Travel advice from a semi.

In France there is the amazing "co-voiturage" service, Blablacar where you can ride in someone's car & pay way, way less for your journey than traveling with a train. I was riding in a Blablacar to Perigeux the other day and in front of us was a semi with a beautiful river and people canoeing and nature and trees. The driver told me that this place was called Domme and that I should visit it during my last few days in France. This is another cool thing about co-voiturage - you get insider secrets on awesome places in the area. I told him "yeah, yeah maybe I'll check it out." (or some other broken-french equivalent) but the strangest part is that I said yes and I actually did it. If you find yourself in Dordogne someday, which I highly advise, it's worth the little trip to see Domme. We stopped in this little commune called "Les Eyzies" where the first Cro-Magnon skeletons were found and there are pre-historic rock dwellings. Dordogne is one of the most amazing places I have ever been.

The canoe was cheap, the water was nice & the overall experience was perfect.
xoxo.

Last night in BDX.

My trip to Bordeaux wasn't a choice for me. It was something I absolutely knew that I had to do, and without thinking about the end result I found myself going through all of the motions. Honestly, before I came here I was burnt out. In the past few years I've experienced a lot of tragedy but I never, ever stopped working/studying. Toward the end I felt like I was running on empty, like if I didn't saturate myself in the joys of life I wouldn't be able to accomplish anything more. I had reached my limit. It was a bizarre sensation, but it got me here. Before I arrived, I looked at my new little city on google maps & got teary eyed. I was in absolute amazement when I first arrived here -- despite the fact that I was completely alone and lost with all of my belongings at night, I wanted to stop at stare at all the buildings and allow my heart to just explode.

Coming to this city gave me exactly 100% what I needed, and I'm leaving motivated and ready to improve myself in every way possible and knowing that anything that I truly wish to do - I CAN. I'm also really motivated to eat Mexican food again. I've traveled a bit here but I know that of all the cities I've been to, Bordeaux is actually my favorite. It's the perfect amount of lively, the perfect amount of busy and it's less touristy than Paris so it's more authentic culture.

Two nights ago I ate fancy chocolate and drank "champagne" (really cheap bubbly stuff) with some girlfriends on Place de La Bourse. Because it's warmer now, groups of friends are always spread out around the river having picnics, drinking beer and just enjoying la ville parfaite. Because it was the end of the Fete Le Fleuve, all of the locals were spread around both sides of the river and over La Pont de Pierre.

 

I really don't want to say that I went out with a bang, but I have to.

And I also have to say that reaching your dreams is so, so much easier than it seems. No matter where you go, you will make friends. You will figure out how to order your meals. You will find all of the opportunities that you open yourself to. You will figure out how to flush weird foreign toilets. You will learn how capable you are of making your life exactly what you want it to be. Ready, set, go.

Now to spend my last 10 days tranquille in La Campagne, stuffing myself full of as much cheese & wine before my departure!

Switching gears.

The past couple days I've looked over this blog and kind of wandered what my purpose is for writing here. At first I tried doing what other people do - random tips on random things in life. I realized earlier today that I am the last person on earth that should be giving advice on life. But you know what, I like it that way. I have always found my charm in doing things wrong and living to tell the tale. I am not a beauty, fashion, or life expert but I can form a decent sentence, take a decent photo and I'm really good at thinking too much. I have always had issues with blogs because there's a degree of fakeness involved, and I don't do fake.

Now I've realized that knowing that I had a little space to compile my words, thoughts & photographs of my journey has really kept me focused on noticing the details. I always have my eye out for neat spots, beautiful scenery & words to describe my experiences.  Having this blog has subconsciously motivated me to find things that please my senses so that I can write about them later. When I look back at previous posts where I tried out all the different things that bloggers do I actually get a bit embarrassed. I don't know about life - I don't have life figured out and I really, really love that I don't.
From here on out I will focus on adventures and tips on adventuring and other helpful things that inspire myself and others to pay attention. These are my opinons and my feelings and you can use them as a filter for your own, or not.

This is not a "lifestyle" blog. Because my lifestyle is clumsy and sometimes disorganized and I'm 23 and I hardly know how to cut an onion. But I am excited to continue to use this space to do the dirty work & find gems to motivate me and you.

Allons-y!