Honeymoon Always

08/24/2024

There’s a restaurant at many Sandals Resorts called Butch’s Steakhouse.

When we go to the resorts, we almost never get reservations at Butch’s. We just don’t care that much for steak. (FELLOW TEXANS PLEASE LOOK AWAY, nothing to see here!!!)

HOWEVER - we have clients that won’t book a resort that *doesn’t* have a Butch’s Steakhouse.

This is why we make sure to understand exactly what you’re looking for to help you pick the right resort.

In many cases, it’s not about “better” or “worse”, it’s about what matters to you.

We share what we like and what we experience, but we know everyone is different and that’s great!

If we can help you plan your next Sandals Resort vacay, let us know! 👯‍♀️

💌 [email protected]

08/12/2024

Hi there! 👋 We’re Dan and Michelle, award-winning Sandals Resorts travel agents 🏝️

Each resort is so different, and finding the best resort and right room in your budget can be tricky.

We put lots of free info on our website and YouTube channels, and we can also provide (free) customized support as travel agents!

There are many ways to work with us👇

• Email us at [email protected]

• Fill out the contact us form on our website (linked in bio)

OR
• Book on your own, using our link (also in our bio! 👈 This is no different than booking directly, except it lets the resorts know we helped you 🫶)

We feel so grateful to get to do this, thank y’all so much for your continued support!

07/03/2024

We are (safe!) in Jamaica during Hurricane Beryl. We’re sharing footage of what it’s like and how the resort, Sandals Dunn’s River, is handling it, over on our Instagram

05/28/2024

Attention news organizations: we are here for your interviewing and modeling needs!! We are Professional Business People!!

😜

(But for real you can send us a dm or email us if you want help or advice booking an all-inclusive vacay 👯) 😇

05/18/2024

We are so excited to share we won 4 awards at the !

🏅Diamond Elite - awarded to the top 8 travel agents in the world 😵
🏅Million Dollar Club (👀)
🏅Top Co-Branded
🏅Best of the Best

We are SO proud to be recognized for our work with .

Thank you all so much for your support, for watching our videos, and for booking with us.

And of course, thank you to our business partners and friends for helping us to make this happen. 💜

04/21/2024

It would take us years to crack the surface of all the amazing food here in Paris. But we’re trying!

Here are some of our favs so far - save this for your next trip to Paris ✨

2• , a classic French bistro. I loved the goat cheese salad here

3• - this sandwich shop slices meat and cheese on the spot. STRONG recommendation for the miam miam sandwich with pastrami, toasted

4• .rosie, a super cute, vibey modern brasserie. The roasted Camembert is *chefs kiss*

5• the cookie croissant at . Worth the hype for me. They are super rich so be prepared!

6• - they make the noodles on site. The fried homemade tagliatelle with beef is excellent 😋

7• Le Mistral (no IG account!) - this classic French bistro not only has great service and food, but the location is amazing. It’s right across from the Conciergerie, and if you’re lucky, you can get a seat near the windows with a view of the river and the Eiffel Tower.

8• East Mamma - great Italian food. Make reservations if you can, show up early because you may need to wait in line outside, and expect some tight quarters 😅

9• .contraste, our favorite Michelin star restaurant in Paris. We go for lunch, I order the vegetarian prix fixe menu and usually end up with the table favorite.

10• :) DELISH. They get busy and don’t take reservations but you can show and and give them your phone number to get a place in line.

Anything we’ve missed? We only have a few more weeks in Paris and we want to eat it all!!

03/25/2024

🫣 3 years ago, we lived in a house in Austin Texas. We sold that house, got rid of most of our stuff, left our corporate careers, and moved to Portugal, sight-unseen.

We knew we wanted something different out of life and we jumped for it.

In 3 years, our lives have completely changed. Our business has changed, we’ve changed. Every so often we look at each other and cackle about how crazy it is, how crazy we are.

I’m not gonna lie, it has been challenging. But also fully worth it.

Right now, we’re having a little adventure in Paris (Paris FRANCE ever heard of it??), and to get to have this chapter of our lives documented like this, I just feel so lucky. We gotta do this more often.

Thank you for these stunning pictures!! (Which one of these is y’all’s fave?)

But both Chelsea and gave us such helpful direction and had a strong vision for how to capture movement and our interactions in a natural way. It was such a lovely day! 😍

PORTUGAL FRIENDS: will be in Portugal taking photos September 2025. I’ve already had people messaging me asking how to book with her, so even though it’s a ways off it’s a great opportunity to snag her if you can 🥰

03/19/2024

Here’s why we’ve been a bit quiet lately -

Honestly, it’s because we’re in a period of growth and change. It’s exciting, but I’m finding it hard to have the energy or clarity share even silly stuff when we’re in the middle of it. I expect to have more to share soon though!!

For this post, here’s what I can say:

We’re currently in Paris (!!!) scouting out some ✨business stuff✨, eating all the baguettes, and missing our friends in Portugal.

Paris is a city that gets lovelier with each visit, but this visit has also brought us Airbnb drama, rodents, water leaking from the ceiling, etc. So that is also contributing to our general sense of 😵‍💫

On a very very plus note, we had the opportunity to work with to create these stunning images I’m fully obsessed. She partnered with (I’ll share those images soon too!) and it was an actual dream to meet and work with these two. They are based in Vancouver but they do travel!

Can’t wait to have more to share with y’all soon 💜💜

12/31/2023

Our goal for 2023 was to travel less than we did in 2022. We did a bad job.

Last year we visited 13 countries last year, and… 15 this year! This is a very unique-to-us situation, I’m sure, but it comes with the job, and being lucky enough to live so close to so many inspiring destinations.

But! We did learn how to travel *better*. We prioritized slower travel so we could maintain a better balance of work and fun. We tried to keep a routine as much as we could, and made more of an effort to unplug.

Some key memories:
😍 Visiting Monet’s garden in France
😋 Ordering basically one of everything on the menu in Italy with friends
🐬 Being es**rted by dolphins on a boat ride to our resort in Saint Lucia
🎃 Spending Halloween both in Salem Massachusetts, and trick-or-treating with family in Vancouver Washington
🤠 Revisiting our hometown of Austin Texas, eating all the queso, and listening to LeAnn Rimes outside of Gruene Hall
🤩 Seeing 3 Broadway shows (my favorite thing in NYC)

2024 is gonna be a wild one, so we’re taking the down time where we can get it.

I asked Dan if he had anything to add, and said “I’m looking forward to more adventures and more food.” So, there you have it. You can see where our priorities are 😅

Happy New Year everyone! 💜 Cheers to more adventures and more food.

11/20/2023

Gifting for someone who loves to travel? 🎁 Here are a few ideas for things we’d love to see under the tree this year!

1️⃣ Babbel App Subscription - This language learning app great for someone headed abroad for their next trip, and it won’t take up any space in their suitcase! I personally prefer Babbel to Duolingo based on my learning style. Plus, it offers offline learning, which is not available with Duolingo. (Dan got a 3 month subscription for his birthday!)

2️⃣ The Hotel Box from - Bring the luxury hotel experience home with this gift box. It includes exciting curated items from 6 luxe hotels worldwide, including slippers, candles, a cookbook, and more!

3️⃣ Love the Journey Workbook - This workbook, brought to you buy .therapy and , is designed to help you build a life you don’t need a vacation from.

4️⃣ Quikflip Reversable Backpack Jacket - If you’ve been following us for a while, you’ll know we bring these with us on literally every trip. They’re great quality, they look nice, and they’re perfect for fluctuating weather. And frankly, the backpack feature is super useful!

5️⃣ Destination-Inspired Art Print - Etsy is your best friend here. We love thoughtful art to remind us of a place we’ve visited, or even a place we’re hoping to go.

6️⃣ Panier De Sense Hand Cream - I bought this hand cream while visiting Claude Monet’s house outside of Paris last month, and it has already saved me from dry travel hands. I apply it every night, wherever we are. I love this one, but any luxe hand cream is a nice gift!

7️⃣ DIY Travel Coffee Table Book - You can buy the templates from Etsy which help you design the pages, and then you have the custom book printed! A great reminder of a trip you’ve taken together.

8️⃣ Bose Noise Canceling Headphones - Perfect for drowning out the airport noise. Need I say more?

Happy gifting!

11/10/2023

Looks like visiting every this past year has paid off! 🏆

As many of you know, we’ve been spending a LOT of time in the Caribbean documenting all-inclusive resorts for our website and YouTube channel.

We just learned we won our SECOND contest for helping clients book the most stays at the newest Sandals Resorts (one resort doesn’t even open until next year! 🤯)

We’re super stoked to be among the top Sandals Travel Agents, and we love having first-hand knowledge to provide our best recommendations.

Thanks for supporting us and following along! ✨Of course, please feel free to reach out if you need help finding the right all-inclusive resort for you 🙌

10/30/2023

The spookiest October yet! 🎃

I’ve always wanted to visit Salem in the fall (home to the famous Salem witch trials of the 1700s) and this year we made that dream come true! 🧙‍♀️

We also got to show some friends around Lisbon, and then went with them to Paris! While we were there, I (Michelle) took an art class, 🎨 and Dan took a cooking class. 🧑‍🍳.

We got a few DMs asking why we are back in the US, and the main reason is, you miss a lot being away from family. One thing we didn’t want to miss was going to one of my nephew’s football games, so we got to catch one of those, plus we’ll get to celebrate both our birthdays and a few holidays.

The flights from Lisbon to the west coast of the US are long, so we try to break them up a bit, usually making stops in New York or Miami. But this time the stop was Boston and it was full of fall magic.

Spooky season is the best season!!! 🍁👻

09/12/2023

7 years ago was a pivotal moment for us and we had no idea.

We had 3 blog posts on honeymoonalways.com when we took our first trip to Paris together.

The trip was paid for by Dan’s employer at the time, with entry-level rooms at 3-4 star hotels reserved.

Before arriving, Dan emailed the hotels to let them know we would be writing about our experience, hoping that this would lead to some freebies or room upgrades.

When we checked into our hotel in Paris, we realized our entry level room had, in fact, been upgraded to a top level suite - for the whole week! And it had the most incredible view of the Eiffel Tower, we couldn’t believe it.

They even left a little gift in the room of macarons, and a note written to “Monsieur & Madame Bagby”. We did a literal happy dance on the balcony of that hotel room 😂

We would have never imagined spending that kind of money on a hotel room at the time, so this upgrade was pure magic to us.

This moment gave us the motivation to make our travel blog a success.

It combined 3 of our favorite things - travel, digital marketing, and getting a good deal.

Free or discounted travel kept us motivated until we could monetize the site and it became Dan’s full-time job 3 years later.

The business has now grown so much that we both get to focus on it full time. We live in Portugal and travel together more than we could have ever dreamed.

It goes to show you never know where a conversation, side project, job change, or a small event like a room upgrade will take you.

08/21/2023

“Where is your favorite place you’ve been?” - this is a question we get asked a lot as travel bloggers.

Though it’s extremely difficult to pick just a few, and this list is by no means comprehensive, here are some of our very favorite places we’ve ever been; trips we talk about over and over and dream of going back to again and again!

6. Madeira, the stunning Portuguese island off the coast of Africa. Gorgeous, unbelievable, cannot wait to go back and eat all of the bolo do caco.

5. NYC, where we took our very first trip together. We love that you can visit over and over again and have a different experience each time you go! We love seeing broadway shows and eating everything.

4. Greece. Not only is it stunning but we find it has the most consistently delicious food of any country we’ve been to. (Italy lovers will come at us for this but I’m sorry! It’s just more consistent in greece!! In our experience!! Still love you though, Italy 😉)

3. is a luxury dude ranch just outside Steamboat Springs, Colorado. It’s the perfect combo of adventure and relaxation. We’ve been 3 times and it’s about time to go again. In winter, there’s backcountry skiing and cozying by the fire. In summer there’s all the horseback riding you could want. We just love it.

2. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It’s so incredibly beautiful (it’s too bad I was not yet practiced at photography when we went lol) and the food and culture is amazing. Now that we’ve lived in Portugal and I understand more, we need to go back and experience it again.

1. Ireland. This was the first place we traveled to just because airline tickets were cheap, we didn’t have any expectations. But it really blew us away. We thought we were city travelers, but after visiting the Cliffs of Moher and sleeping in a hillside castle, we were forever changed.

What do you think? Did we miss any of your favorites? Do you hate any of our favorites? Sound off in the comments!

07/27/2023

People of Portugal… please do not yell at us 🙈🙈

It took us 2 years to FINALLY try sardines!

🐟 Sardines are a cultural symbol here in Portugal, the inspiration for art, and even parts of Portuguese language. So yeah, it’s embarrassing it took us so long to try them.

We knew we wanted to try them at our favorite restaurant, .

As is common for many restaurants in the area, Ritalinos is ✨closed for the month of august✨ so we took our very last shot at trying them before then 😅

Everything they make at Ritalinos is delicious, and the owner, Luis, even came by our table to show us n00bs how to eat the sardines! We also ordered our favorites, salmon and fried green beans.

(I left in the very last photo of the cut sardines because it looks like something I’ve only seen in cartoons!)

Have you tried sardines?? Do you prefer fresh or canned?

06/28/2023

We never considered ourselves cruisers, but then we went on a Virgin Voyage and booked our next cruise before leaving the ship.
Next up for us is the Irresistible Med out of Barcelona! Have any questions about Virgin Voyages?

06/05/2023

May highlights: 👇✨

1️⃣ Dan has been surfing more 🤙 He goes whenever his schedule and the surfing conditions align, which we love that he gets to do.

2️⃣ I enrolled in a 4-week beginners ceramics class. I’ve always wanted to do this and I’m excited to see how the pieces turn out!

3️⃣ & 4️⃣ As you may have seen, we were featured in this Business Insider article! Which is both very cool and pretty weird! The headline is obviously a bit click-bait-y (as it has to be these days) but this is an important topic to be aware of and we’re happy the issue is being discussed. And it’s been funny having people be like “I saw your face in the news” lol

5️⃣ I spoke at WordCamp Lisboa, a conference for users of WordPress. I spoke about how to use social media to boost the SEO of your website. I don’t see myself going on a speaking circuit any time soon, but I can be bribed.

7️⃣ This pizza is noteworthy in and of itself, () but this was also from the night our friends took us to our first Eurovision finale watch party. Eurovision fits squarely into my personal Venn diagram of interests, plus we got to enjoy it with wonderful people from around the world. This was a dream of a night.

8️⃣ And last - an appreciation shot for the beautiful cotton candy sunset view from our apartment. Lisbon is beautiful. 💜

05/12/2023

I’ll be honest…

We LOVE to travel and experience new places, but the “getting there” part can sometimes cause a bit of anxiety. The chaos, the noise, being around a million other stressed-out people.

If traveling causes you a bit of anxiety, you’re not alone! Here are some tricks we use to help make airline travel a bit less stressful:

1️⃣ Pack smarter not harder! By narrowing down what you pack, you also reduce the probability of leaving something behind, you save on luggage fees, and there’s less stuff to lug around from place to place.

2️⃣ TSA Pre-Check makes going through security lines (in the U.S.) much easier. The cost is $78 for a 5 year membership. Apply at TSA.gov.

3️⃣ Global Entry is awesome if you travel internationally. Get super-efficient re-entry into the U.S., *PLUS* TSA Pre-Check. The cost is $100 for a 5-year membership. Apply at cpb.gov.

4️⃣ We get for free through our credit card. Having a quiet lounge to relax in, with food and drinks and clean bathrooms, is a game changer. We also like to take advantage of their restaurant inclusions, where we can spend ~$28/per person at specific airport restaurants at no extra charge to us.

5️⃣ My noise-canceling headphones are a game changer. I also have on hand, which really help me to drown out the extra noises in the airport and on the plane. Both are linked in our Amazon shop in our bio!

6️⃣ Snacks are something we super enjoy having on hand. We treat it a little bit like going to the movies - we pack things we love and enjoy eating them together. Dried organic mango & trail mix are top picks!

7️⃣ I never know exactly what I’ll be in the mood for when flying so I try to be prepared with a variety, including relaxing music playlists. I also enjoy having offline games and puzzles on my phone to keep myself busy.

8️⃣ If the idea of flying itself causes anxiety, I highly recommend ’s Healthier Together podcast on How to Overcome Fear of Flying. I’ll link it in stories!

What other tips do you have for overcoming travel anxiety?

05/08/2023

We had been dating about 6 months when we took our first trip together, to my dream destination - NYC 🗽

We hit the ground running and did absolutely everything we could fit in.

I’m a HUGE musical theater fan, and we got lottery tickets to see Matilda and Newsies 🤩

Dan is a former chef, so we ate at Michelin-rated restaurants way fancier than I was comfortable in at the time 😂. We always went for lunch because it’s cheaper than dinner and we were saving money wherever we could 😅

We went to the Met and the Statue of Liberty and ate at Katz’s Deli for the first time (which, all these years later, still holds up btw. The best)

🕵️‍♀️ We even followed Seth Rogan around Central Park. (photo evidence in the last slide. We confirmed it was him by googling his dog 😂)

By the end of the trip, we were both EXHAUSTED. We had a long flight home… but we were both so happy to be exhausted on a plane with each other. It was the first time for both of us where we started thinking, this relationship might be going somewhere real, lol.

I avoid getting too mushy on the internet but these photos popped up from 9 years ago and I love looking back on where it all started for us (even if the photo quality is… very 2014).

I truly would not have believed then that we could be doing what we’re doing now.

Just a few days ago Dan turned to me and said “remember how we moved to Portugal?” and we both cackled.

We get to help people plan travel and make memories like this FOR A LIVING. Bonkers. Absolutely wild.

I guess what I’m taking is, I hope you take that trip. You never know where it might lead you :)💜

And yes Dan did a little bit have bangs then

03/14/2023

I would do anything for love…

…But I won’t tell you we’re not excited to be at our VERY LAST stop on this Caribbean honeymoon tour! 😅

Our goal for 2023 was to “travel less” (13 countries in 2022 was a lot). And I have to say, at 8 countries so far… we’re off to a bad start 😂

That being said, we’re SO excited about all the insights we now have, about these islands and all-inclusive resorts. We’re armed with so much more info to help people plan their next great vacay!

… how are y’all doing for your resolutions for the year? 😜

02/25/2023

Do you use any of these packing hacks?

Even when traveling internationally or for long periods of time, we tend to pack carry-on only whenever we can. (We didn’t this time since we’re hitting too many different climates.)

Benefits of packing carry-on only:
- less expensive
- less luggage to drag around
- fewer things to leave behind in the hotel room 😅

Some things that are harder about carry-on only packing is you have to get very picky about what you bring, from liquids to clothing.

Tip #5 has really been impactful in helping to reduce stress of packing light. We can almost always buy something we need wherever we’re going. Wearing the same outfits on repeat can get boring, but we have been known to stop into an H&M or Target when we need.

Did we miss any other packing hacks??

Happy travels! 🧳

01/30/2023

Helicopter, boat or car? 🤔

There are 3 ways to get from the airport in Saint Lucia to your resort.

🚗 We knew the car ride would be long (around 1.5 hours) and we learned from our last Caribbean trip that the motion sickness makes us miserable, so we said no to that.

🚁 Helicopter is the shortest (and most glamorous) option and it’s a good one! The flight takes about 15 minutes once you’re in the air. I’m not a huge fan of small aircraft so we opted instead for…

⛴️ A boat ride! This option gives a gorgeous view of Saint Lucia, and if you’re lucky, some dolphins will es**rt you along the way! 🐬 This took about 1.5 hours.

We went with , who took great care of us 🙂 They had snacks and drinks aboard, and we jammed out to some fun music (as you can see in slide 5).

The boat was around $150 per person, where the helicopter is about $200 per person. Our resort offers free shuttle service to and from the airport so the car option would have been free.

Which option would you take?? 😍

01/16/2023

you forget it’s your anniversary and your husband says “happy anniversary” and you literally can’t think of what he would be referring to and he reminds you it’s the anniversary of that time you got married 🤪

IT SOUNDS BAD (because it kind of is) but luckily we both forget almost every year so we had a good laugh about it and have literally no plans for celebration. (We’re heading to the Caribbean next week, so there’s that.)

We posted wedding photos last year (I’ll repost in stories!) so this year I’m posting our engagement photos, taken in the hill country outside of Austin, Texas. 💜

Such sweet, naive little babies. I think this was the last time Dan’s hair was short.

Anyway, it’s been a wonderful 8 years together, but who’s counting. (NOT US, apparently!!)

:)

📸

01/02/2023

Want to join us on a group trip? Fill out this survey!

We want to hear where you’d most like to go, your budget, etc. You’ll be the first to know when we have our first trip planned!

https://docs.google.com/forms/u/2/d/e/1FAIpQLSeIO1rDBH5I3rX2rqRixEpJfsyOgYtKIXzsRy6VrgGnMT9kvQ/viewform

We're hosting a group trip, and we'd love some feedback from you! Nothing in this survey is binding, we're just gathering information. We will use the email address you provide here to let you know when we announce the trip details! - Dan & Michelle

01/02/2023

Unpopular opinion: New Year’s resolutions aren’t worth it. 👀

At least for me, “resolutions” so often imply removing things from your life, becoming smaller, focusing on why you’re not good enough and what you need to do change that.

But I do love the idea of using the new year as an opportunity to plan for ways to fill your life with more things that make you happy. That often means travel, improving on a hobby or skill, or connecting more deeply with others.

I’ll share some of the things we’re working to incorporate into our lives this year:
- Dan really wants to go on an African safari 🦒
- I want to get back into some hobbies I’ve been missing
- We want to continue to grow our community here (that means you guys!) (that also means a potential future group trip is a brewing…)

And, I’ll be honest, the reason I picked this photo is because I just used it to apply for a speaking opportunity, which of course may or may not happen, but I’m very happy to be leaning into my skills and expertise more this year!

What are you adding or looking forward to in 2023?

12/24/2022

Why take new Christmas photos when you already have these classics?

This is our first year spending Christmas Eve just the two of us. We’re listening to Dolly, Mariah and Kacey while making a charcuterie board for dinner (with cheese we bought on our Christmas market cruise). Next will come cookies, popcorn, and ideally curling up to a made-for-tv Christmas movie.

Merry Christmas, y’all 💜🎄✨

12/22/2022

We had the best time seeing Christmas markets across Europe on our river cruise with Scenic River Cruises! Watch our latest YouTube video about it here

We went on our first ever river cruise with Scenic! Seeing Christmas markets all over Europe has been such a dream of ours, and this year we finally made it ...

12/18/2022

❄️ For some stops on our Christmas market river cruise, we’ve needed to take a bus into the town center. With the cold weather, we loved that Koblenz, Germany is right on the river so we only needed to walk off the boat.

As you can see, Koblenz has some incredible architecture. They also have a gondola you can take to the other side of the Rhine, but as you can see in the last photo, the fog and snow prevented us from seeing much up there 😅 🚠

I have been completely charmed by Germany. Have you visited? Where else should we visit?? Would you take the gondola into the fog?

🇩🇪

11/29/2022

Portugal in November just hits different ✨

The weather is cooling down a bit but not too much. We’re already starting to notice that our house is sometimes colder inside than it is outside, which makes getting dressed confusing. (We thought we had heating in our apartment but we don’t 🤪. We bought some space heaters and will be fine!)

My one complaint is that the holiday lights don’t turn on until December, even though they’ve been up for weeks. I am READY it is TIME. 🎄

What are y’all looking forward to most this season?