Not the typically lower cost but the typically increased value. Hostels tend to attract a crowd I relate to: indie, open-minded, relaxed, friendly, cool and accepting . It’s a hub for meeting like minded people from all walks of life.
I’ve never stayed at a hostel & regretted it. That’s not to say I haven’t had experiences that weren’t testing or uncomfortable but I enjoy the challenge & respect the perspective they’ve given me.
One of my favorite hostel memories is when my best friend Brittany and I met a group of girls on a tour to the Hollywood sign put on by our hostel & we spent the evening playing monopoly & painting our nails and watching a movie with them. The next morning we shared stories on the patio until one by one it was time for us to leave. We remain facebook friends and one day in the future I hope our paths will cross again!
From Left to Right: Latoya, Jo, Sian, Siobhan, Myself and Brittany in the lobby of USA Hostel in Hollywood
For reviews of where I've stayed visit here. I've you've stayed at a hostel and would like to write a guest review or travel related post contact me or learn more here Download Writing a guest post.
Not the typically lower cost but the typically increased value. Hostels tend to attract a crowd I relate to: indie, open-minded, relaxed, friendly, cool and accepting . It’s a hub for meeting like minded people from all walks of life.
I’ve never stayed at a hostel & regretted it. That’s not to say I haven’t had experiences that weren’t testing or uncomfortable but I enjoy the challenge & respect the perspective they’ve given me.
One of my favorite hostel memories is when my best friend Brittany and I met a group of girls on a tour to the Hollywood sign put on by our hostel & we spent the evening playing monopoly & painting our nails and watching a movie with them. The next morning we shared stories on the patio until one by one it was time for us to leave. We remain facebook friends and one day in the future I hope our paths will cross again!
From Left to Right: Latoya, Jo, Sian, Siobhan, Myself and Brittany in the lobby of USA Hostel in Hollywood
For reviews of where I've stayed visit here. I've you've stayed at a hostel and would like to write a guest review or travel related post contact me or learn more here Download Writing a guest post.
Why I blog. Because I believe I have a story worth telling. A perspective unseen. Insight unknown. I also know that not all my thoughts are diamonds, I know that not all my posts are thrilling and life changing. I like to think some of them are, since they in some complicated and tangled way have changed my life. My post today is one of those posts.
The kind that change your life.
Some of you may know that I am an avid believer in Human Rights. My research & thesis is on how hate is bred, specifically how that hate is used to facilitate genocide. Even more specifically in the country of Rwanda. Africa is a country that has been exploited for every possible commodity imaginable in every way imaginable.
This video is about such exploited commodities. I hope you have already seen it & if you haven't I sincerely hope you take the time to watch it. NOW. If at the end you feel unchanged you will have served a purpose still. You can share, discuss, comment and at the very least you will be one of the vast who has given up time in your life at the cost of another.
It is easy to feel hopeless & helpless when exposed to such atrocities that are in this movie. My purpose is not to overwhelm you with these feelings, it is my purpose to make you aware.
Aware of life.
While visiting Palestine inside the boundaries of the state of Israel an older gentleman who has known war & oppression his entire life changed me forever.
I asked everyone we interviewed if they had one thing for me to bring back & share what it would be. He simply stated, To live. To live for those of us who can't. To take them with me in my heart & when I see marvelous places, enjoy beautiful things, when I am surrounded by happiness & love to remember them and to share it with them.
I took them with me while I swam with turtles in Hawaii, I took them with me when I walked in my graduating ceremony, I take them with me when I hug my family and when I laugh with friends.
Experiences like these don't translate. I can never share with you the vast emotions that course through me. I can never share the best moments of my life. The same way yours don't translate and make it impossible for you to share. That is why each of us must live.
To live.
The director of this movie, Jason Russell, comes as close as most can to sharing these life altering experiences and I would beg you to allow yourself into this conflict. Allow the emotions to take over and course through your veins.
To be aware of life so that you too may live & keep them with you always.
Below are 5 articles I found about this film, so you may learn more if you choose to.
Kony 2012 sheds light on Uganda conflict
The film focuses heavily on the issue of child soldiers, with Kony’s LRA reportedly having up to 30,000 boys and girls who are used as soldiers and sex slaves.
Kony is alleged to have fathered over 200 children during his 26 years on the run from the Ugandan government. Found Here
__________________________
'Kony 2012' Aims to Raise Awareness of Joseph Kony
An American filmmaker is determined to use social media to make Joseph Kony famous. Jason Russell doesn't want to win Kony any fans. He wants to educate the world "to raise support for his arrest and set a precedent for international justice." Found Here
__________________________
The Problem With Invisible Children's "Kony 2012"
Recently, a new video produced by the American NGO Invisible Children focusing on Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has been making the rounds. Having just returned from the Acholi region of Northern Uganda myself, where the LRA was born, I thought I might share some of my thoughts on the subject, for what it's worth.
I think it is easy for Invisible Children and other self-aggrandizing foreigners to make the entire story of the last 30 years of Northern Uganda about Joseph Kony, but there is a history of the relationship between the Acholi people from whom the LRA emerged and the central government in Kampala that is a little more complicated than that.
Kony is a grotesque war criminal, to be sure, but the Ugandan government currently in power also came to power through the use of kadogo (child soldiers) and fought alongside militias employing child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo, something that Invisible Children seem wilfully ignorant of. Found Here
__________________________
Making Joseph Kony visible in 2012
Grace Nimaro visited Weber State University with countless cards, posters, stickers and bracelets promoting the Kony 2012 campaign.
But this was no presidential candidate she was promoting.
Nimaro hails from the northern part of Uganda and grew up during Joseph Kony’s rebellion in her country. Kony has been waging a war for 26 years in Uganda, Congo and the Central African Republic, kidnapping children, forcing boys to become child soldiers and forcing girls into sexual slavery. During this time, many of Nimaro’s relatives and friends were killed or abducted by Kony’s rebel army. Found Here
__________________________
Joseph Kony 2012: Testing the true power of the social web
The social web has overcome geography, culture, even language to connect billions of people. Yet the primary use of this gift is still diversion. This year you and I will be tested to see if, indeed, there is a greater purpose to this amazing gift. It is the #KONY2012 project. Found Here
__________________________
Please share this video, this post, your feelings, your knowledge and your life.
Why I blog. Because I believe I have a story worth telling. A perspective unseen. Insight unknown. I also know that not all my thoughts are diamonds, I know that not all my posts are thrilling and life changing. I like to think some of them are, since they in some complicated and tangled way have changed my life. My post today is one of those posts.
The kind that change your life.
Some of you may know that I am an avid believer in Human Rights. My research & thesis is on how hate is bred, specifically how that hate is used to facilitate genocide. Even more specifically in the country of Rwanda. Africa is a country that has been exploited for every possible commodity imaginable in every way imaginable.
This video is about such exploited commodities. I hope you have already seen it & if you haven't I sincerely hope you take the time to watch it. NOW. If at the end you feel unchanged you will have served a purpose still. You can share, discuss, comment and at the very least you will be one of the vast who has given up time in your life at the cost of another.
It is easy to feel hopeless & helpless when exposed to such atrocities that are in this movie. My purpose is not to overwhelm you with these feelings, it is my purpose to make you aware.
Aware of life.
While visiting Palestine inside the boundaries of the state of Israel an older gentleman who has known war & oppression his entire life changed me forever.
I asked everyone we interviewed if they had one thing for me to bring back & share what it would be. He simply stated, To live. To live for those of us who can't. To take them with me in my heart & when I see marvelous places, enjoy beautiful things, when I am surrounded by happiness & love to remember them and to share it with them.
I took them with me while I swam with turtles in Hawaii, I took them with me when I walked in my graduating ceremony, I take them with me when I hug my family and when I laugh with friends.
Experiences like these don't translate. I can never share with you the vast emotions that course through me. I can never share the best moments of my life. The same way yours don't translate and make it impossible for you to share. That is why each of us must live.
To live.
The director of this movie, Jason Russell, comes as close as most can to sharing these life altering experiences and I would beg you to allow yourself into this conflict. Allow the emotions to take over and course through your veins.
To be aware of life so that you too may live & keep them with you always.
Below are 5 articles I found about this film, so you may learn more if you choose to.
Kony 2012 sheds light on Uganda conflict
The film focuses heavily on the issue of child soldiers, with Kony’s LRA reportedly having up to 30,000 boys and girls who are used as soldiers and sex slaves.
Kony is alleged to have fathered over 200 children during his 26 years on the run from the Ugandan government. Found Here
__________________________
'Kony 2012' Aims to Raise Awareness of Joseph Kony
An American filmmaker is determined to use social media to make Joseph Kony famous. Jason Russell doesn't want to win Kony any fans. He wants to educate the world "to raise support for his arrest and set a precedent for international justice." Found Here
__________________________
The Problem With Invisible Children's "Kony 2012"
Recently, a new video produced by the American NGO Invisible Children focusing on Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has been making the rounds. Having just returned from the Acholi region of Northern Uganda myself, where the LRA was born, I thought I might share some of my thoughts on the subject, for what it's worth.
I think it is easy for Invisible Children and other self-aggrandizing foreigners to make the entire story of the last 30 years of Northern Uganda about Joseph Kony, but there is a history of the relationship between the Acholi people from whom the LRA emerged and the central government in Kampala that is a little more complicated than that.
Kony is a grotesque war criminal, to be sure, but the Ugandan government currently in power also came to power through the use of kadogo (child soldiers) and fought alongside militias employing child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo, something that Invisible Children seem wilfully ignorant of. Found Here
__________________________
Making Joseph Kony visible in 2012
Grace Nimaro visited Weber State University with countless cards, posters, stickers and bracelets promoting the Kony 2012 campaign.
But this was no presidential candidate she was promoting.
Nimaro hails from the northern part of Uganda and grew up during Joseph Kony’s rebellion in her country. Kony has been waging a war for 26 years in Uganda, Congo and the Central African Republic, kidnapping children, forcing boys to become child soldiers and forcing girls into sexual slavery. During this time, many of Nimaro’s relatives and friends were killed or abducted by Kony’s rebel army. Found Here
__________________________
Joseph Kony 2012: Testing the true power of the social web
The social web has overcome geography, culture, even language to connect billions of people. Yet the primary use of this gift is still diversion. This year you and I will be tested to see if, indeed, there is a greater purpose to this amazing gift. It is the #KONY2012 project. Found Here
__________________________
Please share this video, this post, your feelings, your knowledge and your life.
As we headed out on our Vegas vacation, we had no idea what adventures lay ahead of us & were excited to see what the weekend had in store for us.
View on our Drive from Utah to Las Vegas
Brittany & Dani utlizing the classic face framing dance move.
Heading out on vacation can be nerve racking.
Did you forget something? Have I made all the plans right? Do I have conformation numbers? Where is my camera? But what about your emergency funds? What if something goes wrong and you have to get home early? What if you get hurt? What if I get a flat tire?
I had my car registered a week before we left for our road trip to Vegas and felt good about the condition of my car... if only I'd checked the tires. 30 miles from the nearest town we got a flat tire. Do you know how to change a flat?
Sure it wasn't ideal, but luckily our friend Emily knew how to change a tire so I could grab the camera & snap some photos of our first adventure on the road.
Dani, excited about getting back on the road!
Beautiful sunset on our way to the nearest tire shop.
So what did we do?
After we changed the tire we drove 50mph to the nearest town where after calling 3 shops, found one willing to stay open late enough for us to get there and put on new tires. It turns out both my rear end tires were in desperate need of replacements and in the interest of avoiding yet another flat tire in the desert I had both replaced. I was under the presumption that if my tires were in that bad of shape they would have mentioned it while they were registering it, which was not the case. After paying $315 for 2 new rear tires we were back on our way.
While paying hundreds of dollars for something I thought I already had isn't my favorite, I'm really grateful I had the money to buy new tires. It served as a great reminder to why its important to have an emergency fund while traveling and to live within our means.
Have you ever had an emergency while traveling? How did you handle it?
As we headed out on our Vegas vacation, we had no idea what adventures lay ahead of us & were excited to see what the weekend had in store for us.
View on our Drive from Utah to Las Vegas
Brittany & Dani utlizing the classic face framing dance move.
Heading out on vacation can be nerve racking.
Did you forget something? Have I made all the plans right? Do I have conformation numbers? Where is my camera? But what about your emergency funds? What if something goes wrong and you have to get home early? What if you get hurt? What if I get a flat tire?
I had my car registered a week before we left for our road trip to Vegas and felt good about the condition of my car... if only I'd checked the tires. 30 miles from the nearest town we got a flat tire. Do you know how to change a flat?
Sure it wasn't ideal, but luckily our friend Emily knew how to change a tire so I could grab the camera & snap some photos of our first adventure on the road.
Dani, excited about getting back on the road!
Beautiful sunset on our way to the nearest tire shop.
So what did we do?
After we changed the tire we drove 50mph to the nearest town where after calling 3 shops, found one willing to stay open late enough for us to get there and put on new tires. It turns out both my rear end tires were in desperate need of replacements and in the interest of avoiding yet another flat tire in the desert I had both replaced. I was under the presumption that if my tires were in that bad of shape they would have mentioned it while they were registering it, which was not the case. After paying $315 for 2 new rear tires we were back on our way.
While paying hundreds of dollars for something I thought I already had isn't my favorite, I'm really grateful I had the money to buy new tires. It served as a great reminder to why its important to have an emergency fund while traveling and to live within our means.
Have you ever had an emergency while traveling? How did you handle it?
Confession: I have several things I really don't like! Examples of the top things I hate are
1) Looking for a Job. The whole process is just frustrating.
2) Breaking up with someone. I'm a lover not a hater and I don't want to hurt anyone.
3) Driving in Snow. Not just driving, but riding in Snow. It's got a direct line to my nerves and in no time flat, you start wondering what happened to the adventurous and strong Heather you once knew.
The snow storm we ran into on our drive home from Four Corners was no different. I drove for less than 30 minutes and felt like I'd been skydiving, cliff jumping and attending school for the first time with all the adrenaline that was pumping through me. RIDICULOUS, I SAY!
Luckily, my friend Nate, the always kind, generous and courageous man that he is, was willing to drive. Thank the heavens for friends like him! Mean while I sat in the back set, head phones in and eyes closed. You know I was in bad shape when the thought of taking pictures of the roads didn't even cross my mind.
I was a total wimp and without photographic evidence I probably sound even more like a wimp. But we've all got to have weaknesses and now you know mine! We decided to take a break for lunch & of course my nerves were back and photo ops started appearing again.
When is the last time you wore your BK Crown??
None of the pictures do my baby like response justice, and in my defence it was really bad at one point because we were on less busy roadways that had yet to be plowed.
Cloudy and Overcast we had escaped the worst of it 30 miles back.
Beautiful random rock that survived the winds and storms of the desert.
At least I managed to get two pictures with some kind of snow! This amount of winter wonderland wouldn't cause me to freak out.
The below picture is after the storm, fresh snow and in true Utahan weather tradition it storms, shines, rains and shines again. Mother nature here get bi-polar!
Have you ever been stuck in bad weather or had a bad experience on a road trip?
To see more from our trip to the four corners go here. Today an even bigger group of friends & I are heading to good old Sin City! Stay tuned for posts from our adventures there!
Confession: I have several things I really don't like! Examples of the top things I hate are
1) Looking for a Job. The whole process is just frustrating.
2) Breaking up with someone. I'm a lover not a hater and I don't want to hurt anyone.
3) Driving in Snow. Not just driving, but riding in Snow. It's got a direct line to my nerves and in no time flat, you start wondering what happened to the adventurous and strong Heather you once knew.
The snow storm we ran into on our drive home from Four Corners was no different. I drove for less than 30 minutes and felt like I'd been skydiving, cliff jumping and attending school for the first time with all the adrenaline that was pumping through me. RIDICULOUS, I SAY!
Luckily, my friend Nate, the always kind, generous and courageous man that he is, was willing to drive. Thank the heavens for friends like him! Mean while I sat in the back set, head phones in and eyes closed. You know I was in bad shape when the thought of taking pictures of the roads didn't even cross my mind.
I was a total wimp and without photographic evidence I probably sound even more like a wimp. But we've all got to have weaknesses and now you know mine! We decided to take a break for lunch & of course my nerves were back and photo ops started appearing again.
When is the last time you wore your BK Crown??
None of the pictures do my baby like response justice, and in my defence it was really bad at one point because we were on less busy roadways that had yet to be plowed.
Cloudy and Overcast we had escaped the worst of it 30 miles back.
Beautiful random rock that survived the winds and storms of the desert.
At least I managed to get two pictures with some kind of snow! This amount of winter wonderland wouldn't cause me to freak out.
The below picture is after the storm, fresh snow and in true Utahan weather tradition it storms, shines, rains and shines again. Mother nature here get bi-polar!
Have you ever been stuck in bad weather or had a bad experience on a road trip?
To see more from our trip to the four corners go here. Today an even bigger group of friends & I are heading to good old Sin City! Stay tuned for posts from our adventures there!
When I was planning our trip to the Four Corners I spent a lot of time looking for places to stay and knowing it would be too cold to camp. Turns out that Four Corners is seriously in the middle of no where and so I booked the closest hotel that was still in Utah, Kokopelli Inn.
Located in the town of Bluff, UT about 40 minutes Northwest of Four Corners. First off you should know that Bluff is a seriously small town, we were nervous we'd blink and miss the Inn all together, but alas its not hard to miss because its right next to one of the only gas stations in the town which conveniently is also used as the Inn’s front desk. They have food inside as well, which is a good thing since I'm not sure where else we could have gone.
We loaded up on all the essentials nachos, sub sandwiches, beer and chocolate. Anxious after spending 7+ hours in the car we couldn’t wait to get to our room and just relax.
In the interest in being honest & fair, Kokopelli Inn isn’t a luxurious place to stay; it has the charm of a small town and the quality of hard working owners trying to sustain life in the Utah dessert. In the summer they are packed with hikers, climbers and bikers who are merely looking for a bed to sleep in. We were just in the market for leg room and anything but a car. We spent the night watching The Big Bang Theory, chatting and making memories that we will surely be laughing about for a while.
Kokopelli Inn also has free wi-fi which, as a travel blogger, I really appreciate.
I personally wanted to freak my friends out with ghost stories because most hotel hallways remind me of The Shining, ironically I’ve never seen the movie, just the hallway.
When I was planning our trip to the Four Corners I spent a lot of time looking for places to stay and knowing it would be too cold to camp. Turns out that Four Corners is seriously in the middle of no where and so I booked the closest hotel that was still in Utah, Kokopelli Inn.
Located in the town of Bluff, UT about 40 minutes Northwest of Four Corners. First off you should know that Bluff is a seriously small town, we were nervous we'd blink and miss the Inn all together, but alas its not hard to miss because its right next to one of the only gas stations in the town which conveniently is also used as the Inn’s front desk. They have food inside as well, which is a good thing since I'm not sure where else we could have gone.
We loaded up on all the essentials nachos, sub sandwiches, beer and chocolate. Anxious after spending 7+ hours in the car we couldn’t wait to get to our room and just relax.
In the interest in being honest & fair, Kokopelli Inn isn’t a luxurious place to stay; it has the charm of a small town and the quality of hard working owners trying to sustain life in the Utah dessert. In the summer they are packed with hikers, climbers and bikers who are merely looking for a bed to sleep in. We were just in the market for leg room and anything but a car. We spent the night watching The Big Bang Theory, chatting and making memories that we will surely be laughing about for a while.
Kokopelli Inn also has free wi-fi which, as a travel blogger, I really appreciate.
I personally wanted to freak my friends out with ghost stories because most hotel hallways remind me of The Shining, ironically I’ve never seen the movie, just the hallway.
