The Travel Brats

First off, go with people you really enjoy and if you go with a larger group, make sure you feel comfortable splitting up from time to time to get everything done you want on your Austin bucket list. For more in depth Austin recommendations, you have to follow @exploringamanda and these following Austin Instagram pages for more inspiration. 

Here are the Top 10 things we did & LOVED - 

Go down the slide at the Unbarlievable: unlike anywhere I’ve ever been, electric energy, and such a fun memory with a great spot to take photos 

Parlor Room - “Located in the heart of The Rainey Street Historic District, Parlor Room is an original Craftsman house redesigned into a fun and trendy local hot spot featuring craft cocktails, and craft beer on tap. With 2 full-service bars, a large patio with outdoor seating and games, Parlor Room is the perfect venue for an afternoon cocktail with a group of friends or a private corporate event.” 

Get carted around by bicyclists instead of Ubers to get from Rainey St to 6th St. - my absolute favorite thing we did, a thrill and the bikers were so fun. 

Shop for half a day on South Congress St - walk up coffee shop called Two Hands, South Congress Bookstore, picturesque spots like the infamous “I love you so much” wall, and tons of higher end stores like Madewell, Lululemon, and local shops. 

Austin Aquarium - if you need something to do nearby for an afternoon before going out, this is it. It’s extremely interactive and easy going. Plus you can touch a lot of animals and creatures like Stingrays and birds. 

Get a body shot at Coyote Ugly or watch one - you’ll be impressed for sure. It’s located on the dirty 6th St. and so much fun. 

Go to the Container Bar on Rainey St.  - which is exactly what it sounds like. It was so lively and full of energy, but also there was space to spread out, dress, or chill out. 

Barton Springs Pool - worth the trip for an hour or two. It’s extremely easy to get Ubers in Austin so that’s what we did the entire time and it still factored out to be cheaper than renting a car. The spring was ice cold, but Samantha put on her swimsuit and went in. The rest of us took pictures and loved how we could look into the distance and see the skyline of Austin. 

Hamilton Pool Preserve - if you have a rental car, use it for this. It’s a very hilly drive and absolutely beautiful. You will hike there so pack your closed-toed shoes and you’ll get to see a waterfall and the other route, you’ll get to sit around a beautiful river. I had not seen anything like it. 

Find hidden gems anywhere you go!

I wasn’t crazy about any of the food I ate, besides the last night, Sam and I pulled ourselves together enough for one last meal and went to North Italia. 

For more, head over to @thetravelbrats on IG for more Exploring Destinations. 

View VRBO and AirBnb for best places to stay! 

Top Restaurants and Bars - 

Caps on the Water for a nicer dinner and great photoshoot on the pier

White Lion Bar for a more college, easy going vibe 

Prohibition Kitchen for live music and a family friend starting spot

St. George’s Tavern for a local environment 

Sangria Wine & Tapas Bar for great views and a wonderful environment 

Milltop Tavern for a chill environment in the center of it all 

Colombia Restaurant for the best sangria and serve ever

Schmagels Bagels for the best bagels and breakfast 

Things to do while in St. Augustine -

Ghost tours by TripAdvisor 

St. Augustine Sightseeing Tours

Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Museum - indoors and very entertaining 

Explore the old Fort - Castillo De San Marco 

Wine tasting at San Sebastian Winery

Browse the art shops

Tour Flagler College 

Shop at Earth Bound and other local shops on St. George strip

For more suggestions for your St. Augustine travels, visit their website HERE. Reach out on IG @thetravelbrats if you have more places to add to this list or have questions! 

Happy holidays, our travel brats tribe!

Best coffee shops in SWFL according to the Travel Brats and SWFL Food Junkie 

• Chocolattes Coffee & Roasting in Fort Myers, FL @chocolattescoffeeco
• Cafe Flore (Highly Rated & Worth the Trip for Beignets) @thecafeflore
• Kunjani @kunjaninaples
• Downtown Coffee & Wine - wonderful spot for reading or visiting with a friend @downtowncoffeebonita
• Narrative in Mercato @narrativecoffeeroasters
• Urban Buzz in Cape Coral @urbanbuzzcoffee
• Seed & Bean in Downtown Fort Myers @seedandbeanmarket
• The Grind Coffee House & Roaster
• Dean Street Roasters in the Luminary Hotel 
• Shift Coffee Bar now open in West End in Downtown Fort Myers @shiftcoffeebar
• The Java House
• CattyShack Cafe serves Chocolattes coffee

Honorable mention is Mon Paris in Fort Myers, FL and Bennetts Donut Shop and Roaster.

Follow along @swflfoodjunkie for all things SWFL and Food. Check out his website also so you never have to wonder where to dine next. 

Connect with us on IG and like/subscribe/rate us. We appreciate all the love and support. 

While visiting, be sure to explore Old Roswell and walk down Canton Street for some top notch restaurants: Ceviche, Rock n Taco, Adele’s on Canton for Nola style food, Gate City Brewing, and Fellow's Cafe for Brunch. Once you're fed well, it's time to get your history fix, which is easy to do in Atlanta. The infamous Atlanta History Center is a well known history and research center in the Buckhead district of Atlanta, and it's been around for nearly 100 years. With several standard exhibits there all year long, there are also temporary exhibits that make an appearance, so be sure to see which ones you don't want to miss. On the property, you can learn more at the Swan House and eat at the Swan Coach House. You can easily make a day out of this adventure in the Buckhead District, but if you have some time, add the uncanny Doll Head trail to your list of things to see. 

Getting into the Halloween festivities can make you feel all giddy like you did when you were a kid. Begin with getting your tickets to Howl-O-Screams in Tampa, Halloween Horror Night in Orlando, or Six Flags Fright Fest. These amusement parks give you haunted thrills while riding your all time favorite roller coasters. Without a doubt, Halloween Horror Night at Universal never gets old. When planning what your Halloween weekend will look like, consider going on a local Bar Crawl or hitting your hometown Oktoberfest at renowned breweries like Fort Myers Brewing Company and Millennial Brewing Company. There’s spooky art exhibits to add to your list also, like Sidney & Berne Davis Art center (SBDAC). 

Throwing a Halloween Costume party also never goes out style, no matter your age. Make it your mission to attend a costume party and hopefully WIN best costume! 

If you are looking to go away during the Spooky Season, there are two major places to explore - Salem, Massachusetts for 

America’s largest Halloween party

 Festival of the Dead (Really, Salem may be the place to be with it’s very interesting history. It’s slogan is Salem is Halloween) or NOLA known for its extensive history of Voodoo, vampires, tours, and more.

For the best of the best Haunted House that we mentioned - here's the blog! 

Making plans after a crazy week can seem intimidating, and exhausting. You just got done with a wicked work schedule - how do you still have energy to be adventurous this weekend? If you are in the South Florida area, I have a solution for you. Making a game plan and itinerary will make your day an absolute breeze to allow for some relaxation coupled with unforgettable fun. Let’s begin - pick which day suits you best and go from there. 

Right before you go over the bridge into Anna Maria Island, Cponies is stationed and ready to give you an experience of a lifetime. CPonies is really what it sounds like - we went horseback riding in the water for about an hour. Basically, you jump up on the saddle of the horse, get into the water with a group of around 10 people and 2 guides, and they coach you through how to stay safe while having an experience unlike any other. Even for the most novice rider, this was doable and short enough to keep the risk minimal. It was absolutely amazing to see the horses’ personalities shine through, as each one had been rescued from abusers. Now, they have jobs of playing in the water with people who genuinely enjoy them. How wonderful. To read more about CPonies story and to book, click HERE.

The pictures were some for the books. But let me mentally prepare you, while being in the water with the horses, you will be passing floating feces because horses have to go, they go. Also, if you are more of a nervous or extremely anxious person, this might not be for you! 

When going horseback riding with CPonies, I recommend you purchase the photo package for $25 and wear long pants and gym shoes that you don’t mind getting wet. 

After that, bring a change of clothes and find a public restroom to change and wash off your legs and feet. You may feel a little gross and sore. Once you’re changed and good to go, drive a few miles into Anna Maria Island. This quaint beach town has quite the reputation for low key settings, immaculate views, and friendly folks, so you can take advantage of the photo opportunities and time with great company. There were many highly regarded restaurants to stop at - we were deciding between Beach House Restaurant and The Kokonut Hut. We chose Kokonut for the tiki hut outdoor vibes as it was perfectly situated on the white sand beach. The views were unmatched, and gave the allure of being on a faraway tropical vacation, even if just for a lunch break.

The main strip is pleasantly infused with tiny shops, mom and pop eats, and hidden gems, so you can take an hour to walk the beach and enjoy an environment that’s so far removed from the hustle and bustle. 

Once you’re calling the beach town quits and done with the beating sun, begin making your way back towards 75 and hit the back country roads. This is where the unexpected lies. Believe it or not, there’s a lot of Circus energy and hidden places in Bradenton, FL. YES, Circus like elephants and shows and the unimaginable. The Ringling Museum is very near in Sarasota and the Ringling brothers own quite a bit of land in the Bradenton area. 

On your bizarre exploration, you will head to Hunsaders Farm who are known for their pumpkin patch festivities and sunflowers. Although it wasn’t sunflower season, they had an excellent farm market with to-die-for pickles and U-pick wild flowers. It was extremely slow when I went in September, but on our way there, something caught our eyes.

Did we just see a winery in Florida? A rarity, but yes we did. Unannounced, we arrived at FioRelli winery and vineyard. After talking with the workers for a few moments, we got to do a wine tasting where they showcased their favorite blends and delicious dessert wines. Their intimate courtyard was so quaint as this vineyard only employed a few people and their wines aren’t even sold in stores. So when I was say a true hidden gem, I mean it. It was much more simplistic than other wine tastings I’ve done, but it peaked my interest in learning more about wineries in Florida and nearby. My favorite was the FioRelli Blueberry wine!

To wrap up the evening at FioRelli’s, there was an incredible, most watering BBQ food truck called Southern Smoked by JP on their property. They unquestionably have changed my benchmark for BBQ food. From Mac n Cheese to their Brisket dinner, I am still dreaming about that meal now. We weren’t hungry at the moment we ordered, so we got their family meal to go and ate once we got home from our 2 hour drive. 

We started our day early and ended up getting home around 5pm to get prepared for the next week to come. Some spontaneity and calculated adventuring is exactly what you need to feel renewed and revitalized. 

Be sure to follow @swflfoodjunkie on IG. 

Some hidden gems in SWFL worth recommending are - 

• Eat Sarap for Filipino Food 
• The Bagel Factory Fort Myers
• Bullig for Waffles
• Wallys Deli 
• Wicked Wings & Things for a Dive Bar environment 
• CRaVE Restaurant 
• Mr. Mee’s for Sushi and Korean 
• Trattoria Mia for traditional Italian food
• Mikael’s Kitchen Fort Myers for Cuban food
• El Gran Taco Loco on Old 41
• Osteria Celli
• Vampire Penguin for something unique 
• Restoratives Cafe

For top breakfast places - eat at Bullig or CRaVE. 

For brunch, make Skinny Dogz your go-to. 

For lunch, you can’t go wrong at Wally’s Deli or Fat Katz. 

For a delicious dinner, you have options - Namba, Maks, Collenois, or Saigon Paris Bistro just to name a few. 

For a date night you won’t forget, make reservations at Jimmy P’s Chared Bistro, Hogfish Harry’s, or T42. 

For some nightlife and bar spots, head to 86 Rooms, Barrel Room, Ziggy D’Amico’s, or 10 Twenty Five for seasonal drinks. 

Now to get to the top ten favorite restaurants in Southwest Florida, according to SWFL Food Junkie, and in no particular order. Eat Sarap, Chocolattes, Low Brow Pizza, and Bagel Factory of Fort Myers had to make the list. More delicious eats include Maks Sushi, the beloved Bennett’s Fresh Roast Donut Shop, Track Side Donut Shop, CRaVE, Fancy’s Southern Cafe, Fat Katz, and Taqueria San Julain. No matter what you are in the mood for, I’m sure SWFL Food Junkie will point you in the right direction. 

Calling all Food Junkies and restaurants looking for exposure, here is your ticket to it all - SWFL Food Junkie. 

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To listen to the full episode of Peru, click HERE. 

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