The Girl Who Goes

independent, intentional travel

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Trip Review: Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica

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Costa Rica was the third new country I visited in 2023! Back in December 2022, when we passed through Boston on our way to Quebec City for my 30th birthday, we spent a night at my friend Morgan’s place. Morgan told us that she really wanted to go to Costa Rica but couldn’t find anyone to go with her.

“We’ll go!”

Four months later, in April, the three of us set off for a week in Costa Rica. We flew into San José and traveled to the Manuel Antonio/Quepos area, where we spent most of our time. Here’s what that was like! [Read more…]

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A Review of SAS Airlines: Chicago to Copenhagen to London

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In February, I set off “across the pond” for the second time this year to visit London with my friend Hanna. We all know that flying to Europe isn’t cheap, so when it was time to look for flights, I tried to find the best flight for the best price.

In this case, it meant selecting Chicago as my origin because that’s always cheaper than flying from Kansas City, where I live. Using Southwest points to fly from KC to a larger city is one trick we use pretty frequently to get cheaper flights. And when I found a round-trip flight from Chicago to London — with a layover in Copenhagen — on SAS Airlines, it was a price I couldn’t pass up: just $400.

It was my first time ever flying with SAS Airlines, and it wasn’t an airline I knew much about. So if you’re thinking about taking a trip with them, here’s my review of SAS Airlines. [Read more…]

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A Review of Porter Airlines: Boston, USA to Quebec City, Canada

porter airlines plane

As I’ve mentioned here before, Matt and I have recently delved into the world of travel credit cards. No, we aren’t going into debt just to get free flights. (I don’t recommend anyone do that, obviously.) But we have used our credit cards to enhance our travel strategy. For example, with the Chase Sapphire Preferred card — our new go-to — we can get 5x points on any travel we book through the Chase travel portal.

When it was time to book our flights for my 30th birthday trip to Quebec City, Canada, we used a couple of our tried-and-true travel strategies in conjunction: fly from Kansas City to Boston on Southwest points, then book a separate flight from Boston to Quebec City. The whole thing ended up a lot cheaper than if we’d booked from KC to QC on one ticket. And, of course, we booked the Boston to QC flight using Chase travel.

But the big surprise was for the cheapest flight option we found: a company called Porter Airlines. [Read more…]

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5 Things To Know Before Visiting Quebec City in December

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Back in December 2022, I celebrated my 30th birthday in Quebec City, Canada! When you have a mid-December birthday and your boyfriend says “Let’s take a trip,” you have two options: Flee the Midwestern cold for somewhere warmer, or lean into the winter weather by going somewhere even colder. Clearly, I chose option #2. So we set off for Quebec City with Porter Airlines.

But really though, Quebec City felt like the perfect place to spend a chilly pre-Christmas week. If you’re planning your own trip, though, there are a few things I think you’ll want to know in advance. So here’s my list of 5 things to know before you visit Quebec City in December! [Read more…]

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Top 9 Things To Do in Mexico City

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Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City

When many people thing of visiting Mexico, they may think of beach or resort towns like Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, or Cabo. But I’m not a resort girl — I prefer to visit places where I can get more of the local culture and go exploring on my own. Which is why, back in 2018 when Southwest Airlines still flew there, I spent some of my hard-earned points on a solo trip to Mexico City.

What I never expected was how much I’d love it! Mexico City is a busy, beautiful, vibrant city full of delicious food, gorgeous artwork, and friendly people. So when Matt and I had the opportunity to visit this past spring — and stay for three weeks — we jumped at the chance.

But Mexico City’s population is larger than New York City’s. And it’s nearly twice the size geographically! Which means it can be hard to know where to start with exploring the city, especially when your time is limited.

To help, I put together this list of 9 things you must do during your Mexico City trip. [Read more…]

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3 Things You Need To Know Before Visiting Cuba

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Hi all! I’d like to introduce my friend Sarah, the first-ever guest author for The Girl Who Goes! I met Sarah back in 2018 when we were both assigned the same school as language assistants in Madrid. And just a few weeks ago, Matt and I were able to visit Sarah and her boyfriend, Kelan, in Ireland! As they told us all about their recent trip to Cuba — somewhere I’ve never been — I asked Sarah if she would write a few articles about visiting Cuba for me.

I’m so excited she took the time to share her experience and these essential tips for anyone planning a trip to Cuba, especially in light of the pandemic. I hope you all enjoy! –Cathy

Cuba is one of those bucket-list countries a lot of people talk about visiting. The allure of old buildings and cars, of an old world that appears to be simpler. However, before we visited Cuba in July 2022, we never could have anticipated how far back we were going!

We look back at our twelve-day trip to Cuba with great appreciation for our modern conveniences. Though we felt we had prepared well and done our research, we forgot one key issue — the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the pandemic, Cuba had shut its borders for two years, and hence a lot of the information we had read was out of date. Luckily, I’ve a great friend Cathy who let me borrow her blog to tell you all about what Cuba is like now, as of summer 2022. [Read more…]

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Teotihuacan by Hot Air Balloon in Mexico City: What To Know

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Our view of Teotihuacan hot air balloons

While I first visited Mexico City as a solo female traveler in 2018, my most recent trip was completely different. First, I was working as a “digital nomad” while there instead of being on vacation; second, I was there for three weeks instead of five days; third, (my now-husband) Matt was there with me!

So despite my previous visit, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from my trip. All I knew was that I wanted to take Matt to the ancient city of Teotihuacan — one of my favorite experiences from the first time I went! But I had no idea what was going to await me in the ancient Mesoamerican city. (Did I mention that a pandemic had also come along since the last time?) So I did what most millennials would probably do: I opened Instagram, typed in “Teotihuacan,” and decided to check out the geo-tagged photos to scope out the current situation.

I was mostly expecting to see photos of sweaty, sun-baked tourists smiling under the Central American sun. (This is what happened to me the first time.) But instead, I found countless photos of… hot air balloons at Teotihuacan?

I’m not sure how I missed that during my first trip to CDMX, but apparently it’s super popular to visit the pyramids of Teotihuacan by hot air balloon! I personally LOVE unique travel experiences, and I’d never been in a hot air balloon before, so I knew I had to do it. We were on the bus into Mexico City’s center when I brought up the topic to Matt: “Sooooo, theoretically, how would you feel about taking a hot air balloon at Teotihuacan in a few days?”

Thankfully, he was totally on board with the idea! So once he gave me the “okay,” I got started on researching how to visit Teotihuacan by hot air balloon. We wanted to make sure we got the best experience, for the best price.

Of course, just like any popular travel experience, there are some Teotihuacan hot air balloon scams you need to be aware of. So here’s everything you need to know while planning your own sunrise voyage through the pre-Hispanic skies: Teotihuacan by hot air balloon.

[Read more…]

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3 Unique Airbnb Experiences To Try in Mexico City For Less Than $40

During our time in South America at the beginning of this year, we used Airbnb experiences for the first time. They’ve been around for awhile, but I had never really looked into the types of things they’d offered. But we really enjoyed both of the ones we did — a cooking class with a chef in Quito when other other plans for the day fell through, and a tour of Comuna 13 in Medellín.

Our first Monday in Mexico City was Memorial Day — a holiday for most in the American corporate world. But many of Mexico City’s top attractions like museums and parks are closed on Mondays. Wanting to make the most of our day off, I turned to Airbnb to find some unique experiences that we wouldn’t forget.

While I didn’t book them all for one day, their budget-friendly nature made me feel that I didn’t have to choose just one. So here are the three Airbnb experiences under $40 we tried in Mexico City. [Read more…]

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All About the 4T Trail in Portland, Oregon

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Part of the 4T Trail experience

One summer, Matt and I flew up to the Pacific Northwest for a trip with a group of his college friends. After a few days in the mountains near Cougar, WA, we headed to Portland to hike the 4T Trail. I’d never heard of it before (not surprising) but Matt’s friends who live in Washington, Josh and Mackenzie, had done it before. So they took us to do it.

Here’s everything you need to know about the 4T Trail in Portland. [Read more…]

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Trip Review: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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This post is just a tad bit overdue, but a glimmer of hope about moving back to Spain is giving me new motivation to write again. 🙂 At the beginning of August, Matt and I took a road trip from Kansas City to Milwaukee. We went to a wedding about an hour outside of Chicago, but we didn’t want to just turn around and drive home. So we decided to spend a few days in Milwaukee, Wisconsin — because Matt’s sister lives there! So we had a free place to stay.

Also, one of my new friends that I met during my summer soccer league, Anna, just moved to KC from Milwaukee! We met up for coffee and she gave me a bunch of tips and places to see before we went, which was super helpful. We weren’t there for very long, but I feel like we still packed a lot into our visit. [Read more…]