Tips for Traveling to Banff Canada and Where to Stay in Canmore

In June 2019 I crossed off Banff, Canada from my bucket list! This destination is becoming super popular because of the beautiful sparkling blue lakes, great hiking trails, and gorgeous views of the Canadian Rockies. Since I’ve gone friends and family have been asking for Banff travel tips, so here they are!

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What to Pack for a Trip to Banff

If you’re following me on Instagram then you know I just got back from a very magical trip to Banff, Canada. I feel like I literally experienced all 4 seasons there even though it was the end of June. I thought it might be handy to give a list of what to wear in Banff.

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What To Do in San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua

As I mentioned before in my Nicaragua Travel Tips and Visiting Granada I went down to Nicaragua in mid-June 2017 for my sister’s wedding and had the best trip of my whole life. I have a couple wedding pics on this post, but to see all of the incredible professional photos by her photographer Chelsea Erwin be sure to check out Chelsea’s blog post. My sister and her husband are seriously like models you will die.

Photo of my brother-in-law Josh and my sister Hannah by their wedding photographer Chelsea Erwin in San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua. Um could you die!?

We spent a whole week in a little beach town on the west coast (Pacific Ocean side) called San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua. Before traveling to Nicaragua I heavily lurked the amazing Instagram account @discovernicaragua which gave me so many great ideas for places to visit!

View of the bay and the town of San Juan Del Sur from one of our rental houses.

San Juan Del Sur is a popular place for surfers, college students, backpackers, and yoga retreat goers, but if you don’t fit into one of those categories this place can still be an amazing destination to visit! PS If the pictures are making these recommendations hard to follow, scroll all the way to the end for an outlined list of all of the places I mentioned here!

san-juan-del-sur-nicaragua-rental-house-pool
The view from one of our rental houses in San Juan Del Sur. Can you spot the Jesus statue on top of the hill on the right?

Disclaimer: Let’s keep it real. Nicaragua is a developing country. These are photos of beautiful mansions and yoga studios and restaurants that we were privileged enough to travel to. Most of these places are right next to homes with no electricity where some of the locals live which are not pictured. The people we met in Nicaragua were amazing and kind and loving which made the trip that much better. But things in Nicaragua are going to be different then back home- all of our houses had gates, full-time security, and drivers that would drop us off, wait for us to finish whatever activity we were doing, and be right outside ready to take us home after dinner or the bar. I never ever felt unsafe in Nicaragua for one second, but I did have these added luxuries. I was reminded of this when I showed my dad some photos and videos and he said “I feel like you went to a different Nicaragua than I did.” I want everyone that books a trip there to keep this in mind, I am only showing you one side of beautiful Nicaragua, but there is more to the picture than what you are going to see in this blog post. That being said, I highly highly recommend you check it out for yourself!
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Nicaragua Travel Tips and Visiting Granada

I just had one of the best trips of my entire life to a place you may have never heard about- San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua. My sister and her husband are avid surfers and knew they wanted a destination wedding. When a friend suggested the small surf town on the west coast of this stunning Central American developing country they agreed that it was just what they were looking for. They ended up getting nearly 60 friends and family members to come out and celebrate with them! I stayed for about a week and I want to break this up into a few posts starting with this one with tips and tricks. Here’s a photo of the dreamy couple:

Before You Go to Nicaragua

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Toronto Top Five Recommendations

top-5-toronto-recommendations

Traveling to Toronto, Canada and not sure what to prioritize visiting? I have some great recommendations for you! I found this city so amazing and loved it and I hope you will too!

Here’s the short list of my top 5 recommendations for Toronto:

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A Tourist in My Own City of Toronto

I recently posted my friend Julia’s recommendations in Paris and today I have some from Navid about Toronto, enjoy! I’ll add in my commentary in italics again.

– by “the real NavidK”
I was born and raised in Toronto. I lived there for a full 25 years. On the eve of my 25th birthday, I decided to pick up and relocate to our big neighbor below, the land of opportunity. 9 years later, I can honestly say that the city that I once knew is no more. My friends and family are scattered across the town and world. The city has grown in population and popularity (thanks to Drake and the like.) And so when someone recently asked me for some ideas of places to visit while they were visiting Toronto, I drew a complete blank. It was actually quite upsetting. I love Toronto. I miss Toronto. My fondest memories were experienced and lived there.
Nonetheless, I still took it upon me to inquire and discover the city I once called home and here is what I came up with:

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Where to Go in Paris

This is long list filled with great recommendations of where to go and beautiful photos of delicious pastries in Paris. I realize, though, that you might need a handy short list. Here’s a list of the places I personally recommend going in Paris:

Where I Stayed in Paris

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Walking Around Paris Diaries – Visiting Tuileries Garden, Eiffel Tower, and Champs Elysees

So we left off at the Louvre and let me start this post with my #1 tip I learned about traveling in Europe:

Travel Tip: Walk to as many places as humanely possible when it’s not raining because you never know when it will rain (or stop) and when you’ll have the chance to see some thing or place in person again.

Walking Around Paris

It’s so hard when you’re going to a new city to get an idea of just how far away things are from each other so I hope these maps are handy. In Paris, Molly and I hit some of the biggest sites all on day one and by foot! Here’s a map of the places we went:

Related Post: Paris Guide and Recommendations – What To Do in Paris and Where to Eat in Paris

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My First Day Visiting Paris and Visiting The Louvre Museum

Bonjour friends! When I last blogged about my European adventure I was in Barcelona, Spain and today we are heading to Paris and The Louvre via this blog post! This post is all about traveling from Barcelona to Paris, the hotel we stayed at in Paris, eating at Cafe PINSON, and visiting the Louvre Museum and how we missed Rihanna.

Related Post: My Paris City Guide and Recommendations – Where to Eat, What to Do, and What to See

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Park Guell in Barcelona Spain

Today I wanted to talk about another one of my favorite things I saw and did in Barcelona- Park Güell!

Park Guell in Barcelona, Spain

We took the bus up to Park Guell then we walked up a very big hill to the entrance. Park Guell, like Casa Batllo, La Pedrada, and La Sagardra Familia, is another work by the famous architect Antoni Gaudi. It was supposed to be a housing development with high quality modern homes, art, and a sense of community. It didn’t quite take off, though, so today it’s a park with the Gaudi House Museum on the grounds as well. So when you get to the park you can buy tickets at this part of it to the monumental zone, or if you keep walking you can enter the park itself for free at a different location which is what we did. Continue reading “Park Guell in Barcelona Spain”