Where I've Been Wednesdays

Let me tell you about my new favorite city. NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA. I've always known that I would love New Orleans. I had my mind made up before I even packed my bags that I would love it there. I'd heard nothing but good things - friendly people, good food, live music, and lots of booze - all in the dirty south. When the Saints won the Super Bowl in 2009 I felt so happy for the people of this awesome city even though I'd never been there and don't really care all that much about football. Then I became hooked on HBO's Treme (if you're not watching it, start). My step dad is a frequent visitor of NOLA and has been telling me how much I'd like it there for years.

So when my girlfriends told me that they were going to Nawlins for our friend Britni's bachelorette party there was no way I was missing out. A weekend of drinking with my best friends in my soon-to-be favorite city in America? Sign me up!

I was not disappointed. A town where you can walk around with a drink in hand, where the bars stay open all night, and are mostly hole in the wall bars where jeans and tee shirts are the dress code, is my idea of a good time. Plus a couple places thrown in where us girls could shake our asses (they even played Britney) - what more could you ask for?

But it wasn't just the drunken antics that made me fall in love with New Orleans. There was so much to see and do. So much so that my only complaint was not having enough time there. 3 nights was enough time to sample a bit of the amazing food, a lot of the night life of Bourbon Street, beignets from Cafe Du Monde, a little live music on Frenchman Street, and to walk around the touristy parts of the city. 3 nights there was enough to make me know that I need to go back.

Where I've Been Wednesdays

A few weeks ago I blogged about my adventure climbing a glacier in New Zealand. Being the girly girl that I am, I thought this was a pretty big accomplishment. I'm sure you could gather from that post that I do not consider myself the ''outdoorsy type''.  If ''The Great Outdoors'' means laying on the beach, then yes I am outdoorsy. I love sunshine and fresh air. But dirt, hiking, bugs, and woods? I think I would much rather book a nice hotel thank you very much. I would like to go camping more often, but that is because I like smores and campfires. I can suck it up and not be prissy if smores are at stake.


Traveling is all about being out of your element. On a trek in Thailand I was certainly out of my element. We spent the days hiking and the nights in a little shed-sort-of-thing with mosquito nets hanging over our sleeping bags. Ash loved this part of his time in Thailand, but I look back on it as one of those things that are amazing to say that I've done, but not too high on my list to do again. I know most of you think I was just laying in the sun the whole time I was away but here is proof of the contrary! And amazingly Alyson and I survived this trek without too much whining and complaining. I could hear my Uncle Scott's motto ''suck it up'' in my head over and over ... I did suck it up and ended up walking away with amazing memories (and a million bug bites)!

 the terrain

Alyson setting up camp

a friendly visitor

our guide ''Jackie Chan''

the facilities - shower & toilet

5 star accommodation right here folks

dinner

ah can't believe I put that thing in my mouth

actual dinner, Thai camping style

 gorgeous Thailand

peace love & hiking! - I can't remember if this was before or after we had our teeth whitened in Thailand but dang they look pearly!



On a side note, when applying for college I thought I wanted to go to Appalachian State University! That thought lasted about 5 minutes, so glad I ended up at the beach :)

Where I've Been Wednesdays

(Thursday edition)


Do you know many people who have hiked a glacier? Well you know at least one - me! Yes me! I know, I can't really believe it either. Hiking and climbing are so not my thing. A popular saying in New Zealand is ''get amongst it'' - so when I was there that was the attitude that I had to take on. I did a lot of things in New Zealand that I never thought I would do - bungy jumping, skydiving, zorbing (http://www.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&q=zorbing&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi) to name a few. And glacier hiking. I'm not going to lie, it was hard. And I probably wouldn't do it again. But it was beautiful and rewarding. I was so proud of myself and Alyson when we got to the top and looking back on it I think it was pretty bad ass. Totally worth the week of sore legs to earn the bragging rights and to have the wonderful memories. Check out a few of my favorite pics below -

view from the bottom, I remember thinking noooo wayy was I going to be able to climb that bad boy

gotta look the part

crampons!

 drinking glacier water, a once in a lifetime experience

ok I take it back, I'd do it again!

Where I've Been ...

How is it Wednesday again? This week has flown by! For this week's segment of Where I've Been Wednesdays I am writing about INDIA. I've recently been watching a hilarious tv show called An Idiot Abroad and last week was an episode about India. It was so exciting to see places that I've been and relive crazy experiences. I really think that me and Alyson could have had an amazing reality show when we were traveling. We were 2 idiots abroad!

I actually can't believe that I've been to India. It just seems crazy to me to think about sometimes. Some people go to India to seek spiritual enlightenment or to ''find themselves''. The greatest lesson that I learned during my time in India was to stop ironing my hair. Not to stop straightening it with a proper straightener, but to stop putting my head on the ironing board to achieve super straight hair in under 5 minutes. (the picture above was taken pre-incident) My ironing board method hadn't failed me since I started doing it when I was 16, but the irons in India are unreliable and completely fried my hair. I had to cut off more than 6 inches. This made me a cranky traveler. Well to be honest, lots of things in India made me a cranky traveler. It was hot, stinky, dirty and crowded. There was so much litter and so much poverty. And the food was horrible! There is no red meat anywhere (even McDonalds) and it's hard to eat the chicken or pork when you see chickens and pigs running around the streets eating the trash that is piled up everywhere. When we left India I swore that I would never go back, I thought that I had ticked it off my list, it's cool to say I've been there, but I would certainly never do it again. Well it's been over 2 years and if someone handed me a ticket to go tomorrow I certainly wouldn't turn it down. Seeing that tv show last week (and when I was reading Shantaram!) made me want to go back and do it all over again. (Also when Julia Roberts first arrives in Delhi in Eat Pray Love!)


I am sure that parts of India are beautiful and not crowded. I love Indian food, there must be some good curries somewhere in that country, I just didn't experience them. I know that India is meant to have beautiful beaches, but the parts of India where we were you had to have your knees and shoulders covered at all times. It was June and reallllly hot. We had one long skirt and one pair of long cargo shorts between me and Alyson. But we knew all of this before we went. I knew it was going to be hot and dirty. I wanted to experience India. And even though I was miserable for a lot of the time I was there, I had an amazing experience and made amazing memories. The people were so friendly, and the experience of getting goosebumps in 100 degree heat when you see the Taj Mahal for the first time is certainly worth it. I am so glad that I did and I would recommend any one going to India if they ever have the chance. It's certainly an experience you'll never forget.

''Where I've Been'' Wednesdays

One of my favorite things to talk about, experience, and therefore write about is traveling. I've been to some really interesting places so I thought that once a week I should write about them ... or maybe start making a list and doing some research on places that I want to go. This week I chose to write about Fiji for two reasons - first of all - It's frrrreeezing in London. Some of my friends are in Turks & Caicos at the moment and I am super jealous. I need warm weather! Secondly, exactly 2 years ago today, I was there!

 ''Bula!''

Fiji is made up of a bunch of islands. You could spend ages just traveling around and enjoying all that this paradise has to offer, but when I arrived I just needed to chilllll. It was the end of a 6 month backpacking trip (with my friend Alyson) and we wanted to do nothing but work on our tans before going back Home. We chose to stay on the main island (Nadi) and we lucked out by finding this amazing resort. It has private or dorm accommodation so it was perfect for us. I actually googled their website this morning. The dorms are around £14 ($22) a night and the private rooms are £45 ($65). Really reasonable! Man, the website brought back such good memories! They have an awesome pool right near the beach, hammocks everywhere, great food, cheap beers, what more could you ask for?

http://www.fijibeachouse.com/fijibackpackersaccommodation.html

One of the best things that I did in Fiji was a shark dive. It was terrifying but amazing at the same time. I felt like I was on Discovery Chanel's Shark Week. Alyson couldn't go because she had an ear infection, so I was on my own. I'm actually really proud of myself for doing it and I would totally do it again.

Fiji was the perfect mix of relaxation and adventure for me. But what about romance? The resort where we stayed was actually the set of a British TV reality show called Celebrity Love Island, and you can see why. So romantic!

I wasn't looking for love when I was at the reception desk booking my shark dive (wearing a tiedye tee shirt, striped pj shorts and a serious case of bed head) but love found me. His name was Ash and I instantly had a crush on him. 2 years later he still makes me giggle. He is the most sexy, smart, and big hearted person I've ever known. We're celebrating our 2 year anniversary this weekend.

leaving Fiji, on the way to LAX. We'd only known each other about 5 days at this point!

Fiji has such a laid back attitude. Everyone there talks about being on Fiji Time, where things get done when they get done and you plan your day around the beach, the pool and the bar. Going to Fiji changed my life. It was a celebration of the end of an amazing trip with Al, I had an amazing adventure on my shark dive and I met the man of my dreams. I thought it was the end of an amazing adventure but it turned out to be only the beginning. I wouldn't be sitting here in London today if I hadn't gone and if I hadn't taken a chance on love. I can't wait to go back someday.