#outside of London?? some areas are lucky if they get a bus every hour ha

[petalsandpurity]

I’m by no means against this proposal- I do think we need to reduce our dependence on cars for the sake of the environment but as someone who lives around the verge of the London boroughs I think they need to put more funding into public transport and make it more regular/reliable/go to more places/affordable/etc before they implement this. At the moment there’s not a lot of alternatives in place for people *not* to travel by cars.

[tomtenadia]

Island Dreams - Chapter 27

Welcome to chapter 27.

So, we are still in Glasgow. Our two lovebird are having a tourist day and Rowan is showing Aelin some of his favourite sites of Glasgow.

Later on there is a moment that has a warning: your ovaries might explode because Rowan is just... let's just say that he will be such an amazing dad.

His accent has a bit of a transformation and he goes into Glasgow mode and in my head Rowan with a Glaswegian accent is so sexy that I want to cry.

In this chapter they cover quite a lot of ground and all the places I mentioned they do exist. These are the cloisters: https://i.redd.it/mxant25n4zh01.jpg. Glasgow uni is a truly amazing site but I particularly adore the cloister and the image does not do any justice at all to the place. This is Kelvingrove: https://peoplemakeglasgow.com/images/Things_to_do/Museums_and_galleries/Kelvingrove-995.jpg. another place that has a special place in my heart. Because it's free, every time I am in Glasgow I go in.

The Hunterian Museum is one of those hidden gems that when I was still working in tourism I used to recommend to everyone visiting Glasgow. It's incredible and the medical section is my favourite.

The Korean restaurant they visit is called Bibimbap and it's a place I adore a lot. Glasgow has a Lego store and like Aelin I always want to spend my entire salary in it.

I adore Glasgow. Deeply and as Rowan said, it's a very underrated place. I worked in tourism for almost 9 years and 95% of the people wanted to go to Edinburgh and bypassed and ignored Glasgow altogether. It's a shame. Its people are amazing and the city has so, so much to offer. I am waiting for lockdown to be over so I can go back.

Ok, I finished playing tourist office for Glasgow.

I leave you to the chapter <3

(If there are typos, as usual I am sorry, but after a long day at work my brain does not cooperate anymore)

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The following morning it was Aelin to be the first one up. Her stomach was grumbling loudly and she was starving. Slowly she disentangled herself from Rowan and went to the bathroom to get ready. She grabbed her phone and the forecast said another day of high temperatures so she dressed lightly. She was finishing getting ready when Rowan finally woke up. “I woke up before you for once.” She gloated. Rowan rolled on his back and stretched out his limbs “did you three sleep well?” She walked to the edge of the bed and sat beside him. He took her hand and kissed it, then sat up and kissed the bump and then Aelin “morning, my darlings.” “I slept beautifully. I was so tired that it did not take me long to pass out.” “And how do you feel this morning?” “I need to eat and then I am ready to explore.” She admitted while finishing packing her bag for the day. Rowan laughed “let me get dressed.”

Aelin sat on the bed and stared at him while he was getting changed “nice ass, Whitethorn.” In response he wiggled it and Aelin burst out in laughter “now get a move on. I am hungry.” “Fine.” He was ready in five minutes and together they walked downstairs for breakfast which turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. Aelin had not been impressed by it and claimed that the option of continental breakfast was not exceptional so Rowan promised to take her to a nice place for a proper nice breakfast. Once they got back to their room Rowan prepared his backpack, which was now much lighter since all the snacks had disappeared. “Give me your hoodie.” “It’s a lovely day.” She protested. “Yes, Fireheart, but you have lived in Scotland long enough to know that it might not stay like that.” She gave him the hoodie and he packed it away, leaving Aelin with just her small bag. He grabbed their two water bottles “remind me to ask the hotel if they can fill these up for us.” Ten minutes later they were outside the hotel and Aelin was giddy “come on, old man. I want to explore.” Rowan took her for breakfast as promised and she was very satisfied with the place and declared that for the next few days that’s where they were going. Later on they arrived at Kelvingrove and entered the museum and noticed the sign saying that the following day they were going to close for a wedding reception. Aelin smiled at him and pointed at the sign “it’s the first time I go to a wedding reception inside a museum and a wedding inside a university. It’s so cool. I feel so special.” Inside the main hall they noticed the staff was busy at work setting up the tables and chairs for the following day. Aelin was stunned. The place was a dream with incredible architecture and at the end of the main hall there was an organ and Rowan explained to her that from time to time it was used and they had concerts. Rowan dragged her around the museum and they had great fun in the technology section were they fought off kids for a chance to play with the installations “they should stop hogging the displays, it’s not just for them.” Whispered Aelin. “Such a lovely maternal instinct.” “I want to play too.” She protested. Wondering around, Aelin had no idea where to look. There were plastic heads hanging from the ceiling in one of the halls, whereas in another one there was what she thought was a Spitfire. She had listened enough of Aedion’s talks about planes to have a general and very basic knowledge of some famous models. She took a photo and sent it to him. His reply came quickly and she laughed. “What?” “Aedion is jealous that I have a Spitfire hanging from my head.” “You need to tell him about two airshows we have every year in Scotland. The Red Arrows and the Typhoons are always there. I bet he’d love to be there.” “I’ll tell him straight away. He did three years in the Red Arrows. He probably performed in them.” “No way.” “Oh yeah, he is that awesome as a pilot.” It took them a few hours before they left the museum. Aelin loved it so much that Rowan had to literally drag her out with the excuse that there was so much more they had to see. They continued their walk inside Kelvingrove park and sat down for a while allowing Aelin to rest. “It’s amazing that there is such an incredible park near a university. I love it.” He pulled her close “On a sunny day I used to come and study in the park instead of the library. This area is my favourite part of Glasgow and it has some fantastic places where to eat.” “Are you okay for another walk or shall we sit a bit longer?”Aelin turned and leaned her back against him. Rowan, moved as well and placed his legs at each side of her and pulled Aelin against his chest. “Let’s relax a bit longer. It’s so nice around here.” “I was in student accommodation the first year,” he started telling her, “but then my friends and I found a flat just around the corner on Argyll st. I used to come for morning runs here, the park is very extensive.” “This is the only corner I have seen so far but it seems like a beautiful city.” She felt Rowan nod “It’s quite snubbed and very underrated. People tend to flock to Edinburgh and ignore Glasgow. Yes, it’s much more industrial, but that’s its heart and its identity. Glasgow was an industrial city famous for shipbuilding and, if you feel like it, we can walk a bit along the Clyde and you will see what I mean.” He kissed her ear “Its people are incredible and very friendly. It also has one of the best musical scenes in Scotland. I used to go to so many concerts.” “Did you regret going away?” “I…” he paused “I adore Glasgow. It has a special place in my heart, but I missed the islands. I could not see myself living in a big city no matter the advantages.” “You accent has changed a bit.” Rowan laughed hard “I ken. After four years of uni here I had lost my islands accent and I did sound like a proper weegie.” “A what?” “A weegie is someone fae Glasgow.” And in that moment she heard the heavy shift in his accent. Aelin finally sat back up “come on weegie, let’s go and see this uni of yours.” Rowan stood and pulled her to him for a kiss “it means a lot to share all of this with you.” She smiled “I am just trying to imagine a younger you in this environment.” He took her hand and slowly they started walking towards the university. “One step at a time, the road goes uphill.” Aelin had to stop a lot “drat, this is painful.” She said breathless. “Take your time.” Eventually they made it to the university main building and Aelin sat down on one of the benches in the main courtyard “Let me take a breath and then I will be ready to admire this beautiful place.” He kissed her head “all the time you need.” He stood in front of her “I have a few ideas for the rest of the day. It’s still quite early so we can do the uni. Then how do you feel about the Science centre? We can go there by public transport.” “In London I was obsessed with he national science museum. So, yeah, I am all for it.” “Then we can have a short walk along the Clyde just to show you and then take the bus back into town.” He brushed her hair “We can have lunch. Are you still craving Korean?” Aelin nodded vigorously. “Good, a restaurant might not cause any issues because I assume they know how to cook it. There is an incredible one in the centre.” “Done. What else?” “There are a few options and it all depends on how you feel.” “Unless I have to climb another mountain I am fine.” “So no Necropolis, then. We can stroll around Buchanan st. you can also do some shopping if you’d like. We can visit the merchant quarter which is quite charming and very central as well and if we are lucky we can catch a tour of Glasgow City chambers which is basically the HQ of Glasgow city council but it’s a spectacular building.” He offered “or we can go to Waterstones.” “Whitethorn, you are setting foot in a chain?” Aelin had quickly learned that Rowan was a great supporter of independent shops. Tesco was the only chain they used and just because it was handy for grocery shopping. He was a strong supporter of the community and hated mass produced stuff. “I know, but I love it. I must admit it’s a guilty pleasure. But it’s still books. Uh, I forgot, there is also a Lego store in one of the shopping centres.” “Ok, let’s visit the uni, then go to the science museum and take a walk along the river. Once we are in the centre we’ll have lunch and we go from there. But I definitely love the bookshop idea and the lego store.” “Good.” She gave him her hand and he took it and helped her get up “are you sure?” “Yes, I am rested enough.” They started walking along the uni quadrangles and Aelin had a feeling of being back in time. The building was magnificent and Rowan was playing cicerone and telling her all about every single building they were meeting. Then he stopped and placed his hands on her eyes. “What are you doing?” “Surprise.” He pushed and she started walking under his guidance. Once he was in the spot he wanted, he removed the hands and Aelin gasped. “Welcome to the cloisters.” The cloisters were nothing but low arches, but surrounded by the rest on the ancient building, they appeared like a wonderful and magical place. “This is gorgeous.” She walked around in a daze admiring he site “this is such a magnificent place where to get married.” Aelin took a few pictures and Rowan took a few of her while she was wandering around. She had the most amazing expression of delight in her face. She moved to him and folded her arms around him as much as the bump allowed it “dance with me.” He kissed her and his arms reached around her back and started swaying a little and humming a song in her ear. Luckily they were alone and they were not giving anyone a show. “It feels like the perfect place from a fantasy novel. I don’t know why.” “I always thought it like the main path to the house of an old wizard secretly living in the uni grounds. The kind of place where you would see people in dark cloaks strutting about or a couple of knights.” “I love that your mind wanders in the same places as mine and that we are weird together.” “I love my weirdo.” He said while making her twirl. Then he stopped and bowed to her “my Queen.” Aelin giggled “I really need to find you a sword. One of those fake ones people use for cosplays and such.” He grinned and took her hand “come, there is a place that I am positive you will adore.” She followed him and took a final look at the cloisters and tried to imagine it with a wedding happening under them. “Ok, there are steps unfortunately, but it will be worth it.” “Is it a collection of your pictures when you were a student. Naked ones perhaps?” Rowan laughed “no.” “That’s disappointing.” “It’s my favourite museum of all times. It’s called the Hunterian and there are two rooms that as a doctor I am positive you will adore.” At the top of the stairs Aelin stopped, breathless “I know it’s an historical building, but a friggin lift would be lovely.” He passed the water bottle to her “drink a little.” Once she was done they entered the museum and Aelin gasped. Rowan took her hand “Let’s go to the cool parts first then we’ll do the rest of the museum.” She followed him in silence. They reached a section and Aelin noticed it was all medical based. “This area is basically the history of medicine.” “No way.” Aelin started to walk around, amazed at what she was seeing “I did an elective on the history of medicine and it was fascinating.” “Ro, this is incredible.” Aelin left his hand and started wandering around in a daze “This is how it all started. How doctors started to discover how to cure diseases, although methods in the past might have been at times a bit unorthodox. This is it.” She kept walking along the cases admiring displays of ancient medical tools. This time it was Aelin’s time to be the guide and she was giving him a run through of what they were seeing. Rowan stared at her in fascination. Her face lit up in a joyful expression while she was admiring the collection. Once they finished the room, Rowan took her to the next surprise. “If you loved the other room, I have a feeling you will adore this one. Mr Hunter had an incredible collection of anatomical and pathological specimen and they were donated to the museum. The others are in the anatomy museum down the road.” “Can we go there, please?” “Of course. I have never been there so it will be a novelty for me too.” Aelin left him at the entrance and stepped into the room. Large glass cases stood all around and in the middle and inside she could see jars with formaldehyde and what she was positive were body parts. “Hunter was a pioneer anatomist and obstetrician. That’s why there are so many foetuses. He studied them and all the pathologies connected.” “Like all interns I had to take anatomy classes and we had to dissect cadavers. I was the only one who actually enjoyed those classes and never puked. I found it always so fascinating and for a while I had even contemplated becoming and pathologist and do post mortem and all that stuff.” “What made you change your mind?” “The rush that I would get in the A&E. I specialised in cardio thoracic and applied it to an emergency setting and I fell in love with it..” She kept walking “This collection is something incredible. Aelin stopped and stared at an heart without any blood in it. Rowan put his arms around her and his chin on her head. “A heart without blood looks so weird.” He commented. Aelin chuckled “I will never forget the day I held a beating human heart in my hands for the very first time.” “Tell me.” “I was assisting my mentor and he left me perform the surgery under his supervision. We knew there was damage but there was so much blood that it was impossible to see anything. So very gently I took the heart in my hand to try and find the damage. It was warm and beating, albeit slowly, against my palm. I literally had someone’s life in my hands.” “You are such a badass.” He joked. Aelin was explaining something to Rowan when a group of teenagers came beside them and the girls started to complain that the displays were disgusting. “What is this.” Asked one of the teens pointing at the jar with an empty heart that Aelin had just finished to admire.” “Looks like a lump of flesh.” Said one of them. “It’s a heart.” Aelin corrected him “That’s how a heart looks when there is no blood circulating.” She explained. “That is not a heart.” Aelin was on the verge of loosing her patience and Rowan placed a hand on her lower back “I am a doctor. I know how a heart looks like.” “It’s disgusting.” Aelin sighed and luckily the group moved away. “What?” She asked when she noticed Rowan’s stare “they ruined my enjoyment of this museum with their stupid comments.” “They were teenagers.” “So what? They were fucking stupid.” Rowan sighed and pulled her to him trying to calm her down “Come, let’s go and see the piece of a meteorite that landed near Glasgow.” They went to see the meteorite and then finished the rest of the museum but did not spend as much time on the displays as they did for the medical part. Aelin was fretting to go to the Anatomy museum so they headed out and Rowan took her there. If she had been impressed by the collection inside the Hunterian, Aelin had been definitely in love with the anatomy museum and Rowan allowed her to take all the time she wanted. Aelin also ended up chatting away with one of the staff members at the museum and Rowan had enjoyed seeing her so animated. “Did you had a nice chat?” He asked when she finally came back to him. “The guy is a retired doctor and we had the most fascinating conversation, sorry.” He kissed her gently “don’t apologise. It was actually quite amazing to see you in your element and there are conversation I can’t have with you because I don’t have the knowledge so it’s nice to see you so involved.” “I like our conversations,” she leaned forward and kissed him back “very much.” Once outside the university they went to take the underground again and they headed for the science centre. Once they arrived Aelin squealed “what is that?” She asked pointing at the metallic dome near the entrance. “That’s a cinema. They also have a planetarium.” “Shall we go?” “If they have a show while we are here, we can definitely do that.” “Come on.” Aelin took his hand and dragged him inside and she bought the tickets for both. They ended up spending a few hours inside the centre, playing with all the installations and once it was time they also did manage to catch a show inside the planetarium. “This was so fun. Who said that these places are just for kids?” Rowan threw an arm around her “can you walk a bit? I was thinking of taking you along the Clyde up to the squinty bridge and then catch a bus into town.” “Squinty?” “Yes, as in not straight. You will see why.” The day was hot and nice and Aelin lifted her head up to catch the sunshine and she felt amazing. They stopped in front of a massive crane. “This is the Finnieston crane.” Rowan added pointing at the massive construction “It’s the last vestige of Glasgow’s shipbuilding past. It’s quite iconic.” Aelin lifted her head. “It’s massive.” “It was used to load cargo on the ships. It had to be.” “I love it.” Then she looked around and noticed the bridge “Is that the squinty bridge?” Rowan nodded and they walked there and Aelin took a lot of photos. They walked to the bus stop and on the bus a lovely woman stood and offered her seat to Aelin since the bus was packed and Aelin was incredibly grateful. She wanted to keep exploring but her back was killing her and welcomed the chance to sit down. Rowan stood at her side and his hand brushed her hair “you are tired.” She shook her head “Please, let’s not go back to the hotel, I am having so much fun.” He sighed “are you hungry?” “Starving and really thinking about Korean food now.” He smiled back at her. After ten minutes he helped stand “That’s our stop.” Aelin turned to the woman “thank you so much for the seat.” The two got off the bus. The city centre was completely different from where they had been all morning. She could definitely tell they were in a busy city. “Let’s get you fed.” Rowan crossed the street and she noticed that the restaurant was just opposite them. They entered and asked for a table for two. Aelin looked up and noticed colourful umbrellas hanging from the ceiling. They sat at their table and Aelin went for the menu. She was ready to eat an elephant. She eyed some of the dishes the waiters were holding and she was tempted to steal one. They all looked so delicious. They ordered and then Aelin put a hand on Rowan’s “thank you for today. I loved all we did so far.” “I am glad you are having fun.” He squeezed the hand back “how are our two girls doing?” Aelin patted her bump “Just swimming about. I can feel them move and they kick from time to time which is a good sign.” He winked at her and in that instant the waiter arrived with their food and Aelin almost howled in joy “Finally.” “It looks much better than what I did.” “Yours was really good too.” His face saddened “So good that made you unwell.” “Ro, we don’t know. Stop moping. I loved it.” They went back to eating and Aelin was enjoying the food greatly “I think the only thing that I miss in the islands it’s the choice of ethnic restaurants. That’s my only issue.” Rowan chuckled “I agree. I was so used to the massive variety here in Glasgow that when I got back home it took me a while to get used to it. That’s why I learned to cook.” “And you are amazing at it. Just less veggies.” Rowan laughed “no chance.” “Spoilsport.” They finished eating and hand in hand Rowan led Aelin through the street of the city centre and they ended up in the merchant quarter and Aelin took in the magnificent architecture. “There is a big shopping centre, fancy doing some shopping?” “A bit.” He kissed her cheek “Let’s go.” They walked a short distance and eventually arrived at the Buchanan galleries. “You don’t like shopping centres…” “Shhh.” He said kissing the back of her head while on the escalator “There is the lego shop in here. Plus it makes you happy, so I don’t care.” They reached the first floor and they started walking and Aelin stopped when she noticed a baby shop “Ro, look.” She took his hand and dragged him inside “We don’t have anything for the twins. I know we are waiting for the bigger items until we are in the new house but look…” and she picked up a onesie “isn’t this adorable?” Rowan was too busy playing with a soft toy in the shape of an elf. With a big smile he turned to her “what about this?” Aelin stared at that giant of a man holding a soft toy with a tenderness that almost made her cry. Aelin went to grab a basket “make it two” she went browsing around the shop and her heart melted at watching Rowan picking up clothes for their girls. He came back with two tiny bathrobes that had cute ears and a dragon’s back ridge “I am so in love with you right now.” Aelin moved to him and gave him a quick peck on the cheek while Rowan replied with a big toothy grin. She was positive they could get stuff for the girls at home but that shop had the cutest stuff and Aelin had every intention to splurge a nice whack of money on their daughters. She wandered around and got some essential stuff while Rowan was still looking at tiny dresses. He went to her with a big smile and two lovely dresses in his hands “I know they will outgrow them very quickly, but look at these.” His voice was the one of a father already madly in love with his daughters. He was holding two lovely dresses in green. “Add to the basket.” Was Aelin’s response at the clothes. Rowan took the basket from her hands which was slowly getting fuller and fuller “I’ll carry it.” “We have a green and blue theme going on here.” Added Aelin looking at the range of stuff in their basket. “They are lovely colours.” “I agree. And I am not buying pink just because they are girls. It’s a horrible colour.” Eventually they made it to the till. “You have a nice selection here.” Said the woman behind the counter “And two of each.” “Yeah, twins.” Added Aelin patting her bump. Rowan was about to pay but she stopped him “this is on me.” He reluctantly put his wallet away. Rowan grabbed the two bags and they left the shop, and Aelin was beaming and placed an arm around his waist. Then she spotted the lego store and Rowan knew he had lost her. She was inside the shop and was looking at the different set “Ro, am I crazy if I say that I want to spend my entire salary in here?” Rowan laughed “no you are not, but remember that we have to get back to the hotel and we already have two bags full of stuff.” “Look.” She pointed at a plastic container in the middle where you could create your own lego figurine. “Let’s build ourselves out of lego.” Aelin did manage to find the face, the hair and the dress she liked and she went for the queen style. Once she was finished she started creating a Lysandra and then an Aedion. And while she had already created three figurines, Rowan was still creating his. He had gone for the warrior look and also added a sword to his little character. “I love it.” She said, then placed the four figurines in the plastic container to protect them. She went to pay and he finally managed to drag her out and she sat on one of the benches exhausted. “We should go back to the hotel.” He commented when he noticed how tired she looked. “I agree. I don’t think I can walk any longer and my back is killing me.” “Sit five minutes then we’ll go and take the bus back and I am going to explain the situation to the hotel and ask if they let us order in.” His hand brushed her hair “we can stay in bed, watch tv and enjoy the evening in peace.” Then he looked at her exhausted face “ Or, I have a better idea. The station is right behind us. We’ll take a taxi.” “I love you.” Slowly they made their way to the station and got a taxi and once inside Aelin sighed relieved. She had tried to be brave but she knew she could not fool him. Rowan had been keeping an eye on her all day and she was positive he had noticed her exhaustion. They arrived at the hotel and Rowan grabbed all the bags “go upstairs, I’ll be with you in a minute.” She nodded and left him. Back in the room she removed her trainers with a sigh of relief and then changed into her pyjama and sat down in bed. It was only five in the evening and she felt bad at being back in the hotel already but she was wiped. Rowan arrived ten minutes later, he dropped the bags on the corner of the room and sat beside her “tell me what you fancy and I’ll order dinner later. I explained to the hotel your situation and they are okay. They offered to let us one of the table downstairs but I explained that you were probably already camped in bed, with little chance to move you again.” She kissed him “can we have Japanese?” “You can’t have sushi, you know?” He added, browsing for a place on his phone. “I know, smartass.” She lightly punched his shoulder. The food arrived an hour later and Aelin ate in bed, with Rowan sitting on the armchair beside the bed. “This is the perfect ending to a lovely day. I am sorry we had to cut it short.” She apologised. “Hey…” he said, grabbing her hand “I am impressed that you lasted that long. “I wanted to see more.” He placed his food on the nightstand and sat beside her in bed, pulling Aelin to his side “We’ll come back with the twins and do much more.” “Promise?” He kissed her “Pinky promise.” And he gave her his pinky, remembering the day they did that in his shop. It just felt so long ago. Once done eating, Rowan cleared the containers and changed into his pyjama and joined her in bed. Aelin was looking at the photos of the day on her phone. She flipped through them and found one of Rowan she liked “I guess I found my new home screen picture.” He leaned over and noticed his photo “When did you take it?” “When you were not looking. And I love it.” Aelin leaned against him and she grabbed his hand and moved it on the bump and sighed. “What?” “I was thinking.” “That’s very dangerous.” He chuckled. “Look how much difference a year made. A year ago I was just an annoying customer that you hated and kicked out of the shop. And now we are in this situation.” She said pointing at the bump “and a part of me is still scared. With Chaol we had no kids, yes it was a mess but at least we had no kids to suffer in midst of everything. If—“ He stopped her with a kiss “No ifs. No.” He kissed her again “I am going to be cheesy, so be prepared.” And Aelin laughed at the comment. “You are it for me. I have no idea what the future holds for us, but I know that all I want is to spend it with you and our girls. It’s all I ask for. I want a family and I did not realise just how much until you told me you were pregnant. Fine, it happened earlier than probably both of us had planned, but I don’t care. We are in our late thirties, we both have jobs, we can afford a family.” Aelin caressed his face. “I lost track of what I was saying.” He grabbed her hand a pushed it against his cheek “Oh yes, I am a boring monogamist old man who feels very fulfilled at the idea of having a family with the woman he loves.” Aelin started crying “You can’t…” she sobbed “You can’t say things like that to a pregnant woman.” Rowan laughed and hugged her close “I am a sappy old fart when I am in the right mood.” “So sappy.” She added with a wet laugh while Rowan kissed her head “but I have a feeling you will be a super dad. Loving and caring.” “I can only try.” “We’ll try… together.” “To whatever end.” He added, kissing her.

TAG:

@rowaelinismyotp​

[the-asia-trip]

Days 12-15: Taiwan

In a way, this trip has been on a slowly increasing scale of travel difficulty for me. Japan, while still foreign, is like a warm blanket—familiar, safe, and clean. Korea is one or two steps beyond Japan. Still safe, but less familiar. Taiwan is three steps out. It's still very safe, but, for lack of a better word, it's also China. Wild, chaotic, exotic China.

Hordes of scooters weave through every street, big impenetrable Chinese characters dominate every sign (though there's still English secondary signage everywhere you really need it), and everything is considerably less spotless and immaculate than Korea, let alone Japan. To speak in Dungeons and Dragons character alignment terminology: if Japan is Lawful Good, and Korea is Lawful Neutral, Taiwan is Chaotic Good. There's still that East Asian order ethos, but noticeably less than the first two countries I visited on the trip. 

None of this is an insult, mind you. It's also jaw-droppingly scenic, filled with fantastic food and incredibly friendly people.

On Tuesday, after finishing my last entry here, I hopped on the subway out of Seoul. About an hour later, I arrived at Incheon International Airport. 

Incheon deserves special mention here. I didn't get a good look around when I arrived there last Friday night, but it's a really really surreal place—ultramodern, and dripping with the trappings of the international set. In Terminal 2, there's a three-story Chanel store and a three-story Gucci store right next to it. There's every conceivable designer boutique, at least 4 duty-free cosmetics stores, 3 liquor stores, 2 tobacco stores, and 2 nondescript "fashion" stores that sell clothing from brands not prestigious enough to warrant their own storefronts (but pricey enough to benefit from duty-free savings). For actual airport souvenirs, though, it's not much. For my 4 days in Korea, the best I could manage was a fridge magnet. Note to self: buy souvenirs outside next time. 

After some kimchi stew and an impossibly small $8 airport beer, I boarded my flight to Taiwan. It took about 2 hours, during which time I watched about 70 minutes of Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon A Time in Hollywood" on a hilariously low-resolution seatback display. My seatmate was a middle-aged Russian woman with two brand-new iPhones who drank five glasses of white wine and bought three sticks of Burberry lipstick from the duty-free cart.

After clearing customs, I hopped on a city bus into Taipei proper. The buses in Taiwan also deserve special mention here for being one of the most chaotic elements of the whole experience. Inexplicably well-appointed with little frilly lace window curtains and headrests, and consistently driven with a style I can only describe as "New York Cabbie on speed," they're an experience in their own right. 

The trip to my hotel took about an hour, at which point it was well past midnight. After a requisite post-airport shower, I fell fast asleep. 

I'm staying at the CitizenM Taipei on this leg of the trip, a part of a larger chain of hotels that I've stayed at before in New York. It's one of those trendy hotel chains marketed towards young people that tries painfully hard to be cool with every aspect of their branding. Still, their actual hotel rooms are very nice and well-appointed. 

The next morning, after coffee, some scallion pancakes, and Taiwanese sausages, I headed over to Xiangshan. Located on the other side of the city, it's a hiking trail that offers unrestricted views of Taiwan's most internationally-famous attraction, Taipei 101. While taking some photos at the top of the trail, I struck up a conversation with a local—a girl about my age who currently lives in London, back here for two weeks visiting family. We talked for about half an hour, exchanged information, and went our separate ways.

After the hike, I headed back into the center of town and hopped on a train out to Jiufen. One of Taiwan's most photogenic locales, it bears a striking resemblance to the Spirit World from "Spirited Away," one of the best/most influential anime movies of all time, and a personal favorite of mine. The train only got me most of the way there, so I had to transfer to a bus in Ruifang, a little village about 3/4 of the way between Taipei and Juifen's iconic old town.

A highlight of the walk through Ruifang—at one point, I passed an elderly Chinese man sitting on a bench. He gave me a thumbs-up, I gave him a thumbs-up back, and he smiled and said, "good!" 

One more chaotic bus ride through a series of winding mountain roads later, I arrived in Jiufen. After almost 20 years of being associated with one of the most popular movies of all time, it's more than a little touristy, but a whole lot of fun. The photos to follow will do it more justice than I probably can here. If you like stunning jungle mountain scenery, charming small-town vibes, and excellent food, it's a must-see.

A nice thing about visiting Taiwan right now: for some reason, all Mainland Chinese people are banned from visiting the island by the Communist Party until next year. As locals tell it, I basically have the place to myself. 

Also, for about two weeks in advance,  rain was predicted for three of my four days here. Obviously, on paper, Taiwan is the most outdoorsy leg of this trip, which is why I spent my first day so actively outside when the weather proved sunny.

In an extreme stroke of luck, though, it was clear and sunny the whole time I was there.

On my second day, I took full advantage of this. After more scallion pancakes and coffee, I hopped on a train out of Taipei Main Station headed out of the city, this time to Tamsui, another small town located north of the city.

One thing I didn't know about Taiwan prior to this trip: it used to be a territory of the Dutch East India Company during the 16th century. One of the most tangible remnants of this period is still on display in Tamsui, a colonial fort known as Fort San Domingo (the Dutch took it over from the Spanish, some of the first Europeans to reach the island during the European Age of Exploration). The Chinese locals know the fort by another name: 紅毛城. In English, this translates roughly to "fort of the red-headed ones," which I'm still getting a big kick out of. Apparently the Dutch were the first redheads the Taiwanese had ever seen, and the nickname "Ang Mo" (literally "red hair," or sometimes more derogatorily, "red fur,") stuck for some time after that as a catch-all term for Europeans in many parts of Southeast Asia.

While there's a decent amount of foreigners in Taipei, I definitely felt like the odd Ang Mo out in Tamsui, wading through street markets and ducking out of the way of scooters. It's an amazing place, filled with life and chaotic energy in a way few places I've ever seen are. 

Later that day, I returned to Taipei to check off one of the obvious must-sees of any Taiwan visit: Taipei 101. Formerly the tallest structure on earth, and now the 11th tallest behind a variety of Mainland Chinese and Gulf State money laundering projects, it's truly a sight to behold. From the 89th floor, you get an unrestricted panoramic view of the whole of the Taipei metro area and a glimpse into the building's highly sophisticated internal stabilization system. Because Taiwan is prone to earthquakes, the 101 is borderline over-engineered against any conceivable emergency. It's allegedly one of the most stable structures on the planet. 

After a beer at the top floor lounge, I headed over the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial. The leader of the Kuomintang and father of the Republic of China, he's a very very very big deal here. His memorial is every bit the equal to monuments like the Lincoln Memorial and is guarded by a group of very very very very serious Taiwanese soldiers. There's a guard-changing ceremony a few times a day that I was lucky enough to catch the end of during my visit. Video will follow. 

After that, I met up with my new friend from yesterday and a few of her local friends for dinner. Naturally, the best way to try the best food in a foreign place is to make friends with locals.

The next morning, I crossed the final box off my Taiwan list: the National Palace Museum. When the government of the Republic of China fled the mainland in the 40s, they took most of China's artistic and cultural heritage with them from the Forbidden City in Beijing: over 70,000 items now stored in a sprawling gallery just outside Taipei. It's considered to be one of (if not the) finest collections of Chinese art on the planet, and it's where I spent most of my last full day in Taiwan. Pictures will follow and again will do more justice than I ever could. The sheer extent of China's history is really and truly staggering. The second oldest civilization on the planet, and the oldest continuous one, with a mind-blowing amount of art and culture to show for it.

After the museum, I went back into town for a lunch of pork belly with buns, Dan Dan noodles, and fried pork dumplings. They're big on pork here. The other part of the whole "thousands of years of history" thing? The food. Unbelievable. 

I got even more of that aspect of Taiwan's culture later that night when I went back out with my new Taiwanese friend to one of Taipei's famous night markets. Another "chaotic in the best possible way" experience, you can get everything from knockoff designer socks to steaming bowls of beef tendon stew there. By the end of the night, I had both. 

This morning, I got up at around 9:30 and had my last helping of local scallion pancakes for the foreseeable future. I checked out around 11, and one chaotic Taiwanese Citybus ride later I was at the airport. More pork and rice, a beer, a three-hour flight, and I find myself at Hotel Nikko Narita, the last stop on my trip, for a quick overnight before my flight home. Expect more in the coming days in terms of a cohesive "final thoughts" piece. But for now, here's a few things I'm already feeling very clearly:

There's a power that comes with solo travel. A sense of self-assurance and understanding you really don't get from many other experiences. You're spending a lot of time with yourself. For some people, the thought of that is terrifying. Especially on the other side of the world. For me, though, it's energizing and self-actualizing in a way few other things could ever possibly be.

What else. Travel. Of all the places I visited on this trip, Japan is still quite easily my favorite, and I'd still love to live here someday. But I'm not in any rush, and I certainly won't be coming home with the same misplaced urge to return immediately that I had after my last trip.

Two weeks really remains the ticket for this kind of trip. I've been away long enough that traveling almost feels like my routine at this point, pretentious as that may read. It's nice to be able to spend enough time doing something that you're able to drop the mindset of normal day-to-day life for a while, and do Big Thinks About Life Stuff. However, as I've said in previous posts, I think I'd need a concrete reason to be here to stay any longer. After almost 16 very full days on the other side of the world, thousands of miles away from my own, I'm actually very ready to come home. I miss my friends and family (you, reading this, probably), and after 2 weeks of near-nonstop movement, the creature comforts of my apartment will be mighty nice. 

For now, thank you all for following me. I'm honored to have shared this incredible experience with you.

[serahsanguine]

The Experience of London Film and Comic Con

I will be writing this a blog typestyle. Starting from the beginning of the day and ending up with the journey home. All spelling mistakes are my own and probably has punctuation missing.  I am hoping by writing this it helps sink in or so I have a documented record of what happened for a future purpose. (also I was asked) so the morning was a very early start 3 o'clock wow lol. the train from Derby to London was pleasant either if the steward/stewardess was sick there no freshments/ drinks on the journey there.   so when I arrived at St Pancras international finding which tube was slightly stressful as I get so confused by maps, it's unreal. but I asked for help and they were lovely, telling me where to go and it helped so much as I was a nervous wreck (The first time of many throughout the day)   when I finally arrived at Paddington station, around 8 the beautiful Mags @Magdalena357569 helped me out and find the bus route to Olympia which in its self-was a nice journey going past the Winston Churchill pub with some beautiful flowers on and around the building but I did wonder how they kept them all so vibrate with this heat wave we have experienced. arriving at Olympia was fun even though me and mags had no clue where we were going we arrived near the gold passes entrance and were told to wait there to be moved around to gate H, it was sunny and warm I honestly thought I was going to burn because of that's what I do in the sun.   anyways that was an s shape zigzag thing which took a good half hour before we were moved to gate H. when we actually got into the Olympia who would have guessed more queuing, we picked up our diamond passes which were by the first letter of Surname (There should have been signs!) so we had to queue twice.  when we finally got our David Duchovny Diamond pass we got our day passes scanned and more Zig-Zaging through at least this time it was moving well for a time anyway kept stopping every known and again but never mind. that took another 30 minutes to get through before we actually got into the venue. once in the venue the was a quate little coffee shop over to your right where we met half the hang of ladies that we were going with. once accomplished we no cat Caroline Poole @CarolineRPoole Sam @medicaldoctxr Elaine myself and mags and Elaine's dad  (Who is amazing by the way with a great sense of humor) we went to find David Duchovny signature place and oh boy was that fun. The Olympia if you have never been, is huge and I mean huge the maps available are very misleading. so we worked our way upstairs to find where most of the signatures were being held and guess what no DD so we asked a steward who hadn't a clue so we walked around like lost puppies not having a clue where to go. We walked through to where the photo were being held still no DD we kept asking steward's who hadn't a clue so, in the end, we got very very lost and hot and sweaty.  (There should have been a map to tell you where everything was just saying!. I was told there were maps but I never found them)   after about an hour of looking, (and a Very angry me) we finally found DD signature stand (Finally) we had lost some of our group oops lol. anyway, we were waiting for the queue to get that (Now me sam and Elaine) where I was able to get a copy of Miss subways (OMFG I finally got a copy) the line for the autographs wasn't that long. The actually autograph what a buzz first off I was so nervous, shaking everything but wow what an experience, David talked to me like we actually had a conversation he asked who was the signature so I said, Sarah and he asked with an h now I must have pronounced the h weird because he pronounced h differently to me obviously him in an American accent and me in a British accent or something like that. (later sam told me its because he couldn't get over it was with an h lol) but I was like yes it Sara with an H and we laughed about it.   let me tell you it was a surreal experience actually talking to the man that is your idol. for as long time. he was so nice and his voice was slightly deeper then I was expecting but soothing at the same time. and he was very pleasing to the eye if I don't say so myself.   Then I waited for Sam you had an amazing Brick Photo and he was stunned that it was his dog and he signed it to Samantha from Brick - David Duchovny and omg was she happy we got out of the enclosed both and she was having a meltdown in true sam style. we waited for Elaine and then had to sit down and calm down from our adrenaline rush (one of many).   once we had finally calmed down I needed to go outside. And wouldn't you know it? Me and Sam got lost again (They Need to sell Damn Maps just saying) so we finally got the exit and got stamped and were told we could come back in the same door (Yes i believed the lie)  so we finished up outside to find out we could not go back through the door we came out off and had to go back around to the start gate H bagged searched and stamp recognised with had to do the damn zig-zag thing again (oh the joy) luckily lot fewer people so only took us about 10 mins. we meet back up with Elaine and her dad we got the message that our friend and not so stalked dd on video which was so funny because he didn't realize (some bodyguards they were) so it was becoming near the time for photos (We got lost again) once the photo booth were found we had more queuing and more panicking and more adrenaline pumping through our systems.  and more zig-zag snake things (a regular occurrence) me and Sam were so excited and nervous but it was so fun. I got asked several occasions where I got my bag from and if it was for sale I am sorry guys I did it my self. one in the photo booth square we gave our bags to the photo people and waited for our time to have a photo taken. I was talking to Sam about I would just be happy with a hug all I wanted and then it was my turn.  when he spotted me he was like it Sarah with an h I was like yes it is. he asked how I was, I said I was great and asked him how he was. And we had our photo taken. His arm (Those arms are to die for) around my shoulders (i'm small) has hand touched my X-file tattoo (which at the time i didn't realize) and I put my head on his pectoral muscle/shoulder/neck area it was so warm and amazing (True Fan fic style) when finished I said by and went and waited for Sam and got my photo and bag and left the photo booth area. he was wearing dark jeans grey top black trainers with orange laces. (Wow damn he was hot)   So me and Sam (we lost Elaine)  talked about what happened and he remembered her because of the Brick photo and she tripped on his shoe (only sam) and she doesn't like her photo but in my opinion, she looks amazing. we live streamed (which can be found somewhere on my twitter profile.) to try and calm down and breath and because I promised I would we eventually found Elaine and her Dad and a hotdog stand yay. by this time we realized we had 4 hours to kill (WOW). food eat time to find an exit for some fresh air. we got lost again and if it wasn't for Elaine's dad we would have been lost a long time, we went past some of the best cosplay I have ever seen. I even found the TARDIS which for me as a Doctor Who fan was amazing, there were Daleks and everything including Cybermen cosplay. once done with our outside actives and back in we went in the search for merchandise and we found @underthefloorborads stall with @chimera work and yes i bought one and omg it amazing I also found a pop store with Fox Fricking Mulder (very rare indeed) and I found another beautiful poster for the X-Files and I even got an MSR pillow (no blankets I really want a blanket)  that killed about an hour - two hours looking for everything and getting lost so many times and a damn sight lof of walked we found somewhere to sit down and just rest.   so after this, me and Sam went to the talk and were in the third row I cam to know the Deadpool, Orville, the x-files trailers by heart waiting for David to appear on the screen. and wow what a talk it was so many good questions asked like Gillian question, would he work on other project directing, writing. what genre of work he finds scary or hard. different ways his name been pronounced, and if he had any European work coming up, Insta questions I have one complaint tbh and it's not David's fault but where the talk was placed was horrible and the sound of the questions plus the sound of David was not very clear. so basically the speakers were terrible. but all in all I got some good photo and David made me laugh and he's swearing is so funny and erotic he honestly so nice and sweet and one amazing person in general. I have meet so many people off twitter that was amazing to finally meet people that I have talked to over social media was surreal and amazing. so all together it was a long and exciting day meeting David was a dream come true. he nice and amazing. just an amazing all around person. the con its self-was amazing some amazing stalls. some amazing people met, amazing items being sold and very exciting and fulfilling journey. home-bound well I got my very first uber like that its self is an x-file especially after seeing David it gave me season 10 flashback.  that was nice and pleasant and quite cheap tbh. so i arrived at Paddington subway and had an anxiety attack (joy not) all sorts of stuff going through my head about missing train etc. but once arrived at St Pancras International I seemed to half calmed my self down I was 45 mins early for my train. so I waited and waited and finally got on the train home. I had a table all to myself I'm a lucky girl like that and it kind of hit me but I'm still not fully there even today writing this. i heard one of his song on Spotify and cried because i had actually met him (i think it was tiredness it had been a long day. I got home about home at 10 pm.   so that's

me recall of yesterday thanks for reading. any question just ask me on twitter or tumblr.        

[coreytravelogue]

Canada - August in the 1990s

Given how gloomy last week's story was I thought I would talk about something far less depressing but not exactly storied but a collection of memories I want to get on paper before they completely disappear from my brain as I get older.

During my 2 tours of Europe I could not be more thankful for 2 things; one that I was able to see Europe (twice) but also that I was able to see as much of Canada as I have. For those who are not Canadian you may be surprised how little most Canadians get to see of their own country. Those who are Canadian however I am pretty sure and nodding right now.

When I was in Europe it was so neat to travel, 2 hours north you are Netherlands, 3 hours East you are in Poland 2 hours West you are in France. Different countries, different languages, different cultures....different everything. It is also relatively cheap; you can bus, train, fly or even drive if you want around Europe with relative ease.

Canada is a very large country, 2nd largest in the world actually. 2 hours north you are in Canada, 3 hours East you are in Canada, 2 hours West and you are still in Canada, 4 hours South and you are in the USA. I mean you can go as East, West, North as you can and it will only be Canada till you hit an ocean of some sort. That is not to say every province does not have its own things but lets face it there is more linking Canadians together with each other (some provinces may disagree with that) than there is countries in Europe outside of being part of the European Union.

It is also very expensive to travel in Canada. Air travel is joke as you only really have two major airlines to take you anywhere in Canada and they don't compete with each other because why bother? Driving is expensive because of gas prices (thank you Alberta for rejecting the NEP) and busing in this day and age is very difficult. Despite the fact that one of the main reasons for the birth of Canada was to build a railroad across the country going by rail is just as expensive if not more expensive than flying. It is more expensive for me to fly from Vancouver to St. John's, Newfoundland or Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island than it is to fly to Amsterdam or London.......I shit you not check it out yourself.

This is why you are more likely to find Canadians traveling outside of Canada than within it, it is truly sad because Canada really is a worth while country to travel across and I am one of the lucky few who could say has travelled cross country at least from my recollection 4 times but 2 of the those times were just to Ottawa. There may have been more times but if they were they were to Toronto/Ottawa. The saddest part is that as a kid I hated it or didn't care about it but as a adult I wish I could have appreciated it more.

My folks are road trip folk, when you live in Fort McMurray and flying out or in from there is stupid expensive you sort of have to be.

For a time my family was spread within 3 locations, it still hasn't changed. There is Alberta where some of my family still live be it in Fort Mac still or within the area still working in O&G, then there is Ottawa where one of my cousins now resides but for awhile my Uncle John lived there for many years as I mentioned and the rest lived in Newfoundland. It was relatively common for me and my family to fly to Newfoundland for the summer of course in August when my mom could get the whole month off. The thing is my parents don't like flying, I don't think they would admit it but I think they hate it. They much rather have me fly to Newfoundland every Christmas than fly themselves here. Even from 2008-2014 when they came every summer it was always by camper and not flying. Our dog Patch was their biggest reason but even with pocket sized Daisy you won't see them fly. Even now fully retired you won't see them fly anywhere but road trip that is my possible. I dare say my dad has probably went across the country more times from 2008-2014 than anyone who is not a trucker.

As a kid we drove to Ottawa at least twice to see Uncle John and twice completely across Canada from Fort Mac to Newfoundland.

I think the reason why I didn't like the trip so much is because I never got to really see Canada, only got to drive through it. I never got to truly experience what each province had to offer it was always just me sitting in the back seat looking through the window and seeing the scenery change. There are a few stories that I recall, I really don't know why they occurred and during one trip so I really just want to go through them province by province.

Saskatchewan

Probably the most boring province to drive through, because it is all flat land and wheat for as far as you can see. You could see for miles and it would just be straight road and wheat fields. Two memories come to mind. One where I created one of my first cardinal rules from a very early age and the other was that we were chased by a tornado. Let's start with the tornado.

Saskatchewan is tornado country, I do not know much about weather patterns but I think a lot of it has to do with the flat land. Anyways I remember we were driving across Saskatchewan when in the distance we noticed a tornado in the distance. Of course it scared the shit out of us and we didn't know what to do. We decided to stop and pull into a campsite and just sit it out till it went away. I remember going to a campsite and it was full of other campers who all felt the same way. By the time we pulled in they told us they were full and letting no one else in. My dad said "like hell you are, we are staying here whether you like it or not" pointing to the tornado in the distance.

The second has to do with pizza and that won't be the only time pizza comes into the story. I love pizza always have and probably always will. We were driving through Saskatchewan and we were hungry. I felt like having a pizza however through the wheat fields a place that I think was called Chubby Chicken was there in the middle of nowhere. My parents were hungry and so chicken it was. We sat there but I still anted pizza (I was under 10) so I ordered pizza and what came back was the most disgusting pizza I ever saw. I am sure my imagination as a child exaggerated it but I literally remember green slime on the bottom of it. I have no idea why I even ate it but I did and my god it was absolutely disgusting. It was there at that young age I started my first own cardinal rule. Never eat pizza at a place that does not have pizza in it's name. 98% of the times I have broken that rule I have regretted it thus why I don't break it. Only time I may break that rule is if the place I am eating is an Italian place, so I may break it for the obvious reasons.

Manitoba

I wish I had more concrete memories of the province but I don't. Manitoba is the land of 1000 lakes so with that it is a very muddle province even in the summer time back then. I only really have one strong memory of Manitoba and it doesn't even really have much to with Manitoba only that it was in Manitoba.

During one of our trips my dad had planned to head into the USA via Manitoba in order to save on gas but also hey why not. We got to the North Dakota border early evening. After waiting for 2-3 hours the North Dakota border patrol rejected us because my dad was caught smoking weed in Florida in the 70s and looked at him as though he was a hippie. Anyone who knows my dad even then would tell you he is barely if anything like a hippie but to an American a Canadian smoking reefer may as well be a hippie. That pissed my dad off so we had to drive 3-4 hours north back to Winnipeg and sleep in a parking lot for a few hours till a security guard kicked us off the property.

Ontario

The biggest difference I could feel between the prairie provinces as a kid at the time was the road quality. Driving through those provinces it was mostly turbulent and shaky but the moment we got on Ontario road it was smooth as silk.....well compared to the roads in the prairies. I loved the drive through Ontario, it was absolutely gorgeous seeing trees and hills for as far as I could see not counting the Great Lakes which seemed so big they may as well be oceans at least to a kid.

My strongest memories were just driving through the province. Another difference between driving through the Western provinces and Ontario is that you could drive through any of them in a day if you started early enough. Ontario on the other hand you could start as early as 5 am and you would still not make your way across Ontario before the day was done, it is at least a 20 hour drive.

I remember going to Thunder Bay as a child for some reason thing that is where the Tampa bay Lightning played (I was under 10 come on). We drove through Toronto and I recall having one of the better pizzas in my life there, it was a Pizza Hut Big New Yorker.

When we were driving through just to go to Ottawa we did go from Ottawa to Niagara Falls at least once staying a a Yogi Bear theme camp site where I spent less time hanging out with Yogi Bear and more time playing Wrestlefest or Royal Rumble arcade.

I vaguely remember Niagara Falls, we went to Marine Land which I again vaguely remember. Of course I remember the waterfall itself which was impressive even to a child but that was about it.

We did stay in Ottawa few times of course but I don't ever recall doing anything there as we were always passing through so the only memories I have of Ottawa during this time was hanging out with my cousins or watching Batman Mask of the Phantasm.

Quebec

Prior to my trip to Montreal in 2018 my memories of Quebec were fairly shaky. You have to understand Quebec and the rest of Canada in the 90s was tumultuous to say the least. Quebec came pretty close to separating till they realized it was better to take advantage of the country than to leave and figure it out on their own. if you er eEnglish especially Albertan you were not liked. I remember one time my dad was completely lost and my dad turns into an asshole when he is lost taking it out on me or my mom. I recall my dad fed up with asking for directions got me and my mom to go to a gas station in Quebec City to ask for directions and the person in the gas station treated my mom like shit as well.

Another time while going through Quebec City we got caught in a huge traffic jam which took us an entire day to get through the city because of it.

With that said my memory of Quebec at this time landscape wise was that it was an equally beautiful province. As soon as you got out of the big cities the people in the countryside were much nicer to us.

I also remember their grocery stores sold 1 litre bottles of beer. Quebec was also the place where I was able to find a lot of the AC/DC albums I had been missing up to that point that I could not find.

New Brunswick/Nova Scotia

Again I also wish I had more memories of these areas but New Brunswick and Nova Scotia are much smaller than the provinces we went through so we were able to get to through them much quicker till we got to the ferry in Halifax. I do remember New Brunswick being very cloudy and looked similar to Newfoundland where Nova Scotia also looked like Newfoundland but slightly different. Vague yes but again the times I went there as a small child and as a pre teen I vaguely remember.

In fact I have more memories of being on the ferries from Halifax to St. John's and back. I never enjoyed the ferries. They always felt stuffy and dirty. I would spend 8 hours or so just walking around trying to figure out what to do when Iw ain't sweating and even worse checking on Prince was hell. I could only imagine how he felt. The pet room was the smelliest place on the ferry. Smelled of shit, puke and rotten milk. Every animal in there howling and wailing because it was too hot, stuff and they hated to be caged.

The first cross country trip we made was made through camper and the second was made with our GM Jimmy. The one made with our GM Jimmy was in 1997, the other I have no idea when it was only that it was in the camper and I was much younger. After that I would not see any new part of Canada till 2018 when I took myself to Whitehorse and then the following year to Yellowknife. I would definitely go back to Whitehorse if I could.

At this point the only parts of Canada I have been been through or see is Prince Edward Island, Nunavut and technically Labrador. All because it is just way too expensive to go to any of them from Vancouver. if I lived in Newfoundland it would be doable so that is one thing to look forward to if I ever moved to NFLD.

I would like to travel across the country again but this time I think I would try and spend more time in each place. Prior to COVID my plan was to maybe go to Regina/Saskatoon one long weekend, Winnipeg the other and maybe pounce on a deal someday if I could find myself going to Fredericton or Halifax. I have spent more time in the Halifax airport than Halifax proper itself at this point.

Sad thing is I can't even say if the world is still too insane to travel around next year that traveling within Canada would even be a option given it will probably still be too damn expensive to do and for the price point I don't even feel it would be worth it.

Never say never though but again it only makes me more and more thankful that I even got to go across Canada as much as I have. Just got to make sure it won't be the last time.

My views of my home country has changed drastically in the last 3 years much less since I was a child seeing all of it for the first time. With that said as much as it pisses me off I am still Canadian and want to see it better and know that there is no other nationality I wish to be but Canadian.....unless Germany could adopt me and teach me German. Which is very doubtful so I will stay Canadian.

Shazbot nanu nanu........eh

[asillyplace]

She swung her little stuffed dog to and fro across the top of the table, laughing hysterically the whole time.

Her father said something about how it must be nice to be 4, but in a way, it’s hard to believe she’s only 4.

After all, I did hold her in the hospital room the day after she was born, and that seems like it was long ago.

She (and the dog), her parents and her older brother were having lunch with Suzi and me.

There was no particular reason, no special event, just taking advantage of the fact that after numerous moves since her mother and Suzi met while working in Albany more than 20 years ago, we’ve managed to land within a half-hour of each other.

Sometimes it’s all of us for lunch; sometimes the two of them do brunch.

And then there are the parties — birthday parties for both of the children, plus ecumenical parties for the Jewish holidays.

The parties are their own little ecosystem of people who, if any of them are missing, it doesn’t feel the same, even if there’s a decent chance I wouldn’t recognize them elsewhere even if they walked right up to me and said hello.

They include a little girl who was maybe 2 when she and I were sitting next to each other at the kitchen counter during a birthday party.

She had a little sippy cup in her hand, and when she picked it up she tilted it in a way that, were it not for the cover, probably would have meant spilling everything on me. I gently took it out of her hand and set it back on the counter.

A couple minutes later, she picked it up again …

… with two hands.

… over her opposite shoulder.

… while giving me the stink-eye the whole time.

It was one of the funniest and most-adorable things I’ve ever seen.

And then there was the time when our friend was talking about her cookie business — I’ve done extensive product research over the years and can tell you her work is of the highest quality — and she explained that because of the requirements for her business license, she can’t sell outside of Massachusetts.

Another parent at the party chimed in, explaining that can’t be true, citing a different circumstance and a different law in New Hampshire, which is also a different state.

We looked at each other, not needing to say anything to convey “Is this guy doing what I think he’s doing?”

I don’t think we’ve seen him since.

* * * * *

“Are we rumbling this weekend?”

No, my buddy Mix and I weren’t planning an altercation with another neighborhood gang; he was texting to ask if I was going to come over and watch the Royal Rumble wrestling event that Sunday.

He also joked that we could watch the Pro Bowl beforehand, but even we have our standards.

We ate chips and drank soda, guffawed, gossiped and roared at the spectacle of it all. We basically acted like silly boys, which is pretty much par for the course whenever we get together. (Suzi likes Mix and his family, but usually leaves us to it for our get-togethers, in part because she has less than no interest in professional wrestling.)

Mix is an old college roommate, another one who we’re now lucky enough to live a short distance away from. We get together for the big wrestling events, went golfing together last summer (and played together in a tournament in Maine several years ago).

We went to UMass-Lowell hockey games when I used to be able to get tickets through work, and a few months ago, he texted me to ask if I wanted to catch a Bruins-Rangers alumni game in the area that included Ray Bourque and Brian Leetch.

You think?

I don’t we’ve ever gone to a baseball game together, though. We’ll have to change that.

The thing about Mix isn’t just that he’s a great guy (although he is, one of the best I know) or that we have a great time together (although we most certainly do), it’s that we have a history that started in South Hall at Utica College and continues to this day.

He gets me. I get him. When we get together, I feel like I can fully relax.

And it feels great.

Suzi recently celebrated a birthday, and decided she wanted to head south to Plymouth to have lunch at a restaurant that we sometimes went to for special occasions before we moved out of the area.

While we were there, I suggested getting together with my mate Gardner on the way back, since we’re not there all that often. He was game.

Gardner is the one who truly introduced me to English soccer back when we were coworkers — Suzi tends to refer to it as “creating a monster” — and as a Manchester United fan dating back to when he was a small child in England, it’s killing him that my Liverpool side is running away with the Premier League.

We worked together during a time when our office was full of people who weren’t just excited about their jobs, but were excited to be together every day.

It was a glorious time, probably the best five years I’ve ever had of work.

But nothing lasts forever, and most of us left, some by choice (I moved to a different office, and then a different unit, which is why I live elsewhere now), others not. Gardner was one of the last to go, until circumstances changed so much that he didn’t want to be there, either.

For a couple hours, Suzi and I sat with him — and later his wife, who came home early from work — and talked about the good times, where it all went wrong, politics and soccer.

We spent a long time talking about his family’s recent vacation in London, since even though it’s where he grew up, Suzi and I had been there three times since he had last been.

Eventually, their little guy got dropped off on the school bus from kindergarten, and it was time for Suzi and I to head home before the traffic got too bad.

Previously, the last time we had been there was when England played Sweden in the World Cup two years ago, and we left with plans to come back down for an England game in this summer’s European championships.

“Family is family, in church or in prison You get what you get, and you don’t get to pick ’em They might smoke like chimneys, but give you their kidneys Yeah, friends come in handy, but family is family.”

— Kacey Musgraves, “Family Is Family”

Kacey isn’t wrong, even though I think some of my friends would give me a kidney, and I’d give them one, if necessary.

She also right that you don’t get to pick your family, but to me, that’s the power of friends.

You do get to pick ’em.

Which means you can let them go whenever you want, or sometimes they just drift away for no good reason other than life happening.

But the ones where you keep picking each other … those are special.

I just finished reading “Open Admissions” by Ned Bachus, recounting his last semester teaching at Community College of Philadelphia and his monthlong sabbatical on the coast of Ireland.

The settings for each chapter alternate between the college and his cottage, and each chapter is a story about the week. It gave me the idea to write a week’s worth of posts with a story inspired by that day, and this is the first one.

Sunday: Lunch with friends She swung her little stuffed dog to and fro across the top of the table, laughing hysterically the whole time.

[amcbrooks-blog]

How to travel around (when you don’t have a helicopter)

New expats frequently ask me where the best places are to live in and I always recommend trying to live the same side of town as you work. Scroll down and you’ll understand why. does not have a public transport system as such (it’s all privately owned) but there are many different ways of travelling to and around the city. Here’s the muzungu’s introduction to the different types of transport and a few personal recommendations.

If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you’ll know I’m always up for a new adventure so I’ve tried all the different methods of transport across .

⦁ Walking ⦁ Cycling ⦁ Boda boda motorbikes ⦁ Cars ⦁ Taxis and special hires ⦁ Matatus ⦁ Buses and coaches ⦁ Train ⦁ Helicopter!

Walking in

If you’re within walking distance of where you work, then lucky you! My organisation office was in the spare room of my home for my first few years in Uganda and I was saved the hassle of fighting through ’s traffic. I had no idea how lucky I was!

You wouldn’t think this was in would you? Morning view across the wetlands below Bukasa, Muyenga . A morning walk is the perfect way to start my day

Walking my dogs through the back roads of Bukasa and Muyenga were some of my happiest times in Uganda. Here’s a favourite walk of ours. Once you’re in town however, walking is an altogether different matter.

Pavements along Road are good. Very occasionally the streets are closed to vehicles (this was during the City Festival)

It’s only in the centre of town and around the central business district (CBD) that you will find decent pavements. In other parts of town, pavements may suddenly end without warning (if they exist). Drainage covers may be there today and gone tomorrow so always tread carefully. If you have kids, forget bringing the buggy to . You won’t be able to push it very far.

Cycling in

I know very few expats who dare to cycle on ’s crazy streets. I used to cycle when I lived in London but here we have little awareness of cyclists or their safety. You wouldn’t find me cycling around unless it is down by Lake Victoria or on the quiet hills of Kololo or Nakasero. Save your biking for weekends in Lake Mburo or Fort Portal. (Did you know there is an annual mountain bike tour in Karamoja?)

Boda boda motorbikes

These are undoubtedly the quickest way of getting from A to B and the city couldn’t function without them. Boda boda drivers are our best friends, our Mr Fix It, frequently our saviours – just choose with discretion. They can be a real menace too. Read my blog How to ride a boda boda.

Rush hour boda bodas Jinja Road

If you take a boda boda, do yourself a favour and wear a helmet. Don’t just accept a lift from random guys driving past either. Get to know riders from your local boda boda stage or download one of the ‘ride hailing apps’. I use the Uber app all the time in . Their boda riders are registered and bring you a high quality helmet to wear.

Driving a car in

Lots of people prefer the comfort and privacy of having their own cars. I bought my car from expat friends and enjoyed the independence of it for many years. What I didn’t enjoy were the many hours sweating in traffic jams at Jinja Road. Neither did I appreciate being pulled over by the traffic police for some minor offence they had just cooked up when they spotted a loan muzungu. (They pick on Ugandans too, I know!)

The weirdest occasion was one Christmas Eve when I was driving through the industrial area. The traffic policeman ahead of me motioned me to pull over. “What have I done?” I asked him innocently. He walked around the car.

“I’m pulling you over for having a faulty rear brake light” he said.

“How could you see that when you were standing in front of me?” I asked him.

“For us, we have special powers” came the reply.

Driving in – not for the nervous is a popular post by a former expat.

Taxis and special hires

This is where it gets confusing!

Private cars, like Uber, which we now have in , are called ‘specials’ or special hires.

When a British person like me thinks of a taxi, this is what I see:

Black London taxi cab

Matatus

In however, ask for a taxi (pronounced taxiiiiiii) and someone will point you to a matatu or minibus. The crowded old taxi park in downtown is an experience in itself! It can be pretty intense.

Diary of a Muzungu (plus new mattress!) squeezes into a matatu in the Old Taxi Park

The 12 seater minibus taxis (generally white with turquoise ‘go faster’ stripes) are the cheapest way to get around but the routes can be annoying as you have to go into the centre of town to get out to the other side. People often walk a bit, take a matatu and then take the second one or jump on a boda boda for the last part of their journey.

Matatus are very cheap. There are no price lists, no receipts and no timetable. They have set prices but the conductor (who sits by the sliding door and takes your money) will frequently try and overcharge you if you’re a muzungu. It is inevitable but you will quickly get to know what’s a fair price. Most routes charge 1,000 shillings (equivalent to 20 British pence or 30 US cents). If you’re not sure how much to pay, fellow passengers will usually help you out (and scold the conductor at the same time!) Travel with loose change or small notes if you’re using a taxiiiiiii in .

Matatus are good if you are on a tight budget, have a good book to read and can go to work very early (or arrive home very late). Play with your expensive phone at your peril. Thieves are known to put their hand through taxi windows and snatch phones when you’re stuck in traffic.

British TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson and the Top Gear team drove through . Here they were looking for a way to get out of the old taxi park!

The downside with matatus is that they frequently get stuck in traffic, especially around the taxi park and Clock Tower roundabout. It’s not uncommon to sit for one or two hours without moving. Their drivers are often aggressive. Also, you have to be careful of your belongings on these crowded minibuses as there are lots of cunning pickpockets. One friend was relieved of her laptop in a matatu. She had no idea she was being robbed until she got out of the taxi and opened her bag to see her laptop had been replaced by bricks!

If you are using a taxi upcountry, expect to fit a lot more than 12 people in!

Nairobi’s matatus – famous for their graffiti decor and pumping sound systems – are bigger than Uganda’s vehicle of the same name

Note: Uganda’s matatus are twelve-seater minibuses, slightly different from Nairobi’s matatus which are buses, coaches or ‘coasters’ (slightly smaller than a bus).

Buses and coaches

Within city, Pioneer are the only bus company that I know of. Their buses are new, well-maintained with fixed routes, fixed prices and even tickets! Oh how I wish the city had more of these.

I usually take the Link bus between to Fort Portal

If you want to travel outside , upcountry or across one of Uganda’s borders, buses are safer than matatus,  which have a particularly poor safety record. My preferred bus companies – who I use regularly – are Mash, Link and Jaguar Executive Coaches. Other people also recommend Oxygen, Coast and Modern Coaches.

Train

If you are lucky enough to live in Kireka or Namanve, you can even get the train into town! The downside is that the service is infrequent although it does have a daily timetable and it’s very cheap. Click on the image to read more about ’s commuter train service.

Rift Valley Railways passenger train – early morning view from the train window

I simply love trains. Read about my train travels across East Africa:

On the right track – my first Ugandan train ride

More ‘lunatic’ than express – an epic adventure on Kenya’s (in)famous train to Mombasa

Of romance and railways. A guide to booking Kenya’s Standard Gauge Railway train and a comparison between the train journey and the bus between Nairobi and Mombasa.  

Helicopter

I once crossed Jinja Road by helicopter!

Helicopter pilot David Guy (flying over Murchison Falls in this photo)

When I was a volunteer, I got to know the pilot of the helicopter stationed at International Hospital Muyenga. I begged him for a ride (not thinking there was any likelihood of it).

One morning he called me. “Can you get to the hospital in fifteen minutes? I have to transfer the helicopter to the grounds of the Serena Hotel to pick up a private client. You can hop in if you want to?”

God I was excited – but no sooner had the helicopter lifted off the ground than we were landing again… and that sums up my travel experiences in helicopter!

What’s the muzungu’s preferred way of travelling around ?

These days I’m a big fan of Uber and use them every day I’m in .

I love talking to Uber drivers – everyone has a story

Although Uber isn’t ’s only ride hailing app, it does offer the most flexibility and for tourists and new expats, it’s a recognised brand that you may already have installed on your phone. The system works exactly the same way as it does ‘back home’ but cash is always preferred by drivers. Few of them accept credit cards which is understandable. Very few shops in Uganda accept credit cards – we just aren’t there yet.

View from my mobile office in ! My work day starts once I’m in Uber

What’s great about their service in is that Uber have both cars and boda bodas. When I have time, I’ll take a car. This gives me a chance to schedule my meetings, check my email, do a Facebook update (and do my make-up (!) of course). Uber is my mobile office, regardless of the weather or the heavy traffic. When I’m in a rush, I order an UberBODA from the same app. When I’m in , I won’t get on a boda unless I have my helmet. The great thing with UberBODA is your driver will arrive with a helmet for you to borrow (meaning you don’t have to carry your helmet with you all day long). I love the flexibility this gives me.

What are your tips for travelling around ? If you’re coming to live in Uganda for the first time, read Uganda for beginners – an introduction for new expats.

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The post How to get around (when you don’t have a helicopter) appeared first on Diary of a Muzungu | Uganda & East Africa Travel Blog.

[travelteatv]

This is such a tough one – at first, I wanted to do my top 10 favourite museums but it soon became apparent that there was no way I could whittle it down to that few a number, so instead I compromised with myself and made it a top 20. Top 10s are overrated anyway, right?

  NUMBER 1: The Met (Metropolitan Museum of Art)

It’s not only where the Met gala is held every year, there’s also ART in here. A heck of a lot of it, actually. 

In all seriousness, this museum is beautiful to walk around and houses some of the most incredible things including Egyptian Mummys, European sculptures, musical instruments and of course, historic art from around the world, such as works by Pollock, Van Gogh, O Keeffe and oh so many more.

Personally, I would recommend leaving yourself at least a half day to explore although a full day would be preferable. 

Location: New York, USA

Entrance Fee: $25 for adults; $17 for seniors; $12 for students. The ticket includes exhibitions and are valid at all Met locations.

Website / Instagram / My New York Museums Blog Post 

  NUMBER 2: The Louvre

A beautiful museum inside and out, that doesn’t only hold the Mona Lisa (as a lot of people seem to think). You can also see the Venus De Milo sculpture, Liberty Leading The People painting and even Napoleon’s Apartments. 

My favourite ever visit was with my mum, to one of their late openings – we were the only people wandering around Napoleon’s Apartments and it really did a feel a bit like ‘Night At The Museum’ (without anything coming to life, sadly). 

Location: New York, USA

Entrance Fee: €15 in person /€17 online with fast entry/ free every first Saturday of the month.

It’s also always free for under 26 year olds from within the EEA and free for under 26 year olds worldwide on Friday evenings.

Website / Instagram / My Paris in Autumn Vlog

  NUMBER 3: Tate Modern

There are so many things about the Tate Modern to love – for me personally as a Londoner, I will never get over the fact that whenever I want I can just walk into the Tate Modern for free and see some of the world’s best modern art pieces. Or, for a small price, you can see various exhibitions that are always meticulously put together and not something you see everyday. 

Plus, the building itself is a work of art. It was only recently renovated and the view from the tower is incredible (although the people in the flats opposite don’t think so). Also, there are various other locations around the building where you can get great views of the Thames. 

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Who knows which building this is? 🌆 Swipe to see if you’re right ->

A post shared by Abi – TravelTeaTv (@travelteatv) on Jul 12, 2018 at 1:30am PDT

Location: London, England

Entrance Fee: Free (additional costs apply for entrance to special exhibitions). Memberships are also available which give free entrance to exhibitions (such as the Olafur Eliasson exhibit pictured below).

Website / Instagram / My Tate Modern Blog Post 

    NUMBER 4: The Henry Ford

A bit less well known than the above but still very much worth a visit if you’re in the area. We visited while on a road trip, travelling between Chicago and Toronto and I’m so glad we did. 

Henry Ford didn’t only produce cars, he also collected a lot of things. Initially this was for a private collection but it then turned into a museum and holds some of the craziest things, such as the Rosa Parks bus, a Wright Brothers plane, the rocking chair Abraham Lincoln was shot in while at the Ford Theatre, a Dymaxion house and so much more. 

As well as the museum, there is are Ford Factory tours on offer and ‘Greenfield Village’, where you can experience American history through replicas of famous sets such as Edison’s lab and the Wright Brothers’ workshop. I personally didn’t visit those as I didn’t have time but I would like to return and see everything on site, one day. 

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Swung by the Henry Ford museum this morning before dropping our car back in Niagara. Definitely in my top 10 favourite museums now! Over 28 MILLION artefacts! #RoadTrip #Neon #NeonSign #DrivingAmerica #America #Travel #Ford #TheHenryFord #HenryFordMuseum #Roadtripping #detroit #dearborn #usa #usaroadtrip2016 #usaroadtrip #traveling #instadaily #wednesday #museum #carmuseum

A post shared by Abi – TravelTeaTv (@travelteatv) on Apr 20, 2016 at 8:02pm PDT

Location: Dearborn, Michigan, USA

Entrance Fee: $25.00 for adults, $22.50 for seniors and $18.75 for 5-11 year olds. Memberships are also available.

Website/Instagram / My Henry Ford Museum Blog Post 

NUMBER 5: Smithsonian National Museum of American History

In some ways similar to the Henry Ford, in that this museum houses a real variety of objects, which makes it such an interesting place to walk around. It covers American history as a whole and therefore has everything from Popular Culture artefacts such as Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers from ‘The Wizard of Oz’ to the Star Spangled Banner. 

I personally loved the transport section, all about how transport had a big impact on America’s history including a mixture of items, from the first car driven across America to an early Harley Davidson; all displayed beautifully. 

And of course, as with all Smithsonian museums – visiting is free! 

Location: Washington DC, USA

Entrance Fee: Free for all.

Website/Instagram /

  NUMBER 6: KUMU

Another that isn’t as well known as some of the others but my goodness, should it be. With some of the most incredible architecture I have ever seen, as well as, Estonian Art from the 18th century onwards. 

There was hardly anyone else there the day we visited, which was especially surprising considering it was a rainy day – where else would you want to be but inside an art gallery! 

I didn’t know a lot about Estonian art before visiting so it was a great way to be introduced to their art scene, as well as their history. I would definitely say it’s a ‘must see’ if you go to Tallinn.

Location: Tallinn, Estonia

Entrance Fee: €10 for adults / €7 for concessions (Students/Youth/Seniors/Estonian Armed Forces) / €20 for families (2 adults and their underage children) / free for children under the age of 8.

The museum also holds ‘One Euro’ wednesdays throughout the year (please check this page for more details)

Website/Instagram

  NUMBER 7: Royal Ontario Museum (ROM)

While living in Toronto, I made it my aim to visit as many museums as possible but of course, museums aren’t cheap so that wasn’t necessarily an easy task – I realised that if you are a resident there, you can borrow museum passes from the libraries (released first thing on weekend mornings) and so we were fortunate enough to experience the breathtaking museum that is the ROM. 

My best friend and I have always been obsessed with dinosaurs, and the ROM does not disappoint. We were there while a school group was visiting and it was so lovely seeing them all gasp at the large dinosaur skeletons on display. 

Of course, there’s much more there than just dinosaurs – inside and out, it’s overwhelming – focusing on art and history from around the world. There’s historic English armour, huge totem poles and gorgeous gems/rocks (some you’re even allowed to touch). 

Location: Toronto, Canada

Entrance Fee: $23.00 for adults / $14.00 for children aged 4-14 / $18.00 for seniors (65+), students and youth aged 15-19 / free for infants.

It’s free for all every third Tuesday evening of the month (530-830pm)

They also accept Toronto CityPasses.

Website/Instagram

  NUMBER 8: V&A Museum

The V&A is another of London’s stunning free museums that us London residents are so lucky to have. Specialising in art and design, the V&A is one of my favourite places to spend a Sunday morning. 

It’s halls are filled with treasures ranging from furniture and sculpture, to fashion and fabric (yes their gift shop is incredible), plus, paintings and jewellery. Of course, their exhibitions are also fantastic – I’ve actually lost count of the number I’ve been to but they’re always very well put together, engaging and often highly visceral (If you are British/spend a lot of time here, I highly recommend getting a National Art Pass with which you can get discounts to many exhibitions and free entry to certain places). 

As well as all of the above, Victoria and Albert Museum is located in South Kensington, near to the Natural History and Science Museum, making it the perfect start to a great day out.

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The entrance hall to the V&A, London. Read about our visit there on today's blog post (link in bio). #VandA #VandAMuseum #VictoriaandAlbert #VictoriaandAlbertMuseum #London #WeekendWandering #Sunday #SundayAdventures #Travel #Traveling #TravelBlog #Culture #ArtMuseum #Architecture #England #SouthKen #City #Thingstodoinlondon #freemuseum #gopro

A post shared by Abi – TravelTeaTv (@travelteatv) on Feb 22, 2016 at 12:14am PST

Location: Kensington, London, UK

Entrance Fee: Free (additional costs apply for entrance to special exhibitions). Memberships are also available which give free entrance to exhibitions.

Website/Instagram

  NUMBER 9: ERM (Estonian National Museum)

I could talk about this for hours. This is the most unexpectedly incredible museum I’ve ever been to. Firstly, look at it! Situated just outside Tartu’s centre at the end of a runway, it’s an overwhelming building to come across. Secondly, it only gets better inside. And no, it isn’t all in Estonian.

Opened in 2016, its dedicated to Estonian art and history, and the range of objects they have inside is incredible – the first Estonian flag, a floppy disk holding old Estonian pop music, national costumes and even a collection of beer tankards. Then further to this, alongside each object is a digital display, onto which you can place a card (given to you by the museum), which will translate the text into your chosen language. Incredible.

Location: Tartu, Estonia

Entrance Fee: €14 for adults /€10 for concessions (under 18s/retired people/students) to entire museum.

Separate prices for individual exhibitions.

Website / Instagram / My blog post on ERM

  NUMBER 10: Smithsonian Air and Space Museum

I don’t care how old you are. Space is VERY cool. It’s no wonder this museum is the most popular in the entirety of the United States. 

Containing many planes, rockets and helicopters, including a Concorde and the space shuttle ‘Discovery’, it’s a kid and adult’s dream walking around staring up at these huge objects. 

Again, as a Smithsonian museum, it is of course free.

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Spending the afternoon exploring air and space! #WashingtonDC #Smithsonian #AirandSpaceMuseum #Museum #Travel #UsaTrip #America #DC #Traveling #TravelBlogger #Plane #InstaDaily

A post shared by Abi – TravelTeaTv (@travelteatv) on Apr 9, 2016 at 4:34pm PDT

Location: Washington DC, USA

Entrance Fee: Free for all.

Website / Instagram

  NUMBER 11: MOMA

New York’s museum of modern art is cool, fun and of course, artsy as hell. It’s a little slice of heaven for East Londoners like myself. 

And of course, it’s full to the brim with modern art. My personal highlights were Monet’s Waterlilies (which my mum took a long time to realise was the real thing) and Jasper John’s ‘flag’. 

Location: New York, USA

Entrance Fee: $25 for adults / $18 for seniors (65+) / $18 for visitors with disabilities / $14 for students / free for children under 16s and active military.

It’s also free every Friday evening from 530-9pm. Plus, they accept New York Passes.

Website / Instagram / My visit to MOMA

  NUMBER 12: Centre Pompidou

Visiting the Pompidou felt like a bit of a dream for me – it was heavily featured in my high school French textbooks and I had wondered for years what was inside those tunnels. Thankfully, they didn’t let me down. 

The Pompidou is always full of surprises – another gallery I could happily wander around for hours; set across a few floors, some housing permanent exhibitions and other temporary. No matter what, I’ve never been let down. 

Whether it’s a sculpture that reacts to heat when you touch it or a multicoloured room of dreams, you don’t see things like this every day. Plus, the area around the Pompidou is my favourite in all of Paris and definitely worth exploring if you’re in the neighbourhood.

Location: Paris, France

Entrance Fee: €14 full price / €11 for concessions (entire museum) / separate amounts for each individual exhibition

The first Sunday of each month is free for all.

Website / Instagram

  NUMBER 13: Musee D’Orsay

Again, look at it. It genuinely looks like that. The big clocks you’ve seen all over Instagram? Also real. 

It’s always such a bonus walking around a museum that’s as beautiful as the art it contains and the Musee D’Orsay does that to such an extent, it’s almost showing off. 

Yes it’s generally quite busy but so what, it’s worth it. There’s a lot to see but whilst inside, you should make sure to stop by Edouard Manet’s ‘Lunch on the Grass’ and Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’. 

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👌🏻

A post shared by Abi – TravelTeaTv (@travelteatv) on Nov 10, 2016 at 5:35am PST

Location: Paris, France

Entrance Fee: €14 for general admission / €11 for reduced prices / free for under 18s and under 25s from within the EU

Website / Instagram

  NUMBER 14: Rijksmuseum

A highlight of any trip to Amsterdam, the Rijksmuseum is huge (the walking distance of the galleries is 1.5km). Dedicated to Dutch art and history, I would give yourself a good day to really make the most of the museum and see as many of the masterpieces as you can, such as ‘The Night Watch’, ‘The Milkmaid’, ‘The Battle of Waterloo’ and more. 

Also make sure that you make time to explore the outside of the building too – fun fact, it’s the only museum in the world that has a road in it (open for bicycles only!) 

  Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands

Entrance Fee: € 20.00 for adults / free for children aged 18 and under

Website / Instagram

  NUMBER 15: Art Gallery of Ontario

Location: Toronto, Canada

Entrance Fee: $25 for adults / always free for under 26s / free for all every Wednesday evening 6-9pm

Website / Instagram

  NUMBER 16: British Museum

There’s a lot of competition for it but the great court of the British Museum has to be the most awe inspiring. I’m taken aback every single time I walk into it – it’s just an incredible feat of architecture and I don’t think I’ll ever get over it. 

On top of that, it holds treasures from around the world (to be fair, mostly not British). The most popular I would say, is the Egyptian wing: mummies, sphinxes and all that jazz right up close. 

I personally love to have a good old gander at as many galleries of the museum as possible but due to it’s size, it’s difficult to get through them all in one day. My personal favourites are some of the more specific such as money and jewellery, which take you all the way to the present day. 

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If you ever find yourself with a free day in London, then consider yourself incredibly lucky – there's a world of places to keep you occupied. Including the exceptional, British Museum. #BritishMuseum #London #England #LondonGram #UK #Britain #DayOut #Museum #CityBreak #Architecture #BucketList #Adventure #Adventures #InstaDaily #Travel #TravelGram #InstaTravel

A post shared by Abi – TravelTeaTv (@travelteatv) on Apr 4, 2016 at 3:48am PDT

Location: London, UK

Entrance Fee: Free (additional costs apply for entrance to special exhibitions). Memberships are also available which give free entrance to exhibitions.

Website/Instagram

  NUMBER 17: London Transport Museum

Part of me desperately wanted to put this at the top of the list but I’m very aware that is specific to me (and my boyfriend) because of our shared, slightly obsessive love for transport, and in that way it didn’t really make sense to put as number one. 

Saying that, please know that this is a great museum and one I really, really recommend you visit. It’s full of tubes, buses, taxis and everything else transport related to do with London, including a lot of interactive exhibits and memorabilia from the past. 

I obviously am not a kid but I’m aware its always a big hit with them and there are even some sections just for them. Also, the fact that the ticket is valid for an entire year, makes it a great purchase as you can come back whenever you feel like it (of course, I understand this only really makes sense if you come to London regularly, but still!) 

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As an adult, the summer holidays *might* not be the best time to go to the London Transport Museum. But ignoring that, I really feel the need to point out it’s not just for kids. My boyfriend and I are bigger train nerds than I ever realised and we had a blast. There are buses, trains, taxis, all the transport posters and a lot of fun facts.

A post shared by Abi – TravelTeaTv (@travelteatv) on Aug 19, 2018 at 3:23am PDT

Location: Covent Garden, London, UK

Entrance Fee: £18 at the door (£16.50 online) for adults / £17 at the door (15.50 online) for concessions / free for under 18s. Ticket valid for 1 year from purchase.

Website / Instagram

  NUMBER 18: National Museum of Scotland

Every time I go to Edinburgh, I insist on visiting this museum. It has all of the things I love to engage with – planes hung from the ceiling, dinosaur skeletons and of course, some National treasures: Dolly the sheep and the famous Lewis chess pieces. That, AND an amazing view from the roof. 

Plus, as with all but one of the UK museums I’ve thrown into this list, the National Museum of Scotland is free. That, alongside its location in central Edinburgh makes for a perfect rainy day activity for all ages (and budgets). 

Location: Edinburgh, Scotland

Entrance Fee: Free for all

Website/Instagram

  NUMBER 19: Museum of Broken Relationships

I’d never cried in a museum and honestly, never really thought I would. The Museum of Broken Relationships is… Different to other museums. 

It’s founded on items related to people’s relationships and come alongside stories the owner has written about the objects in question. Some are funny ‘He stole my best friend, so I stole his toaster’ for example and others are much deeper – long tales of how the relationship with their mother affected their life, or what an abusive ex boyfriend’s watch reminded them of. 

There are a few locations of this around the world but I’ve only been to the one in Zagreb, so can’t comment on the others. Nonetheless, as they’re based on the same concept, I would assume they’re fairly similar and in that way worth your time. 

No, it’s not the usual museum experience. It’s better. Just make sure you bring a pack of tissues.

View this post on Instagram

#ThrowbackThursday to visiting the gorgeous city of Zagreb, Croatia. Perfect for a city break; great museums (such as this one) lovely people, and drinks don't get much cheaper! #Croatia #Zagreb #Travel #tbt #Traveling #Traveler #Travelblog #Blog #Blogger #Museumofbrokenrelationships #Museum #City #Citybreak #Europe #Travelgram #Instamuseum

A post shared by Abi – TravelTeaTv (@travelteatv) on May 25, 2016 at 11:38pm PDT

Location: Zagreb, Croatia (And Los Angeles)

Entrance Fee: 40kn general admission / 30kn concessions (pupils, students, people with disabilities, seniors 65+)

Website / Instagram

  NUMBER 20: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

I’m throwing this one in here because, well, it’s cool as hell. If you like rock music they’ve got a thousand and one pieces of memorabilia from bands old and new alike. Rolling Stones? Check. Nirvana? Duh. Prince? Why of course! The list goes on and on. 

Now, I’ve imposed a limit of only 20 on this list but I do think it’s worth mentioning that if you’re more into country music, then Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame is on par in terms of the incredible pieces of memorabilia they house from country music stars such as Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash. 

Basically, hall of fames are pretty damn good right?

Location: Cleveland, Ohio, USA

Entrance Fee: $28.00 general admission / $18.00 for under 13s / free for members and children aged 5 and under.

Website / Instagram

    My Top 20 Museums/Galleries in the World This is such a tough one - at first, I wanted to do my top 10 favourite museums but it soon became apparent that there was no way I could whittle it down to that few a number, so instead I compromised with myself and made it a top 20.

[workingontravel]

It’s a bit of a love-hate relationship

(You can find a Swedish translation of this text here.)

I have often crossed routes with Gestalta Judd, who is one of the few in Europe who teaches bondage for a living. I wanted to speak to her because of her intimate knowledge of what has been coined as “rope nomadism”, which I think of as an interesting parallel to travelling for performing arts – but also because I was curious about how Brexit would affect her travel. Gestalta brought another subject to the table: her attempt to stay on the ground in 2019 for political reasons.

Gestalta Judd: My income is entirely based on doing rope, mostly teaching. I have to travel to teach – I wouldn’t make enough otherwise. What I usually do is a combination of workshops and performances, where the performances don’t really give much income. It’s really more of a break-even situation where I offset unpaid work with a paid job in the same place. This is how I usually manage to do creative things that I like, such as performing or photo and film.

I’ve been travelling for rope events since about 2014, but I was travelling quite a bit already before: for photographic modelling and stuff like that. So actually, I’ve been travelling my whole adult life. There is no clear pattern to how I travel, but I’ve been to most countries in Europe at some point. For a while, I did lots of trips to Prague in a row, and now I’ve done lots of trips to Norway. It’s similar for most teachers, I think. You teach what you have, and then you won’t come back to that particular area again until you have new content, or until the group has changed enough that there is new interest.

It was rope that made me go outside Europe; I’ve taught in Australia, for example. But I’ve never been to the States. One of the reasons is that I’m afraid of being turned away at the border and then both losing the payment for the job and not being reimbursed for the money I spent on the ticket. No one is ever going to get me a working visa to do anything considered adult. So, I’d have to go on a tourist visa and hope that they don’t google me, because Gestalta is a legal name and very uncommon. Even if I’d do something for free, if I’m there for an event that is making money, that’s already too much for the States. When I teach abroad, the travel is often calculated out of the workshop fee. This means that cheap flying and cheap buses are what generally allow this kind of teaching to happen. Since I get refunded and paid only if I show up, it’s lucky that I’ve never been too sick to go. If I had to cancel under those circumstances, it would be a trust thing. I think most organisers are decent people and would be able to discuss who was in a better financial position to cover the loss of the travelling cost. I bring as little as possible: my ropes, a bar of soap, my toothbrush, light clothes like leggings and stuff. If I’m going to a cold country, I try to take only one heavy outfit that I can wear over all my other clothes. Then I hope that I can borrow whatever else I need when I get there. While travelling, I try to sleep, or I take my headphones and just zone out completely for a while. If it’s a very long trip, I might try to do some writing, like workshop descriptions or such.

I would normally stay with one of the organisers or a student; whoever has a spare room or sofa. It’s very rare to get a hotel. It’s hard to afford that kind of thing. I often try to stay in places where there’s a kitchen and I can cook for myself and box it up to bring wherever I go. I’ve found that I get less tired when I’m eating what my body is used to, rather than having to rely on an unfamiliar diet. Every year for the last three years, I’ve been thinking that I will definitely stop travelling. But every year something new comes up. It’s a bit of a love-hate relationship. I absolutely can’t imagine what I would be doing if not rope. And I love doing it once I get there. But I’ve reached a point where the thought of travelling is actually horrible. And when I get home, I’m not really quite at home either, because I spend so little time there. I feel annoyed about the difficulty of putting down roots. The reason why I still want to continue is that I learn so much from the differences in how people construct their communities. I get to see rope from so many perspectives. And I have this familiarity with people globally, like they have become locals to me. There is no longer a strict divide between the teacher and the student like there used to be, when travelling teachers were less common. It’s more of an exchange now. It happens that I go to someone’s workshop and then the next day that person comes to my workshop. I used to feel more isolated. Being at a workshop in a room full of people talking about how great it is using this tool to connect with your partner, I sometimes had this strange sense of, “Oh but I’ve been travelling for so long I don’t really have any partners ’cause it’s impossible for me to sustain any meaningful connection with someone that I never see…” It was a bleak kind of feeling.

How much I travel varies greatly. At the heaviest, I could be flying twice a week, easily, and that could go on for months. At the lightest, I take months off and try not to go anywhere. If I do a big trip outside Europe, I try to earn enough to be able to rest when I come home. I have to be organised and hyper-focused when I work. If there’s too much going on outside what I’m focusing on, I start to forget things, and if I start to forget things, it’s over. Relationships at home just have to take a back seat. The times when I’ve been travelling the most, I either didn’t have any intense relationships or they broke up as a result of it. My long-term friends are used to sometimes not seeing or hearing from me for a while.

At the moment, I’m based in Leeds in the north of England. I just moved here a few months ago from Berlin. It was a bit of an accidental move. I thought I was just going to stay for the summer, partly to get an Irish passport in order to avoid getting my travelling opportunities limited by Brexit. We’re almost apathetic about Brexit now, just crossing our fingers for it not to happen, but I moved just in case. I thought I would hate living here. But I’ve been too busy to change my passport so I can’t leave yet, and also bizarrely I really love this slightly obscure town. We’ll see how long it continues.

As it happens, I’m fairly involved with the climate change movement in the UK – and I made a promise not to fly so much for 2019. In March, I did my first workshop outside UK for the year. For the first time in my international long-distance travelling, I decided that the workshop was paying enough for me to get the train. It’s my goal to continue doing that. Economically it will be interesting: I’ll have to look carefully at what jobs I can afford to take, or where I can make up for the extra cost. I’ve been justifying my way of travelling before by saying that I never fly for holidays, only for work. But it’s getting to a point where I feel that isn’t much of an excuse anymore. It’s not like I’m a surgeon saving lives. Not to say that my work lacks value, but it’s for pleasure whether it’s for me or for the people taking the workshop. The rope scene has lived through a very special time. Without really even thinking about it, we’ve been able to build friendships with people who don’t live in our country. It’s not like, “We’ll see each other in three years,” when you leave; it’s more of a casual “Yeah, see you soon.” It’s been a really short and unique time, and I don’t think it’s going to last unless we come up with some serious changes. This is sad, especially for a community that has such a niche interest. But if we’re doing something to make a change now, we are still making the choice. I think at the point where we’re forced into doing these changes, the survival of the rope community will be the least of our worries.

It’s time to start thinking collectively about what we can do as a community. There is no reason why every single person individually flies in for a big rope event when you have twenty people coming from Sweden and twenty people coming from Spain. I know it’s annoying to get a bus, but if they could share it, that would be very affordable. Yes, it would take an extra twenty hours of their time and they would be uncomfortable, and it would require central organising and someone actually taking charge, but maybe it’s the sort of thing that we need to consider now. Also, if people start to be a little bit more strict with what they allow themselves to do, then maybe train companies, bus companies and other alternatives to flying will have to catch up and make both prices and information more accessible. However, to truly make a shift in how people travel, the government needs to incentivise better transport options. Either air fares are too cheap or train fares are too expensive. They need to be swapped. Within the UK, train fares are obscenely expensive. I’m more or less cut off for economic reasons from travelling with train. For example, instead of travelling two hours from Leeds to London, I take a bus for six hours. I don’t really mind being stuck there, but the longer I travel, the more exhausting it will become. It’s not really a sacrifice for me at the moment to take three days out of my schedule to do a weekend workshop. But realistically, if I was taking the bus to another country in Europe, that’s a day of travel, and then I would probably want to arrive there a day earlier because I would just want to spend the day recovering. And then there are the two days for the workshop, and then a day of travelling back. And then I would probably want to spend another day recovering at home. So, there a two-day workshop has become a six-day job. I can really see that happening. The cost in terms of time and tiredness and that sort of emotional thing is the biggest concern, also when thinking about the amount of time that I’m already now away from friends and family. Another way to go about this would be to organise more: to try to stay for several weeks consecutively in one place or area. That would mean more time away from family and friends, but maybe then I could spend the next month at home with them without having to travel at all. Maybe that’s a sacrifice worth making, but it demands cooperation with and between different organisers. I don’t know if it will make a difference, but it’s exciting that the environmental movement in the UK is gaining such momentum. Today, we’re doing a protest against the bank HSBC and that they are still investing in fracking. There are some local fracking sites around here, and there were some induced earthquakes, so many groups are organising against it. But there are people in all of UK pretty much prepared to organise a new protest every week. Everyone is equally culpable, so it’s just to pick anything. Last week I was in London working, so then we did a protest against fast fashion. Then there was one because the BBC are not reporting enough on the environmental catastrophes we’re currently in. Here in Leeds, which is a small town, we did a protest for schools and young people. We thought maybe two hundred would come. A thousand showed up.

[dillenwaeraa]

Top 11 Perks of Being a Distilled Intern

This post was written by Arpun Bhuhi and Tammy Yu. The two spent their summers interning in the London and Seattle office, respectively. Arpun and Tammy have chosen to continue their digital marketing journey as analysts at Distilled.

To aspiring digital marketers and SEOs, the Distilled digital marketing internship is a wonderful opportunity to learn, grow, and start your career. As interns, we had the chance to work for a company with a great work culture and learn from some of the best professionals in the industry! Aside from the greatest experience ever, here are our top 11 perks (we couldn't agree on just 10!) of being a Distilled intern:

11. Throwback to Nintendo ‘64

Each of the offices includes a Nintendo ‘64. After work, you can often catch Distillers racing each other for first place on Mario Kart.

10. Casual attire

At Distilled, we pride ourselves in working smarter, not harder. That applies to office attire. Come in wearing what you feel most comfortable in and do great work!

9. Explore a new city

Distilled have smashed it when it comes to the location of the offices. You will find yourself either in the middle of London, New York or Seattle and you will never be short of things to do. The summer internship is three months long which is also the perfect amount of time to experience a new city and to see if the city is somewhere you want to pursue your career. Wherever you are placed remember to enjoy the experience - work hard, play hard.

8. Summer hours

During the summer, Distilled adopts “summer hours”. Essentially you work 9am - 6pm Monday through Thursday and Friday become a joyous, happy half day! You will be in either London, New York or Seattle so think about how much you could fit into the free afternoon. Everyone loves a sunny Friday afternoon to themselves!!

7. Party time!

Each office hosts their own summer party and bi-monthly parties. It might be an all-day event filled with breakfast, snacks, boating and/or an evening happy hour. The best thing is getting to know your colleagues outside of a work environment - and it’s paid for by Distilled!

6. Attend conferences and collect all the SWAG

With Distilled you will have the opportunity to attend digital marketing conferences, whether that is SearchLove, MozCon for the Seattle interns, or BrightonSEO for the London interns. This does depend upon when the dates fall. If you are lucky, this is a great time to widen your knowledge base, network with industry experts, understand Distilled’s role within the industry, and most importantly, collect the free swag.

5. Flexible hours

Need to come in late or leave early? Need to catch an early commuter bus that will force you to be in the office early? That’s totally fine! As long as you attend all your meetings, get your work done, and get your weekly hours in, work hours are pretty flexible.

4. Beer o’clock

Beer o’clock happens at 5 pm on the dot, every Friday without fail. All drinks are work sponsored including a range of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages - fun for all! This is not only great for the obvious reason of beer on a Friday but also it is a perfect time to get to know your team, learn about the office and play some card games!

3. Build your network

Networking is often regarded as one of the most important job advancing strategies. With connections across the globe, you are sure to make connections that will last beyond the duration of your internship. That connection might be your future mentor, your next “in” to your new adventure, or one that will give you the stellar reference to make your application stronger.

2. Nobody puts Baby in the corner

No one is ever physically placed in a corner, fear not! As an intern you are free to explore all areas of Distilled; you can delve into the deep sea of SEO, explore your creative side and help with Distilled’s own marketing.

1. Knowledge, knowledge, knowledge

Distilled loves knowledge, each and every Distiller is keen to learn more! It seems, when you first join, that everyone around you has an unlimited capacity of knowledge. You will hear words like “hreflang” and “canonical” flying around then panicky Google them. Everyone at Distilled is always happy to help you, happy to spend time explaining the broadest concept to the tiniest detail. Distilled also have their own online university platform called DistilledU so you will have the learning resources at your fingertips. You will learn so much in just your first week.

Interested in becoming a Distilled intern?

Great news -- we’re hiring interns for Winter 2019 in the Seattle and New York offices. You can apply here. Get a closer look at some of the things you will learn as an intern.

from Marketing https://www.distilled.net/resources/top-11-perks-of-being-a-distilled-intern/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

[davidrsmithlove]

Top 11 Perks of Being a Distilled Intern

This post was written by Arpun Bhuhi and Tammy Yu. The two spent their summers interning in the London and Seattle office, respectively. Arpun and Tammy have chosen to continue their digital marketing journey as analysts at Distilled.

To aspiring digital marketers and SEOs, the Distilled digital marketing internship is a wonderful opportunity to learn, grow, and start your career. As interns, we had the chance to work for a company with a great work culture and learn from some of the best professionals in the industry! Aside from the greatest experience ever, here are our top 11 perks (we couldn't agree on just 10!) of being a Distilled intern:

11. Throwback to Nintendo ‘64

Each of the offices includes a Nintendo ‘64. After work, you can often catch Distillers racing each other for first place on Mario Kart.

10. Casual attire

At Distilled, we pride ourselves in working smarter, not harder. That applies to office attire. Come in wearing what you feel most comfortable in and do great work!

9. Explore a new city

Distilled have smashed it when it comes to the location of the offices. You will find yourself either in the middle of London, New York or Seattle and you will never be short of things to do. The summer internship is three months long which is also the perfect amount of time to experience a new city and to see if the city is somewhere you want to pursue your career. Wherever you are placed remember to enjoy the experience - work hard, play hard.

8. Summer hours

During the summer, Distilled adopts “summer hours”. Essentially you work 9am - 6pm Monday through Thursday and Friday become a joyous, happy half day! You will be in either London, New York or Seattle so think about how much you could fit into the free afternoon. Everyone loves a sunny Friday afternoon to themselves!!

7. Party time!

Each office hosts their own summer party and bi-monthly parties. It might be an all-day event filled with breakfast, snacks, boating and/or an evening happy hour. The best thing is getting to know your colleagues outside of a work environment - and it’s paid for by Distilled!

6. Attend conferences and collect all the SWAG

With Distilled you will have the opportunity to attend digital marketing conferences, whether that is SearchLove, MozCon for the Seattle interns, or BrightonSEO for the London interns. This does depend upon when the dates fall. If you are lucky, this is a great time to widen your knowledge base, network with industry experts, understand Distilled’s role within the industry, and most importantly, collect the free swag.

5. Flexible hours

Need to come in late or leave early? Need to catch an early commuter bus that will force you to be in the office early? That’s totally fine! As long as you attend all your meetings, get your work done, and get your weekly hours in, work hours are pretty flexible.

4. Beer o’clock

Beer o’clock happens at 5 pm on the dot, every Friday without fail. All drinks are work sponsored including a range of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages - fun for all! This is not only great for the obvious reason of beer on a Friday but also it is a perfect time to get to know your team, learn about the office and play some card games!

3. Build your network

Networking is often regarded as one of the most important job advancing strategies. With connections across the globe, you are sure to make connections that will last beyond the duration of your internship. That connection might be your future mentor, your next “in” to your new adventure, or one that will give you the stellar reference to make your application stronger.

2. Nobody puts Baby in the corner

No one is ever physically placed in a corner, fear not! As an intern you are free to explore all areas of Distilled; you can delve into the deep sea of SEO, explore your creative side and help with Distilled’s own marketing.

1. Knowledge, knowledge, knowledge

Distilled loves knowledge, each and every Distiller is keen to learn more! It seems, when you first join, that everyone around you has an unlimited capacity of knowledge. You will hear words like “hreflang” and “canonical” flying around then panicky Google them. Everyone at Distilled is always happy to help you, happy to spend time explaining the broadest concept to the tiniest detail. Distilled also have their own online university platform called DistilledU so you will have the learning resources at your fingertips. You will learn so much in just your first week.

Interested in becoming a Distilled intern?

Great news -- we’re hiring interns for Winter 2019 in the Seattle and New York offices. You can apply here. Get a closer look at some of the things you will learn as an intern.

[anthonykrierion]

Top 11 Perks of Being a Distilled Intern

This post was written by Arpun Bhuhi and Tammy Yu. The two spent their summers interning in the London and Seattle office, respectively. Arpun and Tammy have chosen to continue their digital marketing journey as analysts at Distilled.

To aspiring digital marketers and SEOs, the Distilled digital marketing internship is a wonderful opportunity to learn, grow, and start your career. As interns, we had the chance to work for a company with a great work culture and learn from some of the best professionals in the industry! Aside from the greatest experience ever, here are our top 11 perks (we couldn't agree on just 10!) of being a Distilled intern:

11. Throwback to Nintendo ‘64

Each of the offices includes a Nintendo ‘64. After work, you can often catch Distillers racing each other for first place on Mario Kart.

10. Casual attire

At Distilled, we pride ourselves in working smarter, not harder. That applies to office attire. Come in wearing what you feel most comfortable in and do great work!

9. Explore a new city

Distilled have smashed it when it comes to the location of the offices. You will find yourself either in the middle of London, New York or Seattle and you will never be short of things to do. The summer internship is three months long which is also the perfect amount of time to experience a new city and to see if the city is somewhere you want to pursue your career. Wherever you are placed remember to enjoy the experience - work hard, play hard.

8. Summer hours

During the summer, Distilled adopts “summer hours”. Essentially you work 9am - 6pm Monday through Thursday and Friday become a joyous, happy half day! You will be in either London, New York or Seattle so think about how much you could fit into the free afternoon. Everyone loves a sunny Friday afternoon to themselves!!

7. Party time!

Each office hosts their own summer party and bi-monthly parties. It might be an all-day event filled with breakfast, snacks, boating and/or an evening happy hour. The best thing is getting to know your colleagues outside of a work environment - and it’s paid for by Distilled!

6. Attend conferences and collect all the SWAG

With Distilled you will have the opportunity to attend digital marketing conferences, whether that is SearchLove, MozCon for the Seattle interns, or BrightonSEO for the London interns. This does depend upon when the dates fall. If you are lucky, this is a great time to widen your knowledge base, network with industry experts, understand Distilled’s role within the industry, and most importantly, collect the free swag.

5. Flexible hours

Need to come in late or leave early? Need to catch an early commuter bus that will force you to be in the office early? That’s totally fine! As long as you attend all your meetings, get your work done, and get your weekly hours in, work hours are pretty flexible.

4. Beer o’clock

Beer o’clock happens at 5 pm on the dot, every Friday without fail. All drinks are work sponsored including a range of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages - fun for all! This is not only great for the obvious reason of beer on a Friday but also it is a perfect time to get to know your team, learn about the office and play some card games!

3. Build your network

Networking is often regarded as one of the most important job advancing strategies. With connections across the globe, you are sure to make connections that will last beyond the duration of your internship. That connection might be your future mentor, your next “in” to your new adventure, or one that will give you the stellar reference to make your application stronger.

2. Nobody puts Baby in the corner

No one is ever physically placed in a corner, fear not! As an intern you are free to explore all areas of Distilled; you can delve into the deep sea of SEO, explore your creative side and help with Distilled’s own marketing.

1. Knowledge, knowledge, knowledge

Distilled loves knowledge, each and every Distiller is keen to learn more! It seems, when you first join, that everyone around you has an unlimited capacity of knowledge. You will hear words like “hreflang” and “canonical” flying around then panicky Google them. Everyone at Distilled is always happy to help you, happy to spend time explaining the broadest concept to the tiniest detail. Distilled also have their own online university platform called DistilledU so you will have the learning resources at your fingertips. You will learn so much in just your first week.

Interested in becoming a Distilled intern?

Great news -- we’re hiring interns for Winter 2019 in the Seattle and New York offices. You can apply here. Get a closer look at some of the things you will learn as an intern.

Top 11 Perks of Being a Distilled Intern was originally posted by Video And Blog Marketing

[louiseslibrary]

This month I celebrated my 8th year living in England.  It’s crazy, I know.  Sometimes I feel like its gone so quick and sometimes it makes me sad that I’ve been away from home for that long.  I suppose, I always saw myself maybe travelling outside of my local town growing up but I didn’t think about living and working in England, ever. This year when my anniversary was approaching I felt a sense of pride that I have been living here successfully for so long.  I’m not saying I have achieved everything just yet or that I am the most successful person I know, but none the less I’m still proud of myself.  It got me thinking of how fresh faced, immature and naïve I was all those years ago when I moved.  I definitely believed I was mature and was convinced this move would be a breeze!  Spoiler alert….  It has been more hurricane than breeze at times! lol!  I mean it was possibly the most unorganised move in history. I decided one day I was going to accept my Uni course and within weeks I was on the boat.  I wrote a quick post after 6 years here, but here’s a little look back at how it was 8 years ago and how I felt.  Grab yourself a big cup of tea and get ready for a good read (and laugh).

I will never forget the night before I was going and I was packing my life into the car. I was so excited but extremely nervous and of course, emotional.  My best friend came over to say goodbye and when she was leaving the house I was so upset. I cried so much!  Don’t get me wrong I’m not the first and won’t be the last to leave home and yes, I am fully aware England is not the other side of the world, but these were and are just my feelings.  (FULL DISCLAMER NOW: I am a big crier.)  I don’t think I really thought about the fact I was moving to someplace I couldn’t just get on a bus or train and pop home when I wanted.  A tiny part of me wondered if I was making a mistake.  That night I had a few goodbyes to say and not one did I enjoy, or not get upset over.  Each one was difficult.

I was lucky that both my parents were able to come with me and drop me off in England! So, off we set on that Thursday morning with hardly any space for me to sit in the car and I was starting my new adventure across the pond.  I think on that day I was so excited about the thoughts of starting in a new place, but forgetting mam and dad wouldn’t be staying with me if that makes sense.  After hours of travelling we got to our destination.  We checked into a hotel for the night as I hadn’t secured a place to live yet. I had a place booked to view the following day and little naïve Louise believed it would be perfect and that was that.  It wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t like that at all I’m afraid.  We pulled up outside the block of flats and I don’t think I will ever forget the reaction from my parents, or me.  My jaw is probably still back on the floor of the place 8 years on.  It was tiny, two people couldn’t fit in the kitchen at once. The guy who would have been my housemate was showing me around in his dressing gown and he couldn’t show me the room I would have been in as it was locked and he didn’t know where the key was.  Needless to say I didn’t have high hopes for the room anyway.  I don’t think this will shock anyone, but I didn’t take that room.

So now I was officially homeless and my parents were due to leave over the weekend…  There were tears, I had a lot of tears! Thank god mam and dad are very level headed people because I have my moments! All hope was not lost as we continued to look for a place.  My sisters friend, Hannah lived in the area and she offered me a bed until I found somewhere and being the amazing people they are, my parents were able to extend the trip for a week.  All I needed to do now was find a house to live in.  Easy, yeah? NO! I may come across as fussy saying  I found this difficult, but I viewed a place that would have been be me living with 6 to 8 other people, with no living room area only a kitchen to share, most of them didn’t speak English and there would be maybe 4 of us sharing a bathroom.  Bare in mind this place was not cheap either. For a single room excluding bills it was over £500 a month.  I didn’t think I would ever find just somewhere I could feel comfortable.  The search continued over the weekend and when Monday morning rolled around, I was off to start university.  That Monday morning I was sick with nerves yet again.  Now I was starting a course in a different country, had no home to call my own and had ZERO friends.  I will never fully be able to explain the feeling in my stomach that day.

For me, it was one of the first times I realised that making friends as an adult is unbelievably frightening.  When you start primary school you are in and about 4 years of age, you have no fear.  You would talk to everyone and simply ask a person to be your friend. At 4 years of age, everyone and anyone is your friend whether they know it or not.  When you begin secondary school, you have your primary friends so you aren’t overly nervous.  You have your people and don’t over think making new people, you know.  Then comes college.  I studied for two years in Ireland before moving and although I was nervous, I lived with girls I was friends with so again I wasn’t worried about friendship making. In England, I felt like a complete outsider.  I was worried nobody would like me. What if I didn’t fit in?  It’s a horrible insecurity to have.

Things did pick up for me, I wasn’t homeless and friendless for too long.  When I went off to college my parents went to view a room on my behalf and took it! I completely trusted their decision even if I hadn’t seen the room and had no clue of where it was.  The only issue after this was getting all the credit checks through.  I wasn’t allowed to move in until I got all them.  I can imagine now, what a weight must have been lifted from my parents shoulders knowing I did have a place to live before they went home though. The apartment they found me was a single room in a 3 bed flat sharing with two other girls.

I made friends quickly on my course.  Everyone seemed friendly but looking back I am sure I took the 4 year old Louise approach by just talking to everyone and be-friending them, no choice given! haha!! The first week I had my parents to go to every evening so I suppose the real sense of loneliness only kicked in the day I had to say goodbye to them.  That of course was the hardest day and still makes me sad thinking of it now.  I hated it,  I wanted to get in the car with them and just go with them.  Once again, I cried.  I cried with fear, I cried with loneliness. I was just so sad.

Although I had made friends on my course, I couldn’t well explain my situation to them.  I didn’t even know them a full week.  I couldn’t be crying to them about missing my family! The flat I moved into was nice.  My room was small but cosy. I made it homely.  Little did I know when I moved in that I would spend so much time in that room!  The girls I lived with were okay too.  We just weren’t BFF’s or anything.  They did their thing, I did mine.  I wasn’t used to that way of living either so I struggled at lot at the start.  I found it weird eating dinner in your bedroom each evening. Doors closed.  That’s just how it was. You do you, I do me kind of situation.  I had been in college in Ireland before moving and lived with girls who I would eat dinner with every night, we would go shopping together, go out together, we were always having a laugh.  It was so different.  I missed living with Grace and Linda (my Galway roomies) so much for that whole year.

I got used to that living situation and just made myself busy when I could.  The next hurdle thrown my way happen to fall one Sunday afternoon.  Now, anyone who knows me well, knows where I’m going with this.  I obviously had to feed myself and all that jazz so I made a decision to have a sleep in one Sunday morning, spend some time sorting my room out and decided I would go to Asda in the evening and spent a couple of hours in the supermarket.  Cool kid over here, I KNOW, but that was the plan. To wander around the supermarket!  I did have a sleep in and sort my room but by the time I walked to the other side of the town to go to Asda and get my shopping, IT WAS CLOSED! I mean, I was really confused as to why at 4pm or just after on a Sunday afternoon the supermarket would be shut?  This however is normal, because England only have 6 hours of trading on a Sunday and all supermarkets close at 4pm.  This is something I will never think is okay, even to this day! As you can guess, that evening I was pretty damn bored having no place to wander around so back to my room I went. It did give me something to do the Monday evening though. lol! I did also live in the town for months before I realised there was a short cut to the Asda too.  I would be walking a route which took me about 20 mins longer until one day I got brave and explored other routes… oh well, the walking did me no harm, eh? 🙈

Without going on for days about everything that happened, I want to mention is my first trip to London… alone!! Before I moved to England, I think I had been 3 times before in my life.  I had been to London twice but I had stayed in the city so never have to navigate my way around really.  Please bear in mind I just about had a phone that worked and rarely had money to buy credit so the day I decided to go alone, I had to have a plan. I had no google maps and no internet at all. I knew how to get to the train station where I lived and from there, well it was all new territory.  Before I went I decided I would start on Oxford St because I wanted to explore all the shops. I had a pocket tube map so I knew If I got to Kings Cross, from there I just needed to get the light blue (Victoria) line straight to Oxford St. Simple! That was my plan and when I got there if I needed the tube to somewhere else, I would go to a toilet and check my map on how to get there.  I wasn’t sure how friendly or helpful staff would be so I wanted to know for myself but I didn’t want to whip the map out and people know I was lost and then get robbed.  I have such an overactive imagination, I sometimes (a lot of time) fear the worst.  I will admit though, because of my secret tube studying to navigate my way, I am a dab hand at tubes these days! I should also mention the tube staff are infuse extremely helpful and will always tell you what tube you need etc if you do get lost.  You don’t need to secret tube study like me!!

After being here a few months, I obviously settled in and found my feet (stopped crying!!).  A few hurdles along the way of course, but I learnt so much.  I struggled at times with homesickness definitely.  I come from a family which are very close and if I did live near home now I think I would see them most days.  I speak to my mam every single day on the phone even 8 years on and I don’t think that will ever change.  It was such a new experience for me. I felt nerves I had never felt before but what’s life if you don’t push yourself outside your comfort zone.

I am always asked would I do it again given the chance?

I would like to hope I would.  I have met some of the best people over the years and learnt so much about life, people and myself. Maybe I would do more house searching before I made the move but that was a little speed bump along the way I suppose.

Things I learnt in my first year:

Get your shopping done before a Sunday afternoon!!!

When you do go shopping and can’t afford a taxi and have to walk, don’t buy all your heavy goods in that shop. I learnt that the hard way.

You can eat cheaply if you don’t mind pasta most nights!

You can ask for directions, people will help but always have your wits about you.

When making friends, just go for it.  If someone doesn’t want to be your friend thats their loss.  You won’t know until you try.

I should have saved more money before moving.

I missed my family a hell of a lot more than I expected.

I love walking!!

Exploring new places is actually far more exciting than frightening.

I really hope you enjoyed the snippet into my first year in England.  I could have honestly wrote for days on this subject.  One of my biggest regrets is that I didn’t start this blog from day 1 telling you all about my journey.  Don’t worry though, its all still in my head so I can do more catch up posts anytime! If you did enjoy it, please let me know.  I love getting your feedback.

Have a great Thursday!

Louise. x

  From England, with love. x A recap on how I felt when I first moved over from Ireland! This month I celebrated my 8th year living in England.  It's crazy, I know.  Sometimes I feel like its gone so quick and sometimes it makes me sad that I've been away from home for that long. 

[the-asia-trip]

Days 10-11: More Korea

There's a lot of things that have struck me about Korea, but chief among them is the hyper-commodified nature of everything. Japan has this too, but in Korea, there's a strange desperation to it. Every public space I see in Seoul is given over shopping. There's fake Supreme clothing in the gift shop at the DMZ museum. People love to buy things here, especially clothes. Especially fake designer clothes. The South Korean economy has long been lauded as miraculous, one of the "Asian Tigers." Still, being here, I can't help but wonder what's actually fueling it.

As I said in my last post, this is a society where the Cold War never ended. From an outside perspective, it feels like they're in the 34th year of 1985. That isn't meant to paint an overly negative picture, mind you. It's a very, very cool place to visit. The food is excellent, the scenery is staggering, the people are friendly, and there's no shortage of rich history and culture to immerse yourself in. There's not a lot that's not to like. It just so happens to be the only country on earth that's currently split in half, locked in an immovable stalemate with a mirror version of itself.

On my third day in Korea, I tried to get out of the city. I hopped on the subway for about 50 minutes and found myself in Mangwolsa, on the outskirts of Seoul. A 20-minute walk later, I found myself on a pleasant hiking trail dotted with temples, shrines, and Buddha statues. Apparently, fall in Korea is very, very pleasant.

After that, I headed back into Seoul to check out Seoul tower. Situated on a mountain in the middle of the city, it offers panoramic views of the entire Greater Seoul Area and was the perfect way to end the day. Sipping a beer on the observation deck, watching the city lights of Seoul come to life, I was reminded (as I have been at many, many points on this trip) exactly how lucky I am to be able to do stuff like this. To dispense with authorial voice for a moment—this whole trip has been really really really fucking cool. My wanderlust is, at once, sated and worse than ever.

After checking another box off my Korea list and eating some delicious dukbokki, spicy stir-fried Korean rice cakes, I headed back to my hotel to rest up for my last day.

This morning, I went to the border. You knew this was coming.

I checked out of my hotel at around 8, and met the touring company's bus around the block 5 minutes later. From there, we drove about an hour north of Seoul to Odusan Observatory, where the plan was to look across the Imjin River into North Korea (the actual border is currently closed due to an outbreak of African Swine Flu, which isn't harmful to humans but is a major concern for South Korean livestock). Unfortunately, it was too foggy to see anything, so we proceeded on to Imjingak Park, a kind of open-air museum/memorial to the events of the Korean War, about 20 minutes to the north.

The atmosphere at Imjingak was almost theme-park-like, not helped by the hordes of Chinese tourists present taking selfies and group photos like they were at Disneyland. A significant takeaway: South Korea really wants a railway through the North into China. Thanks to the DMZ and their notoriously-isolationist neighbor, the bottom half of the Korean peninsula has effectively been an island for 70 years, and they're very, very eager to change that. Various posters and installations around the park talk of a railway to Berlin, Paris and London. Obviously flying would be easier to any of these places, but it's the symbolism of the thing that seems to matter (and the reduced logistical costs of transporting goods by rail rather than shipping and planes).

Some highlights of the Park: a section of fencing where visitors can leave messages for the people of North Korea, a restored bunker complex, and a bridge that was destroyed during the war.

Once the fog cleared, we headed back down to the Observatory. There, through a pair of binoculars, I got my first (and probably last) glimpse into the world's most isolated state. Over the Imjin River, across a distance of about 2 kilometers, you can see into Amsil, North Korea. It's a small village, which my tour guide said is kept in relatively good condition since the North knows that it's the most that many people will ever see of their country. I didn't see any people, although a guy in my tour group said he saw someone walking between two buildings at one point. It's hard to gauge the whole country based on 4 kilometers of coastal village scenery, but on the whole, it felt pretty eerie.

We got back on the bus, and that was that. I looked into North Korea today. Again to dispense with formality, some real bucket list shit.

The final stop of the tour was the War Memorial of Korea, a museum dedicated to the Korean War (and every other war in Korea's 2,000+-year history). Among the highlights, a wall featuring the names of every serviceman who died in the Korean War, and an extensive gallery of artifacts from the war itself, from M1-Garands to PPSHs to a B52 Stratofortress that's parked outside the museum. Also present, hundreds of artifacts of past wars including a full-scale turtle ship, a kind of armored galley designed to repel Japanese invaders in the late 16th century and one of the most enduring symbols of pre-modern Korea.

After the museum, I grabbed a quick tonkatsu at a nearby restaurant and headed back to my hotel. I'm there now, sitting in the top-floor lounge, killing time before I head to the airport. Overall, I liked Korea a lot. I'd definitely come back here, although next time I'll be hitting up my Korean friends when they're not out of the country or slammed with work and exams.

Arriving in Korea marked the unofficial halfway point of the trip, and now I find myself around 2/3rds in. Tonight I head to Taiwan, where I don't really know what to expect. Japan is Japan, and Korea, I've always had a cursory familiarity with through Korean friends and the peninsula's influence on global culture. Taiwan is a blank space for me, though, in a good way. I'm not sure what I'll find, but I'm excited.

I won't get overly sentimental here about how the trip is almost over, because it's really, really not. I go back to work a full week from tonight. This point in the trip gives me a good moment to reflect on how it's all been going though.

So far, and I cannot stress this enough, so good.

[sunkissis]

Bonjour Amis,

Let me confess, the first two months were exhilarating and equally stressful for me. I was absolutely enjoying our time living in Nation (12th arrondissement) and exploring beautiful Paris but also I was staying up all night looking for potential apartments. Every time I got close to scoring a fabulous place, someone else would snap it up. I was starting to believe it was because I wasn’t French but we had our French friends call on our behalf and they got the same response. I was so close to renting my dream apartment on the sweetest street ever when the agent said the landlord just approved someone before us. I mean, I called every day, left voicemails, sent emails all during the whole enrolling Liv into school drama. I commend my own strength because I thought I would have a mental breakdown with stress and disappointment. It was house hunting all over again but with a two month deadline. I was also working with our real estate agent in Los Angeles trying to get our house rented. My stress was at an all time high during the first few months here.

Every apartment I saw I would compare to the beautiful, perfect place that we didn’t get.

I grieved over this place. It was €2400, a block from Liv’s ballet school, a 15 minute walk to her school on a private street. I would have lived with the tiny fridge and non existent storage for those floors and that price. I asked the agent to be put on a backup list incase the renter fell through. This put me in a worst state because nothing came close to this place in terms of layout, gorgeous Parisian charm and price. I found a larger, cute place but it was in a shady area of the 10th which would mean a bus ride to school and a 20 minute walk. I was running out of time and feeling like we would end up homeless in Paris.

The second I saw our apartment on the French real estate website I recognized it from years earlier when I first began looking for apartments. It was available the day after we were scheduled to move out of our exchange and it was under my budget. I immediately emailed the agent to schedule a viewing to make sure it wasn’t too good to be true. I’ve had such bad luck getting in touch with an agent and then discovering days later that the apartment had already been rented I made sure to let them know I was ready to sign the lease. I made two lists for our apartment search.

Must Have – Dealbreakers Close to our max budget €2500/$2950 Two Bedrooms Shower High ceilings Hardwood floors Washer/Dryer Dishwasher Oven/modern kitchen amenities Walking distance to Liv’s school Close to Metro/public transportation Smoke-free apartment

Like to Have – Bonus Haussmann building Elevator Balcony Office Space for Antz Herringbone hardwood floors Large Refrigerator (typical Americans can’t live with a minibar fridge) Storage (for our 14 suitcases!) Nice view Close to le Marais Crown Molding Good Layout Parisian Charm Nice furniture

I know I sound picky but every single place had something missing from my Must-Have list. Mostly two bedroom apartments were over budget or too far from school. I was even getting more flexible by the second month and considering one bedrooms and really horrible layouts. We visited an apartment that was way under-budget but on the 6th floor with no elevator and the world’s narrowest bathroom. It was as wide as the bathtub and you practically had to step over the toilet to get into the tub. It also wasn’t in my ideal neighborhood but the price tag was so enticing. The only reason we didn’t get it was the owner wanted someone who would rent it for at least two years. So I guess that was a blessing in disguise. When it comes down to house hunting, location and price and the deciding factors. Everything else is negotiable. It took days of going back and forth to get the agent to schedule a viewing. The problem was the renter didn’t want to show it until the place was available so I was cutting it close to our move-out date. I finally got a call to see it so I dropped Liv off at school. Because it was so close to her school I decided to walk around the neighborhood and wait for our appointment. I was almost two hours early and the agent was late (because she was French, of course!). We buzzed the door of the building and waited. The appointment was fifteen minutes late so she tried to call the renter. We saw the window was open but she didn’t answer. She called the agency and they confirmed the right place and right time. After a half an hour she said let’s reschedule for next week. UNLUCKY LIZZIE! I was practically in tears and starting to feel like this was hopeless. I already began to fall in love with the neighborhood. Everything was a close walk and my favorite shop (Monoprix) was a block away! I was already familiar with the neighborhood and getting excited that I could actually live in my favorite part of Paris.

All the while I was getting no leads for renting our house in LA. Our agent had an open house but hardly anyone showed serious interest. My agent was sure it was due to our cat Lola coming with the house and it being rented fully furnished. I was so nervous we lowered the price and asked my angel best friend Aimee to foster Lola for us so we could rent our place with pets. Then we found a family that was excited to rent our place. I signed the lease and waited for them to send the deposit and then they flaked. This made Antz and I very nervous because we couldn’t rent a place in Paris without renting our house in LA. Like, a scale of 1 – 10 in the stress department, I was about 100. After some negotiations and hard work on our agent’s side, we found someone lovely. She signed the lease, sent the deposit and we are very relieved to have a responsible adult living in our house. Whew!

After the most intense week of my life the agent finally got the tenant to show us the apartment. The chick didn’t offer an apology for not showing up our first appointment and she laid in bed while I saw the apartment. The place didn’t look like the online pictures but I knew they were three years old. The furniture was rearranged and it looked smaller but when I saw the floors, the light pouring in from the floor to ceiling windows and I said, straight out of a movie “We’ll take it!”

Then came the rental process. It’s a little different than in the US, the French don’t really have a credit score rating. We also didn’t have a previous rental or French tax return to show so everything came down to Anthony’s pay stubs and his job title. I spent several days running back and forth to the print shop making copies to send to the agency. They needed to see our bank statements, we had to buy French renter’s insurance and they requested a letter from his job stating he would be employed for the year. I was worried about getting the letter in time because like I said before, apartments go fast and we were not prepared to lose this one. Thank goodness Antz job sent the letter right away. I saw the place right before we took our trip to London and we electronically signed the lease when we were in London! I couldn’t believe we did it. I have heard so many horror stories about Americans getting scammed online by having to wire huge cash deposits and losing the money. Or the landlord requesting up to a year of rent for a security deposit. We only had to put down two month’s rent deposit and pay an agency fee. I was ecstatic! I could finally breathe after so long, I found a place of our own in le Marais, a seven minute walk to the kid’s school with almost everything on my must-have list. The first week we didn’t have wifi so I almost died but lucky for us, we extended our house exchange so Antz would go to the other apartment to work. I don’t even mind that our building has world’s smallest elevator or the wonky furniture. I got my herringbone flooooooooooooors!! (Hope you heard that in Oprah’s voice)

I packed my beloved Anthropologie tablecloth, some family photos and as many crafting supplies as I could fit in my suitcase. I would have brought my Things Will Work Out print but Antz made a good point that it could have gotten damaged in my suitcase.

I adore the French doors and the open flow from Liv’s room to the living room. The layout works perfect for us because Antz works California hours so he can close the doors for his conference calls and Liv is usually sleeping while he’s working. Antz was fortunate enough to inherit a comfy office chair from the previous tenants. When we were staying in Nation, he was using an antique chair that was cool but uncomfortable. It may be ugly but it’s super comfy! I bought that wall map from a shop in le Marais for under €30. I’ve always wanted to get her a world map but never had the wall space in LA. I may add some framed photos on the back wall. Antz doesn’t want to add any holes, so we’ll see. I love the white palette of the apartment but we wanted to add some color so I bought a pom pom kit and vibrant yarn from La Droguerie.

Now you can see why I brought so much luggage! I packed Liv’s Miffy bedding and a suitcase full of her books and toys. We rented a car for move-in day and drove outside of Paris to Ikea. We bought basic bedding (comforters/sheets/pillows), that lamp shade and the sheepskin rug. I also had to buy some new kitchen supplies, a flatware set, wine glasses, a new bath mat, storage bins and throw blankets. The apartment came with plates, pots, pans and utensils.

  I also brought a sewing kit, art supplies, a few books, a huge accordion folder with our important paperwork and our huge iMac computer (which serves as our TV).

There’s a long story behind that rad Shepard Fairey poster. Antz and I went to a hardware store called Castarama. I was looking for curtains for Olivia’s room when I saw the framed print. I asked one of the guys working there if they sold the print and he said no, just the frame. He then told me where to go buy the print at a poster store near the Pompidou Center. I could have hugged this kid! I thought I was going to have to order it from eBay for hundreds of dollars. We rushed to the store and found a smaller version. When I asked the woman if they carried it in a larger size, she said they were sold out but she would print one for us in ten minutes. Say what?! I couldn’t believe we got the French Shepard Fairey print for less than €60. I mean, President Macron has this same artwork in his office. I love the French motto: Liberte – Egalite – Fraternite which means Freedom – Equality – Fraternity. That kid really did me a solid.

I brought our rainbow maker from home. I need to make a video of the rainbows bouncing around our room. I can’t get over the details of this fireplace. I am still looking for the perfect mirror to go on the mantel. Our bedroom in this apartment is larger than our bedroom at home. I didn’t get as much crown molding as I hoped for and we don’t have a dryer so we have to put our clothes on a drying rack but I can’t get over this stellar view.

The bathroom is pretty basic. We purchased a new shower head and spent a fortune on new towels.  OMG! I am obsessed with our towel warmer. I need one for LA.

Antz and I are now sharing one closet along with all of our empty luggage and winter coats. I am extremely happy I brought a shoe hanger from LA. This is about half the shoes I brought. It’s a tight fit but there is space for everything.

And lastly, here is our mini balcony.

It’s just wide enough to step out on and see the entire street. We are extremely lucky to live on a trendy, lively (sometimes noisy) street. This area is exactly like Highland Park without the dumb neighbors across the street. There are cafes, brasseries, cute shops, art galleries and a tiny square dedicated to one of my favorite jazz musicians, John Coltrane.

We have met our nice neighbors, a dad and his young son. We love living here. It’s simple but has everything I could ask for. We are just under budget and all the utilities are included in our rent. I cannot believe this is our life.

SaveSave

Bienvenue dans Notre Appartement Parisien Bonjour Amis, Let me confess, the first two months were exhilarating and equally stressful for me. I was absolutely enjoying our time living in Nation (

[thegrassisaalwaysgreener]

Viva Las Vegas 2017

**I didn’t realize that I hadn’t posted my blog from Vegas in Oct when I posted the Palm Springs one!

Oops!

Viva Las Vegas! I was super excited to head to Vegas for the first time. I was not as stoked to be going for a work conference but hey, a trip is a trip right! I had applied for some funding to head to the Pediatric Critical Care Conference put on by name and was approved! I was getting a bit of money for work to cover some of the expenses of the trip and was excited to use this as an excuse to head to “Sin City”.  I have plenty of travel points so figured I would save some money and book my flight on points (25,000 + 70$ in taxes) which worked out well. I would be flying with Air Canada which would get me more points and was a fairly decent airline.  The conference was 2.5 days long and I had decided to stay an extra day and a half to explore the city a bit more. I was pretty excited because my boyfriend Alex  was meeting me there for the last two days of the trip which would make it that much better! While I won’t go into too many boring details of the unimportant parts of the trip (like the conference.. kidding!) I will write a bit about the more fun events (Britney Spears DUH) and some of the must do/must see things if you haven’t been before!

Tuesday October 31st, 2017          I had a super hard time getting this shift off as many of my coworkers have kids and obviously wanted to take their kids out of Halloween but I managed to get the night off and was heading to Vegas on an evening flight. I found great prices on airport parking (airportreservations.com) where you get dropped off at the airline entrance and then you call when you land and they pick you up in your own car which is key. I as excited to use this service as I travel often for work and am always looking for the best/easies/most cost effective way to park at the airport. I was on an AC Rouge flight that had average service but was fine for the 4 or so hour flight. I landed in Vegas around 2200 or so and grabbed a Lyft to my hotel. The conference was at the Tropicana which is towards the end of the strip about a km away from the “Welcome to Vegas sign” and across from Excalibur. On the way there, I was immiediately entranced by all of the lights of the city. The driver was super kind and helpful and gave me some insider tips. The hotel was nice enough. The bottom levels were filled with people smoking, drinking and gambling, which is so bizarre to see inside. I did a bit of people watching before heading up to my room. . By the time I checked into the hotel and got unpacked, it was almost midnight and I was pooped! The room was quite spacious with a large bathroom and sitting area. I settled in and rested up before day 1 of the conference.

Wednesday November 1st, 2017            Like I previously mentioned, I won’t go into details about the conference since most people that would read this (if any one does) could care less about advances in Pediatric Critical Care. It is neat to note that a coworker of mine who works mostly in London was also at the conference with her coworkers. It was nice to have a familiar face to hang out with. We had a lengthy lunch break where I did some errands up the strip and met them for lunch at the food court in the MGM.  The afternoon of the conference went by super slowly. Or at least that’s how it felt because I was super excited to be seeing Britney spears in the evening. An ex-coworker of mine from Sinai had moved to Vegas a few years ago and was a huge Britney Fan! I told him I was heading down for the conference and we made plans to go see Britney. I was meeting him a bit before the concert but had a few hours to kill before then. I wandered up the strip taking in all the sights. I enjoyed a bevy (on the street which is so weird to me!) while watching the Bellagio fountains which are as magical as I was told. I met up with Liam just outside of Planet Hollywood where Britney has her residency. We grabbed a drink and caught up before the show- happy hour is even more magical in Vegas with $5 glasses of red. We were in the very front for the concert,  which I was super excited about. I have loved Britney since Hit me baby One more time was a hit. I had never seen her in concert when I was young so I was super pumped about having my younger year dreams come true. Before the concert, we looked at some of her old costumes that are on display in the theatre hall. It was really cool to see these famous outfits (and how tiny they are!) During the show, we made some friends and enjoyed some drinks in collector cups right in front of the stage while dancing and singing along.  While it is evident that she isn’t in her early 20s anymore, her show was amazing! She entertained us (as I doubt she actually sings any of the songs) to many of her songs from all of her albums. Her costumes were very elaborate and all of her dancers were very talented. After the show, I bid Liam adieu, grabbed some dinner and headed back to my hotel room.

Thursday November 2nd, 2017             Day 2 of the conference! Today we did some break out sessions which was neat because we got to choose the topics we learned about. The best lecture I went to was by ¬¬¬Scott DeBoer and was a jeopardy game about perils and pearls of Pediatric Emergency Medicine. For lunch, we jumped on the bus and went to a Ocean One Bar and Grille that had 4.99 lunch specials! IT was crazy. You could get pretty well anything you could think of for 4.99. We enjoyed our lunches while catching up on what sessions we went to in the am and such. Similar to the day before, the afternoon seemed to take forever. This was probably because I was super excited that Alex would be in the hotel by the time the conference was done for the day. After catching up, we headed out to enjoy Vegas at night before enjoying an AMAZING sushi dinner at Kabuto. It was a traditional meal that included hand made sushi that you ate the moment the chef was done rolling it. We had an an appetizer and sake along with a variety of sashimi and sushi pieces that were chosen by the sushi chef based on our preferences. We ate a lot of tuna. The meal was delicious and worth every penny.             We grabbed a Lyft back towards the main strip and enjoyed wandering around a few of the hotels. My favourites were the painted ceilings of the Venetian along with the beautiful flower displays in the Wynn. Alex loves the Aria complex and we spent a while enjoying the complex. We both love NYC (as evident in one of my last posts) so we spent quite some time wandering around New York New York before heading back to the hotel for the night.  On our way up to our room, we grabbed our fresh, warm  (and free!) cookies that are provided to each guest before Alex tried his luck on some slots. While I am not a bigger gambler, it is pretty neat to watch others gamble. I wish I knew how to play the card games better so I would enjoy it more.

Friday November 3rd, 2017           Today was the last day of the conference! Alex did some exploring and errand running while I spent the morning in the Conference. Of course it was the best breakfast (breakfast burritos) and they ran out by the time I got there! There wasn’t a ton of new learning this morning but it was still a great experience. I made my way to the Cosmo where we were having lunch. We had heard about the amazing buffet with bottomless drinks at the Wicked Spoon and were really looking forward to it. For  $50 each, we had 2 hours at the buffet with unlimited Mimosas, Bloody Marys and beers. The food was absolutely amazing. There were some very “gourmet” choices along with a wide variety of breakfast and lunch foods. We definitely ate way too much but were very glad we checked it out.          After being sufficiently stuffed, we wandered down the strip and checked out some of the hotels we hadn’t yet. We visited the Flamingoes at Flamingo and enjoyed the Bellagio Fountains again. I loved the botanical conservatory in the Bellagio! It was so beautiful! We wandered around the Park promenade before heading back to New York New York for the Zumanity Show! We knew we wanted to see a Cirque show but couldn’t decide which one. The gentleman said that while O! is super popular, his favourite was Zuamnity. We are pretty breezy and so though, hey why not! The show did not disappoint! It was pretty bizarre and almost raunchy at times but we both really enjoyed it. There was some awesome acrobatics and hilarious costumes.                                     If there is a sky wheel in a city, I HAVE to ride it! I love seeing cities from all different vantage points. I prefer to see the city at sunset or later since the lights usually make the city look that much more magical.  The High Roller is the largest observation wheel with 28 pods that can hold 40 passengers each. It is 550 feet tall. Alex and I were lucky enough to have the whole pod to ourselves which was super fun. The 30-minute or so ride was awesome and gave us the best view of the city. I took tons of photos (shocking!) of all of the amazing lights and colours of the city.  After the Wheel, we stopped and sat at one of the smaller fountains in the area and grabbed some pizza at Flour and Barley and a beer. 

Since we were heading home after our day trip tomorrow, we made sure to pack up and get prepped for a busy last day (and a very early morning!)

Saturday November 4th, 2017           After about 4 hours of sleep (so much to do, so little time), we were up bright and early to get picked up for our guided tour of the Grand Canyon. We were being picked up around 0600 en route to the Grand Canyon. We took a big tour bus filled with tourists ont his adventure because we figured it was easier than renting our own car. I think this is definitely something that can be done on your own and it allows for different stops along the way. We are glad we took the bus, since neither one of us felt much like driving several hours each way into the desert.          Our  tour guide took us onto Highway 93 and discussed info about the three main cities in the Valley and about the mountains all around us. Sadly, I slept the majority of the drive so didn’t really get a great deal of learning in . I did learn that a lot of the land in the desert (especially the Mojave) used to be ranches. We drove through Boulder City and over the Hoover Dam. We got a quick look of Lake Mead as well.  We also saw a few Joshua trees on the route which are pretty cool.           We took Route 66 and learned about Seligman (town that was the inspiration for the movie Cars) before stopping at the Rodeo Restaurant in William, Ariona. This was the home of the Grand Canyon Train. We enjoyed a decent buffet lunch. After a bit of stretching (sitting for hours on end in a bus is challenging!) We headed back into the bus for the final bit of driving before entering the Grand Canyon National Park.           As a bit of history, the Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon that is carved by the Colorado River. It is about at an elevation of about 800 m and is 446 km long, 29 km wide and 1,857 meters deep. It has been formed over millions of years from the  cutting down of the small branches of the Colorado river and the retreatment of the cliffs. The canyon sees about 5 million visitors per year with the majority seeing the South Rim (Which is what we did).  While we didn’t see much, there is a vast ecosystem in the Canyon and surrounding area. There are 5 of the 7 different life zones found in the Grand Canyon National park. The Park is home to many about 80 different mammals (most rodents and bats), 48 bird species and 41 reptile species. We did some birds but sadly, that was it.            When we arrived at the Grand Canyon, we took the typical photo in front of the sign before making our way on the 2.1 mile walk. I was really taken aback at how big and beautiful the canyon was! Photos and videos do not do it justice. It truly is breath taking. I think we (lets be real, I) took 300 photos that all looked the same! The different rock colours and layers are super neat! We caught a few glimpses of the Colorado river wayyy down below. We learned more about the history and geology of the park and the rocks. We spent a couple hours at the Canyon, wandering around the path. We checked out one of the hotels and its gift shop (of course) and grabbed our necessary magnets. We saw an ice cream store, so we grabbed a scoop and enjoyed the view. We hopped back on the bus a bit before sunset. We had quite the drive back but it was a beautiful one! We saw the sunset over the desert, which was just amazing! Dinner was tacos at this random (but delicious) stop on the way beside a gas station called _ We headed back towards the city which was an enjoyable ride. We didn’t stop at the Hoover Dam (which I was slightly disappointed about) but, we did get to see it and it was definitely way bigger than had thought.           We arrived back into the city in the late evening. Since we were dropped off at the hotel, we jumped in a Lyft to the airport. Both Alex and I were exhausted and I was less than thrilled with the security staff at the airport. I am not a new traveller but felt like I was being spoken to like a child, which is not something I enjoy (especially when I am tired and a bit cranky). After a rather lengthy security line, we made our way to the Maple Leaf lounge for some pre “Red Eye” showers, snacks and bevvys. Our flight home was uneventful (especially considering we both snoozed the majority of the way home).          My first trip to Vegas was definitely memorable! I think that we got a lot accomplished and saw the majority of the things that I wanted to see. There were still a few shows and hotels that I would like to check out the next time and would love to just have a hang-out by the pool day. All is all, I definitely see the allure of Vegas. I think if you are big into drinking/partying and gambling, it is the place for you however there is TONS to do for everyone. I think I could’ve walked up and down the strip for the days, checking out different hotel lobbies and attractions. The next time, I would ideally prefer to stay more in the middle of the strip but do think that the Tropicana was fine for how much time I spent in the hotel.

*again, photos are not in any specific order, not too sure how to fix that :(