Travel Tips

Hello fellow travelers, and people who like to travel, even if you can't right now! I'm in a -i'm going on a trip to the other side of the world soon- rush, meaning that my room is kinda messy, like my mind. Clothes are around my room, backpacks, suitcases all the kind of bags i could discover in my closet are out here now. But the packing and the trip preparations give you an excitement and a very happy feeling... as long as you are organized and not let everything for the last minute, especially if you are planning a long trip to a far away place.

The list. It's all that matters, to be organized for your travelling adventures. Just take a piece of paper, or write it on your computer (but i prefer writing with my own letters on a paper, it feels more personal and i carry my little notebook all around the house and take notes). Start your list by writing down the basic categories: clothing, beauty products, gadgets and other stuff. Then you can divide your large categories into others: for example under the "clothing" category you will have subcategories like "tops", "bottoms", "underwear", "jackets" etc. 

The only way to make sure you won't forget anything is to start in the morning and think what you need in your everyday life routine from the minute you wake up till you go to sleep, and decide which of them are really important to take with. Since we all know that airplanes have a weight limit (unfortunately because most of us would like to bring all our household with us just in case!), you have to think carefully and pack only the important stuff, so you will have enough room left for the things that you are gonna buy there.

After making your list, you will have to start packing. A very useful tip for making room in your suitcase is to use packing cubes and packing folders. They are all over the internet for you to order, and you can put many clothes and stuff in there and minimize the room they would actually take if they were folded free in the suitcase. Also, rolling saves more space than folding, and it prevents the wrinkles of the fabric for clothes that they need to, like formal shirts. 

The most important and useful objects like phone, tissues, camera, gum, passport, money and some basic beauty essentials it's better to put them in your handbag that you will always carry with you around and in the airplane. For those of you who have oily skin (like me), never forget to pack some blotting papers to remove the excess oil, but always use a face and lip moisturizer because the skin in the air tends to get dehydrated. 

Lastly, you may want to keep notes and write while you are travelling like I do, keep a travelling journal or vlog the whole thing. For those cases, do not forget to take your favorite journal or notebook that you want to take notes to, and an easy to use pen, but be careful so it will not be anything too heavy so you can carry it around in your bag all day long. Also, besides your phone, you can bring your camera to take pictures or videos so you can vlog your trip and have your memories into a video.

The most important tip: don't forget to have fun because you only live once ♥

Travelers are the best people

I know most people write about travelling and suggestions on how to pack your suitcase before summer comes because that's the time most people leave for vacation. But in my case, since this summer i decided to go camping some place close, i left the best for later. I've been always wanting to visit the United States, and especially New York, and since I live in the other side of the planet, it wasn't an attainable dream. But you know what? Nothing is impossible, if you really want it. So, I think that fall is the best season for travelling, It's the clothes, the air, the whole atmosphere has something that makes me wanna fly away this time of the year, and also to experience the Halloween fest for the first time in my life.

Airplane ticket, passport and visa papers are ready, so in two weeks i'll be having the time of my life in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, that offers a lot to see and a lot to do. I think that there is inside of every single one of us an adventure gene, something that makes us wanna travel and see the world and explores what this big round thing has to offer. It's a unique feeling of freedom that you get when the air of another country touches your face, and you take a deep breath to catch this foreign new smell.. That's the feeling i'm chasing.

But before you travel, you have to do the packing, which for me is one of my favorite things of the world: doing lists about what you want to take with you makes you feel organized and safe (I hope doing lists are considered generally a cute thing to do, and not just me being a total control freak!). So I have, of course, already started my lists: Things I will take with me (devided into large categories like clothes, face products, everyday essentials etc), things that I wanna buy in New York (there are many products, clothes and souvenirs i've been meaning to buy when I'd visit USA like halloween treats ;) ) and, lastly, places I wanna visit there (famous landmarks, museums, my favorite stores, bookcases and others).

I'll be writing more about my travelling and preparations soon. But the point of today's talk was to not be afraid to travel, not be afraid to take chances.. Dare and test your limits, because when you travel it's not only the place and the destination that matters, but it's that you will be a new person and you will see things differently when you come back. Going somewhere new is also changing the way you see your old place, your hometown. One advice and one of my favorite quotes ever is that "life begins at the end of your comfort zone" (N.D. Walsch). And "yolo" isn't just a teenage slang trend word, it's a way of life, because in the end, you do only live once my friend.

Things you need for Autumn / Fall Essentials

Autumn is one of the best seasons (my personal favorite ♥) and there are several things that we need to have a perfect fall.

Cozy Sweaters

Comfortable clothes and sweaters are the first thing that you will need for fall, since summer has ended and the weather becomes more chilly. It's the best season to wear your favorite sweater with a skirt, a baggy college hoodie with some leggings, you can experiment many combinations. The most suitable colors for fall clothes are warm and dark : dark red, orange, blue and purple.

Boots

After the summer sandals, you need to switch to more autumn-like shoes, and the most suitable one is boots. Since it's not so cold like winter, you won't have to invest into think warm or fluffy boots like uggs, but ... boots are a very good choice for fall. You can wear low heals for all day long, or a higher but chunky heal which is so comfortable to give something more to your look. The boho style low suede boots are also a very good idea for fall and can be combined with everything, from jean shorts to casual dresses.

Flannels

Flannels are one of the things that immediately pops into my mind when i think of this season. You can wear a flannel shirt or just put it around your waist which will give you style but also you will have something to wear if the weather gets colder. Just by wearing flannels, it can make any outfit look more suitable for autumn, and they are sooo comfortable and easy to wear.

Darker make-up choices (lips & nails)

All the neon bright summer colors you used to paint your nails or your lips with, have to be put away because fall brings darker and more earth tone colors. A wine color lipstick is a definite fall essential, but your overall make-up choices need to be based on warm orange, red and purple shades. Also, it's the best time to try all those dark green, red, gold, and purple color nail polishes that you couldn't do in summer.

Candles

Last but not least, candles will give to you and your room a more cozy and fall feeling. Not only for decorative purpose they look very cute, but also the wide range of fall smells that are out there will make you feel like you wanna grab a book, drink hot chocolate and smell the autumn. The pumpkin scent is always good for fall, but my favorite one is the new Yankee candle called "autumn in the park" which smells like literary autumn in a jar.

A trip to Hogωαrts ♥

September is here for good. Meaning schools have already started. And many of us, every year when September comes, we wish that we received a letter from Hogwarts, asking us to attend this magic school and leave behind the old boring school. Although i'm 24 and I have passed the age of waiting for my acceptance letter for Hogwarts, it's never late to dream. Dreaming has no age. 



So since, as you have probably already guessed, i am a huge Harry Potter fan, I would never miss a chance to attend a wizard fest that took place at a nearby city and it was like I was inside Hogwarts. 

Instead of going to the bus station and wait for the school bus, I would be in Platform 9 3/4 waiting for the train. Instead of eating a poor tost that my mom made for me in the morning, I would have taken the weirdest candy beans in the train and a chocolate frog. Instead of having the always the same boring classes like math or history, I would have taken Charms, Defense against the Dark arts or Flying. 

That was going on my mind when I was in the place that looked like Hogwarts ordering butter beer and a cupcake of my favorite Hogwart's house, Slytherin of course (because the bad guys are the best guys, right?). For having a luckier day, I ordered the Felix Felicis potion, most known as liquid luck, which blew my mind away and i was lucky enough just to drink it. Being into the mood, I was wearing my Deathly Hallows symbol necklace ♥

And it felt like I was really in Hogwarts, since there was the Harry Potter movie soundtrack playing on the background all the time, and the place was exactly like Hogwarts: there was the Gryffindor Sword, the Mirror of Erised, there were bottles of magic potions and wands all around.          

Autumn planning

Goodmorning people :)  

September has just started.. And with September, not only all the good things like fall, rain, leaves, cozzy clothes, boots etc come, but also bad things come like obligations for school and work. You have to say goodbye to your summer holidays, the being free feeling, sleeping in the morning and waking in the afternoon and generally do whatever you want whenever you want. Schedule is here now and we have to get used to our new reality.

So, today I woke up early morning (had to set about 5 alarms every 5 minutes to get me out of my bed!) and met my BFF out to have a really good breakfast to start our day. What else would we have? Waffles and milk.♥ After having our stomachs full, we started scheduling our program for September, working on some blog ideas, studying a little bit which felt really refreshing and we could keep track of our program so we won't fall behind in anything this year. 

The first and most important thing to keep yourself organized is a planner. You don't need to buy a planner from market which can be expensive and also so non-personalized, since many others will have the same as you. So, if you are like me, and you like to have unique things with your own style, you can just buy a plain notebook, a cute one that you will like, and you can decorate the front as you want, but also the interior. Last year I was looking so much for the perfect planner for me, that will have the exact style of dates and boxes and lists etc all the things that i was imagining, but i could never find one that fit exactly to my desires. And then i thought, why not make one? It's not a science. You can print tumblr or your own pictures and glue them to the front and make it personalized. And you can also draw the inside the way you want the calendar to look like, with different colors. For example, i have every month a different theme (September is a brown-orange color with drawn leaves, October has a halloween theme and stickers etc). So, everyone is gonna ask you "Wow where did you buy this?" and you will say "Well, I made this :)".

September please be nice and surprise me ♥

Starbucks drinks and treats ♥

Starbucks is an all time favorite place to grab a drink or a snack in a school or work break.

Since i'm not a coffee person, I prefer to experiment every time with different kind of drinks: caramel drinks, smoothies etc..

For 2 days I was very busy downtown and the closest place to where i was, was Starbucks. Meaning that I actually lived in Starbucks for 48 hours, trying different kind of things and flavors. 

Here I was with three of my friends. My drink is the middle one with my name on it (Krista). I tried out a strawberry smoothie, which looked so yummy and baby pink and tasted like the sweetness of a cloud in a drink. ♥

Later that day, I ordered a caramel drink with a chocolate cookie. The drink is the best thing that Starbucks has to offer and it tasted like toffee. The cookie was also very tasty with little chocolate surprises inside ♥

The next day, since I had already exceeded my sugar limits the previous day, I ordered a plain sweet coffee drink (I think it was a caramel frappuchino) and a dreamy blueberry cheesecake, every bite of which sent me to heaven ♥