Winnie

February 28, 2019

Work Week Reading

Why reading one book a week won’t make you successful. This might explain why I suddenly hear people referring to their book clubs, book podcasts, book subscription deliveries, and so forth…and it makes me sad. One of my happiest memories growing up was coming home from the library with a huge bag of books, and subsequently devouring those within a matter of days. I’ve always loved reading, but it was and always has been for the joy of forgetting reality for a few (or more!) hours. Darren jokes that once I start a book, I’m a lost cause because I get so engrossed in it. But to equate it with success or some metric of achievement certainly would take away the pleasure for me. PS: my favorite way of ensuring an unlimited supply of books is now via Kindle Unlimited. I usually download 5-6 titles before we travel anywhere and will work my way through them on vacation….
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January 15, 2019

Hello readers! It’s been a while at Darwin Discovered as we seemingly disappeared off the blogosphere for a few years. To recap in a sentence or so, we: bought and renovated a house, traveled to 10+ countries, I started a new business, Darren started traveling a lot more for work, and…well, life happened. While I can’t promise that we’ll be back with any certain consistency, we do have a lot of great content (at least we think so!) to share. You’ll be seeing a few tweaks around the blog in the next month or so as I bring things into 2019 (hello, WordPress 5!) and update our information. I chuckled reading over our ‘About Me’ page because I was still in my 20s when this page was created! See you soon!

August 30, 2016

Antelope Canyon: Paige, Arizona

Back in May, D and I went on a quick glamping jaunt with some friends. We stopped by his parents’ house in Las Vegas, and then made our way over to the Grand Canyon, followed by Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, and parts of Grand Staircase near Paige, Arizona. One the most memorable parts of our trip was touring the Upper and Lower Antelope Canyons, narrow slot canyons formed by thousands of years of rain and erosion. The light inside of the canyons made for some pretty spectacular photography…so without further ado, here you go….

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September 24, 2015

Travel Notes: Plitvice Lakes, Croatia

The Plitvice Lakes are located a 4 hour drive north of Split. We spent an entire day there, and the photo above does a great job of explaining why it was worth the drive and the duration of the day.

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July 31, 2015

Travel Notes: Hvar and the Pakleni Islands

After a night in Split, we took off the next morning to start our island-hopping along the Dalmatian Coast. Our tour, booked through Split Excursions, departed from the dock by the main promenade. The speedboat ride from Split takes about an hour to Hvar. In late May, the water was still quite chilly. I highly recommend bringing a jacket along with a long sleeve shirt to wear, as the wind can get quite frisky. Once we arrived in Hvar, we met with a local guide who showed us around the old town, and then had a few hours on our own. …

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June 29, 2015

12 Days in Croatia, Montenegro, and Malta: The Budget & Itinerary

We’ve finally sorted through all our wedding stuff (if you’ve gotten married before, you know what I’m talking about) and I found a few spare moments last week to sort through our honeymoon photos. D and I are headed off to London and Paris later this week (in keeping of our wedding vows to act as one another’s travel buddies), but we’ve got a lineup of photos and details of all the places we visited on our honeymoon. In typical Darwin style, we’ll kick this off by sharing our full itinerary and budget for the 12 days we spent in Croatia, Montenegro, and Malta. Really I should just cross off Montenegro because we only went there for a day trip, but it’s worth a mention anyhow. A few notes in hindsight:

Avoid transferring through Frankfurt if at all possible. We found the airport to be enormous and inefficient, with inconsistent security policies.
In the name of transparency, we’ve shared the majority of our expenses (dining not included). We were on our honeymoon, so we felt it was worth it to splurge a bit on experiences (a la day trips vis-a-vis island hopping in the Dalmatian Coast). We kept costs reasonable on airfare and hotels by utilizing points wherever possible.
Long story short: Prolong your stay in Croatia because it’s insanely beautiful. You’re probably okay skipping Montenegro and Malta if you’re short on time.

Click for the full itinerary, and check back for reviews on our lodging, dining, and travel experiences!

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