Category: Wanderlust

We love to travel and this year we are going big. Throughout 2015 we will be traveling around the world from Fiji to Lisbon and everywhere else we can in between. Use this page to track our itinerary, take walks with us on our hyperlapse video tours and read about our experiences and learnings.

Expo Milan (World’s Fair) 2015

Expectations Vs. Results

We were pretty excited to get a chance to see our first ever World’s Fair while in Milan. Expo Milan 2015, as this World’s Fair is called, is held under the theme Feeding the planet, energy for life.

So what was I expecting that got me so excited? I was looking forward to seeing the latest in innovations that help “feed the planet” or provide “energy for life”, basically I wanted to see how the future will improve things. I was hoping we’d get the added bonus of trying unique foods and watching cultural open-air events.

For €69/person, and a jacked up metro ride price, we got to enter a very expensive international food court. For €20/person you *may* get a chance to try a plate of a nation’s traditional food. If you stood in line for over an hour or so you *may* get to walk through an exhibit featuring videos (not real people) of what foods the country *currently* produces. Not only could most of the world not afford to enter the Expo, but a majority wouldn’t be able to afford to eat there.

I didn’t see a single advancement in how any country is doing things when it comes to “feeding the planet” or “providing energy for life”. How can you feed the planet when you can’t even easily feed a private exhibition with pricey entrance fees?! Sadly, McDonalds was the only place that offered an advanced ordering system (that was kind of neat) and reasonable prices.

Some Highlights

The US had a nice technology that allowed you to turn on/of the electrically tinted windows. However, it was tucked away in the back of the pavilion and not getting any use (except from me).

The only thing being handed out were Strawberries from the kind hearted people of Poland. And if you waited for a show you *may* get to a sample of chocolates or gelato.

Venezuela had a neay hologram video display, but it closed right after we got there.

For the most part, the exhibits were filled with table settings, native crops, and video screens.

Architecture

By far, the most interesting part of the expo was the Architecture. The buildings were all unique and beautiful. It was definitely the highlight of our walk through the event.

The Tree of Life

The “Tree of Life” (one of the things we were looking towards seeing) was a sad display of smoke and water technics (with a slowly filled air balloon – see video) that lasted about 2 minutes.

Of course, we made the best of it and pushed ourselves to not judge too early. After the 3rd hour though, we agreed we had to come to terms with the fact that the Expo was a severe disappointment. Watch us turn the frown upside down in the video below.

Videos of Budapest: Walking tour of the Pest Side

Pest Day 1

I don’t know if this is common knowledge in the states but I didn’t know that Budapest was actually a combination of two towns split by the Danube. Pest is the newer town filled with some amazing architecture, parks, malls, shopping and sites including the Parliament and Hero Square. The Buda side is the more historic side of Budapest and contains sites like the Buda Castle and Fisherman’s Bastille.

As a whole Budapest is pretty incredible. We continued to be surprised as to just how big the town is. Just when you think you’ve seen it all, there is another part of town rich with even more monuments and building. Then, once you think you have the hang of the city you realize that at night there is an entirely new dimension to it all that deserve another lap.

You can watch our timelapse tour of Pest in the videos below.

Pest Day 2

Beerfest at Buda Castle in Budapest Hungary

One thing we have learned from traveling is how much different a city can feel when you are able to hang with the locals. If not for Soma and Peter, two friends we happen to meet in San Francisco a few months earlier, we would never have known about this awesome beerfest event in the Buda Castle. We tasted great new beers (like Jackie’s now favorite Red Delirium) and listened to throw back music. What an awesome night!

Our video walking tours of Vienna: Buildings, Palaces, Sites and Food.

Vienna was a beautiful city. Clean, rich with history, and both trendy while still retaining its classic history. We were lucky enough to grab an AirBnB with Thomas whom showed us around the city and introduced us to some great restaurants, bars and wines. Time and time again we are shown just how much the people you meet in a city will impact your stay there.

We tried foods, desserts and visited some of the many museums this town has to offer in the videos below. Enjoy!

More pics @ https://goo.gl/photos/KWzBzSEBzvvvDzTt7

District One

Palaces

Amusement Park

Food

Avoiding Fines While Driving Through New Zealand and Australia

Speeding

When we drove through NZ and AU we found it incredibly odd how slow people were driving. I’ve never been on a highway where almost everyone is driving UNDER the speed limit by 10K/hour on wide open roads. Where we’re from, the speed limit is realistically +/- 5Mph the posted number.

There is A TON of space between each city in NZ and AU and to make good time we made a habit of passing the unusual number of “slow pokes.”

About a month or so later I get a ~$30 charge from each car rental company. A week after that a letter from AUS highway patrol sent tickets to my parents house. Each ticket was between $100 and $200. I did some research on tickets in those countries and supposedly there is a huge crackdown on speeding; some roads monitored by drones.

No wonder everyone was overly cautious with their speed. You never know who is watching and when a simple pass of another car could cost you $100 bucks a month later. I’m not hating on them, we were going fast. We paid the ticket. Our bad.

For everyone else out there, fair warning: obey the posted speed limits in Australia and New Zealand to a T!

Skaros Rocks and hidden church in Santorini Greece

Another winner of our “places we will return to” list is Santorini Greece. Sure, it is hella touristy but the beauty of the island and its unique cliff side restaurants and bars are unbelievable. In the video below we hiked down to one of the famous Santorini churches hidden behind  the Skaros Rocks.

A hyperlapse sunset at Portara in Naxos, Greece

We stopped at Naxos on our way to Santorini from Mykonos. It was a much smaller relative experience than Santorini, but we enjoyed shopping in the white alley ways at night and checking out the sunset while standing in the famous Portara. Both made for a beautiful way to spend the evening.