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walking london + the afternoon tea bus tour
i don’t really ever go on those “weekend away” trips everyone talks about when they move to europe. well at least, not of the kind with an airplane. flying is a much bigger “to-do” than the ever-convenient train, and when you live in the center of europe, it’s easier to get almost everywhere by train… except great britain. but a couple weekends ago, i did! it felt really fancy! i went to london, mainly with the intent of seeing a band i love so much i’d fly for– which i could write a whole post about in and of itself as it was incredible– but all the other in-between stuff…
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we are permanent residents.
the reason we decided to apply for permanent residence is, simply, that it’s a longer visa. we have been on the two year freelance visa for ages and as many of you know, our last go-around was rough. it kicked our asses. after five years of residence in the czech republic and passing a basic language exam though, you may qualify for permanent residence. well, this was our first chance to apply (now having lived here for over six years) and the language test wasn’t so difficult, seeing as we have lived here long enough to soak up loads of language and had three full years of czech lessons by…
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7 Things to Do When You REALLY Miss a Place – Homesickness Cures
I am an expert place-misser and I know many of you can relate! You go around the world and leave your heart in so many places, with many people, and then go back to where you live and just sort of slump around for awhile in those periods of heavy homesickness. And hey, homesickness isn’t just for your hometown. Travelers, wanderers and expats all know that the concept of home is a tad bit more complicated than that. Without a doubt, I believe it can be in another place where you leave your heart and it hurts not to be there sometimes… especially when you’re fresh from a trip to…
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the books of 2018
i cracked the code last year, for last year was the year i really discovered fiction. (choir of angels sing) i know, i know… please stop rolling your eyes. but if you’ve seen any of my past books of posts, you may notice that non-fiction has by far been my favorite thing to read. until now. i think it’s because i mostly have used my reading time as a chance to learn more about topics that interest me, but it happened more than once over the past several years that i couldn’t even crack a goal of twenty books in a year. this year, i read more than thirty! thanks,…
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year of life & travels: 2018
it feels cliché to start with “it’s been a year for the books”, but it’s true. 2018 has been my favorite year abroad since 2012, the year we started our adventure and moved to the czech republic. i touched on a few reasons why i thought that in a previous post but it’s mostly due to progress: progress with feeling at home here and building a life, huge progress in communication and language learning, and some of the best trips and memories to date. i feel like this is the year that living here, despite the trials we’ve gone through, has really clicked for us. all things coming together and…
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a simpler sort of christmas
hello all, i hope you have had a magical christmas wherever in the world you celebrated it, if you are in fact celebrating, that is. once again, we had a truly czech christmas here in budejovice. normally we get almost two full weeks of holiday for christmas, and we opted to stay put this year mostly because 1) iceland, which i felt was almost like a christmas in and of itself, but also 2) our visa issues (from receiving it to reapplying for our next) making us a bit lighter in the wallet this time of year. but no matter, we had decided to fully embrace a simpler sort of…
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airwaves glory days
i just had one of the best weeks of my life in iceland. now, i don’t want to get this crooked: it’s not because iceland “the vision”, magical fairytale place you hear mentioned all the time these days. reykjavik is a cold, dark (in the winter), windy place. it’s sprawling as all get out. it’s not always picture-perfect colorful buildings. even so, i have ended up falling in love with this city and country whose culture and music i so revere– that icy, treeless grassy nordic island. that’s what this ‘best week’ business is about. it’s also chalked up to the festival of my dreams (iceland airwaves – an annual mostly icelandic…
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october, lately + bake off update
hi guys. it’s been a strange start to the school year this time around. i’ve had a few work switcheroos and cancelled lessons throwing me for a loop – not exactly the kind of thing you want to have happen a month or so before you go on a big trip. ohhh, did i mention i was going on a trip next month? more perceptive readers will know i tend to post my travel plans on this page as soon as i’ve scheduled them, but i haven’t yet got a chance to mention that next month, one of my biggest travel dreams is going to come true. one that i…
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at summer’s end, 2018
now that summer’s in its last week, it’s time for some looking back at the best season of the year with my annual “at summer’s end” post. i guess i’m ready as i’ll ever be! what did you do this summer? i spent a third of this summer abroad, which is more than usual considering we didn’t fly to the united states this year – it was truly an amazing summer i’ll always remember! right after the school year ended, we flew to southern france and spent a week and a half mostly at a fantastic cottage in the drome provencale (+ a few days by the sea!). we then…
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summer reclaimed (& this month’s travels)
i have a lot to say lately, it seems! so far, this has been, by and large, a good summer. but the day after the solstice, i found out some immigration news that has made me become an incredibly stressed person for the next month. i was able to mitigate this stress while on vacation in france by just sort of hitting pause and enjoying the holiday we had planned for so, so many months. that’s the thing about worry: it’s stupid. either you can either do something about it, or you can’t. if you can do something, do that thing. if you can’t, don’t worry. especially when you spend…