5 Useful Travel Hacks from Wanderlusters

This is a guest post from Currency UK, a team of great individuals ready to help expats and travelers with foreign exchange and overseas payments.  A special thank you to Alex for all the work he did to make this post possible.  Enjoy! 

Travelling is an amazing experience. But let’s be honest, it can also be stressful. No one likes to be battling their suitcase to get the lid to close, but it always seems to end up that way!

Check out these five travel hacks that every Wonderluster needs to know. From saving luggage space, handy budgeting tips and exploring the best areas of a country, these tips will help make your travels stress-free.

Facing My Fears

The past few weeks I have been thinking a lot about fear.  What is fear?  Why do we experience it?  How can we overcome it?  I'm sure most of you have heard the infamous quote by Franklin D. Roosevelt saying "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself," and although I love this quote I'm starting to think that maybe the quote should be rewritten to say "the only things we have to fear are fear and ourselves".  Over this past year as I've taken risks and tackled many new life changes I've come to realize that my biggest enemy in everything has been, and continues to be, myself.

French Love Lessons

With my one year wedding anniversary being this week I've been doing a lot of reflecting lately on this past year of marriage.  It's incredible to think about how much I have learned and grown as a person, and as a wife, over these past 365 days.  Being married to a foreigner is no easy task, but it is by far the best and most beautiful thing that has ever happened to me.  Being married to Florian has opened me up to a whole new world that I never thought possible.  I have truly been blessed beyond belief and I thank God, and Florian, every day for the lessons I've learned and the amazing adventures this first year of marriage has brought me.  So, in honor of my wedding anniversary here are 5 things I've learned being married to Frenchman:

Love from the Lozere

I still remember the first time Florian told me about the Lozere.  We had been dating for about two months when one night out of the blue he said to me "there is somewhere that I want to take you, somewhere that is really special to me, somewhere that I have never taken anyone before... the Lozere."  Although I had studied French geography in high school and college I had no idea where this seemingly "magical place" could be.  I remember Googling the Lozere that night and learning that it was a small department located in the Languedoc-Roussillon region in southeastern France.  Although the pictures on Google looked beautiful, I couldn't quite understand at the time why Florian wanted to take me there of all places.  It wasn't until later when he told me, "in order to understand who I am, I need you to see where I come from" that I understood the importance of visiting this little department that Florian often referred to as le paradis.

"Folle" en France

Most of the time I am quite content with my life in France.  I have a loving husband, a wonderful family-in-law, amazing new girlfriends, and a city that never ceases to amaze me with its beauty.  In fact, the transition to France has been so much easier than I ever thought it would be, and I am so grateful for that.  However, there are some days that living in France drives me folle- crazy!  There are so many things that I love about this country, but there are also so many things that I just don't understand.  Although I promised myself shortly after moving here that I would stop comparing France to the United States, I also realized that sometimes it's just downright therapeutic to share my frustrations.  So, without further ado, here is my list of 5 things about living in France that drive me crazy: