Why am I traveling solo?

There have been a lot of concerns from loved ones and even strangers as to why I would chose to travel alone- "ITS SO DANGEROUS" "Have you seen taken?"


Honestly, I am terrified and I know that the world can be a scary place but I also know that I am smart and that people are generally kind.

So here are some good reasons I chose to travel alone & hopefully I will not be disappointed.

>> simply put- if I waited for someone to go with me I would probably be waiting for a very long time.

FREEDOM
My whole entire trip is completely up to me- If want to spend the day going from a theatre to an art museum to a nap to a park to a pub crawl to a bakery to another nap to my 5th crepe stand visit- I CAN.  No one's schedule but my own and there is an extreme excitement behind that.

CONFIDENCE
This trip will force me to immediately open up to people and strange situations. I will have to find my way around; I will have to figure out trains and directions- all which terrify me. (sweating thinking about it right now)

ENCOURAGEMENT 
My Dad, My Mom & My Sister - people who have known me forever - who have seen me in stressful situations; who have literally raised me to be the lady I am- they are all encouraging and they really believe in me. I could not do it with out them- its neat- they got my back.

TO LEARN
I have already learned so much about the world just by the research I have done- I cannot wait to learn more & see more.

TO MEET PEOPLE 
Working at a hotel has taught me that travelers- big or small adventurers- always want to talk and usually they are just as interested in you as you are in them!


I am choosing to travel alone because I want a trip that is on my own terms; I want a trip that makes me become my own best friend; I want a trip that opens my eyes about how strong and smart I can be;  I want to appreciate the little things and the big thing for as long as my heart desires; I want to appreciate myself for how truly courageous I can be.

So yes, I've seen Taken and my dad is no Liam Neeson; but my roommates already told me that if anything happens my kidnapper will probably bring me back in 10 mins top. 

Cheers!
Sierra

what are you going to do 3 months after you graduate....

So in May I graduated college; if you didn't know- I mean if you read this blog frequently 

(Hi Mom, Demi, Kelsey, Austy & Tyle) YOU KNOW I graduated college; had a complete freak out; drowned my -whatever feelings they were- in wine and then found myself all over again.

So, I decided, because I had not a damn clue what I wanted to do with my life- that I would do what any rational college grad would do and I decided that I  would travel. 

Not just leisurely travel- but go backpacking in Europe- dun. dun. dun. ALL BY MYSELF.

So I started thinking okay- Ill go 2 weeks; 

& then I was all- I can do 20 days.

& THEN I was all Okay I can handle one month; there is so much I want to see! 

& Then, as I was purchasing my flight, my hand went in to punch in my one month round trip ticket and I extended my trip to 6 weeks- WHAT? 

6 weeks just galavanting around in Europe this Fall.

Take off is One Month and Two Days so I thought it was time to start talking about it. 

I am going to try to be as informational as possible because I know I have researched and researched and hopefully one day I can help another brave soul do this too! 

As soon as I had the money I booked my flight ASAP- This saved me so much money from my original budget- I messed around with the flight engine on coming into different cities and leaving out of different ones and I found the cheapest rate flying into Dublin, Ireland and out of Barcelona, Spain- I suggest to book as early as possible and mess with the cities if you have that kind of flexibility in your planning. 

Be on the look out for these post in August:

-packing guide to 6 weeks in Europe

-Outfit Post

So- On September 3rd- wayyy to early in the mooring after a long flight- I will be arriving in Dublin, Ireland!! 

I can not wait to walk around on the cobblestone streets, try Guinness for the first time, follow through a literary pub crawl, try Irish Coffee (thats a thing),  see all the local art, go to a show, go to the lake, see the country side- listen to everybody talk (insert emoji with heart eyes) -

I can not wait to go to Scotland, see a familiar face  & "DO AS THE SCOTTISH DO" 

I can not wait to go to London and just about die from all the theatrical history

 (Degree in Theatre HOLLA')

I can not wait to go to Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Munich, Zurich, Verona, Venice, Florence, Rome, Monte Carlo, Barcelona. 

I cannot wait to be fully immersed  & forget about the fact that I am alone.

The sweetest compliment that anyone has given me is that I am brave, I've started to believe it. 

Cheers! 

Charming Chicago!

I finally visited the city of my dreams.

here is a poem about it. 

Chi-town boogie, boogie down 

chi-town boogie, lets get around

4 am time for our flight

clear skies, no rain

drinking OJ for a little delight    

please don't forget the champagne

Flying high in the sky, its Tyles first time

no pee in his pants to be found

because its..

Chi-town boogie, boogie down 

chi-town boogie, lets get around

Get off the plane 

no time to toot

give us more Champagne 

at Local Root

after several mimosas a nap was our wish

just a nice place to rest our head

we woke up and searched for Chicago Deep Dish

Katie preferred the trash can at Panera Bread

we ended the night happily bound 

as we continued..

Chi-town boogie, boogie down 

chi-town boogie, lets get around

I just realized I am terrible at Rhymes 

lets do a twist 

a poetic crime? 

a list  a list...

it will take shorter time

-trains

-champagnes

-dancing in the street...

-hotdogs

-night fogs

-can I rest my feet?

-thunderstorms

-Chicago norms 

-Happy Happy Heart Beats! 

-drag queens

-slap unforeseen 

-What next can we eat? 

-drunk love

-sights from above

That spin is off beat.

-old friends 

-new trends

Our trip is complete.

We will be back Chicago. 

Cheers! 

Sierra 

too tired Tuesday.

I have been working a lot lately. 

Since I got back from Vegas I have been working every. single. day.

& Monday I started a new job at a Theatre Summer camp- so I am working two jobs this summer back to back.

I am not complaining, I signed myself up for this and had somewhat of an idea what it would entail. I am happy that I have two great jobs that work well together and each of them are understanding of one another. 

Here is a list of things that make my tiredness- not so tired and just help me get by. 

1. The funny, endearing, relatable pins that my friend Demi Jackson sends me at 7 am on the dot every morning. 

2. The written letters I get from my weird yet extremely poetic Dad every month. 

3. The sadness my roommates and I feel when we realize we haven't actually seen each other because we all are on opposite schedules. Our sadness makes me happy because we really do love each others company and miss it when one another is away. 

4. My sisters phone calls. She feels like she is rambling but I enjoy her rambles. 

5. The fact that my friend Kaitlin has a reminder set in her phone on June 21st when I finally have a day off and we can go out together :) 

So.. basically, I get by with a little help from my friends. & I am beyond grateful for you crazy people in my life.

Cheers! 

Sierra Carter 

Take me to Vegas!

I just got back from the funnest trip to Las Vegas! My dear friend Demi and I decided to go to Vegas for our post graduation gift to ourselves. We both have college degree's now, it's WILD!

When we finally booked our flight I immediately starting googling and Pinteresting  everything there was to know about Vegas. I found these sites extremely helpful: Do's and Don't of Vegas , Things to do in Vegas for under $20.00

  I have been to Vegas one other time before so hopefully I can combine both trips and help someone out who is planning a trip to Sin City in the future.

>>Booking a flight and hotel

I wish I had way more tips on booking a flight but I have come to realize that the earlier you book the cheaper the flight will be. So try to book as early as possible to get a cheaper deal. 

The first time I went to Vegas I stayed at Harrah's and the second time we stayed at Flamingos. For Harrah's reservations we got the best deal through Hotels.com but for Flamingos we booked directly with the hotel.. When I compared prices it seemed like all hotels get way more expensive Friday-Sunday  so if you can go earlier in the week- that's where you will get lower prices of hotel rooms. Flamingos and Harrah's are located central of the strip. They are both nice but dated hotels. Flamingos has an awesome pool! If you are going to Las Vegas to hang out at a nice pool for an affordable price Flamingos is a great place to stay.

When booking a place to stay this map of the strip was really helpful! Also if you are going with a group of people and you all are splitting the room you could probably stay at most of these places for a very affordable price!

This map also shows you how to get around using the Monorail- I only used it one time and ended up walking back to our hotel. It is super easy to walk around in Vegas if you do not want to spend money on cabs (wear comfortable shoes).  However, if you chose to stay off the strip or at the very end of the strip the monorail website might be helpful! 

>>Fun things to do

Obviously this is a really silly topic because Las Vegas is literally full of fun things to do but here is a little run down of what we did.

It is so fun to just walk around and go into all the hotels. Most of the nights we went out with a few hotels in mind and then ended up running into things to do.

The first night we went into Senor Frogs  located at Treasure Island Hotel. Señor Frogs has such a fun staff and atmosphere that makes it a really great place to start your night at.

After leaving Señor Frogs we ran into a promoter for the Mirage Hotel. In Vegas if you are girls and you are dressed up promoters will approach you. Promoters will offer you so many incentives to go into their club. Free admission, free drinks- they want women in their club. Once you meet one of them you just have to decide if they are legit or not. They will usually be really helpful and offer to walk you into the club put you in line and tell the people to let you in free; the will also offer to give you their phone number which they will text you and say something like Justin- Promoter for the Mirage Hotel. 

My tip is this remember your promoters name- that way if you get up to the front and they tell you to pay- you can say "Promoter told me its free" and hopefully that will help you out. It is great to be a girl in Vegas. 

We ended up going to One Oak in the Mirage and it was such a fun club! 

Like I mentioned before walking around is a lot of fun. Here are a few pictures from us walking around The Strip. 

Bellagio Fountains

Caesars Palace 

We went to the dance club in Paris Hotel called Chateau. It was a lot of fun and a club I would recommend. Another club we went to was TAO   in The Venetian and it was also a lot of fun! 

                                

One of the coolest things we did was see a Cirque Du Soleil show, if you can afford to go see one DO IT! They are so great, everything about the show is a performance! We saw O at the Bellagio and it was fantastic! I have heard that all of them are great- my tip would be to look up the youtube trailers for the different shows and decide from there which one to attend. 

Another fun thing to do is go to a pool party! Demi and I were pretty satisfied with The Flamingo's pool but we ended up meeting people who were at a pool party at Tao Beach Club at The Venetian.

There were a lot of people and it was so fun. 

>> Other Tips! 

If you are driving to Las Vegas bring your own alcohol, if you are flying go to a liquor store off the strip and purchase your choice of beverages there. Drinks are not cheap in Vegas but you do not get in trouble for carrying a drink around outside. My suggestion is to take a drink to go, save money and drink responsibly :) 

Also buy groceries off the strip eating out; not that much saves a lot of money.

When you check into your hotel talk to the front desk and make sure there are no hidden fees. Make sure you see a run down of what you are being charged for and make sure you clarify exactly what you are being charged. 

Look into the shows inside your hotel- they can be affordable and fun! 

Go to happy hours to get drinks and food cheaper. 

Talk to people! We met so many other travelers and they were willing to give us advice and have just as good of a time with us. 

Don't take the weird naked cards from people on the street. 

Drink lots of water- with the heat it is so easy to get dehydrated.

Do as much as possible and have the time of your life!! 

Cheers!! 

Sierra 

hi. this is my first post about being awkward.

It seems to me that nowadays the term “I am awkward” is a glamorous saying. It seems like everyone has “that awkward moment” or ” oh my gosh… how awkward am I?” tagged all over their social media sites and it has been the cool thing to be for awhile now. Don’t get me wrong we are all a little weird and awkward so I am not belittling the awkwardness of one person or saying that I am more awkward than anyone, but when I say I am awkward I do not mean:
” Oh my gosh, I don’t have any make-up on how awkward”
” That guy just totally stared at me, how awkward”
” and like I was just holding my tampons and bread, how awkward”

I mean:
” I just loudly farted in front of my boyfriends brother, how awkward”
” I just walked into a conversation and laughed (sounding a lot like man/bear would sound if they just went HUH) as if I was involved in the conversation”
“I just went to that party and instead of trying to meet people, I just stand there and stare at people with a lip closed smile like I have a secret or I am plotting to stalk that person either way its weird– and the only problem is I NEVER KNOW WHEN I AM DOING IT– how awkward.”
A new friend will greet me l “Hey Sierra, I haven’t seen you in a long time” and I’ll quickly reply with a ” Oh I know, we should plan a date” but instead of that being a normal reply; I’ll sing that reply or revert to this automatic deep voice I use, I don’t know where it comes from it just happens.

so- for me, that awkward pause happens on the regular.

I do, however have some awesome friends that completely understand & embrace my social inadequacies. I also have an admired theatre that liked me enough to offer me a summer internship.
That is the reason I decided to start a blog; I want to be able to share my journey with myself if nobody reads this. Maybe a hopeless internet surfer will google the words “how to play it really cool at an internship” or “how to be sexy, fun, cute, mysterious all at the same time” and up pops this blog or another blog with successful tips on those topics. Whatever the case- I will have it. So, here’s to my first post. I want to go back and read these things and either be completely embarrassed of my 20 something self or go back and think I was blessed to be 20 something so carefree. Perhaps, someday I will look back on all the post and it will re-inspire me to travel or find myself– if I was to ever lose myself.

Cheers!

Sierra