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Kirsten provides added value in form of blog-like descriptions along with the gorgeous photos she shares. She’s an amazing storyteller you will learn something from every day.

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Passau, Germany was a lovely place to end our #hosted ‘Danube Waltz’ cruise with @vikingcruises. It had some element of everything we had loved in each of our other stops. Yet it was also special for its own reasons. Because of heavy rain, there weren’t a lot of people out on the streets and I had an hour to walk around capturing bits and pieces I liked best in my own way and at my own pace. From the ornate doorways to the painted cobblestones denoting the arts district, I really enjoyed that walk. It was just after @paintthenight & I learned about gingerbread making at SIMON. For generations they’ve been making it without molasses, using the same wood molds. Walter Simon, the fourth generation, also gave us his family’s recipe for Christmas punch which was so much better than Gluhwëin that I’m still dreaming about that steaming mug of deliciousness. We also popped into St. Stephen’s Cathedral, which houses the biggest pipe organ in Europe and one of the biggest in the world. I shouldn’t have been surprised I suppose that I liked the town so much. Bavaria is my favorite part of Germany! ?? #myvikingstory #vikingcruises #bayern #passau #passaugermany #visitbavaria #visitgermany

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Following Vienna, our next major stop with @vikingcruises was the city of Linz. On the way, we visited the charming village of Dürnstein in the Wachau Valley. The picturesque valley is known for its wine and this particular part of it is also famed for apricots and products made from the fruit. The town is known as the ‘Pearl of the Wachau’ and though it only has < 1,000 residents now, it has a lot of history to discover. Richard the Lionheart was held captive here for a year by Duke Leopold V and it’s where confectioner/baker Rudolf Schmidl invented the Wachau Laberl in 1905. The crumbling Kuenringerburg Castle, which sits above the village on top of the hill, and the Baroque clock tour of the town’s monastery make the village easy to spot from the Danube River. There’s so much lovely detail to capture, there’s also a @relaischateaux property in town that I want to return to one day and quite a few wonderful boutiques. I spent the most amount of time visiting with Cathrin at Dürnsteindl who hand makes many of the items for sale in her shop. What she doesn’t make, her friends might. She also sells apricot liquor made by her brother in law as well as Riesling and Grüner Veltliner made by her father. In a town that features many stores selling made in chinese kitsch, catering to the hordes of summer tourists, Cathrin’s shop was a breath of fresh air that I recommend you not miss when you visit. Since we experienced Dürnstein in winter, it felt as if we had the town to ourselves and I added yet another part of Austria to my list of places I love in a country I much admire. ?? #MyVikingStory #VikingCruises #Dürnstein #sonya7rii #feelaustria #visitaustria #SonyAlpha

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So funny to pack up & leave NYC for a week of visiting European Christmas Markets with @vikingcruises when it still looks like the middle of Fall in the City. Though I can’t say I was mad about it since if you’ve followed me for a while you know it’s one of my favorite seasons, if not the favorite. My mom came into town a few days before we flew out and she wanted to see all the touristy sights including one of my most beloved: @centralparknyc. She was as wowed by this view as I still am every time I visit this spot. In fact, she seemed to like it better than the Literary Walk or Bethesda Terrace. Close to the SE corner of Central Park, this spot is recognizable by a large outcropping of gray rock that’s easy to climb on top of. I don’t even know how many times I’ve stood here by myself, with friends, or with @dante.vincent but it’s the kind of place which always reminds me how special it is that I am able to call this city home. #newyorkornowhere #centralparkmoments #centralparkviews #autumninnewyork #shotoniphone #iloveny #instagramnyc

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It’s funny how @Instagram has changed travel. When I visited Scotland for the very first time, this app was still new. The phenomenon of places becoming “instafamous” wasn’t even the seed of a thought in anyone’s mind yet. That first trip was for the purposes of enjoying Hogmanay in Edinburgh and so my experience was concentrated in or around the Royal Mile, Princes Street, the Gardens and Edinburgh Castle. Fast forward more than half a decade and you surely know how Instagram is now. So when @dante.vincent & I visited Scotland in October for vacation, we’d seen photos of this spot, Dean Village, more times than I can count. Though I’d never been, I felt as if I knew it yet since I didn’t, I was curious to check it out. I wondered if it was in fact as cool as everyone was claiming or if it was just simply as cool as all of Edinburgh is. For a city that’s not too large, it’s a true gem that hasn’t ever let me down. Dean Village was once just that, its own village, separate from the city. Now it’s absorbed into Edinburgh in terms of proximity though I’m not sure how it is legally. Mere minutes from the Castle and the Palace, it feels hours away. No longer a secret as the selfie sticks attested to. But still bucolic. Tranquil. It’s a place where the Water of Leith is heard echoing off ages old stone and flower boxes drip with vibrant blooms even in autumn. If you’re so inclined, you can even pick up the trail that follows the water for a total of 18 miles here in the village. Though sadly, Danté and I didn’t have time. As we walked up the hill back to our car, I wondered what part of the city might be “instafamous” by the next time we visit. And I wondered how the residents of this formerly quiet area feel about their newfound fame… ??????? #ScotSpirit #LoveScotland #VisitScotland #HiddenScotland #thisisedinburgh #edinphoto #sonya7rii #sonyalpha

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I just did a Facebook Live last week with @vanguardworld about travel photography and one of the things I said is that I’m always trying to better my skills in portraying the full range of places I travel. Landscape photography is “easy” and popular to share, especially here on Instagram, but it doesn’t communicate the full depth and range of places on its own. Without the people, the animals, the food & the details of a country, you miss out on so much of the story. For a place like #Scotland especially. ??????? Sure the landscapes in Scotland are STUNNING. But in Glen Etive for example, it’s not just the scenery that draws me. It’s also the wild Scottish red deer that graze in the Glen, as far as I know, all year long. We visited during what I think is the height of the rutting season in Scotland. This is when the large dominant red deer stags compete against each other for mating rights. I’m told they can be heard roaring and bellowing in an attempt to attract the female deer. The rut will draw to a close soon and then the stags will spend the winter feeding to regain strength for the following season. There were so many of them during our trip that at times we had to stop the car and simply watch, waiting for them to move. That’s when the females were so friendly they came right up to @dante.vincent, unbidden, trying to steal his midday snack right out of his hand, which I thought was adorable! (And yet also conflicting given I don’t think feeding wild animals is kosher.) But this Stag was all by himself further down the Glen toward the end of the road and we watched him for a long time, never going close, not bothering him, only observing. ? Shot at 70mm f/2.8 on my @sonyalpha a7R II. #ScotSpirit #LoveScotland #GlenEtive #SonyAlpha #sonya7rii #VisitScotland #glenetivedeer

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I’m having a problem. Wherein I’m paralyzed with indecision about what photos to post from our Scotland trip. I’m my own worst enemy where my photos are concerned and so I normally don’t like most of what I capture, or I immediately think I could have done so much better. This time I’m caught between that state and one in which I think so many good photos came out of this trip, that I can’t possibly narrow it down to choose what to share and what not to ????‍♀️ But post I must! So here’s a photo from Glen Etive that I captured on a timer with my @vanguardworld VEO tripod and my @sonyalpha a7R II. I’m calling this the Fairie Glen even though I’m not actually sure it has a name. It just immediately struck me as a place of magic and mystery, which often in Scottish history was associated with fairies. This spot is in fact nearly invisible from the road that took us through Glen Etive but when I climbed the ladder that took me over the fence to descend downhill and out of sight of @dante.vincent who stayed in the car – I immediately felt as if I’d left Scotland and entered an alternate universe. One in which the trees looked like something from Japan, the rocks from the river I learned to swim in as a child in Vermont and the moss from a forest in the Pacific Northwest. All of those elements and yet it WAS still Scotland. I wish I could tell you more about how to find this spot. I wish it had a name. And yet, I don’t. If you can find it when you @visitscotland, you’ll have truly earned it. And an earned adventure is always better than one that’s clearly marked!! ???????? #ScotSpirit #sonya7rii #vanguardworld #lovescotland #visitscotland #GlenEtive #SonyAlpha #OnlyWithVEO

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Driving into a new week and not sure where the road will take me. What are your plans? I have four more days with this Lexus GS 350 F Sport that @lexususa has let me borrow, before I have to give it back and I’m open to suggestions on where I should take it next… • This weekend’s adventure in the Hudson, NY area provided the backdrop for this photo. The Olana State Historic Site & home has beautiful winding roads all throughout the property. Some offer stunning views of the surrounding Hudson Valley, other areas provide that “tree tunnel” look that I adore so much, especially during Autumn. It’s not *quite* peak season yet in this part of New York State but I’m sure it will be before the end of the week! #DriveLexus #lexusgs350 #sponsored #iloveny #nyexplored #fallinny #nylovesfall #fall? #autumn? #roadtrip

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Now that I’m home and know I’ll be in New York City for most of the month, I cannot. wait. for. the. leaves. to. turn. ?? so the whole city is colorful and crisp. I love Autumn. I think it’s my favorite season in the City. My only complaint is that no one has a food truck selling cider and apple orchard donuts. (Business opportunity alert‼️) Because I crave them both at this time of year after growing up with them and it’s not that easy to just pop upstate to a cider mill when you don’t own a car. Which is funny, in that when I first moved to this city, I had grand plans of road trips every weekend and lots of sightseeing along the Eastern seaboard as well as New England. I dreamed of always being back up in Vermont, my home state, at this time of year. But those schemes and dreams died a quick death when I realized it’s actually easier and cheaper to just fly to Paris if you can’t own a car. I remember one summer when @dante.vincent and I rented a car with some friends to go on a weekend adventure and even splitting it four ways still ended up being more expensive than a plane ticket….. Well that was a tangent but if there’s a lesson to be learned I think it’s that life doesn’t always go the way you think it will; what’s important is to love the life you do have! ? #newyorkcity #autumninnewyork #centralparknyc #newyorkornowhere #autumncolors #latergramsfordays #iloveny

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8/16 #CaliforniaWild #sponsored post • During our several days in the @visitmammoth area, we have scrambled over rocks, up rocks, down rocky slopes, under bridges, over bridges, ridden up chairlifts and gondolas, raced each other on bikes and developed new interests in things like rock climbing and mountain biking. We've easily made friends with the locals who are *no shortage of awesome* and I think I speak for the whole team when I say we have really enjoyed this area of California's vast #HighSierras. When we were looking down on lakes like these from the top of @mammothmountain at over 11,000 feet, I did think I could live here. If you like the outdoors, this place just seems to have it all. Instead, I think I'll return for a true vacation. Soon as I can. And I won't be alone. While this area might not get as much press as nearby Lake Tahoe & Yosemite — it's the 3rd most visited ski resort in the USA in winter and in summer the over 200 miles of paved bike and walking paths + countless miles of mountain bike trails are just one of the draws for tourists from around the world who want that clean mountain air and backdrops that must rival heaven itself. Breathe deep in a spot like this and you can feel the zen change you from the inside, out. Or maybe I've just been breathing so deep I'm delirious now?! ? Either way, it's going to be tough to move on today. But our next region is calling our names… #ThisIsAdventure #VisitCalifornia #MammothMoments #NoSmallAdventure #VisitMammoth #MammothStories • • • #MountainGirls #fujifilmx_us #fujifilmxt2 #BorderFreeCALI #WomenWhoExplore

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Here's another post created while on #AustrianTime with @visitaustria. This is one of the stunning villages in #bregenzerwald which is part of @visitvorarlberg. It's a stunning region in Austria that has so much to offer visitors and yet one which doesn't get as many tourists as other parts of the country. If you're into hiking, you should come here. The trails are plentiful. And the views are stunning. Are you into architecture? There are trails just for architecture, both traditional and modern, that help you learn in interactive ways I've never seen in any other country. And if you love to eat like I do, well the food is divine. Every dinner I had at my guest house Am Holand left me wanting seconds and thirds and just MORE FOOD. So delicious!! Oh, and it's SO GREEN. ? But of course I couldn't stand on a hill and not try a little bit of, "the hills are alive with the sound of music….." ? and note to self: don't do that on a hill with a steep edge you can easily fall off while spinning when you lose your balance. Because yeah, I almost fell off. Happy to report, no more spinning on hills. I'll stick to the hiking and walking. Come join me? ?? #visitvorarlberg #feelaustria #visitaustria #myvorarlberg • • • #soundofmusic #everydaymadewell #fujifilmxt2 #fujixt2 #dametraveler #wearetravelgirls #fujifilmx_us

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Since it's my last summer weekend in NYC, @dante.vincent & I enjoyed a picnic in Central Park yesterday with such a great view. See my Stories for the spot we chose not far from where I took this photo, and our picnic must-haves. This summer that includes a Cider Rosé by @wolfferwine that we are completely addicted to. It's almost hard to believe I won't have another weekend here till October. Yet I do love the Fall foliage of Central Park. There's basically no bad season for the park now that I think of it! This summer didn't turn out anything like I planned for a number of reasons but I'm sure there's a lesson in there about flexibility and learning to go with the flow of things! Now I need to apply that to this week as I get ready for jobs in Austria & California, back to back. • To see more of my NYC favs, check out the hashtag #kaNYguide • #shotoniphone #shotoniphone7plus #instagramnyc #newyorkbynewyorkers #centralparknyc

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4/4 #sponsored • One of my favorite things about our stay at @thesavoylondon was its proximity to The Thames. It afforded us that lovely view from our Suite, of the river and the city, all the way from St. Paul's to Westminster and Big Ben. Because The Savoy is also located between two bridges that can take you right across the river by foot, it gave us lots of opportunities to explore that amazing view from the ground easily and quickly, not just just from our Suite. I'd never stayed in any hotel so close to The Thames while in London before so I think I clocked more time on each bank than I ever have before. No matter which you choose, there's something to love. On the North side where The Savoy is located, lovely landscaped parks provide an escape from crowds and welcome serenity. It made me wish we'd had time to do a picnic. On the bustling South Bank where @dante.vincent captured this photo of me, there is no shortage of live entertainment, street art and food options. There are even book sellers not unlike the ones in my other favorite European city [Paris]! I'm spoiled for life!! What more could a girl ask for?! ?? #FairmontMoments • • • #VisitLondon #ThisIsLondon #fairmonthotels #travelmindset #iexplore #lovegreatbritain #southbankdreams

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GUIDE TO NYC series • Hands down my favorite neighborhood to just explore in NYC is the West Village. Since I'm home for much of June and July, I'm hoping to have lots of time to stroll around streets like this appreciating the details and trying to imagine the stories that have taken place here, a part of the City that goes back to the earliest days of people settling the area. As I work on my personal project of a "Guide to NYC," I'm hoping to have more specific tips for you than just, 'hey you should wander around here' ? but in the past, that's all I've really done: wander. Keep your eye out for my tips with the hashtag ?? #kaNYguide and I'll eventually have the info on my site. • In the meantime you can see the NYC places I recommend and save them to your own lists via @sherpa.guide It's an app which fills in the hole that was left when Instagram got rid of maps. To download it for iOS, visit their profile at @travelsherpa.

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I'm not usually one for anything that draws big crowds & I don't usually love huge tourist attractions but similar to the way I somehow still love attending Hogmanay in Scotland, I LOVED experiencing #StPatricksDay in the middle of Dublin, the @homeofguinness yesterday. I've no Irish blood that I know of but it just didn't matter since as the locals I hung out with love to say, "on March 17 everyone's Irish." That's just how it felt! It felt like the streets were one big family reunion. So we stood and we danced and we smiled and we laughed – in the shadow of a monument to Charles Parnell, so influential in the Home Rule movement for Ireland – and for a moment, life was an absolutely beautiful thing. No cares and no worries, just a complete sense of celebration. ☘️

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This is my favorite image of a town that I took during this trip to Wales because I feel it really shows the charm that can be found here and also because it features a red Defender which happens to be one of my dream vehicles!! I have this vision of one day when I'm old having a little cottage in the countryside, a closet full of wellies that I'd wear with flowered skirts and wool sweaters or tweed blazers, a dog and a Defender to drive myself around if I'm not walking or riding a bike. It just so happens that this dream could probably come to fruition in rural France, Scotland or Wales but it's in the latter that I've seen no less than several dozen of these vehicles driving around or parked next to cottages that would do just fine please and thank you ?? Seems like some kind of sign from the universe but who knows ? I took this in Crickhowell where, when you visit, you should not miss @bookishcrickhowell plus the cozy Dragon Inn or Bear Inn. Both have the character, fun locals and cozy corners that make for a great overnight in towns such as this. Though since I always keep it real you should know the pillows weren't exactly comfy so if you have trouble sleeping, as I do, you might want to bring your own ? #FindYourEpic

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For our last stop in Hawaii we took a ferry from Maui, out of Lahaina, to the small island of Lanai; and from one @fourseasons paradise to another, the minute I walked through the multi-storied lobby of @fslanai to see this, I fell in love with the property just like I had at Four Seasons on Maui. The pool area feels like a "garden of eden" with so many flowering plants and trees that I discovered a new one every time I walked through and enough hidden cabanas and hammocks to give you a new one to try on every day of your stay. There are places to relax where all you will see is the pool, or the ocean, or a wall of green and of course there are birds chirping in the swaying palms overhead that combined with the sounds of the nearby ocean are the only backdrop you need for the purest relaxation. We had just three nights to experience the resort and the island but I already knew in this moment that wasn't going to be nearly enough, we'd only be scratching the surface…. ? #LetHawaiiHappen @gohawaii #VisitLanai

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#CaymanCookout isn't just several days in a row of amazing food, it's several days of exploring the Cayman Islands since events take place not just at @ritzcarlton but all over. This spot, Rum Point, is rumored to be near Chef @ericripert's favorite place to go snorkeling and it was my favorite place we went for a tasting event. The water was so brightly colored as to look fake at times, there were kite surfers to watch, @moetchandon + cocktails by @charlesjoly to drink, so many delectable dishes to taste from so many different chefs and right at this spot…a reminder of some of the places on the planet I love the most and some of the places I still want to visit. As I stood here taking this photo, I had a moment of such profound gratitude that I get to do what I do for a living. It's not ever as easy as it looks and the pay isn't much but the people I get to meet always change my life in big and small ways plus the perks can hardly be beat. Speaking of people, I saw @treyratcliff was also at the Cookout and while I didn't get to talk to him, I have been enjoying all his drone footage from the islands. Head on over to his feed for a dose of paradise that I can guarantee will stoke your wanderlust. ☀️?

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