Located on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the Doughnut Plant is currently open from 6:30am -- 6:30pm, and has a line curling around its small lobby throughout the day.  Don’t let the crowd scare you, the line moves faster than you would think, and, unbelievably, the staff is inviting and friendly.  I have been to many of these crowded trendy eateries and expected the women behind the counter to be jaded and surley, but they were two of the nicest people I met in New York.

Priced between $2-$3 each and accepting only CASH, this isn’t the typical doughnut cafe.  Here, doughnuts come in two styles Yeast and Cake, and there is a rotations selections of flavors for both.  I would recommend trying one of each; the yeast doughnut is where Mark got his start but he spent five years creating the cake doughnut.

If you don’t have time to make the trek down to the Lower East Side location, Doughnut Plant doughnuts are sold at a number of shops around the city (a full list is available on their site, under the tab ‘contact us’).  For me, the doughnuts were unique and delicious, but the excitement of finding the shop and waiting in line for ten minutes with other eager eaters made the Doughnut Plant an experience.

Looking back through my travel photos, I found several from Howth, Ireland, a city I never meant to travel to but would thoroughly recommend visiting. We had traveled to Dublin and after two days were in search of something else. As much as we liked exploring the old city and touring the Guinness factory, we wanted greenery, the ocean and maybe climb a mountain. As strange as that sounds, it’s exactly what we explained to the DART ticketing agent. She was very nice and told us about Howth, a twenty five minute train ride away.  We bought our tickets and a short ride later we were in a small fishing village with the bluest skies and deep green mountains.

Continue reading…

We have 12 weeks until we embark on our around the world trip.  Typing it out makes it seem so real and I can’t believe we are leaving so soon.

Before we leave though, we have a ton of things to do in order to be properly prepared for a journey this size.  Besides packing and itinerary, there are simple things like renewing our passports and obtain an international driving license that we must do.  And with time running out, these are at the top of my list.

Continue reading…

Figuring out where to stay and what sights to see can be the easiest part of planning a trip.  Finding a great restaurant or cool, casual bar can be a bit trickier.  It strikes you when you least expect it, but when you’re hungry— you’re usually starving and can’t wait until you hop a subway, hail a cab or walk ten blocks to get to that “great Italian place that is on such and such street”.  My advice— coordinate these types of places on your phone with the neighborhood they are in, that way where ever you are— pull out the list and you’ll have a great place to go. Here’s our friend’s picks of the best of the best to fill you up.

Continue reading…