I’VE BEEN NOMINATED FOR THE 2017 LIEBSTER AWARD

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Holy snaps, how even did this happen??

First of all, pause, rewind, what is a Liebster Award?

“The Liebster Award 2017 is an award that exists only on the internet, and is given to bloggers by other bloggers. The earliest case of the award goes as far back as 2011. Liebster in German means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome.” -Copied and pasted from https://theglobalaussie.com/blog/liebster-award-2017/ .

Well poo, does that mean I am finally sweet, kind, nice, beloved, pleasant, valued, endearing, and cute? Mostly no, but I am still greatly honored to be nominated! Also, I get to talk about myself! So like, double yay.

Who is your favorite blogger?

I’m just gonna call them by their instagram names since that’s the easiest.

First and foremost, the fabulous rebminlu, who nominated me in the first place! Reb is absolutely fantastic, and every word out of her mouth (well, fingers since she’s typing the words) makes me want to pack up and move to China. Check out her blog here: http://www.rebminlu.com/

There’s also the noted travel photographer lg_013 for taking 99.9% of all the coolest pictures on my instagram. Truly, my deepest thanks for everything. My other insta-friends and source of daily inspiration: tosinfinityandbeyond, getgoneandtravel, mandyland86, nixrue, traveljeanieous, stefanie_larchmont, and thelovelyescapist. You are all like, seriously amazing. Who run the world?? You guys–well, girls (+Aaron)–do.

Also, idk if I can call these three people friends because they’re basically famous (but like, I am going to call them friends anyway), but they are AMAZING bloggers/travelers/people and 1) I can’t believe they follow me and 2) I can’t believe they like, acknowledge my existence. Ladies and Gentlemen: thepartyingtraveler, misssteffyg, and hownottotravellikeabasicbitch. 

Seriously, instagram would be no fun without all of them.
10 Random Facts About Yourself
1. I’m absolutely in love with writing, Los Angeles, and all things involving hamburgers. These are very easy conversation topics with me, haha.
2. Snoop Dogg used to live in my city. I’ve also met him a few times, he’s pretty chill. And tall.
3. I was in my high school marching band and orchestra. I played the melophone and the French horn, and my senior year I was drum major. I was equally terrible at all of them, though I like to believe I was a pretty decent drum major. I hope.
4. I currently have Invisalign! Trust, it was suuuuch a pain during my Japan/Taiwan/South Korea trip, because I couldn’t just spontaneously eat everything. The things I do for my teeth…
5. I HATE wet leaves.
6. Did I mention I loved writing? I’m working on getting a novel published now (woohoo!) but I’m also super nervous because it’s like super close to me and I’m all invested and whatnot. I just hope it doesn’t suck (but like, it might. Would you guys support me even if it’s bad???)
7. I much much much prefer weather 75+ F.
8. I went to undergrad in Oregon, and now I’m working/living in Portland, Oregon!
9. I’m slowly becoming a healthier person, but ugh vegetable eating is hard.
10. I’m supposed to be fluent in French, but after I started learning Spanish, I keep mixing up all the words, haha.

Questions from Reb:

1. What has been your favorite trip so far?

Mmmm that’s tough, because there’s always pros and cons from every trip. Like, I really loved how chill Oahu was, but also the food was mad expensive. It also depends on my expectations of the trip. For example, Vegas ALWAYS exceeds my expectations because I don’t expect too much, whereas I had lot of expectations for Seoul because I’ve been obsessed with South Korea for like, 7 years, and then my experience turned out to be very rushed and I went in the middle of winter so I was grumpy and cold and…well, South Korea just needs a do-over for me haha.

That said, mm, probably (Los Angeles, always) my trips to New York and the couple times I’ve been in Paris were very eventful and fun. Also Hawaii because. Hawaii.
2. What are some of your must pack items for traveling?

Facewipes, hands down.
3. Have you had an unexpected experience while traveling?

Everyday of my life is an unexpected experience. Hmm, but as for something interesting, I got kicked out of a Paris hotel at midnight before for “being an evil American.” That was fun.
4. Who is the most interesting person you’ve encountered during your travels?

Hmm a lot of people come to mind, but I would have to say Lil Jon completely changed my life during a trip to Vegas and I’m 99.3% sure he has no memory of the event.
5. How do you deal with homesickness?

I actually don’t really get homesick. That could just be because I’m a cold heartless demon though.
6. What is the most difficult thing about traveling?

Definitely sticking to a budget.

7. What inspired you to start traveling?

I am a military brat (but without the brat part), so I moved around quite a bit as a wee lass. So I’ve never really stayed in one place for too long anyway, so it just feels off for me to be in one place for too long.

8. How do you afford to travel?

Credit cards y’all. Explore now, pay later~ Haha, I’m mostly kidding. I have a decent job now (but beforeee when I was super broke, man, that’s a WHOLE different story), so I just try to save up for trips. I also have an airline credit card, so those miles and companion passes really help! In between traveling-traveling, I try to stick to cheap day trips on the weekend ! There’s a lot to discover in your own backyard, you just gotta make time to go outside. *insert more cheesey quotes*
9. Do you have any travel hacks or tips to share?

Not anything revolutionary. Airbnb, public transport, groupon, flashing your super old student ID for discounts. That’s about it.
10. Where is the next place you want to go?

Aside from places I’ve already booked for this year, I reaaaalllyyy want to explore Arizona and Florida. Internationally, I’d loooove to go to Cuba, Thailand, and Dubai, so we’ll see how that plays out for me, haha.

Mm, so, yeah, I think that’s it! I’ve never been all that good at ending blog posts. So.

*awkward goodbye wave*

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