quarta-feira, 30 de novembro de 2016

3 things for my future bucket list

On my previous post I shared with you 3 things on my travel bucket list I have already done. On this one I will share 3 things and only 3, although the list is bigger, I haven't done yet.

I must say that I don't put a limit to when I need to check an item off  my travel bucket list, just as long as I plan well enough to someday conquer this travel dream.



1. Road trip across the USA: this is an old one. One of my biggest travel dreams and yet to be fulfilled. So, why haven't I done this yet? I still haven't finished planning! Sometimes, I say I need a month to do it, sometimes I say, "To hell with it, I'm gonna stay the whole 3 months I am allowed in the country!". I have drafted dozens of itineraries. From New York to California is my first option, but then what about Key West?, and Route 66?, I may drop by Montreal, I also should go up to Seattle, but if I am already there I can also visit Vancouver and once in Vancouver, why not go all the way to Alaska? Do you see my dilemma? I want to visit all the states and maybe more! Of course that when I am planning these itineraries I never think about how much money I would actually have to spend in one month road tripping across the USA. And it's a lot! Back to the list... but one day it will become a reality.  Then I will definitely write a huge post about it!

2. Italy from North to South: oh Italy... a place I have never been to but would love to spend a long time there. I want to visit Italy from North to South, South to North. Don't know exactly why I would love to go to Italy this bad, but there is something about the food, the language, the monuments that attract me. 

3. Giraffe Manor Hotel: this is a very recent item that went to my travel bucket list. Have you ever seen those pictures or videos of giraffes sticking their heads into windows and people feeding them? I thought this was a type of photoshopped picture, but it isn't! The giraffes stick their heads into windows at the Giraffe Manor Hotel in Kenya. How cool is that?! And you can also see Pumba from the Lion King in the hotel. Ok, not actually Pumba, but this is how I'm gonna call them! Staying at this hotel is definitely not for the budget traveler that I am, but this is the reason why I have a savings account! 


Here you have 3 very different places on my travel bucket list yet to fulfilled: the USA, Italy and Kenya. Don't know long it's going to take me to one day check them off my list, but it doesn't matter, planning is also part of the fun. In these 3 places what I want the most is to collect amazing and unforgettable experiences. You know that book "Eat, Pray, Love"? This will be my Drive, Eat, Relax type of travel!



segunda-feira, 7 de novembro de 2016

Travel Bucket List: done it!

I took this picture of the airplane wing when I was flying somewhere. A classic! And when is the best time to think about your next trip if not when you are coming back home? Exactly, we, born travelers, just never stop thinking where we're going next. We must have a list! A travel bucket list! And we must stick to it, because this list will probably never end, the more we travel the more places we want to go!


That's why I decided to share with you 3 things on my travel bucket list that I have already done! Hard to choose only 3, but these 3 took me a lot of planning and daydreaming to achieve, which makes them even more special. Someday I'll share my entire bucket list with you, then you can also tell me yours!

Guimarães Castle
Starting with the most recent one: entering a castle. I'm from Brazil, no castles there. And when I say castle, I mean a medieval castle with those square spaces; which, by the way, now I learned its proper name 'battlement' (an indented parapet at the top of a wall with alternating merlons and crenels for decoration or defense). So, that's it. Bucket list: castle battlements! 
When I knew I was going to Portugal, I saw a big opportunity to see these types of castles. I saw two in the Lisbon area before visiting the Castle of Guimarães, in the north of Portugal. But this one, I entered! The admittance fee was €2, though it's only the walls and towers, I was extatic. I was there for the battlements! I was inside a real castle! Full of history! Medieval! Bucket list: check!  

In 2015, after much planning and daydreaming like I told you the beginning, the trip to Ushuaia, in Argentina, finally got off the paper into reality. It would become an unforgettable family vacation to the end of the world. Plus, I would celebrate my birthday there!

Ushuaia, The end of the World!
This quaint little town had been on my bucket list for quite some time, and it did not let me down. We went during spring, and the weather was perfect. It even snowed! It is a very windy city, so my purple jacket wasn't enough. 
We took walks in the city, went on a boat tour where we saw sea lions at their natural habitat, we also went all the way to the Beagle Channel and got the chance to get off on an isolated little island in the middle of nowhere. To be this connected to nature brings you an enormous sense of joy! Plus, we rented a car and went all the way to the end of Route 3, which starts in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and a little more than 3,000 km later ends in Bahia Lapataia in Ushuaia. Oh, I almost forgot to mention about my birthday there. We simply celebrated it on the Martial Mountain, having a fantastic overview of the city and a snow cake!

Curação, Kenepa Grande Beach
Number 3 on my bucket list is the Dutch Caribbean! In 2014 I crossed off my travel bucket list the island of Curação, in South America. My husband and I spent our honeymoon there, and I must say we made an excellent choice. I remember when I arrived at the hotel, I told the receptionist that I would like to see everything I saw on Google images and she smiled at me. And it was even better!
The surprise of seeing the color of the water from up close, the touch of sand in your feet, the hot pleasant weather, the fish not being scared of you at all, the warm evenings, the colorful houses in the city, one beach trying to be even more beautiful than the other... I would definitely go back again!

So here I shared with you 3 things on my travel bucket list I have done: the castle, the end of the world, the crystalline waters. What did you write on your travel bucket list the past 3 years?