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A Local’s Guide to České Budějovice
When I moved to Budějovice (international alias, Budweis) in 2013, there was almost no information online about this place, save for an extremely scant Lonely Planet blurb (and thank goodness for that!). Moving somewhere sight-unseen without knowing any information or what is actually there is a little unsettling, which is why I have for you this “visitor’s guide to České Budějovice” (pronounced chess-kay bood-yay-yo-vit-suh), written by a “new local”. As tourists have started to discover this city, more and more info is thankfully online, but I still present to you this guide I have written and keep updated. Whether you are looking into studying here, moving here, or maybe even making…
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of markets & museums, prague
i finally got to see those famous prague easter markets the day before easter sunday after missing them by chance for a few years, and i have to say, i don’t know what i was expecting (perhaps something more low key like budějovice’s easter market?) but they completely surpassed any expectation. i am well familiar by now with the extravaganza that is the prague old town square christmas market, and the easter market was basically the spring version of this. same viewing platform that you can climb to get a good view. same kingswood cider tent, only decorated for spring this time. i loved the (fake) cherry blossom trees that…
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liebster time, pt II
hello friends! i hope you’ve been enjoying this lovely valentýnska weekend. i have been so burnt out the past couple days of the week. on wednesday, i completely forgot to plan any and all lessons for thursday… and i never do this kind of thing. organized and prepared is always my m.o., but guys, i was just losing it. i cancelled one of my lessons just to get my act together. thursday evening, i set my alarm clock for the time i was supposed to leave the house instead of wake up (however managed to catch this error in the nick of time), but something was just not right. i awoke friday in a…
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zima
zima (winter) thoughts… // since i’ve cooped myself up for the entire month of january planning our honeymoon, i feel ready to get back out into the world and out of my hibernation! the only problem: it’s too damn cold. weeeee’ll see how that goes shortly. twenty one degrees farenheit doesn’t exactly scream “day trip” to me, as much as i’d love to. // finally getting my wedding dress tailored and looking at rings, thanks to a lovely student of mine who has a seamstress friend and knows all the best jewelry stores in town. with the czech koruna the way it’s been lately ($1 = 24.5kc… dear lord, please…
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My Three Week Poland Trip Itinerary
planning to visit an entire country in three weeks’ time is sort of daunting. the first step i took was to think about the obvious, unmissable places i needed to see on this trip. that would be kraków (my triumphant return!), warsaw (really jonesing to see it!) and gdańsk (love affair with this city ever since seeing it on the amazing race). with three major cities, i started to see a path forming in my mind: working my way up the country from south to north (or vice versa). the next logical steps were to fill out the other areas. i polled all of my facebook friends with polish connections…
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travel fails & how to fix ’em
travel is a learning experience. when anything goes wrong, it always comforts me to know that that is one thing i will not be doing again in the future anytime soon, and these experiences have helped to make me a better traveler. i don’t even mind thinking about or revisiting them because it helps refresh the moral of the story in my mind and it’s that that’s made me wiser.this week, i’m talking my biggest travel fails and what i learned from them… and what i hope you too will learn so you don’t make these same mistakes that i have. mistake #1: accidental fare-dodging on the prague metro system……
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panic at the supermarket
this is one of those everyday life expat stories. except this story has three endings. two are made up, and one is what actually happened. i was cruising down the aisles at our local LIDL, it was my usual weekly late afternoon grocery shopping trip with alex. we don’t have a car, so we have to figure out a time that works for us and meet in the town square and walk across the bridge, south to the store, and then schlep it all home in our fabric tote bags until our shoulders fall off. we like LIDL the best because it’s uncomplicated, it’s got bargain prices, the cashiers are…
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I Dyed in Szczecin
it was my last full day in poland and i was on a (very very full) train from the hel peninsula bound for szczecin, near the german border. i chose to visit szczecin because i’d heard a lot of great things in the travel bloggy world about this gritty polish harbor city and i wanted to see it with my own eyes. naively, when booking the trip i planned a handful of “one-nighters”, and this was one of them, my last hurrah in poland. but little did i know that one nighters aren’t such a great idea when you’re on a long backpacking trip. those days were such whirlwinds and admittedly,…
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a year of travels: 2014
you know those facebook “year in review” things where it shows you your year as if it knows you? (and how well can a social media website know you, anyway?) when i clicked on mine, a photo from 2013 popped up as the centerpiece and then a load of random photos: reggie watts (?!), a landscape shot of hel, poland, a still from big brother 16. just pathetic, facebook.sometimes, if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. in that spirit, here’s my travel year in review of only my favorite travel memories… and it’s been a heck of a year and i’m feeling really thankful about…
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ABC’s of travel: travel tuesday
happy travel tuesday! it’s a very special one for me as i have been chosen to be a co-host for the next couple months (alongside the lovely bonnie, courtney & yalanda) and i couldn’t be happier about it. so thank you! i’ll do my best to make you all proud. for my first week abroad the #traveltuesday express, i wanted to share a little about myself and travel moments, and if you’re new around here, so you could get to know this orange-haired american in czechland a little better. i present to you, the good ol’ abc’s of travel, cynthia-style. (a)ge you went on your first international trip: age 9, on a family…
