Things You Should Think About Before Travelling

Travelling! An awesome way to spend the holidays and to see the world!! Do it, because I think there is hardly a better way to spend your life and broaden your horizon. But before going travelling you have to think about a few things! Since I love to travel I thought it might help if I wrote down some of points you might want to think about. 

Well the first and most obvious question is where do you want to travel to? Which will bring along the second question. What's your budget? Because depending on your budget it might be harder to reach travel destinations that are farther away or it might shorten the trip or you might have to skip something you might have liked to do. Whatever you want to do you will have to keep an eye on your money, if you are a millionaire than probably not but the rest of us usually has to ;)


Also something you might want to think about is what kind of holidays you want. Do you want to go on a roadtrip or backpacker trip or an all inclusive holiday? Or travel with a group where everything is planned and all you have to think about is what you want to eat? Depending on all these thing you have to think about different things. With some of these options you have to do next to no planning with others… you’ll have to think about a ton of things.

Roadtrip for example? Do you have someone travelling with you or do you want to go alone? Are you old enough to rent a car or camper? Can you drive a car or camper? Do you have the right insurance? Will it cover all eventualities? You have to know the rout you want to take, not a 100% but which places you want to visit and which is the most sensible order in which to visit them? You have to think about a budget on how much you can spend on the most on accommodations, food and so on per day. A good way to keep track of what you spend is to just write down your costs each evening and you will know if you have a little more money to spend the next day or if you have to keep a closer eye on it.

If you travel with someone else knowing your budgets is even more important because you depend on each other and what you want to do together. You both need enough money so you can travel together and can do a decent planning.

Also remember that if travel with a friend, you will spend pretty much 24/7 together during the holiday, so you should stay flexible and be ready to compromise if not it might become a little bumpy in your friendship during the trip.

Should you be travelling with someone you don’t know, like someone you meet through an online platform that helps you find a travelling companion, look for someone you feel comfortable with. Do you want someone with the same gender or is that unimportant to you? What age should that person be? And do you want to spend a holiday together doing similar things.

AND before travelling together you should meet, once for your own safety and second to see if you get along. Should you not be able to meet in person, try to Skype or something similar. And don’t give too much private information at the beginning, again for your own safety! Or like in my case, which I mentioned in the previous post, be sure you can travel alone should you not get along with your travelling companion.

The last point I’m going to mention is splitting the bills. When you travel with someone you sometimes split the bill when you go eating somewhere or when you do some sightseeing tours. Or when one of you rents a car or camper or maybe the gas for your car. If you travel for example with a good friend and he or she rents the car you can pay the gas till you payed your part of the car and then you take turns paying.

If you travel with someone you’re not so well acquatinted with try to pay your debt quickly by giving him or her the money cash or make a deal that you pay the money for the gas until you’re even. If you are the one who payed up front for something big you can consider to make a “contract” not a ten page contract but just a piece of paper where you write down what you payed for example the car and that your partner will pay you back by paying for gas till you’re even. And when you’re even just write when the debt was payed.

These were the most important things I can think of if I forgot something it will pop up in the following post somewhere ;)

I’ll just leave a list with the most important points down here:

-          Where do you want to travel to?

-          What’s your budget?

-          What kind of travel do you want to do?

-          Are there certain thinks that are a must do for you?

-          Do you travel alone?

-          If not with whom do you want to travel?

-          If you don’t know the person beforehand, meet before making any bookings!

-          Decide with your companion how you want to deal with bills that can’t be split right away, before starting your journey. Consider a “contract”

-          And last but definitely not least: Have fun planning your trip and love your journey!!!!

Love,

Dahlia

My USA Roadtrip - The Planning And Preparing

Well, actually I should be working on bachelor thesis, but for today I'm done!

So last year in September I did a two week trip to the east coast of the USA and visited San Francisco, Yosemite National Park, Death Valley, Las Vegas, Gran Canyon, Joshua Tree  Nationalpark, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and San Francisco again.

(c) stepmap.de  (This is not the route I travelled but pretty close)

Some places we (me and my travelling partner) just visited for  few hours at others we stayed for a day or two. But let's start at the beginning:

At the start of my semester holidays I realized I had a lot of free time on my hands because I didn't have anything to hand in or any exams and since I started studying I didn't travel much and only for a few days at a time.

Knowing I wanted to travel is one thing but now I had to find a place I want to travel to and someone who wants to travel there as well and had the time and the money to do so. Where I wanted to travel to I knew pretty quick either Australia and New Zealand or the USA. Finding a fellow traveler was not so easy, either my friends didn't want to travel or they didn't have the money or the time. What was I to do now?
I thought about travelling alone, but I would have prefered to have company.

Not too long ago I had heard about plattforms for people who are looking for travel companions and I thought this might be the solution! So I went and checked them out, some just seemed weired and untrustworthy but one seemed really good and I did some background checks. The website is reisepartner-gesucht.de. At first I just read the differen

t ads from people who where already looking for company for travels to Australia and America. I wrote to several of the people (The next post will be about the things you will have to think about and do before travelling)

Sometimes I didn't get answers and sometimes they already had partners or the timespan in which they wanted to travel changed or they couldn't travel for one reason or an other at all.  After reading and answering on ads I decided to place an ad myself. I shortly introduced myself and described what I had in mind for travelling.

I got a few answer but one didn't know what her budget was for travelling and after over a week she still didn't know it and I'm conviced she she didn't seriously look for a travel companion and these people are really annoying if you are searching for one. So if you aren't really looking for one don't put up ads or answer to them.
Someone else seemed to be a good travelling buddy but suddenly she remembered that she wanted to do a lot of partying and drinking and I wanted to do sightseeing and cultural things and it annoyed me that she remembered it after we had been talking and planning for over a week. And I started looking rather late for a fellow traveller and time was running out!

By chance I stumbled upon an ad which seemed to be fitting my idea of a holiday. She wanted to do a roadtrip on the US west coast with sightseeing and so on. We got into conntact and our plans where pretty similar. She already had a travel route worked out and a car booked, her fellow traveller couldn't make it, so she was looking for a new one.

We emailed regularly and talked via Skype without picture because she didn't have a got Wifi connection. Usually you should meet with a potential Travel partner or skype with picture so you get a feeling for the other person and can decide if you can get along. We couldn't do it for different reasons which is kind of dangerous, but I knew that if we shouldn't get along when we meet in San Francisco I would travel alone. That I could afford it.

                                (c) HI - San Francisco - City Center Hostel

When we decided we would travel together I booked my flight and a bed at the same hostel she had, she already had her tickets. We decided we would split the rent for the car and the gas as well as for the accommodations. The plan was that she payed for the car and I would pay for the accommodations and the the gas. At the beginning it worked but over time she sometimes payed. During our travelling we both always wrote down who payed what and how much. At the end we check what we both payed and we saw that she had payed more. She gave me her account information and when we were back home I transfered her the money I owed her.
Well that was more in the direction of what happend after our travelling together ;)

 Now let's get to the point of what I packed for the holiday. I knew I would buy a lot of clothes during the holiday so I didn't pack too much. One long pair pants another I wore during the flight and two short pairs, a handful of shirts and a warmer cardigan and a thin one, enough underwear for 14 days and a small and a large towel.

I had a small bottle for shampoo and shower gel, deo, a toothbrush and toothpaste and tampons for emergencies. Sunblocker I bought in the US because I forgot mine at home ;D
And of couse I took make up with me but only essentials, MAC Face&Body, concealer, blush, bronzer, an eyeshadow palette, lipstick and mascara.
I hardly wore any make up becasue I was on holiday and spend a lot of time in the car and I bought some things at Sephora, MAC stores and at drugstores.

Well I guess that's it concerning the planning and preparing for my roadtrip at the US west coast.

Oh and I had to do the Electronic System for Travel Authorization also called ESTA.

The next post is going to be about things you should pay attention to if you plan a holiday.

Till then, have a great time ;)

Same Sex Marriages In Ireland

So as most of you will have heared samesex marriages are now leagal in Ireland!!! Which I think is awesome!!!

 

I hope all the other countries in the world will follow soon!!

Ireland Rocks!!;)

Review Brush Phoenix by Kosmetik Kosmo

Well, I guess for most of you it’s the same when it comes to brush cleaning, on the one hand it’s a task that needs to be done on a regular basis, so we don’t run out of brushes and to get rid of all the bacteria and dead skin cells that tend to collect in the brushes. On the other hand I like cleaning my brushes because then I get all my favorite brushes back and they all look so clean… and while I clean them I can listen to my newest audio book :)

In another post here I compared two brush Cleansers, one being the MAC Brush Cleanser and the other being from KIKO. Today I will tell you about my current brush cleaning method… well it’s not really a method I just use another product and it’s the Brush Phoenix by Kosmetik Kosmo. Kosmetik Kosmos a German online shop for cosmetics with an own makeup brand with the same name, if you want to know more about it I already wrote about buying there and my experience here.

Brush Phoenix is a solid soap to clean your brushes and it has a really nice lemony scent to it. You get the soap in the shop for 8,99€ €. It has no metal container to put the soap in, but you can buy it extra (1,99€), which I did but I have to say that I didn’t like having to buy it extra, well at least when I bought my soap but now I can’t find it at the online shop anymore maybe they don’t have it anymore, because usually the metal boxes are included like when you buy a brush soap by Da Vinci (6,99€/40g).

But aside from that little fact I have to say I really like the product. It gets my brushes clean quickly, they smell good afterward, the bristles stay nice and soft and the bristles get a little water resistant like with the lotus effect, which is especially noticeable with my Real Techniques brushes. They dried quick before using this soap but with it they dry even faster, it takes them maybe 10 to 15 minutes to dry, the bigger brushes maybe a few more but not much.

How do I use the soap? That’s pretty simple I just wet my brushes a little and then swirl them in the soap to lather them up a little. Then I take my open palm and swirl the brush little on my hand so the soap gets to every bristle. At the end you just have to rinse the soap out really well, so no soap is left. If you have a denser brush like the Foundation brush by Real Techniques you may have to repeat it once or twice more and getting the soap out takes a little longer because of the density. 

I have to say I really like to clean my brushes this way because they don’t have stains from the blush or eyeshadow or any other product, the bristles are really clean. But I will try the da Vinci brush soap soon too, because there is not much left of my brush phoenix :)

Also I ordered the Clean Sir which you can also buy at the Kosmetik Kosmo shop and is a rubber matt with different surfaces to help you clean your brushes. You can use it instead of your hand ;) It’s like the glove by Sigma, which costs 32$ and the Clean Sir in contrast costs 11,99€ so it’s a lot cheaper and I thought I’ll try it especially because I usually have tons of brushes to clean because I normally wait till the very last brush to clean them and when I then use my hand it’s super wizen from all the water and soap… and I hate the feeling ;) 

I’ll let you guys know how my hopefully soon rubber friend works for me ;D

Love, Dahlia

Empty Products

Hey Guys,

today I’m going to show you the things I used up over the last weeks and tell you what I think about them.

As you can see I have used up several packs of makeup remover wipes. The first I ever tried were the ones from Synergen, which is the own brand of Rossmann, a drugstore. Because they were the first makeup wipes I ever used I thought they were great, they are without alcohol and are supposed to remove even waterproof makeup. I find they remove makeup well and don’t make the skin feel overly tight. But they don’t really moisturize your skin and when you wear waterproof mascara you have to rub a bit harder and I find that uncomfortable on my yes but it’s not too bad. So if you look for a inexpensive version of makeup wipes go for them;)

The next wipes are the CV Young Antibacterial Wipes. CV is the own brand of Müller, another drugstore. I have to say I really don’t like them. They are supposed to clean the skin pore deep, prevent impureness and should leave you with a pure, fresh skin. I have to say it did nothing of those things more like the opposite. I found the wipes really rough and my skin felt really tight after using them. Also during the times I used them my skin got really problematic, I can’t say with 100% guaranty that it’s from the wipes but in my brain the two things are connected. So I can’t really recommend these wipes.

The last wipes are from Neutrogena. I love these wipes. They take off the face makeup super easy and leave your skin feeling moisturized. They are not so good for removing eye makeup, but for the face they are great. I will have a more detailed post about them soon.

 

Next is another makeup removing product, it’s by L’Oreal the Hydra Active 3, which is supposed to be a dupe for the Bioderma Sensibio H₂O. I haven’t tried the Bioderma one but I still have to say that I don’t like the L’Oreal product because I didn’t have the feeling that it really took off the makeup. I had to use at least 3 cotton pads and rub my face with them like crazy… and I can tell you that was really uncomfortable. For my eyes I used something different because there it didn’t work at all. I totally can’t recommend it and will never buy it again.

Up next is the Tea Tree Blackhead Exfoliatingwash by The Body Shop. I didn’t see that it reduced my blackheads but after using it I had the feeling that my skin was smoother and that I had in general a better skin, not incredibly much better but better... I hope the explanation was understandable ;) I have another face scrub by the same range that I really like but I will tell you guys about it in another 

post;)

From the same range I also used up the Tea Tree Skin Clearing Toner. To use it you have to shake it first because it separates if you don’t use it. My skin always felt really clear and dry after using it which is nice but on some days it felt a little too dry, but I still liked to use. I haven’t repurchased it because I liked it but I think there are better and different products out there, which I really want to 

try.

Another face product is also by The Body Shop it’s the Vitamin E intense moisture cream. This is the second pot I have and I have to say that the first one I really liked, it got absorbed super quick and easy and my skin felt super moisturized afterward. But the second pot was nothing of that, it took some time to sink into the skin and it did leave something like a thin wax layer, which I absolutely don’t like. Also I find it moisturizing. So I have mixed feelings about this product and for the prize I don’t think I will repurchase it.

 Now we come to the last product from The Body Shop in this post and the product is a shower gel in Vanilla Bliss which I think is actually a winter edition. I love this smell. My skin felt good afterward and the smell was just divine. I am definitely going to repurchase this when they have it back in store.

There are a lot of discussions going on about the next product, it’s deodorant. The discussion is about aluminum salts, because as far as I know they are rumored to be cancer-causing, but so far this fact has not been proven (if you know otherwise please leave a comment ;)). I used up the Nivea invisible for black and white. I like it because I don’t feel like I get smelly at all and it lasted all day and it didn’t leave these white stripes when you put on a darker shirt. I still have a bottle of this deodorant left but I’m also trying ones without aluminum, but the ones I tried smell horrible and all day but there are ones without smell I’ll buy when the ones I have are empty. I gave the aluminum free ones to my mother because she has the problem that her axles where super itchy and after the first time she used the aluminum free one it stopped. So if you have the same problem and use deodorant with aluminum salts try one without it and that could help you.

Also I used up an Herbal Essences Moisturizing Shampoo. I’ve talked about it before and told you that I love the brand and especially this shampoo. I can only recommend it ;)

The last two products are by Maybelline one is the Fit Me Concealer in 10. I like it, it has a good coverage and is easy to blend, also it stays on really well. What I don’t like is that in Germany the colour range is really really small, we have like six colours, maybe one more or less, I’m not sure. Also 10 is a little too dark for me, not by much but still a little.

The other is the Eyestudio Lasting Drame 24H Gel Eyeliner. I did really like it, it was opaque, lasted a good long time. But on the downside it dried up rather quick and for the prize and the amount of product I wasn’t overly impressed with it.

And here the prizes of the products mentioned:

-        Synergen makeup wipes à about 1€

-        CV Young Antibacterial Wipesà about 1€

-         Neutrogena makeup wipes à 3-4€

-         L’Oreal the Hydra Active 3 à3,95€

-        Tea Tree Blackhead Exfoliatingwash à can’t find a price

-        Tea Tree Skin Clearing Toner à 7€

-        Vitamin E intense moisture cream à 16€

-        Shower gel in Vanilla Bliss I got a small sample bottle but 60ml bottle 2,50€ and 250ml à 7€

       Herbal Essences Moisturizing Shampoo about 3€

Nivea invisible for black and whiteFit Me Concealer in 10 à 5-7€

-         Eyestudio Lasting Drame 24H Gel Eyeliner à 8-9€

I hope this empty post helped you all when you are looking for some new products.

Have a great day everyone

Your Dahlia