Martin worked his seasonal job Blonduos, Iceland again this year, and thanks to low ticket prices I was able to visit twice this time. My niece Israel got to join me for one trip. We rented a car and I drove all around the island by myself for the first time this year. As always, it was stunning!
That time back in August when we went on a group trip to Nicaragua! Managua, Ometepe, and San Juan Del Sur in eight days. We had so much fun!
Such an unexpectedly beautiful trip!
It’s been appallingly hot in Atlanta this summer and I now love taking photos of flowers :)
We have some fun trips coming up soon, Nicaragua, Burning Man, and Iceland once again! Time is flying by <3
We took two separate roadtrips this year and I forgot to post photos! So lucky we had time to cruise around California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, and Utah and camp for a few weeks. Wish I could live on the road for a much longer time.
Here I am again, super late with a blog post! Our trip to the Philippines after Hong Kong at the beginning of the year. Amazing amazing amazing. We loved it here. We arrived with almost nothing planned out, meeting our friends from Ireland in Cebu before hopping to the Islands of Bohol and Palawan. We took local buses or rented scooters wherever we went, and it was surprisingly easy to get around. We swam with Whale Sharks, rode scooters to the Chocolate Mountains, ate wonderful street food, danced with our neighbors, island hopped, toured an underground river, made new friends, camped on an island, had too much rum, when on a firefly nighttime boat tour, visited the Tarsier Sanctuary, took some pigs to the beach, and floated in the ocean. I think Nacpan Beach is one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever seen (and the camping hostel Where 2 Next was incredible). I am ready to go back to the Philippines!!
Hong Kong! We only spent three days here but we loved it. Thank you to our lovely friend Roxanne, who Martin met in New Zealand, for showing us around :)
I managed to surprise Martin this Christmas by showing up in the Czech Republic! He was home for the holidays and I showed up in the middle of the month, much to his and his mother’s surprise : )
Here’s just a few photos from our first Christmas together in Czech!
Our friend Hans met me at the train station in Prague to make sure I arrived safely to Pardubice. We sat in the dining car and had a couple of beer to help me adjust to my jetlag : )
Surprise!
Family
Old Town Square in Pardubice
Princess Bara
<3
Our friends Lucie and Jiri met us in Brno!
The best we could do.
New Year’s Eve…this is shortly after we decided NOT to get on our flight home, and go to Hong Kong and the Philippines instead!
Not a terrible start to the new year!
Since we stayed longer we got to spend Martin’s mom’s bday with her!
The night before we left Prague for Hong Kong was beautiful, snow falling and everything lit up <3
See you soon CZ!
Beautiful, magical Iceland! I was lucky enough to get to visit here again while Martin was working there for a couple of months. It’s one of my very favorite places in the world.
Oh my goodness, I still can’t believe that I went to Burning Man AND actually loved it! I was lucky enough to have a friend this year procure a ticket for me and talk me into going. I had about a thousand reasons in my head why I shouldn’t go and wouldn’t like it, but fortunately decided to risk it. I was rewarded with meeting and spending time with some of the most amazing, kind, creative, hard-working people.
These were my campmates, the Emerge-N-See IV In-Tents Care Unit. We took care of the lost, dehydrated, dusty, and under-partied individuals that wandered by our camp. I acted mainly as the barmacist, mainly because I can’t act.
We even delivered a little beer baby.
When I got there and started setting up my tent, four other people rushed in to help me set it up and hammer in rebar in about two minutes. Then I was gifted socks, costumes, and a bike to borrow for the week.
The first day I sort of roamed/rode around in amazement at everything around me. I can’t imagine the effort people put into setting up these intricate camps and works of art in the desert. It felt like a beautiful carnival on steroids, but never once felt over-crowded with people. Sometimes I couldn’t walk 30 seconds to the bathroom without someone insisting I stop for a drink or snack. People were playing antique pianos, spinning fire, serving free drinks, smiling at strangers, hugging, cooking mass meals, conversing intensely, volunteering, teaching classes, dancing on art cars, exploring the playa, and generally having an amazing time. I spent most of my time with some lovely friends from my camp, and also enjoyed photo field-trips on my own.
The dust hit pretty hard for a few days, and then we had a cold front later in the week. Everyone keeps saying it was some of the craziest weather they’d experienced there but it was pretty much what I had prepared myself for.
This gem saved my life. Someone had arranged to bring a bike for me to use but it didn’t quite fit, this one was perfect for the week!
One of my favorite art cars, so funny.
The lights and stars made for a long-exposure photoshoot pretty much every night.
Morning bacon!
Cold Spaghettios out of the back of a Uhaul never tasted so good.
Caught in a white-out.
The Temple.
At the Burning of the Man : )
The Temple burn.
Inside my tent <3
I could probably keep posting more photos (I will on Facebook) but I think I’ll stop here for now. It was such a wonderfully fun experience and I’m so glad I went. I definitely want to go back again next year. I’m trying to convince my family to join. I wish Martin could have been there but he’s in Iceland for work (I get to visit soon!). My only regret is that I didn’t see more of the amazingness that is around every corner at Burning Man. I’m lucky to have been present <3
So, Martin and I were lucky to spend a month in Europe, and my family joined us for half of that time! We traveled around Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, Germany, and got married! It was definitely one of those once in a life time experiences.
Pardubice Castle, where we got married <3
The Cartellone Appartamento Hotel, where we had our reception <3
Martin and Bara
Pardubice
Castle hopping
Judy and Nicole! One of my best friends who also photographed my wedding : )
Austria
Josh and Izzy went paragliding, crazies.
Josh making friends everywhere he goes
Family day trip to wine country in Italy
Prague!
We always seem to stop by this place
The bottle of vodka from Ukraine that Martin saved for 8 years : )
Rehearsal dinner
Our wedding was definitely one of the most fun parties ever : )
New family <3
So so much fun had by everyone, wish we could do this every couple of months : )