Scrappy Travels

When we were in London last year, we took a Secret Food Tour , that was in fact the best tour I'd ever been on. Between the market vendors, the delicious snacks, the historical fun facts and our awesome guide Mat, I couldn't have imagined a better way to spend a rainy day in London. After that memorable experience, we were adamant about doing another tour with the same company.    Luckily for us, the company operates world wide and they just happen to run a Secret Food Tour in another of my favorite cities - Manhattan. While we could have probably chosen a better day for our tour - 97 degrees and sunny isn't exactly great schlepping around the city weather - Bridgette, our guide this time around was nothing short of fabulous. She made the entire tour fun and full of cool facts about Greenwich Village. In her previous life, she was an elementary school teacher, and I'd bet she was fantastic in front of a classroom based on how excited she was about our tour and...

I've been fascinated by the very idea of Dim Sum since I first learned what it meant. The ability to try lots of different types of dumplings and small plates at one time? It sounded like a dream come true. And when I first had Dim Sum in a small place on 46th street in New York, it was pretty perfect. That particular place gives you a menu (not really what I had in mind, but quite helpful) with descriptions of each type of dumpling. You choose a few, gobble those up and then re-start the process.  However, when I went to Chinatown a few weeks ago and we found a classic Dim Sum restaurant, I found it wasn't as easy as it was at my standby on 46th. There's a lot to deal with, and I'm not so great at dealing with it. The classic Dim Sum is served on carts by servers wandering around. I knew that would be the case, but I had imagined it would be easier to determine what was on each cart. In our defense, we chose a pretty popular with locals spot - Jing Fong. Jing Fo...

I’ve never been a huge fan of tours.  I like exploring things on my own and happening upon new sites and restaurants.  Or I do what every other crafty person does; I search Pinterest for fun things in whatever city I’m traveling to, and then note them in my phone so I can find them (or get lost trying to find them) when I arrive.  However, in 2015 when I went to England and Belgium, my travel partner in crime booked 2 tours for us.  The first was a Secret Garden Tour of the Cotswolds and the second was a Chocolate tour of Brussels.  Well, to say that these tours were awesome would be a huge understatement. They were phenomenal, and I had so much fun – and I ate so much food – and they totally converted me to being a tour person. When left to my own devices, I chose Pancetta Ciabatta - Yum! That’s why, when this year’s England trip rolled around, I actually mentioned a food tour of London as being something I’d like to do.  Of course, the travel par...