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The Wandering Woods

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The Wandering Woods

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Featured
Review of Feels Like Home Rossio Prime Suites: Lisbon
Jun 20, 2018
Review of Feels Like Home Rossio Prime Suites: Lisbon
Jun 20, 2018

This February Justin and I took a short trip to Spain and Portugal after scoring an absolute steal on tickets from a travel site we follow. I spent a lot of time researching where we should stay in Lisbon and finally booked at Rossio Prime Suites where we ended up having an exceptional stay. As such, I wanted to write a review for those of you who are like me and have a hard time picking lodging. Sometimes reading a review that's not from, say, TripAdvisor is what you need to make a final decision. 

Jun 20, 2018
A Guide to Quinta da Regaleira
Mar 23, 2018
A Guide to Quinta da Regaleira
Mar 23, 2018

Sintra served as a mountain retreat for Portugal's royals and elites for hundreds of years and as such, is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site full of castles, palaces, forts, and mansions. Our second day in Lisbon, we decided to take my co-worker's advice and hop the train to Sintra. There's way too much to see in Sintra on just a day trip though, and we quickly became overwhelmed trying to figure out which sites to visit. However, we kept seeing a place called Quinta da Regaleira and it had the best reviews out of everything in Sintra (five stars from 9,829 reviews on TripAdvisor) so we were like obviously we have to go there! 

Mar 23, 2018
6 Reasons Lisbon Should be on Your Travel Radar
Mar 15, 2018
6 Reasons Lisbon Should be on Your Travel Radar
Mar 15, 2018

As many of you know, Justin and I just got back from a quick trip to Europe, during which we visited Madrid, Barcelona, and Lisbon over the course of a week (a bit crazy I know). I have to say, I fell in love with Portugal and as far as cities go, I liked Lisbon quite a lot more than either Madrid or Barcelona. With Spain being its more famous neighbor, Portugal doesn't end up on people's travel radars as often as it should. Here's six reasons you should add Lisbon to your travel list. 

Mar 15, 2018
14 Days, 7 Countries,  1 Van (Europe by VW)
Jun 21, 2015
14 Days, 7 Countries, 1 Van (Europe by VW)
Jun 21, 2015

When I was eight we left our home in Africa and returned to the United States. Our tickets were to take us back by way of the Netherlands, and so my parents decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to stop and explore Europe. And so they planned a two week stop over in which we would drive through seven European countries in a VW camper van. We had been living as volunteers in Tanzania for seven years and so money was definitely tight. This was budget travel at its best which meant that there was no staying anywhere but the camper van and that we spent the whole time doing covert camping so we wouldn't be saddled with campground fees.

Jun 21, 2015

@wandering.woods

Is it sad that one of my first thoughts upon waking is how happy I am that it's a new day so I can eat another gummy vitamin? 😂 That has nothing to do with this photo, just thought I'd put that out there.

This photo is yet another from Big Sur and documents the first time we've simultaneously had ocean and campfire views out the back of the van. It's something we could get pretty used to #parkedinparadise
Stormy sea views along Highway 1 from our Big Sur adventure last weekend. The first time Justin and I drove Highway 1 to Big Sur was a totally spontaneous trip. We were dating at the time and he was in med school and had a little time off for some sort of break or holiday. While we were hanging out that evening, Justin said that we should make the most of his freedom and take a road trip. We pulled out a map and after a few minutes decided six hours to Big Sur sounded pretty good. I went home and got some food and my sleeping bag while Justin packed the car and then off we went with no plans aside from finding a campground. When we got too tired to drive, we slept in a Wal-Mart parking lot in the wee hours of the morning. When we woke up, I found out I'd passed my nursing boards which I'd been pretty sure I'd failed leading to lots of tears and dramatic statements 😁 For that reason and many others, Big Sur will always be a memorable place for me. The moral of this long story is that you should never be afraid to go on spontaneous adventures! Sometimes they turn out to be the best ones.
When your jacket matches the ocean 😍 We stopped at this pullout overlooking the most amazing beach during our Big Sur adventure this weekend. It's hard to see in this photo, but there's actually a waterfall flowing onto the beach and the ocean was such a surreal color of blue. The beach appeared to be private property with a gated road leading down to the beach where a very neatly spaced row of palm trees made us wonder if there used to be a house there. Can you imagine? What would be the view from your dream house?
Ocean and campfire views out the back of the van = a perfect way to spend the weekend. When Justin and I were dating we took a spontaneous road trip to Big Sur and drove by the most incredible campground perched along the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean. It was completely full so we weren't able to camp, but we've never forgotten about it. Well, this weekend, seven years later, our wish to camp there came true and it was every bit as amazing as we thought it would be 😊

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{all photographs copyright of Justin + Betsy unless explicitly stated}