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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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…
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Weekly Travel Inspiration: Exhausted Edition
This week’s travel inspiration is the fact that I’ve been on the road for the last 48 hours. Traveling from the Greek island paradise of Kea to the city of Sarajevo has involved 1 ferry 2 buses and 3 trains, 2 of which were overnight. On the first overnight train, my friend Katie and I just booked normal seats and enjoyed no sleep–the train’s fluorescent lighting never so much as dimmed, and passengers came and went all evening. So, on the second overnighter, we learned our lesson and spent a little extra money on a berth. We also enjoyed an unexpected stopover in Sofia, Bulgaria because there were no direct…
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Tea Tuesday: Afternoon Tea in London
It’s the triumphant return of Tea Tuesday! I first visited London during my semester abroad in Barcelona. I had a friend studying in London, and spent a weekend visiting him; my two days in London were amazing, but they definitely weren’t enough time to see and do everything. One thing that I missed the first time around, which I knew I had to do when my brother and I visited was… Afternoon Tea. Now, there are a couple of ways to enjoy this quintessential British experience, which has been around since the 1840s. The most famous is probably to go to a fancy hotel like the Savoy or the Langham,…
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Drinking is an Important Part of the Culture…
My brother and I were in Edinburgh just long enough to walk the royal mile, eat some haggis, and drink some scotch. This is my brother, by the way, he’ll be joining us for the posts about the UK. You may notice that he’s carrying an umbrella. That’s because during our time in Edinburgh it rained, a lot. As a result, we found a culturally appropriate activity for a rainy afternoon– The Scotch Whisky Experience My brother really enjoys Scotch, and I had a lovely afternoon here, even as a newbie Scotch drinker. If you visit their website, you’ll notice that it’s a bit Disneyesque, and the tour even begins…
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Happy Halloween!
We interrupt the somewhat chronological order of this blog to bring you a very special Halloween post. Now, I will admit to not being the biggest fan of this holiday. I’ve never been one for big Halloween parties, I come up with good costume ideas, but don’t execute them, and, most importantly, I miss trick or treating… So, I wasn’t too bothered by the idea of not celebrating this year. After all, I don’t really have room in my backpack to carry around a costume. But then, this past weekend (Halloweekend, if you will) I took a tour of Kutna Hora, a small city, and UNESCO World Heritage Site, about…
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Thoughts on One Month of Travel
Wednesday was October 10th, which means I’ve officially been traveling for one month, and traveling alone for two weeks. So this seems as good a time as any to do a little reflecting. Here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly from one month of travel. The Good AKA The easier than I thought it was going to be In case you need convincing, here is one big argument in favor of traveling–it’s not that difficult technically. By which I mean, I have found the technical aspects of travel easy. Booking flights and hostels and finding your way around a foreign city don’t need to be intimidating. Almost everything can…
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Iceland: Last Look
Iceland was like no where else I’ve ever been. The scenery was otherworldly. When you live in the Northeastern United States, volcanic rocks are kind of exciting and exotic. Volcanoes? Awesome! You might look at lava rocks in eight grade science class. Well, in Iceland, pretty much every rock is a remnant from a volcano. And any trees you see were brought there and planted by people because only shrubs and bushes are native to the country. When Grace and I took a tour of Thingvellir National Park, we saw fissures in the earth where the American and Eurasian tectonic plates are pulling apart at a rate of 2 centimeters…
