About positive thinking, what we eat, holiday atmosphere, ugly sweaters and what I learned from my childhood...

     To be fair when I thought to write this article I actually had a good idea about what to write, I was excited and could not wait to put my thoughts on the paper. Oh well, not on paper, more like on the screen... But life gets busy and now still wanting to write it, I can't remember those "genius" thoughts I had. But let me try :)
     You know a saying: "You are what you eat". I never actually took it literally. But recently I discovered that it is in fact very literally true. How we feel, what mood we are in, how much energy we have, our goals, etc. It all depends on what food we consume. There is no one particular diet that any person can follow and be healthy. Every person, every body is very very unique, and the food that is good for a particular body can be very bad for some other particular body. I've recently been a very sad (not to say depressed), not very initiative, lost, exhausted and in general more like a jello person. Nothing could make me happy, it seemed like there was no sense in life, and it felt like my life was a complete failure. Not feeling well didn't help a situation at all.
     Well now, around 2 months later I can happily say, I'm not that person anymore. No, my life didn't drastically change. But I can see the light at the end of the dark tunnel now :) What did change? What I eat. Surprisingly after removing a lot of food that I just loved, and honestly thought I couldn't leave without, I started to feel much better. I am not exhausted all the time and have much more energy. I have an idea of what to do next to change my life for the better. I didn't wait for the New Year to set up the resolution, I started the day the realization came to me. Started by canceling my expensive gym membership. Oh, wow! Right? But I simply felt why have it and not use it, or use it and it would not make me happy. Instead, I attend aerial classes, for now once a week. And it does make me happy. No commitment. I go because I want to. Early morning on Saturday. Yes, I wake up really early on Saturday so I can go to that class. And it makes me feel good about myself. There are of course more goals that I was able to set for myself, but for now, I'll leave them to myself. :)
     So the idea behind bad food and bad mood is if you eat the food that your body can't process, your body uses all the energy you have to process that food. And of course there is no energy left for any positive feelings or emotions, forget about goals altogether. Once there is no bad food that is sooooooo hard to process, you are automatically using your positive thinking. It's like the story with pink glasses but another way around. I had my black dark glasses on. And once I took them off, everything became so much better. Don't get me wrong, I still do get angry sometimes, and I still do have bad days sometimes, I still feel sleepy and tired sometimes. But it is sometimes versus constantly. It is "I can make my life even better" versus "My life sucks, total failure".
     Let's put positive thinking and feeling better "on hold", and revert my life a little back to childhood and youth years. When I was around 12 years old I went to the first Jewish camp. I wasn't a popular kid from the cool kids club, but I liked it, I learned a lot and I met a lot of good kids, whom I am still friends with now. There were many more camps after that one. I learned more and more every time. At some point, I started to work at those camps myself. And I can't help but realize that those camps were in a way a preparation for the scary adult life. Part of what I learned was creative thinking and how to make a whole big event out of nothing. Good old times. I haven't been able to use this skill that much ever since I moved to the United States. Didn't really feel like doing much at all recently.
     Now going back to positive thinking. I have to admit this year is the first year when I truly feel festive holiday atmosphere and I'm very excited about it. I know, it's very hard not to feel festive atmosphere when you live in New York, but you know... So that being said, with my positive thinking, feeling festive and excited, and event organization skills I decided to make a Holiday Ugly Sweater party at work. Yes, we had an annual holiday party. But I just felt like it wasn't special, wasn't festive enough. I would like to mention that the party was scheduled the day after release, which means I left the office around 10pm. Not a lot of time to prepare for the party, ha? But I was not about to give up. Holiday spirit kept me motivated.(side note: even though I got home around 11, I managed to color my hair into very holiday red color. Thank you so much to my loving boyfriend for cleaning me up afterwards. Thought it was important to mention. :) )
     The party did happen! (Obviously with the help of the coworkers) There was everything important for the successful party: decorations, donuts in the shapes of a gingerbread man, stars and Christmas tree, mulled wine and hot apple cider, star-shaped cookies, pies, other cookies, regular food, Christmas music, obviously ugly sweaters and a competition for the ugliest sweater, and most importantly people who shared laughter, happiness, and holiday spirit. I'm really happy everyone loved it and I was able to pull it off.
     How do I want to summarize this very rambling article? We are very truly what we eat and we make our life ourselves. There is no point to wait for the New Year to start with your resolution. How about start making yourself happier right here, right now? Step by step to the newer better life :)

      

International Day of the Girl

      Today is International Day of the Girl. And I have something to say about it.
      I will not fight my boyfriend to open the door myself (I actually love when he does it), I love when he gives me a hand to support me when I step off the bus, I don't get defensive when he pays in the restaurants when we go out, I realize that it is his way of showing he cares about me, I love the idea of being a little weaker when there is someone stronger near me. And yes, I can open the door myself, and I can pay my own bills, I can do everything myself, but I like the idea that I don't have to and once in a while I can let someone else help me or take care of me. It's actually kind of a game. But everything changes when we talk about career and work environment.
          I'd like to go back to 7 years ago when I first got to the United States and I got the first job in IT. Don't get me wrong I loved it, I had an amazing and supportive manager, who actually taught me a lot and I'm very grateful to him. He partially made me who I am today. But every single time I met a new person I had to prove that this 12 years old looking girl actually has a brain and knows what she is doing. Every client site had a person or actually the whole team who would look in a way: "Really? Her? No way!" It definitely felt weird, even offensive at times, and then I learned the cycle. They are suspicious and defensive, even aggressive at first. And then when I "magically" solved their problems, next thing I knew they would love me and would not want to let me go. I think it's called "earning a reputation". I mean, obviously, every person in the world have to prove they worth something before people around actually accept them, but it's much harder to do if you are a young looking female and, I dare to say, not ugly looking one. I went back to school and there, again and again, I had to prove the same. Next job. I thought: "Now I won't have to prove anything to anyone! I have experience now." WRONG!!! Every single day I have to prove that I know what I'm doing. I have coworkers who would rather ask another male coworker for help than ask me for advice. No, I'm not a bitch or a mean person, actually, my whole team knows that I always try to help and make everyone's life easier. In the beginning, I kept offering help. And then I realized it's not a problem with me. They have a real problem of being embarrassed to ask me for help like somehow it will make it beneath them. Well, what can I do in that case? I guess I already proved the point to them.
      It's very sad that in 21st century in the United States of America - greatest country in the world, when a lot of women became successful and proved that the world they worth it, there is still company where my friend complains to me every single day that her team lead is a real dick to her.  And guess what? No one can do anything about it. Human Resources? Oh please.
      I really hope it's not going to take another century for some people to realize that we don't have to have dicks to be smart and able to accomplish great things. It's not a competition!

Myth or reality?

       Today's article won't be like anything I posted before. It's not going to be about flying the plane or skydiving, or accomplishing something amazing, not going to be a travel journal either. I usually don't post this kind of very emotional stuff, it stays in my head or best case scenario in my drafts.

       While reading I would suggest listening to the following song:

       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1ed3bSjqSI

       Did you know that you can find the statistics online for everything, but not for the question: "How many hearts get broken per day?" The best answer I found was: "Yes It's True. Relationships start, they go through a magical phase, then they get finished (some last forever, lucky are those), People separate and hearts get broken. But after some time they get healed. It's a process." The list of related questions: 

- How do you stop loving a person who has hurt you and broken your heart so many times?

- Can a broken heart get back to heal again?

- Why does my heart hurt so bad when I get my heart broken?

- Does it normally take two years to get past a broken heart?

- What's it like to get your heart broken?

Etc.

 

       Funny thing, we think Google knows everything. But not when it gets to the heart-related stuff. No one knows the exact answer. It's a very personal topic and a very personal process for everyone. 

       

     

  I really want to answer to the person who is wondering "what's it like to get your heart broken?". "Dude, I wish you never have to figure that one out." A couple years ago dealing with my own broken heart I found the article about the research that doctors did on that topic. And a broken heart is not just a fancy phrase for acting like crazy, not being able to eat, crying all the time, stalking the person who did that to you, complaining to everyone about it, and wishing it would stop hurting already. And oh yes, it hurts like crazy. Physically. A lot. It's an actual syndrome. "People with broken heart syndrome may have sudden chest pain or think they're having a heart attack." says one of the articles online. Imagine having a non-stop having attack. Is it really something that you want to know what it is like?

       That's pretty much the only 100% exact answer to one of the question. The rest of the answers

get blurry. Let's go in the decreasing percentage order:

- Does it normally take two years to get past a broken heart?

Total BS. It takes as much as you need to heal. A couple years ago someone told me, that it takes

half of the amount that you were together. I naively was counting days and hours and minutes down

till that moment. No surprise that miracle didn't happen. Right? It can be 2 years, it can be 10 years.

You'll be 100% sure you are healed and happy, and then you ran into that person again. And your

"heart attack" feeling is back. I guess the truth is, you can get past it, but the small piece of your heart

is lost forever. Sometimes the piece is not that small either.

 

- Why does my heart hurt so bad when I get my heart broken?

Good question. I think the answer is because you are human, and humans have feelings and emotions. And I guess the part about the process is also true. First, it hurts really bad, then just bad, then maybe not so bad, and one day hopefully the pain goes away at least if nothing triggers it again. Also, everyone is different. Some people are less emotional, they get upset for a couple days, maybe have a couple drinks, maybe have sex with the stranger, and the next morning they are ready for a new adventure (relationship). Some are not that well skilled in this particular area. And they keep banging they are head against the wall in very bad attempt to let it go, but still holding on to what made them happy once. I'm personally, very unfortunately, one of those people too.  But now, having to go through that more than once, I know, that one day I'll wake up, knowing it's not so bad anymore, and I just have to be patient and wait for this moment to come. 

 

- Can a broken heart get back to heal again?

They say that time heals. The truth is it doesn't, but It does make it less painful. But that's enough to be able to become happy by finding the peace with yourself or maybe let someone else into your life. And possibly that someone will break your heart again. It's kind of a circle, I guess. Till someone magical appears and decides for both of you that he/she wants to spend the rest of your lives together, so no one else can hurt you anymore. But we are all adults and well aware even that can turn out bad eventually.

- How do you stop loving a person who has hurt you and broken your heart so many times?

No idea! I wish to know the answer to this question myself, so I don't end up scaring everyone around, by losing so much weight all over again. Joking...(or maybe not) It is so much easier if there is kind of recipe: 

- 1 glass of vodka (or 20, let's be honest, and yes glass, not a shot),

- 10 cigarets (or 10 packs of cigarets)

- 30 dates (or just unmeaningful hookups)

- unlimited shopping

or the healthier option:

- gym every day

- spend a lot of time with people you love and who love you back unconditionally

- find a new hobby

- still unlimited shopping

Actually, it all might work. With one condition. If you have enough power to tell that asshole to f..ck off and not regret it a minute later. But then you would still have to go through all the stages of healing from a broken heart. The right answer to that question would be: Remember to love yourself more than you do that jerk, whoever he is. You don't want to see people you love getting hurt, right? Why do you let to hurt yourself? How do you think it is for other people around you, like you mom, you sister/brother, your close friends, etc. to see how you let someone to hurt yourself over and over and over and over again? Are you a masochist? No? Then it is time to let it go...

Travel Journal - The End

    There won't be Day 9 or Day 10 post. I've been thinking what to write this one last post of my Travel Jornal about. I decided not get into details of another free tour thing, or about Irish pub experience, or about how our flight got detailed, and how eventually my umbrella stayed at Micheline star restaurant, how very colorful little houses in Dublin, and how there is a little bit of green everywhere and in/on everyone. Since this whole travel journal was about fighting my fear of traveling alone, you would probably expect me to say that in the last post I fought my fear and I now absolutely enjoy traveling alone. No, spoiler alert! I definitely won't be saying that.
    Traveling is very important part of our lives. This is a fact, and I will not argue about it. It is new experiences, it is resetting our heads from everyday routine, it is wanting to explore and learn more, it is something that is going to give you the inspiration to make a life change or try something new when you come back, it is wanting to come back home, it is missing the people that you left home and them missing you even more. Again I won't be saying that traveling alone is great because I also think that a very important part of the journey is sharing it with someone, and better if it's someone special, someone, who enjoys that journey with you or will be there for you if not everything goes as it's planned. I saw so many couples during this trip and them holding their hands or holding each other is also part of the whole experience.
   I'm very happy I had enough self-discipline to write this journal every single day no matter what. No matter what time of the night it was or how tired I was, no matter if it was a horrible day or maybe not very exciting day, no matter if there was a lot to write about or not very much at all, no matter if I was not in the mood or words didn't come to me that easily, I wrote EVERY SINGLE Day. I'm happy to know that someone was actually reading, and that kept me going too. This week, or more like 10 days, was discovery not just of 2 new countries, it was the discovery of myself in a sense and me as a writer as well. I learned that I can actually travel with a limited amount of clothes, I can travel without the internet or phone connection, I can not eat for more than 24 hours, I can go to the Broadway show not wearing a dress, I can talk to the people on the street, I can seem cool to people who meet me for the first time, I can be completely unlucky and can be very surprisingly lucky.
   Thank you to those people who have been reading every post and cheered me to write more, thank you for the support on my bad days and being happy for me on my good days. I will try to keep writing, not sure about what yet. But whether it's going to be my next trip or something else, you'll be the first to read it.
                                                                                                                                            Love you,
                                                                                                                                            Anya <3
   

Travel Journal - Day 8

   Day 8 and my journey is getting closer to the end. A few more days and we are coming back home. It would be a lie if I said that I didn't miss New York. I already did. People, who know me pretty well, know that I can't really leave New York for a long period of time. Around day 4-5 I start missing New York and people that I left there. But I have 2 more days in Dublin and I have to fill it up with activity.
   I had a few ideas where to go and what to visit on Day 8. Then my eye caught the email from Ryanair and notification that my complaining email to them about reimbursement was not delivered. I pressed life chat and decided to postpone my discoveries until I figure this situation out. Usually, life chats are very helpful and very nice, you get the information you need to proceed, or by the end of the chat everything is already cleared out and somehow you already got your money back. Usually, but not this one. I was very descriptive about the problem I had. After asking me for the flight number the person's next question was so what's the problem. Seriously??? I was getting angry but copied the part from the beginning and pasted again. Believe me, it wasn't a language barrier. At least not on my end. He finally sent me the link to the application that I needed to fill out and mentioned that he can't 100% guarantee a refund. Ugh. You know the surveys they ask you to fill out after the end of the chat. He was so horrible, I didn't bother wasting my time on it. Anyway, after everything was filled out I left to explore Dublin.
    Before my trip to Dublin, I heard a popular belief that Dublin is one of the IT Capitals in the world. So my plan for today included visiting Google and Facebook, and the rest I would decide after. Apparently, Google building is considered the tallest building in Dublin. Well, you know how in NYC you can clearly see that it's Google building. The huge sign in the front won't let you miss it. You won't see anything like that here in Dublin. Very small, slightly visible sign says "Google docks". And that's it. The building is not very tall either, not the tallest in the way we New Yorkers understand it. Looks like Google here is very modest. Unfortunately, I was not able to get inside. Before going there I made a research online. Unless you have a business reason or a friend working there, you are not welcome. Spending a few more minutes there, staring at employees walking in and out of the building,  I decided to move on to my next destination. On my way, I kept meeting different Google employees. Do you know how I knew they were Google employees? They were all wearing colorful t-shirts that said "Google" on it. They wore it on top of their regular clothes, or some people carried their t-shirts in their hands. Exactly, for this reason, I now have unconfirmed t-shirt theory. I think, depending on what team you work for you get their color of the shirt. And you also obligated to wear it to work every day at the office. Again my google search of that theory didn't get any results. But I'm practically 99% sure it is true, at least here in Dublin. I kept walking and kept meeting more of Google employees on my way. Again people, who know me well, can say that I'm more anti-social rather than social. I'm not the one who would stop a person on the street and start talking to them. But it's Google and I decided to give it a try. I stopped a group of women in red t-shirts. I asked them if it was possible to receive the tour in Google. They seem a little annoyed but they said: "Sure!" I had a moment of hope. They continued: "If you have a business reason or you have a friend there, then you need to email your friend. We will invite you and give a presentation." It was clear they didn't plan on becoming my friends. It was a little upsetting that miracle didn't happen, and I a little overestimated how nice people can be. I kept walking towards Facebook, it was my next stop. When my google map showed me that I'm right there I got confused and made a circle looking for any sign or any kind of confirmation that it is Facebook. Except for the little "thumb up" sign in the window somewhere around 5th floor, there was nothing else. Facebook turned up to be even more modest than Google. I have another theory. It could be that the reason, they don't really show their buildings off, is that they don't want curious tourists like myself crowding around the building. Whoever needs to know where to go, they already do, others better don't.
    What I really like about Dublin is that there is water everywhere around the city and lots and lots of bridges. You can always stop and relax looking at the water and the view. And that's what I did to rest a little from all the walking. I had a few choices for my next destination. I could have gone to Museum or College or Library. But I chose Dublin Castle. It wasn't that far away and I've never been to the real Castle. And this one is still used for the official visits. I took the self-guided tour (student id saved me 1 euro again). It was very beautiful inside. Interesting and kind of disgusting fact I learned: In old times hygiene was not the thing. The showered like once a month and used rose water to hide the bad smell. Wigs and laces in them were not for beauty, they were mostly for the reason of lice and hiding lice bites. Most of the time when I was reading about it I was thinking that's not how imagined those beautiful times at all, and it all was kind of disgusting at the end. Most of the people died exactly from anti-hygiene and things they used for makeup and to cover smells and bites.
   That was the program for the Day 8. One more day closer to going home. New York, I miss you, darling. Can't wait to see you soon. :*
   

Travel Journal - Day 7

    On my first day in Dublin Bogdan told me that there are 12 Michelin Star restaurants in the city. For those, who is maybe not aware what Michelin Star is: "It is a mark of distinction awarded by the Michelin travel guides to a restaurant in recognition of the high quality of its cooking. A restaurant may receive one, two, or three stars, representing very good, exceptional, or exquisite cuisine, respectively." It would be very foolish to miss such a good opportunity and not to try one of those. The same day I made a reservation for a dinner in one out of those 12. The name of it is l'Ecrivain. It has one Michelin star. The dinner was scheduled for Day 7 of my trip, Thursday. Suddenly I realized that when I was packing my suitcase, I didn't think I would go to any fancy restaurant or a Broadway Show. (Actually London Broadway show might have been the only one I didn't wear a dress to. No, don't get me wrong, I didn't wear jeans either. But still.) I didn’t have anything in my suitcase for the occasion of going to Michelin star restaurant. For a girl who grew up in the family where was never enough money sometimes for toys, sometimes for clothes, sometimes even for food, Michelin star restaurant is maybe a life time experience. I could not afford not to look my best for the occasion. I needed a dress!

     Remember on the first day of my journey I promised that I would not spend any day just watching TV in my room, that I will keep discovering new things about new cities, shopping would count too? So first part of the Day 7 was decided to spend shopping for the perfect dress. Remember also in the beginning I mentioned that U 2 is like a national treasure for the Ireland. So this weekend is their concert and all rooms in the hotel we were staying at were booked for the weekend. We needed to check out from there and move to the different one. So my morning started from finishing packing and dragging the suitcase downstairs. Btw check out from the "old" one was at 12, and check in at the "new" one was no until 3 pm. So I left my suitcase at the "old" hotel, I would need to come back for it in 3 hours, which means I had 3 hours to find a perfect dress. I headed towards the center where all the stores are. 

     Every girl can agree with me that shopping can be very long and very stressful and with no results at the end. So I needed energy. I stopped by at the coffee shop "The Art of Coffee" that we were bypassing the other day. It looked very cozy and had a great view on the water dock. I got myself cappuccino and a croissant, and took a place right by the window on the very comfy couch with a lot of colorful pillows. They serve croissant here with additional butter and very-very tasty jam. My brunch became a ritual of enjoying both the view and croissant with cappuccino. I think the cafe took the second place at the World Latte Art Championship. After I finished my ritual I was ready for shopping. 

     Basically the first store I saw was Mango and I knew it was the right choice. When the amount of hangers in my hand became more than I could possibly carry I went to try the dresses on. All of them were too big on me, even though they all were XS. Apparently European XS is ours (I mean US one) 2. And when I already started to think that the hope was lost, I noticed a little black dress. Yep, always the right choice. It looked perfectly. And now I only needed a purse to go with it. Yes, I brought the purse with me, I'm a girl, I don't go anywhere without the purse, even if I already have a backpack. But the purse couldn't handle the amount of pressure of this trip and broke on my second day in Dublin. If not a Michelin restaurant I probably would keep struggling by carrying backpack around till coming back home. But I simply could not take backpack to Michelin restaurant. So I looked for the purse. I looked for something to go with my beautiful fucsia color flats. But the closest color they had was red. And I was not in the red mood. Yes I could have bought a simply black clutch. But that would be too boring. "I'm in Ireland" I thought. Guess what color of purse I bought. Emerald one. It was simply and very stylish in the same time. 

     Now it was time to collect both my and Bogdan's bag from the "old" hotel and move to the "new" one. And it started raining. In Ireland the weather is very unpredictable: it can be sunny and raining at the same time. It was not easy, but I moved all our stuff and checked us in without even his ID, which, I personally think, is weird, but I don't complain. 

     It was time to get ready. I'll skip all the details. Around 2 hours later I was ready.

     We met at the restaurant. I have to mention, I was 2 minutes away from the restaurant, when it started raining again. I don't complain. I actually prefer that to humid and hot disaster that is in NYC right now. Everything was very fancy about that restaurant. My umbrella was taken from me.( I actually forgot it there too) While I was waiting I was offered peanuts and olives. Waiters spoke very quietly. We were seated right away. The menu had 2 options: tasting and 3 course ones. The difference was obviously the price. But not a big difference. 15 Euro. Also the menu had a note to limit the amount of the phone usage. After a quick look at Tasting menu I decided that it didn't look good enough for me so we went with the 3 course meal. Under each meal in the menu there was a suggestion of the vine that should go well with that meal. We ordered and the food started to come. And very soon it became clear to me why the price was what it was. In addition to the food that you actually ordered you get different extras with each out of 3 courses. It was a real one time experience. And definitely we enjoyed the food. It worth every euro we spent on it.

    One more great new experience I can add to my thrift-box of amazing experiences in my life...

Travel Journal - Day 6

    The day I had to leave London. All night it was raining. I'd like to think it was because London was sad to let me go. Finally, real London weather, not hot and humid disaster of the last couple days.
    I had to check-out from my Airbnb by 10 am. I still didn't know if it was possible for me to go to the London Bridge. I didn't wake up early, I would not be able to go there and come back. I thought I would get ready first, pack all my stuff and then I would decide what to do. I absolutely didn't want to miss my plane because I was lost somewhere on my way to the London Bridge. So after I got ready I thought: "It's London, who knows when I'll get a chance to get here again. London Bridge is kind of #mustdo." I googled how to get from the London Bridge to the London City Airport. Made screenshots of it. After that, I googled how to get from where I was to the London Bridge and started walking. Thanks G, you don't need the internet for GPS to work. On my way to London, I actually thought that I would not have any problems with knowing where to go there, I would kind of just feel home. And that's exactly how I felt. I was walking bypassing kindergarten and very cute market and it all felt like home. I got to the London Bridge with no problem. I have to say London Bridge was much more prosaic than I thought it would be, but it has 3 times more space for people to walk than the Brooklyn Bridge, for example. And the view to the Tower of London from there is breathtaking. Everything I thought it would be. Now I had to get to the airport. I saw a very much English man, putting his bag down and just staring towards the Tower of London. Maybe he was on his way to work or maybe he was taking a break from work, maybe he was sad or maybe he was just deeply in his thoughts. It looked exactly like the episode they would show in movies. By the way, when I'm New York I often feel like I am in the movie. In London, I felt more like I'm in the fairy tale. I watched the English men enjoying the view for a couple more minutes before I headed towards him to ask for direction to the subway station. He explained to me how to get to the subway and we wished each other a good day. I got to the airport using the subway in less than half an hour. I knew it was a good day, everything was going smoothly, except I forgot to download the boarding pass and could not connect to wifi. But I had no problem finding the desk and person to print it for me. Security check went smoothly too since I was prepared after last time and had all the liquids in zip locks already. I had plenty of time. I found the nice cafe, bought myself breakfast and coffee, and finally figured out the how to find the valid UK zip code so I can connect to the internet, I used the Airbnb one. I was working on the yesterday post and didn't even notice how 2,5 hours flew by. The gate number showed up right half an hour before the flight. Boarding went smoothly and we took off right when we supposed to. Snacks and drinks were served for free on the plane. If I could compare 2 days like pictures "find 10 differences", it would be very easy to find them. Bravo, British Airlines! You are the best. If you ever have a choice between slightly cheaper Ryanair and a little more expensive British Airline, believe me, choose British one, you will save yourself your nerves and money actually too.
     The rest of the day was decided to use for rest: finishing the post, talking to family, boyfriend, and friends, sleeping. I woke up hungry, went to have the dinner in the hotel bar, which serves actually a really good food. Bogdan was at drinks with coworkers. I came back to finish the post, I was editing it when I noticed something moved. Mouse? No, can't be. In half an hour, she decided to dance around a little bit more. I was freaking out. Texted Bogdan, he said to call reception. I was actually questioning my sanity when this shameless mouse decided to move under my bed. That was it, I called reception, no one picked up. I went downstairs. The receptionist seemed even more scared than I was. She called for 2 guys and we came back upstairs, they checked everything, the mouse was hiding now. She offered to move to a different room. We also got that day for free and a lot of apologizing on top of it.
     So note to myself, never think: "hmm, that was actually a good day and nothing bad happened." 100% guarantee, something bad is going to happen a second later.
     Summarizing my London trip, I would never think I can travel anywhere with one backpack and wear same jeans for 3 days. I left London wanting to come back again soon. So I won't say I can cross this city off the list now because there is so much more I want to see and explore there. It is still my #1. And I hope I will get a chance to come back soon.

Travel Journal - Day 5

    Fitbit is showing 31346 steps, and 11 active hours (always was aiming for 11 hours, but never got more than 8). Feet are burning. It's day 5 and a golden mean of my trip. And I can't collect my thoughts together to write this post. The reason why is the fact that I'm trying to think about everything that happened today and also at the same time how to get a chance to see more before I leave tomorrow.  The number of pictures I took today is enormous, not as high as the amount of step though.
    Where do I start though? Oh well, my airbnb apartment is conveniently located almost in the center of the London, which makes it really easy for me to get to Piccadilly Circle around where I'm actually spending most of my trip. Not sure if I mentioned it yesterday, but if you don't know the trick, subway here is really expensive, like 3 times more expensive than in New York. The trick is some oyster card, that you can buy for 5 pounds and put money on it, and in that case, it will cost you pound something, but if you don't know the trick it will cost you 4,9 best case scenario, depending on the zone. I had no idea about it, and even less idea I had about all the zones. But walking makes you really healthy and saves you money, but also makes you very tired at the end of the day. Make a note about the oyster card. For me, it was not that relevant since I've been told about it today and I'm leaving tomorrow, but this card can save you a lot of money. Also even though yesterday seemed like it happened a long time ago with all the experiences I had today and places that I visited today, I noticed one thing here. You have to pay for everything here. Even for the program at the Broadway show. Really? Maybe I'm too spoiled by New York.

    Anyway, I had 2 tours planned and a meeting with the co-worker from a UK office. I planned everything out. I withdrew the money yesterday for the tip for the free tour, I bought croissant yesterday to have it in the morning for breakfast. The only thing I was missing was coffee. Apparently, it is unusually hot in London this summer. I even thought that I brought the hot weather with me from New York. So it was logical enough that I wanted a cold drink. Imagine my face when the person at Pret A Manger told me: "We don't serve cold drinks" I mean I understand that most of the time it's really cold in London and even subway doesn't have AC, but for iced coffee you literally just need to add ice, it's easier than to build AC in. Forgot to mention missing AC in the subway part in the yesterday post. Anyway, I was not about to have a hot coffee on top of being already hot. I then joined the free tour that was also known as Roal. I can't say I was a big fan of the tour guide, I thought he was kind of rude at times and his jokes were corny, but he did show us all the main historical places and told us some interesting stories. We saw the house where Charles lives. Learned that by the type of the flag which is on, we can recognize if he is home or not. The regular UK flag was on, which meant that Charles was away. When we moved to Buckingham palace we saw a different flag, which meant the Queen was at home. Did you know that there are 775 rooms in the palace? Who on the earth needs that many? We learned the story about how it was built and how was bought from Duke. Also the story about how some crazy homeless guy decided that it was not fair that regular people could not go inside and see around and how he climbed the wall and basically had a conversation with the Queen, and became very famous shortly after that. We saw Big Ben and Trafalgar Square with Nelson on it. The actual name of the tower that we call Big Ben is Queen Elizabeth Tower and Big Ben is the bell inside, but for the convenience and coolness, we just call it Big Ben. Traffic lights at Trafalgar Square are looking pretty unusual after the Gay Pride Festival. "Officials said the seven different same-sex symbols were designed to show Transport for London’s “support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans diversity” in the capital." We saw London Eye and St. James Park with all unusual animals and heard an interesting story about it. Obviously saw Westminster Abbey and the private club that Churchill was a member of. Also saw Churchill's bunker, which was never supposed to be a bunker. We ended up at the place where used to be Scotland Yard (that's right, Sherlock's reference), that's where we had our lunch break and I was trying to figure out what the hell happened with my phone and why I'm not able to use the internet or even call anymore. Yep, not a day without some kind of "event" in my life. So you understand, not having the internet here for me meant that I should have headed home before I got lost. And I have a huge experience in getting lost everywhere. No matter how hard I tried I was not able to fix the phone, renewing the balance and switching sims and other tricks didn't help. But I decided I won't let it ruin my day. I texted my coworker to agree on the location where we were going to meet in advance while I'm still on wifi. Google it, took a screenshot. Googled how to get back to the circle where my next tour was supposed to start and headed out there desperately hoping I'll catch wifi somewhere on my way or my phone will magically fix itself. Magic didn't happen. But I was able to get to the next tour. I would hate myself if I missed it. It was a Harry Potter tour.
     I remember how I got my first Harry Potter book. I didn't know what was all the big fuss about this book, I was just very excited to get it. I didn't read much then and it was a huge deal for my mom if some book got me interested. I actually think that "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone" was the first book ever I read like in 2 days. I was reading nonstop. Everywhere I go, every free minute I had, no matter what other stuff I had to do and instead of sleep too. The story of a little boy, who was moved from the very dark world to very magical one. By the time I got my first book, JK Rowling released the 4th one already. I read 4 of them in like a week. So I'm sure you can understand why I couldn't miss the Harry Potter tour. Getting older I started to realize that all the magic aside those books are actually about our life, our history. That Lord Voldemort is clearly Adolf Hitler and the time of terror was the time of the WW 2. All the true blood theory was exactly the same that Hitler had. People in charge who were oblivious to the tyranny coming to the power, were same people who oblivious when Hitler became a leader. Those books were not just kids books. They were so much more. They had real life problems, division into classes of people who are rich and who are poor, people who are more talented and who are just average. I never shared that understanding of those books with anyone. Imagine my surprise when our guide started our tour from exactly the same idea. I enjoyed this tour so much more than the morning one. How important it is when the person truly believes and enjoys what he is doing. He told us different interesting facts like for example: when one of the movies were about to come out, Daniel Radcliff was the main star of the Broadway show and he couldn't attend the premiere which actually was meant to happen at the Trafalgar Square with a red carpet and all the fans invited to it. In order not to let down his fans, he bought all the tickets for that Broadway show for 2 weeks in advance just so he could attend the premiere. Guide showed us streets that Rowling had in mind when she was writing about Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley. The very exciting fact was the Ministry of Magic, Rowling wrote about, is actually Ministry of Defense in the Center of London. It was a very interesting tour and I made a note to myself that now when I've seen Harry Potter part of London, I have to reread all the books and rewatch all the movies to compare them to real life places.

     My feet hurt, but it's London and I had limited amount of time, so I went to meet my coworker. Without the internet and phone, it's so not easy to meet someone near the very popular place. But Thank G, there are Starbuckses with free wifi in it. Interesting fact: right next to St. Paul's Cathedral people are casually drinking and smoking and enjoying themselves and each other. Anyway, we met and even though I was tired and Marina was after long work day I asked her if she likes Harry Potter and if she minded to taking me to Kings Cross. I would never forgive myself being in London and not taking pictures of Platform 9 3/4. Marina was not into whole Harry Potter thing, but she was happy to take me there. There was a loooong line. But hey! I got pictures and letter of acceptance to Hogwarts. Now I'm officially a witch. Hahahaha... And then we walked home, that's where over 31K steps came from. The picture with the Red Phone Booth - checked. We also saw The London Bridge from far a way. Marina mentioned it would be on my way to the airport anyway so if I want I can stop by before leaving tomorrow.
    It was a very good day full of new experiences, meeting new people, visiting new places. I'm going to bed happy :)

Travel Journal - Day 4

     I have so much to say, but I'm so exhausted. It's been a loooooong day... But going to power through, since it's important to keep journal up to date and emotions fresh, and believe me I had a lot of emotions today.
     I kind of had some ideas how I'm going to start this post even yesterday. I didn't sleep that well cause I could not stop thinking about this trip and how both excited and scared I am. Well, below I'm going to tell all the versions of how I wanted to start this post.
     It was supposed to be the happiest and the most exciting day of my life. Ever since my English teacher gave us a topic to learn by heart that "...London is the capital of Great Britain..."
I knew that I really want to visit it one day. People usually say: "See Paris and die". Like Paris is so amazing and beautiful that it worth dying for. Paris obviously is on my list, but more like #2. London was always #1.
     If London was a guy, I would say that he and I are in long term relationship. But not a mutual one, unfortunately. Every single time I try to get to him something happens. First, my passport was in too many embassies and it was not ready in time, then the price of tickets was like phone numbers, later I was not able to go because could not leave work, and then my passport was not ready in time again. It is like an ongoing joke, every time I try there is 99% chance it won't work.
    So when Bogdan thew the idea about flying to London from Dublin, I was like "Yes" and then "Maybe". I didn't buy tickets in advance, I didn't book airbnb in advance, I couldn't believe it's actually going to happen, so didn't want to plan and get upset, for which obviously I had to pay a much more expensive price for everything. Before my trip to Ireland I got sick, my mom goes: "You are getting closer to London, here is the result. Maybe it's a sign and you shouldn't go." We both laughed but still when I got to Dublin the first thing we did we booked tickets and airbnb. The same day I booked 3 tours and a Broadway show, I was all ready for the trip. One of the tours was supposed to start in like 3 hours after I land in London.
     Remember I said there were multiple ways I wanted to start today's post. You've already read the positive one about how it was supposed to be the most exciting day ever and how I dreamed about it ever since I was a little girl. Here is another beginning.
     Today is the reason why I'm so scared and why I hate traveling alone. Have you seen the movie with Lindsey Lokhan where she kisses the guy and becomes really and really unlucky, in everything!!! I don't know who I kissed, can't remember anything like that (also very hard for me to skip f words in half of the sentences), but today was what's called "one of these days". Starting with a stupid mobile app. I got up early since I couldn't sleep anyway, got ready. As I mentioned before Uber is not very popular here, so the night before I downloaded the app that called "cab:app". It had a pre-booking option, I scheduled it for 8.15 so that even with traffic I can get to the airport in time for my 11.05 flight. Beep, beep, beep. Those a placeholder for all the cursing that happens in my head when I think about those15 min that spent outside in the wind waiting, just to receive the message "Driver did not confirm your trip" right at 8.15 am. So I did call uber, didn't have much choice. But they didn't have a regular option, just a black car. Just going to omit the price, trying to forget it. But it was almost twice more than I would pay for the regular car. Getting in the car I was trying to calm myself down, that it doesn't mean that it's going to be a bad day. Everything is going to work out from now on. I'm going to London what else can go wrong? hmmm, everything? First Traffic, really bad traffic. Then really unorganized Dublin airport, or at least that part of it, where there is no way you can print your boarding pass, you have to really search for a NICE person to help you. Nice is capitalized for the reason, not many of them are actually nice. Then at the security check, the guy made me take all my cosmetic and hygienic stuff out, cause it's liquid, a phrase "but it's a really tiny amount of liquid" did not convince him. He sent it through the scan again. I was still trying to repeat like a mantra "it's going to be okay, I'm going to have my first brunch in London". Wasn't very smart of me not to eat before the flight, but I was nervous, and in moments like that I become nauseous and can't really make myself eat anything. I got to the gate I was kind of early, so I thought it's a perfect opportunity to catch up with a sleep. My sleep turned into the bad dream with flight changing from being on time to "delayed for an hour". Then they changed the gate. Did I forget to mention, that in this airport gates are like really-really far from each other? Anyway, after everyone moved to the new gate and they lined us up in priority and not a priority, they told us we are delayed even more. So we spent some more time just standing in line. You would think after getting on the plane everything would finally go smoothly. Yeah, right. We spent an hour more just sitting on the plane. Because we were delayed for so long, we missed our queue to leave and now had to wait for the next one. We took off at the time we were supposed to land in London. Flight attendant smiling told us: "Don't worry it's a short flight, we will be in London very soon. " She probably regretted saying it 2 hours later when we were circling around London Gatwick airport not being able to land, cause guess what? We missed the queue here too. Around like 10 times they told us we were landing, but we were still above the clouds and only getting higher, making like 20th circle around London. What else do you think can go wrong? After not being able to land in this airport, they simply decided to send us to the different one. Remember the tour I mentioned I was supposed to have some time in advance before it, well it was supposed to start at 3.30. At 3 we landed, and for 20 more minutes, they didn't let us out of the plane.  Carma? London and I are not meant to be? Remembered mom big time at that momement. I wasn't even unluckiest one on that plane. Yes, I kind of wasted the whole day, because of the stupid plane, and missed the tour. But at least I wasn't missing my connecting flight. Something that happened to me in Costa Rico was happening to the lovely woman, but in my case, it was the end of the vacation, for her, it was the beginning. She was not only missing the connecting plane but also missing the cruise from Palma De Majorca. Not a cheap cruise. And at least half of the people were also missing their planes, which were now in the different airport since we were not supposed to land where we landed. When the flight attendant said: "Thank you for your patience and we hope to see you soon on one of our flights", the crowd became very loud and very angry. Not surprising!
      I had no idea how to get from that airport to my airbnb home, but shuttle bus till subway sounded good. It did, till they asked for 2 pounds for it. WTF  Thought it should be free. Obviously I didn't have pounds yet, I asked about euro, she said she has no change. Can you imagine how pissed I was already at that time? Did I mention that it was already 3.30 and last time I ate was 5.30 yesterday? I took a cab, and if you ask me about the price I'll pretend I don't remember. I was so emotionally exhausted and I couldn't risk getting lost in the subway and missing Broadway show in addition to everything. 1.5 hours later we got to the correct address. And surprisingly I was able to open all the locks easily. The caring host left banana, orange, and 2 apples. Thanks, G, she did. Banana and orange were the only things I had for the whole day till like 10.30 when I came back from the show.
     No more horrible things happened, I easily found the subway and easily got to the ticket box and picked up the ticket. Subways here are mad expensive I have to say, and even though they ran very often they are also not very clean as in New York. I won't go into much details about London itself today since I didn't get to chance to see much of it today. And also I'm very tired. Just kind of pushed myself to write this post. Self-discipline. The only thing I will say: I did see Book of Mormon today. I'm glad I didn't pay a New York price for it, cause it was by far not my favorite one, it would be sad to waste too much money on it. But actors were great and now I can cross it off the list.
    Summarizing, it might be my last solo trip. I don't know if I'm ready to go through this hell by myself every time. I hope tomorrow will be a better day. And I hope London will meet my high expectation and our relationship will become mutual...

Travel Journal - Day 3

Day 3 - still keeping up with writing posts about every day in this trip, which is a really good thing, maybe I'll be able to write more even when I come back from the trip.
After 12 hours of beauty sleep, I figured I can sleep forever and maybe a cup of coffee will help me to continue my adventures.
We were not exactly sure if brunch is a thing here. Why? Well to put it nicely we got really used to living in New York, which is also known as a capital of the world, which is 100 steps ahead of the rest of the world in everything. In yesterday posts I forgot to mention a couple more discoveries in comparison to the New York obviously. The wheel in the car is on the right side and cars are obviously driving on the right side of the road. The plan for the phone is much much and much cheaper than in New York. Bad news is there is no 4G internet here, in general internet here is very and very slow. Almost everything is closed on the weekend or opened till like 6 (what a joke), well actually, during the week closing time is not much different. So going back to brunch, the reason why we were not sure if brunch is the thing here, was that Dublin obviously a few steps behind of New York. But luckily for us brunch does exist here. We ate in the very nice and cozy place called HerbStreet. It had a view on the river and tables outside with a cute blanket along with every chair, which could be used if it's too windy outside. The person who came up with that idea is genius in my personal opinion. The food was delicious. Such a great beginning of the day.
Today we decided to go with 2 things that Dublin and Ireland in general is famous for. Yep, beer and whiskey, Old Jameson Distillery and Guinness Storehouse. People, who know me well, are probably laughing reading that sentence, since I'm not a drinker at all, especially whiskey and beer. Well, skipping ahead, I can honestly say I really enjoyed both tours. (not because of drinking obviously)
As part of the experience and also kind as nostalgic thing, we decided to take a tram to Jameson Distillery. I have to say that rates for the tram here are almost the same as for the transport in New York. Another discovery - signs for everything: cafe, stores, museums, not just street names. So it's kind of impossible to miss distillery, since like 20 signs are leading you towards it.
Not a discovery, but a note to every traveler, if you still have a student id, take it everywhere you go, discount with student id are very popular. I think I saved like 10 euros on tickets by just having my student id which me, also they only checked it in one place out of 3 places we went to today, but to be safe just take it with you.
There are different options for tours, we went with the one that allows us to both get some history and some tasting. The guide was amazing, very knowledgable and funny. He told us about John Jameson and about his moto:"Sine metu" Which translates from latin as "without fear". How because of the revolution and the location of the distillery, it was used as one of the base buildings and workers were not able to work for 2 weeks. But John Jameson paid his employees for every day during those 2 weeks. He told us about how it was not always easy to keep the business profitable, how at some point Jameson had to merge with other whiskey company. Everything that the guide was saying was also accompanied with really cool video. Interesting fact is that employees actually got 2 free drinks at the beginning and the end of every work day. He told us many other interesting facts, but before we moved to the different room he said that now employees interpret the moto a little bit differently: "Fear a little bit less, live a little bit more" Which I though I could actually use as my moto.
Next room told us everything about ingredients and the process of making Jameson, and what makes it so different from the rest of the whiskey in the world. The secret is it goes through distillery 3 times, unlike other whiskeys that go through distillery only twice. It makes Jameson much more smoother than the rest.
Well and the last room was of course tasting. We got to compare Jameson to scotch and to American whiskey (Jack Daniels). Even for me, not a drinker at all, Jameson tasted much smoother than 2 others. And yes, I tried all 3 of them but just a sip and with a glass of water after each. The funny joke the guide made:"This is probably the first times you guys tried Jack Daniels without coke." (most of the crowd were Americans)
The price of the ticket also included one free drink. Bogdan got Jameson with Ginger ale and lemon, I got... Correct! Just Ginger ale :)
Very excited we moved to another alcohol tour location - Guinness Storehouse. Here they actually asked me to show my student ID before giving me tickets.
The fact that they had audio tour we discovered only when we were leaving, but it was still a very interesting experience with talking pictures (analogy with Harry Potter for me for some reason), they were telling the story of the Arthur Guinness and his family and business of course. One of the floors had details of the process of beer making. Turns out that Guinness is made under specific temperature of 232 degrees. Degree more or degree less, it's not the same flavor. And obviously there is a couple floors where you get to exchange your tickets to the couple of glasses of beer of different colors and flavors and eat a pretzel along with it. Yes, hahaha, I just ate a pretzel. There is also the gallery floor and funny floor with moving characters of each Guinness commercial. And the last and the most beautiful one is the floor with obviously a bar and 360 degree view on the Dublin.
While eating pretzel we decided that the next destination is going to be less exciting than previous 2 drinking ones, but more cultural one - St. Patrick's Cathedral. I know, very unexpected.
I have to say I was not surprised that entrance there also costs money. I don't know if that's appropriate but a fact. I don't have much to say about it. The history of it and how it was changing from Catholic Cathedral to Protestant and now it's both, you can read online. But it is very beautiful with all the mosaic. And we did light candles, because it turns out we both believe that it doesn't matter if it's the right church or not, if it's a synagogue or not, the only thing matters if you believe in God or not.
After religious experience we went to have food experience at really amazing and very cheap tapas place called "Las Tapas de Lola". It was very good and very cheap.
And that's all for today. I'm packing my backpack cause tomorrow morning I have a flight to London. I can't believe it's actually happening!!! Talk to you tomorrow, all day is planned and I'll have a lot to tell about.

Travel Journal - Day 2

So day 2 started on the same flight where day one ended, in the same seat in very uncomfortable position and with a strong desire for that flight to be over. Don't judge me, I don't like long flights with the limited amount of space.
I have to admit that my Discovery #1 happened before I even got to leave the airport, and maybe i'm even a little embarrassed to admit the fact, that I'm uneducated enough not to know that Ireland actually has 2 national languages: Irish and English. Well obviously everyone speaks mostly English, but all the signs are in Irish.
Discovery #2 happened right after I got into the cab (taxi as it's called here). Uber here is not a thing. A very nice lady driver explained to me, that as much as Uber tried they were not able to fight against regular taxis, in fact, unlike NYC, in Dublin to become an Uber driver you actually have to have a taxi license which is really not easy to get.
Discovery #3 -  financial district here is also constantly under construction and there is also a nice river right next to it.
It would be not completely true to say I'll be on this trip by myself all the time, and it would be completely unfair because, to be honest, this trip would not happen if it was not for my best friend Bogdan. It just so happens he had to go for a business trip to Dublin for this week. And it was very nice of him to invite me to come along. Obviously most of the time he'll be at work and I'll be by myself, but on the weekend I get to enjoy his company and discover Ireland and it's history and traditions together.
So I'm happy to say (very, very, very happy) that I'm finally actually going to London. (thanks, Bogdan) Everyone, who knows me pretty well, knows that it's been my dream for the longest time. So as soon as I got to the hotel we booked mine 2,5 day trip to London. But there will be more about London when I get there.
Back to Discoveries. Discovery #4 is free tours. It's an actual thing here (and in London). Guides do the tours with a certain topic and route. Obviously, no one in their right mind is not going to work for free, but there is no fixed rate, you leave as much tip as you think your tour worth. Free tours are very popular here. So we joined one of those tours as well. At the certain time, we were under the statue that is also called "needle" (it shaped that way) looking for the guy with the yellow umbrella (that would be the guide). I have to say for the free tours they are very organized, there were 3 guys, 2 English speaking and one guy for the Spanish speaking people. There were so many people that English speaking group had to be divided into 2, 18 people each. Our guide's name was James. I have to tell you that I did not have that much information coming from one person in such an interesting way ever since I graduated high school. He told us about revolutions and wars, and about how people fought for what they believed, and what they got inspired by, about the fact that even in those times there was always place for the true love story. He told us about South and North parts of Dublin and the fact that they are so different, that people from them don't get along that well. He told us about the fact that U 2 is a national treasure, which would explain why all the hotels are booked on the week of their concert. He told us about the visit of the Queen of England, and how for some reason Irish people decided to spend 4 millions dollars to build the "needle", which was a total waste of money. He told us jokes and anecdotes, and many-many other things that if I were to write them all down I would need to write the book. I brought a good weather with me, so it was very sunny and warm to walk around. Discovery #5 - there are so many crazy people here too. New York you are not alone.
Tired but satisfied we came back to the hotel, where we had a very nice dinner at the bar.
So I can safely say that today was a good day. And I'm excited and yes still scared, but can't wait to see what this trip is going to bring. One step at the time...

Travel Journal - Day 1

 I recently discovered that I'm actually terrified of traveling alone. First I thought that maybe it's the whole hassle of packing and going through security and planning the trip, and great unknown of what this trip is going to bring me that makes me nervous. But nope, I'm terrified of the whole idea traveling by myself and not being able to rely on anyone if something happens. Most of the people get excited, I get both excited and scared.  Maybe it's previous bad experience, who knows. You would say it's ridiculous, can't agree more. But that's exactly the reason I keep pushing myself to do it, keep trying to leave my very comfort New York home zone. Again ridiculous right? I feel completely comfortable with the whole megapolis thing.

So this fear makes me sometimes consider the idea of just staying inside and watch TV instead of going and discovering the whole big world. As a weapon against this idea I decided that this time I am going to keep a travel journal, which will make me obligated to write anything about my day every day and obviously post pictures with it (lots of friends asked for it). The necessary condition of the travel journal would be not to have a day when I stayed inside and watched TV. Shopping counts as activity though, since it's one of the ways to discover a new city. This exercise will also let me train my writing skills. may creativity stay with me and let's hope I have more than one sentence in mind to write every day. So let's the journey begin!!!