All posts filed under: Travel

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

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My stay on Magnetic Island was definitely a high-energy adventure but as a city girl (always have been, always will be), I missed the vibe of bright lights and bustling streets. For my final couple days in Australia, I ventured to the capital of New South Wales and one of Australia’s largest cities: SYDNEY! I regrettably stayed at a hostel called Kings Cross Backpackers. I should have done my research before booking, rookie mistake. I was unaware that I was staying in the heart of the red light district. Oy vey. Honestly, it wasn’t the WORST hostel in the world but there were, at times, young 20-somethings recklessly running around the hallways with bottles of vodka in hand, shouting gibberish at the tops of their lungs. I definitely should have spent the extra money on a hotel or Airbnb. Awell, you live and you learn. On my first morning in the city I woke up extra early, mostly because I wanted to spend as little time at the hostel as possible. First order of business was to …

MAGNETIC ISLAND, AUSTRALIA

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Another day, another down un-dah adventure. After spending a weekend swimming above the Great Barrier Reef (WHAT A DREAM!), I waved goodbye to Whitsunday Island and took a Greyhound bus for three hours to Townsville. I got there relatively late and didn’t know how to get into my hostel (it was locked..) so I did a lot of standing around, avoiding drunk young 20-somethings until a security guard saw me outside with my luggage. When I got into my room at Rambutan I wanted to take a quick shower but when I opened the door, a RED cockroach ran across the tiles. ‘Guess I’m not showering tonight’ I thought, and calmly closed the shower door and slid straight into bed. The next morning I got out of my cockroach infested room (oh ‘Straya!) and hopped on a ferry to the magnificent Magnetic Island! There’s a 99.9% chance if you’re not from Australia, you’ve never heard of this mountainous, magical place. It’s right off the shore from Townsville and essentially one giant national park, with wallabies and echidnas running astray. My friend Delainha (whom I …

WHITSUNDAY ISLANDS, AUSTRALIA

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Fresh off a plane from New Zealand, my friend Vanessa and I left the chill air of Christchurch and was slapped straight in the face with sun, warmth, and humidity of the Whitsunday Islands of Australia. We took a shuttle from the PPP airport to our Airbnb (never stayed at an Airbnb before? Click HERE for a sweet discount) and our host suggested to hurry up and catch the sunset on Airlie Beach. We made it right one time and it was S-T-U-N-N-I-N-G! A grocery store was a short distance walk away from the beach so Vanessa and I picked up a few breakfast and lunch supplies since the land down un-dah has a high price tag on eating out, especially in this tourist town. Early the next morning Vanessa and I departed on a Great Barrier Reef Adventure with Cruise Whitsundays! We took a catamaran from Port of Airlie for three hours to a pontoon where snorkeling gear was provided. We explored the various reefs, giant clams, and tropical sea creatures. Some were even as big as me! There was a point …

CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND

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Thoughts in your head right now: Why would you go to New Zealand and not visit Aukland or Queenstown? What’s in Christchurch?  Honestly, I never would have travelled to New Zealand in the first place if it wasn’t for my friend Vanessa who has been living in Christchurch for nearly two years. Initially, my summer vacation plan was to solely visit Australia but I made a last minute decision to take the scenic route and catch-up with her while I was on that side of the world. Thus, the reason for my visit to the largest city in the South Island. Coming from South Korea where temperatures reached up to 35 degrees with humidity it was actually nice to feel the cooler, winter weather of Christchurch. After arriving from a 10-hour flight from Shanghai, where I had three seats to myself on the plane (ay yoo!), I took a quick shower and was ready to explore the city. My first stop was the Christchurch Art Gallery, which was easy to spot with the 46-metre neon artwork …

THAILAND (CHIANG MAI) PART 2 FT. GRAND CANYON

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Hello friends! Happy weekend! You have clicked on this blog post because you want to know more about the adventures Chiang Mai has to offer. Have you read part 1 yet? Don’t miss out on elephants and lady boys. Catch up by clicking HERE! With the Elephant Nature Park officially behind me (but forever in my heart), the next morning Melissa and I put on our runners to prepare for our hike through Doi Suthep-Pui National Park. The main attraction here is Doi Suthep Temple, which we didn’t explore because our focus was finding a glorious waterfall. We took a red car (taxi you can flag down and bargain a set price) and was dropped off in front of the hiking trail to Mon Tha Than Waterfall. We walked (re: danced) 3km to find the falls. You can imagine the excitement when we arrived and realized we had the hot spot allllllll to ourselves. Shoes were taken off and we jumped right in the shallow, cool water immediately. After our private waterfall sesh, we made our way back to the Old City to chow …

JANUARY FAVOURITES 2017

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My hair is officially purple. It was a spontaneous decision that happened last week when my cousin Melissa asked, “can I dye your hair a funky colour?” No convincing was needed. #yolo See my hair and all its glory in my latest video on Get Up & Go Girl where I round up my beauty (skincare, skincare, skincare), fashion, travel, music, and movie favs from the month of January.

THAILAND (CHIANG MAI) PART 1 FT. ELEPHANT NATURE PARK

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Winter break is over and in the words of my students, “VACATION WAS TOO SHORT!” Even though it’s back to the grind I’m excited to relive my Thai adventures with you all. I already miss the beautiful weather (legit, so perfect), elephant cuddles, lady boys, and delicious street food galore. Sigh. Alright, let’s begin. On January 15, 2017 I made my way to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where I had an overnight layover before I made my way to Chiang Mai, Thailand. I went to Malaysia last summer for a few hours (a result of another layover) and totally forgot that NO ONE TAKES CREDIT CARD – restaurants, taxi drivers, convenience stores. Nobody. When I got to my Airbnb (KLIA 6ixth Sense) the host was kind enough to pick me up from the airport and even traded American dollars for Malaysian ringgit so I could eat dinner. Bless him. When I was dropped off I felt a little uncomfortable walking around the area where I stayed (men kept staring and it was getting dark) so I didn’t …

BALI (ULUWATU) PART 3

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Wait!!! Please read part 1 & part 2 before continuing or else you will have seven years of bad luck. I’m kidding.. but seriously, do read those posts before this one. Go. Now. This is my last post for my Bali trip (wah!) but hopefully my little series has set a spark within to get out there and travel or informed you of YOUR next vacation to Bali. Now, where did we leave off.. oh yes. So after our stay in Ubud we left to the surf city of Uluwatu! We stayed at Uluwatu Surf Apartments through Airbnb (Save $$$ on your first stay using Airbnb anywhere in the world by clicking HERE). It had a wonderful pool, puppies, and it was only a short walk to Suluban Beach. The below photo is part of Suluban Beach. I spent a couple lovely afternoons lounging under a cave made of natural limestone, listened to the sounds of the crashing waves, and stared nonchalantly at all the hot surfers. Like, WOAH! Could’ve grated cheese on their abs, just saying. The best way …

BALI (UBUD) PART 2

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Annnnnnnnd I’m back with the sequel. If you haven’t read BALI (KUTA & UBUD) PART 1, go catch yourself up! We’re going to start this post with my trip to The Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary. I’m not going to lie, I felt absolutely terrified to see all these monkey’s jumping around. There were so many of them, EVERYWHERE! They didn’t approach you if you had no bananas (how typical right?), I advise you leave all food at home or in the car that day. Below is a photo of genuine happiness, I really think this is the happiest I’ll ever be because I’ve never been this close to a monkey. I wish the monkey felt the same, but it seems like he doesn’t give a hoot. One of the best parts of being in Indonesia was ALLLLL THE HEALTHY, WHOLESOME FOOD! Living in Korea I’m used to fried foods covered with thick sauces and spicy kimchi flavoured items so the fact that I can order smoothies, quinoa salad, sweet potato fries, and a black rice burrito made my stomach happy. …

BALI (KUTA & UBUD) PART 1

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CAN YOU BELIEVE I WENT TO BALI?! WHAT IS LIFE?! Never in a million years would I have ever thought I would step foot in the soil of Indonesia. In my mind Bali was an exotic place that will forever be far beyond my reach. It’s way too beautiful of a place for someone like me to go. It’s like being in an elevator and suddenly the hottest man to ever walk the earth enters and stands casually beside you and he’s so far beyond good looking that you can’t even look at him in the eyes and there’s no WAY you’d ever speak to him without stuttering from nerves. IT’S LIKE BEING STUCK IN AN ATM VESTIBULE WITH JILL GOODACRE! If anyone understands this reference, we are friends forever. Where am I going with this.. oh yes! Bali has always been a place I never thought I would go but a few months ago in a random act of picking a new adventure, Bali was chosen. On August 10, 2016 my friend Leni and I packed our carry-ons …

LIVING IN SOUTH KOREA, LIKES/DISLIKES

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Fellow vlogger/EPIK teacher/new friend Matt, who has a YouTube channel called Break Your Boundaries, does awesome travel videos and reached out to me a few weeks ago to collab together. HECK YEAH! I love creative projects and working with like-minded people so obviously, I agreed in a heartbeat. We share similar likes and dislikes about living in South Korea and decided to rant about soju, sketchy alleyways, squatter toilets and much more..

SEOUL ADVENTURE

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The dream of travelling to Seoul, South Korea has come true. Is this real life? Last weekend my best friend Emily and I met in Seoul to discover the city that features an abundance of palaces, food, shopping and is also a place that has a population of 10,000,000. Yup. 10 MILLION! One of our first stops was to Changgyeonggung Palace, located smack dab in the heart of Seoul. The palace was built by the 4th ruler of the Joseon Dynasty for his retiring father AND served as residence for queens and concubines. There is also an enormous garden in the back but we didn’t have time to see it. 😦 Next time. Watch my Seoul Adventure vlog below! Among sightseeing, we also went to a psychic, hung out at a dog cafe, raved in Gangnam and ate way too much street food. After an eventful weekend, we took the KTX train back to Busan. It felt good to be home since Busan is less congested, and I missed the beach (below = Haeundae). You just …

PARIS, FRANCE

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HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY FRIENDS! What better way to celebrate than with reminiscing about the time earlier this year I went to the city of loooooooove. Of course Lucerne, Switzerland was breathtaking but Paris.. oh my god. Paris redefines beauty. To give you a little bit of a backstory of why I went to Paris, a couple years ago I bought a journal at Target and it features a pretty girl dressed in white, standing in front of the Eiffel Tower. When I saw it I told myself one day that girl will be me! I was going through a rough patch at this time in my life so it gave me a little bit of hope that I’m not always going to be stuck in a small suburban bubble forever. The below photo is me recreating the image from the journal. It reminds me that inspiration can come from anywhere, who knew a $9.99 notebook from Target would spark big plans. After floating on cloud nine from touring around the Eiffel Tower, I made my way …