Travel Tuesday

So, as you guys know I used to do Wanderlust Wednesday's. However, I have been a bad, bad blogger so I am going to Link  up with Meagan @ Semi-Charmed Kind of Life for her weekly edition of Travel Tuesdays! I hope you all enjoy what I have to say about the prompt where I felt the least safe!


It's time to go back a few years...to my summer of studying abroad. The weather was hot and a 5 day break was upon me, and I figured...I'm in London. What better place to take off to for a few days than PARIS! What girl hasn't as some point dreamed about strolling past the Eiffel Tower or gazing longingly at the art in the Louvre? So, a few of my friends and I hopped on a plane in Scotland and made our way for the City of Lights.

To begin with Paris was intimidating! It was the first country I had ventured to where English wasn't the language of choice....and I had never even tried to speak French! In fact I tended to respond to people in Spanish! (Hola, gracias!) Talk about confusing! I'm sure everyone I encountered believed I was a crazy American....the funny part is...I don't even speak Spanish! I mean I know the very basics...but not enough to even attempt to get by! So Paris, overwhelmed me a bit from the beginning. Add that to the four instances I have been involved in, in Paris and you can say that while I love it...I'm also a bit leery of it!


Incident #1 - Visiting the Louvre.

The Louvre is fabulous, and huge. There is no way you can ever experience the whole Louvre...it's impossible. So what are four girls with very different tastes going to do when they begin to explore the most famous art museum in the world? They are going to split up! That's right!  So after arriving in the Louvre I head on over to the information desk and check out  tape recorder that gives out information on the Louvre as it pertains to The DiVinci Code (nerdy, I know!).  I'm listening to the soothing voice in my ear as I explore all over the Louvre...I'm in my own little world, on my own little tour...when I notice something....I'm being followed. At first I scoff at myself "Pssh. It's all in your head...why would an old man be following you?" So I quickly finish my personal  tour and notice the man is still around. So this in when I think..."well, maybe you're following a pretty common route." So, I begin to act erratic...and by erratic I go in bizarre patterns seeing nothing, circling around....and he's still there! The old man is never more than 10 steps behind me!  What the what?? This is when I duck into a female restroom to "pee" still pretending I don't notice the guy. When I emerge from the bathroom, he is still there WAITING! WHATTTT! So I abandon all pretenses at this point...I hurriedly skedaddle into the creepiest part of the Louvre (the ancient Egyptian section) and use my young age to my advantage dash around the museum and into a hidden female restroom...and this guys...is where I lose him. I'm convinced....CONVINCED that he was following me...he's in every picture I have from the Louvre that day, he was alone and staring at the restroom when I returned...and maybe he was harmless but the guy creeped me out!


Incident #2- The Metro. This is similar to the Louvre situation, but not as intense. A man followed me onto a Metro Car and proceeded to keep touching me. Smiling and touching...I was alone here too! I had a massive headache and was going back to the room to lie down for a few and this guy followed me off the car. I was eventually able to lose him by darting on to a Metro at the last second...but the way he kept touching me freaked me out.


Incident #3- The Eiffel Tower. This one is dumb...and funny...but I was incredible nervous.It was a bright beautiful day and I was sitting under the Eiffel Tower just taking everything in...when I notice that the people patrolling the Eiffel Tower all had like....machine guns! What the what? Now I am gun-shy at the best of times...and here I am in a foreign country, do not at all speak the language, everyone has beaten it into my head that the French hate the American...and I'm just nervous! The guns made me nervous...the way they were so proudly displayed...it seemed like it was giving us even more reason to be cautious and scared. The funny part is that while I was chilling under the Eiffel Tower...a bird pooped on me! Right on my pants! Now the bathroom lines were huge, and this is where the guns come into play. I was scared to pick a leaf from a plant to wipe away the poo because of the guns. Seriously? What were they going to do shoot me for picking a leaf? But my irrational, gun fearing mind had convinced myself that I couldn't pick a leaf because I don't speak the same language and it could be some sort of felony (like removing a rock from a State Park). Looking back on it, it was dumb...but it was how I felt!


Incident #4 - Fast forward a few years pass the other Paris Incidents. Move from Summer 2007 to New Years Eve 2010 (2011). My four best friends and I are at the Eiffel Tower waiting to count in the New Year. A group of guys is paying us a little to much attention, and I being nice am talking back. They are trying to take pictures with us...and I being naive don't think much about it and join in. At first it's just two or three guys...but then all of a sudden we're sitting down..and they have us surrounded...like there are several of them and they have us surrounded...it made me nervous. Now, I've always been taught that if you're nice to people things are more likely to go well but some of the people I was with weren't so nice...and maybe they took the right approach. Anyways, they have us surrounded and are trying to kiss us...and all sort of creepy things. Luckily, a really awesome group of Dutch people saw our discomfort and got the other guys to get lost....I'll always remember Jamie saying "Krystle! Don't let them take your photo they'll put your head on Lindsay Lohan's naked body," and I responded "I hope they do! So everyone thinks I have a body like that!" Lol, so maybe I wasn't terrified...but it worked out well in the end, and by just not losing our cool we were okay in the end....


I've travelled by myself several times, and have wandered around foreign cities alone...and those are the only times I can think that I was actually uncomfortable or nervous. It's a shame they all happened in Paris. Maybe that's why I don't love Paris as much as most people? Don't get me wrong I still love the city and all it has to offer....but I don't have the same love affair with Paris that I have with Amsterdam, London, Edinburgh, or even Charleston, San Francisco and Breckenridge!


I really enjoyed linking up for this Travel Tuesday and I hope you will too!

Where do you go when you day dream? A quaint European city? A beautiful island? The mountains? Wanderlust Wednesday gives you the opportunity to drift off to where ever your heart desires...






So, here's the problem. I love Wanderlust Wednesdays, but I realize I'm not handling them the best.  Every day I'm yearning to go somewhere new and try something different...and I focus on places I've never been. Which is fantastic. But I think I need to focus it more on what I know. Maybe I'll write about an activity or a restaurant, or a famous site. Maybe I'll write about a travel article I have stumbled upon or a blog. No matter what it is....it's going to fall under my Wanderlust Wednesday genre. So without further ado...I present to you this week's Wanderlust Wednesday.
 
 
 
This week I stumbled across this blog : http://www.getinthehotspot.com/why-do-we-love-to-travel/, and it had an article all about why people choose to travel, and what makes their wanderlust clocks tick. So Get In the Hot Spot has their list.....and this is mine.....
 
 
1. You never know what might happen.
I have run into Amy Winehouse (RIP) in King's Cross Station in London.....ended up doing Laundry in a Scottish Castle outside of Edinburgh, met the Oregon Baseball Team in San Francisco and stumbled upon an amazing bar an nice people in Wisconsin. Not to mention my impromptu photo session and day of beauty with Lindsey in London......lol. Needless to say there is a huge list of strange things happening to you and traveling allows that. When you travel you're more open to new adventures and experiences......
 
2. You get to see the most beautiful places in the world.
Yes, growing up in Kissimmee, Florida I have been exposed to beautiful sites. The Disney Castle at sunset, sunsets and sunrises over Lake Toho, and the beautiful beaches that are about an hour away. But it is on my travels that my breath has been taken. The Colorado mountains either bathed in sunlight or covered in snow,  the drive along the Pacific Coast Hwy. Stopping at Pebble Beach and watching the seals sunbathe on the rocks. The Battery in Charleston, The Eiffel Tower lighting up once an hour in Paris. The beautiful gardens in Edinburgh. It's a fact that we take for granted the things we see or use every day. I sometimes/often overlook the beauty of Lake Toho or fail to pay attention to the pretty streets in Winter Park. However, when you travel your more attuned and you pay attention. Wouldn't you regret not taking in every moment of an afternoon at Versailles?
 
3. You meet new people. How else do you learn what a Scottish man really wears under his kilt? How do you learn about the best local beer in Wisconsin or about the great cheap night club in Soho London. Cheapskates night, and the thumb wrestling challenge would not have happened without them. Meeting new people and discovering what makes you different and noticing what makes you the same is part of the beauty of travel.
 
I guess basically the best reasons to travel is because it makes you aware. You're aware of your surroundings of what you are eating, seeing, feeling, drinking and experiencing. It's when we are traveling and vacationing that we actually live the way we are supposed too......in the moment.

Wanderlust Wednesday

Where do you go when you day dream? A quaint European city? A beautiful island? The mountains? Wanderlust Wednesday gives you the opportunity to drift off to where ever your heart desires...

I stumbled upon this picture today. Isn't that beautiful? As Liz Lemon would say " I want to go to there." The funny part about me wanting to go to there? I hate trains (I have gotten car sick on quite a few), and I am afraid of heights. But isn't that one of the most beautiful scenes you've ever seen? The crystal blue ocean, the white smoke of the engine encircling the train and the tall magnificent cliff it has obviously just wound around.

This is the Outeniqua Choo-Tjoe Train, in South Africa.

Crossing the Indian Ocean 118 feet in the air as you explore the Garden Route. No doubtedly being I hate traveling on bridges...I will be terrified (it is named one of the scariest train rides in the world), but

  

it's so epically beautiful. According to the Travel & Lesiure slideshow, once you pass this breathtaking bridge you move on to pass beautiful and picterous resort towns, a light house and soothing, sleepy rivers. All beautiful sites.

I mean, I'm all about Europe...but today I want to go to South Africa!

Wanderlust Wednesday

Where do you go when you day dream? A quaint European city? A beautiful island? The mountains? Wanderlust Wednesday gives you the opportunity to drift off to where ever your heart desires...

Today I'm dreaming of....the best bars in the world.

Today on the MSN.com homepage I stumbled across an article that claimed "The World's Best Bars." Well, if you know me, or you've been following this blog you know I love to travel and I love drink...and I love to drink while I travel.

Well, my oh my. This is the perfect list...and in fact I'm already dreaming that when I have money again I am going to attempt to knock all these bars of my list. Hmm....new goal to accomplish before thirty?

Anyways, enough of the dreaming here are the bars!

1. Connaught Bar- London. This Bar is known for its famous mixologist and it's martini trolley. The servers are famous for their white-glove service. The Connaught Bar is located in the Connaught Hotel which underwent a renovation in 2008 that came to the cool sume of 120 million dollars. The bar which was always known for it's Art Deco style was updated too. With the updates came the luxury liquor's including the Italian Gancia vermouth, and a Michelin-starred chef oversees the bar snacks.

Going to the Connaught Bar could happen within the next year, but I'll have to save up some money with all that luxury I'll be sure to be dropping pounds!

 

2. Rickhouse - San Francisco

 

I can't believe that I missed going to this place when I was in San Francisco last Spring. But make no mistake after my wonderful trip in March, I definitely plan on returning!

 

Anyways, the Rickhouse is the newest brain child of the owners of the the Bourbon & Branch, and it honors the Kentucky warehouses where Bourbon is aged. The Rickhouse has over 300 bourbon barrels that decorate the ceiling stresses the importance the bar places on whiskey drinks. A special at Rickhouse are their punches. One of their punches is a gingery Pimm's with gin and lemon. It's served in a milk-glass bowl with a blocks of berry-studded ice. This sounds like pure HEAVEN on a hot day. Rickhouse is definitely on my list of places to go!

 

 

3. Paris- Curio Parlor

 This comes directly from MSN.com "In 2006, Romee De Goriainoff abandoned a career in finance to open the Right Bank's Experimental Cocktail Club. Curio Parlor is on the Left Bank; it has the same terrific cocktails in a more elegant setting, with chandeliers and taxidermy. His Strawberry Fields combines vodka and Champagne with a garnish of "slapped" mint, while the Copa Verde is a more unorthodox mix of tequila, honey, and avocado." Avocado? Honey? Tequila? Sounds like an amazing Mexican dish. I'm ready! I wish I had known about this place this past New Year's or even when I was there in 2007. But make no mistake...I will travel to Paris again and I WILL find this bar!

That's the top three and the top ten is pure amazing; from a bar in Tokyo described as the Galapagos Island's of bars to Amsterdam, Berlin and back to Paris...all the bars sound amazing and I hope I can one day have the privilege of ordering a drink!

Check out the rest of the article here!
http://www.delish.com/food-fun/best-bars-world?gt1=47061

30 Day Challenge- Day 20 A Picture of Somewhere You'd Love to Travel

Ireland

Italy

Czech Republic

Peru

Canada

New York City

Maine

Switzerland

Spain

Galapagos Islands

Okay so I narrowed it down to 10......but I mean this is Confessions of a Chronic Wanderluster...what did you expect?!?!

Wisconsin.....here I come!

Add a new leg to the trip! I now am going to be in Wisconsin on June 11th!

I've never been to Wisconsin and had never put it on my list of places to see....HOWEVER, one of my best friends is getting married and he has recently extended the invite! Not only will I be attending but I'll be hosting trivia in between the reception and ceremony....ummm did you just combine my favorite things? HECK YES YOU DID!

New travel destination....check.

Being able to celebrate the big day with a best friend....CHECK!

Hosting trivia at said event......check...

Make that Disney trivia...Check Check!

Congrats to Jeff and Bobbi! May they have a long happy life and marriage!

Meanwhile I'll be checking up on what to do!

http://www.midwestweekends.com/plan_a_trip/best_trips/favorite_places/1000_best_places_midwest.html

Wanderlust Wednesday

Today is Wanderlust Wednesday and for the first time in a long time I am semi-stumped. Not because there aren't a million places in the world I want to travel too but mostly because the trips I am planning all are places I've been before. How many times can I tell you guys about Charleston, Colorado or Arizona before you want to shove me out the window?

Anyways, I do have the dates set for the Colorado part of my trip....and by the dates being set...I mean that I know when I'll be arriving on June 17th....and I'll be staying at Valdoro Mountain Lodge!! The Valdoro Mountain Lodge is a rather pricey (and worth it!) place to stay but for cheaper options you can check out The Great Divide Lodge (http://www.rockiesguide.com/hotels/Colorado/Breckenridge/greatdividelodge/).

The Valdoro Mountain Lodge is nestled into the base of the mountains in Breckenridge, Colorado. Breckenridge is approximated 87 miles West of Denver, Colorado and offers some of the best skiing/snowboarding in the Winter and is an ideal location in the summer. In fact the slogan of Breckenridge is "A Real Town with Unreal Skiing." Whether you visit in the summer and rent bikes to bike around the small town, or you are there in the winter to ski there is always something to do.

Some of the best stops in Breckenridge include Downstairs at Eric's(http://www.downstairsaterics.com/) - Where everywhere else just sucks! It's a great sports bar with amazing food that is ideal for both singles, families and the alike! My personal favorite is their grilled cheese with soup in the winter but I would be amiss if I didn't mention their amazing pizza and the simple fact that I have never had anything bad there. Plus, in a town where finding your favorite game on tv may be difficult Eric's is always willing and able to put your game on!

This year I am also going to attempt to not Kayak. I've been white water rafting in Colorado plenty of times and have done everything from a Class I to a Class V, but this year I want to attempt Kayaking. We'll see how it goes! Kayak Park (http://www.townofbreckenridge.com/index.aspx?page=1059) is free to all and accommodates everyone from beginners to experts (think...those who belong on the bunny trail to the black diamonds). However, those who are bunny kayakers (like me!) might want to take a short drive out to Lake Dillon and test their skills there! You cannot rent kayaks at the Kayak Park but there are plenty of places near by that rent Kayaks. In fact if you're interested in biking (or attempting the bike ridge from Breck to Vail (no thank you!). You can usually find a Kayak and a bike in the same place!

After Kayaking a must is to hit up a Brewery or Pub! There is a Marina Bar on Lake Dillon (http://www.yelp.com/biz/lake-dillon-marina-dillon) that offers amazing specialty drinks and a great locale! Just don't worry about sharing your seat with an oversized puppy, as Dogs are more than welcome. However, if it's an actually brewery you want Breckenridge Brewery (http://www.breckbrew.com/) I recommend Agave Wheat or Oatmeal Stout and countless other breweries in nearby Frisco or Dillon are absolutely to die for! Locals are usually great about offering advice and being friendly so don't be afraid to ask questions or to belly up to a bar!

Also, last but not least is Mary's Mountain Cookies (http://www.marysmountaincookies.com/webstore/). These cookies are to DIE for! In fact after my brain surgery last year my aunt over nighted me some to cheer me up and I believe they are the reason I recovered so quickly! But, seriously, these cookies are absolutely delicious and huge (1/4 pound!!!!!)! While I would suggest sharing one no one would judge you if you kept it all to yourself! You can get a variety of flavors as well as an ice cream sandwich stuffed with delicious creamy super sweet frosting. Another extra guilty and amazing option is the raw cookie dough! That's right you can just buy a souffle cup of raw cookie dough!

I realize this is a cluster of information about Breckenridge that skips from topic-to-topic and may or may not be of help. But I hope that you like me get a chance to experience the wonderful world of Breckenridge!

Wanderlust Wednesday

So lately, I've been thinking about taking a road trip. Yes, a road trip. This is a huge departure from my usual wanderlust wonderings....because usually I dream of Europe, or places far, far, away. But recently I've realized there is a LOT of this country I have not seen. So, I am thinking about road tripping. My family is taking a family vacation to Breckenridge, Colorado and I'm considering driving out there (from Kissimmee, FL) and then driving to visit a friend in Las Vegas, and my brother in Phoenix, Az.

I also, want to go to South Carolina and I may take a class in California....but do I want to road trip the whole thing? Am I insane? Or is this a great idea? Anyone out there no a website that calculates how much a route will cost in gas? Anyone know of a cheap way to find places to stay along the way? Just looking at the photos makes me want to go! The question isn't should I stay or should I go, the question is.....should I fly,  or drive?

Anyone have any road trip suggestions? Been on one? Have a route the recommend?

Wanderlust Wednesday

Doesn't that picture just make you want to go? I have a busy day today, so I thought I'd just show you a photo that might make you get the travel bug itch!

(Editors Note: I thought I had posted this yesterday, but apparently I had saved it as a draft...so Wanderlust Wednesday, is a day late.).