Austin

The drive from Dallas to Austin was a journey of its own. Texans like their trucks big, stacked high with loosely-secured piles of furniture and other paraphernalia. Buc-ee’s sold everything from bedazzled cattle skulls (faux or real, I couldn’t tell you) to the biggest sodas I’ve seen outside a 7/11.

With 19 hours in Austin, I had enough time for only a couple of meals. Everyone will argue over the best taco place to choose in that time frame. Although I had multiple recommendations for breakfast taco’s at Torchy’s, friends will still roll their eyes when I tell them my choice. As an out of towner, I think it’s hard to make a bad choice - so Torchy’s or not, enjoy those breakfast tacos to the fullest.

Save 6th Street for an evening because going during the day felt out of place. The State Capital was an impulse visit that I’m glad I did - it was both a beautiful building and an informative tour.

Drive from Dallas to Austin

• Czech Stop

• Buc-ees

Day 1 & only

• Lady Bird Lake

• South Congress Ave

  • Torchy’s Tacos

  • Amy’s Ice Cream

• 6th Street

• Texas State Capital

• 2nd Street Shopping District

Toronto

I don’t know how others feel about this analogy: I consider Toronto the NYC of Canada. It has a downtown that feels a bit more like the financial district of New York, and fashion comes before function. The style is clearly a step up from San Francisco: dress shirts on every man, pumps on every woman. I felt consistently on the cusp of underdressed in most neighborhoods and much more significantly so when window shopping among serious shoppers in Yorkville.

Type Books has to be one of the prettiest bookstores I’ve seen with a great selection of super books that fly just under the radar on the best sellers list, yet very much deserve to top it. Pizzeria Libretto was a gem of an upscale pizza shop that came at the suggestion of my pizza-snob colleague and friend. I loved the Anndore House, even if I only stayed for 1 night.

If I’d have done anything differently, I’d have gone to Casa Loma sooner - there is a castle in Toronto! And the Almond Butterfly was a superb café with a range of allergy-friendly options that I’m so glad I skipped out on a top-ranked place for when the line was too long.

Day 1

• Queen Street West

• Type Books

• The Chase Toronto

Day 2

• CN Tower

• Pizzeria Libretto

• St. Lawrence Market

• The Distillery Historic District

• Toronto Maple Leafs game

Day 3

• Toronto Islands

• The Anndore House

• Royal Ontario Museum

• Shopping in Yorkville

• Summer’s Ice Cream

• Sabai Sabai Kitchen & Baro

Day 4

• Breakfast at Almond Butterfly Cafe & Restaurant

• Casa Loma mansion

Seattle

Day 1

• The Spheres

• Capital Hill Cider Company

• Starbucks Reserve in Capital Hill

Day 2

• Chihuly Glass Museum

• Space Needle

• Pike Place

  • The Purple Store

  • Left Bank Books Collective

  • Beecher’s Cheese

• Seattle Public Library

• Bar Melusine

Day 3

• Pike Place

• Elliot Bay book Company

• Purple Cafe and Wine Bar

Vancouver

3 days did not do this city justice. The surrounding mountains bring a humility to the city, where function defines fashion. The laid-back vibe combined with the enthusiasm of sunny days reminds me of the best parts of the west coast married with the jubilance and appreciation of fair weather from the east coast. Had I budgeted more time, Vancouver Island definitely would have been my next stop.

Saturday

• Lynn Canyon and its suspension bridge

• Grouse Mountain and its Grouse Grind Hike

• Revel Room Jazzy Bar

Sunday

• Ferry to & from Granville Public Market

• Railspur District

• Sunset Beach

• La Belle Patate for poutine

• Biked the perimeter of Stanley Park

• Window shopped on Robson Street

• Dinner at Alibi Room

Monday

• Brunch at Jam Cafe

• The Paper Hound Bookshop

• MacLeod’s Books

• Shopping in Granville on Alexandra Street

• Museum of Anthropology

Funny story to conclude: On last-minute shopping trip on Alexandra Street, I picked up a beautiful sweater at Oak and Fort. It wasn’t until I was in a taxi en route to the Museum of Anthropology that I realized I bought it in an XL, not an XS by mistake. The store has locations in both the US and Canada, only with different inventory. A creative solution: a friend was traveling to Vancouver the very next week and made the return for me.

SF -> LA -> NYC Itineraries

Cliffnotes:

• 15-day trip to 3 cities and staying at friend’s houses in SF/LA

• Skip Pier 39 altogether, there is always better food elsewhere in the city

• Biking on the beach at sunset with a friend was a highlight in LA

• Packed 1 suitcase and did laundry halfway through trip

• 6 days in SF, 6 days in LA, 3 days in NYC

• Trip started in early November and ended in mid November

Saturday - day with friends

• Drive SF to Sonoma

• Cine for zinfandel

• Domaine Carneros for champagne

• Gott's burgers

• Off to a friend of a friend’s birthday party

Sunday - day with friends

• Breakfast at Lemonade

• Turo rental

• 49ers game at Levi Stadium

• Dinner at friend’s family

Monday - morning and evening with friends, Alcatraz was solo adventure

• Drive to UC Berkeley for the views

• Acai bowl at Vitality Bowls

• Alcatraz

• Lunch at Hook's in Pier 39

• Walked through Nob Hill and Union Square

• Golden State Warriors at their Oakland arena

Tuesday - solo adventure day until dinner

• Muni to Golden Gate Park

• Conservatory of Flowers

• Academy of Science

• Hellman Hollow

• de Young tower & museum

• Haight Ashbury

• Sweater at Crossroads

• Dinner at Otoro for sushi

• Ice cream at Smitten

• T-shirt vending machine at Marine Layers

Wednesday - solo adventure day until dinner

• Hayes Valley

• The Boulangerie

• Alamo Square

• Painted Ladies

• Exploratorium

• Aquarium

• Sushirito

• 111 Minna Gallery

• Union Square

• Cable car ride (2 or 3 times)

• Lombard street

• North beach

• City Lights Bookstore

• Hayes Valley

• The Grove for dinner

Thursday - day with friends

• SOMA

• Acai bowl'd food truck

• Rented another Turo

• Palace of Fine Arts

• Sol Food

• Muir Woods & Muir Beach

• Twin Peaks

• Upper Douglas dog park

• Everlane

• Tour of Lyft with friend of friend

• Tour of Stripe & dinner there with roommate of friend

Friday - afternoon with friends

• Fly SF to LA

• Rental car pickup at Midway Car Rental LA

• Stop at USC

• The Grove & Original Farmer's Market

• Dinner at Hugo's

• Ice cream shakes at Swinger’s

Saturday - day with friends

• Hiked from Griffith Observatory to Hollywood Hills. Ate at Griffith Observatory (yum). Total trip 6 hours, about 5 hours of hiking

• Dinner in Sherbourne Oaks at On the Thirty

• Ice cream in Studio City at Salt and Straw

Sunday - day with friends

• Smorgasborg (acai bowl, taco, mofongo)

• Last Bookstore

• Hermosa Beach

• Rented bikes at sunset

• Dinner at Mercado in Santa Monica. Amazing! Elote, guac, carnitas, flan 👌

Monday - solo day

• Laundry

• Warner Bros studio tour (dobby's animation was the favorite)

• Lunch at Tender Greens near ELA

• Melrose shopping

• Dash (store owned by Kardashians)

• Google popup shop

• Restoration hardware rooftop with views of downtown

• Urth Cafe for quick dinner

• Clippers vs 76ers - 😍 Blake Griffin

Tuesday - solo day until dinner

• Spin & yoga at YAS with a fellow Amanda leading the class

• Breakfast at Village Bakery near Glendale

• LACMA

• Falafel food truck

• Dinner at Americana at Brand

Wednesday - day with family

• Flower market

• Getty Museum & Restaurant with family

Thursday - solo day of travel

• Grand central market

• LA 🛫🛬NYC

• Stay at Pod51 in Hell’s Kitchen

Friday - solo day until Smogasborg, hanging out with friends afternoon and evening

• Taping of “Live with Kelly & Ryan” with Reba McEntire as guest

• Columbus Circle

• 5th avenue window shopping

• Smorgasborg - mozz sticks & tacos & cider

• Moleskine store

• Strand bookstore

• Union Square market

• Barn Joo

• Eileen's Cheesecake

• Little Italy

• Chinatown

• SoHo

Saturday - friends in morning, solo in afternoon

• Observation session of coaching program

• Grand Central Station

• Market - Ceviche

• Chelsea, Chelsea Market, and the Highline

• Shopping in West Broadway

• Morgenstern's Ice Cream - Black Shaved Coconut with toasted coconut

• Roasted almonds

• Rockette's (AMAZING!)

• Vinyl diner (met mosaic Beyoncé in the bathroom)

Sunday - solo day from NYC to Boston

• SoHo

• Chobani & Joe's Juice

• Everlane Store

• Washington Square Park

• Stationary Store

• Times Square

• To Boston

What I still had on my list for the next trip:

SF

• Legion of honor

• Rolled ice cream

• MOMA

• The Mission

• The Castro

LA

• Santa Monica/del Rey

• Runyon

• Old Pasadena

NYC

• The Rooftop at 50 Bowery

• Aladdin

• Washington Square Park (more time there)

• Stacked Ice Cream

Montreal Itinerary

Takeaways:

• Great food in Old Montreal

• Mount Royal offers superb views of the city

• The cocktails are weak but the beer is strong

• The young men at clubs acted like middle schoolers at a dance, hanging out around the perimeter of the dance floor, only to bop a friend on the head as their way of flirting ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Day 1 - Drive from Massachusetts to Montreal

• The GPS was misinformed, there was no Atwater exit

• Payment for food is given at table

• Fiddler's Green was empty and went to another bar with fantastic blueberry beer

Day 2

• Selfie Stick Prank: 2 old women as part of the Canadian equivalent of Off Their Rockers asked to take a selfie with the 4 of us, using their selfie stick that had to be at least 6 feet long. I have no idea if we made it on TV.

• Metro passes - public transit was the easiest and fastest way to explore the city

• Botanical gardens - we visited on the last free day

• Old Montreal

• Dine at Jardin Nelson, order the Cartier Salad and sangria

• Basilica de Notre Dame

• Old Port

• Went to Electric Blue and did the grandma dance: we didn’t know when it said 80s music online, everyone would be 50+

• Proceeded to bar instead

Day 3

• Mount Royal

• St-Viateur Bagel

• Little Italy

• Poutine at La Banquise

• Apt. 200 too exclusive, headed to Tokyo club

• Learned clubs are empty before midnight

• Left for McKibbin’s Irish Pub and West Point boys chatted up the one friend who didn’t like boys

• Returned to Tokyo bar

Day 4 - Drive from Montreal to Massachusetts

• Crepes and waffles for breakfast

• A bridge closure caused us to be rerouted and spend 3 hours in the car before we even got out of the city

Chicago Itinerary

Context: 2 friends, 5-day, 6-night trip to Chicago in July 2017

Airline: Jetblue

Hotel: Autograph Collection, Chicago

Takeaway: Downtown Chicago is a fun city where the attractions live up to the hype.

Fave spots:

• Wabash Arts Corridor

• Improv show

• Taste of Chicago Food Festival - only for 1 week in the summer if you time it right

• Wrigley

• Jeni’s Ice Cream

Thursday

• Flight

Friday

• Brunch at Eggy's

• Planetarium

• Aquarium

• Deep dish at original Uno's

• Willis/Sears Tower

Saturday

• Brunch at Grand Lux Cafe

• Museum of Contemporary Art

• Art Institute of Chicago

• Taste of Chicago

• Architecture Tour

• Ferries Wheel & spinning ride

• Fireworks

• Dinner at Tiny Tavern

Sunday

• Brunch at Yolk

• Cubs v Pirates

• Jeni's Ice Cream

• Shopping

• Cloud gate

• Bub City BBQ for dinner

Monday

• Brunch at Nookies in Old Town Triangle

• Lincoln Park Zoo

• Magnificent Mile

• Steak dinner at Wildfire

• "Having it all" improv show

• Drinks & guac at John Hancock 96th floor

Tuesday

• Breakfast at Goddess & the Baker

• Wabash street art

• Old Town

• Sushi

• Shopping

• Ride the brown line loop for the picture

• Donuts

• Back to Boston!