Traveller Profile - Riana from 'Teaspoon of Adventure'

Introducing Riana, our featured traveller for the month of November.

My name is Riana and I am a Canadian expat currently living in Prague with my partner and our dog. I work online as a freelancer in social media, writing and travel planning - which is the perfect job for travelling often! I have travelled to 40 countries on six continents. My latest trip was to Nuremberg with a day trip down to Munich for Oktoberfest and up next we're travelling to Bratislava and Budapest. You can find me online at Teaspoon of Adventure (blog) and @tspadventure on Twitter.

1. Why do you travel?

I travel to explore new places and to see life outside of the bubble I've built around myself. I love discovering places I've only seen online with my own two eyes, wandering around towns, eating new foods and taking in gorgeous views.

2. Tell us your favourite: a place to visit, mode of transport and source to get travel info.

Place: I don't think I can pick just one but my top five would be London, Amsterdam, Cape Town, Tokyo and now Prague!

Mode of transport: I love travelling by train! It feels so old school and way more luxurious than a plane. I love watching the scenery pass by, spending the hours with a good book, and the fact that we can bring our dog along!

Source for travel info: I love reading through other travel blogs to see how other bloggers spent their time in a new place. There's always great hidden gems and well thought out itineraries to be found! I usually just Google "(place name) travel blog" or head to Twitter or Pinterest for suggestions.

3. What is your favourite travel memory?

​That's so hard to narrow down! In recent memory, I would have to say arriving in Prague, the city where we are living for the next year on working holiday visas. It was so awesome to cross over the Vltava River and get our first glimpse at our new home. We couldn't stop smiling! Other awesome travel memories include exploring the temples of Angkor in Cambodia, seeing koalas in the wild in Australia, beautiful sunsets in Swaziland, and my first solo trip to Europe in 2012.

4. What's the most important thing you've learned while travelling?

I think it's how small I am in this great big world. When you don't travel, it's easy to get very caught up in your own life and your own little bubble around you. But once you start seeing the world, you realize how much more is out there. It's humbling and it also really opens your mind to so many different customs, languages, foods, people and ways of life.

5. Who would you love to sit next to on your next flight?

I always love sitting next to my partner and travelling with him. But I'll say Lin-Manuel Miranda because I think he's so fascinating (I'm a big musical theatre fan) and if I'm sitting next to him, that probably means I'm up in business class!

6. What's your best money-saving tip to travel?

Take advantage of flight deals! In this day and age, flight deals are so readily available. I've scored some awesome fares like less than $400 CAD roundtrip from Vancouver to Dublin, $500 for Vancouver to Singapore and parts of Europe, $60 to LA, etc. You just need to be flexible and keep an eye out for deals!

7. How do you deal with the post-holiday blues?

I really struggle when I get back from a trip and feel those blues HARD. I actually wrote a post with some of my ideas for getting over the post travel blues. Things that help me are looking through photos from the trip and posting about the trip on my blog since I get to relive it. And it always helps to have a next trip to start planning!

8. What's one thing you like to do in every place you visit?

Great question! I always like to try the local food and spend some time wandering around the town, trying to discover a cool cafe or a beautiful building. I like to build in time to just get lost and explore a new place on foot.

9. Travelling can leave a big environmental footprint, how do you minimise yours?

I love that this is becoming an issue that frequent travellers are talking about these days because it's so important. Lately, we've been taking the train on most of our travels around Europe, which is less of an impact on our environment than flying. I also take public transit or walk, both in my daily life and when I travel. I bring my own reusable water bottle and reusable shopping bags. And whenever possible, I try to eat and shop local because that supports the local community, gives me a more authentic experience, and cuts down on my environmental impact since the food or product doesn't have to travel as far.

10. Plan an around the world trip for us, stopping in one city only on each continent.

Fun! Vancouver (my home in Canada) > Wellington, New Zealand > Tokyo, Japan > Amsterdam, The Netherlands > Cape Town, South Africa > Antarctica > Medellin, Colombia.

Thanks Riana. We love your thoughtful travel tips!

If you would like to read other traveller profiles we have featured, click here.

Each month an enthusiastic traveller will share with us their personal stories from their adventures around the world. If you would like to be featured in the upcoming months then please drop us a note below…