Barcelona + The First City I Fell in Love With

Almost 14 years ago I first discovered Barcelona and I've been back twice to experience and explore the unique culture and architecture. 

My first time in Barcelona I remember I was 11 years old and crabby from just having experienced my first bout of jet lag and then we came up from the metro and I saw Sagrada Familia and my eyes bugged out with excitement. All of a sudden I no longer felt tired and irritated, I felt like an explorer who had just discovered an entirely new world and I couldn't get enough of it. 

At the top of Parc Güel you can take a survey of Barcelona's short skyline but what pops out is Sagrada Familia, whose construction began in 1882 (13 years after my house was built!)and it is STILL under construction. It has taken so long because the funding for it comes strictly from donations. 

Casa Batlló

Throughout the city you will find BEAUTIFUL, unique and kind of crazy architecture and its all most likely done by Antonio Gaudí. Probably my favorite building he designed was Casa Batlló. It is colorful and weird and looks like an exotic lizard. 

Colors are constantly exploding across the city whether it is in the architecture or on the street performers along Las Ramblas.

The Mercado de la Boqueria is tucked away along Las Ramblas and if you don't look hard enough you might pass up one of the most vibrant and lively staples Barcelona offers. When I studied abroad in Barcelona for 5 weeks I would visit the market once or twice a week just snapping pictures of the changing environment and of all the colorful fruits and candies most of the stalls sold. 

Had I not lived with a host family, I would like to imagine that this market would have become a part of my daily routine, shopping for that nights dinner or grabbing a snack before class because who can pass up Haribo candy?! 

Please excuse the tourist that got in my way!

If you didn't already figure it out, this market is one of my favorite places to visit when I'm in Barcelona because its not too touristy and you get the feeling like your a local doing your daily errands in this beautiful and colorful market. 

Barcelona will always spark a light in me and it seems that when ever I do talk to people about this city I get excited and passionate about describing the streets and culture and architecture. 

Getting Lost in Travel Magazines

Afar, Travel + Leisure and Conde Nast Traveler have evolved to be staples in my reading list. They all help inspire me to travel to the furthest reaches of the globe, let my Carmen San Diego-ness flourish and capture beautiful memories with my camera. 

Afar Magazine fell into my lap about 2 years ago and I could not be more grateful. Everything about Afar is so unique and different from other travel magazines that I read, even just the texture of the cover is kind of exciting! 

Being buried in these magazines every month keep my curiosity of the world growing and evolving and I would recommend to everyone I know to read them and explore the world and learn about different cultures. Even if you don't like reading much, the photography alone could catch the attention of a goldfish! I'll admit I have fantasized about some of my photography featured in these magazines.

Afar Magazine fell into my lap about 2 years ago and I could not be more grateful. Everything about Afar is so unique and different from other travel magazines that I read, even just the texture of the cover is kind of exciting! My favorite articles to read every month is following one of their writers as they're thrown into an adventure with 24 hours notice. They send them to sometimes obscure rural areas and then other times they get off the plane and are surrounded by the lights of Macau. It's always fun and has me on the edge of my seat to hear how they deal with new environments and language barriers and new experiences!

Elbowing Tourists and Penguins

Walking up the undisclosed winding road to Boulder Beach lined with palm trees and quaint houses you could never imagine that just around the corner lived thousands of little penguins on a secluded beach. The South African Government has built this raised walkway along the beach and through the trees so that people can transform to being flies on the wall to this colony of tuxedo studded birds. I could have stayed there for hours watching them stand on the beach and watching the rebel penguins swim in and out of the arctic current water.

At any attraction there is always that one sweet spot that gives you the best view and everyone knows about it and elbows their way to the front in frustration. There are the tourists that fight their way through the crowds and then there are the tourists that will tap their feet and roll their eyes and look at their watches until they make you so uncomfortable you have to leave. Then there was me who waited methodically for a spot to open then slithered my way in and didn't look back… and it was completely worth it! 

Observing these animated, wild and exotic animals (exotic to me having growing up in Chicago)was such an amazing experience. I fully embraced and enjoyed my few minutes in the golden spot and was blown away by the contrast of penguins and this incredibly clear turquoise blue water and palm trees.

Preparing for South Africa...

For the last 5 months my sister Ana has been living in Capetown and interning at the Red Cross Hospital. Based on her instagram, she has been living the life down there with weekend sailing trips, music festivals and wine tastings as well as persuing her passion to work with kids. I am so proud of her for following what makes her happy and for taking the opportunity to travel as much as I did during university. I am beyond excited to be reunited with her and have her show me South Africa through her eyes.  

Packing for this trip has been somewhat of a puzzle since on our way home we will be stopping off in Amsterdam for a few days and currently Capetown is entering their summer season and Amsterdam will be in their Fall season. Trying to pack as minimal as possible for 2 different climates is difficult but the challenge is exciting!

I’ve never been to South Africa and before my sister started living there I never imagined or desired to go there so soon. It was definitely not on the top of my travel list but the first time she came back with pictures and stories I was sold! So tomorrow my parents and I are traveling halfway across the world to visit her for 2 weeks and explore Capetown and Amsterdam.

Kidless at the Pumpkin Patch...

There was one thing that was very evident after we’d taken 5 steps into Sonny Acres, we had forgotten to bring a child with us to the pumpkin patch since apparently everyone else had made their sunday a family event there. None the less we had fun on what turned out to be a perfect Fall day where the sun warms you up as it hits you and the leaves are a perfect burnt orange hue as they make that wonderful crunching noise under your feet. Fall is without a doubt my favorite season. I am a very visual person so seeing the leaves change colors and the vibrant hues they transform into makes me appreciate Chicago and makes the cold weather a little more bearable.

Our mission was to find the perfect pumpkins for carving and after grabbing a quick bite to eat we stumbled upon a little patch of untouched pumpkins. As soon as we realized what we had found we turned into overprotective miners that had just hit gold and we were playing defense against little kids while we picked the best pumpkins. Once we had hunted and gathered 4 beautifully orange and round pumpkins to carve we scooped them up and started walking to pay. Unfortunately they were a bit too heavy for me so we stopped half way and as I slowly and carefully set them down to not bruise them… my very nice Vince jeans decided it was their day to rip right in the crotch. For anyone else this probably would have been terribly embarrassing and ruined their day, fortunately for me I was familiar with this situation as it had happened to me before and much worse, so we had a good laugh and continued on our pumpkin hike to pay for them. When we discovered they would cost nearly $50, we quickly jumped ship and instead settled for mini pumpkins to carve. Overall it was a perfect Fall experience rich in warm colors, ripped pants and pumpkins.

Collecting More Stamps Than Carmen San Diego

  Photo: Milano Centrale 

Traveling has always been a part of my life. My first airplane ride was at three months old to visit my mother’s family in Mexico. While I clearly have no memory of my first international travel and no passport stamp to prove it I still see it as the beginning to a long and wonderful love story between travel me.

I am fortunate enough to have amazing parents that saw traveling as an opportunity to give my sister and I what they never had growing up in families of more than five kids and immigrant parents. My parents also saw traveling as a way to teach us about diverse cultures and colorful cities that you couldn’t possibly learn about by sitting in a classroom.

They helped spark a love of travel in me that has taken me around the world. I’m 24 years old, and I’ve already visited 15 countries and grown up a lot along the way. I’ve visited some of the most beautiful cities in the world and even had the opportunity to live in Paris for a year and Milan for 3 months.  My favorite adventure to date was my month trip through South East Asia with one of my good friends Zoe. We ziplined through the jungles of Chaing Mai, snorkeled til I’d seen every fish in Ko Tao, kayaked through Halong Bay, dodged cars and tuk tuks through the streets of Hanoi and bared through the thick humidity of Hong Kong.

All of those cities come with many stories of embarrassing moments, amazing adventure, undeniable excitement and happiness, some travel failures that I learned from and many more emotions and photos that I hope to share later on. I would like to use this blog to share my traveling  and life stories and photos with you because in my short 24 years I feel like I have done a lot, and I am grateful for every opportunity I’ve had and created for myself. Hopefully it will spark inspiration and or at the least make you laugh a little.