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January 31, 2017 - National Hot Chocolate Day & Travelin' Tuesday Review

1/31/2017

Elisa's Daily Scoop
NEXT TRIP DEPARTS IN: 73 DAYS

Travelin' Tuesday Review & Hot Chocolate

Hey!!
I am so psyched!!!

Today is two of my favorite days - Travelin' Tuesday and National Hot Chocolate Day!

How Cool!!

Well, I've got a bunch to talk about and I know Tanya does too.

With only 6 days to go for Tanya to head off on her Magical Winter Wonderland Tour, she is chomping at the bit to get you all in the know about her upcoming adventures!!!

Oh - I wish I was going too!!

She is on her way to some SUPER AMAZING cities and guess who will be there every step of the way, giving you the inside skinny on these super iconic destinations... ME!!! Can't wait to share it all with you!

Just a little sneak peak - she will be hitting the following countries & cities on this trip:

Canada:
Montreal, Quebec

Switzerland
Geneva, Wengen, Zermatt, St. Moritz

France
Chamonix, Val D'Isere

Austria
Kitzbuhel, Innsbruck

Italy
Corina, Venice

HOLY COW
This trip truly is magical and I hope you will be tuning everyday!

But, don't fear - if you don't, we will have it all wrapped up and available on the above link for your reading pleasure!

Moving right along...
Have a few travel updates of my own to share with you!

Let me start with Gianna's 13th Birthday Trip to London with the Cousins

I'm moving right along with this birthday celebration and the trip plans.

Let me share what I have booked so far for our spring vacation.

* Airfare (NYC - London - NYC) BOOKED

* London Hotel (April 12- 21) BOOKED
(Tanya and gang will be staying at the same property when they arrive on April 18th)

* London Afternoon Tea
- Day 2 BOOKED
- Day 3 Afternoon Tea Bus Tour BOOKED
- Day 4 Need to Book
- Day 5 Easter Sunday BOOKED
- Day 7 BOOKED
- Day 8 Need to Book
- Day 9 Need to Book

* Paris Excursion
- Day 6 & 7 Round Trip Train Tickets BOOKED
- Paris Hotel BOOKED
- Dinner Reservations Need to Book

* Dinners
Most of our dinners will be in our apartment suite since I'm anticipating some tired girls and not to mention, it is much more economical. But, we do have one special dinner planned with our best cousins for my gang's last night in London.
- Day 9 Need to Book

* Tickets/Tours
For the most part, we will be getting tickets onsite for anything that will require them.

* Transportation
We will be using the tube and good old fashioned walking on this trip!

* Miscellaneous
There were two things I was concerned with for this trip and did a little correspondence with our hotel this past weekend:

1) Since we are not taking a red-eye and, instead arriving in London in the evening, I contacted our hotel to get their thoughts on whether they thought our time of arrival would get us to the hotel in time to have a late bite at the hotel restaurant.

The concierge was so helpful and actually told me a few local stores and markets nearby to pick up a few provisions in case they stop serving dinner, by the time we arrive.

2) I inquired as to what the cost should be for taxi from the airport. I always like to be forewarned as to what the customary taxi fares will be, when traveling.

Please CLICK HERE for the specific itinerary!!

Chicago, Chicago!!

Yes, this will be our first cousins road tip in almost two years! Wow! Does time go by fast!

Last Travelin' Tuesday, I detailed the major sites we will be visiting along the route from New York to Chicago.

January 24, 2017 (click link)

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland is one of the places we will be visiting along the route from New York to Chicago in June. (credit:the musiccourt.com)

This past weekend, Tanya and I took care of a few bookings for this trip. The trip will be a total of 8 nights and 9 days, with Tanya and gang departing out of Chicago on Day 6.

So, Tanya and I managed to book hotel rooms for the nights of:

- Day 1: Spring Mills, Pennsylvania BOOKED

- Day 2: Cleveland, Ohio  BOOKED

This leaves the following hotel evenings left to book:

- Day 3: South Bend, Indiana  NEED TO BOOK

- Day 4: Chicago, Illinois NEED TO BOOK

- Day 5: Chicago, Illinois  NEED TO BOOK

- Day 6: Cleveland, Ohio (for my gang) NEED TO BOOK

I actually booked a gorgeous little B&B for me and the girls to end the trip for two nights in Pennsylvania.
- Day 7 & 8: Milesburg, Pennsylvania BOOKED

Most of the sightseeing will either be to road side attractions which are free, or to locations that have entry fees. We will be checking into whether any of these destinations can allow us to purchase tickets in advance.

More to come as we make progress on more bookings!!

NOW ON TO THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY...
HOT CHOCOLATE TIME!!!

Did you know...
The difference between Hot Chocolate and Hot Cocoa?

Hot Chocolate uses milk or milk chocolate while Hot Cocoa uses only powdered cocoa.

MY DAILY ADDICTION - VENTI, NO-WHIP, NON-FAT HOT CHOCOLATE (c) travelincousins.com

Did you know...

Chocolate is the 3rd most traded commodity in the world?

1st is oils
2nd is coffee

And here we have some of the BEST OF TRAVELIN' COUSINS HOT CHOCOLATE MEMORIES...

Delicious Hot Chocolates - Kakawa Chocolate House Santa Fe, New Mexico (click photo for full story) (c)travelincousins.com

At Cafe Chocolate in Lititz, PA (click photo for full story) (c)travelincousins.com

Maple Hot Chocolate at White Meadow Farm, St. Catharine, Canada (Click photo for full story) (c)travelincousins.com)

Mmmmmmmm!

Well, guess where I'm off to?
Yup! And just for good measure, I may do a second dose later this afternoon as well!

Have a chocolately day!

-E
xoxo

Tanya's Daily Scoop
NEXT TRIP DEPARTS IN: 6 DAYS

Winter Wonderland Tour Review

Welcome back everyone!

It's always great to see you here and to catch up on things...

Today of course being a favorite day for both Elisa and I - Travelin' Tuesday and on that note - I can hardly believe that we are leaving in under a week and that we will be freezing our buns off in Montreal in only 6 days!!

Being slapped with the cold in Montreal - 2015 (c)travelincousins.com

If you can tell, I'm pretty darn excited about this trip and I'm just gonna go ahead and jump right in with sharing our itinerary with you - because by this time next week I'll be on here sharing our day to day activities with you LIVE!

Day 1: Montreal
Check in - TBA
Pick up car
Tea at Ming Tao Xuan
Stroll Vieux-Montreal
Dinner - BOOKED

Ming Tao Xuan Teahouse - 2015 (c)travelincousins.com

Day 2: Montreal, Canada
Notre Dame Basilica of Montreal
Breakfast - Le Cagibi
View from Chalet du Mont Royal
Barbie Expo
Dinner at Sumo
Return Car
Flight to Geneva

Notre Dame Basilica of Montreal (c)travelincousins.com

Day 3: Geneva, Switzerland & Chamonix, France
Pick up car
Office du tourisme de Geneve
Chapel of the Maccabees
Jet d'Eau
Shop

Check in - TBA
Stroll Chamonix Village
Dinner - BOOKED

Day 4: Chamonix & Val d'Isere, France
Check out
Aiguille du Midi

Aiguille du Midi, Chamonix (c)travelincousins.com

Drive to Val d'Isere
Check in - TBA
Airstar Night Light
Stroll Village
Meals TBA

Day 5: Val d'Isere, France
Skiing
Watch Dynastar Trophy
Meals TBA

Day 6: Val d'Isere, France & Wengen, Switzerland
Check out

Drive/Train to Wengen
Check in TBA
Sightseeing, shopping and strolling
Meals TBA

Day 7: Wengen, Switzerland
Breakfast TBA
Schilthorn
Snowtubing
Lunch TBA
Dinner TBA

Dominic doing the ropes in Grindelwald, CH - 2013 (c)travelincousins.com

Day 8: Wengen, Switzerland
Ropes Park in Grindelwald
Shopping and strolling
Meals TBA

Day 9: Zermatt, Switzerland -
Drive to Tasche, train to Zermatt
Check in - TBA
Sightseeing
Matterhorn Glacier Paradise
Meals TBA

Day 10: Zermatt, Switzerland
Sightseeing
Skiing
Shopping and strolling
Meals TBA

Zermatt, CH - 2013 (c)travelincousins.com

Day 11: Zermatt, Switzerland
Sightseeing
Shopping and strolling
Meals TBA

Day 12: St. Mortiz, Switzerland
Train to Tasche, drive to St. Moritz
FIS Alpine World Championship
Meals TBA

Day 13: St. Moritz, Switzerland
Skiing
FIS Alpine World Championship
Meals TBA

Day 14: St. Moritz, Switzerland
FIS Alpine World Championship
Meals TBA
Shopping and strolling
Meals TBA

Day 15: Innsbruck & Kitzbuhel, Austria
Check out
Drive to Innsbruck
Altstadt von Innsbruck
Maria-Theresien-Strasse
Town Tower (Stadtturm) - Climb
St. Anna's Column (Annasaule)
Triumphal Arch (Triumphpforte)

Drive to Kitzbuhel
Check in
Sightseeing, shopping and strolling
Meals TBA

Day 16: Kitzbuhel, Austria
Skiing
Sightseeing, shopping and strolling
Meals TBA

Day 17: Cortina d'Amprezzo, Italy
Check out
Drive to Cortina d'Amprezzo

Check in
Sightseeing, shopping and strolling
Meals TBA

Day 18: Cortina, Italy
The Helmut Ullrich Astronomical Observatory
Regole d'Ampezzo Ethnographic Musuem
Shopping and strolling
Meals TBA

Day 19: Venice, Italy
Check out
Drive to Venice

Check in
CARNIVAL - The Best Masked Costume Contest with Grand Final qualifier
Meals TBA

Day 20: Venice, Italy
Doge’s Palace
Basilica di San Marco
Campanile di San Marco
St. Mark's Square
Meals TBA

Day 21: Venice, Italy
Murano & Burano -
Glass Factory tour, Cometa di Vetro

CARNIVAL
The Eagle “flight”,
The Best Masked Costume Contest – Award Ceremony Meals TBA

Day 22: Venice, Italy
Teatro La Fenice

CARNIVAL
The Best Masked Costume Contest – kids edition
Meals TBA

Day 24: San Marino, San Marino & Bologna, Italy
Check out
Drive to San Marino
Guaita
Palazzo Pubblico
Piazza della Liberta

Drive to Bologna
Meals TBA

Day 25: Bologna, Italy to LAX
Time to go home

There ya have it, lots for you and I to look forward to in the coming weeks!!

And to be honest folks, while I'm about to burst at the seams with excitement, I've gotta tell ya that not everyone in the gang is feeling the same emotion...

Both of my kiddies are a bit anxious, and I think that Dave also stresses a bit. Dominic is not the hugest fan of trips that extend more than let's say a week and a half, and Cosette gets anxiety before every trip out of the country.
While they both realize and know that looking back they have the most excellent times on these trips, but they still can't help but feel uneasy until we are in the air and on our way.

I can't say that I know exactly how they are feeling, but I do know that I might experience a similar angst when they stay home and I am traveling without them - which luckily goes away once the plane takes off.

So it goes to show that sometimes even the most experienced travelers will get nervous before a trip.

While Elisa has shared scoop on the shared days of our London with the Cousins - I will fill ya in on the days that we will be on our own...but that'll have to wait until I get back from this trip.

Elisa has also shared with you more scoop on our upcoming Cousins Road Trip to Chicago - so take a gander over to her column..

And now let's move on to the sweet of the day:

Hot Chocolate

Today happens to be National Hot Chocolate Day, and Elisa explains that there is a difference between Hot Chocolate and Hot Cocoa...

My question is that since there is a difference, does that mean that there is also a National Hot Cocoa Day???

Elisa is definitely more of a Hot Chocolate drinker than I am, but I am certainly known to enjoy indulging on the sweet hot drink after a hard day on the slopes!