Travelling Lore

I have a huge list of books that I want to read, but I find myself distracted by activities that requires less attention at the end of the work day.  I used to read a lot as a child ( Nancy Dre w mysteries were my all time favorite), but now I'm lucky if I'm able to squeeze in half a dozen books in a year.  I always tell myself that 30 minutes a day spent reading is easily attainable--and for me, it should be; but I get distracted by social media or Words With Friends on my phone, or catching up with various shows on DVR.  Either way, I need to improve my reading attendance, especially since I have a pile of books to get through! It's a new month, so I'm going to set a goal to read one book per month and then write a short review of it as proof.  Without further adieu, this is what I read in May accompanied by a short list of what I'm currently reading.  I've always had a habit of starting multiple books at once, even as a kid. GEISHA OF GION: THE TRUE ST...

Oh goodness, these photos are from our layover in Frankfurt on our way to South Africa, which we visited over a year ago.  I truly am just the worst travel blogger.  It's a good thing no one pays me to do these.  I also forgot to bring my travel journal on this trip, so no help there for me, either. As I mentioned, we were on our way to South Africa and decided to try out a different style of traveling whereby we do a long layover so that we can stretch our legs and see another country.  If I remember correctly, at the time we bought our tickets, sometime in late 2017, our long layover choices were only in Brazil, Turkey, or Germany.  Usually we book flights with the least amount of layovers possible, and if there are layovers we usually choose those that are shorter.  However, it seemed like a good opportunity to try something different and to see a country that I had never seen, if just literally for a day. I can't remember...

Gosh, it's been such a long time since I checked in on my blog.  Honestly, it's such a time commitment even though I make no money off of it whatsoever and I sure as hell am not a viral sensation.  The main reason I even blog is for the sake of preserving memories first and sharing experiences with fellow interested travelers second.  Unless I have photos or write things down or something amazed me to the fullest, I have the worst memory for remembering the details.  I often remember the oddest details of our trips and can usually remember the names of towns, but since my husband is our trip planner he has the investment of time on his side for recollection of our travels. That said, I came on here because I want to write about/share a story about some free "entertainment" we witnessed during our excursion to Puerto Rico in January (I can't believe we're in May already!).  Yes, yes, I am way more than several trips behind on this blog, but so it...

Yea, so, it's obviously been a while since I took some time to write about my travel adventures.  The same old story--I am still incredibly behind recounting some past trips (Bali, Singapore, Philippines, Quebec City, Portugal, Spain, total eclipse trip in the USA, Iceland) and now I can add South Africa to that list.  But I loved our trip to South Africa so much that I might revisit that first before I get cracking on this backlog.  In the meantime, here's an Instagram roundup of most of the photos I shared on social media.  Check out my Instagram for photo captions (hint: yes, that last photo is a hyena kill).  I have SO. MANY. MORE. photos to share from my "big girl" camera and I can't wait to check them out.  Stay tuned! Follow me on Twitter , Bloglovin , and Instagram .

In  October 2016  we took the trip of a lifetime to Australia, Bali (Indonesia), Singapore, and the Philippines.  Because I am the slowest travel blogger ever, I am just now putting all of the photos together and revisiting old/recent memories and travels.  Since Australia was our shortest segment of the trip, we hired a guide to drive us around the Great Ocean Road, which was fantastic because it also included some wildlife viewing both in natural, wild surroundings and on a nature preserve, all in a day's worth of fun. My husband, who does a lot of the research for our big trips, booked our tour with Oceania Tours   ( this tour , specifically) after combing through reviews.  Our very amiable driver, whose name I unfortunately can't remember (because, as mentioned above, I am the slowest travel blogger ever, which leads to forgetfulness of details) picked us up at our hotel in downtown Melbourne.  And so we began our drive to the Great Ocean Road...

Wow, I can't believe this last Yosemite post has been sitting in my draft folder for 2.5 months!  This is also my very last post about our honeymoon to California, which was, at this point, over 1.5 years ago.  Talk about time flying by quickly!  Without further ado.... On our second day in Yosemite we chose to hike a few miles farther than on our first day--about eight or nine miles.  I really wish I could remember where we started the hike (I'm trying to dig back in my memory nearly 1.5 years ago now!), but the highlight of the hike was the Sentinel Dome portion.  Before you get to the top you get to hike along trails that have these amazing pine trees called Jeffrey Pines...and they literally smell like vanilla!  Talk about the little things, but I just thought that was so cool! Anway, the hike to Sentinel Dome is well known for having the most famous Jeffrey Pine of them all, or what's known as the Ansel Adams tree (see his photo )....

Ah, Yosemite National Park--obviously (or arguably)  the  quintessential national park of the United States.  Known for Half Dome, giant sequoias, and numerous waterfalls, Yosemite sees about 4 million people visit its extensive wilderness.  Many choose to drive through Yosemite and stop to take photos at lookouts; but many still choose to plunge right in to nature and hike one of the park's many trails. We were in Yosemite for three days, which I think is the minimum amount of nights you need to get a decent taste of the park's grandeur.  A lot of the trails are longer than five miles round trip, so unless you're a fast hiker, be prepared for those to take all day.  On our first day we opted for a shorter hike in Tuolumne Meadows .  If my memory serves me correctly, it was about a five mile round trip hike. Tuolumne Meadows has several short day hikes  and is a good place to get your feet wet and your muscles primed for a longe...