Between getting married, moving to the UK, visiting 8 countries, and celebrating plenty of professional accomplishments, 2021 was, without a doubt, the craziest and busiest year of our lives. We decided pretty early on that we wanted to stay in London for the holidays so that we could finally take a moment to relax, as well as experience the magic of London at Christmas.
A variety of factors suddenly left us with several weekends in a row with nothing planned. We rectified the situation by booking a last-minute trip to Cardiff, the capital of Wales, which is only ~2.5 hours away from London by train. I knew almost nothing about Cardiff (or Wales, for that matter), but some light research suggested that it was a nice place to visit at Christmastime.
For Andy's 30th birthday, we met one of his childhood best friends in Amsterdam for a fantastic three-day weekend of celebrations. Despite The Netherlands suddenly announcing a partial lockdown (basically just bars/restaurants shutting down at 8 PM) the week before our trip, we still had so much fun celebrating Andy's birthday and exploring a new city with an old friend.
One of my travel-related goals while we are living in the UK is to try to visit smaller cities and other places that would be challenging and/or less of a priority to visit from the United States. This well-intentioned mindset is how we ended up spending a weekend in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania and a place I had barely even heard of, last November.
Anyone who knows me knows that I love champagne. When I started thinking about my 30th birthday, celebrating in the Champagne region of France seemed about as perfect (and on-brand) as it could get. We spent a fabulous three-day weekend touring the champagne houses, eating fantastic French food, and drinking as much top-notch bubby as we could handle.
We had always talked about taking a big trip to Greece and, most importantly, one of Andy's friends was getting married at a beach resort in Parga just a few weeks after our wedding...taking our honeymoon in Greece was a no-brainer. We spent time in Athens at the beginning and end of our trip, and then spent five days on the Ionian Sea in Parga for our friends' wedding before celebrating our honeymoon on the islands of Milos, Sifnos, and Santorini.
The trip I get asked about the most is the two weeks we spent with Andy's mother in Italy to celebrate her retirement and the completion of his MBA. It was Andy's mom's first time in Europe and there is also just SO much to see and do in Italy, so I spent a lot more time planning this trip than I typically would...and it paid off! During our 12-day trip to Italy, we spent a few days each in Milan, Vernazza (Cinque Terre), Florence, Montepulciano (Val d'Orcia region of Tuscany), and Rome.
As cliché as it sounds, I think Paris will always be my favorite city in the world. I've been 7 or 8 times over the past few years and there's something special about the energy and culture that keeps me coming back. Paris travel guides are a dime a dozen and I am certainly not an expert, but I've compiled a list of some of my personal favorite restaurants, attractions, and shops for anyone who might be interested. Bon voyage!
Lindsey in London 