Holiday travel

Niagara Falls: A Long Weekend from NYC!

wareontheglobe Leave a comment

I drive to Montreal almost every Memorial Day to start the summer in one of Dan and my favorite cities (Montreal!). This year, however, we switched it up and drove to Niagara Falls, mainly due to the fact that we had two Hilton resort credits to use through our Hilton Aspire cards. While we still love, love, love Montreal, we were surprised by Niagara Falls and had a really fun time. We will absolutely return! This post details what we did over our long weekend driving from the New York City area.

Niagara Falls!

DAY ONE: A COUNTRY DRIVE, CROSSING THE BORDER, AND A TERRIBLE DINNER AT THE SKYLON TOWER

Our Niagara Falls long weekend began on a Friday morning, leaving the New York City area around 9:30 AM. Our drive took us through Western New York and while it originally consisted of normal highway, the road changed to more country roads for the second half of the drive (and my internet to work no longer worked). We crossed the border via The Peace Bridge in Buffalo, which crossing took no time at all and was quicker than what we are used to at Montreal. You can check times for the border crossing here.  We arrived in the late afternoon to very, very cold weather. Not exactly what we were hoping for for Memorial Day weekend (although the weather was the same in Montreal).

A chilly view of the American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls.

As you probably guessed, we stayed on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls, our first two nights at the DoubleTree Fallsview Resort & Spa. The hotel looked like a mountain resort and offered, albeit a bit far, views of the Falls. We enjoyed staying here, but recommend staying closer for better views if you can.

View from our room at the DoubleTree. This was our second morning when we had great weather.

Continue reading →

Lunching at the Fabulous Prada Caffè in Harrods!

wareontheglobe Leave a comment

Prada, yes the Italian fashion company, opened a “temporary” restaurant and pastry shop inside Harrods department store in London in 2023. As I found myself in London to celebrate my birthday in January (2025), and as I LOVE Prada (I know, so basic), I had to make a lunch reservation during my stay. This post reviews my lunch at the Prada Caffè, including how to make a reservation, cost and food quality,

How to Find the Prada Caffè in Harrods

Prada Caffè is technically located “inside” Harrods main department store in Knightsbridge, London, but the restaurant actually has its own fabulous entrance that is street level. And while you can access the cafe from inside Harrods, entering via the street is more exciting, at least for the photos, LOL. There is no security or anything of the like, so you can just walk in, even to take a photograph.

Welcome to the “pop up” Prada Caffè!

Continue reading →

Restaurant Review: Dinner at Dishoom, Edinbough

wareontheglobe Leave a comment

I absolutely love, nay, LOVE, Indian food. Dan doesn’t enjoy it nearly as much as I do but luckily for me, someone recommended Dishoom to Dan before our trip to Scotland (and London), so I had an excuse to reserve a table. In sum, and while Dishoom has been written about many, many, many times, our meal was fantastic and it is absolutely worth the hype.

Dishoom – the UK’s most famous Indian restaurant

Dishoom is a chain of 13 (currently) Indian restaurants in the United Kingdom. Founded in 2010, Dishoom is often described as “Indian street food” and was designed to feel like “an Irani cafe popular in Mumbai in the 1960s”. The founders left the business in 2017, but Dishoom is still incredibly popular and totally delicious. And, rumor has it that Dishoom is opening a location in New York in 2026…

Edinburgh’s Dishoom.

Continue reading →

A Hogmanay Food Tour Through Glasgow On January 2nd!

wareontheglobe Leave a comment

Our second stop on our Hogmanay tour of Scotland was Scotland’s largest city, Glasgow. Unlike Edinburgh, Glasgow is not a charming European city with castles and ancient things; rather, Glasgow is a fairly modern city with a large university and numerous factories. It struck me as a real working town, in a great way. Along those lines, Glasgow has a reputation as being gritty and, in places, somewhat dangerous, and I probably would have skipped Glasgow all together had we not (1) needed to catch the train to London from Glasgow Central and (2) our friend’s grandparents met in Glasgow before immigrating to North America and he wanted to see the city. These two points pushed me into staying two nights in Glasgow. Due to both of our evenings being public holidays (yes, January 1st and 2nd are public holidays in Scotland), I didn’t get the complete Glasgow experience, but I did take a food tour with a lovely local, ate lots of delicious food and learned a decent bit of Glasgow history. I enjoyed Glasgow quite a bit and would like to return and explore further. This post describes the food tour that we took through Glasgow – my favorite way to see a city!

At Glasgow’s Brown’s Brasserie on the food tour. I loved the little palms.

STOP ONE: VEGAN HAGGIS AT A LOCAL BREWERY

Our first stop on our Glasgow food tour was at one of Scotland’s most well-known breweries, Innis & Gunn, for a beer and, dun dun dun, Haggis! Before diving into the main event (i.e., the Haggis), Innis & Gunn is a well known Scottish Brewery that makes, most famously, a slightly sweet, velvety beer aged in Single Malt Whisky casks. And while I usually hate beer (or anything) aged in whisky barrels, I do enjoy this beer! The brand Innis & Gunn was created in Scotland way back in 2003 and its an OG craft beer. Of course, our meal began with a half-pint of Innis & Gunn’s original brew, called, appropriately, the “Original”. As expected, the Original was incredibly smooth and quite tasty (despite being aged in whisky casks)!

Innis & Gunn’s Glasgow City Centre location. It’s right near Glasgow Central.

Clearly had a big Hogmanay celebration.

Innis & Gunn’s Original.

Moving on from Innis & Gunn’s noteworthy beer, our tour guide advised that the first tasting of the tour would be … Haggis! I was not particularly excited to sample Haggis again, but this was a vegan version (i.e., no meat!), so I was game to sample it. The Vegan Haggis was served in fried ball form, paired with a homemade brown “chippy sauce”. Being honest, I much, much, much preferred the vegan version to the real Haggis that I tried back in Edinburgh. I would actually order this version again! Point one for the food tour, as I would have never ordered Vegan Haggis on my own. The Vegan Haggis paired very well with the Chippy Sauce. Definitely give this a try if you want to try Haggis but are scared…or even if you just find yourself at Innis & Gunn. Even the meat lovers on our tour praised the dish.

Vegan Haggis with a Brown Chippy Sauce.

The full sampling at Innis & Gunn.

Continue reading →

How to Celebrate Hogmanay in Edinburgh!

wareontheglobe Leave a comment

I spent New Year’s Eve 2024/2025 in Edinburgh, Scotland for its grand, internationally renowned Hogmanay festival! Hogmanay in Edinburgh had long been on my “bucket list” and I was super pumped for all of the Hogmanay events. Unfortunately for me, most  Hogmanay events were cancelled in 2024/2025 at the last minute due to “extreme” winds… which did not really pan out. Regardless, I still had a wonderful time in Edinburgh celebrating Hogmanay.  And, I did A LOT of advance research on Hogmanay events available for the foreign public to attend. This post compiles my research for those attending Hogmanay next year. And full disclosure, I am no expert nor am I Scottish – I am simply sharing my research.

A Happy Hogmanay Cocktail from Edinburgh! This is at Cannonball Restaurant near the Castle.

HOGMANAY IN SCOTLAND!

Hogmanay is the Scottish word for New Year’s Eve, and Hogmanay is a BIG holiday in Scotland. Having been celebrated since at least the early 1600s, Hogmanay is now synonymous with festive merrymaking on December 31st in Scotland (not just Edinburgh). Scottish celebrate the arrival of the new year with family, parties, music and good fun. Trust me when I say this is more than a big New Years Eve celebration or party, Hogmanay is a legitimate holiday, similar to Christmas in my opinion, and its incredibly important to the Scottish people. We learned from our local tour guides that one important Hogmanay custom is “First Footing”, where family and friends celebrate the New Year at midnight and the following day by visiting each other’s homes with gifts of Scottish whisky and coal.

Edinburgh dressed festively for Hogmanay.

Hogmanay is celebrated across Scotland, but the largest celebration, and the most accessible to non-Scottish visitors, is in Edinburgh, Scotland’s gorgeous capital. Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebration generally lasts four days, with the biggest celebration being a grand street party on December 31st.  Edinburgh’s Hogmanay is welcoming and accessible to foreigners, but it requires advance planning, and most events require a ticket.

Continue reading →