Sand Sculpting World Championships in Southwest Florida

So I may not be traveling the world at the moment, but living in Florida there are some interesting things going on now and then. Over the past month, Southwest Florida has played host to two major competitions in the Sand Sculpting World Championship, and I just happen to live smack in between this year’s two host beaches.

Earlier this month, Siesta Key (“America’s #1 Beach” as they like to remind us) hosted its second annual Crystal Classic Master Sand Sculpting Competition, which is basically the World Championship competition for doubles. We went on the second day of the five-day competition and many of the sculptures were already shaping up into some amazing things.

The New 7 Wonders of Nature

The New 7 Wonders of Nature have been announced, and I have to say I’m a little bit surprised by the outcome. While I’m proud to say I’ve been to three of the seven wonders, I am pretty amazed at some of the things that were  left off.

Here is the list. (They say this is still a provisional list and there is still a possibility of change in outcome, but I doubt it.)

What Budget Travel Looks Like

Literally, what does it look like to travel on a budget and keep track of all your spending? It looks like this:

While I kept an excel sheet, I didn’t exactly carry my computer around with me everywhere, so I had this little moleskine journal I kept in my purse with me at all times. Every time I grabbed something to eat or drink, bought a bus ticket, picked up a souvenir, etc. it went right into the book. I was also attempting to track my spending by category (food, activities, transport, etc.) so I had a highly sophisticated system of doing this as well… by which I mean, I just wrote what the money was for above it.

Seven reasons you should do a working holiday in Australia

I recently wrote about why you may want to reconsider including Australia in your RTW trip, but I think it’s important to follow that up with a post on why I think you should visit Australia on a Working Holiday instead.

If you’re under the age of 30 and from one of many eligible countries around the world, getting a Working Holiday/Work & Holiday visa for Australia is almost unbelievably easy. Furthermore, if you’ve entered the workforce in the past few years, going to Australia to work for a year might even help further your career!

Even though they talk a lot about the GFC (Global Financial Crisis), Australia has remained remarkably sheltered from many of the huge negative economic effects other places in the world have experienced. After I graduated in 2009 (with a degree in Advertising, an area not doing the best in such an economic climate) I could not find a job for the life of me. When I returned from my trip to South America and my visits to Sweden and Jordan, I made the decision to move to Australia more for personal reasons (aka a Swedish boyfriend and a vague “non-goal” I’d had for the past ten years). It wasn’t until I got to Australia that I realized what a great decision it was for other reasons.

Should you visit Australia on your RTW trip?

Maybe… Or maybe not.

If you begin your round the world trip in Oz, then it may be a fine idea to include it… although you better budget accordingly or you may find a yearlong RTW trip turning into nothing but a two-month RAT (Round Australia Trip). That being said, over at BootsnAll they do make a good argument for using Australia as a destination to begin your round the world trip. After all, it is a nice place to ease into a big trip (especially if it’s your first) with a friendly, English-speaking population and a fairly familiar and comfortable Westernized culture.

However, during my year living in Australia, I met up with two of the people I had previously befriended while traveling in South America, as they were each continuing their RTW trip in Australia, and both of them were eager to get out of Australia after spending very little time there.

Across the Bottom: The Epic Aussie Road Trip [VIDEO]

I’ve been itching to put together some kind of video, so I wrangled together all the video I happened to take in Australia and experimented around a bit in iMovie to throw together this little number. At the very least, putting together this video has brought to my attention a few things (such as 1) take more video! and 2) it would be nice to have a camera that takes HD video!) that will hopefully improve any videos I put together for future travels. I also hope to put together something on Aussie wildlife at some point, as that was the other theme my videos from Oz seemed to show, but for now I present to you, without further ado, Across the Bottom: The Epic Aussie Road Trip!

From Sydney to Perth, crossing the Nullarbor, taking on the 90 Mile Straight (Australia’s longest straight road), and winding through the Southern Forest and along gorgeous coastal roads, this was one road trip to remember!

Weird and Wonderful Things: Morocco

From funny signs and bad translations to unique statues and art, I am big into capturing photos of the quirky and strange, weird and wonderful things I see in the cities and countries I travel through. Here are a few of my favorite weird and wonderful things spotted in Morocco.

While this may not really be weird, it is wonderful. Morocco was the first Arabic country I’d ever visited, and seeing this sign upon arriving at the dinky little Marrakesh airport I definitely felt the thrill of traveling to a totally new place and culture.

Weird and Wonderful Things: Thailand

From funny signs and bad translations to unique statues and art, I am big into capturing photos of the quirky and strange, weird and wonderful things I see in the cities and countries I travel through. Having spent a semester living in Thailand, it was hard to narrow it down to just a few things, but here are a few of my favorite weird and wonderful things spotted in Thailand.

Spotting this on a dumpster near my hostel in Chiang Mai, I couldn't help but laugh. I wonder how many people over how long of a time had to pee here to get someone to write this warning!

Travel the Thrifty Way: My Budget Travel Tips

Having traveled on a budget around Europe, Southeast Asia, New Zealand, Australia and South America, I think I might have a few tips to share on how to travel the thrifty way. Whether traveling in a group or solo, living abroad or traveling fast and taking part in a lot of could-be-budget-busting activities, I’ve managed to do long term travel affordably. To best share my knowledge I’ve broken down my tips into four categories that tend to be the biggest budget drainers while traveling:  Transportation, Accommodation, Food & Drink and Activities & Attractions.

Should you visit Shark Bay and Monkey Mia?

The peninsula that contains the Shark Bay UNESCO World Heritage Site and Monkey Mia Resort is an oft-mentioned destination in Western Australia. Lonely Planet and many other travel guides rave about Shark Bay, one of the few places in the world that satisfies all 4 of the natural criteria to be a World Heritage Site. However, if you read about the destination online, the reviews are often quite to the contrary. When I was researching the Coral Coast for our road trip, it seemed like every blog and review I read about Shark Bay/Monkey Mia (pronounced My-a) was negative. Most people called it overrated/over-touristed/disappointing/boring/lame and many other negative things. A lot of them remarked that it was far from worth the almost 300km roundtrip detour (off the Northwest Coastal Highway) it required.

So when planning our road trip, we concluded we would skip the peninsula on the way up so we could have more time to spend at Ningaloo, and probably give it a miss altogether unless we had the extra time on the way back down. In the end, despite how much we love-love-loved Ningaloo, we had grown tired of snorkeling and beach bumming quickly (which was most of what there was to do in Exmouth/Coral Bay since a recent cyclone had wiped out many of the roads leading to hiking areas) and decided we had the time to check the area out.