The Girl Who Goes

independent, intentional travel

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How My Travel Credit Cards Saved Me Money on My Trip to Europe

travel credit card and passport

I like to think of myself as a pro traveler. I started traveling to Europe (alone!) when I was 18. Studied abroad in London for a semester when I was 20 and was introduced to the world of European budget airlines and train travel. Lived and worked as a traveling consultant in the U.S. for three years before quitting to move to Spain for two years. And traveled to another country every month while I was there! So… would it surprise you if I said that I never used travel credit cards? 😬 [Read more…]

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What It Was Like To Go Back to Spain After 2 Years

plaza de espana spain

Author’s note: If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to read my diary, this is probably close 🙃

As you know, I lived in Madrid, Spain, from September 2018 to July 2020. And the last four months I was there coincided with the early days of the pandemic. One morning, at the beginning of March, we teachers were told that school was canceled for a week. And then, though school was scheduled to be in session through the end of June, we never went back. [Read more…]

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3 Big Differences Between Life in Spain and Life in Ecuador

spain ecuador difference

In Spain, a grocery store could be right around the corner. In Ecuador, not so much….

When Matt and I decided to spend a few months in Quito, Ecuador, at the beginning of this year, I didn’t really know what to expect. And while I’d traveled to more than 20 countries on four continents, it was my first trip to South America — and it was only the second country, after Spain, where I was spending more than a few weeks.

(And living as an adult. When I lived in London for 4-5 months during college, it was very much a college experience.)

Anyway, there were plenty of surprises when it came to life in Ecuador compared to what I knew in Spain, so I thought it could be fun to take a look at a few of the differences. [Read more…]

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Hola, Ecuador!

park carolina quito ecuador

Finally, finally… we are in Quito, Ecuador.

There’s not much else to say about how much we’d been anticipating this trip. I’ve already said it all, and I don’t want to repeat myself too much. Feel free to read more here, and here, and here if you want the whole background on the situation.

But now, we are here. And I’m so excited to have something to write about again!

I guess I’m going to start by sharing the story of our travels and everything that we needed to get into Ecuador. Here we go! [Read more…]

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The Quito Countdown Is On…

quito ecuador

23 months since my last international trip. 20 months since the COVID-19 pandemic took over the Western world. And 18 months after we originally planned this… our Ecuador trip is only a little more than one month away!

To be clear, we’ve postponed this trip several times. Back in February, I was wondering whether we might finally make it work in 2021 — along with musings of other potential travel destinations (none of which panned out). Luckily, we had a much better 2021 than we did 2020. With trips to Milwaukee, the Pacific Northwest, Ann Arbor, and several visits to Washington DC, we were able to scratch the travel itch — at least domestically.

But after all this time, lots of waiting, three COVID vaccine doses each, and Ecuador passing the U.S. on the percentage of their population being fully vaccinated, we decided: it’s finally time. [Read more…]

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Learn About Spain’s NEW Digital Nomad Visa

digital nomad visa spain

Update October 2023: My fiancé, Matt, and I have officially been approved for the digital nomad visa! Learn more about its requirements and how to apply in my most updated blog post about the Spain digital nomad visa.

One year and two months ago, I wrote one of the saddest blog posts I’ve written in my four-and-a-half years of being The Girl Who Goes: it was my goodbye to Spain and Madrid, which had been my home for the two years prior. Not only was I saying goodbye, I was saying it in the worst way — without getting a chance to say many goodbyes at all. As COVID-19 upended my second school year in Madrid, it also upended my future plans to stay in Spain. [Read more…]

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How I Created My Travel Gallery Wall

Hi, it’s me, your travel blogger friend who left her glamorous, frivolous life in Spain to settle back into the typical patterns of everyday American society for the past 10 months. (Thanks, COVID.) While our next adventures seem to be creeping closer, little by little, I’ve had some time to work on other projects that I’ve enjoyed. And one of them was decorating my very own office! [Read more…]

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What I Miss About Living in Spain

living in spain - feature image

Crystal Palace in the Retiro

There’s still not a whole lot to write about around here… though as COVID cases keep decreasing here in KC and vaccinations keep increasing, it’s getting easier to feel hopeful! Matt and I are both vaccinated now, as well as my parents and sisters, so we are ready to get moving again! Though, of course, it’s going to take some time for other places to catch up.

But it seems like I’m dreaming about my life in Madrid — and traveling in general — more than usual lately. So while I wait for the day when it’s safe to start traveling again, I thought I would make a list of all the things I miss about living in Spain. [Read more…]

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Thinking About Our Travel Options for 2021

Reykjavik in December 2017 when I had the whole world within reach

We’re now two months into 2021. Though we all eagerly awaited the end of a very bad 2020, not too much has changed for most of us. The vaccines are a bright spot on the horizon, even though we know we certainly aren’t in a priority group. Matt and I are hoping we’re both vaccinated some time in the summer, and by that point many other people should have been vaccinated first. Could that mean a return to “normal” for us? [Read more…]

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What I Miss the Most About Traveling

travel-italy

Last night, my family and I finally had our Christmas. Yes, on January 9. Most of my family, except for me & Matt, and my sister Carrie, came down with COVID, so we had to postpone our celebration until everyone was healthy again. Luckily everyone is doing well! And while we were all together, we also did one of our New Years traditions — we each write down as many predictions as we can for the new year. Then, we take turns reading the last year’s predictions to see how many we got right.

I was first up. As I scanned through my typed list, which I’d emailed to my dad since I was in Europe last year, all I could say was… “Wow. This is sad.” Because of course, at that point I had no idea we were two months away from getting hit with the pandemic that would be life-changing for the next year, if not longer. [Read more…]