We Made It To Europe! Our Hungary & Austria Trip

4 / 8 / 16

For as long as I can remember I’ve wanted to travel and see the world. Perhaps it was my parents influence. Even though we lived in little Willard, Ohio, they always made it a point to take my sister and I to new and exciting places. Whether it was just a hotel stay in Sandusky thirty minutes away or the numerous trips we took to Florida as a family, the travel bug caught me. One of my earliest memories traveling as a family is when my grandparents and parents took us on an RV tour. We got to see Gettysburg and Chincoteague Island (wild horses live here and even hang out on the beach). It was cramped and sometimes hard being cooped up, but I remember staying on an old battlefield that was turned into a campground. All of us huddled together in the small RV and watched a VCR tape of Misty of Chincoteague, the movie based off the children’s books.

While in college, I had made a list of 200 things to do before I died. Of course, time seemed infinite at 18 and I put some hefty goals on there. When I met my husband, I told him boldly I wanted to see the 7 wonders of the world before I turned 25. Well, real life happened after we got married and travel seemed…expensive. We’ve done as much as we can and have gotten to see some really cool budget friendly places (Mexican Riviera, Niagara Falls, Las Vegas) BUT we hadn’t yet made it to Europe…until this year!

My dad is in international business and fell in love with a woman from Hungary. To be honest, at the time we were working on renovating our cozy cottage here in Mansfield, Ohio and trying to launch our own business. International travel wasn’t really on the radar for a long time (or so we thought). Dad and his bride became engaged and quickly and wanted to have a wedding in Hungary. So, my dad offered to use his frequent flier miles and own funds for us to come and visit. It was one of the most magnificent things I’ve ever done. Now, we just scheme how to get back over there again and see more interesting places.

Just like I did with A Southern Roadtrip, I’m going to break down our trip into sections which makes reading the posts easier! While you’re waiting patiently, here are some of our favorite pictures form the trip:

Budapest, Hungary

Dustin and I enjoying coffee in Veszprem, Hungary at a little cafe inside the castle area

Veszprem

A cozy cafe in Veszprem we enjoyed cake at after my dad’s traditional wedding ceremony

Me with Jutka, my dad’s wife, and a new friend Libby

Dad and Jutka in Vienna, Austria

Dustin overlooking Veszprem

Dustin and I downtown Vienna at Figlmueller, Home of the Schnitzel

At the wedding, Jutka, Dad, me, and Dustin

Inside the local cafe where we had cake in Veszprem

Dustin took this in Hungary

Following Dad and Jutka around Vienna, Austria. Here we are at St. Stephens square

Outside Cafe Central, a historic cafe in Vienna

Inside of St. Stephens Cathedral in Vienna

Lake Balaton in Hungary

In front of a castle in Vienna

Getting ready to leave from the U.S.

Love & Laughter

Tiffany

Take Me Up Into the Clouds…On a Biplane Ride

9 / 21 / 15

It’s been awhile since I’ve revisited and finished writing about our southern road trip that we took at the beginning of this cram-packed summer. If you forget all we did or want a recap, check out my overview post, which links to each day individually.

If you’re here just to see awesome pictures of our biplane ride, keep scrolling!

Sunday, May 31st we left The Yellow House, a quaint bed and breakfast in North Carolina and headed back to Pigeon Forge for our last night on our road trip. As usual, I was looking over Groupon and found a bunch of different things to do. The thing that kept hitting me was a biplane ride. Of course I talked Dustin into letting me buy us tickets. After a quick call to the pilot, we determined a time and drove to the Pigeon Forge airport.

The deal we purchased was $79 for a 15 minute biplane ride for two people. I called ahead to make sure we could redeem it that day and then purchased it with my debit card online. The owner, Marc Hightower, (click on the link for a cool post about him) was welcoming and personable. He explained that business was slow and he decided to do a Groupon to get more business and get his name out there.

In the short time we spent with him, we learned he had rebuilt this 1927 Waco Model 10 himself. It was fascinating to hear that he flies it from Key West every summer to offer rides in the Smokies. His life was just as interesting. He had lived on a boat, owned a postcard store, and currently lived in Key West. Marc took the pictures you see of us with the vintage plane. Don’t let the smile fool you…I was terrified!

The company he owns is called Sky High Air Tours. You can see pictures of his plane and learn more about it there.

We brought our camera to get lots of pictures in the air. Takeoff was simple and so was the landing. The thing that surprised me the most was how loud and windy it was. After awhile you became used to the noise and it became really cozy and relaxing. Honestly, I could see taking a nap while flying! Marc was nice enough to give us hair ties (yes, Dustin too) so that our hair didn’t get in knots.

We both had headsets on so we could hear Marc communicating with the other planes and the airport before lifting off. It was really interesting. Dustin’s had a microphone and mine didn’t. While in the air the pilot gave us a tour, explaining the different sites.

Above is inside the pilots side. There’s a mini GPS and all the other things he needs to fly the plane.

Above is Dollywood’s water park.

Rain was coming in. We were able to get the flight in before it hit. The main highway here is the main strip in Pigeon Forge.

This was us landing.

Marc explained this was a canyon in Pigeon Forge. I’d never seen it before.

There’s me looking at the view.

Taking the bi-plane ride was one of the coolest things we’ve done together. It was really neat that it was vintage and restored. Overall I’d say it was romantic and the perfect touch to end out trip down south. The next place we stayed at wasn’t a good experience. I’ll write about that next.

Would you do a bi-plane ride? Have you?

Love & Laughter,

Tiffany

Acting Like Millionaires & Exploring The Biltmore In Asheville

7 / 16 / 157 / 16 / 15

While staying at The Yellow House, we took all day Saturday, May 30th to explore Asheville, North Carolina. Unfortunately I had a lot of writing to do, so after we finished breakfast on the porch of the inn, we drove to a coffee shop in downtown Asheville.

waking-life-hand-brewed-coffee-and-espresso-1528404 2 — Photo Credit: roadtrippers.com

Waking Life Espresso was exactly what we needed to get our work done while in the mountains. This little coffee shop is located in a remodeled house and is light filled and airy. In the front there are bar seats and in a smaller room in the back there are couches and a table. The coffee was no-frills and especially delicious. To see how serious they are about their coffee, watch this video.

I worked on my articles and Dustin just hung out. (Perhaps working? I’m not sure.) At about 2:00pm, we drove the ten minutes to The Biltmore, the main attraction for the day.

When I was a little girl, I remember visiting The Biltmore. This mansion is known as the largest privately owned house in the United States. It’s interesting because Dustin had also been there with his parents when he was eighteen. We remembered bits and parts (like the indoor swimming pool) but wanted to go together. The Yellow House was about thirty minutes from Asheville, where The Biltmore is located.

The price tag was enough to shy us away, but we decided since we were close we should go. My love for interiors and art history really helped to sway the decision to drop the $120 ($60 per ticket) and spend the day there. I also used my vacation money to buy the tickets.

Words and pictures really don’t do this place justice. It took hours to tour and there was a room dedicated to arranging flowers. The Vanderbilt’s, who owned the home, were fascinating people who loved art and each other. An example of architecture from The Gilded Age, the mansion has 252 rooms.

Pictures and videos are prohibited of the inside. George Vanderbilt shared a love for technology and entertaining guests. It was really interesting to see the parallels between the couple, George and Edith, and us. He loved technology and had electricity throughout the home and Edith loved books and taking care of guests. You should see her library! It reminded me of the library in Beauty and the Beast! This couple was madly in love and took the best care of those they employed. Even the servants quarters were nice!

Dustin and I found ourselves staring on multiple occasions at the craziness of it all. The massive dining room had three fireplaces and there were separate rooms dedicated to guns, smoking, and games. I personally loved seeing the restored furniture and paintings by famous artists.

You can easily spend more than a day at The Biltmore. Along with the mansion, there is shopping, dining, a winery, hiking trails, gardens, and entertainment. There are hotels on site and even tours for taking horseback rides. We didn’t have enough time to see everything, but after going through the mansion we enjoyed the gardens for a bit. We drove over to Antler Hill Village where there were shops and a winery. While there, there was also live music in the center gazebo.

We brought our own snacks and got an appetizer at Cedric’s Tavern located at the Antler Hill Village. We had hoped to eat dinner at Cedric’s, but after seeing the menu, nothing seemed that good. The place was over-priced. Since we were hungry and still had more to see, we ordered an appetizer. It was way too salty and not very good. After wasting $20 on an appetizer and water, we asked for our bill.

The winery wasn’t anything too special. We tried a few wines but didn’t like waiting in line. (Wine tasting is free with your ticket.) After buying a book about the mansion, we left to eat somewhere outside of the park.

Overall, it was a really neat experience. A $60 ticket only included admission to the mansion and property. The audio tour was an additional amount and there were other behind-the-scenes tours we didn’t take. I felt that the $60 ticket was fine for us. We saw plenty and I purchased a book to learn even more.

Dustin and I said we loved it, but wouldn’t go back anytime soon. It was one of those places that you go once and don’t need to keep going back. I would like to see it decorated for Christmas though. The property was very romantic.

In the future, we’d go back if we had kids. It’s one of those places that’s so out of this world, but very expensive. If you plan on going, eat ahead of time or bring snacks. We left and ate at an amazing place called The White Duck Taco.

While walking about, we acted like we owned the place. We laughed and told stories about our day to day lives as millionaires. It was fun to dream.

Above, Dustin always carrying my purse while I take pictures. Haha.

You could go and spend a day just going through the gardens. It felt like I was transported into the book The Secret Garden. It was hot and we were hungry so we only walked a short ways and drove the rest. I don’t usually suggest buying more than a one day ticket, but for The Biltmore, it would be worth it.

This stop on May, 30th was one of our favorite places on our Southern Road Trip. To see an overview of all we did on this vacation, click here!

Have you been to Asheville? Have you seen the massive Christmas tree at The Biltmore?

Love & Laughter,

Tiffany