My Travel Disclaimer: 22 Things You Should Know

I've been travelling with people I haven't traveled with before, and decided to write a little disclaimer for my crazy. I forget how OCD/Type A I can be when travelling. Please note, anyone who knows me already knows I'm neurotic and will think things are quite sensible, because I have clever friends. Nevertheless, don't say I never told you; consider this a warning, list of expectations, disclaimer, or whatever makes you comfortable. 

Free piece of travel advice: if you cannot take good pictures, you're pretty much a worthless travel buddy to anyone who is going to want their photo taken. Take it at flattering angles where you can see the person's face and learn how to zoom on cameras and on different camera phones. If you are a dot in the photo, but you have the giant building in the background, you did it incorrectly. Have the subject of your photo step forward. 

I've traveled with many friends, and the best part about traveling with friends, is you already like them. You are trying to compromise and make sure one another has a great memorable time. There has only been one disastrous trip where at the end, the girl and I were very obviously never to be friends again. (Points 6 and 20 have been added because of this). This is more of a "you're going to discover this anyways, so I might as well tell you up front". 

Saryah's #1 Rule of Travelling: Bring Snacks. 

These guys are serious powerhouse travelers! I love them!!!

1. Don't whine. You can complain about or say something negative once to let people know, but saying something negative more than once gets annoying, unless you're trying to be funny, but even then, there is a thin line. On the other side of the spectrum, not complaining a little can be problematic. If you're travelling with a bunch of people who don't complain, sometimes, at the end of the day everyone is about to die. You push each other so hard, because no one wanted to be the first to say they were tired. (P.S. this is still pretty fun even when you're dying. A bonus is, you begin to be able to read the "tells" of your friends on when they're tired and hungry)

2. You will walk...a lot. I walk faster than some, slower than others. We'll find out how you compare when we travel, but try to keep up. Please keep in mind, the only time I can't keep up with someone is if they have freakishly long legs, like Marijn. :) Since my natural walk may be faster than yours, I will turn around to check you are still behind me. Don't get offended. I just really don't want to lose you. There is just so much to see in new places and so little time. Because of this feeling, I don't like to take breaks every half hour or hour. We will not take a break after every thing we do, especially if the tour has only taken an hour and there is a site to see, not even 100 feet away. (the only way this happens is if I'm completely overruled by a majority)

3. Expect to get no more than eight hours of sleep each night, unless we have previously decided on a lazy vacation. You can sleep when you're dead. If you expect less than eight, you will be happy if I let you get eight full hours of sleep or more. You are only on vacation for a limited amount of time, and so I want to use every moment for fun. Just to be clear, you will be tired, and you will sleep better because you are tired. 

4. Wear comfortable shoes. Seriously. You can think if this as words of wisdom, speaking from experience. Blisters are very terrible on vacations. Same goes for sunburns. They have the potential to ruin trips. 

5. Don't dress like a tourist with me. I will hurt you.

-No white tennis shoes.

-No baseball caps. (for outside of America only)

-No shirts with American flags. (Texas shirts are acceptable).

-There are nice tshirts, and there are the tshirts that you get for free from events and you wear them at the gym or to be lazy running errands or laying around the house...don't bring the latter. 

6. Respect. Respect the cultural differences, the towns, or whatever. Don't be a snob. "When in Rome, do ask the Romans." Don't expect the Romans to cater to your American whims. You say thank you, and don't be a git. I traveled with this one person and the whole entire time she acted like she was better than everyone and corrected how people did things and acted like a stereotypical American tourist. Then again, I use to complain about how much I hated the NYC metro, until a friend recently explained it to me. I kept on getting lost. Granted, it's confusing, but I shouldn't have complained so much. 

Valencia: We all almost starved to death. We only had a pack of cookies
to sustain us as we tried to find a place open for dinner.
We hadn't eaten for hours, and everyone was hangry.

7. I sometimes forget to feed you because we have so much to do and see. If you're hungry, let me know! We will get food, even if it's a snack or something.

8. I get grumpy when I don't eat. If I start getting grumpy, let me know, or give me a candy bar. Don't worry, I sometimes don't realize why I'm getting upset until you remind me I haven't eaten. If you remind me, I like to buy snacks for the day, just in case. I might not even get grumpy, but after a while, you'll be able to tell there's been a change in temperament. 

9. Please tell me of any preexisting conditions you have. Bring ankle braces if you have weak ankles, knee brace for weak knees, snacks for hypoglycemia, etc. I can and will be considerate and accommodate plans accordingly. 

10. If you injure yourself on the trip, it's not complaining to let me know. I brought bad shoes on a trip and had horrible blisters for the rest of a vacation. Had I said something earlier, I could have bought shoe inserts before it became a problem. OR, for example, if you roll your ankle, say something. Your silence is only further hurting yourself.

11. Have an opinion. Part 1: I always create large to do lists for vacation. It is mainly a list of ideas for us to talk about or decide later, just so we have a rough idea of what we are doing.  If you want to sight see, or if you want to be lazy, let me know.  These are not permanent plans; they are open to interpretation, revisions, and suggestions. Don't be afraid to say you want to do something else. I will let you know if something on my list is a must do or just something I thought we could do if we had time.

12. Have an opinion. Part 2: if I say, do you want to do this or this, make a choice. I really want to know what your preference is. I am NOT saying "don't be flexible and easy-going". You don't always have to have an opinion, but if you never make a choice 100% of the time, I will kill you.

13. Try and know where we are. I acknowledge that 95% of the time, I will be the one reading maps and telling everyone where to go. (The other 5% is when I'm with Lukas...OR you are guiding us because you think you know where we are; I'll be quiet and jump in if you get us too lost) However, please be aware of where we are. I don't mind feeling like a tour guide, but I don't want to feel like a babysitter. Please note: you may think I know my way around everywhere, but I have to look at maps and use my phone's GPS. I only seem like I know exactly where we are because I have a great sense of direction and memory. 

Pavia, Italia. 2009.

14. There is one word you will never find me trying to claim: ladylike. Nope. Not me. I may not dress like a tomboy, but I'm really not a girlie-girl. I won't be eating dainty food; give me a steak over a salad any day. I have some manners, so you can take me places in public. However, if you're with me 24/7, you will see me yanking at my tights in public, not showering everyday, and spilling food and crumbs all over myself. #toolegittoquit #sexyandiknowit

15. On tours, I like to be in the front near the tour guide. Just a personal preference. 

16. Seven out of ten times if you give me the choice between a museum and something else, I will choose something else. I just get bored looking at things for hours and hours in a building. If there is a tour guide involved, the stories always entertain me. Also, I like looking for all the weird and silly things in museums. However, I love going through old homes. Some may say museums and old homes are similar, but I don't think so. 

17. If I'm following you, I may make a wrong turn without you. In my head, I think we are going one way, but really, we aren't. If I'm following you, I may fall behind a bit, but you will not lose me. Let me re-phrase, you *cannot* lose me, even if you tried. I'm an excellent stalker ;)

18. I have bad hearing. I will ask you to repeat yourself a lot. Don't feel self conscious. It's not you, it's me.

19. I will threaten you with bodily harm or death at least once during our time together. Don't be alarmed. This is just how I express myself. 

20. Passive aggressive behavior will ruin our friendship. If I'm doing something that's bugging you, let me know. I'm not a mind reader. Respect, guys. Respect. 

21. Don't try to throw me off docks into water. I will be openly upset. 

22. I love adventures! Adventure trips. Once-in-a-lifetime activities. All of it. As Dumbledore once said:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/111868154/harry-potter-quote-let-us-step-into-the

16 Books to Read Before They Hit Theaters This Year

I saw the buzzfeed article, and wasn't interested, but when the Library set the challenge, I said "Challenge Accepted".  #15Feb2014

These will be listed in the order I have read them:

The Giver by Lois Lowry - Read when I was a kid. Maybe that is cheating, but I'm counting it. I'll probably re-read it at a later time, but for now, I'm counting it.

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead- I found this series as a senior at uni. I was skeptical at first, because of the lame vampire story stigma that Twilight left after the horrible casting and screen adaptation, but that's a different story. I read it, and loved it. There was one part where I was crying; my roommate came in and asked if I was okay. When I told her I was crying over something in the book, she said, "oh. I thought someone in your family died." #itfeltthatway One thing I like about the series, is it is one that can be reread and you still like it. I explained that to my sister, and she didn't understand what I meant until she reread it. I'm currently having one of my besties read them. She says the plot is a little slow, because all the conflict doesn't happen till the end of the book. I didn't mind it too much.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green - Finished 17 March 2013. Wow. I don't even know what to say about this book. It's amazing. You know it's going to be sad when the premise is about a young cancer patient. What I didn't expect was to feel like my heart was breaking as I read the book. I cried consistently at least for about an hour reading that book. I was bawling, with the i-can't-breath-and-snot-is-running-out-my-nose tears. The only other fictional books I have had this intense emotional response to recently would be: "The Book Thief" and "Me Before You".

Divergent by Veronica Roth. - Read 25 Oct 2013.  Oh Divergent. To be honest, I would recommend the first book to anyone, as long as they promise not to read any further. The first book is great! The second is mediocre, and the third book is the worst. It is a worst 3rd-book-in-a-trilogy than Mockingjay, which is saying something if you've heard me rant about Mockingjay. The premise of Divergent is clever. I love Tris and Four. It has the makings of an epic trilogy, but she cannot keep up the momentum in the next two books. Divergent as a stand alone is good. I would never recommend the trilogy. Stop at Divergent. *Spoiler Alert* If you do decide to read on, don't get to attached to any characters, because (like in Game of Thrones, or so I've heard) everyone you love dies. The ending is terrible too.

Wild by Cheryl Strayed - Started 24 Feb 2014. Finished Abandoned 3 March 2014. This is my review from my Goodreads accound. I've officially abandoned the book after 43 pages. I should have gone further, but honestly, I hate Cheryl already. I thought it was going to be a great book along the lines of "Eat, Pray, Love". However, instead of something inspiring, it is a sad story about a girl who doesn't know how to handle grief, cheated on her (what seemed to be) supportive husband instead of going to counseling and ran away from her problems. I just can't get into her head, because she has warped reasoning and is in serious need of therapy instead of hiking around America.

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand- Started March 2014

I'll keep you updated as the reading continues.

I would rather...

Photo taken by: Becca

6 Year Reunion in Puerto Rico

Playlist for this post and for our vacation:

     -"Happy" by Pharrell
     -"Best Day of My Life" by American Authors
     -"Everything is Awesome" by Tegan & Sara featuring The Lonely Island (aka, the Lego Movie song).
...and keep it on repeat....seriously. Also, use the pet name "baby" or "puppy" for everyone.

This is Mego. I haven't seen Mego in six year. What's a better way to catch up than to vacation together?

Happy Birthday weekend to me! A few months ago, I decided I just wanted to get away for my birthday for a low key weekend. I decided that it would be more fun if I had people come with me. I invited my lil sister, and then inspiration struck....invite Mego! I adore Mego, because she is one of my life inspirations. I joke around saying that I can't do anything until she does it first. I already know we travel well together, because we've done it before, 12 years ago when we went to England and Paris together. We know that when someone gets grumpy, you must buy them a candy bar to calm them down. Easy peasy. We met up at the San Juan airport and went over to our hotel to make plans and chillax.

Can I just say, I normally don't stay at fancy hotels when I travel, so this trip was on another level of classy for me. Saryah joked that this is her first "adult" vacation, because adults always go places with no plans but to relax. Those were our exact plans. This was a "No Rules" vacation.

We went out to eat the first night at a restaurant down the road, where we ordered three dishes to share. We would eat part of the plate, and then rotate the plates throughout the dinner. #genius We each took turns giving a summary of the past six years of our lives, because, like I said, we haven't seen each other in a while, and it's hard to find time to catch up sometimes. It was pretty funny when we had those "omg. I can't believe you did that!" moments, as we reacted to events that happened years ago. The waiter gave us free crème brûlée during our meal. We also created a list of all the countries we travelled to over the past 6 years. Over the past six years, we've visited a combined number of 26. There was only one country that we've all been to in the past six years....the motherland, where it all began, the UK!

First of all, shout out to Tattly, which has really cool temporary tattoos! Secondly, Friday was a really lazy day. When I say lazy, I mean, brilliantly lazy. We woke up late, to the maid knocking on our door for room service. We went to breakfast across the street at Denny's. Then, we went to lay on the beach and swim for the next few hours. I read, Megan watch the Canada hockey game, and Saryah just laid there. We went back to shower and get out of the sun in the afternoon. We decided it would probably be a good idea to go look around San Juan instead of only looking at the beach all day. We took a taxi out to Old San Juan, and checked out the Fort. Our taxi driver pointed out the capitol building for us, and recommended a good place to eat. Sadly, with my bad memory, about five minutes later, I couldn't remember what he said. It was so windy at the fort, but the view was gorgeous. The whole place was beautiful. We walked around, and I loved to stone streets and colorful buildings. It was a beautiful mixture of Latino and Caribbean culture without the need of a passport or changing currency.  I would definitely recommend it to people. We went to Barrachina for dinner, where they claim they invented the Piña Colada. With a claim like that, how could we not have a taste. Truth: I normally don't like Piña Coladas, but this one was wonderful. I had two. The dinner was GREAT! We had a great time, and they gave us a free slice of tres leches cake as they sang Happy Birthday to me. Mego was having a fun time making sure everyone knew it was my birthday. We went back to the hotel to book a tour to Culebras Island to go snorkelling, but we found out the tour was cancelled due to weather. Bah humbug. We went back to our room to discuss. Instead, we decided we should rent a car, drive to the ferry in the morning, book a room at a swanky resort, and be completely spontaneous tomorrow. Done.

Saturday morning, we got a rental, and drove down to Fajardo. Mego hopped out of the car to just get us tickets so we could then go to lunch, but she called, told us to park the car because the ferry was ready about to leave! We went...and the ferry broke down. They said it would be up and running within an hour...and it finally left about 3 hours later. Woohoo #carribeanspirit We got to the Resort on Vieques, cortesy of Mego's hotel points, and it was so swanky. I felt like white trash at a cotillion ball. We loved it anyway. We went straight to the beach to enjoy the sun!

After a few hours in the sun, we went exploring. When I say "we", I mean, Mego went exploring, while Saryah and I followed. On this exploration, Megan found a coconut, which entertained her for the next 12 hours as she attempted to open the coconut with random tools found in a hotel room. Room service said they did not have any machetes available. The highlight of the night was discovering the black pebble pool, with LED lights at the bottom. With all the stars in the sky it felt magical, only to be enhanced by listening to "Across the Universe" while relaxing in the starry water.

Sunday Fun Day! Mego and I went on an adventure to find the church building and get ferry tickets. Ferry tickets are only sold one hour before the ferry leaves, and we were quite panic-y that we wouldn't get a ticket. We were told, that you can go and just get them anyways if you are confident enough. False. They guy was quite rude. We then went to church, where we were given a corner and couldn't find it anywhere. After about 20 minutes of wandering, we followed a couple in a nice dress and a suit to find the church. #stalkeralert We met a couple from Tennessee who decided to move to Vieques a few months ago. What I really wanted to ask was, what are you doing on the island? I was pretty sure that was rude, so I stayed silent.

We eventually made it back to the hotel and decided to risk missing the ferry to stay later at the resort. We laid on the beach. Worried when Mego disappeared. Mego came back after exploring more of the beach. Ate lots of yummy coconut. And took silly photos.

After six years, things haven't changed much.

There was a little vacation romance...that lasted about 5 minutes.

Needless to say, we made it onto the ferry without a problem. While waitin in line, I started chatting with this really cute Brazilian. It was in Spanish, so Mego and Saryah thought it was something nice we were talking about, but I'm pretty sure they were talking about when him and I laughed over me hoping I don't get sea sick on the ferry ride back. #whatyouseeiswhatyouget #classylassy The romance ended, when he went to the bottom deck, and I went to the top. I didn't even think of telling him I was planning on going to the top until Mego and Saryah reprimanded me for being so bad at flirting.
We finally made it back to San Juan and had a late night dinner at Denny's. It was a great way to end a whirlwind vacation.

Monday, Saryah and I slept in, while Megan woke up to soak in as much sun-time as possible. I joined later and had a pizza and piña colada brought out to my chair. Mego and I talked for a while, as Saryah stayed in a shaded hammock far away from us. It was sad to say goodbye, but I'm pretty sure, we'll travel again together in the future to make more epic memories.