Boston Day Trip

What to Do in Boston in One Day

Boston is such a beautiful city. I spent 10 years living in Massachusetts and never really took the time to fully explore this city.

This past week that I was home with my family I decided to change that and spend a full day seeing as much as I could with the help of my friend Des who has basically been everywhere and knows everything.

I am going to break down everywhere we went and the best way to see the most.

1. Visit the North End. The North End is Boston’s Little Italy and the moment you step on Hanover Street, you can see, smell and feel it. It is filled with pizza, coffee, cannoli, pastries and just amazing people all around.
   Pro Tip: I recommend trying either Mike’s Pastries or Modern. I prefer Modern for cannoli. Also try going to Bricco Salumeria & Pasta Shop. Everything is imported from Italy and they make some of the best sandwiches I have ever had. They have octopus too but I didn’t love it. I lived in Greece for 12 years though. Also make sure you get drinks at Earls and BRING CASH for cannoli.
2. Boston Public market. Every weekend the street is full of local fruit and vegetables and even fish. My parents had never been and I soon as they saw the prices, they spent the majority of their time there.
   
   
3.   Holocaust Memorial. Walking through the glass towers of remembrance will give you chills. The towers also stand tall to remind us to stand together, stand up for others and hope that the world will never have to endure such tragedy ever again. Seeing the numbers of all the victims, engraved on the walls and reading a small part of what they went through makes you realize the magnitude of this tragedy.
4. Faneuil Hall and Quincy market. Try some local chowdaaa at Quincy Market. Some of the best food in Boston. My favorite is the mac and cheese stand just because I am obsessed with mac and cheese. Also make sure you enjoy the street performers. There is always something happening around there.
5.   Acorn Street. Go to Acorn street and take a picture in the most photographed streets in Boston. It is a stone walkway that reminds you of colonial Boston. It was on this lovely street that 19th century artisans and trades people lived.
   

   

   My not so little bother and I

   
   
6. Boston Common. Visit Boston Common and hang out in the oldest park in the United States, dating back in 1634. There is also ice skating you can do there.
   Pro Tip: Get a Groupon to save you some money if you want to go ice skating.
   

   

   I love this city!

   
   
7. Did someone say shopping?? If you love shopping, you will love Newbury Street. High end shopping or (window shopping) for me. It is an iconic Boston spot so walk around and then head over to the Pru.
8. Visit the Prudential Center Tower. Other than the mall and amazing food you can find here, head to the skywalk for the best views of Boston. It costs 20$ for adults.
   Pro Tip: Some of the best pizza I have had in the Prudential is located in Eataly

 

I hope you have a better idea of how to spend your day in Boston. It may be a lot to do in one day, but it is worth it. I did it in the winter with my family, so you got this.

Noteworthy places to visit:

If you want a fancy dinner with a view go to the Top of the Hub.

1. Visit Boston Public Gardens
2. Museum of Science
3. Museum of Fine Arts
4. Catch a Game at Fenway Park
5. New England Aquarium
6. Copley Square
7. Boston Harbor 
8. Get Drinks in the Financial District or South End 

And Finally Follow the Freedom Trail which starts at Boston Common and goes through 16 Landmarks. 

I have attached a link where you can go and do a self-guided tour. I do recommend an actual tour though. I learned so much about Boston and I thought it was worth it. Check out Groupon. You might find some deals

https://freetoursbyfoot.com/the-freedom-trail/ 

Do not forget to have fun and enjoy your time there. As always leave each place better than you found it! Thanks for traveling with me.

Second Day in Cebu: Swimming with Whale Sharks Edition

Everything you need to know about swimming with whale sharks in Oslob, Cebu, Philippines  

You may have heard of Oslob as being one of the places to go if you want the experience of swimming with whale sharks.

Yes, you read correctly, you can go here and swim with these amazing animals.

Not my picture but this is what these beautiful creatures look like 

How we got here: We woke up early and took the bus from Moalboal to Oslob which took about 3 hours. Make sure you get there early because if you actually want to swim with whale sharks, you cannot do it past 1200. The earlier you get there, the better

When we arrived, we were overwhelmed by the number of people trying to sell us a tour. The tours are expensive and I honestly had no idea what to expect. Don’t forget to BARGAIN!

Most packages included standard snorkeling or scuba diving. I don’t really recommend scuba diving because when we were there, we could see all the way down at the bottom, and the marine life was not as impressive to me. I would recommend snorkeling and save scuba diving for a more impressive site.

We ended up going with one of the vendors and after getting ready, we were off to see these enormous but harmless creatures. We were waiting for a long time to go out on a boat that will give us access to swim in the water with them.

Accurate representation of what to expect. (I did not take the picture) 

I was honestly really disappointed by the experience as a whole. I knew there would be some people there but I was definitely not expecting the HUNDREDS of people that were in the water right next to each other. All the boats were in a circle around ONE whale shark. I think I saw the whale shark a total of 3-4 times.

One thing you should know before you go is that these animals are actually not supposed to be there. They are fed in order to stay and provide a source of income for the locals. These animals are actually meant to migrate.

The whole experience lasted for not even 30 minutes and we couldn’t really leave the boat or else we would get yelled at. I have seen so many videos and pictures of people actually swimming next to the whale sharks and I was so excited to do so, but that was definitely not my experience. There were about 20+ people on just the boat we were on and we were all right next to each other, packed extremely close to the point where one girl hit my phone out of my hand. Thank god I caught it and nothing happened. Someone else elbowed me in the head and I also kicked someone in the head. I am assuming that everything was an accident, but who knows… :) 

Team no sleep and it shows! Post whale shark adventure

Pro Tip: We met this woman on our way to Bohol, who was traveling solo and she said that she made friends with some locals that brought her to an island and let her swim with a couple of whale sharks and gave her no time limit. If you can find someone that can help you do that, I would absolutely do it.

Don’t get me wrong, although the experience itself was pretty disappointing, due to the fact that I felt rushed and did not really see as many whale sharks as I thought I would, but I can at least say that I went swimming with whale sharks!

Also, you might get a little scared when you first see them, because they are HUGE, but it goes away very quickly and you will appreciate these beautiful creatures.

Don’t forget to leave the beach better than you found it!

First Day in Cebu: Kawasan Falls Edition

First Day in Cebu: Kawasan Falls Edition

The Philippines had been on my bucket list for a long time and the reason is Instagram. The beautiful pictures of the white sand beaches, beautiful sunsets and joyful people, intrigued me.

I usually base my vacations on the flight that is on sale and to my surprise a flight to Cebu was a little over $400 per person. WHAT A DEAL!

Due to civil unrest and high terrorism alert, we could not visit some of the best islands in the Philippines (Palawan and Siargao). I found that out after I bought our nonrefundable tickets. The only places we could go were Cebu and Bohol.

In this post I will talk about Cebu and more specifically Moalboal which was our first stop. I will give you some tips on how to avoid some mistakes that we made when we first got to Cebu.

Tip 1. Buy a sim card. You will have internet everywhere which is important because relaying on wifi is just not option. We used it mostly for maps and figuring out where to go since we mostly got around by renting our own scooter. We got ours at the airport but they sell them everywhere!  

Tip 2. The taxi drivers WILL TRY AND SCAM YOU. Do not be fooled. Do not get in the cab without setting a price to begin with or make sure the meter is working. We ended up paying 600 pesos EACH. I am still mad thinking about it. I wish I could go back and change it but I unfortunately cannot so it is what it is.

Tired after 20+ hour flight and riding on our first bus

We made our way to the bus station and catch the bus to Moalboal. Famous for the Kawasan Falls! I was so excited to start this adventure.

 When we first got to Moalboal about twenty people tried to give us a ride but we started walking. We wanted to experience the Philippines and our hotel was close enough. On our way to our hotel a couple of kids started following us and started singing and I was singing with them and they asked for money lol 

Tip 3. Do not give money away because it will lead to more and more people begging for money, so just keep walking.

 After we rented a bike, we started our day going to Kawasan Falls but ended up canyoneering instead. The experience was really fun and exciting but it was a little weird since the other groups kept going and we stopped. Instead we started hiking to where we would get picked up and dropped off to our bike.

The guides were extremely friendly and took some awesome pictures and videos but every other group got to see the falls with their canyoneering tour and we didn’t. The weird part is that we paid more than those people so I am not sure what happened there. In their pictures they also showed the actual falls so I don’t know. Make sure you get to see the actual falls as well.

We used 7H Canyoneering Adventure

Tip 4. Bargain, Bargain, Bargain. I cannot stress this enough. If you do not bargain people will take advantage of you. They really spiked up the prices for foreigners so do not be afraid to bargain. We literally became pros by the end of this trip. I wish we had done it sooner. Even if they say no that’s my final price, tell them okay and walk away. Every time they chased us down and accepted our price!

After canyoneering, we decided to go riding up to Osmena peak and hit the falls on our way back. It started down pouring so we decided to turn around because it was getting unsafe and we were freezing.

Tip 5. It may start to rain so get a dry bag for your phone before you go to the Philippines, that way your phone will be safe.

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped by Kawasan falls and although it was absolutely gorgeous, crystal clear water, we were sharing it with MANY others. It was so frustrating to see man made facilities in such a beautiful gem of nature.

Tip 6. Get to Kawasan early in the morning to avoid the hundreds of people. Everyone comes after their canyoneering tour so if you go early you should be fine. There will always be people there but hopefully not as many.

Non Edited picture so you can see what the water actually looks like AMAZING!

Tip 7. People are really nice. They will often wave at you, so wave back!

I will attach my itinerary for day one. Although we didn’t do all of it because of the rain we encountered going to osmena peak, it should help you be more prepared than we were.