Guest of the Month Club--Reading Around the World with Emily of Follow the Yellow Book Road

Today I'm taking part in the Guest of the Month Club, hosted by Emily Reads Everything.  This month's topic was "what do you do when you're not blogging," and I was partnered with Emily of Follow the Yellow Book Road.  Here's Emily, travelling around the world while managing to get some reading in!

When I was in the 8^th grade, a teacher was organizing an educational trip to France, Brussels, and Amsterdam. In order to go on trip, I fundraised (with quite a bit of help from my parents). That trip was my first taste of travel and I loved it! I enjoyed seeing new places, learning and experiencing history, trying new food, and meeting new people. It wasn’t until after college that I was able to make traveling a significant part of my life. I have been to 21 countries and my bucket list just keeps growing. After travelling I've learned to always stock up my Kindle before I leave.

Here is a quick top 5 destination list for you with some stories about reading around the world. 

Best trip for snorkeling/diving: Maldives! Talk about paradise. These tiny sand bar type islands are breathtakingly beautiful. The climate and the coral reefs are perfect for seeing all types of sea life. Some of the highlights of this trip included: clownfish (Nemo!), manta rays, stonefish, and lionfish.

I went to the Maldives, before I had my Kindle. I brought two books with me on this trip and finished one on the flight there. I finished the other one pretty quickly too. Luckily, the resort we were staying at had a "library" it was a sort of "take one, leave one" library. I was set up by languages and the English section was pretty small, but I was able to find two books to borrow and returned them before we left. I loved being able to read on the beach, completely uninterrupted. I also donated one of my books to the library.

Favorite City: Florence, Italy! I spent two days walking around this city and loved it. The churches were beautiful, there was plenty of shopping, and lots of small cafes. We saw the Statue of David and I was sure to rub the snout of the bronze boar to ensure that I would return to Florence.

Before this trip, I added a couple new books to my Kindle. But the tour was SO jam packed that the only time I had to read was on the flights.

Favorite trip in the US: Hawaii! We did a cruise in order to see multiple islands. I loved how there was the opportunity to experience history at Pearl Harbor. I also enjoyed swimming at various waterfalls in Maui. The views were amazing; we saw volcanos, waterfalls, pineapple plantations, the Na Pali Coast, and more.

Surprisingly, I didn't bring a book or my Kindle on this trip. But the cruise ship had a library, so I borrowed a book to read. Unfortunately I didn't get to finish the book and had to return it. I was pretty engrossed in the book and thought for sure I would remember the title and author. Of course, when I got home and actually looked for the book, I couldn't remember the title or author.

Favorite Country: Greece! Hands down, I have been 3 times and each time I loved it more and more. Greece truly has everything you could want in a travel destination: beautiful beaches/islands, awesome mountainsides, great food, incredibly kind people, history that you can’t get enough of, busy cities, and old fashioned towns.

The first time I went, I brought a couple physical books with me and traded with my sister part way through the trip. The other two times, I brought my kindle with me.

My most adventurous trip: Africa! My husband and I signed up for a group tour. We traveled by bus to several countries and camped most nights. The safaris were amazing (my favorite was the Ngorongoro Crater) and we met some awesome people from around the world. After the group tour we spent about a week on our own and swam in the Devil’s Pool in Victoria Falls.

On this trip, I knew I'd have a ton of time traveling from place to place. I stocked up my Kindle before we left, about half way through the trip I had read everything. Luckily, we had a one night stop in a hotel with wi-fi and I was able to download several more books. There was one day that we were on the bus for 12 hours and I read two whole books.

It's kind of funny, because this is the first time I've tried to remember what books I've read in various destinations and I really can't place everything.


Thank you so much, Emily, for being my partner!  I hope you have lots more lovely trips to come! 

And you can find out more about me (nothing surprising) at my post over at Emily's place...