Twin Travels Archives - Page 3 of 3

Girls Staycation at Hotel Monaco

This weekend we took a little breather from real life and gathered up a bunch of our best friends for a night together in SLC. The best thing about this group of girls is that they are all from different phases and places in our life, which made for some really fun conversations! We started our night at Settebello with some gelato (dessert first of course) and then had the delish pizza. Hotel Monaco was our destination of choice. The boutique hotel is gorgeous and right in middle of town. We had way too much fun and because there is way too much to write about I have bulleted out the highlights!

We got to stay in the penthouse suite on the 14th floor!!!
Monaco set us up with the most adorable Italian soda bar in our suite, aka best party idea ever, they were soooo yummy.
We were given our first selfie stick, oh my goodness bad idea! Hours of entertainment.
They have complimentary bikes at the hotel. Awesome! You can jet around downtown without having to worry about finding a parking spot.
All pets are welcome with no extra fees. If you don’t have one, they let you “rent” a goldfish for the night. So fun! (they gave us two that were twins!)
There is a complete yoga mat set in every room that is complimentary. Love this, especially because Parker and I have started doing yoga together once a week!
We stayed up way later than 10:30 pm which was impressive.
Students in interior design stop at the hotel frequently for field trips because the rooms are incredible, i.e. fur throws, geometric carpet prints, etc.
The hotel gave each of us girls a lush lip balm and cute nail polish, plus we all loved wearing the amazing animal print robes that come in every room!
We honestly laughed until we cried and our cheeks hurt. Girl’s nights are so good for the soul, thanks to all of our lovely friends for coming and making it such a fun night!

Huge thank you to the Hotel Monaco for showing us such an incredible time! Yay for a successful girls night! xo

Hawaii Must-Haves

I look forward to our trip to the Big Island of Hawaii with Sam’s family every January. It’s the perfect way to get over my post Christmas blues. I’m sharing some of my favorite moments from this year’s trip and a my top five things I can’t live without on a beach vacation!

1. Sun Hat: I bough my black and white one at Walmart in Hawaii for $14.99! I always find gems there. I’ve entered that phase of life where I realize how dumb I was trying to get tan as a teenager and now I slather on SPF 50 every morning!

2. Spray Tan: This is directly related to #1. I always feel so much better putting on a bathing suit in January when I have a spray tan. It also takes away the pressure to come home super tan or for me red as a tomato because of a sunburn.

3. Kindle: I love to read, but rarely get the chance to read books straight through unless I’m on vacation. I read a few this trip, but my favorite was “What Alice Forgot”. It is the perfect beach read and has a great ending!

4. Dresses: I brought 3 dresses instead of jeans or shorts and was very happy with my decision. I wore them all multiple times and they were so easy and breezy. Lots of people have asked where the yellow floral dress is from, I actually got it at Primark this summer in London even though it looks totally Hawaiian!

5. Alterna Bamboo Beach Summer Sunshine Spray: this stuff smells like a tropical vacation in a bottle. It also protects your hair & scalp from the sun, while making it nice and shiny. By the end of the trip, I was seriously spraying it on everyone’s hair every morning.

I have the best in-laws! They make this trip so much fun. We especially loved our whale watching boat tour, snorkeling in clear water and standup paddle boarding this trip. We also learned how to play a hilariously bad version of ultimate frisbee on the beach every night at sunset. So many fun memories, but I am already looking forward to next year!

10 Hours in Monaco

As many of you know, my new career goal is to become the Princess of Monaco. It is hands down the dreamiest place I have ever been. It is the second smallest country in the world and the most densely populated. Every inch of Monaco is beautiful. We spent about 10 hours there, so here is my advice for the must-see sites!

Casino Royale

Even if you’ve only seen part of the James Bond Casino Royale movie cuz you fell asleep halfway through and started drooling on your boyfriend’s throw pillow, not to worry, it is still worth a look. It is a stunningly beautiful building. You have to pay 10 Euros to get in and when we went they were giving a private tour, so we just got to see the entrance and lobby areas, which were beautiful! They have a strict dress code you must adhere to if you want to go inside, no shorts or flip flops and a jacket is required in the private rooms.

Harbor

Basically every beautiful yacht on earth is parked in Monaco. We walked around the harbor for about an hour just oohing and ahhing over how lavish they are. They all come with a highly trained crew, which made me think – how much does a yacht captain make? Well, most of them make about $150,000 a year, not including bonuses. Sign me up! Seriously, they were the most amazing boats I have ever seen.

The Grand Prix

We arrived in Monaco 3 days after the Grand Prix had wrapped up. It was awesome because everything was still set up for the big race. We walked along the tiny, windy roads and were amazed at how fast those cars zip through them. The CARS

I am just about the last person on earth to ogle at cars, but in Monaco you are absolutely surrounded by exotic vehicles. I don’t think Honda Civics are allowed… It was fun to see them all zipping by us on the street and of course Sam loved getting some up close views of some super fancy cars. We started counting Bentleys the second we got there, but stopped after we made it to 10 within 10 minutes…

Larvotto Beach

This public beach is similar to Nice in that it is made of tiny pebbles, but they are not as big as the ones in Italy. We could not get over the beautiful clear water. Warning if you go: You will see a lot of boobs! At first, Sam was like oh my gosh did you see those, look at THOSE, but by the end of the day we were actually pretty used to it (and don’t worry mom, I kept my top on :))

Monaco is such a gorgeous place and I can’t recommend it enough. If you go, it is about a 10 minute train ride from Nice, France.

Italy Travel Tips

We almost died on our way to Rome. Being the cheapskates that we are, we decided to take a bus to our hotel rather than a taxi. We got stuck on the sketchiest bus for an hour and a half. Needless to say, when we saw the bright Marriott sign we were relieved. We stayed about 20 minutes outside of central Rome which ended up working out great, but we forgot to change our clocks and missed the shuttle from the hotel our first morning there, so we had to hire a private car with Marco. He was a great little tour guide. He told us that real Italians vacation on the island of Sicily, not the Amalfi Coast. Apparently only Americans like it? Before we knew it, we were parked outside the Coliseum. So, instead of talking about places in Italy, I am highlighting my Top 5 Travel Tips for Italy.

#1 Bring a safe bag.

Within the first few hours of our first day in Rome, we saw an Asian girl get robbed. A man came into the restaurant we were eating at, snatched her bag and ran away with it. It was so sad and she didn’t speak English or Italian, but to her relief, one of the waiters chased down the thief and came back about 30 minutes later with her bag. Sam borrowed a great travel bag that had a zipper lock. Just a simple lock that makes it so pickpockets and thieves can’t quickly open your bag. It is from REI. I brought a tiny blue shoulder bag that had a squeeze closure that was also hard to do quickly. These bags were so nice to have and worked really well for us. We kept all of our credit cards and big bills in a money bag Sam wore under his shirt every day (thanks love).

#2 Comfy Shoes!

I wore my polka dot Keds every single day in Italy and my feet were happy. We did so much walking every day that I would have been miserable in sandals or cute shoes. Gotta choose function over fashion sometimes I guess!

#3 Gelato, Gelato, Gelato

Eat it at least twice a day. My favorite place in Rome was called Grom, but the best gelato of the trip was from a tiny store in the Tuscan town of Lucca. I almost always got Hazelnut because it’s just sooo good, but I also tried crazy flavors like pine nut (amazing) and basil (little weird). Sam and I started off splitting cones and by the end of the trip… well we weren’t splitting anymore.

#4 Buy all of your tickets before you get to Italy.

We bought our tickets to the Coliseum and Forum + Vatican City and Museums months before our trip and I’m so glad we did. We literally got to skip right to the front of lines that were hours long. It makes the whole trip so much more fun when you don’t get stuck waiting for half your day.

#5 Get lost.

Sam and I absolutely loved wandering the cobble street roads and sometimes having no idea where we were headed. It was so fun to visit the little shops and wander down the gorgeous lanes filled with scooters and flower covered balconies.

London Top 10

Sam and I are still trying to process all of the things we saw on our European adventure, it was so amazing! We still like each other (yay) and we had such a fantastic time exploring together. I feel so lucky to have such a great travel partner. I know it sounds cheesy, but experiencing everything with Sam made it so much sweeter. To start things off, here are our Top 10 Sights to See in London!

#10 Buckingham Palace

It’s such an iconic and historical location, how can you miss this? One of the most fun things to see here is the Changing of the Guard that happens every day at 11:30am. I don’t know how those guards stand so still!

#9 Tower Bridge at night.

Magical. If you’re looking for a romantic evening stroll, head to the Tower Bridge. It is magnificently lit up at night and a great spot to wander around.

#8 Borough Market

Food Heaven. You would never guess we had traveled straight for 20 hours when we took this pic, right? When I lived in London, I don’t think I ever missed a Thursday at Borough. You MUST get the grilled cheese sandwich from the Kappacasein stand and we also splurged for the raclette because we were starving. Don’t even get me started on the chocolate… Some of the best food in London if you ask me. It’s also a great spot to go if you are touring St. Paul’s Cathedral because it’s right across the bridge.

#7 Lion King at Lyceum Theater (or any other show because they are all amazing)

Musicals are amazing, but musicals with British accents?! Basically nothing better. I always recommend going to the theater the day of and asking for their cheapest tickets. More often than not, they will offer you “partial view” seats, which usually mean really close but you can’t see one corner of the stage. We went to Lion King for 32 pounds each and sat in a box.

#6 Kensington Palace & Gardens

This is one of the most quintessentially British places you can visit. The perfectly manicured gardens are great for a morning run or an afternoon stroll. If you would like to spend some time there, I would recommend going to the Orangery for tea because it is straight out of a storybook. We tried to stalk Will & Kate, but couldn’t find them anywhere…

#5 South Bank

This is a fun area of London near the London Eye and aquarium that is filled with street performers, food trucks and fun restaurants. We got to hang out on a rooftop garden and tried out Giraffe restaurant (which sadly wasn’t that great).

#4 Trafalgar Square

The center of London. This is the best people watching location. On a sunny day in London town, there is really no place better to be.

#3 National Gallery

My favorite museum of all time. Sam had to endure quite a few hours of wandering, but lucky for him there are nice comfy couches everywhere. The building is gorgeous, clean and huge and displays two of my favorite artists’ work Monet and Degas. The water lily paintings are even prettier in person!

#2 Portobello Market

This is hands down the best market in London. It happens every Saturday on Portobello Road and is always packed. It is filled with antiques, London memorabilia, new clothing and lots of great food. Of course my favorite is the Portobello Crepes stand! Sam loves the bratwurst and middle eastern food.

#1 Big Ben & Parliament

It is so cool to see such an iconic site in person.

London will always have my heart, I just love the energy and vibe of the entire city. Please do not be alarmed if the next time you see me I have a little bit of an accent 🙂

Cheers,

Britt

Million Dollar Arm

I had so much fun at my first movie junket. Basically, a junket is where a bunch of media comes to a hotel to interview the stars of a new movie. In this case, it was for Disney’s new film Million Dollar Arm. The movie stars Mad Men hunk Jon Hamm, along with Lake Bell and Aasif Mandvi, who was hilarious in The Internship. This was a solo trip, which actually turned out to be very relaxing and fun. I stayed at the Four Seasons Beverly Hills where all of the interviews took place. It is fancy! The best part was ordering room service to my heart’s content. I saw the movie at a downtown Los Angeles theater on Friday night and then did all of the interviews Saturday morning. The movie was so heartwarming and fun. I found myself laughing out loud throughout the entire thing. It’s definitely a movie the entire family will thoroughly enjoy. The coolest part is that it’s based on a true story. Million Dollar Arm is the name of a baseball scouting competition in India. The movie tells the story of the first year of that competition. :::Jon Hamm kept eye contact during the entire interview and amazed me with his Utah knowledge. He says he has quite a bit of family that live here. His eyes are a tad bit mesmerizing::: :::Lake Bell was such a fun lady! She was wearing slippers during our interview and actually just announced that she is expecting her first baby. There are at least five times during the movie that you want to high five her. She is a great girl power character::: :::I got to talk to the guys the movie is based on. J.B. Bernstein and Rinku Singh. What an incredible story to be a part of::: :::the most beautiful room with such an awesome view of the city::: :::maybe 1/4 of my amazing room service dinner (not pictured: juicy burger, truffle fries and heavenly bread basket)::::::guess who forgot her swimsuit? yep, i was the fully dressed weirdo lounging by the pool in 85 degrees, but it was still awesome::: :::probably sent Sam 75 selfies throughout the weekend… cuz that’s what you do when you travel by yourself :::

Hope you are all having a great week! I can’t wait to go back to the land of sunshine and celebrities.

xoxo Britt

Twin Travels: Lake Tahoe

If you follow us on social media you know that we are on a whirlwind adventure in Lake Tahoe! We were invited to participate in a travel show called “Getting Away Together”. It was a last minute opportunity that was too good to pass up. It is our first time to Lake Tahoe and we are hooked. Each day has been packed full of wintery adventures. Our first day included a snowboard lesson at the Sierra ski resort with the nicest instructors and fresh powder. Then we finished the day with an ice skating session at the most charming town rink. Along for the episode are three amazing people from San Francisco. We have loved getting to know Sean, Kelly, and Ashley!

We were saying some serious prayers before going up on the mountain in a 20 degree blizzard.

But we survived & had so much fun (no one fainted!!)

Then we headed to the Heavenly Ice Skating Rink (that is really what it is called!) and it lived up to it’s name. Perfect twinkling lights with softly falling snow.

Of course had to have one laugh attack on the ice…

We also made friends with this local puppy named Nikai. Basically Tahoe is dog heaven.

One of the rules while visiting Lake Tahoe in the winter is at least 3 cups of hot cocoa per day. Preferably the kind that tastes like a cup of pure melted chocolate with loads of whipped cream. Yummm. We are being forced to eat some of the best food ever! Our favorite place so far is Basecamp Pizza. Delightful homemade pizza in the most unique and delicious flavors. Our fave was the Thai chicken and house special!

Twin Travels: Aulani Hawaii

I was lucky enough to go on a work trip to the Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa on Oahu. It was pure paradise! Disney definitely knows how to do things right. Every detail celebrated the Hawaiian culture and added to the overall experience. I traveled with my gorgeous co-workers Kari and Jenna. To say we had fun is an understatement. I love these ladies and we really had the best time together! We filmed with crews from Disney that were amazing and professional, I already miss everyone there. I think I ate my weight in Mickey rice krispie treats every day. Take me back!

I seriously cannot recommend the Aulani enough, I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have had such a fun opportunity. I loved every minute there and did not want to leave. I have not been back to Oahu since I lived there in college and it brought back so many sweet memories.

Aloha oe, until we meet again!

– Brooke

Twin Travels: South Carolina

Sam and I were lucky enough to take a fun trip to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.

I basically fell in love with the gorgeous, picturesque town.

Our favorite Hilton Head Places:

Rita’s: the most amazing Italian Ice + custard you will ever have. We went there 6 nights out of 7 (seriously!). It is that good. Lucky for Utah, they opened a Rita’s in Union Park just a few weeks ago. If you haven’t been yet, run now!!!
Harbor Town: the most beautiful picturesque little seaside town. It has a lighthouse, great burgers, gorgeous yachts, jumping dolphins and a spectacular view.
Intercoastal Canals: these are the magical Notebook canals. You can rent kayaks or canoes and float down the glassy water.
Beaches: Go to any of them and you will get wide open spaces, warm water and smooth sand.
Low Country Backyard Restaurant: Yummy, delicious southern food. Favorites include: baked mac & cheese, cornbread, breaded chicken, meatloaf and…. the banana pudding. Tastes like Magnolia’s.. so good!

It’s a beautiful place and I can’t wait to go back!

– Britt

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