South Carolina - Charleston
The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are.
With a move to Charleston and the start of a full-time MBA program quickly approaching, what better way to prepare than with a seven-day trip to the holy city itself? My parents and I had a full week planned of apartment hunting, tracking down the closest grocery stores and targets, and exploring Southern hospitality at its finest with restaurants, restaurants and more restaurants.
We arrived in the late afternoon to our favorite Charlestonian VRBO house near the corner of St. Philip and Spring Street where we had stayed the previous summer, unpacked our suitcases and took a sigh of relief that we were on solid ground after our eight hour car ride up from Florida. For dinner our first evening, we walked down the street to Bistronomy, a cozy French restaurant, where we celebrated our arrival with wine, bread, scallops, and creme brûlée toasted table-side.
The following morning, after calling local apartment buildings to arrange tours for the coming days, we went to Brown’s Court Bakery right next door and grabbed coffee and croissants to start our day.
We spent the majority of our first full day in Charleston exploring downtown and the city’s surrounding areas - NoMo, Harleston Village, West Ashley - and toured four apartment options before the end of the afternoon. After touring a place in the NoMo (North of Morrison) neighborhood, known for its up-and-coming atmosphere and scattered with new apartment complexes, breweries and dining options, we went to The Daily: a coffee shop, where we got hummus bowls for a late lunch.
After our tours for the day were finished, we went back to the house to relax before getting ready for dinner at Fuji Sushi on King Street, a five minute walk from our VRBO. We sat at a high-top table, soaked in the good atmosphere of the restaurant and its happy customers, and filled ourselves up with sushi, appetizers and wine, until we were ready to go back and sleep off our non-stop day.
The bakery next door was a hit from the day before - and from every day on our trip the previous summer - so of course we went back for more coffee and croissants on day three. We had my dog with us, so we took a long walk around the neighborhood before heading out for the day.
King Street was the next stop on our self-made tour of the city, and we walked in and out of shops and boutiques until we came across George Street - running perpendicular to King, and home of the College of Charleston - where we explored the beautiful shaded campus and surrounding residential neighborhood, and eventually made our way past Market Street and onto Broad and Church, to Blind Tiger Pub. Although there was a wait time of about 30 minutes to be seated, we gave them our contact information and walked across the street to a local boutique gift shop called Mildred Newberry, filled with carefully curated decorative items, stationary and accessories. Once our table was ready at Blind Tiger, we were able to enjoy the warm weather and sit in the outdoor courtyard while we had lunch.
Our day of walking continued with a stroll back to the house to relax for a couple of hours in the late afternoon, and another brief walk to King Street’s Maya: a Mexican-inspired restaurant where we ordered spicy mango margaritas and shared guacamole and chips, shishito peppers, snapper crudo and tuna tostadas, with churros and a chocolate dipping sauce for dessert.
We switched it up the next morning with coffee and an english muffin from the bakery.
Our final tour of a historic Charleston apartment was set up for that morning, and we decided to sign the lease - after what felt like weeks of searching for a perfect location, the hunt was over just in time for my parent’s final day of our trip before they drove back home to Maryland, although I was staying in town for another three days.
We spent their last day driving through Charleston’s neighboring towns: Mt. Pleasant, Shem Creek and onto Sullivan’s Island where we had lunch at the southern coastal restaurant The Obstinate Daughter and ordered a margarita pizza and polenta fries to share. We drove through the beach town and caught a glimpse of the sandy edge of the beach before going back to the house for some afternoon R&R.
Dinner was a celebratory occasion that evening, with the success of securing an apartment earlier in the day and our family vacation coming to a close. We walked down the street from our house to Malagón, a Spanish-focused market and tapería, and indulged in the flowing wine, tapas and conversation.
My parents and puppy packed up the next morning and got on the road, while I walked down the street from our VRBO - lugging my suitcase behind me - to Big Bad Breakfast where I met up with some family who had just arrived in town for our cousin’s bachelorette weekend. Although the food was subpar, the quality was made up for in company - and our group doubled in size an hour later once the bride and her passengers arrived from their road trip down.
As the second half of our group hadn’t eaten yet, we wandered the block over to King Street and went to The Rarebit for their all-day breakfast. Known for their Moscow Mule variations, we ordered a round of their seasonal pomegranate mules to start off the weekend, and then walked up the street to Charleston Beer Works where we had the entire back outdoor patio to ourselves; clearly not many people were out and about on a rainy Thursday early afternoon.
After catching up and filling up on food and drinks, we made our way over to our AirBNB in Folly Beach, about a 30 minute drive from downtown, and spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking and decorating the house for our celebratory weekend ahead. For dinner that evening, we snacked on a table-long charcuterie board and skyline dip (brought from Cincinnati itself) while we relaxed on the house’s back porch and watched the sunset.
The following morning we had eggs, bacon and muffins for breakfast before heading down to the beach - a 30-second walk, right across the street from our house. We took a 2-mile walk on the sand and soaked up the sun, went back to the house for a mid-afternoon lunch of pulled chicken sandwiches and pasta salad, and returned to our spot on the beach to relax.
We spent the evening playing bachelorette party games and the bride opened her presents before we Ubered up the street to the local Irish bar, St. James Gate, where coincidentally several bachelor party groups were celebrating as well.
Our final full day in Charleston for the weekend, we went back downtown and explored the Historic Charleston City Market, stretching several blocks and filled with local vendors selling artwork, accessories, food and more. We then took a 15-minute Uber to catch the Charleston Party Cat boat cruise, which took us on a 2-hour cruise around the harbor. The weather held out on us and we had a great time with unexpected dolphin sightings - not to mention our full run of the boat’s music playlist and microphone for karaoke.
After our sailing adventure, the group split up and a few members returned to the AirBNB on Folly Beach, while others of us went back downtown and had dinner at Ru Ru’s Mexican-inspired restaurant - the food was standard for casual Mexican cuisine, but the real draw was that it was one of the few spots that didn’t require a reservation and was not fully committed for a last-minute table on a Saturday evening in Charleston.
The City Market has a night market every Friday and Saturday evening in March through December from 6:30PM - 10:30PM, so we went back after dinner to check it out. The vendors were different from those that were there when we went earlier in the day, and there were several people playing live music at each end of the market.
Craving something sweet to end our night, we went down the street to the famous Carmella’s Cafe and Dessert Bar, where the line was out the door but moved surprisingly fast. We ordered a mix of desserts ranging from peach sorbet to cannolis to lemon blueberry cake and sat outside at one of the restaurant’s open tables.
When we returned to our AirBNB, it was time to pack our things and clean up. We left the next morning bright and early, and I flew back to Maryland with a week’s worth of memories and excitement for my many more adventures to come in Charleston.