Budapest would be the end of my solo travels, at least for a few weeks. It was my last stop before meeting up with my friend, Katie, and I had big plans for my last few days alone. But, by the time I arrived, I was tired. I’d been on the road for 6 weeks, and I hadn’t been sleeping well the last few nights. Other travelers told me that caving was the thing to do in Budapest, and exploring the underground cave system beneath the city sounded awesome! But… the tour I was hoping to enjoy included climbing and crawling through narrow passageways, and I wondered if I had…
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Guest Post: Yerba Mate
(For Tea Tuesday this week, I asked my brother, Ian, to fill in while I’m traipsing about the Southeastern United States, and he agreed to write a guest post about his favorite tea-like drink: yerba mate. He’s a freelance journalist, and you can read more of his writing at www.iandoesprojects.com, where he is conducting and documenting “life projects” — finite and arbitrary experiments in doing.) Hi everybody, I’m Ian. You might remember me from that time I went to London and Edinburgh with Emma. I started drinking mate regularly when I studied abroad in Buenos Aires during my junior year of college. I like to say that it’s “a habit…
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Weekly Travel Inspiration: The Good Girl’s Guide to Getting Lost by Rachel Friedman
This weekly travel inspiration is for everyone graduating college this month or otherwise navigating their 20s and trying to decide what to do with themselves. “The Good Girl’s Guide to Getting Lost: A Memoir of Three Continents, Two Friends, and One Unexpected Adventure” is Rachel Friedman’s charming coming-of-age memoir that follows her through her early 20s. It begins the summer before Rachel’s senior year of college, when, rather than get a resume-boosting internship like many of her friends, she gets a job in a pub in Galway, Ireland. She is coming to grips with the unknown after giving up on her lifelong dream of being a professional musician. In Ireland,…
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Art Museum-hopping in Vienna
Vienna was not on my original itinerary for The Great European Adventure, but when I told people that I was visiting Prague and Budapest, a number of friends replied, “and you’re not going to Vienna?!” Prague, Vienna, and Budapest seem to be the quintessential trio of central European travel destinations, and who am I to argue with quintessential trios? Well, I’m so glad I added Vienna to my trip because I love art museums, and Vienna is full of them! When I visited, I went to 4 art museums in 3 days. 1. The Belvedere Palaces: Most importantly, I wanted to see that masterful Austrian painter whose works appeared so…
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Tea Tuesday: Fresh Ginger Tea
Tonight’s Tea Tuesday post was going to be about a chai concentrate E and I concocted. But that post will have to wait for another day because the mixture we made includes 8 bags of black tea, it’s 10:30 at night, and that’s a lot of caffeine before bed. Rather than leave you with no Tea Tuesday post, I’m sharing a cuppa that’s a bit more appropriate for this time of night. This unappetizing-looking beverage is fresh ginger tea. And it’s delicious, so back off. I’ve been feeling anxious (lots of work to finish before I leave for my road trip on Friday), and I’ve had a stomachache for most…
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Weekly Travel Inspiration: Adventures in Travel Vlogging!
This week, I am proud to bring you your weekly travel inspiration in video form! Press play to hear about whales and the two months I spent living and working at an organic farm on Maui. Joyful discussion of humpback whales by me, filming by my boyfriend, E, editing was a joint effort. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFox3R1cyvM] I hope this will be the first of many travel vlogs and videos to come. Let me know in the comments what you think.
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Upcoming (Mis)Adventures!
Remember my first blog post? Well this is my 100th! What?! I know, I’m excited, too. You know what else I’m excited about? My travel plans for the month of May! After six weeks spent crisscrossing New England (Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Vermont), I’m heading a bit farther afield by going on a… Road Trip! On May 10th, I’m heading down to DC to meet up with two of my best friends from college and begin a week-long road trip to Miami! Places we intend to stop along the way (but which are subject to change and subject to your input, fair reader) include: Williamsburg, VA Virginia Beach,…
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Tea Tuesday: German Chamomile
See this plant? This is German Chamomile growing in the tea garden at Hana Farms, the organic farm I worked at in Hawai’i. This sad scraggly thing is also German Chamomile: This particular specimen is looking pathetic because I transplanted it to the garden bed in front of my cabin, and, at the time this photo was taken, it was still adjusting to its new home. The farm manager told me that when you transplant something, it helps to pick off any flowers so that the plant will focus on growing stronger roots instead of wasting energy on keeping its flowers from wilting. So, when I saw my German Chamomile…
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Prague: Last Look
In this photo, taken in Prague’s Jewish Quarter, you can see a portion of the Old Jewish Cemetery, which is home to approximately 12,000 tombstones and was in use between the early 15th century and 1787. You can visit the cemetery along with five preserved synagogues (notably Pinkas Synagogue) and historical buildings, which together make up the Jewish Museum in Prague. This Museum was founded by Dr. Hugo Lieben and Dr. Augustin Stein in 1906, but was closed to the public after the Nazi Occupation began in 1939. Dr. Stein hoped to preserve Jewish artifacts that were being confiscated and destroyed by the Nazis all over Central Europe, and, along…
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Weekly Travel Linkspiration: language learning tips, “off the beaten path” travel, and small backpacks
Here’s what you may have missed around the internet this month. terribleminds shares 25 Things Writers Should Know About Traveling, and makes me want to forget all about blogging in favor of writing fiction influenced by my travels. (Don’t worry, I’m going to keep blogging… I might start writing fiction on the side, though.) You know how my sidebar bio says, “I wish I were a polyglot,” well, Almost Fearless suggests we stop thinking about studying new languages as an obligation, and start doing things we love in the language we’re learning. She’s learning Spanish by reading magazines about cooking and celebrity gossip. Katie Aune says that common stereotypes about…
