CrossCountry Train from Edinburgh to Bath: An Unfortunate Disappointment

by A Purple Life, posted in Reviews, Spending, Travel, Travel Reviews

Like I mentioned in my other train reviews, before I reserve travel with a new company to trek across a country, state or city, I always look for detailed reviews of their service to know what I’m getting into and set expectations. However, I often find that these kinds of detailed reviews don’t exist.

There are general travel reviews, but I prefer to know the nitty gritty so I can mentally prepare for what I’m about to do and hopefully not make additional mistakes that traveling in another country can easily result in.

So this was my experience using the CrossCountry Train to travel from Edinburgh, Scotland to Bath, England in the summer of 2025. Let’s see how it went 🙂 . Continue reading “CrossCountry Train from Edinburgh to Bath: An Unfortunate Disappointment” →

Cheers To 8 Years Of A Purple Life!

by A Purple Life, posted in Blogging, Hobbies

I’m still here! It’s been 8 years since I took this blog public, which is twice as long as I’ve ever held one job. This is by far my longest running hobby and in those 8 years, I’ve published a post at least every Tuesday. I never thought I would be able to keep up that kind of consistency despite everything life throws at us. So let’s celebrate!

Continue reading “Cheers To 8 Years Of A Purple Life!” →

Review: Puffin Boat Tour from Boothbay Harbor, Maine

by A Purple Life, posted in Reviews, Spending, Travel, Travel Reviews

The way this trip came to be was, as it always is with me, pretty random 🙂 . I went to Iceland in 2025 and 2024 during the fall on the way to and from Europe and both times we went we heard, “Oh no – you just missed the Puffins!”

I only became a birder when I retired in 2020 and puffins weren’t the main reason for our Iceland trips, but it was still sad to hear 🙂 . As a result, I did a search to see where else in the world puffins are and was shocked to see that a US state was on the list!

Puffins can be found in Maine and so this July 2026 trip was born with the express purpose to see them on this cruise. So let’s see how it went! Continue reading “Review: Puffin Boat Tour from Boothbay Harbor, Maine” →

The Month Of Reunions: June 2026 Recap

by A Purple Life, posted in Blogging, Early Retirement, Early Retirement Updates, Film, Finance, Fitness, Food, Hobbies, Keto, Net Worth Update

I’m back, time is a construct and 2026 is half over. Literally, what the hell 🙂 ? While I continue to grapple with time moving fast because I’m having too much fun, here are the things I got up to in June!

Continue reading “The Month Of Reunions: June 2026 Recap” →

How To Save Big On International ATM Fees

by A Purple Life, posted in Finance, Spending, Travel

In my day to day life in the US, I don’t often think about or even carry cash. Credit cards are accepted basically everywhere and since I bought a Pixel in 2025 (which has NFC) I’ve been a tap-to-pay fiend and at times don’t even carry my wallet. It’s the future 🙂 . 

All this to say that I’m not an expert on cash anymore and this revelation came into stark relief when I was spending a month in Puerto Vallarta, México a few years ago. I discovered that I had been WAY overpaying for exchanged currency my entire life. So let’s walk through how you can learn from my mistakes! Continue reading “How To Save Big On International ATM Fees” →

Review: Lucid Mattress – Wildly Comfortable And Affordable

by A Purple Life, posted in Finance, Reviews, Settling Down

“Tell me you’re in your mid-30s without telling me you’re in your mid-30s”….you get excited about mattress reviews! I was surprised to see that I am now in that category of excited people 🙂 . This is a review of my new $420 Lucid Premium Queen Sized Mattress!

Getting here was a saga as always, but this mattress has led me to not having back pain for the first time in about 2 years so I knew I had to talk about it in case it could help someone else. So let’s get into it. 

Continue reading “Review: Lucid Mattress – Wildly Comfortable And Affordable” →