It’s no secret that exploring the world and everything it has to offer is something I love and want to do more of (hence this blog), but realistically I can’t always be traveling… So how do I keep my wanderlust at bay? I admit it’s not always easy, and some who know me, mainly my husband, might say I fail miserably.
Feed Your Wanderlust
Feeding my wanderlusting spirit is a full time job! Have I mentioned, I love my job!? Eating out and cooking food from favorite destinations, or places I dream of going is a fun way to satisfy my wanderlust. In fact, we’ve picked destinations based solely on a meal!
Our first family trip to New Orleans came about while planning a ski trip in Tahoe. Sitting in a New Orleans themed restaurant planning, we realized, why not New Orleans? We went straight home and booked our tickets! To this day we’ve never made it to Tahoe, but we do visit New Orleans every year.
Interested in visiting New Orleans? I’ve written a “few” Articles:
- 10 Things to do in New Orleans with Kids
- New Orleans Last But Not Least
- New Orleans! The French Quarter!
- New Orleans! Family Style
- New Orleans! Let’s Fest!
- New Orleans! On the Mississippi!
- New Orleans! Lets Eat Lunch & Talk About Dinner
- New Orleans Cafe Du Monde
- A Photo Tour of the French Quarter
- NOLA!
I love fish & chips, and they’re a nice reminder of our visits to London, a favorite destination of mine. We make regular visits to The Wee Chippy, on Venice Beach, and although they don’t offer mushy peas, it does help keep that particular craving satisfied.
We love the food in Spain with two of my favorite items being Manchego cheese and chorizo. I keep a steady supply of both these items in the house at all times!
I don’t know how “Spanish” the Spanish Latte at Menotti’s is, but I do love the coffee in Spain, so this is a nice reminder.
Cheese is easily my favorite food! My local market has a great selection and I was pretty excited to discover they even had Blarney Castle cheese?!
Blogs & Books
Blogs
Of course I don’t only write a travel blog I also read other travel blogs, which not only helps with planning, but they’re also great for “visiting” places I may never make it to, and for inspiration and advice!
I’ve discovered many wonderful blogs, and have come across real world advice which I know I’ll use. In fact, I already have!
I’ll be traveling throughout Nevada, Utah, and Arizona in a few weeks, and I booked rooms based on Oregon Girl Around the World‘s blog. Thanks to Tanama Tales, I learned I’ll need advance reservations for the Las Vegas Neon Museum, a place I definitely plan on visiting.
Travel Blogs I read frequently:
Clare from Suitcases and Sandcastles writes about family travel. Her photography is stunning, and her destinations are wide ranging, they include everything from remote Greek Islands to The Hundred Acre Wood (otherwise known as Ashdown Forest)!
Katy from Untold Morsels writes about her family’s travels with an emphasis on food and unique places to stay! After reading about her stay in Amsterdam I’m definitely putting houseboat on my list!
Lorelei from Caliglobtrotter is a California girl currently living in Germany. I love reading about her adventures, especially the many castles she visits! Her photography is amazing, and now I know how to pronounce Ljubljana! (Pronounced: Lub-lee-yana)!
Erin of Oregon Girl Around the World currently lives in Copenhagen, but we’re both from the PNW, and I love that we connected with eachother via blogging! She’s full of fun and eco-friendly ideas!
I always look forward to reading posts by The Adventures of Daisy the Bus, written by Jonny a father of four, who loves to travel to places off the beaten path. He paints a lovely picture with his words, his photos are pretty great too, and I have wanted to visit just about every place he mentions!
Cory of Fifi & Hop, who I was lucky enough to meet in New Orleans, writes about her family’s adventures on the East Coast and abroad! I especially loved her post on Tuscany, I was ready to book a flight after reading it!
I love reading Joy Loves Travel who seems to have some similar interests to my own! Her info on Belgium came in handy prior to my own visit there.
Dannii Jane of A Beautiful Thing writes a lifestyle blog, but features her adventures in and around London and Europe. Thanks to her we found ourselves in Camden during our last visit!
Books
I admit I have a guidebook habit. As soon as I learn I’ll be going somewhere, or even if it’s just a possibility I’ll pick up the guidebook(s). I also love travel magazines, the big glossy photos, Best Of lists and the off the beaten path recommendations all feed my passion to see more of the world!
Though not a book, Instagram is great for inspiration, and I have discovered not only far away places, but many fun ideas much closer to home.
Some of my favorite Instagrammers:
Preserve your Wanderlust
I’m sure I’m not alone when I say I have TOO many photos on my computer and no idea how to manage them all! Recently I’ve started creating photo books using not only my travel pictures, but the text from my blog posts as well. They look lovely, and make great keepsakes.
We don’t just shut our photos up into books on a shelf, we love to print them out for display too! Some of our favorites from near and far are hanging in large format around our home. We love it when people come to visit and ask about the different locations!
It’s not all about photography! We love a good project, and have created various pieces of art around the house, which represent loved places. Most recently I painted this “graffiti” Union Jack flag using spray paint and resin. I’m practicing for those Venice Art Walls! We can’t forget about the around the world furniture projects!
Lego Destinations
We’re big lego fans in our house and we get excited when sets are created that represent places we’ve been!
We built this Tower Bridge set over the winter holidays. I’m anxiously awaiting my Houses of Parliament set, which should keep me busy this summer, while planning what I hope is a Christmas trip to the UK.
Be A Hometown Tourist
Whether or not you’ve lived very long in a place, I guarantee you haven’t done it all! We’ve had such a great time this past year playing tourist in our own town, and with all that Los Angeles has to offer, I see no signs of that slowing down!
In case you’re interested, here are just some of the articles I’ve written about our recent discoveries in and around the Los Angeles area!
8 Reasons VENICE Should Top your LA List
50 Things To Do in Los Angeles
The Museum of Ice Cream Los Angeles
The Hidden Staircases of Silver Lake
Downtown Los Angeles Graffiti & Mural Walking Tour
InstaLA! 15 Places to Snap Those InstaGood Pics
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
Pin for later:
After Six weeks of travel our amazing adventures through 
Wanting to make the most of our very last day, Simon and I decided to explore Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, which were walking distance from our hotel and are conveniently connected to one another. London’s parks are the perfect way to spend a sunny afternoon just like the locals do! They are beautiful, vast and filled with activities for every interest.
We’d arrived, and as we drove down the boulevards lined with beautiful architecture, endless cafes and world famous monuments I was struck by just how much I love this city! Having checked many of the city’s 
We spent a lot of our time wandering and in doing so found ourselves enjoying the unexpected. I noticed golden details on many of the buildings and wondered if they’d always been there? We marveled at how every street corner is something special. We hunted Pokemon and sailed tiny boats in the 
Adjacent to the Sainte Chapelle and beautiful in its own right is the 
Notre Dame
If you’re short on time, or even if you’re not consider a visit to the 
No visit would be complete without time spent in one of the city’s many famous gardens. So much more than just a pretty backdrop, surrounding some other famous place, they offer a welcome respite from the bustle of city life, or if you’re a traveling family a great place to relax and regroup.
The 
On our last night in Paris, knowing that it could be many years before I return to the City of Light, I had a sudden desire to see the 
What better place for those “life of royalty” daydreams than the 
Minims
We enjoyed everything about our meal at 
Cave La Bourgone
Confession: It wasn’t immediately upon entering Sainte Chapelle that I discovered her jaw dropping beauty, I blundered around a bit first. Wondering, Is this it? It’s so small, there must be more? What am I missing? Turns out a lot!
You know what they say, “Third times a charm”, and that’s exactly how I felt after our most recent visit to Notre Dame de Paris. Hardly able to remember the first occasion as I was just a child, and battling large crowds and illness during our visit three and a half years ago, it wasn’t until the most recent visit that I really got a chance to appreciate this magnificent place!
