Man, what happened to the days where I used to obsessively plan my travels and conjure up detailed lists of must-dos and must-sees?
I don’t know, but they’ve been MIA for years – and suddenly I’m looking at a summer filled with both new and familiar destinations, yet void of any details beyond that. I’ve done virtually zero research and minimal planning for all of these summer trips, which inevitably means I’ll be stumbling around town a hot mess. IT’S COOL.
At any rate, here’s what my summer travel plans are looking like right now —
San Francisco: 5/30-6/4
When the opportunity to travel to San Francisco for work came up, I all but jumped up and down, begging and pleading for them to send me there. And by some stroke of luck, I get to go to one of my favorite cities in the WORLD!
I’ll be flying in early to spend the weekend frolicking around the city, staying at the Green Tortoise just as I did 5 years ago. Then I’ll make my way to the InterContinental Hotel in time for a 3-day work conference. I’m tempted to see a lot of the same places I visited during my first (and only) trip to SF, back in 2010: Lombard Street, the Painted Ladies, the Haight.
But, you know, for good measure I suppose I should do a few new things as well. So far my only must-dos are walk across the Golden Gate Bridge and eat some Mexican food – maybe hang out at Golden Gate Park. And, of course, sample SF’s finest coffee (oh hey, Blue Bottle!). But what else should I do in San Francisco??
Chicago: 6/5-6/10
I’ve been wanting to visit Chicago for a long time now, and it’s finally happening! Earlier this year, I got accepted to the 2014 BlogHouse, where I’ll join 13 other newbie travel bloggers for 4 days of intensive blogger workshops and training. I’m so excited to be able to meet and learn from some of the more seasoned travel bloggers I’ve been following for ages now. Best of all, I’ll be returning home a better blogger, set on making this a better blog.
I’ll be staying in the HI Hostel for the first couple days, then movin’ on up to a fancy Tuscan villa for BlogHouse.
Confession: I know next to nothing about what there is to do in Chicago. I didn’t even know it had a beach until recently. Besides that, all I’ve got is deep dish pizza and the Bean. Surely there’s more? What else should I do in Chicago?
Boston: 7/11-7/13
Finally, a getaway that requires little-to-no planning: Boston! I’m long overdue for a visit with my sister, and I’m particularly looking forward to being back in Boston during summer for once (I always used to visit during fall or spring, while she was in college).
Our standard Boston weekend follows a loose recipe of frolicking, coffee-ing, trying one new ethnic restaurant, photo shooting, and having one night in where we do typical Buckley Sister Things. I CAN’T WAIT.
Iceland: 8/29-9/13
Ok, if there’s one trip that needs to be planned, it’s Iceland. There is way too much beauty and amazingness tucked in all pockets of this country that I’d miss if I didn’t know about them beforehand. So for starters, I’ve been photo-researching places to go in Iceland and saving them all to my new Iceland Pinterest board. I had no idea how useful and FUN Pinterest could be for trip planning!
Then I suppose an ambitious next step would be to attempt to piece some of those wishlist sights into some sort of logical route to cover on our roadtrip, which we have slated for 8/30-9/7 or so. The 3 of us are renting a campervan fit for taking off the main road and camping all over the country, skinnydipping in all the empty hot springs we find and just being completely ridiculous in general. If ever there were a time to use the hackneyed word ‘epic’ to describe something, this would be it.
Then, from 9/9-9/12 Becca and I will be doing the overnight Laugavegur Trek. We’ve already reserved our huts and will be schlepping all our gear for nearly 50 miles over the course of 4-5 days. This about sums up what we’ll be frolicking through:
There are very few places in the world that offer such diverse landscapes and scenic views. On the trek there are colorful rhyolite mountains, huge and rugged glaciers, screaming hot springs, rivers of every shape and size, peaceful lakes, narrow ridges, immense waterfalls, deep canyons and panoramic views of the North Atlantic Ocean. (source)
But the most exciting thing? There’s actually a decent chance of seeing the Northern Lights, even in September! I can safely say that my life would be pretty much made if this happened.
So, I’m going to make a conscious effort to work on my Iceland travel plans in the next 3 months. I’ve even got a Lonely Planet to motivate me. But I was also thinking of doing some sort of adventure activity in Iceland: Hiking a glacier? Paragliding? Biking? Which adventure activity should I do in Iceland?
