Travelling Lore

Yesterday we returned from a two week vacation exploring Australia, Bali (Indonesia), Singapore, and the Philippines with my husband's family.  I had previously never been to this side of the world, so it was thrilling to finally see parts of Asia, simply put.  We were supposed to return Sunday morning, but unfortunately we were grounded in the Philippines by typhoon Sarika, which postponed our travel back to the U.S. for a couple of days.  I suppose you could say we had a couple of extra days in paradise (albeit with rain and the stress of re-booking flights ;) )!  Though I still have my California honeymoon to finish recapping, here's an Instagram roundup of our vacation. Twelve Apostles off the Great Ocean Road in Australia. Our resort, Warwick Ibah, in Ubud, Bali. The Campuhan Ridge Walk next to our resort in Ubud, Bali. A rice terrace in Bali. Enjoying a Singapore Sling at Raffles, where it was invented in Singapore. The Helix bri...

Given my interest in wine and that I work part-time at a local Virginia winery, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit Sonoma and Napa during our honeymoon. We drove about an hour north of San Francisco and started off first in Sonoma at Matanzas Creek Winery . We were drawn in by the beautiful pictures and description of their lavender fields on the property, which certainly didn't disappoint us upon arrival.  Despite living near a local lavender farm in Virginia, I still have yet to pay it a visit, though this certainly piqued my interest even more.  As you approach the tasting room you get to walk through the pale purple fields of lavender abuzz with plenty of happy bees. In addition to the gorgeous approach to the winery, Matanzas Creek's tasting room building can hold its own in terms of impressiveness.  We're both a big fan of buildings that incorporate hardwood and so we loved that the tasting room integrated a lot of it in to thei...

As I mentioned in my last post, my husband and I enjoyed our honeymoon in northern California.  Since we wanted to spend most of our time north of San Francisco, we only had one day to explore the city so we made it a point to do and see the major tourist attractions. The biggest thing we had on the docket was to bike across the Golden Gate Bridge.  Though my husband is a bicycle enthusiast, I am not and only ride a bike about once a year.  So we biked across the bridge on a tandem bicycle, which requires teamwork and communication.  We are happily still married after this experience (though in all seriousness we actually worked quite well together on a tandem bicycle). Our first morning in San Francisco started off nice and sunny with blue skies.  Perfect for some Golden Gate Bridge viewing along the bike trail.  However, don't you worry, the infamous San Francisco fog rolled in. We biked across the bridge and up to Battery Spencer on Fort...

Wow, it sure has been a while since I last sat down to publish a travel blog post on Corking Around!  Time flies when you're busy planning your wedding, getting married, honeymooning, and meeting deadlines at work!  For those who don't know, my now husband and I got married at the end of June at a local winery with our closest family and friends.  The weather couldn't have been more perfect, the food was delicious, the wine flowed all night, and we had lovely company!  A week after we got married we jetsetted off to Northern California for our honeymoon!  I finally have some time to share my Instagram photos with you from our trip.  Don't worry, there will be more substantial posts in the future! We started off in San Francisco.  One of my "must do" activities was to finally  try a real bowl of ramen for the first time--none of this instant noodle stuff from the grocery stores!  I loved it!  And spicy sure does mean spicy! We...

A big shout out to Flight of the Flibbertigibbet , who's a novice travel blogger like myself, for nominating me for this year's Liebster Award round!  For those who are unaware, as I was previously, the Liebster Award is an internet-only award given to new bloggers by other bloggers.  It's given to those who have 200 readers or less and is a great way to network with other bloggers in your blog genre of interest.   Here are the official rules for those nominated for this year's Liebster Award.  In short, I have to write a post about my favorite blog (coming soon--stay tuned!), list 10 facts about myself via the questions Flight of the Flibbertigibbet provided, and nominate several blogs for the Liebster Award. So, without further ado, here are the questions! 11 Questions About Me 1.Why did you decide to start blogging? I decided to start blogging because I wanted a creative outlet.  I work in the science field, so there's not too much ro...

You know the idiom that pictures say a thousands words?  That may hold true for those exact moments you happened to capture in a photograph, but what about all of those other moments that occurred in between?  Like many, I seem to be able to recall a lot of "useful" information, if you know what I mean.  To help myself remember the finer details, I've picked up a few tips. 1. Photography With that prelude I bet you didn't think you'd see photography here, did you?  Aside from the obvious fact that photos are a great way to visually recount all of the adventures and fun on your travels, don't forget to take pictures of the "boring" things, too.  By that I mean take photos of the welcome signs to museums or natural sites so that when you go through your photos you'll know which ones you'll be looking through next.  Take photos of informative plaques or signs so that you can re-read them if you need to remember a factoid after yo...

When it comes to traveling, especially when you're trying to conserve space, sacrifices are made when packing your bags.  My "sacrifices" usually come in the form of chopping skin care products off of the list.  I always regret it when I do, but it can be difficult to pack your favorite liquids and gels all into a one-gallon bag, particularly when it comes to carry-on luggage.  When I travel for personal vacations half the time I'll carry on and the other half I'll check my bags (usually for overseas trips).  When I travel for work about 90% of the time I carry on.  Luckily my preferred skincare products come in carry-on sizes...smart marketing if you ask me!  Here are some of my favorites. Andalou Naturals Ultra Sheer Daily Defense Facial Lotion with SPF 18 ($14.95) I spent a while looking for a facial lotion product that had sunscreen in it and  had natural ingredients.  This is my personal favorite and I've been using it for about ...