It seems that everywhere I travel to, whether it be Boston, Austin, Reykjavik, or Oslo, I always seem to fall in love with that city. It's like each city casts a spell on me and I become mesmerized by its fascinating sights and different people. Every country, city, town, and village I visit always takes a little piece of my heart forever. I have become pretty used to this routine of falling in love with places for a short period of time and then having to depart from them. Usually I don't mind it, and I'm content with leaving a place with the hopes that I will one day be able to return. But recently, I have fallen for a city harder than ever before.
I just finished spending a magical 10 days in the beautiful northern city of Tromsø, and it stole my heart completely.
Tromsø is located in northern Norway, 350 kilometers (217 miles) inside the Arctic Circle, so for a girl who had been living in Texas for 3 years, it was quite cold. And I loved every second of it. The air was so fresh. It just made you feel alive as soon as you walked out the door.
My heart belonged to this beautiful place the second I laid eyes on the scenery around me. Everywhere you turn, you are surrounded by gorgeous towering mountains that are so captivating, its so hard to look away. And to make this sight even better, I got to see this gem of a city covered in a blanket of white sparkling snow. There is nothing better than waking up, looking out your window, and seeing mountains as far as the eye can see covered in snow (especially if it's been quite a few years since you've seen proper snow!). No matter where you go in Tromsø, you will be blown away by its beauty.
And then of course, there are the Northern Lights.
If you're lucky enough to get a clear night in the city, you can actually see the lights from inside the city. They may not be bright inside the city, but you can still see them. A good place to see the auroras on a clear night is Prestvannet Lake; just a 15 minute walk from the city center. And they are the most beautiful, fascinating sight you will ever see in your life.
The one thing that may have been better than the amazing scene that is Tromsø, is its people (and maybe its drinks?). While in this city I met so many new and beautiful people every single day that I was there. They all kindly welcomed me into there lives, whether it be for a day or 4 days. Some were even kind enough to welcome me right into their homes. I know that I have made some life-long friends in Tromsø! So thank you to all of my new Norwegian friends for teaching me about your culture (and mine), your country, and for sharing in some great times!
Now that I've told you about all of the reasons that I fell so hard, I thought I would show you. Here are a few shots from my trip to Tromsø that captured my heart. I hope you enjoy and are inspired to see this beautiful place for yourself one day.
Special thanks to Steph, Suzanne, Theresa, Mariana, Aleks, Sondre, Ole, Jonas, Torstein, Petter Pan, Katie, Josephine, and all the other friends who welcomed me in Tromsø! You're all wonderful human beings and I can't wait to see you all someday again!
Yesterday, it became 2 months until I leave for my year of travel. As I thought about how quickly 2 months go by, I started going through a checklist of everything I need/needed to do to prepare for my travels. Planning to travel long-term is exciting and extremely overwhelming. But if you have an idea of how to go about your planning, you'll be much less stressed out. So, I put together a checklist of everything important that will need to be done before leaving on a big trip.
Validate your passport
You're not going to get far without a valid passport! And if you don't have a passport yet, it is time to get one. Make sure that you have enough room in your passport for all of the stamps you'll be collecting.
Apply for needed visas
Not all countries will require a visa, but it is safer to just be prepared and search to see if the countries that you are visiting require one.
Go to the Doctors
It's important to make sure that you can medically handle this trip. This will also allow you to make sure you have all your vaccinations needed to enter certain countries. Schedule appointments with your dentist, eye doctor, general doctor, etc. to make sure you are all set to go.
Make copies of important documents
Passport, driver's license, visa, and anything else important. Make 2 copies of these; one to bring with you (and keep in a separate place from the originals) and one to leave at home with your parents or other family or friend that you trust. That way if you happen to lose the original, it will be a lot easier to get you a new copy.
Sell your stuff
This is a good way to get rid of all your extra belongings that you're not bringing along and a quick easy way to get yourself a bit more cash for your trip.
Re-direct your mail
If you can, re-directing your mail to your parents would be the easiest option. But for the most part, you should be able to re-direct any important mail to your email instead of getting a hard copy. This will make your life way easier.
Get travel insurance
This is so important. You never know when things will go wrong. And when they do go wrong (cause let's be real, they probably will) you want to be prepared for anything. Having travel insurance will help you get any medical attention that you need and help you get home in case of an emergency.
Get foreign currency
It is so much easier and way less expensive if you get the foreign currency at your bank before you leave rather than at the airport. Just have a small amount of currency with you when you land and you should be good.
Notify your bank of your travels
Let your bank know that you will be overseas for a long period of time. If you don't let them know, they may think that your account has been stolen, and they may freeze your account until you get in contact with them. This could definitely put a damper on your trip if you're trying to use your card and it freezes.
Notify your employer
This one, I have yet to do. And frankly, I am so nervous about this! You'll want to give your employer at least 2 weeks notice. If you are resigning from your position, I also suggest writing a letter of resignation. I'll let you know how this one goes for me.
And there you have it! I hope this checklist helps you as you plan for long-term travel! Also, I am (obviously) back from my blogging hiatus! It's been a few months without blogging, but as my trip gets closer, there's just so much more to blog!
Hello! I feel like it's been quite some time since I wrote a post. But here we are now!
On Friday, I went to this cute little bookshop in Houston to attend a book signing/talk for Matt Kepnes's (Nomadic Matt) book, "How To Travel The World On $50 A Day", and it was pretty awesome.
I've been a reader of Matt's for a few months now. Once I found his site, I literally spent weeks reading every post on there. Anything that I had questions about, or was concerned about when it came to traveling, was all in his posts. When I needed to decided which travel credit card to get, the first place I went was to Matt's post on credit cards. When I was trying to pick out a backpack to travel with, the post on how to pick a good one helped lead me to my perfect match.
Also, when I was very much doubting myself and considering not taking the year off to travel, because no one was supporting my decision, I emailed Matt and he very quickly responded and calmed my nerves. He probably doesn't know this, but he gave me that little push and boost of confidence to follow through with what my heart was set on, even if no one was supporting my decision at the time. (Now my family thinks that it is the best idea ever and are behind me 100%!)
So, as you could imagine, I was pretty excited to go to this book signing. I met some cool people there who are all on different travel journeys of their own. Some where very seasoned travelers, while others, were just about to start their journey, like me. Oh, and there was free wine!
Before signing everyone's books (there was quite a large turn out!), Matt gave about an hour talk on the book and just traveling in general, and then let us asks questions. I really enjoyed this, because it was much more personal. He told us some awesome stories about some of his early adventures as a traveler, and the mistakes that he has learned from. Hearing Matt's stories and knowing that he started out just as some of us have, made me really feel like I can do this.
Oh, and we also talked about our favorite places in New York to get pizza! No one can top NY's pizza! (And bagels, but that's another story..)
The whole event was great. I left there feeling more inspired and confident in my decision to travel then ever before. And when I got home that night, I nearly finished the book.
One of the praises for the book says "The bible for budget travellers.", from BBC Travel, and they could not have summed this book up any better. If you are trying to travel on a budget, whether it be for 2 weeks, or a year, this book is your go to for everything you need. It is broken down into 3 parts; Part One: Planning Your Trip, Part Two: On-The-Road Expenses, and Part Three: Breaking It Down By Region. And it also has appendix's for travel companies, a suggested packing list, and vaccinations. The book shows that even if you are not rich and don't have a lot of money, you can still travel! It all comes down to budgeting, saving, and learning how to find everything at a price you can afford, while still being comfortable.
All in all, this book is amazing. If you need tips or suggestions on almost anything while planning a trip, I highly recommend getting Matt's book AND reading his blog. It's pretty cool how someone can run a successful blog and write multiple books just by living out his dream.
To any traveler out there who hasn't read any of Matt's stuff, you're missing out on some of the most helpful tips you can get! Thanks for all the inspiration and help, Matt! See you on the road!
xx
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Oh, the dreaded, dreaded, B-word. BUDGETING.
No one likes to have to cut back on their favorite spendings, but in order to save the money I need to travel in October, I've been cutting back like crazy.
Since I first started saving for my journey later this year, I've been researching and practicing little ways to cut back and budget my money. And let me just say from the get-go, it can be hard. But let me also say, it makes it so much easier knowing it will all be worth it.
Here are some ways in which I've been cutting back these past few months
Cutting out the Starbucks I used to get Starbucks probably about 4 times a week. Or just get a coffee anywhere I could. I was spending a lot of money on coffee in a week. Cutting out Starbucks/any other bought coffee from your budget will do wonders. Instead of buying your coffee everyday, it's a whole lot cheaper to just make your own at home! I have actually started to decrease my coffee intake all together to cut my spending even more!
Bring your lunch to work Instead of going out for lunch everyday at work, I started bringing my own lunch from home! This help me save at least $50 a week. This also helps you eat a lot healthier!
You only need the essentials If it is not absolutely essential to your life, let it go! Things like your gym membership, Netflix (I know, that's a hard one), and going out every weekend are not necessary to your life. Only pay for what you need to survive day to day. Everything else is just an object standing in the way of you and your dreams!!
Avoid the Mall And Sephora... Buying that bag, or that coat, or those jeans, is not getting you any closer to your budget goals. The day I stopped wasting money on pointless material items, I started saving so much more money. I used to be in Sephora at least twice a week buying some new makeup that I saw someone else wearing and thought was the best thing on Earth. I spent so much time (and money) in there that the employee's knew me by name. That's not good!! I now learned that none of that will make me as happy as traveling.
It also helps to make sure you are aware of where every penny of your money is going. Don't spend it if you don't have too! And honestly, I am still having to tell myself this! Everyday!!
Budgeting your money and making a game plan can be difficult. But you can make it fun if you just keep telling yourself that every dollar saved is going towards another day of discovering the unknown, living the adventure, traveling.
xx
