Marco-YOLO

After clearing out our house, we spent 2 nights in Washington DC before setting out on our road trip. After scouring countless Yelp reviews, we settled on Casa Baragiola, a bed & breakfast in Northwest DC. The proprietors are an international couple with a most fascinating story. The husband, Pablo, used to be a gaucho […]

It was painful and took longer than anticipated to move (doesn’t it always) but we’re out of our house! Six week US roadtrip starts now!  

I already had camping gear but Colleen didn’t so her stuff is all brand new. While we’re only camping for one of the six weeks we’re on the road, being cold and miserable at night is no way to vacation (As Colleen learned on below-freezing nights at 13,000 ft on the Inca Trail, and will […]

Forty two days in a rental car is a long time. To make our US road-trip more enjoyable, we bought a portable GPS unit ($90 from Target) and a satellite radio ($40 from Best Buy). This will hopefully prevent us from getting lost and in case we do, at least we’ll have good tunes to rock to

Last Friday was my last day of work. Today was my first Monday not working. We went on a long bike ride along the Potomac River, taking a break at Gravely Point to lay on the grass and watch the planes pass overhead as they landed at Reagan National Airport. It was like a cheesy […]

We now have committed renters that we will be handing our house over to on May 1st. Actually, the property management company will oversee the handover. We’ll be in Asheville, NC by then, checking out the Biltmore Mansion, the largest private estate in the US, and then making our way to Nashville, TN the following […]

Home sweet home! Nothing quite beats it! Arlington has been home for us since 2006. It’s the most highly educated county in the United States and along with great restaurants and low crime it also has great trails for running and biking and gives us easy access to Washington DC, where we both work (normally), […]

Phuket, Thailand - Beachy stuff, scuba diving and underwater photography. I got to do my first wreck dive on the King Cruiser wreck. That’s me jumping in the water above. Fair warning. Lionfish may not let you use the restroom on King Cruiser! Bangkok, Thailand – Jarisara and Tsvetan’s wedding at the Mandarin Oriental.  We also went wat-hopping […]

I went to the US Virgin Islands to get my American Sailing Association 101, 103 and 104 certifications that would enable me to bareboat charter a up to 50 foot yacht in coastal waters. We mainly sailed between St John, St Thomas and Culebra, Puerto Rico, learning all the required skills over 9 days on board […]

This was a 10 day road trip along California’s famous coastal highway in a convertible. San Francisco – Met up with old Capital One friends, Tsvetan and Jarisara, for lunch, took my cousin Alizeh, a freshman at UC Berkeley, to dinner, and did some tourist stuff again. Carmel – I love the vibe of this town, […]