My mother is a self-proclaimed “new experience junkie,” and, for better or worse, I am too. We like seeing new places and trying new things — we are jacks of all trades, and masters of none. We have varied interests, but we also keep trying things to see what fits, and we return regularly to the metaphorical dressing room because something new may fit better. How will I know if I like solo travel unless I try it? (Turns out, I like traveling solo because it makes me feel confident and self-reliant more often than it makes me feel lonely.) How will my mother know if veganism is right for…
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Fleeting Encounters Over Tea
There was an old woman listening in on our conversation. Or, maybe she wasn’t listening to us so much as simply noticing us. We were an odd-looking group, I suppose: two white women, barely older than teenagers, speaking jovial English with a Lebanese man in his early 30’s. We were in Perpignan at the time — a small city in Southern France. Noticeable, if not notable. I don’t remember what we were talking about, but we were in the courtyard of the Palais des Rois de Majorque (Palace of the Kings of Majorca). We smiled at the old woman when we noticed her noticing us, and she felt emboldened to…
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Weekly Travel Inspiration: Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard
Somewhat cheesy title aside, Kirsten Hubbard’s young adult novel, Wanderlove, is a character driven travel narrative about finding your way back to the person you want to be. It tells the story of 18-year-old Bria Sandoval, who, after giving up on her dreams of art school and getting out of an unhealthy relationship with her high school boyfriend, signs up for a guided tour through Central America. However, following La Ruta Maya with a group of middle-aged tourists wasn’t exactly what Bria had in mind so when she befriends a few daring, young backpackers, she decides to ditch her tour group, and travel with them instead. It’s a story about…
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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Maui
When I first heard that hitchhiking was a “normal” way to get around Maui, I was skeptical. However, after living there for two months, I can vouch for hitching as an accepted and useful mode of transportation, particularly on the Hana side of Maui, where I was living and public transit is nonexistent (a once daily bus to Kahului that requires reservations in advance notwithstanding). I didn’t do a lot of hitchhiking on Maui; I mostly just went the 3 miles between the farm where I was living and Hana Town — a short enough distance that the one time I didn’t get picked up for a ride, I was…
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Tea Tuesday: Homemade Biscotti
This Tuesday, I’m enjoying a cup of herbal tea with 2 pieces of homemade biscotti. I put the biscotti on a plate rather than sitting down with the whole bag so that I wouldn’t eat 8 pieces with my tea like I did last night. You may remember that I don’t cook much, so while this pistachio and cranberry biscotti (also known as heaven) is homemade, it was not made in my home. It was a belated birthday present from my friend Katie, whom I’ve mentioned before on the blog (here, here, and here). Personally, I can think of no better accompaniment to biscotti than tea; it makes the hard…
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Why Prague is a Best Bet for Your First Solo Trip to Europe
If I’m being honest with myself, Prague is a very popular tourist destination, but its Eastern European location and fairytale architecture make me feel like I’ve discovered something unique and secret. And while Prague is a unique city, it’s not a secret. Prague hosts 4.1 million international tourists a year and, in 2011, Prague was the sixth most visited city in Europe. I don’t have statistics on how many backpackers visit Prague each year, but I can give you a rough estimate: a whole lot. While some backpackers are looking for “off the beaten path” destinations, the fact that there are so many visitors to Prague year around is a…
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Hiking in Haleakala National Park
In which I hike 7 miles in 6 hours with 1 water bottle. Not one of my smarter decisions. You know how I recently updated my header tagline to read “travel, tea, misadventures”? This is a misadventure. Back in early March, I found myself with a weekend off from farm work and nothing to do. Another woman working at Hana Farms, let’s call her Alaska (because prior to arriving on Maui, she was living in Alaska), also had the weekend off and suggested we use our free time to go camping and hiking in Haleakala National Park. We had heard from the other farmies that the cool thing to do…
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25 things to do before I turn 25
Today is my 23rd birthday (don’t worry, I wrote this post ahead of time, and I’m off doing something fun with my day) and this seemed like as good a time as any to announce my latest project, which is: 25 things to do before I turn 25 (I know, I’m a baby, and you can’t believe you’ve been taking my travel advice.) I’m a list-maker by nature, and I always enjoy reading other people’s lists of things to do before [insert upcoming birthday here] so I decided to make my own. I’m not a big fan of “bucket lists” because, as I’ve mentioned before, I think people should take…
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Weekly Travel Linkspiration
Maybe I should stop trying to fit words into other words…. While I ponder my syntactical choices, you should check out these awesome links from around the travel blogosphere: Spain, How do I say goodbye? from The Big Travel Theory: Jessica waxes poetic on what sounds like an amazing 6 weeks living in Vilanova i la Geltrú, a small town outside of Barcelona, which I have had the privilege of visiting. Why I Decided to Travel Solo for a While from Keep Calm and Travel: Sometimes travel bloggers gloss over how big a decision it is to travel solo and jump straight to advising their readers to do it, but Klelia…
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Green Mountain Film Festival 48-Hour Film Slam
I spent this past weekend in Montpelier, Vermont, for the Green Mountain Film Festival‘s 48-Hour Film Slam. In fact, E and I came home from Hawai’i in part to participate in this event. Why was the 48-Hour Film Slam so important to us? And what the heck is a 48-Hour Film Slam, anyway? Good questions! A 48-Hour Film Slam is an event where teams of filmmakers come together to write, film, edit, and premiere a short movie (in this case, 7 minutes or less) over the course of a weekend. This film slam was important to us because it’s the third in which I’ve participated, and the fourth in which…
