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Posts from the ‘Travel’ Category

Jul 25

yellow abbey road
9 Comments

Capture the Colour

Last week I was tagged by the talented Alana Morgan of Gen Y Wanderer to take part in Travel Supermarket’s photography competition, Capture the Colour. A panel of judges will be selecting the best photos in the categories of blue, green, yellow, white, and red.  Entrants choose a photo they’ve taken that best captures each color. Winners of the color categories will be awarded an iPad, while the overall winner will be given £2, 000 (that’s over $3,000 US!) for travel! Since entries started popping up a couple of weeks ago I’ve been hoping to be tagged to take part in this exciting competition and was thrilled when I was.

While photography continues to frustrate the perfectionist inside of me and I’m rarely happy with my shots, here are what I consider to be my best photos for the Capture the Colour competition.  Read more

Jul 2

Mount Rinjani via Flickr user Bousure
29 Comments

Planning the “Big Trip”

I love to plan. Everything. Trips, schedules, weekends, parties. If there is something that can be figured out beforehand I am researching the hell out of it. While it’s good to be prepared, planning too much has its downsides. During college I’d spend hours on the course guide as soon as it went online planning the perfect schedule. Inevitably, every semester one of my classes would close before I could register, ruining my plans, and leaving me feeling completely defeated.

It works like that with travel as well. As time rolls into July my contract is inching its way closer to being completed (last day: February 15, 2013!) and Southeast Asia is becoming easier to see. Tara and I have begun to plan out a rough itinerary for our four to five month trip. Trying to strike the perfect balance between over planned and under planned, we want to have a list of places we consider can’t miss but not firmly cemented down into a rigid schedule.

Our itinerary so far? Take a look. And please, any thoughts or advice is more than welcome! Read more

Jun 27

The glamorous outfits were obviously a highlight
5 Comments

Introducing…Tara

I rarely travel alone. Since coming to Korea I haven’t been on a solo trip, save the flight to Bali where I was meeting friends. You may have noticed me awkwardly referring to “my friend” or “my travel companion” in recent posts. As we start to plan more trips together, including a rather long post-Korea trip, it seems even more necessary to introduce the person who is navigating next to me. And taking better photos.

To avoid any further use of strange plural pronouns and vague descriptors, my girlfriend Tara is going to post her own ABCs of Travel here today. She’s blogless, but a talented photographer and writer. Originally from Washington, Tara has traveled all around the world and has a lot of great stories to share.

I’ll let her take it away from here…

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Jun 20

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1 Comment

A Day on Jebudo

This weekend I discovered the perfect summer day trip from Seoul. Jebudo, a small island about an hour and a half away from Seoul by car, boasts a small beach, countless clam restaurants, and some impressive scenery. Though there probably isn’t enough to do to warrant a weekend trip, Jebudo offers the perfect break from the stickiness of the city on a hot day.

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Jun 13

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12 Comments

Korea: Great Travel Destination? Or Not?

Technology. This is probably the major association people have with South Korea. Home to Samsung, LG, and the supposed fastest internet in the world, Korea has firmly cemented itself as a global technological leader. But there’s something else that Korea would like to be known to the world as.

A damn good place to travel. Read more

Jun 8

3 Comments

#FriFotos: Oceans

For those unfamiliar, #FriFotos is a weekly photo sharing day (from the name it should be fairly obvious that this day is Friday) on Twitter that was started by Jonathan Epstein. Each week a theme is announced and bloggers, photographers and social media enthusiasts all post their favorite photos with the #FriFotos hashtag. This week’s theme of ‘Oceans’, in honor of World Ocean’s Day, seemed like the perfect opportunity to jump into this popular meme. I’ve always loved spending time close to the water and always feel calm, relaxed, and happy when I’m near the sea. Because of this, I had plenty of photos to choose from this week. Read more

May 31

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Yonggungsa: Busan’s Oceanfront Temple

Contrary to what you may believe from my last post, my weekend in Busan did not consist entirely of beer and beaches. I also paid a visit to one of Busan’s most famous temples, Haedong Yonggungsa. While most of Korea’s Buddhist temples are built in the mountains, Haedong Yonggungsa is situated on the rocky shoreline outside of Busan’s city center. Yonggungsa Temple was originally built in 1376 by Naong, an influential Buddhist teacher. Unfortunately, like so many things, Yonggungsa Temple was destroyed during the Japanese occupation and eventually rebuilt in the mid-twentieth century. Read more

May 30

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A Weekend in Busan

There’s something about Busan. Something that causes you to arrive in the city and forego any sort of responsible living you had planned. Visit the fish market you’ve been trying to get to for a year? Nah. Hike up a small mountain for panoramic views of the skyline and sea? Nope. Drink ten beers on the beach and gorge yourself on fried food and burgers? Oh, definitely!

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May 25

The view from my heavenly abode at the Holiday Inn.
5 Comments

Flashback Friday: Homeless in Europe

Okay, I wasn’t sleeping on the streets or begging for money, but after I quit my au pair job there was a four week period where I had no place to call an actual home. Making the most of what could have been a stressful situation, I grabbed my suitcase and wandered around Italy and Switzerland for a month. This was my first experience traveling alone and these crazy few weeks can be held responsible for my current aspiration to become nomadic.

The eight places I called home during this time all helped shape my idea of independent travel.

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May 23

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18 Comments

Why I Regret Riding an Elephant

When I was in Bali last year I rode an elephant.

This is something that I now deeply regret.

While planning our trip to Bali, my friend proposed a visit to an elephant park outside Ubud. I thought that riding an elephant would an incredible experience. I did some research on the park and it mentioned that the animals had been rescued from areas in Sumatra where logging was destroying the natural habitats of the animals and where many elephants were forced to work in harsh conditions. In my naive state, I thought they must have it much better toting around tourists all day in Bali. Without a second thought, we booked an all day tour to experience the elephants.

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