Happy Holidays!! I’m writing to you from my brother’s cozy little home on the coast of Maine, just outside of Portland. The sun is shining and it is frigid out. As soon as I finish this post, I’m gonna wrap up + take Gunni, the dog, out for a walk on the beach. Yep. My brother literally lives on the coast of Maine. It’s a sandy little beach, tucked into a cove, with wide the Atlantic Ocean in view.
I thought I’d share with you what’s been going on this past week, but mostly since we arrived in the States on Thursday night. Up until Thursday, I worked as usual.
But, on Thursday morning, my love + I headed out the door and to the airport. USA, here we come! We found some super duper cheap tickets, but the trade off was that we would change planes multiple times. Usually we just take a direct flight from Stockholm to New York. We were up for the adventure. And, adventure it was!
The airport was PACKED. But, of course it was. It was just before Christmas. Still, things went quite smoothly + fairly fast. So, yay for leaving Stockholm.
We landed in Oslo, Norway for a very short layover. Desperate for some food, but unable to find any and didn’t have time to either, we broke down and bought chips + beer as soon as we boarded the plane to London.
NEW YORK CITY, baby! It’s no secret that Lina and I love NYC, so we decided to get an Airbnb place for the night and take in some of the Christmas sights. I mean… there’s nothing like the magical, holiday vibes that you can find in NYC this time of year.
We grabbed a cab and headed to our hotel (that also rents out on Airbnb), Orchard Street Hotel in the Lower East Side. We absolutely looooove the LES because of all of its funkiness and grungy, wild vibes. We checked in and went up to our little room – the perfect place for a short stay.
While waiting for the elevator to take us back down so we could go out + explore, I told Lina that the hotel had a rooftop. So when we got in the elevator I pushed R and took us to the roof instead of down. The elevator stopped, and the doors opened directly onto the roof….
with these amazing views!
After taking in the views, we headed to a local mexican restaurant for some true, authentic mexican food… and then we grabbed a cab to Rockefeller Center!!
Good morning from our hotel! Rockefeller Center was magical and beautiful! We made it back to the hotel about 1 am and fell directly asleep… exhausted from the travel and excitement. As the sun rose outside our window, we were able to get a glimpse of our fun neighborhood, falling in love even more.
A quick shower to wash the airplane feelings away, and then I headed downstairs to grab some coffee for Lina and me. After we were both ready, we headed out into the streets to look for breakfast + just enjoy stretching our legs and soaking in the views.
Breakfast time! We headed to a little coffee bar that we had been to before. It had obviously changed owners, because the name was different. But, the decor and food and coffee was the same. It’s a tiny little hole in the wall that I am certain is only mostly used by locals. Just what we love.
Croissants + coffee + people watching in this community place, and we were feeling satisfied. Time to head back to the hotel to checkout + order our first Uber ride!
Theo was our Uber driver and he was fantastic. We talked the entire way to the airport – he’s an artist from Queens, doing Uber on the side… because… living the NYC dream. Anyway, he was amazing. And it was a fabulous first Uber experience.
We arrived at the airport – not to fly anywhere – to meet my parents!! They were driving there to pick us up – because who wants to drive into Manhattan?! We all crammed into their car + then headed north towards Maine and my brother!!
It took us about 9 hours to drive what should have taken only 5, but the Christmas traffic was insane. I drove the whole way, which was awesome, since I love to drive. But the last 2 hours were a bit brutal. However, we arrived safe + sound around 8PM, and my brother had ordered pizza already, which arrived just when we did.
Let the family holidays begin!
xoxo. liz.
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