Travel Tuesday |

August 19, 2014

Hiking Around Landmannalaugar, Iceland

You know those beautiful photos you see in travel brochures that you spend your working hours daydreaming about? Those pictures that show beaches with stunning blue water and mountains with colors dancing all over them. You can hardly wait to see these places for yourself, but when you finally arrive your left disappointed when the view is not as stunning as the pictures promised.

Well Landmannalaugar is not one of those places! Pictures can not do this place justice, it is beyond beautiful!

As you drive the bumpy gravel road an hour back in between the beautiful mountains you see a range of rich vibrant colors that looked as if they had been painted. When you arrive in the valley you are greeted with dozens of tents set up, people relaxing in the hot spring after a long day of hiking, and an atmosphere that makes you feel like you have just wandered into a small happy community complete with a small shop inside an old school bus.

There are several different hiking trails that you can choice from in the area. We arrived late in the day after our change in plans so we opted to do a quick walk up what is called the Blue Peak.

Do you see the turquoise and blue colors in the mountain? The further up you climb the wider the range of colors you see, from browns to pink, green to black, the colors are stunning. I seriously could not get over the different colors in Landmannalaugar!

Stunning right? Sadly we never made it to the top of this path as the weather began to have other things in mind (like a rain/wind storm), but just in our short climb we were able to see some amazing views. If you only have a short time to spend in the area I recommend choosing this path as it gives you a great view of the whole area.

An added bonus to the beautiful landscape is the adorable furry friends you will find wandering around.

The Icelandic horses are always my favorite, they are so cute and friendly. If you are a horse lover you can even rent horses at Landmannalaugar and go riding on certain trails around the area. H had to drag me away from these guys, I just wanted to take them home with me they were so adorable.

Next time I go to Landmannalaugar I will be pitching my tent in the middle of the camp area and spending my days hiking and my nights soaking in the hot spring!

If you are a hiking enthusiast visit Iceland right now and check out Landmannalaugar!

Question of the Day?
Have you ever been disappointed with a place after seeing pictures? Are you a fan of hiking?

Linking up with Bonnie Rose for Travel Tuesday

posted by Kiki 64 Comments
Filed Under: Healthy Lifestyle, Iceland, Link-Up, Travel, Travel Tuesday Tagged: hiking in Iceland, Iceland, travel, Travel Tuesday

July 29, 2014

My European Travel Bucket List

My desire to travel is one that never seems to be satisfied. Even now as I am just returning home from a wonderful two week trip to Croatia I am already dreaming of my next travel adventure. Since I don’t get to spend all my time traveling, I am still working on figuring out how to make travel my full time job! I have a very long travel bucket lists. Picking just a few items off my bucket list to share was more harder than I thought! Here are a few of my travel bucket list items, European version.

Drive all over Scotland
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Castles, lush green fields and stunning landscapes, sounds like the perfect place for a roadtrip! Scotland in many ways reminds me of Iceland, (at least the photos I have seen), minus the castles, and I would love to get to drive all over this amazing country and discover its beauty myself.

Visit the German Christmas Markets
Christmas is my favorite time of year and I can’t believe I had never heard of the German Christmas markets until recently. Thanks to some of my favorite bloggers I am now dreaming of my own weekend getaway exploring these markets, admiring all the beautiful crafts and sampling all the delicious food.

Walk through the tulip fields in Hollandvia
When I was an intern in Australia there was another intern in our office from Holland. Her pictures she shared of her visits to the tulip fields were amazing and ever since then it has been on my travel bucket list. Now that I am living a bit closer to Holland I hope to see the tulip fields myself!

Go on a walking food tour through Prague
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Prague has been high up there on my list of places to visit for a while now and after reading Margo’s post about her walking food tour through Prague it looks like an excellent way to explore the city!

Visit Austriavia
Ever since watching the Sound of Music when I was a little girl I have wanted to visit Austria. With every picture I see of Austria my desire to travel there increase even more. I have now increased H’s interest in Austria as well so hopefully a trip here is in our near future.

This list is just a very short look into my very long travel bucket list. There are so many beautiful places to be seen and so little time to do it! I am determined to see as many places as possible, I have a lot to cross off my travel bucket list!

Question of the Day?
What is on your travel bucket list?

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Welcome to Travel Tuesday!

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This is my last Tuesday co-hosting Travel Tuesday and I just wanted to thank you all for helping make it such a wonderful experience. I have found so many wonderful bloggers through this link up and have fed my wanderlust with all your wonderful posts. Next week we will be announcing the new co-host, I hope you all keep coming back and sharing your travel posts!

Each week Bonnie, Sammy, Van and I will select one post each from all the linked up posts the week before that we enjoyed especially. I haven’t had a chance to read all yours posts from last week’s link up so be sure to head over to their blogs to see who they picked!

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Ready to link up!

HERE IS HOW IT WORKS:
1. SHARE a post about travel! From road trips to trips abroad and from past travels to dream vacations. You can write about travel tips and tricks, favorite places to stay, or anything in between! Just make it about traveling somewhere!
2. GRAB the lovely button. If you run into trouble, just make sure to mention Bonnie in a link!
3. LINKUP goes live every Tuesday at 0800 GMT.

TIPS:
1. Please only one linked up post per blogger. Save other posts for future linkups!
2. The last Tuesday of every month will be a themed prompt if you want to join in!
3. HOP around and meet new travel loving bloggers! Check back to visit some of the newer travel posts!

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posted by Kiki 82 Comments
Filed Under: Link-Up, Travel, Travel Tuesday Tagged: bucket list, Europe, travel, Travel Tuesday

July 15, 2014

The Day Sydney Was Painted Red

Welcome to Travel Tuesday!

Today I am stealing H’s photos and sharing his experience during a dust storm in Sydney, Australia.

In 2009 Sydney turned red over night as strong winds carried dust from the east of Australia, a very rare and incredible occurrence. When H told me about it and showed me his pictures my first thought was, I would have been terrified if I woke up to this! H said he had woke up around 5 am to and when he looked out his window and saw all the red dust he had no idea what was going on. Of course this didn’t stop him from rushing outside to take these amazing pictures.

H said that after a few hours a lot of the dust has blown away so the color wasn’t as bright, but it was quite the clean up for the city. It may have been messy but it looks beautiful!

Question of the Day?
Have you ever experienced a weather phenomenon?

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!

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Welcome to Travel Tuesday!

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Each week Bonnie, Sammy, Van and I will select one post each from all the linked up posts the week before that we enjoyed especially. Please make sure to head over to their blogs to see who they picked!

This week I am spotlighting Camille from Challenge Mantra and her post about Mount Whitney. If you are a fan of hiking your going to love this post. Full of beautiful photos and helpful tips I am now adding Mount Whitney to my list!

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Ready to link up!

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posted by Kiki 69 Comments
Filed Under: Australia, Blogging, Link-Up, Travel, Travel Tuesday Tagged: australia, Travel Tuesday

July 8, 2014

One Last Italian Adventure

Two summers ago H and I spent two weeks traveling all over Italy before heading off to the gorgeous beaches in Greece. Before we headed to Greece we ended our Italian adventure with a quick stop to the beautiful city of Naples.

We arrived in Naples late in the afternoon and spent our first day wandering around the busy little streets, which I will admit overwhelmed me a bit.

Clothing lines above your head, someone selling something everywhere you look, children playing soccer in the street and motorbikes weaving their way through the chaos, it was a fascinating sight to see!

As I was walking around in awe of what was going on around me H discovered a bakery where we tried a Sfogliatelle, an Italian pastry that is absolutely delicious.

Feeling a bit exhausted from all the chaos happening around us we took our delicious Sfogliatelle and headed towards the harbor area for some exploring.

So many beautiful views in this area, I wouldn’t mind strolling around there everyday.

By this point we were ready to find some dinner and headed off to find a pizzeria that had been recommended to us by a waiter in Milan. Lucky for us we had a handy map the nice waiter drew for us to lead the way.

It took us a bit but we finally stumbled upon the pizzeria that will forever be remember as the best pizza I have ever ate!

Completely stuffed H and I strolled through the same small streets that where full of life during the day, but at night they were quiet and beautiful glowing in the city lights.

The following morning we decided to take a boat to the island of Capri, as was recommended to us by our BFF the waiter in Milan. We spent the day relaxing on the beach and taking a boat trip around the island where we saw some of the most beautiful blue water.

Capri lived up to its hype, such a gorgeous place I highly recommend visiting Capri if you ever have the chance.

Our time in Naples was too short for us to explore everything we wanted to. One day I will have to go back and spend more time in this lovely city.

Question of the Day?
What is the best thing you ever ate when traveling? Have you been to Naples?

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Welcome to Travel Tuesday!

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For this week’s Travel Tuesday our theme is What is your Travel Style? Link up with us and share a post about anything related to your travel style. This could be how the way you travel has changed over time, how you prefer to travel or anything you feel is relevant. I am looking forward to reading what everyone has to share!

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This week I am spotlighting Jamie from Gunters Abroad post about her and her husbands travel style. Jamie breaks down their travel style with plenty of tips all of us travelers can use. Head over and say hi!