Why I love traveling, and you can too!

Happy Wednesday! A few months ago one of my blog besties, Molly, reached out about me participating in her series on a color of our lives. I decided to share this post on my blog today as a little throwback and to reiterate my love for traveling. I hope y'all have a great day! xo

When Molly approached me about writing this post it was clear to me what I should write about...traveling. Traveling is something that defines my now 23 years of life. I've hardly traveled in comparison to the immensity of the world but that's something I hope to remedy for the rest of my life. So today, I'm going to share some of the places I loved!

I admittedly have not done the best job about traveling within the United States. But this past spring my college roommate and I traveled to San Diego. I fully recapped our trip in 2 parts here and here. Check it out! Some of the best spots from my trip were...

Seeing the Pacific Ocean for the first time and eating a delicious breakfast at Pacific beach...

...and visited the famous zoo...

...and walked around beautiful La Jolla.

If you get the opportunity, visit San Diego, I promise you won't regret it!

If you're looking to travel internationally Brussels, Belgium should be on your list. Brussels stole my heart with it's quintessential old European charm. The people are amongst the warmest and kindest I've ever encountered. 

The food is insanely delicious too!

If you're traveling alone or for the first time Belgium is a great place to visit. Most of the locals speak English, it is very safe and clean, and it's pretty tourist friendly. I also visited Brugge and Ghent while in Belgium as well. All of my Belgian recaps are here and here.

I've always beat to my own drum. So it wasn't surprising to me that when given the opportunity to study abroad in Russia for 2 weeks, I jumped. I had been looking for a short study abroad opportunity my junior year but could never figure out where I wanted to go. I didn't want to go to a typical place so Russia was the best fit for me! I would definitely encourage anyone to visit Russia. It was an incredible experience.

I've hit some of the highlight cities of Europe but Russia is such a unique culture. It's a completely different world and pace of life over there. It was so great to contrast my European travels with this trip. 

It's important to venture out and see parts of the world that aren't as polished and idealized. It's humbling and teaches you so much. I wouldn't necessarily recommend traveling by yourself to Russia though because it is a huge culture shock. It isn't as tourist friendly as other areas of the world. I skimmed the highlights of my trip here. 

I've also had the opportunity to travel to Spain, France, London, and Scotland. All of my trips enriched my life in some capacity. A couple of tips that I learned from my trips...

1. To set reasonable expectations. Traveling isn't always easy. It's expensive, exhausting, and challenging. Of course, it's one of the most rewarding experiences in life but it doesn't come without hurdles. I dedicated a whole post to touching on this. Check it out here.

2. Europe is a great place to visit because you can hit a lot of great cities and countries all within one trip. Utilize the trains that can travel within a country and internationally! I was able to do day trips using the trains. I talked about this tip and a couple others here.

3. Utilize staying in Airbnb. You get a larger space for a lower price! Also, it gives you a point of contact in an overwhelming new place. I talked about it in depth here. 

4. Pack a lot of layers and pieces that can be mixed and matched. Weather in Europe is all over the place. It tends to be chilly and rainy but other days its sunny and hot. You have to be prepared for all situations! Also, you're taking so many pictures that you don't want to remember how you wore yoga pants at the Eiffel Tower...am I right!?! I unpacked my suitcase here. 

Well there are some of my tips and experiences with traveling! I hope that y'all took away something to help you or inspire you!