Tag: personal

R.I.P Anthony Bourdain <3

I write this with such a heavy heart. It is so sad to see someone with so much life meet their end in such a tragic way. Anthony, not only sparked my interest in travel with his life, but his passing has moved me to start writing again.

I remember watching Parts Unknown and living through his adventures. I knew one day that would be me stepping off the plane and connecting with the locals and immersing myself into their culture. That day has passed and I’ve been able to meet so many beautiful souls, and I feel as though my journey is just starting.

 

I wanted to write this post to the one beautiful soul who helped me see the world before I knew there was one outside of the U.S. Thank you Anthony, I hope that your soul is free and wherever you are there is good food & better people.

 

If you or someone you know is battling with depression, please know you’re not alone and help is out there. I have suffered with depression and I know that it’s not easy. No matter how much light there is in the world, there always seem to be a dark cloud approaching. I don’t know where I would be without my support system, they help me chase way those grey skies, it’s some things I can’t do alone. Not everyone has a support system or knows how to reach out because they think they’re alone. You are not! You are strong and you will be okay, its time to talk to someone!

Below, I listed the links for websites that provide you with the resources you need to help you with those dark clouds.

 

United States National Suicide Hotline

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

International Association for Suicide Prevention

http://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres

https://www.befrienders.org/need-to-talk

I also found a list on IBPF.ORG with a list of numbers to call around the world, which can be found by clicking this link ,  or reading below:

Argentina: +5402234930430
Australia: 131114
Austria: 017133374
Belgium: 106
Bosnia & Herzegovina: 080 05 03 05
Botswana: 3911270
Brazil: 212339191
Canada: 5147234000 (Montreal);
18662773553 (outside Montreal)
Croatia: 014833888
Denmark: +4570201201
Egypt: 7621602
Finland: 010 195 202
France: 0145394000
Germany: 08001810771
Holland: 09000767
Hong Kong: +852 2382 0000
Hungary: 116123
India: 8888817666
Ireland: +4408457909090
Italy: 800860022
Japan: +810352869090
Mexico: 5255102550
New Zealand: 045861048
Norway: +4781533300
Philippines: 028969191
Poland: 5270000
Russia: 0078202577577
Spain: 914590050
South Africa: 0514445691
Sweden: 46317112400
Switzerland: 143
United Kingdom: 08457909090
USA: 18002738255

 

Love ❤️

Angela

 

 

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 ❤

Birthday in Cancun 

It’s my birthdayyyyyy, I can fly to Cancun if I want to!

It’s only right to celebrate your birthday in Cancun at a 5-star resort! Because where else would I spend my birthday? Don’t answer that.

I travel a lot. But rarely do I travel to 5-star luxury resorts where everything is all inclusive! Maybe 24 will be that year for me *cheers to luxury* haha.

I’m only slightly kidding.
We flew United, cautiously, and headed to Cancun from Ohare. The flight wasn’t that bad, honestly. A little less than 4 hours and a 20-minute cab ride to the hotel to be greeted with Moët and a few other surprises unbeknownst to me 🙂 it was worth it.

I just wanted to share a few pictures/videos from my vacay as I’m not sure when I’ll post again about Cancun.

 

 

 


 

 

 Thank you, Mommy! 💗💗💗

Travel Highlights of 2016

2016 was one for the books. I traveled a lot, my job sent me to some awesome new cities, I got a boyfriend, I lost a boyfriend, I started my blog :), I interviewed some wonderful women, and did I mention that I traveled a lot?

This year has also taught me a great deal about myself. 2016 was the first time in a long time that I actually craved something stable. I wanted some place to call home, I got tired of hopping around from city to city. I didnt have luck in finding that one stable thing, but it helps me to know that thats one of the things I’m looking for in the future. Dont worry, Im still going to travel its just time for me to start figuring out who/where/what I want to be in the future.

Anyways,

Here is a highlight of my 2016.

 

Walk With Me: Chicago

WTF?! Can you believe I have never done a Walk With Me: Chicago??? Thats kind of crazy. Chicago is so beautiful and I feel so lucky to call it home (sometimes). Here is a collection of photos from my year in Chicago. I need to take more, but this will have to do for now. With this walk hopefully you will fall in love with my hometown.