A few months ago, Jason over at Fly&Dine, wrote an article about bidets. He got hooked after a recent trip to Asia. He called his post “In Defense of the Bidet”, but I’m calling mine, “Hooray for the Bidet”. Now, I clearly know that there are three responses, three different groups, if you will, of you reading this. The first group is already clicking away because maybe you have no idea how a bidet works and why I’d say hooray. But I encourage you to keep reading because maybe I’ll get you to change your mind. The second group is intrigued by the idea of using a bidet and has maybe used one and wants to know why in the span of a few months TWO Boarding Area bloggers are writing about bidets! The third group is already thinking of their reply to this post, because, like me, the words Hooray and Bidet are a natural fit. Bidet users are nothing less than overly enthusiastic about their love affair with bidets. We say things like, “bidets changed my life.” After all, we miles and points folks are generally more open to trying new things, are we not?

Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bidet

Continue reading →

I guess it’s time for a true confession. I’m a coffee snob. And when I travel, I have a passion for supporting local roasters and coffee houses. Let’s just say I’ve BEAN Around the World and I’m feeling like now is the time to start sharing the love… and caffeine, one city at a time. Recently, I had a fantastic holiday in Slovenia. Given the shared border with Italy and all the cafes around Ljubljana advertising Illy brand coffee, I wasn’t sure if I’d find coffee shops worth sharing with my fellow Bean Around The World travelers, so I was thrilled to find two fantastic places owned by some very special people. I’ve got lots to share with you, so let’s open the TWG cafe society doors and talk coffee, Slovenian style.

Before I talk about these individual places, let me first describe a bit about what you’ll find in Ljubljana. What you won’t find is Starbucks. And as in many countries and cities, there aren’t “just coffee” cafes. By this, I mean that many restaurants and smaller eateries consider themselves coffee houses too. Cafes in Slovenia also serve meals and alcohol (it’s not hard to get a liquor license) even though they may advertise as the “best coffee house in Ljubljana.” This made it tricky because what I wanted to find and be able to recommend were great COFFEE places for people who wanted the vibe and coffee quality of the kinds of places I always refer you to.

In my search, I actually eliminated a few places because I didn’t care for their vibe and didn’t think they were paying enough attention to the coffee end of their business. So I was super happy to be able to find two that not only were worth reviewing, but proved to be up there in the “best of” levels of any I’d been to anywhere in the world!

TOZD was created and established 5 years ago by Robert Henigman. I immediately liked the feel of TOZD because when I say Robert created this space, I mean it’s a creative, fun environment with books and artwork all over the space. Even the menu on the wall had anatomical x-ray like images of parts of the human body. As a health & fitness professional, I personally loved it.

TOZD front entrance

Continue reading →