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Tag:

Tongue in Cheek

    LifestyleWriting and Blogging

    I Feel Bad About My Blog

    by Brenna Holeman April 3, 2017
    written by Brenna Holeman
    April 3, 2017
    93 comments
    1 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
  • Dating and RelationshipsLifestyle

    My Month Without Alcohol… and Men (Week Four)

    by Brenna Holeman January 29, 2017
    by Brenna Holeman January 29, 2017

    It’s the final week of this experiment, but I’m starting to realise it no longer feels like an experiment, one with a hard end date. Technically, next Sunday (or, if we’re counting all of January, next Wednesday) I can have a drink. Technically, I can go on all the dates my heart desires… though truth be told, it’s not like I’m getting offers for dates left and right. Dating, for me, has always felt like a “when it rains it pours” scenario, because I either go through long spells of no romantic encounters or periods of time when multiple people seem to be interested.

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  • Dating and RelationshipsLifestyle

    My Month Without Alcohol… and Men (Week Three)

    by Brenna Holeman January 22, 2017
    by Brenna Holeman January 22, 2017

    I drank again last night. A lot.

    After exploring Camogli yesterday, I took the train a few stops to Nervi, which is just as devastatingly beautiful as you’d expect from a small fishing village on the Italian Riviera. It was very quiet, but I walked along the promenade, took lots of photos, and then tried to find a restaurant that was willing to serve me pizza at 4pm, an unusual time to eat in Italy. I found one that overlooked the sea, and I spent the rest of the afternoon eating four cheese pizza, drinking a lightly sparkling white wine that’s famous in Liguria, and feeling on top of the world. Honestly, I didn’t expect to fall in love with Italy as much as I have in the past three years – it’s an unusual feeling, to want to keep returning to one country instead of exploring somewhere new. I love Italy for its culture, for its food, for its brightly coloured villages that jut up from the water, for its whitewashed stone buildings that appear on mountaintops. I love that, whenever I go into a restaurant, it is filled with people laughing and greeting each other, a beautiful cacophony. I love how much the small things in life seem to be appreciated in Italy – the perfect espresso, the smell of a lemon, the double kiss on the cheek, the way the wine sounds as it pours out of the bottle.

    Oh yeah, and did I ever tell you about the Italian guy?

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  • Dating and RelationshipsLifestyle

    My Month Without Alcohol… and Men (Week Two)

    by Brenna Holeman January 15, 2017
    written by Brenna Holeman
    January 15, 2017
    22 comments
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  • Dating and RelationshipsLifestyle

    My Month Without Alcohol… and Men (Week One)

    by Brenna Holeman January 8, 2017
    by Brenna Holeman January 8, 2017

    I wake up with one of the worst hangovers I can remember having. No, wait a second, I had an equally bad hangover in the Netherlands in November, when I spent an entire evening drinking sugary cocktails and shots of bourbon. And… yeah, scratch that, because I woke up the day after Boxing Day with a splitting headache, too, a result of a night of beer pong and margaritas that were purely tequila and a few squeezes of lime. Shit.

    I’m pretty sure the first step of realising you’re addicted to something is denying that you have a problem, but, despite the three stories I just told you, I am not addicted to alcohol. I don’t drink every day. I (again, despite those three stories) rarely drink to excess or to “get drunk”. There is no alcoholism in my family. I’ve never “blacked out” or not been able to remember what I’ve done while drinking. Other than my birthday last year, when I drank sparkling wine with breakfast, the thought of drinking in the morning or on an empty stomach makes me want to hurl. I’d say I drink the average amount for a 30-something in London: a couple of glasses of wine with dinner a few times a week, and maybe a night or two in the pub where I have a few beers or spirits.

    But oh, how I love alcohol. I really do. So why am I giving it up for January?

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  • AdviceStoriesTravel

    The Travel Mistake I Keep Making

    by Brenna Holeman August 31, 2016
    by Brenna Holeman August 31, 2016

    A few months ago, when I was in Mallorca, I wrote a post called “Nine Mistakes to Make as a Traveller”. In that post, I wrote about things like trusting strangers and getting lost and how those “mistakes” could actually be really good, valuable, fun things to do.

    But the travel mistake I keep making wasn’t on that list. And I made the mistake – again, and for the hundredth time – just this last weekend in Paris.

    “Whatever could it be?!” I’m sure you’re all quivering with anticipation. Well, I hate to break it to you, but the travel mistake I keep making is actually one that I’m sure many people don’t make at all, if they are smart, resourceful, responsible travellers.

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  • AdviceOpinionsTravel

    How to Look Like a Tourist in London

    by Brenna Holeman August 12, 2015
    written by Brenna Holeman
    August 12, 2015
    33 comments
    1 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
  • StoriesTravel

    Airplane! And Other Horror Stories

    by Brenna Holeman January 3, 2014
    by Brenna Holeman January 3, 2014

    A couple of months ago, I re-watched the classic comedy Airplane!. I hadn’t seen it in years, but found myself laughing out loud at all of the silly jokes, the ridiculous puns, the over-the-top acting. For those who haven’t seen it (if not, I suggest you do), it depicts the plane ride from hell, one on which nearly everyone, including the pilots, becomes horribly ill. Comedy, and near disaster, ensues.

    It got me thinking of all the times I’ve experienced something awful on an airplane. Put people in a confined space for hours on end and something weird is bound to happen. Add to that travel stress, uncomfortable seats, terrible food*, and, for some, a fear of flying, and you have a recipe for trouble.

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  • Travel

    The 10 Unavoidable Truths of Travel

    by Brenna Holeman October 21, 2013
    by Brenna Holeman October 21, 2013

    There’s an incredible mix of emotions we get right before we set forth on a new adventure: excitement, anxiety, anticipation. The beauty in travel is that we never really know what’s going to happen once we arrive in an unfamiliar place.

    Except for these things. These ten things will definitely happen.

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  • Travel

    A Traveller’s Cardinal Sin, Or, The McDonald’s Conflict

    by Brenna Holeman July 11, 2013
    written by Brenna Holeman
    July 11, 2013
    60 comments
    1 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
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About Me

About Me

Hi, I'm Brenna

After travelling to more than 100 countries over the past 19 years, many of them solo, I write about travel a lot but I write about other things, too: break ups, buying way too much jewellery, and whisky, for example (none of those things are related, I swear). You’ll find a mix of advice, opinion pieces, and stories on this blog, but either way, I hope to make you want to read more. And up next? I'm now a single mom to a beautiful little boy, the biggest solo adventure I've ever been on. For more about me and what you'll find on This Battered Suitcase, click here.

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Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life." - Jack Kerouac

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AFFILIATE POLICY

Please note that some links on This Battered Suitcase are affiliates (at no extra cost to you); I only recommend products I use and love. This Battered Suitcase is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Currently in

WINNIPEG, MANITOBA, CANADA

Last Stops: Phoenix, AZ & Vancouver, BC

Up Next:  Curacao

 

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This Battered Suitcase is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and links to Amazon.com. For the full disclosure/privacy policy, please click here.

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This Battered Suitcase
  • Home
  • About
    • Privacy Policy
    • Around the Web
    • Contact
  • Start Here
  • Destinations
    • Africa
      • Botswana
      • Egypt
      • Kenya
      • Morocco
      • Namibia
      • Rwanda
      • South Africa
      • Tanzania
      • Uganda
      • Zambia
    • Asia
      • Bhutan
      • Brunei
      • Cambodia
      • China
      • Hong Kong
      • India
      • Indonesia
      • Israel
      • Japan
      • Laos
      • Macau
      • Malaysia
      • Mongolia
      • Myanmar
      • Nepal
      • The Philippines
      • Singapore
      • Sri Lanka
      • South Korea
      • Thailand
      • UAE
      • Vietnam
    • Europe
      • Austria
      • Belgium
      • Bulgaria
      • Croatia
      • Cyprus
      • Czechia
      • Denmark
      • England
      • Estonia
      • Finland
      • France
      • Germany
      • Greece
      • Hungary
      • Iceland
      • Ireland
      • Italy
      • Latvia
      • Liechtenstein
      • Lithuania
      • Luxembourg
      • Malta
      • Monaco
      • Netherlands
      • Northern Ireland
      • Norway
      • Poland
      • Portugal
      • Romania
      • Russia
      • San Marino
      • Scotland
      • Slovakia
      • Slovenia
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      • Sweden
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