A Babymoon with Baby: Tenerife

Lots of people plan and take a "babymoon" when pregnant, especially with their first baby as one last chance to spend some time together as a couple.  Our life for the past two years has been a babymoon, so we didn't feel like we had to go out of our way to do this, but it did get us thinking.  Even though we didn't need to spend time together (we are ALWAYS together), we did think it would be a good idea to do some things that might be more difficult/less enjoyable with a baby.

Mike knew immediately that he wanted to do some serious diving on our babymoon and spending a few days at a pool or beach sounded like paradise to a pregnant me. After lots of research on Mike's part, we set our sights on Tenerife, part of the Canary Islands off the coast of Morocco.  We became extremely ambitious when planning and decided to book our flights for two days after our trip to Portugal, which was not that long after our trip to Spain (rough life, I know). Mike ended up getting mono towards the end of our trip in Portugal and was so sick by the time we came home that we knew there was no way we were going to boarding a flight for our diving and beach vacation two days later.

Luckily, we were able to reschedule our trip for the week following Kelly and Sean's wedding, but that meant that it would no longer be our babymoon.  Instead, we would have a three month old coming along for the ride.  Finn is cute, but he definitely changes the dynamic of our travel.  Sitting by the pool isn't quite as relaxing as it used to be.   He also decided to enter a major sleep regression that had Mike and I questioning our sanity.

While we weren't able to relax as much as we probably would have before Finn came along, we still had a great time.  Mike was still able to go diving and I got to enjoy some adult beverages by the pool, something that I wouldn't have been able to do in January.  We stayed at the Sheraton La Caleta, which may be one of the nicest hotels I've ever stayed at.  As much as I make fun of Mike for being a little obsessed with credit card points, it definitely paid off because we didn't pay a dime for our week stay.  So, next time he yells "Use the Chase!" or "We get five times points with the AmEx!" I guess I should refrain from rolling my eyes and just go with it.

The water was a leeeetle too chilly for Finny

One last Olmsted selfie

Lounging by the pool

When you only sleep one hour at a time, you take lots of naps throughout the day.  I did too.

Nomz

Nomz nomz nomz

We loved our time at the Sheraton in Tenerife.  It was relaxing, the staff was friendly and the amenities were glamorous.  It was definitely an expensive and much more luxurious trip than our normal travels, but it was a great way to end our Olmsted travels and rest up for our move from Berlin.

Always review the emergency exit procedures before takeoff.

Balkan Road Trip: Bosnia and Montenegro

We left Serbia feeling happy, yet ready for a more relaxing itinerary and Montenegro fit that bill. The coastline of Montenegro rivals Croatia (which we LOVE) in beauty, so we knew we wanted to end our three weeks along the coast relaxing.  Unfortunately, it was about an 8 hour drive to the coast from Serbia and, since the smallest Hogan doesn't do well in cars, we knew we had to break it up.  

Luckily, Visegrad in Bosnia is about halfway, so we decided to stop there for the night and it ended up being the perfect stopover.  We didn't leave Belgrade until after lunch time, so we arrived in Visegrad a little before dinner.  We unloaded the car, let Finn have some time outside of the car seat and stretched our legs before heading to dinner. 

The town of Visegrad was tiny and really the only attraction there is the bridge, which is a UNESCO site. That being said, the country of Bosnia and Hertzegovina is STUNNING, so we spent a few hours just gawking at the views.  We found a restaurant that had outdoor seating overlooking the bridge and took in the scenery over some pizza before heading back to our hotel for the night.  Unfortunately, it wasn't the most exciting birthday for Mike, but he reassured me that it was okay.  The scenery makes up for the lack of excitement.

The next morning, we were up and out the door and headed to the Montenegran coast!  We wanted to stop in Kotor before checking into our hotel in Sveti Stefan.   Kotor had an old town surrounded by walls that reminded me of Split and Dubrovnik in Croatia, yet smaller.  We filled our bellies with delicious seafood for a late lunch and walked through the small alley ways and streets of the old town of Kotor before hopping in the car to our hotel.

Maybe the most impressive attraction of Kotor was the castle atop the mountain and the very long path that led to it.

As we left the old town, I couldn't help but pausing to admire the geography of this beautiful country.  The history is tumultuous, but the geography is stunning.

We took one look at that path up the mountain to the castle, looked at the stroller, and then looked at each other and both agreed it was a big fat NO.

After our day in Kotor, we headed to Sveti Stefan where we checked in to our hotel.  We spent the next two days hanging by the pool and at the beach, which was the perfect way to end our trip.  The beach is pretty rocky and the water was rough, so we didn't spend a ton of time there, but hanging by the pool was a great way to end our trip. We ventured into Budva for dinner one night which was a lot of fun and there were tons of restaurants, bars and cafes to choose from, which was nice since Sveti Stefan was a small town.

When you have a baby but not an umbrella, you use your sling as a shade.  #parentingwin 

GUYS! I know I'm obsessed with my child, but who wouldn't be obsessed with this smile?

Beach day

On Saturday, we checked out of our hotel and headed to Podgorica, the capital.  We knew we were going to have to stay the night there since our flight was the next morning, but we hadn't heard great things about the city itself.  The scholars who lived there said it's a great city to live in, but not a great city to visit and, after walking around for a bit, we agreed.  There were lots of restaurants, bars and cafes, but not a lot of sights to see. We kept seeing signs for concerts and events, so there would be tons of things to do if you lived there, but I wouldn't rank it high on my favorite cities we've visited.

The next morning, after three weeks of travel, we returned our rental car and boarded the plane and headed home.  Finn slept through take off and woke up about halfway through the flight.  He spent the rest of the time looking around and distracting Mike and I from reading :)

These three weeks were a big feat for Mike, Finn and I.  We planned and booked this trip before we knew how Finn would do traveling, mainly so we couldn't back out.  Luckily, we lucked out and Finn is a great baby.  He sleeps as well as any three month does, loves to be in his stroller and is just a pretty laid back guy, which made traveling with him not that difficult. We definitely weren't as aggressive as  we normally are, but that was partially because Mike needed to work on his thesis at night, so it worked out well for Finn.   As far as the actual places we visited, I think we were constantly surprised at how much we really enjoyed different cities and sights.  Eastern Europe has had a rough history and that shows through the development and infrastructure of their cities and towns, but the geography and the people make up for it.

Three week road trip with a two month old? Success!

Balkan Road Trip: Kosovo

Guys! I'm so sad because I thought this got published, but instead was just sitting as a draft, so now it's out of order.  This should have been published before my Serbia post because we went Macedonia -> Prizren -> Serbia. 

Our next stop brought us to Kosovo, a tiny little country with a lot of history.  We had two nights in Prizren, which was more than enough time, but it gave us a chance to really explore the town, as well as for Finn to spend some time outside of his stroller and Mike to get some thesis work done.  

Although Prizren was small, we both fell in love with how quaint and picturesque it was tucked away in the mountains of Kosovo.

There seemed to be a disproportionately large amount of Turks in Prizren!

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a thumb sucker!

 We grabbed lunch and walked around for a bit before Mike headed to a cafe to work and Finn and I went back to the hotel so he could stretch out on the bed and play for a bit before napping.  I think most people would have just stopped in Prizren for lunch or a break while driving because it's so small, but we both loved it and are so glad we got to spend some quality time there.