Bordeaux in 365 Bottles: August 2016

Holy smokes, it’s September! I can’t believe I’ve been living in Bordeaux for two and half months now. This is also the longest I’ve stayed put without traveling, well probably in several years. Thankfully having a new city where I’m still discovering new shops, streets and things to do has calmed my itchy travel feet. And I’ve kept surprisingly busy, though it may not seem that way if you follow along on social media.

It’s been a good month, especially in the work department. While things like lingering food poisoning, frustrations over French paperwork and just missing Tim got me down and wondering if I’d made the right decision to come to France, the work opportunities I’ve been creating for myself are a resounding yes.

Traditionally August is very quiet for me since a good chunk of Europe up and goes on holiday. While the shops shuttered for weeks and the heat was almost unbearable, I holed up in front of my portable air conditioner and hunkered down with my MacBook. I delved in to the world of freelance writing after feeling intimidated by it for so long. I sent pitches and scored several assignments. I worked on those back-end website tasks that I loathe doing, but ultimately make our site a better experience for you. And I wrote until my little fingers were exhausted.

I may have mostly stuck close to home and didn’t do much more than walk the city when it finally cooled enough to not feel like I was going to pass out from heat stroke, but what I accomplished in those otherwise unexciting travel-less weeks is absolutely worth it. And don’t worry – things are about to get exciting again with the next two months taking me on the road and out of Europe again.

Highs

We were featured in a profile on Business Insider and Yahoo

To say we’re excited that we were profiled for building a business from the ground up and balancing work and travel is an understatement. We’re over the moon! Now, indulge me for a second here because I totally know this is a first world problem, but people don’t take you seriously when you tell them that you’re a professional travel blogger. It would normally be completely uncouth to ask someone exactly how they make money, but for some reason when you tell people that you’re a travel blogger it’s like you’re opening yourself to the most invasive of questions. We regularly hear things like, “You actually earn money doing that?”

So when a publication like Business Insider, the largest business news website in the world reaching more than 90 million unique readers every month, profiles you then you can truly feel proud of what you’ve done. Check out the articles:

How a Woman Who’s Visited Over 50 Countries Built a Luxury Travel Business from Scratch

A Woman Who Built a Business While Visiting 50 Countries Explains How She Balances Work and Travel

I’m an example of good story telling in Oxford University Press’ English File Fourth Edition Elementary Student’s Book

I think this has to be the strangest request we’ve ever gotten to use our work. When I first received the email requesting permission to republish an abridged version of our story about spending New Year’s in Reykjavik, I immediately worried that I would end up as some horrible example of how not to write. After confirming the context that the abridged story would be used in, Oxford University Press confirmed that they created the course English File, which is one of the most successful English language teaching courses in the world. They kindly even supplied the course pages and quiz questions about my abridged story and, thank God, I am the correct example.

So I guess I’ll be coming to English language learners in a course in January 2019!

I consulted on a tv documentary series for the BBC

The other odd request I got was from the BBC. They’re making a tv documentary about life above the Arctic Circle in Norway, Finland, Sweden and Iceland and they asked for me to consult since we’ve spent a significant amount of time in those countries in winter. It’s a really interesting project and I can’t wait until the tv documentary comes out.

I’m taking over the Atout France UK Instagram account

I’m super excited to be working with Atout France UK and taking over their Instagram account beginning September 12. Go give them a follow and tune in for my tips on wine tourism and especially gastronomy, since I rarely post food photos on our own Instagram. Though maybe I should start with the popularity of the macaron photo I posted.

Challenges

We learning to make a long distance relationship work

All of these exciting things are happening, but they’re also bittersweet. I’d love to celebrate with Tim and sharing the excitement over a phone call or text messages just isn’t the same. It’s hard when the person you love most is a world away. But we’re figuring out how to make it work.

My French pronunciation is terrible

When we moved to Italy, I already knew a little Italian. More importantly, I understood the rules of the language so I could generally sound out words I didn’t know how to pronounce. I arrived in France not knowing more than a handful of words and while I desperately want to learn the language, I’m also so embarrassed by my lack of good pronunciation that I completely shut down with the words and phrases I’ve gotten to know when I have anyone other than my Rosetta Stone course or Duo Lingo app listening to me.

I’m just really struggling with the language. There are so many more words in French that have just a slight variation and pronouncing a word incorrectly will leave you looking just downright stupid. But I’m not giving up. I practice for at least 30 minutes each day and I’ve even started using Instagram Stories to practice “publicly” with a word or phrase of the day.

Still struggling with making friends.

I don’t speak the language and all of Europe pretty much flees the cities for the beach in July and August, so like I talked about in last month’s recap finding new friends hasn’t been easy.  A handful of friends I’ve made are left to entertain me. And they do! I went to lunch the other day and ended up shopping, before drinking rosé poolside. Not a bad afternoon!

Most Popular Post

Tim and I played guinea pigs for our friends Amanda and Youssef, who own Marrakech Food Tours, on a new tour that they’re launching this month. It’s a gourmet progressive dinner set in several of Marrakech’s most beautiful riads. We piled five of us in to a teeny tuk-tuk to try out this tour. See what we thought!

Eating Authentic Moroccan with Marrakech Food Tours

Most Popular Instagram Photo

I’m having fun with the new Instagram Stories! If you’re not following us on Instagram, head over and check out the stories for a look into daily life in France and my sad attempts at learning French. Spoiler alert: I’m terrible at pronunciation.

It’s a good thing I walk my 10,000 steps daily. Otherwise all the macarons from @m_le_macaron would make my pants fit a bit tighter. ? A little extra walking is worth it for the delicious macarons like these rose-peach and violet.

A photo posted by Luxe Adventure Traveler (@luxeadventuretrvlr) on Aug 21, 2016 at 12:30pm PDT

What I’m Drinking This Month

When all your new friends seem to work in some wine related field, you tend to drink. A lot. I’m definitely working toward giving a literal meaning to Bordeaux in 365 Bottles.

La Chapelle de Lafont Menaut Pessac-Léogan 2014. I’ll never be able to try every wine in the Bordeaux region. There are close to 10,000 châteaux! But trying a wine from every Bordeaux appellation over the course of my year living in France is an attainable goal; there’s only 54 different appellations. Pessac-Léogan is the youngest of the Bordeaux appellations, only having been recognized since 1987.

Pirata 2015. Those friends who all seem to work in wine I mentioned? I had the pleasure of meeting Charlotte Allen at a dinner party, the winemaker at Almaroja. She makes mostly reds at her winery in a remote Spanish village, but she’s quite proud of this white. And it’s delicious!

Speaking of the dinner party, did you catch us playing a spirited game of Bop it! on Instagram Stories?

Chene de Gombeau Canon-Fronsac 2012. Bordeaux wines don’t have to be expensive and this is a good value red Bordeaux from the Libourne appellation.

Château Haut-Sarpe Grand Cru Classé. Bordeaux chateaux are definitely different than Italian wineries. Most Italian wineries have a shop where you can buy wines on site and even without an appointment, you can generally pop in. Though many Bordeaux wineries are among the most famous in the world, they are still small and mostly family run operations. You absolutely need an appointment to visit and many don’t accept visitors at all since their wines are pre-sold out for years in advance.

Even so, I was able to arrange a visit to Chateau Haut-Sarpe to tour their lovely estate and try a glass of the Saint-Émilion Grand Cru Classé.

Chateau Moulin de Grenet 2012. My friend AJ’s family are wine makers and they have the lovely Chateau Cantenac just outside Saint-Émilion as well as Chateau Moulin de Grenet in Lussac Saint-Émilion. I love that you can often buy half bottles, which are perfect for me to enjoy at home or when I picnic.

Les Cordeliers Sparkling Vintage. Champagne is serious business and can only be called Champagne if it comes from the region of Champagne in France. But a cloister in Saint-Émilion produces a sparkling range of Bordeaux that are quite good and the perfect apertif. I also like their sparkling rosé.

Bottle Count: 16

What I’m Reading This Month

I’ve been obsessed with reading anything set in France, part of which is definitely for inspiration as I pen handwritten notes in a notebook that I plan to turn in to my own book, Bordeaux in 365 Bottles. But I also like to read some mindless, take-me-away books since they’re fun and give me a much needed break from the constant ideas swirling around.

Coming Up in September 2016

September is going to be a crazy busy month. I’ve got my residency appointment with a medical exam and loads more paperwork that I’m dreading. But it should make for a funny story next month – if I’m laughing about it all by then.

Then I’m visiting three top wine châteaux with the Bernard Magrez Luxury Wine Experience before hopping on a plane across the pond to visit my birth state on a press trip with Visit Pittsburgh (I’m taking over the VisitPittsburgh Instagram account too, also starting September 12th). After Pittsburgh I’m popping by my hometown, Erie, for a quick visit with my parents.

We used to take a family vacation every year to visit my uncle in Buffalo and we’d go to Niagara Falls. I think it was the ’80s the last time I was there, so since I grew up a mere two hours away we’re going to pop up for a very quick visit. I wonder how much has changed?

There’s no rest for the weary, because I land back home in Bordeaux and am off to the lovely Le Saint-James Bordeaux, a luxury hotel with a Michelin star restaurant and a wine sommelier who was named best in the world for wining and dining at a little gem just outside the city. Pray I don’t have jet lag otherwise I just might be falling asleep in my Michelin starred lunch.

Wow, I’m exhausted just thinking about my busy September schedule. Of course, I’ll have loads to write about all of that plus I’ve got some freelance assignments lined up.