4 Young Adult Books for Travellers

When I was growing up, I was always looking for kids in books who knew airports & passports & travel as well as I did. But there was a dearth of kid travellers, unless you count Laura Ingalls Wilder, who I guess technically traveled all the time.

I found a few, & I loved them. Now there seems to be a trip-to-Europe trend in YA novels, which is kind of great. Just One Day, 13 Little Blue Envelopes, & The Fault in Our Stars all feature a teenage protaganist (or two) that fly off to Europe at some point.

Here are 4 of my favourite YA novels for travellers.

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight
by Jennifer E. Smith

I found The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight last summer, & I loved it more than I really expected to because: travel! teenage protaganist! airplane to London! This kind of book did not exist when I was a teenage protagonist traveling on airplanes to London, & I would have loved it.

Bloomability
by Sharon Creech

Bloomability is about a girl named Dinnie who lives with her "semi-nomadic family*" & whose dad is "transiently employed.*" I feel you, Dinnie. Also, she ends up at an awesome boarding school in Switzerland, a country that I love.

Betsy & the Great World
by Maud Hart Lovelace

I have read Betsy & the Great World nearly every year since I discovered it in high school. Betsy sails away on a ship to Europe after graduating & ends up discovering Venice, Munich, London, & even an exotic island in the middle of the Atlantic. It's a simple story, but one of my favourites of all time.

Anna & the French Kiss
by Stephanie Perkins

Anna moves, against her will, to a boarding school in Paris, where her world is expanded & she falls in love with a great British boy. The end.

Bonus Young Adult Book for Travelers:
The Impossible Knife of Memory 
by Laurie Halse Anderson

The Impossible Knife of Memory doesn't fit this jet-off-to-Europe list BUT it's a great book for teenagers who travel a lot. Hayley is an army kid & this book really deals with some of the crazy ways that affects her & her family. 

*Thank you for that, Wikipedia.

those books in that suitcase came from here

London Places: Covent Garden

Covent Garden is quite possibly my favourite place in London.



It might seem like a bit of an odd choice, given all the museums, palaces, & so many other amazing places that there are to see in London.



Covent Garden is basically a square with a market & lots of little shops & restaurants.

Oh, & it's also where Eliza Doolittle sold her flowers in My Fair Lady.

For me it's one of the quintessential London-y places I can't wait to visit when I'm there.



There's good British food to be had, including a Jamie Oliver restaurant that opened last year.





Or you can just bring your own sandwiches in ziplocs, like we did.







Jenny & I grew up traveling around Europe, so Covent Garden feels kind of like home.

There are few places we would rather be than sitting in a square in Europe.





We were pretty content hanging out there in the chilly London sunshine.







Covent Garden also has fun shopping. There's a Paperchase, little toy shops, good coffee & more.

Our favourite is the London Transport Museum Gift Shop.

They have tons of London books, postcards, magnets, & just general British awesomeness.

This guy is usually there too. Doesn't he kind of look like he belongs in Gringotts?

Covent Garden really is one of our favourite spots in London.

(It's also within walking distance of Persephone Books.)

We were two happy girls that day.

I hope you get to visit Covent Garden sometime. xx

linked with A Compass Rose

3 Tips for Living with Wanderlust

I grew up on the move.

While I spent most of my childhood living in one house in one town, my whole family spent every summer traveling around Europe in tents with a team of teenagers.

So while I generally crave stability & a home base that stays in one spot, I also can't quite keep still. I always want a bit of movement.

I think that's what they call wanderlust.

In my experience, wanderlust can not be cured. But it can be lived with. It's taken me years to learn how to both stay put & to wander well. And hopefully to remain a sane & semi-balanced person through it all. Here are a few tips that can help you live with wanderlust:

1. Remember the places you've been.

There have been stages when I tried to shut out the wander-y part of me, in favour of a stable life, or maybe in an attempt to look "normal." But ignoring this side of me has never worked.

Even if you are staying put for a while (or forever!) try to integrate your crazy travel experiences into your regular life. For me, this means having pictures around, using the souvenirs I've collected, & actually talking about the places I've been & the things I've done & seen.

It won't replace actually going on trips & being new places. But it helps.

2. Explore the place you live now.

Travel isn't just about exotic places & foreign languages. It's also about curiosity.

Find the things a tourist might find in your city or hometown. Find a way to be curious about the life that's right in front of you.

3. Cross a border, even if you have to invent it.

This is the magic trick I've discovered, that helps me to live with wanderlust & remain a semi-stable person. Cross a border, even if you have to invent it.

Every week, I go someplace that is not where I live. If I'm living in a small town, I travel to a slightly bigger town. If I'm living in the city, I spend a few hours in the suburbs. Go somewhere as different as possible from the place you spend the majority of your time.

It's a weird trick. But I'm not kidding -- for me it's been revolutionary. I GO for a few hours, & I come back to my regular life refreshed. When I skip a week, I can tell.

Part of the habit of travel is not so much that the places we visit are particularly exotic or so much more fabulous then anywhere else. It's the change, the habit of variety.

The routine of leaving the place you live & crossing a border - even if it's just to wander a mall in the suburbs - meets that need for variety & stimulates the part of you that usually lays dormant without travel.

It's not the same as jetting off to Paris for the weekend. And it certainly won't "cure" you of wanderlust. But for me it does the trick.

I'm always looking for ways to live better with my intrinsic wanderlust.

Any tips that work for you?

Wanderlust picture

Minneapolis Road Trip

I love roadtrips and this weekend Daniel & I got to go on one of my favourites - a trip to Minneapolis. I lived in Minnesota for six years during junior high & high school, and every time I go back to visit, I am tempted to move back!

We drove up for the wedding of two good friends, Jason & Betsy, and had such a fun weekend! Lots of coffee, road trip snacks, and time with some of my favourite people.

Minneapolis is beautiful in the fall, and we soaked in the fall colours, fresh air, and lake views.

I got to introduce Daniel to some of my favourite Minneapolis places - Lake Harriet, Linden Hills, and Dunn Bros Coffee.

We had so much fun celebrating at our friends' wedding, and can't wait for our next trip back to Minneapolis!

London Places: Kensington Palace

Kensington Palace is famous for being the home of Princess Diana.

And of course it's the new London home of Wills, Kate & baby Prince George.

It also has an epic garden. Oh, & it was the birthplace of Queen Victoria.

Jenny & I got to visit last year. It was one of my favourite things we did while we were bashing around London.

We kept our eyes open for Kate & Lupo while we were there, but they must have been in Wales that day.

It was typical drizzly grey London weather, but check out those flowers.

While we were at Kensington Palace there was a special display about Queen Victoria, which walked through her whole life.

Love affair with Albert, throne by age 18, nine kids, years of grief & seclusion, England's beloved monarch, etcetera. It was awesome.

Kensington Palace also has a few of Princess Diana's dresses. And Princess Diana wallpaper, naturally.

And here's the gate where everyone laid flowers & cards back in 1997 when Diana died.

I'd say Kensington Palace is totally worth the cost of admission.

And not a bad London home for Prince George.

Starved Rock Camping Trip

A few weekends ago, before the weather got cold, Daniel & I went on a fun camping trip. When we first started dating, we went to Starved Rock State Park with a group from church, so we were excited to go back this year.

We camped in a little spot in the woods and had fun walking around and seeing the other camper's sites. Starved Rock is about three hours from Chicago, and people are pretty serious about camping here: pop-up campers, picnic bench tablecloths, twinkle light, and coffee pots.

I packed some camping snacks (and of course muffins & the tea kettle!) and we enjoyed a night away from the city and reading time in front of the camp fire. The next morning, we went hiking at Starved Rock, then headed back to the city, feeling refreshed. I think we may have found a new yearly tradition!