The Scriffiths

Our trip to Hong Kong deliberately coincided with our friends Gavin and Ed also being there. After hanging out together in NYC in January when we house sat for them, and finding out they’d be in Hong Kong for the ‘100 day celebration’ of Ed’s brother’s new baby, we decided to rendez-vous in HK for another catch up. Since their departure to the US, we hadn’t seen each other in three years and our trip to HK together would make three catch ups in 7 months, following New York in January and San Diego in October 2022. »

Before arriving in Quebec we’d spent three weeks house and puppy sitting for our friends in New York City over Christmas and New Year while they went home to Australia. While we endured temperatures well below freezing, we didn’t get any snow and so we were really looking forward to arriving in a city blanketed in snow. Quebec City is a walled city But the city hasn’t had the amount of snow that it usually would at this time of year. »

We went on a Gastronomad Experience, hosted by serious foodies and long term digital nomads, Mike and Amira Elgan. Their obsession with finding good food and wine and deeply engaging with those who produce it has led to the creation of a truly unique travel experience. Our Gastronomad Experience was to the magical town of Oaxaca, Mexico, known for its strong preservation of indigenous culture and traditions, especially culinary ones. »

Guadalajara is the capital city of Jalisco, the Mexican state famous for the town of Tequila and mariachi music. Agave fields outside the town of Tequila We experienced both during our Jose Cuervo tour to Tequila. We booked a full day tour and as we discovered when we arrived at the meeting point, so did hundreds of others. We weren’t necessarily expecting a small group tour but the experience we got was quite something, and certainly a long way from the type of travel we tend to do these days. »

We flew into Houston, making it our entry point into the US, and stopover on the way to Mexico, for two reasons: barbecue and NASA. Max was also joining us on our Mexican adventure. Barbecue in Houston The first night we ate at J-Bar-M Barbecue which made a great sausage. After our fill, we went back to the hotel, for a restless night’s sleep, jetlag winning the battle for the middle hours of the night for all of us. »