Before I left for Ireland, I knew there would be benefits to traveling solo. These benefits I likened to a new-found independence, ease in social situations and confidence. While I didn’t assume these positives would come out of solo travel, they were aspects to traveling I suspected I would gain. In the end, I did find a new sense of confidence. I also discovered just how much more independent I could be. Talking with strangers became much easier for me after a month of solo travel. However, there were a few surprises in the solo travel department. Perhaps you have traveled solo and found Continue Reading
Suzy Stumbles Over Travel: Week of May 23, 2011
As I get ready to hit the road for California in less than a week, I bring you this week’s Suzy Stumbles Over Travel. In case you are new here, each week I ask writers and readers to submit their favorite travel posts of the week. I read each submission, comment on the post, tweet the article on Twitter, stumble it using Stumbleupon and post a link to the piece on my Facebook page. The following week, I select my five favorites to be featured here and the stumbling begins again into the next week. Just a few things to keep in mind, please only submit one link per person each week. Leave a Continue Reading
For Love of Travel, Not Destinations
Sometimes, it is not the destinations we remember, but how we arrived. As travelers, we are always so preoccupied with destinations. I want to go here. I have to see this and that. However, I didn’t fall in love with destinations at a young age. I feel in love with traveling to them. My first memories of traveling are in the back of a blue suburban. Sometimes under the cover of night, my four other brothers and sisters and I would pile into this monster of a vehicle and head out where our parents had planned for us to go. From exploring the U.S. north, east, south and west, road trips were Continue Reading
Suzy Stumbles Over Travel: Week of May 16, 2011
As another week goes by, I bring you this week’s Suzy Stumbles Over Travel. In case you are new here, each week I ask writers and readers to submit their favorite travel posts of the week. I read each submission, comment, tweet the article on Twitter, stumble the post on Stumbleupon and post a link to the piece on my Facebook page. The following Monday, I select my five favorites to be featured here and the stumbling begins again. Just a few things to keep in mind, the post you submit must be travel related. You have until the end of the day on Friday to submit. Please only submit one link Continue Reading
The Dingle Peninsula, Ireland Wishes You Were Here
A pile of stones is never just a pile of stones in Ireland. It is a facet of history, a connection to times long since past, someone’s former home. On the Dingle Peninsula of Ireland, the landscape is speckled with homes and forts of residents who might have just grunted to communicate, too preoccupied with getting food and surviving and nothing more. The Dingle Peninsula rests above the famous Ring of Kerry. It has a quiet over the Ring of Kerry as it lacks the steady stream of tour buses. There are tour buses making the Slea Head Drive, but they are few in number. The peninsula centers on Continue Reading
Solo Travel Staring
I sit in a dark pub sipping Smithwicks as I receive a few stares. As a woman traveling alone, walking into a pub in Ireland is not the easiest thing for me to do. I believe it is the idea of wanting to involve myself in pub culture, but at the same time I don’t want to attract creeps thinking I am alone for a reason. I walk into this pub in Doolin, Ireland, perhaps incredibly self-aware and assured, but I fumble. I watch two local twenty-somethings giggle at me as I ask if I can sit anywhere. Of course you can, you pub novice fool. It’s a pub, not a five-star restaurant. I head for a table Continue Reading
Suzy Stumbles Over Travel: Week of May 9, 2011
As it gets warmer in Denver, I bring you this week’s Suzy Stumbles Over Travel. In case you are new here, each week I ask writers and readers to share their favorite travel posts of the week. I read each submission, comment, stumble the piece on Stumbleupon, tweet the article on Twitter and post a link to the submission on my Facebook page. The following week, I select my five favorites to be featured here and the stumbling over travel continues. Just a few things to keep in mind, please only submit one link per person each week. The article must be travel related. You have until the end of Continue Reading