The Traveling Scholar

Northern Californians, listen up!

I just got an email detailing the most amazing deals from United Airlines. They’re available from Sacramento & the Bay Area and they are just PHENOMENAL!! So, check this out — you can travel through June 17th, and have to book by April 5th (this Saturday!) but these are so perfect for a weekend getaway or much-needed end-of-the-semester rendezvous.

From Sacramento:

1. San Diego: $39
2. St. Louis: $79
3. Nashville: $79
4. NYC: $89 (!!!)

My faves from the Bay Area:

1.  San Francisco-Los Angeles … $49
2. San Francisco-San Diego … $49
3.  San Francisco-Seattle … $49
4.  San Francisco-Denver … $59
5.  San Francisco-Austin … $69
6.  Oakland-Chicago … $79
7.  San Francisco-Portland … $79
8.  Oakland-Baltimore … $89
9. San Francisco-Sydney … $299
10.  San Francisco-Rio de Janeiro … $350

These are one-way (duh), but still — pretty friggin phenomenal by most standards!

To book with United, use the flexible dates tab so they can find you the best deal.
San Diego, here we come! <3.

Happy Travels,

Hey Kiddos,

I was looking for a map to be able to illustrate where I’ve been and where I want to go in my travels and I found a realllly rad website that I’ve just signed up for! It’s called TravBuddy and the website allows you to create a profile with a list of places you’ve been and a list of places you’re planning on going! For the places you plan on visiting, they can be listed as a dream vacay (e.g. you don’t have exact dates, but it’s definitely on the books!) or you can specify the time period you’ll be there. Other travelers can view your page & you can meet travel buddies or get advice from people who have already been there. Also, when you input your future travel plans, it allows you to post questions about the journey on a forum, download guides for the country, and view other advice from travellers. Prettttty sweet — and it’s all free (which you can’t beat!)

You can visit my TravBuddy site and sign up for your own! Keep in mind, I just threw mine together so there are definitely some other places that need to be added to the list, but it’s definitely growing! The site is awesome and the people seem to be super friendly! Beware: Don’t sign up if you’re not ready for another addicting social networking site!

Best travels,  

Sooooooo…. after hanging out with Hilary yesterday and seeing her sweet iPhone in action, it made me want it even more! I’ve had my eye on it for a while, but since I will be moving in the fall, I have an issue with signing a contract. After browing eBay for a while, I found some sweet iPhones that were unlocked that would be PERFECT for my impending journey. I can easily buy an O2 phone overseas and just pop the SIM card in the iPhone — voila! And since they have one year contracts that aren’t too expensive (think GBP45 per month INCLUDING data!!) it will totally be worth it. So, to add to my existing list of must-haves, the (unlocked) iPhone is on the top of the list. It’s such a bad ass phone… definitely a must-have.

Alsoooooo, fun fact — I just learned from some oh-so-smart friends that when the iPhone is unlocked it shows a pineapple instead of an apple! Kind of cute. <3.

Signed,

{Your resident needy bitch.}

Okay, not to discriminate, but this is definitely a lady-focused post! For the girls out there, I found the MOST AMAZING layering piece ever. I don’t know about you guys, but I (always!) wear a tight cami underneath my clothes. Being that I live in California, it’s not for added warmth, but more so because it makes my body look tighter and smoother. {I know that I’m not the only person that does this!} In any case, I was religious about the little $12 BP tanks you can grab at Nordstrom in any color. They have a decent elastic quality about them and they definitely make everything look nice (including that little bit of flesh near the bra that always sticks out no matter how many exercises I do; the “armpit boob,” if you will!)

Nowwwwww…. recently, while I was in Carmel, I realized I had forgotten my black tank at home and kind of/sort of needed one. Being that there was no Nordstrom on Ocean Avenue, I popped into the Anthropologie to see what they had. Luckily, they had a little spandex-y tank that seemed like it might work (although the XS looked like a Large!) In any case, I managed to snag it on sale ($15!) so I figured it was worth a go.

Let me just say (in a sing-song, angels-from-the-heavens voice!) —  AMAAAAAAZING!

Seriously — favorite thing in my closet. Despite the fact that it looked like it was made for someone 3x my size, it actually fit like a glove (good thing I trusted their sizing!) It’s verrrry spandex-y so it always keeps its shape, it’s long so it keeps everything looking fantastic and it is so incredibly smooth. It honestly looks like a Spanx control top. Plus you can get them in a whole slew of colors from Mango to Mint. Check them out at www.anthropologie.com. Shame that we don’t have one close by (SF or San Jose are your closest bets, I think… maybe Walnut Creek).

Boys who are reading this gratuitous post and are wondering what this is all about — well, it’s part of women’s secret prep process before heading out the door. Even tiny girls aren’t perfectly smooth (damn, armpit boobs!) – most of us can use a little help where we can get it.

Also, as this doesn’t necessarily relate to travel as it should… I’m going to tie it in thusly –
WHO DOESN’T WANT TO LOOK AMAZING WHEN THEY’RE ABROAD? Come on, seriously.

Lots of love & smooth tummies,

UPDATE :: A few friends have informed me — The Fountains at Roseville have opened an Anthropologie! Fannnnnntastic! <3.

Sooo…. According to RealAge.com, I’m actually 21.3, which is one and a half years younger than my calendar age, which is pretty sweet. I don’t know if anyone else has taken this little test, but it’s actually very cool/fun/informative. If you log onto www.realage.com, you can figure out what your real age is versus your calendar age; for some people it’ll be reassuring and for others…. well, maybe not-so-reassuring. It basically asks you about your habits — how often you work out, how much you drink, smoke, floss, talk on the phone while driving, etc. and then it complements that by asking about your family history (cancer, migraines, diabetes, etc.). In the end, it puts together the information to create a profile about you and figure out how old your body is based on how well you’ve taken care of yourself. AND  — this is the part I like — it’ll tell you what you’re doing WELL and what you’re doing not-so-well. For the things that you’re doing that are making you older, it’ll give you ideas on how to improve to lower your real age and make your body as young as possible!

Give it a whirl — www.realage.com and see how young you are!!
{I’m being an optimist}

My "real age" goal <3.

Lots of love,

In honor of my amazing grandfather who passed away on the 5th of March after a long battle with kidney disease (and thrice weekly dialysis treatments), I have decided to participate in the National Kidney Foundation’s 5K walk that will be held in Sacramento on June 13, 2009. I have started a team called “Paul’s Partners” and anyone who is interested in walking is more than welcome to join us in raising awareness and money! I have set a goal of $1000 for our team, although I hope we can do much more than that!

Please email me, leave a comment  or register on through our NKF Webpage if you are interested in walking with us to raise money for the Kidney Foundation. If you’re interested in donating in my grandfather’s memory, please visit Paul’s Partners NKF website and click the “Sponsor Me” tab. Any donation, big or small, will be of great helping in allowing us to reach our goals in the next 9 weeks.

In Loving Memory

Help Paul’s Partners reach our goal of $1000 before June 13th!

Much love,

My Nana.

Since my grandpa passed away two and a half weeks ago, I’ve found myself searching for activities to get my grandmother involved with. Of course there are church activities, widow/bereavement groups, pinochle get-togethers and senior socials, but my grandma happens to be exceptionally shy. She’s very quiet around new people and although I think she would love engaging in activities with others, going by herself would be very nerve-wracking for her. If given the option, she would rather just stay at home by herself and crochet. That being said, I have tried relentlessly to find activities in the greater Sacramento area that cater to grandparents AND grandchildren, together; an organization that coordinates events, activites, lunches, etc. that a grandparent and grandchild could participate in together.  I can imagine that my grandma isn’t the only grandparent that’s too shy to get out and meet people after such a devastating loss and I would think that having that additional family member for an extra dose of support would make the events extraordinarily fun! That being said, there are no such organizations in the area that do anything like this and since I want it done, I think I may end up coordinating something small in our community.

Ideally, this could be a weekly or bi-weekly get together with different events at different times during the week. I’m thinking card games/board games, short-distance trips (Apple Hill in the fall, etc.), arts & crafts, light exercise, a senior citizen prom, etc. Either way, I think it’s worth giving a shot and would be invaluable to the senior citizens in the area. I think, personally, that if I were to go with my grandma and introduce her to other grandparents looking to make friends, she would more easily adapt and interact knowing that I’m there as backup. Also, aren’t grandparents always trying to show off their grandkids?

I’ll be working on this idea for the next little bit to get started in the next couple of months and I’ll keep everyone posted as I develop some fun days! I’m hoping to get this started sooner rather than later as I would like to start getting her involved. My biggest concern is getting the word out to people. If any of you have grandparents that you would legitimately concidering bringing to activities like this, PLEASE let me know — I seriously want to start something!

Much love,

After holding my grandfather’s memorial yesterday and meeting so many amazing Maltese people, I cannot WAIT to head over to Malta later this year or early next year. Considering I will be a short four hours from the island, it seems logical that I’d be able to make it over there for a three or four day stint. I snagged an academic calendar off of the internet which I think should be pretty accurate when I’m there (although I still have to verify!):

Autumn Term
28 September – 11 December

Spring Term
8 January – 19 March
19 April – 18 June

Dissertation
19 June – September

—
Obviously, a chunk of that break time is dedicated to studying & writing papers, but some of it will definitely be used for exploring. March might be a nice month for a trip over to Malta, Sicily & Italy — take note, Staci & Stefanie! I definitely want to take a trip to see Mosta (where my grandpa was born) and Qormi (where my mom was born), but what else should we be visiting? For those of you that have been to Malta or have lived (or currently live) there… what are your suggestions?

Thanks for the suggestions — can’t wait to see my Maltese family sometime soon!

I just had the opportunity to speak with one of the coordinators at the University of Bristol about getting documents to acquire a student visa to study in England, and I sent her a scanned version of my acceptance! Bristol it  is! — I’m definitely more than excited but incredibly nervous at the same time. I can’t believe I’m going to actually be leaving my family, boyfriend and friends for an entire YEAR! Considering how fast this year has gone thus far, I’m betting on the fact that my year in England will go by equally fast with the studying and traveling. Also, I am infinitely thankful for technology (Skype, MySpace, AIM, email, etc.) that will inevitably allow me to keep in touch with my California loves every day. Thank God!! I cannot WAIT to see the world and chronicle everything for posterity :)

Oh, and a shout out to Laura for hooking me up with a phone and a flat iron that work in the UK — you’re the best!

<3.

My home-to-be.