7 Things to Keep in Mind When Traveling Internationally

Hi guys!

I wanted to talk about some things that I learned before and while traveling. I learned most of these thing from my parents who have traveled and also my sisters who travel A LOT! I feel like this blog post will be one of those that is always being added to just because I learn something new every time I go somewhere! Here are 7 things to know before you travel!

1. Learn cultural norms - You will want to learn things that could potentially be offensive where you are headed that would be totally normal where you live, do some research before getting there!

2. Know the exchange rate before you leave - It would seriously suck to get there any if cost so much more than you expected. Just know what you are getting yourself into! Sometimes its like you get a discount for yourself. For example, when I was in Singapore, it was like a discount when I would shop because of the exchange rate. Just something to pay attention to, make sure its in the budget!

3. Alert your bank - Let your bank know that you will be making purchases in another city or country, you want them to know your travel plans so they don’t freeze your account. There is seriously nothing worse than being somewhere and your account being frozen! This happened to my whole family while we were at Disney World one time because we lived in Iowa and there were charges happening in Florida. Its a great thing that the bank does in case of fraud but a bummer if you don’t plan ahead.

4. Bring your debit card - My sister told me this one and it makes so much sense! Bring your debit card with you to the country you are traveling to and then take out cash. Refrain from pulling out cash and then exchanging money, you will lose less money this way!

5. Learn some of the language - Its important and polite to learn at least the basic words in the primary language that is spoken wherever you are headed! Things like hello, goodbye, thank you… that sort of thing! Its a nice gesture and can help you with certain situations!

6. Make sure you know that even if you plan things will not go as you planned and that’s usually where the fun stuff happen. Yes, it is nice to have a plan or an itinerary to get in all of those things on your “must do” list- it is important to also be okay with changes! While we were in Santorini we didn’t plan on spending any time hiking, but we stumbled upon it and it was one of the coolest afternoons of the trip!

7. Be cautious, but don’t be closed off! Be aware of your surroundings and the people around you, but don’t let that stop you from meeting new people and making friends on your travels! We have met so many great people on our trips and love that! We met a couple while we were in Mexico last summer and spent pretty much the whole time with them! That wouldn’t have happened if we didn’t get out of our comfort zone.

I hope that you guys found these tips helpful for your trips that you have planned! Do you have any tips to share? I feel like when you are traveling you are constantly learning and I love that! Like I said before, I’m 100% sure that I will learn something new about travel on our next trip and the trip after that.

Harry Potter London Checklist

When my sister and I visited London last summer we checked off so many Harry Potter bucket list items from our lists. When we were looking for everything that we needed to visit, it didn’t seem like there was one collective list, we needed to find a couple to get the whole list of items! I have created a Harry Potter checklist for you to take on your next trip to London. I will also be creating a map of all of the locations so you can see exactly where you are going and make it very easy to navigate all of these new places for you!

With the time that we had there were some of the places that we didn’t have time to get to. But We did manage to get a lot seen in the time that we had which was so incredible! One of our favorite things was seeing platform 3/4 quarters in Kings Cross Station. There was a line to take a picture with the cart which we opted out of but still fun to see and we spent a ton of time in the shop that was right next to it. We were also surprised to see that it wasn’t on an actual platform it was just in the middle of the station. But in hindsight that makes sense due to traffic control!

St. Paul’s Cathedral and The Millennium Bridge were so fun to walk by and actually went to Millennium Bridge during the day and at night. They are right next to each other so its easy to lump these two together. But we spent a whole afternoon between the two!

These markets were absolutely amazing to walk through, we spend about 3 hours wandering Borough Market one morning and the people watching alone was amazing. Not to mention the music that was playing, the foods and all the delicious smells there were!

Have you been to any of these locations? I would also love to know which Harry Potter movie is your favorite? My is Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire or Harry Potter and Order of the Phoenix!

Mayfield Lavender Field Day Trip From London

When I traveled to London with my sister last summer we had SO many things on our to-do list, we had so much to cram into five days but we did it! Now there are always things that you get home and find out you missed something but all the more reason to go back. We talked a lot about taking a day trip somewhere while we were in London but weren’t sure where to begin and we really wanted to be able to only be gone for the day. After a TON of research, we found this gorgeous lavender field that was only about an hour and 20 minute drive from where we stayed. We were pretty much sold! The photos were gorgeous and we didn’t really need more reason after that to go.

It was in Banstead, England. We left at 10:00 am and were there by 11:20. The Uber ride cost us about $40 there and $40 back. We justified the price because it was $80 for the both of us and originally we planned to leave London for the day all together and that would have cost more. To get in it cost 2.50 euros a person and totally worth it. This gave us access to the fields to take pictures and walk around all day long {which we took full advantage of}.

We ate lunch at their cafe and each got a grilled sandwich of sorts, very yummy and not too expensive. We spent in total probably 5 hours at the lavender fields and it was so much fun to just walk around and enjoy being outside. I will say that we went on a weekday and it was a bit crowded, although the crowd came and went in waves. It says on their website that on the weekends it can be very crowded and they can run out of parking. We were able to get all of the shots that we wanted without people in them. The further we walked to the back of the field, the less people there were around us.

They had a little store that sold so many goodies! Lavender cookies, teas, chocolates, lavender lemonade, so many things! Other things like jams and jellies and homemade items were for sale as well. We bought a bundle of lavender to use as a prop in pictures because you can’t pick the lavender in the field. I think this is great because it allows so many more people to enjoy it!

We were able to take so many pictures here and it was such a fun day. It was also great to be able to relax a little but and get out of the hustle and bustle of London. It was good too because we got home at about 6:30 and we were still able to go explore in the city at night and enjoy our time in London. All in all it was such a fun day and these pictures that we took will honestly last a lifetime and the memories we made there just goofing around! Oh and beware of the bees! Haha they weren’t everywhere in the fields, but there were areas where they would congregate that we avoided.