Looks like I may have spoken a little too soon..

Although I do have my precious laptop back, it crashed on me again last night, so this morning I went out and bought an external hard drive and backed up ALL my files, so if (or rather when) it crashes beyond repair, at least I won't lose everything.

To be honest I'm a little afraid of using it now, and I have this panic that it will crash on me when I'm in the middle of writing papers or exams. But, I suppose I'll have to cross that bridge when I come to it.

I know I've been a little MIA this last week, but I'm still in the midst of my summer plans.

Manhattan Skyline as taken from the Staten Island Ferry

My friend L and I have been busy planning our trip to NYC in August, although this year she says she wants to see the Museum of Natural History. I agreed, but I'm really not much of a museum person. Has anyone been there and can recomend specific exhibits or rooms to see that are interesting? I've been through a couple of guidebooks to find other things to do, I'm thinking of the firefighter museum. I've done most of the typical touristy stuff in New York (Empire State Buidling, Central Park etc) so I'm looking for more unique or off-the-wall things.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

The return of my laptop!

$226 later, my baby has been returned to me! I promise to update you all on my life, and read everyone's new blogs tomorrow and to comment as best as possible.

Have a great weekend!

I feel like I've been a bad blogger lately!

I just wanted everyone to know I have definitely not given up on the blogging; however, since monday night my beloved laptop is out for repairs and I simply cannot stand using this computer to sit down and blog. Its older and therefore slower, and its in an office with no TV or radio or even a comfy chair. I should hopefully *crosses fingers* have my laptop back in a couple of days at the latest and then I can start catching up and comments and blogging and reading everyone else's blogs. Thank you so much for all your comments so far!

Summer 2009

I hope everyone is having a good start to the week so far. I'm starting my week off being very tired, but what else is new these days.

I will continue to update my top 10 favourite places list at a later time, but for now I thought I would talk a little bit about my summer travel plans. There are still some things that are up in the air, but I thought I'd talk about the things that are planned.

So, the dates aren't set yet, but I'll be going to Germany for a couple of weeks to visit family and friends, which I'm very excited about. Its amazing how much I miss Germany when it comes to spring. I miss the smells, the people, the food! ..Did I mention the food??

The other big piece of European travel news in my life: ROMANIA!

My father is taking a week off work while I'm there and we're going away. He gave me a list of possible places, and one of them included a roadtrip of Romania. He has loved Vampires and Dracula and all things dark like that since I was a kid, so I know he'll really love it. I did a little research and looked up gothic castles and sights to see in Bucharest and Transylvania, and I have to admit I'm in love. There is so much history in that area mixed in with an air of the supernatural. The castles and villages look like they belong in a movie.

I'm curious if anyone out there has been to the area and has any tips or suggestions?

Bran Castle (fictional home of Dracula)

The other piece of information, I'm going on what has become an annual trip to New York City. I love New York, its one of the busiest and best cities in the world. I believe it is part of my Top 10, and if I forgot it, it should certainly make the cut.

Those are my plans so far, stay tuned for updates and plans and eventually pictures!

My #7 Favourite Place: Frankfurt, Germany

First off, I have to admit I'm a little biased when it comes to Frankfurt (and Germany in general). I was born and spent most of my childhood there. Frankfurt on its own is not the prettiest city in Germany, but the village where I grew up is beautiful. I'm not saying its not worth the trip to Frankfurt, it is just very business oriented (the banking capital of Europe) and very grey and full of concrete buildings. As with most european cities, it does have its history and its charm, and a wonderful river that runs through it.

This brings me to the town where I grew up. Imagine the typical German town in your mind, that's pretty much what it looked like. Old castle, cathedral, ancient houses, beautiful gardens.

A bit of the village

This is the castle and church in the background. These days it stands primarily empty and houses museums and some municipal offices.

My #8 Favourite Place: Florance, Italy

Who doesn't love Italy? Seriously!
I went on my first Italy trip as a high school graduation present and loved it. We did Milan, Pisa, spent a few days on the coast and, of course, Florance. Since then I've also been to Venice, and I have to admit that after all that, Florance is still my absolute favourite Italian city.

I just felt like Florance was the epitome of Italy and Tuscany and all things Italian. Looking at this picture now, the one memory that stands out the most is climbing the Duomo (that tower in the middle) during mid-day heat without a water bottle. I believe it was something in the vicinity of 140 steps that got progressively narrower and smaller as we got higher so that by the end I was almost on all fours and very dehydrated. The view; however, was worth it. I can't seem to find any pictures of the view as I think they are all still only in hardcopy, but I'll add it to this post if I do.

Airlines

If I didn't love to travel so much, I think I would boycott airlines all together. As I mentioned a few days ago, there were tentative plans to spend some time in Ireland this summer, WELL the "sale" that my national carrier was having "until march 31st" decided to change their 40% off sale to end yesterday for flights to europe. Not only did the sale end, the prices even went up from the original pre-sale prices! Imagine an increase of almost $500!

So that option is now out, and I spent countless hours searching for other alternatives last night. It still boggles my mind how expensive trans-atlantic air travel is! If anyone has another alternative or some miracle website I haven't found, I'd be more than greatful.

I've always wondered if people actually pay the $3000+ to fly first class, as if the $1200 for economy isn't bad enough. Why, oh why does air travel have to be so expensive? Its times like this I wish I still lived in Europe (or, lived in Europe again). RyanAir is the best airline in the world. Inexpensive and amazing and you can get pretty much anywhere on the continent.

*Sigh*

My #9 Favourite Place: Brussels, Belgium

I love Brussels, its an amazing and beautiful city. I also consider Brussels to be the epitome of a classic european city. The city is an amazing mix of old world charm and history and new world industry and technology. The flowers in the main square are one of the most beautiful in the world. I spent a few days in brussels twice, once when I was a kid and once again about 10 years ago (and wow I suddenly feel old). The photos are courtesy of google images because I didn't yet have a digital camera during those trips, but it looks exactly like this. Even so many years later, Brussels has been stuck in my mind as one of the most beautiful places in the world.

Rooftops of Brussels

Main City Square

a short facebook rant

I don't know how many of you out there use facebook, I'd presume quite a few. I just have to rant because I really don't like this newest set of changes that they've made! The home page is all messy now and I can't find anything, and the activities that people have on their pages is all smushed together and there are no times and dates for things anymore. It really makes me mad! I have to admit that I'm a bit of a facebook junkie, and now it annoys me everytime I log in.

I'm curious if anyone else is this annoyed with facebook now?

My #10 Favourite Place: Kyoto, Japan

I was lucky enough to be able to visit Japan in may of 2004.(having a father that works for a Japanese Airline always helps too).

Before I say anything else, I should tell you that as much as I love to travel and want to see everything, I really really dislike flying. It sounds absurd coming from someone who's flown as much as I have, but its still true. I still get nervous on take-off and I hate jet lagg.

I met my father in Frankfurt, Germany and from there we flew directly to Tokyo. Up until that point, my longest flight had been 9 hours trans-atlantic (north america-europe). Frankfurt-Tokyo was a 12 hour flight. I came off that day-long flight, and landed in a country that was a day ahead in time. Needless to say I was pretty disoriented.

The Trip was amazing, a couple of days in Tokyo, taking the highspeed "bullet" train through Osaka to Kyoto. Seeing the memorials and history of Hiroshima and spending a night on the island of Myajima in a traditional "reyokan". Kyoto was my favourite part of the trip. It is more southern than Tokyo and had palm trees! The pace was slower and the people seemed less stressed compared to Tokyo. The Photo at the top is taken at the Golden Pavillion in Kyoto. One of the most magnificent places in the world.

Japan has so much history and culture and it was a completely different experience than anything else I had ever seen.

Stay tuned for a detailed profile of the rest of my top 10 favourite places.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

In my excitement of having my first (now first and second!) followers, I completely forgot today was St. Paddy's Day! This seems even more appropriate this year as certain travel plans to that part of the world may be likely this summer. I don't want to jynx anything though so I'm not mentioning it until flights are actually booked.

On a very different note, today is my first day leaving the house without a jacket in 2009! This may not seem like much of a stretch to you fellow bloggers living in warmer climates, but to someone in the North like me, this is amazing in mid March. Sunshine and warm weather really do make me feel happier. Sunshine means summer is on its way, and that means Travelling!

my first follower!

I have to admit this made me quite excited this morning when i saw that

Thank you Bluefish!

I had to make a trip over to the Fine Arts buildings at my university to pick up a brochure for a friend. Wow, do they ever have nice stuff over there! There's a really nice cafeteria, lots of artwork on the walls, comfy couches and chairs and so many people socializing!

It makes me a little sad to walk back to my area of the school. The library and all the history/humanities/sociology/psychology offices. Its so very sad and desolate looking. Everything is wood and varying shades of beige. There are only flyers on the wall offering $10 to participate in a psychology study. *sigh*

It really makes me wish I was more creative and could have gone into art, or that I had followed up on my dancing career and done that.

I suppose it was not meant to be.

Off to the beige library I go!

Paris je t'aime

My mom is busy planning her trip to Paris is april for 10 days, and I must admit I'm seriously jealous!

I would love to drown my sorrows in Cafe-o-lait and croissants, but alas! Instead I thought I would post some of my favourite Paris pics from my trip last year, May 2008.

View from the Eiffel Tower, Arch de Triumphe in the middle

Trocadero

Rooftops of Paris

Sacre-Coeur Church

Eiffel Tower

monday

Wow this is turing out to be a strange week, and its only 11am on a monday.

I woke up this morning to find out that my lovely and adoring cat decided to pee in my living room right on my moms travel papers, plans and maps. If any of you out there have a cat or have ever experienced this, you know how hard it is to get the smell of urine out of anything. After about 40 minutes of scrubbing, it now smells like a pungent mix of urine, windex and vinegar.

Anyway, I realize this is not one of the most delicate posts to start my blog with, but I promised to chronicle my life as it is, and right now this is as it is. We're re-doing the basement so I figure that may be why she's gotten anxious and couldn't find her box.

If anyone out there has a home remedy to get rid of cat urine, I would very much apprechiate it.

A side note: I promise not to talk about pee again. haha.

a small update

I finally managed to decide on a layout and background that I liked. The girls at The cutest blog on the block have amazing backgroungs and banners if you're image-composer-illiterate like me. I've tried using photoshop, it just does not seem to want to compute in my head.

So today being sunday, my weekend is coming to a close and I'm preparing myself for another long week of classes. Monday. Tuesday. Wednesday. That's right, my 3 whole days of the week.

an introduction

hello fellow bloggers!
this is my second attempt at a blog, the first one currently lies in the graveyard of lost or forgotten blogs haha. I thought I would give this another try after wasting countless hours of my lazy sunday reading other people's blogs.

I've been racking my brain trying to come up with a good title and theme to my blog. I've seen countless blogs devoted to weddings and love, but since I am neither getting married nor in love, I decided to go another route.

"ella everywhere" is my attempt to capture my life as it is. I'm a single, 20-something girl who's still in school, and who wants to go everywhere and see everything. I've been very fortunate to be able to have a fairly long list of countries and cities under my belt, but I want to see more. I was born and raised as an international child. A globetrotting girl if you will. This blog is devoted to anyone who's ever been bitten by the travel bug and who has experienced wanderlust to an exponential degree.


My top 10 cities/places in the world thus far:

10. Kyoto, Japan
9. Brussels, Belgium
8. Florence, Italy
7. Frankfurt, Germany
6. Begur, Spain
5. Crete, Greece
4. Algarve region, Portugal
3. New York City, New York
2. Paris, France
1. Prauge, Czech Republic