Archives for April 2014

Road Trip!

April 21, 2014

Road trips are some of my favorite ways to travel. I love the freedom, the ability to drive “off the beaten path,” the ability to drive wherever you feel like it and not be ruled by bus schedules, the way you can make your little car your home as you act like a nomad.

There are some road trips I’ve always, always wanted to take. Tell me I’m not the only one that loves this type of travel!

1. Iceland: like I’ve said several times, our time in Iceland was way too short! I’d love to go back with a camper van and just see as much as possible.

2. New Zealand: the South Island!

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3. Highlands of Scotland: Again, a well-known dream of mine 🙂

4. Ireland: I’ve also been here, but Ireland seems like the perfect place to have the freedom of a car! Then I could stop at every gorgeous corner to take in the view and snap some shots.

5. Germany: the Black Forest!

6. Canada: the WHOLE thing! At least, from British Columbia to Nova Scotia.

7. United States: from Big Sur to the Grand Canyon, New Orleans to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and St. Augustine, from the Badlands to Acadia National Park; I want to see it all!

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8. Italy: the Amalfi Coast!

9. The Pan-American Highway: or at least part of it. Since it technically goes from Patagonia to Alaska…it would certainly be the ultimate road trip!

10. South Africa: gorg.

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11. England: I need more time to visit every single adorable English village, obviously.

12. Australia: especially the Gold Coast!

13. Mongolia

14. North Africa’s Coast

What are your top road trips?

This is letter R for the A to Z Challenge!

Ecuador

Quito {Ecuador}

April 19, 2014

It’s fitting that the day before Easter would fall the letter ‘Q,’ as Q is one of the most difficult letters, and I can only think of one place I’ve been that starts with Q: Quito, Ecuador! It fits that it’s near Easter as I spent Easter in Quito several years ago.

My brother and I were traveling around Ecuador after I had completed my study abroad semester in Cuzco, Peru. We had spent Semana Santa (Holy Week in South America/Spain) cruising the coast of Ecuador, from Guayaquil on up, and expected to find a rollicking party in the capital, as we had been swept up in a crazy parade in Guayaquil and had been warned by the inhabitants of the coastal towns that everyone went to Quito for the actual day of Easter.

However, we arrived to a silent city, being told there that everyone went to the coast to celebrate. Even our hostel was fairly quiet (which was okay by me, the party animal).

As Ecuador was so small, Quito ended up being sort of a home base as we traveled around to the mountains, the jungle, and the coast, and I stayed there on-and-off after my brother went back home. There are two main sections for tourists to stay in: Old Town, and New Town. New Town feels like any city, full of hip bars and restaurants, and is the place to go if you want to party. We stayed in Old Town during Easter, close to all the big attractions, and I stayed in Old Town always after that, because it’s beautiful and still fun, while being uniquely Quito.

Easter was my favorite day in Quito. We arrived in the morning off an overnight bus, showered in blessed hot water, attempted to find a bullfight (only to be told is wasn’t the season for that yet, as we arrived at a deserted stadium), and ended up going to a church service, in Spanish, at a huge, ancient cathedral. The cathedral, the Church of the Society of Jesus or la Compañía, is one of the most beautiful and distinctive churches in Quito. After the church service, it started to rain–as in downpour–but we headed to our dinner destination anyway: San Francisco Square for some traditional goat stew. My brother is much faster than me, but I ran behind him in the rain, and enjoyed that stew immensely, especially along with my hot cocoa.

(I was without a camera in Quito, as I took too many pictures of monkeys and mine couldn’t handle it anymore, so these are all courtesy of my brother or a disposable camera…)

A sunny(ish) Quito upon our arrival.

^me being oblivious in San Francisco Square.

^fancy a ride in a horse-drawn carriage, anyone?

^the beautiful church

^rainy Quito on Easter

^my brother, much more photogenic than me! especially in the rain.^Hot cocoa in Ecuador just tastes better!

This is letter Q for the A to Z Challenge!

Travels

Places {Some Favorites}

April 18, 2014

And now I give you letter P for the A to Z Challenge! Some of my favorite places in the world, in no particular order.

1. Dingle, Ireland. A little town on the Dingle peninsula, with a real-live dolphin as a mascot. It is my plan (when I’m all grown up and my dreams are coming true) to go back there and write a novel! I’d probably be happy to live anywhere in Ireland, really, because, look at this!

2. Adelboden, Switzerland. An adorable, quintessential Swiss village tucked in the mountains, full of little Swiss gingerbread houses and surrounded by the Alps (and even as someone who grew up in the Rockies, there ain’t nothin’ like the Alps!).

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3. Machu Picchu, Peru. This was one of those places I’d always heard about that completely surpassed my (already high) expectations. Watching this famous mountain rise out of the mist at sunrise was unbelievable.

4. Ha Long Bay, Vietnam. Not only was this beautiful, but it was so fun to explore caves, explore the main island, Cat Ba, and even kayak a little!

5. Montana. This wide-open, gorgeous state will always have a piece of me, and always, in some way, be “home.”

6. The Gulf of Thailand. While on this coast, we stayed with a friend-of-a-friend, who took us to a small island never visited by tourists. It was gorgeous! We also stayed on Koh Tao and learned to scuba dive.

7. Vancouver Island, Canada. A perfect corner of the Northwest!

8. Henry’s Lake, Idaho. Right on the border of Montana, a perfectly picturesque lake that feels like it hasn’t changed in 100 years.

9. Point Loma, San Diego, California. My cousin went to school here: it’s breathtaking!

10. Isla de la Plata, Ecuador. The poor man’s Galapagos! Includes blue-footed boobies and giant turtles.

11. Bruges, Belgium. Bruges was everything I could have hoped for from Europe, with amazing food, views, canals (and crowds, unfortunately). We biked, we drank delicious beer, we tried exotic chocolate, we wandered the canals for hours, and we ended up attending a music festival that included roller-skating, a “silent” disco, polka-dancing and a club!

12. Edinburgh, Scotland. Oh beautiful, beautiful Scotland! E had already visited here, and talked it up quite a bit, and I completely loved it.

13. Reykjanes Peninsula, Iceland. Iceland was a last-minute addition due to a layover, and I was surprised at how charmed I was by this island. It’s definitely a unique country, in both the culture and landscape!

14. Orcas Island, Washington. I obviously have a fondness for this island (and sort of islands in general, apparently).

15. Rural China. Both rural Sichuan and the area around the Great Wall were incredible.

I’m linking up again with Casey’s Fresh Face Friday! It’s her last one for a while, so be sure to check it out!

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