Salou, Spain + Amsterdam, Netherlands
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We now have a website for our web series, Live from [Blank]! Check it out and follow along! After the success (and safety compliant-ness) of our #10KDrivewayTour, Alison felt confident she could safely plan a surprise road trip for four teenagers for her daughter’s Sweet 16! She used our dashcam and even put together a little video of the trip.
Alison is still obsessed with chunky sneakers and her new sporty vibe. Seriously, she’s spending hours looking at tennis shoes online. Lulu is obsessed with the Chella Heated Eyelash Curler. It’s gentler on your lashes than your traditional eyelash curler, and gives you gorgeous peepers even without a swipe of mascara! Or you can use the curler after your mascara, try both ways and see what looks best on you!
Alison needs a new dishwasher. Like reaaalllyy needs it. She would happily be a brand ambassador for a kitchen appliance company in exchange for a new dishwasher. Lulu wants a LARQ water bottle, it purifies water and self-cleans via UV-C. They also make a thermos-style one that can keep your coffee warm!
Alison has crafted a perfect day for herself in Salou, Spain, starting with her Airbnb - the Villa Wine Experience. Located in the center of Salou, this unique house stands out with its elegant and sophisticated architecture. It has 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, a large dining room, spacious kitchen, a terrace with a built-in brick barbecue, and a private garden with a pool and sun loungers! Other features that make this a go-to getaway spot is the spa room with sauna and jacuzzi, and the games room with billiards and poker tables!
They offer a breakfast of local sausages, cheeses, pastries, and wines… wine for breakfast? OKAY! They also offer a chef service that comes to the house to make a paella from scratch with live seafood! Perfect to enjoy on the outdoor dining area with sprawling seating for the kind of dinner party that goes until the wee hours. The main draw for Alison is the in-house wine tasting they offer for guests that book for five+ days with wine from the next-door vineyard! This Airbnb comes in at ~$900-1000 USD per night.
Alison has a day of family-friendly adventure ahead of her! 10 minutes away from downtown Salou is PortAventura World, a whimsical wonderland of rides, restaurants, and shows! Spain’s most-visited theme park is also ranked among Europe’s top ten. There are playgrounds and kid’s shows for the little ones, and there are some wild rollercoasters for the adults to look forward to! There are five themed areas of the park: Far West, Mediterrània , México, China and Polynesia - giving a taste of the respective cultures and food as well as thrills and entertainment! A one-day access pass is ~$60 USD!
While there, Alison decides to explore the adjacent parks. First she gets a little “wet-n-wild” in the Caribe Aquatic Park, surfing in the wave pool and lounging in the lazy river!
Next she finds herself in Ferrari Land, where all the knowledge and fun of Formula 1 awaits her. Museum exhibits inform, while activities like the Free Fall Tower and the Ferrari Simulator excite to no end! Ever the adrenaline junkie, Alison is very excited about this portion of her day!
Inspired by that last stop, Alison decides to rent a Ferrari GTC4Lusso for the rest of the day from EuropeLuxuryCars.com. Alison then takes in the sights of Salou’s famed fountains. First up is the Font Lluminosa (“Illuminated Fountain”) built in 1973 by Carles Buigas. The fountain has a light and sound show after sunset from Easter to November that involves 100 water jets and 200 water propulsion combinations, creating quite the spectacle when synchronized to music! There’s a Cybernetic Founatin that is even more intricate, and an interactive Water Labyrinth Fountain that you can navigate through.
For dinner Alison has a seating at the Michelin-starred Deliranto. They pick a story each year, and craft a gastronomic experience around that story. Previous selections included The Wizard of Oz, Alice and Wonderland, The Little Prince, and currently they are “telling” The Fable of Orpheus. The menu shifts as the year goes on, so even though a “story” is “told” for twelve months, up to 90% of the menu is likely to have shifted in that time. There are wine pairings, which of course Alison goes for!
After dinner Alison takes in a show at the House of Illusion where comedy and magic are sure to entertain. It’s technically a dinner show, but since she’s already eaten perhaps they’ll let her substitute with a lot of drinks. It would make her an engaged audience member or a discouraging heckler, either would be entertaining! Turns out they do have VIP seating which includes unlimited Cava (Spanish sparkling wine), so there you go.
Lulu may have outdone herself on the uniqueness factor this week. She is headed to Amsterdam, the infamous and storied tourist destination located in Noord (North) Holland province of the Netherlands. Did you know that Holland and the Netherlands are not the same thing? It’s true. Noord Holland and Zuid (South) Holland are just two of twelve provinces in the country known by English speakers as the Netherlands. Blame the confusion on bad branding, apparently.
Lulu found the intriguing hotel concept known as the Faralda Crane Hotel, who’s website boldly features the quote “You’ll love it or you’ll hate it!”. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience, about which CNN is quoted as saying “An unusual hotel you won’t believe actually exists”. It is a hotel in an old harbor crane, with split-level suites that are situated at 35 m (~115 ft) above the ground. They have three suites - “Mystique”, “Secret”, and “Free Spirit” - all decorated with high end trappings and art a la Jugendstil (the German answer to Art Nouveau) juxtaposed with remnants of an antique ocean cruiser. These are truly one-of-a-kind accommodations! Lulu chooses the “Free Spirit” suite, as she is a free spirit!
Guests of the Faralda Crane Hotel have access to a spa jacuzzi on the upper deck of the crane overlooking Amsterdam and the harbor! There are also some add-ons like champagne breakfast, a helicopter ride with sightseeing, or a 2-star Michelin dinner brought directly to your suite. There is also a very curious “Faralda Fantasy” option, which promises a “shocking and titillating show where your fantasies come true”. You need a password to enter the restricted site, so now we are beyond intrigued!
To fit in with her “Free Spirit” stay, Lulu steps out for her day in this Free People Emi Long Maxi Dress. She goes souvenir shopping at Wooden Amsterdam, a store that combines nature and design by sourcing sustainable wood items. It’s through them she finds this wooden world map in walnut that she can’t wait to get home and put on a wall!
For lunch Lulu visits Moeders, which is Dutch for “mothers”. It opened in 1990, when the owner asked all their initial guests to bring a plate, glass and cutlery, with which the tables are still set today. The restaurant has a “mother’s wall of fame”. You can bring a photo of your mother and put in on the wall. There are hundreds of framed and unframed pictures depicting those from whence we came, giving a cozy, welcoming vibe to this spot focusing on traditional Dutch specialties as well as international fare. Lulu orders a Dutch Ricedish, which isn’t so much a dish of rice as it is a sampling of every traditional dish they make. She finishes her mid-day meal with a homemade dutch cookie ice cream with whipped cream.
She is going to take-away this meal and head for a picnic at the picturesque Vondelpark. She has gotten a few items ahead of time so that can she be prepared for her free-spirited picnic. She purchased this Picnic at Ascot basket as well as this Fortnum & Mason Hamper, so she has some options of course! She foregoes your basic, boring picnic blanket and bought the Cold Picnic Shipwreck Blanket. The brand is “Cold Picnic”, it is not in and of itself a picnic blanket, however it is so gorgeous that after she’s done dining on it we think she should hang it on a wall in her house! In order to stay warm in case of a cool breeze, Lulu has with her the Givenchy Destroyed Crop Denim Jacket and the Givenchy Cropped Cotton-Jersey Sweatshirt. Yes, she is the most prepared free spirit you have ever met.
Lulu is visiting the must-see stop of any trip to Amsterdam, Anne Frank’s House. This is the home whose attic she hid in during World War II, where she wrote The Diary of a Young Girl. Lulu is happy to report you can currently tour the Anne Frank House virtually!
Just a few more stops…Lulu buys nearly everything at the Ajax official fanshop, it’s a sports team but it’s also the name of her passed pup! A quick caffeine boost at Toki, where they “are here to entertain, not to impress” and eschew the mantra “make time, slow down for togetherness”. Lulu loves their vibe, and hangs awhile before ending her day with the 2-** Michelin dinner offered by the Faralda Crane Hotel where she is staying.
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