AK Monthly Recap: November 2024

This month, I visited a brand new country — Panama — and made a nice visit home to the states. Before that, it was all about enjoying the month of November in Prague, seeing the last of the brightly colored leaves and feeling the first chilly temperatures of winter.

And that’s what I’ll be talking about. Not the election. Because I don’t feel like it.

Let’s take a look at November 2024!

A great night out for Shakespeare!

Destinations Visited

• Prague, Nymburk, and Poděbrady, Czech Republic
• Panama City and the San Blas Islands (including Flamingo Island, Aroma Island, Nugnudub, Isla Perro, and Isla Diablo, among others), Panama
• Beverly, Danvers, Gloucester, and Boston, Massachusetts, USA
• Kennebunkport and Wells, Maine, USA
• Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA

The view from our room at the Sofitel in Panama City

Highlights

A fun pre-Thanksgiving trip to Panama. Charlie and I decided to throw in an extra destination in the Americas — why not Panama? I’ve visited so much of Central America otherwise!

We started our trip in Panama City and splurged on a stay at the Sofitel in Panama City, which we absolutely loved. I can’t recommend the hotel highly enough!

In Panama City, we did a trip to the Panama Canal (so fascinating to learn the history and seeing the big ships travel through the locks!), strolled through the Casco Viejo old town neighborhood, ate traditional Panamanian food (so much ceviche, and we loved their take on arroz con pollo), and drank a LOT of excellent coffee.

The San Blas Islands look like a kid drew them!

Then came the San Blas Islands — and THAT is an exceptional destination. These islands off the Caribbean coast of Panama are in an autonomous zone run by the Guna Indigenous people.

We booked a three-day, two-night itinerary that included nights on two different islands. Once you arrive, the boat captains herd you around expertly; everyone is going somewhere different!

These islands really are the kind you fantasize about as a little kid — tiny islets topped with a bunch of tall, wild palm trees, a few huts on shore. Just getting that experience is valuable — as is getting away from the world and enjoying a digital detox (islands have varying degrees of phone signal and wifi availability).

I also loved getting to buy some Guna art — brightly embroidered pieces of cloth called molas — directly from the Guna community, and much better quality for lower prices than in Panama City. Like, $20 for a beautiful piece of artwork the size of a placemat. I can’t wait to frame ours.

For the record, I would recommend visiting Panama during high season if you can (mid-December through mid-March). It was so humid, gray, and rainy during much of our November visit. Panama City was especially brutal. It felt like our clothes could never get completely dry.

Thanksgiving dinner at my cousin’s house!

Good times with family and friends in New England. We flew home to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family, and it was nice to see everyone and enjoy the time together.

We got to spend some quality time with my dad, and we had a great meal at a new-to-me place, Seaport Grille in Gloucester — go there for a massive lobster roll at a shockingly low price!

Charlie and I also went to dinner at No. 9 Park, a legendary Boston restaurant that will be closing in the New Year, and I wanted to experience it one last time. WELL — turns out someone bought it and will be keeping the whole staff! They need to slightly alter the restaurant name, though.

If you want to go, you need to get their signature dish — the prune-stuffed gnocchi. It’s famous for a reason.

Driving up the coast near Kennebunkport.

We also went to Kennebunkport to hang out with my Maine friends, and spent a night at the Nonantum Resort, where my friend’s dad works and kindly offered us a friends-and-family rate. Now THAT is a nice place — so cozy, an amazing staff, and probably the best hotel breakfast that I’ve had in the US.

Kennebunkport is a place I always drive through but rarely spend time in, but it’s such a nice town, especially during the Christmas season because they go all out on decorations! We had great meals at the Batson River Brewery in Kennebunkport and the Bitter End, a lovely little pub in nearby Wells.

Fun with the girls — including one tiny girl!

And as is becoming usual, my friends and I met up for brunch in Portsmouth, New Hampshire — a city magically equidistant from where we’re all based these days. The Friendly Toast is always a fun meal out.

And a quick final note — I’m a bit embarrassed to say this as a traveler from the Boston area, but I took Logan Express this month for the first time ever. I should have been doing this for YEARS. $9 per ticket, and a quick, direct ride from the suburbs to Logan Airport.

If you’re based in the Boston suburbs, take it! I should have been taking it from Woburn when I lived in Reading, but at least now I can take it from Danvers when I’m visiting my dad in Beverly.

It was nice strolling around Nymburk.

Good times in Prague and beyond! We had a nice month in Prague. Charlie and I went to our annual Shakespeare performance — The Merchant of Venice by the Prague Shakespeare Company.

This month’s trip to a new Czech destination was actually to two towns close to each other — Nymburk, which has an interesting city wall, and Poděbrady, which is a small spa town with a castle and a nice park.

Both of those towns are lovely to visit if you live in Prague, but I don’t think I’d recommend them to visitors from overseas. There are so many better day trips from Prague.

Also — I found a new Czech teacher this month! I’m going back into lessons, and this time it’s one-on-one tutoring. And I’m thrilled that I retained a decent amount of Czech from the lessons I had years ago!

Challenges

This month I said goodbye to a kitty I loved. You might remember Balíček, our friends’ cat, who came to live with us for a few monthlong stints and had fun hanging out with Lewis and Murray. We saw him all the time and often took care of him when his family was traveling.

Balíček had been living with cancer and kidney failure the last year, and though treatments extended his life and kept him comfortable, he took a turn for the worst in November. I’m grateful that our friends invited us over to say goodbye to him.

I have never met a cat as loving as Balíček! He was constantly snuggling up to people, sitting in everyone’s laps, climbing on you when you were working at your laptop. When Charlie and I worked at our desks, he would come up to us and tap our arms until we gave him enough room to jump into our laps.

Here are a few of my favorite photos:

Miss you forever, buddy. You were one of a kind.

Blog Posts of the Month

• What’s it Really Like to Travel to Bhutan?
• 14 Fab Things to Do in San Gimignano, Italy
• 16 Fun Things to Do in Pisa, Italy
• 16 Cool Things to Do in Siena, Italy
• AK Monthly Recap: October 2024

I never thought I’d own one of these.

Fashion Moment of the Month

I have been trying to wear more natural fibers lately — more wool, linen, silk, and cotton. Less plastic — meaning less polyester and polyamide-blend sweaters.

This has made a big impact on my shopping, as I now start label-first. I wear a lot of Sézane, and though their quality has gone down in recent years, they still have some 100% natural sweaters — I love the 100% merino wool Betty, and the merino wool-cotton blend Sami. Both feel SO nice.

But one of my absolute favorite things I have bought in natural fibers is not something I never thought I’d buy — a cashmere sweatsuit.

It’s a cashmere hoodie and cashmere straight leg pants from the affordable quality brand Quince. Perhaps a bit pricey for loungewear, but CHEAP for cashmere, and considering how often I’m wearing them, they’ll be down to $1 per wear by spring.

I have LIVED IN THESE at home every single day since I’ve gotten them. I sleep in them. I work in them. They are so warm but so light, and feel SO DAMN GOOD. If you want to treat yourself, these are awesome.

What I Listened To This…Year!

I listen to so much lo-fi during my working hours that it sometimes throws my entire Spotify Wrapped out of whack — but this year, it’s full of actual music that I listened to!

My top music was the usual mix of pop and hip-hop, with a big of alternative thrown in from Smashing Pumpkins, whom I saw in concert in Prague this year.

2024 was an incredible year for women in pop, and I especially listened to a lot of Chappell Roan, Billie Eilish (whom I started listening to for the first time this year, and now realize that yes, she absolutely deserves her ridiculous number of awards at such a young age), and Sabrina Carpenter.

I hope to see any of those ladies in concert sometime! Currently hoping Sabrina extends her Europe concert dates this spring, because she has nothing in Germany or Austria or Czech Republic yet — surely she’d add a few dates there, wouldn’t she??

And of course… “Not Like Us” was the song of the year, to zero surprise on my end.

What I Watched This Month

First off — I saw Wicked, and it was EVERYTHING. Despite being a Broadway fan, I never got into Wicked, but the movie is SO, SO, SO well-done. Beautifully cast, with an absolutely spellbinding production design (with minimal CGI, yay!!).

And as much as I flinched at the Boq-and-Glinda moments (if you know, you know), there is no question that Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande were the absolute best choices to star in these roles. They were both remarkable and embodied the characters so beautifully.

I’m looking forward to seeing Wicked a second time once it comes to Prague!

Gladiator II, however? Entertaining at times…but did this movie need to be made? I don’t think it did! The CGI baboons were ridiculous, and Denzel having an American accent amongst all the British accents was just too jarring.

And as much as I adore Paul Mescal, I think he was miscast. His strength is softness, like in Aftersun, and this role was written as testosterone personified. Every time Denzel told him how much rage he had inside himself, I thought to myself, Really? Rage is what you see? And you really think this dude could rally thousands of soldiers to do his bidding?

Another movie I really enjoyed was Emily the Criminal, which is available to watch on HBO Max. This movie stars Aubrey Plaza as a young woman in student debt up to her eyeballs who decides to do a bit of credit card fraud to get ahead — then ends up in the middle of a sinister criminal enterprise. Definitely worth watching, female-gazey in all the right ways, and a great showcase for her acting!

Lewis and Murray and salmon paste!

What I Read This Month

The Battle of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins (2020) — I rewatched the Hunger Games movies this month (really, you’ll never guess what gave me the urge), and realized that I had never ended up reading the latest book, the prequel about President Snow as a teenager.

What I love about the Hunger Games series is the incredibly detailed world-building of Panem, yet how it’s a sobering and realistic look at the consequences of war and fascism. This book takes you back to the 10th Hunger Games (Katniss’s first games was the 74th), when the Capitol is barely stable after years of war.

Coriolanus Snow is the son of a prominent Panem family — but behind closed doors, they’re secretly starving. His only hope is to ingratiate himself among the most privileged of Panem, ace his studies, and carve out a better life for his family.

And this year, he becomes one of the 24 first-time Hunger Games mentors. He is assigned the girl from District 12 — a captivating singer named Lucy Gray.

If you want to learn up close about how a decent-seeming teenage boy gets radicalized, this book is a very good example.

Inside Out by Demi Moore (2019) — I grabbed this book as a casual listen while out on my walks, and WOW. I had no idea that Demi Moore is one of those celebrities, not unlike Minka Kelly, who had such a wild childhood that it’s a miracle that she made it to adulthood.

If you remember her romance and eventual marriage with Ashton Kutcher in the early 2000s, you remember the tabloids going nuts over their age difference. She was 40 and he was 25 when they got together. BLOODY HELL. I am 40 now! She was treated like she was ancient!!

Also, Ashton sucks. Though you probably knew that.

There were some parts that seemed purposefully reticent (like a time when her whole family cut her off for a few years — they’ve since reconciled). But overall, it was a very good read, and I enjoyed spending a few hours inside her head.

And it made me want to watch more of her films! There are so many I haven’t seen, like St. Elmo’s Fire and G.I. Jane, and I’ve somehow never seen A Few Good Men…

Colmar at Christmas, via Shutterstock

Coming Up in December 2024

It’s officially Christmas market season in Europe! After missing all the markets last year due to being in South America, I’m looking forward to indulging in the markets this year.

Charlie and I will be doing a four-day road trip to visit some markets we haven’t visited before. Day one will take us to Rothenburg ob der Tauber and Heidelberg, two German cities I’ve long wanted to visit.

Days two and three will take us to the Alsace region of France, which I’ve visited before, but never during Christmas. We’ll be first visiting Obernai and Strasbourg, then heading to Colmar for two nights. From Colmar we’ll be taking the Christmas shuttle to visit the small towns of Kayserberg, Riquewihr, and Ribeauvillé.

On the long drive back, we’ll be breaking it up with a stop around Stuttgart — maybe Ludwigsburg.

I might try to squeeze in some day trips to the Christmas markets in Dresden and Nuremberg, both of which I’ve visited before, but I’d love to get some video.

And for my final new Czech destination of 2024, Charlie and I will be visiting Ceské Budejovice, a fun city in South Bohemia that also puts on a nice Christmas market.

What are you getting up to in December? Share away!

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