Hi, and I hope your Wednesday or whatever day you are reading this post is going well. Ever since more and more people have been getting vaccinated, I have been itching to go on road trips, plane flights, and just travel. Those feelings are what prompted this post, some of my favorite places I’ve been. These locations have different stories associated with them, so I’m excited to let you gain a little insight into my own life and hopefully for you to feel those travel vibes, whether or not you have been to any of these places.
There were some other places I wanted to put on this list but couldn’t because I didn’t used to be the kind of person to take photos(or good ones for that matter) so most of these places were from more recent years. Now let’s take a trip down my memory lane; I hope you enjoy this post!
My Favorite Places I Have Traveled To
Paris, France
Could you honestly tell me one person who wouldn’t want to travel to Paris? It’s a charming city with beautiful architecture and cafes at every corner, not to mention it is one of the world’s most popular and desired tourist destinations.
A couple of summers ago, I traveled to this lovely city with my mom, and we had a fantastic time. I have family that lives there, so we stayed in their apartment, only a hundred feet from the Metro. Staying with my family was amazing, and almost every night for dinner, we had a fresh salad, baguette, and cheese. They also have a cat named Vitamine, which they named because she was very energetic as a kitten. I made a blog post about my trip to Paris when I first started this blog, so I would check that out if you want more details.
One highlight from our trip was the food. All of the ingredients restaurants use are so fresh and delicious. Everything tasted so rich and vibrant with flavor. Another highlight from the trip was purchasing my homecoming dress at a boutique in the city.
Calgary, Canada
The summer before my freshman year of high school, my mom, my aunt, and I went to Calgary, Canada, for a few days. This trip was slightly different from others because I was going for an academic conference and not as a vacation. Because of this, my expectations were a lot lower than usual when I would travel. However, my expectations were knocked out of the park by the end of the trip, and captured some of my fondest memories.
Since this trip was for an academic conference, our plane flight and hotel were already paid for, which gave us a little more of a budget for other things. My family loves food and going out to restaurants when we can, so we went to some fancier restaurants in the area. It was on this trip that I had the best gnocchi I’ve ever eaten, haha.
Calgary is a cool place because it looks like a big city and gives you those city vibes, but it is not very populated, so there is rarely any traffic or large crowds. Most of the time, people can walk out on the streets because there are so few cars. The city is wonderful, and I think it is sometimes overlooked by more popular cities such as New York, Boston, and Toronto. Still, I think it is worth a visit during anyone’s lifetime.
London, England
Ah yes. The land of Harry Potter and, honestly, where all of my preferred media comes from. When I visited Paris that summer, we also stayed in London for three days because that’s where our flight landed and took off. We stayed at the St. Pancras Hotel in London, which is also connected to the train station that took us to and from Paris. This hotel was filmed as the outside of Kings Cross Station in Harry Potter. So basically, we stayed at a Harry Potter filming location.
Some highlights from this trip included the London Eye, visiting the giant Lush store on Oxford Street, and seeing two plays, Les Miserables and There’s Something About Jamie, a coming of age story of a teenage drag queen and was amazing to watch. Oh, and I guess the Harry Potter tour was ok. I’m kidding lol it was my favorite part of the trip, and we got to walk around and see places that inspired the books and films. We also stopped at a shop reminiscent of Honeydukes and had all of the candy from the magical universe. My mom and I took a photo in the area that inspired Nocturn Ally; we also saw the place that inspired Gringotts, and the bridge that the death eaters destroyed at the start of the 6th movie(Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince), and just, so you know, the bridge wasn’t destroyed.
Disneyland, the United States
Disneyland! Located in Los Angeles is the happiest place on earth and is one of my favorite places. Before the pandemic, my mom, aunt, uncle, and I had annual passes and would visit whenever we could. We like to call ourselves “the Disney core four,” which is a little obnoxious lol. One of my favorite places in Disneyland is the Bengal Barbeque, which I like to call “meat sticks,” although it is kabobs, and there are vegetarian options. It is right outside of the Indiana Jones ride and next to a gift shop in Adventure Land. For the other three family members, their favorite ride is midway mania, which is in California adventure. It is sometimes a little annoying how many times they will go on it(they take winning very seriously).
I have so many potential Disney-themed blog posts that I would love to do in the future after I’m fully vaccinated, so hopefully, you want to see some of that content. That’s all for this week’s travel post, and I hope to see you again on Sunday.
