The Girl Who Goes

independent, intentional travel

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Bus Éireann Expressway Review: Dublin to County Donegal, Ireland

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The Bus Éireann Expressway we took to Donegal from Dublin

Summer is (almost) officially here, and it is officially HOT in Spain. In Alicante, we are gearing up for the famous Hogueras celebration, and I’m excited but also not sure I’m mentally ready for two straight weeks of staying up until 3 a.m. But in the meantime, we took a break from the heat and the planned chaos to visit our Irish besties, Sarah and Kelan, for a week-long trip to the north of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

When we landed in Dublin, Sarah and Kelan had already been up in County Donegal with Sarah’s family, and that’s where we were going to meet them to start our trip. So it was up to us to arrange our transportation from Dublin to Ballyshannon, Donegal, where they would pick us up. After a little bit of research, it turned out our best option was a direct bus from Dublin Airport to Donegal with Bus Eireann Expressway. So, here’s my Bus Éireann Expressway review: Dublin to County Donegal, Ireland. [Read more…]

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3 Travel Experiences That Required Post Updates for Your Safety

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Hi all! Today’s blog post is a bit of a serious topic, but it’s one that I think is really important. A couple of weeks ago, there was a hot air balloon accident at Teotihuacan — which left 12 people with (thankfully!) non-life-threatening injuries. Flying in a Teotihuacan hot air balloon outside Mexico City is one of my favorite travel experiences I’ve ever done, but I feel it’s important to stay transparent about accidents that can happen when it comes to the topics I write about on here.

Over the last three years, there have been three experiences I’ve written about which have required updates for full transparency about accidents: the hot air balloons at Teotihuacan, and the cable cars/teleféricos in Medellin and Quito. While I made the updates to the individual posts at the time of the incidents, I wanted to mention them here as well. So… here’s the full scoop on each of the three situations. [Read more…]

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CapitalOne Venture X Credit Card Review: One Year Later

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One of the best lounge views – CapitalOne Lounge in Dallas

One year ago, we were on our first visit back to Kansas City after moving to Spain. And then our HVAC system broke.

After getting a few quotes for replacement, we decided we’d make the best of a bad situation and open a new credit card. We’d been considering the CapitalOne Venture X for a while, and spending $10,088 on the new HVAC would allow us to instantly achieve the opening bonus of 75,000 miles. So we took the plunge.

Now, one year later, the CapitalOne Venture X card has become our main credit card for all of our joint finances. But is it worth the $395 annual fee? Keep reading for my verdict. [Read more…]

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5 Experiences That Are Better in Spain than in the U.S.

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After five weeks back in the U.S., we’re finally back in Spain! And I’m so happy to be back. We’re already getting back into the swing of things with appointments, friends’ birthdays, Eurovision watch parties, and plenty of cafe con leche.

If you read my last blog post, I covered five experiences that are better in the U.S. than in Spain. And now I have to share things that are better in Spain than in the U.S.! (To be completely honest, I could come up with way more things about Spain, but for the sake of not making this article the length of a novel, I’ve capped it at five. 😉) [Read more…]

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5 Experiences That Are Better in the U.S. Than in Spain

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We’re wrapping up a five-week visit to the U.S., and it’s been busy in the best way! I feel like we’ve had something going on almost every single night — meeting up with friends or family for dinner, re-joining our soccer team for part of the season, or going to Royals games. No matter how much our lives have changed, it’s nice to know that some things always stay the same.

While we love living in Spain, and increasingly see ourselves staying there for maybe… forever… there are some things that are just better in the U.S. (Of course, there are a lot more that are better in Spain, but that will be a separate post.) So, while these things are top of mind, here are 5 experiences that are better in the U.S. than in Spain. [Read more…]

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Why We’re Canceling Our Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Cards

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While I mentioned a few weeks ago that our days flying Southwest Airlines are probably over for good, my husband Matt had more to say, especially when it comes to our Southwest Rapid Rewards credit cards. So here’s Matt’s second-ever guest post for The Girl Who Goes. Let us know what you think! – Cathy

Hi all! So, just to start off — yes, Cathy and I both have our own Southwest Rapid Rewards credit cards. Cathy has the Rapid Rewards Plus, and I have the Priority, which have annual fees of $69 and $149 (an increase from $99 in 2024).

While we are no strangers to credit cards with annual fees, usually we feel as though we are actually getting more benefit than what the fee costs. Priority Pass lounge access alone with our CapitalOne Venture X card has made long travel days significantly more tolerable.

With our Rapid Rewards cards racking up points — as well as the generous opening points bonuses — we were making good use of the points… until we weren’t. The reasons below are why we decided to cancel our Southwest Rapid Rewards credit cards. [Read more…]

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5 Easy Ways To Be a Respectful Traveler

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Our trip to Paris last month — during which we experienced a grand total of zero mean Parisians — got us thinking about why we had such a good experience compared to the popular narrative, that French/Parisian people are mean to tourists. But I think we settled on the fact that we tried to be the absolute most respectful travelers that we possibly could.

No instantly asking “Parlez-vous anglais?” or “Do you speak English?” No expectation that people would switch to English when it was clear that our French was pretty bad. No getting visibly annoyed when service took longer than it does in the United States. No being loud or attracting attention to ourselves.

Over the years, my understanding of what it means to be a respectful traveler has continued to evolve. So here are a few easy things you can implement on your next trip. (Especially to my fellow American friends — let’s improve our reputation together!) [Read more…]

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How To Get Free Notre Dame Cathedral Tickets in Paris

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We all saw the news in April 2019 — one of the world’s most famous churches, Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, caught on fire. And if you somehow missed that, then your Instagram feed was certainly full of every person you knew who’d ever been to Paris posting grainy photos from the early 2000s of themselves at Notre Dame, captioned simply with a #brokenheartemoji. 💔

But six years later, Notre Dame lives again! In fact, it just re-opened to the public in December 2024. So when Matt and I visited Paris at the end of March, we couldn’t miss our chance to check it out. And when I was planning our visit, I was shocked to find out that tickets to visit Notre Dame are free! However, only a limited number of reservations are available per day — and they don’t make it easy to claim those tickets. So here’s exactly how you can get free Notre Dame cathedral tickets. [Read more…]

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Truth or Stereotype: Are Parisians Actually That Mean?

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I first visited Paris in the summer of 2011, right after graduating from high school, on my first-ever trip to Europe. After spending a few weeks in Germany with my boyfriend at the time, we boarded a tour bus in Stuttgart for the 10-hour ride to Paris. I remember visiting Notre Dame, being amazed by the Eiffel Tower, drinking wine on a Seine River cruise (so scandalous for an 18-year-old), and generally having a good time.

Since that was my first big trip outside the U.S., I was so curious about visiting Paris again with a different perspective — the perspective of someone who’s now visited 31 countries and countless major cities around the world. I was excited to go with Matt, too! But when we told people about our plans to visit Paris, we heard a few variations of this sentiment: “The people in Paris are so mean.” [Read more…]

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Why I Might Never Fly Southwest Airlines Again

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Earlier this week, I got an email from Southwest Airlines. I haven’t flown with them much in the last few years since I live in Spain now. I also rarely open emails from brands. (Yes, this is why I have 22,461 unread emails in my inbox, a fact that drives Matt crazy.) But something about its subject line — “Catherine, Southwest policy changes you need to know” — caught my eye. So I opened it.

The email, which announced the ending of Southwest’s two-free-checked-bag policy among other undesirable changes, felt something like a death knell for an airline that I used to love. In fact, I used have an article here called “Top 3 Reasons I’ll Always Fly Southwest Airlines,” originally published as one of my first blogs in 2017, which I’ve now archived. Unfortunately, after all that’s changed — the things that used to make Southwest stand out to me — almost none of it applies anymore. [Read more…]