I have a confession: I’ve been a hoarder this year.
Negative connotations probably take hold of the psyche with the mere mention of the word “hoard.” Visions of junk pervade the mind. However, obsessively collecting possessions in pack rat fashion is not the type of hoard I mean.
I’ve been hoarding something that doesn’t take up space and is invisible. I’ve been collecting it through abstinence.
The construct I’ve been accumulating is time. I’ve taken less than one week of vacation all year.
I survived by capitalizing on long holiday weekends and traveling to nearby states. I worked from home occasionally, which felt like a holiday being in pajamas on a Tuesday.
Don’t get me wrong: I vacationed. I went to Mexico and thoroughly enjoyed it. However, I spaced that trip out among the other days I used. I also took mental holidays away from the hustle of life.
I sacrificed using up my vacation time because I knew the reward of having a massive amount of vacation in the new year would be worth it.
I leave you with a staycation in North Point Park.
I’m back from Cambodia! Tropical beaches, magnificent waterfalls, and ancient temples have occupied my days during the past three weeks. I’ve created a video, which gives you a glimpse into Cambodian life and a sneak peek at upcoming blog posts.
There’s a little bit of everything in the video: my motorcycle ride to Tatai Waterfall, monkeys, chickens, and more.
Look out for posts on Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Sihanoukville, Koh Kong, and the countryside village of Longvek.
Follow me on Instagram @alid516 and Twitter @travelingalison to see photos from the trip!
Recently, I was looking through my photo collection and came across an accidental video I had taken on my cell phone. It was of the Eiffel Tower lit up at night. I meant to take a photo, but hit the video button instead. I remember being surprised that the Eiffel Tower’s lights sparkled rather than just lit up. I had discussed traveling to France with several people who had been there before and none had remarked about this light show.
Per the Paris tourist office, the Eiffel Tower sparkled from June 21, 2003-June 21, 2013. It is set to sparkle again on June 21, 2015 at 11pm until 2am every night for the next ten years. 20,000 lights will flash on and off during the first five minutes of each hour. During wintertime, the light show will end at 1am instead of 2am.
I decided I should make use of the accidental video and create a video collage of my trip. Nostalgia set in and I began searching for music to accompany my video. I thought of a song I had heard the previous week on 88.1FM, the MIT radio station. I remembered the song was a French indie tune that had an interesting sound. When I got home that night I searched the radio station’s archive list, but could not find any mention of the song or artist. Disappointed, I put it out of my mind and hoped I would come across it another day.
After stumbling upon the video, I decided to give my search for the song another try. Thus, on a random Wednesday night, I set out on an Internet hunt to find interesting French music. I found the song featured in the video below, “Sirènes,” by Delphine Volange. One other musician I came across was Melanie Pain. I especially like her song, “Ignore moi”.
The above is just a glimpse of our time in Paris. For more, read below for an account of my last night in Paris.
Paris, France—My two travel companions and I had just arrived by train from Nice. We were supposed to be coming from somewhere else, but we ended out extending our time in Southern France to accommodate my friend’s unexpected fling with a local.
We had started our trip in Paris, seeing the major sites, and were ending it there for our last night in France. When we first arrived in Paris we sought out the history and culture, seeing Notre Dame, the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Sainte-Chapelle, Jardin du Luxembourg, the Catacombs, Tuileries Garden, Conciergerie, Place de la Bastille, Pont Neuf, and Île de la Cité. On the last night…we partied.
We decided to take the Metro to our hotel. We rode the subway the majority of the way, but had to take a detour because the Metro shutdown due to an employee strike. This happens quite frequently. I recently found this website that lists strikes and protests in France, which I wish I had when I traveled there: http://www.strikeinformer.com/france/.
We navigated our way, and struck gold when we came across a nice couple from the UK who happened to be conveniently staying at the same hotel as us. They told us their story—they were in France to celebrate their fifteenth anniversary—and walked us right to the front door! Sometimes asking strangers questions leads to great things.
It was our last night in Paris—and my birthday. To celebrate, we walked from our hotel to a nearby restaurant for a late dinner. I selected a casual beer garden with outdoor seating. We reminisced over the trip’s details—the castles we saw, the hot air balloon that lifted us above the landscape, and beauty of doing nothing but lying on southern France’s beaches.
Now, back in Paris, on this warm May night, we decided to end our trip seeing Paris’s nightlife. In turn, we befriended our waiter. Who better to give us advice on where to go than a local?
As the restaurant closed, the staff invited us inside to share a beer as they finished up. They took us to a club, which stayed opened significantly longer than Boston clubs. We walked out of the club and the sun was starting to rise. Businesses were just starting to open and people were heading to work. Perhaps we shouldn’t have booked a hotel for the last night.
We lingered over croissants and cappuccinos, thanked the wait staff for a fun night of dancing, and were off to crash in our hotel beds for two hours before heading to the airport. Tired, but happy, we headed back to our respective cities, Heidelberg and Boston.
Travels With Alison 