Traveling with champagne taste on a beer budget
Hola! I’m Mindy, a Portland girl that made Chicago my home about 6 years ago. Sitting anywhere for too long can sometimes be challenging for me, but Chicago easily stole my heart. I work full time as a Marketing Manager in the beer industry, but traveling is really my lifelong passion. Then there’s Josh. He’s … Read more About
In September 2018, I visited my 50th country, Portugal. My Trip Advisor Travel Map below shows the cities and places I’ve visited. Have a question about a destination? Drop me a note on my contact page. Always happy to help provide travel tips or advice… or, at the very least, point you in the right … Read more Travel Map
Have a question or a comment? Need travel advice or tips for a particular destination? Want to collaborate in some way? Just have something kind to say? I’d love to hear from you! Shoot me a note below or email me at mindygreen@gmail.com and I’ll be sure to get back to you as soon as … Read more Contact
I arrived in Granada on a warm Monday and stepped off the plane onto the tarmac. I do love it when that happens. The airport was small and I easily made my way to a bus waiting outside to transport new arrivers to the center of town. Once in the center, I hopped off the bus and caught a taxi up to the Albaicin, the old part of Granada and the best preserved Arab quarter in Spain. Read more
Barcelona is one of those places where time, at some point or another, becomes meaningless. Days turn into nights and nights into days, all blending together to create a swirl of memories. At least, that was my experience as a traveler in the city.
I arrived at Barcelona airport, and to my surprise, was literally able to grab my luggage and walk out the door. No customs. No immigration. Just me and all of the the other tourists waiting to become mesmerized by the city. Hola Spain! Read more
I just returned from a week in Iceland and must say, I was somewhat surprised at how much I fell in love with this country. I’m usually a warm weather person; the more sun and sand, the better. But when my friend (and co-worker) Kylie started talking about her desire to go to Iceland and I started researching it, I was sold. Afterall, I rarely find people that want to travel to places I do, and it’s not my typical destination style, so why the hell not. Read more
Colombia overall was great. I started my trip in Cartagena, one of the most unique and beautiful cities I have been to. Every corner turned inspires a new picture opportunity. It reminded me of walking through the Plaka in Athens in a way, not based on the architecture, but based on the feeling you get walking through the city. It is as though you’ve stepped into another time and the city just feels too good to be true…almost surreal, as though it has been manufactured by some hollywood studio. Read more
I can´t say enough about the time I have had the past few days. Buzios ended up being amazing. The Nomad is by far one of the best hostels I´ve stayed at. It was right on the beach and in the center of town and I met the most amazing people there…from Argentina, Sweden, Norway, Israel, Austrailia, and of course, lots of Brazillians. The hostel had a fun bar and a great courtyard and everyone pretty much gathered there each night to drink and then head out to the clubs. The clubs were fun, definitely wouldn´t rival Vegas or another big party town, but were still a good time. No one really really goes out in Buzios, or Rio for that matter, until about 1am, so it makes for a lot of late nights and sleeping til noon.
On Saturday, I traveled to Rio. I arrived late in the afternoon, so I didn´t have a chance to do much other than walk around Ipanema. I met a fun group of guys, a couple of Americans, a Scot, and a guy from Holland. We ate at a small local food bar (which they called the old mans bar), grabbed some beers, and then went out about 1am to a small/bar club somewhere in the middle of Rio.
On Sunday, I went to the beach in Ipanema and walked as well down to Copacabana. I don´t think I have ever seen such a crowded beach in all of my life. Apparently, the weekends are the busiest and there was literally a sea of colored umbrellas and people for as far as the eye could see. It truly made for some pretty amazing photos.
Last night, we ended up staying in the hostel and I shared my drinking game that I learned in Lima and before you knew it, we were laughing hysterically and shotgunning beers. I did, however, make it up in time for my tour this AM and miraculously felt pretty good.
The tour today was pretty phenomenal. The day started off cloudy (it´s been beautiful and sunny every day since I left Iguacu), so I was a little nervous that the views from the Christ statue would be bad or that we wouldn´t be able to see it well, but the sun came out just in time.
We started the tour by going to a beach where the majority of hanggliders land, then off to the forest and to a pretty impressive waterfall. We saw monkeys and some interesting raccoon looking animals (keep in mind this is all just a short drive from the city center). Next, it was on to the Christ the Redeemer Statue, then on to Santa Teresa and next the Lapa Steps. The steps were pretty surreal. Unlike the statue, they were fairly empty, and once again, I got some great colorful photos. I also met the Chilean artist who´s been working on them for years and he asked me to send him a tile from Portland. He´s constantly redo-ing them and according to the instructions, if I send a tile from Portland, I will receive one from the wall in return.
Lastly, we were dropped at Sugar loaf and took the gondolas up to one of the tallest peaks near the beaches…the views were once again amazing and I was taken aback at just how large the city was and how beautiful it was from the top of the peaks.
Tomorrow I am off to Colombia and Cartegena. I will definitely miss Brazil, however, I´m definitely looking forward to a new place altogether….and being able to speak some of the language 🙂 Til next time
Good Times & Tan Lines 