Hopping on travel

One of the biggest things I wanted to accomplish coming to the Middle East was to fulfill the travel bug that has been pestering the back of my mind for years. I have always dreamed of being able to see the world, to experience beautiful sights and be introduced to new cultures. Well this is a great dream but how does one who is not worldly nor well traveled even begin to understand where to go, what to do once you get there, and of course how to stay safe when traveling to unexplored lands.

One of my friends here in AD who is from back home introduced me to the app "Hopper".

Of course one of the first things is how much do I want to spend on these trips? Well Hopper has been a favorite so far as you can plug in your intended dates of travel and it gives you when the prices are high, medium, or low. It even watches trips for you so if they happen to sink really low you get an alert so you know when to buy to save you a few dollars. I have the notifications set up so I get when the price goes up, goes down, or when it is the best time to buy.

I am loving the fact that I can program in a bunch of different trips and just kind of wait and see what will suit me and my budget the best! The app keeps track of all the trips and you are able to plan pretty far out or at least get the intended trips on deck to be watched. I cannot wait to start acting on some of the deals that this bunny finds me. What apps are your travel essentials?

Makeover time

So a confession.... I've kind of let myself go.

I know, it happens to everyone from time to time but this extended period of ridiculousness is just that: ridiculous. I think back to a little over a year ago and I was hitting the gym hard. Twice daily to be exact - 5am and then boxing at night. I was really motivated and I was feeling great. I have never been comfortable in my own skin and I was so pumped to finally be doing something about it. I had an amazing boxing trainer and I think that I owe much of my motivation to him. I didn't want to let him down by not showing up, I pushed myself hard because I wanted to show I was strong and I could work hard. But I guess I lost track that I really needed to be showing myself the strength and I need to be my own motivation. I ended up hurting my Achilles tendon and that shot in my tendon is something I NEVER want to experience again. It really scared me because I went back to the gym after but I was always so cautious. I didn't want to get hurt again, I didn't push as hard and I stopped seeing a lot of the results. End of story: I got discouraged and I quit on myself. I slipped back into old habits, packed all the weight back on and then I got really mad at myself because I had worked so incredibly hard to lose it. So here I am. Irritated with myself, uncomfortable, and starting over...again. For the last.damn.time.

So we have a gym here in my new digs in Abu Dhabi and I plan to start visiting it this week. I finally found some shoes since I left all my tennis shoes back home on accident. No really - it was an accident. I tried to start wearing my Jawbone to find that it no longer holds a charge (annoying) so my husband and I both bought FitBit HR bands which I am really liking so far. I like seeing an in your face accountability for moving, calories, and steps. I also have started logging food in MyFitnessPal again. Coincidentally, one of my friends invited me to a "Spring Fitness" group on Facebook so I gladly signed up and I am hoping to use that as a motivation and accountability as well. Plus, I will blog my journey and use this as accountability as well.


 So here are my goals:

96 oz of water to start per day (I found a 24 oz. bottle so that is my reasoning - 4 bottles a day)
Trying to phase out sugar but I've gotta figure out a happy medium
Gotta stop soda. Like yesterday. No more soda.
8,000 steps a day
at least 4 workouts per week





Keep in mind these are my goals for this week. I think I am also going to do daily fitness goals and post on Instagram daily. That is always a good daily accountability & it reminds me each day to accomplish something. A big driving force is when I go home for the first time in December. I want to look and be a completely different, better, and healthier me.

Feel free to cheer me on, follow me on Instagram for my daily goals, and hold me accountable. Any challenges out there that I can join - comment below!