A few months after we met, Lon and I took a four-city trip together. Somewhere between the comforting stews in Budapest and the pastries in Vienna, I fell in love with Lon. This was the guy I could eat every meal with for the rest of my life. He vacationed the same way I did. Sightseeing was more of a means to walking off meals in order to eat more and sooner. By the time we left Munich in a sleeper train, I thought life could not get better as I cuddled with a half-eaten pretzel still larger than my head. We arrived in Paris the next morning and after some croissants, baguettes, and a cappuccino, I could have married him on the spot.

Lon in Dubrovnik Alleyway Dubrovnik Stairs

As you know, my endless stomach impressed him and we did get married in 2008. Over the years, our travel has still been centered around food, going to cities to try specific restaurants or certain areas to try their local cuisine. Our honeymoon included the best dish we ever ate in Santorini, Greece not to take away from all the great meals we had in Athens, Mykonos, Kusadasi, Rhodes, and Naples.  We were enticed to Chicago by Alinea and Moto, as well as pizza but I ended up liking Chicago for their breakfast places the most. I almost forgot about our taco hunting in Playa del Carmen since the food there was overall the least exciting. Our most insanely packed agenda was probably the road trip from Little Saigon (south of L.A.) to Napa Valley, with intentional plans to visit Yank Sing, The Bazaar by Jose Andres, Manresa, and ending at The French Laundry. We also found adorable little places in Cambria, Big Sur, Carmel, and Monterey along the way. We did the seafood overload in Kennebunkport, Ogonquit, and Portland, Maine right before we found out that we were pregnant…(oh, trip to Vegas)…and then we had Caya.

Photo by Jacquie Lew of Photo Philosophies

I still have an ever-growing, super long list of all the places I want to go eat (you can see some on my pinterest “To Travel List”) and Radisson is going to help us and one of you! To celebrate their 50th Anniversary, every day a different blog will be giving away one free night and today, it’s us at FoodMayhem! You can check Radisson’s facebook page every day for their “50 Years, 50 Days, 50 Rooms” promotion to see which blog will be giving away that day.

“50 Years, 50 Days, 50 Rooms” Give-Away: All you have to do is leave a comment here (and a way for me to contact you) telling me what city in North America you’d like to go eat in. For my benefit (has nothing to do with your chances of winning) please elaborate on why, maybe any restaurants you have in mind. Thanks!) Don’t worry, you won’t be bound to that city if you win. Contest ends on Monday, December 10 at 2pm EST. One winner will be selected randomly shortly after.

The winner will receive*:
One free night voucher that is valid for a standard room, double occupancy at any North American Radisson Blu or Radisson hotel of the winner’s choice. The voucher expires one year after issue date.

*Updated on Dec 6th: Since some people are not exactly following the rules with “what city in North America you’d like to go eat in”, I want to clarify ahead of time on how the winner will be chosen. I’m not going to eliminate any comments. They will all be numbered in the order they were posted and then I will use random.org to choose a number. If that comment does not have a city in North America in the comment, it will be disqualified and I will use random.org again to choose another number. I will repeat until I get a qualified comment. If you notice that your comment does not currently qualify and you want to update it, please e-mail me at [email protected][the blog name].com and I will update it for you. I will accept updates up until an hour before the contest ends.

*For participating in Radisson’s “50 Years, 50 Days, 50 Rooms” promotion, Lon and I will be receiving three free nights at a Radisson Hotel in North America of our choice.

The Winner is Roxane! #51 Congratulations!!

*only 81 submissions were in before the deadline

posted by jessica at 08:34 AM Filed under Give-Aways, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.