The Daily Scoop - Travelin' Cousins

October 23, 2024 - A Night at the Long Beach Symphony | A Day in Temecula | Hello Sunny Florida!

10/23/2024

A Night at the Long Beach Symphony AND
A Day in Temecula

Tanya's Daily Scoop
CURRENTLY IN: ORANGE COUNTY, CA

Hello and Happy Hump Day (Wednesday - mid week)!

I'm a little bit extra excited about this particular Wednesday, because I fly out tonight to Sunny Florida to meet up with my Aunt and dear cousin, who happens to be my partner in all things travel - Travelin' Elisa.

I know we are gonna have a BLAST!

How time flies...
I was looking back and just realized that it has been since Cousins New England Lighthouse Road Trip back in 2021.
YIKES - we definitely need to travel together MORE often.

I also realized that since there was a bit of a break in there for a few days of missed blogs, that I totally neglected to share with you our night at the season opener for the Long Beach Symphony. On that night (a couple of weeks ago) we enjoyed
A NEW WORLD – and helped celebrate Long Beach Symphony’s 90th Anniversary!

PROGRAM:
Eckart Preu, Conductor
Adam Richardson, Baritone
Roger Wilkie, Concertmaster, Violin I
Chloé Tardif, Violin
Andrew Duckles, Viola
Cécilia Tsan, Cello
BEETHOVEN
Egmont Overture, Op. 84 (1st piece LBSO performed in 1934)

ANNA CLYNE
Quarter Days Concerto for String Quartet (West Coast Premiere)

DVOŘÁK. TEXT BY WILLIAM ARMS FISHER
“Goin’ Home”

DVOŘÁK
Symphony No. 9, “From The New World”

It has been years since attending the symphony - since 2021 to be exact and it was every bit of a lovely occasion (as I recall it being). So please do enjoy a few photos from that evening:

(c)travelincousins.com

And what a fun weekend we had in store for us...
We had also decided to make a trip out to Temecula to do some tasting...

While Temecula is known for it's championship golf courses, and award-winning wineries which are nestled in 3,000 acres of picturesque wine country. The tasting that we were doing was all about Extra Virgin OLIVE OIL - Liquid Gold - which is a true staple of all Italian kitchens.

We had also stopped at a place called Europa Village, which I had such very high hopes for... HAD is the key word there.
While we had a great time browsing the property and enjoyed picture taking. This place was a big FAIL imo.

Taken from there site:
A DESTINATION DESIGNED TO TRANSPORT YOU TO THE OLD-WORLD VILLAGES OF SPAIN, ITALY, AND FRANCE

The problem here is that the experience was rather a huge let down for anyone who has actually ever traveled to these very countries they are attempting to "transport you to".

The property owner/developers seemed to have had a good, maybe even a great idea - that completely went to waste.
It was executed just horribly.
It looks unfinished and rushed. With no attention to any detail.

When you are in the business making experiences - it is all about the details. And this place lacked in all the finishing touches and all the DETAILS. In fact, the more we walked around and explored the more it actually got to the point of almost being laughable.

SIDE NOTE - I should start consulting businesses on this very topic.

For now, please do at least enjoy the photos that were taken and read more about the location in the descriptions below.

Fall photo op (c)travelincousins.com

(c)travelincousins.com

At the check in entrance (c)travelincousins.com

As mentioned walking the grounds and buildings it is suppose to transport you to the old-world villages of Spain, Italy and France. And while it doesn't really hit the marks at doing any of this, at least in the Italian shoppe we found Italian(ish) items.

Such funny packaging (c)travelincousins.com

The shoppe in France was a bit of a joke and they carried items from all over, yet not even French(ish) (c)travelincousins.com

(c)travelincousins.com

Then we went into the shoppe at Spain and here we had even found cowboy hats and swimming trunks with the American Flag printed on them! (c)travelincousins.com

Fall Photo (c)travelincousins.com

At least this spot somewhat reminded me of Seville (c)travelincousins.com

Come along (c)travelincousins.com

It was so hot on this day (c)travelincousins.com

Liquid Gold (c)travelincousins.com

Old Town Temecula (c)travelincousins.com

(c)travelincousins.com

Well, I'm sure you had enough of my venting about details.
I do know one thing is for sure and that how much effort and care that Disney spends/puts into details. So happy that we will be there enjoying them all on Friday!

Over and out.
Ciao 4 Now,
Travelin' Tanya

Hello Sunny Florida!!

Elisa's Daily Scoop
CURRENTLY IN: ORLANDO, FL

Hey there! I'm coming to you straight from sunny Florida, where we begin a week long vacay here in the Sunshine State.

Mom and I had a wonderful flight yesterday - in fact, we sat in the first row of comfort and had so much leg room - it was really great. When have you ever known me to say anything good about the airlines?!

But, I have been doing my darnedest to keep a high vibration, think positively when doing air travel because I just hate the whole violation of our 4th amendment rights and the BS bureaucracy of the TSA and all it stands for. (but I digress)

Oh and one other thing. When I booked the flight, I selected our seats TOGETHER - but then apparently, the aircraft was changed and as a result the computer messed up our seats and had me and Mom separated. So, yesterday morning, as Gianna was driving to pick up my mom so she could drive us to the airport, I had to battle it out on the phone with Delta to get them to seat us together.

Mom and I on board on our way to Florida (c)travelincousins.com

Fortunately, the agent was very nice and accommodated us since I told her that my mom was elderly (even though she would kill me if she heard me use that reference to her!) and that she was a very nervous flyer. As a result, we were put together and the flight was smooth sailing!

I packed some yummy protein bars, some berry granola and some seeds since I knew we would not have many options during the flight down.

I was keeping Tanya in the loop each step of the way all day, as well as my two dear daughters. Sending them silly pictures and updating them on our activities.

We had to grab the shuttle to pick up our rental. That went quite smoothly as well - it cost a little more because I opted to pay up front for the tolls, but they actually gave us a larger car than I had expected, so that was a nice surprise.

Dinner in Disney Springs --
We didn't have any definite plans for dinner, but after a brief rest at the hotel, we decided to venture out to Disney Springs for an Italian meal at Terralina Crafted Italian.

(c)travelincousins.com

I was not a very good blogger last night as I did not take many pictures and failed to document Mom and me at dinner and what we ate. I promise I will be much better the rest of the trip.

However, what I can say is that our waitress was amazing and when she saw my birthday pin (which I received at check in since my birthday was last week) - she told me that I am entitled to a free dessert!! So that was really super cool.

Here is what me and mom ate, as we ordered the same -
RIGATONI CALABRESE - housemade pork sausage, tomato, olive, mushroom, escarole - WITHOUT the sausage. It was soo deelish!!!.