moving day

the time has come for me to pack up my things and leave the old blogspot behind. I've moved over to my very own domain and a much cleaner layout (with easier commenting & connecting options!).

travelsize-me.com is now in working order!

the good news is this shouldn't affect you at all. Most of you get here via twitter, facebook, or tumblr, so I'll still update in each of those places when new posts go up. Hope you like it! Feel free to make suggestions on how to make it better. I am still fairly new to the world of blogging things other than photos, so I welcome any advice.

thanks guys!

b

blah.

blogger has a mind of its own. i changed the header and now it looks like this.
maybe time for a move.

baby went to Amsterdam

Amsterdam. A lot of things come to mind when someone mentions they went to Amsterdam, eh? 

Admittedly, it is a very fun town... but the legal-ness of certain things that aren't legal elsewhere aren't really the reason why. Look at it! It's adorable. Amsterdam was originally settled as a fishing village in the late 12th century... so you can see how all of the canals came in pretty handy. As a newcomer, it's quite easy to get lost (which we did even with our iPhone maps) - this canal intersects with that canal; that old brick building on the corner looks like that old brick building on the other corner.  

Unfortunately, we were only there for one night. Fortunately, we got to spend it with other globe-trotting friends of ours who happened to be there at the same time. They had a bit more time there, so they told us about some must-do things.

The Can't-Miss Five, Amsterdam Edition

1. The Red Light District. Because aren't you a little curious? Why not, right?
2. Get on a house boat. Tons of tours. Some of them involve pizza. Some of them involve pizza and beer. I'd choose the latter. 
3. Drink in the icebar, XtraCold. That's right - a bar made of ice. Does it really matter if you're a club goer or bar hopper? No. We're talking about EXPERIENCES, people. 
4. Van Gogh Museum. You have to admit that this was one interesting character. This is supposed to be the best Van Gogh museum out there as it contains the most VG pieces of any museum.
5. Eat Apple Pie. Mr. RP does not believe in the apple pie phenomenon, but I'd say you should give it a shot.  The place to do this is Winkle43.

As far as our trip, we got to wait for a keyboard to be delivered... which led to some serious boredom in the green room. After Rp played an incredible, sell-out show, we went to a couple of bars with our friends and sadly had to call it a night fairly early. Another city and another show the next day. Can't wait to visit again and do all of the things I'm telling you to do!

Until then, enjoy: Backstage boredom, houseboats on houseboats on houseboats, canals on canals on canals, and our faces.

Also, for my last piece of info on this entry... in case you're on the fence or unsure about it, Holland and The Netherlands are the same thing :] I hear people get confused about that. Totally not me. Yeah... not me at all. 

until next time,

b

[post title refers to this song]

road trip

 

for part of the tour we rented a car and drove around Europe to the shows. needless to say... Rp highly enjoyed the autobahn. 

boys and cars. I'll never totally get it. 

most of the drive looked the same... snowy and bleak. however, I would highly recommend this mode of travel around Europe. Super easy and cheaper than flying - especially when you plan to hop between cities every single day.  put this on your to-do list.

on the road playlist: bon iver, alt-j, dirty dancing soundtrack

gangster.

xo,

b

I heart ... Antwerp?

I do, though. It's so charming! Its teeny, curving streets, old buildings, and crazy bike riding culture - I could eat it up! We had a rare day off in Antwerp, so we had a chance to relax and take in the city. Scratch that - I spent the morning in a Belgian laundromat trying to figure out how to read instructions written exclusively in Dutch. Luckily, a lot of Dutch words are similar to English words with extra letters in them minus some of the normal letters ... so in that way, they are not like English words at all and I'm just a genius who figured out how to wassen and drogen our clothes. I walked out of that laundromat like I'd just won an Oscar... proud, thankful, and ready for champagne.

Instead of Champagne, I settled for Belgian waffles, a walk to the diamond district, and almost getting frostbite. I suppose this does not need to be said - but Belgium in January will freeze your tootsies right off. Even the promise of diamonds couldn't keep our mood up. We finally succumbed to the weather, stumbled into DelRey & got Rp a bag of belgian chocolate. I don't care for the stuff, but I will admit that this was pretty tasty. If they added salt to some of the pieces I may have been a full blown fan. You almost had me, Belgian chocolate... almost. Sooooo, right. We finished our Antwerp adventure with a belgian dinner of moules frites & Trappist beer.

The biggest downside was that when it snowed we couldn't tell what was the street and what was the sidewalk... so we ended up driving our rental car on the sidewalk one night. And not just an "oh, no, we sort of drove on the sidewalk a little" - a "we just drove a mile down a pedestrian walk way and now we can't go any further because there are concrete dividers... and we now have to reverse down this small European street... at night... in the snow." Oops. I'd say that was more our fault than the city's but I'd really rather not take the blame on this one, k guys?

enjoy below: oldness, cuteness, bikes on bikes on bikes, deliciousness, and my reaction to Trappist beer. 

SO MUCH MORE TO COME!

-b

Paris snapshot

Our European adventure/tour kicked off with a night in Paris. This is just a snapshot... much more to come later. The biggest news from the Popes is that we'll be LIVING in Paris for 2 months after the tour. So, while you won't find much here in this post, I wanted to give you guys that little piece of information so that you'll stick with me and follow me around Paris for a while. While it won't be all play (Ron is working on the new album, and I'll be working on the business side of the new album), I am sure we'll find some time to run around and show you the sights. 

For now, here's a glimpse into how the tour started off...

 

We adore Paris! And I'm quickly becoming obsessed with my latest camera acquisition. A point and shoot that gives me a pretty good range of manual functions (Canon G15 for those who are interested). Lightweight, compact, pretty quick on the autofocus... I'm a happy girl. 

Running off to another sound check... only a few more shows this tour!

xoxox,

b

UK catch up

A day off! We finally have a day off! I realize I've been to multiple countries and you haven't heard a peep out of me on here. Forgive me and trust me though! I am taking loads of photos to share with you. I even bought a fun new point-and-shoot that has been helping me out. As a side note, I keep acquiring electronics with a UK plug... maybe I just need to stay.

Another reason for my absence is the aforementioned bus life. Usually, we'd finish with a show super late, get back on the bus, stay up for a few hours chatting, watching movies, or having a nightcap, go to sleep, and then I'd wake up and we'd be parked in some alley of the next city! Then I'd have to scope out the nearest cafe with internet so I could get some work done before the show started. So, sightseeing was minimal unfortunately.

The one place I did get to wander through was Glasgow. I have been itching to get to Scotland, so I was thrilled to wake up, peak out of my little bunk window, and see a beautiful, sunny day... and that we were parked next to the Botanical Gardens. So, I threw on clothes, left behind the laptop and went for a wander. I also met the nicest barista who gave me a free, delicious caramel shortbread (I believe the tiny cafe was named The Kitchen). After a stroll through the gardens, I woke Rp up to go on more adventures. We wandered through town and found an amazing lunch spot, Kember & Jones. It was  exactly what we needed - fresh produce! Gorgeous town - can't wait to go back & explore more of Scotland.

The shows have, of course, been amazing as well. European audiences continue to amaze me!

That's all for now... I'll be back soon

-b  

places

Morning, babies! How's it going? How's the new year going?

So, I'm not a huge fan of resolutions, but I AM a fan of hearing yours. Mostly because I'm a little stalkery and curious. But not like a cat because I hate cats. Dogs 4 eva. 

Anyway - I hope that you've included a few travel plans in your 2013. Or if you haven't that you have plans to plan. While I do all this traveling for my job, I was a pretty avid traveler before we started this whole mess. The world is wide, my dears, and you should go see it. 

So, let me know... where are you going this year? 

(Even if it's only in dreamland - tell me what you want to see!)

[photo: a not quite ready focus in paris in february 2012)

bus liiiiiiife

...seems so close to thug life if you squint. So, we're off. We spent a week in London getting ready for the tour & now we live on a bus. In London we stayed in Shoreditch and ate at almost every restaurant imaginable in the area, so I have a few recs for you... but not for now, my friends, not for now.

For now, I'm going to catch you up on my oh-so-glam life of sleeping in a bunk, showering in random places, and using Caffe Nero for the free wifi, decent coffee, and smooth jazz elevator music.

So the bunks. These were made for men? I swear when I lay flat I am head to toe the right size for it... and that's a tall 5'3. Outside of babies, no one can sit up in them... we don't have any actual babies on the bus, but this is what I imagine. This can also lead to some interesting ways for actually getting in the bed. I should probably be on a bottom bunk, but everyone wants the top, right? So I hike my leg up the side, jump off the other foot, and manage my way to horizontal position in hopes that I land in the right spot. And if you need something at the foot of the bed or need to fix the covers? Let's just say if you're not flexible, you are screwed. No way, buddy.

... and then yeah, there is no shower. Last night I took an ice cold shower at the venue because I couldn't figure out how to turn on the hot water. Turns out you turn it on OUTSIDE of the bathroom. YES - that makes the most sense. There I was, naked in a hopefully locked bathroom, and I find out you have to LEAVE said bathroom to make the water a mild form of warm.

Sounds just like the picture of glam right? I shouldn't ruin these things for you guys. So, I take it back... picture me running around in Louboutins, staying at The Ritz, keeping my camera in a Celine bag. YEAH!

OH, so I've been getting a ton of questions regarding my baby-size suitcase, so I'm going to do a few packing/travel advice posts. If you have any questions, shoot them to me at travelsizeme83@gmail.com.

'till then, I'll keep instagraming and you keep hearting my photos. I love that you do that.

-b