Doha, Qatar and the Persian Gulf

I never thought that I would EVER say this in my whole entire life, but I went to the Middle East! Yes, I did! I went to Qatar! It's a small, extremely rich country on the Persian Gulf. They are rich in Natural Gas and are building the infrastructure of the city as well as investing in sports (think Barca Futbol Club) and Arts, hence why I traveled there. For work, to participate in a film festival. Anyway, I wont talk much about that, instead about my experience getting to know the country.

First, one of the most AMAZING experiences I had while there was crossing the Desert into Saudi Arabia, after a camel ride, we took a Toyota Land Cruiser driven by a Palestinian, and we went Sand Dune Driving until we got to the Boarder of Saudi Arabia. As the driver was going over the steep sand dunes, I constantly felt like the car would flip over or get stuck, but that never happened. The driver had DESERT FINESS! It was such a magical, not to mention nerve racking, experience. We stopped at multiple Oasis, sand sailed down the dunes and just sat and admired the scenery. Words can't really describe how unique and wonderful I felt being there. The desert was never ending, and we saw car gangs driving towards us in the distance (one couldn't help but feel as if they were going to attack us, I am American after all, and grew up watching action movies). I LOVED it!

The day-long desert adventure ended at a virgin beach, one of the most beautiful I've ever experienced. Crystal clear water and sugary sand. I wanted to jump into the water so bad, but unfortunately it's not acceptable for females to enter into the water in bathing suits (only at the international hotels, and that I did at the St Regis Doha), and I wasn't about to get back into the car in a floor length soaking wet dress smelling of sea, so I went in knee deep and appreciated the experience as much as I could.

The rest of the time in Doha, Qatar was spent at the Museum of Muslim Art, the Damien Hurst Exhibit and the various Markets-- specifically the Pearl and the Souq (pronounced Sook), as well stuffing our face in the very new and chic Katara! 

The Qatar Skyline

My friends and I at Souq Market having a snack

Outside of the Damien Hurst Exhibit and Museum of Muslim Art

Amazing experience. One I will never forget, and one that unfortunately many Americans don't get to experience because of the Muslim fear instilled in us by the Media. I have to say, I never felt safer in my life.

PARIS

So with this whole move, I haven't been able to blog about my time in Paris or the other places I visited for that matter. But I'll do it slowly. (The internet still isn't set up at my place, soo..)

When I arrived in Paris, I was beat! So tired! I didn't sleep well, I had a middle seat in the middle rows on the airplane with an older woman that enjoyed being shoe-less and putting her feet up (on me), anyway, thats besides the point. When I arrived, I met my friend in the airport and we navigated the Paris Metro System to make our way to our lovely apartment we would call home for the next few days.

At 4pm we arrived, showered, dressed and stepped out into the charming streets of Paris, stopping for wine, having street food, shopping in small boutique shops, it was so glamourous, I felt like a million bucks! The energy of Paris intoxicated me in a way that no other city has. I was blown away by its architecture and the beauty of its people.

The best part was:

I have friends living in Paris so everyday, like pros, they showed us around, took us through the side streets, invited us to their home for brunch, and the most perfect experience (for me) was that we had picnics!

My dream was to spend the summer in Paris drinking wine, cutting fresh flowers and eating Brie cheese and baguettes, and thats just what we did. Our picnics included an Eiffel Tower backdrop, we sat on park benches eating and drinking, along the river, where ever we were inspired.

And thats how I spent the first leg of my Euro Trip. Living my life with no cares, no worries, doing as I pleased, sleeping as much as I wanted and staying out until the crack of dawn, practicing my French and feeding my soul.

Here's some pictures:

Saint Tropez, Southern France

In our car, on my way to the airport in route to a multi-week Euro Trip, my husband had the following song playing:

welcome to SAINT TROPEZ

It provoked a curiosity about this cool place they were singing about. It sounded like paradise and fun all in one. So a week into our trip, we went...

Beach, boat rides and beauty, so was Saint Tropez

I'm free to do as I please!

I've been debating whether or not to spend a few weeks in France this summer, its been on my new years resolution list for the past three years and I never did it for different reasons. But recently I've been thinking about it and I thought, WHY NOT!?? I have NO kids, I have a good STABLE job, an adventurous spirit, theres no reason not to go! I can't live my life with fear, worrying about money, happiness, or any of that, I just have to live and do what I want! So thats what I'm going to do. In a few weeks I'll be flying into Paris!

I CANT WAIT! I'm So excited! Every time I travel, I leave a bit of my love in the places I spend time in and I take a little bit of the cultural love with me. It's a beautiful thing.

internal and external travel

Life is about growth, personal experience and interactions. The way thats projected/played out in my life is through travel-- mostly. I don't ever want to get to a place in my life where I become stagnant, where I stop growing. I feel that I went through that as a teenager. Everyday was similar to the last and it was hard for me to see tomorrow. So I've decided to put the house buying on hold for another year so that Spanish guy and I don't have to sacrifice our travels (or his sports adventures) for a downpayment.

So our Spanish, North African trip is booked for February. As is our December beach getaway to the Dominican Republic, and in January I'm so excited because my friend is turning 30 and she's celebrating in Las Vegas! I've never been, but I hear its a wild place and I cant wait to go!

All of these trips create a sense of purpose for me, my internal level of excitement is elevated just thinking about them. My sense of anticipation is so strong!

In the meantime, in reference to my house situation, I'm in one of the best neighborhoods in NYC, so I'm going to focus on fixing up our apartment and making it my own-- a cozy "escape", so that I feel comfortable traveling internally, with my own thoughts as well as into the world!

Me, 2008, cross the Mediterranean Sea in route to Melilla, North Africa

The Wild Animals of Costa Rica

These are a few of the animals that we came across during our ten-day trip throughout Costa Rica. New Yorkers never get to see these animals in the wild! It was a bit scary, but GREAT!

A Tucan (and his name isn't Sam)

A Lizard on the beach

A White Faced Monkey stole a banana.

A cow.

A sloth being slothy in a tree.

GATORS!

This animal is part of the Raccoon family. 

A poisonous (I forgot what this is, but it freaked me out). 

UPCOMING TRAVEL ADVENTURES

I have lots of trips coming up that I'm super excited about -- they keep my soul happy and life exciting:

Next weekend I'm traveling with a huge group of friends to Vermont for a snowboarding/skiing adventure. The following week I managed to get a free trip to Costa Rica with a dear friend! I haven't explored Latin America as much as some other places, so I'm looking forward to it. Actually Costa Rica, among others, has been on my list of countries to visit for a long time.

Hopefully when I get back I'll be able to book a cheap flight to Florida to visit my cousin that I miss so much!

The first weeks of July I'll be in Massachusetts! :D

The summer in NYC is vacation in and of itself!

I LOVE TRAVEL!

my 2012 travel plans (so far)

Being a Sagittarius, I have a constant and urgent need to travel. And usually I fulfill that need with mini-vacations around the world.  Cool, huh?

So you could imagine the thrill I felt when today I found out that I'll be going to Boston (never been-- or at least not that I can remember) for my anniversary weekend AND I got a FREE TRIP to Costa Rica for SPRING BREAK! On top of this, Ill be going to Florida, and am planning a trip to Israel for this summer!

My soul is happy! 2012 is going to be a BIG ONE! WOO-HOO!

AIRLINES!

This is RIDICULOUS! I've been living in Spain for just about 2 years now, so naturally I've been accumulating things, so when it comes time to pack, I'm like DAMN, I can only bring 2 suitcases! So I had to choose between one of the first picture frames I bought from Zara home when I first got here or a picture frame that I brought over that I had for years (just to name one example of the decisions I have). I want to have some familiar items in my new place, AND I want to have at least one nice dress, outfit, my super cool/funky winter jackets, and summer shoes, sandals, winter boots, and not to mention all my antique jewelry and jewelry I bought while I was here (I'm a bit obsessed with jewelry, especially big earrings)

WELL NOW, COME TO FIND OUT, I can only bring one suitcase! I knew that a few airlines were changing their rules, but I didn't know all of them changed them! GOD DAMNIT! AND I'll be damned if I pay 50 freakin euros to bring an extra suitcase on board when I'm, already paying out the ass for my plane ticket!

UGHHH... now, I have to cut all my stuff in half... maybe it will be okay. I guess it just means that I have to do a little shopping when I get to NYC, but to be honest, I don't really like to shop, actually, I hate it, especially if there's a lot of people...

oh gosh, well, I'll get back to packing now!

I decided that I am NOT a fan of ANY AIRLINE expect JETBLUE because I think they are the only airline that doesn't charge for the 2 bag.!

VENICE, ITALY via GIRONA, SPAIN

So right now Spanish guy and I are sitting in front of a computer in Girona, Spain, it´s a small province in the North of Spain, and its supposed to be very small and beautiful, but we wouldnt know because we have no time to see it. We spent the night in a hotel here to catch a connecting flight today to Venice Italy, AND WE ARE SO EXCITED! It´s nice though to have had this very calm night in this quiet place and just feel the anticipation of arriving in one of the most romantic and beautiful cities in the world where there are no streets, no cars-- only small rivers and boats. wow.

more soon.
xo

Granada-Land

OK, well, my first impressions of Granada blew me away (this time). It was absolutely breath taking. The city can not be described to its fullest by pictures, video, texts, or anything. You have to go and experience it yourself. That said, I'm going to describe my experience there for the last 3 days. (I know I say this a lot, but I really feel SO happy and lucky to be experiencing all of these things, Europe is such a beautiful continent full of history, small pueblos, different people, food-- ugh... I can go on forever!)

Us leaving Málaga headed to Granada!

Let's start with: SPANISH NIGHT LIFE AND FREE TAPA'S (since I got there at night on the first day)
So, it was raining and about 9 degrees C, thats like 51 degrees F. Not too bad, but not nice either. So we arrived, went to Cristina's HUGE beautiful apartment (with 5 bedrooms, and a balcony with a view of the snow capped Sierra Nevada, in the middle of the city center) got ready, and skedaddled. First we went out for tapa's and drinks. AMERICAN'S WONT BELIEVE THIS: In Granada, every time you order a drink you get a free tapa! IMAGINE THAT! For every drink you order, you get a small plate of free food! I was in heaven! The only problem for me was that the only vegetarian plates are usually white (potatoes, cheese, fried stuff--unhealthy) BUT I love fried foods, especially when I'm having drinks, it hits the spot! So we had a few drinks and had tapa's for dinner (for free). Here's an example of our free tapa's, after ordering one round of drinks:
So after an amazingly cheap, fun few hours having tapa's drinking, laughing, talking, we moved on to a place that is dear to my heart because it's part of the most beautiful culture in the world! A Cuban Place that only serves MOJITOS!! YAY! If there was a doubt that I wasn't in heaven before with the free tapa's, I KNEW that I had just entered heaven when I stepped foot into this place! AMAZING! The Mojitos were SO good and the bartenders were friendly-- they gave me a lot for free cause I told them my family is from Cuba (and I'm a girl)! Here's more pictures of us and our friends! I don't know what I was thinking, but I met this guy (they say the people from Granada are not friendly, but I didn't buy it, I can get along with anyone and have a good time!) He had a HUGE Mojito and I put my hand in his drink, I didn't even know him, and pulled out a mint leaf and then pressed it against his forehead until it stuck! LOL! I could not stop laughing and he LOVED IT! He thought it was the greatest thing that someone has ever done to him! After that, he wanted to talk and joke with me the whole night, lol. Well, later on I found out his girlfriend was there and although me and her got along really well, him and her started fighting outside when they left. :/ Hopefully it wasn't because of my silliness, lol.


So after gorgeous drinks and great company, me and my sexy girls headed out for our first night of dancing in Granada! We went to a big club with a few floors. It was nice, the only problem for me was that half the time this guy was talking my ear off and my friends left me alone with him because they thought I liked him, NO! I don't meet guys when I go out, especially when I am on vacation, what the hell am I supposed to do with them? I'm not that type of girl! He was interesting and cute anyway, so it was ok I guess, ha. It was a nice place, but like always, the smoke smell was pretty bad, but when there is music, its like I tune everything out and go with the rhythm, nothing gets me down! Soy una balerina!
The next night, we had tapa's and drinks early in the center of town, then walked to a more local spot, met some of Cristina's friends and had dinner at an Italian restaurant. Overall, Granadan Nightlife is GREAT. It's different than Malaga's because first of all, you can eat for free until like 3am, second of all, all the clubs are HUGE, you have space to dance, in Malaga, it's always packed (except the salsa clubs). I had such fun at night in Granada, TOO MUCH FUN for one person I think! Ughh... When am I ever going to be able to settle down? I cant ever give this lifestyle up!

GRANADA DURING THE DAY, CULTURE, SIGHTS, AND HISTORY:
Granada was one of the last area's in Andalusia, which had Moorish influence. It wasn't until 1492 that the Christians came in and ousted the Moors from the Kingdom of Granada. In this city, you can find beautiful buildings built centuries ago with Arabic, Roman, or Christian influence. It's stunning. Here are a few pictures and short descriptions:

An adorable walkway with hanging lights, Moorish architecture. I fell in love with this area!
Beautifully detailed and colored buildings on the main street, Gran Via. BREATH TAKING!

Looking at an amazing patio, very typical in Andalucia, I'd love love to throw a party here!
Again, amazing!
I'm standing in front of the first Arabic University in the whole world. It's a beautiful building! Now it's been turned into a government building.

Aside from all the sights, I was SUPER excited to visit an Arabic teteria (tea house), to relax, have some tea and enjoy the ambiance. We walked to a part of town with Arabic shops, teterias, and a ton of people. I bought very unique jewelry (Arabic inspired of course), one of which is a brown wooden winding bracelet which stretches almost halfway up my arm. I've NEVER seen anything like it before and I bargained the guy down REAL GOOD! :) So here we are in the adorable colorful shops before we made our way to the teterias (where there were over 100 types of tea to choose from!) I ordered the Pakistani with milk and honey, it hit the spot after hours of sightseeing in the rain!

Darkness snuck up on us unexpectedly, we were having so much fun exploring, eating, shopping, that all of a sudden it was dark! Nonetheless, we made our way to the Mirador De San Cristobal, its a viewing area where you can see the Alhambra (Arabic Palace) and the whole city. To get to the Mirador, you have to walk through the most romantic, cobblestoned streets, with beautiful houses with flowers in the windows. It reminded me of the beauty and romance of Rome, Italy when I was there, it was an amazing, beautiful and romantic places that makes you feel a way that you have never felt before, it's indescribable! Here's some pictures of the towpath bridge to get over a small stream, and some pictures along the way to the Mirador.
Anyone can fall in love in a place like this! Look at this beauty! I asked my friend to marry me as soon as I set my eyes on this place I felt so romantic! She happily and romantically accepted.
And Finally we got to the Mirador, I didn't want to leave! It was so beautiful, and I felt like I was in such a spiritual place, it was amazing. nighttime pictures are bad, but here's a picture that doesn't even scratch the surface.The next morning we seized the day and started off my having breakfast-- churros y chocolate-- with Cristina's parents in a famous, local, churros place. It was typical Spanish, and I LOVED every second of it!
Then we went to a museum se llama, Casa de los Tiros. It was interesting to see a house built in 1530, with paintings from the Royal Family. OK, I really liked it, but felt like I couldn't be all that serious! LOL.
To top it all off, as we were walking back to the piso, a marching bank came down the street! I got the goose bumps from their beautiful music. I managed to capture a short video of it. It was great. (OK, I just watched the video, it was SO much better in person, but you get the idea)



All in all, I had an amazing time. Granada is great and I had great company. I love my life and I LOVE Granada, SPAIN, MY FRIENDS, AND EVERY ONE AND EVERY THING! I'm so happy right now! xo.