Balabanova All Over
#TakeYourTimeOff
About Nadya
Hi there! I am so glad you found me! My mission is to empower you to #TakeYourTimeOff and explore the world. I started this blog as a way to keep family and friends in the loop when I went on a 3-week trip to Asia in 2011. Although I’ve always enjoyed traveling, it wasn’t until a trip to Peru in 2012 that I started to think about ways to make travel a… Read More
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Top Posts
[Ann Arbor, MI, Apr 15/16, 2019] Luckily, the evenings provided opportunities to get out of our hotel and explore of Ann Arbor. Spending a few days at a conference hotel can bring on cabin fever pretty quickly for me, so I relish these opportunities! Monday nights of this conference are typically reserved for the networking dinners. The conference organizers make reservations at a half-dozen or so restaurants in the area and provide… Read More
[Ann Arbor, MI, Apr 14, 2019] My first opportunity to explore Ann Arbor came on Sunday night, after a full day of pre-conference training. The conference is hosted by a different university every year, and this year’s host was the University of Michigan. The conference itself was taking place off campus at a Sheraton hotel. However, the Sunday night welcome reception, which kicked off the conference, was located at the famous University… Read More
[Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Apr 13, 2019] I woke up just before sunrise and just before my alarm. The faint light of the rising sun was making its way through my window. I was ready to explore Cuyahoga National Park, which preserves the rural landscape along the Cuyahoga river between Cleveland and Akron. Being adjacent to two large urban areas makes Cuyahoga somewhat unique, which explained why I was seeing homes right… Read More
[Northfield, OH, Apr 12, 2019] I’ve been going to the Higher Education Data Warehousing conference since 2011. It’s an annual conference that typically takes place in April and different universities take turns hosting it. Other than my very first trip, I have always added a few days on the front and/or backend of this conference to sight-see. Thanks to this, I’ve seen Chicago, Niagara Falls, Toronto and Saguaro National Park in Tucson,… Read More
[Death Valley National Park, Mar 31, 2019] This time, we intentionally set our alarm for 6 am. We both enjoyed the cooler temps and fewer crowds the early hours afforded us, so it was not a hard sell. We first headed out to the Mesquite Sand Dunes on the west side of the park. They are the most popular sight in the park, which surprised me as I would have thought Badwater… Read More