Route and Review

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A Blog by a Bright Eyed Romantic

Book Reviews, Road trip Ideas & Creative Writing.

I love to read, but I want to write- but writing about myself traveling turned out tasteless and tiresome.
Perhaps this is because I was there. Because, to me, my life could not possibly live up to the standards of others. And also partly because within the worlds of fiction life always seems more colorful; in excess of emotion and always exceeds in adventure.

And so I had to change the idea I had of me merely traveling and start to look at things from a different perspective- a third person point of view. That is what I want Route and Review to become: a literary masterpiece hidden inside the world that I live in. Thus far I have written of my first two years in the USA and now that I have returned from another two year journey I am ready to once again share that adventure with you.

My most recent years spent in the USA were so adventurous that I fell behind on writing about them, but I took the time to capture the journey on my Instagram page and each destination has a description (and sometimes itinerary) of where I went and what I experienced.

I am setting off to Abu Dhabi

The focus of my blog will shift from my seasonal life
in the USA to a steadier life in the UAE.

This new path will involve my new blog post to focus on my new destination and what it’s like to experience another country. I would also like to spend more time on my creative writing which means I will most likely incorporate my experiences here into a collection of short stories, eventually.
Along with my retellings/reviews of places, I will of course still continue to review books as well as share a poem every now and then.

Thank you for being there for the journey this far,
I can’t wait to tell you more!

Exploring the USA

Route & Review was created in May 2017.
3 Years ago!
I left for my first USA adventure in October 2014 and returned in September 2016.
After having been abroad for those two years I decided that it was time I turned my writing into reviewing.

My original introduction to the blog:

This blog is the results of an opiniative traveler; a girl with opinions regarding both the literary world and the one we live in. Reviews on places and events that I have encountered on my journies as well as a few short stories (to come at a later stage) based on the locations I have experienced.
All I wanted was to travel and read and find out what life was made for. And I did travel, I read as much as I could (which was never enough) and well- life is still a stranger to me. Because life happens. And if I wasn’t working I was helping a stranger find his way to the subway, or celebrating yet another co-workers birthday, sleeping, doing my washing hastily while trying to keep the household of 6 individuals in a foreign country at bay. And if I wasn’t doing that I was sitting in my room enjoying the silence or getting lost on my way to the train station or stranded at a fair. My point is I got on the airplane ready for the adventure and life didn’t disappoint
-2017

Map My Journey: The First Two Years

Those first two years of traveling were as amazing as they were tough. I had managed to work full time, sustain myself and see pieces of the world that I could never have dreamed of.

Arrived in Maine for the Summer season of 2016

Moved to Arkansas for the summer of 2015

Chased my writer dreams at the Writer’s Digest Conference 2016 in New York City

Hiked in Vermont before getting on my flight back to South Africa

View my first two years post by post:

The Next Two Years

The Next Two and a half Years I did not just work in America, but I adventured through it. I realized that yes, I was there to work, but that did not mean I could not break away every now and then. I was able to live more, explore more and actually found time to appreciate what every State had to offer.

PICTURES TO FOLLOW SOON

What my blog is becoming now:

In celebration of becoming a better traveller I want to become a better writer as well, thus I am changing the platform of Route & Review. So far my blog has been a way of talking about my travels in an informative way as well as sharing the books that I was able to read on these travels.
But I want more, I want my blog to be a more creative outlet for my colorful life.
In hopes of that I am planning to retell my story of my experiences here in the UAE in a short-story kind of way. I wanted to add my love for literature into the blog in more ways than simply reviewing books.

Hope you enjoy the retelling of my adventures,
As much as I loved writing them 🚗

Book Reviews

Literature is far more entertaining than my reality, thus apart from reviewing the places that I have seen I also like to offer my opinions on the books that I have read.

View Book Reviews

The Beauty of a Dying Day

A Novella by Tanitia van der Walt

The chances were that she would never see him again.
The odds were that he was only meant to greet her once.
Luck has a way of changing fate, or perhaps that was fate’s great design all along? When a chance encounter during sunrise sparks unfathomable feelings. Lexine and Joshua find themselves in a tragic romantic entanglement.
The only constant in their lives is symbolized by the sun as it rises and sets, with an encounter or two spread out across the years. These two ill-fated lovers struggle to break free from a love that is both fated and feared- because it has become a part of who they are and has shaped them into who they have become.
After years of devoted running, what would happen if Joshua finally decided to pursue what they have?

Read it now for free

Follow their continuous struggle between fate and destiny as it is vividly displayed every time they are destined to meet and fated to part ways; again and again.

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