A Girl's Weekend in Charleston, South Carolina

September 14, 2017

Charleston is a popular tourist destination and has been on my list of places to visit for years.

With its beautiful beaches, historic sights and hip neighborhoods, this southern city proved to be the perfect weekend getaway.

My partner in crime for this mini-break was BFF Traci. After a failed attempt to get together in December due to the weather, the stars aligned on locations and dates for a special three day catch up. Fun and wine were our objectives and this itinerary delivered on both counts.

Friday Evening: Drinks & Dinner in West Ashley

I'm still a budget minded traveler and to ensure I had funds for drinks and eating out, we decided to rent an apartment outside of expensive downtown vs. a hotel. We lucked out with this adorable Airbnb apartment in the charming Avondale neighborhood of West Ashley, just two miles from downtown and home to some of Charleston's hippest new restaurants and shops.

After checking in, we got right into the girl's weekend spirit by partaking in a glass of wine at Al Di La, a casual Italian restaurant one block away in the heart of the restaurant district.

After a bit of wine, and tired from our long drives (Traci/Florida & Paula/North Carolina), we headed back to the apartment where Traci served up steaks, a bottle of red and great conversation until we retired to our comfortable beds.

Saturday Morning: Pedicures, Shopping & Lunch

Shrimp & Grits with Sauvignon Blanc = lunch perfection

After a great nights's sleep, we were up early and raring to go with a girl's weekend staple: pedicures and a mimosa.

Sufficiently beautified, we hit up West Ashley's boutiques and thrift shops for a few treasures until hunger forced us to break for lunch at Angel Oak, a spot that had been recommended by our waitress at Al Di La the previous night. A few miles west on Savannah Highway, this acclaimed restaurant specializes in Southern 'low country' cuisine with a modern touch.

They definitely lived up to the hype as we savored the divine Bang Bang Shrimp and Grits over a glass of gorgeous New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and, perhaps, a few secrets which I cannot confirm or deny.

Saturday Afternoon: Folly Beach & Cocktails

By now, it was sizzling hot and the only solution was to make a run for famed Folly Beach and some fresh sea breezes.

Traci proved to be one hell of a navigator by finding free street parking mere blocks away from the crowded beach.

We walked along the water and checked out the scene while the waves lapped at our freshly painted toes. Temperatures soared close to 100F (38C) and after a bit decided an icy cocktail was in order, so off to Rita's Seaside Grille we went. Seated at the outdoor bar of this Folly Beach institution, we drank lime vodka slushes and enjoyed live music while our gab-fest continued in earnest.

Saturday Evening: West Ashley Dinner

Back at the apartment, we freshened up and decided to stick to our neighborhood again, this time at Pearlz Oyster Bar for some seaside favorites, mussels and crab cakes.

We left Pearlz as the sun was setting and the area was coming to life with lots of live music and groups of party-goers descending on the neighborhood. As we started our day early, we didn't join in, but rather got into pajamas and drank wine while we planned our Sunday itinerary.

Sunday Morning: Downtown Brunch & Historic Walk

Up early once again, we decided Sunday was our day to explore downtown, and grabbed an Uber bound for Poogan's Porch. Set in an 1888 Victorian townhouse, we took advantage of the lack of crowds and enjoyed a decadent and leisurely breakfast at this French Quarter favorite.

Charleston specialty, She Crab soup and a mimosa.

Seated on the balcony with a pitcher of mimosas and the best French Toast of my life, we chatted away as tourists on horse drawn carriage tours stopped and took our photo. Ok, they were photographing the building, but still, we were in them.

Sunday Afternoon: Downtown Shopping & Cat Cafe

It had threatened to rain the entire weekend and while we basked in a glorious Saturday, our luck ran out on Sunday. As we finished up our walking tour of the historic cobblestone streets of the French Quarter, the skies opened up, forcing an impromptu, rain-soaked pub crawl.

We took cover at Fleet Landing, a massive restaurant overlooking the water, but after one vodka tonic we found the crowds were a bit much, so dashed to Poogan's Smokehouse for wine and waited out the rest of the storm.

Thunder, rain and wine at Poogan's Smokehouse.

An hour later, the rain had passed and so we dried out by shopping along famed King Street before partaking in a special treat (for me, as I also review cat cafes over at website The Neighbor's Cat), a reservation at Pounce Cat Cafe & Wine Bar.

What could be more girly than a glass of wine with a kitten in one's lap? Nothing, it turns out.

Pounce exceeded my expectations with a lovely space, even lovelier staff and the fact that there were 36 kittens (a record in my cat cafe adventures) on hand.

It was sweetness overload and that's ok.

Sunday Evening: South Carolina BBQ Dinner

After our massive breakfast I didn't think I could eat another bite, but I also couldn't bear the thought of leaving South Carolina without eating BBQ, so I dug deep with one final pig out at Swig & Swine.

It was the perfect location to cap off our weekend. Casual, yet a cut above the typical BBQ joint, we enjoyed hefty portions of meat and a final glass of wine as we promised not to let too much time pass before we saw each other again.

Monday morning, we resumed our normal lives, but left Charleston satisfied that we experienced the quintessential girl's weekend with a little pampering, a lot of wine and enough memories to tide us over until the next time.

Thanks for a fabulous weekend Traci! xoxo

Next time on Gobsmacked: Home on the Road Top Ten Favorite Airbnb's Around the World

The Five Best Cat Cafes From Around the World

September 3, 2017

If you visit this page regularly, you know I haven't been posting as often as I used to.

It's because I've been working on another project and I'm thrilled to say it's up and running. My new website is The Neighbor's Cat, billed as the the most comprehensive global cat cafe website with first-hand reviews, an up-to-date location finder (coming soon!) and an extensive photo gallery.

I've been visiting cat cafes since we hit the road eighteen months ago, and have written a few reviews of cat cafes in Europe, more Europe and Thailand. After lots of traffic with these articles, I decided to make it the driving force of my travels.

While the focus of the website is to publish reviews, I will also post blogs discussing all things related to cat cafes- the best, the worst and more. The first blog highlights the five best cat cafes I've visited in 85 visits (so far).

I'll still be writing on Gobsmacked, but The Neighbor's Cat will be where I'm hanging out most of the time.

The Neighbor's Cat logo

I hope you will check it out and see where in the world I'm searching for kitty snuggles.

Cheers!

Having fun with our Airbnb host, Rod, in Vermont.

Home Sweet Home

August 21, 2017

What comes to mind when you think of the word home?

Is it a place? The city where you were born? The house where you grew up? Or is it simply the dwelling where you keep your stuff?

Is it people or animals? Your family, loved ones, or even pets?

Bill is my favorite, but don't tell Hannah and Tobey.

Or is it something even less tangible? Is it a sense of refuge and safety? Or, perhaps, a feeling of love or belonging?

As Americans, home (in the broadest sense) is the USA, and for eight weeks this summer we experienced a large dose of down-home comfort across 12 states and 14 separate residences. From physical luxuries such as big beds, reliable showers and home-cooked meals, to more abstract pleasures such as the following sampling of good times with friends and family, it was a pretty kick-ass stretch for us.

The Starnes/Neve/Argiropoulos clan in Tennessee.

Visiting a cat café with LeAnn, Simone & Annika (OR)
Hiking Ten Falls trail with Liz & Hank (OR)
Sitting around the breakfast table and talking dinosaurs with Kathy, Cale & Jackson (MN)
Backyard Bocce & BBQ with Chelsea & Andy (MN)
Road trip to Winnipeg with Mom & Dad (ND/MB)
Playing the least secretive yet most hilarious games of Clue with Cassie, Phil, Cam & Hunter (MN)
Picnic at Minnehaha Falls with Sue, Jimmy, Alex & Julia (MN)
Snapchatting silly pictures to each other while at lunch with Jason, Jennifer, Marilyn & Paul (MN)
Fourth of July lake fun with Gerry, Jackie, Adam, Jennifer, Logan & Liam (TN)
Mulch-o-rama and card game marathons with Gary & Peg (NC)
Girls' weekend in Charleston with Traci (SC)
Chocolate milk hunting and taste testing with Cindi, Diane, Tom and Linda (NH)
Hiking Mount Webster & Jackson loop with Becky (NH)
Lunch, drinks and a long overdue catch up in Biddeford with Kate (ME)
Cliff walk in Newport courtesy of Jennifer, Logan & Liam (RI)
Lake Ontario cottage stay (and potty training for the twins!) with Mason, Karrie, Sadie & Finn (NY)

Whew!

Are we lucky, or what? A BIG THANKS to our friends and family for all of your love and support (and dinners and guest rooms)!!

Chocolate milk taste test with Perry's relatives in New Hampshire.

All these home stays got me thinking.

I felt at home everywhere we visited, but why? And what, exactly, makes a home a home?

Since Perry and I have been on the road for the past year and a half, this topic comes up a lot. People usually ask if I miss home, but since we are without a home in the usual sense, the answer is always ‘no.' At times, I miss having decent sheets and a fully stocked kitchen, but I’m rarely bothered by my ‘houseless’ status unless I’m queried at an immigration checkpoint. Then, I get a little anxious because if there is one thing I know about border officials, it’s that they want a definitive answer to the question ‘Where is your home?’

Birthday lunch for my sister (with her kids) in Minnesota.

Determined to get to the bottom of this 'what makes a home' question, I started to dig deeper.

One of the first things I thought about was how much 'home' tends to connote a sense of permanence, such as your place of birth. ‘Where are you from?’ is a common first question between two people. But what if you don't identify with where you were born, or if you moved at an early age? Perry often has that awkward pause because his answer is far from simple. He should have business cards with the following bio: 'Perry was born in Schenectady, New York, but grew up in Maine and as an adult has lived in six other states as well as the United Kingdom. He currently travels full time with no permanent address.' Governments might view your place of birth as your permanent domicile, but for most of us, our birthplace does a poor job of defining home.

Hiking Silver Falls State Park with my aunt and uncle in Oregon.

My next thought turned to home as a location/structure, but that seems to be changing all the time. Most people move homes many times over the course of their lives based on household size, life stage, etc. The home of a couple with young children is likely to differ from the home of that same couple at retirement. The locations of homes change too. Mongolian families pack up their yurt and move to a different spot based on the season. Western families change homes for a shorter commute or better job.

Then, I tried to lock it down it in practical terms. Isn’t home simply a place where one takes care of basic needs? When it comes down to it, home is where you eat, sleep, bathe and watch Netflix.

Mulch-a-palooza underway in the hot North Carolina sun.

But after living alone in a soulless apartment in southern Wisconsin for six months, I knew firsthand that home definitely goes beyond the practical. It wasn't the apartment itself, as I also lived in a basic little flat in the UK by myself for a time as well, but rather I felt like a foreigner. In the UK, it was the opposite. Even in another country, I was able to feel like part of a community, with friends and activities that gave me a sense of home.

What is that sense, anyway? What is behind the idea that ‘home is where your heart is’ or ‘there’s no place like home’?

Looking back on our summer in the US, it's easy to see how our loved ones- family and friends (and cats!) made every stop feel like home.

Brunch with Traci at Poogan's Porch in Charleston, SC.

It's not difficult to understand. Most of us would probably answer 'family' as their first definition of home, that place of unconditional love. A space where you can be your true self and have a sense of belonging. But, how is it that I've felt at home on the road all over the world when we aren't around family?

I'm more convinced than ever that home is an idea that lives inside of us. It's that place where you should be; and on some level, we are all striving to reach it. Yes, others can love us and help us feel we belong, but ultimately, we need to feel 'at home' with ourselves.

Simone and Annika give the camera their best cat poses!

Before we all float away in this outburst of existential reasoning, let's bring it back to earth. Even though I've greatly expanded my view of what home means (a consequence of living on the road for so long), there is one practical thing that always makes me feel at home and that is familiarity.

I’ve had feelings of 'home' in most of the places we've lived, however temporary. Especially if we stay in a city for enough days that the simple act of walking to the grocery store feels like second nature, and returning after a long day out is effortless and comforting.

The ability to become familiar with a place relatively quickly is how I know there is no need to fear leaving home. The feeling of home is always there when you recognize the front door.

I'm far from being emotionally detached and it's never easy leaving friends and family. Making so many new places home is exciting, but it can be lonely, too.

It’s not perfect, but home is where I am right now.