Standard Luggage Review – A Large Carry-on Backpack

Disclaimer: We were provided this backpack courtesy of Standard Luggage Co. for a review. All opinions are our own.

When it comes to luggage that we can travel with, we often find ourselves balancing form and function. We like our backpacks to look neat and elegant and also have the capacity to match.

For many years, our travel setup included rolling suitcases with separate backpacks for electronics and more sensitive items (generally in the structure of one large checked suitcase, one carry-on rolling suitcase, and two backpacks). But recently many companies have started to merge the two carry-on styles in the form of backpacks large enough to accommodate everything in a single piece of luggage.

Standard Luggage Co is one such company, and we were fortunate enough to put their Carry-on Travel Backpack to the test in this review!

Read more

Things to Do in Fredericksburg, VA – Your Ticket to History Pass

Looking for things to do in Fredericksburg, VA, and don't know where to start? You're in luck!

The tourist office has something I wish all cities would offer, a museum pass called Your Ticket to History which offers admission into roughly 10 great museums in the region.

I received one of these passes courtesy of Fredericksburg tourism during my visit and wanted to share a bit more about what all it entails in this one as you really could miss out without it!

Read more

Visiting an 18th Century Doctor at the Hugh Mercer Apothecary

Imagine you are transported back to the 18th century, colonial Virginia, in the town of Fredericksburg. You have come down with a sickness. What do you do?

If you're like most people, you're going to head to your local apothecary to speak to a doctor and get one of his modern medicines to cure what ails you. This will take you to the Hugh Mercer Apothecary, and your experience could go any manner of direction from there.

Thankfully, we are not alive in the 18th century and do not have to endure what comes next. But at the Hugh Mercer Apothecary Museum in Fredericksburg, you can get a glimpse as to what medicine was like well over 200 years ago to see what may have been your future for curing your ailment.

Read more

Taking a Tuscany Day Trip from Florence with Walks of Italy

I didn't expect to find myself going back to Tuscany in 2019, but when my family wanted to take a trip to Italy I was game to join in.

They had heard of my stories of taking a Tuscany day trip from my 2013 visit, and were eager to get out and visit some of my favorite spots- namely San Gimignano, Siena, and wineries. We opted against doing this one on our own as my driving in Tuscany experience on that trip was not the best. So instead we hopped on a tour with Walks of Italy to take the driving component out of our trip.

As I later found out, going on a Tuscany tour with a guide allowed for a more insightful visit about each destination, and, in the case of the winery, allowed for greater drinking capacity in not having to drive!

In this one, I wanted to break down some of those points from the Walks of Italy tour in greater detail. 

Note: I was a guest of Walks of Italy on this tour. All opinions are my own.

Read more