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Tips on Catching a Rugby Match at Newlands Stadium

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S eeing a rugby match live has always been something I have wanted to do. Although it was something I was saving for my upcoming visit to New Zealand, I was happy to experience this bucket list sporting event while in Cape Town. Little did I know I was crossing this off at one of the most historic stadiums in the world. In This Post... Posh Pregame Historic Grounds Pregame Game on Post Game Tips on Catching a Rugby Match at Newlands Rugby Match at Newlands Good to Know Posh Pregame We had just checked into O on Kloof, a very modern and welcoming boutique hotel in Cape Town’s Seapoint neighbourhood, when we decided to check out a Cape Town Stormers game. We had intended on enjoying our O on Kloof room and the area it sits in but a look at the Stormers schedule proved to be the only night we could catch a rugby match at Newlands. Shame as O on Kloof is a special place. With cozy rooms, an on-site spa, and ocean views from the bar it was hardly the place to pregame from but there

Border Crossing: From Costa Rica to Panama

Costa Rica and Panama Here is a little video my best friend Kerri (who is also an amazing vlogger) made last summer. Watch as we discuss backpacks, no man’s land, and just how scary it is to cross the border between Costa Rica and Panama by foot!

Highlights from a Danube River Cruise in Eastern Europe with AmaWaterways

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Going on a river cruise has long been on my bucket list. There's just something about cruising down a major river, stopping in new cities every day, that has always appealed to me. I've been on many ocean cruises and have enjoyed them well enough, but I had a feeling that river cruising was going to be even more my style. And I was definitely right. I spent a week onboard the AmaPrima, cruising down the Danube from Budapest to Bulgaria on AmaWaterways‘ Black Sea Voyage. It's a route that's not as popular as others in Europe (for example, you'll find many more people who have cruised through France and Germany, or the upper part of the Danube), but I wanted a different cruising experience. I didn't want to go where everyone else was going. The Black Sea Voyage was definitely that. We were in a completely different part of Europe — one with history both ancient and recent; one where you still have to pass border controls at every stop; and one where I knew I w

My Travel Tattoos and Their Stories

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I went through a long-haired, tie-dye-wearing hippie phase in high school – just without the drugs. And, even though I've always been somewhat of an independent free spirit, I was the last person my friends and family ever expected to get a tattoo. And yet now, at 32, I have four tattoos. And I can trace all of them back to my love of travel. Here's a look at my travel-inspired tattoos: My travel tattoos and their stories 2006 – The Quote In 2005, right after I graduated high school, I used my passport for the first time to go on a Lord of the Rings tour of New Zealand with my mom. On tour in Wellington, we got to meet Daniel Reeve, the man responsible for the mapwork and calligraphy in all the “Lord of the Rings” films (he's since worked on tons of other movies, including the more recent “Hobbit” trilogy). Me and Daniel Reeve in 2005 When I was contemplating my very first tattoo nearly a year later, I kept coming back to New Zealand and “Lord of the Rings.” I even

Rainy Days in Little Corn

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Near El Nido, The Philippines I was in the Philippines nearly two years ago, and, without meaning to, I spent most of my time on the island of Palawan. I couldn’t resist the warm blue waters and delicious breakfasts, the rainy nights and smiling people. I had intended to travel much more through the country, but, as it happens to all of us all over the world, I fell in love with a time and a place, and I didn’t want to leave. I am now sitting beside another beach on Little Corn, Nicaragua, this one stretching for kilometres along the beautiful Caribbean sea. But where there were hours of sunshine and snorkelling in El Nido, here there is only thunder and lightning. We haven’t seen calm from the storm in two days; it is gorgeous and dramatic, the seas crashing, the palm trees bent in half, the sky black. Our entire guesthouse is huddled in the main lounge, drinking tea and exchanging glances with each particularly loud crack of thunder. Board games and books and the