I really hope that everyone has a bucket list of some sort. It doesn't have to be travel destinations like mine is or these crazy adventures like swimming with sharks or skydiving off of buildings. It can simply be to take a day trip to somewhere you've never been, trying every flavor of ice cream at your favorite ice cream shop, reading a certain number of books or even a certain kind! Whatever it is, make a list. Then after you make it, figure out how you're going to cross things off!! Its so easy to make a list and say "I'll get started next month" or "I can't afford anything right now, maybe next year". And next year becomes 2 years. 2 years becomes 5 and soon enough, your bucket list is forgotten. I knew that I would get caught up in life and forget about all of the things I wanted to experience. Riding in a hot air balloon. Going to Oktoberfest. Surfing in California. So this is what I promised myself. I promised myself that I would travel to at least 1 new place on my list EVERY year. Majority of my Bucket List is countries to visit but, like I said before, I have other things. I figured new places would be a good place to start. If I could cross off some new places, I can look into the other things I want to do too! Ever since I spent a summer in Berlin, Germany, I loved the experience of traveling somewhere new and the feelings that it gave me. It also made me appreciate home. But I knew that I would need to plan. I started by looking at my school year. When are my vacations? When do I have a 3 day weekend to squeeze a trip in? Where can I afford to go over summer vacation? After all of these questions were answered I made lists. Lists for each vacation, summer vacation and holiday that I could go to that time of year. And honestly if you know where to look, you can find some AMAZING deals. I've been using Next Vacay. This is an amazing couple who figured out how to get the best flight prices for anywhere around the world and I'll be honest. they really do find the best prices. Rome for Christmas for $383 round trip? Umm, buon Natale!! They send you a time frame and deals from airports near you! A $25 lifetime membership fee for years of savings? Thanks Next Vacay, you da bomb. For 2018 I will be crossing a few places off my list. Bermuda and the Bahamas! Right now for 2019...Ireland, Scotland and England! But a bonus for 2019, a group of my friends and I are planning our first backpacking trip to Arizona. Check Arizona off my list and backpacking. BOOM. The best is traveling with friends or your best friend. Thank God Francis likes the outdoors and traveling! Make that promise to yourself and never ever break a promise to yourself. Pinky promise. In the end its your mind, body and soul that will benefit and you won't have to look back at opportunities missed. Plan that trip. Buy the skydiving Groupon. Dye your hair that crazy color and love every second of it! ***I was not paid for this review, this is completely my own opinion***
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So I just recently made an executive decision on my way to a weekend trip to Acadia National Park in Maine to buy a GoPro. I have been debating on buying an actual camera or a GoPro for a while now and I still hadn't made a choice to spend the money on either camera. I wanted something that would take better pictures than my iPhone 8 Plus (even though that takes gorgeous pictures as well). I finally decided on the GoPro because I could also take that into the water to get underwater pictures, pictures in the pool, paddle boarding, canoeing, etc. I researched and researched to figure out what GoPro to get, pros and cons of each model and accessories to buy. I ended up purchasing the GoPro Hero 5 Black and I am so happy with my choice. No its not the brand new one, but it is pretty darn close to the GoPro Hero 6. The only difference between the 2 was the 6 has 4K video for an hour and it has advanced settings for video. Now, I was purchasing this for pictures more than videos so that didn't really impress me to spend the extra 100$. I bought the GoPro at the L.L. Bean Outlet in Trenton, ME for 225$ and the 25% off was what made me immediately buy the camera. You can find the GoPro Hero 5 Black on Amazon.com for about 250$!! What it includes: The Hero 5 camera is waterproof (huge for me), has a touch screen and voice activation. This camera also takes some pretty amazing pictures. It has 4K video for 30 minutes and 12 mp pictures. Make sure you buy an SD card, they are not included with the GoPro. After figuring out that the GoPro didn't come with an SD card, we purchased a 32GB SD card from Walgreens. (it was on sale!). The GoPro Hero 5 also includes housing, a charging cord, 2 sticky mounts and instructions. After playing around with the GoPro a little bit, we were ready to take some photos. The Hero 5 is super easy to use. It has a tutorial to show you where certain things are but for the basics, touch the camera icon in the corner to change the mode and press the red button on the top to record or take a picture. Super easy. Another thing to make sure you do is download the GoPro App. This allows you to connect your GoPro, download pictures directly to your phone, and even take pictures or videos! I personally loved this because we could place our GoPro somewhere and then make sure were in the shot, getting the right angle of the shot and even take some candid pictures. Accessories to buy: I have also done an extreme amount of research on the best products to buy for the GoPro that don't break the bank or are worth spending the $$. I've looked on amazon, eBay, GoPro.com for prices and they all seem to be about the same price. I've also looked into other travel bloggers and their recommendations for GoPro Accessories. One of my favorite travel bloggers, Alyssa Ramos of mylifeisatravelmovie.com, posted some of her favorite accessories. Now if you have ever seen this girls instagram and all of the gorgeous pictures she takes, you will take her advice on photography products and accessories. In addition to my accessories, I ended up buying a Vera Bradley Large Cosmetic Case to store it all in. Yes there is the GoPro Casey but, this does the same job and is cute! The products I decided to buy from my research are listed below: **not all shown in picture Overall, I absolutely recommend buying a GoPro for all of your travels. Even if its just a piece of mind for your phone or your other expensive camera. I cannot wait to take this thing on more adventures and see what amazing photos I can take. Happy traveling!!! ***Note I was not paid to write this review, I paid in full for my GoPro and this is my honest opinion and review of the product. Below are some pictures with 4 different settings in camera mode on the GoPro. I am SOOO excited summer has finally arrived and it will be officially summer when I say goodbye to my tiny humans in a few weeks. With that being said, bring on the pool days, the darty's and the cookouts. Now, I'm not sitting here telling you eat before you go, don't eat anything greasy, skip desert etc. These are just a few tips that I try to stick by when I go to a cookout.
I hope these tips help when you're at your next BBQ!! Remember balance is key! |
Katie | Phys. Ed.Teacher | The only B.S. I need in life is Breakfast and Squats" ConnectArchives
July 2018
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