Travel – Christina de Vries

Soarin’ Made Me Cry

Disneyland is filled with rides and adventures. Some are sweet, some get your heart rate up and others (apparently) will make you cry!

Or they will make me cry at least.

One ride that I did not take the last time I was here was Soarin’. I had never even heard of it until this time around, and I didn’t really know what to expect to be honest.

You wait in line and then you have a “pilot” giving you the flight instructions for your ride. As soon as we got in, you get strapped to a row of seats that are hanging from the ceiling, and then you’re off! Your feet leave the floor and you are facing a giant screen.

All of the sudden you’re flying up in the skies with the wind in your hair, and then you’re traveling all over the world in a matter of seconds without ever really going anywhere.

Now I’m a very visual person, and I get moved so easily. One of the things that I’ve found after I started traveling a lot, was just how emotional I get out of complete awe of what the world has to offer. The different sights, smells and sounds. By going on this ride my mind ended up getting somewhat of an overload I guess. I was “flying” over an African desert filled with elephants and I just started crying. Even I was a bit surprised.

It was something about the smells that they add to the ride, and the wind effects that made it feel so real, even though I knew it wasn’t. It just got to me. I felt so incredibly lucky to be in the position that I’m in where I get to travel as much as I do. Something about all the wonders that this world has to offer, and maybe more than anything else, it got to me exactly how reckless we are when it comes to taking care of it.

So many takes it for granted way too often, and it’s easy to do when we live inside of our own bubbles for too long. I think that’s why I love to travel as much as I do. It puts everything into perspective, and it reminds me of all the beauty we’re surrounded by, and how important it is to take care of it all.

So this is why Soarin’ made my cry, and why I think it’s the best and most spectacular ride that Disneyland has to offer!

If you ever get the chance to go on it, I would highly recommend that you give it a try!

Where Are You at 3am?

Usually I’m far gone into the land of dreams at 3am, but tonight I’m spending my night at a place that feels somewhat familiar to me, although I’ve never spent the night here or anywhere like it before.

I’m spending my night at Oslo Airport Gardermoen.

It sounds all kinds of dramatic, but it isn’t. I have a super early flight, so early so that there weren’t any morning buses or trains that would get me here in time, and I didn’t want to spend a ridiculously amount of money to book myself into an airport hotel for a just a few hours.

That left me with the choice of taking the last train to the airport that would arrive at around 1am, and that would give me a good five hours at the airport before my plane will take me up, up, up and away!

I was curious to see how spending a night at a place like this would actually be like, and I found it to be way more comfortable and interesting than I expected.

I definitely wasn’t the only one who didn’t want to waste money on a hotel. There are quite a lot of people here. You can see them sleeping or reading, talking with friends, or doing some late night working. Maybe they are writing too!

While being surrounded by all of these travelers, I found myself lost in one of my favorite activities; people watching.

My eyes drifted from traveler to traveler, and I started thinking about where they were from, where they were going, and what kind of stories they would be able to tell.

The travelers come in all different shapes, ages, and colors, and I find myself very calm and relaxed even though I’m surrounded by bright lights and sounds of maintenance workers. It’s so different to be here in a place that I’m used to seeing crammed with people and loud with voice, suddenly being a place of rest and stillness.

I even managed to sleep for an hour on one of the benches.

Now I’m not saying that I would prefer to sleep at airports. I love the softness of a good bed way too much, but this was a way more pleasant experience than I expected it to be. I still have about 2,5 hours left before I’m starting a 16 hour long journey, but even though I’m tired, it’s off to a good start!

I’m guessing most of you are sleeping, or you are in time zones that takes you far away from 3am at this writing moment, but wherever you are, I hope you’re smiling!

And if you find yourself other places than home at 3am, I hope you make the most of it❤️

Get Lost!

One of my absolute favorite things to do when I travel is to listen to music, just start walking in some random direction (without the help of a map), and just see where that takes me. I love to get lost in new cities!

We live in an age where we usually have our phones ready to help us out if we struggle to find our ways back to wherever we need to be later on, so why not use that. Why not leave the maps and the apps, and just go on a new adventure, and then technology (or a good old map) can help us out when the exploring is done?

Some of the most interesting places I’ve found when traveling has been while I’m just allowing myself to walk around with no set destination. And those locations are usually the sources to some of my most interesting pictures as well.

Most places have so much more to offer than just the typical tourist attractions, and just stumbling upon them is like finding a hidden treasure that you didn’t even know you were looking for! And sometimes you even get to see the places that you know so well from a whole different angle, and that can be just as special!

I dare you to get lost more often! You don’t even have to travel to do so or to do it alone. Just start walking around where you live. Take a different path than you normally would. Jump on a random bus, and see where you end up!

It might be nowhere special, or it might end up being an amazing adventure❤️If you don’t try then you’ll never know!

Another Morning, Another Hostel!

Yes, I’m traveling again! This time, I went by bus over night from Oslo, over to Sweden, and then, at 7am this morning, I found myself in Copenhagen!

It’s been a little while since the last time I visited Copenhagen, and this time around I’m just here for two days. I basically came here for two things;

The Jason Mraz concert and to get a new tattoo!

And I’m very excited about both! I will also try to get quite a bit of writing done too. Arriving here so early gives me a good amount of hours to write and film some here in the city.

I love coming back to Copenhagen. Just like London and Amsterdam, it has such a wonderful atmosphere! First time I’ve traveled here by bus though, and I have mixed feelings about it.

I had reserved the front, single seat on the second floor, which gave me quite the view. The price was really good as well!

Now let me share some of the things I learned for future long distance bus rides:

☀️ Bring a pair of extra warm socks. You’ll want to take of your shoes, and your feet will get cold, which makes it hard to fall asleep, and just uncomfortable.

☀️ Wear a coat or bring a blanket. Again, it can get really cold!

☀️ Travel pillow!! I considered bringing mine, decided not to, and regretted that decision! I think my neck is bitter as hell because of it too.

☀️ You know those rude people that insist on talking extremely loud on their phone? Well, they will do the exact same thing, even when it’s in the middle of the night. Bring a headset, preferably those fancy ones with noise cancellation! The regular Apple headset worked to block out the worst for me.

☀️ Wear comfortable clothes! You’ll be sleeping, or just sitting, in a somewhat seated position for many hours. Make sure you’ll be as comfortable as possible. Those skinny jeans that feels like they’re hugging your calves, after a few hours of sitting in them, it will feel like they’re trying to squeeze the life out of you! Bring them wit you instead. I went for some flared, stretchy pants which made it possible to try to fold myself into in unnatural positions to try yo get comfortable 😜

So, now I’m having my morning coffee at the Hostel of this trip, and I feel ever so much wiser after 8 hours on a bus. Let’s see how much of my new wisdom will be put to use on my way home. I’m buying warm socks though, that’s for sure!

My dear lovelies, I wish you all a wonderful day! I’m about to finish my coffee and then head out into a city I know somewhat, to act like a proper tourist and get to know it even better!

If you want to follow me around in Copenhagen then add me on Instagram! I will be posting throughout the trip, as I always do😊 You can click on the picture above to get to my Instagram👆🏻

Was it Fruitful?

So I went to London, I ate plenty of good food, drank the whisky and met some wonderful people too.

But Christina, you went to London to write! I didn’t see a lot of Insta stories of you doing that, so how fruitful was the trip really?

It was even more fruitful and creative than I imagined it would be! And the thing is, when I get into the mood of writing, that’s pretty much all I focus on, so that’s why I don’t show that much of it. And I can imagine that me posting a lot of pictures and videos of just me in a bar with my computer would be very repetitive and not really all that interesting to watch in the long run.

But I got down over 10 000 words on my novel! 10 000 words in 5 days!

There’s something magical with the relationship between me and London. My creativity blossoms as soon as I get a little bit of that London feeling.

A nice walk by the Thames, a coconut latte from Pret and then I’m all set. The words just pour out of me, and it feels so good!

And the best part of it all, is that the words have kept coming since I got home. It feels like I took a little bit of that London magic with me home this time around, and I’m so grateful for it!

I will be sharing more about my trip in the next couple of days! Have some wonderful restaurants to recommend to you guys, and maybe also a few personal stories to tell!

But now, I have to get back to my novel!

Hope you are all doing well❤️

Oh, and let me know; Do you have any places you go where you just get instantly more creative, or is that just me? And if you do, where is it?

Why I Decided to Not do VidCon This Year

When I heard that the 2019 VidCon Europe would be in London instead of Amsterdam (like last year) I got super excited!

It’s no secret that I was extremely disappointed by last year’s event. The tickets were expensive, they changed the venue to a smaller one, the food options were bad (and not included in the price), and it just felt like they themselves weren’t taking it seriously. It felt like a joke, a waste of money and a waste of time, unfortunately.

But when VidCon London was announced, it really did seem like they had decided to really go out all. They had booked a lot more YouTubers, and the ones that are scheduled to be there are more known than most of those from last year. The venue is huge, and the overall impression of the 2019 event is a heck of a lot better than what I expected.

I decided that I would go. I booked my flight, a bed at a hostel, but then I was kind of hesitant about booking the actual ticket. Like I mentioned, it is quite expensive, and for some reason I had a gut feeling that told me to wait a little longer. The backside to waiting is that the price for the ticket goes up.

Then came the time when I sat down to actually book my creator pass. I sat there, staring at the pay now button, and I thought about how interesting it was going to be to hear creators like Rhett & Link, and Patricia Bright share some of their secrets, but then I thought about last year. I went for a walk, and had a long inner conversation with myself about what it was that I felt like I needed in my life, where I was at creatively and what I really wanted to do.

I love making videos, and I want to get even better at it. I love expressing myself on the YouTube platform, and the BookTube and travel community there is awesome! I have big plans for my channel and for future content, but I also need to finish my novel.

I’ve been writing for such a long time, going back and forth with projects, started over, started new stories, gone back to the old ones, and round and round and round it goes. Now though, I am finally in a place where I don’t struggle with my writing routine. I ind words upon words, and I can see that my two novels are going somewhere. They are growing into something that I’ve been dreaming about since I was a little girl, and I love that!

Then I thought about the 36 hours writing trip I took to London two years ago, and not just how much I loved it, but also how much work I got done.

And that’s when I decided that VidCon could wait another year. I would still go to London, because I had my flight and hostel booked, and made plans to see some friends as well. But I would go there to work creatively for me. To write, film and take pictures. A four day writing trip.

That would also give me time to find out if the changes that they’ve made to VidCon Europe really make it worth the money, and then I can go next year instead.

I got home, closed the VidCon page, and I felt incredibly happy about my choice. It felt right!

So here I am now, at Oslo Airport Gardermoen, waiting to board my flight and to get back to city that I love.

London, I hear you calling, and I will be there soon❤️