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The Faraway Places Podcast Episode #1: How to Stay Safe as a Solo Female Traveler and More

Hello!! I am sooooooo excited to introduce the Faraway Places podcast, a podcast about travel in Paris, France, Europe, and specifically solo female travel! It is an amazing opportunity to hear how weird my voice is and also my genetic inability to say the letters “an” without adding an R to the middle! Today: 10 strategies/worldviews I use to stay safe while traveling as a solo female traveler — plus, a question — hurrah!!!! — from newsletter reader Sarah, who asked about the best hostel in Paris. The tl;dr of it: 1. Keep some extra cash on hand (even if our new and basically cashless society) 2. Explore new neighborhoods very slowly 3. See new places with locals through guided tours or Airbnb Experiences 4. Single rooms in hostels offer a budget rate and a hostel’s community 5. Stay in a hotel rather than an Airbnb if there’s any chance of checking in late at night 5A. In order of preference for airport transport to cities: public transport, hotel car service, Uber, cabs 6. Exercise …

Some Free Books For Whoever Wants Them

Hello! Here are the books that are up for grabs — they are available unless they have a CLAIMED next to them. They’re linked to their Amazon listings in case you want to get a better description of them than the sparse ones I have provided below. Instructions for claiming them are in my newsletter. For now US addresses only please, otherwise the shipping costs > the book themselves. The Sacred Balance: Rediscovering Our Place in Nature by David Suzuki I had very high hopes for myself when I bought this, but they have been dashed. (Paperback, like new) JGV: A Life in 12 Recipes by Jean-Georges Vongerichten This looks like a very sweet book by the famous chef. (Hardcover, like new) Mother Grains by Roxana Jullapat Recipes to do with barley, buckwheat, corn, oats, rye, sorghum and more grains. Can you tell I don’t cook? (Hardcover, like new) American Cookie by Anne Byrn “The Snaps, Drops, Jumbles, Tea Cakes, Bars & Brownies That We Have Loved for Generations”: We have two copies. (Paperback, very …

yabla review

An Honest Yabla Review (2021)

My Yabla review: I love Yabla. I’ve used Yabla for three years, after I discovered it while looking for a way to practice my oral comprehension of French. I can read reasonably well, and speak at least competently enough to express my less-complicated thoughts, but I am hopeless at understanding people when they speak French. Enter, Yabla. (Note: This Yabla review focuses on Yabla French, though I imagine it’s more or less the same for each of the languages Yabla offers.) So What Is Yabla? Yabla is a language-learning system that uses a selection of game-like programs to increase oral comprehension, vocabulary, and written ability. My favorite — the one I use 99.9% of the time — is Scribe. The concept is simple: Every week, Yabla publishes a bunch of new videos — a mix of news reports, music videos, cartoon segments, and original material made by Yabla itself. (The original material is excellent — especially the videos by Lionel (Lionel the First, though Lionel the Second is also great, something other Yabla French users will …