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 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.

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.

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.

Adventures in the Great Wide Somewhere // Make Travel Dreams a Reality

With the New Year a few days behind us and 2017 a beautiful, blank sheet of paper in front of us, the optimistic resolutions people make sometimes seem overwhelming in the beginning. Especially if they've been longterm goals that have seemed unattainable in past years, it's hard to decide where to start. Travel more always seem to be on people's lists and Hannah gave me the great idea to make my first post of the new year about a few key tips in how to make travel a reality. I've come up with 3 simple things you can do today that can help you achieve your resolution and make your dreams of travel a reality.

Best of Travel {2016}

Today I'm talking about my favorite travel moments of 2016! Oh, my gosh where has the year gone!? I know I and everybody says this every year but it's so true! I remember this time last year I was preparing for my trip to the UK and Spain and ah! I cant believe that was already a year ago! I have been fortunate enough to have made a lot of fantastic travel moments this year. This was one of my favorite years of travel to date, probably because I got to go to the countries of my soul twice this year! I have been to grateful for the time I've been able to spend traveling so before I wax poetic for an hour, here are my favorite travel moments of 2016!

I flew to London on December 27th of last year but I'm still counting this because it was one of my favorite travel memories to date. Lost luggage, no sleep, and only 36 hours in my favorite city but it was worth every annoyance. It was the shortest amount of time I've ever been in London but it made it all the more sweeter. The atmosphere of Christmastime in this city was tangible to me. There was a different kind of energy in the air and when I think back on my time there it truly feels magical. Favorite, favorite, favorite moment of travel. 

Recap and Favorite London Spots

Adventures in the Great Wide Somewhere // From Page to Plane

After recently reading Who's That Girl by Mhairi McFarlane, I came up with an idea to introduce a another kind of feature within Adventures in the Great Wide Somewhere. That being when I read a certain book that inspires me to travel to a new place or think fondly on a place I've been I will feature my review and emphasize the setting and why it makes me want to travel to said location! This week I'm talking about Who's That Girl and Nottingham, or to me, any small English countryside town.

Hever, England & Who's That Girl

Adventures in the Great Wide Somewhere // Travel Woes and Getting Lost

If you've been here before then you know I'm a fan of being brutally honest and keeping it real. Which is why I knew when I started writing more about my travels I wanted to include what I like to call, the stuff you won't see on other travel blogs aka when shit goes wrong. It's all well and good to post beautiful pictures and talk about the amazing time you had. I do this. But it's not always all sunshine and rainbows and beautiful sites. Shit goes wrong...a lot. And it's not all glamourous. So welcome to my first post of Travel Woes. This post will talk about my real one and only gut check, holy fuck what am I gonna do, panic moment of traveling. Thank God and baby Jesus that I've really only had one, maybe two, moments of panic. Here's one...

Excited and Instagram'ing pre shit hitting the fan

Adventures in the Great Wide Somewhere // Travel by Page to Scotland

 Back again, for quite possibly my second most read country! It's no surprise that I went back--yes, again--for the second time this year alone to England and Scotland. Sue me, they're my favorites. If I could have gone to Ireland too I would have had a trifecta of love but I digress. Today I'm talking Scottish books. These are my favorites and have grown my heart about 10 sizes just from reading them. When I was in Scotland earlier this year I didn't get to go to the Highlands so you can imagine how absolutely fucking mind-numbingly excited I was to be able to go this last time around! But before I knew if and when I'd ever get to see this magical place in person, I read about it...extensively.

If You Want to Travel To Scotland...

Adventures in the Great Wide Somewhere // Gift Guide for the Traveler in Your Life

The holidays are approaching so I thought it would be fun to put together gift ideas for somebody who loves to travel. Everything I'm talking about or featuring are gifts I myself have received so really, all the credit goes to my amazing friends and family who have been ever so thoughtful to me over the years. I've also broken them down into fun categories (well *I* think they're fun!).

For Travel Inspiration

Notebook with a Go-Getter Quote // I love notebooks. I especially love notebooks with travel quotes on them and I use them to brainstorm and plan my trips. A travel quoted notebook and help inspire you traveler where to take their next trip! (Thanks, Steph!)

Prints with Travel-Inspired Quotes // One of my favorite gifts ever was from Ellice (featured in the middle). It's my favorite quote from Me Before You by Jojo Moyes on a vintage map. SO thoughtful and inspiring and I LOVE looking at it. I'm obsessed with it and it is one of my most treasured gifts. This gift is thoughtful, inspiring, and will help your traveler feel read to take on their next adventure.

Book 1,000 Places To See Before You Die // What better way to inspire wanderlust than with a book highlighting not one, not ten, but a THOUSAND places to travel! I keep this on my nightstand and am always reading through different countries to inspire my next adventure. (Thanks, Estelle!)

Adventures in the Great Wide Somewhere // My UK Adventures Part 3

It's been a little bit of a break in between posts, real life and all that, but here is my final *sobs* part in my UK Adventures from a few weeks ago! In case you missed the first two parts here's how I spent my time in Scotland and London. Today I'm focusing on all the different day/weekend trips I took! I love London and Britain in general because of how easy it is to get to so many different places simply by train. The train and I were BFFs by the time I left and I don't regret one second I spent on it (cancelled trains and detours not included) because it always brought me to somewhere incredible. 

Adventures in the Great Wide Somewhere // UK Adventure Part 2

Hello, again! Welcome back to part 2 of my UK adventure posts! In my previous posts I talked about Scotland and the day trips I took, today I'm focusing on what I did in London. I was very fortunate to spend an extended amount of time in London and my heart was so happy. Having been to London several times before, it has never felt like enough. There is something about this city--and the entire of the UK, let's be honest as you can see in my other posts--that just speaks to me. I feel at peace when I'm here, when I'm in Scotland, it just makes me feel complete. This place is my travel soulmate. So yeah, I got to go back to places I've been before and loved and got to do so much new stuff and see places I haven't before. Best 3 weeks of my life! Here's my London, hope you enjoy!

Kiss List {October 2016}

After, oh I don't know, about 2 years I'm finally bringing back Kiss List which, let's be honest, nobody but me remembers. That's okay. What's important is you're here now. Before it was a mess of terrible graphics and my lack of direction. What I have in place that I hope to do each month is highlight my favorites of the past month in music, beauty, books, travel and entertainment. When most of my posts are about books it should come as no surprise that a book inspired me to pick this feature back up. After reading The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley, I realized how much I wanted to be able to have one post a month that helped me highlight my favorite read of the past 4 weeks because a lot of them get lost in the fray. Which then made me realize how much other stuff I wanted to highlight and talk about as well. So here we go! Kelly's Kiss List October 2016...

Adventures in the Great Wide Somewhere // UK Adventure Part 1

After wracking my brain on how to sum up my recent trip to the UK, Great Britain actually if we're being technical but I digress, I finally came up with a way to summarize my trip without making myself go crazy or you reading until your eyes bleed. I would love to be able to write a copious amount about everything I did because I had the absolute BEST time! I love each trip I've taken for different reasons but this trip in particular aligned directly with my heart and soul. England and Scotland are as much a part of my heart as Sicily is in my veins. I cannot say enough about how much these two magical places speak to me. I may or may not currently have both of their flags waiting to be hung in my room...

SO, what did I come up with?! A 3-part post highlighting my favorite places/photos in Scotland, London, and all the day trips I took. Starting with Scotland, here are my favorite spots and a little bit of why I loved them so much.

Adventures in the Great Wide Somewhere // Packing a Purse or Personal Item

One week from today I'll be touching down in London! I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am! I thought I would talk about my tips on packing a personal item as my last travel post before I leave the the blog is quiet. This was a huge trial and error for me to get to this and I hope I can save you some time and stress. I wasn't so fortunate and made a lot of annoying, not to mention heavy, mistakes but I digress.

So this is my final post in regards to packing tips is the personal item. (If you want to check out my checked bag post and carry on packing tips check out the links.) Listen, I have had a different purse/tote on every trip I've taken. I have yet to find an airplane purse/personal item that works for me. One day I will, it is my solemn vow. Until then I will tell you what I found the be essential in the overall packing process and planning your personal item. I finally figured out on my last trip that less really is more and by that I mean pack your carry-on backpack with all your 'must-needs to survive' essentials like we talked about and use a medium sized cross-body purse or tote to keep with you that has all your plane ride must-haves. Make it light. No joke, guys. Do not make your purse heavy or carry a huge tote with you. I've made this mistake and not only does it cut down on leg room because you have to shove it under the seat but it gets awkward to carry on your shoulder or elbow. A cross-body bag leave you hands free to find your passport, take out essential documents, and grab your luggage.

Adventures in the Great Wide Somewhere // Travel Quotes

In a less than two weeks I'll be leaving for another adventure! I'm so incredibly excited to be off to London, Scotland, and Wales I could explode just thinking about it! Seriously, I cannot wait. With that said, I wanted to share my favorite travel quotes with y'all today. I think about these all the time and they are the inspiration to me for everything I do. And a fun fact is that all the photos the quotes are on are my own personal photos I've taken while traveling. I mean, I'm in a lot of them if you couldn't tell but this project is one I'm especially proud of so I hope you enjoy!