kinds....and what people really line up for is their ice cream.
There are a variety of flavours to choose from which makes deciding what to get very hard (and keeps the line from moving). One flavour that is their signature flavour - and something of an acquired taste is their Lobster Ice  cream. This ice cream is made with real Maine lobster and butter flavouring. It may sound a bit crazy but the flavours work well in ice cream- rich flavour creamy and buttery with a hint of salt. They are happy to give you a sample to try if you arent quite ready to commit to this unique taste experience.
When in Bar Harbor - stop by Ben & Bill's - its worth the wait.

Tybee Island, Georgia

I’m feeling a bit crabby today......

We are making our way back to Savannah, GA in September. Last time we were there was not the best trip we ever had. It rained almost the entire time, our hotel was not ready, the car broke down (thank goodness for CAA), it was a nightmare the minute we arrived.  We were looking forward to a wonderful time in Savannah – but it just wasn’t meant to be – Not Savannah’s fault. So, in keeping with our tradition of ‘righting every vacation wrong’, we are heading back. This time we will have a great time and we will share with you all we did and the fun we had.

However, until then....There was one super bright spot in our previous trip to Savannah, and that involves Tybee Island.

On Tybee Island, we found an amazing local restaurant that was a little out of the way but worth the drive. The Crab Shack is located at 40 Estill Hammock Road, Tybee Island, just off the 80. This place has no pretension; it is a shack that sells crabs and alot of other tasty items. Their slogan is “where the elite meet to eat in their bare feet”, pretty much says it all. Come as you are for some really good food.

When we were last there, Nick had the Crawfish Shackatizer (pictured), which consisted of 1 pound of perfectly steamed and seasoned crawfish. 1 pound of crawfish makes Nick very happy, as you can see. I had the Low country Boil which did not disappoint. It was tasty, succulent, seasoned, and oh...sooo good.  The most popular item we saw being delivered to other tables was “Capt’n Crab’s Sampler”. This is a dish that needs to be shared as the platters were huge and “piled high with an assortment of tasty shellfish that are in season with corn, potatoes and sausage”.  

In addition to delicious fare, they also have a gator farm, gift shop and a spectacular waterfront view.  Tybee Island is a beautiful place to visit, and The Crab Shack is a great place to eat. Travelocity recommends the Crab shack as a place to visit, and so do we.

The Best_______ we ever ate

Pizza

When you think of Indian cuisine, you probably don’t think about Pizza. A few years ago we were fortunate enough to have been given the opportunity to take an amazing trip to Mumbai, India. The City of Mumbai is a wonderful city with many incredible things to do and see and it was an amazing adventure. We will certainly be sharing more on this trip in this blog in the future.

In this post I am extolling the virtues of the best pizza’s we have ever had. The Pizzeria and Pasta Bar on the Queen’s Necklace (Marine Drive) in Mumbai; which was conveniently located across the street from our hotel, is a cute little restaurant that we stopped in for lunch one day.  To be honest, we weren’t expecting much in the way of awesome local cuisine, but we were pleasantly surprised to find some of the most interesting pizza combinations we had ever heard of.

In addition to the “international favourites” like Hawaiian, cheese, All American and others, they had a selection of local favourites which really begged us to try. Bombay Masala is their version of a basic cheese pizza. Make no mistake – this is anything but basic. The mix of spices they use to flavour this dish is so rich and complex; you would swear there were more toppings than just cheese.  The Chicken Tikki Masala was a personal favourite but it was hard to choose just one. The combinations were so spectacular and flavours so robust. The “Best Seller” is a pizza that takes 4 of their best sellers and puts the toppings on one pizza so that you have a sampler of many – makes the choosing a little easier.

We went there because it was a convenient place to have lunch, but we found ourselves going back almost every day to try something different. We tried all the local favourites because when in Mumbai....do as the Mumbaiker do. If you ever get to Mumbai, and I highly suggest you add it to your bucket list, don’t forget to check out the Pizza and Pasta Bar. 143, Marine Drive, Churchgate, Mumbai.

Welcome to our blog....

Thank you for visiting our blog. Here we will talk about our travels and adventures and the fun we had along the way. You will find interesting articles on where we went, what we did there, the people we met, the food we enjoyed and much more. We will be sharing stories, photos, video clips, and most importantly our experiences with you. We will provide trustworthy reviews of hotels, restaurants and attractions from the perspective of a couple who know the meaning of a dollar but also know how to spend it. Our goal is to get you out of doing the same old vacations everyone does and show you the offbeat side of travel that is fun, crazy and unexpected. If we get our own show on Travel + Escape, that would be nice too. We hope you enjoy our blog and come back often to see where we will go next - or to read about a previous adventure.  Sincerely Greg and Nick