The Freedom Trail: Boston, Massachusetts

Welcome back to Travel Tuesday, a weekly link-up to share your travel experiences, stories and tips! Today I'm sharing some photos from my visit to Boston a year ago around this time. I visited Boston University as a traveling consultant for my sorority, and during one of my free afternoons I hopped the T to walk The Freedom Trail.

My favorite part of the tour was the guide. They really get into character. In fact, our tour guide told us he is not allowed to wear sunglasses or carry a water bottle because Bostonians didn't have those luxuries in the 18th century. He did have a nifty little canteen to quench his thirst, however. And, of course, he was very knowledgeable about all things Boston and the American Revolution in general.

Summer 2014 Book Challenge: The Preliminary List

Next week marks the beginning of the Semi-Charmed Summer 2014 Book Challenge! This link-up will stay open until the challenge starts on May 1 so everyone can share what they're planning to read. This link-up is not mandatory to join the challenge, and you're not obligated to read the books on your preliminary list; it's just a fun way to see what other people are planning to read and get some ideas for categories you're struggling with! And I wanted to share this awesome new button that the fabulous Kelsey created for this challenge! (Thanks, Kelsey!) Feel free to grab the html code at the bottom of this post to add the button to your own site.

Blogger Revealed: Books & Travel Edition

Last month, I opened up my blog (and my life!) to my readers and asked y'all to ask me all your burning questions. This month, I'm going to answer those inquiries! I got quite a few questions about traveling and reading (surprise!), so this first installment will focus on those questions only. All the other fun but more random questions will be answered in a future post. :)

Fran: Where's a place you would love to travel to but haven't yet?
Where's a place I haven't traveled to that I wouldn't want to see?? But really, I finally got to visit Spain last summer, so I think the next must-see destination on my list is Ireland. Or Istanbul. And the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro, of course.

Travel Tuesday: Where in the world? {reveal}

image via @mcstroup on Instagram

Welcome back to Travel Tuesday, a weekly link-up to share all your travel posts! No rules: Just share any post from your blog relating to travel. Last week, I posted ten photos from ten different European countries and asked you to guess the city. If you didn't get a chance to play last week, check the photos out here first! Then read on after the jump to see how well you did. :)

Travel Tuesday: Where in the world?

Greetings, fellow travelers and wanderlusters! Welcome back to Travel Tuesday, a weekly link-up to share all your travel shenanigans and expert tips. Before we begin, I just wanted to note that I revealed a very special project earlier this morning on the blog. If you like to read, you'll definitely want to check it out. :) And enough with the shameless self-promotion! Today, I'm trying something a little different for Travel Tuesday: a game!

I've selected 10 photos from my travels, and I thought it might be fun to have you guess where each photo was taken! I'm looking for the city names, but if you also know the specific landmark (if there is one pictured), more props to you! Hint: Each photo is from a different European country. If you need more help, I've listed 15 possible countries at the bottom of this post to choose from (not all countries are pictured). Let's see how this goes! :)

A:

Semi-Charmed Summer 2014 Book Challenge

Design via Kelsey

I cannot believe it's already April 15! I almost forgot to post the challenge list today—whoops! Luckily I had quite a few excited participants remind me it was time to get going. :) So, without further ado, let's get started! Please continue reading after the jump for the challenge rules and categories.

Travel Tuesday: Top Travel Blogs

Welcome back to Travel Tuesday, a weekly travel link-up for you to share any and all travel stories, tips and/or tricks! Today I'm sharing a handful of my favorite travel blogs to read. If you want to share your favorite travel blogs as well, be my guest, but don't feel obligated to write about the suggested topic.

Exceptional (Former) Expat Blogs

As I was listing my two selections for this category, I realized they aren't actually expats anymore! Melyssa and Chelsea* were both expats when I first started reading their posts last year, but they've each moved back to the States in recent months. (That doesn't mean they don't still have great travel content, though!)

Best of March: A Month in Review

March is a pretty cool month. St. Patrick's Day, the first day of spring, my birthday ... what's not to like? ;) Here's a quick recap of what you liked this past month on the blog and my social media, as well as a little insight into what I've been up to away from my computer:

Most Popular on Instagram & Notable Events

1 // 2 // 3 // 4

As I mentioned last month, I knew March would be busy for Jonathan and me. We started off the month with a trip to Hearst Castle with my family, drove down Highway 1 to visit the coast again the next weekend with his family, ran a 10k and traveled to St. Louis for a dear friend's wedding (hence the fancy photos in the Instagram collage above). It was a whirlwind month, but we made some great memories along the way!

Travel Tuesday: Map Envy

Welcome back to Travel Tuesday! No rules: Just a place to share travel posts with other like-minded bloggers every Tuesday. We haven't had a suggested topic for a while, so next week, I'm going to spotlight some of my favorite travel blogs, if you want to do the same. As always, though, anything travel-related goes! Today, I'm talking maps.

image via Instagram

I love maps. I do. In fact, for Christmas I got a 4' x 6' map of the world, which is now hanging on my wall in a DIY frame, lovingly adorned with gold pins (see above). If I could, I would decorate my whole apartment with maps! It's a nice reminder of where I've been and a better inspiration of where I want to go in the future. Here are five more maps I would love to add to my collection: