Adventures in the Great Wide Somewhere // Tourist Tuesday at Voyageur Books

If you read my post last week or been following my Instagram, you'll know that I have just started to adopt Tourist Tuesday. This means that every Tuesday--or as each Tuesday allows--I will try and do something big, small, or in-between that I have never done before. It can be as simple as walking by a part of a neighborhood I've never been to, a new restaurant, a cafe, etc. ANYTHING that I haven't done before. This idea was inspired by ALONE TIME by Stephanie Rosenbloom. This week the weather derailed what I really wanted to do so I'll save that idea for another day; what I actually did decide to do was Google search bookstores near me and I found one I've never been to before!

Adventures in the Great Wide Somewhere // BFF Visit, Alone Time, & Tourist Tuesday

Last week, my BFF Hannah came to Wisconsin to visit! It was SO much fun but if I start going into details about what we did and how fun it was this post will literally turn into a dissertation because it was THE BEST! Before she came to visit, I was thinking of things to do with her. My initial response was 'there's nothing to do here' which is ridiculous but its still the thought I had. Milwaukee is a big city but it's not New York or Seattle or Denver, places that tourists flock to visit. But after thinking about it more, I realized there were so many things big and small that I could take her to do. I think that wherever you grow you, or maybe it's just me, you become a little desensitized to your surroundings and take for granted the uniqueness around you. I know I definitely did!

Adventures in the the Great Wide Somewhere // Travel Books That Aren't Travel Books

When Hannah mentioned that this week's Top Ten Tuesday was about travel books, I knew I needed to write a post about books that inspire me to travel. Then I thought a little more about it and wanted to do a little different twist to the topic. My informal title of this would probably be 'Books You Wouldn't Expect that Inspire Me to Travel' OR 'Books Whose Settings are a Character on Their Own' OR 'Unconventional Books That Make Me Want to Pack My Bags' What do I mean by this? I mean, I've read books where the setting of the story is such a big part of the story it feels like a character and/or while the book itself isn't about travel, it still made me want to go to that place immediately.

View from St Mary's in Oxford, England

UK Recap Fit for a Queen // Back at Home • Mug Life 5

Mug Life is a periodic feature on the blog where I talk about what
I'm reading, wearing, drinking out of, and wanderlust dreaming about.

If you've been following on the blog or Instagram, you know that Hannah and I were traveling in the UK--but kind of don't bring it up or I'll cry all the tears of sadness that 1. I'm no longer with her 2. I'm not in the UK anymore and 3. I'm no longer with Hannah. I didn't think it was possible to love her more but it was! I am mourning the loss of this trip still today but I digress. While we were there, we did a UK Recs series for books, TV/Movies, and places we love; we thought we would do a parallel 3 day recap talking about books, what we did, and a back home mug life!

On Monday, we talked about the books we read while traveling; Wednesday was our trip recap, and today is our Mug Life featuring the book we read when we got home. The fates aligned and Hannah and I had a parallel with the first books we read after our trip together. She read something I rec'd to her and I read something she rec'd to me! We both fell in love with our respective books AND the London mugs we bought so, of course, a Mug Life was born!

UK Recap Fit For a Queen // Besties Abroad

If you've been following on the blog or Instagram, you know that Hannah and I were traveling in the UK--but kind of don't bring it up or I'll cry all the tears of sadness that 1. I'm no longer with her 2. I'm not in the UK anymore and 3. I'm no longer with Hannah. I didn't think it was possible to love her more but it was! I am mourning the loss of this trip still today but I digress. While we were there, we did a UK Recs series for books, TV/Movies, and places we love; we thought we would do a parallel 3 day recap talking about books, what we did, and a back home mug life!

Yesterday we talked about the books we read while traveling, today is our real recap of what we did and 3 Good Things about each day. Hannah and I both keep a 3 Good Things planner/journal so this was the perfect format for us to reflect back on what we did AND what our favorite parts of each day were.

UK Recs Fit For a Queen // Favorite Places

In case you don't follow me on social media, Hannah and I are currently traveling around the UK! We both wanted to commemorate our adventure on our blogs and what better way than to talk about all the different facets of the UK and why we love it. We'll be talking about our favorite books set in the UK, movies, and what initially drew us to our love of this place.

Today, we're talking about what we love about the UK and favorite parts about actually being there. I have an obsession with traveling and while I want to see so much of this world, my heart is always in the UK. It will always be my first choice destination no matter how many times I've been there and so this doesn't turn into a dissertation about my love, Hannah and I decided to prompt ourselves with these four questions:

1. When/How did your love for the UK begin?
2. What is your favorite thing you've done there?

3. What is your favorite place there?

4. What is one thing you're most looking forward to on this trip?

Mug Life {4}

Back for another edition of Mug Life! I seriously love this feature so much, I can't wait to do a quick update on all the fun stuff!

Adventures in the Great Wide Somewhere // Vancouver, British Columbia

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of visiting Vancouver, British Columbia! I've been to Canada before, Toronto, Quebec City, and Montreal, and loved it! (Minus Montreal but that's another post and story). I fell in love with Vancouver! I love when cities have the juxtaposition of urban downtown style AND nature; Vancouver has this and so much more. Canada is so incredibly beautiful and I could spend months wandering around this gorgeous --and massive!--country! But alas, I only had 4 days. These were my favorite parts.

Instalife {5}

Eep! It's been quite a long time since I did an Instalife, like since January and it's now July, so clearly it was about time. I love doing these because I seriously love Instagram, and taking photos in general, it is my favorite social media platform because it has very minimal bullshit. But I digress. Here's what I've been up to on Instagram, and of course I'd love if you followed along!

Row 1

#WanderlustWednesday in Bratislava, Slovakia. Loved their town center! // Getting that summer hair and letting it sit while reading Cocoa Beach // Mug Life with one of my favs mugs and the last of my Beatriz Binge reading!

Travel Woes // Lost Luggage

Travel Woes is a serial within my travel posts where I talk about when things go wrong aka what the fancy travel blogs won't talk about. Enjoy!

Ah, the most dreaded moment in anybody flying's life. You're waiting for your precious suitcase to appear on the luggage corral...and it never does. Cue. Panic. Except don't. The odds are in your favor that at some point your luggage will not arrive contigo. When I flew to London in 2015, the day after Boxing Day so my bad really, the inevitable happened. My luggage did not arrive. To say I was pissed would be the understatement of the century. Please see the screenshot below. My lovely friends were convinced this was the moment I would get arrested abroad never to be seen again. Alas, that didn't happen but we had a few close calls. Let me tell you what helped me in case it happens to you.

1. Don't Get Pissed
Listen. As somebody with an infamous temper and whose own immediate family members avoid me going nuclear at all costs, I know this statement is rich coming from me but I'm serious. There are certain moments in life we have to put on our manipulative caps and play nice to our advantage. The customer service people at the airport will be more accommodating if you're friendly and they want to help you.

Adventures in the Great Wide Somewhere // Favorite Travel Photos of June 2017

June was a great month of traveling to Canada and appreciating the beauty around me at home, even literally right out side my window! I love the big things but sometimes it's the little things that count just as much if not more. Here are my favorite travel and photos of June! Don't forget to check out my Instagram for even more photos!

Ready to leave for Vancouver with a great book!

Adventures in the Great Wide Somewhere // Favorite Travel Photos of May 2017

It's no secret that I LOVE taking photos! I invested in a new Sony a6000 prior to my last trip and I'm obsessed with it! I also love taking photos with my iPhone 7+ which also gives me amazing quality. I thought it would be a fun idea for my Adventures post to do a Favorite Travel Photos of the Month post and just include my favorite photos I took. This month will be a little long with a lot of photos because I spent an amazing week in Denver so I have a few favorites from there. I also went up to Appleton, WI which is about a 2 hour drive away to watch my cousin play in the Division III College World Series which was SO fun! I hope you enjoy my favorite photos of the month, let me know what you think below!

Flight to Denver well-spent

Adventures in the Great Wide Somewhere // Short Flights vs Long Flights

Last week when I was flying to Denver I read my book the whole time. Not something unusual. But for whatever reason it made me realize that I have different habits when I take a short flight vs when I'm on a longer flight. Of course, I took that thinking opportunity and turned it into a post because the more I think about it the more curious I am if other people are the same way.

It's All Greek To Me

"You know you're looking for something?
Well, I feel like I'm looking for something, too, I just don't know what it is.
But until I've found it, I feel like I can't stop exploring."

--Jo Watson, Finding You

Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance, Travel

Publisher: Forever

Pages: 368

Publication Date: May 2nd, 2017

Source: ARC provided by publisher

Find on: Goodreads | Amazon

My Thoughts

The Belle
When I got the pitch for this book, I was immediately intrigued. You can sell almost any book to me with the words destination romance or travel romance or takes place in ________. I love stories that take place in other countries, especially romances. I can relate to them *ahem* and I always like to see how a happily ever can play out in a beautiful location.

Mug Life {1}

Hello, all! Today I'm introducing a new feature I came up with that I'm really excited about. It's no secret that I love a cute mug. I love book-inspired ones, Queen-inspired ones, funny ones, love them all, can never have enough! So the feature is obviously called Mug Life and will include a picture of one of my favs, the current book I'm reading, and the nail color I'm currently rocking which all will be described in the acronym of MUG! But thanks to Hannah's input, I'm not stopping there. So Mug Life becomes...

Adventures in the Great Wide Somewhere // Best of Mt. Kilimanjaro

After recapping my experience on climbing Mt Kilimanjaro last week, I wanted to highlight my favorite photos from my trip. It's no secret I love taking photos. I love Instagram. I love grabbing good angles, experimenting with selfie angles, and shamelessly asking people to take photos of me from behind. What can I say? I love that look! It's definitely an amateur hobby but I love taking and sharing photos so I hope you enjoy some of my favorites from my eight days on the mountain. Definitely leave some love down below if you enjoy them!

Day 1

Rainforest climate

Adventures in the Great Wide Somewhere // Climbing Mt Kilimanjaro

If you've been following me on Instagram you'll have already seen some of my Mt Kilimanjaro photos and--spoiler alert--I made it to the top! It was without a doubt, the most incredible experience of my life. I have been thinking about climbing Kili for my 30th birthday for almost 5 years. Ever since reading Me Before You where the main character, Will, says that's what he did for his 30th birthday, I've been inspired to do something epic when I reached that milestone. When I first read it, I thought to myself, 'Yes, I'll do something really exciting but I could never do that.' And after thinking about it a few weeks, I couldn't get it out of my mind and my stubborn streak reared its ugly head and finally said, 'Why CAN'T you climb Mt Kilimanjaro? What's stopping you?'...and from there the dream was born.

Itinerary Update {5}

Hello, friends! It's been awhile! Hope you're all still here...was anybody there to begin with? Oh, well. Per usual, after a trip it takes me awhile to get back into a blogging routine, it's one of my many flaws. I just keep reading and writing reviews and just never schedule them. No idea why I do this when all the hard work is already done. Oy vay. 

What's new with me? I got back from my birthday trip a few weeks ago! It was so much fun! Rome was incredible and I found new restaurants and places I haven't been before. I also was able to see different parts of the Colosseum that were previously and currently off-limits unless you book a special tour. AND!!! I succeeded in climbing Mount Kilimanjaro and it was hands down the most amazing and incredible thing I have ever done in my life. It was 8--long--days and we summited on Day 7 and I actually reached the top! I say actually because nothing about that climb is a guarantee. Two people in my group of seven alone didn't make it to the top due to acute mountain sickness so shit is real up there to put it in perspective. I'll definitely be writing a post about it and including pictures--goal is to have it up next week Wednesday for Adventures in the Great Wide Somewhere--so hopefully y'all stay tuned for that! I don't really know what I want to write about it so if y'all have any suggestions of what you wanna hear I'll do whatever. Otherwise I'll just do a quick write-up of what it was like/how I felt going up. *shrugs*

Adventures in the Great Wide Somewhere // Why I Love Traveling {1}

This is a serial post I've been wanting to do for awhile. I love to talk about travel--obviously--and I'd love to be able to expand and talk a bit more in-depth of what it is about traveling that speaks to me on a deeper level. So I thought the perfect first topic would the reason I keep booking plane ticket after plane ticket. That reason? The feeling.

Adventures in the Great Wide Somewhere // Travel Trinkets

One of the questions I got while doing my Q&A was what do I do with all the trinkets and ticket stubs I keep. There's a few things I've done with them so far, I'm sure there are a lot more creative ideas but I haven't delved into the Pinterest world to see what other people, this is what I've come up with so far.