Albanese Adventures

Birmingham & Manchester

Back to my motherland we go! This time we were headed to the UK to see one of our favorite bands, Brand New, play in Manchester. We had seen Brand New play a few times back in the 2014–2016 era, and it was one of our favorite bands to see live. After a 10-year hiatus, they played what ended up being a super successful US tour. Ryan was able to see a show on a work trip in the summer (regretfully, I couldn’t go), so when they announced a short UK tour, we had to make it happen. We ended up extending the trip by two nights so we could stop in Birmingham and visit my Auntie Jo and Uncle Andy.

Birmingham was really lovely to go back to visit, especially since it’s only a 50-minute flight from Schiphol! Whenever I fly into Birmingham from Amsterdam (second time now), I’m always amazed at how quick and easy it is. It was also special since Ryan had only been to Birmingham once in the 15 years we’ve been together, and it was a super quick tea stopover at my grandfather’s house when he was still alive, over 10 years ago. It was really nice to share some memories and places that I had grown up with, visiting my aunt and grandad since I was a baby.

My Auntie Jo and Uncle Andy picked us up from the airport and gave us a short car tour of some of Sutton Coldfield’s finest, including where my dad was born and went to high school, and we stopped in a nice old pub for some Guinness. We had a lovely pot pie dinner that Auntie Joanne made and spent some time catching up at their house. Ryan and Andy even had a short jam sesh! We met again for breakfast at the Farmhouse Bistro, which is a nice little restaurant, and I had what I’ve been craving for years… scones, jam, and clotted cream! Yum!

After breakfast, we drove over to the Duck Pond in Sutton Park, a special and nostalgic place for my family, full of memories from my dad and aunt’s childhood, as well as my own, most notably feeding the ducks with my grandfather. After promises of coming to visit us in Amsterdam, we parted ways at the train station as Ryan and I made our way to Manchester.

It was an easy two-hour train ride and a short walk to our hotel, where we got settled in. My buddy Alex put us in touch with his best man, Max, from his wedding earlier in the summer, who lives in Manchester, so we met up with him. Glad we did, because not only was it nice catching up, but he showed us a part of Manchester we likely wouldn’t have walked out to on our own. Manchester is a lively city with textile roots. The buildings are mostly brick and industrial-style, but that doesn’t dampen the college party town vibe one bit. With lively bars and restaurants spilling out into the streets, we had a couple of beers and caught up before parting ways with Max. Ryan and I had a quick burger before walking over to the venue.

We ended up with four tickets (long story… two down in GA and two seated up in the mezzanine section), so we alternated between the two. The show was amazing! They played some of our old-school faves and a few newer ones, but you could tell everyone there was a true Brand New fan, which really set the ambiance. My favorite is always the double drum sets. What a show!

The Royal Scotsman

For our next trip we were headed on a special one. Through Ryan’s work we scored a trip on the Belmond’s Royal Scotsman, a luxury Scotch Whiskey overnight sleeper train that travels through the Scottish Highlands.

We flew into Edinburgh the morning of departure and were immediately stunned with the weather. For a notoriously dark and dreary fall location we were met with warm sun as we walked about the city in the sea of Barbour jackets.

After a full English breakfast (eggs, ham, sausage, beans, black pudding, tomato and toast) we headed to the Station Hotel to check into the train. We were welcomed by Les, an ambassador of the Scotch Malt Whiskey Society who gave us an intro of what to expect over the next several days accompanied by our first (of many whiskey drams). A dram is basically a serving of whiskey served in a cool glass. There were 25 other guests that were joining us, all of them American.

At this point it was time to embark on the train! We made our way down to the station platform where a traditionally dressed bag piper was waiting for us. He started to play and we followed him down to the beautiful Edwardian heritage style train. We boarded via the red carpet that was rolled out for us and made our way to the observation car which was a communal space on the train where everyone meets for things like orientation, tastings, morning coffee, pre dinner canapés and post dinner drinks.

We were welcomed with another drink while we were given the train orientation and departed the station. As we made our way out of Edinburgh we stood on the observation deck while crossing over the famous Firth of Forth bridge. With sun shining and wind blowing and the train engine roaring and the trains wheels rattling hundreds of feet above the water, it was exhilarating.

After a quick train tour and meeting the staff we finally made it to our sleeping cabin, a small but absolutely gorgeous room with two twin beds, a bathroom and big windows decorated with Scottish wool blankets, mahogany wood trim and brass fixtures. The top of the window opened so we could hear and see the training rolling across the Scottish country side of lush fields with sheep, cows and horses and deep lochs with fishing villages. It was peak fall weather as well so the trees were all beautiful reds and yellows and greens and browns. Just gorgeous.

After settling in to our cabin we made our way to the observation deck where we were a few minutes late for the first whiskey tasting. After quietly sitting down the first thing I noticed, sitting 4 feet from me, was… believe it or not… Jimmy Fallon! He was right there enjoying the whiskey tasting with us! He must have snuck onto the train during our orientation! During the tasting we learned a bit about scotch whiskey, how to properly taste it and how to use a water “dropper” to adjust it to your taste. It was really interesting but wow Scotch is strong stuff!

After our whisky tasting we headed back to the room for a quick chill out which was needed since we were pretty tipsy by this point. Ryan had to work on his write up while I enjoyed watching the country side whizzing by.

Dinner that night was communal seating between the two dinners cars. We sat with others while we enjoyed wine and delicious courgette soup and duck for the main course. During the dinner Jimmy came around but seemed flustered as I don’t think he expected to have to sit with others communally at the same table like this for dinner. Also just as he was passing by one of the guests was cracking a rather silly and inappropriate joke. So after surveying the scene for a second Jimmy just turned back to probably enjoy dinner in his room.

The night finished off in the observation deck with… you guessed it… more whiskey and a lovely fiddler playing Scottish folk tunes. We ended up doing a sing along of Wild Mountain Thyme which ended up being a song I had on repeat for weeks following the trip.

The next morning we woke and made our way to the dining car for coffee and breakfast as the train departed again through the Scottish highlands. I had a massage which was nice with the train rocking back and forth.

For lunch we departed the train and took a bus to a lovely country house where we had a nice lunch spread waiting for us. Ryan and I walked the grounds and took a few nice photos by the sea. From there we headed to the famous Glenmorangie distillery where we were welcomed with yet another dram and learned about the whisky making experience. We headed to the dark and musty cellar which was filled with old casks some over 30 years old. We were “treated” with a dram of a 17 year €700 euro bottle whisky which was so strong we could barely finish it. While the history and knowledge of Scotch was super interesting it’s a hard alcohol to put down.

We headed back to the train for another lovely dinner. Ryan made a friend who was a scotch whiskey super fan and who had promised to share his knowledge of the different whiskey types with Ryan so after dinner we sat with him and proceeded to have several more drams!

The next morning Ryan presented himself to the manager for feedback so I had some hours to kill. I spent them with coffee on the observation deck watching the stunning views roll by. The lochs especially were just breath taking.

Portugal Pt. 2

After a jam packed day in Porto the day before, we decided to spend our third day in Portugal on a bike ride. While Ryan and I opted for e-bikes my dad and Chris braved regular bikes for what would be a 24 mile bike ride that day! Our first stop was Sao Jacinto island. On our ride out the island we saw the famous salt flats with beautiful pink flamingos, we rode by a ship graveyard which was really creepy complete with rusty derelict ships and Chris took a tumble off her bike (she was okay!). We made it to the port where we took a quick 10 minute ferry to the island where a very quiet and sleepy off season town welcomed us with quiet streets. It felt like we had the island to ourselves. We first drove to the beach and walking down a long sweeping beach we dipped our feet in the chilly Atlantic!

We did a small nature hike before heading back on the ferry to make our way to Costa nova, our final destination of our bike ride. We rode across a huge bridge on our way to the town famous for its striped houses but not before my dad took a tumble as well (he was okay)! We stopped at a restaurant bar right on the beach and celebrated our day with nice cold beers. Before embarking on our 7 mile return trip home, Ryan became a hero saving a runaway umbrella barreling down the beach!

We finished the day with another seafood dinner (well Chris and Ryan were ready for something different and had steak) but my dad and I split a fish stew which was my favorite meal of the trip!

The next day we said goodbye to my dad and chis as we were headed for Cascais! It was pretty emotional for me as I only see them once a year if lucky but super grateful we were able to make this trip work!

We ended up taking a 3 hour bus to Lisbon then a 40 minute uber to Cascais which is a super cool city. Ubers are SO CHEAP in Portugal by the way wow.

I had only been to Cascais once for work a few years back but never really got to explore. We stayed in a hotel snack in the center so we had a nice walk around before meeting up with our good friends Tania and Bram who moved to Portugal from Amsterdam two years ago. It was really special to see their apartment and to have them show us their favorite spot on the water with a nice bottle of wine. We had a good catch up over a tasty pizza dinner as well. They are dear friends of ours.

Our final two days brought us back to Lisbon for Ryan’s work event. Night one Ryan went to a colleagues only event where they visited and celebrated the opening of their “Academy” which was the company’s first off site training location. I took the metro into the city and walked around the Bairro Alto and Rossio districts.

Our final day in Portugal we headed out to Ryan’s CEO’s house, a beauty and private home and property in the hill country outside of Lisbon with a terrace, pool, pool house, and sweeping views. What a fantastic party set up with charcuterie board and flowing drinks. It was my first time meeting Ryan’s colleagues and they did not disappoint! All I met were super cool humans and we had a great time together eating and drinking and dance partying to live music.

Porrrrrtoooooo! Whenever I think of Porto I think of Ryan’s buddy Brian who used to yell this while pregaming the Redbulls. We landed in Porto after a 3 hour plane ride bright and early. Our destination was actually Aveiro, so we hopped in an uber and arrived in an hour. It was early (11am) and with a 4pm check in we had some time to kill.

We chose Aveiro because this was partly a family trip! We decided with my dad and Chris that Aveiro sounded like a really cool smaller coastal city and it was a perfect choice! Aveiro is known for its proximity to salt flats and having canals where you can find the Moliceiros (kind of like gondalas but traditionally used to harvest seaweed) taking tourist around the city. Aveiro’s city center is small but beautiful known for its gorgeous tile facades and art nouveau architecture.

Given the time we had to kill we decided to grab some lunch and on the way we saw (right around the corner from our Airbnb) a Pina Colada stand but not just any pina colada stand… the Best Pina Colada Stand in the universe 😂. “After lunch” we told ourselves. Lunch was on one of the main canals and where I had some of the TASTIEST muscles and shrimp. The broth was so good I ended up spooning that stuff like soup.

After lunch it was Pina Colada time. The deal was the first Pina colada (in a pineapple) was €20 for the first one and then €5 REFILLS. The best part is they used no measurements for the rum and like Parmesan on spaghetti all they said was “tell me when” when pouring. Safe to say we proceeded to get pretty tipsy while waiting for our check in.

After we checked in and met up with my dad and Chris who had just taken a 5 hour bus from Spain we were ready to catch up and have dinner! We ended up walking into a cozy spot that was packed when we first got there. Our Ukranian waiter was awesome and we all got fish dishes which were absolutely incredible! Whole grilled fish and they were served with potatoes and a really nice warm cabbage slaw. The dinner was awesome and company even better! We ended up closing the place down with our server offering us Port which was actually really nice as an digestif.

The next morning we were on our way back to Porto for a day trip but not before we tried the ovos moles, a local pastry specialty, made of egg yokes and sugar and put inside a wafer like shell. They were really tasty - savory and sweet!

After landing in Porto we made our way up and down the hills to the Mercado do Balhao. The market was incredible with food stands and shopping. We each got some snacky bits (meat pies, olives, oysters, tartare and of course champagne) and ate on the stairs in the warm sun.

Feeling satiated we bopped around Porto hitting some of the famous spots like Chapel of Souls, Avenue of the Allies, Clerigos Tower, and ended up at the Ribeira district waterfront. It was a beautiful day that ended with another fresh seafood feast.

The next morning waking up semi-early Ryan went to the gym and I headed on a property walk. They have a “poets walk” here with interesting sculptures along a dirt path with a beautiful view of the ocean. At the end of the poets walk was a gate to another area of the property which was a bit like a nature reserve where they had multiple steppes of olive trees. This is also where their goats and donkeys roam during the day (and also what I was in search of that morning! I never found the donkeys but ran into the goats along my morning walk!

After a beautiful breakfast which came with a gifted marmalade and recipe we made our way down to the beach. A 40 minute walk down a steep rocky path took us down to the rocky alcove where two restaurants overlooked the water. It was a beautiful day but the water was still churning from the storm the day before. That didn’t deter us as we had a lovely lunch of fresh shrimp and beers while Ryan did work and I finished my book.

After lunch and brief tanning session, we thankfully took the hotel van back up to Residencia, avoiding what would have been a relentlessly uphill trek back.

Dinner on the terrace was a perfect cap to our time in Mallorca.

Mallorca - another business trip for Ryan - leasure trip for me! We flew early for Mallorca (about a 3 hour flight from Amsterdam) but as per usual I got little sleep on the flight. The luxury car ride from the airport was a nice way to sip my coffee as our driver told us a bit about the history of where we were headed. After a 45 minute ride winding up the mountain, the steel gates of the Belmond Residencia Mallorca opened up to us with beautiful lawns gardens and olive groves sorrounding the epic stone manor house, art gallery, spa, restaurants and suites. Fun fact Richard Branson owned the propoerty up until 2014.

Once checked in at 10AM (our room wasn’t ready until 1pm) we decided to go see the resident donkeys on propery! Though it was a bit of a cluster since when we arrived to the tiny donkey “paddock” there was already about 15-20 guests which left the donkey-woman aka the jewelry store saleswomen quite flustered. I told her I understood since I horseback rode for 15 years and upon hearing that she asked me to help with the donnkeys! Gladly taking on the responsibility we hung out with the donkeys grooming and feeding them carrots and cucumbers for a bit. So fun!

Once checked into our beautiful room we had a nice lunch on the pool terrace while the servers were battoning down the hatches due to a storm rolling in. It was going to be the first rain storm they had in months!

For pre-dinner drinks we headed down to the main terrace passing by orginal Joan Miro paintings (the hotel is deeply associated and representative of art and culture). The rain started to pour at this point which to some might be disapointing but to us created a really magical experience drinking beautiful cocktails while watching the sounds and smells of rain fill the gardens at dusk. Twinkling lights from nearby buildings created a really cool atmosphere.

Dinner that night was a Michelin star meal at their restaurant. 7 courses of super interesting… fish dishes.

While I hope this is not a one off, I’m back, dear reader, to share our experience returning to Greece after 12 years. Through Ryan’s work we were to travel to and assess the Amanzoe one of the most luxurious hotels I’ve ever set foot into. We had 2 days with Aman so as to not waste one bit we had a late night Friday flight (arrived at 2am local time) to Athens and an early 8am departure for the 4 hour car ride to Aman.

The Airbnb we crashed at was 10 mins from the airport and it was just what we needed for a couple hours rest.

The car ride to Amanzoe started in pretty heavy traffic. Athens is a huge sprawling city but once we got out of the 4 lane highway and onto the mountain road it was a gorgeous trip and offered beautiful views of the Aegean Sea. We had a short pit stop for apple strudel and arrived at Aman around 12pm.

The welcome reception always cracks me up at these fancy hotels. Like a scene from the White Lotus TV show, there’s a hustle and bustle of no less than 4 hotel staff seeing to your arrival from opening your car door to pulling out your luggage to “May I take this from you, Mrs. Lees”, to refreshing wet towelettes, to “how was your trip”, etc. After a quick check in and passport exchange we were taken on a tour of the hotel and… wow. Amanzoe is the epitome of luxury. Every “room” is a villa with your own pool that is literally larger than our house in Austin. The grounds are on the top of a hill with almost 360 views of the sea. The vegetation is lavender and rosemary and tangerine trees between the library built like a church, the bar with ceiling high glass windows, the poolside Japanese restaurant, and the spa complete with sauna and cold plunge. Our villa had a double door entry with beautiful wood trim and a shower with skylight that makes you feel like you are having an outdoor shower. Not to mention the two (his and hers) bathrooms. Also of course our own pool (have to mention this one again).

Ryan went straight to his massage appointment and I had a delicious lunch of Cesar salad with miso dressing and shrimp followed by a nap on our terrace. We were both exhausted after a few nights of crappy sleep.

For dinner we were picked up and driven the 5k down the mountain to the beach club just in time for our first Greek sunset. It did not disappoint as the pink sun dipped below the islands. We had a lovely dinner of slow braised lamb and we had a special treat of fireworks after dinner. There was a guest who ordered them for his wife’s 80th birthday. It was a beautiful first day.

On Sunday we got up bright and early and after an in room dining breakfast we made our way down to the pool. I spent my afternoon relaxing getting some sun. Ryan tried out the “surfboard” which had him wiping out at first and then soon surfing 20 mph across the water.

We finished off the day at the Japanese restaurant and were treated yet again to a beautiful sunset. While the dinner was so tasty (miso cod, dumplings, seaweed salad, tempura, nigiri) we were absolutely stuffed by the end of it all!!

Monday was check out day and also Ryan’s feedback day where he meets with the hotel management to provide their assessment score and feedback of the stay. While Ryan has to work I soaked up my last few hours by the pool (tough life).

In another scene straight from the White Lotus about 10 members of the hotel staff literally waved us goodbye as we got back into our bimmer for the drive back to Athens and back to Carpe Diem our lovely little airport Airbnb.

A quick commentary that must be made. While the luxurious hotel life is incredible and we feel so spoiled to get to experience it and not have to pay for it, there is really no comparison to the experiences you get when spending time in the local culture. It was our last night in Greece which was one of my favorite moments of the trip. We asked our Airbnb hosts where to grab dinner (it was around 8pm by the time we got back to Athens) and they pointed us to Red Pepper a local “grill spot” nestled underneath a church around the corner.

A totally local spot complete with families and kids playing hide and seek and running between the tables and street cats staring up begging for morsels. Under the clangs of the church bells ringing out we enjoyed local beer called Lola and the best shawarma / gyros we’ve ever had. I mean seriously so so good. Our waiters were lovely too- a stark but welcomed contrast to the polished wait staff at Amanzoe, the Red Pepper waiters hustled between tables.

I love these experiences.

Today came our first flub (and only so far) of the trip. The flights to Marrakech were unreasonably expensive from Granada so we decided to travel to Madrid by train, spend an evening there and then hop on the first flight out the next day. When we got to the train station, however, all the train tickets to Madrid were sold out. The other options were to drive by car which was expensive but also I was a little nervous driving through Spain in a small smart car for 4 hours or to take a 5 hour bus. We opted for the bus which was actually a nice trip that put us into Madrid at 9pm.