Category: Passion blog

Travels after quarantine…

A place that I have recently come across while looking for the next place to travel to in Banff National Park located in Alberta, Canada. It surprises me and makes me disappointed that I am so close to the Canadian border, yet have never had the privilege of traveling there. But frankly I am not too aware of what Canada’s landscape has to offer besides housing half of Niagara falls and now Banff National Park. The images I have come across of this park seem to replicate a similar familiarity around parks present in Colorado or Washington state. The pictures display this great big crystal, aqua river with a background of this gorgeous mountain range, the picture really draws you in to wanting to visit. Banff park is also known to be called “The Rocky Mountains Park of Canada” , it was Canada’s first national park and the world’s third. Originally, three Canadian Pacific railway workers in 1883 stumbled on a series of natural hot springs and what is now called Sulphur Mountain. The cave and basin hot springs were soon identified as a potential hot tourist attraction. In 1885, Canadian government created a reserve to protect the springs and surrounding area.

Ever since 1885, Banff park and its tourist attraction, Lake Louise, have continued to attract tourists from around the world same as the first visitors, because of its easy access to stunning mountains, lakes and valleys. Now I would like to discuss the type of activities that can be held within this park. I am immediately drawn to this location because of its accessible terrain to allow outdoor activities to transpire. Within this national park, there are many adventurous activities you can participate in with friends and family such as hiking, canoeing, fishing and paddling. One excursion the park offers that I found to be different from the rest was taking a gondola ride to get a birds eye view of the park. This is a great option for those who are not in shape of do not have the proper endurance for a strenuous hike. Travelers are immersed in the rugged peaks and alpine from such a high altitude, it truly gives you another great view of the park just from a different angle. The Banff hot springs are another high demand tourist attraction that allows guest to emerge themselves in the steaming hot springs. The hot springs are a great stop in the park because you are able to enjoy them during any season of the year! I hope I have the opportunity to see this place in person one day because it is not comparable to any other national park we have in the United States.

My Next Trip After Quarantine

From my previous post, you can see I only traveled out of the country once and during that trip I got to experience the culture and beauty of three different European countries and I can’t wait to go back. But as of right now, for me at least, it looks like it will be quite a while til i get to travel to another country again. Due to COVID19 reasons, it is hard to travel the world in this day and age and it is so sad because we would have never expected to have disease so horrible restrict our traveling desires. I know many people have the desire to travel outside the country and fly over international waters, but there are so many hidden gems hidden right inside our own country. I hope that we will all be able to travel soon again but for now I daydream about places I will get to explore once this is all over and life can be somewhat normal again. I am used to taking long car rides to get to my destination of exploration, so Hopefully soon I would like to try to make it possible to stay within the United States and see new places. As of right now, a top place on my list to see very soon, within the United States of course, is Lake Powell located in Utah and Arizona.

I have been to Arizona before but just to see the Grand Canyon really and we drove through a good sum of land but we did not see any massive, stunning land features that stood out. If I wanted to visit this place soon, under safe COVID19 conditions, i would have to endure a long car ride, but I would be willing to make that trip to see these extravagant land features. I really had no idea this place even existed until I have seen multiple celebrities, including Kardashians/Jenners and Addison Rae, travel to this location over the past couple of months and it looks like you’re on Mars. Lake Powell is a man made reservoir on the Colorado River in Utah and Arizona. This location has absolutely no downsides about it, maybe besides hot temperatures, but its placid blue water allows you to go swimming and participate in other water sports, or you have the option to go hiking in the sandy red and orange canyons. One part of these natural feature i would like to see is the rainbow bridge, which is located in the Utah portion and is one of the world’s largest natural bridges. It is truly one of the most beautiful places I have laid my eyes on and I hope I am able to journey there in the near future.

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Off to Italy!

To conclude my junior year Europe trip with my school the last country we traveled to was Italy, the one I’ve been waiting for. But before we arrived there we were able to take a surprise pit stop in Monte Carlo. To be honest I forgot this place existed but I’m glad I will always remember it now. We stopped in Monaco for a couple of hours and it had the most beautiful botanical gardens. After a bit of an uphill walk, we were at the edge of high up opening and got to see the whole shoreline and out to the sea and it was such a breath taking sight. I am so grateful we were fortunate enough to quickly stop there but take in a lifetime worth of views and memories. We hopped back onto the bus to get to Italy and the first city we stayed at there was Florence. I was so excited to be immersed into the Italian culture because that is were most of my ancestors are from and is a huge part of my ethnicity. We first walked through a flea market and immediately it provided me with a sense of home, the smell of the fresh salami and prosciutto, the leather handbags and jackets and the stunning ceramic pieces. After we arrived at the Florence Duomo and the architecture was stunning, I just wish we had time to go inside. Although Florence was not as scenic, the atmosphere provided by the food and people were enough to make me feel content.

After our stay in Florence, we ventured off to Venice. Venice was my favorite stop out of the entire trip; I felt like I was in another universe the landscape was indescribable. I was stunned to see the myriads of canals that just run straight through the city but they are absolutely beautiful. Of course, as any tourist would, I went on a gondola ride and it was not overrated in the slightest. The water was a strangely beautiful teal blue, I had never seen anything quite like it. I got to walk over so many bridges that highlighted the canals and the natural light that entered through them, the environment made me feel as if I was in movie, I never wanted to leave. Even though this does not connect to sight seeing and nature, I was glad I got to put my Italian speaking to work and used it as much as possible. I spoke Italian to natives when I asked for directions or was ordering at a restaurant and only spoke English when necessary, it was very invigorating. Some of the best pictures I have ever taken, are from Venice, and as usual I will share them with you all below. If you ever have the opportunity, definitely try to visit Venice, it is life changing.

          

Onto the next…

Spain was such an amazing experience that really took my breathe away. I could not wait to get to our next destination. The hours in between leaving Barcelona and arriving in Provence were long and tiring. My school traveled on a tremendous coach bus to get from location to location and it was painful. On the bright side I was able to talk to my friends and we had a really energetic tour guide that always kept us on our feet. In addition I was glad I was able to see the countryside of these different countries, it was a huge difference between the city life we were going to be occupying. I loved when the driver would take a break and we got to go into the different rest stops because they were nothing like the ones in America, they definitely felt much cleaner. I did not have high hopes for France because I was not going to be immersed into the major cities I was familiar with. My predictions were true about Provence sadly, but different when we arrived in Nice (pronounced niece). The two cities varied from each other quite substantially but I was grateful to experience traveling to both of them.

Provence did not hold the big city energy I was looking for. It was more of a hidden location in a countryside setting and had a more antique presence to it. There were cobblestone castles when you first enter and it held a strong medieval times vibe. I felt very bored in this city sadly and just felt there was nothing to see or do. I had never heard of the city of Nice before so I did not know what to expect there either. Nice was more of a comfortable and familiar setting for me. The food there was exquisite and the scenery was stunning. The buildings were so brightly colored and the people present in the atmosphere were so kind. One sight that really stuck out to me here was the beach. Now this was not your conventional beach that you would be used to on the east or west coast. Instead of sand, they were rocks, which may lead you to believe it was not comfortable to lay on but honestly quite the opposite. The light gray rocks were so smooth and comforting to lay down on, the ocean was glistening a light blue, so aesthetically pleasing to look at. Standing on the edge of the ocean offered you a background of the city’s skyline and it was quite mesmerizing.

The next stop

I have always been so accustomed to traveling within the United States. When I was younger I would constantly beg my parents to take us overseas or even to Hawaii, but it was just never within reach for us. I was grateful to drive all these lengths to see the different states but I still had a strong yearning to venture further. I did not have a specific place in mind, just anywhere that wasn’t home. I would become so envious of my friends who got to travel overseas every summer or school break. I would live vicariously through their lives and ask them to send me postcards/pictures and even bring me back a piece of their vacation. Looking back, I had obtained a sand collection as gifts from friends who went to tropical islands. For example I have glass bottles of sand from Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Cayman Islands and Riviera Maya. These small grains of sand give me the sensation that I was able to walk along those beaches and be apart of their atmospheres.

I started to become hopeless that I would never have the chance to travel outside the United States but finally that day had come. My junior year of high school, the language department was organizing a Europe trip for 10 days traveling across Spain, France and Italy. Reluctantly, my parents made it happen where I was able to go and I am forever grateful for that experience. The first new soil I encountered was Barcelona, Spain; even looking down at it from ten thousands of feet in the sky, I knew it would be a special place. Barcelona was such a diverse city, you are immersed within the loud nightlife but are able to walk 15 minutes away so elongated beach strip, nothing like New York City that’s for sure. I was astonished to see how crystal blue the ocean was and I wish I was able to swim in it but it was too cold out. The city offered such amazing natural light fixtures I loved walking through the farmers market on the antique cobblestone admiring all the handwork done by locals.  One of more outstanding features I had come across during my short visit there was at the Park Guell. There was a land feature that was disproportional and slanted looking made out of limestone or some other type of mineral I believe, but it was truly like nothing I had ever seen before. Barcelona was truly an amazing place and it was only the first leg of the trip, I had high expectations for what was coming next

 

Cross Country Roadtrip

My topic that will run throughout this passion blog is the idea of nature I see while traveling to places near and far.  A trip I would like to highlight on for this post is my cross country road trip with my family in 2015. We drove from Long Island, New York to Las Vegas, Nevada over the span of three days, then took an extended drive to California and on the way back stopped at the Four corners. I had no idea what routes we were taking, or what my eyes would fall upon through my car window but I was excited. Driving from New York through Pennsylvania did not excite me as much because I was already accustomed to those landscapes. Driving past that boundary made me very excited, By the second day I had started to realize I was seeing a lot of plains, mainly Iowa and Nebraska, but there was also a beauty to them as well. Driving through the never ending plain fields, they offered me some sort of comfort even though they were an unusual sight to me. The plains offer a description within itself, it was such a simple sight but with that simplicity came serenity. Even when I stepped out of my car for the first time in a while to feel the Nebraska soil, I appreciated the fresh quality of air I breathed in as well.

The sight that really stood out to me was when I was driving through the Rocky Mountains. This was the second best physical land feature I had ever laid my eyes on. The drive through them was very long but was very worth viewing that entire time. There are mountain ranges in New York, but there was nothing that could compare, I felt that I was in another universe. Seeing the snow capped mountains in the middle of April had me in awe. I wish I was able to step out of the car and get to see them at a closer view or maybe even stand on it but I’ll take what I can get. Just being able to see them once in my lifetime was enough, I will have that scenery implanted in my mind forever. The first best physical land feature I was enamored with was the Grand Canyon. It truly did live up to all the hype surrounding it and I had no doubts about that. It’s hard to believe how vast it is, even when you see it in person. Being surrounded by that beauty created such a deep appreciation for life and what nature has to offer. After I saw the Grand Canyon, that started the passion I had for viewing new places and taking in all the beauty that encompasses it.

 

Passion blog pitch

A passion of mine that has become prevalent recently is nature and travel, which I believe go hand in hand. I really enjoy exploring and seeing new places and natural beauties that can be found in nature. Traveling gives me the opportunity to see first hand what the earth has to offer and the beautiful art that presents itself in these places. Although many people travel to experience a new culture, new people and learn new things; I prefer the aspect that enables me to learn about the newfangled area. I try to take in as much of the amazing scenery with my eyes as I can and store it deep in my mind, before I pull out my phone and take a picture. Being among sky high trees on a new hiking trail offers me a great state of ease and that is when I feel most happy. I love to visit national landmarks or national parks, to cross it off my bucket list, but I prefer the hidden sceneries that no one knows much about. For instance, I went camping in small location in Greentown, PA and came upon one of the most beautiful lakes ever with amazing greenery surrounding it. I would sit on the edge of that lake for hours just admiring the beauty it displayed to me. These truly are the moments I live for that comfort me with much happiness.

Another passion of mine is attending concerts. I don’t really have a wide variety of music I listen to but I do get very attached to certain artist and will listen to every single song they produce. I am mostly into pop music, but all the pop concerts I have attended have offered a distinct experience from each other. Going to a new concert feels like Christmas morning, you’ve been waiting for this day for weeks and only have the slightest feeling of what to expect. Leading up to the concert I listen to the artist’s albums repeatedly, memorizing the lyrics word for word, even playing their music as background noise sometimes. The night of the concert, I’m sitting in my seat and the arena just going pitch black and the only light is shining on the singer; in this moment I experience full euphoria. One specific experience I can draw on is attending an Ariana Grande concert and hearing her sing one of my favorite songs almost brought me to tears. Hearing a song live for the first time makes me ecstatic because it felt like I’ve waited a lifetime for this one moment. The music you are listening to at a concert can remind you of some really lonely times, but even standing within a crowd of strangers, you feel connected by sharing the same pain and happiness. It offers an indescribable sense of joy and comfort.