Technology on Vacation

My recent vacation was full of seeing beautiful places, staying in hostels, and meeting new people just like past vacations had been, but for this one, I also had the luxury of a smart phone. Even though I didn't use my iPhone to make a single call or send a single text, I did use it to communicate with my friends and family, share about my travels, and learn about everything I was seeing. All of this was done thanks to a few fun apps: WhatsApp, Instagram & Triposo.

As I've discussed before, my roommate and I are extremely close and the thought of not talking to her for 2 weeks was pretty much not realistic. Thankfully, I learned about WhatsApp from Natalie which is an app that allows you to 'text' people abroad for free! It's free because it uses the internet and works more like a G-chat or Facebook chat. If anyone out there doesn't have WhatsApp, I would definitely suggest downloading it! It's invaluable when traveling or for communicating with friends and family while they're traveling abroad.

Thanks to WhatsApp I was able to: 

Chat with Kat about seemingly useless, but actually invaluable topics.

See pictures of my brother as a groomsman in his friend's wedding. 

Let my family know I was alive and share all of the amazing things I was doing.

WhatsApp was downloaded especially for communicating with Nat in Turkey & with family & friends while I was on vacation, whereas Instagram has long been present in my life. I just never realized how fun it would be while abroad though! It made it so easy to share pictures with all of my friends without having to individually send each one. I could quickly post photos to Instagram, Twitter & Facebook about:

What I saw

The Hall of Mirrors at Versailles

Dinner in Plaza Mayor in Madrid

What I ate

Crepes & cider in Versailles

Dulce de Leche helado in Madrid

And what I bought

My new Longchamp bag from Paris

The last app I want to talk about is one that I technically didn't even have...Natalie told me to download Triposo but completely forgot to so we ended up using hers instead. She was able to download information about each city ahead of time and then access all of the information offline while we were walking around and sightseeing. We never had to buy a city guide and only bought one guided tour, yet always had tons of facts and knowledge at our finger tips. It was also fun to have Nat read me all of the information like my own personal tour guide :)

I am usually very thankful for technology (seriously, how did people live before Google?), but having a smartphone on vacation took thankfulness of technology to a whole new level. My iPhone & specifically the 3 apps I mentioned, allowed me to learn about my surroundings and stay in touch with my loved ones in ways I could never have imagined. Thanks technology!

Quality Time with My Best Friend

I recently returned from a phenomenal vacation spanning 11 days and 3 countries, but one of my favorite parts about this time was just being with my best friend Natalie. We've been doing our best to keep in touch while she's in Turkey, but nothing can replace actually being in the same room as your friends or heck, even the same country.

Lunch in Sintra, Portugal

I've missed being able to just call her on the phone or travel the 3 hours south to visit her at school, and being able to spend 11 days traveling just Natalie and me is something I will never forget.

Here are some of the moments I'm most thankful for:

Hammocking in Lisbon. 

This is one of my favorite things to do with Nat when I visit her at school, so I was so excited when I found out she was bringing her hammock on vacay with us.

Wine tasting in Porto

This experience was the absolute definition of quality down time with friends. We spent 2 hours sitting by a window with a beautiful view tasting wine and catching up on everything under the sun. Ironically, I originally didn't even want to do a Port wine tasting, and it ended up being 2 of my favorite hours of the entire trip.

Pub Crawl in Lisbon & Tapas Crawl in Granada

Another thing I really miss is causing random shenanigans with Nat. She is always up for anything and whenever we're together, I know it's going to be a blast. Staying out until sunrise in Lisbon and hiking up a hill in Granada at midnight to get the best view of the Alhambra after touring some of the best tapas bars were 2 of my favorite 'random shenanigans' nights of the trip. We met many fun, interesting people in both situations, but I know neither one would have been half as much fun without my partner in crime. We feed off one another's energy and random greatness always seems to ensue. 

At a tapas bar in Granada

Now that vacation is over and I'm back in the States and Nat's in Turkey, we're back to staying in touch via G-chat and WhatsApp, but I am so thankful for the time I got to spend with her. 

How many people can say they reunited with their best friend after 3 months apart in Paris? And then traveled to some of the most beautiful places in the world for 11 days straight? Not many that's for sure, but I'm so blessed to be able to say I have.