The Girl Who Goes

independent, intentional travel

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Trip Review: Barcelona + European Road Trip

european road trip: feature photo

Originally Published on January 17, 2023

Bonjour, friends! As I begin to write this post, I’m sitting in a coffee shop in Bordeaux, France. I’m almost halfway through our two-week European road trip across Andorra, southern France, and northern Spain. It’s been raining all day. Matt is back at the Airbnb taking a nap. And I almost didn’t sit down to write this because my computer was almost dead and all the outlets in this coffee shop had plastic covers on them. Devastatingly, I don’t speak French so I was too afraid to ask the one person who works here for help. Eventually I settled for a weak “bonjour” and holding up my laptop charger… and here we are.

I have SO MUCH to tell you all about this trip! About the cities we’ve been to, about the car rental process, about taking a road trip in Europe. But I wanted to start with a “trip review” type post, as I’ve done in the past. I’ll probably publish this before it’s all the way done and then just update it as we go through the rest of the trip. I think it will provide a lot of good context for the trip, and I’ll eventually update it with links to specific topics as well. [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

quebec city december

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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Trip Review: Scotland, Ireland, and England

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Originally Published on November 25, 2022.

Here we are, wrapping up our last travel-free month, having been home since the end of August. December, January, February, and March will bring plenty of trips to new places, and certainly lots to write about! And while I’ve talked some about our most recent trip over to the UK and Ireland, I hadn’t gone into too much detail.

But I thought it could be fun to share in “trip review” form. This trip in particular was a great mix of new and old places, and new and old friends. So if you’re wondering what Matt and I got up to during our two weeks across the pond… keep reading. [Read more…]

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A Review of Lumo Train: London to Edinburgh

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Back in 2013 when I studied abroad in London, my school had a few organized trips that they offered to students. Some were short, like a day trip by bus to Stonehenge and Bath. But others spanned the entire weekend — like a longer train trip to Edinburgh, Scotland. Having already taken a long 10-day fall break to four countries and trying to be conscious of my college student budget, I reluctantly passed on the Edinburgh trip.

Fast forward to this past spring, when Sarah and Kelan invited us to come visit them in Dublin in August. From the U.S., it was much cheaper to fly in and out of London, a city I love and was excited to share with Matt for the first time. And then I thought… while we’re across the pond, why don’t we visit Scotland too?! Scotland had been on my bucket list ever since the trip I’d missed out on.

I think that’s why I also had my heart set on traveling by train to Scotland, just like my friends had done. So when it was time to plan our trip, I started by looking at train tickets. We ended up going with a Lumo train from London to Edinburgh. Here’s what it was like. [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

cuba havana

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 Puerto Villamil on Isabela, Galapagos Islands

puerto villamil

Choosing which of the Galapagos Islands to visit isn’t easy, as I’ve mentioned plenty of times here before. Besides Santa Cruz, which we flew into from Quito, we decided to visit one more island — Isabela. It’s famous for being the largest island, shaped like a seahorse, and with lots of wildlife to see. Puerto Villamil, on Isabela island, is the largest city and where most tourists stay.

But after spending a few days in Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz, Puerto Villamil was a lot different from what I expected. So here’s what you need to know if you’re planning to visit Puerto Villamil on Isla Isabela. [Read more…]