2012 is coming to a close, so, unsurprisingly, everyone is reflecting on the past year, and hoping for good things in 2013. I can’t help but add my own musings on this last year, particularly with regard to where I’ve been. This is a travel blog after all. And I have to begin with where I spent New Year’s Eve last year–in Ecuador. On December 31st, 2011, I woke up at 5:00 am to hike Fuya Fuya, a mountain just outside of Cotacachi, Ecuador. Although the hike itself was only a few kilometers, at nearly 14,000 ft above sea level, every step was a challenge. I barely stayed up until…
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Tea Tuesday: Advent Calendar Tea
Merry Christmas from An Opportune Moment! Well, friends, I returned home from my European Adventure to spend Christmas with my family, but while I was still abroad I wanted some way to get in the Christmas spirit. I had planned to buy an advent calendar with chocolates behind each door, but then when I was in Sarajevo I stumbled upon a box of Advent Calendar tea. Well, my tea-loving-heart couldn’t resist, despite the fact it was a German brand of tea (Alnatura), which meant that I never knew what kind of tea I was drinking. It was like a fun, Christmas-y adventure! Did you do anything special to celebrate the…
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Weekly Travel Inspiration: End of the World Edition
In honor of the world NOT ending today, your weekly travel inspiration is a video about people making the most of everyday. One Day on Earth encouraged people all over the world to film on December 12, 2012 (12.12.12) and submit the footage to be compiled into a feature length movie. This was the third year in a row that they set out this challenge–the previous two occurring on 10.10.10 and 11.11.11 respectively. Check out their website to watch some footage from the previous years, and to learn more about how the project hopes to showcase the diverse stories that are taking place simultaneously all over the world.
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Things You Might See In Vondelpark: A Photo Essay
This isn’t really a photo essay. Mostly because I’m not entirely sure what a photo essay is–other than a term that bloggers use when they don’t feel like writing and would rather post a bunch of pretty pictures. I’m not trying to discredit anyone who takes beautiful photos with quality equipment and writes a blog post to highlight the way in which their pictures tell a story. Okay, maybe I do know what a photo essay is… Regardless, here are some things you might see in Amsterdam’s beautiful Vondelpark. I know I’m harping on the prevalence of bicycles in Amsterdam, but you will definitely see some people riding bikes along…
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Weekly Travel Inspiration: Instagramming Paris
I spent last week in Paris with my mother. And I discovered a new obsession. Sacre Coeur Paris is an amazingly photogenic city. I felt like a wonderful photographer while I was there because I took so many beautiful photos, but I think it was less my photography skills and more the city’s innate charms that looked so good. Nothing can beat seeing Paris for yourself, but I hope you’ll enjoy this sample of the photos I took there. I found that as awesome as these shots looked on their own, they also lended themselves well to instagram. Winged Victory, at the Louvre What I’m really enjoying about instagram is…
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Amsterdam: First Impressions
I love cities where the water feels like a necessary part of life, where it can’t be avoided. In New York City, for example, it’s easy to forget that you’re anywhere near the ocean, but in Amsterdam, the canals are hard to miss. You all remember my friend Grace from my week in Iceland, yes? Well, I spent my first two days in Amsterdam with her cousin, Miles, who, when I set out to explore the first day, told me that the city gets better the farther you get from the center. He was absolutely right because the farther away you get, the more likely you are to see sights…
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Weekly Travel Inspiration: The World’s Best High Teas
This morning Lonely Planet tweeted the article: The World’s Best High Teas and it seemed like an appropriate weekly travel inspiration given how tea- and Britain-focused An Opportune Moment has been these last couple of weeks. Only one of the high teas mentioned in their post is in London–Claridge’s–but many of the others are in countries that were once British colonies. Half of them are in Southeast Asia, which I’m tempted to take as a sign that that region of the world should be my next destination after Europe… But I’ll probably settle for taking a daytrip to New York City once I’m back in the states, to visit Tea…
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Come on you Spurs!
If Afternoon tea was the one thing I had to do in London, then going to a football match was the one thing my brother had to do. And yes, we were in London, so when I say “football” I am referring to what the majority of the world calls “football,” and the US (rather sillily) calls “soccer.” Now, I’ll be honest, I don’t know much about football or any spectator sport really. I find televised sports dull, and if you ask me about my favorite teams, I will tell you the Boston Red Sox and FC Barcelona because I lived in Boston for four years and I studied abroad…
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Tea Tuesday: Harrods
You didn’t think afternoon tea at Dean Street Townhouse was the only time I drank tea in London, did you? This particular cup was a darjeeling blend, the name of which I failed to write down. I enjoyed it along with some buttered crumpets after an afternoon spent exploring London’s iconic department store, Harrods. The store is home to a number of restaurants, and this one was aptly named The Tea Room. It was a little pricey, and my waiter failed to hold back his smirk when I ordered crumpets, but I never regret a cup of tea. Plus, wandering around Harrods was a fun way to spend the afternoon.…
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Happy Thanksgiving from Croatia
There was no turkey to be had in Dubrovnik, and my friend Katie is a vegetarian anyway, so we celebrated the day with a multi-course meal at a Bosnian restaurant. My meal came with a baked potato! I told Katie I was hoping to find apple pie somewhere in the city, but when I saw a dessert on the menu called Tufahije, and the description was “baked apples with walnut and chocolate filling, whipped cream,” well, I was sold. Please note the walnut brittle tucked into the whipped cream. We wrapped up our meal with tea, which came with complimentary Turkish Delight. All in all, I thought it was a…
