thegetAwayZ | European Travel Podcast

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We’ve returned to Umbria several times over the years, staying in Paciano and Ficulle and visiting Assisi, Orvieto, Perugia and Lake Trasimeno. In this episode, we talk about medieval festivals, chocolate, narrow farm roads, unexpected stops and the little memories that kept bringing us back to this part of Italy.

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We spent three days in Cardiff and South Wales right after Christmas. It was wet and cold, and we still loved it. We talk about the Christmas market in Bute Park, tubing at the Cardiff Ski & Snowboard Centre, and Katie's hunt for a Bad Sisters swim robe (Lisa found one at Primark for £19.99). Our walk down to Three Cliffs Bay ended up being one of our favorite beach days ever. We also stopped at Castell Coch and ate a huge Welsh rarebit at Madame Fromage, where Rex was on his best behavior. At the end we cover what we missed and want to do next time.

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We’ve been traveling to the Dolomites and South Tyrol since our first trip in 2017, and it’s still one of our favorite parts of Italy. This week, we’re talking mountain hotels, incredible hikes, traveling with kids and dogs, alpine food, cowbells, Christmas in Trento and why we keep finding reasons to go back.

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We traveled to Finnish Lapland in winter hoping to see the Northern Lights, but the weather had other plans. We stayed at the Star Arctic Hotel above Saariselkä, went on a reindeer safari, snowmobiled through the snow and took on the long toboggan run down Kaunispää Fell.

In this episode of The Getawayz Travel Podcast, we’re sharing what it was really like to visit Lapland between Christmas and New Year’s, from the extreme cold and limited daylight to traveling with a ten-year-old and the Northern Lights that never appeared.

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Our very first episode back in November 2024 was about Christmas markets, and we have been to a lot more since then. This one picks up there, starting with glögi and lit-up reindeer in Helsinki and the Christmas version of Tivoli in Copenhagen, which we had been wanting to do for years.

From there we get into Paris at the end of the Champs-Élysées, Winter Wonderland in London, and the Dutch markets that are now home turf for us: Amsterdam, Haarlem, Den Haag and Leiden. We also talk about Ljubljana and its very memorable street lights, two smaller Alsace markets in Riquewihr and Mulhouse, and Cardiff in the pouring rain.

At the end we run through where we are going this winter, including Nuremberg, Bamberg and Würzburg, Dresden, Kraków, Valkenburg and Aachen, plus the Krampus Run in Salzburg that Erin is far too excited about and Lisa is skipping entirely.

Our full 2026 Christmas market list with dates and what to see is at TheGetAwayZ.com.

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Iceland Part 2 picks up on the glacier, where we went snowmobiling for the first time and discovered that an hour on a snowmobile is a much bigger workout than it looks. From there, we get into the ice cave tour and the helicopter ride that became one of the most memorable parts of the entire trip.

We also talk about Reynisfjara and the black sand beach near Vík, the puffin cruise from Reykjavik and our last night in the city during Iceland’s Euro 2016 quarterfinal against France. Along the way there are snowball fights, a few things we would skip if we were trying to save money and plenty of disagreement about what happened in what order.

If you are planning a trip to Iceland, this episode covers some of the activities we would absolutely do again, what we would cut and why that helicopter tour is still one of Lisa’s favorite travel experiences.

Find our Iceland travel guides and trip-planning resources at TheGetAwayZ.com.

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We went to Iceland in July 2016 after finding a $99 fare from Los Angeles on the newly launched WOW air.

In Part 1, we talk about arriving in Iceland and heading straight to the Blue Lagoon, staying in Reykjavik and spending a very long day driving the Golden Circle and South Coast.

We stop at waterfalls, geysers and black-sand beaches, get stuck behind a herd of Icelandic horses on the road and somehow get pulled over for an alcohol check when there is barely another car around.

Part 2 picks up with snowmobiling on a glacier, the helicopter tour I accidentally spent about $3,000 on and our last night in Reykjavik during Iceland's Euro 2016 quarterfinal.

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Rotterdam is not the Netherlands most people expect, and that’s exactly why we love it.

After living in Rotterdam for four years, we have a LOT to say about this city. In this episode of The Getawayz, we’re sharing the best things to do in Rotterdam, from the Cube Houses, Markthal and Erasmus Bridge to the museums, food halls and some of our favorite ways to get out on the water.

We’re also talking about the WWII bombing that changed Rotterdam forever, the city’s incredible modern architecture, the Port of Rotterdam and the small markers in the streets that trace the boundary of the devastating 1940 fire.

Plus: the Water Taxi, Pancake Boat, our very memorable Duck Boat experience, Fenix Museum of Migration, Hotel New York, Station Bergweg and why we think you should make time for Kinderdijk.

If you’re planning a trip to Rotterdam, Netherlands, this is the episode to start with.

🎙️ Rotterdam Travel Guide: Best Things to Do, Eat & See in Rotterdam

Listen to The Getawayz wherever you get your podcasts. Link in bio.

#Rotterdam #RotterdamNetherlands #VisitRotterdam #RotterdamTravel #RotterdamTravelGuide #ThingsToDoInRotterdam #NetherlandsTravel #VisitNetherlands #HollandTravel #EuropeTravel #EuropeTravelTips #TravelPodcast #TheGetawayz

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We’ve covered Munich and Oktoberfest before, but this episode is about another side of Bavaria: Franconia. We talk Würzburg, a Baroque wine town where we stumbled into a wine festival at the Würzburg Residence, and Bamberg, a UNESCO-listed old town known for its smoked Rauchbier at Schlenkerla and the hike up to Altenburg Castle. Plus, we talk Nuremberg, our December Bavaria plans and what it’s like traveling through Germany with a teenager and a dog. Full written guides at thegetawayz.com.

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In this episode, we go to the second biggest city in Austria that most tourists skip on the way to Vienna or Salzburg. We stopped in Graz on our road trip to Croatia and liked it so much we came back a week later with Dylan.

We cover the Schlossberg clock tower with its backwards hands, the largest underground slide in Europe, a church with Hitler and Mussolini in the stained glass, a modern art museum that looks like a giant blue blob and a gondola ride up Schockl mountain for Alps views that looked straight out of The Sound of Music. We also talk about the food, including the Styrian pumpkin seed oil we are now putting on everything at home, and the hotel staff who planned our entire visit after our Airbnb turned out to be 37 degrees inside.

Graz is walkable, dog friendly and easy to do in one or two nights. If you are driving through Austria or looking for somewhere beyond the usual stops, this one is for you.

For more, visit www.thegetawayz.com

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