April was, as expected, a pretty uneventful month in terms of travel. Other than the occasional day trip or outing, every night was spent in my apartment in Sacramento. The very end of March was spent on a Caribbean cruise contract, making my way home from Florida in the beginning of April. Most days were spent working on this blog and stressing over finances. Read on for more highlights (and lowlights) of April!
Destinations Visited
Miami to San Francisco to Sacramento at the beginning of the month
Sacramento, CA — 30 nights
Point Reyes National Seashore, CA — 1 day
Santa Rosa, CA — 1 day
The Highs
My Aunt and Uncle from Upstate NY came to visit me on their way back from a Hawaii vacation! I rarely get to see friends and family since I grew up on the east coast and nearly everyone I know is still over there. So having visitors is a huge deal to me and a special treat. They took my boyfriend and I out to a vineyard and we got to show them around Old Sacramento — one of my favorite areas in California’s capital city.
Our roommate had been away on the east coast visiting her own friends and family for nearly 2 months, and finally drove back cross-country with her new girlfriend in tow. Adding a fourth person to this house, especially one we had never met before, was at first a bit nerve-wracking. Luckily, she’s been a great fit and it’s a lot of fun to have everyone back in the apartment!
Since our roomie’s girlfriend had never previously been to California before moving here, we decided to take her on a day trip to one of our favorite destinations — the Point Reyes National Seashore! Spring is definitely the best time to road trip around the Cali coast. All the wildflowers are in full bloom and contrast gorgeously with the coastline and jagged cliffs. We saw a coyote, elk, deer, and loads of elephant seals! We also got to check out the 3 beaches, the lighthouse, and the cypress tree tunnel.
Another day trip was taken to Santa Rosa in wine country. Not for the wine, but for my boyfriends graduation from a park ranger academy! He’s spent the majority of the last 4 months away at academy and only coming home on most weekends. The academy was pretty intense and even included having to get pepper-sprayed in the eyes while beating a prop assailant and handcuffing a fellow squadmate! The best part of his graduation was that not even 10 minutes after walking through our door, he got a phone call with a job offer!
The Lows
We had wifi issues at the beginning of the month for just over a week, and couldn’t figure out what the problem was. Between constant aggravating phone calls to customer service and being put on hold and hung up on multiple times, it was extremely annoying. That, and the fact that I ate up all 10 gigs of data on my phone and couldn’t spend a lot of time writing for this blog because of it. We finally just switched out the entire modem at a local store and that solved the issue.
I received my first blog hater comments. Honestly, I wasn’t even going to put this in the lows, because they were absolutely hilarious to read! But then I found myself irritated with other people’s false assumptions of me. So, just to clear things up — No, I don’t have a trust fund. No, I don’t have lots of money. How I do what I do is because I prioritize travel, and have even found a way to turn traveling into a way to make money by working seasonally on cruise ships. The ironic part of these hater comments was that I had about $60 to my name while I was reading about how much money I supposedly had to be able to travel so much. Which brings me to my next low…
Financial struggles. I was supposed to have 2 different week-long cruise contracts lined up, and both fell through this month. I didn’t have any money come in and I couldn’t find a job anywhere. Whatever savings I had went straight to tuition, double rent, double bills, and limited groceries. Having various seasonal and contract work isn’t always ideal, in this regard. I share this because it’s a major goal of mine to remain transparent and honest when it comes to travel and blogging and this type of lifestyle. It’s important to me that I not sell you all a dream, but show you the hardships as well. For now, I eagerly look forward to starting a few jobs this summer, and will try to remain thankful that I at least have a roof over my head and a cupboard full of ramen.
Memorable Food
During my Aunt and Uncle’s visit, we were treated to a free wine tasting at Bogle Vineyards, just 20 minutes outside of Sacramento. The property was so peaceful! They bought us a bottle of wine, crackers, and dip after our tasting and we all had a picnic near the vines and caught up on family drama.
After my boyfriends graduation, a couple of his squadmates invited us to the University of Beer in Sacramento for drinks. This bar has 100 beers on tap and features an incredibly diverse craft beer selection, though my favorite list was of the ciders. This enticing list included Blackberry Sangria and the delicious Meads Cluster — mead with cranberry and strawberry.
Best Wildlife Shot
On our day trip to the Point Reyes National Seashore, wildflowers weren’t the only exciting discovery. This curious coyote was slinking along the roadside and started trotting up a hill to hunt in the grass. We pulled the car over and stuck our heads and our cameras out the sunroof, trying not to disturb it. I was kicking myself for not bringing my zoom lens!
Most Popular Instagram Shot
This shot was taken at Arches National Park in the Moab area of Southern Utah. It’s no surprise that Window Arch is not only the most popular Instagram shot uploaded in April, but is now my most liked photo of all time! The natural beauty and rugged wildness of this park makes it a clear winner.
Posts Written
Hike The Mendenhall Ice Caves Before It’s Too Late
An Overview Of The Tikal Mayan Ruins
Volcano Boarding And How It Was A Major Disappointment
A Journey To America’s Most Jaw-Dropping Campground
24 Worthwhile Ways Of Celebrating Earth Day
Goals Accomplished This Month
I had wanted to discover at least 3 new restaurants or eateries in Sacramento, though due to money, I only made my way to 2 new places. And both were for alcohol and not food (hah!).
Still fairly new in the blogging world, I’ve been actively promoting this site as well as my social media channels. I even managed to send along pitches to different companies or brands! Also, an interview I did about my job working on cruise ships was published to the blog called A Traveling Life! You can read it here.
Goals For Next Month
I’d like to be more consistent with my writing and publishing. Setting up a schedule will be number 1 on my to do list for May.
Now that we have a GoPro Hero 4 edition, I’d love to learn more about how to use it effectively, how to film, and how to creatively edit videos. Introducing more video content will be a huge benefit and I’m excited to learn more about it!
Again, I’d really like to find a temporary and/or part-time job to earn money in May. Especially since my summer jobs don’t start until the end of June and I have nothing lined up until then — Scary!
Coming Up…
Last month, I won a cruise with Fathom to the Dominican Republic and decided to take my mom with me as a guest to celebrate both her birthday and Mother’s Day! We’ll be meeting up in Miami on May 7th and setting sail on the 8th until the 15th. For once, I’ll be a passenger onboard and it’ll be nice to have an already-paid-for vacation! I’m also hoping to set up a cruise contract for work this month, though it’s not set in stone. Otherwise, I’ll be soaking up the last few weeks of May with my boyfriend before he leaves at the end of the month for his new seasonal park ranger job in Washington state! We’ll sadly be doing the long distance thing until the end of September, with very few visits to see each other. But it’s also the perfect excuse to travel back to Washington in the coming months to go adventuring around Olympic National Park and beyond!
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