Travel | Artsy Teen

7 Types of Tourists

Posted on July 31, 2016 by maya

How are you guys? It’s been a while! For the last two weeks my friend and I have been traveling around Europe and it was amazing. First we visited South Tyrol in Italy, then we spent a few days in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, and finally we stayed in the city of Munich in Germany. You guys know I love travelling and whenever I’m abroad, I find that there are some types of people that I always see. These tourists include, but are not limited to, the following:

The paparazzi

I have to start out with one of the classics. Probably the most recognisable tourist stereotype, the paparazzi often move in packs, armed with enormous cameras and selfie sticks. And you always know when the paparazzi have arrived because all of a sudden you’ll see a bolt of lightning but then realise it’s just the flash on their cameras. Really, it’s a bit annoying. I mean, I understand wanting take a few pictures to remember the trip, in fact I always have my camera with me when I’m away, but if you’ve turned this museum exhibition into a photo shoot you need to stop.

The backpackers

As the name suggests, these types of tourists can be identified by the enormous hiking backpack on their back. Usually these people are young, pretty broke and looking to have an adventure. And I know that these people have memorable experiences because my Dad went interrailing around Europe like 20 years ago and I’m still hearing stories about it.

The Foodie

This is the person who went on holiday for one reason and one reason only: food. And can I just say that I fully respect this decision and this stereotype is heavily based upon my own character. Seriously, when I go abroad all my money’s spent on trying local dishes and going to restaurants. In fact, every single outing I go on will ultimately end up with me eating. Going to the beach? Time to enjoy some ice cream. Visiting the city centre? More like spend two hours at the food market. I won’t even buy souvenirs to bring home, I’ll just buy more food 🙂 .

The Honeymooners

Don’t even get me started on these two. This is the couple that will turn any place they go to – a park, a beach, a restaurant -into the set of Romeo and Juliet. If I wanted to see a romantic teenage drama, I would’ve have stayed home and watched the Fault In Our Stars. But I don’t, so please could you and your “significant other” go giggle and hold hands somewhere else and stop ruining my view.

The Valentino Vacationer

These types of tourists are a lot like the ‘backpackers’ I mentioned earlier. Except that instead of backpacks, they have prada suitcases and instead of hiking boots, they’re wearing stilettos. These are the type of people you see staying at those 5 star hotels and eating at fancy restaurants while you’re in those touristy souvenir shops trying to find the best value post cards (because if I pay 90c for a post card, and then see the same one being sold somewhere else for 60c, that’s enough to ruin my whole trip).

The “local”

Last week I was on a train in Italy and sitting behind me was this blond American who spent the entire journey talking on his phone (the fact that he was blond is completely irrelevant, but you know some description just adds to the narrative ;)). Now I’m not one to eavesdrop but this guy honestly had the loudest voice and so I was forced to spend two hours listening to Blondie brag about his many traveling exploits, talking about all these countries he’d visited as if he’d lived there his whole life. And honestly these people are so annoying because they will act like they know everything about every country in the world, just because they’ve done a bit of traveling. You know the type.They’ll correct your pronunciation of a foreign word, even though they don’t speak the language themselves. Or they’ll act like a tour guide even if they’ve never been to the place before. And if you’re thinking ‘hey, I don’t know anyone like that’, you are that person.

The Lost Puppy

You will usually see this tourist wandering around holding a map upside down and looking extremely confused. They’re most likely first time travelers and are always asking people around them for directions. Also this person is 100% me ;).

. . .

Well, that’s all I have for you guys today! I’m so sorry my posting schedule has been all over the place while I was travelling, but now that I’m back I promise everything will go back to normal. Let me know in the comments below what type of tourist you are or if you can think of any other types of tourists. Also, don’t forget to like and share this post if you enjoyed reading it, which I hope you did!

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The Ultimate Summer Bucket List

Posted on June 6, 2016 by maya

How are you guys? I know, it’s been a while I’m so sorry I haven’t posted in ages – I’ve had exams and bad wi-fi connection over the past few weeks, which really aren’t the best combination for blogging. But excuses aside, I am now off school for the next few months which means I can at last focus on my blog again! I’ve got tons of exciting posts planned for you guys this summer, and I’m kicking things off with the ultimate holiday bucket list!

I don’t know about you, but every year I have so many amazing plans for the holidays and then before I know it, summer’s over and all I’ve accomplished is spending three months binge watching Netflix. But this year, I’m determined to be productive, try new things and visit new places (ok, and maybe binge watch Netflix just a little). Let me know in the comments below what plans you have for the holidays and if you have an recommendations for a good TV series I can get addicted to over the summer. Now, without further ado, here’s 20 ways to have the best summer ever 🙂

1. Have a Campfire/BBQ

Nothing screams ‘summertime’ more than having a barbecue with your neighbours (I’m pretty sure they only do that in movies, but who knows) or roasting smores over a campfire. Just make sure you don’t burn your house down!

2. Have a picnic on the beach

I’m pretty sure it’s an unspoken law that you have to go the beach at least once during the summer – or if you don’t live near the coast, a pool or lake or something. Either way, having a picnic by the sea with some friends and family is an inexpensive outing that is always fun and memorable!

3. Travel the world!

Whether you’re flying abroad or going on a roadtrip with some friends, discovering new places is an essential part of summer time. This year, I saved up to go with some friends on a trip to Germany, Italy and Slovenia – I can’t wait!

4. Embrace your inner bookworm

I’m not saying that everyone loves reading, I’m just saying that if you don’t you need to reevaluate your life choices. I used to be an avid reader, but recently I’ve noticed I haven’t been reading enough. This summer, I plan to raid the library and get back into the joys of literature!

5. Bake some cookies

Well, not necessarily cookies – any food will do (though if you are a cookie fan, make sure to check out my super easy Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe 😉 ). If you guys like cooking/baking as much as I do, I’m sure you also have a few recipes that you’ve always wanted to try out, but have never been brave enough to! Well, let’s make this the summer where we face our culinary fears and attempt to cook those complicated recipes.

6. Go to a concert

Concerts and music festivals are always something I want to do over the summer, but never get around to attending (usually because I’m broke). But for the first time, this year my friend and I are going to see Beyoncé perform live up in Dublin on July 9th, which will no doubt be amazing!

7. Get crafty!

You guys know I “get crafty” all year long, but in my mind three months of holidays is just an excuse to spend even more time diy-ing! I got this tie dye kit for Christmas (like two years ago) and I’m definitely going to be trying it out this summer.

8. Learn a new skill

Summer is the perfect time to learn new skills, whether that’s trying out a new sport for all you strange athletic people, learning how to drive or taking up an unusual hobby. Personally, I’m going to look into taking part in a photography course this year.

9. Eat ice cream

Forget Romeo and Juliet‘s love story. A few years ago I went on holidays to Florence, Italy and tried gelatos. I have loved ice cream ever since.

10. Dye your hair

Admit it – you’ve always secretly wanted to dye your hair some crazy colour. Well, I think this is the year that you should woman up and do it (just ask your parents first). I tried getting a purple ombré look last year, though instead of the vibrant, violet locks I’d hoped for I was left with was half of my hair having a barely noticeable maroon-y tint. This year, I think I might just go for some highlights. If you don’t want to damage your hair, colourful extensions are a good alternative too.

11. Make a smoothie

Or get someone else to make you a smoothie. Either way, summer is the perfect time for cold, fruity drinks and smoothies are way healthier than a can of coke.

12. Have a movie night

Instead of spending money on overpriced popcorn and tickets at the cinema, invite a couple of your girls over to spend the night. Just open up Netflix, grab some snacks and let the movie marathon begin!

13. Celebrate an obscure holiday

Everyday of the year is dedicated to a different, unusual holiday and most of them you’ve never even heard of! So this summer, why not research a few ‘obscure’ holidays , choose one (preferably the most bizarre) to celebrate and go all out. Personally, I love any excuse to celebrate, so I’m definitely going to be trying this out. I mean, when something as wonderful as ‘corn on the cob day’ exists, how could you not celebrate it?

14. Take photos

Now I’m not saying act like one of those infuriating tourists who just take pictures of everything, but I do think its really nice to take few photos to keep as souvenirs. At the end of the summer, you can even put together a little scrap book.

15. Learn Origami

Cause I mean, why not? It’s such an underrated art these days.

16. Have a henna tattoo party

A fun way to spend an afternoon is to invite a few friends over and give eachother henna tattoos. For those of you who don’t know, henna is a plant-based dye that is used in various Cultures (notably in India) as a sort of temporary body tattoo. Now, it’s starting to become a trend around the world! You guys can check out my step by step Henna Tutorial to learn the basics.

17. Play a board game

As a kid, I used to play board games all the time with my brothers and things would get pretty competitive! This summer, I think I’ll spend a little time reminding my family that I’m still the undisputed Champion of All Board Games ;).

18. Focus on a project

During the rest of the year, there’s so much going on that sometimes we tend to avoid getting involved in big projects. Summer’s the perfect time to really focus on a larger task that’s a bit time consuming. As I said, this year I want to dedicate a lot of time to blogging and also to working on my portfolio for art college (by the way, if any of you are making/ have made a porfolio, please leave any tips in the comments below! They’d be much appreciated).

19. Be Spontaneous

When I’m at school, my life tends to become a routine and the weekdays all start to blur into one. Even though it can be nice to have a plan, it’s also fun to just be a little spontaneous once in awhile, like randomly going out to lunch with your friends or suddenly deciding to visit somewhere new!

20. Watch a sunset/sunrise

Even a cynic like me can appreciate a beautiful sunset or sunrise. Hopefully I’ll see one this summer (if I manage to wake up early enough) and maybe even take some nice photographs!

all photos are courtesy of http://www.pixabay.com

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My Holiday in la France!

Posted on May 18, 2016 by maya

So as some of you probably know already, I recently(-ish) spent ten days in la belle France, which is why my posting schedule has been a bit all over the place lately. I say recently-ish because I actually came back about a month ago (and I also just love massacring the English language with my made up words 😉 ).

Anyway, I was meant to post this ages ago, but only just got around to writing it this week. I know what you’re thinking… “How is some sixteen year old who spends

Here’s a not-so-accurate-but-good-enough-to-give-you-a-vague-idea map of where Navarrenx is.

most of her time surfing the internet sooo busy?” And the answer to that is: I’m not. I just love to procrastinate. Also, it’s likely that you weren’t thinking that at all, but in my mind everyone else is as judgmental as I am.

Moving on… my travels abroad! Back in 2010, my family and I moved to a little medieval village called Navarrenx in the South-West of France. We lived there for a few years, and moved back to Ireland two summers ago. As we hadn’t returned since, we thought we’d make a trip down, enjoy the sunny weather, eat some baguettes and see how the old town was doing.

Enormous stone ramparts built hundreds of years ago surround the village.

Now I’m going to skip over the whole taking-the-plane-slash-renting-a-car part of this trip, but being the pessimist that I am, I did write a whole post about the 10 Things I Hate About Travelling, where I outline the more tedious aspects of travelling in detail. We arrived in Navarrenx on a slightly-overcast Tuesday afternoon. Despite the weather, it’s hard not to be impressed by the 16th century Ramparts that greet you upon your arrival. The town has about 1000 inhabitants and was recently named one of the ‘Plus Beaux Villages de France‘ (i.e. one of the most beautiful villages of France). Navarrenx’s 500 year old stone houses with pointy roofs and shuttered windows certainly don’t disappoint the “quaint french town” stereotype.

Of course, the first thing we did after entering the village was head straight to Carrefour Express – the local supermaket – and buy cheese, baguettes and a personal favourite of mine, cigarettes russes (which literally translates to Russian Cigarettes, but are really just super tasty tuile biscuits).

The next day, like every Wednesday since the 1800s, was Market Day. The Marché is held in the town square next to the Mairie (the town hall) and church, where farmers and artisans from around the area come to sell their goods. Now in general, Navarrenx is a pretty quiet village – and I’m talking ‘they could shoot a zombie movie there’ quiet – but Market days are the one time people make the effort to come out and support the local produce.

You can find everything at the market from seasonal fruit and veg to cheese, jewelery and woodwork. There’s also the ever popular poissonier, a.k.a. the fishmonger. Let’s just say the aroma of his stand really adds to the ambiance in the town square

Now one of the things that takes some getting used to in France – especially inthe countryside – is that businesses have very specific opening hours. Shops have half days on Sundays, are closed on Mondays and have a ‘lunch break’ from 12am-4pm for the rest of the week. Naturally, it’s always a disappointment when you run out of bread for lunch and realise its 12:01am. Luckily, since I’ve left, the Navarrenxians come up with a solution to this problem; vending machines. And not just any vending machines. A pizza vending machine and of course, a baguette vending machine (we are in France after all) serving fresh bread all day long. How great is that?

The amazing ‘Pizza des Remparts’ vending machine, Ladies and Gentlemen. Fresh Pizza 24/7. Though it is to be noted that you do have to idiotically stand outside the machine for 3 minutes before actually getting each pizza. After the fourth pizza you start to get a bit board.

On Friday, I went to get my hair cut Chez Gizelle, the hairdressers I used to go to when I lived in France. One thing you learn when living in a French village is that there are two businesses that are always incredibly successful and that’s hair salons and pharmacies. I mean if the French President announced that the world was ending, I guarantee that half of the population would go to the pharmacy and quickly purchase as many medicines as possible, while the other half would head to the hair salon to make sure they looked a la mode for the apocalypse. The tiny village of Navarrenx alone has three hair salons and three pharmacies – and they’re always packed. Another, lesser known fact outside of France is that hairdressers are in fact secret intelligence agencies – or in other words, the rendez-vous spot of every gossip within a five mile radius. Seriously, you go in there wanting to get a hair cut and come out knowing that the photographer has a gambling problem, the baker used to work for the C.I.A. and that the mademoiselle across the street may or may not be related to the Queen of England.

The Pyrenees Mountains (my photography definitely doesn’t do them justice, but hopefully it gives you an idea of how impressive they look)

After spending a few days in the quiet village, I decided to meet up with one of my french friends and take a trip up to the nearest city, Pau. Unlike Navarrenx, the old streets of Pau were filled with people. We walked along the Boulevard des Pyrénées, where as you can guess, we had a great view of the Pyrenees. The mountains were still covered in snow, and my dad and brothers actually went up skiing one weekend during our stay (I didn’t because I tend to avoid doing any form of physical activity). We then walked passed the impressive chateau of King Henri IV and around the city centre. The weather was lovely and my friend brought me to what was apparently rumoured to be the best ice cream place in town (a.k.a. an ice cream van in the town square). To be fair, she wasn’t completely exaggerating – I bought a litchi, rose and raspberry flavoured sorbet, and she bought a licorice flavoured ice-cream – both were pretty delicious 🙂

So all in all, I have to say the trip was a success. I think because I’d already lived in France so long, the holiday didn’t really have that ‘wow’ factor that comes with discovering someplace new. But I got to see old friends, eat croissants everyday and binge-watch french Netflix, which of course is the really important thing to do when on holiday abroad. In retrospect, it probably would have been a smarter idea to go during the summer time when the local swimming pool’s open and its a bit busier, so remember that if you plan on visiting that part of France. Still, it was a really nice break!

I love traveling and it’s something I really wanted to try and include in my blog as much as possible. Are you guys planning any exciting trips away? Let me know what you guys thought of my first Artsy.Teen.Travels post in the comments below!

10 Things I HATE about Traveling

Posted on April 17, 2016 by maya

I hope you’ve all been enjoying your weekend! I’ve actually just come back from a ten-day holiday in la belle France which was a lot of fun (comment down below if you’d like me to do a post about my stay there 🙂 ). I love visiting new places, but let’s be honest… there are some things about traveling that everyone hates. So, without further ado, here’s my list of 10 things I hate about traveling. Enjoy!

Packing

Now I don’t know about you, but every single time I travel I wait until the night before my flight to pack my suitcase. And we both know that’s it’s not just a simple matter of packing my suitcase. Oh no. First I have to google the weather forecast to make sure that I’m bringing appropriate clothing, then I have to spend ages coordinating outfits because for some reason whenever I go abroad I turn into some big fashionista. After that, I have to put all my stupid little toiletries into little zip log bags and make sure I still have enough place in my bag to bring souvenirs back with me.

Security

I think it’s safe to say that I’m one of the least rebellious people in the world. I follow rules, I do my homework, I don’t even play those violent video games that my brother loves so much. So why is it that whenever I’m going through airport security I’m convinced that I’ve magically turned into a convicted criminal? Everyone else is calmly putting their electronics and shampoo on the conveyor-belt-thing and I’m over here freaking out that they’re going to find a load of explosives in my backpack.

Blocked ears

There are three things that really annoy me in life; empty toothpaste tubes, mosquito bites and blocked ears. And I don’t care what people say – ‘eat chewing gum’ or ‘hold your breath’ – because as soon as that plane takes off, my ears will get blocked and I will be half deaf for the next three days.

Showers

It’s my firm belief that the UN should come up with some sort of universal shower regulations because I just give up. Every time I use a new shower it takes me 5-6 working days to figure out how to turn the thing on and then another week to learn how to adjust the damn temperature.

Time zones

Ah… time zones a.k.a. the reason I’m waking up at 2 a.m. every morning. But really jet lag doesn’t even bother me that much. What bother’s me is that for my entire vacation I have no clue what time of the day it is because half of my electronic devices have changed time automatically while the other half’s still 4 hours behind. And as for my watch, I would rather calculate what time it is for my entire holiday because I’m just too lazy to manually change the hour.

Wi-Fi

It’s a well known scientific fact that today’s generation of living organisms need Wi-Fi to survive (and yes, nowadays plants do have laptops). So believe me when I say the struggle to connect to wi-fi in a new place is a serious one. How else can I send photos to my friends and make them jealous? I mean I could be camping in the middle of the Sahara desert and I would still be asking the camels for the Wi-Fi code.

Google

You know that thing when you go abroad, look something up on the internet and discover that you can no longer read English? But then you realise that google does that annoying thing where it automatically switches to the countries google and everything’s in Mandarin Chinese? Actually, I’ve never been to China so that might not even be true, but you know what I mean!

Family Road Trips

I come from a pretty big family, so any kind of travel is a bit of an ordeal. But a few years ago, my family decided to drive 15 hours from France to Italy and can I just say memories of that road trip still haunt me at night. Seriously, I have no idea how we didn’t all kill each other.

Different Currencies

Despite the fact that I’ve spent a pretty high percentage of my life studying maths, I still suck at currency conversion. I went to London on a school trip one year and I still have no idea how much money I spent over there. Actually, thinking back on it every single shop keeper I met probably ripped me off and I didn’t realise it.

Plane food

You know in Harry Potter 4 when they have the Triwizard Tournament and the champions have to compete in three deadly challenges? Yeah, well one of those challenges should have been who can eat the most plane food because I swear that stuff is lethal. Forget dragons, try finishing a plate of congealed stew and cold rice Harry!

…

Well, that’s it for today! Can you guys relate or am I just insanely negative? Let me know in the comments if I forgot any other irritating aspects of travel and have a great week!

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