The Travels of 2015

There have been quite a few destinations explored this year...some planned and some very spontaneous.

So far, and posts will follow focusing on each location, this year I've been lucky enough to explore around:
Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague- Netherlands
Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, Oita, Beppu- Japan
Dublin and the Cliffs of Moher- Ireland
Rio de Janeiro- Brazil

& tomorrow we are off to explore Athens, Mykonos and Santorini, Greece!

By the end of this year, I'm hoping to make it Dubai and Abu Dhabi- United Arab Emirates; Istanbul- Turkey; Venice- Italy and head back to South America (Brazil, Argentina, Peru) for two or three months before I need to present my bachelor's thesis and take my state exams in February. Has anyone been to these places and give me some recommendations? I'm always trying to find the best coffee shops in any new city I travel to as I am an extreme caffeine addict...or maybe it's just that I love latte art from around the world!


A few of my favourite travel quotes, which I like to remember right before going on an adventure:

"Traveling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller." – Ibn Battuta

"We travel, some of us forever, to seek other places, other lives, other souls." – Anais Nin

"To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted." – Bill Bryson


This one is especially important:

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.” – Mark Twain

Yes, I'm a student and money is usually tight but if you REALLY want to travel, you will make it happen someway. I'm a firm believer in that. I have worked numerous jobs or gone to the United States for my summer holidays to work as a nanny for two wonderful girls in order to save some money and be able to travel to these places. I've spent countless hours in my university lectures with my mind wandering and thinking 'why the hell am I sitting here when I could be out there somewhere exploring?'

I told myself long ago that I will not be one those people to sit in an office job for the next 30-40 years of my life, from 9-5pm, Monday-Friday. No matter what happens, I will find a way to travel around the world and live a life full of adventure, happiness and bring back wonderful stories and have unforgettable experiences. That being said, this quote is spot-on: "I travel a lot; I hate having my life disrupted by routine." – Caskie Stinnett

Travel on wanderlusters!

WHO DOESN'T LOVE A EUROPEAN BEACH?

Now, I don't know about you all but this girl right here LOVES European beaches. I spent 10 days in Barcelona this month, where the beach(es) is GORGEOUS.
Granted, a majority of my days there were spent sleeping through siesta and then exploring the city but the beach definitely left an imprint in my Spain memories.
Most of my childhood summers were spent on the beaches of Europe. Several that I remember include the beaches of Greece and Croatia; Tunisia as well even though it's in Africa but the beach was just too beautiful not to mention here.

So, the point of this post is: if any of you wanderlusters are spending some time in Europe this summer, be sure to head over to at least one of these beaches:

1. Smuggler's Cove, Zakynthos, Greece
2. Badeschiff, Berlin, Germany
3. Gozo, Malta
4. Grenen, Skagen, Denmark
5. Fermanagh Lakelands, Northern Ireland
6. Krapfenwaldbad, Vienna, Austria
7. Island of Vis, Croatia
8. Arezzo, Italy
9. Kastrup Sea Bath, Kastrup, Denmark
10. El Hierro, Canary Islands, Spain

That's all I got for you today! The Budapest post is going live tomorrow to top off your Friday morning or afternoon...finally, right?!

Travel on wanderlusters!

SWIMMING IN THE CLEAR

You know when you are on vacation (or home) and you go to the ocean/sea/lake/other body of water and it's almost like walking into a dark pit of unknown fear. You walk in and start swimming only to feel something slimy on your feet or legs, fish nibbling at your body or a freaky unawareness of just how deep the water is...I don't know about you, but that scares the living shittake mushrooms out of me and I would rather just lay on the beach and become a lobster instead of experience that.

If you hate it too, here's a list of 34 places throughout the world that has clear water (thank you water gods):

1. Linapacan Island, Palawan, Philippines

2. The Maldives

3. Dog Island, San Blas, Panama

4. Cayo Coco, Cuba

5. Cala Macarelleta, Menorca, Spain

6. Sua Trench, Samoa

7. Crater Lake, Oregon, USA

8. Bak Bak Beach, Borneo

9. Jiuzhaigou Valley, Sichuan, China

10. Sabah, Malaysia

11. Jenny Lake, Wyoming, USA

12. Rio Sucuri, Brazil 

13. Calanque de Sormiou, France

14. Panari Island, Okinawa, Japan

15. Puerto Ayora, Galapagos

16. Lake Tahoe, Nevada, USA

17. Cayos Cochinos, Honduras

18. Primosten, Croatia

19. St. George, Bermuda

20. Hanauma Bay, Oahu, Hawaii

21. Pupu Springs, New Zealand

22. Calanque d'En-Vau, France

23. Rio Azul, Argentina

24. Corfu, Greece

25. Aitutaki, Cook Islands

26. Koh Phi Phi Don, Thailand

27. Playa Blanca, Colombia

28. Blue Lake, New Zealand (apparently the clearest water in the world)

29. Konigssee, Germany

30. Valle Verzasca, Switzerland

31. Tioman Island, Malaysia

32. Belo Sur Mer, Madagascar

33. Lake Marjorie, California, USA

34. Bodrum, Turkey

I'm dreaming of basking in these waters, are you?

Travel on wanderlusters!

100 MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACES IN THE WORLD

Tomorrow morning will be the New Zealand post, but until then, here's some fun stuff I am browsing through at my long evening at work. I have been oogling over the 100 Most Beautiful Places in the World, thanks to EscapeNormal, wishing I was somewhere else other than work. 

A girl can dream, right?

1. Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia
2. Angkor Wat, Cambodia
3. Cinque Terre, Rio Maggoire, Italy
4. Blue Lagoon, Iceland
5.Maldives
6. Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA
7. Glass Beach, California, USA
8. Pamukkule, Turkey
9. Big Island, Hawaii, USA
10. St. Lucia
11. Santorini, Greece
12. Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany
13. Marble Caves, Chile
14. Chittorgarh Fort, India
15. Giethoorn, Holland
16. Crystal Cave, Iceland
17. Aogashima Volcano, Japan
18. Longji Rice Terrace, China
19. Amazon Rainforest, Brazil and South America
20. Venice, Italy
21. Petra, Jordan
22. Machu Picchu, Peru
23. Tuscany, Italy
24. Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico, USA
25. Shirakawa-go Village, Japan
26. Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
27. Himalayas, Nepal
28. Bali
29. Serengeti, Tanzania, Africa
30. Sahara Desert, Africa
31. Dubai, UAE
32. Ha Long Bay, Vietnam
33. Moeraki Boulders, New Zealand
34. The Great Wall of China, China
35. Antarctica
36. Lake Retba, Senegal
37. Morocco, Africa
38. The Fjords of Norway
39. Socotra, Republic of Yemen
40. Alaska, USA
41. Victoria, Australia
42. Fingal's Cave, Scotland
43.Giant's Causeway, Ireland
44. Lake Tahoe, California and Nevada, USA
45. Cappadocia, Turkey
46. Havasu Falls, Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA
47. Glow Worm Cave, New Zealand
48. The Australian Outback
49. Tikal, Guatemala
50. Antelope Canyon, Arizona, USA
51. Reed Flut Cave, China
52. Verdon Gorge, France
53. Bagan (or Pagan) Myanmar
54. Napa Valley, California
55. Zion National Park, Utah, USA
56. Swiss Alps, Switzerland
57. Lake Bled, Slovenia
58. Whitehaven Beach, Australia
59. Luxor, Egypt
60. Meteora, Greece
61. Bioluminescent Bay, Puerto Rico
62. Giant Crystal Cave, Mexico
63. Fairy Pools, Isle of Skye, Scotland
64. Beachy Head, England
65. Rotorua, New Zealand
66. Lencois Sand Dunes, Brazil
67. Rio de Janiero, Brazil
68. Spotted Lake, Canada
69. Iceland
70. Istanbul, Turkey
71. Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, USA
72. Inga Falls, Congo River, Africa
73. Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia
74. Torres del Paine, Chile
75. Bingalong Bay, Bay of Fires, Tasmania
76. Danxia Landforms, China
77. Death Valley, California, USA
78. Great Barrier Reef, Australia
79. Blue Grotto Cave, Capri, Italy
80. Huanglong, China
81. Positano, Almalfi Coast, Italy
82. Dead Sea, Israel and Jordan
83. Maui, Hawaii
84. Sanibel Island, Florida
85. Nootka Island, Vancouver Island, Canada
86. Fiji, Republic of Fiji
87. Kyoto, Japan
88. Brittany, France
89. Everglades National Park, Florida
90. Lapland, Finland
91. Flaming Crater, Derweze, Turkmenistan
92. River of Five Colors, Colombia
93. Moraine Lake, Baniff National Park, Canada
94. Seychelles
95. Multnomah, Oregon, USA
96.Madagascar
97. Bora Bora, French Polynesia
98. Lake Baikal, Russia
99. Rocky Mountains, Canada
100. Norway

Boooom, there you have it. I just spent a good chunk of time at working doing this, meaning I am closer to going home! I have a hot date with a piece of left-over fish from last night, Eurotrip (the movie), my laptop to work on the New Zealand and my mass amounts of pillows. It'll be great one...in case you are wondering.

Have any of you been to any of the listed 100? If so, how was it? What did you like and what did you not like?

Travel on wanderlusters!

WHERE THE WIND HAS TAKEN ME

Here's the list...starting with America:

• Maryland
• Virginia
• West Virginia
• South Carolina
• North Carolina
• Florida
• Texas
• New York
• Delaware
• New Jersey
• Massachusetts
• Colorado
• Washington
• Idaho
• Montana
• Arizona
• Oregon
• California
• Canada
• Alaska
• Mexico
• Tunisia
• Croatia
• Greece
• Italy
• Czech Republic
• Poland
• Slovakia
• Austria
• Hungary
• France
• England
• Wales
• Ireland

and many more to come! Once I get a hold of some of these pictures, I will post about each trip individually. 

Travel on wanderlusters! 

P.S. For those of you dedicated Gossip Girl fans, like myself, check out my latest article on College Fashionista...inspired by Blair Waldorf!