Study Hard Travel Smart • Page 4 of 9 • A Resource for Culturally Immersive Travel

Preparing for Travel: 3 Days Until Morocco

July 31, 2016 Katie Comments 8 comments

For me, preparing to travel is actually the most nerve-wracking and anxiety-inducing part of the entire experience. Once I’ve arrived at my destination, I’m overwhelmed by excitement; I’m learning new things, meeting new people, and exploring as much as I possibly can. Before my departure, however, I spend a lot of time thinking about all of the ways that I could possibly prepare for my impending adventure. If I’ve learned one thing from several years of travel, it’s that most of…

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How To Make Resort Travel Culturally Immersive

July 8, 2016 Katie Comments 1 comment

Now that summer is here, many people are gearing up for their summer vacations all over the world. And really, what better place for a good R&R vacation than a beach-side resort? You can have these views: These drinks: And the sand between your toes with nothing to think about besides what you’ll have for your next frozen beverage. I love resort vacations as much as the next girl, but one thing that has become increasingly irksome to me is…

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Best of the East Coast: Lower Hudson Valley, NY

June 6, 2016 Katie Comments 8 comments

Just slightly north of New York City is the lower Hudson Valley, one of the most beautiful regions of the state of New York- and hardly ever visited by the millions of tourists flocking to NYC throughout the year. This area features beautiful mountains, scenic river views, orchards, wineries, and all sorts of activities to keep you occupied throughout the year. I should probably come clean at the beginning and confess that I grew up in the Lower Hudson Valley (Monroe-Woodbury…

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How to Change the World Through Travel

May 27, 2016 Katie Comments 9 comments

“Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.” — “Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now” by Maya Angelou (1993) Changing the world may seem like an incredibly lofty goal, especially in today’s world of intolerance and hate being slung by even those in positions of power in supposedly “great” nations. So many…

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Visby, Sweden

February 28, 2016 Katie Comments 1 comment

Where to stay: Unfortunately, there aren’t any hostels in Visby, and being in Sweden, it’s a pretty expensive place to stay. Given the budgets required for a hotel in the city, it’s likely that an Airbnb rental will be the only feasible option for budget travelers. Visby is a really small city on a pretty small island, so staying within the general Visby area will likely be fine. I found, though, that the money I spent on taxis getting to…

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Diaries of an Expat: Rediscovering Love

February 7, 2016 Katie Comments 3 comments

Have you ever had the feeling that what you used to love, or at least, what used to excite you no longer does? I have. It’s the worst feeling to know that the things you strived for and once cared most about doing no longer hold your eye as they once did. For me, this is a fairly common feeling that I get whenever I feel overwhelmed or anxious because I’m exhausted, and travel is exhausting. Or, it can be for…

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Diaries of an Expat: A Year in Review

January 4, 2016 Katie Comments 0 Comment

It’s been just over a year since I moved to Prague to start my new career and life as an expat, and I’m just now returning from my first trip home. Being away from home for over a year has been incredibly challenging, but has also been one of the most rewarding things I’ve done thus far. Even with my little travel habit [sarcasm], if you’d asked me 2 or 3 years ago if I thought I’d be semi-permanently living…

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Solo Traveling: To Tinder or Not to Tinder?

November 29, 2015 Katie Comments 1 comment

When I travel, I make every effort to get my eyes off my phone in order to actually experience what’s around me. What a concept, right? But with increasingly accessible data and wifi around the globe, it can be tough to meet the people standing around you when everyone is too worried about checking their Instagram feeds or Snapchats. When you’re traveling alone, this can be especially challenging, as meeting new people is often one of the best advantages to traveling…

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Stockholm, Sweden

November 10, 2015 Katie

Where to stay: Stockholm is a beautiful and vibrant city with a ton of different types of neighborhoods to choose from. Gamla Stan, the Old Town, is one of the most prestigious places to live in the entire country, so naturally, staying there as a tourist will cost you a pretty penny. I opted to stay in the neighborhood called Sodermalm, which is on the island south of Gamla Stan, but along the same metro line. I found this area…

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Diaries of an Expat: Rediscovery

September 28, 2015 Katie Comments 0 Comment

After months of having very little time or energy to give exploring the full attention it deserves, I decided to take a trip with my good friend, Ivana, to her hometown of Třeboň. Her hometown is actually a much smaller town next to Třeboň (which I’ll never be able to remember the name of), but we made our way around much of the region over the course of a delightful long weekend. Now that I’ve been living in Prague for…

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