So, I realize a majority of my posts lately have been travel posts. Not gonna apologize! After a really rough late 2017 and a 2018 that honestly hasn’t been any better (in fact, I think it has actually been WORSE), my frequent trips are one of the few things that have been keeping me sane.
I just got back from a weekend trip to Boston with my coworker Colleen, and despite the cold and rainy weather, I couldn’t have asked for a better trip.
I’ve talked a little bit about my weird work schedule before, but a quick recap. I work four 10-hour days starting at 6 a.m. Sunday, so my weekends are Thursday through Saturday. Not ideal for being a normal 20-something since I can’t do Saturday night bar hopping or Sunday morning brunch, but traveling? I couldn’t ask for a better schedule. Wednesday night and Saturday afternoon flights are cheap, and three days is plenty of time for a solid domestic weekend trip.
My coworker Colleen and I have almost the same schedule. She just starts an hour earlier. So, when the two of us found a round trip flight from O’Hare to Boston Wednesday afternoon through Saturday afternoon for less than $100 (thanks, Spirit Airlines!) we jumped on it, literally. We took a half day on Wednesday and packed our bags (well, bag. Cause Spirit.) and headed to Boston.
Colleen and I got in at about 5 p.m. that Wednesday and checked into our hostel before heading out to wander. We stopped at the Boston Public Market for a quick snack (I had a pretzel) and then put our names on the list for dinner at Union Oyster House, which is apparently the oldest restaurant in the United States. I did the super touristy thing and got the Sam Adams ale brewed specifically for the restaurant before we split a ton of seafood including oysters and calamari.
We had kind of debated going to the bar next door after dinner but decided to take the T back to our hostel and go to sleep since we’d both been up since 3:30 a.m., and neither of us had slept on the plane.
The next morning we woke up to… rain. We walked to Thinking Cup for coffee and luckily, the rain let up quite a bit while we were there. We then wandered around parts of the freedom trail, taking in the architecture and history. We saw the Granary Burying Ground and Faneuil Hall, toured Paul Revere’s house and wandered up to Bunker Hill. We stopped to take pictures just about everywhere.
The two of us kind of underestimated how small Boston is. We made it through most of our city checklist by 2 p.m. and realized we had more time than we thought to see everything. We’d ended up seeing most of the Freedom Trail, North End and Financial District by the end of the work day, and we’d done most of it on foot, even though we’d bought seven-day T passes.
We grabbed coffee at Render before meeting up with one of Colleen’s friends, Eric, for drinks at Harpoon Brewery. After that, we walked to Neptune Oyster for the highly-touted lobster rolls.
When we walked through the door, we were told that they’d just stopped serving customers, which was really disappointing. We ended up walking next door to Rabia’s for lobster rolls instead. They were still amazing, but I’ll admit that we were really disappointed we couldn’t try Neptune!
After food (and wine) at Rabia’s, we went back to the hostel for the evening. One of the weirdest things about Boston — to me, at least — was how early everything closed. Eric had been explaining the Puritan influence in the region, and said a lot of bars close before midnight. Honestly, since Colleen and I are self-described grandmothers due to our early work schedules, we were more than OK with it.
As a side note, too, this meant that we really lucked out with our hostel arrangements. Colleen and I had two beds in a six-bed all-female room, and for the most part, we all went to sleep and woke up at the same time every day, so we didn’t have to deal with the usual hostel annoyances of conflicting sleep schedules.
(We stayed at HI Boston in Chinatown, and I would definitely recommend it.)
We woke up the next day and poked around Brattle Book Shop and walked through the Public Garden for a bit before we grabbed coffee and pastries at Tatte Bakery. Then, we started checking out the parts of the city we didn’t see the day before — namely Back Bay and Beacon Hill.
We took our touristy photos on Acorn Street and then spent hours dipping in and out of clothing stores, antique shops and stationery stores throughout both neighborhoods before stopping at the Boston Public Library for high tea.
After tea, we hopped on the T and went to Cambridge, where we toured Harvard’s campus before grabbing oysters, dinner and drinks at the Red House.
After that, we called it a night and spent the rest of the day hanging out in our hostel lobby.
The next morning we made a quick stop to grab cannoli at Mike’s Pastry before heading back to the airport for our flight back home.
Like I said, I had an absolutely amazing time in Boston. I wish the weather would have been a bit nicer, but it was still wonderful to explore New England for the first time ever.
I know I say this about every place I visit, but I honestly can’t wait to go back.
