Many people go to Spain. Some people think there are too many tourists and not enough housing for common working people. You can see this in the protests in Barcelona . I believe that there is a real point to that and while solving the problem is complex, one way is to leave the beaten tracks and obvious places to go.  Instead of Barcelona, why don't you go to the north of Spain as described a while back here . Or consider the south, which even in a hot summer is really beautiful. You can find details on a week in the south described in this post. Spreading ourselves, being polite and considerate, so we don't become a nuisance might just be help a little bit... And with that... back to our regular programming. Travel like Just Been There A week of Spain traveling like just been there can look like this: Arrive by plane in Sevilla and travel to Granada by train Two days Granada A day trip to Córdoba from Granada One more day in Granada Two days in Sevilla Travel out of Sevilla b...

I might be slightly biassed, but Maastricht in The Netherlands is one of my favorite cities. It has this combination of looking good, serving great food, is small enough to be still a low stress city. On top of that Maastricht is very easy to get to and very international with some typical touches of the province of Limburg. In short, time to go on a walking tour of Maastricht. Travel like Just Been There A day trip, arriving by train and walking around can look like this: Arrive by train Walk along the city wall and go through the "gates of hell" or Helpoort Visit the "caves" (more on the quotes later) - Maastricht Underground Walk back and enjoy a set of old city wall and related buildings, including the "Poortgebouw" on the river Jeker to end up at 't Vrijthof At 't Vrijthof, visit the St Jans Church and the St Servaas Treasury Next visit the Dominican bookstore and then on to City Hall Optional, on the east bank of the Meuse river visit the Bon...

 On a recent trip we stayed in Sydney, and because the public transit is so good, we decided to pick a location a little off the beaten path. So not around Darling Harbor, The Rocks, or close to Circular Quay. Instead we stayed just off Central Station in Chippendale, right across from the University of Technology Sydney. Travel like Just Been There A few days in Sydney can look like this: The Bridge, Opera House, The Rocks - try to catch the market on a weekend, Darling Harbor and much more... Take the ferries to Manly as it is a great boat ride and the beach is nice (special tip below for those shoppers amongst us) Enjoy the great food, which is the main topic of this post Just Been There Art Look at or buy art inspired by this trip. If you like this trip, but can't go, or you too have just been there, this unique art may rekindle fond memories of your own trip. Click the image for a link to the online store. Note: you will be leaving this site and connect to the artists site. Bu...

A quick post on some exciting food destinations we found and tried off the Strip in Las Vegas. Don't let these strip malls scare you away. Off strip, in strip malls doesn't mean chains and blandness. We found some real great breakfast, lunch, and dinner places.  Ichiza's Partial Menu Here goes... Breakfast - German Bread Bakery Yes, found another one, and while this one is not in as cool a location as our find in Tehachapi ( read more here ). This bakery has the classic rolls (brötchen) and lots of other goodies. If you go for the brötchen, consider stopping by Smith's and get some jam or any other things you like on bread. Makes for a classic German breakfast.  Smith's does have a Starbucks, so if you want to do your picnic breakfast, stop by there. It is in the same complex.  Note, there are two locations, the other location is south of the airport, in Paradise. Breakfast option II - Sambalatte This place is wonderful, it is a very cool coffeeshop. Check out the u...

One of the exciting things of traveling through Europe is that you can visit three countries easily in a few days. You'll see big similarities and subtle differences. Oh and in this case, you'll need two currencies. And, to be safe, bring a passport to at least one of them. Travel like Just Been There Five days in Southwest Germany, with a bit of France and some Switzerland can look like this: Day 1 - Arrive in the Freiburg / Black Forest area Day 2 - France, Colmar day trip  Day 3 - Titi See and Freiburg Day 4 - Switzerland, Schaffhausen - Basel loop Day 5 - Pack up or extend (more later) Just Been There Art Look at or buy art inspired by this trip. If you like this trip, but can't go, or you too have just been there, this unique art may rekindle fond memories of your own trip. Click the image for a link to the online store. Note: you will be leaving this site and connect to the artists site. Locks on the Canal (Colmar) All art copyright by: Christine Ong-Dijcks  Where to ...