The World Outside of Your Window

On September 28, 2017 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Photo Challenge6 Comments

One of the things that we often do is to take photos from our hotel room whenever we visit a new city. It is partially about capturing our first experience as we arrive someplace, but there are times when it is simply that there can be great views from hotel rooms. Obviously we don’t spend a lot of time in our hotel room as we want to spend as much time actually visiting the city, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t enjoy the time that we do spend in our room. We will often start our day and end our day by looking out of the window to see the weather, enjoy the view, our sometimes see a sunset. The views can be vastly different based upon the places that you are visiting, whether it is a beach, major city, or rural location. For this week’s Daily Post Photo Challenge, Windows, we are sharing some of the varieties of views we have seen during our recent journeys. Do you take photos out of the windows of the places that you stay?

Water Towers and Skyscrapers from Hotel in New York

View from Our Room in Nuremburg, Germany

Courtyard Outside of Our Hotel in Brasov, Romania

View of Lake Titicaca in Copacabana, Bolivia

Coming Home, Does it Make You Happy or Sad?

On September 21, 2017 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn South America, Travel Tips22 Comments

Returning home after a trip is always a mix of emotions, the comfort of being home and sadness to see a journey come to an end. There is definitely a different sense of emotions as you fly home as opposed to heading to a new destination. The trip home is subdued and usually a general sense of exhaustion, while the time you spend on the way to a new location is filled with anticipation and excitement to see new things. We will be sharing specifics of our trip over the next few days and apologize for having not been able to keep in touch as often as we would have liked, but we made the most of our time, so we were out from dawn until late every day. We are just now starting to go through all of the photos that we took, which is a daunting task in and of itself. Being home definitely provides a sense of normalcy, the known versus the unknown, but there is a sense of something missing. If travel never came to an end, there would be nothing to compare it with, so in a sense the trip home is a necessity in order to make you appreciate travel even more. What are your thoughts on returning? Do you look forward to a night in your own bed or feel a sense of depression upon your return?

Piazzale Michelangelo

On May 22, 2017May 22, 2017 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Italy15 Comments

When visiting Florence, Italy, taking the time to walk up to Piazzale Michelangelo is an absolute must. There is obviously the bronze replica of Michelangelo’s statue of David, but the real reason is the see the breathtaking views of the city. From the square, there are panoramic views of everything from the Duomo, Ponte Vecchio, to the hillsides outside of Florence.

We were there during the off-season, so the crowds were light, but we can only imagine how crowded the square must be during the summer. There are plenty of vendors selling food and souvenirs as well as a full service restaurant where you can sit down and enjoy a nice glass of wine. Florence is one of the most beautiful, old-world cities and seeing it from the piazza really allows you to fully appreciate how stunning it truly is.

It is not an easy walk to reach the Piazzale Michelangelo, but it is more than worth the effort. Seeing Florence from the heights above the city was definitely a highlight of our visit. Of course we enjoyed walking the narrow streets, looking up at the Duomo, and seeing the amazing architecture up close, but seeing the whole city at once was even more spectacular. Everyone visiting Florence should definitely put this on their itinerary.