Monthly Archives: September 2014

Travel Tuesday | Themed Prompts

I wanted to start of this week and say a big welcome to all the new readers and bloggers who have been joining in recently. While I have been blogging less this year than last, it is all the travel and expat posts you all share that keep me coming back week to week. My wanderlust is only expanding and I admit I love to travel vicariously through you all. Since we do have quite a few new faces and readers I wanted to let you know about what is happening next week and what will continue once a month.

Once a month we have a themed prompt, which is usually decided by one of my co-hosts for Travel Tuesday. The co-hosts change every few months, and are nominated by those who have taken part by bloggers they see most active across the Travel Tuesday link up.

The theme prompt for next week is:

‘Interesting/Weird Layovers’

We would love to know what you have accomplished in the few (or many) hours between flights. Perhaps you have managed to catch a flight despite bad circumstance. Or even if you have not faced a layover yourself, tips and advice that you would take with you when that moment arises. The prompt should not limit you but just give you a starting point and run with it.

As always do not feel you cannot linkup next week if you do not participate. Any travel or expat related posts are always welcome!

I have really been homesick for Hawaii recently. Perhaps it is the colder weather that is finally creeping back in here in Bath, England. Hawaii has become the place in the USA where I have lived the longest and I must say it has kept a piece of my heart forever. At work I have several ‘Hawaiian’ songs that play on my daily playlist and when they show up on shuffle they always bring a smile to my face and a skip to my heart. So it was no wonder that this past week I really enjoyed every single word, photo, and memory that was shared by Jamie of North of Something. Thank you babette for linking up and sharing your Island adventure. North Shore is definitely my favourite place on Oahu, Hawaii. Do not take my word for it though, check out her post.

Photography © Bonnie Rose Photography | www.bonnie-rose.co.uk

Ready to link up?

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 above. If you run into trouble, just make sure to mention Bonnie, Camila, Jessi, and Amy in a link! 3. LINK-UP goes live every Tuesday at 0800 GMT. Make sure to comment here, on the co-hosts blogs, and visit around!

TIPS:

1. Please only one linked up post per blogger. Save other posts for future link-ups!

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!

Travel Throwback #11: Germany Retreats

7 Replies

germany

Do you ever go back through old photographs, whether film or digital, and realise that you have more photographs of people and less of the location to where you traveled? When I look back through photographs from my nomadic childhood, this happens to be usually be the case. A single photograph to another person could be ready to toss, but for me it has captured friends and family for one moment in time, tied with memories that I hope to cherish forever. This photograph taken in Germany is just one of those type of photographs.

While my family was living in Germany and Italy we attended a family church retreat which has ‘always taken place in the beautiful Bavarian Alps’ of Germany. It was a great place to get away from work and school to fellowship with Christians from across Europe with other American military families. It is the place where I met up with old friends and made new ones, had high school crushes, decided to be baptized by my former bible class teacher, and had a ‘home’ for short time in my life that could be comparable to ‘going home for the holidays’.

Seeing this moment frozen in time, really reminds me how much time has passed since the 90’s. The little children in this photograph are now young adults, us teenagers now have children of my own, and my father (front row, second from left) is now up in heaven. Even the hotel is no longer owned by the US Military and the retreats are now held elsewhere. There is no going back to this without a very special doctor and bigger-on-the-inside-blue-box. However I have the photograph to remember those faces and the memories tied with it which include but are not limited to:

* The amazing drive up to Germany from Italy
* Running around exploring the hotel and grounds
* Snowball fights and snow angels
* Uplifting bible classes and nightly devotionals
* Group dinners with family and friends
* Exciting trips to surrounding areas

Ready to link up?

TIPS:

1. Please only one linked up post per blogger. Save other posts for future link-ups!

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!

Why Do You Travel?

9 Replies

whytravel

Why Do you Travel?
Today I am sharing with you for Travel Tuesday why I travel, but I want to hear from you why you love it too! Share in the comments and make sure to join the link up and see where everyone has been!

1. Connects us to people all over the world as we experience new cultures.

2. To experience the past and history of our world.

3. To get away. Sometimes we really do need to get out of our daily grind and refocus.

4. It is the best medicine during a hard time. We can let go of stress and refocus on the beauty of life.

5. Brings out our inner child to explore the world and places for the very first time.

6. To try new things and help us grow as adults. People do things differently all over the world from how they dress to what they eat. Being able to see that different is not wrong is a great learning experience.

7. Invites new friendships and relationships into your life. I love meeting people when I travel, even if I never get the opportunity to meet again in my life, I have been changed forever by that moment.

8. Learn more about yourself or others. Especially if you travel with other people there is nothing like travel to bring you closer together and really get to know yourself better.

9. The excitement. Travel really is exciting and I love being so amped up about going to a new place and being in a new place for the very first time. It is a huge rush!

10. To take memories back to share and remember later. I love taking photographs and so travel photography is probably a great reason why I travel.

Photography © Bonnie Rose Photography | www.bonnie-rose.co.uk

Ready to link up?

TIPS:

1. Please only one linked up post per blogger. Save other posts for future link-ups!

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!

Towns Yet to Be Visited

2 Replies

bonniehawaii

Travel to me is more than just the locations.
It is life, the moments, the experiences.
The people who come in and out of our lives,
but leave us for ever changed.

Ready to link up?

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 above. If you run into trouble, just make sure to mention Bonnie, Camila, Jessi, and Amy in a link! 3. LINK-UP goes live every Tuesday at 0800 GMT. Make sure to comment here, on the co-hosts blogs, and visit around!

TIPS:

1. Please only one linked up post per blogger. Save other posts for future link-ups!

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!

Allerton Park and Retreat Center

6 Replies

This month’s travel-themed prompt from my Travel Tuesday co-host Amy stated: Where have you been that was unexpected in some way? Perhaps you did not expect it to be amazing and it blew you away?

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My unexpected destination is a small park on the outskirts of the small town my partner’s family resides in central Illinois. Allerton Park and Retreat Center hosts a beautiful collection of themed gardens and sculptures which has been the backdrop to a few of my photo shoots as well as a wedding we attended while stateside. It was unexpected to me in the way that it seems quite out of place in a flat farm land of cornfields in the middle of no where America. The design and themes found at Allerton Park and Retreat Center seem to come from many different locations, all far from that of its actual location. I have think of being off in the English countryside outside a large manor house quoting lines from a Jane Austen novel and then pulled away by the Asian influences and a life further out East.

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These were taken on my phone with the Hipstamatic app. You can see what a great background Allerton Park has made for my photoshoots by checking out my Halloween Post from 2011.

Ready to link up?

TIPS:

1. Please only one linked up post per blogger. Save other posts for future link-ups!

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!