Upcoming Plans for the Near Future

Recently, I stumbled upon a very financially reasonable travel website called TravelPirates. It's similar to Groupon and Travel Zoo, in the way that there are discounted deals for flights.

travelpirates.com


My original plan was to visit Ireland this May, but after seeing how cheap it is to fly to Brisbane, Australia instead, I completely changed my mind.

This will be my first trip traveling solo, but I am surprisingly at ease since Australia is considered one of the safest tourist destinations and is a predominantly English speaking country. Brisbane isn't the top city for visitors in the country, but for less than $800 for a round-trip ticket, how could I possibly not take that offer?

Please don't assume that I'm traveling alone because I'm lonely or have no friends, it's just the friends and family I do have are not willing to sacrifice finances, are in school, or are not able to take the time off from work. I had never left the country before the age of 21 and constantly regret that. From the moment I turned 18, my goal was to go to school and work enough hours on the side to save enough funds for an international vacation. Unfortunately, a few circumstances hindered my opportunities during that time period of my life and I sat back waiting for things to fall into place.

At 21, I was not willing to sit back and wait for fate any longer. Frankly, I was quite tired of being confined within the bay area. My 22nd birthday was approaching, and I realized that I deserved to treat myself for once. My friend and I impulsively planned out our trip to Jamaica just two months prior, packed our bags, and had the time of our lives.

My parents were not happy, to say the least. "Not happy" would actually be an understatement. They were downright disappointed that I decided to travel with just one other female rather than with a larger group. Up until the day I left I was lectured for my "naive" perspective and impetuous decisions. But I managed to smoothly arrive and return in one piece, which was a huge relief for them, and probably even established more trust in me.

I'm still deciding how I'll break the news to them in May, that not only will I be traveling again, but traveling by myself. They'll probably never fully support my decisions or the way I spend my money, but at the end of the day, they accept that I'm not one who's opinion will be swayed by others.

I don't have the best job, but I have a flexible manager who's always willing to work with my schedule.

I'll be starting school at San Jose State University this next fall and will most likely have little to no time at all for anything other than work and studying, so I thought, why not take advantage of the very last freedom and opportunities I have.

                                      Link to Photo

Say what now?

In today's day an age, most of us have Netflix. But many of us probably weren't aware of this awesome opportunity of a life time they're offering to one lucky winner.

On March 11, Netflix will be choosing one "Grammaster" to take an all expenses paid trip for two weeks to Europe, to post photos on Instagram of show and film sets.

For me, going to Europe is a big dream, as it is for many others. And how amazing would it be to pack up and leave for two whole weeks, for free!? Not only are the travel fees taken care of, but the winner will also be payed $2,000 a week for the job

Here are the guidelines for the contest if anyone is interested:
Netflix's Grammaster Contest

This past Friday, San Francisco held the 28th annual Russian festival.

The best part was, that I didn't even have to leave the country, or even the Bay area to experience a taste of the culture.

I've been in the Bay area for the past 22 years, and have always been aware of our abundant Russian population, but surprisingly somehow I have never truly been exposed to the their culture.

The festival kicked off Friday night at 5 PM with a variety of different traditional Russian food, an endless amount of different Vodka flavors, multiple vendors, and performances on the main stage.

It tends to get pretty chilly during the night in SF, so thank God everything was indoors.

While it started out slow, things began to pick up around 8 o'clock when the younger generations began flooding in for the Baltica Beer and cocktails. 

On the main stage, there was a variety of different dance numbers of children in traditional Russian costumes, as well as a male acapella group, and a traditional folk band.

Though most of the narration of the show was in Russian, the festival was nothing short of welcoming to all the non-Russian visitors.

Here are some of the few highlights from the evening.

traditional Russian music on main stage

Early evening before the downstairs area was filled up. 

Vatrushka - a delicious Russian desert somewhat similar to Cheesecake, kinda.

Baltica beer- more commonly seen in Eastern Europe.

beef stroganoff with meat stuffed fried bread(forgot the name), kind of like an empanada.

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