Vale Viaja

Day 3: Exploring Santa Ana I took an early morning uber to  Terminal de Buses Occidente  so I could get on a bus to Santa Ana. I had every intention of just hoping on whichever bus was leaving the soonest, and to my luck, it was the nicest bus, which was with the company Seisbus. I paid $1.50 and because I left very early in the morning (7am) and avoided traffic, I arrived around 9am to Francisco Lara terminal in Santa Ana.  During my ride, I looked up some coffee shops in the city I could stop at before getting to my hostel. I found Santa Ana Cafe , and I'm so glad I did because it was one of the cutest coffee shops I visited in El Salvador. From the bus station, it was only about a 17 minute walk, which was a little chaotic initially because I had my carryon luggage with me, but overall, a nice walk to the southern part of the city. I stayed for a little less than two hours, just decompressing and writing my first blog post, and then I took an uber to my hostel. Where ...

I first came to El Salvador in Spring 2022, and it was a short weekend trip because a random $90 round-trip popped up in my search so I immediately booked it (round trips are usually $250+). Not being able to take a carry-on, I packed two outfits, a swimsuit, and some toiletries and headed over. In my first trip, due to limited time, I was really only able to walk around the city, visit "Los Planes" (a suburb on a hill, with rooftop restaurants with beautiful views over the city), and go to the beach. It was wonderful! But it left me wanting more. For the past year, El Salvador has been on my mind a lot. As I am current transitioning jobs and not starting my new position until later in the month, I found this as a perfect opportunity to return and see more. Arriving to San Salvador International Airport If you do not have international cell service through your home network, I recommend getting a SIM Card before exiting the airport. There are stands right before the exit; you...

  "Ok seriously, how can you afford all of this?" As a female solo traveler that's been to over 30 countries and 110 cities, this is a question I get often.  And here's the honesty:  I didn't always take the best financial choices when I was younger and took some of these trips. And as I've grown and financially suffered from some of those 'not as smart' choices, I knew the only way I could realistically keep up with this lifestyle was by getting really serious about my finances. I did not want to stop traveling, but I also needed to be debt-free. And I'm lucky to be at this point! This question is going to be explained with several posts, where I'd love to provide more insight on discount travel, travel with credit cards, hacks for finding cheaper flights...  For now, let's talk budgeting.  Learning how to budget was definitely a journey. First, I entered the obsessive stage, a very short-lived one.  I made budget excel where I budgeted ...

I first wrote this blog post in 2023, after two trips to Big Bend. Now, in March 2025, I have officially gone to Big Bend seven times, and West Texas eight times. Raised in Houston, my road trips across Texas were pretty limited to the other big Texas cities and some Southern cities when we'd drive to Mexico. I was not prepared to fall deeply in love with the desert out in the isolated West, and I'm already planning another trip back. Feel free to read my recs, updated now after so much experience with visiting the park:   Here's what I did and learned from my trips:  What To Know About BBNP:  This is a BIG park. A HUGE park. Fun Fact: Big Bend National Park is larger than the state of Rhode Island! From one side of the park to the other side of the park, it is over an hour of a drive. So while there's lots to do in the park, there may be long drives from one activity to the other, so it's important to plan ahead.  Big Bend is unofficially split into 3 parts:...