It’s Saturday night and Alice Walton is calling the hogs. The traditional Arkansas Razorback football hog call is something outsiders like myself never completely understand. The “Woo, Pig, Sooie!” cannot be uttered at certain times and comes with an entire set of hand gestures akin to jazz hands, jazz hands. And yet, in this northwest corner of Arkansas and throughout the state for that matter, great care, great devotion is paid to the University of Arkansas Fayetteville’s football team. You come here to call the hogs, just as Alice Walton is tonight. Alice Walton, the heiress to the Continue Reading
Achill Island, Ireland Wishes You Were Here
I cross a bridge no longer than the lengths of a few cars, its purpose almost frivolous. And yet I find myself to be wrong. No matter how small the detachment, how short the bridge between two lands, you can find a world away from this world so quickly and simply. Accessed by a road bridge from the Currane Peninsula in County Mayo, Achill Island is Ireland’s largest island. While the country is one large island, Achill Island is merely a miniscule piece of its whole. Littered in Megalithic tombs, forts and ruined watchtowers, I begin driving through this piece of Ireland trapped back in Continue Reading
My ABC’s of Travel
Christine of Christine in Spain tagged me well over a month ago to share my ABC’s of Travel. As I am the world’s top procrastinator, I figured it was about time to spell out this alphabet. This is a fun A-Z survey to get to know the travel secrets of our favorite travel bloggers. If you’re chosen, fill it out and choose 5 travel bloggers you want to know more about! A: Age you went on your first international trip: I know I had crossed the border into Mexico on a family vacation to San Diego and visited Canada around the age of 4, but my first international trip I truly remember is when I Continue Reading
Extremadura, Spain Wishes You Were Here
This week’s Wish You Were Here post comes from Will Peach, one of the site editors at Gapdaemon.com, the gap year travel community website for backpackers and young independent travelers. Will is fascinated with learning Spanish and studying as much as he can about the culture of his adopted country. He likes to visit sleepy Spanish towns and sit in cafes with a cafe con leche and slice of Spanish omelette while pouring over grammar books. Be sure to check out his writing and follow him on twitter at @willpeach. Spain can be all things to all people, yet for me it’s simply home. My part of Continue Reading
The Bold Civility of Montgomery, Alabama
“Alright Big Daddy girl, will you have a banana pudding?”, the rough and tough waitress asked me in Montgomery, Alabama. I had ordered a barbecue pork sandwich called the “Big Daddy” which apparently gave me the fine title of “Big Daddy Girl” for the evening. She was the type of waitress who told me Blue Moon was a local beer, calmly frazzled on her first day of work. The sun had just set on Montgomery when I overheard a conversation. A group of guys shouted across the street to their friend heading on her own way. They asked her if she would be fine walking to her car. She joked in the Continue Reading
New York City Wishes You Were Here
I get in line behind construction workers and a few men in suits. My mom and I are the only women around, with the exception of a Fox News anchor getting ready for her moment in the sun. As luck would have it, in one of the biggest cities in the world, we stumble upon a schnitzel food truck, Schnitzel and Things. Having heard about this New York City staple food truck, perhaps only in my dreams, it all seems meant to be to stop for an early lunch. My mom and I sit on the steps of a bank building, along with our fellow diners of businessmen and those in construction. Gorging on my schnitzel Continue Reading
Turning the page at New York’s Library Hotel
Full Disclosure: I received a complimentary night at the Library Hotel. These are my opinions about my experience. Your opinions my vary. The libraries at my elementary school, high school and college were anything but inspirational. Going to any one of the three meant a paper of great length where a dozen sources from actual books were required. I spent much of my senior semester of college on the spooky third floor of my college’s library, figuring out how to use microfilm and read through every book on the Sicilian mafia in the state of California for my thesis. And while the space Continue Reading