Fiji, June 2019

New Orleans/Gulf Coast, December 2018 GoPro Travel Video

I’ve always said, you don’t need more than 24 hours in New Orleans to know whether you’ll like it or not. The Gulf Coast cultural hub rose to notoriety as the home base of America’s first pirate Jean Lafitte of the 1700s, and the debauchery and bacchanal that accompanies piracy is in no short supply in NOLA. Aside from housing Lafitte’s blacksmith bar (touted as the oldest in the U.S.) the rest of Bourbon Street is like an 18th Century version of the Las Vegas strip. Our time in the Big Easy took us from catching beads on the French Quarter to riding the rails of the streetcar out to City Park and an Airbnb with heated pool in the Bywater neighborhood. We took a tour through the bayou encountering no alligators but did meet the Cajun Encounters swamp hog Oreo, baited with beef franks in an ethically questionable arrangement. After a couple days in NOLA, we rented a car and drove east, past Biloxi to Ocean Springs, Mississippi. I was pleasantly surprised to see a variety of ethnic restaurants, friendly people, and not a confederate flag in sight. My first and perhaps only experience with Mississippi gets two thumbs up thanks to Ocean Springs.

Portugal, June 2018 GoPro Travel Video

 

The oldest country in Europe, Portugal is a once-forgotten jewel now booming with traveler’s intrigue and the influx of people and capital it yields. From the majestic natural beauty of the Algarve coast to the medieval-turned-modern urban jungle of capitol Lisbon, Portugal offers plenty and lacks little for today’s backpackers, vacationers, and modern explorers. Our journey took us from the rickety railways of the famed 28 tram trolley and hillside Bica funicular to the Olive Oil countryside of Evora. In between, we strolled the cliffs and beaches of palm tree-dotted Lagos and Sagres, took a boat ride on the ferry in Tavira, and petted as many animals as possible. In Evora, we visited the Almendres Cromlech, a megalithic rock formation older than Stonehenge and built in 6000 BC. In Lagos, we visited the Castelo de Lagos, a medieval castle whose walls surround the entire main city. Our favorite spot of the entire trip, we were unexpectedly gifted an extra day in Lagos when we thought we had a hotel booked in Tavira that night but didn’t…a blessing in disguise that brought our sunniest, most relaxing day in Portugal.