Liebster Award – Part Two

I’d like to thank Anna at Slightly Astray for my second Liebster Award, which is basically a fun way to get to know other blogs and bloggers and then recommend some of your favorites. I had a great time answering her questions and I love reading other people’s posts like this. Here are my answers to Anna’s questions, so you can learn a little more about me…

 

 

1. What is your favorite recent destination or experience?

Right after we arrived in Mexico, Charlie and I had a ridiculously long, late afternoon meal with my Mexican friend and her family. We were in the town of Celaya, Mexico in the state of Guanajuato, and my friend’s dad had just picked us up from the airport.  We practiced our Spanish on the drive in and he asked if we were hungry before stopping to pick up a case of Coronitas. Well, we had no idea what we were in for…

So much food

Her family set up a tent in their backyard along with a table full of snacks on the patio. Meats came steadily rolling off the grill, there were three kinds of guacamole prepared in varying spice levels (so thoughtful), and a mound of Oaxacan cheese. We ate quesadillas, cheese-stuffed chilies, steak, chorizo, and beans. The food seriously never stopped. Her parents shared a bottle (and I mean a whole bottle) of nice tequila with us while we chatted (or attempted to chat) for hours in Spanish.

We laughed a ton and her dad taught us how to make a drink called a paloma… and then they asked what we wanted for dinner! From there, we headed to a tiny, authentic taqueria which may have served us one of the most delicious meals we ate in Mexico. Every hour of that day was so happy (and delicious), and I’ve never felt so welcomed anywhere I’ve been… though the Mexican wedding we attended a few days later was a close second! This family didn’t know us at all before that week and they treated us like their own.

2. What is your biggest travel fear?

Being lonely. Regretting my decision to travel. Worrying too much to enjoy the moment. Running out of money. Not being able to get a job when I get back. Okay, that’s enough of that…

But really, being lonely on the road is a big fear of mine, though from experience, I know it’s not an issue if you put yourself out there and attempt to be social. I studied abroad in Buenos Aires as a direct exchange student, meaning I didn’t go with a group or a program or even have housing set up when I left the US. I just booked a hostel for a week and went to orientation, hoping to meet roommates and find a place (which, of course, I did).

Those first three days in the hostel, though, were pretty lonely. As I kept meeting people who were just passing though, I started to feel really sad and alone; I felt like I was the only one staying in the city long-term. But it didn’t take long, for those same strangers to invite me out to the club with them (Brazilian girls) or to a lengthy happy hour (Germans and Australians, obviously) or to a rowdy dinner (some friendly Dutch gentlemen). Once orientation at the university started, I realized my fear of being forever friendless in Buenos Aires was pretty dumb, as all of us exchange students were now in the same boat and desperate to talk to and make new friends with literally anybody.

A truly old and poor quality photo from the depths of Facebook- one of my first days in Argentina. Maia (an Australian) and I taking advantage of happy hour at the hostel. Luckily, she was unable to convince me to go to one of the biggest clubs in the city the night before orientation.

3. What is one thing you must bring with you when you travel (excluding necessary items like electronics/clothes. Like for me, this is my teddy bear).

I actually don’t have a sentimental item like this that I have to bring. I kind of wish I did, though at the same time, I think I’d be devastated if anything happened to it. So, um, chapstick? (That is not a joke, I will freak out if I don’t have chapstick for like an hour.)

4. Hostels, hotels, or AirBnb rentals?

AirBnb or cheap hotels if I’m traveling with Charlie. We didn’t stay in a place costing over $75 per night the whole time we were in Mexico. If solo, I’d choose hostels to avoid the above-mentioned loneliness and to make some necessary travel friends.

One thing I haven’t done yet is rent a private room inside someone’s house through AirBnb. I do think it would be nice to have the expertise of a local handy, especially if traveling solo. In our AirBnb in the center of Oaxaca, it was great to have the owner and his son nearby to call cabs for us or invite us to their bar. In Bangkok, though we didn’t meet her, our host gave us detailed directions that included a shortcut between streets through an underground parking deck… which led us to find an excellent club with a Thai cover band (even if it was named “Climax” and filled with hookers).

View from our Bangkok AirBnb in Sukhumvit.

5. If how much you earn is not an issue, what is your ideal job?

Food and travel writer/blogger. Is that not the dream? I’d love to work in-house for a travel company or a bigger food blog (like Eater), or travel website (like Yahoo Travel), or a food AND travel website (like Thrillist, which is so hilarious) exploring and promoting destinations, especially local foods and culinary trends.  Or, dream of all dreams, working in the Bon Appetit test kitchen cooking, tasting, and perfecting foods all day. Even if they do have to repeatedly taste Thanksgiving foods several months out in the middle of bathing suit season (which seems to be the only downside of this job I can think of), I’m up for that. Honestly, I would be ecstatic to have any career that centers on food and travel, whether it be freelancing on my own or with a bigger company.

If we’re staying in the realm of actually using my law degree, I always thought I’d like to be an immigration attorney. There’s just something about meeting people from other countries that I can’t get enough of, and I think helping them start a new (legal) life in the US would be so fulfilling. [I thought about inserting a “lawyer photo” here of me in a suit with books in the background, but I just can’t. The Internet is not ready for that.]

This is not LinkedIn.

6. Who is your favorite author? Also, recommend a book (I need some better reading material).

Favorite author is tough. I haven’t read a ton of books by the same author since undergrad, with the exception of Gillian Flynn (clearly you must read all of hers). Recently, I’ve been reading a lot of non-fiction travel writing. Chuck Thompson has two great, hilarious, if severely sarcastic and snarky, books – Smile When You’re Lying and To Hellholes and Back. He’s kind of an asshole, but he’s very honest and funny.

I also got really into a couple of Nomadic Matt’s travel book recommendations. The Sex Lives of Cannibals by J. Maarten Troost is about a guy who follows his girlfriend to a beautiful island in the middle of the South Pacific, only to find out it’s kind of a shithole. And Love with a Chance of Drowning by Torre DeRoche, which I’m currently in the middle of. Yes, the title sounds super lame, but it’s a quick, fun read. It’s making me want to learn to sail… or meet an Argentine who knows how to sail. No rent, no bills, and free transportation around the world. Dammit. Dammit. Dammit.

7. How old were you when you flew on your first plane and where did you go?

Whew, this is very typical. Correct me if I’m wrong, Mom, but I believe I was four and a half (because those half-years are important when you’re young) when we went to Orlando, Florida to visit Disney World. Side Note:  I was totally terrified by the first ride that I ever went on (Snow White’s Wild Ride – way too many appearances by the witch for young children, you jerks!) and then I refused to open my eyes on almost every other ride we went on. Sorry, Magic Kingdom, you are not my fave.

8. Name one guilty pleasure.

Vanderpump Rules on Bravo. Seriously, don’t start watching it. I’m ashamed of myself. Also, Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. I love them and I don’t know why, but I’m tempted to buy them any time I walk into a gas station.

9. If you could only eat one dish for the rest of the year (and calories/health is not a concern), what would it be?

Thai curry. Spicy. I make it all the time, ate it in Thailand every chance we got, and I honestly don’t think I could get tired of it. [My runner-up answer to this question is SOUP!]

And I’m going to need you to let me have allll the curries… green, red, yellow, Penang, Massaman. ALL!

10. And because my mind seems to be on food, here’s another food question: What is the most expensive meal you’ve eaten? Was it good?

That makes me feel better. My mind is constantly on food.

Wow, so I never knew how much this meal actually cost until about a year and a half after the fact, and it’s now become a running joke. Charlie and I went to a five course dinner with his sister and her boyfriend on New Year’s Eve in Washington, DC at Floriana, a fancy Italian restaurant in an old, beautiful house. Charlie called it chic. The food was a set $75 per person, but with all of the cocktails, beers, and bottles of wine we ordered, the bill came to about $330 per couple. I knew it had to be expensive, but couldn’t bring myself to inquire about the total because we weren’t really “dating” at the time.

The night in question

And yes, the food was good. But it was not $330 good. Geez. I guess it seemed like so much because it was unexpected. There were two options per course and I (obviously) made sure Charlie and I ordered different plates for each course so that we could try everything. Well, around the fourth course (and after I’d just told everybody how full I was) a plate of veal the size of my face arrived at the table and everybody laughed hysterically. Should’ve just gotten the filet…

Dinner also lasted so long that we ended up celebrating the New Year in the restaurant. And we were ALMOST too full to make it out to the bars. So now, whenever we’re up in DC trying to decide on a casual meal, somebody will throw out, “I don’t know, you guys, why don’t we just go to Floriana?”

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So many of the blogs I’ve read have already done a Liebster Award post, so I don’t want to force it on them again! So I’m being lazy and breaking the rules. But here are some of my currently-favorite blogs that you should definitely check out:

I can’t recommend Slightly Astray highly enough. Anna quit her job and is currently on a round-the-world trip with her boyfriend. Her writing is really wonderful, and I end up browsing her food and travel-centric posts very often. Seriously, I’ve probably looked through all of her archives following their journey.

Also, The Red Headed Traveler is a fellow food-lover who works full time, blogs (prolifically I might add – seriously, I don’t know how she does it), travels when she can, and has a soft spot for Mexico. I’m also following the rise of The Mochilera Diaries, an expat blog (currently) based in Medellin, Colombia. And finally, I just discovered Frugal Frolicker, another blogger with a love for traveling on the cheap (and even making it work with student loans!) currently living in Australia.