Travel Archives - Life is My Oyster

Eating My Little Heart Out in Vegas

June 25, 2016Oyster 9 Comments

Oh Vegas! You fill my belly with such joy! I eat my little heart out and there’s always more out there to try! What can a girl do? Keep eating? Perhaps.

La Cave at the Wynn Las Vegas. I went with some of my girlfriends to brunch a while back at La Cave, it’s a beautiful place with a balcony overlooking the outdoor grounds at Wynn Las Vegas. The concept is very interesting because you don’t quite order from a menu. Waiters come around with trays of food and you can take a dish if you like or pass if you don’t. Most of the dishes come in tiny cast iron pots and pans, so adorable! And the food was delicious! Pictured here are the Eggs Benedict, the Tater Tots, Pancakes, and Heirloom Tomato Salad. There was so much more, but the hunger was more powerful than the need for picture taking, you’ll just have to take my word for it, delicious!
Glutton. For some time now, I’d been wanting to try this restaurant. I’d heard great things! And a friend of mine pretty much guaranteed they have the best burger in town! I had to see for myself. Luckily, she joined me on this delicious date! It did not disappoint! The burger is juicy and soft, with all the usual flavors of a classic burger! Excuse me while I wipe the delicious juice running down the sides of my mouth! Located in Downtown Las Vegas, and I can safely say this is one of the better options out there. I vouch!
Japañeiro Asian Fusion. This restaurant was recommended by the Chef at Guy Savoy, so I had to try! Pictured below are the Rock Shrimp, the Bone Marrow, the Lamb Chops, the Scallops, and the Fried Rice. The Bone Marrow was perfectly buttery and full of flavor! The Rock Shrimp were tangy and delicious as well! I have to say that the rice was a bit underwhelming. But frankly, I’m more about the meat and the fish anyways, and I can say that I’ll definitely be coming back for more!

When it comes to food in Vegas, you’ve got your vacation planning cut out for you with these tasty recommendations!

Miami in Full Color

June 18, 2016Oyster 10 Comments

Graffiti is truly an art form! Whether you love it or hate it, you can’t help but admire the beauty and talent behind it. And in Miami you can see it in full color! You can find these beautiful works of art in the Wynwood neighborhood, located North of Downtown Miami. It is a neighborhood sprinkled with galleries, museums, and cute bars. Most of these pictures were captured by walking the exhibit at Wynwood Walls, and then some were captured on my way there.

The artworks are absolutely mesmerizing! There’s pops of color everywhere. Every corner you turn, every new block, or any side of an unsuspecting building can be secretly hiding a beautiful masterpiece. And if you’re lucky, you may just get a sneak peak at private banquet rooms that look like this:

and like this with the lights off:

Artists come from all over the world to paint the walls of Wynwood. Take for example, the first picture featured at the top of this post, it was painted by French artist Vanessa Alice Bensimon, a.k.a. Miss Van. Or even local artists (as in nationals), hailing from Brooklyn:

And on the sidewalks, as you walk under the Miami sun, searching for the next piece of art to point and shoot, your feet step all over funny and beautiful quotes sprinkled throughout the neighborhood.

If you are planning a trip to Miami, consider visiting Wynwood Art District. Perfect place to get some good food, maybe an ice cold beer for those hot Miami days, and take in all the sights. I also hear that it is absolutely beautiful at night. Spotlights light up the beautiful works of art, and they probably stand out beautifully in the dark of the night.

If you’d like more information about the art works and the talented artists behind them, visit The Wynwood Walls.

A Chicken Goes Skiing

February 1, 2016Oyster 8 Comments

I am a total chicken! Except, I’m the kind of chicken that ends up doing the things that she’s scared of! Every time! Let me explain:

I am afraid of heights and speed. Like every other mortal, I am also afraid of public speaking, and I’d much rather be in my comfort zone! But then I get easily bored, and then my choices make me a walking contradiction!

So afraid of heights and then I got tickets to a trapeze class! So afraid of speed and heights, and then I booked a trip to Orlando to visit the adventure parks (mostly for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter though)! So afraid of public speaking and then I signed up for an oral argument competition! So afraid of… well, you get the point.

It was my birthday on December, and my boyfriend gifted me a trip to Colorado. His plan? Well, what do you give someone who is afraid of speed and heights?!?! A ski trip, of course! Every time I thought about the upcoming trip my stomach flipped. I tried not to let my fear show, but I couldn’t help but get super quiet when the nerves set in.

I decided to throw caution to the wind (not really) once again, and flew up to Denver, Colorado. I love Denver! It’s got the cutest houses! And the food scene is definitely happening! Every place we visited left our taste buds happy and our tummies full.

And then there were the ski resorts. Beautiful of course! We visited Echo Mountain and Loveland Pass.

I’d never skied before, so the first day I opted for a class. Man, skiing is exhausting! In Echo Mountain they didn’t have a moving walkway for the bunny hill (it’s too short of a distance anyway), so I had to walk up the hill in the skis a million times for two hours. By the end of it I was ready to pass out in the snow!

The second day was the real adventure! I started off all wrong. We didn’t get there in time to book a lesson, and I immediately felt very grim about the whole thing. No way! I can’t hit the slopes like this! My guy wouldn’t take my pessimistic attitude for a no, and pushed me towards trying the bunny hill. Pretty persistent guy! I pulled all the stops: whined, got mad, whined some more, wouldn’t carry my own skis, couldn’t move with the skis on, but nope! He was determined to get me on that hill!

When I finally gave the Loveland Pass bunny hill a few tries, I got cocky! Oh yes, I got this! Turns out skiing is pretty cool! What I find to be the best part about it is that you can easily control your speed, and it’s not like your are raised up off the ground. I find that as long as I am close to the ground, I feel good.

Of course, my guy saw the glimmer of confidence in me and decided we should go on the lift to do an actual slope. Again I retreated to my silent panic. Ok, let’s do it. But it was great! I got on the lift, I got off the lift, and slid down the hill like a total pro (not!)! But we couldn’t just leave it with a win. Nope, we had to go for the second try, didn’t we??

We slid right back into the line, ready to get on the flying chairs again. Except this time, I became a pretzel, got my skis tangled and fell off the lift… and the chair flew right past me knocking me down on it’s way out. I was a mess! I had to crawl to safety, take off my skis and stand up to face the crowd. Of course there was no shortage of “wow, the lift is supposed to be the easy part” comments.

Well, nothing to do but try again. I was able to stay put on the chair, and off we went, and as we slid off the chair I slid to another downfall! No problem, I get back up, no biggie! We then start heading down the hill, when all of a sudden I keep picking up speed and can’t figure out how to slow down. I panic and repeat wedge, wedge, pizza, pizza. Nope! Down I went. I don’t even know how I fell, but I fell good. Maybe I flipped? I don’t even know.

Needless to say, I was done after that. But looking back I feel so awesomely proud that I did it! Can’t wait to do it again! I may get awkward and quiet, maybe a little whiny and annoying, but in the end I’ll love it!

Have you faced your fears? which ones? did you end up liking it? Do tell!

Sleepless in Seattle

November 2, 2015Oyster 37 Comments

Yup, I was indeed sleepless in Seattle. Nope, not because of the beauty, although there was plenty of it to take in. Nor was I lovesick. I spent three nights in Seattle, and two of the three were nightmarishly scary!

Night #1. After arriving in Seattle late at night, we wanted nothing more than to fill our bellies and crash. We had been through a full day of work, and a flight. We went for Seattle’s own burger franchise, Dick’s. Nope, that wasn’t the scary part… the burger was ok. But that night I had the fright of my life when I woke up in the middle of the night with a stabbing pain coming from my back all the way to my chest. Every breath I took brought a piercing stabbing of pain that knocked the air right back out! As the drama queen that I am, I expected the worst.

“I am having a heart attack” I declared… to myself… in my head. Of course, these are not the symptoms of a heart attack.

I was with my guy, but I didn’t bother waking him. I debated calling 9-1-1, but I froze with panic.

“What if it’s nothing and I waste their time? I could be taking the place of someone who is truly ill!” – I reasoned with myself.

“Oh well, if I make it through the night, then it probably was nothing!” – My thoughts! What a crazy person!

Who remembers Real World Seattle?!?!

It turned out fine. I barely slept that night because the pain was very stubborn and my crazy thoughts were even worse. I survived the night, and in the future I have decided I need to seek medical attention when scary things like these happen! You never know what it could be.

I had remnants of the pain throughout the weekend, but it didn’t keep me from seeing these beautiful sights!

Night #2. Now this one is for the books! Exhausted from a long day of touring around and taking in as much of Seattle as humanly possible, we both passed out as soon as our heads hit the pillows. But in the middle of the night I wake up to the sound of some jangling keys. I suddenly realize that someone is trying to get into our room! I could hear them putting a key into the keyhole (yes, this hotel is kind of old-school). I could hear them trying to force the knob open. Doesn’t work. They try another key. I hear whispers. I panic!

I wake my guy. “Someone’s trying to get in our room!” I say, with fear filling every corner of my body.

“Nah their probably trying to get in to the room next door” my guy says, half-asleep.

I shake him and say “Nope! Nope! They’re definitely trying to get into our room!” He falls back asleep.

Yup! If it’s up to my guy, we’d be dead meat! Again, I was only able to lay in bed with my crazy thoughts and staring at the door. Formulating escape plans, and cursing my guy for possibly sleeping through our very own horror movie!

He Smiles Because He Slept Through the Night!

Turns out it was just a pair of drunk tourists who confused our room for theirs. They never did get into our room.

Sigh of relief!

Definitely got a good scare, but now I can’t stop laughing about those two nights! Sometimes good scares make for great memories! Hope you got a good laugh!

But did I mention how beautiful Seattle is? I definitely want to visit again!

Chihuly Glass

Have you had any travel scares? do share! Have you been to Seattle? Any cool insider tips you’d like to share?

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The Importance of Good Travel Shoes… And Good Friends

October 19, 2015Oyster 21 Comments

I did a study abroad in Europe… but my feet didn’t quite like it. That’s when I learned the importance of good travel shoes… and good friends!

Back then, although I’d done my fair share of traveling, I was still a novice in all things travel packing. I was excited to see all the romantic places I’d seen in the movies. And talk about movies, I also wanted to look just like the dreamy characters that frequented such places. For this reason, my packing strategy was all fairy-tale-chic (or at least my deranged version of it). It included sparkly flats and cute lace tops and flowery headbands (yes, I know, what was I thinking?).

I mean, can you blame a girl? I was promised the Eiffel Tower, the Seine River, beautiful mansions and fortresses… I was lured by a fairy tale castle for goodness sake!

Needless to say, it was a bad idea. At first it was all nice and dandy. I walked with fresh feet through the streets of Barcelona. My shoes took me to the likes of La Rambla, La Pedrera, Barri Gotic, Barceloneta, and La Sagrada Familia. It was going well.

But then came Paris. So much walking! It was with much shame and embarrassment that I resolved to wear flip flops to Versailles! The horror!

The real trouble came in Neuschwanstein, the beautiful castle that is rumored to have inspired Disney’s Cinderella castle. This was it. I had reserved what I had dubbed as my “Cinderella Flats” for this event! I was so excited! Little did I know that I had to walk for hours just to get to the castle. “It’s ok! I can do it!” I kept telling myself. My travel companions were very supportive, walking slow when it seemed my feet would give up on me.

The shoes were killing me in every area possible! The back of my feet, the sides of my feet, my poor little toes, the sole of my feet. It was incredible! These shoes may have been designed to keep in a display box and never be worn!

Culprit Shoes Pictured Here

At the end of our Neuschwanstein hike, my feet were so swollen and hurt, I could barely walk. I had two travel companions and one of them wanted so desperately to go to the Hofbrauhaus in Munich and meet up with some guys. I wanted so badly for us all to have every experience we’d envisioned for the trip, that I came very close to giving in and continuing on my trek to losing my feet.

Fortunately, my other travel companion gave me a reality check. “You can’t even walk!” she said. I barely knew this girl before embarking on this trip with her, but today she is one of my best friends! You know you’ve found a good one when she saves you from yourself… now if only I can have her pick my shoes next time. Needless to say, the grand majority of those pairs of shoes ended up in a trash can somewhere between Salzburg and Venice.

Me and My Best Friend

I have yet to learn my shoe lesson. But I am making an effort. Here are a few links comfy travel shoes to give a try and the bloggers who recommend them:

Tieks by Gavrieli, these are foldable flats. Recommended by Legal Nomads;
Toms, I actually bought a pair on my trip to Portland and they have been pretty comfy. Recommended by Travel Fashion Girl;

Do you have travel shoes you swear by? Do share!

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