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I stayed at four Graduate Hotels last month. Here are my thoughts — and highlights from each city!

August 25, 2021 by jessica

At the beginning of June, Graduate Hotels had a limited time offer for a $500 “Hall Pass” that allowed for virtually unlimited hotel stays in the month of July at their properties across the U.S. Like many of you, our travel plans were dashed last year thanks to the pandemic, and we’ve had wanderlust ever since — making this opportunity a no-brainer to get us out exploring again despite not having concrete plans when we booked the pass. We ended up doing four cities over the course of the month: Madison, Minneapolis, Iowa City, and Richmond. (Had our jobs been less busy that month, we would have squeezed in another city or two.) After staying in four properties within four weeks of each other, I thought I’d share my thoughts on the brand along with a few highlights from each city.

We kicked off our month of travel with an overnight right here in Madison. I’ve never stayed in a hotel in the same city I’m currently living in, which made the one-night staycation feel special. Like all of the Graduate properties, the Madison location pulls inspiration from its city, state, and university. The lobby, below, feels like a chic summer camp with the canoe light fixture and vintage decor. And those flamingos on the wildlife print? That’s a cheeky nod to Madison’s official city bird. As we discovered during the month, the hotels are typically renovated properties, so there’s some inconsistencies with the buildings themselves as far as upgrades and finishes are concerned. It often adds to the charm of the vintage-inspired design, but it’s something to keep in mind. (P.S. If you also have a collection of branded hotel writing utensils from places you’ve stayed, the hotel has you covered with branded pencils.)

I’m working on a comprehensive insider’s guide to Madison, so it’s difficult for me to share real highlights from the city with this stop! That said, we started our evening with lakeside drinks at the Memorial Union Terrace, followed by deep-fried cheese curds at Camp Trippalindee (the hotel’s rooftop bar and restaurant) and dinner at Nattspil, a Madison staple serving up the city’s best three-cup chicken in a dimly lit, intimate environment. There’s no signage on the door, so check Google Maps when you’re nearby.

Shhh…I kept this cute pennant! The hotel’s social media information is on the back with a plea to tag them in photos if the pennant happens to find itself in your suitcase, so I think it’s okay!

It’s been a long time since we’ve made the four-hour drive to Minneapolis and this was the perfect excuse to make it back for a two-night stay in the Twin Cities! The location of this Graduate property is right on campus, which isn’t the most convenient in terms of being a tourist, even if it was my favorite in terms of design with the outdoorsy upholstered headboard, a nod toward the university’s hockey team with the throw blanket, and the wallpaper selections: herringbone in the bedroom and fish in the bathroom. And if you find yourself curious about the in-room art while you’re staying at a Graduate hotel, you can use the AR mode on the brand’s app to scan the pieces in the room to learn more — and some even have interactive games!

Minneapolis highlights: Walk through the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden to snap a photo of the iconic Spoonbridge and Cherry before exploring the Walker Art Center. If you love old houses, check out the American Swedish Institute for a tour of the historic Turnblad Mansion. For those looking for a bit of nature witihout venturing too far, visit Minnehaha Regional Park, one of the city’s oldest parks that features a 53-foot waterfall. Dining and drinking took us to breweries throughout the city with favorites being Surly with its beautiful and expansive outdoor space (and excellent food — get the pretzel supplied by local favorite Aki’s Bread Haus), BlackStack Brewing (the plant-filled tap room warmed my Millennial heart), Fair State Brewing Cooperative, and Indeed. We also enjoyed the North Loop Galley, which has food stalls from various local eateries, where we had Detroit-style pizza at Wrecktangle.

Iowa City was a surprise hit! My expectations were shockingly low after reading numerous blogs and visitor’s guides that started their recommendations with variations on a theme: “First leave Iowa City…” They are seriously underselling this quaint college town. Plus, it’s a UNESCO City of Literature — and only the world’s third, following Edinburgh and Melbourne. The city’s literary history influenced the Graduate’s lobby and coffee shop with books and pencils adorning the walls. The decor also pays homage to the university’s mascot — the hawkeye — with nods to the iconic movie Field of Dreams, and boasts its connection to Eskimo Pie desserts. This Graduate location was hands-down our favorite of the bunch, and they even included a welcome bag in the room with snacks, and a branded koozie and glass water bottle. (Speaking of which, a bottle of water in the room will run you $5.)

Iowa City highlights: There’s a pedestrian mall near the hotel and side streets with shopping, restaurants/bars, and murals. Take time to wander around and duck into the boutiques. You can walk up to see the Old Iowa Capitol Building and then duck into the Museum of Natural History. Admission is free and you can see Rusty the Giant Sloth. For eating and drinking, we loved Big Grove Brewery (they also have a solid food menu and a huge outdoor space), St. Burch Tavern for nicer fare and cocktails, and The Dandy Lion for brunch (get the chicken biscuit).

I have mixed feelings on the Richmond location, which I think is mostly due to the fact that the only room available at the time of booking was a handicap-accessible room, so everything was a touch lower than “normal” and the room was missing mainstays like a desk and a bathroom vanity. (The bathroom had the tiniest sink with the most ill-placed faucet that made washing my face a challenge.) The room design was also a lot more sparse than that of the other properties we stayed at. It seemed to be missing the special touches that made the other hotels so charming. Don’t get me wrong, the hotel staff was lovely (we had an erroneous parking charge that was easily cleared up), the location was good, and the stay was nice overall — plus, there was a pool and a rooftop bar — but I’m not sure I’d rave about this one to those visiting Richmond.

Richmond highlights: I wasn’t really sure what to expect from Richmond. It had been on our travel list for awhile thanks to its burgeoning beer scene, but we weren’t sure that we’d find enough to do outside of that to make a trip worth it. Happily, there’s plenty to do to keep yourself busy in the city! I’m going to do a dedicated travel post soon, but here were some of the highlights to add to your itinerary: Lucky AF for Asian fusion and sushi, Lift Coffee Shop and Cafe where we went for breakfast and iced coffee every day, Charm School for ice cream (including dairy-free options), the Triple Crossing brewery has solid beer options and excellent pizza, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Edgar Allan Poe Museum, and the Scott’s Addition neighborhood for breweries (The Veil and Vasen were two of our favorites; check out Starr Hill’s rooftop patio).

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This post contains affiliate links

Filed Under: Travel Tagged With: Graduate Hotel, Hotel Review, Travel Guide

Charleston Travel Guide

August 5, 2021 by jessica

It seems like everyone is going to Charleston lately — and for good reason: it’s an incredibly beautiful city that’s full of southern charm, picture-perfect streets, and incredible food! We visited the city back in April for a celebratory “vaxication.” It was our second time in the “Holy City,” and with roundtrip flight prices dropping substantially from Madison, I don’t think it’ll be our last time in the sweet South Carolina city. Below, you’ll find some snapshots from our recent trip, along with suggestions of what to see and do, and where to eat and drink.

SEE & DO:

  • Rainbow Row  & The Battery & Pineapple Fountain – If you’re heading to Charleston, I’m sure these photogenic areas are already on your radar.
  • The Beach – We visited Folly Beach both times we were in South Carolina. It’s a quaint beach town for an afternoon of swimming. Head to Lost Dog Café for breakfast and Taco Boy for lunch.
  • Aiken-Rhett House Museum – There are two main historic house tours in Charleston. There’s the Aiken-Rhett House, which is a historic preservation project, and the Nathaniel Russell House, a restoration project. Each has an audio tour available through the Historic CHS app (bring headphones). I preferred the Aiken-Rhett museum as it did an excellent job going through the historic features of the house, as well and discussing the lives of the enslaved people on the property.
  • Charles Towne Landing State Historic Site – There were a lot of recommendations for this online and it was a nice place for an afternoon hike. I don’t think I’d go out of my way for it, but it was a good option to break up all of the eating and drinking!
  • McLeod Plantation – We decided to do this tour because it’s a county park and that seemed more ethical than some of the other plantation tours. We had a wonderful tour guide who lent insight into the enslaved people who lived on the property and what they did once gaining freedom.
  • Fort Sumter – We did this on our first trip to Charleston and it’s worth taking an afternoon to take the ferry out to see it.

EAT & DRINK:

  • Kudu Coffee & Craft Beer –  A café that also serves beer with a cute outdoor patio. Check their schedule for live music.
  • Blind Tiger – The best outdoor patio with plenty of seating areas. 
  • Brown’s Court Bakery – Fantastic iced coffee and pastries (both sweet and savory). Ask them for their recommendation of the day. A lot of things sell out quickly, but whatever is left is still going to be amazing. We took our coffee and breakfast to a nearby park. If you’re visiting in the spring and they have their fresh strawberry rolls, get one! (It’s pictured above.)
  • Uptown Social – Head up to their rooftop patio! There’s a full cocktail program, a decent beer lineup, and good pizzas. They usually do a lunch special with a select pizza, too.
  • The Darling Oyster Bar – This was by far our best meal in the city and worth the splurge. We had oysters to start and I had scallops for my entrée. Loved ’em! Hot tip: they do have matchboxes, but you’ll need to ask for one.
  • Bay Street Biergarten – Lively atmosphere and a lot of outdoor seating. Skip the food, though, and just go for drinks and the ambiance.
  • Callie’s Hot Little Biscuits – Delicious, but don’t let their miniscule size fool you. They’re incredibly filling! That said, between this place and Brown’s Court, I’d suggest Brown’s Court for breakfast. 
  • Little Jack’s Tavern – Their burgers are expensive, but it was delicious. We had actually wanted to go to Leon’s Oyster Shop instead, but they didn’t have any seating available and suggested Little Jack’s as it’s their sister restaurant. It was charming inside and the service was excellent.
  • Breweries – Three of the brewery stops we liked the most were Charles Towne Fermentory, Edmund’s Oast Brewing Co., and Westbrook Brewing Company.

STAY: I wanted to make a quick note about accommodations. We stayed at the Hyatt this time around and it wasn’t great. It looks nice enough online and while I prefer boutique hotels, hotels and Airbnbs were so expensive when we traveled. We assumed the Hyatt would be good enough for what we needed. The first room we were given was, shall we say, “well worn” and had the most awful sewage-y smell. I did ask to change rooms and the new room was better, but it wasn’t as nice as the online reviews led me to believe.

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Filed Under: Travel Tagged With: charleston, south carolina, Travel Guide

6 Tips to Improve Your iPhone Travel Photography — And One Mistake to Avoid

May 6, 2021 by jessica

Taking photos of azulejos in Portugal.

There have been plenty of times on vacation that I’ve left my DSLR in the hotel room and have relied solely on my iPhone to snap photos — or, in the case of a quick weekend jaunt, left it at home entirely. I used to have pangs of regret, but now that iPhone camera technology has improved so dramatically in past years, it really can be a great substitute for the times that a traditional camera is too big and bulky to bring along.

I’m not the only one who sees the merit in using the iPhone in place of the “real” camera. I attended a virtual event recently with Pete Souza, former President Obama’s official White House photographer, who admitted to using his iPhone camera in place of the DSLR on occasion. If he can do it, I think that gives us all permission to opt for the camera that’s always in our pockets and purses!

It’s a big part of why I was intrigued to see a press release come across my email promoting photographer and author Scott Kelby’s new book, The iPhone Photography Book, a comprehensive guide to iPhone photography that goes through techniques to improve your snapshots with hints that include editing, composition, organization, and more. I had a chance to connect with Scott to share six tips for iPhone photography success with you, and the one mistake to avoid.

1. How to Stop “Missing the Shot!”

If you’ve ever missed a great moment because by the time you unlocked your iPhone, found the Camera app, and then launched it, it was too late, try this trick: When you pick up your iPhone to take a shot, don’t unlock it. Just pick it up, immediately swipe left, and your Camera app appears ready to go!

2. The Best Times to Shoot Travel

The best time to make beautiful travel photos is when the light outdoors is soft and beautiful, and that happens twice a day: about 30 minutes before sunrise, up until about 15 minutes after sunrise, and in the hour before and after sunset. A bonus for shooting around dawn: the tourists will not be awake yet, so you’ll get great shots with no crowds—just beautiful light and tourist-free monuments, streets, and scenes.

3. A Better Way to Take Photos without Tapping the Screen

On a traditional camera, you press a physical button to take a shot, which is one of the big advantages of a traditional camera. But, believe it or not, you can do the same thing with your iPhone: just press the volume up or volume down button to take a shot. Try it once and you’ll use this trick again and again. 

4. Capturing the Moment vs. Composition

When you see something charming, or fascinating, or wonderful happening, forget the composition and just capture the moment. We can always go back and crop the photo later in the Photos app to create the composition we were hoping for, but if you miss the “moment,” that moment is gone forever.

5. How to Stop from Having Photos That Are Too Dark or Too Bright

If you’re looking at a scene in front of you, and it seems too dark or too bright, or if your subject is backlit with the sun behind them, right after you tap on the screen to focus on your subject, tap-and-hold your finger on the screen and drag up to make the whole image brighter or down to make it darker.

6. The Secret to (and Two Methods for) Shooting Food

One big reason people love to travel is that they love trying the food, so you want to come back with shots of the amazing dishes you had on your trip. The secret to great food shots is simply great light, and you get that by shooting during the daytime and asking to be seated either outside (under an umbrella or roof of some sort) or right by a window. The two methods for getting great food shots: Turn on Portrait mode and zoom in tight (you don’t have to show the whole plate—just parts of it), and the classic “iPhone from overhead shot straight down on your food” shot.

One Mistake to Avoid: Showing Too Much of the Scene

When you try to capture an entire building (like a cathedral or an opera house or a classic, old building), you usually wind up with things that ruin the romance and timelessness of the shot because there are billboards, signs, power lines, etc. You don’t have to show the whole scene. Compose the shot to where you avoid all those distractions, just showing part of the building. Think of it as a “detail” shot. The viewer’s mind will fill in the rest of the image, but you’ll have an interesting and captivating image without all the distractions.

For more iPhone photography tips, you can pick up Scott’s book here!

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This post contains affiliate links. I received a review copy of Scott’s book, but was under no obligation to write about it.

Filed Under: Travel Tagged With: photography, travel

Photo Diary: Christmas in Belgium

December 23, 2019 by jessica

Christmas in Bruges
Bruges

As someone who loves Christmas, it’s no surprise that kicking off the holiday season in Europe has been something I dreamed of for years. While Germany would have been the obvious choice, a relatively inexpensive flight and hotel package out of Madison made Belgium an attractive option for our getaway. Plus, it gave us a chance to restock our dwindling supply of Cantillon. Priorities.

This was our third trip to Brussels, which made the nine-day trip as low-stress as possible during the busiest time of year because we didn’t need to spend the first couple of days orienting ourselves in the country. We knew how to use public transportation, we knew where to go without getting lost, we knew what favorites we wanted to revisit, and which day trips to go on (Amsterdam, Bruges, and Antwerp). We stopped at our favorite bars and restaurants, ate our weight in frites, drank world-class beer, and reveled in the holiday spirit by way of twinkling lights and Christmas markets. Not surprisingly, a day in Bruges was the most magical. Bruges is one of Europe’s most well-preserved medieval cities, escaping destruction during World War I and II. We’ve been to the city twice before and each time I’m struck by how fairy tale-like it is. Adding in strings of lights and a Christmas market in the city center took it to another level.

Here are a few photos of the most Christmassy moments of our trip. I’m working on a full Brussels travel guide to post in the new year, along with a Google map for your own trip planning. I’m also going to post day trip recommendations for Amsterdam and Bruges now that we’ve been a few times. I hope your holiday week is the merriest!

Christmas in Brussels
Christmas in Antwerp
Christmas market in Antwerp
Christmas in Brussels
Brussels
Grand Place Brussels
Christmas in Brussels
Brussels
Christmas in Antwerp
Philip’s Biscuits in Antwerp (try the Antwerpse Handjes cookies)
Christmas in Brussels
Manneken Pis in Brussels
Christmas in Bruges
Christmas market in Bruges
Bruges
Christmas in Brussels
Carousel at the Brussel’s Christmas market at Sainte Catherine
Christmas in Antwerp
Frites at the Antwerp Christmas market
Christmas in Antwerp
Antwerp’s Central Station
Christmas in Brussels
Grand Place Brussels
Christmas in Brussels
Grand Place Brussels
Christmas in Bruges
Christmas market in Bruges
Christmas in Brussels
Grand Place Brussels
Taken at the Duvelorium in Bruges
Christmas in Brussels
Grand Place Brussels


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Filed Under: Travel Tagged With: belgium, bruges, brussels, christmas, travel, Travel Guide

Tiles of Lisbon

July 15, 2019 by jessica

I typically take a boatload of photos while we’re abroad, but I’m not sure I’ve ever taken nearly 2,000 in one week until we visited Lisbon. There were gorgeous vignettes to take in everywhere we turned — and that was largely thanks to the beautiful tile work that adorned even the most modest of buildings. So, I thought I’d kick off my Portugal travel posts with the azulejos of Lisbon.

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Filed Under: Travel Tagged With: azulejos, Lisbon, Portugal, tiles

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Jessica Hamm
Hello there! I'm a first-time homeowner updating a 1920s house in Madison, Wisconsin. I have a penchant for travel and a love of costume jewelry.

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