The Chrismans Abroad | June 2017

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6/29 Flight to and from Dublin side by side. Not too much changed except for a bit more color and a couple pairs of tired eyes.

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6/29 Our favorite wearables

Liz: My favorite apparel included this periwinkle button down by North Face and shorts by Patagonia.

The button down became a standard for this trip: it is conservative enough to wear in any holy space, looks smart for the evening, but is also breathable, light and sweat doesn’t show. The fabric dries quickly and the bottom left corner features a discrete zipper pocket for small items like bills, metro tickets or anything else you need to keep close to you but protected. Overall, this shirt is a must buy for any lady traveler.

The shorts wear perfect for the Italian and Spanish heat. A lightweight mix of cotton and linen made for a balance of cool but without the wrinkles. They’re a modest length with nice deep pockets that don’t bulge out.

Allison: My favorites were my Mountain Khaki tee, North Face shorts, and Kavu purse.

The tee was lightweight while offering shoulder coverage (very important in Italy!) and I enjoyed having a tee that looked a little nicer and didn’t show sweat 💦 in the heat!

These shorts are my new favorite item forever. They are incredibly lightweight and my favorite “mid-thigh” length. I want them in every single color!! I love that, although thin, the khaki wasn’t see through at all. I loved the drawstring, as I could resize as I lost weight from walking and gained it back from eating my way through Europe 😂.

My Kavu bag was perfect for this trip. I could switch the shoulder it was on, stuff it full, and organize in secret pockets. I also loved being able to rest my hand on the zipper without looking nervous.

Our shoes…Chacos 10 flights ✈️ 13 train rides 🚂 Multiple Metros and buses 🚇 And 139 walking miles 🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️

These didn’t let us down once. And we’re still happy to be wearing them. These are perfect for traveling for obvious walking comfort but also for air travel: they’re easy to slip on and off in security and they allow for resizing for foot swelling on long flights. There are a variety of different types but we opted for the second lightest weight model (Z1.) The lightest is the Z Cloud but with the test we put these through we thought the extra 2 ounces of support was worth it.

Huge thanks to the crew at Feltner’s Athletes Corner of Russellville for outfitting us with all these great pieces.

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6/28 City of London 🇬🇧 1. Arriving from the tube to see Big Ben in all of its glory. 2. One last pub meal was so necessary. You know I had to get those fish and chips! 🐟🍟 3. Westminster Abbey was more beautiful than I imagined. So many beginnings and ends have happened here. 4. A peek at Buckingham Palace from the peace of Saint James Park! 🌲🦆 5. We walked this lovely path that honors that lovely lady. Diana had more of an affect on the world than she will ever know. 👸🏼 6. They said the Queen wanted to see us but we told them we were happy with a picture in front of the gates 💁🏻 7. The Palace in ever-drizzly fashion, complete with guards. (look closely) 8. This is NOT London Bridge (even though most people think so). It IS the Tower Bridge and it IS lovely.

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6/28 City of London🇬🇧 We made it. Site seeing today in our #ATUGlobal shirts (represent!) This is the infamous Tower of London behind us.

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Continued obsessiveness. London, England 1. Peace out, real world. I’m going to Hogwarts. ✌🏼 2. Liz said she would go, too… as long as she gets to ride this retired steam engine that they used to film all of the train scenes for the entire 10 years of movie-making… 3. “I wonder…” 4. More nerdy tears, Diagon Alley edition. 5. Since the Potter’s house is a sad place, rain is befitting. 6. Number 4 Privet Drive was assaulted by owls today! 7. Faux is faithfully watching over Hogwarts. 8. “Yes, Harry. I think this is going to be EXACTLY like wizard’s chess” 9. This is the model that they used for much of the filming. 😭 10. “The wand chooses the wizard, Mr. Potter.”

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HARRY POTTER STUDIOS BTW I CRIED 6/27/16 London, England 1. Arriving in the drizzly weather. Pre-Book tickets months in advance to assure you get in! 2. After showing you a video of Daniel, Emma, and Rupert introducing the tour where they exit through the Great Hall doors, they lift the screen.... 3. Me in nerdy tears in the Great Hall 4. Settling into my new common room. 5. #teamsnape is still intimidating in the Potions classroom... 6. Liz is taking wardrobe points from her favorite character. 7. Don't worry, we bowed before approaching Bucky. 8. "Sherbert Lemon" 9. Stumbled upon this Death Eater meeting... #malfoymanor 10. There is a new regime...

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6/26 Shoulder of Mutton, Basingstoke England in celebration of one year of marriage. Grandad and Jenny took us out to their favorite old English pub for our anniversary dinner. Situated in the middle of a series of winding country roads is this gem of a place. Anyone who detests English food clearly hasn't had a steak and mushroom pie. This dish was to die for.

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6/26 Oxford, England Oxford University essentially consists of the variety of colleges that make up the town of Oxford. We visited the quads of a few but many are closed off to the public. Exams just ended not too long before our visit. 1 & 2 This is the top of the door and engraving that inspired CS Lewis' entryway and other aspects of The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe. 2 Cobblestone streets around the main square of Christ Church College. 3 Grandad and Allison donning a couple of the variety of hats Oxford-ites wear. 4 The view from Carfax Tower where north, west, east and south Oxford meet. 5 A wall of preserved ties in The Bear, the oldest pub in Oxford, dating back to the 1200s. 6 A traditional afternoon English cream tea with clotted cream, strawberry jam and scones. 7 One of the quads of a college. I believe this was at All Souls College. 8 The view from the choir loft at St. Mary's, the official Cathedral of Oxford. You can see the Radcliffe Camera, a famous library with a ridiculous number of books and underground tunnel system. 9 A pen & ink artist capturing The Bridge of Sighs. We spent our first wedding anniversary in Oxford. Seems pretty fitting for us. :)

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6/24-6/25 Reading & Hungerford 1 Notice the large piece of rubble next to the church? That's some of the ruins of an abbey that was in the middle of Reading, adjacent to the jail. We toured this area and The Oracle, which my (Liz) Grandad was the overseer of, a huge shopping center that's flanked by the river that runs through the city. 2 The back side of a street in Hungerford with a plaque celebrating the Queen. A very old English country town with a ton of history. 3 Lunch at the Tutti Pole. 4 Lighting a candle with a universal prayer for love in a very old church in Hungerford.

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6/23 Portsmouth, UK A lovely seaside town that faces the Atlantic and the English Channel. 1 On the glass floor of the Emirates tower with Grandad. 2-4 Onboard the HMS Victory. My (Liz) great great grandad Graham was the drum major on this ship. We toured the whole thing and learned a lot about the battle she fought in. 5 A church that was ruined during WWII. Roof blown off the main aisle but the nave and altar have been preserved. The stained glass inside is unique as it's decorated with military figures, specifically Royal Navy.

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6/22-6/27 In Reading/ 🇬🇧

Wifi sparse but we’re with family and safe!

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6/22 A few of my (Liz’s) favorite travel necessities:

1 MONEY BELT. No, this isn’t a fanny pack. It lays flat against your skin and hides under your shirt. As pictured, it’s large enough to fit even a passport. This has been extremely helpful in Europe given the tight streets which equal being close to everyone. As a smart traveler, keeping your pockets free of valuables is important. Two features of this (and most money belts) that I liked are the three card pockets inside the main compartment and the RFID block built in for card scammers.

2 COLLAPSABLE BAG. We picked this up in the U.K. early on in our trip and it’s become invaluable. I’ve carried it on my daypack everyday with the handy clip and when we come across a market it unfolds into a standard size shopping bag. Even big enough to carry the 1.5 liter bottles of water we’ve been drinking everyday. 💧What’s Oxfam you ask? A London based nonprofit group that Coldplay heavily supports that provides essential supplies to areas in need. The 3£ we paid for this went back to them.

3 COCOON GRID-IT. I love this thing. You all know I have a few more chargers and cords than the average traveler (photog probs.) This has held all the cords I need plus my titanium spork (don’t use plastic!) and various memory cards and other things. Also, the back of it has a handy zippered pocket that’s held ALL travel documents (boarding passes, pre purchased tickets. etc.) You can grab this for under $15 on Amazon.

Also, not pictured, but you’ve seen them enough: Chacos. We can’t thank Feltner’s enough for donating these lightweight yet VERY supportive sandals for this journey. 🙏🏼

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6/22 A few of my favorite things… Traveling light is difficult. It truly is hard to pare down to necessities without making yourself uncomfortable. Going to several different climates, cultures, and types of activities made packing for this trip unusually difficult. Here are a few of my things that are STILL my favorites. 1. BLOM This is an AWESOME thing. It is sort of like an Inspector Gadget headband. It can be worn multiple ways because of its knot and seam. It can be really wide or very narrow, depending on how you use the knot. The best part is that this crazy contraption doesn’t hurt my head like other headbands. It’s awesome! 2. Scarves/Cardigans I brought along 2 scarves and 2 cardigans to layer with. After Scotland, one of my cardigans had a hole, so I chunked it before heading to the warmer climates. This Walmart cardigan has stuck it out! It matches or goes with: my Chacos, both scarves, and 5 of my shirts. It’s dead useful. The scarves are perfect for dressing up a solid-colored tee OR covering your shoulders to enter a church/basilica. 3. Mary Kay So. This is not an advertisement for Mary Kay… but I will tell you that I love these products. I LOVE makeup and this was hard, but I have been really happy with my choices! In Italy 🇮🇹 people dress to the 9s every day. Having enough makeup made me feel more confident even in my slightly more casual clothes. - Cream Eye Shadow in a neutral Beach Blonde to add a little shimmer while matching everything - Endless Performance Creme to Powder foundation for days I was dressing a little nicer OR use as concealer - Lash Love Lengthening Mascara - Mary Kay at Play Lip and Cheek Stick ; this one is NOT a product I normally use because it is part of our line normally geared toward teens… but it is PERFECT for traveling. It doesn’t break when dropped like blush and it doesn’t melt when hot like lipstick. I love it. - cheap and light generic sponge from Wally World! I use one side for the powder and the other to blend the blush from the Lip and Cheek stick - CC Cream is the bomb! It is a light foundation with great coverage plus SPF 15. It is light enough that it has continued to blend as I have tanned throughout the trip. NOT PICTURED: CHACOS #thesearelife

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6/21/17 Barcelona, Spain Allison’s turn!! 😎🤓👋🏼

1. Due to excessive walking and a small Vespa injury, we decided to be THOSE tourists and take a Hop-On-Hop-Off service. These are sort of pricey, so we have refrained until now… but we loved it!! We got to see so much of the city. The buses were clean, easy, and convenient. It was a great decision, and our feet thanked us for ONLY taking 15K steps today. 2/3. One of the less touristy things we have done to date. This old convent was created by one of the queens of Aragon. It was quiet, beautiful, and only €9 for both of us to see INCLUDING the audio guide! 4. In the collection at the convent, there were these 500 year old choir books. Not that I was excited about that or anything… 5. Tapas tapas tapas! 6. A stunning view of Barcelona. We are already planning our trip back. 7. They not only have over 100K of bike lanes… they are TWO-WAY bike lanes! 🚲 8. In Barcelona, Coke Light (Diet Coke) is served with a lemon slice. This city was made for me! 9. We are where Guy Fieri ate! On accident! Liz ordered in Spanish for us(🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼) and they gave us free potatoes (🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼) so we were pretty happy campers.

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6/21 Barcelona, Spain’s Antonio Gaudi

I (Liz) have weird art tastes. I have a soft spot for Medieval art & architecture, contemporary art that’s based on nature and art that’s simply packed with symbolism/responses to a culture and time. Enter Antonio Gaudi, Barcelona homeboy and architect of the city’s most unique buildings and structures.

First item of business for today was a pilgrimage to Sagrada Familia. This basilica is still being built and expected to finish in 2026 (100 years after Gaudi’s death.) The light play in this place is the core of the spiritual experience and you get the feeling of being protected by a stone forest with his innovative designs. I took many more with my “big” camera but the first 4 photos are some of my favorites of the main areas.

The next 3 images are a few other buildings designed by him. His pieces are peppered all around the city and pop into the skyline like eye candy.

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6/20 Barcelona, Spain We've landed in Barcelona and we greeted by a complex Metro system that rivals Londons Tube (but VERY clean and efficient,) these talented musicians on the train and our hostal (private room) in the Gothic Quarter. Many sites to see tomorrow. Hasta mañana!

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6/20 Vintage Motors: Palma de Mallorca Accidents only add to the adventure, right? We rented two Vespas for the day yesterday to get away from the resort area we stayed in and see a bit more of this unique island. The rental company, Vintage Motors, was great to work with showing us the ins and outs of operating, parking and everything in between. Everything was awesome. Until we had to get back to the parking garage for the rental company. One of the branches of the company is at the bus station... easy to find.... except that every street around it is one way. We drove for nearly an hour to figure out the way in then... I (Allison) drove into the WRONG parking garage. Yep. How might I be so dumb, you might ask? Guys. There are 2 parking garages that are only a few hundred feet apart. So, I went in... and where was Liz? Gone. She was gone. And she had my phone/documents/money in the back of her Vespa. So... I panicked a little, parked the bike, and walked myself to the rental office. We must be on the same wave length, because a few minutes later, Liz found me! She parked in the correct garage. The rental guys insisted that I move it to the right place. So. I tried. And had an accident trying to get out of the parking garage. LUCKILY there was an incredibly nice parking attendant that helped us move it to the right exit and Liz drove it to the next garage (Liz writing for a minute...this required many blocks and right hand turns without a right hand mirror...) The mirror was all that was broken. That's it y'all. I am a little bruised and scratched, we lost €50 to replace it, and we will never rent Vespas in the worst place to drive again. I truly feel that we were being watched over; it could have been so much worse. I am so grateful. For the record... I was great at driving the Vespa. It was the parking garage's fault.