Hello friends! It feels like it’s been AGES since I’ve just sat down with a cup of tea and written a blog post… and that’s because, well, it has been ages! In my last travel journal entry, I announced ‘Exploring Edinburgh’, which didn’t really happen. I made one post about the cutest street in all of Edinburgh and one post about a great day trip from Edi, and then wrapping up my dissertation, interviewing for my first post-university job, health problems, and life in general caught up to me.
So here we are, over a year later (seems to be a theme, doesn’t it?), with a much needed life update.
I moved!
If you’re a regular visitor, you’ll probably have noticed that my Europe content has significantly slowed down, and that’s because… I moved! After years of swearing I’d never return to the US (there are just so many places to see!), I have settled down in San Francisco, California.
I live a very glamorous life in a 230 square foot shoebox apartment. While I joke about my flat, I absolutely love San Francisco. It’s started to feel like home and I’m really enjoying all of the activities SF has to offer. There are so many parks to run and hike in, roads to cycle, and cafes to explore. Cost of living is WILD—I’m talking Swiss prices here—but living in such a fast-moving, competitive, and also somehow small and quiet, city is worth it.
When I was interning in SF in 2019, I wrote this blog post about SF, which I have since updated with a million recommendations I’ve collected through living here.
The US is beautiful?!?!
Moving back to the states has reminded me that there are SO many beautiful things about the US. While we certainly do not get everything right (and actually get quite a few things really, really wrong), we do have amazing scenery and such vast and varied landscapes.
I got to visit Utah for the first time, which was honestly breathtaking. We hiked Angels Landing in Zion National Park, fell in love with Bryce Canyon, and even got to visit Arches National Park before getting COVID in Salt Lake City.
I visited the Grand Canyon for the first time. It’s so much more expansive than I had ever pictured and some day I’d love to hike the rim-to-rim-to-rim trail.
I’ve been doing some road trips around the West Coast and have had such a blast exploring. I’ve blogged about some road trips down the Pacific Coast Highway (from Portland and to Santa Barbara) I recently took a solo-ish trip to Santa Monica. It was my first time in LA and I was shocked that I liked it so much.
I’m home.
While I’ve been LOVING living back in the US, Phil is still in the UK so I don’t quite feel like I’m 100% at home in San Francisco yet. I’ve been visiting Phil in the UK for the past two weeks and only this trip am I realising that I feel so at home back here. I spent four years in Edinburgh, which is one of the longest times I’ve ever spent calling one place home, and its just been so nice to be back on this side of the pond.
I’ve been soaking up every second back in the UK. We’ve been exploring so many seaside towns and I’ve honestly just been having so much fun. I haven’t been very good at keeping up the blog (as apparent by the fact that it’s been over a year since my last travel journal!), but you can see what I’ve been up to on my Instagram, which is also my digital travel journal.
Promise I’ll be better about blogging! It’s still crazy to think that what started out as a cringey way to update my family on my travels has turned into a resource that helps hundreds of thousands of travelers each year. I’m so grateful to share my life with all of you.
xoxo,
Anya
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