travel blogger – Megan Gilman

Happy Monday!

I am SO excited for this week’s post – I am finally back to travel content! As much as I’ve loved being creative in other areas over the past few months, I’m glad to be able to write about traveling once again for a change. I will still be exploring different health and fitness related posts in the future, but it’s nice to switch back and forth at the moment.

This past weekend, I was able to spend a few days in Wellfleet on Cape Cod. Friday was my birthday, so a few of my friends and I rented a house by Lecount Hollow Beach from Thursday to Sunday. I’ve grown up visiting Wellfleet each summer since I was born, so I knew I wanted to spend my birthday weekend there once again. This was especially exciting because of the circumstances over the last few months. I haven’t been able to see lots of these friends because of social distancing, so now that things are finally starting to open up and we’ve all be quarantining in our respective towns, we were able to get together once again.

On Thursday we drove down later in the afternoon, so while we didn’t get a full vacation day in, it was nice to relax and enjoy a sunset dinner on the beach once we arrived. It was also nice to start off the weekend on a quieter note, before the big birthday celebrations began.

On Friday, my actual birthday, I was able to get a full beach day in at Lecount Hollow, and my mom stopped by for a bit as well. My favorite thing about Wellfleet, and the main reason I wanted to spend my birthday here, is the Beachcomber restaurant – and lucky for me, the first day they opened their outdoor seating was Friday. I had such a great lunch here with my mom and a few friends before heading back to the beach, and getting ready for the rest of my friends to arrive that night.

Later in the afternoon, my dad and my brother joined us as well, and shortly after the rest of my friends. We had such a great time hanging out and eating back at the house and on our deck, and then had our big celebration into the night!

Saturday was our last full day of vacation, and more visitors were able to join us! We spent this day at Cahoon Hollow Beach instead, where the Beachcomber is located, and met up with my aunt and uncle as well. Of course I had to have a second lunch at the Beachcomber on Saturday too, and this was nice to be able to bring all of my friends there who couldn’t join the first time. Once again, after our beach day was over we headed back to the house, enjoyed a cook out dinner outside, and enjoyed the beach for the rest of the night.

Sunday morning was checkout, and since it was also Father’s Day, most of us had to head out pretty early to get home. That being said, it was the perfect number of days for us to get away for a weekend, get beautiful beach weather, and see friends and family who I haven’t been able to recently. I wish we had more time, it always seems to go by so fast, but I know we’ll have lots more beach days and weekends in the near future 🙂

Of course we all were careful before and while traveling and took the necessary and responsible precautions when going into public places! Being able to eat out at a restaurant was such an exciting concept, though, and I simply could not wait any longer. As repetitive as the days seem, there really is not much to talk about a beach vacation – we spent every day eating, relaxing, and eating some more! I did want to include this weekend in today’s post, though, because this did start as a travel blog, and this was the first trip I’ve been able to take since my trip to Florida in March!

Now that I’m home and catching up on this productive Monday, I’m thinking about how lucky I am to have had this past weekend with friends and family, and I’m realizing that what is truly important in life is quality time with those people around you – not any material good or experience. Especially during quarantine, I’ve learned to value these memories so much more, and I’m excited for what’s to come as we bounce back from this unfortunate time and begin enjoying moments together again. I’m very much looking forward to the next few months of summer ahead, and I’m feeling optimistic about the future situation in Massachusetts. I will likely be returning to some health and fitness posts in the coming weeks, but stay tuned for more adventures to come (likely back to the beach)!

Thank you all for sticking with me through the non-travel times, and I will see you all next week!

xx,

Megan

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Good afternoon! Once again, I’m getting a late start today as I’ve been catching up on lots of homework for the week 🙂

This week I wanted to take a more positive, forward-looking shift and start thinking about some goals for the future. Over the past couple of years, I’ve been building up a list of places I want to travel someday in a Note on my phone. In the last week I finally transferred that to paper, and hopefully I can start exploring some of these places soon once traveling is okay again.

I wanted to share my bucket list with you all (in no particular order), first to give you some ideas of new potential destinations, but also to hold myself accountable, and start manifesting the journeys I hope to explore. I hope you enjoy this list, and PLEASE let me know if you have any suggestions I should add!

1. Bruges & Brussels, Belgium

Although I drove through Belgium on my way from Paris to Amsterdam, I was never able to stop and spend time there, so definitely somewhere I want to return to!

2. Sintra, Portugal

I was able to visit Porto in October, but I’ve heard amazing things about Sintra as well. I know I will return to both Spain and Portugal at some point, so this is a city I will definitely make sure to hit.

3. Zurich & Interlaken, Switzerland

I never got to visit Switzerland while I was abroad, but if I had more time this would’ve been next on my list. I would love to go back and spend some time here in the spring or fall!

4. Dubrovnik, Croatia

Another city I never got to visit while studying abroad, but would’ve loved to had I had more time to travel!

5. Ireland

This has been on my bucket list for years, and I can’t pick just one part of Ireland – I would love to spend a few weeks (or even a few months) exploring all over the country, and hopefully even connecting with some family over there as well.

6. Greece

Again, I can’t pick just one city, but Greece is another place I know I’ll be spending LOTS of time. I want to see Athens, since I spent so much of high school learning about Ancient Greece, and I also want to explore Santorini and the Greek islands.

7. Berlin, Germany

I was able to visit Munich for a couple of days in September, and it was very cool and very different from other European cities I’d visited. I’ve heard lots about Berlin and would love to return someday.

8. Utrecht, Netherlands

This was a recommendation I received while studying abroad, so of course I added it to the list! Amsterdam was my favorite city that I visited outside of Madrid, so I have a good feeling I would enjoy Utrecht as well.

9. Salzburg, Austria

During my solo backpacking trip across Eastern Europe in October I stopped by Vienna for about a day and a half, but I’m very interested to return and see more of the country.

10. Uzupis, Lithuania

This is the city that made me start a travel list in the first place – years ago I read that Uzupis is one of the most underrated places to travel, so since then I’ve been so intrigued and will be sure to plan a trip there some day.

11. Granada, Alicante, Cáceres, Trujillo, Plasencia, Cuenca, Valencia, & Bilbao, Spain

Of course my list of Spanish cities to visit is very long! There were so many places I wasn’t able to find the time to see, but I know I will be back one day so I’m not worried about missing these 🙂

12. Alaska, US

If I had to pick anywhere in the United States to visit next, it would definitely be Alaska. I have been dying to visit one summer.

13. Tenerife, Spain (Canary Islands)

Another Spanish destination, but off the mainland!

14. New Zealand & Australia

There are far two many cities here to list them all, but I know once I take this trip it’s going to have to be months long for me to explore everything I want to see.

15. Southeast Asia

Once again, there are way too many countries and cities here that I want to visit, but it’s an area of the world I’ve never explored before so I’m excited to see a completely new region. I know I want to spend some time in India, Thailand, and Vietnam – and once I’m there, I know I’ll want to travel all over!

Like I said, this list in in no particular order, and by no means a complete list of everywhere I’d like to visit. This is just a compilation (so far) of the cities and countries I’d heard in passing that were worth me noting on my phone. There are so many more places I plan to visit, and I didn’t want to make this list too long for you all, so for now these are my goals (but I will DEFINITELY be adding more soon) 🙂

Once again, please let me know if you have any suggestions, or even if you’ve been to one of these places and have tips or stories to share! I hope everyone is staying safe at home, and I’ll see you all nest week.

xx,