A Cozy Teahouse in the Catskills

Happy November and welcome to another issue of Travel Onist! I do the travel research, you do the reading. Pretty good deal eh?

Here’s what’s on the itinerary today:

A cozy teahouse in the Catskills

The best fish & chips I’ve had

Snorkel in a lake filled with jellyfish

A peer-to-peer outdoor gear rental service in L.A.

Stay in Bearsville, New York

Cozy Teahouse

I recently enjoyed a short weekend trip to the Catskills — a peaceful, mountainous region about 2 hours north of NYC. This has become somewhat of a staple fall trip for us since moving to the area, and I’ll tell you why. The Catskills offer a tremendous change of pace from city living—peace and quiet, privacy, open space, slow pace, fresh air, farms and livestock. You're surrounded by nature, stunning nature at that, especially in the fall.

For this last trip, we stayed at the Airbnb pictured above and it was our best stay yet. It’s a little teahouse on the back end of the host family’s property. Although the land is shared, you can barely tell and are mostly enjoying complete privacy. There’s a pool and tennis court on-site and the property is just 10 minutes from the town of Woodstock and multiple local farm stands. You have everything you need right nearby. This teahouse is the perfect place for some rest and relaxation.

Eat, Drink, and Be Merry in Victoria, Canada

Red Fish, Blue Fish

Allow me to turn you on to the best fish & chips I have ever had. Although, take that with a grain of salt as I by no means consider myself a seasoned veteran in the fish and chips game. HOWEVER, I do humbly consider myself a seasoned veteran in the food game broadly, and this food was excellent.

We ordered the cod and fish jerk tacones (pictured above), a cup of the chowder, and of course, the fish & chips. The beer-battered cod was the star of the show, featured in both the fish & chips and one of the tacones. The chowder was good but heavy on the corn, if that’s your thing and you’re into tomato-based chowdas, I’m sure you’d enjoy!

Shoutout to one of my readers, Chris, for recommending this place! You rock Chris. 🤗

Experience in Palau

Snorkel in Jellyfish Lake

I know what you’re probably thinking… “T.O., have you gone crazy? Why on earth would I CHOOSE to snorkel with jellyfish?!”

Well, what would you say if I told you they don’t sting? Don’t worry, I’m always looking out for you. 😊

Now that we have that out of the way, I’ll tell you about Jellyfish Lake (or Ongeim'l Tketau as locals call it). Formed roughly 12,000 years ago, when glaciers from the last Ice Age receded, the ecosystem has been isolated from the ocean since. That meant no predators for these jelly bellies to worry about, resulting in an evolution of the two species of jellyfish so that their stings are now virtually undetectable to humans…Wouldn’t it be nice if everything evolved that way?

Carry On

Dabble

Dabble is a peer-to-peer outdoor gear rental service based in Southern California. From coolers to surfboards, you can find some great gear rental options through this site. This is a much more affordable option than buying gear for an upcoming trip!

This cool company is run by a friend and reader of the newsletter, Manny! If you are located in the SoCal area and are into the outdoors, you’ll definitely want to check out Dabble.

AI Travel Art Piece of the Week

Cheers til next week,

T.O.