Seb, Nina and I went for a long-weekend in Miami filled with lots of beach time, shoots, and exploring the city!
Check out our full instagrammable itinerary HERE
Seb, Nina and I went for a long-weekend in Miami filled with lots of beach time, shoots, and exploring the city!
Check out our full instagrammable itinerary HERE
For Presidents Day weekend, a couple friends and I went to Miami to get a little sunshine, stress relief and the perfect ‘gram. It has been so snowy in NYC that it feels nearly impossible to get cute shots anymore without repeating the same jackets over and over again. Over the last few weeks, it seems like every single blogger is headed to South Beach for pool parties, margaritas, and endless swimsuit photos. Thankfully that gave us plenty of inspiration for shots and outfits. Here’s everything we did for our long weekend:
7:00PM – Arrive at Fort Lauderdale Airport
7:30PM – Uber to hotel
10:00PM – Dinner at Bird & Bone at The Confidante Hotel
11:00PM – Night out at LIV at the FontaineBleu – don’t go until 12 at the earliest.. You don’t want to see this place empty like it was at 11
10:00AM – Breakfast at OTL in the Miami Design District
10:45AM – Wander around the Design District & shop a little
11:00AM – Aubi & Ramsa 21+ gelato – This place is so amazing and is opening a location in NYC this summer! Can’t wait to go back ❤
12:00PM – Stop at the pop-up Dior Cafe for a $12 latte
12:30PM – Walk to Wynwood Walls and stop to look at puppies in PetSmart
2:00PM – Go to the beach at our hotel
7:30PM – Dinner at Cecconi’s at Soho House
10:00PM – Go to The Bazaar for cocktails
11:00PM – Hyde Beach at the SLS Hotel at South Beach
12:00AM – Going to the club Story where we saw Lil Wayne
11:00AM – Malibu Farm at the Nobu Hotel for brunch
1:00PM – beach time!
4:00PM – SLS Pool Party at South Beach
4:30PM – Walk around South Beach
5:00PM – Drinks at a restaurant on Ocean Drive – BEWARE OF PRICE SCAMMING
11:00PM – Drinks and Dessert at Swan
Didn’t make it out to E11ven so we ate pizza at the hotel
Day 4
11:00AM – Breakfast at Donna Mare in the Cadillac Beach Hotel
12:00PM – Morning at the beach
2:00PM – Go to downtown Miami to explore walkways along the water
3:00PM – Lunch at Vapiano
Head back to NYC!
I’m nothing if not a frugal traveler. I’ve always thought that the best experiences are had outside of your hotel room (not that I’d mind staying in a 5 star resort, it’s just not necessary to max out your credit cards in order to have your dream vacation). The real fun is outside of your room adventuring. For me, the cheaper the better, but you don’t have to squat in a dingy room in a sketchy motel to get a good deal!
Cruises have a bad stigma, but they are definitely the answer to a good time for cheap and require very little planning. My family used to do a lot of longer cruise trips so I’ve always been familiar with them, but after posting about my experience going on a cruise with Eugen, I realized that many of you have never been on one!
I’m personally a huge cruise fan, but for all of you first timers, make sure you set your expectation before you arrive. You should take into consideration the cruise line, destination, and read LOTS of reviews ahead of time.
So here’s how we made our super cheap vacation happen:
Research what is going on in Miami and make sure you take this into consideration BEFORE you book the Cruise. If there is a festival or big convention going on, the plane ticket prices are going to sky rocket. The date of your cruise will likely be cheapest when there is a big event going on in Miami, but that is when plane tickets into Miami will be the most expensive. I’ve seen them as low as $95 round trip from NYC.
Rachel’s Savings Tips:
If you want to go to The Bahamas, leave from Miami, not NYC. The cruises are cheaper and there will be less “Day at Sea” time where you are trapped on the boat.
Care more about the destination than the boat? Take Carnival! Larger/less fancy cruise lines tend to be cheaper. We opted for the cheapest room, but our reservation came with a free upgrade and we were able to get a room with a King bed and a sea-view window! The most affordable rooms do not have windows at all (I think I wou
ld have gotten seasick in those so thank goodness for the upgrade!) The cruise price is all-inclusive (we’re talking rooms, room service, all-hours buffets, sit-down dinners, coffee, juice, ICE CREAM, pools, hot tubs, entertainment, etc). It’s amazing to pay up front and not have to worry about paying again once you set foot on the boat.
Rachel’s Savings Tips:
These can get pretty pricey. Our cruise ticket came with a $50 gift certificate to Shore Excursions so we selected a $50 per person 3 hour Snorkeling and Sailing cruise that came with a free drink (sounded like a good deal to us!) When we docked in Nassau, the company let us know that our excursion had been cancelled due to high winds (sad). We ended up getting our $50 back.
We suddenly had a full 24 hours at port with zero plans and limited cash so we had to figure out what to do. Everyone wants to got to Atlantis on Paradise Island, but they also charge exorbitant fees for access to the beach, water slides, food, etc. To save money, we ate breakfast, lunch and dinner all aboard the ship at the inclusive sit down dinners and buffets
What we ended up doing:
Rachel’s Savings Tips:
On a cruise, they will try to nickle and dime you for EVERYTHING. Watch what you are spending! Our cruise price included a $25 on-board credit that actually went a long way on board. Cocktails were $9 and beers were as low as $4 which was pretty crazy compared to NYC prices where it would not be shocking to see $25 for a tiny cocktail with crunchy ice and a flower.
Rachel’s Savings Tips:
Overall, cruises are a TON of fun and are a nice, simple way to head on a tropical vacation without having to do a lot of planning. As long as you watch your spending and stay away from sneaky offerings with hidden charges, your vacation will be smooth sailing.
Not in the mood to read through our whole itinerary? Watch the highlights here:
Tokyo was hands down one of the best trips I’ve ever taken. Eugen and I impulsively decided to take our 8-day vacation in Tokyo because we wanted to go somewhere we’d never been before and somewhere totally foreign to us. Neither of us speak a work of Japanese, but we managed just fine and I already want to go back for longer! We spend the entire time in Tokyo. I wish we had planned to go to Kyoto, but I felt like there was so much to explore in Tokyo alone. The best things we did were the simplest things like wandering through residential neighborhoods, grocery shopping through isles of obscurely flavored item, and drinking “free flow” green soda and a bubbly water called “Pocari Sweat” haha. I’m a crazy type-A planner, but all the most memorable things that happened on our trip were unplanned and totally spontaneous! Can’t wait for more travels and more adventures together ❤
Not in the mood for reading? Check out my Tokyo Video filmed entirely on my Snap Spectacles 2.0!
These past six weeks have flown by incredibly quickly! A month and a half sounds like a long time (and some days dragged on for what felt like forever), but looking back, I can’t believe that it’s already over. At times, my classes were draining and there was no end in sight to the work, but being in the City of Lights made it all worth it.
Instead of a long, heartfelt essay on how much I’ve grown, I’m just going to list all my favorite things about my time here:
Thanks to NYU, we got these amazing seats at the Opera Garnier to see La Fille Mal Gardée put on by the Ballet de l’Opéra de Paris.
I’ve toured the theater before, but watching a performance there was an entirely different experience. We sat in private booths on the first tier. To get into the booths, you needed an attendant to unlock the door for you. It was very inefficient. There was only one door attendant per floor so we had to wait while she escorted patrons into thirty something private rooms. After passing through the tiny wooden door, you walk through a tiny little salon with a table, chaise, and mirror. In the old days, I imagine the bourgeoisie in the booths would get up from their seats and retire to the little lounge during the intermission. When you push past the curtains of the lounge, you enter the spectacular view of the theater itself. Words (and even photos) cannot capture the beauty of this building. I tried taking so many photos and none of them could capture the grandeur of the Palais Garnier. It’s one of those things you just have to see for yourself.
I felt as if I’d hopped in a time machine back to the 1800s into one of Degas’ paintings. The theater was breathtaking on the tour, but filled with an audience, it is even more spectacular. The roar of applause as the dancers took their final bows was magical and brought the old theater to life. All of us felt this regality sitting in the booths and strolling around the Opera house.
On our way out, descending the grand entry stairs, a friend said she wish she hadn’t forgotten her ball gown and tiara in the dorm! I should have worn my glass slippers…
I am an extremely picky eater so I was ecstatic to find this adorable diner, LouLou’, just a block away from the NYU building!
The staff even speaks english! I’ve eaten there four times now and know the wait staff pretty well. The majority of them are actually Australians living in Paris. It’s an “Australian Diner” so maybe they only hire Aussies?
The name comes from the common French term of endearment “LouLou.” I just think it’s absolutely adorable. Their food is magnificent and they even have take-out menus!
Every time I’ve been, I get the Vegetarian Bagel. It’s nothing like the bagels we think of in the US. The bagels we are famous for in New York are fresh, puffy, and al around superb (can you tell I’m biased?). The bagels here, however, are thin, crunchy, and very dense. I have seen many “American” bagel shops here (it must be the new trendy food) and all of them focus not on the bagel, but on the fillings. It’s like Potatopia ( ❤ ) in the East Village or Chipotle. It’s all about the toppings. The Vegetarian Bagel comes with fresh mozzarella, tomato pesto, basil, and guacamole. It is to die for. When I get back to New York, I’m definitely going to have to start making these for myself.
Although I’m going to be devastated to leave Paris in a few days, I’ve got to say, I’m glad to be leaving this weather. Cities in the summer are the worst. And to top it off, there’s no air conditioning… I tried opening the window to get a breeze, but it’s literally the exact. same. temperature. inside and out.
All month, it has been surprisingly cool, but this week, we got hit by a heat wave. Tomorrow is supposed to be 99 degrees!! And yet every Parisian is still wearing cardigans and long pants. I don’t know how they do it. All us Americans have started wearing the types of shorts that make your tourist status a dead giveaway (when it’s this hot, who cares anyways).