Travel. Lifestyle. Pacific Northwest. Make the most of a day, whether at home or away. Hi, I'm Gina! Are you short on time? Yes? Me too!
I'm a freelance writer and travel guidebook author who lives in Seattle and loves talking about everything to do with world travel, the Pacific Northwest, and balancing out home life with other passions. Let's make the most of it, whether at home or away.
Was fun getting to contribute a hiking recommendation to this great list of outdoor things to do in one of my favorite countries!
The most epic, exciting things to do in Ireland, according to travel bloggers. Update your Ireland bucket list with these unusual outdoor adventures.
If you live in the Seattle area and love Harry Potter you need to check out this awesome replica of Diagon Alley that a local dad just randomly made in his driveway in Whittier Heights across from Whittier Elementary School. I went last week and it was super fun to see. Go soon because it is only open to the public for a couple more weeks. Diagon Alley Project
Happy New Year! In this week’s Monday Musings, I talked about my goals for 2018 (and the Bachelor 😉): https://www.onedayinacity.com/monday-musings-happy-new-year-2018/
Happy New Year! I am writing this while watching the Bachelor, which is a great way to start off the year, right? ;) Luckily, I’ve already found my man and we spent last night drinking a glass of Prosecco on the couch and talking about our plans for the new year. And then forgot to turn on the TV ...
Too many toys...and yet I keep on buying them. 🤔 🙈 I discuss clutter on the blog today for this week's Monday Musings and how it's starting to take over my house. Any tips?
Why is Living a Life of Minimalism So Hard?? So after telling my husband to stop going overboard buying our children Christmas presents this past weekend and after several weeks of proclaiming we have TOO MUCH STUFF as I tripped over toys and gazed at a closet full of clothes I would maybe wear agai...
If you have some holiday flights coming up and are tired of sharing your iPad with your kid to keep them entertained on the airplane (not that that ever happens in my family 🙄😉), check out Amazon's Black Friday Week special on the Kindle Fire. It's $50 off!
http://amzn.to/2jfdvM5 [affiliate link]
The all-new Fire HD 10 features our largest display, now in 1080p Full HD, 32 GB storage, 2 GB RAM, and up to 10 hours of battery. Now with Alexa hands-free. Expansive and immersive Fire HD 10 features a brilliant 10.1" 1080p Full HD display (1920 x 1200) with over 2 million pixels (224 ppi). En...
Thanks for the shout out for the Easy Travels Toolkit, Green Moms Network!
The Travel Tools You’ll Get in the Toolkit Travel Planner Printable: You get an 8-page travel planning printable that you can use to easily plan your trip and make sure you haven’t forgotten anything. You can also stick it in your suitcase so you have numbers, confirmation codes, itinerary notes, an...
I loved my time in McMinnville, Oregon and wine tasting in Willamette Valley. Also, here's a hint: Book a trip there soon and go the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve for great deals on accommodation and to avoid crowds. Some of the wineries and tasting rooms are closed that week, but enough are still open to make it worthwhile.
Visit McMinnville Oregon
When visiting Willamette Valley, there are many charming small towns you can use as your home base, one of which is McMinnville, Oregon.
Explore beyond the big city on your trip to Italy with my top 5 picks for day trips from Rome. Did you know you can easily visit beaches, lesser known historic sites, and even Florence from Rome in a day? Also, you can currently save up to 60% on high speed train journeys with Italo Treno when you book through GoEuro. Read my article to find out more about this exclusive sale with GoEuro (which ends soon!) and to learn which destinations in Italy you can get to in 90 minutes or less from Rome. https://www.onedayinacity.com/rome-italy-day-trips/
Hop on a Train and Explore Beyond Rome -- GoEuro Makes it Easy Rome is one of my favorite cities in the world and each time I visit I fall more in love with it. Though in the past I’ve been typically quite content just staying in the Rome city limits, I’m thinking next time I’m there, I need to expl...
is wrapping up so thought I'd share my story about first encountering sharks while scuba diving in French Polynesia. Up until that point, I could never fully relax while diving because I was so scared of seeing a shark (and avoided any dive excursions that would likely encounter one). But then it happened. And instead of instilling more fear in me, it made me like scuba diving even more -- and sharks!
I was scared of seeing sharks while scuba diving...until I actually saw sharks while diving in French Polynesia, including a 10-foot lemon shark!
Is Rockaway Beach, Oregon the perfect Pacific Northwest beach vacation? It just might be. Here's why I loved it, some things I did in the area, and why I was glad my family ended up staying in Rockaway Beach instead of in popular Cannon Beach (which was still close enough for an easy day trip!).
Why Rockaway Beach is the perfect place for an Oregon beach vacation plus things to do in and around Rockaway Beach, including Cannon Beach and Tillamook.
Happy St. Patrick's Day! If you drink a Guinness today, make sure you do it correctly. Which might be hard to do if you're not in Ireland...
I learned the right way to drink a Guinness as well as how to pour a Guinness while at the exclusive Connoisseur Room at the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin
Heading somewhere this weekend? Make sure these items are in your toiletry bag. Helpful tips from the always stylish
Tried and true list of the best things to keep packed in your toiletry bag for easy travel!
Lots of good tips in here if you work from home and feel like you are ALWAYS working. #3 (about disconnecting) is particularly hard for me, but it is something I'm working on! via
As a creative business owner, the lines between work and life are blurred. Here are some tips on creating a work life balance when you work from home.
to this post, which has consistently been one of the most popular posts on my blog over the years, much to my surprise. When time is short for everyone, it means schedules (or those pesky finances) don't always align to let you travel with your spouse. Here's how I coped when my husband jetted off to Jordan and the UAE without me a few years ago. I may have been a little dramatic. ;)
It's hard not to be jealous when you're the spouse left behind. Here is my take on how to get through hubby-is-traveling-without-me depression.
If you're lucky enough to be heading to the Caribbean soon this winter (wish I was!), here are some tips to make the most of your tropical vacation.
Island time is painfully real.
Happy Valentine's Day! If you and your sweetie dropped the ball this year, it's not too late to plan an impromptu weekend getaway to California to celebrate a few days late. (Hey, husband, what do you think?)
With both beaches and mountains close by and amazing wine countries, there are a variety of fun romantic weekend getaways in California. Here are the top 5.
The only time I've spent Valentine's Day in Europe was when I was 20. I went to the top of the Eiffel Tower with some friends, which turns out to be just as romantic a place on that day as you might think. We saw LOTS of proposals. So of course Paris, plus 7 other cities, made my list for most romantic cities in Europe. Hmmm, maybe Europe should be on the agenda for next year's Valentine's Day?
Top picks for the most romantic cities in Europe and what to do while there to make sure it's a memorable, romance-filled time with your sweetie.
Sure, hostels and dorm beds were fun when I was 20, but these days I like a good hotel with comfortable beds and luxurious amenities or a unique ambiance. Some of my most memorable hotel experiences are in Europe where they range from family-run and cozy to castle-like and historic. Here are my 10 favorite hotels in Europe.
One Day in Europe, I Slept Here... A List of the Best Hotels I've Stayed at in Europe Hotels in Europe can often be small, hot, and old. But they can also be grand, luxurious, and historic, and those are the gems you want to find to stay in -- and you don't always have to pay a fortune to sleep in t...
Here are my top tips for a perfect, winery-filled day in Napa Valley (with some restaurant and hotel suggestions thrown in, too).
Headed to Napa Valley and want to experience the region's wines, but short on time? Here's how to plan out your day, including winery recommendations.
This article is an interesting perspective about moving from "paradise" to rainy Seattle. I hear this ("why would you leave that weather?") about moving from San Diego to Seattle a lot, and I so miss beach culture some days, but there's something about the lakes and tree-filled mountains and seasons and dynamic, cultural atmosphere up here that makes my heart sing. And luckily, San Diego is just a short flight away for me.
Article via Seattle Met Magazine
A Seattleite contemplates growing up in Hawaii and leaving it all behind.
Ok, I don't know about 500 pages a day like it says you could read in this article (does this person have kids?), but think how many more books you could read if you picked a book up instead of your smart phone? Part of the hope of what I gain through my Smart Phone Addiction Challenge is more time to read, so this article is encouraging and has some good tips for reading more.
Once you do some simple math, you learn that it's completely doable to read 200 books in a year.
Hey fellow Washingtonians, make sure this is on your to-do list this year if it will affect you. (Other states where this is an issue include Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina.)
Time to apply for a passport?
So I wrote this article a few days ago and have to admit...it's not going great.
Trying to break my phone addiction is going to be harder than I thought, but I'm determined!
Tomorrow is a new day, and a new chance to stick to the phone rules I made for myself in this post. It's time to stop wasting so much of my day with mindless scrolling -- so I have more time to do the things that are most important to me.
Have you ever tried to limit your smart phone time and have any tips for me? Stay tuned for a new post next week with an update on how my Smart Phone Addiction Challenge is going. Hopefully better!
I have an addiction. To my iPhone. I came to this realization after watching a recent viral video where author Simon Sinek discussed the issues facing millennials today as they tried to navigate their careers and social life, particularly pertaining to the work place, and how screen addiction is a b...
What are Pancake Rocks? Add this little town to your itinerary for New Zealand's South Island and you'll find out.
The Pancake Rocks of Punakaiki, New Zealand, have some mystery to them as well. While geologists do know they are limestone created 35 million years ago...
One way I'm able to travel more and have more adventures at home with my daughter is thanks to my freelance career, which enables me to work from home. It's definitely a balancing act, though (as all things with motherhood) and while I feel grateful for the option to simultaneously be both a working mom and stay at home mom, it's been much more of a learning process and at times a struggle than I originally thought it would be. This post is the first in a new series on the blog called WAHM Wednesday (WAHM = Work at Home Mom), which will highlight strategies I've learned the past couple years for being a successful work at home mom (and how to handle it when you feel far from a success!).
I often feel guilty admitting being a work at home mom has been a struggle for me. I may have the best of both worlds, but it's still hard. And that's ok.
One Day Around the Globe: Bora Bora, French Polynesia
(pleeeeeease!)
Some of my favorite memories of my trips to Mexico involve cenotes. They can take extra strategizing to figure out how to get to, particularly if you're staying at a resort, but visiting one is well worth your time. Anna Everywhere lists some of the best cenotes to check out in Mexico in this article.
Ultimate guide to best cenotes in Mexico. Best Cenotes near Tulum and Playa del Carmen, best cenotes for diving, and off the beaten path cenotes!
One Day Around the Globe: Bratislava, Slovakia
I think figuring out what to do with your vacation time would actually be a lot easier if you had more vacation time. If you live in one of these cities, you get six weeks off per year! That's plenty of time to visit family AND jet off somewhere exotic AND take a few days off for a staycation. What would you do with all that vacation time?
Article via BBC Travel
A number of cities across the world offer more than 30 days of paid vacation time. We find out what life is like in these lucky locales.
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If you live in the Seattle area and love Harry Potter you need to check out this awesome replica of Diagon Alley that a local dad just randomly made in his driveway in Whittier Heights across from Whittier Elementary School. I went last week and it was super fun to see. Go soon because it is only open to the public for a couple more weeks. Diagon Alley Project
Which city has the best IPA: Portland, San Diego, or Seattle? My husband and I had a date night at home last weekend to find out -- and to see how well we know our IPAs. I reveal who won and how I put together this fun blind beer tasting at home on the blog: http://www.onedayinacity.com/at-home-date-night-blind-beer-tasting/
What happens when you totally fall in love with the place you recently moved to? You want to write about it! Well, that’s how it worked for me anyway. Don’t worry – my travel stories are not going away, but there are some changes coming to One Day in a City. Two hints: 1) Pacific Northwest; 2) More articles every week! I share more about these changes in this video.
Hoh Rain Forest in Washington reminded me you don't need to travel far to experience the "wow" factor. Its Hall of Mosses trail was so green it seemed to glow in parts. Other areas of the trail, like this one, were incredibly mossy. I highly recommend seeing it with your own eyes, and my latest blog post talks about how to best spend a weekend exploring Hoh Rain Forest plus nearby Quinault Rain Forest: http://www.onedayinacity.com/weekend-washington-rain-forests-hoh-quinault/
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