Category Archives: Destinations

Miss Button’s Packing List: Costa Rica

23 Monday Sep 2013

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I apologize for the sparse updates. Balancing graduate school, 2 jobs and settling in to a brand new city has been thrilling but exhausting, and my focus has been on those things. I have not forgotten about you, though, dear readers!

As you know, I went to Costa Rica! I rocked out on a surfboard, climbed some volcanoes, got myself some sloth besties, swung like Tarzan, and a whole lot more that I haven’t told you about yet.

A beautiful day to inhale noxious fumes! Just kidding. Mostly.

A beautiful day to inhale noxious fumes! Just kidding. Mostly.

The end product of this–other than the frickin’ awesome time I had–will be a guidebook for solo female travelers to Costa Rica with Go! Girl Guides! If you’re as excited about this as I am, let us know!

Anyway, as a packing aficionado, I was puzzled as to how to start packing for a 7-week trip to the tropics.

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In the ‘Burgh

21 Wednesday Aug 2013

Posted by in Destinations, Travel Musings

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Hello,  Dear Readers!

Some of you know that I’ve recently made a big move!

Tucson will always be my home, but on Sunday I hopped on a flight to my new one: PITTSBURGH, PA!

What’s that, you say? Pittsburgh? Isn’t it, like…really cold there?

Ah, reader, how astute you are.

Yes. It does get really cold here. BUT it is also home to a marvelous university (a number of them, actually) called the University of Pittsburgh.

My new school! Which is actually one of the nation's oldest.

My new school! Which is actually one of the nation’s oldest.

Oversized felines must be the name of my game, because I’m going from Wildcat territory to Panther country!

INITIAL IMPRESSIONS

So far, I’ve found Pittsburghians (?? Burghers, better yet) to be very friendly and helpful. Especially cashiers.

  • Example: Had a whole conversation the other day with a Target employee about his son’s cell phone plan. It was also during this interaction that I began hypothesizing that Burghers tell Sara Button stories.* Perhaps I’m secretly a Yinzer after all.

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Missing Italy: Good Reads to Get You Through

01 Thursday Aug 2013

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Boys running through plowed fields in Umbria, August 2012.

Boys running through plowed fields in Umbria, August 2012.

I’ve been pining for Italy a lot this week. 10 months have passed since my feet last touched terra italiana, and while my friends are preparing for the Notte Bianca at Campo della Fiera tomorrow night, I am nursing my worsening Carpal Tunnel Syndrome with a new wrist brace and wishing I were dusty and hot under the Umbrian sun wielding a trowel or pick. 

I'm hard at work in the saggio at CdF. Photo by Marijn Stolk

I’m hard at work in the saggio at CdF. Photo by Marijn Stolk

To reign in my desire for cold Orvieto Classico and late-night guitar strumming, I decided to share some of my favorite reads based in or about Italy.

A Room With A View: E.M. Forster

 Perhaps my all-time favorite book, full of fantastically wise characters, rich scenery and perfect prose. It’s  certainly one of the best novels about Italy and its life-changing effects on those who it sweeps up into its pasta-laden arms.

Rather than spoil it with plot summaries, I’ll share some of my favorite quotes and hope it piques your interest enough to read it!

“One doesn’t come to Italy for niceness,” was the retort; “one comes for life.”

“Let us rather love one another, and work and rejoice. I don’t believe in this world sorrow.”

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Bumblings is Going on Pseudo Hiatus

17 Wednesday Apr 2013

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With all the shenanigans I’m going to be having in Central America in the coming months, the blog is going to be pretty quiet.

image

This morning, ready to hit the jungles and beaches of Costa Rica!

If you’re really craving some cool travel stories, I recommend checking out a few of my favorite blogs while I’m on the road (see Link Love).

And don’t forget to follow me @saramelanie14 on Twitter and Instagram for more up-to-date stuff (I’ll be posting there when possible)!

Pura vida!

 

Bumbling Chats: Levent Can

10 Wednesday Apr 2013

Posted by in Bumbling Chats, Destinations, Photo of My Day

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When we were in Turkey, we were privileged to meet many kind and generous people, some of whom you’ve heard about here on the blog. For a few days our friend Mehmet came to town and we got to hang out a bit with his buddy, Levent.

Levent is a gifted photographer, and one afternoon we all took a walk along the water; Levent snapped away on his camera and some of the shots he took really encapsulated certain moments in a unique and beautiful way.

Take a look.

Istanbul Bridge

Connecting Asia to Europe in Istanbul.

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Wise Travel Words: Finding Magic in the Moments

22 Friday Mar 2013

Posted by in Destinations, Photo of My Day, Wise Travel Words

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Stick painting on the beach.

Stick painting on the beach. It’s amazing what an open, creative heart and a piece of tree can do together. Click to enlarge.

Something I’ve learned about life, which has been only reinforced by travel, is that you never know where you’re going to find magic.

It can be in a shared experience with a stranger, kind words, or seeing a treasured sight for the first time.

Or, as in this photo, it can be on a windy beach in Sonoma County in June, when my father picked up a piece of driftwood to create some sand art.

How to Score Cheap Tickets for Broadway Shows

18 Monday Mar 2013

Posted by in Destinations, Travel Musings

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I love New York. There are many, many reasons for this, but one of the biggest is because I’m kind of a theatre nerd (<-notice how I automatically spell theatre the silly British way with the RE instead of ER, heyooo!) and I also adore musicals. So, naturally one of the reasons I love New York, is for BROADWAY!
Breakfast at Tiffany's on Brooadway

Breakfast at Tiffany’s at the Cort Theatre in NYC! We got tickets for the March 4 show, first night of previews!

In the few trips I’ve made to NYC, I’ve seen a handful of Broadway shows–both plays and musicals–and have managed to land some killer seats (like, 2nd or 3rd row) to Tony award-winning shows without paying more than $35 for a ticket.
So how did I find affordable tickets for hit Broadway shows? The ticket lottery.

Daylights Savings? Or, How I Had Coffee with a Bishop

09 Saturday Mar 2013

Posted by in Destinations, Expat Life in Italy, Travel Musings

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Written October, 2009.*

Apparently, daylight savings went into effect last Saturday at midnight. Nobody told us. As an Arizonan, I have never had to deal with the whole daylight savings ordeal; never had to figure out which way to change my clock, never wondered what would happen if I forgot. Time travel of the most man-made kind, and iit did not even remotely exist in my world. Simply not an issue.
Clock

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So, I wake up, put on my Sunday best, and go to church, just as I have been doing for the past month. I arrive, and the door is locked. No sounds of chairs scraping inside, no chatter of the kidlets who go to Sunday school. I check my phone clock. 10:25 a.m. The service starts at 10:30. I am confused. I turn around and see a portly man walking towards me. He has the build of a linebacker, but is wearing a large cross necklace, in the design of the 7th c AD, one of those squarish ones.

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Kurentovanje, Slovenia’s Carnival

27 Wednesday Feb 2013

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Although relatively well known in Europe as Slovenia’s biggest festival, I had no clue what kurentovanje was until I started researching my trip to Slovenia in early January. The photos alone prompted me to book my accommodation: huge groups of people running down the street in full body sheepskin costumes, horns and feathers, wearing bells and shaking their groove thing to ring them.

Masks waiting for their wearers in Ptuj.

Masks waiting for their wearers in Ptuj.

I had to see this in person.

So on Saturday, February 10 I arrived in Ptuj, Slovenia’s oldest city, home to a castle, famous spas, Slovenia’s oldest wine cellar and kurentovanje.

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