For my birthday I asked a few friends to contribute to my blog! Ryan is sharing her thoughts todAy Fox Tales & Ponytails – go visit her, she’s fab! Don’t forget to check out all the birthday fun, too!
Today Ryan is sharing some fantastic travel getaways, the perfect accompaniment for the Escape Monthly subscription box giveaway!
Like Brandy and Alena, my birthday is also in July! Woot! Hubs and I don’t have a big trip planned this year for just to two of us, so we decided to plan a little mini vacay to celebrate! But where to go?? I instantly started thinking of some of my favorite places in the world and how I would want to spend the day if we travelled to one of them! And also about a couple of other places I’ve been wanting to try…. It’s such a big world out there!
The only real restriction was that the destination couldn’t be TOO far away to do over a four-day weekend. I narrowed it down to these four places. Read along and see if you would have picked the same place I did!
* 1. London, England *
Ah… London. I love you so much. All the pomp and circumstance and royal trappings. There’s a quirkiness to fashion that makes getting dressed up to go out here SO MUCH FUN. Seriously, anything goes!! The ideal London weekend would involve a stay at the super posh Dukes Hotel. The place is tucked away down a side street off a side street and feels like stepping back in time. Seriously, like stepping back to Jack the Ripper time, when your heels are clicking away on the cobblestones under gas lamps late at night and the streets are empty! LOL!
My perfect London birthday would start with a quick trip to The Tower of London to visit The Crown Jewels. These things are freakin fantastic (duh!). They have a little moving sidewalk that takes you by them and you can run back to the start and ride it over and over. Hubs was good after one ride, I wanted to ride a dozen times. Hey, it’s my birthday, right?? LOL! And since it’s my birthday, the next stop would be an hour or two at the Portobello Road flea market! Sorry hubs… haha!
The evening’s activities would include martinis at the Dukes Bar, frequented by Ian Fleming rumored to be the inspiration for James Bond’s “shaken not stirred.” The waiters are all in white jacket and the drink presentation is an EXPERIENCE. You aren’t allowed to buy more than two due to their potency. We had two each and… uh…. I proceeded to rant to our cabbie afterwards about how our country kicked his country’s ass…. Whoops! LOL! And then we would finish off the day with a great comedy/musical in one of the awesome London theaters! Perfect day!!
* 2. The Exumas, Bahamas *
Ok, this is a little random, but there’s this app I love called 1,000 Places to See Before You Die. It has given us all kinds of ideas of adventures and things that we never knew about! One of those things is the wild swimming pigs that live on an island in the Exumas, Bahamas.
There’s no quick way to get there. You have to get to Nassau and then take a Bahamian Air puddle jumper for 40 minutes from Nassau to George Town, Great Exuma. And then, once you are officially in the middle of nowhere, you have to pay $250 a person for a day trip through all these little islands for a chance to see the pigs.
I have wanted a pet pig for years and years. When we got our cat 6 (7? who knows) years ago, hubs and I SO wanted one of those tiny little pigs, but the girls were adamant about a cat. We caved, bought a cat, and I’ve been a tad pig obsessed since.
These wild pigs are adorbs!! They swim right up to your boat and you feed them while they’re swimming. More adventurous types get in and swim with them (totally would). For real, Google them. We’ve looked at this for a while (okay, about 6 months) and it’s definitely something I’ve been super curious about!!
* 3. New York City *
Oh, NYC. There’s no place like it! We have been in September for Mercedes Benz Fashion Week the last few years but we are going to the Emmys (!!) in LA this September, so I don’t know that we will make NYC this year. All the more reason to do a quick birthday weekend!!
We have stayed all over NYC but, in my fantasy birthday world, we would spend the weekend in the Eloise Suite at the Plaza! I know it’s geared towards kids but, really, who doesn’t love Betsey Johnson??? I’d spend my birthday shopping on Bleecker and have cupcakes a la Carrie Bradshaw at Magnolia Bakery for dessert (of course!!)! Definitely one of my favorite things!!
in Bleecker Street Park!!
Wish I was there right now!
We have lots of fun friends who live in the NYC area so we could meet them out for drinks at some local place only they know about and then walk through the craziness of Times Square to catch a fun musical! If it’s truly MY night, I’m picking Bring It On! and hubs is just along for the ride! Hahaha!
* 4. Key West, Florida *
Once upon a time, a long long time ago, I had a plan to move to Key West. I was a miserable 3rd year law student and I spent lots of time e-mailing and formulating a plan for post-graduation. I had a job lined up at a happening bar and an apartment ready in a fun location. I spent lots of time researching Hemmingway and Key West hauntings and culture. I was pretty sure that I was moving there and never coming back.
Well, you know how it goes when you make extensive plans sometimes – they never happen! I wound up spending the holidays that year in Europe with a friend from college and it quickly became apparent that he was the love of my life. I graduated, moved to Louisville and married him on July 3rd. That was 12 years ago and we’ve lived happily ever after since!
No regrets about the Key West plans, but I’ve still never been and the place beckons from time to time. We’ve got it all planned out. Fly in/out Miami, rent a convertible and drive highway 1 through the Everglades, soak up the sun and watch out for gators. OMG the sun…. it has rained here in Louisville for 2 weeks and just the sun factor of this plan has me ready to go!
We would stay at the Westin Sunset Key Cottages, within walking distance of Duval Street and all kinds of fun stuff. My birthday would be spent at least partially on a boat, taking a tour of the Keys and the wildlife. The afternoon would be spent shopping and the night spent on the Duval Street Crawl through the bars and pubs. Yay for hubs!! This is one plan I don’t have to apologize to him for! He’s all about it!! LOL!
* The decision *
So… which do you think I picked?? Drumroll please….
I picked #2! We are going to see the piggies in The Exumas!! I can’t WAIT! The place is remote to the max and nobody we know has been there. It has the potential to be completely disastrous – or the best vacay ever!!
Follow along at Fox Tales & Ponytails if you’d like to hear how the adventure turns out! Thanks so much to Brandy for asking me to participate in her humongous birthday party! Happy birthday Brandy and Alena!! Hope they’re the best ones ever!
XOXO-
Ryan
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