Mid-February favorite blog posts

Another month of new content and great posts! Here are my favorite reads…

Science, sustainability and veganism

• Vegan dupes
• Observations from a year of veganism: Sophie speaks the hard (and sometimes funny) truths about being vegan in a society that insists on keeping their head in the sand and ostracizing those with different diets.
• Accidentally vegan food
• Tesco’s new vegan range review: Supply and demand: vegan ready meals are becoming more and more mainstream and I am living for it.
• Easy vegan meal alternatives
• What to expect from field trips: Although I didn’t do many field trips in my undergrad, this gives good perspective on what to expect for my upcoming trip to South Africa.
• How to become a citizen scientist

General travel and study abroad

• Hack for your first time driving abroad: I really wish I had this before I rented a car in Italy and had a mental breakdown in the middle of nowhere when I couldn’t figure out how to fill the gas tank.
• Yes, I lived in a homestay, no, I didn’t love it: A really great perspective on what can go wrong in a homestay and ways to think critically about what you’re getting yourself into. To me, it always takes balls to share not so great travel experiences.
• London: the first month in numbers: This is such a sweet idea and lovely way to document your time abroad!
• Traveler tuesday: I love this idea and format.

Travel destinations

• 11 unique things to do in Paris: I absolutely loved Paris, but didn’t have enough time there! I hope to return and love finding fresh posts to give me ideas.
• Tallinn city guide
• Cape Town drought explained: I can’t believe we would see such a big city run out of water in our lifetime. If this isn’t a massive wake-up call, I don’t know what is. Due to this crisis, my field trip has been moved from being based in Cape Town to Hermanus.
• Spearfishing lionfish in Belize: These animals are devastating coral reef ecosystem function and killing and eating them is a growing strategy to combat biodiversity losses. This is a great way for tourists to engage in local conservation efforts while also enjoying life under the surface.
• Antarctica expedition travel guide
• Majorca photo diary
• Touring Iceland’s Golden Circle
• Prague, Bratislava, Vienna & Budapest
• A pretty wonderful wednesday: Absolutely stunning pictures of London.
• 10 things to do in Lisbon: I loved Porto and hope to return to Portugal… eventually.
• 15 things you need to know before visiting Iceland’s Blue Lagoon
• Falling in love with Brighton: I love hearing other travellers’ thoughts on my beautiful city.
• 5 things in Brighton that just might make you happier
• 10 essential travel tips for Rome
• 24 hours in Copenhagen on a budget
• Cape Town (Part 6): You can also find links to the previous five installments of this holiday on this post. I’m going to Cape Town in April and reading this has got me so excited!
• Top 6 highlights in Mauritius
• Lions, cheetahs and more
• Beginners’ Brooklyn: I couldn’t be happier with my choice to stay in and explore Brooklyn on my most recent trip to New York. I can’t encourage those visiting the area enough to spend time in Brooklyn.

Blogging

• My routine for a successful blog post
• 10 blog tasks to do when you have 5 minutes to spare
• 6 ways to use social media to increase blog traffic: Bexa gives me a shout in this post for featuring her in Blogger of the Month and gives great insight on increasing blog traffic.
• How I organize my blog
• How I tripled my traffic from Twitter

Lifestyle

• Let’s Talk: depression
• 10 little things #30: I absolutely love this idea and the lay out of this post!
• 35 small acts of self-care
• #BellLetsTalk: breaking the stigma around mental health: My lovely friend Clare shares her personal story about her journey with mental health. I’m proud so proud of how far she’s come!
• Birthday wishlist: These are all such amazing ideas. Someone else’s birthday is coming soon as well (spoiler alert: it’s mine).

Entertainment

• Aladdin: the musical
• Enter Shikari: the theatrical headline at the Brighton Centre: This piece was published for my student-run university blog and this article took my right back to the show (you can read my words about it here). The words really paint the scenes, the sights (pun intended) and the energy of the crowd beautifully as well as critically assessing Shikari’s new music and its place in their discography.
• Enter Shikari and Architects: The beautiful Emily sums up perfectly the Enter Shikari and Architects gigs we both attended at Alexandra Palace as well as Enter Shikari’s first day on tour in Liverpool. It was so lovely to meet her and read her words on the amazing nights!

Photo by Andrew Knechel.