This is my second time is Paris. The first go round was not so pleasant. The people were iffy, the food was blah and the weather was just nasty.
This time we spend time in the champagne region, touring champagne cellars, hanging with mutual friends and even saw the sun! Here are some photos.
Word to the wise. If you’re in Colombia and have an extra 2 days it’s worth going to Tayrona National Park in Santa Marta. Go with a tour company and get ready for some of the most beautiful beaches you’ve ever seen and a bumpy ass 2 hour ride.
Word to the thirsty: charge your phones , the thirst traps are A1
Before we get into the photos (and yes there are a lot of them) let me answer a few questions.
Yes,all of the cars are like that, I maybe saw 5 that were modern
No, your cellphone will not work AT ALL
Yes, they like Americans, it’s our government they don’t like (neither do I so it’s cool)
No, you’re fine, I went with my 3 girl cousins and we walked around at night by ourselves
Yes, it’s cheap AF and the food and drinks are delicious, my whole trip was maybe $1k including flights, air bnb, food, activities, taxis (and we ate at the most expensive restaurants)
No, your credit cards will not work AT ALL
Yes, the majority of the people speak Spanish and a little bit of english but really try and know some Spanish before you go, it’ll make your whole trip easier.
No, it’s not hard to enter the country, don’t let the press fool you
Yes, they love Che and do have some issues with Castro (who doesn’t)
No, you shouldn’t judge anything about the country, place or the people until you visit, and not just visit with learn some of the history, talk to the people and really try and have an open mind if you did you might just learn something 🤔
Yes, I went with an open mind and did all of the above and my conclusion? Like always America is the worst 😂
Now for the good stuff.
So I’m trying to be a grown up, and put away a little money for savings, for some traveling, buying a house a new bag, a Cartier ring, normal things — but it’s hard.
Living in a city is full of temptation, I want to go to brunch, I want to buy expensive sushi for lunch, take ubers everywhere and just generally be a bougie lady but alas, I need to be a savings Susie.
It’s hard when Beyonce is coming out with concert tickets, and headlining Coachella, Revolve has a new sale every day, and there’s a new noodle restaurant opening down the street from me but sacrifices must be made. Since the invention of credit cards (way before I was born) I’ve struggled to not justify buying something I normally can’t afford and just make little itty bitty baby payments on it every month, which is why I’ve now found myself with an amazing 4 credit cards with a combined limit of well over $100,000 (thank you American Express). Swiping that amazing piece of plastic and watching those rewards (or free money as I like to look at it) build up is a feeling that cannot be beat.
Plus, my dad always said, good credit is super important so why wouldn’t I want to keep building it up?
On a serious note, saving money and being frugal sucks, but I’m sure one day when I’ve finally purchased my home in the south of Spain and I’m wearing 5 Cartier bracelets it’ll all be worth it.
So I know last time was really focused on the Transylvania portion of Romania, but besides Spain I think I spent the most time in Romania (a whole week) so it really does deserve more than one post. Once we got back from the coast we did a walking tour of the city (I’m surprised we made it with how sick we were) and learned a ton about the communist history of the country. Our guide was super great, informative and took us to some real hidden gems.
Also who knew Romania was so beautiful? I didn’t, unfortunately my camera had 16% the whole time I was there and I spent most of that on Dracula so here are some of my really good iPhone photos.
Palace of Parliment, Second largest administrative building in the world (besides the Pentagon)
Peles Castle, summer residence of the Royal Family (Did you know Romania had a royal family? I didn’t)
My main man Vlad – aka Vlad the Impaler aka Vlad Tepes, aka Vlad Dracul aka DRACULA
Fun Fact: There are tons of monasteries in Romania
This building was beautiful and I think it’s a bank?
This deserves it’s own post separate from the Romania post that’s coming, only because I’m obsessed with Dracula and vampires. For as long as I can remember I’ve been into vampires, the undead, the myths and the legends everything. On on this day my dreams came true.
Dracula’s castle is located in the mountains of Transylvania, Romania. Lucky for me my friend wanted to rent a car for our stay in Romania (good thing too because we were seriously dead from Sunwaves) so we could take our time visiting all the sites and seeing the Romanian countryside. But seriously who knew it was so beautiful.
Ok enough of the countryside. HERE IS DRACULA’S CASTLE. Some fun facts and my personal discoveries. 1) It wasn’t nearly as big or menacing as I had hoped 2) It was actually really nice inside 3) Vlad Tepes aka Vlad Dracul aka Dracula who Stoker based the novel off of never lived here, in fact he was only imprisoned here a few weeks.
Fun fact Castelul is Castle in Romanian!
Literally overwhelmed by emotions
It’s Vlad
Inside Courtyard of the Castle
Traveling can be a great, beautiful and wonderful eye opening experience. But do people ever talk about the not so glamorous side of traveling?
You know- when your stuck in traffic trying to get crosstown in London to make your flight to Spain? Or when your staying in an air bnb in Amsterdam and can’t figure out for the life of you how to use the washer and end up fucking up all your underwear? Or accidentally drinking the water in Morocco and having to go to a pharmacy in Romania just to get meds so you’ll stop shitting your pants?
Nope. Not a peep of this. Well all of these these instances are true and have all happened to me so let’s get into it.
I hope I took the right doses because Google translate did not help with this one
I’ve been to Morocco twice. First time I was a cautious Cathy. Didn’t drink the water, didn’t use ice cubes in my drinks and didn’t even brush my teeth without a bottle nearby. Luckily I escaped unscathed. The second time I was a little more ballsy and had been already traveling for about 2 weeks at that point. I brushed my teeth with the water, ordered ice in every drink and even let a little shower water get in my mouth after a particularly rough hike and I felt fine! Until I didn’t. Towards the end of my Morocco trip I started to feel a little funny, which I merely chalked up to travelers stomach (yes, it’s a real thing). When I got to Sevilla a few days later I knew something was definitely wrong so I stocked up on some trusty digestive cookies (a real Spanish staple) and kept it moving. However it wasn’t until a week later when I found myself in Romania driving back from Draculas castle that I knew something was wrong.
Clearly too excited to notice the rumbling going on beneath the surface.
As we were rounding a corner entering a small town I thought to myself “this is it. This is the moment when your life will change forever because you’re literally about to poop in your pants”. My life flashed before my eyes and I actually almost cried. Real question. Have you ever almost shit your pants? Like clenching your butt cheeks, praying, vision going blurry shit your pants. It’s like you can see the future and it’s not bright, you know from that moment on your life will forever be divivded into two parts like BC and AC. BS and AS – before shitting and after shitting. Just imagine for a second what your life you would be like if you actually pooped your pants at the age of 27 and were not drunk or had a serious illness. Anyways, In the middle of her story I blurted out UHIHAVETOFINDABATHROOMLIKENOW.
Luckily my travel companion knew me well enough to know that it was an emergency, we found a somewhat abadoned restaurant, waddled our way inside and the rest is history. When we got back to Bucarest we made a beeline to the nearest pharmacy. Lucky for me Europes pharmacies are very different from Americas. In these pharmacies you walk in, tell the pharmacist what’s wrong with you and bam. You got your meds. No questions, no prescription, no nothing. So to the pharmacist in old town Romania. Thank you for saving my intensities, my dignity and my wallet. Although I have no idea what these boxes say because I speak approximately 0 words of Romanian, as far as I’m concerned these are little miracles in a box and cost a whopping $4.
So ladies an gentlemen the lesson here is to never drink the water in Morocco, always have a pepto bismal handy when traveling and never be ashamed about trying to explain to a random Romanian stranger that you need meds to stop you from violently pooping your pants. It happens to the best of us.
Happy Travels!!
The only thing I could eat in Bucarest
In Morocco.
Unfortunately the Internet is so terrible that I can’t even upload photos. In the meantime! Check out @theshadeistooreal for some sweet visuals for your life
This week is Mish-Mash p3 aka the food edition I want to present to you some outtakes I have from Cordoba, Madrid and Portugal. This first photo is from a little patio in Cordoba that actually served decent Mexican food. One this I will say about Cordoba is that they have some bomb ass food. I went here with my friend after we had a pretty wild night out. We went for breakfast then (because everyone hates a comedown) came here for some after breakfast drinks. The weather was beautiful and Cordoba is known for their patios (aka random outdoor areas in the middle of their restaurants) I usually HATE food pictures, but I’m really hungry so whatever.
This next photo was taken in Madrid about a week after we arrived in Spain. Once again I hate photos of food but as I said, I was thirsting for American food – I forget how bad the sugar and fat withdrawals can be for us Americans when traveling to a country that actual cooks their food in FDA approved substances.
Look at that blur on those fries, super proud of my camera for this one
This was in Portugal, Lisbon to be exact. In front of a huge monument with all the faces and bodies of the Portuguese conquistadors. Kind of creepy if I’m being honest but whatever. Even though it’s huge and very impressive, I think I spent more time look at this super awesome conquistador graffiti than the actual monument itself.
The Struggle 