thebestpossibletime

Crohane in my own 5k

26/01/2021 Lauren (thebestpossibletime.com)Leave a comment

In Ireland we are currently restricted to our own 5km radius from home for exercise due to lockdown rules. Unfortunately, we live on a fairly busy and not very interesting main road, so our walking options are limited. We had to get creative. So we took a look at this website to see what might be in our 5km radius that was worth exploring.

Crohane mountain immediately caught our eye—in fact, it catches our eye every morning because we can see it out the back window. However, despite looking at it from afar his whole life, Steve had never hiked up it, and of course neither had I, so off we went on Saturday morning.

Continue reading →

Two days on the Mekong: taking the slow boat from Thailand to Laos

22/01/202122/01/2021 Lauren (thebestpossibletime.com)Leave a comment

Taking the ‘slow boat to Laos’ is a Southeast Asia backpacker classic, and also a misnomer. The boat actually starts on the Laos side of Laos/Thailand border, so technically you’re not taking it to Laos.

However, it’s still a must-do when you’re in the area and heading to Luang Prabang.

You can book a trip from anywhere in the northern region of Thailand, with many starting off in Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai and booking a package that takes them all the way onto the boat. We decided to make our own way across the border and spend the night before the boat journey in the tiny Laos border town of Houayxay. We took a bus from Chiang Rai across the border, and then teamed up with some other travellers for a tuk-tuk to Houayxay.

A note: I know it’s been almost a year at this point since I was in Southeast Asia, but time has been mostly meaningless for the last 10 months and I still have stories to share. Hopefully this will be helpful to people who are planning their travels for when the world is open again, and entertaining to everyone else in the meantime.

Continue reading →

Thirty, flirty, and just about hanging in there

19/01/202119/01/2021 Lauren (thebestpossibletime.com)Leave a comment

I started this blog in 2012, just before another milestone birthday (my 21st). I’d shadowed an Ithaca College and Park Scholar alum at work on a trip to New York City and one of his colleagues had recommended I start a blog as a good source of writing samples to show potential journalism employers. I immediately jumped at the idea.

I’d already had years of blogging experience on various platforms (xanga, blogspot, livejournal, and tumblr) by that point, but I wanted to have a little spot on the internet to call my own. This was back when a lucky few were able to turn blogging into a full-time living before it all moved to Instagram (I’m not knocking influencers; I just don’t have the fashion sense or budget), but I was never interested in that.

I just wanted a place to write without the constraints of an academic essay or the AP Stylebook (as much as I dearly love both). I had lofty goals: at least one blog post a week (something I still have yet to achieve in any year so far; perhaps 2021 will finally be the year). The journalism didn’t stick, but the blog did.

Continue reading →

Best books of 2020 (published before 2020)

08/01/2021 Lauren (thebestpossibletime.com)Leave a comment

Thanks to Libby and my local library (well, *cough*, the library where I used to live that has an amazing selection), last year I read a lot more brand new books than usual. However, I still picked up plenty of slightly older reads (usually because the hold lists weren’t quite as long). Following on from my Favourite Books of 2020 (Published in 2020), here are my favourites that were published before last year.

Continue reading →

Best books of 2020 (published in 2020)

01/01/2021 Lauren (thebestpossibletime.com)Leave a comment

For all its many, many faults, 2020 was a great year for reading. I had plenty of time for it, meaning I got through a whopping 107 books. I rediscovered a love for audiobooks. And a glut of incredible new titles meant that I already had something exciting and fresh to read (and a great selection on my library’s Libby meant that there were always new ones coming in on my hold lists, so I read more newly-released titles this year than in some other years), along with my endless list of to-reads from years past.

In fact, I read so many great books this year that I found it really hard to narrow down my favourites. I’ve decided to split my list into two parts: books published in 2020, and books published earlier than 2020.

So whether you’re looking for something hot off the press or a modern classic, here are my picks for best of the year, starting with books newly released in 2020.

Continue reading →

My favourite music, tv, and podcasts of 2020

30/12/2020 Lauren (thebestpossibletime.com)Leave a comment

Saying “what a strange year” is both such an understatement and so obvious that I’m sure it doesn’t need to be said, but I can’t help but say it anyway. What a strange, strange year. Mostly I turned to books to get me through it, but there were also plenty of standouts in other mediums that offered entertainment and escapism through the weirdness of 2020. Here are a few of my favourites from the year in music, tv, film*, and podcasts.

Continue reading →