A few weeks ago Sammy from To The Days Like This, one of my lovely Travel Tuesday co-host, tagged me with a list of travel related questions. Since I am currently rushing through airports and heading off for my two week trip to Croatia I figured this was a perfect way to kick off my vacation by sharing my answers to these travel related questions.

1. What adventures do you have coming up?
Did I mention that I am currently on my way to Croatia! H and I are spending two weeks visiting Dubrovnik, Korčula, Hvar, and Split. I can’t wait to do some exploring of this beautiful country, try all the different food and relax on the beach.

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Another adventure I have coming up that I am looking forward to is a visit back home to Oregon this Christmas. It will be over a year since I have been home and seen my family and I am already counting down the days.

2. What is the hardest thing about traveling?
Often times the most difficult part about traveling for me is deciding where I actually want to travel to. There are so many places on my travel list that I am dying to see, but I think this is a good problem to have.

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3. Is there a place that everyone raves about that you’re not interested in traveling to?
As I mentioned in the previous question, my travel wish list is long, and there are not many places that aren’t on it. I will admit that for awhile I didn’t have that much interest in traveling to China. However after college a few of my close friends moved to China to teach English, and after seeing their amazing pictures and hearing all their stories China is now high up there on my travel list.

4. Do you prefer travel books or internet research?
I prefer internet research, mainly for the convenience and the fact that you can do basically all of your trip planning online. Being able to read reviews from other travelers about the places I am traveling to has helped give me a lot of insider tips!

5. Have you made any life long friends through traveling?
I have made some great friends through traveling! The people you meet while traveling is one of my favorite aspects of traveling. You never know who you will meet or when you will be having breakfast in a group of people representing 10 different countries.

Friends from around the World

Even now, while I live in Iceland and am not just traveling here, I have made some great friends that I know I will stay in touch with if I move away. And of course my favorite life long friend I have made through traveling is H

6. Would you say you are a budget traveler?
I would say I am a budget traveler 75% of the time. When it comes to accommodation and flights I will shop around until I find the best deal. Actually experiencing the area to the fullest is where my money goes when I travel. Admission fees, boat tours, delicious food, and maybe some shopping at local markets is where I prefer to spend my money. You can read more about my travel style in this post.

7. Have you ever been scammed while traveling?
Unfortunately yes! When H and I arrived to Athens it was late at night and we had been traveling all day. We had to take a bus into the city and then take a cab to our hotel, it was exhausting. Basically we were to tired to have all our brain power switched on at this point.

When our bus dropped us off at 1 am we were so happy to see two cabs, one with the lights on the others turned off. Of course we hop into the cab that said it was on duty while the friendly cab driver loaded up our suitcases. As soon as our nice cab driver got back in the car the second cab driver rushes over opening H and my’s doors, taking our luggage out of the trunk and yelling at our nice cab driver in Greek.

I was basically terrified.

Apparently mean cab driver was the first in the cab line so even though his lights where off he was the cab with priority. Nice cab driver didn’t argue so off we went into mean cab drivers car.

Things were going okay, minus the fact that I was now wide awake in the back seat with my pepper spray in hand. Mean cab driver went on telling us the sights we were passing on our 5 minute ride to our hotel. When we arrived mean cab driver pushed a bunch of buttons on what was the strangest looking meter ever before telling us it was 17 Euros.

Ummm what! H and I argued a bit with him, no way was it 17 Euros for a 5 minute cab ride. Mean cabbie argued that he gave us a tour bla bla and since H and I were too exhausted to argue more we handed over 20 Euros for the cab driver to give us change back.

Before I knew it the meanie was getting back into the cab saying, “yes I keep extra for tip.” Ummm no, you keep no extra for tip! But off the mean cab driver went, scoring 20 Euros for a 5 minute drive. The worst part was when we went into our hotel and asked the reception how much the cab should have cost and we got the answer, “maybe 4 Euros max.”

Yes we got ripped off big time on that one cab ride!

8. Favorite travel quote?
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This quote is one of my favorites about traveling! I love when I go somewhere that leaves me speechless. I am sure I will have some of these moments during our trip to Croatia!

Question of the Day?
Tell me your answers to these travel questions!

I am currently enjoying some much needed beach time in Croatia. I may be a bit slow responding to comments but will be back to normal blogging when I return! Thanks for taking the time to stop by!