I now that people love Nashville. I’ve heard it my whole life. I never imagined how right they were. Like people talk shit you know? But these shit talkers were talking some honest shit. The shit be the truth.
But seriously, what an amazing place. I think I’ve traveled to most “party” places in the world, and make no mistake this is a party place, but it’s more than that. It’s better than that. The music flows out of every place like a welcome mat. The music isn’t an additional piece of the puzzle, it’s the other way around, and I love it. It isn’t always your type of music, and it certainly isn’t always at the volume level that you would prefer, but for real, the people making the music are having a great time, and the people listening to the music are having a great time. I couldn’t believe how generally happy everyone seemed. It was uplifting.

Edinborough is quite rad actually. Really old with nice touches. Reasonably priced with some great hotels, virgin, glasshouse, etc and great restaurants and bars. Victoria street is rad. Went to Tiger Lilly and it was cool as shit, but it was a club, so it’s no longer for me. The St James Quarter mall and food hall is just too modern I thought. Really cool food concepts and I loved the energy but it seemed out of place maybe. The Bon Vivant was a cool restaurant and bar with modern Scottish food.
The Spirit of Scotland dinner and show…

Our house was pretty rad high up on the mountain. You trade being in the thick of things and being beachside for great views and a great breeze. And when it gets hot you’ll really know the difference. It took a few minutes to get up and down the mountain each time, which is a drag but at the end of the day it seemed well worth it.
Now the “thick of things” is the real deal in Lloret. I’m not sure how I didn’t know this but the main drag is like club city, and young people by the droves. It was stunningly busy with young people and lit up like Vegas at night. The beach itself is fine, the sand is French Riviera crappy with stones that make your feet hurt. They do have some beach bars (that don’t serve food) and plenty of water sports and things for kids. The commercial part was right off the beach and it was narrow and windy and fun, but it’s so trashy at times you are just looking at the same crap over and over. The restaurants were fine but you wouldn’t go out of your way.

The Pinxto Tour we got was amazing. A must do, and doing it the first full day was spot on.
The ferry tour was moderately interesting but we didn’t get off at the little island.
Old town was just about perfect and you could spend all day there and be happy. Locals call it expensive, but you won’t.
The beaches were great too. La Concha was bigger and more lay out friendly. The Gros area was cool and the beach was full of surfers but it was a younger persons game.

I’ve always, always, always wanted to go to San Sebastian. I’m glad I went, but I like the south of spain more.

Oh man they duped us. Kids club kids club kids club. It only means one thing. A place to plop your kid so they can have supervised fun with other children. Supervised fun. It’s an amazing thing. And since our kid had been by herself for so long we chose this resort for the kids club. We flew here for that.
Guess what? Their version of a kids club is a room with toys in it. Just a room. With toys. Oh but don’t worry, it’s open 24 hours they said. Like that fucking matters. Is it a big problem for parents to be without a toy room at 2am. I mean Jesus Christ. What a kick in the nuts. There are so many kids here, with so many parents who are like, how could they dupe people like this. Guess what Villa Le Blanc Gran Meliá, every family house in the world has a room where the kids can go and play with toys. It’s the supervision that makes it special. Without that, it’s just the waiting room at a doctors office. I mean what the fuck were you thinking?

Amboise is the jam. Super small and built around a castle. It’s really fantastic. It’s small town living so you just take it easy and make a dinner reservation cause they be bursting. The castle is rad and overall this is a good example of what you want in a small European town that isn’t on water…if you’re in the area I mean…there are others :)

I actually really like this town. Outside of old town it becomes remarkably normal very quick, but the tourist area is old and rad.The Intercontinental is perfectly located. It’s considered one of the best hotels in Europe, but it’s regal and old school man.
Our wine tour to st emillion was so much fun. We had a great driver and we ate lunch in the amazing town of st emillion. I would recommend that town to anyone. It’s just like Tuscany. We had a wonderful day, but it was expensive, and wine tasting remains annoying and a bit uncomfortable to me. This place only does private tours so it was like 5 of us in a quiet room for an hour after the same tour you’ve been on a thousand times. Anyway, it was a good day.

Arriving in Tuscany (I suspect in any city here) can be quite scary for a single male traveler. What am I supposed to do! It’s not exactly cosmopolitan. Luckily I had a guide to my Tuscan adventures and a city that turned out to be charming…if you like that sort of thing.
First off, having lunch at a picnic table in the backyard of a local house, overlooking the Italian countryside is a pretty cool way to start a trip to any city. Cortona happens to be on the top of a rather large hill, completely surrounded by walls. It’s old as shit and you feel like you’ve gone back in time while you are there.

So on our second trip to Tokyo we tried to do it better. I find myself still left wanting. I mean, a cab from the airport wanted over 200 dollars to go to the city center. That’s ridiculous by anyone’s standards. Like no city in the world has prices anywhere near that, and guess what, that fucking cab line was empty. Those cabbies should revolt. It’s like in the US how our cabbies always want those fixed rates increased, constantly increased, well these guys got what they wanted. Gotta love capitalism. In any case,

That’s Coco Bongo. And yes it is too much, but maybe that’s my favortie part about the Cancun area, it can be as isolated and relxing as you want, and as absolutely nuts as you want. Anyway…
What’s not to like about the Yucatan area. Besides getting your head chopped off, give me one good reason why you haven’t been there. Great weather, great hotels, hot tourists year round, cheap drinks, cheap and awesome food, some great beaches in Playa (and a couple left in Cancun), some of the best clubs you will ever see, and culture available just down the street.

I think Amsterdam might be one of my favorite places in the world. But not because of what you think…cause of the prostitutes! Haha. Kidding. I do think regulated professionals is the way to go as a side bar. Everyone seems very non chalant about it and it’s actually kind of charming in a strange way. Now

Great town. Lots and lots of tourists, but you really feel like you are in such an old place. A place that used to be really important. I love their winding roads and cobblestones. I love that squares seem to be everywhere. Crossing the river can be daunting because one side is much less touristy, and so it can be intimidating…but true gems can be found. We ate at the White Boar in this area and had just a fantastic time (granted we were with true Italians at the time). Either way, you are going to cross the Ponte Vecchio (possibly the most famous small bridge in the world) that connects the two main areas. This bridge is fun with vendors and performers and views…but it’s also kind of a let down.

I’ve been many times but never actually stayed on island…and it’s blowing my mind. Maybe it’s the COVID talking, but this place is truly magical, and you need to stay to understand. It’s as good or better than almost anyplace in the Caribbean. Now to be fair, we really like Mexican food, and we really like beers, and beaches, and beach clubs, and every restaurant having patios in the open air, and golf carts being the main method of transportation, and trails along the coast, and not too many bugs, and amazing views, and being right across the way from a major entertainment mecca. If you don’t like those things then you will surely not like isla mujeres.

Ghent is just great. Absolutely picturesque, like Austrian castle pretty. It’s small enough to feel comfy but big enough to have things to do. The canal tour is super cheap and easy and is a real must do. I honestly would have done it twice.
The food is good pretty much everywhere but obviously 50% more expensive along the water. Their main market area is huge and so much fun with trams whirling through.

I’m a little sad. Park City ain’t the town I thought it was. Just like aspen. Great in ways for sure, but not perfect. Maybe I’ve already been to perfect in Telluride. That’s the romantic, but cool, but fun, and hidden mountain resort and town. I haven’t done Jackson hole so that’s still on the list as well…
Fletchers was so disappointing. You spend all that money to be in the middle of main st and your menu makes no sense. They may be busy for the rest of their lives, but only with travelers and first timers. Locals will learn quickly not to go, if they haven’t already.

Wengen. Holy smokes. Great all around! Except maybe the cheese fondue especially and kind of everything else from bernhoven on the Main Street. That meal will haunt my dreams. The da sina place at the top of Main Street was great for kids with a nice patio.
Now you gotta want to get here! 3 trains from Geneva to here and 3 trains from here to Como, each station stop only leaving 10 or fewer minutes to switch trains. So plan accordingly! Nice trains and nice views though. 1st class will be worth it when those trains are full, as they often are.

Milan is actually pretty amazing. I mean it’s still a pretty big city so there’s that, but the center with the duomo and the galleria is actually pretty amazing and unique. The galleria especially is just not something you see every day. The shopping streets were fine but we don’t really go for 5K dresses and purses just for the brand name.Panzarotti sandos were great.
Hotel was great.

Let’s get one thing out of the way right off the bat. Austin is full, and I mean chock full, of beautiful women. Gorgeous. And it’s not like Sweden or Argentina where the guys are also all models. The guys in Austin are regular people, while the women have all become superhero hotties. Kind of makes you wonder why you aren’t here if you are a young straight dude and single. I’m not kidding.
Anyway let’s also clear one other thing up. I don’t think about, talk about, worry about, or cook, order, or dream about BBQ. But I’m a decent listener, and I try everything. I had lots of good ones. Leroy and Lewis was great, terry blacks was transcendent. Not the sides, they were fine, but the meat was perfect. Beef ribs are killer, with a huge price that surprised even me.

So just as a precursor, holy shit. Wow. I simply cannot believe it. I have always wanted to go. I have seen a thousand pictures and have always been enamored. But no shit, truly no shit, this place does not disappoint. It’s the opposite. Almost the entire time there I was saying how surreal it was. It’s simply awe inspiring. Gush gush gush. I love you. Gush. Ok on to the nitty gritty.

The Maldives are far from the US yo! Like hella far. Now I’ve been…

COVID Update May 2021
Vegas is busy man! Busy as shit. I know what to expect in Vegas. I know busy Vegas. I know crushed Vegas. This was different, and most decidedly not better. Fun still, but the hurdles to fun can be daunting.
For starters getting food was a challenge. Like a real challenge. Like an hour wait easy for just about anything decent you could want. I mean you can always find garbage to eat, but any place that’s cool or hip or interesting it’s gonna take you forever. At the Cosmo the lines for Eggslut and the covert pizza spot were ridiculous. Plus the food hall closing at 10PM every night put so much pressure on everything else that they were bursting at the seams. This was true in every casino we visited.
Also, they want you to…