Guest Posts Archives - Caffeinated Excursions https://caffeinatedexcursions.com/category/guest-posts/ Blog of a Traveling Coffee Addict Sat, 17 Aug 2024 21:37:52 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.3 https://i0.wp.com/caffeinatedexcursions.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/wp-1555570621336.jpg?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 Guest Posts Archives - Caffeinated Excursions https://caffeinatedexcursions.com/category/guest-posts/ 32 32 141833777 Guest Post: Exploring The Caribbean Without Leaving the US in San Juan https://caffeinatedexcursions.com/guest-post-exploring-the-caribbean-without-leaving-the-us-in-san-juan/ https://caffeinatedexcursions.com/guest-post-exploring-the-caribbean-without-leaving-the-us-in-san-juan/#comments Sat, 20 Oct 2018 17:00:00 +0000 https://caffeinatedexcursions.com/?p=2862 This is Caffeinated Excursion's second guest post! My cousin, Kailyn, recently went to San Juan, Puerto Rico and has written about her experience! If you're looking for crystal clear waters, delicious food and drinks, and America's only tropical rainforest, read more here...

The post Guest Post: Exploring The Caribbean Without Leaving the US in San Juan appeared first on Caffeinated Excursions.

]]>

Guest Post: Exploring The Caribbean Without Leaving the US in San Juan

Published October 20, 2018

About the Guest Author - Kailyn

Hi! I’m Kailyn and I have the privilege of being Kevin’s cousin. We’re only six months apart in age, so we were really close growing up. Now that we’re older and live in different countries (I live in Chicago) a shared love of travelling helps keep us close.

Update January 2020: I now have my own travel blog called Kailyn Travels! Check it out here!

My boyfriend, Andrew, and I at a Cubs game!

Kevin and I have traveled together a few times already: I visited Mexico City with him before he moved there, Kevin has visited me and Andrew in Chicago, and we’re planning an upcoming trip together this winter.

Kevin and I visiting Teotihuacan in January 2018

Puerto Rico

My boyfriend and I visited Puerto Rico for a long weekend over Labor Day and had the best time! We stayed for three nights, but I left feeling like there is still so much to see and do that I want to return, hopefully in the next year or two!

We had amazing food and drinks, drove through a rainforest, went snorkeling at a beach that is ranked as one of the most beautiful in the world, and explored Viejo (Old) San Juan. I will cover all of that and more in the following blog post as I hope to inspire all of you to visit Puerto Rico!

Viejo San Juan

Architecture

If there is one thing Viejo San Juan is most famous for, it’s the architecture. All the houses and buildings have the original historic facades from the 1800s and are painted in such bright and beautiful colors.

One of many beautiful streets close to our Airbnb

If you have an extra hour or two, it’s fun to just wander around all the streets to see as much of Viejo San Juan as you can, which is definitely doable as it’s a very small and walkable area.

Paseo del Morro

There is a wall built around Viejo San Juan that was constructed in the 16th and 17th centuries to defend San Juan. We took a one mile walk around the wall and ended at Castillo San Felipe Del Morro.

The Red Gate was one of the original entrances to the city.

The walk can be brutally hot as there is no shade, but at the end of the walk you will end up with this amazing view.

View of the north side of Viejo San Juan from the Castillo
The Paseo del Morro is filled with many stray cats, how many can you spot?

El Yunque

We took a day trip to El Yunque National Forest, which is about a 45-minute drive from San Juan. I looked into bus options from San Juan but didn’t really find any, so we decided to rent a car, which was only $50 for the whole day including insurance and fees. The drive is pretty easy and there are signs for El Yunque at every turn you need to make.

La Coca Falls

Sadly, only a small portion of the park is open, due to severe damage caused by Hurricane Maria in September of 2017. Currently there is only one waterfall open, a lookout tower with amazing views, and one trail. Hopefully they continue to make progress and reopen more of the park. One of the main reasons I want to come back to Puerto Rico is to see more of El Yunque.

Yokahú Tower

The Angelito Trail is only a half mile long one way, so a mile round trip. Once you get to the first creek there is a sign that says the trail ends there, as the bridge was washed out by the hurricane. We saw many people crossing the creek anyway, so we decided to follow suit! Fortunately, there are many large rocks in the creek and it is easy to get across without getting wet.

A few hundred yards after the first creek you will come to a river with the most beautiful swimming hole with a rope swing and all. If you come on a nice day, plan on staying for an hour or two to enjoy the refreshing and clear water!

Finding this swimming hole was such a nice surprise!
Andrew having fun on the rope swing!

Culebra

Wow, it is so hard to put the beauty of this small island off the east coast of Puerto Rico into words! The highlight of the trip for me was undoubtedly visiting one of the most beautiful beaches in the world according to multiple travel guides, Flamenco Beach on Culebra Island. I booked a day trip through East Island Excursions and I would highly recommend them.

View this post on Instagram

brb, applying to jobs in PR

A post shared by Kailyn Travels (@kailyn_s) on

The trip sets sail out of Fajardo which is about an hour drive east of San Juan. You have the option of being picked up and dropped off, or driving yourself.

Our tour was on the Caribe Spirit, a high speed catamaran, and it took about 40 minutes to reach Flamenco beach where they anchored out by the reefs. They set up a deli lunch and began serving rum drinks. The food and rum are included in the price of the ticket.

The darker areas in the water closer to shore are the coral reefs we snorkeled over.

After you eat, you can take your flippers and the snorkel mask they provide and hit the reefs! I spent about an hour snorkeling and exploring. I was able to get so close to the reefs as some of them are only a few feet below the surface of the water. A few times I was almost scared by how close I was as I swam over!

After snorkeling, they move the boat a few hundred yards closer to the beach and you get to spend the last few hours of the trip relaxing on the beach and drinking rum.

Food and Drink

Mofongo

The most famous dish to come out of Puerto Rico is called Mofongo. Mofongo is made from unripened plantains that are fried, then mashed together. It is then stuffed and topped with your choice of meat. I sampled it from two different restaurants, Punto de Vista Rooftop, and Los Yeyos.

Mofongo with fried pork and garlic sauce from Punto de Vista

Punto de Vista Rooftop is one of the top rated restaurants on Yelp, which is how I found it. It was delicious and I would definitely recommend it, although there will probably be a wait during popular dining hours. My boyfriend and I shared the Mofongo with fried pork and shrimp with garlic sauce; I recommend both!

Kioskos de Luquillo

After leaving El Yunque, we wanted to make the most out of the rental car we had for the day so instead of heading west back to San Juan we headed east to check out Fajardo. 

On the way there we spotted a crowded area right along Route 3 nested between the highway and Luquillo Beach, and decided to stop in. There are a long row of little shacks all crammed in right next to one another mainly selling fried food and alcohol.

Unfortunately I didn’t snap any pictures, but we had a few seafood empanadas, took a walk on the beach, and continued back to San Juan.

Bacardi

On our last half day in Puerto Rico before our flight, we took a tour of the Bacardi Distillery. It is across the bay from Old San Juan in Cataño which is about a 15 minute Uber ride. There is also a ferry that only costs $0.50 each way, but Bacardi is still about two miles from the ferry terminal. We chose to Uber there, and to leave, we took a taxi from Bacardi to the ferry and then the ferry back to Old San Juan.

Complementary souvenir cups and drinks come with the tour.

Bacardi offers multiple tours, all which include a Bacardi beverage before or after your tour as well as a commemorative cup. We chose the “Historical Tour” which was the cheapest option at $15. They also had a tour plus rum tasting as well as a tour plus mixology class, both of which were around $60.

All in all the tour was fun, but if your vacation in Puerto Rico is short and you’re pressed for time, you won’t be missing too much by skipping this.

Other Food

In addition to more traditional Puerto Rican food, we also had pizza and tacos! For our first meal in Puerto Rico, we just stumbled into this cute little Mexican restaurant right in Viejo San Juan.

Tacos from La Guerita

We also decided to go to Pirilo which is a pizzeria (although they do have traditional Puerto Rican food for appetizers.) It is next to Punto de Vista Rooftop, and seemed to always be crowded and popular with the locals.

Logistics

One of the reasons that makes travelling to Puerto Rico so fun is how easy it is. American citizens don’t need a passport to go, which means you can avoid the customs lines you would have to wait in to visit most other Caribbean islands. You also don’t have to bother with currency exchanges and exchange rates. I had good AT&T service in all the areas I visited without any international charges (although I cannot speak for other service carriers).

There are direct flights to San Juan from most major U.S. airports, and the airport in San Juan is only about a 15 minute drive to Viejo San Juan, where my Airbnb was located.

Viejo San Juan is only a small part of San Juan and has strict building laws due to the historical architecture there. Because of this, there aren’t many hotels located right in Viejo San Juan; most are located 2 to 5 miles away. I chose to stay in an Airbnb as there were many options in Viejo San Juan, and they were cheaper (we paid about $100 a night) than the hotels that were farther away. The Airbnb I chose was a block from the ocean and the historic wall surrounding Viejo San Juan.

A Note on Uber in Puerto Rico

Uber is available on all parts of the island except leaving the airport. You can Uber to the airport but you will have to take a taxi from the airport to your hotel or Airbnb, and they have standardized rates to each area. It was about $20 to Viejo San Juan.

Upcoming Trips

Thanks for reading my first ever blog post! I hope it will encourage you to visit and learn more about this often overlooked piece of America.

Stay tuned: for my next big trip I’ll be heading to Mexico to explore the Yucatán Peninsula with the Caffeinated Wanderer!

~ Kailyn

Share This Post With Fellow Travelers!

This post was published on Oct 20, 2018

Hi, I’m Kevin! I’m a coffee addict from Seattle, and my life revolves around traveling! Caffeinated Excursions is a record of my trips over the past seven years. Since I started blogging, I’ve lived in Mexico, Vietnam, Brazil, and the US. I just moved to Australia and plan to be here a full year. Thanks for checking out my blog!

Upcoming Trips

  1. Bangkok (Sept)
  2. Istanbul (Sept)

Support the Blog!

The post Guest Post: Exploring The Caribbean Without Leaving the US in San Juan appeared first on Caffeinated Excursions.

]]> https://caffeinatedexcursions.com/guest-post-exploring-the-caribbean-without-leaving-the-us-in-san-juan/feed/ 2 2862 Guest Post: Stockholm – The City Of “Swede” Dreams https://caffeinatedexcursions.com/guest-post-stockholm-the-city-of-swede-dreams/ https://caffeinatedexcursions.com/guest-post-stockholm-the-city-of-swede-dreams/#comments Thu, 06 Sep 2018 17:00:00 +0000 https://caffeinatedexcursions.com/?p=2854 Check out Caffeinated Excursion's very first guest post written by my friend and coworker, the lovely Alexis! In this post she discusses her recent trip to Stockholm, Sweden. Read on to learn how to shop, dine, and "fika" in this charming European capital...

The post Guest Post: Stockholm – The City Of “Swede” Dreams appeared first on Caffeinated Excursions.

]]>

Guest Post: Stockholm – The City Of “Swede” Dreams

Published September 6, 2018

About the Guest Author - Alexis

My name is Alexis and I’m from the Philadelphia area! However, I recently moved to Italy. I went to college in the least-known state in the US (Delaware), and after graduation I lived in Charlotte, NC for about a year.

I love traveling, exploring, and drinking coffee. I met everyone’s favorite Caffeinated Wanderer through work and he so graciously let me write a guest post on his great blog.

Kevin and I with our other friends, Andrea and Sigfrido!

In Italy...

a great thing happens in August. Everyone takes vacation and when I say everyone, I mean everyone. My company closed for two weeks in August which gave me the opportunity to do a bit of traveling and visit some friends. I have a friend who lives in Sweden, so we met in Berlin for the weekend then I followed her back to Stockholm for the following week. After that, I spent the next weekend in Helsinki. Stockholm was definitely my favorite city on this trip, which is what this post will focus on!

Stockholm's Vibrant Coffee Culture

Swedes. Love. Coffee. There is no question about it! From the second I met up with my friend, she kept mentioning “fika” and after the first couple times I had to ask her to explain. Coming from Italy, I thought I had learned everything I needed to know about coffee breaks, but I was wrong. She explained that fika means to slow down and enjoy time with friends. There is usually a pastry or sweet of some sort consumed, and time is taken to relax. She informed me that fika occurs at work and coworkers take turns providing the sweets. Personally, I love coffee, so I couldn’t have been more excited about this concept. Also, I was a little espresso’ed out and ready for some other types of coffee.

The word fika comes from the old Swedish slang word for coffee (kaffi). It all came about when coffee was temporarily banned in Sweden and everyone had to broker some black market deals to get their caffeine fix.

Armed with this new knowledge, I embraced the Swedish culture and stopped for fika whenever possible. Two of my favorite places were Drop Coffee Roasters and Mr. Cake.

Drop Coffee Roasters

At Drop Coffee Roasters, I had the large pot of their regular coffee and it was delicious. Apparently the rest of the world agrees, because they have placed in the top 5 in the World Roasting Championships five times. If regular coffee isn’t your thing, there were many other things on the menu I was dying to try! The staff is also incredibly knowledgeable. At breakfast, I had a piece of toast with a hard-boiled egg and an avocado mayo on it. It was good, but nothing special. The coffee is great and definitely worth a visit. They are located in Mariatorget on the island of Södermalm.

Mr. Cake

If you’re looking for a great pastry for fika or breakfast, head to Mr. Cake. This place is what dreams are made of! I got a latte and salted caramel popcorn pancakes to eat there as well as a red velvet croissant and rose lemonade to go. If you prefer, they have some savory dishes, but once you walk in, the sweets will be hard to resist. The pancakes come topped with vanilla ice cream, and they were amazing.

The indoor section of the cafe had a great atmosphere, but I sat on their large outdoor patio because the weather was so nice.

International Dining Options

While I can’t say I ate a lot of “Swedish” food in Stockholm, the great thing about the city was that there were so many different places to eat with different types of food.

Hermans

My favorite place was Hermans, a vegetarian buffet overlooking the water. The buffet is about $13 for the weekday lunch. It’s all you can eat and includes coffee (of course!), tea, and water. There was lasagna, salads, soups, and all kinds of other dishes. They had the most delicious homemade bread with sun-dried tomato butter. Everything was amazing! I bought a beer as well (a cotton candy popcorn sour) because they had so many interesting ones.

The view from Hermans looking toward the Museum of Photography (more on that below).

A big selling point of this place is the view, so try to sit outside if possible. There is quite a large outdoor seating area so this should be easy. There are also some nice hammocks to hang out in. I decided to stick around with a cup of coffee and a book just to relax. Be aware that this place can be easy to miss. There is a smaller sign out front, then follow the stairs down to find it.

La Neta for Tacos, StikkiNikki for Ice Cream, and Omnipollos Hatt for Beer & Pizza

Stockholm can get a little expensive, so if you’re looking for something a bit cheaper and a little different head to La Neta. Tip: Menus are located at the register and there is an English version. This way you don’t need to spend fifteen minutes like my friend and I did trying to translate the Swedish menu. We both got tacos and we split an order of guacamole. We were so full when we left and the food was great! The line was a bit long, but it went quickly and was worth it.

After our taco trip we headed to StikkiNikki for some homemade organic ice cream. I had the lavender chocolate and it was amazing. My last food recommendation would be Omnipollos Hatt. This is a beer and pizza place. They have tons of fun and interesting beers on tap and the pizza was pretty good too.

Shop Till You Drop

I was surprised to find that Stockholm is a pretty great place for some second-hand and vintage shopping. Everywhere I walked there seemed to be another store to check out. I ended up with 4 dresses and a skirt and each piece was under $40.

Some Recommendations

My favorite by far was Beyond Retro located on Drottninggatan. I know they have another location in the city, but I only went to this one. It has a mix of its own clothes and some second-hand and vintage things. It was huge and there were tons of dresses I wanted to try on. Luckily some things didn’t fit or I would’ve been in financial trouble! The people working there were also ridiculously nice. I got stuck in a dress and a very helpful employee helped me get out. I ended up walking out with two dresses.

The other three stores I enjoyed were Ritz Vintage, Emmaus, and POP; all were located in the SoFo area of Södermalm. Ritz is on the smaller side but had some fun stuff. POP also has a mix of their own clothing and second hand/vintage stuff. I can honestly say I wanted to buy everything in the store. If nothing else you have to go to Emmaus just for the Instagram pic.

Emmaus

Clogs!

Of course, something everyone always wants to buy in Sweden is clogs. I bought mine from Swedish Hasbeens. While there are a couple shops in the city, the place to buy them is the outlet on Gamla Stan. The sizes of each style are a bit limited but the discount is worth it if you can find a style you like. I got mine here and saw them for twice the price at the other store. These run small, so don’t hesitate to go up a size.

Sightseeing

There are some great sights to see in Stockholm as well. My first day in the city I decided to go into the Museum of Photography (Fotografiska) on Södermalm and I was not disappointed. There were awesome exhibits and the cafe inside has the most beautiful view of the water. There is also an outdoor cafe that overlooks the water if you prefer. It’s about $14 to enter, but I definitely recommend it!

Another sight to see on Södermalm is the Mariaberget walk. It’s a bit higher up all along the water with some great views. It’s a fairly easy walk and if the weather is nice, grab a snack or a bottle of wine and just hang out up there.

The island of Galma Stan is also known as Old City. This is where the the royal palace is located along with a few other museums and churches. I happened to walk up to the palace during the changing of the guard and it was quite an interesting (and free!) sight. I spent my day walking around there and then I grabbed a drink at one of the many places on the water. It was a nice way to spend the afternoon.

Return to Italy

Before I returned to Italy, I spent a quick weekend in Helsinki to visit another friend, but I can still say Stockholm was my favorite city on this trip. I could see why my friend enjoyed Stockholm so much and why she wanted to stay. Unfortunately, she had to go back to the USA shortly after my visit and I had to go back to drinking espresso in Italy. However, Milan opens their first Starbucks in September so maybe I can get my pumpkin spice fix after all!

Europe has so many great cities to visit, so it’s hard to say I’d want to return to the same place twice, but given the opportunity, I would totally go back to Stockholm to visit or even live. It’s easy to navigate and has lots of water (including free water in restaurants)! I hope these suggestions make your trip just a bit better and help you enjoy the city as much as I did!

~ Alexis

Share This Post With Fellow Travelers!

This post was published on Sept 6, 2018

Hi, I’m Kevin! I’m a coffee addict from Seattle, and my life revolves around traveling! Caffeinated Excursions is a record of my trips over the past seven years. Since I started blogging, I’ve lived in Mexico, Vietnam, Brazil, and the US. I just moved to Australia and plan to be here a full year. Thanks for checking out my blog!

Upcoming Trips

  1. Bangkok (Sept)
  2. Istanbul (Sept)

Support the Blog!

The post Guest Post: Stockholm – The City Of “Swede” Dreams appeared first on Caffeinated Excursions.

]]> https://caffeinatedexcursions.com/guest-post-stockholm-the-city-of-swede-dreams/feed/ 1 2854