Summer 2022

May - July 2022

A 41-day adventure by Etoile Read more

15footprints
8countries
41days
95photos
2videos
63.6kkilometers
47.6kkilometers

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Traveler Summer 2022
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- May 29, 2022
- ⛅ 14 °C
- Altitude: 13 m
- England Greater London Whitton 51.451816, -0.36873251°27’7” N 0°22’7” W
Day 1
Arrival
May 29, 2022 in England ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C
Safely landed (very late) - lovely lunch with McDermott’s and then wine and “Etoile” cheese with Gen!
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Traveler Summer 2022
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- May 29, 2022
- ☁️ 25 °C
- Altitude: 14 m
- Bahamas New Providence District Macbride Love Beach 25.051203, -77.4623625°3’4” N 77°27’44” W
Day 1
Heading out
May 29, 2022 on the Bahamas ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C
Headed out for a month of travels inspired by wine, work, weddings and world championships.
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Traveler Summer 2022
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- May 31, 2022, 3:52pm
- 🌧 15 °C
- Altitude: 14 m
- England Greater London Whitton 51.45174, -0.36867651°27’6” N 0°22’7” W
Day 3
Wine with Will!
May 31, 2022 in England ⋅ 🌧 15 °C
We ate. We drank. We definitely conquered. Also. Caviar on oysters should be a regular option.
Traveler Seems this didn’t upload at right place. Anyway. It was amazing on Pall Mall. :-)
5/31/22Reply
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Traveler Summer 2022
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- May 31, 2022, 6:30pm
- ⛅ 14 °C
- Altitude: 23 m
- England Southwark Chaucer St George the Martyr 51.501273, -0.09181451°30’5” N 0°5’31” W
Day 3
Manitii Rum launch with Idea Relief
May 31, 2022 in England ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C
Part proceeds go to IDEA! The video on Instagram is here: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CeO9gKfjP9a/?igshi…
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Traveler Summer 2022
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- May 31, 2022, 9:00pm
- ⛅ 12 °C
- Altitude: 24 m
- England Greater London St James's St. James's Palace 51.505427, -0.13707851°30’20” N 0°8’13” W
Day 3
Um we went back for more wine
May 31, 2022 in England ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C
So Gen Will and I went back to eat more food and drink a little more wine. Everything was amazing but the asparagus with the smoked duck egg hollandaise was insane.
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Traveler Summer 2022
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- Jun 1, 2022, 10:00am
- ☁️ 12 °C
- Altitude: 17 m
- England Hillingdon Heathrow Heathrow Terminal 2 51.469011, -0.44920851°28’8” N 0°26’57” W
Day 4
Warsaw-bound!
June 1, 2022 in England ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C
New country for me! Headed to Poland for the day…
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- Jun 1, 2022, 6:44pm
- ⛅ 19 °C
- Altitude: 114 m
- Poland Mazovia Warsaw Stare Miasto Warsaw Old Town Market Square 52.249707, 21.01181352°14’59” N 21°0’43” E
Day 4
First new country in over two years…
June 1, 2022 in Poland ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C
Was lovely to just wander around Old Town Warsaw. No goals. Just re-immersing myself in hearing languages I don’t understand in streets I’ve never walked. Visited the warrior mermaid which seems like the symbol all cities should be jealous of… had a coffee and smoked a cigar thinking of my honey… drank a Manhattan - which I’ll be honest - I did not know included absinthe as an ingredient (might just be the Eastern European version lol)… and finished the “day” component with a bison grass vodka. In a hilarious glass to be honest. While he would have balked at the touristy location… he would have sucked it up for me knowing we were headed somewhere much better shortly. He did that kind of thing. Also. Bison grass vodka as bribery is always a good strategy. Finally, our shared hatred of accordion music continues. #butwhy

Moving onto the “evening” component I was fortunate enough to head to Bez Gwiazdek for dinner. It was everything we looked for in a meal. Local ingredients. Regional wines. Ridiculous tastes (the parsnip with sourkraut foam and garfish with red peppers in tomato broth my faves). It was full on. I could almost see James across from me doing those eyes he did when he was so excited by something… such as really well made food. He was, for sure, smiling - with those dimples- somewhere about this.

But. I won’t lie. It was tough going without him. He should be here with me for random 8 hour layovers on the way to a friend’s wedding. Eating new food. Planning new projects over vodka and wine. Laughing at the little things. Asking for more of the really good things. But. Life requires adaptation. And I continue to try.Read more
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- Jun 2, 2022
- ☀️ 25 °C
- Altitude: 807 m
- Georgia Samtskhe-Javakheti Papa Geohospital 41.839134, 43.37886441°50’21” N 43°22’44” E
Day 5
Adventure day in Georgia!
June 2, 2022 in Georgia ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C
Arrived at 4:45am to Tbilisi and - likely due to sleep deprivation - made the decision to book a 14 hour tour to go see the cave city. (At this point that’s all I knew - there was an incredible place and I should go there).
It really was amazing.
Started out with my little mini van group - two Slovenians living in Portugal, and
Italian and Ukrainian living in Poland, a
Russian girl with English boyfriend a Malaysian and me lol. Honestly a great fun gang.
We drove initially to a 9th century castle / fort / mosque place which was interesting but not amazing (after Sintra it’s tough to be impressed lol).
Then I had my first Georgian meal - so of course I ordered 4 things. My first taste of what would become a favourite - eggplant with a walnut sauce and pomegranate on top. And my first khachapuri! Sooo yum.
Headed from there to what was honestly one of the coolest historical places I have been. 11th century Queen Tamar had it built to defend from all the attackers by carving the city into the mountain. It’s wild. It’s also high up and I am out of shape so it kicked my butt lol. So many fascinating bits but was struck by the “holy water” (the fresh water spring inside the mountain) which was used by them over a thousand years ago through ceramic pipes they built throughout the mountain. Just crazy. We filled up our water bottles with it! There is still a monastery with monks living there today.
Then we left there and headed to Borjomi. some of you will recognize the name / bottle because James would often bring back homemade liquors from friends in Moldova / Kazakhstan etc in these bottles. It was our “jet lagged / hungover” cure as the water truly is unique - it tastes salty almost. Definitely an acquired taste but miraculous.
So we went there and again had my water bottle filled up direct from the source.
Headed back to my Vinotel where I proceeded to have a wine tasting. Yep. I figured if I only have a few days in the country I have to pack it all in… and my train the next day was at 8:20am.Read more
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- Jun 3, 2022, 8:20am
- ⛅ 24 °C
- Altitude: 466 m
- Georgia Mtskheta-Mtianeti Zahesi 41.82361, 44.74774141°49’25” N 44°44’52” E
Day 6
On the way to Batumi!
June 3, 2022 in Georgia ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C
Headed on the train to Batumi from Tbilisi. For giggles - yesterday when I ordered a double espresso ☕️at my hotel “Vinotel” there was limited English and the guy said “champagne” 🍾and I laughed and repeated “espresso”. I hadn’t slept in a while and wasn’t really thinking - obviously.
This morning as I checked out, I again asked for a double espresso. This time no comment… but when my coffee arrived - so did a glass of bubbles 🥂. Pretty sure I’ll be back to Tbilisi. :-)
Also random photo of the hilariously epic headboard in my hotel room. I shall imagine small angels feeding my grapes and cheese whenever needed from now on.
ps - yesterday was amazing but included 14 hours out of wifi and climbing up and down a mountain so that “footprint” is coming later!Read more
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- Jun 3, 2022
- ⛅ 22 °C
- Altitude: 13 m
- Georgia Ajaria Angisa 41.639297, 41.60994941°38’21” N 41°36’36” E
Day 6
Day before the wedding!
June 3, 2022 in Georgia ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C
Soooo I’ve been bad with footprints and still need to write my Thursday one but… that’s going to take more effort so moving onto Friday!
(1) had an insane experience with hearing James and my wedding song (random tango number) after Giorgi’s brother picked me up from train station. Well detailed on Instagram.
(2) Had a lovely meal with friends and family of Lyazzat at Pirosmani. Lots of yummy food and an adorable baby make for a happy evening.
(2) Walked to the Sheraton and went to rooftop bar for lovely glass of wine and incredible views. I can’t post the video here but I was amazed that the “wall” in the toilet was a window and so you could see the Black Sea while doing your business. Ha ha ha.
(3) Met random fellow late night wedding goers Dana (Kazakh) and Marco (Finn) who live in California at Acropoli. They are my people. We ended the night at 3:30am after going to a khinkali house and slurping down soup dumplings. With a bottle of vodka. After the 3 bottles of wine we had the first place. No photos thank god as they broke me ha ha haRead more
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