I’m back, y’all

Lately, I’ve been feeling more of an urge than ever before to get back to my blog and start posting a bit more consistently. I miss writing, photography, and creating in general but I’ve realised that unless I deliberately start making the time for it, I won’t ever get back to it.

I originally created this blog in 2013 before moving to the UK for a year long study abroad programme. At the time of its creation, I was inspired by all of the travel blogs that I read, and since I wanted to travel the world myself, I thought I’d start blogging too. I was 20 years old and had a plan to travel to all 7 continents over the next 6 years (believe me, I had it mapped out every step of the way).

Little did I know that in my very first week in the UK, I’d meet a charming British man with an American accent who would make me fall head over heels in love. Here I am four years later in our beautiful home in Surrey, England sitting with our adorable cat while my now husband sits across from me. Clearly, a LOT has happened.
Here’s the thing – I enjoy writing and I miss having an incentive to continue my passion for photography. While I still travel as much as possible (I’m going to Belgium next week, and my husband and I are visiting Hong Kong, Vietnam, & Singapore for our honeymoon next month!), I’m not living a life on the road as I imagined when I first started this blog. My life completely changed, but it’s just as exciting as ever and I’ve learned so much along the way.

I’ve decided to go back to blogging for the sake of my own self-enjoyment, to make my ‘Tutu’ (grandmother in Hawaiian) happy as she always asks me to post again, and hopefully to entertain whoever stumbles upon my ramblings along the way. However, I’ve decided to broaden my horizons a bit as I figure out what exactly it is that I want to write about. You can expect to see musings about my life, what it’s like living in the UK as an American and the challenges that come along with it, pictures of my cat ‘Bowie’, and of course, stories and photos of the places I travel. Just as I have grown since I’ve started this blog, I expect it to morph along the way so we’ll see where it ends up!

I hope you find reading it enjoyable. 🙂

 

I am in love with Amsterdam

I haven’t updated anything in a long time as I’ve been so extremely busy with my masters course. However, after months of reading and revising, I’ve finally had the opportunity to take a 3 day break in Amsterdam with Nicky for my 23rd birthday. Let’s just say I found my dream home – a place that actually matches my personality. I’ve found that it’s a cross between the West Coast of the US and Europe and I can’t think of any better mix. Clearly I loved it a lot, because it has inspired me to post on my blog for the first time in over a year and that says something! … but then again, I could just be trying to find reasons to avoid working on my dissertation 😉

In any case, my trip to Amsterdam has inspired me. After arriving back home, I found myself on AirBnB again last night thinking about my next destination. Unfortunately, I have months of reading, writing, and revising ahead of me, but the travel bug is certainly still very alive!

A day in Griffin

I recently took a trip down to Griffin, GA with my friend, Jordan, to explore and take photos because my camera was getting a little too rusty. We went to a really cool coffee shop and then went exploring. We came across this abandoned building that had been torn apart and it probably used to be some sort of club. It looked like it had seen better days, but it was cool to explore. 🙂

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A Drive From Switzerland through Northern Italy

I promised to update, but unfortunately do not have the time for stories right now so will be mainly just posting photos. This set is from this past June while visiting my boyfriend’s family in Switzerland. One day, he told me “we’re going to do something you won’t like very much tomorrow”. I thought to myself “what on earth could I possibly not like in Switzerland?!” Then he told me “we’re going to Italy!” Obviously, that’s something I would love and I did love it! It was an amazing day and we drove up the Splügenpass to cross from Switzerland to Italy, then ate a nice Italian lunch in Chiavenna. We then drove around Lake Como and took a ferry across the lake from Varenna to Bellagio ending our tour around the lake in Como where we had a nice walk and big doublscoops of gelato. All in all, an amazing day!

 









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Sorry I fell off the face of the earth!

Hello all,

Yes, I am still alive and well and still wandering around every chance I get. I was recently told by my father that he checked my blog and there were cobwebs all over it… so I suppose I should get back on it considering I completely stopped for about 11 months! Luckily, I have LOADS of photos and stories from the past year as it ended up being the most wonderful experience of my life. That is actually probably why I disappeared… I just was too busy living! I will try to have something new up this weekend!

Happy travels everyone 🙂

Brianna Leilani