Throwback | Boston

I'm attempting to organize my life.

And when I say life, I mean the 'Travel' page of my blog. 

Most of the countries I have visited were pre-Bristol in my Pocket. I thought long and hard about how I should include some of those travels, and it dawned on me: Throwbacks.
So grab a cup of tea and enjoy the lovely pictures of me in my awkward years.
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Boston, Massachusetts
March 2013. 
Age: 21

As a history major, I quite enjoy vacations that involve historical activities and sites. As I was a senior at university in 2013, my parents let me pick the vacation spot for Spring Break.
I chose Boston, a city I had never been to but always wanted to visit.
I absolutely fell in love with Boston. The atmosphere and architecture in Boston is like nowhere else in the US. We stayed at a beautiful bed & breakfast a few blocks away from the Boston Common. Unfortunately, we were the last guests to stay before it closed down!

On our first full day in Boston we attempted to walk the Freedom Trail. While we managed about half of the trail no problem, we eventually gave up due to the weather! Us Texans are not used to snow!

Our second day we made a trip to Plymouth Rock. While the town of Plymouth is absolutely beautiful, the rock itself is a bit... underwhelming. Once again, we were defeated by the weather and ended up driving back to Boston for food and warmth.

The weather for Salem seemed to be on our side. Before our trip, we had spent a substantial amount of time trying to decide which museum to go to in Salem. We ended up picking the Salem Witch Museum. While the museum was very theatrical and touristy, we were provided with the history of witchcraft and the background story of Salem. We wandered around a bit before driving to Cambridge to visit the Harvard campus.

Our last day we wandered around in the morning before hitting up a tour of Fenway Park. I am not a huge baseball fan, but do enjoy the atmosphere of baseball games. I absolutely recommend doing a behind the scenes tour of the stadium as you get access to places such as the locker room and the seats on top of the Green Monster!

No trip to Boston is complete without a little trip to Fenway Park!

Happy Sunday!
xoxo

Throwback | Mexico

I'm attempting to organize my life.

And when I say life, I mean the 'Travel' page of my blog. 

Most of the countries I have visited were pre-Bristol in my Pocket. I thought long and hard about how I should include some of those travels, and it dawned on me: Throwbacks.

So grab a cup of tea and enjoy the lovely pictures of me in my awkward years.

____________________________________

January 2013: Age 21

Cozumel & Progresso.

Another year, another trip to Mexico.

My college roommates and I were inseparable. In fact, they're still the best friends a girl can ask for.

We wanted to do something BIG for our senior year. Living in Texas, cruises are always an option. We ended up picking a cruise to Cozumel and Progresso. Sound familiar, right? I had actually done this cruise in 2009 with my girl scout troop (click here for that post). It was also my third time to Cozumel. But no matter where you go, a vacation is always determined by the people you go with, so I wasn't complaining.

I will never forget this vacation. Spending 5 days in Mexico with my best friends was more than I could have ever asked for. We had planned the trip perfectly, because the next cruise out on our ship turned out to be THE Triumph disaster. That's right. We were on the Triumph days before it was stranded in the gulf. You can read all about that story here.

Kissing a stingray gives you one year of good luck. So far I am not arguing with that!

Happy Wednesday!
xoxo

Throwback | Mexico

I'm attempting to organize my life.

And when I say life, I mean the 'Travel' page of my blog. 

Most of the countries I have visited were pre-Bristol in my Pocket. I thought long and hard about how I should include some of those travels, and it dawned on me: Throwbacks.

So grab a cup of tea and enjoy the lovely pictures of me in my awkward years.

_____________________________________

June 2009: Age 18

Cozumel & Progresso

I have been to Mexico on four separate occasions. Unfortunately, pictures get lost as time goes on. I've been on a desperate search for pictures from these first two trips, and have had little success. This was my third trip to Mexico.

I'm about to tell y'all something rather embarrassing. But my life's an open blog, right?

You are about to enter a no judgement zone.

I joined Girl Scouts when I was 6.

Yes, most American girls are Girl Scouts at some point.

However, I was a member up until I graduated high school.

My troop and I decided at a very young age that we wanted to save our cookie money and go on a vacation the summer before college. It probably seemed like a silly idea at the time, but we stuck to it.

By the time high school graduation rolled around, we had actually saved enough money to go on a cruise! Our cookie money paid for a cruise!

This was my first trip abroad without my parents. It was a big deal for me, even if I had been to Cozumel before. I stand by my opinion that cruises are the best vacations. Between the food, the people, and the destinations, you seriously can't go wrong.

I had so much fun on this cruise, I actually ended up doing it again with my college roommates in 2013. That however, is a post for another time.

xoxo

Throwback | Paris, France

I'm attempting to organize my life.

And when I say life, I mean the 'Travel' page of my blog. 

Most of the countries I have visited were pre-Bristol in my Pocket. I thought long and hard about how I should include some of those travels, and it dawned on me: Throwbacks.
So grab a cup of tea and enjoy the lovely pictures of me in my awkward years.
_______________________________________

July 2011. Age: 20.

I'm probably going to be the only person to ever say it, but I'm actually not a fan of Paris. I had built Paris up in my head to be this wonderful place when in reality I felt extremely uncomfortable and unwelcome. 

I desperately want to change my perception of Paris. I'm hoping that one day I'll go back and have a wonderful time. Paris is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever been to, but my overall experience was, dare I say, terrible.

That's the problem with traveling. There is always a possibility a destination may not live up to your expectation.

Have you ever been disappointed by a destination? Let me know!

xoxo

Throwback | Scotland

I'm attempting to organize my life.

And when I say life, I mean the 'Travel' page of my blog. 

Most of the countries I have visited were pre-Bristol in my Pocket. I thought long and hard about how I should include some of those travels, and it dawned on me: Throwbacks.
So grab a cup of tea and enjoy the lovely pictures of me in my awkward years.
____________________________________

July 2011: Age 20. 

While studying abroad in London, I had the opportunity to go with some classmates on a weekend trip to Scotland. To this day, Scotland is one of my favorite travel experiences. 

Although it was raining most of the trip, we were able to travel across the entire country. Our guide was a local, doing our tour as a favor he owed to a friend. He was extremely knowledgable, and had that Scottish flare that really just added to the experience.  It was an exhausting weekend, but completely worth it. 

Edinburgh

St. Andrews

Cairngorms National Park

Inverness 

Culloden

 Glen Coe

xoxo

Throwback | Italy

I'm attempting to organize my life.

And when I say life, I mean the 'Travel' page of my blog. 

Most of the countries I have visited were pre-Bristol in my Pocket. I thought long and hard about how I should include some of those travels, and it dawned on me: Throwbacks.
So grab a cup of tea and enjoy the lovely pictures of me in my awkward years. 

__________________________________________

Rome, Pompeii, and Sorrento. 
July 2008: Age 17

Italy was my first European experience. I was just discovering my love for history around this time, and there was no better country to see than Italia. To my surprise, Italy turned out to be one of the worst traveling experiences I ever had. 

After just two days in Rome, I came down with the WORST case of food poisoning. Typical Sara move. Leave it to me to get sick in one of the most beautiful countries in the world. I spent most of the vacation in hotel rooms, watching Italian MTV and reading Twilight.

We spent a few days in Rome, followed by a day trip to Pompeii before spending the rest of the vacation in Sorrento. My parents took turns staying with me in the hotel and taking my sister out and about.

I hope that one day I'll be able to return to Italy and experience it for real.

But for now, enjoy the pictures of seventeen year old me on the few days I was able to venture outside.

Happy Tuesday!
xoxo