Let's Talk About New York City

The Big Apple. The Empire State. The City That Never Sleeps. The City of Lights. The City of Hopes and Dreams. Manhattan. New York, New York. Oh, NYC you wonderful and horrible place.

I both love and hate Manhattan. While growing up, the summers we didn't spend back home in Czech Republic, we would sometimes venture up into the city for a week or so. Then we would retreat back to our country life in southern Maryland, dazed by the quickness of life in the city, filled with pollution in our lungs and wishing to never see an obnoxiously yellow car ever again.

While I say I have a love//hate relationship with the city, I'll never pass an opportunity to be in Manhattan. I'm keen to see what Chicago will hold whenever I will finally make a trip over there.

Anywho, let's get to the fun stuff about New York:

Blinding, crazy, cold but wonderful Times Square by night.

Times Square!

A woooonderfully good french toast breakfast at 12 Chairs in Soho. A must go-to place.

My gorgeous breakfast date // New York City travel companion in SoHo.

Adventures in China Town.

Walking the Brooklyn Bridge (with super cold and sore feet) into Brooklyn.

Brooklyn Roasting Company- right by the river in a warehouse building. Great coffee- a bit on the expensive side but definitely worth it + the atmosphere is so very 'Brooklyn'.

I'm OBSESSED with Thai food so of course, we had to go to at least one Thai restaurant. I believe it was Pam Real Thai Food in Hell's Kitchen. On the outside it didn't look like much but inside it was very modern, dark and the food was delicious. Amazing pad thai and lovely service.

While I'm obsessed with Thai food, I think my heart belongs mainly with coffee. I would go to every coffee shop in a city if I could. Naturally, I Googled the best coffee shops in each part of New York we explored. This quaint little cafe. Third Rail Coffee, was in Greenwich Village. Great $3.50 latte and they even did a little bit of that latte art everyone loves to Instagram.

Morning walk through SoHo.

Central Park, you were gorgeous that Friday morning. 

I had never been to Grand Central Station and as Gossip Girl was one of my favorite shows growing up, I just had to go to the place that started off the show. (GG fans you'll know what I mean).

Breezy strolls through Central Park on our last morning in the city.

Pre-Brooklyn Bridge foot cramps.

Grand Central Terminal Station with my darling of a friend from university.

The Slavics take on New York City!

Some other restaurants we went to were:
- Red Bamboo (vegetarian/vegan)
- OatMeals (awesome oatmeal bar- I didn't even know these existed- with a huge variety of sweet and savory oatmeals...I got the Indian Spiced and it was amazing).
- Birch Coffee

In 2 (full) days we went through:
-West Village (where we stayed)
- SoHo
- Chinatown
- Little Italy
- Upper East Side
- Brooklyn
- Greenwich Village
- East Harlem
- Mid-Town
- East Village
- Lower Manhattan
- No-Ho
- Flat Iron District
- Upper West Side
- Hell's Kitchen

And all on foot! Okay, so maybe we took a metro the last day between Mid-Town and West Village because we were about to keel over from walking SO much.

Well, I guess that's all about New York City! Travel on wanderlusters!

P.S. Tomorrow will be TWW's first fashion-inspired post.

It's Monday!

Good morning and happy Monday!
Now, I know that Monday is probably one of the worst words out there but you can either:
a) Be grumpy and sour all day
OR
b) Make this Monday the start of something new; see it as a 'fresh beginning', so to speak.

Today, instead of choosing choice a)- which I usually do- I decided to go with choice b).
So, just what does choice b) entail?
Well, this morning I woke up feeling productive. I honestly have not felt productive since mid-May, so the last several months were spent just being lazy and not doing much at all except sleeping and catching up on TV shows. Today, however, I decided I am going to begin posting regularly on TWW again.

I guess it's a good day, eh?

Also, some friends and I are going to explore a park outside of Prague called 'Velka Amerika', which in English translates to 'Big America'. Why is it called this? Apparently, from what I have heard, it is because the park resembles the Grand Canyon in Arizona. I suppose we shall see, hmmm.

Of course I will post pictures and write about it, so expect that post tomorrow morning (well, morning in Europe).

I'm off to explore, travel on wanderlusters!

I'm Dreaming of New Zealand

I've always been fascinated with the idea of moving to Australia or New Zealand after graduating university. There's just something about those accents and the way of life there. I feel that it's more my style of living than in America. I can't say in Europe because Europe IS my style of living and I love it but I just don't picture myself living and working there forever.

Recently, I've become romanced by New Zealand though, especially Queenstown on the South Island. All of the mountains, lakes, nature and photos I see that convinced me it was the place I will settle down one day. I've never been there but I just have that sure feeling. I'm actually hoping I can make a trip to New Zealand either this December or January 2015.

Fingers crossed!

But anyways, I am wondering if any wanderlusters have been there and what they think about it, even better if you live there!

Well, I'm back to dreaming about New Zealand, travel on wanderlusters!

A Little Kale Here, A Little Kale There- Summer Recipes

You know what I love lately?
Kale smoothies.

Kale? What the heck is kale?
Well, let me enlighten you (unless you and kale have already become acquainted).
Kale is a green vegetable, kinda leafy, kinda crunchy, not so good by itself (in my opinion) but can be used in many, many ways which make it yummy!

If you are like me, vegetables are not really on the list of foods you eat. Some are OK but for the most part when I am hungry, I won't reach for veggies. It's bad, I know, but nobody is perfect.
So, I choose either to make Kale chips or a kale smoothie in order to give myself some veggies each day, without eating them alone.
I'll share with you wanderlusters my Kale recipes so that you too can enjoy healthy eating and drinking!

SP's Kale Chips:
-a handful (or two) of washed kale
-tablespoon of sea salt
-half a lemon
-
First and foremost, the most boring part of it all: set the oven to 350 F or ( C).
Now, time to get really started: what you have to do is get a baking tray then spray it or put a baking sheet on it.
Then, place the kale pieces on the tray and drizzle them with olive oil. Not too much that they are soaked but just enough so that someone would be able to tell there is some oil on them.
After, sprinkle the sea salt on the pieces (and/or some pepper if you like).
Finally, squeeze the lemon half over the pieces and then you are ready to get cookin'!
Pop the tray into the oven and wait about 8-15 minutes.
It's best to keep an eye on them after about 7-8 minutes so that you don't burn them. Just wait until they get a little crispy and take them out to cool.
Once cooled, ENJOY!
A kale chip snack is a great, healthy alternative to regular potato chips (obviously).
If you don't like them, then of course that's okay- they aren't for everyone. I won't lie, when I first heard of them I was a little grossed out. I figured I should give it a try and I fell in love with them.

SP's Super Healthy Green Smoothie:
-handful of kale
-handful of chopped, frozen mango (or about one whole fresh mango)
-a whole sliced apple (usually a green granny smith)
-1/2 of orange juice
-one banana (sliced or whole)
-handful of spinach leaves
(you can add 1/3 cup of pineapple to the mix for additional, non-artificial sweetness)

Whip out that blender- even if it's been a long time, don't be scared, 9/10 blenders won't be mad at you.
Dump in the mango, apple, banana and spinach leaves.
Then pour the orange juice in and top off that pre-smoothie healthy goodness parfait with the kale.
Turn up. Seriously, turn the blender onto the highest setting and watch it get shred to pieces. The smoothie should be thicker than a juice but not so thick you can't drink it with a straw.
And from there on out, I hope you know what to do.


I hope you wanderlusters enjoyed this post- it's the first post, of many to come, on the new Traveling with Wanderlust site.
I'm open to suggestions via comments and emails for what you would like to see on the new TwW.
Email: travelingwithwanderlust@gmail.com

I love hearing from you all, so don't hesitate to shoot me an email!

Until next time,
Travel on wanderlusters!

TWW- Under Construction + BIG Changes

Traveling with Wanderlust is about to become more of a personal blog with a little bit of fashion, a lot of travel, some opinions on various subjects/current events, along with random writing pieces and what not...a little bit of everything!

So, with that said, the TWW site will be under construction for the next few days but when it goes live again, I will make sure to inform everyone via a new post and there will also be several exciting posts which will follow!

I'm really looking forward to sharing my latest wanderlust adventures (and some other stuff) with fellow wanderlusters + anyone who wants to read about my life...good luck with that...I'm actually laughing out loud right now so I guess it's appropriate to write "lol".

Travel on wanderlusters!

THE NEW MISS AMERICA

Get ready for an opinionated post...every once in a while I feel really strongly about current events and I just feel the need to let me opinion out there and in the open:

So, if you do not live under a rock (I like to sometimes) then you know about the new Miss America and all the controversy behind her victory. The winner, Nina Davuluri, a New York native...of Indian descent. 

This last part caused much of the controversy. Tweeters are claiming she is a "terrorist" or a "foreigner" of "Indian, Asian or whatever she is" descent. Her skin color isn't white and she isn't a blonde, therefore she isn't an "American" and shouldn't have won Miss America. How incredibly absurd is that? Absolutely, indefinitely absurd. When I saw the articles this morning and tweets, I did something I never do: reply to these idiots and just let it all out, insulting their stupidity and telling them to get their shit together before tweeting something so rude, uneducated and ignorant. The funny thing about the people who tweeted these things is that they obviously have NO idea whatsoever that they are either in fact "foreigners" themselves or the descendants of "foreigners" seeing as America was one of the last continents in the world to be colonized and populated...by people from Europe, Latin America, Africa, India, Asia and all the other continents/countries of the world. Also, seeing as America is one of the only countries in the world that can be home to such cultural diversity, it doesn't quite make sense to judge someone as a "foreigner". Anyone living in America is either, by passport, considered an "American" or is in the process of becoming an "American". So calm your tits. 

Lastly, had any of them been educated, at least grade school educated, they would know that geographically, India is not a part of the Middle East- yes they are in the same area on the map but India is not a part of the Middle East but in fact part of South Asia. So, if they wanted to be racist, the correct term would have been "Asian" instead of "terrorist". However, if they brought race into that, it would make an even stronger argument as to how absurd and ignorant people are. To be in the Miss America pageant  you must either be a) American born and/or b) an American citizen. So, idiotic critics of the new Miss America, learn your shit and realize she too, like you patriotic morons, is an American and has been living in America her entire life. 

Come on, she's beautiful and probably extremely friendly, smart, caring and hard-working, why hate on someone like that? Plus, look how happy she looks, can't we just bask in that instead of hating on someone for where they come from originally? I applaud her, she knew if she won she would get this horrible type of criticism and yet she is still smiling. I think everyone needs to be a bit more like Nina Davuluri. 

Maybe they are just jealous of her success since from what I saw, the tweeters were either between the ages of 13-15, uneducated men and women who can't even spell or fat hill-billys. Sorry, but if you want to generalize someone then how about we generalize you, tweeters who are fearless behind a screen but would never say it to the new Miss America's face. 

That's all I have to say about this issue and happy Tuesday! I hope all of you wanderlusters have a lovely day and of course, travel on wanderlusters! 

OKTOBERFEST 2013

For those of you who don't live on this side of the world for the annual Oktoberfest in Germany but still want to celebrate with a day full of beer, friends, lederhosen and bratwurst, there are several towns/cities throughout the U.S. who can make it happen!

1. Leavenworth, Washington (from October 4th and 5th; October 11th and 12th; October 18th and 19th).
2. Cincinnati, Ohio (September 20th to 22nd).
3. Glendale, Wisconsin (Every Friday and Saturday night throughout September).
4. Helen, Georgia (September 12th to 15th; September 19th to October 27th).
5. Mount Angel, Oregon (September 12th to 15th).
6. Denver, Colorado (September 27th to 29th; October 4th to 6th).
7. San Francisco, California (September 20th to 22nd).
There is one near my hometown in Maryland, it's in Germantown, Maryland but I'm not so sure when it is...not at all like the real thing but hey, it's better than nothing!

So, if you aren't making it to Germany this Oktoberfest, are you going to any of the "Oktoberfests" in America?

Travel on wanderlusters!

POST-SURGERY

After days of being super anxious and nervous for today (Friday the 23rd) because I got my wisdom teeth out today...all four of them! I was most anxious for being put to sleep because I had never experienced it before. The whole concept just did not make sense to me and the rare possibility of not waking up scared the living bajeebies out of me.

However, I informed the doctors and nurses how nervous I was and that I had never been put to sleep so they were fantastic in informing me exactly what I was doing, asking me a bunch of questions about school, my tattoos, my summer and life as they put the IV in. After putting the IV in, the doctor said in about 30 seconds I would be very, very tired. I started to feel drowsy but I was still wide awake. I got the oxygen mask around my face and a piece of tape to cover my nose stud. The nurses started asking me about school and I told them and the next thing I knew I was in another room with gauze in my mouth and no recollection of what had just happened or how much time had passed. I was still very, very sleepy and wasn't all there yet. A girl across from me had two wisdom teeth taken out and we attempted to exchange stories with gauze-filled mouth and sedated brains/speech. Looking back, it must have been pretty hilarious. The nurses were giggling to themselves. After my new oral surgery friend had been discharged I still had to stick around for a bit and get everything checked out one last time. Still super strange just sitting here feeling way way to intoxicated to be in an oral surgeon's office but then they interrupted that thought by taking out my IV and preparing me for discharge.

My next few days are going to be on the couch and in my bed, resting, relaxing and recovering. So, after coming home today and resting some I came across an article on the 'Prettiest Towns in America 2013". These types of articles are my favorite! I love small, quaint towns and definitely want to live in one when I get older.

1. NEW IBERIA, LOUISIANA










2. CAMDEN, MAINE




















3. EDGARTOWN, MASSACHUSETTS










4.  BRECKENRIDGE, COLORADO

















5. LAMBERTVILLE, NEW JERSEY
















6. LEAVENWORTH,WASHINGTON (love this town!!)








'




7. HOLLAND, MICHIGAN










8. ANNA MARIA, FLORIDA




9. FISH CREEK, WISCONSIN




10. ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA

Time to nap, I'm more than exhausted!

Travel on wanderlusters!