Wish You Were Here // 01

{  photo / journal  / illustration & graphic by Annabelle Mintz }

I’m super excited about this new series that’s going to be running through the month of July! We’re going to be adventuring all over the world and chatting about travel journals.

This week, we’re headed to Aix-en-Provence, a town in the south of France.  In June, this place smells like lavender and heaven (what, you don’t think heaven smells like lavender fields?).  Aix-en-Provence was where I tested out my independent traveler wings, wandering the cobblestone streets on my own and sticking my head into shops and cafés. And it was where I first tasted asparagus with hollandaise sauce. It’s amazing what courage travel will give you – even if it’s just to try a new vegetable in a new city.

Do you keep journals when you travel? They happen to be one of my favorite things, and I have boxes of them from past trips – even one from my first trip to Spain as a 5-year-old. Reading back through them is just like I’m there again.  I wish I was better about the specifics – you know, that exact restaurant and address that you loved.  But I’m not that good at specifics. My travel journals are usually (and have been since the first) full of sketches, little notes about my day, and mostly about how a place made me feel.

Aix-en-Provence made me feel like freedom – there’s something magical about being on your own in a new place, with all this potential to discover – and I’ve been addicted to asparagus and adventure ever since.

–

This post was sponsored by Minted, but all content and opinions are my own.  I only support what I love – promise.