Finally, I made it to the Santa Barbara Orchid Estate, home to an amazing collection of all kinds of orchids.
Driveway.
Mossy fence.
Green lush.
Aisles and aisles and aisles of plants.
Growth wherever possible.
Few outdoor picnic tables and green lawn for a nice scenic break.
More photos in the gallery below.
photo of south of France coast from last Europe trip
Next month, Laura and I will be venturing off to Europe for a month-long vacation. Our itinerary looks something like this: Dublin > Inverness > London > Paris > south of France > Lyon > Switzerland > Berlin.
Planning a month-long trip is so much work (poor us). But we've managed to figure out the logistics of almost the first half of the trip by dividing up the planning (Laura is looking for couchsurfing hosts and hostels, I'm looking up transportation).
Thought I'd share some tips below of what has been helping us so far:
Hipmunk.com - Hipmunk is a site created by the same people behind Reddit. Alternative to looking up flights on Orbitz or Kayak, it lets you search flights and easily compare your options. You can see times, airlines, prices, and durations all in one. You can even sort by "agony".
Pinterest.com - Ok, so everyone knows about Pinterest. But not many utilize it as a shared planning tool. For travel, I created a shared board with Laura. This is where we pin anything we both come across that we may be interested in seeing on our trip. With the gazillion resources online of what to do, see, eat, this helps us keep reminders of what we should do once we're in a city.
Rome2Rio.com - I just came across this today! I've been okay with booking trains and finding bus schedules, but I came across a conundrum, debating whether to rent a car or take a train across the south of France. On Rome2Rio, I type in an ideal itinerary and it tells me information for whether I travel by train or car. I can easily see the route on the map when I click on each one, as well as see the prices of the train tickets or what it'll cost me in fuel. Best site so far for regional travel planning.
Seriously. Here are all the Google resources Laura and I are regularly using to plan this trip:
Create an Amazon.com wishlist specific for your trip. Then anytime you think, hey, I need to make sure I have a raincoat, or I need a travel guide, then just look it up and save it to your wishlist.
Use an American Express card for as many things as possible. An AMEX card has many travel benefits, including insuring your travel in case of cancellation or lost baggage (via plane, ferry, bus, train, car, whatever), providing rental and travel insurance, and also providing global assistance in case of an emergency while abroad. Also it helps to budget your trip for 2+ people when you use one card.
That's about it for now, more tips to come! Will share below some more websites we're using.
TravelFashionGirl.com - how to pack minimally but with style in mind. We're just taking a backpack and tote/purse (you can always get a cheap suitcase abroad).
AirBnB.com - affordable homes in the areas you want, often cheaper than a hotel or hostel for 2. We're staying in one with washer/dryer in one of my favorite parts of Paris so we can have some privacy and relaxation from our long trip.
CouchSurfing.com - yes, it seems shady and can be, but if you're picky and lucky, you'll find and make some amazing friends abroad. Luckily we'll be meeting up and staying with several people I've met through this website again and again.
More info about our trip to come!
Emilio Garcia is back at the Toy Art Gallery with his new ARThropod show with Tokyoplastic!
I unfortunately was stuck at work so missed out on the opening show and his presence there painting bugs all day. I did go the day after to see all the awesome new shtuff. (Apologies on not having my Powershot G12 with me lately, I need to fix it up so am using my phone for now for pics.) So happy to see the new pieces, the bigger attention (even received some NOTCOT love).
For those of you who don't know, Emilio Garcia is a toy artist from Barcelona. When Toy Art Gallery first opened on Melrose, their opening featured artist gallery was Emilio's Jumping Brain which I blogged about way back when. The next day after they first opened, Emilio painted a signed a jumping frog for me, which I still happily display in my home, being my first signed art piece.
This time, he's back with some framed brain bugs and really nice prints. You can purchase them at TAG or online on TAG's website.
GOLD BRAIN!
Black/chrome goodness.
Brain bugs gazing out on Melrose Avenue.
Unframed matted prints.
Go see the pieces and buy some shtuff at TAG!
Toy Art Gallery
7571 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA
Above: Leatherman Super Tool 300 from REI
A few years ago, I bought a camera assistant's best friend that my poor money could buy: a Leatherman from Home Depot, like above.
Then I sadly neglected it on a forsaken road in Detroit, Michigan. My thing when I lose something is to never just buy the same thing as a replacement. I use the opportunity to get an upgrade.
So then I got this black oxide Leatherman Wave on Amazon. Came with a couple more handy tools, like a small bit driver and scissors that I use often. It was definitely heavier, stronger, more robust
But guess what: it got lost. Well, to be more exact, I had left it accidentally in my work backpack I was taking with me on the plane. So the wonderful TSA of Chicago O'Hare retreived my black oxide multi-tool.
What do I get now? The Leatherman Wave was perfect for me, and it was all black!
I searched and searched, and found my answer on eBay. Got this Christmas gift for myself from Texas Tool Crafters.
A GOLD Leatherman! It's a Wave coated in 24K. And wait, there's more....
Special embossing on the blade! Yeah, I'm a nerd....
A nerd with my name engraved on a gold knife.
If you're one to laugh at me for pulling this out, don't worry, I'm already laughing. But it makes me so happy to see this shiny thing and I think it'll be harder to lose this one!
(Late in posting this, but better now then never, right?)
Our holiday visit up to Santa Maria was the usual: take photo of neighbor's parthenon house,...
bring home live seafood,...
stuff myself on Korean food (bibimbap, sprout soup, banchan),...
and my sister making cornbread and cookies for family, friends, and neighbors.
We also got some delicious homemade tamales and buñuelos from the next-door neighbor. Happy travels, happy eats, and happy Christmas to everyone!
HELLO!
Thanks for visiting IHeartWoo.com, my lifestyle blog featuring anything from food and LA things to travel and arts. Enjoy!
~woo
