Posts by Ariane
Census day in Bolivia
After one week in Cochabamba and two days in the apartment we’ve just rent for one month, we experienced a census day in Bolivia. This is the first one after 11 years and for that, the government took some special measures… Of course as foreigners we didn’t know anything about that event until the guy from who we rented the flat came yesterday at 7.30 pm with the land lord to introduce us to her, and told us that we could’t go out tomorrow! They explained that in order to count the people, the government imposed a curfew from 12 tonight until 6 pm tomorrow…They suggested that we bought some food if we didn’t have some and anything...
Read MoreVegetarian Food in Egypt
Find out what kind of food you can eat as a vegetarian or a vegan in Egypt, learn the name of the famous vegetarian dishes and see what suits you. As a vegetarian, I know how it can sometimes be difficult to find food without meat while traveling. And because I lived in Egypt for 15 years, I thought I would share what I know about Egyptian food—what you can find and eat. Sandwiches: The very good news is that vegetarians (and even vegans) don’t have to worry much in Egypt, as the main and most popular dish is a vegetarian dish!!! You will find “fool wa ta’meyyaa (Egyptian name for falafels)” everywhere. The “fool” is not someone crazy...
Read MoreGetting a Yellow Fever Vaccination in La Paz
Summary: This is how we got our free yellow fever vaccine in La Paz, Bolivia. Details and directions are provided at the end of this post. * 1$=6.95 BoB “Bolivianos” (2012) As a French citizen, entering Bolivia was piece of cake. I wasn’t asked for anything—neither a visa or a certificate of vaccination. Bassel, on the other hand (and because of his Syrian passport) was asked for a visa, which he obtained at the Bolivian embassy in Ottawa Canada. In order to get the visa, he had to bring a proof of his yellow fever vaccination (which he did). The cheapest yellow fever vaccine in Toronto was $160 at that time (price as of June 2012). At first we...
Read MoreOur long & tiring flight to Bolivia…
In our way to Bolivia, we had a very tiring day and for that we thought to share our experience as a result of buying cheap plane tickets! Disclaimer: We are not against buying cheap tickets, but sometimes this can lead to tiring experience and this post will set your expectations prior to any plans you make. The story started when we bought our round trip tickets from Los Angeles to La Paz, to Guayaquil, and finally to Madrid. We booked with Taca Airlines and our first leg included 2 stops. It took us 3 hours to pack our stuff (I don’t know why but when you stay a long time somewhere, you tend to spread what’s in your backpacks like everywhere!), we left...
Read MoreUSA Summary: Our Observations & Experiences!
As we are about to leave the States after two and a half months in which we visited six states and nine cities, we thought it would be a good time to write a summary about the country and it’s different aspects. First, we would like to say that in general we liked the country very much. Coming from Canada, we didn’t experience a very strong culture shock, as a lot of things are very similar. So here are our feelings about the country presented under different topics. Nature Although we didn’t spend much time in nature, I can say that nature is everywhere here—even in cities. Everywhere we went we could enjoyparks, lakes and forests. I was amazed by the...
Read MoreThings to Do in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles is the city where we stayed the longest—although we didn’t stay in Los Angeles itself, but at Mission Viejo, which is an hour and a half driving from L.A. We could go to downtown as often as we wanted, however, as Bassel’s uncle works there. We always feel in our element when we are in the heart of a city, and L.A is a very nice city to walk around. What Can You Do for Free in L.A.? First of all there is the famous Hollywood Boulevard, where you can spend hours just walking and looking for the star of your favorite celebrity. The boulevard is very long, so you can spend easily the afternoon there. Not free, but Very Fun! Wax museum . You can buy...
Read MoreHow to Visit Vegas with a Tight Budget and no Gambling
We spent one week in Las Vegas. I must say that I didn’t want to visit Las Vegas (Basel did), but as everyone in Los Angeles kept telling us that the city was nice and worth seeing, I started to change my mind. At first we stayed 20 minutes outside of downtown, but our Couch Surfing host took us to The Strip as often as we wanted. Free Things to Do in Las Vegas As everyone knows by now, we don’t have money to spend on expensive tours or museums, so basically what we did was walk (a lot) along the Strip and visit the hotels (which are all very beautiful—that’s what is worth seeing in Vegas). We didn’t gamble (neither of us tried any games), so we...
Read MoreLaura Ingalls Wilder Museum, Walnut Grove.
The only reason we went to Minnesota was for me to visit the Laura Ingalls Wilder museum, as I am a big fan of the TV series The Little House On The Prairie. So this was a dream for me. How to go to Walnut Grove: To get there, we had first to go to the closest big city, which are the twin cities Minneapolis and St. Paul. We stayed in St. Paul for a week, and we won’t post anything about those two cities because we didn’t do anything there. So, back to Walnut Grove! It was not easy to get there at all! We don’t drive, so we couldn’t rent a car, and there are no buses from Minneapolis to Walnut Grove. The closest city you can reach by bus is...
Read MoreFree Things to Do in Madison
We stayed in Madison for only two nights. This wasn’t planned in our trip, but after being there we thought we could have spent at least one week in the city! We arrived on the day of a football match, and almost everyone in the city was wearing red a red t-shirt (I think they call them the Badgers?). It was awesome! We did nothing our first day. Madison is not a very big city, but it’s very nice and there is a lot of energy, as most of the people are young. The city itself is very nice to walk around. The second day we stayed downtown and walked around the Capitol, and then went to the Monona Terrace. We had a very nice sunset coming back from a fair with...
Read MoreChicago—What to Do?
We had our first Couchsurfing experience in Chicago. What is Couchsurfing? It is a community that helps you to communicate with different people from various countries. Through Couchsurfing, you can either host travelers from around the world or stay at locals’ places for a few days while you are traveling. This is a great way to meet people from different cultures and backgrounds, make friends and learn about the local lifestyle in the place you’re visiting. The first place we stayed at was quite far from downtown Chicago (Northern Chicago), but close to Indian and Pakistani communities.. Free Things We Did in Chicago: The day of our arrival, our host Jerry...
Read MoreWho we are?
Bassel & Ariane, a couple who quit their jobs to realize their dream "traveling around the world". This travel website is our way to share with you the amazing adventures we have had, with the goal of helping to make your own travels more enjoyable.
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