New Years Dinner at Cannonball Restaurant in Edinburgh, Scotland!

As you may know, Dan and I spent last New Year’s Eve in Edinburgh, Scotland for Hogmanay – Scotland’s New Year holiday. Despite Hogmanay being a huge overnight street party with food, drinks, and vendors, we opted to book a formal sit down New Year’s Eve dinner in Edinburgh for actual New Year’s Eve dinner, as we were concerned about the cold and the weather. Turns out, booking that dinner was a GREAT idea, as Hogmanay was largely cancelled two days before the holiday due to high winds (note – we booked over a month in advance of the cancellation). This posts details our New Year’s Eve tasting menu at Cannonball Restaurant in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Dan & I on Hogmanay in Edinburgh. This was at a pub before dinner.

Located in Edinburgh’s Old Town, literally steps down from Edinburgh Castle’s main entrance, Cannonball Restaurant is set inside a 17th century building called the Cannonball House. It’s quite easy to locate.  According to the restaurant, it is the former townhome of the First Duke Gordon and is also home to Scotland’s oldest door knocker. For most tourists purposes, however, it boasts a cosy cocktail and whiskey bar and a formal restaurant serving local fare.

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Spending A Long Weekend in Edinburgh During Hogmanay!

Dan, me and our friends flew to Edinburgh just after Christmas this year for Hogmanay. And what is Hogmanay you may ask and why did we spend it in cold, rainy Edinburgh? Hogmanay is the Scottish word for the last day of the year and its, practically speaking for tourists, a New Years Eve celebration, albeit with a lot of Scottish flair. I had wanted to do this for years, so we finally booked flights for the 2024 – 2025 new year.

Flying into Edinburgh in the early morning.

DAY 1: AN EARLY WALK AROUND EDINBURGH, A PUB DINNER & DELICIOUS COCKTAILS

We flew out from Newark on a Friday evening and after a 5.5 hour, rough winter flight, we arrived in Edinburgh in the wee hours of the morning. We taxied directly to our hotel which, unfortunately, could not get us into our rooms until right at 3:00 PM (the official checkin time). Due to Edinburgh’s popularity during this time of the year, checking in to a hotel early is probably not really feasible.

Victoria Street, Edinburgh.

Victoria Street. The pink building sells ridiculous pork sandwiches that sell out frequently and the brown (actually purple) building is a “wand” store, a la Harry Potter, and there would later be a line down the street.

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The Layover: Dubai Edition

I had a 30 hour, overnight layover in Dubai in November en route to the Maldives. This was not my first visit to Dubai, so while I wanted to “feel like I was in Dubai”, I did not want to revisit its most popular tourist sites. I also wanted to concentrate my time on the Palm Jumeirah, or the artificial islands made in the shape of a Palm tree, as I felt like I largely missed this area on my last visit to Dubai. This article explains how I passed the time on my layover!

A Google map of The Palm islands.

LANDING IN DUBAI – 8:30 PM.

I flew direct to DXB from New York’s JFK on Emirates. We were supposed to land around 8:00 PM, but our flight out of New York was delayed and we didn’t land until about 10 PM. I had optimistically made a dinner reservation at Little Miss India, a wonderful Indian spot on the Palm Jumeirah, but that had to be cancelled (honestly, I don’t think that I would have made it anyway as the last seating was at 10 PM). After deplaning and clearing Immigration and Customs, which was so quick, we Ubered to our hotel, the St. Regis The Palm Dubai, and arrived around 11 PM.

Made it back to Dubai!

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3 Really Fast Days in Florence + a Wine Tour!

The third stop on our big Italian vacation with Dan’s Uncle and Aunt in September 2024 was Firenze (or, Florence)! Dan’s Aunt was an art teacher, so this was her destination selection and definitely her city! We have been to Florence twice before this trip and quite frankly, its not our favorite Italian city. (I know, molto unpopular opinion). In any case, there is a ton to do in Florence, and it is truly a gorgeous city. We squeezed as much as possible into 3 days, one of which consisted entirely of a wine tour through Tuscany. This post explores our trip and provides information to recreate it.

Ponte Vecchio in Florence.

DAY 1: ARRIVAL IN FLORENCE, THE REAL DAVID AND A FOOD TOUR!

We arrived in Florence via a 1.5 hour train from Lucca. And, it was POURING rain. POURING. We called an Uber van from Florence’s Santa Maria Novella train station to our hotel, Palazzo Ridolfi. And we got lucky with the Uber, they are not frequent or easy to get in Florence. Palazzo Ridolfi is located in an old palazzo in the Oltrarno neighborhood, which is the neighborhood across the River Arno from Florence’s tourist center.

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How We Spent An Anniversary Weekend In San Juan, Puerto Rico!

Dan and I flew to San Juan, Puerto Rico at the end of August to celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary(!). This was our 5th trip to San Juan and it was as fun and delicious as always. In light of the recent comments about Puerto Rico, now is a better time than ever to write about how much fun we had (and always have) in San Juan! This post details how we spent our long weekend, including what we did, where we stayed and what we ate and drank.

Colorful buildings of Old San Juan at night.

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