Messy Suitcase New Intro

We are so proud of this awesome new intro for Messy Suitcase videos that we simply HAVE to share it! It's a collaboration between Hamburg, Germany-based musician/composer Patrick Hamm and Champlain College Filmmaking student Gavin Greenawalt.

Dueling Piña Coladas in San Juan

Caribar, the beautiful bar inside the Caribe Hilton in San Juan, boasts that its bar is where the piña colada was invented by bartender Ramon ‘Monchito’ Perez in 1954. 

No, wait, that’s Barrachina a Spanish restaurant in Old San Juan, where traditional Spanish bartender Don Ramon Portas Mingot created the original recipe in 1963. 

Neither side is backing down. Which bar is the birthplace of Puerto Rico’s iconic drink? 

And is it better than Lisa's piña colada recipe? Watch and see.

Visiting El Morro, in Old San Juan

Mixology Class at Casa Bacardí - Join the Party!

Our tour guide and mixology master Joisa made learning to mix mojitos and piña coladas at the Bacardí rum factory a party! Did you know that piña coladas originated in Puerto Rico? Pour yourself a glass of rum and join us for the class! 

Three Days in Culebra

We spent three days exploring Culebra, 12 miles off the east coast of Puerto Rico. It's hard to believe that this tiny island -- world-renowned for its pristine beaches, incredible snorkeling in turquoise water, and vibrant underwater landscapes – used to be used by the US Navy for bombing practice. 

A Stingray at Flamenco Beach, Culebra

We spent half an hour following a Southern Stingray at Flamenco Beach in Culebra, an island off Puerto Rico. Check out this video to learn all about these fascinating creatures and their fishy friends! #messysuitcase #retirement #travelblogger #travelblog #puertorico #culebra #snorkeling #flamencobeach

The Sky Garden: View from the Top of London's Walkie Talkie

No visit to London is complete without a trip to the top of the iconic Walkie Talkie Building for drinks and incredible 360-degree views of London. It’s touristy, it’s tacky, it’s crowded, and it’s absolutely unforgettable. If you can get there before sunset, you can watch the sun go down, and then dawdle with a rum punch while enjoying the sparkling lights of London at night.

The "Walkie Talkie Building" is actually 20 Fenchurch Street, a commercial skyscraper in the historic City of London financial district. It earned the nickname because of its distinctive shape, which resembles a two-way radio handset.

If you want to visit, it's free to enter the Sky Garden, but you need to book well in advance, at https://skygarden.london/. There's also a restaurant on a higher level that you can enjoy; visit https://skygarden.london/restaurant-bars/ for reservation information.

Isla Vieques: Wild Horses, Stupendous Snorkeling, and a Bioluminescent Bay

Who would expect to have to stop for wild horses when driving along a dirt road on a Caribbean island? Who would expect to see swirls of neon blue when you dip your kayak paddle into an inky bay at night? Or to see a cluster of plants and rocks on the sea floor start moving, only to realize that clump is actually a creature?

Surprise! That’s the best word to describe the island of Vieques.

To the uninitiated, Puerto Rico is a popular Caribbean vacation destination, a bigger island than most. But most people are unaware that PR is actually made up of a number of islands. The two largest (besides the mainland), Vieques and Culebra, are tropical paradises sitting a few miles off the east coast, their natural wonders just waiting to be discovered.

 We visited the larger one, Vieques, this week and will spend a couple nights on Culebra in December.

Getting to Vieques

Vieques is located just 7 miles off the east coast of Puerto Rico. You can take a ferry to get there, but we opted for a ten-minute flight on Vieques Air Link from the east coast airport of Ceiba. The flight was $80 round-trip, much more expensive than the $4 R/T ferry ride. But the ferry can be unreliable, waits can be long, and the water can get very rough, inducing seasickness – unless you’re truly unlucky and can’t get on board at all. Get more info here.

We chose comfort, convenience, and guaranteed seats – which meant packing like sardines into a tiny 8-seat plane for the eight-minute flight. There are also flights to Vieques from two airports in San Juan, but which are more expensive. There are also several air providers, but we chose the local one, Vieques Airlink. Get more info here. 

Exploring Vieques

People don’t go to Vieques for nightlife. They go for the nature. The island is quiet, lush, and uncrowded, with unmatched natural beauty. Vieques is home to the brightest bioluminescent bay in the world, Mosquito Bay. Travelers will discover countless undeveloped beach coves, as well as the largest natural wildlife refuge in the Caribbean. They’ll also discover rough, bumpy roads, which is why renting a 4WD vehicle is essential.

Vieques is 20 miles long and four miles wide. The Atlantic Ocean crashes against its rocky shore on one side, while the Caribbean Sea gently laps the golden sand beaches on the other.

The island has two main towns -- Esperanza on the Caribbean coast and Isabel Segunda on the Atlantic coast to the north. Between them and stretching in both directions are lush mountains crisscrossed by narrow dirt roads, with a jumble of colorful concrete houses built to weather hurricanes and hot sub.

Isabel Segunda

Isabel Segunda, to the north, has all the resources islanders need for their day-to-day lives -- a couple of small supermarkets, a few gas stations, Town Hall, the main Plaza, the Ferry Terminal, and a bunch of restaurants and shops. 

Esperanza

Esperanza, to the south, has a more bohemian island-life vibe, with a number of open-air bars and restaurants boasting overprices pina coladas and American barmaids, facing a malecon (kind of a boardwalk, only built Caribbean-style with concrete instead of wood) along the coast with spectacular views of Esperanza Bay. Esperanza has a beach within walking distance, making it possibly a better choice if you choose (or are forced) to come to Vieques without a vehicle.

All over the island, businesses and homes are painted with colorful murals featuring mermaids, iguanas, horses and tributes in memory of lost relatives. It’s a truly charming place.

Getting Around

There is no public transit on Vieques, and we read that taxis don’t like going to the deserted beaches, and may not be available to bring you back. So unless you stay in the southern town, Esperanza, which has lots of restaurants and several beaches within walking distance, you need to rent either a golf cart or a 4WD vehicle.  Why 4WD? Because some of the roads to the beaches, like the one to Black Sand Beach, are car-swallowingly big.

The biggest piece of advice we got about rental cars was to book your car first, then build your vacation around it, because there are a limited number of vehicles available. So the availability of this red jeep at Island Jeep and Coqui Car Rental for Nov. 9-11 pretty much decided our destination!

We didn’t regret the expense. A golf cart would have been cheaper, but they only go about 15 mph, and you have no protection from the tropical heat or sudden rainstorms except the small roof. We experienced some very bumpy roads, and bob enjoyed tooling around in the jeep on them, while I clenched my teeth.

Our Lodging

There are no big chain hotels on Vieques. You’ll find a choice of boutique hotels, guesthouses, Airbnbs, and hostels for the backpacking crowd. We stayed at the Bravo Beach Hotel, a boutique hotel located on the edge of Isabel Segunda. For just $90 a night, we had a spacious room with a queen bed, refrigerator, large bathroom, and little porch with a bench. This boutique hotel also had two swimming pools, one of which was right next to the ocean, where I was able to witness a couple of stunning sunsets and one incredible rainbow. 

The hotel also gave us the use of beach chairs, swim towels, and even a cooler, which turned out to be really useful since the beaches we visited had no amenities. The hotel wasn’t serving breakfast because of COVID, but we found a place called El Café de Rincon (Coffee Corner) in a food truck park on the other side of town that we really enjoyed.

Wild Horses

Horses roam freely throughout the island, thousands of them. Everywhere you go you will see them: mothers feeding foals on the roadside, herds hanging out in the nature reserve, horses strolling down the main street or passing through a food truck park, islanders riding horses in a choppy trot up hilly, narrow streets. Their omnipresence feels like a return to a simpler time. Learn all about them here; it’s hilarious!    

We also saw many roosters, a couple of wild pigs, a couple of huge green iguanas, and countless snowy egrets, pelicans, and other seabirds.

End Part 1

Switching Homes in Puerto Rico

We just spent a glorious month in the northeast coastal town of Luquillo, Puerto Rico. When we left our seventh-floor condo this morning, with its glorious view of the ocean, we thought sadly that there was no way our next place could possibly be as good. Especially since it was in San Juan, a metropolitan area, instead of an idyllic beach town.

We were wrong.

I Hate Halfways

I always have trouble with the concept of “halfway.” Any time I’m on vacation, I get a little depressed when we pass the midpoint. In my mind, every minute from then on takes me a step closer to the end of vacation.

So we have one month left of our stay in Puerto Rico, and that meant moving to our second residence, just 40 minutes west. When we pulled into the driveway of 6 Calle Villa Internacional at Punta Las Marias, a coastal residential neighborhood at the eastern edge of San Juan, we were greeted by John Lombardo, the gregarious American who owns this house, his friendly old dog Lola and cat Putzie. He immediately made us feel at home, giving us a tour of the property and our apartment.

There are actually three apartments in two adjacent houses united by a covered courtyard. John and his wife live in the front building, and there’s a smaller unit below ours. As he led us to ours, Kaylee in tow in her travel crate, we passed several comfortable seating areas, a desk and chair, two hammocks, and a barbecue grill. Kaylee hissed at the curious cat and dog as they sniffed at her before we ascended the stairs to our apartment.

And what an apartment!

It Exceeded All Expectations

First of all, the ocean is crashing against the rocks literally 50 feet from our front door. Salty breezes chase each other through the apartment. The unit is huge, with two large bedrooms, two large bathrooms, and a generous living/dining/kitchen. 

The master bedroom has a king-sized bed, a sitting area, a large desk, and a huge walk-in closet.

 The second bedroom, which Gavin will use when he comes home for Thanksgiving next week, has a queen-sized bed (which Kaylee the cat immediately claimed) and a desk (which Bob immediately claimed).

Kaylee also loves the little rug in the living room. When we were in Luquillo, it took her a month to relax into the place. Here she has immediately adjusted.

The piece de resistance for me is the reading nook next to a bookshelf.

Great Location

We can walk out to the ocean, turn right, and walk to Isla Verde Beach. 

We’re a block off Calle Loiza, a street famous for its huge variety of restaurants and coffee shops. There’s an ice cream shop on the corner and a coffee shop with the best brunches in town a block away. Even the grocery store is within walking distance. Old San Juan is a 15-minute drive.

That’s all we know so far. Just our first impressions. But what first impressions!

I think we’re going to be happy here. Kaylee certainly is. This place just feels like home.

Eagles Are on the Nest

I had a fascinating encounter with the bald eagle family of Lake Rescue this morning. They live there year-round, and have been residents for years, entrancing the human residents of this lovely lake in southern Vermont.

When I came around the bend in my kayak at 6:45 AM, the mother eagle was waiting for me in a tall tree nearby. Can you spot her?

Mother eagle, perched on a branch on the north end of Discovery Island. The nest is in a cove just beyond the south end of the small island.

I checked the nest: empty.

Then the baby popped up.

Mom immediately flew over to him.

She landed on a nearby branch and the two interacted for a long time.

It's so awesome to start the day like this!

We Are Back, Baby! … Well, Almost

We are back in Vermont, we are vaccinated—twice—and May 18 is the official date that we are emancipated from the threat of COVID-19! We have spent the last six months in Pennsylvania closing down Bob’s late mother’s condo while the kids finished their semesters of school.

In the meantime, Lisa has been working on the final edit of the Young Adult novel she began in late 2019, and both of us have been studying Spanish ardently. We moved back up to our second home in Ludlow, VT, this past Sunday, and after months of cleaning out a lifetime’s worth of stuff, then packing up, moving out of one home and moving back into another, we are frankly exhausted, physically and emotionally.

So of course, the first thing we did was relax in the hot tub with mimosas to celebrate the moment and toast the future.

There is so much to do here in Vermont—kayaking, hiking, birdwatching, visiting breweries, exploring New England towns, enjoying outdoor concerts, going to farmers markets, shopping, enjoying so much that Vermont has to offer. 

And we have started planning our next travels. Watch for that in the next Messy Suitcase blog!

Hasta La Vista!

The Deepest Snow in New England!

We woke up on the morning of Dec. 17, 2020, to 27 inches of snow that had fallen on the back deck of Lake Rescue Chalet during the night. And the light, fluffy stuff just kept coming down. 

(After this, the yardstick was buried.)

By the time the storm was over, we had almost 4 feet of snow in Ludlow, the most in New England from a huge winter storm! It certainly created a beautiful scene. 

(That big lump in front of the house is our truck.) 

Priority No. 1: Clearing a way to the hot tub! 

By the end of the day, the snow on the back deck was as high as the tub, maybe higher! 

Aryk and I shoveled out to the road. It took the plow guys another day to get here. (This is the middle of the storm. Snow is still falling.) 

The mailboxes looked like Santa’s elves with tall white caps. 

Cheers!

Migrating Loons at First Snow

I kayaked Lake Rescue in 29 degrees this morning to see how it looked with its trees, some still fall-tinged, cloaked in soft early snow, and encountered an astonishing 25 loons swimming together back and forth in the south end. 

I assume they were a migrating group that came from the Adirondack lakes and were gathering up others on their way migrating to the Atlantic coast. They made no sound, just swam together, occasionally craning their necks or ruffling their wings. 

In the end, they took to the air, flying together in three or four glorious circles around the lake, sometimes, right over my head, before heading off to parts unknown.

Goodbye, loons. Safe travels. Thanks for the memories. See you next year!

The Birds of Lake Rescue, Vermont

We have been summering at Lake Rescue in Ludlow, Vermont, and the sheer magnitude of the wild birds that make their home on and around this 184-acre body of water in the Green Mountains is breathtaking. The secret to seeing the most avian activity is to rise early and get out on the lake, preferably in a kayak, to observe the birds’ early-morning fishing routines before the human population begins to intrude. Here are a few.

Duck Duck Goose

Ducks and geese are by far the most common bird we have found on the lake. They are bold and will swim right up to your boat or climb on your dock.

Loons

Common loons have been living on Lake Rescue for more than a decade.

Herons

I was fortunate to encounter Great Blue Herons and Snowy Egrets fishing early in the morning on Round Pond, at the north end of Lake Rescue. The grasses on the isthmus between the lake and the Black River, and the sand bar created by storms, provide and enticing place for birds to walk and fish.

Ospreys

We discovered ospreys, on the direction of a neighbor, in a cove near the Red Bridge.

Bald Eagles

A bald eagle family maintains a nest in a cove near Discovery Island, and returns year after year to hatch new eggs.

Easy Hikes to the Top of the World

Vermont has an endless bounty of hikes, from the challenging Appalachian/Long Trail that traverses the entire state, to short hikes with big rewards. All of them are steep, because these are the Green Mountains, after all!

Here a couple we enjoy that can be done with the kids, or with people in your party who aren’t used to long hikes. Both will reward you with outstanding views for not too much effort. Don’t forget to pack your binoculars or a camera!

Hike to the Top of Okemo

There’s a short hike to the top of the Okemo Mountain Road that gives you an awesome vantage point with less than a mile of hiking. You can hike through dense, magical woods up a steep, rocky trail, or you can hike up a relatively easy road. At the top you have a mountain-top view from the Okemo Peak that lets you gaze down upon the Village of Ludlow, Lake Rescue, and mountains all the way to New Hampshire. You’ll see the ski lift and can climb to the top of the Fire Tower (if you’re not afraid of heights). It’s less than a mile round trip. There are some pull-offs with scenic views on the way down. Learn more.

Directions to the Trailhead:

Turn left on Route 100, then left at the end. Make a right onto Okemo Mtn Rd. Drive up to the Okemo Lodge, continuing up the private road to its left (OPEN from late spring to late fall). This road will switchback straight up the mountain for about 4-5 miles until you reach the top. You’ll be able to park at the end and either walk on the road or go up the trail to the left.

Echo Lake Vista Trail

Children as young as five can successfully navigate the hike up the Echo Lake Vista Trail. It’s steep but not brutal, and the views of Echo Lake, okemo Mountain, and the whole area from the top are breathtaking. there’s a nice rock there where you can relax and enjoy a snack. It’s only 1.5 miles round-trip. Learn more.

Directions to the Trailhead:

The trail is located at Camp Plymouth State Park Distance. Go north on Route 100 (turn right from Benson Point), North, then turn right onto Kingdom Road at the Echo Lake Inn, follow 1 mile to Boy Scout Camp Road, and turn left to Camp Plymouth State Park. Park for free in a parking lot on the right before the road crosses the creek. The trailhead is past the cabins on the right, or you can go farther on the road and access the trail by old wooden steps that take you through an ancient cemetery.