MY 5 FAVORITE CITIES

mind you, i've yet to lap the entire globe (patience, i'm only 19)...but i've dipped my toes in some nice sand & soil around the world.  okay, so this isn't one of the funny, pick apart critiques, but it's nice to just talk about something that makes me happy once in a bit.  for example, if i write about wal-mart, poodles & subway in back-to-back-to-back nights...i'm just going to get cranky.  and nobody likes a grumpy gus.

besides, some of you good-lookers & stamp-lickers are traveling types and who better to take advice from than someone who knows everything!??!?  seriously?  ask yourself that.  ask it.  do it.

haha.  okay, so this is basically a mini list of some of the bestest everest places to go and some things to do there besides wear your favorite hawaiian shirt, go to the hard rock cafe (& get a t), guzzle tons of beers in dumb, tall-shaped glasses & hook up with everything of the opposite sex that moves (ambitious).

said bon jovi poster

i'm sure i'm leaving some true gems out of this diamond mine, but my head is still unraveling from interrogation after interrogation and truth be told...all i want to do right now is eat 5lbs. of chicken enchiladas, while getting a massage from east german helga, while drinking unfortunate amounts of diet rockstar (CEO name: Russell Weiner, no joke, look it up) and listening to andrew belle live, but we can't always have what we want can we?  a free bon jovi poster wouldn't hurt either.  regardless.

here are my cities.  if you have further questions because you're lining up a romantic vacay or just need an excuse to blow a few thousand...email me and ye shall receive response little cave dwellars.  however, if you do not love them, as always...feel free to come get some @ 2700...etc. etc. Texas and i will arm-jello-wrestle you for dominance...and i'm not even sure how that's going to work.  so let's not push it eh?


LAS CIUDADES.  (that's "cities" in spanish for you inbreeds.  just kidding, i know your parents weren't related prior to your making  :)

ok, ok.  in no specific order.

table for two, brain-numbing romance.

wilmington, nc.  - there's something laid back & cozy about wilmington.  it's like being rocked to sleep by your sweet grandma while you're still in your 30's and there being nothing wrong with it.  on top of that, and VERY MUCH detached from that thought...there is a definite romantic vibe there.  it's right on the cape fear river and the boardwalk is laced with some pretty awesome shops.  not like those ones that sell 50,000 different tshirts that all say i (heart) given destination in 9 billion different fonts.  that math doesn't even add up...that's how lame that is.  but i do love wilmington.  it doesn't hurt that i got to be on dawson's creek there (season 3 ep. 1...yeah honey!), but the scenery is just so dang nice.  double bonus, i almost forgot.  the best pizza my face ever gobbled up is there.  Slice of Life Pizza.  oh man.  i ate until it hurt...and i only do that when i mean business.  the best view in the city is a balcony table for two at Riverboat Landing...gently lit at night with a nice menu.  maybe the most romantic restaurant i've ever eaten at actually.  hmm...either way!  go there!

when the sun goes down, get your juicy lips out.

santa cruz, ca. - santa cruz is like falling asleep in a hammock after having 5 too many mojitos, getting a free spa package, and being sponsored by billabong.  i'm not crazy about the billabong part, but the culture is exceptional.  like wilmington, santa cruz has a serious boardwalk as well but with a more energetic, young vibe.  and, the carnival craver in you would possibly say it's more legit because it has rides.  ever see the nickelodeon show Rocket Power and want to go to that park by the water?  eh?  that's what santa cruz is like, only the real thing.  it's right on the egde of the PCH (pacific coast highway/highway 1) as well so you know the views are worthy of fine wines and expensive cheeses.  mind you, i did not care for san diego or san fran much at all...so my heart for santa cruz is seriously legit.  what to do there?  just be a love renegade and make out through the entire sunset.  bring lots of lipgloss...that's actually kind of challenging.  if you have a cold or asthma, just do what you can.

paris, france. - call me cliche' if you like, but vive le france mon petit gâteaus!  this city man...i feel like i'd be here all night describing it.  paris is like having a permanent honeymoon on a catwalk while some skinny guy with a five o'clock shadow named Jean-Phillipe paints your every move with his accordian while his ex-girlfriend Verily feeds you crepes by hand.  i know that's not possible.  that's just what it feels like.  anyway, paris has everything.  paris is breath-taking everyday and i don't care what you say...they generally like americans.  i was treated like a king while i was there, and i even wore colors.  anytime someone goes out of country and chooses london or italy over france, i want to shake their newborn babies because they're missin' out!  i have to cut this short or i'll go forever.  just stay in montmartre, walk everywhere, don't pass on the mona lisa...she's eerily cool, dip into all the boutiques, eat piles of gnutella crepes, smile at everyone you pass, check out voltaire's tomb as well as oscar wilde's, umm...oh i could just go on and on.  it's too much.  i would live here in 2 seconds.

columbus, if you were a human being, i'd marry you.
m or f.

columbus, oh. - you did see this one coming right?  if not, you don't know me!  you don't know me!  you don't know my lifestyle!  middle finger!  (picture me dropping all of that while coming down a staircase on the maury povich show because i need teen bootcamp).  speaking of which, being in the army (crafty transition), i am constantly trying to educate and convince people that cbus is the bee's knees...and very few catch the ohio capital fever.  cbus feels like more than just home to me.  mind you, i've lived all over the u.s. and traveled a few countries...but still, still cbus has a special place in my chest that will never go away.  it has every kind of neighborhood or district you could ask for, ritzy, artsy, family, trendy, quiet, pompous, in-between, hood fabulous, college flavored, etc. etc.  it has everything.  fantastic people watching at a few of the best malls in the country, the osu campus is downtown, huge & has some incredible buildings, every good band ever comes to cbus because it's kind of scene-ish, and for a city with over a million people, the traffic is never bad at all.  donato's pizza is street lethal and of course the Bluejackets games are always cheap, fun to attend and in the up and coming arena district.  i love you cbus!  absolutely moving back november 2012...barring death overseas or hardcore POW status.  :)

pack your x-small speedo, and that is it.

isla mujeres, mexico. - yes, it is like a vacation spot, but people do live there.  and so can you.  this is an itty bitty .5 x 2 mile island strip off the coast of the yucatan and it tastes like twizzlers meets audrey tautou in your mouth.  sorry if that doesn't do much for you.  i like twizzlers.  anyway...isla mujeres is incredibleness.  the island is small enough that it doesn't feel like a steamy shoebox, but large enough that you can walk around it and get lost once or twice (because i sure did).  i extra like it here because it's a 30 minute fairy ride from cancun and i loathe cancun as it is like america pt.2 and there's nothing that rubs me the wrong way more than leaving the country just to be surrounded by the exact same stuff somewhere else.  well, there are some things...but i could never see going to cancun and being swarmed by american tourists, senor frog's and mexican mcdonalds when paradise is minutes away.  isla mujeres has crystal clear water, a few sleek hotels and some gnarley (yes, gnarley) beahcfront cafes and taverns to chill at while the sun dives back into the ocean.  super friendly people and no worries at all.  i'm considering going here in 2 months...but i need to do some homework and find a co-pilot who has the $$$.  creepy bonus that actually hurts to admit:  i saw an 8-9 months pregnany topless woman here last time i went.  totally threw me off.  kinda felt like i kidnapped some guy's donor sample and hi-fived his wife on my way out of the building??  i dunno...ehh...weird.  hotel secreto...ohhhhhhh baby.  i think that's where i'll stay.  yesssssssss.  last second bonus! - i love mexicans!



of course this list will ebb and floe with the glacial travels of my life, but for now...this is it.  i think my link works up in the tag section that shows all of the places i've been...but i'm not sure?  it says, TRAVEL.

maybe another day i'll write where i can't wait to go...but for now, this is it!

xo's to all of you...even if you're slacking on your hair styles or high quality undergarments.



honorable mentions:
barcelona/sp, chaska beach/oh, athens/oh, playacar/mx, merida/mx, coeur d'alene/ut, versailles/fr, beaufort/sc, los gatos/ca, paradise valley/az

schiller park in german village, columbus, oh