What They Don’t​ Tell You About Traveling

This shit is exhausting. Like, seriously. You don’t hear that though. You just hear about the places and the cool things that happened there. What travelers don’t tell you is that the actual traveling part sucks. It’s time to call BS.

I travel for work and leisure. My job is sending me to 5 different states all within the span of 1 week, that’s only 7 days! You do that math. I love my job but after this contract is up, consider me Houdini because I’m disappearing. Actually, consider me Nefertiti because I’m a Queen. ha.

I’m asked so many times “how I get to travel so often”, and how people would love to trade places with me. No baby, you don’t want to.

There was a trip where I went from Chicago, IL, USA – Bonn, Germany – Milan, Italy – Marrakech, Morrocco – Agadir, Morocco – Essaouira, Morocco – Marrakech, Morocco – Madrid, Spain – Bonn, Germany – Chicago, IL, USA-  Miami, FL – The Bahamas – St. Thomas – San Juan, Puerto Rico – Grand Turks – Miami, FL – Chicago for a week & a half  then back to Bonn, Germany.

Sounds like a lot, right? But on Instagram it looked like I was living the dream. A little like this :

 

 

But I wasn’t.  I can’t even begin to tell you how tired I was after that month. I was sluggish. I just wanted to sleep, every day, all the time. Your body needs time to heal after all of that. Honestly, I still haven’t really sat down since then, and that’s my own fault. It illustrates so differently on social media, but if you were to bump into me after any of my extensive trips you would see the bags under my eyes and how I turn every outing into something I can walk into with yoga pants and t-shirt.

It illustrates so differently on social media, but if you were to bump into me after any of my extensive trips you would see the bags under my eyes and how I turn every outing into something I can walk into with yoga pants and t-shirt.

And when I’m traveling for leisure, I usually need a vacation from my vacation. Ha. I’m not even joking.

It’s just funny that I write for a travel blog, I travel for work, I travel for fun, yet I only share the surface about traveling. I want when I write to feel like I’m talking to Muneek, Dean or one of my other close friends. I want it to be candid and raw and real.

And all my friends know that I’m a bit of a drama queen, so sometimes when I talk I just go a little overboard then dial it back down and say ” I still wouldn’t trade it anything else” and that’s true.

Yeah, I’m tired as hell, I don’t feel like unpacking, don’t feel like packing, don’t feel like taking a taxi to the freaking airport, don’t feel like paying for an upgrade to get out of sitting in that damn middle seat, don’t feel like putting my phone on airplane mode, and I don’t feel like searching for wifi so I can use WhatsApp.

But as soon as I step off that plane I go from DRAMA QUEEN to Woman of the The World, and I am so grateful for every opportunity and every piece of land that I get to walk on. I just had to complain a little before.

All jokes aside, I do realize how blessed and favored I am to be in this situation. Which is why you don’t hear me complain about it. I don’t take any of this for granted, at all. I just wanted to make light of the situation and tell you ( my readers) that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.

 

 

Ci sentiamo, Ciao ❤

Walk With Me: Yves Saint Laurent Garden

Words honestly fail me when trying to describe the vibrant garden dedicated to Yves Saint Laurent.  While it is a small garden in comparison to others that you may be used to seeing, for example, Garfield Park Conservatory is much bigger in size. What YSL Garden lacked in size it made up for in beauty.

 

 

 

They do have a small museum located in the garden for an additional fee, but we opted out and just enjoyed the garden alone. Twas enough for me.

Walk With Me: Agadir, Morocco

agadir

I think visiting Morocco was the highlight of my travels for 2016! While on a completely unexpected journey, my friend & I visited the city of Agadir. Agadir appeared to be the Laguna Beach of Morocco. It was extremely interesting to go from sand surfing in the dunes with nothing but sand to being on the beach with your feet in the ocean. Agadir is definitely a surf friendly city where I encountered more expats than natives… But that still didn’t stop me from exploring. If only we didn’t have a bus to catch, it would’ve been nice to stay more than a few hours. Until we meet again Agadir. Walk with me 🙂

 

Designer vs. Destination

Have you ever had to decide between the two? I have. Its not an easy decision either. Especially with me becoming an adult now, sometimes I think “Do you really need those Guiseppe’s?” “Do you really need to take off work for a month and travel Europe?”… Crazy!! The decisions you have to make being a 20 something year old in the city!

 

So I did a little comparison. Lets say one month you buy another pair of Louboutin’s Pigalle Follies  (August, $675 ) and then the next month you plan out a month long trip in Europe for the same price. Which one do you think is more expensive? Would you be surprised if I told you that I actually spent less on the Europe trip than the Louboutins? This isn’t to deter you away from purchasing your luxury goods, because even with this information, Im still going to splurge when I can. haha. I just wanted you to see what else you could be doing if for one month the money you spent on shoes, bags, and shades were spent on a trip.

Here is a look at my itinerary for my October-November, Europe (and Africa) trip.

Germany to Milan                                                                                $11 


1 night stay in Milan                                                                             $75


Milan to Marrakesh                                                                            $51


4 night stay in Marrakesh**                                                             $113


Marrakesh to Madrid                                                                          $31


3 night stay in Madrid**                                                                    $80


Madrid to Cologne                                                                              $32


Total                                                                                                     $393

** accommodations split between 2 people, does not reflect entire cost.

Thats insane, right? I still have money left over! Im thinking of adding a weekend trip to Portugal, or maybe the Amalfi Coast, who knows. The world is my oyster, with these affordable prices it can be yours too.

If you’re wondering how accommodations and flights can be so cheap, check out my guide to Making Your Dollar stretch in Europe!