Photo Journal: New York City 10.14.19

Photo Journal: San Francisco, California 8.17.2019

Last month, I took a mini trip to San Francisco for work and made Robbie tag along to do some sightseeing. I’ve heard nothing but great things about Frisco and was excited to see more of what the city had to offer.

***please enjoy this extensive montage of photos from the trip along with a few colorful comments***

We went on a hunt to find the sea lions bathing over at Pier 39 which was actually the most adorable thing ever. They looked so content sunbathing on the docks.

That Sunday, we decided to venture out of the city and into Napa Valley, in hopes of expanding our wine palettes. The day-long bus tour took us to four very unique wineries, all with their special “je ne sais quoi”.

I’m not afraid to admit I knew nothing about wine prior to our trip, but I did learn quite a few things and gained a new appreciation for the craft.

Did you really go to San Francisco if you don’t take a picture in front of the Golden Gate Bridge?

We also managed to find some street art along the way, although I will say it did feel a little strange taking pictures of the pieces. Most of them were extremely politically charged messages, wrapped up in fun/bright colored graffiti which was extremely provoking.

I hope you enjoyed these little snaps from our quick trip! I can’t wait to go back and explore more of the city.

Exploring Maasai Mara | Best Safari Tour

JAMBO! You may have already guessed what this means, but if you’re not familiar, it’s the Swahili greeting or salutation, similar to how we say “Hello”. This was the greeting we used fairly often, as we made our way through East Africa. But I should rewind and give a little more background on why we were there in the first place.

Three months ago, I was kindly invited to Kenya on a research trip for work. Yes, I was just as shocked as you are, it was a crazy opportunity (and at one point I almost turned it down). I should preface by saying my day job is at a drinkware design company, Leapfrog Brands, that has been supplying reusable water bottles, tumblers, travel mug, and more to national retailers going on six years now. This year, we made it our goal to explore our corporate responsibility. Essentially, we were brainstorming the best ways for us to give back as a company.

How did we get involved in Kenya, specifically? Well, one of my coworkers had recently been in contact with a man named Jon Kaufman, who she met through a mutual friend. Jon runs an organization called H2OpenDoors. If you’ve never heard of it, don’t sweat (I hadn’t either until this project). The organization falls under the umbrella of Rotary International which is a network of over 1.2 million members who:

See a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change – across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves.

The organization was originally started by a group of men in Illinois (woop!) who came together and wanted to do good in the world.

By combining resources through networking, Rotary slowly began growing chapters all over the world. Over the past decade, they’ve played an essential role in the eradication of polio all over the world. Jon Kaufman, being the founder of H2OpenDoors, had been working to bring clean water to parts of the world that lack access to it. He’s able to do so, by installing solar-powered Sun Spring water filtration systems that need minimal maintenance and can produce up to 40,000 liters of clean water each day.

Our group was there to learn more about the organization’s connection to local communities and how our brand, Ello, could make an impact, whether that be designing a bottle to fit the communities needs or through our knowledge/resources.

Once we arrived at the Maasai Mara, we were greeted by a local tribe of Maasai villagers. The Maasai people "are a Nilotic ethnic group inhabiting northern, central and southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. They are among the best known local populations internationally due to their residence near the many game parks of the African Great Lakes, and their distinctive customs and dress. “

They were our guides the whole time we were in the Maasai Mara, showing us around the reservation and teaching us about their unique culture and customs.

The main goal of the this trip was to install a SunSpring water filtration system in the village to help build the local economy. The locals had bought a plot of land where the system would be installed. The main objective was to instill a level of empowerment to the women of the village, who due to their cultural beliefs had been tasked with fetching the water from the nearby rivers. They walk up to 30 minutes each way carrying 40 lbs jugs of dirty water wrapped around their heads.

It was a once in lifetime trip and I’m forever grateful for the experience. I came back excited about all the possible avenues for us to help communities just like this through our company.

Fueled by what we learned, Ello created a custom line of products with all the proceeds going towards funding another SunSpring system. While we don’t know quite yet where it will be installed, based on what we saw in Kenya we know it will be invaluable to a future community.

A Tour Through Poland

This post will be more of a travel log than anything else. Honestly, I didn't know what to expect when we arrived in Poland. Since Robert has family in Poland, I knew it wasn't going to be the typical tourist experience. We got to see parts of the country not many tourists would venture out and see. On top of that, I learned a great deal about the history of Poland. When you have a week to experience all things Polish you better travel with someone who knows their Polish. Although I was very surprised about the amount of people we spoke English in the country.

Warsaw:

• Old town Warsaw 

• Capital city 

• Palace of Culture and Science 

• Warsaw Uprising

• Sigismund's Column

• Saxon Garden 

Krakow:

*This was my favorite stop because of its Western European influence— it felt the most like a European city.

• Main square - St. Mary's Church

• Surrounded by greenery which used to be the mote. 

• Took a walking tour 

• Wawel Castle - Polish royalty 

• Kazimierz - Jewish quarters

Lublin

We spent most of our time in Lublin because Robert’s mom was born there, so it’s where a lot of her family currently lives. It's smaller than Krakow and Warsaw but has a very cute downtown area. 

• Majdanek concentration camp in Lublin 

• Old Town Lublin 

• Zamoyski Palace Museum

How to Make the Most of 24 Hours in London, England

Where do I begin? Today I got back from a two week adventure through Europe. We made our way through four countries, ten cities, and three very tired humans. I want to give a full recap of the trip and because we did so much during our time there I'm going to break it into two parts.

The first part was mostly spent in the Amalfi Coast in Italy. However, Robert, Alex (his sister), and I made our way to England to start the very first leg of our trip. We took a late flight out of O'Hare to London -- which ended up being an hour late so we got there around noon. As soon as we walked off the plane it was go-time. Now I should preface by saying, we planned a few minor things about the trip, the rest was up to fate/our discretion. 

London

Right as the we walked through the train door into the London station, it finally hit me. "Holy shit, we're in a new country and we have no idea where we're going." You're probably thinking why I was in such panic with our iPhones handy at all time. However we had decided to use the international plan on only one of our phones and it turned out to be a dud. The internet never loaded and we were confused half the time. I guess that comes with being novice European travelers. 

After spending 30 minutes getting lost in downtown London, we made our way over to our "flat" to drop off our luggage. Low and behold we walked in and realized housekeeping had not made their way over yet. You can imagine this lead for an awkward run in with the housekeeper. In order to avoid awkwardness, we wondered around town and found a local pub to grab a quick bite to eat. By this time, we had about six hours to see all the sights and sounds of city.

After freshening up we made our way over to Buckingham Palace, we walked around for a little bit before grabbing the most touristy way of transportation, a bright red double decker bus. It turned out to be the perfect way to see all the main attraction in London since w were only there for such a short period of time.

We finished off the day with a ride on the London Eye, right before we got on it started to rain, which shouldn't have been a surprise. However, since we had all packed for a warm weather vacation we were caved and bought the most cliche London sweatshirts. Once we made it to the top of the London eye, even though it was rainy, we got to see some great views of the city. 

Overall we were all pretty happy with the amount of sites we got to explore in the city. However, I wish we would have had a full day or two because there was a handful of other sites we all would have loved to see.

Main attractions I recommend seeing:

1. Buckingham Palace

2. London Eye

3. Big Ben

4. Tower Bridge

5. Trafalgar Square

How to Spend 24 Hours in Iceland

Let's just say this time change thing is not working in my favor right now. It's 5:42 a.m. and I'm writing this post. I've been up since 4 a.m. trying to fall back asleep but let's face it, I'm not going to back to bed now so I might as well tell you about the last leg of our trip.

I should preface by saying that by this point we were very ready to be back home but we decided to book a long layover in Iceland, mostly because it was the cheapest way to get home and why not explore the country? Because it was the last part of our trip it was in the very back of our minds to plan. But it was probably the place that you need the most planning.

Plan Your Trip in Advance 

This might seem like a no-brainer but since we did minor planning, it was difficult for us to navigate the country.  Every other place we visited made it a little easier to navigate because of public transportation. Let's just say we're extremely lucky to live in a country allows us to ride share. Iceland on the other hand is an Iceland with a TOTAL population of 380,000 people. Once you arrive at the airport there are bus shuttles that will take you to the major city, Reykjavik. In our case, Robert booked a Airbnb close to the airport with the idea that it would be easier for us because we were arriving so late. 

We were welcomed to the country with a brisk 45 degree weather and were a little disoriented from the flight. As soon as we managed to find a taxi (one out of the two available), our taxi driver told us he was having difficulty finding the address on his GPS. Once we arrived at the apartment (after a few wrongs turns from our taxi driver) we asked the driver to wait outside because we were unsure he had taken us to the right destination. 

As soon as we stepped foot into the apartment we were felt a little more at ease. The Airbnb was extremely cozy and well decorated. Our hosts, Unnur and David, were kind enough to leave us some cookies and milk, which made us feel even that much more welcome. Unfortunately, we didn't spend more than eight hours in the apartment but I would have loved to stay longer. 

The next morning we woke up bright and early to try and call a taxi to take us to Reykjavik. The one attraction we had hoped to visit, the Blue Lagoon, had been booked up months in advanced so we had to make a quick decision on what to do instead. We decided to take a tour bus through the Golden Circle which turns out is not golden at all nor is the route a circle. 

Food and Attractions are Expensive 

We got our first taste of how expensive this short trip would be when we order three pastries and a water for almost $20. The tour bus took us to a dining lodge half way through the tour which charged $19 for a bowl of lamb soup (authentic Iceland cuisine). and a small sandwich for $18 (tomato and mozzarella although now that I think about it...I'm not sure how they got those tomatoes). We were honestly blown away by these prices, even though friends had warned us about this. 

Take as Many Photos as Possible

After all is said and done this island is extremely breathtaking. Everywhere you look is beautiful countryside. While I don't plan on visiting again any time soon, it was an incredible experience. However, if I ever do come back I would like to experience the Blue Lagoon and head towards the South coast with the Black Sand Beaches -- that area looks beautiful.

Rocky Mountain National Park -- Colorado