Tag: Travel

Travel

Portland Maine

by The Tay Greeley Blog3 Comments on Portland Maine
Portland Maine

I am a New Englander Born and Raised, however I was born on the Southern side of New England. I have explored much of the Cape and southern parts of MA and I know the streets of Boston like the back of my hand. Portland Maine has been on my bucket list for a while and one of my closest fiends and I decided to make it happen.

Out side of the beautiful scenery, Maine in my opinion has some of the best eats – not just sea food. Not to mention that the little shops are adorable and SUPER affordable.

Where to stay?

We got a double queen room for two nights at the Hampton Inn Portland Waterfront. They actually upgraded us and we ended up having a beautiful view of the water and sunrise. I chose the hotel because it was super affordable, updated, and close to all the cute shots. Valet parking is $20 a night, there is free continental breakfast and coffee all day. I can be quite a hotel snob from my 6 years working in Luxury hotels – and this hotel met my high standards! Service was as to be expected but we didn’t need much on this trip.

Where to Shop?

The location of the hotel put us in the perfect area to shop. We were right on the corner of Fore Street and Franklin St. Fore Street has a ton of tiny shops including our favorite that we found Siempre Mas which as the CUTEST trinkets – we had a bit of a shopping spree. Around this area you can find some smaller shops down all the small streets.

Where to Eat?

You KNOW I couldn’t do a post with out talking about food! We went up on Good Friday, she had worked all day, we got up there around 6pm. All we wanted was wine and Pizza. The WEIRDEST thing about Portland is they have amazing pizza and Slab Pizza did NOT dissapoint. This pizza is Sicilian style pizza (we actually are both Sicilian) and we were salivating over this pie. Highly recommend if you are ever in the Portland area for lunch.

LOBSTER ROLLSSSSSSSSS – if you go to Maine without getting a lobster role, did you even go to maine? A lot of business was hit pretty had with the pandemic. Portland Lobster Company is DEF the place to go, but unfortunately they were closed when we were there. When researching other top options we came across The Highroller Lobster Co. What I loved about their options was that you can dress up your lobster roll in a number of ways, or have it traditional!

For dinner we ended up going to Old Port Sea Grill and Raw Bar – oh mannn. This meal was amazing and the Vibe was all there. Michelle got Salmon and I ended up getting Steak and Truffle Fries. The Highlight of the meal tho was the Clam Chowder as an app. This was the best clam chowder I have ever consumed. It had a twist on traditional clam chowder and had a little kick to it. HIGHLY RECCOMEND

What to see?

On our way home we took a trip to Cape Elizabeth to see the Portland Head Lighthouse. It was BEAUTIFUL. There are walking trails around it that go along the water and there’s a ton of History in that area as well. I recommend stopping by on your way up/down.

I hope this post was helpful. If you are in New England I highly recommend you take a weekend trip up. There is still so much more I want to see so look out for another post!

XOXO

Tay

Travel

Tulum, Mexico!

by The Tay Greeley BlogLeave a Comment on Tulum, Mexico!

Hi Everyone!

It has been a while since I have posted and A LOT has been going on. Grad school this semester has been a little insane work wise so that is why I have been MIA. But also I was in Tulum, Mexico for a week totally disconnecting which was much needed.

Tulum was AMAZING! I want everyone who is looking to go to Mexico to consider going here. You will not be disappointed, I guarantee.

Tulum is a small little town located about 1.5 hours south of Cancun along the cost of the Yucatán Peninsula. The reason I was attracted to this area is because it is known for its well preserved Mayan ruins AND Cenotes (under ground caves).

You fly into Cancun International Airport and then most hotels have shuttles or partnered car services to take you. One thing I will say for those who are nervous traveling to Mexico given all the news about what is going on: Tulum is in the middle of no where. It is a very rural town and there are not large resorts like you see in Cancun. It is mostly small boutique hotels and everything is pretty open. There is regular police patrol that is not different than what you see in Boston, but it is definitely an area where you can be very vulnerable if you are expecting maximum security from the military or a resort. Basically, if you don’t have common street sense, don’t go here. Find a resort.

What we did notice while we were there, there were very little Americans and a lot of Europeans. Also, its is the perfect place for Bachelorette parties or even a single traveler. Tulum is a place where you can do absolutely nothing but eat and relax or you can see many historical sites. We chose to do nothing.

Our Hotel

We stayed at El Pez which is part of Colibri Boutique Hotels which is ALSO affiliated with Small Luxury Hotels of the World which is a company we are looking to use for every single vacation we have been looking into. I have a BS in Management with a Concentration in Hospitality and all of my professional Hospitality career was done in luxury boutique hotels, so you can say they are my passion. I did MUCH research before we went and I am a hotel snob, so I have extremely high standards and El Pez met them all! I will be doing a Travel Tips Post later this week hopefully where I give you my professional input on how I book vacations.

We did not do much while we were there because we needed a few days to just Relax and Rejuvenate, but we will be going back hopefully withing the year because I really wanted to go to the Cenotes and all the Mayan Ruins. If we do we will stay here 1000%.

The best thing about luxury boutique hotels is the service. In a good hotel most staff you are interacting with will get to know your name and use it regularly, this also allows them to put the personalized touch on your experience, more than what you would get at a Large resort. El Pez has under 20 rooms so EVERYONE knew our names. Even the grounds keepers who took care of the common areas.

We stayed in a Sea Front King which is technically the lowest level room and our view was amazing! Every room has a veranda and every morning they deliver coffee. We did not set a single alarm while we were there. Our view faced the sunrise, so we just left our curtains open. I am the only one who drinks coffee. Every morning between 7 and 8, I would wake up to the sun rise, grab my coffee outside my door, and sit on the veranda while I enjoyed my coffee. No technology. (they also deliver meditation tea every night)

Then J would wake up and we would head down stairs for breakfast, which was included, sit watching the water, eat fresh fruit and just be present. IT WAS PERFECT! This was our first Vacation as a couple and prob the best possible one we could have done.

After breakfast we would go back to the room and from about 9 to 12:30 is the sun would hit our Veranda perfectly I would just sun bath up there.

The rest of the day we would just walk around the town exploring and eating Tacos. J was obsessed with Mateo’s Mexican Grill, so we ate there every day. They have outstanding service, a beautiful Sunset bar AND a different featured Margarita every day. The one above is a Cucumber Margarita which I had multiple times a day (they made it for me even when it wasn’t the special because we kept coming back).

Shopping was amazing as well. Tones of little boutiques, local companies. My FAVORITE purchase was this wall hanging! I was looking for this exact one. It took about 3 hours to find the best one because I am so indecisive, everyone give J a round of applause for putting up with me.

OVERALL: I give Tulum 15 out of 10 starts. I find I usually have high expectations in my head of what my vacations are going to be like, and they never quite measure up. Tulum blew us away. Best thing, you can go to relax or to have an adventure and learn some amazing Mexican History.

As always, Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment below or email with questions! I have a lot of Highlights on IG as well.

XOXO

Tay

DISCLOSURE: This is not sponsored, pure opinion.