Have you ever had an overenthusiastic uninvited relative show up out of the blue? Well that was me, when I visited the chimps in Nyungwe Forest in Rwanda.

To say I was excited to meet my closest non-human relatives in the flesh would be like saying that meeting the Mountain Gorillas was good when it was EPIC! It turns out my relatives are early risers.  By the time we arrived at just after 8:30am they had left their nests and most of the family had even finished their breakfast.  The trackers said they had been up since 6:30am – clearly I did not inherit their early rising gene.

Ladies, feel better about your behind now?

I heard there pant hoots long before I saw them.  Great they had brought out the welcoming committee!  As excited as I was them to meet me though it wasn’t mutual.  I wouldn’t say they were rude – just uninterested.  Of the 13 family members, just one of them gave me a passing glance before getting on to more important things –  inspecting his belly button:

A Chimp inspecting his belly button, which apparently was more interesting than me. I tried not to take it personally.

But I guess that was slightly better than the few family members who had decided that i wasn’t even worthy of meeting, including the mother with the six month old baby.  I tried to connect with her telepathically.  Please, please come out.  I want to meet you and your baby.  I have waited my entire live to see a baby chimp in the wild.  I waited several minutes, snapping photos of a  juvenile chimp  who was grabbing a late breakfast (by chimp standards):

A juvenile chimp foraging for food – although I think he’s just showing off in the middle photo.

Still no baby chimp, so I tried to seal the deal with I sign at least one petition a week against using primates in experiments  and try to use my social media influence to show everyone how cool chimps are. (like this one protesting Philippine Airlines shipping monkeys to be used for experiments.  You can sign it here.) I waited….

At least the 30 year male (the guide didn’t think he had a name) decided that he may as well pose for a few photos.  I think he sensed that i wasn’t leaving until I got at least a few and figured that this was the quickest way to get rid of me (clearly he doesn’t  know me very well): I observed him looking for family resemblances. He glanced my way now and then, but made it clear that while I wasn’t exactly unwelcome (that could have involved throwing poop at me or bluff charging me) I wasn’t exactly welcome either.  I had become THAT family member. You know, the one who shows up uninvited, doesn’t bring a gift and overstays their welcome? Yep that was me. Undeterred I continued working on the family portrait.  He retaliated by posing directly into the morning sun. Despite not being the most considerate family member, I fell in love with him anyway, just like I did with Charlie when I volunteered at a chimp sanctuary in Girona, Spain.  He clearly had a routine and an annoying, overeager, uninvited family member wasn’t going to get in the way of it!

I listened to him with almost equal fascination as I watched him.  Like a typical guy he farted…a lot (which the gorillas also did). I could also hear his fingernails making long scratches across his tummy. I had no idea that scratching could be so noisy…or so interesting to watch!

An hour went by way tooooo fast.  Visitors are only allowed an hour with the chimps every day so not to interfere with their daily activities. Despite the chimps not returning my enthusiasm (maybe they didn’t know that I am a popular travel blogger who would be proudly displaying the family photos on my blog?), it was an incredible visit!  I had finally met my closest living non-human relatives!

The mother and baby never did make an appearances though so you know what that means….I’LL BE BACK! I have a feeling they might have wished they had thrown poop at me!

In retrospect the chimps practically rolled out the red carpet compared to the baboon’s welcome that we met on our return from the chimps…but that’s another story (stay tuned)!

Know Before You Visit Chimps in Nyungwe Park,Rwanda

• A limited number of permits are available everyday, so book yours at least several months in advance if possible.  Amahoro Tours (the company I went with) can arrange this for you.
• A one day permit to visit the chimps for an hour costs $90 (much cheaper than the $750 to visit the gorillas). Insider travel tip:  If you really like chimps, purchase one of the multi-day permits, which just cost slightly more.- In retrospect, I wish I would have done this since each visit is different.
• There is no guarantee that you will see the chimps.  I was told by some people that there’s a 50/50 chance, but my guide Omar from Amahoro Tours said that his guests had always seen chimps whenever they went.
• Wear good walking shoes, you will have to hike ~30-60 minutes (relatively flat) to reach the chimps.
• Your visit will be finished by mid-morning so book another activity for the rest of the day, like the canopy tour or one of the guided nature walks.  Nyungwe Forest is a hidden gem and there’s lot of nature activities to do.
• Nyungwe Forest is home to a whopping 13 primate species, 25% of  primate species in all of Africa. See why Rwanda is a fabulous destination for your own Primate Safari – I saw 7 primate species in 7 days!

Thank you to Amahoro Tours for coordinating my visit.  I paid for the chimp permit myself and all views expressed are my own opinions. 

The canals of Amsterdam are celebrating a birthday in 2013 and it’s rather a big one.

One that you and I will likely not reach – 400 years! I’m just aiming for an even happy and healthy 100 years! But the canals are aging rather well and 400 years later remain an exemplary example of city planning done right.

This is one birthday party you don’t want to miss and fortunately it’s going on for an entire year.  If you got to me 400 years old, wouldn’t you want a long celebration too? You can see a list of all the events here, including concerts and art exhibits  but three that really stood out to me were the Canal Parade taking place during the Amsterdam Gay Parade on August 3rd, the Canals Festival running from August 16th-23rd and the Amsterdam Festival of Lights held on November 28th.

So just what makes Amsterdam’s canals so special?  These 8 reasons:

1) There are over 100km of canals which have resulted in  an incredible 90(ish) islands and 1500 (ish) bridges. Just think how long you could spend exploring!

2) The inner ring canals are lined with historic buildings – 1550 of which have a monumental building status.  No wonder they earned UNESCO World Heritage Site status in 2010.

3)There are locks so there are never ebbs and flows in the canals. Genius!

4)The canals might be cleaner than your bathtub.  They’re flushed five times a week!  I don’t know about you but that’s more often than I clean my bathroom, unless of course you would like to come over and clean it.

5)There are a lot of houseboats on the canals of Amsterdam – ~3000 of them.  Unfortunately  they’re not cheap to live in. But don’t worry, #8 below offers a good alternative.

6)You can swim in some parts of the canal.  The Amsterdam City Swim is a canal swim for charity held every year, and even Princess Maxima participated last  year.  This year it’s being held on September 8th, but registration has already closed for individual registrations.  Would you be one of the brave 1600 swimmers? I think I would just stick to cheering on the sidelines for this one – that water has to be cold! But diving in the canals in a dry suit?  Now we’re talking!

7) Walking along the canals at night is a perfect opportunity for people watching. This was a tip given to me by our guide who explained that the Dutch don’t normally close their curtains, so at night when the lights are on you get a glimpse (for better or for worse) into the local’s lives. Lets just leave it at that.  Moving on…

8) Some Dutch consider their boats to be their gardens.  As explained to me by Sebastian my guide in Amsterdam, My boat is my garden. Some people go to their gardens to relax, I go to my boat.  I relax by inviting a few friends and driving my boat along the canals.  Ummm, can we be friends?  Tip:  If you can’t afford to live in a houseboat, become friends with someone who at least owns a boat.

Bonus:  There’s even a cat sanctuary house boat!  I’m a huge cat lover. I have 2 adorable black cats named Fuego and Coco (named after places I discovered while traveling – bonus points if you can figure out them out) that I adopted from the animal shelter.  I really wanted to see De Poezenboot (The Cat Boat), after reading about it on my friend Cheryl’s blog, but sadly missed it.

What are other reasons can you think of to celebrate the 400th birthday of the Canals of Amsterdam?

Thank you to Amsterdam Tourism for inviting me to participate in the canal’s 400th birthday celebrations!  As always all opinions expressed are my own and the Tourism board does not promote being a voyager – even if the Dutch don’t close their curtains!

Monkeys and mountains is a common (and one of my favorite themes) on this blog, but music and mountains?  This would be a first!

This past weekend I attended the Wanderbare Gipfelklaenge which translate roughly to Hiking to the Sounds of the Mountains in Mostviertel, Austria.  It’s a creative and unique event that’s now in its third year running. There were seven different musical groups playing at different venues, mostly mountain huts of which you had to hike to.  If you need motivation to go hiking this is seriously it! The event kicked off Friday evening with Catch-Pop String-Song, a Balkan Folk band.  It was held at the four star Hotel Fahrnberger in Göstling/Yibbs where  I also stayed there for two nights.  We (my husband and I) arrived a bit late, but enjoyed what I heard and given all the applause and encore, it’s safe to say that I wasn’t the only one. The main event followed the next day at Gasthause Jagersberger and opened with Saxofour, a brass quartet that was one of my favorite performances of the entire weekend! You can check them out below:

Then it was time for the hiking to begin – from now if you wanted to hear the musicians, you would have to hike to them! Saxofour teased us with a few songs, but then it was time to hike if we wanted to hear more!  Naturally we did. It was a gentle uphill on a well graded trail. And we never had to worry about getting lost because our group was ~200 people and most importantly because we had our fearless leader, Maxi:

Meet Maxi, our fearless leader!

She was a strong and silent type, but wasn’t opposed to praise in the form of petting her nose.  I would do a hike again with Maxi any day!   After a longer performance by Saxofour, our real work began as we headed towards Hollensteiner Bergrettngshütte, a charming hut on top of the mountain.  It became quite steep near the top, but was completely doable if you were in decent condition.  I knew I would be rewarded for my effort with a performance by Klaus Trabitsch and Insingizi, an A Capella group from Zimbabwe.

Insider Travel Tip:  Hollensteiner Bergrettungshütte makes for a great hiking destination even if you aren’t rewarded with live music.

Klaus Trabitsch entertaining us and the cows at Hollensteiner Bergrettungshütte

This was my favorite performance of the entire weekend!  These guys played off of each other, could really sing, looked like they were having a blast and engaged the audience.  Does it get any better than a sing along to The Lion Sleeps Tonight on the top of a mountain?  I  think not!:

Our hard work done, bellies full and the Wimba Way rhythm in our heads, we started downhill to another performance by Klaus Trabitsch and Insingizi.  Unfortunately this one was the shortest performance of the entire weekend – it started pouring several minutes after they started playing. Ever the professionals, they promised to make it up to us at our next step at Peter Jagersbergers Küche – which fortunately offered indoor seating.  Several coffees and schnapps later, I found myself singing along again. We ate dinner here knowing that Florianer Tanzlgeiga, a group that plays Austrian folk music would be playing.  To say that Florianer Tanzlgeiga is an expressive group would be an understatement. They had people up and dancing on the first song!  I declined.

This cute couple was the first to get up and dance to Florianer Tanzlgeiga.

This is a country that does the Vienna Waltz every year on New Years Eve, which as I learned from doing it at my wedding is more difficult than it looks.  Austrians can definitely dance – and they would put this Canadian to shame!

Sunday started right outside the Hotel Fahrnberger and with a bang from the St. Georgen am Reith band.  From there we continued 30 minutes to the Erlebniswelt Mendingtal, in which is a museum with displays about logging (all in German).  Next was a 3km relatively flat pathway through a gorgeous bridge covered gorge. It was stunning – crystal clear water!  (Post to follow).

Beautiful hike along a gorge and historic logging route.

Insider Travel Tip:  The path from Erlebniswelt Mendintal to Hammerhrrengasthaus is a beautiful hike that can be down throughout the summer and is very family friendly due to its 3km length and flat path).

As I was hiking it for a special event, traditional wood cutters demonstrated how they moved logs down the river back to the museum where they would be processed.

Re-enactment of traditional logging in Mostviertel.

It looks like really hard work! I wasn’t ready for the hike to be over when we arrived at the Hammerherrengasthaus for lunch and a closing performance by Tini Kainrath and Band. She performed a series of songs in English and while she was OK, she didn’t connect with the audience the same way the earlier groups had. Still not having had enough of the gorge, J.P. and I decided to hike it back to the Hotel Fahrnberger.

There would be no more music, but we still had the mountains.

The Wanderbare Gipfelklaenge (Hiking to the Sounds of the Mountains) is held in Mostviertel at different locations each June. I LOVED this event and would recommend it to anyone who like hiking, music or both!  It was a really fun atmosphere enjoyed by young and old. Mostviertel is also a great destination for outdoor activities throughout the year.  Click here for further info.

Thank you to Mostviertel Tourism for introducing me to the Wanderbare Gipfelklaenge.  I loved it!  As always, all opinions expressed are my own.

I loved, and I mean LOVED my recent stay at the Alpenresort Schwarz in Tyrol.

It’s located just 2 hours from Munich in a lush green valley lined with snow-capped peaks.  Here’s why I loved it so much:

1) The Scenery:  I already mentioned the “lush green valley and snow-capped peaks”.  Let me tell you that it’s a tough view to beat while soaking in the scenery from the hotel’s lake pool:

Inside Travel Tip:   Visit the Stöttlalm, a nice easy walk with views over the valley.  Be sure to try a shot of Zirbenschnaps, a local speciality made from pine cones.

J.P. (my husband) enjoying Zirbenschanpps (a local speciality made from pine cones) at the Stöttlam near the Alpenresort Schwarz in Tyrol

2) Choice of Activities: The Alpenresort Schwarz’s Tyrolean location guarantees adventure.  In summer you can choose from hiking, climbing, mountain biking, horse back riding, golf, or tennis.  Insider Travel Tip:  Our guide highly recommended a guided sunrise hike for glorious views over the entire valley.  In winter guests can choose from down hill or cross-country skiing, snowshoeing.  The hotel’s extensive fitness program and gym are also available all year-long.

View from the Stöttlalm, our rest stop on our guided morning hike.

3) Suites with Butler service:  The suites offered mountain views, a huge jacuzzi tub and walk-in closet.  Despite all that, my favorite feature was the ceiling over the bed.  Turn off the lights and it transforms into a night sky with stars.  So cool.  Also incredible?  There is a butler for each floor! Yes a butler! Insider Travel Tip:  Go to bed before you are tired so you can enjoy the night “sky”.

The bedroom of our suite. I watched the night “sky” for hours.

4) Family owned:  I’m a big fan of family owned properties and the Pirktl family is very involved in the day-to-day running of the Alpenresort Schwarz.  Martha Pirktl manages the entire garden area herself complete with 60,000 tulips with just one other gardener and occasional helpers!

A few of the 60,000 tulips/daffodils planted each year at the wellness hotel.

5) World Class Service: The service my husband and I received at the Alpenresort Schwarz was incredible!  Everyone was very warm and professional, but it went much further than that. The first evening we had dinner I was brought a gluten-free menu without even asking (I have a gluten allergy). The next day I went to the spa for a treatment and they too knew about my gluten-allergy.  The coordination of guest information was one of the best guest experiences I have ever had at any hotel!  It made me feel important and valued – not to mention set the bar very high for other hotels.

Employee photos hang in the hallway.

6) The Spa:  The spa was SO incredible that I wrote an entire post about it – the first time I’ve ever dedicated an entire post to a spa. Seriously, it’s that amazing. You can here it here.

7) Separate Adult and Children Areas: A newly built children’s area has just been created so that kids can be kids, leaving adults to relax and enjoy the pool area in relaxation.  I LOVED this feature.  Insider Travel Tip: Be sure to check out the 92m long water slide in the children’s area.  It’s a blast!  Then head back to the adult area. Insider Travel Tip:  Also check out the petting zoo if you have kids, or just love animals, like I do.

A goat who was my new BFF – as long as I kept feeding him. Fickle goat!

8) Gardens:  The gardens at Alpenresort Schwarz are personally tended by Martha Pirktl.  Many of the 60,000 tulips are hand planted by her and she takes pride in making sure everything is up to par.  On our tour of the gardens, she stopped several times to pick out a weed or two who had managed to escape her careful attention.  Insider Travel Tip:  Many of the herbs used in the restaurant are hand-picked directly from the hotel’s gardens, so try a choose herb-infused dishes.

Martha’s herb garden, the source of  many of the restaurant’s herbs.

9) The Restaurant:  The food was exquisite.  A large breakfast buffet and lunch is served everyday.  A selection of coffee and cakes are served throughout the afternoon.  For dinner there is a salad bar and then you have a choice of main courses.  But  it was this that stole my heart:

Chocolate fountain

Does it get any better than a chocolate fountain? I think not!

Check out this video showing you even more reasons to fall in love with the Alpensresort Schwarz.
Thank you to the Alpenresort Schwarz for making my visit possible.  As always, all opinions expressed are my own.

Like most travellers I have a mental bucket list that I am constantly updating. As a travel blogger I have been very fortunate to regularly check off items from that list.  Take a look at my Top Travel Adventures of 2012 and my #1 travel adventure of 2012  and you’ll see what I mean. But the #1 thing on my bucket list, remained, chewing away at me….until recently.

It will probably come as no surprise to those of you that know me and even those of you who don’t – my blog is named Monkeys and Mountains after all, that the #1 thing on my bucket list was to observe Mountain Gorillas in the wild. I had studied Western Lowland  Gorillas during my Bachelor of Science in Primatology.  I went on to work in environmental education at a zoo and designed and taught primate environmental enrichment programs. But still I had never seen a gorilla in the wild.

Bleep, bleep, bleep. That was the alarming sound I woke up to at 5:23 am. Normally I would have turned it off, and then hidden under the covers, but not today.  Today I pulled the covers aside and leapt out of bed, my feet hitting the cold floor of Amahoro Guest House in Musanze, Rwanda.  Today was the day I would be seeing Mountain Gorillas in the wild!

Flash forward 30 minutes later and Omar my friendly guide at Amahoro Tours has picked me up and I’m now in a group with six other gorilla enthusiasts. Our trek to the low stone wall marking Volcanoes National Park has begun.

One of the three silverbacks that comprise the Sabyinyo troop.

Our guide repeatedly spoke softly into his 2-way radio, speaking in his native tongue of Kinyarwandan. I didn’t understand him, but I did notice the worried look in his eyes as he exchanged glances with our other guide before brightly announcing that the trackers couldn’t find the gorillas but not to worry.

What? No gorillas?  My pulse quickened. Don’t worry, he assured us, the gorillas are moving fast in search of bamboo shoots.  He repeatedly assured us that the trackers would find the gorillas, but even he sounded less and les convinced as we waited just outside the park border to Volcanoes National Park. Half an hour later we were still waiting. Finally he got the call we had been impatiently waiting for – the trackers had located the gorillas, but we would need to hurry to catch up with them.

Drunk silverback playing with his belly button.

But first, he had to warn us of one other thing….bamboo shoots make the gorillas drunk! And there were not one, not two, but three silverbacks, including Guhonda, the largest and oldest silverback in the entire  Volcanoes National Park! We had to be prepared for….drunk gorillas!

It turns out that a drunk gorilla might parade around a bit more, beating their chests, showing off how strong they are, intimidating other males, or (gulp)…us. Doesn’t really sound all that different from drunk men does it?

We began to hike the steep muddy trail. I was full of adrenalin and could have raced up the hill, but we could only go as fast as the slowest member in the group.  In other words not nearly as fast as I would have liked given the fact that I knew Mountain gorillas were waiting for us. 90 minutes later we reached the trackers. We dropped off our backpacks and took out our cameras as we followed the trackers to the gorillas. I smelled them before I saw them. It wasn’t a bad smell, but a distinctive gorilla smell.

Two of the Sabyinyo troop’s silverbacks.

A branch snapped, i looked up and saw the behind of a huge male gorilla – one of the silverbacks who was obviously suffering from stomach problems as evidenced by his backside. Then he was gone, disappearing into the bush, despite his massive size! We moved quickly, deeper into the bamboo forest. Then out of nowhere, I saw him….Guhonda, the largest and oldest silverback! I quickly started snapping pictures, but he was moving quicker than we were and just as quickly he was gone too. The next 20 minutes are so consisted of playing hide and seek with the gorillas.  One second you would see them, the next second they had vanished!

Kampanga, the mother mountain gorilla who melted my heart.

Then IT happened. By IT I’m referring to one of the most magical moments of my entire life! A female gorilla (who I later found out is named Kampanga) stopped long enough to  look up and acknowledge us before going back to searching for bamboo shoots, but she moved slowly carefully…Perhaps it’s because Kampanga had a baby on her back!  YES A GORILLA BABY!

Kampanga and her adorable son or daughter (the trackers didn’t know yet).

And not just any baby, but a baby who seemed to know how cute he was! He played it up for us as we snapped photo after photo. We stared. He stared back with his massive curiosity filled brown eyes. Kampanga decided to move on, coming closer and closer to us. I was in her way and she gingerly took her hand and brushed my leg, as if to say Excuse me. OMG, I had just been touched by a mountain gorilla! And a very polite one at that! It took every ounce of willpower not to reach out and touch the baby on her back who was literally just inches from me. I was so close that had I extended my arm half way I would have touched him.

He’s a star and he knows it!

After passing, she let out a low grunt, which I interpreted as Thank you in gorilla language. She proceeded to climb up a tree, her baby’s expression changing from one of curiosity to that of fear, his eyes growing even bigger as his clutch around her fur tightened….Then they were gone.  Words cannot begin to express how I felt….elated….dizzy with excitment…thankful….beyond grateful for the opportunity….Words are simply not enough.  Even now as i write this, several weeks later, my breath has quickened.  It was truly one of the most memorable moments of my entire life!

Our time with the gorillas had not yet come to an end yet though.  We moved on and caught a glimpse through the bamboo forest of Big Ben.  Big Ben is famous in his own right, for despite being a juvenile gorilla.  He is bald! The Gorilla Doctors have examined him and he is perfectly healthy…but bald.  Poor guy!  Wonder if that impacts his chances with the ladies?

We passed Karema, another female who is easily identifiable by her missing fingers, caught in a snare.  Snares are not common in Rwanda any more due to some impressive initiatives by the Rwandan government (to be discussed more in an upcoming post), but that wasn’t always the case.

Guhonda taking it easy, perhaps his bamboo buzz had kicked in?

Next we stumbled upon Guhonda again, the park’s largest silverback. He was settled down, perhaps his bamboo shoot buzz kicking in. PFIFFFFF PFIGGGGHHH. Yes that is the sound of a silverback having gas! Something that gorillas have a lot of.  Given the fact that Mountain gorillas are predominantly herbivores, this shouldn’t come as a surprise, but still I found it entertaining.

Me posing with Guhonda (well kinda)….he did have bad gas after all!

As a FYI gorilla gas doesn’t stink when you’re standing 3 meters away. All too soon, our hour was up.  It was time to go. To leave the gorillas in peace. To be gorillas again without a group of tourists snapping pictures, oohhing and ahhing…. or poking fun  at their flatulence. I was the last one to leave and did so only at the urging of our guide. I waved goodbye to Guhonda and mouthed a silent Thank you and until next time….

Know Before You Go Gorilla Trekking in Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda:

• It’s not cheap.  A one hour permit will set you back $750 – but it’s worth every penny!
• Amahoro Tours can purchase your gorilla permit for you.
• Book as far in advance as possible. There is a maximum of 80 people a day and spots fill up quickly, the exception being in May, when I went, during rainy season.
• Once you arrive at Volcanoes National Park, your guide will ask you how far you want to hike and then try to find a gorilla troop to match your abilities.
• Porters are also available to help you and carry your back pack.
• Photography tip:  Flash is not allowed.  Set your ISO settings at 1600 or 3200 so that the gorilla’s faces show up.  I got this excellent tip from a guy on my tour who got it from a professional photographer on his previous tour.
• You can see more primates (including chimps)  in Nyungwe National Park in the south part of Rwanda.  I highly recommend it.

Guest post by Ryan O’Rourke, the founder of Treksplorer.

If you’ve ever struggled with picking up a new language, you’re not alone. Learning a foreign language is never easy. But it doesn’t have to be hard either.

To the casually observing English speaker, Europeans seem to have it easy. Most speak one, two – even three or more! – foreign languages without so much as a bead of sweat.

Was an entire continent blessed with some innate linguistic ability that somehow skipped through the English-speaking gene pool?

Not likely.  But these successful language learners may know something we don’t.

If your progress in a foreign language has fallen short of your goals, you may be sabotaging your efforts without even knowing it.

Watch out for these five surprising language-learning pitfalls, and soon you’ll be saying adios to your problems and willkommen to your newly-energized linguistic abilities:

1) You’re afraid to make mistakes.

Perfectionists are great students, but terrible foreign language learners. Why?

Language learning requires mistakes. Knowing you’ve made an error and correcting yourself forms a massive part of the language acquisition process. Eventually, your mistakes will be replaced by successes and set you firmly on the road to fluency.

2) Your language learning materials don’t match your learning style.

All the courses in the world won’t help you learn a language if they aren’t geared towards your preferred learning style.

Most learners fall into three basic categories: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. And although most language learning materials attempt to cater to all of these styles in some way, they are usually skewed towards one of them.

Listening to Pimsleur or Michel Thomas audio courses won’t catapult your progress if you’re a strong visual learner, and likewise, reading through a Teach Yourself or Routledge Colloquial course will slow down your learning if auditory learning is your game.

Find your learning style and seek out suitable courses geared towards it: your language learning success depends on it.

3) Language learning causes you anxiety.

Remember all the grammar drills, oral tests, and pointless writing assignments from English class? Unfortunately, so do I.

It’s no wonder so many people have an aversion towards learning a foreign language!

Language learning should be fun, not a source of anxiety. Nothing hijacks your ability to learn a language more than stress, and by eliminating (or at least minimizing) it, your progress will almost instantly improve.

To reduce anxiety, forget those boring, stressful grammar exercises for now and find some fun and interesting ways to learn: read magazines about your favourite hobbies and interests, play games, complete crossword puzzles, or write a letter to a friend. Each of these will activate your foreign language abilities in different ways, helping to propel your progress.

4) You’re too inconsistent.

Ask any runner what it takes to finish a marathon. All will agree: consistent training is the key.

Language learning is no different. An entire Saturday spent buried in the books is far less effective than shorter daily bursts throughout the week.

Scrap those marathon weekend study sessions and aim for at least 30 minutes a day. Even if you have more time available, be sure to keep learning sessions short – absorbing a language requires some down time.

5) You’re approaching language learning with the wrong mindset.

There’s one thing that language-learning superstars have in common: a boatload of confidence. And if you don’t exude it in spades, you’ve got a Sisyphean task ahead of you.

Sure, we’re not all born as silver-tongued polyglots. But that shouldn’t stop us from thinking like one.

Imagining ourselves as competent future speakers in our target language can push our progress further than studying our butts off with doubt still in the back of our minds.

To drive future foreign language learning success, constantly affirm your linguistic skills with positive reinforcement and reviews of past successes. And if a lack of confidence becomes a lingering problem, pick up an inspiring self-help book – it may just be the most important addition to your language library!

How have you been sabotaging your foreign language learning?

Author Bio: Ryan O’Rourke is the founder of Treksplorer, a travel media site focused on offbeat destinations and unconventional travel planning, photography & language learning tips. An avid traveller and amateur travel photographer, Ryan truly believes that the greatest adventures are never planned, and that travel plans, no matter how perfect they seem, are meant to be broken. You can connect with Ryan on Twitter, or Facebook.