Top 5 Things to See in Portland, OR

I’ve been in what can only be described as the most miserable travel dry spell. I haven’t stepped foot in an airport since January, but even then I didn’t have a ticket in hand – it was for a bittersweet goodbye.

In less than a month, I will be touching down in a new place. Something that you can probably guess I’ve been eagerly awaiting since I booked the trip 12 (TWELVE) long weeks ago.

Frustrated that time isn’t passing to my liking; I looked through Facebook albums of pictures from trips past. One trip on my mind recently was one I took this time two years ago with my then-roommate Courtney. We were burnin’ up from West Coast Fever- as we like to call it- and we booked a trip to see what it was all about.

Two years a little too late (hey- I didn’t have a blog then), these are the my Portland top 5- the highlights of my West Coast adventure.

1. Sweedeedee

I won’t lie- a post from @Sweedeedee on Instagram fueled the fire for us to book our trip to Portland. Hands down the best brunch I have ever had in my life. And, brunch wasn’t even that big of a thing in 2015… At least not as talked about as it is today. If it’s still on the menu, get the Baker’s Breakfast- it won’t disappoint. I mean, we biked our way from the city center just to get a table. If that’s not a 5 star recommendation…..

2. The Record Store Across the Street

It’s actually called Mississippi Records. If you’re a vinyl lover, you’ve got to go to the West Coast. I’ve never seen such a wide spread collection of original pressed vinyl. Each record store we went in to had such an awesome retro vibe, too, which just added to the experience.

3. Cinema 21

Who goes to the cinema when they’re traveling in a new city? Me, apparently. Truth be told, Courtney and I were 20 at the time, so we couldn’t enjoy the brewery tours, or a night out at the bar. Instead, we found Cinema 21 online and made a point to get tickets to a show. Cinema 21 is the best of the best Indie film cinemas out there… Or so I made up just two seconds ago.

Portland is known for it’s hipster vibe, so I’m sure Cinema 21 isn’t the first, or only of it’s kind. This Indie cinema offers cheap tickets and snacks, to pair with some of the most obscure films out there.

We saw, What We Do in the Shadows– and I’m not in the film-reviewing business, but that’s a must-see as well.

4. St. Honore Bakery

On the topic of films- I’m sure you’ve never heard of this one: The Grand Budapest Hotel? No, can’t imagine that you have. Nothing famous about it. Even lesser known than the movie, a Portland bakery actually made the cakes featured in the film. You can even have them for yourself.

Two years later I’m not sure why I went to the famous bakery and didn’t order the famous cake… Regardless, the lemon tart I had there was great, if not better.

5. Lan Su Chinese Garden

Who knew that among the chaos of Portland’s quirky city life, rested a tranquil getaway quite like the Lan Su Chinese Garden? The website says that Lan Su is a window to over 2,000 years of Chinese traditions. While I’ve never been to China, I could see this ringing true. I highly recommend stopping by the Teahouse for a cup of oolong.

Honorable Mentions

Four Simple Travel Planning Tricks To Save For Later

Travel websites are spammed with marketing techniques that try to fool us into thinking that we are getting the best deals possible. Is that really the case? I’m one of those people who will tirelessly dig until I know I have exhausted all of my options before booking plane tickets or hotel rooms.

It’s a small, but valuable list… These are four travel planning tips that I think you’re going to like.

 

Clear cookies or search incognito

If you have the patience to search, you can find plenty of travel deals. However, sometimes if you’ve been hunting for an hour or two, Google might start catching on. In my experience, if I’m continually searching for flights to and from the same destination, the displayed prices keep rising. As a rule, I always choose to go incognito (when using Google Chrome) to prevent this from happening.

 

Ditch your regular booking routine

Sometimes it takes a simple change to find exactly what you’ve been searching for. Where are you planning to go? Have you looked into the airlines from your destination country? For whatever reason United States airlines charge exponentially higher than foreign airlines (from my experience). Always double check. This helped me score a round-trip flight to Brussels for $466 directly through Brussels Airlines.

 

Take price forecasting with a grain of salt

A new trend emerging seems to be price forecasting for airlines. Airfare prediction technology isn’t always the most reliable. At the end of the day, it’s up to your discretion of how good a deal the fare is. I will admit that apps like Hopper seem handy, but it’s unclear where they are pulling their data from. There is also Kayak’s price trend chart, which provides the likelihood of searched airfares rising or falling within the next week. The data incorporates year-over-year trends to determine when it’s the right time to buy. Kayak’s previous studies showed that the best time to book is 21 days out from your trip. Anything after that, you’ll have to bite the bullet and pay up.

Everyone is clueless as to how high or low airline prices will go. Airlines don’t even disclose how the fares are being calculated, so how reliable can “farecasting” truly be?

 

Beware of ‘top results’ in your search

I may be young, but I’m old enough to know that Google isn’t what it used to be. Don’t assume that anything on the first page of your search results, whether it’s a search engine or travel website. Top results, more often than not, scream “I paid to be here.” Or, it’s just a way for the company to prioritize its own services… That’s how Google got in trouble with the European Union. Go the extra mile and do extra research to verify that they really are the top pick.