Finding yourself stuck in Europe for Thanksgiving?  Wondering how you’re going to get that beloved turkey (or tofurkey!) you’ve become so accustomed to stuffing yourself with on the fourth Thursday in November in America?

Well, all is not lost.  In Amsterdam, there are so many expatriates and students that you’re bound to find something worthy enough to spend your turkey day at.  Here are a few of the top events going on in town:

Hard Rock Café Amsterdam:  I have to admit that ever since I was about twelve years old when Hard Rock Cafes were really cool, I’ve avoided them in almost every city I’ve visited.  And yes they may be touristy, but if you’re looking for a Thanksgiving feast and Americans and other English-speaking expats to spend it with, this is the place to go!  Read the rest of this entry »

Much like the cupcake craze that has been sweeping across New York, LA, and capital cities around the world, the macaron movement is slowly but surely spreading its wings. From a colorful cameo appearance in Sophia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette, to references in Gossip Girls, macarons have been making a name for themselves, and most notably those from the world-renowned Parisian pâtisserie, Ladurée. A store that sells a whopping 15,000 macarons every day!

A pastry that dates back to the 16^th century, it is Ladurée that we have to thank for the invention of the now famous double-decker macaron: two macarons that have been paired together with a ganache, or sometimes jelly filling. A colorful treat with a seemingly endless array of flavors, they are the perfect accompaniment to a coffee or tea. Read the rest of this entry »

I admit, the conversation we’re about to have is a little awkward. Pretend I’m your best friend, we’re sitting in a secluded corner of your favorite coffee shop, and I just bought you a latte.

Now, we both know “that time of the month” is a pain in the neck for a woman on the go. Even back home in the States, remembering to carry enough feminine products with you for five days each month is annoying, and it’s easy to forget. Now, imagine carrying all those products in your backpack for three weeks as you navigate Europe. Think about how much space they’re going to take up. Think about running out of tampons on the eight-hour train to Berlin. You get the idea.

I used to have these kinds of problems all the time. Read the rest of this entry »

It takes a lot to get me to wake up at 7:00am on a Saturday morning, but this time, the prospect of hopping on a bus to an unfamiliar Portuguese city for an unplanned, 24-hour trip was more alluring than the snooze button.

White-walled, palm tree-lined Faro sits about an hour from the Spanish border in the south of Portugual, tucked away from the wide-open Atlantic by a thin strip of land.  Like many southern European cities, its tourist season peaks in the summer with an annual invasion of Britons and other travelers from the north. In November, however, it’s a quiet, restful place still blessed by mild weather and clear skies.

Read the rest of this entry »

“My only ambition was to create an honest picture that would interpret nature as she really is, as she ought to be seen,” the impressionist painter Joaquin Sorolla once declared. Sorolla, a Spaniard who painted in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, was adept at making his art glow with a special kind of light.  He drew the Mediterranean sun into his brush and delicately imprinted it on his canvas. The artist has long since left the world, but his painting – and that certain kind of light – still shines.

I recently attended a special exhibition of the artist’s work in Huelva, Spain, where a collection works by Sorolla were on loan from the Museo de Bellas Artes in Havana.  Sorolla’s artistic influence was more limited than that of some of his contemporaries, but he is best known for advancing the style of impressionist painting called “luminism,” which focused on the careful study of light on people and landscapes. The works are over a century old but remain coolly radiant, as if from a light that springs from their own sun. Sorolla is at his best in his depictions of the coast in early evening, capturing a fleeting quality of light that comes only late in the day, when the sun throws long shadows and a deep, warm glow across the beach. Sorolla may have been something of a one-trick pony, but it’s still a pretty good trick. A temporary Sorolla exhibition in the Museo del Prado in Madrid recently drew half a million visitors, breaking a ten-year attendance record before closing in September.  (The most important Sorolla collection is permanently housed in the Museo Sorolla, also in Madrid.)

Read the rest of this entry »

Latest: My last trip to Europe entailed a visit to  South Tyrol, Zurich and Munich. It was Christmastime – the perfect time to be in that region of the continent for the skiing, markets and general atmosphere, not to mention the mugs upon mugs of mulled wine. The Marienplatz Christmas market put me in good holiday cheer, but wintry Zurich was the most aesthetically pleasing portion of the trip.

Best: I do not take kindly to people who call Paris a cliché – it is my favorite city to date. Of course, this trip may rank as my best because it was a three-month sojourn that left me with good friends and beautiful memories, but Paris is wonderful sans doute. The art, atmosphere, fashion and food warrant its popularity, and I’d certainly consider spending the rest of my life in le Marais.

Read the rest of this entry »

Looking for that perfect postcard style photo of Florence but don’t want to pay for it? Well the Piazzale Michelangelo is for you! After a stroll across the river and a bit of a climb (or of course a tour bus or something of the like for you luxury travelers) you can get a fantastic panoramic view of the beautiful city of Florence and it won’t cost you a cent!

Located in the Oltarno district of Florence, the Piazzale Michelangelo was built in 1869 by architect Giuseppe Poggion, just south of the historical city centre. Ever since tourists and locals alike have flocked up the stairs to see the beauty of Florence on a sunny day or lit up in all its glory every night. Read the rest of this entry »

Tired of trying to keep track of all your boarding passes when on those long trans-continental flights? Hate when broken kiosks at the airport force you to stand in a line snaking halfway around the airport just so you can print your boarding pass?  Fret not, as those days will soon be behind you with the implementation of the paperless Bar Coded Boarding Pass (BCBP), a boarding pass that can be uploaded directly to your mobile phone.

Even though you may not know it, most travelers are already familiar with the BCBP, as it is the system that allows you to print out your boarding passes at home after checking in online. Already been in the testing phase for several years by a handful of airlines, the mobile boarding pass is the next logical step in making air travel that much faster. After all, with all the post 9/11 regulations, travelers could use a little break. All it requires is that you download the boarding pass to your mobile phone or PDA, which will then be checked by an agent yielding a hand-held scanner. Read the rest of this entry »

As I type this from my local Barnes & Nobles, I can’t help but notice that – though Thanksgiving hasn’t even had its day in the spotlight – Christmas is already stealing the show. Similarly, the pages of my favorite travel magazines are glittering with gift ideas for those leaving town.

Yes, the season is upon us, and ’tis the season for giving, receiving and quite possibly returning all sorts of gifts. For those about to cross the pond, now is the perfect time to stock up on all those student travel essentials and frivolities alike.  So, add these items to your Christmas list, or play Santa to one of your own jet setting friends.

Read the rest of this entry »

Looking for cheap flights to your next European destination?  You might want to check out Skyscanner.net, the European-based flight search engine advertising cheap flights, low cost air travel and flight deals for all.

Skyscanner was started by three guys in Scotland who were so frustrated with the difficulty of finding cheap flights online that they started their own website to help budget-conscious people like them.  That was in 2003.  Today, the site dominates the Internet as one of the best intra-European search engines out there.

Based on the idea that no one should have to spend loads of money to travel, the website uses search engine technology to browse airlines’ websites in order to find you the best deal.  In fact, Skyscanner is comparable to Kayak.com (see my review of Kayak here), but in my experience it tends to be a better option for finding intra-European flights than its competitor because it searches more obscure European airlines than Kayak does. Read the rest of this entry »