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It’s officially Fall! It definitely doesn’t fe It’s officially Fall! It definitely doesn’t feel like it in Miami, it really never does but that just gives us a reason to explore other states. West Virginia is one of them, fun fact I actually lived here between undergrad and grad school! Here are Things to do in West Virginia (SAVE + SHARE): 

1. Enjoy New River Gorge National Park & Preserve, or visit any of the states 35 state parks as West Virginia has 1.5 million acres of parks and public land. We personally walked the Shavers Lake Trail and canoed on the lake. 

2. Enjoy some serious adventures! We’re always trying something new and West Virginia offers a lot of options from whitewater rafting, to 1,000+ miles of off-road ATV trails, to rock climbing, caving and mountain biking . 

3. Take a train ride on the Cass Scenic Railroad which stops at the Whittaker Camp where those who worked in the lumber and coal industry lived during the work season. 

4. Explore Cranberry Glades Botanical Area where you might just get to see some black bears! 

5. Walk the Falls of Hills Creak trail to get up close to some gorgeous waterfalls! 

This week I’ll be sharing various cities and states you can experience a beautiful Fall getaway. What are some of your favorite places to enjoy autumn?

Tap the link in my bio for my West Virginia blog post and a blog post of the best places to experience Fall in the US!
Still not over our day exploring the waters of For Still not over our day exploring the waters of Fort Pierce. We danced, snorkeled, fished and went tubing. Definitely want more days like this and still pinch myself that this is what a day of work looks like for me sometimes. Thank you @seadoo for the opportunity.
If you know my husband you know water activities a If you know my husband you know water activities are his favorite! Fishing, jet skiing, just being on a boat on the ocean relaxing, name it, he’s there. So we couldn’t be more excited than to not only get the chance to test out the new @seadoo Switch but be the stars of a whole commercial for it. We had entirely too much fun filming this. Of course now he wants to buy one!

Do you like getting out on the water? Favorite activity?
Our 3 Day London Itinerary (SAVE + SHARE): 

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Day 1: Walked across the Tower Bridge (you can take a tour of London of Tower as well), walked along the River Thames and took a make a fascination hat class with @create_your_own_hat! 

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Day 2: Harry Potter walking tour, checked out Borough Market and went on a night ghost bus tour. 

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Day 3: Morning Tea at Peggy Porschen, Buckingham Palace for Changing of the Guards, and explore Westminster for the infamous red telephone booths, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey.

If you have more time on previous visits to London we have taken a day trip to check out Stonehenge, Bath and Windsor Castle, rode the London Eye, took a ferry ride down the Thames River, checked out Warner Brother Studios, and did a graffiti/street art tour.

Is London on your list? If you’ve been what did you do that you think is a must for visitors?

Things to do in London, London with kids, family travel
Then vs Now (swipe left)!🥹🥰 My babies are no Then vs Now (swipe left)!🥹🥰 My babies are not babies anymore. Where has the time gone? Excuse me while I go cry in the corner 😭😭😭😭. 

Too in my feelings to provide an informational post, I’ll be back tomorrow.
Why is this man always trying to stop my fun? List Why is this man always trying to stop my fun? Listen replace husband with whoever you need to but why these ppl keep acting like we can take our money when we’re gone?!? Y’all feel me or nah? 😅😬😩
Morning Tea in London! Afternoon or High Tea is us Morning Tea in London! Afternoon or High Tea is usually on everyone’s things to do in London list but since the girls and I don’t eat beef or pork the menus for most places didn’t make sense for us as they are filled with ham sandwiches and other things we don’t eat. I ended up finding Morning Tea at Peggy Porschen instead which offers a tea menu with breakfast items, while not traditional it worked best for us! It cost £35 pp.

For a traditional Afternoon or High Tea Try:

🫖Palm Court at The Ritz
🫖The Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon at Fortnum & Mason
🫖Theatre Royal Drury Lane
🫖The Grill Room Hotel Cafe Royal (has vegetarian an vegan options)
🫖Coronation Afternoon Tea at Cellarium, Westminster Abbey
🫖The Rosebery Coronation Afternoon Tea at Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park
🫖The Goring Hotel

Afternoon Teas Geared Towards Families:

☕️Peter Pan Afternoon Tea at Aqua at The Shard
☕️Jurassic Afternoon Tea at the Ampersand Hotel
☕️Jungle Book Afternoon Tea at Brown’s Hotel
☕️Secret Garden Afternoon Tea at Taj 51
☕️The Buzzy Bees Afternoon Tea at St. Ermin’s Hotel
☕️Grover’s Children’s Tea at Grosvenor House Hotel
☕️The Peppa Pig Afternoon Tea Bus Tour
☕️Sherlock Holmes Inspired Afternoon Tea at the Mind Palace
☕️Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Tea at One Aldwych
☕️Mad Hatter Afternoon Tea at The Sanderson
☕️Wizard of Oz Afternoon Tea at The Soho Hotel

Have you done a proper Afternoon or High Tea in London before? Was the one you did on this list, if so what did you think of it? If you have additional recommendations please do leave a comment!

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Cartagena to Medellin: How to Spend 2 Days in Medellin

May 16, 2017      Colombia, Destinations, South America

This post contains affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small commission at no cost to you. Please see our disclosure policy for more information. All opinions are my own.

After landing a flight deal to Cartagena, Colombia we decided to extend our trip and go from Cartagena to Medellin.  This was a great opportunity to see another, very different city, in Colombia. Here are the details of getting from Cartagena to Medellin and how to spend 2 days in Medellin.

How to Get from Cartagena to Medellin

Fly from Cartagena to Medellin

Flying from Cartagena to Medellin was very easy and affordable. We decided to flying Avianca Airlines. Buying a last minute flight from Cartagena to Medellin only cost us $90 round trip.

Drive from Cartagena to Medellin

Driving from Cartagena to Medellin takes an average of 15 hours. This drive has you going up and down windy mountainous roads. I would not recommend this option at all especially if driving at night.

Where to Stay in Medellin

When deciding where to stay in Medellin we found Airbnb’s to be most affordable. We rented this Airbnb in the El Poblado neighborhood. It was walking distance to a grocery store, shops and restaurants. The bathroom was a little outdated for my liking but for $50/night for a 2 bedroom/1 bathroom apartment I can’t really complain. New to Airbnb? Sign up here and save $40 on your first stay. Nervous about staying in an Airbnb? Read my 8 Tips to Guarantee a Great Airbnb Experience.

photo of an apartment with red couch and black table

Things to do in Medellin: A Two Day Medellin Itinerary

Day One: Real City Tours in Medellin and the Metro Cable

We arrived the night before so we had a full day ahead of us. We were lucky enough to get a spot on the free walking tour provided by Real City Tours. They only offer two tours a day Monday-Friday at 9:00AM and 2:00PM and one tour on Saturday at 9:50AM. You can only reserve the tour 1.5 days in advance so Saturday’s tour would open for reservation Thursday after 6:15PM.

The tour basically goes in a rectangle with about 12 or so stops throughout where you will stop and either sit or stand while your guide gives you some history of that area. The tour shows and talks about both the good and bad of Medellin so there is discussion on prostitution, porn-trade, alcoholism and drug-addiction. My kids are so young I didn’t care about this but you may.You do stop for a quick break halfway through the tour to get a snack, drink, and to relax a bit but I recommend bringing snacks and definitely water. Strollers are allowed on the tour but a carrier is much easier as the streets are busy and you will have to tackle a few stairs. On the flip side if your child is heavy it may be very tiring to carry them for 4 hours.

After the tour we took their subway system to the Metro Cable to head to Parque Arvi. Everyone must exit the metro cable at Santo Dominigo (the last stop) and then switch to another one to go all the way to the park. We heard you can get some nice views of the city from the Santo Domingo stop so we walked around a bit since we would have to change metro cables anyway.

Unfortunately for us it started to drizzle a bit while we were exploring Santo Domingo and because it was windy the metro cables stopped running. They were unsure of when they would start back up again and after waiting 20mins we decided we would just head back to our Airbnb since we were starving. Good thing we did as about 3mins after we got in the cab it started pouring! Although we didn’t make it to Parque Arvi we got a great tour of Santo Domingo and nice view of the city from above on our ride down the mountain.

girl standing holding onto railing over looking mountain and cable car

Day Two- Guatape & Rock of El Penol Tour and flight back to Cartagena

Through TripAdvisor I found LandVenture Tours, the #2 tour company in Medellin, the 1st is Real City Tours. We did the Guatape & Rock of El Penol Tour and I could not have been happier. It was a private tour and they provided a car seat for our two year old. We did this tour on the day we were leaving Medellin. They dropped us at the airport after our tour, saving us taxi fare. We also didn’t have to worry about where we would store our luggage after checking out of our Airbnb.

The price was $59 per adult and $30 per child. While I’m not used to paying for the kids on tours of this nature with a total of $237 it was still cheaper than a lot of the same tours through other companies. Alejandro was our guide and he picked us up from our Airbnb promptly at 10AM.

We made the scenic drive to Penol and Alejandro told us all about the area on the way. They allow you to personalize the tour so if at any point you want to stop to take a closer look at something you can. We made a few stops at overlooks to admire the lakes and cities before getting to the Rock.mom holding daughter in Medellin 

We had carriers to use for both kids to make the 750 stair climb to the top. However, we did see children around the age of 3, 4 climbing up themselves with their parents. As much as Jordyn loves to climb stairs I could see her begging to be carried by the 100th stair so I decided against that. It took about 15/20mins to make the climb as we stopped twice to catch our breath and drink some water. The view from the top is absolutely breathtaking, one of the most beautiful views I have seen.

mom holding two daughter in front of a massive rock  beautiful lake with greenery all around

After the Rock we went to the town of Guatape, famous for its zocalos (a form of art in Colombia). We first had lunch before Alejandro gave us a tour of the town and taught us all about the history of the zocalos. He was very informative and the homes decorated with this artwork are so beautiful, colorful, and unique.

man showing toddler artwork on the wall

toddler girl climbing up a colorful staircase

When we were finished we headed back to Medellin proper. Alejandro was able to drop us off at the airport saving us taxi fare. Getting from Cartagena to Medellin was easy and affordable. Spending 2 days in Medellin was a nice introduction to the city but I recommend at least 3 days if possible. Did you find this article helpful? Please share it!

This post contains affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small commission at no cost to you. Please see our disclosure policy for more information. All opinions are my own.
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Hi! We’re The Hambricks

Hi! We’re The Hambricks

If kids live there, kids can visit! That's our motto and you'll often find us exploring destinations most don't find "kid friendly". We've traveled to 35 countries on 6 continents with our children since they were 10 weeks old and share tips to make it easier and affordable. But mom and dad are people too so we also write about solo travel, baecations and girlfriend getaways.

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