Welcome to RTatW update report! A little series where, every now and then, I share with you some personal info, updates on my life & on RTatW of course, as well as sneak peeks…
I can’t even beginning to tell you how excited I am for summer to be over! I know some of you will be like: WTF?! Sorry, I’m not a summer gal.
Within 15mn or less, I turn lobster red in the sun. The beach? I get bored and I don’t like my brain to get foggy and melty from the heat. I really just can’t stand the heat! Sweating while hiking is ok, sweating while doing nothing is annoying.
My favorite season is spring. When nature comes back to life, I do too! But I love autumn for its mesmerizing colors.
I love having to wrap myself in a comfy blanket, drinking tea while writing. I love having to wear my favorite jacket to go hiking, probably because it has loads of pockets!
Crisp morning air which instantly wakes you up. Sun playing with the clouds to provide beautiful sunrises & sunsets. Nature providing the show. Those things I love.
I just can’t wait…
Brace yourself because I may not be a summer gal, but I’m certainly not a winter gal either! So I got to make the most of this autumn season which is approaching. More on this below…
Travel updates
Remember my last RTatW Update report? Just rinse and repeat… again… and add a trip to Madrid! That’s it!
It may sound a bit boring but I’m getting used to it. I really can’t complain. Technically, I don’t spend more than 10 days at home in a row and my suitcase is never completely undone. I come home, get some work done, take 2 days to work on my projects. By the time I finished unpacking and doing the laundry, it’s time to pack again!
Plus I’m getting a bit better at taking care of myself on the monthly trips I take, to go see my dad. In the past, there was always so much to do that I never had time for myself, to do the things I like. You know like seeing new places or visiting castles!
In July, things were a bit different. First, we had together a fun adventure chasing Indian motorcycles in the Loire Valley. The vintage Indian motorcycles convention was held close-by so we went, but we missed them in the first place they were supposed to be, so we had to follow their traces to find them. We had a great time! If you have no clue why this happened, you can refer to my last report.
In addition I managed to visit the Chateau du Moulin. Something I had been meaning to do for a long time!
In August, we worked again on his Indian which I loved! I can totally see myself hitting the road on it. It’s going to take a lot of TLC and time but we’ll get there.
What’s new on RTatW?
New articles you may have missed
I had promised more articles on France so I’ve tried to stay focused and added:
- Notre Dame de la Garde in Marseille. Quite a beauty!
- An article about a fantastic lodge we stayed at in the Camargue region. I had dreamed of seeing the Camargue for a long time and this lodge was the prefect base.
- For my vegan / organic fellow road trippers, I listed all the best places to find vegan products in France.
- As mentioned above, I visited the Chateau du Moulin in the Loire Valley and loved it!
- I also managed to share with you some pictures and tips about Saint Emilion.
Hey not too bad!!
In addition, and since it was RTatW 5th Birthday (or 3rd, depends how you want to count!) I’ve put together a list of the 5 mistakes I made while starting this site. Not the usual mistakes you can read around. This is only interesting if you are a blogger or if you want to know why I’m always late on all my projects and why it takes me so much time to update things!
I also added something to my UPGRADE series.
One article I loved writing is the one about why road trips are for introverts! It followed a little revelation I had about myself! It probably won’t even come as a surprise to you, but it was to me!!
There is a camera travel kit essentials articles you might want to check out for your next trip.
I managed to finally go to the Luxembourg American cemetery and discovered there that there was also a German Military cemetery near by!
Last but not least, I found my pictures of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao so I shared them with you. This museum is just so out of this World, it’s incredible.
Well, that’s really not too bad considering my work and everything else! I’m starting to love writing those RTatW update reports just to see that I have indeed made progress!
Pages update
Happy to report that there has been progress on my destination pages! Like everything else, it took me longer than I thought and is still a work in progress.
You will now find quite a few new pictures to my brand new FRANCE DESTINATION page! It was crazy that I didn’t have one before so now, this is sorted.
You will even find a SPAIN DESTINATION page! I didn’t know where to put my pictures of Madrid so these are now on this general page. For now at least.
There are new pictures on the DENMARK DESTINATION page as well and maybe on other pages but I can’t remember what I did! 😉
Still got quite a few additional pages to create like UK, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy…
Stepping up my Pinterest game!
You know I have a love / hate relationship with social media. I do it all wrong! In July, I spent a few days in London with a friend and all I managed to share on Insta was this picture of a headless angel statue! Pathetic!!
Ok, I did a bit better with Madrid! I even posted stuff in stories! hooray!!
This picture was my favorite:
View from the roof of the Círculo de Bellas Artes – Madrid, Spain – www.RoadTripsaroundtheWorld.com
Instagram knows I have a love / hate relationship with it and boy, does it sends me the hate vibes, right back. I’ve been ghosted or something, I think?! I just don’t get the engagement I used to. There’s only one person to blame for this (me!), so if I want this to change, I know what I have to do. I might stil not do it!! 😉
So this lead me to decide to step up my game with Pinterest. Pinterest is not really a social place, it’s more of a search engine really, but I’m starting to feel comfortable there and even slightly organized!
You should come and check me out!! There are plenty of adorable doggos on my boards, lots of dreamy cabins in the wood, hiking pictures and generally speaking lots of wanderlust vibes! Plus some interesting stuff of course. You can find me under https://www.pinterest.com/misscocogreen/. You can comment and click on pins that you tried so I’ll know which castles, cathedrals and other places you’ve been to!
Sorry there are going to be more adds around… at least for a while
I’m torn about this so I’m just going to be testing this for a while. You’ve noticed an add or maybe 2, in this piece? Well that is new as I used to only display adds in the side bar. But look I’ve go to make a bit more money, it’s that simple.
My monthly trips to see my dad are costing me big time. I thought I was doing ok, until I looked at my bank account a bit more seriously.
Since I’m independent, I don’t get paid leave. I do have a lot of flexibility which I’m so thankful for, however when I don’t work, I don’t get paid.
So basically for the last 10 months, I had a significant increase in expenses and a slight decrease in income from all my absences. Not good! I’ve got to find solutions. I do have a new client but the issue is that more clients means more work and less time for RTatW… not the slope I want to be on.
Therefore, at this point more adds seem like a temporary potentially good ideas. At least while I’m working on other solutions.
Booking
Silly me for not thinking about this earlier. Like before everybody booked their summer dreamy vacations! Well, anyway, I just became a Booking affiliate. Yep, Yep Hooray! If you make your next hotels reservations through one of my links, I’ll get a small commission, at no extra cost to you.
Do not hesitate!! Please do! and thank you!!
This doesn’t change anything, I still won’t do a lot of articles on hotels. I will simply keep telling you about the ones I really loved, the ones that are a bit unconventional or just extra-ordinary. Sleeping in a church was a dream come true, so I had to tell you! Staying at this eco-friendly hotel in Copenhagen was amazing, so again, I had to tell you about it.
Want to help me?
If you want to help me, you can always buy a little something from my Society6 shop. It will help me a bit and I’ll be so honored! I’ve added my New 7 wonders map which I think looks really cool and a new design called Caution tape around my Heart. Check it out!
If there something else you would want that isn’t there, do let me know. You can email me at MissCocoTravel at gmail dot com.
And if you are struggling a bit like me, you can always share Road Trips around the World with your friends or any of its content. Do tell them how good it is!! That always helps! You can do so on Pinterest, Facebook or any other social network!
Other news?
My new mini guide is almost finished! Stay tuned! If you’ve signed up for RTatW newsletter, you’ll be the first one to know! If you haven’t signed up for RTatW newsletter, what are you waiting for?!
As mentioned above it was RTatW Birthday. Again, if you’ve signed up for RTatW newsletter, you know I’ve been distributing presents to YOU!! I hope you got one. If you haven’t, don’t worry, I do regular giveaways.
What’s coming?
I’m planning to take a solo road trip mid October. You know… to make the most of Autumn!!
However I’m not quite sure how this will work out with my finances and the dreaded anniversary of my mum’s passing coming up. I’m planning to be with my dad around that date and hopefully then, take off to have a bit of time for myself. At this point, I’m still pondering if it’s a good idea. Mourning my mom has been terribly difficult. I’m afraid the road trip I’m planning will become a road trip on memory lane.
We’ll see!
Got to go to hiking now! Don’t expect too much from me!! 😉
Lots of love
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