It Feels Good To Be A Gangsta. (Getting The VIP Treatment In Asheville.)
So I’m thinking you guys Read the rest of this gem…
Want To Make Everyone Jealous And Get Treated Like A VIP? There’s An App For That.
So. You know how I’m pretty much a spur-of-the-moment, Read the rest of this gem…
Okay, Fall. You Win.
I hate to get all Anthony Bourdain on you (except way nicer and shorter and not quite as pompous but let’s be honest — almost.) by writing one travel post after another and continuously waxing on about the importance of throwing out your itineraries and talking to locals and aimlessly wandering cobblestoned streets with no real plan in mind. (The exception, of course, being dinner reservations. Because food is awesome.)
But the thing is, I have to just go with what I’m feeling. Sometimes it’s painting. Sometimes it’s cooking. And sometimes — most times — it’s travel.
In fact, in an instantaneous and clichéd moment of clarity, I just now realized.
THAT is why I’m domestiphobic.
My love for travel.
While I definitely enjoy some domestic activities — especially those that improve my knowledge of wine, food, photography, turning my home into a comfortable retreat, reading with my husband, playing with my mutts, and wine, I am terrified — terrified — that I will allow these things entrap me in a vortex of stagnancy.
That alluringly hypnotizing momentum of mediocrity.
I don’t want that for myself.
Or my family.
So I write what I feel. And for right now, while I still have some stories and photos to share, it’s travel.
I know this confuses some people. Why do you love it so much? they ask. Don’t you miss your own bed? Your own home? Your closet, your husband (when he’s not with you), your dogs, your ability to relax and unwind?
Of course. Of course I miss these things. All except that last part. Because the thing is, if you haven’t learned to relax and unwind while you travel, I have news for you:
you just aren’t doing it right.
If you know how to relax, there are plenty of aspects about travel that counterbalance the things you miss, like meeting interesting travelers and locals. Tasting exotic foods. Repeating your tattered, worn-out stories to new and shiny faces. Absorbing foreign sights and sounds and experiences that keep you — your soul — young.
Alive.
Interested in life.
Before heading to Asheville, Justin and I decided to spend a night at a B&B in the town of Banner Elk, NC at the suggestion of Andi, from My Beautiful Adventures. (Seriously. She has a top-rated travel blog, runs her own business, and still has time to council lil’ ol’ me on where I should take my husband to relax upon his return home from Afghanistan. Kind of awesome.)
After a romantic dinner at the villa (more on that in another post) and a coma-like slumber on the most comfortable hotel bed ever (more on that in another post), and a glorious breakfast of mimosas, coffee, blueberry/pomegranate(?) juice (because everyone needs at least 3 beverages with breakfast), eggy toast, bacon, swiss chard/purple potato concoction, home fries, and yogurt with granola and fresh fruit (more on that — well, here:
)
we asked Jackie, our incredible Chef/hostess/innkeeper/overall just awesome person if there was anything else we should do before heading to Asheville. Of course, she said we needed to head to the winery for our complimentary tasting, but since that didn’t open until noon, we should head out to the “high vineyard” to check out the views.
Her instructions were simple: Turn right at the stop sign, stay left at the place where there’s “kind of” a fork in the road, don’t drive off of the winding mountain path for 1-2 miles, turn left at the Christmas tree farm, park along the dirt road, unplug the electric cow fence, climb over the barbed wire, and viola! High vineyard.
Ooookaaayyy….
If the travel mojo has taught me anything, I knew we had to go with it.
And of course, our skepticism exploded all over the inside of Justin’s practical 4-door sedan when we arrived at the high vineyard.
We wanted fall colors? We got fall colors.
Okay. So in the past I know I’ve been guilty of saying I dislike fall. And it’s still true. I mean, I like fall — I like the colors and the fuzzy socks and the crackling fires (well, not-so-much crackling in our case, since ours is gas, but you get the gist). What I don’t like is its implication of impending winter.
The cold. The ice. The lack of sun.
She’s so dreary and boring and long.
Ick.
But.
She does put on a pretty good pre-game show, doesn’t she?
(Yes, we brought a tripod to the top of a mountain. Pretty much just your typical day. And yes, I ran back and forth with a timer setting at a high altitude, which is why I look like I’ve been running back and forth with a timer setting at a high altitude. Just to get this picture for you. You’re welcome.)
I can’t tell you how long we lounged there, near the top of the mountain, bathing in the sun and warmth and wondering if the man with the sprawling estate on the next hill over was watching us through telescopes.
Hey.
No place is perfect.
But this one, I think, was pretty damn close.
UPDATE: It would probably be helpful to mention that the place where we stayed in Banner Elk was the Banner Elk Winery & Villa. Highly recommend it. Also, check out a screenshot from today’s webcam:
This is just over a week after our stay. Travel Mojo, man. Dig it.
Travel Tip #257: No Commode Is Too Good for YOUR Derrière.
I don’t know about you, but I’m not a huge fan of public restrooms.
Especially in extra touristy areas.
Although, they’re admittedly worse in some of the not-so-touristy areas, like Bagaces, Costa Rica.
One time I got locked inside the restroom at a bar in Bagaces, which was really only a coffin-like broom closet with no toilet paper and a splintery wooden door and happened to be the only fully enclosed room in the entire bar, but damn it if it wasn’t the best and more secure closed room ever, because the proprietor had to kick the door in with her foot to rescue me from my claustrophobic-induced panic as the walls started caving in around me.
But I digress.
There’s really nothing to do about those kinds of restroom situations except to carry a roll of toilet paper on your person and hope that someone — anyone — can hear you scream.
But there is something you can do about nasty restrooms in many heavily populated, touristy, first-worldy locations — the kind where every single commode is stuffed to the brim with toilet paper (if you’re lucky), bowel contents (if you’re not lucky), or covered in urine because someone was too dainty to sit fully on the seat and ironically has become the very culprit of the crime she was so worried about falling prey to, which, we all know, is sitting in someone else’s piss. So because she was so worried about getting some on herself, she dribbled more than a drunken sailor and worse, didn’t bother to clean it up.
Because she’s too good to wipe her own mess.
Apparently.
And obviously that scenario mostly applies to women, but I’m sure men can relate too, when it comes to the concern of cracking their heads on a porcelain urinal after slipping on an unknown wet floor substance likely deposited by an over-hygienically concerned patron who refuses to touch anything after he washes his hands and streams water across the chipped ceramic tiles as he maneuvers the door open with his elbows, therefore making life much more dangerous for everyone else.
Because these things happen.
And if everyone would just keep their pee in the toilets and the water in the sinks and thoroughly wash their hands like good boys and girls, we really wouldn’t have to worry about any of this.
But again, I digress.
Sometimes there’s something you can do to avoid these public human waste dumping monstrosities all-together.
When my friend Stacy and I were wandering around The River Walk in downtown San Antonio, Texas, we found ourselves in need of a facility. We were, however, on a fairly quiet sector of the walk, away from the bustling restaurants and shops and public restrooms. What was nearby were hotels. Seemingly dozens of high-class, glass-doored, glimmering, shiny, luxurious hotels with back door access to The River Walk.
For some, we could just walk right in.
What? We’re not in a public restroom? We totally thought ALL River Walk restrooms had marble tiles and wicker wastebaskets and totally private stalls. Huh.
For others, we coyly conversed just outside the doors until a Chanel-draped guest exited with her toy poodle (I swear that really happened, although maybe it wasn’t Chanel. Or a poodle.) and we slipped inside before the chance was lost forever.
Solid granite counters, anyone, with an intricate mosaic tile surround? Doubt they had THESE in the public restrooms.
Stacy feeling extra privileged as she enters the molded wood stall.
The thing about hotels is that once you’re inside, no one really dares ask whether or not you belong there.
And most have public restrooms in the lobby or better still, for us, in the finished and rarely occupied lower levels.
And we’re not really doing anything wrong — we’re just peeing, for crying out loud.
I’m sure the hotels would rather we go inside than whip out a shenis (don’t watch video at work) and go on the side of the building like common vagabonds.
I introduced my upscale hotel restroom crashing method to my baffled husband last week when someone — let’s just say it wasn’t me — announced that we’d have to leave the lovely Biltmore Village soon because someone — let’s just say it wasn’t me — had to do something that one would rather not do in a crowded restaurant restroom or other public facility.
Grabbing his hand and hauling him across the street, I whispered, “Act cool — we totally belong here,” as we strolled past the valet and crept in the back door of The Grand Bohemian Hotel.
It turns out we didn’t actually have to sneak since this stunning space is very much open to the public with an art gallery, restaurant, and — you guessed it — public restrooms.
Back entry.
Antlered ceiling, anyone?
I’m pretty sure these are the coolest mirrors ever.
I have more photos of this amazing hotel to share with you later, but, lucky for you, this post is specifically dedicated to bathrooms.
So.
The next time you’re wandering around Tourist Land searching for a restroom, head for the hotels instead. I’m pretty sure this is sound — and totally legal — travel advice.
If it’s not, don’t call me from prison. You don’t know me. We never even had this conversation.
I will not take responsibility for your decision to poop in a hotel where you’re not paying to stay.
(But do write and tell me about it so I can amend this little post. Thank you.)
Mostly The World Is Filled With Good People. You Should Meet Them Sometime.
Well. I’m back.
I didn’t mean to neglect you for the entire week — I really didn’t. But there’s just something about the B&B atmosphere — the bed and breakfastry of it all — that makes one sloggy.
See? Thirty-five words in and I’ve already made up 2 of them.
I even brought a computer along with perfectly good intentions of using it, but I find that when I’m surrounded by food and wine and luxury bedding and fall leaves and wine, I have absolutely zero motivation to turn it on.
Zero. (This image is straight from the iPhone. No filters or instagrammin’ or enhancements. Just pure, unadulterated, vineyardy goodness.)
Plus, we had a full case of Travel Mojo happening, and you don’t interrupt the flow of good TM with trivialities like technology.
Especially when there’s a full case involved.
What?
You’re unfamiliar with Travel Mojo?
Well that could be because I made it up.
In fact, maybe I should trademark that.
And its acronym. So it’d be: TM™.
Awesome.
Anyway.
Travel Mojo is what happens when a trip just has good vibes. You go into it all, hey. Whatever happens, happens. I might make reservations at a couple of restaurants just so we don’t turn into B&B porch lumps and starve to death, but other than that, I’m not going to over plan it.
And you know what happens?
Rainbows and butterflies and fantastic people and complimentary drinks and entire free meals, that’s what.
It’s letting go of the anal schedules and planning and trying to squeeze every possible attraction into an already overstuffed agenda because the thing is, the world is full of wonders.
And trying to see them all will only stress you out.
It’s about kicking off your shoes, enjoying the drive, and sticking your toes into random photos of fall foliage.
It’s about books.
And conversing.
And sometimes just silently admiring a particularly interesting view.
I know.
We’re getting old.
But don’t get me wrong — there was also raucous laughter, swing dancing attempts and inebriated strolls through the city of Asheville.
And the TM was with us then, too.
And while it really was with us the whole time, it culminated on our last evening in Asheville.
See, I actually spent an entire day planning the basic milestones — food and lodging — of this trip before Justin came home from Afghanistan (which for me and my miniscule attention span is remarkable). I’d heard that Asheville is the type of town where you need to make reservations pretty much every night of the week. Many of the restaurants are small, privately owned boutique eateries that concentrate on quality over quantity, so I spent an impressive amount of time just deciding where we should dine.
And the winner for our last night was a place called Cúrate (cu-rah-tay), which apparently means “to cure yourself.”
And that, it did.
They say they serve authentic Spanish style tapas (“small plates”), but having been to Spain and eaten Spanish tapas, I would say the ones at Cúrate are significantly better. By far.
The Chef, Katie Button, quit her prestigious PhD program in Neuroscience (yes, and that’s after earning her master’s from L’Ecole Centrale in Paris, France, and her bachelor’s from Cornell University) in “pursuit of passion, life, and happiness.”
Sounds like my kind of chick.
All of this information is available on the restaurant’s website, but I’d actually read it in a book about North Carolina chefs just down the street from the restaurant while we waited for our reservation, which meant I was super excited when I saw Katie in person. Like, celebrity sighting excited.
I used the Open Table app on my phone to reserve us a place at the bar. (If you’ve never used Open Table to make reservations, you should start immediately. It’s so simple to use.) From there, we could see all of the action because the restaurant’s kitchen actually runs along the back wall of the bar.
We were practically inside it.
The atmosphere was my favorite — small, energetic, and full of shiny glassware.
We ordered many phenomenal dishes:
Butternut squash soup with smoked Spanish paprika.
Piquillo peppers stuffed with caña de cabra cheese (my favorite dish).
Sautéed shrimp and sliced garlic.
Lamb skewers marinated in moorish spices.
Fried eggplant with honey and rosemary.
Tapas dining is perfect for me because when it comes to menu options, I’m often paralyzed with indecision. But at a tapas restaurant that doesn’t matter, because I can try a bit of everything until I can’t try no mo’.
We were pretty much at that point when I stared talking to one of the couples sitting next to us. In an intimate setting like the one at Cúrate, it’s easy to start commenting on what your neighbors order and from there, strike up a conversation. (If the thought of starting a conversation with strangers terrifies you, start thinking of it the way I do — if they’re rude and unreceptive, they’re not the kind of people I’d enjoy talking to anyway.)
It turned out they were celebrating a birthday, and they ended up sharing their intricate sugar raspberry dessert with us and the couple I’d been talking to on my other side.
Before long, the birthday couple was ordering us more drinks and we ended up having a grand old time — it felt like we’d been friends all along, even though we didn’t even know each others’ names.
Then they were saying goodbye as we wrapped up conversation with the couple on the other side. I snapped a photo, we hugged, and they walked out of the door.
A few minutes later, we asked for our bill.
Server: Can I get you anything else?
Us: No thanks, that was fantastic! Could we please have our ticket?
Server: Um. It’s already been taken care of.
Us: What?
Server: The couple that was next to you. They took care of it.
Us: No, they just bought us drinks. We still have to pay for our food and original bottle of wine.
Server: You’re not getting it. They paid. They picked up your entire tab.
Us: ….
Server: Have a nice night!
Seriously? Speechless.
Maybe they’d had too much to drink and felt overly generous. Maybe they just really liked us. Maybe it was their way of thanking Justin for his military service. Maybe they’re just extraordinarily nice people.
Whatever the reason, we won’t forget them.
The Travel Mojo – it works in mysterious ways.
I actually feared discussing the Mojo because I was afraid that would weaken its power.
But you know what?
I think it’s like most positive forces in the Universe: The more you give, the more you get.
It’s not about hoarding and saving and tucking it away where no one else can see.
It’s about spreading the wealth. Sharing the fortune. Pouring butter over everything and not adding any calories.
If you see this couple, please let me know. Pronto.
Travel Mojo.
It’s energy and smiles.
Can you feel it?
