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Albania Mania

Albania had been on my radar since my Balkans trip back in 2019. It was the only country of the region that I hadn’t visited, and after meeting Alesia, Rowen’s Albanian friend precisely a week after I’d returned from the Balkans, I had made it a new priority to visit her native country. We all know that Albania hasn’t had the greatest reputation over the years, and it’s not quite on the top of most people’s travel destinations list. However, in the last few years, it has been gaining significant popularity amongst European travellers especially. It definitely helped to know a local, to give us some tips and tell us which things to avoid. Huge shoutout Alesia, because so much of the trip was made possible thanks to her.

We began by spending a few days in the capital city of Tirana. A lively, bustling city, albeit with an interesting past, but one which offers cultural and historical treasures free from hordes of tourists. Our time in Tirana was full of exploring and learning, notably at the House of Leaves aka the Museum of Secret Surveillance, and Bunk’Art 2, an underground tunnel dedicated to the history of the Communist police force, as well as on a little day trip to Kruja, a little medieval town in the mountains, and the first capital of Albania. We also got to spend some time with Alesia, which was so lovely! On our third day, we headed out at a reasonable hour, and began our journey down the coast, stopping in Vlore for lunch before continuing down the infamous “Llogara Pass,” to Himarë, a municipality in southern Albania, made up of several coastal towns. I had read several articles and spoken to Alesia about the drive being “sketchy” and “not the safest,” especially for inexperienced drivers, and I’m not going to lie, it was little frightening at times, but it really wasn’t too crazy compared to some of the windy roads I’ve driven in Canada. The drivers were more aggressive than I’m used to, but I had spent 2 weeks driving in Italy a month prior, which ended up being great practice for this trip.

After checking into our accommodation near the town of Dhërmi, we spent the rest of the late afternoon and evening hanging out and eating dinner at Drymades Beach. The next morning, we journeyed to Gjipe Beach, the most famous beach of the region, known for its secluded picturesque beach and crystal clear water. It’s also the most difficult to access - either by boat, or service road. As our car was not at all suitable for off-roading, we parked and continued on foot about 2.5km down to the beach. After spending some much-deserved time at the beach, we trekked back to the car in the 38° heat, and grabbed a late lunch in Dhërmi, where we spent the rest of the afternoon hanging around with Alesia, who happened to be on a weekend trip with a friend of hers. She had told us about a Music Festival/DJ Concert happening that weekend on one of the beaches, so we decided to go all together that night.

The next morning we made our way to Sarandë, the hub of the Albanian Riviera, stopping first at a nice little beach called Jale for lunch and a much needed nap. This section of the drive was a breeze compared to the previous one, and in the early evening, we arrived safely at our lovely airbnb, overlooking the entire bay. Here we spent 2 days exploring the region, beginning with the UNESCO Heritage Site of Butrint, an ancient Greek and later Roman city, and bisphoric inhabited since prehistoric times. After some time spent exploring the ruins, we made our way to Ksamil, a small resort town, and the most popular destination along the Riviera, thanks to its sandy beaches and crystal clear water. We had been warned that the beaches here would be packed as we were travelling during peak season, but I think we all underestimated how busy they’d really be. In hindsight, and if we’d had more time, we should have gone to the Ksamil Islands, which are more secluded and difficult to access, but seem to be definitely worth the visit. After a few hours spent on some day beds we essentially had to fight for, we made our way back to Sarandë for dinner and some drinks at Lost, a fun restaurant/lounge along the water. Our last day, and probably my favourite day of the trip was spent on a boat ride along the coast, to the secluded Krorëza Beach, where we spent the afternoon basking in the sun, wading in the water, and snacking, before a perfect sunset boat ride home.

The following morning, we were in the car and on the road before 9am, beginning our road trip back to Tirana to catch our flight home. Along the way, we stopped at ‘The Blue Eye,’ a water spring and natural phenomenon known for its (ice-cold) clear blue river water which can be seen from a depth of more than fifty metres. A few hours later, we made a stop for lunch in the cute historic town of Gjirokaster, where we also walked around and explored some of its cute streets and souvenir shops. Thank God for car A/C, because it got up to 40° this day and we truly wouldn’t have made it back to Tirana alive. 

The consensus among the three of us was quite unanimous - Albania is amazing, and we love Albania. We experienced little to no mishaps along the way, and quite frankly, it turned out to be one of my most memorable vacations to date. Based on pictures and research prior to departing, I knew we’d get to learn some history and experience a new culture, but my expectations were blown out of the water and I was pleasantly surprised by the kindness of the people, their ability to speak English, the delicious food, and the way people of different faiths seemed to be living in harmony. Not to mention the incredible landscapes and beaches, which were on another level of beauty. A country with a quite recent dark past, characterised by paranoia and poverty, however one that has made it through with resilience and is now making a name for itself. A destination that remains relatively untouched by mass tourism but still has plenty to offer in terms of nature and history - it really is one of Europe’s most hidden gems.

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Vaxxed Girl Summer !

For over a year, Mia and I had been talking about Bari. It all began with an Instagram photo and we sort of made a pact right then and there that we needed to go, and that we’d do it together. Unfortunately, any travel in 2020 had to remain pretty local, and having been very optimistic about the year 2021, we booked our tickets in the month of January, hoping that things would settle down and travel would open back up by summer. Covid regulations allowed for the trip to go through and we even managed to find a cheap car rental on short notice. We were originally planning on being there for just over a week, but after getting invited to a friend’s birthday celebration in Sicily, we decided to extent our trip a few days and fly straight there, instead of going all the way back to Paris just for a few days. Because of this, we both decided to bring our computers so we could work a little bit.

After landing in Bari, we took the train into town, and settled into our incredible apartment. I’ve stayed in my fair share of airbnbs, but this one was really on another level. We really treated ourselves on this trip in regards to accommodation, but our Bari home definitely took the cake. We went on a little evening walk before dinner and decided to call it an early night. The following day was spent exploring Bari and a few of its surrounding beaches, before another delicious pasta dinner and a few (too many) Aperol Spritz’. That night, we met two French guys who we ended up driving to our next destination and hanging out with the entire next day. 

The next morning, we picked up our rental car, and drove to Polignano A Mare. After checking into our airbnb, we caught a train to Monopoli, where we spent the day with our new friends. After wandering around town and grabbing lunch, we spent the rest afternoon on the beach and in the water, just living our best lives. That night, we had a lovely dinner in Polignano and went on a sunset walk. The next morning, we woke up extra early to find a spot on the famous Lama Monachile beach, before the crowds arrived. After lunch, we hit the road and made our way south-west about 40km to the picturesque town of Trulli di Alberobello, famous for its unique cone-shaped roofs. The next 24 hours were spent wandering the picturesque streets, taking lots of photos, and sleeping in our very own Trullo! 

In the late afternoon of the following day, we made our way to Lecce, known as the ‘Florence of the South,’ passing through a few cute little towns on the way, including Cisternino, where we stopped for a gelato. After arriving at our apartment in Lecce, we spent the evening hanging out and getting drinks with some locals we met. Our first day in Lecce was spent on the road, exploring some of the surrounding towns and beaches, beginning with Porto Cesareo, where we had our worst lunch of the trip, but in the most picturesque floating restaurant. Next, we stopped in Baia di Porto Selvaggio for a little swim, before heading to the city of Gallipoli. Of all the town’s we’d visited, this one truly felt like I was walking in a ‘Italy 1965′ movie set. We made it in time to catch the sunset on the beach and wander the cute, colourful streets, before enjoying dinner. 

The next few days were quite low-key and relaxed, since this was our home base while we worked from home. I was done by 3pm everyday, so I was still able to explore the city and wander around for a few hours before dinner time. Our last night was spent going out to watch World Cup semi-final match, which Italy won! The following morning, we were met with an unfortunate surprise when we got to our car. Someone had clearly had a bit too much to drink and decided to take out their anger/joy on one our side-view mirrors, causing it to completely break off. We were able to tape the mirror back on as a temporary fix, thanks to the scotch tape I’d brought with me to stick my teaching props to the walls.

Since Mia and I were both done working now, we continued our journey further south, stopping for a swim at the Grotta della Poesia, and Torre dell’Orso beach and some breathtaking views of Torre Sant’Andrea. A coworker of mine happened to be travelling Puglia at the same time as us, and had a similar itinerary, so she ended up tagging along for the day and getting a ride from us.

The next stop on our Puglia road-trip was Otranto, which quickly became the highlight of our trip. We also used this town as a home base for some day trips to various beaches and inlets further down the coast. We began our first day by visiting Cava di Bauxite, a small emerald-green lake, surrounded by rocky, imperial-red walls. It quite honestly looked like something from planet Mars. Next, we stopped for a swim at the beautiful inlets of Cala dell’Acquaviva and Baia di Porto Miggiano, before ending the day off with gelato and a view at Santa Cesarea de Terme. We later agreed that this was our favourite day of the whole trip! Our last day in Otranto was spent driving south to the furthest point of Italy’s heel, stopping for a swim in Baia del Ciolo, lunch in Santa Maria di Leuca, and some tanning at Spiaggia di Pescoluse, pegged ‘the Maldives of Italy.’ We made it back to Otranto in time for some sunset drinks, before dinner at our favourite restaurant - Fossi Bar & Cucina, which then led to a night out with the restaurant staff. Quite a memorable last night in our favourite town, to say the least. 

The following morning, we began our journey back up the peninsula to Bari, stopping at one last beach, Torre Guaceto on the way. We spent our last night in the beautiful town of Ostuni, referred to as La Citta Bianca, or the white city. Known not only for its small, windy streets, but for its picturesque white buildings and many hills, we spent the evening wandering, visiting some boutiques and enjoying our last dinner as a duo. 

Puglia truly was nothing short of breathtaking. From it’s picturesque beaches and coastlines, to its delicious food and incredible locals, it truly was one of the most unforgettable trips I’ve been on to date. I’ve never disliked Italy, but I’ve never been the biggest fan either. I must say though, this trip definitely gave me a new found love for the lesser-known, off the beaten path areas, where locals don’t speak much English and truly are the friendliest. And besides the little hiccup with our car’s mirror and a hangover or two, the trip really did go quite seamlessly.

* After our 2 weeks in Puglia, we continued on to spend a week in Sicily, to celebrate our friend Torrie’s birthday! It was a great time, filled with incredible food, great company, and a few too many Aperol Spritz’. We spent most of our time working from home, then tanning and swimming at the villa, but we were still able to explore the cities of Taormine and Catania, as well as spend a day at the beach and a vineyard. The trip definitely left me wanting more and gave me the desire to head back someday to explore the north-side of the island.

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And then there were two...

The end of another year means another New Years trip with my best gal friends. An annual ritual that was proving difficult to maintain this year, amidst a global pandemic. I thought I was determined when it came to travel, but these girls really put me to absolute shame. With the second wave of cases in full swing in most countries returning into lockdown, travel restrictions were at an all-time high, and boy, did we struggle with finding a destination that would work for all of us, as we were arriving from 3 different countries. 

We ended up settling on the Canary Islands and had organised everything from accommodation to car rentals prior to arriving. This year, I decided to invite Andria to join us, a friend of mine living in Montpellier, whom the girls also know from elementary school. Thank God I did, or else my holidays would have turned out a complete disaster. 

Andria had taken the train up to spend Christmas with me, so together, we left from Paris, first taking a train down to Bordeaux and then catching a flight to the island of Fuerteventura. We followed the sanitary guidelines and received negative PCR test results before departing, however upon arrival in Spain, we were greeted with some bad news from our friends. After much struggle and convincing, they were permitted on their flight from Vancouver to London, where they were to connect to a second flight. After arriving in London, they struggled over the next 2 days finding anywhere that would accept them. They tried to get through Spain via. several other countries but after being denied boarding several times, and finding out that not even Canada would take them back, they ended up flying to Mexico, to spend New Years there, while Andria and I stayed in the Canary Islands.

Meanwhile, Andria and I were dealing with a few mishaps of our own, from an airbnb with no working water, to having an extra car rental which we no longer needed. And when I say thank God Andria was there, I mean that if she hadn’t been there, I would have found myself alone for a week with a manual car that I couldn’t drive. We spent the following week driving around the beautiful islands of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, stopping to explore some of the incredible beaches and landscapes like nothing I had ever seen before. 

Beginning with a day half-day in Fuerteventura, we went for a drive to the cute little village of Betancuria, the historic capital of the island. We then headed to the port town of Corralejo to grab lunch and catch the ferry to Lanzarote, our home for the first few nights. After a bit of a struggle finding and checking into our airbnb, we made our way back out to catch the sunset at a spot called El Golfo before spending the rest of the evening eating and having some drinks on the beach.

The next two days were filled with hiking to the top of a crater, visiting the capital city of Arrecife, biking around the beautiful island of La Graciosa, visiting a cactus garden, a cave, and some of the most beautiful drives I’ve ever experienced. We also made it a goal to catch the sunset from a different spot everyday and boy, they did not disappoint. Our last two days in Lanzarote included visiting a volcanic rock winery, hiking (in sandals) down a cliff to Playa del Risco, and more stunning drives. On our last full day, we decided to wake up early and catch the sunrise at the most south eastern tip of the island, before visiting the Montañas del Fuego at Timanfiya National Park. This was probably one of the highlights of my trip, and definitely one of my top recommendations. Before grabbing lunch and catching our ferry from the town of Playa Blanca, we spent some time driving along the western coast of the island, stopping at a few spots along to way to admire and take in the incredible coastline.

Straight off the ferry from Lanzarote, we drove to the little beach town of El Cotillo to spend some time in the sun before our New Years Eve festivities. The highlight of the night was definitely FaceTiming my girlfriends in Mexico and counting down all together with a bottle of Champagne. We spent the first day of 2021 watching kite surfers at Playa de Jandía, one of the longest beaches I have ever seen, visiting the Mirador de Sicasumbre, an incredible lookout point overlooking the entire island, and driving around in our little Fiat 500 convertible. Ending off our day with a walk along the black sand beach at Las Playitas, it really was the perfect beginning to a new year. Our last day was spent visiting the incredible Coralejo sand dunes and the island of Los Lobos, with its turquoise water and view over both the islands of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura. Of course, we made it back to the main island just in time to catch our last sunset over a spot along the coast called Los Aguas Verdes, famous for its natural pools.

A bit of a stressful trip for an incredibly stressful year, but a memorable one nonetheless. Here’s to hoping next year’s trip goes a little more smoothly and that we’re able to celebrate it all together as one group!

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Halfway to 100!

We all know 2020 was a complicated and perspective-changing year in general, and we were all forced to completely reconsider our priorities and change the way we lived. For myself in particular, my love for travel was really forced to take a back seat. I’d had it in my mind that I would make it to 50 countries by the end of the year, and if you know me, you know that when I put my mind to something, especially relating to travel, I make it happen. My mom calls me hard-headed and stubborn, but I just see it as perseverance and determination. Regardless, I managed to make it happen, even though it wasn’t the insane, luxurious trip I had originally imagined for my 50th country. Considering our options were quite limited, there was really only one obvious choice - the tiny European country everyone forgets about : Andorra.

We decided to take the Friday off and head early down to Montpellier by train, where we met Andria and spent the evening catching up over dinner and preparing for our early departure the next morning. At the crack of dawn, we loaded up Andria’s landlord’s car, now know as the Shaggin’ Wagon, which she kindly let us use at a very cheap rate, and we set off on our little road trip to Andorra. We decided to make our way along the coast, stopping at various little towns along the way, starting with the quaint little town of Beziers. After quickly driving through Narbonne, we stopped in Perpignan for lunch, where we stubbled upon the cutest hole-in-the-wall apartment turned restaurant. We then continued our drive south, stopping in the perfect little sea-side village of Collioure. All 3 of us completely fell in love with its small picturesque streets, and beautiful port. From there we headed west into the Pyrénées Mountains towards our final destination, only making a quick stop for groceries along the way. We arrived after dark, and so the combination of that, along with the poorly lit, windy roads and the torrential downpour, there were moments when we asked ourselves if we’d make it in one piece. Huge props to Andria for her driving skills!

Our first day was spent attempting to hike up a mountain, which to our surprise, was completely covered in fresh snow. The rain from the previous night was actually the country’s first snowfall of the year for its higher elevated areas. We had all arrived with running shoes and leggings, and were not at all expecting there to already be snow in September. On our way to the foot of the hiking path, we experienced one of the coolest things ever - a group of locals herding a ton of cows from their summer field, to their winter one. We essentially got stuck in a traffic jam of cows for a solid 30 minutes, so we popped out of the car and took a bunch of videos. The hike was a bit of a struggle, and for most of it we were walking knee-deep in snow, so we ended up giving up probably about 1/3 into the hike. After returning to the airbnb and freshening up, we decided to head into the capital city of Andorra la Vella to visit a beautiful lookout point, before doing some exploring and tax-free shopping. 

The next morning, as the weather wasn’t great, we quickly visited a few lookout points and a lake, before beginning our journey back to Montpellier. Most of the day was spent driving, this time through intense fog. We briefly stopped in Carcassone for late lunch and a quick wander through the old fortified-city that I have fond souvenirs of visiting with my family as a teenager. Thankfully, the weather had cleared up and we continued our drive back. Andria dropped Mia and I off in the center of Montpellier with enough time to spare for us to grab dinner to-go before catching our train back to Paris. 

The trip was a little unpredictable, and not what we’d planned for, but it was a fun and educational adventure nonetheless. The mountains were breathtaking and the landscapes were beautiful, although next time we know to bring appropriate footwear since apparently it can snow for up to 10 months of the year.  

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Ya tu sabes!

Since I was a child, I’ve always dreamt of going to Mexico City. I’m not too sure why, but it’s just always been a place that seemed so rich in culture, history, and full of food and Spanish-speaking people. I was always waiting for the right opportunity to go, and since my friend April from UBCO, who has been living in Mexico City for the last year and a half with her husband .

I arrived safely at the Cancun Airport after my overnight bus, but much to my surprise, I had been dropped off at the wrong terminal. It was the bus company’s only drop-off point at the airport, and luckily I had ample time to figure out how to get to my terminal. It was about a 20 minute walk away, but walking suddenly becomes much more difficult in 30 degree heat, while carrying 20 pounds on your back. After being followed, outright lied to by several people, and almost scammed into paying 30 USD for a 5 minute taxi ride, I finally figured out that there was a free shuttle bus, and that it left approximately every 10 minutes. I was SO irritated about how I was being treated, but very proud of myself for figuring it out myself and not letting myself be taken advantage of.   

After a short flight, I arrived safely in Oaxaca, where I met my friend April. She had never been to the city of Oaxaca, so when I suggested we spend a few days there before showing me Mexico City, she was more than willing to join me. Oaxaca’s known for it's indigenous cultures, it’s delicious food and mezcal! We spent our first day mostly walking around the city, browsing various market stalls, visiting the textile museum, and enjoying a rooftop drink before dinner. April wasn’t feeling well after dinner, so we went back to the hostel so she could rest a little before hopefully heading back out to walk around the city at night. Apparently I was exhausted, because I ended up passing out with all my clothes on, on a chair in our hostel room, only waking up a few hours later just to move to my top bunk. 

The following day, we woke up super early, to visit Hierve el Agua, a set of natural rock formations in the middle of the mountains, that resemble cascades of water, some of which are filled with water to create swimming pools. Most people go as part of a tour, but we decided to save money and attempt a more authentic experience by taking a public bus, and then a pickup truck/shuttle. After spending a couple of hours enjoying the beautiful scenery and taking a dip in the “pools,” we took a shuttle back to the town of Mitla where we were supposed to catch a bus that would bring us back to Oaxaca. Just our luck, the buses stopped running and all taxis were refusing passengers heading to Oaxaca because the highway was blocked in several locations due to a protest. We were being told it could take up to several hours for the protest to end/the road to be unblocked. April and I were laughing at the fact that only in Mexico and in France would this kind of thing happen; we sure know how to pick where to live! We ended up finding a restaurant in Mitla town and sat for drinks and food while waiting for the roads to hopefully clear. 

After about 3 hours had passed, we ended up convincing a taxi driver to drive us an hour back into Oaxaca. He was so hesitant because he was afraid of not being able to make it back home, but luckily the road blocks were clearing right as we were driving past them! We arrived back at our hostel 3 hours later than originally intended, which definitely threw a wrench in our afternoon plans, since we weren’t able to do anything that evening except eat dinner and grab some beers and mezcal.

The next morning, we woke up at a decent hour to make sure we could walk around and take pictures before the streets were too crowded, as well as spend so time perusing through the food market. I’ve been to my fare share of food markets but I don’t think I’ve ever seen that much meat. Ever. It was a giant maze of fresh meat, cheese, spices, alcohol and salsa, and all the Mexican food you could ever wish for. We were there quite early on in the day and honestly, it already was pretty overwhelming. For lunch, I got a delicious Tlayuda (a crunchy, toasted tortilla, covered with refried beans, meat, cheese, lettuce, tomato and avocado), and then we were on our way to the airport to catch our flight to Mexico City. We didn’t have time to visit the Museum of Oaxacan Cultures or the Botanical Gardens, which I was pretty bummed about, but hopefully I’ll be back one day! 

After a delayed flight, we were graciously picked up at the airport by April’s mother-in-law and dropped off at home. After quickly freshening up, we headed into town for some churros at Churreria el Moro, before treating ourselves to a boujee dinner at a nice restaurant/cocktail bar called Gin Gin. It ended being way out budget, but at least our food, gin cocktails and service were all subpar! 

Early the next morning, we headed to the main bus station, where we took a bus to the Teotihuacán pyramids. We arrived right as it was opening, so we were able to take full advantage of the grounds without having to share with many other tourists. After a few hours, we took the bus back into the city, got tacos for lunch in the financial district, and spent the rest of the afternoon exploring Chapultapec Park, Chapultapec Castle and the Anthropology museum. We had done a hell of a lot of walking, reading, and picture taking, and were quite exhausted at this point, so we made our way over to the swanky & hip neighbourhood of Polanco for dinner, before checking out a few bars and having a few too many beers and cocktails. 

We started off my second day by wandering around Coyoacan, a now neighbourhood of Mexico City that used to be its own city. We spent some time visiting the main square, the Coyoacan market, and the Frida Kahlo museum, before taking an Uber to Xochimilco, another ‘borough’ of Mexico City, where we rode along canals on a traditional ‘trajinera’ boat while being serenaded by mariachis. It was a very ‘touristy’ thing to do, but was a fun experience nonetheless! That evening we also attended a Lucha Libre (Mexican wrestling match), which was quite the experience. Mexicans get so invested in these matches and ‘luchas’, or fighters, even though everyone knows it’s not real fighting! After the match, April and I wanted to checkout some of the Mexico City’s nightlife, so we hit up a place called Patrick Miller, which had been recommended to us as a “must” by several people. It was one of the absolute weirdest places clubs I’ve ever been to - an old warehouse-type building, filled with people of all ages and demographics, high-energy dance music, and dance-off circles happening all over the room.

The following day was spent doing lots and lots of walking. We started in la Condesa and wandered around through Roma, before taking an Uber to the city center. April wasn’t feeling too well so she went to get some food while I went on a walking tour. She eventually joined the group and was able to finish half of the tour with us! After 3 hours of walking around and listening to an overload of information, April and I spent the rest of the evening wandering around more of the city center, going up the Torre Latinoamericana (the world’s first major skyscraper successfully built on highly active seismic zone) for a breathtaking 360 view of the city, and grabbing a cerveza at a rooftop overlooking Templo Mayor (remains of Mexico’s old Capital city, Tenochtitlan, built in the 14th century). We ended our day off with a delicious and dirt cheap dinner at La Casa de Toño, a Mexican chain restaurant.

On my very last day, we went on a day trip to Taxco with Arturo, April’s husband. Deemed an official pueblo magico (magical town) for its rich culture and architecture and great legacy of the old Spanish Empire, and preservation of traditions and historical site, Taxco is a quaint, picturesque town, located on the slopes of the Taxco Mountains, in the state of Guerrero, about 2.5 hours away from Mexico City. In pre-Colombian times it was a mining center and to this day it remains well-known for its silver work and jewelry shops. We spent the day wandering around the cute, narrow streets, browsing some shops and visiting Museo Casa Figueroa, an old "cursed house" featuring secret rooms, hidden vaults, and dark escape tunnels that were built incase a war broke out. We also took a tour of the Prehispanic Mine of Taxco, where we descended 45 meters below the ground, to learn the mine’s history and how gold, silver and quartz are extracted from the mine. A few years ago my high school friend Katrina got married to her Mexican husband in Taxco but I unfortunately wasn’t able to attend. It was so nice to be able to visit the town anyways and imagine what that day must have been like. I understand why her and her husband love it so much there! 

My alarm went off at 4:30 the next morning and I caught my Uber to the airport. My return trip from Mexico City to Paris was one of the longest travel days of my life, with 2 layovers (Houston and Toronto) of over 3 hours each. By the time I made it back to Paris, I had been travelling for over 20 hours.

My time in Mexico was everything I could have asked for and more! The weather was perfect, the food was incredible, and I got to spend time with a good friend of mine. I was able to practice speaking Spanish, learn a ton of new things, and improve my spice tolerance! Mexico is such a vast, beautiful country, with such rich culture and kind people, and Mexico City is a massive melting pot of people of different cultures and an incredible mix of an old, historical and modern, progressive city. There is so much more of Mexico (and Mexico City) to discover, and I'm already looking forward to going back and exploring more one day!

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Last night I dreamt of San Pedro.

I am so so blessed to have friends who are willing to do whatever it takes to have me attend the annual girls’ New Years trip. When Gaby generously offered to help me pay for my flights using her air miles, I couldn’t refuse. A week with my best friends in the Caribbean, to ring in the new year - how could I say no!

Quite honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect from Belize. The pictures of the beaches looked beautiful, but most people I had spoken to had only been to Belize City, and no one had anything particularly positive to say about it. From all the articles I had read, it was definitely a city to avoid at all costs. The fact that there are literally zero hostels there was an obvious hint that we should probably just fly in and head to the next destination as soon as possible. 

After a long travel day from Cancun (with a brief layover in El Salvador), we arrived in Belize City and caught a taxi directly to the ferry terminal. The first thing that caught me off-guard was the fact that everything was written in English, and only English and Creole were being spoken. I knew ahead of time that it was an English-speaking country due to the fact that it was a British colony for over 100 years before becoming independent, but I guess because of its geographical location, I was expecting the people to look Latino and be speaking some Spanish. 

We arrived to the island of Caye Caulker just after sunset, checked-in to our airbnb, and went for a little walk before finding a place to grab dinner. We found out that a lot of places on the island didn’t accept card, so we went to the only bank on the island, and to our surprise, it had ran out of cash. We ended up having to make due with Gaby’s USD she had brought until the next morning, when the ATM machines had been filled with cash. After dinner, we spent some time playing card games back at our airbnb (with some drinks, of course), before hopping from bar to bar, checking out some of the island’s nightlife.  

We spent the majority of the morning grabbing breakfast/lunch and then hanging out by our airbnb’s pool before heading back to the ferry terminal. From Caye Caulker we caught a ferry to San Pedro, where we met Lara, the last (and vital) piece of our crew. Our airbnb host picked us up from the ferry terminal, and we settled into our beautiful airbnb home. While some of us napped, Gaby and I went on a mission to pick up some beers and find a shop that wasn’t yet sold out of Golf Carts, which is the main mode of transportation on the island. It took us some time, but we finally found a shop that had 1 left! 

After a lovely dinner, we started our night off at our house with a classic game of Kings Cup, with the added bonus of playing while sitting in our jacuzzi. Once we were all dolled up and ready to go, we headed into the main square around 11pm, to join thousands of locals and tourist in ringing in the new year. Right after the countdown, we ended up running into a group of American guys that we had briefly met earlier at the ferry terminal, and then at the grocery store down the street from our place. We spent the rest of the evening bar hopping with them, singing karaoke and dancing the night away. It was honestly probably my favourite new years eve to date! 

After a much-needed New Years Day sleep-in, we motivated ourselves to get out of bed and spend an afternoon boating and snorkelling (with the group of American guys). We spent hours swimming around, looking at some incredible ocean wild-life, soaking up the sun, blasting music, and at the end of the day, enjoying the beautiful sunset with rum punches in our hands. We even got to swim with nurse sharks - it was so frightening, but one of the coolest experiences of my life! That night, we had a lovely ceviche dinner before having a “chill” night in with the guys. I had completely lost my voice, so I threw in the towel pretty early to get a good night sleep.

On our last morning in San Pedro, we made sure to wakeup at a decent hour, to drive over to Secret Beach, an isolated “not-so-secret” beach on the other side of the island. We spent a few hours there, wading in the water, eating lunch, and sipping on some piña coladas, before heading back to the airbnb to grab our things and catch a ferry back to Caye Caulker. I know it sounds like an awful lot of moving around, and I wasn’t in charge of the itinerary this time, but Caye Caulker is almost exactly halfway between the mainland and San Pedro, and it’s only a 45 minute boat ride between each.

After arriving back in Caye Caulker, we checked into our airbnb, which much to our surprise, was in the same building as our last one! We had a few hours left before sunset, so we wandered around the island, walking along the water, all the way down to “the Split”, which is a narrow channel caused by a Hurricane in 1961, which now splits the island into two. We sat down for a while on the docks and enjoyed some happy hour drinks, before our delicious, jerk chicken dinner. It was so so tasty, and the service was so wonderful. We ended up staying for a while, and our server even offered me a job (since I was the only unemployed one at the time). Not going to lie, it wasn’t an easy no! Our last night together was spent being carefree and having the time of our lives, dancing (and twerking) the night away.

The following morning, after packing up our things, Lara and I went on a walk/instagram photo shoot before sending her off on her ferry. (She had an earlier flight than the rest of the girls.) After checking out, the rest of us found a place to grab brunch before heading back to Belize City. Since my friends all had to go back to work, I had planned to go off on my own and visit the Belizian countryside for a few days. Once back on the mainland, we found a taxi driver who agreed to drop me off at the bus station first, on the way to the airport. He charged us all the same amount, even though my drop-off location was less than 1/10th of the distance, but I didn’t feel like being a cheapskate and trying to barter.   

When I got to the bus station there were no signs at all, or bus numbers, so I had to ask one of the workers to point out where my bus would be leaving from. Public busses in Belize are old school busses, with no seatbelts and horrible suspension. During the ride, the bus driver’s assistant makes his way down the aisle to collect payment, as the bus driver stops every 5 minutes to pickup passengers on the side of the road. I eventually arrived safely in the quiet town of San Ignacio and checked into my hostel just before grabbing dinner and going to bed early.

My alarm went off at 7am the following morning, I found somewhere to eat a hefty breakfast and then spent most of the day on an excursion to visit the ATM (Actun Tunichil Muknal) cave, where I hiked through the rainforest, crossing several rivers, eventually arriving at the mouth of a cave. We then spent several hours in the cave, swimming, climbing, crawling through crevices, and eventually, got to the dry chambers of the cave where we saw some (calcified) remains of ceramics and pottery used in that very cave by the Mayans during rituals and ceremonies. We even got to see actual skeletal remains of victims that were brought to this cave to be sacrificed between 650-900 AD! It was definitely one of the coolest things I’ve ever experienced. Phones were forbidden, so I unfortunately have no pictures, but you can find some on google :) After getting myself all cleaned up at the hostel, and hanging out for a bit, I went for a late afternoon stroll through town, before meeting up with the American guys we had met in San Pedro, for dinner. Our schedules happened to overlap a day, which was nice! 

I started off my last day in Belize by treating myself to a lovely breakfast, before spending some time at an old Mayan site called Cahal Pech, which was once the home of an elite Maya family. On my way back into the main part of town, I popped into the San Ignacio Resort Hotel to visit their Iguana Rehabilitation Centre, where I spent some time learning about the reptiles and even got to feed some! After slowly making my way back to the hostel, I hung out for a bit, got some of the best friend chicken I’ve had in my life, from a hole in the wall Chinese take-out restaurant, before heading to the bus stop. 

Bussing in Belize was quite the experience. You can find a very loose schedule of bus departure and arrival times online, but locals don’t even follow it because “busses come and go about every 30 minutes; you just need to wait.” Since it was a Sunday, I gave myself ample time to be able to make my connection in Belize City, and for once in my life, I got lucky, as the bus was just starting to pull away as I arrived. After the driver confirmed to me that they were heading to the City, I boarded the chock-a-block full bus. I stayed standing for a while before I was able to find a seat, and when I eventually did, I wasn’t able to take a nap because the driver was blasting some Belizian rap music through the speakers. I arrived in Belize City with a few hours to kill before my overnight bus to Cancun, so I sat there and waited patiently. I had read that the bus station in Belize City was in a bit of a seedy area, so at first I was a little worried about having to wait there alone at night, but it was actually quite safe, and there were several other tourists also waiting. 

[domhovasse]

The best Balkan.

For the last couple of years, I’ve been hearing and seeing incredible things about Slovenia. Since we didn’t have time to add it to our Balkans trip itinerary, I figured I would claim my last week of holidays and spend an entire week hiking, swimming, and exploring the ‘green’ country of the Balkans. Originally I was planning on leaving alone, but when I found out that my friend Dave was going to be travelling at the same time, I suggested he join me for Slovenia, and he gladly accepted. 

After a night in Venice, we headed to the capital city of Slovenia, Ljubljana, where we spent 2 days learning some history, eating some good food, and exploring the city on bike and foot. After our severely delayed bus ride, we checked-in to our hostel before grabbing some typical Slovenian sausages for lunch. We then walked up to the Ljubljana Castle, where we spent some time exploring the various rooms, and walking up to the tower/lookout, where we got stuck in an agressive rain/hail storm. The rain thankfully subsided intime for us to end the day off on a free walking tour, before grabbing dinner along the river, and later on, participating in a pub-crawl. 

The following day was spent exploring Ljubljana by bike, visiting a few museums, hanging out at a park, and getting rooftop drinks at sunset. After grabbing dinner, we went for a little walk around town before having an early night in.    

The next morning we hopped on a short bus ride to Bled, a beautiful, picturesque lake, famous for its turquoise water and (man-made) island in the middle. Ever since I saw a photo of the place years ago, I’ve been determined to one day visit. And boy was it even more beautiful in person. The forecast had said clouds and thunderstorms, but the sun pulled through and we were able to spend all our time outside, hiking, swimming, and tanning. The lake is about 6km in circumference so we spent our first day walking all the way around the lake, as well as visiting two viewpoints, one at Bled Castle, and the other at the end of a 45-minute hike.

Our second day was spent at Lake Bohinj, another beautiful, much bigger lake, that actually reminded me a lot of BC. We decided to rent an electric scooter for the day, to have more flexibility in regards to time, but this decision ended up backfiring when our scooter stopped working right as we got to the top of a lookout point. I figured if we let it rest for a little bit, the engine would cool down and eventually start-up again, but after hanging out and grabbing some food at the top of the mountain/lookout point, nothing. Since we were at the top of a mountain, we were able to make it back into town mostly by riding in neutral all the way down, but once the road flattened out we ended up walking for a while, stopping people along the way to ask for help, all of which could not get the bike to start either. We eventually found a tourism office, where we asked a young Slovenian guy if he could help us. When him and 2 of his friends couldn’t figure out how to fix the scooter (even after calling the shop owner), they decided to put it in the back of a van, and drive us back to Bled. The shop owner ended up paying them for gas/their time, which we were so relieved about! We thanked them a million times, gave them all big hugs, and were (finally) on our way back to our hostel. 

After a perfect morning paddle boarding on the lake, we caught a bus back to Ljubljana, where we began our journey by train, to visit some of the coastal towns of Slovenia. To cut our journey in half, we decided to make a stop at the famous Skocjan Cave. We caught a free shuttle bus from the train station to the cave, went on a guided tour, and found out that there were no shuttle busses running to bring us back to the train station, where we were to catch our train to the coast. What a lovely situation to be in, stranded in the middle of Slovenia, with no ride to the train station, and the last train of the day leaving in 20 minutes. We desperately asked a worker for advice, who she suggested we walk, until she realized we wouldn’t get there in time. She then decided to call her mom to see if she could give us a ride on their way home (even though it was apparently forbidden for her as an employee to offer rides to customers/travellers). Thank God for kind people! We arrived at the train station right in time to catch the last train to Koper - what a relief. After arriving, we checked-in to our hostel, grabbed dinner, and wandered around town a bit, before heading to bed.

The next morning we woke up bright and early, spent some time walking around the town of Koper, before renting an electric scooter and driving along the coastline, stopping first in the town of Izola for a nice walk and ocean-side cocktail, and then Piran, where we stopped for lunch, and visited a few tourist attractions. We made sure to check that the road was more or less flat so that we wouldn’t have a repeat of our last scooter rental experience. It ended up going very smoothly, and we got back to Koper in the late afternoon, in time to grab a sunset beer, before dinner and another early night in. 

After splitting up with Dave, I had 3 days to spare before my flight home from Venice (since the roundtrip flight from Paris was much cheaper than the one to Ljubljana), so I decided to make my way up the Istrian Peninsula by bus, stopping to explore a few cities along the way, since they’re all quite close to each other and small enough to explore in a day. First up was Rovinj, a picturesque town known as ‘little Venice’ built on a rocky spur. I locked up my bag at the bus station and spent the majority of the day wandering around town aimlessly, getting lost in the narrow streets, and eventually following the coastline to the beach, where I spent some time people watching and enjoying the sweet sound of the ocean.

In the late afternoon, I made my way back to the bus station to pick up my things and catch a bus to Pula. I was so shocked by the amount of British tourists in both Rovinj and Pula, I almost forgot I was in Croatia! After checking into my hostel, I got dinner and wandered around the city center with a Canadian guy from my hostel dorm. The following day we explored more of the city, visiting an old castle as well as the famous Pula Arena, the only remaining Roman amphitheatre to have four side towers and the most well preserved monument in Croatia. In the afternoon we decided to head to the beach, where we spent a few hours taking it easy, reading, and enjoying the sun. On our way back to the hostel we picked up groceries to make our own dinner, since the food options all seemed to be very overpriced, and of sub-par quality. 

My 6 hours in Trieste the following day were spent walking around the city center, visiting some sights, stopping for coffee a few times, and (obviously) treating myself to a delicious pizza & glass of wine. I felt so bougey sitting at a nice restaurant and getting the most expensive pizza on the menu, until I realized the exact same meal would have costed double the amount in Paris. After taking a brief nap on a bench along the pier, I eventually made my way back to the bus station, where I caught a bus to the Venice airport. I remember it being so incredibly hot this day, I ended up spending so much time just sitting in random shady spots around the city, trying my best to avoid possibly fainting. 

Another trip for the books, and a region of the world I highly recommend everyone explore! Slovenia had some of the most beautiful landscapes I have ever seen, and the fact that a lot of it reminded me of home was a big plus. If I were to do it again, I probably would have rented a car to have more flexibility while travelling in Slovenia, and I definitely would have skipped Pula altogether.  

[domhovasse]

Bitches in the Balkans.

The Balkans has been a region of the world that’s been on my radar for a while now. It’s not a region of Europe thats not quite as popular amongst tourists, is therefore less expensive that most other regions in Europe, and has warm weather & beaches, so when I found out that Gaby and Timnit could join me or some travelling, I KNEW this was where we would go. 

After arriving in Belgrade around noon on Saturday, I checked into my hostel and spent the afternoon at the Yugoslavia museum and then wandering around a little, before my friends arrived at 7pm. We just missed a period of non-stop rain so the streets were still quite flooded and it was quite chilly out. That evening we did some bar hopping, and ended off the night at various bars that float along the river, called Splavs. The folllowing day, we took part in a walking tour, learned about the history of Yugoslavia, the relationship between Serbia and Kosovo. The tour took us through most of the historic city center, and ended at the fortress overlooking the confluence of the Danube and Sava rivers. After lunch we spent some time napping in a park, before visiting the Nikola Tesla Museum and eventually eating the most delicious and coupious amount of food possibly that I’ve ever had in my life.

That night, we made our way to Sarajevo, capital city of Bosnia & Herzegovina, which was probably the most eye opening part of the trip. It was quite somber walking through the Museum of Crimes Against Humanity and Genocide and learning about the city’s dark & recent history, then going on a walking tour and being able to actually see physical damage (bullet holes) that was done to a lot of the buildings, which have not been repaired yet due to finances and legal reasons. We got hit with quite a bit of rain the Sarajevo, so we often took some breaks for Bosnian Coffee or a glass of wine at a sky bar. We also made a visit to the Tunnel of Hope (sort of like the Cuchi Tunnels in Saigon) that we’re used during the war for protection and safe transportation of goods. We met the most wonderful people in Sarajevo, notably an elderly man who let us into a museum 30 minutes after closing, (after having walked 15 minutes in the pouring rain), and the owner & employee of a bar we’d found, who spent hours talking to us after closing, telling us about their lives and their country, and offering us a round of drinks.

Mostar was quite touristy, (mostly Chinese tourist on day trips from Croatia), but we made sure to avoid the city center / Bazaar during peak hours. We visited a beautiful cemetery overlooking the city, and took a taxi to Blagaj, an old Muslim dervish house that sits on a cliff and river, where we got completely rained on. In the evening we partook in a walking tour, where we learned about the conflict/separation between the Bosnians and Croats in the city of Mostar. There are 2 of everything : school, hospital, church, mosque, one on each side of the divide. There is only 1 school right on the separation line / ’no man’s land’ where you can find a mix of Bosnians and Serbs, and where all classes are mixed together except for language and history. Mostar was definitely the city where there were the most abandoned/damaged buildings remaining from the war.

What touched us the most about Bosnia was its people and their incredible hospitality & openness, despite their gruesome past.  

The middle chunk of our trip was spent in Croatia & Montenegro, where we got very little sleep, but lots of sun!! After a few hours in Split, grabbing lunch and wandering around the old town and pier, we boarded our ferry to the island of Hvar. Hvar was a really good time - we met a bunch of people, ate some good food and spent lots of time on the beach, hanging out at beach bars and dancing our butts off.

On top of our lack of sleep and terrible hangovers, it was excruciatingly hot in Dubrovnik and very difficult to find shade, so after our respective walking tours in the morning (my friends did the Game of Thrones tour while I just did a regular tour), we spent the rest of the day trying to stay indoors, and eventually took a taxi to this amazing lookout point at the top of the mountain before heading to the bus station to kill time before our bus to Montenegro.

Kotor was one of my favourites. Not only is it breathtakingly beautiful, but we had a really good hostel experience and were so close to extending our stay an extra night! We spent our day wandering the old town, then hopping on a boat which brought us to the picturesque town of Perast and the beautiful island In the middle of the Bay, called Our Lady of the Rocks. Around sundown, Timnit and I ventured up to the fortress for an incredible view of the bay. It was definitely one of the most beautiful views I have ever seen! 

Budva was super chill, since there’s not much to do besides the beach. It kind of felt like a Cancun of the Balkans - very built up city with resorts, casinos and lots of partying. I ended up wandering around the old town on my own for a while because Timnit and Gaby both had work to do on their computers. I walked the city walls and visited the citadel overlooking the water, and then went to the beach with Gaby for a bit before walking along the beach and grabbing diner all together. On our last morning in Montenegro, I made the girls wake up at 5am to squeeze in a visit to Mount Lovcen before making our long journey to Prizren, Kosovo. We got there an hour before it opened (of course none of us thought to look at the opening times ahead of time), but the lovely man running the gate let us in early because there were quite a few people who were waiting there with us. We climbed the 461 steps to the Mausoleum of a famous Serbian/Montenegrin poet and philosopher, behind the mausoleum was a path that led onto a lookout point. Along the way, I lost both of my friends to their fear of heights, and honestly they really missed out cause it was incredible! We got our taxi to drop us off at the bus station in Budva, and then killed some tiime before beginning our long journey to Kosovo.

The last 4 days of my trip were really hot, so we ended up spending alot of time indoors. Gaby and Timnit were both working during our trip so we spent a few hours every day in a cafe, escaping the heat and being productive. Kosovo was really interesting! We spent 1 day in Prizren, 'the cultural capital', and a day in Pristina, the capital city with a population of 210,000, the average age being 25. (65% of the whole country's population is under the age of 35). There’s not a ton to do tourism-wise so we spent a lot of time sitting in cafes and bars, and in Pristina, the capital city, we decided to do a walking tour to get an overview of the city and learn a bit about its history. I’ll never forget getting chased around by a stray dog for 30 minutes, and all the locals laughing at the fact that we were so freaked out.

Overall, I was really impressed with how many western-influenced restaurants/bars there were and how western a lot of the people were dressed. Kosovars are a little obsessed with America, so most speak pretty good English, and there's even a huge statue of Bill Clinton in Pristina. He's considered a hero because he played a huge part in their liberation 20 years ago. During our trip we'd only met one person (right at the end of our trip) who had plans on going to Kosovo, so it was cool to be one of the few to experience this bit of unchartered territory.

From Pristina, we took a short bus ride across the border to the capital city of Macedonia, Skopje. We didn't originally have plans to make it to Macedonia, but the cheapest flights home (by a landslide) were from Skopje, so we decided to spend some time there before flying home. After arriving in the evening and checking into our hostel, we headed to a restaurant which had been recommended to us by a hostel worker. Thank God he recommended it because it we had some of the best food ever, followed by one of the best nights of the entire trip. Long story short, the restaurant had live music and essentially turned into a bar full of locals, singing and dancing, the servers offered us free shots, which essentially turned into bottom-less free shots, and by the end of the night, we were riding around the streets of Skopje in a convertible with a bunch of locals, blasting music and singing at the top of our lungs. We spent most of the next day on a walking tour, then eating, drinking beers and hanging out with some solo travellers we had met on our walking tour. That night, we had a big dinner all together in a fancy restaurant, where we all treated ourselves to the most delicious 10€ steaks, then went to a Karaoke bar before saying goodbye to Gaby and Timnit. They both had very early morning flights that night/morning, and mine wasn't until 6pm, so I spent my last day with one of our new friends, taking a cable car to the top of Vodno mountain, and then visiting a museum before heading to the airport in the late afternoon. 

My journey home was extremely long because my flight was 1 hour and 15 minutes delayed, and then I had to take an hour and a half bus ride to Paris from Beauvais airport, but hey I guess that's what I get for a 15€ flight!  

I’m feeling really appreciative to not only have the opportunity to travel, but also to be able to do it with my friends who I've known for over 17 years! We had so much fun together laughing and learning, just like we did together in elementary school.

[domhovasse]

Single and ready to mingle.

After Alyssa and I said our goodbyes in Ho Chi Minh city, I head out to get some food and walk around a little before catching my bus to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I hadn’t gotten sick at all on the trip yet, and knew that it had to come sooner or later. I think it was a combo of the heat/lack of sleep/alcohol the night before but I felt nauseous the entire 6-hour bus ride and ended up throwing up on the side of the road during our washroom/meal breaks. I got to my hostel pretty late in the evening, and went straight to bed after checking in. Not sure what had gotten into me, but I knew the best thing to do was to try and sleep it off.

The next morning I woke up at a decent hour, had a nice big smoothie for breakfast, and headed out to explore some of the city. I began at the National Museum, which was quite mediocre in my opinion, and then after checking out one of the cities’ many temples, I got lunch along the river, before heading to the Grand Palace. My buddy Thomas, who we had met on our Ha Long Bay cruise, and then again in Hanoi, happened to be at the same hostel in Phnom Penh at the same time as me. He hadn’t visited the palace yet, so he decided to join me. Turns out I wasn’t fully over my sickness yet, because I ended up almost fainting and throwing up on the grounds of the Grand Palace. Thank God I was able to keep it in, because wow, what a place to get sick. After the temple, I knew I had to get back to the hostel, so we shared a tuk-tuk back, and I spent the rest of the afternoon sleeping. I woke up just in time for my dinner plans with Alyson, a friend who had been living in Phnom Penh for a few years. After catching up over dinner, she dropped me back off at my hostel, and since I was feeling much better, decided to partake in the hostel’s bar crawl, although I didn’t partake in the drinking aspect of it.

The following morning, Rohini, one of my roommates during my exchange in Paris, flew from Singapore to meet me and we caught a bus to Siem Reap together. We arrived in the afternoon, checked into our hostel and then spent most of the day walking around town, getting food, and browsing the market. After dark, we eventually made our way back to our hostel, and went to sleep at a decent hour, after participating in a few hostel games.

The following day began at 4am, to watch the sunrise over Angkor Wat (classic tourist move), and then exploring a few of the incredible temples around. I honestly didn’t know too much about this temple complex going into is, but I very quickly learned the significance and importance of it, and how it was once the largest civilisation in the world. I was continuously blown away by its intricacy - how immense and how impressive it was especially for its time, and how much of it remains intact today. It was quite an incredible experience and at the end of the day, it actually left me feeling quite insignifiant and miniscule. We stayed longer than the tour and rented a tuktuk to check out some more temples that were a little more off the beaten path, before heading back to the hostel in the afternoon. There was a pool party going on, but we were quite exhausted, so we took a nap and hungout for a bit before heading out to grab dinner, walk around town, and get pedicures.

On our last day, Rohini and I were wanting to do different things, so we ended up going our separate ways, me to a floating village on a lake (w/ Thomas who I had originally met Vietnam), and her on some mountain/waterfall excursion. That night, we met back up at the hostel to grab food together and then met up for a beer with a guy Rohini had met on her excursion. He was living in Shanghai at the time, so it was interesting to talk to him and compare experiences.

Later that night, we caught our overnight bus back to Phnom Penh, and we spent half of the day diving into some of the dark, awful history of the genocide that affected Cambodia not so long ago. After visiting the Khmer Rouge Killing Fields and the Tuol Sleng Genocide museum, Rohini had to catch her uber to the airport, so I checked into my hostel and freshened up a little bit. Later on that afternoon, after wandering the Central market for a while, I walked over to Wat Phnom Temple. From there I went to the night market, where my friend Alison picked me up on her scooter, and we had the BEST nachos for dinner. (I know it’s not very ‘Cambodian’, but at this point I was so grateful to eat good western food.) After eating, she dropped me off at the hostel and I hung out in my room for a bit before going to bed.

The next morning, I took a shuttle bus to Kampot, a quiet river-side town with a beautiful backdrop of the Elephant mountains. After checking in at my hostel, I recognized a girl from my previous hostel, who also took the same shuttle bus as me, so we got to talking and ended up joining forces since she was also travelling alone. We spent the rest of that afternoon & evening on a booze cruise along the river, blasting music, drinking a couple beers, and getting to know everyone. We also stopped at a little secluded beach to play some volleyball and go swimming before watching the sunset over the river. That night when we got back to the hostel, we ate dinner, and went out with some of our new friends.

The following day we went on an excursion through our hostel, driving scooters around the countryside, first stopping at the salt fields, then a pepper farm, a few temple caves (one of which we swam in), and lastly, at a ‘secret lake’ that apparently was built by slave labour during the Khmer Rouge time. It was so nice to scooter around the beautiful countryside, learning a thing or two about the region and also how pepper is made! That night our hostel was having a pool party, so we hung out at the pool for a bit, ate dinner, and then went out to a bar with our little crew. Long story short, halfway through our night, I ended up burning my leg on the exhuast pipe of our tuktuk. Because I was at the beach and in the water for the next few days after the injury, I wasn’t really able to let it heal properly, so now I have a nice scar that will probably be stuck with me for a loooong time.

On our last day, we slept in and then decided to spend the day at Arcadia, a famous hostel with a riverside waterpark. We took a tuktuk there and spent a few hours hanging out in hammocks, floating around in innertubes, rope swinging and ziplining. There was a huge slide and a blob, but I opted out because I didnt want to risk rubbing my ankle burn and making it worse. When we got back to the hostel it started pouring rain, as in torrential downpour, so we hungout in our room for a while. That evening, we decided to walk into town and get dinner at the market, since we hadn’t really seen much of the actual town yet. Since we had sort of become friends with both our tuktuk driver and the owner of the bar we had been going to everynight, we decided to have one last hurrah (& say our goodbyes.)

The next 6 days were spent on the beach, first on Koh Rong Island, and then the smaller, more remote Koh Rong Samloem. Both were so beautiful, and quiet. I originally wasn’t planning on making it to the islands, but I had met so many people were very adamant about the Cambodian islands being even better than the Thai ones.

Because of the lack of internet, it’s quite difficult to book accomodation online, so we ended up walking around with our bags for most of the afternoon before finding an available guesthouse. Funny story, we actually walked all the way to the furthest beach from the pier (25 minute walk), and ended up paying for a water taxi back to the main beach since there were no vacancies and we didn’t want to walk all the way back. It was a really windy day and the waves were pretty rough, plus we were in a small rowboat, so with every paddle, water came pouring in over the edge and all our clothes and bags got completely drenched. When we finally found a guesthouse, we gathered our clothes to be cleaned and walked around a bit before getting dinner.

The next day we slept in and spent the majority of the day at SokSan Long Beach. I have never seen such white sand, or clear water in my life, plus we surprisingly had almost the entire beach to ourselves. The only downside was that I got attacked by sand flies and for the next few days my legs were covered in flea bites. It literally looked like I had chicken pox all over again. After making our way back to the village to freshen up and eat dinner, we met up with Thom, Liam and Sam at a bar, and then we all went to a beach party together. On our last morning, Maren woke up feeling sick, so she decided to stay in while I spent the day on a boat excursion snorkeling, visiting a few tiny islands hanging out on some beaches, sitting by a campfire during sundown, and diving underwater to see bio-luminescent plankton after dark. I hit it off with a Swedish girl on the excursion, who invited me to meet up with her and some friends for some drinks after dinner. The next morning we caught our ferry boat to Koh Rong Samloem, where we spent 3 of the greatest days of my existence.

There was no wifi at all on the island, and we were staying in little cabins in the woods/along the beach, so it honestly felt kind of like summer camp for adults, and I loved every second of it - mosquito nets and all. We were reunited with our buddies Thom, Sam and Liam, met some new wonderful people, and had the most wonderful technology-free couple of days. During the day, we spent our time hanging out at the beach sun tanning, swimming, and relaxing before playing games and having themed parties at night. One day we went on a boating excursion where we got to snorkel, visit some of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever seen, and even go fishing for our own lunch (& then grill it on the boat). The only minor downsides were that there were no food options besides the hostel restaurant, so obviously the food and drinks were a little expensive. They also used a tab system for payment, where you pay up at the end of your stay, which caused some problems for a few people who didn’t have enough cash on then to settle their tab.  

We took a ferry back to Sihanoukville, ran into Thomas at the pier (who was leaving later that afternoon) and spent an afternoon at the beach there together with our buddies Sam and Liam. There isn’t much to do at all in this city - we were actually told to avoid it by several people, but both their buses and my flight wasn’t until the following morning, so we ended up staying the night. After the beach, we said our goodbyes to Thom, then got khmer massages and ate dinner at our hostel with our the British boys before going to bed.

From Sihanoukville, I caught a flight to Kuala Lumpur, where I spent the next 2 and a half days. After settling in and then getting dinner at the nearby market in Chinatown, I returned to my hostel, where much to my surprise, I discovered that Killian, a french guy I had met during the pub crawl in Phnom Penh, was not only staying in the same hostel as me in KL, but he was put in the same room as me. That first night we had gone to a rooftop club, and had quite a late night, so the following morning I had to force him out of bed, and after getting lunch at an indoor market, we spent most of the afternoon at the Islamic Arts Museum and the National Mosque. That evening we got dinner, and I spent the rest of my night hanging out, napping, and catching up on tv shows.

We woke up pretty early the following morning to make the trek out to Batu Caves (a series of caves and Hindu cave temples). We got back to our hostel in the afternoon to change/freshen up and then spent some time walking around the financial district and taking pictures with the Petronas Towers. From there we went for sunset rooftop drinks at the Heli Lounge bar, before heading to Bukit Bintag neighbourhood to wander and get dinner at the Jalan Alor street market.

My third morning, I checked out of my hostel, visited one last temple and got on a bus to Georgetown, Penang. Once again, in hindsight I totally should have booked an overnight bus and squeezed in another city, instead of wasting a whole day travelling, but now I have something to look forward to for next time. It is such a lovely and quaint little city, with picturesque buildings and world-famous food. It was such a lovely mix of so many cultures and religions living in peace, and harmony. When I arrived at my hostel, they had made a mistake and I wasn’t in the system, even though I had made a booking online, so I spent the rest of the evening walking around, trying to find an available hostel. It took me a while, but I eventually found one, got some dinner, and had a pretty early night.

The following morning I got up quite early, checked out of my hostel, and spent the entire day walking around, visiting various sights, including temples and old Peranakan mansions, (desendants of Chinese immigrants who settled between the 15-17th centuries.) It was quite an exhuasting day, so in the early evening I headed back to the hostel, where I met my American roommate, Trey. The rest of the night I just hung out, got dinner, and then participated in the beer pong tournament and pub crawl put on by my hostel.

The next day was quite brutal. One of the worst hangovers of my life, plus the 35 degree heat, but I knew I would feel at least a little better if I got up and did something. With Trey, the guy from my hostel room, we visited the Upside Down museum, took some funny pictures, and then spent a few hours walking around, mostly by the water, checking out some of the Clan Jetties, (floating villages occupied by Chinese clans) and street art. We were both still very exhausted from the night before, plus walking around all day, so we went back to the hostel and hung around most of the evening before getting dinner, and having an early bedtime.

On my last day, I woke up early to go on a free walking tour before taking the tram up to Penang Hill, where I walked around for a bit and enjoyed a nice view of the Island. From there walked over to Kek Lok Si Temple. It’s a massive Temple on a hill, and honestly one of the most beautiful, impressive temples I have ever seen. There was some sort of ceremony going on which added to the experience. I eventually made my way back to my hostel, stopping for athentic Penang Laksa on the way, and spent the rest of the evening hanging out at my hostel, before catching an uber to the bus station.

That night, I caught an overnight bus to Singapore. I arrived just before noon, dropped my things off at Rohini’s apartment, and took a public bus into downtown to meet her at work. We went on a little bike ride, and then walked around downtown and Chinatown. At one point we were walking along Robertson Quay, when I thought I recognized 2 people walking in our direction. We realized we knew each other at the exact same time and ran into each other’s arms. What are the odds of me randomly running into Kelowna friends in Singapore! Rohini also introduced me to a few of her coworkers, whom we met up with for a snack and some afternoon beers. After walking around  a bit more and passing through the National Museum, we went home to hangout before having dinner at a Hawker Center near Roh’s apartment, and had made plans to meet up with Meghan and Nick for rooftop drinks at Marina Bay Sands.

We went to Universal Studios one day, which obviously was a good time. Rohini doesn’t like roller coasters so I did those alone, but thanks to her free fastpast from work, we were able to essentially do all of the rides once! In the evening, we met up with Rohini’s roommate, got dinner together at an outdoor food court/market, and met up with an old friend Patricia (whom we had both met back during exchange in 2015 when we were visiting Poland.) First we went for drinks at a cute wine bar, and then we did some dancing at a salsa bar in Clarke Quay.

On my last day, we went for brunch together in a cute area called Tiong Bahru, and then I spent the rest of the day alone, walking around and exploring different areas including Little India, Kampong Glam (the Malay-Muslim neighbourhood), and a bit of the downtown core, before meeting back up with Rohini and her roommate at Gardens by the Bay to watch the sunset and  grab dinner at an outdoor foodcourt.

That night, I caught an overnight bus back to Kuala Lumpur, because flights back to China were much cheaper from there. I had a bit of a layover in Kuala Lumpur, enough to transfer from the bus station to the airport and still have to wait a couple of hours, and eventually caught my flight to Kunming, where I had a 6-hour layover before finally boarding my flight to Wuhan. It was one of the longest travel days of my life, and when I finally got home just after 1am, I couldn’t have been happier to be back in my very uncomfortable chinese bed.

[domhovasse]

We'll wish we could come back to these days.

Laos was incredible. I had heard amazing things going into it, and it absolutely did not disappoint. We caught an overnight bus from Chiang Mai to Nong Khai, a city right on the border of Thailand and Laos, got our visas on arrival, and took a bus across the border to Vientianne. Once there, we bartered with a tuktuk driver (we were becoming professional at bartering), who took us to the bus station. Our timing was impeccable - we got the last 2 seats on the bus, and it took off about 10 minutes after we boarded. We arrived in the beautiful town of Vang Vieng around dinner time, checked-in to our hostel and then went for a little walk. We ended up at Smile Bar, a tranquil, outdoor bar, where we spent the next few hours sitting in hammocks along the river, watching the sun set behind the mountains, with a beer and a baguette sandwich in hand. It was the nicest little “welcome to Laos.” That night we walked around town a little, and stopped at a bar for a little game of beer pong.

The entire following day was spent on a scooter, exploring the countryside, going into caves, and jumping into lagoons. It was so magical, and felt amazing to be surrounded by beautiful mountains again. That evening, we walked around town some more before getting dinner, and then returning to the same bar as the previous night. We ended up sitting at down at a table and making friends with this couple from Paris, who were super sweet! The next day, we partook in a tubing/river bar crawl. Vang Vieng is pretty well known for it, although the government had to crack down a couple years ago because the yearly death toll among travellers was at an all time high. We essentially spent the entire day floating along the river and stopping at a couple bars along the way. The rest of the evening was spent eating, socializing, and trying to recover from our long & very crazy day. Alyssa’s phone took a little swim during our tubing adventure, so she was mourning its death and we were hoping it would make a full recovery after a few days spent in a bag of rice.  (Fun fact: a dry bag does not serve it’s purpose if it isn’t sealed shut.) Both of us had already purchased tickets to the famous “Jungle Party”, which neither of us were too keen on anymore. We went anyways, just to check it out, but left not too long after, as we were exhausted from our crazy day, and not big fans of the deep house music being played.

The following morning, we checked out of our hostel, hopped on a minivan bus, and began the long journey to Luang Prabang. Laos doesn’t have proper highways so a 200km drive took almost 7 hours. We finally arrived in the evening, checked-in to our hostel, and went to get some drinks at Utopia, a nice bar along the Mekong River, and walked around town for a bit before sitting down at a restaurant to eat dinner. Before heading to sleep, we took a walk across town to a bar, where we ran into 2 australian guys from our hostel room. Our second day, we slept in, and then spent the majority of the day walking around, eating and exploring. In the evening, we walked up to a temple and lookout spot as the sun was setting over the valley. It was so so pretty and honestly made me fall in love with Laos.

The following day, we woke up quite early, ate breakfast at our hostel, and went on a half day excursion to the Kuang Si waterfalls, which was easily one of the prettiest things I’ve ever experienced. Thanks to our tolerance to cold BC water, we were brave enough to jump in and spend some time swimming in the falls. There was also a bear rescue sanctuary, so we spent some time watching them. We got back to the city in the early afternoon, got some sandwiches for lunch, and Alyssa decided to hang out at the hostel, while despite the scorching heat, I went to check out Wat Xieng Thong, since I hadn’t visited a Laotian temple yet. That evening, we took it easy again, wandering around the market area to grab some food and souvenirs. On our last morning, I woke up early to catch the Alms Giving Ceremony (a sacred Lao tradition) before sunrise, and then we got a tuktuk to the airport, where we caught our short flight to Vietnam.

Next up was Vietnam. We had pretty high hopes for Vietnam, and I can fully understand the hype now. The only regret I have is not planning our days/transportation better, because we had to skip a few places that were highly recommended by several friends. Oh well - you can’t do it all, and I definitely plan on going back hopefully one day soon! We decided to begin in the north and make our way to the south, stopping at all the major stops along the way, starting with Hanoi. This was a super cool, bustling city, with an old city center where I could walk around for days on end. The shops in the center were all grouped together by category for example there was a bamboo street, a lantern street, a stationary street, etc. and there are so many great museums to visit. The French influence in this city was pretty visible, even in the way locals sat outside of cafes/restaurants, creating a sort of ‘terrace’ - which obviously made me love it even more. The coffee scene was HUGE here, which Alyssa and I fully embraced, although their traditional coffee is served with condensed milk, which Alyssa found way too sweet. Our first day, after arriving, Alyssa went out to buy a new phone while I stayed back to catchup on some TV shows and social media. We met up for lunch and the went to Maison Centrale (Hoa Lo Prison), an old prison used by the French colonists in French Indochina for political prisoners, and later by North Vietnam for U.S. prisoners of war during the Vietnam War. In the evening, we got dinner on this street with tons of bars and restaurants, and then participated in our hostel’s pubcrawl. On our way home that night, we got introduced to the most life-changing Banh Mi sandwiches ever. My life actually has not been the same since.

The following day we went on a waking tour, which brought us to all the major sights, giving us an overview of the city and highlighting some important history, including the turbulent relationship that Vietnam has had with both the French and the Chinese over the years. Considering my heritage, I had a nice little awkward laugh at this information. We then visited the Women’s museum, which taught us about everything from customs/rituals, to the role of women during the war, to their role in modern day society. It was so well curated and ended up being one of the highlights of our trip. In the evening, we decided to check out a water puppet show, which originated in Hanoi, then got some delicious bun cha for dinner, before participating in our hostel’s pub crawl (again). The following morning was quite slow, first switching hostels, and then we spent the entire day on foot, between Alyssa wanting to do a bit of shopping, and me stopping at every single bank, trying to withdraw money. In the afternoon we stopped to take some pictures at ‘Train Street’, a very narrow, residential street with a train track running through it. We were there for a while, but unfortunately weren’t lucky enough to see a train pass by. Eventually, we made our way back to the old city center and got dinner at a hole in the wall restaurant filled with locals and non-English menus, before getting to bed early. 

We spent the next 2 nights and 3 days on a Ha Long Bay cruise, taking in the beautiful scenery by boat and kayak, with a night spent on Cat Ba island. It’s a bit of a touchy subject, because essentially we got scammed, but in the end, we made some awesome friends and made a good time of it. (And we ended up getting a partial refund, after much arguing.) After arriving back in Hanoi, we grabbed our luggage, got dinner with some cruise friends, and then caught our overnight bus North to SaPa, to spend 2 days trekking through villages and rice fields with a local, & staying the night in her family’s home. We hiked a total of 20km over 2 days, with our personal Hmong tour guide, learning about her life and the lives of the Hmong people. This was definitely an experience I’ll never forget, and one that taught me a lot! We spent an extra evening and night in SaPa, which was spent visiting the market, wandering the streets, and freezing our asses off. (It was -2 degrees!) In hindsight, we should’ve taken an overnight bus back to Hanoi instead of wasting a day in transit, because our bus back to Hanoi the following morning ended up being quite delayed, and then we got scammed by a taxi driver who had a rigged meter. It was another one of our low points on the trip, and put us both in a terrible mood, but in retrospect, it wasn’t that much money.

Next was Hoi An, where we spent most of our days walking the cute, lantern-filled streets, taking pictures, browsing the markets, and getting clothes custom made. We also got manicures one day and spent the afternoon at the beach. It honestly was one of, if not THE cutest city I’ve ever been to! It’s not very big, but I could’ve spent days on end walking around. The city’s even prettier at night, and one evening, we went on a nice little romantic boat ride along the river; it was soooo cute! There were also some of our cruise friends in Hanoi at the same time as us so we all went out to a bar together one night. On our last day, Alyssa and I split off and went on separate excursions: Alyssa a cooking class, and I, a tour of the famous My Son ruins. We met back up at our hostel in the evening, and spent the rest of our last night getting dinner, and socializing at our hostel before getting to bed early.

We woke up bright and early the next morning to catch our flight to Ho Chi Minh, which was both an eye-opening and very educational stop on our trip. We spent most of our time in museums, and walking around, learning about the history, and eating A LOT. I can’t imagine what it would’ve been like to live in Saigon in the 70s when GongGong (my maternal grandpa) was living there. After checking into our hostel in Ho Chi Minh, I wandered around a little, and went to the market to get some lunch, while Alyssa got some extra sleep since she was feeling sick again. We met up at the Independent Palace, which was the home and workplace of the President of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War, and then spent some time at the War Memorial Museum, which was quite a heavy, sobering experience, especially the exhibition on Agent Orange. We spent the rest of the evening walking around, down the rich shopping/hotel street, then to the river, and eventually returning home to get dinner close to our hostel.

The following day was super chill. After breakfast, we headed across town to Chinatown and the Binh Tay market, which was actually under renovation and therefore  relocated into big storage containers. We wanted to get lunch there, but we saw a huge rat run past us and immediately squealed & turned around. We ended up going back into town to get a late lunch at Ben Thanh street food market, before doing a bit of shopping in the area. From there we went to a sky bar for some rooftop drinks and watch the sunset over the city.

We also spent half a day on a trip to the Cuchi Tunnels, and actually got to crawl through them, which was also quite eye opening. I’m not someone who easily gets claustrophobic, but I was starting to feel anxious after a minute; I really don’t know how people stayed underground for hours on end. The rest of the day was spent walking around and browsing markets for cheap finds. We got our final Vietnamese dinner at the market, and then spent our last night together going to a bar and dancing the night away with one of our roommates.

[domhovasse]

South East Asia.

When I accepted my job in China, I was hoping I’d be able to travel, but to be frank, I wasn’t expecting to have the schedule that I got. Two entire months of paid vacation? I don’t know how I got so fortunate. I knew Alyssa was heading to Australia around the same time as my holidays and that we travel quite well together, so I threw at her the idea of travelling some of South East Asia with me on her way there, and she agreed without hesitation.

After a wonderful week spent in Cuba with my family, I met Alyssa at YVR airport to catch our flight to Bangkok, Thailand. My friends who had heard that I would be having an hour and a half layover in Vancouver, insisted on coming to the airport to see me, even though they knew it would be super rushed. (Talk about some good friends!) After getting my luggage, exiting arrivals and finding my check-in area, I was able to see them for all of about 5 minutes before needing to head to my gate, but it was so sweet nonetheless!

The flight went pretty smoothly, although we weren’t able to get seats together. I wasn’t able to get much sleep - I think all the travelling and switching of time zones was confusing my body a bit. We arrived in Bangkok in the afternoon, and were very generously picked up by Alyssa’s stepdad’s friend’s son, who lives in Bangkok. He drove us to a place close to our hostel to grab a bite to eat, and from there, walked us to our hostel. When we arrived, there was a huge mixup with our booking and the lady wanted to charge us for 8 people because when we selected 2 people on the website it reserved two 4-bed dorms. We argued back and forth for a while and even called the booking website to try and sort it out. We ended up finding another hostel just down the street, for even cheaper, so we checked-in, dropped our bags off and left to explore a little. We ended up walking around for a while and going for a little boat ride along the river after sunset, before ending our [long] day off at Khao San Road to wander around and get beers & Pad Thai for dinner! 

The next day, we woke up at a decent hour to grab breakfast near our hostel before a full day of touring. We began at the Grand Palace, where we spent a few hours walking around, taking in all of its beauty, while trying to dodge the hoards of tourists. We then made our way towards the river, stopping to take a look at the newly completed Royal Crematorium on our way. The king had recently passed away, and we learned that in Thailand, when the king dies, the whole country spends an entire year mourning his death (and wearing only black clothing). After taking a boat bus across the river to Wat Arun, we spent some time walking around this much smaller temple, designed in a very different style than the Grand Palace. It was quiet, had way less tourists, and in my opinion, just a better temple overall. At this point, we were starving and pretty templed-out, so we took the boat back across the river and then stopped in a little restaurant for some life-changing tom yum soup & papaya salad, before taking a tuk-tuk back to our hostel so we could rest and freshen up. After a couple hours of hanging out, we walked to the train station to meet up with my friend Devan, who I had met in Europe years back, and was working as an English teacher in Bangkok. She was running behind schedule, so we found a restaurant with wifi and got a beer to kill some time. After meeting up with Devan, we got dinner at the street market in China Town, and then treated ourselves to some overpriced beverages and a beautiful view at a Skybar. 

Our last day in Bangkok consisted of mostly walking around, and visiting the Siam Museum, which we had heard really good things about. It was a really interesting and interactive museum about ‘Thai-ness’ and how Thai culture has changed over the years because of tourism. We got back to our hostel with enough time to eat a little bit before catching an Uber to the bus station. We had heard that Bangkok highways were brutal (one way, elevated highways with infrequent exits), and that was the furthest thing from a lie. Turns out, we had typed the wrong bus station into our Uber app, and by the time we figured it out, we were stuck in a traffic jam, unable to exit or turn around for kilometres. We ended up arriving at the bus station 5 minutes after our bus was scheduled to depart. Even though we were convinced the bus had already left, we booked it up a flight of stairs, through the station, found our ticket desk, got our tickets, ran back through the station, down the stairs, found our platform and our bus, which had yet to leave. It was one of the most stressful hours of my life, but we had a good laugh about it once we actually sat down in our seats. We arrived in Krabi in the morning, made some last minute changes to our itinerary, and caught a shuttle to the pier, where from there, we took a boat to Koh Phi Phi.

Koh Phi Phi was wild. We were able to meet up with Alyssa’s friend who I also know from yeaaaaars ago (and is now the lead actor on a new NBC TV show, might I add). It was pretty cool to reconnect with her and get to hangout together in Thailand. We spent our time together mostly hanging out on the beach, sipping’ on cocktails or eating pad thai. Our hostel was right on the main beach, so we could lay and tan, while using our hostel’s free wifi - we were legit living the LIFE. On our first night, we met a group of guys at a bar, so naturally we ended up spending most of our time with them the following day, going kayaking through some caves, to a beach full of wild and ferocious monkeys. On our second day, after our kayaking adventure, we spent most of the evening at a pool party, and hanging out on the beach with some of our new friends. Things got pretty rowdy both nights, and I didn’t get much sleep at all.

From Koh Phi Phi, we made the long, long trip to Koh Tao. First by boat to Krabi, then by bus to Surat Thani, and finally a brutal 6-hour boat ride to Koh Tao. Neither Alyssa or I get motion sickness, but after an entire 4 hours of very bumpy waters, we were both feeling quite nauseous. We finally arrived at night, got dinner after checking into our hostel, and then went for a walk down to the beach. We went to bed quite early, and our good night’s sleep was very much needed. Our hostel was running a little excursion the following day, so we decided to partake in that. We spent the majority of the day snorkelling, tanning, and Alyssa learned that the worst sunburns can happen on the cloudiest of days. That afternoon, after the best meal of our entire trip in a little family-run restaurant, we went for a walk around town, and along the beach, before eventually getting dinner with a few of our roommates. Every night, there were fire shows on the beach, so we ended our day off by doing a bit of bar hopping and dancing along the beach. We made friends with a few guys from our hostel room, so we spent the following day with them, on scooters, exploring the island, snorkelling, and getting drinks on the beach at night. Late that night, we boarded a night ferry that would bring us back to the mainland, where we would then take a shuttle bus to Krabi. When we bought tickets, the man advised us that there were 2 different types of ferries, which alternated nights, and we had lucked-out, because we’d be travelling on the nice ship. Turns out he lied to us, because our ferry was very old, loud, and extremely crammed (matresses side by side on the floor), with no a/c. Hindsight 20/20, regardless of how awkward and uncomfortable that ferry was, we definitely should have taken one on the way there as well, just to save ourselves from wasting an entire day travelling. 

We arrived in Krabi around breakfast time, and after a nice little meal at McDonald’s, we checked in to our hostel, quickly changed, got some wifi time in, and walked over to the beach. After a boat ride and a couple of hours spent at Railay beach, we decided to attempt a hike which we had read about in a few blogs. Honestly, it was one of, if not THE sketchiest hike of our lives, but it was one of the absolute highlights of our entire trip. Essentially, it led us up the side of a mountain, which we scaled, and then lowered ourselves down using ropes, ladders and roots of trees, eventually leading us to a secret lagoon in the middle of the mountain. Most people who attempted it, gave up around halfway, so when we actually made it to the end, we were almost alone, which made the whole thing that much better. When we finally got back to the hostel, we showered, dropped off a few bags of laundry at a laundromat, and got some convenience store ham & cheese taosties. That night, we hungout with our new friends we had made (an Aussie girl and 2 british boys), who were on both the same ferry and shuttle bus as us from Krabi. We spent some time at our hostel’s rooftop bar, then went to checkout a few other bars, and finished the night off with a nice little 3am swim. The following day we mostly took it easy, first sleeping in, then hanging out with the british boys, and walking around town before getting on our shuttle bus to the airport in the afternoon. When we got to our Air Asia check-in desk and gave the agent our passports, he couldn’t find our reservation in the system. After a few minutes of looking further into it, he figured out it was because our flight was for the exact same time, but the day before. GREAT.

As expected, we were pretty irritated when we got to Chiang Mai. After missing our flight and having to pay for a whole new one, to top it off, when we finally arrived at our hostel, it was so ghetto and had NO working wifi. As if things couldn’t get any worse. We both went out to find some much needed food and wifi, and spent some time booking a few busses and hostels before heading to bed. The next morning I woke up early to grab breakfast and find us a new hostel. After checking out of our horrible hostel and moving to a new one down the street, we went to visit an elephant sanctuary and spent the afternoon hanging out with some gentle giants. We met some of the local native people who introduced us to the sanctuary and the elephants, before spending a few hours feeding them, taking them for a walk and then helping clean them. It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done and something I’ll remember for a long long time. When we got back to our hostel in the afternoon, we washed up and headed out to the biggest street market I’ve ever seen, to grab some food and do a bit of souvenir “window” shopping. We wanted to checkout a bit of the nightlife, so before heading to bed, we walked from our hostel to an area with a ton of bars, and did some people watching. The next morning we woke up before daylight to catch our bus to Pai. We were warned by friends that the road to Pai was extremely winding, and to prepare to feel sick, even if neither of us were prone to car sickness. Alyssa woke up feeling very sick as it is, so she had a bit of a rough ride to say the least, but we made it in one-piece.

Pai was so so wonderful. There is so much hype aroud this “hippie” town  in the mountains, and to be quite honest, I can see why people love it, but it’s not somewhere I would have wanted to stay for weeks. Our days consisted entirely of scootering in the mountains, exploring waterfalls, visiting temples and taking in all of the beauty that is northern Thailand. At night we spent some time walking around town, going to the market and getting Thai massages, which was quite the experience. Alyssa was trying to get over her sickness, so she stayed pretty low key, only joining me on the second day of scootering.

The following morning, we woke up really early to catch the first bus back to Chiang Mai. Our bus to Laos wasn’t until night, so we decided to spend the day exploring as much of the city as we could, considering we didn’t see much of it at all before heading up to Pai. We locked up our belongings at the bus station, grabbed coffee and lunch, and then headed to Doi Suteph, a beautiful temple at the top of a mountain, overlooking the city. After spending some time there wandering around and taking pictures, we had the worst Uber experience of our lives and got into a full yelling match with the driver, who reluctantly agreed to drop us off at Nimmanhaemin, a sort of modern, hip area with tons of cute boutiques and cute restaurants, where we spent the rest of the evening before heading back to the bus station and catching our overnight bus to Nong Khai, a little town on the border with Laos. 

[domhovasse]

On my own again.

The next morning, we woke up early, and headed our separate ways, Timnit back to England, and myself, on to Spain. The easiest (and cheapest) way to do this was to take a bus to Faro, and then transfer to another bus. I gave myself 45 minutes to do the transfer at the bus station, thinking that would be ample time, even if the first bus was running late, but with my amazing luck, I got to the station 4 minutes after my transfer had left. This was definitely one of the more frustrating experiences I’d ever had while travelling, but completely out of my control. I couldn’t get refunded either because I used 2 different bus companies, so I had no choice but to wait, and catch the next bus to Seville. What I was most upset about wasn’t the fact that I had to buy another ticket and spend 6 hours in Faro, but the fact that I now had only 1 full day to see Seville, which turned out to be my favourite city on this trip. I ended up locking up my backpack at the bus station and spent some time walking around the city centre, then finding a cafe to eat/drink coffee/kill time. When I could feel myself struggling to keep my eyes open, I left the cafe and continued to walk around. Eventually, I decided to lay down on a park bench, and fell asleep there for a couple of hours before making my way back to the bus station to get my backpack and catch my bus.

When I arrived in Seville in the evening, I checked in to my hostel, and went for a walk to find myself some dinner, before going up to the rooftop of my hostel as an attempt to socialize. There, I happened to meet a guy from Vancouver who knows Olivier and a bunch of his Carver friends, so we chatted for a while, and he invited me to join a group of people from our hostel to go for a walk and get ice cream before coming back to the hostel and heading to bed. The following morning, I woke up quite early and I spent the entire day doing as much sight-seeing as possible, beginning with a little walk to the cathedral, followed by a walking tour, tapas for lunch, and the Alcazar palace in the afternoon (with people from my tour group). Next, we made our way via the shopping street to a viewpoint to enjoy a glass of sangria and some nice views of the city. Along with a super sweet girl from my hostel room (and walking tour), I ended the day with a long walk along/across the river, and more tapas for dinner, before heading back to the hostel for an early night in.

I woke up early the next morning to catch my blablacar to Granada. The one disadvantage to blablacar is that the driver decides the pick-up and drop-off locations, and they aren’t always anywhere near where you need to be, so I ended up having to walk 30 minutes to my hostel. There was some sort of religious festival going on and the streets were overflowing with people, which made for a challenging walk. I checked into my hostel, and then headed to the Alhambra (which I had booked tickets for ahead of time). I spent the next few hours just wandering around the massive palace grounds, listening to my audio guide, and getting transported back to the 13th century. When I travel alone, I often forget to eat/ unless I can find something easy to take away, I don’t feel like sitting in a restaurant alone. I think it was a combination of not eating plus the 38 degree weather, but I just about fainted on my way home from the Alhambra and then spent the rest of the afternoon in bed. I managed to rally in time to head back out to grab dinner (& gelato) with another female solo traveller from my dorm room, then we decided to walk up to a lookout point to watch the sun set over the Alhambra. I slept like a frickin baby that night, and woke up early the next morning to catch another blablacar back to Seville.

After getting dropped off in Seville, I pretty much headed straight to the airport, to catch my plane to Marseille. I arrived at my hostel in the late afternoon, checked-in, and went out to explore with an American guy from my hostel room. We went for a long walk to a look out point on top of a hill, and then got dinner along the pier. On the way home, we stopped to enjoy a few glasses of ricard on the terrace of a cool bar. The following day I woke up bright and early to hike up to visit a church on a hill at the highest point of the city, before going on yet another walking tour. After the tour, I was really wanting to head to the Calenques, but unfortunately there just wasn’t enough time for me to fit it in, so instead, I decided to catch a boat to Chateau d’If, a fortress converted into a prison, most famous for being one of the settings of Alexandre Dumas’ adventure novel The Count of Monte Cristo. In the late afternoon, I made my way back to my hostel to gather my things and meet my blablacar driver.

My blablacar ride was super quick, and we arrived in Nice just after dinner time, so after checking into my hostel, I went for a little walk to find myself some food and then convinced Brandon, my bunk mate from Marseille, to join me on a pub crawl. The following day, I spent most of my time just wandering around Old Nice, walking along the boardwalk, and climbing up a bunch of stairs to a viewpoint. The weather wasn’t great in Nice, and I was quite exhausted/ I was having a pretty bad allergic reaction to bug bites, so I kind of laid low and tried not to cram too much into my day. 

The next morning, I took a bus to the airport, where I caught a bus to Genova, Italy, to see my friend Mara, whom I met in Spain in 2012. She was working at a hostel at the time, and her boss was nice enough to give me 1 free night in the hostel. After meeting her and her sister at the bus station, they brought me to the hostel, and from there, we took the train to Nervi, where we hung out on a [rocky] beach for a bit. Before heading back, we went to a little bakery and ate the best focaccia bread in the entire world. It was fresh, garlic-y and cheese filled and I actually think I died for a second. On the way home we stopped at a gelateria (when in Italy!) for supposedly the best gelato in town. The following morning, I set off on a walking tour for a few hours before meeting back up with Mara to spend the afternoon with her in a beautiful fishing village, tanning, drinking wine and eating seafood. We got back to the city in the evening, and I decided to go on a little walk to a viewpoint - if it isn’t obvious yet, I’m a huge sucker for walking tours and viewpoints), followed by a hunt for some pizza, (because I refused to leave the country before eating a frickin Italian pizza.)

The easiest way to get from Genova to Marot, was to take a train to Milan, where I had planned to meet up with Oli, then fly to Bordeaux together, and then from there take a train to Saint-Cyprien. It was so nice to be back with Oli and spend a few days relaxing by the pool and hanging out with Auntie Cathy. Uncle Thierry was away at the time, so we weren’t able to see him, but Aunty Cathy still spoiled us with amazing food and an abundance of rosé. We spent our entire first day just hanging out by the pool, taking in the 35 degree weather. Nothing beats a summer day in Périgord, and spending time with our Aunt and Uncle in their beautiful home continues to be a highlight of our trips to Europe year after year. The next day, we wanted to keep up with tradition, and do some canoeing along the Dordogne river. We have so many childhood memories of doing this with the family: getting caught in currents, jumping out for a swim, and being surrounded by medieval castles along the way. Literally a dream. We shared a really lovely meal that final night, which included lots of rosé and some heart to hearts.

The following morning, we had an early breakfast, and Aunty Cathie kindly drove us to Sarlat, where we met our blablacar driver. We spent the next (almost) 6 hours in the car, taking in the beautiful French countryside, listening to music and sharing stories with our driver and his son. It was actually quite an enjoyable journey, and he was able to drop us off right at Balard metro station, which is a very short walk from our apartment. 

Once again, another incredible trip exploring new cities and diving into history with both new and old friends. A few mishaps along the way, but I’m so looking forward to doing it again!

[domhovasse]

Europe 4.0

Clearly, I just can’t get enough of backpacking Europe. After leaving my wonderful first job in Paris, I packed my bags for a month of adventure and I said goodbye to Olivier, who would be leaving a few days after me, to travel Greece with his friend Annette!

First up was Manchester, to visit my friend Sean, who’s been living there for a few months with her boyfriend Chris. She kindly offered for me to stay with them at their apartment, and managed to get an extra day off work, so we spent the weekend together catching up and seeing Manchester. I arrived at their apartment in the afternoon, so we spent the evening walking around the Northern Quarter, a hip area with lots of cool bars and restaurants. They showed me some of their favourite spots and we enjoyed some drinks and food before heading home for and early night in. My second day was spent with Sean, mostly walking around and doing some shopping. She showed me her work, the main shopping street, and the main square (where people were gathered to pay tribute to the lives lost at the concert shooting that happened a week prior). We met back up with Chris for dinner and they brought me to the best burger joint ever. 

The next morning, Chris, who commutes to Liverpool everyday for work, offered to give me a ride, which was so nice of him! He dropped me off at my hostel, where I waited for a few hours before heading off on a walking tour. It was a little rainy, but I still enjoyed the tour (as always). On the tour, I made friends with another female solo traveller, so we had lunch together, then took a train to the outskirts to check out a famous art piece consisting of 100 cast-iron statues in the water. The sun came out for a couple of hours while we were there, which was so nice! We headed back into town together, got dinner at my hostel, and then walked into town together for some drinks at night. She left the following morning, so I spent the day exploring some of the city on my own, walking around areas the walking tour had not taken me to, and visiting a few museums, including the Beatles Museum. I spent the rest of the evening/night hanging out with 3 Columbian guys from my hostel room. 

The next morning, I woke up early to catch a bus to London, where I met Timnit at work. Since she wasn’t done for a few more hours, I got her keys from her and made my way by underground to her place, dropped off my bags, and made my way back into town to wander around (mostly along the river) before meeting back up with Timnit for food and drinks in Shoreditch. 

The next day, I went on a walking tour of the city, before meeting up with Emily, a friend from Kelowna, who was in town to check out universities. We went to cute teahouse called Sketch, that’s well known for its modern and contemporary interior design, and walked around Regent Street/Oxford Circus, before I left to go meet another friend, Jasmine, for dinner. Jasmine was a classmate of mine at Langara years ago and has now been studying at an art school in London for a few years. After dinner, I met Timnit at her place and we spent the night at an event that our friend was dj-ing at. 

The following day, I decided to go on a walking tour of Shoreditch, which is an entertainment district/artsy area of London. After the tour I spent the rest of the evening with the tour guide and a few people who were also on the tour. After a quick bite to eat and a few brews, the tour guide brought us to a really cool cocktail bar, called the Alchemist. I got home after dark, and got news of the drive-by shooting that had just happened. So sad and tragic, but thankful that everyone I knew was safe.

Timnit had spent the previous day and night with her relatives at a wedding, so she spent the night with them, and met back up with me at Camden market around noon. Timnit had all her things from the night before, so she went home to drop them off/change, while I continued on my own, exploring Regent’s Park, Marylebone neighbourhood and Regent’s Street, before meeting back up with Timnit. Next, we spent some time walking around Convent Garden and Russell Square area, stopping for pictures and milkshakes along the way. For dinner, we had been invited by my old gymnastics friend Jessica and a few of her classmates, to a Japanese restaurant. She’s been in London for the school year, working on her masters and it’s been a while since I’ve seen her last, so it was sweet to catch up.

My final morning in London was spent at a cute/hip coffee in Shoreditch for brunch. From there, I went to pick up my camera, which I had left at my hostel in Liverpool. Luckily, one of the boys from that room was living in London and would be returning home before I left. After being reunited with my camera, I took the tube to Portobello Road, hoping to checkout the market, which I’d never been to before. Sadly, the market was already done for the day, so I wandered around through Notting Hill, Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, and the famous department store, Harrods. Timnit had made dinner reservations for us at her favourite Indian restaurant, so I met back up with her for dinner, and we had an early night in.

Early the next morning, I caught a bus from Timnit’s place to the airport and boarded my flight to Porto. I arrived there just before lunch time, so after dropping off my bag at my hostel, I got lunch, and then wandered around the city before heading back to my hostel in the late afternoon to check into my room. Porto is a super cute city, and small enough to get around by foot, so it was easy see most of the main sights in one day. That evening, I went back to the hostel for dinner, made a few friends in the process, and we all decided to join the hostel’s pub crawl together. My second day was spent with my new friends (Emily & Connor), mostly walking around and hanging out by the pier. After lunch, we decided to take a bus to the beach and spend the rest of the afternoon getting some vitamin D. When we got back to the hostel, we showered, ate dinner at the hostel, and were planning on having a chill night in - until we got swindled into going on the pub crawl again. I get serious fomo (fear of missing out), especially when it comes to social events, so Connor and I agreed to both join, but not pay for the free alcohol portion, as an attempt to not drink too much. Of course, we failed miserably, because the leader of the pub crawl ended up giving us all the shots for free anyways.

Before even heading to bed, I made my way to the airport to catch my 6am flight to Lisbon, one of the more brutal flights of my life. I once again arrived before check-in, so I dropped off my bags at my hostel and [running on maybe 1 hour of sleep], I head out on a walking tour of Alfama, one of the most famous neighbourhoods of the city. After the walking tour, I ate lunch with the group from the tour, and head back to my hostel for a very much needed nap. After a few hours of sleep, I headed back out for a little walk to a lookout point before going back to the hostel for dinner. The hostel offered a cheap family dinner and servings were huge, so I decided to partake since Timnit wouldn’t be arriving at the hostel until shortly after dinner time. That night, once Tim arrived, we decided to tag along on our hostel’s pub crawl.

Day 2 was spent mostly on a waking tour of Belem, a district in the west of Lisbon that has been long associated with seafaring and the early Portuguese explorers. This is where egg tarts originally came from. I ate one and almost passed out ‘cause it was so good. Before the tour, we wandered around a little before grabbing lunch at a cool indoor food market (recommended by Olivier). In the evening, my new friend Emily (who I had met in Porto) and I wanted to check out a rooftop pool that a local had recommended to us. After taking pictures and going for a quick little swim, we met back up with Timnit, and then against their will, we walked up a huge hill to a lookout point, and watched the sunset over the city. We got dinner on the way back to the hostel, and then spent the evening drinking in the streets with a group of people from our hostel. There was a huge festival going on in the city, so the streets were all decorated/lit up and thousands of people were gathered in the streets to listen to live music, dance and drink. 

The next morning, we woke up quite early, ate breakfast at our hostel, then caught our bus to Lagos. Lagos was absolutely stunning, and the best combo of crazy and chill. We spent our time mostly chilling on the beach, or walking around town and at night we went bar hopping. On our second day, we went on a kayak safari along the coastline and through some caves. It was absolutely breathtaking and definitely something I’ll remember for a long long time. Our hostel was a family-style hostel, where we all lived in different rooms of a big house, and ‘mama’ made us crepes every morning. We made some good friends and were actually quite sad to leave them :(.

Our last day and night together in Portugal was spent in Albufeira, which is pretty much the Vegas of Europe. We arrived just before noon, and dropped our things off at our hostel before grabbing lunch by the beach. We wanted an easy way to see as much of the city as possible, so we decided to pay a tuktuk driver to drive us around for a few hours. It was actually super fun! He showed us the city’s main lookout spots and gave us a little history lesson on some things. After this, we went back to our hostel to check-in, and had a little nap before heading out for dinner. We spent the rest of the night walking around the main part of “new town,” mostly people watching, then did our own little bar crawl in new town and old town, before going to bed.

[domhovasse]

A tearful goodbye.

My last 3 days in Paris were incredible. I spent a lot of time walking around and biking, exploring areas and visiting places that I hadn’t yet ticked off my list. I met up with one or two friends that were still in town, walked around Grands Boulevards and the many ‘Passages Couverts’, went up the Arc de Triomphe, biked around République/Canal Martin, and spent a lot of time just reflecting. I’ll never forget my last evening - I went up to the 2nd observation deck of the Eiffel Tower, and looking out at the beautiful city that surrounded me, I sat alone crying for a good 45 minutes. Sounds super depressing, but it was actually a really sweet moment. From there I took the metro over to Montmartre to sit on the steps of the Sacré Coeur and watch the sunset over Paris. I may or may not have shed a few more tears there, before heading back to Mamiho’s area to bike around and watch the Eiffel Tower sparkle (on the hour).

I always struggle to find a way to explain to people what exactly it is about Paris that makes me love it so much. It’s just an undeniable, unexplainable thing, that many other people who love Paris will also have a hard time pin-pointing. Obviously it’s not a perfect place, but it’s such a beautiful city, so rich in history, culture, fashion, food .... I could go on forever. I feel like I learned an incredible amount about myself during my time living abroad, and I really surprised myself with what I’m capable of. It was not always easy and I definitely experienced my fair share of adversity, but I learned how to problem solve and I overcame obstacles. I was pushed outside my comfort zone. I became more open-minded. I learned to thrive from being alone. I made long-lasting friendship and memories. I learned to compromise. I learned to be humble and to not take anything for granted. I became more confident in my own skin and learned to trust myself. I honestly was so distraught about leaving, and wanted to stay forever and ever. Moving abroad is really an experience like no other, and as sad as I am to be home, I can now look forward to moving back to Paris in the near future, hopefully longer term this time!

[domhovasse]

Vacation mode.

Timnit left us on our last day in Salzburg to head back to London and from there she began her internship in Africa. So, Lara are I ended up on a bus back to Munich to catch our flight to Corfu. (Hindsight, it probably would’ve been better to pay the extra money to fly straight from Salzburg and not have to city hop so much, but this way also allowed Lara to see a bit of Munich.) We spent a couple hours in Munich just walking around, eating lunch at the famous Hoffbrauhaus, and then rushed to the airport to catch our flight to Greece!  Corfu was the weirdest mix of predictable and unpredictable. We stayed in a hostel called the Pink Palace, which I had heard good things about. It’s advertised as a party hostel, but as we were there in low season, it wasn’t quite what we expected. The hostel was about 15% full, so a lot of the normal activities/events were not being put on. We were still able to go on an ATVing Safari one day though, and I went on a Kayaking/Cliff Jumping adventure on our second day, with a group of only guys :). We really did have a good time, and met some sweet people, but the whole thing ended up being more expensive than anticipated - although the 2 included meals per day were BOMB. If I did it all again I would definitely have spent more time on my own exploring the island and town of Corfu instead of just hanging out at the hostel/doing organized excursions every day.

The trek from Corfu to Santorini was very long and quite brutal, so we were VERY excited once we arrived in Santorini about 24 hours later. Santorini was SO beautiful. It’s always been on my list of places to visit, and it really did not disappoint. We sort of went into it knowing it would be extremely touristy and more on the expensive side, and besides that being completely true, we really enjoyed our time! A few relaxing, quiet nights was exactly what we needed after the chaos that was The Pink Palace. Our first day was spent on a full-day tour of the island by boat and bus, beginning with a tour of an active caldera/volcano, then later swimming in a natural hot spring, before dropping us off at the base of the famous cliff-side village of Oia. We rode donkeys, got our feet cleaned by fish, and had some free time walk around Oia, before watching the most beautiful sunset over the village. On our last day, I wanted to check out Thira, another village on the other side of the island. Lara wanted to stay behind for some reason, so I rented ATVs with 2 Canadians we had met the previous day, and we spent the majority of the day driving around the island and walking around the photogenic village of Thira. It was quite similar to Oia, but less touristy and a little more authentic. In the late afternoon, I returned to the hostel to meet Lara, and from there we got a ride to the pier to catch a ferry to the little island of Ios.

Ios was probably the most fun out of the 4 islands/cities we visited. We had a solid group of 8 Canadians, a few of whom we had previously met at our hostel in Corfu, so we spent pretty much the entire 3 days together, exploring the island on ATVs and scooters, and hanging out/drinking on the beach. 

From Ios, we ended up back on a ferry to Athens, where Lara and I would spend a night and almost a full day, before heading home separately. I had heard so many mixed reviews about Athens, but I was actually quite pleasantly surprised. We spent the entire day on our feet, starting with the Acropolis, and then just trying to cover as much of the city as we could. The only time we took a break from walking was to eat and to do a bit of shopping for cute leather Greek sandals! The best (and cheapest) way to make it back to Paris from Athens was to stay a night in Milan and  obviously I didn’t hate adding an extra city to my list, so I found a decent last minute hostel and caught my RyanAir flight at around the same time as Lara’s flight back to London. 

I got into Milan pretty late at night, so went straight to bed after getting to my hostel. Because I was a female travelling alone, the hostel worker ended up putting me in an 8 person dorm alone, so I got a great, quiet nights sleep. I spent the entire next day walking around the city, taking pictures, visiting the famous Duomo, eating Pizza, and doing a little bit of window shopping. My friend Jordan from Vancouver was on exchange in Milan at the time, and was also heading to the airport that evening, so him and I met up for a little bit before taking the train to the airport together. I arrived back in Paris that night, took the RER home, and was greeted at my grandma’s apartment by my cousin Sophie who was in town for a few days. (She works as a flight attendant for Air France and was in between flights.)

Overall, a very successful and memorable trip! Many good times were had, and I met some really great people along the way. I got a little taste of travelling alone, and really did enjoy doing things at my own pace and being forced to meet people. I would like to thank Starbucks and McDonald’s for providing free Wifi and a nice warm space for me to loiter and kill time when I most needed it. Real MVPs. And I can’t wait to do it again soon!

[domhovasse]

Flying solo.

I’ve read numerous articles about travelling alone, and it’s been something I’ve been wanting to do lately. Besides my weekend trips in France to visit family, travelling alone has always been a nerve wracking thought, but I know I would be forced to step outside my comfort zone, talk to people, and make friends. After Lara and Timnit left Berlin in the morning, I spent the day hanging out with a friend we had made back in Copenhagen, who had also ended up staying at the same hostel as us in Berlin. We walked around the city for a while, and I decided to go on a walking tour in the afternoon to kill some more time/get a history lesson of the city. After the tour, I made my way back to the hostel and hung out for a little bit before heading to the bus station. When I was looking into busses from Berlin to Munich, I happened to stumble upon a 2Euro 9 hour-overnight bus and thought it was a joke, but it was as legit as busses get. The bus was nearly empty so I got 2 full seats to myself and slept quite nicely.

After arriving at the bus station in Munich the next morning, I locked up my bags and went on a walking tour of the city before doing some exploring of my own. In the evening, I went back to the station to grab my things before hopping on a train to Augsburg where Joanne, an old homestay student met me! Her parents were so kind as to give me a place to stay/food to eat for a few nights, and Joanne ended up being able to spend the entire next day showing me around her cute town. Joanne’s dad dropped me off at the bus station in the morning, and I got on my bus back to Munich, where I spent the day exploring some more and getting extremely lost. Despite the rain, and my terrible sense of direction, I did manage to explore a bit of the English Gardens, as well as Nymphenburg Palace (and gardens), which is a little bit outside of the city.

That evening, I caught my bus to St. Gallen, Switzerland where Alejandra, an old homestay student of ours would meet me. She’s originally from Madrid but has been living in a town called Romanshorn with her boyfriend and son for the last few years. I’m super grateful for Ale because I probably wouldn’t have been able to afford Switzerland without her offering me a place to stay and driving me around. They live walking distance from the beautiful Lake Constance/Bodensee, which separates Germany and Switzerland. Life is quiet, simple, and the sunsets are beautiful. The first day, Ale drove us to Lucerne, where we walked around and explored for a bit before heading to Zurich for the afternoon/evening. Talk about city-hopping! The following day, we hung out at home with the family in the morning, and in the afternoon, Ale drove us to the cute little town of Appenzell, a typical Swiss town in the countryside. My last day in Switzerland was spent on my own, exploring the beautiful capital city of Bern. Probably one of the most stunning places I’ve ever been. Since Zurich was on the way home, and I had a 1-day unlimited train pass, I stopped there for a few hours to walk around/explore some more before heading back to Romanshorn to spend my last night with Ale & her family.

From Switzerland, I got on a bus back to Munich, to spend the day visiting Neuschwanstein Castle, before heading to Salzburg, Austria. This castle has been something on my bucket list for quite some time, and I’m so glad that I was finally able to go. The story behind the castle is that Walt Disney himself once visited this castle, which thus inspired Sleeping Beauty’s castle. On my way to the castle, I was coincidentally was sitting next to another solo traveller, so we ended up spending the rest of the day together. It was nice having someone to spend the day with, and having someone to take pictures of me. :)

I arrived in Salzburg quite late at night, walked to my hostel and checked into my room. The plan was to meet Lara and Timnit in Salzburg 2 days later, where we would stay at one of their friend’s apartment just outside the city. At first I was worried that 4 days in Salzburg would be way too much, but it ended up working out so well! I spent the first day on a Sound of Music tour that brought me to all the main filming locations, while blasting the movie’s soundtrack on the bus between locations. (Kind of one of those things you just HAVE TO do in Salzburg.) I managed to make a friend my first day at the hostel, so I spent the second day with him, visiting the world’s largest ice cave. It was a bit of a journey to the top - first we took a train, then a van, a gondola ride, and then we had to hike a bit, but it was SO worth it, and definitely one of the top 5 coolest things I’ve ever seen. We got back into the city in the evening, and I dropped by the hostel to grab my things before meeting up with Lara and Timnit, and their friend Theo, whose apartment we were to stay at for the next few nights.

The next 2 and a half days in Salzburg were very chill, but very fun. We spent our time exploring the city, walking up to the Salzburg Castle, sippin’ champagne on a rooftop overlooking the river, and meeting some of Theo’s work friends. Timnit left a day earlier than us, so we spent our last full day sending her off at the airport and then driving around a bit with Theo. He showed us some of his favourite spots, including a nice waterfront restaurant/bar overlooking a beautiful lake. Since it was a beautiful day out, we spent a few hours there enjoying the view, and each other’s company. It was perfect.

[domhovasse]

Europe 3.0

My friends arrived in Paris late on the 7th, so I met up with them at one of the RER stations and help them grab the keys to their airbnb. For whatever reason, they didn’t ask me about what areas to stay in so their airbnb was on the edge of the city, way far from everything, so it was a huge pain to get to and from their place. Once my friends were settled into their airbnb, we went to a few bars in the Oberkampf area, and had quite a memorable night. The next morning, I slept through my alarm, was almost 3 hours late to meet up with Alisha, Kirsten’s roommate who I met when I was in Lyon, and I also realized I forgot Mamiho’s keys at Lara and Timnit’s airbnb. Since Alisha had arrived very early in the morning, she had asked me if I could store her backpack at Mamiho’s for half the day until check-in time. After grabbing Alisha’s bags from her and bringing them to Mamiho’s, I met up for coffee with my dearest Italian friend Chiara. She was in a few of my classes during the semester and we hit it off really well! Definitely will have to visit her in Bologna next time I’m in Europe! :) After coffee, most of my day was spent taking the metro to pick up the key, bringing it back to Mamiho’s, getting Alisha’s stuff, and walking her to her hostel down the street. After I had a bit of time to relax at Mamiho’s and pack, I met up with Alisha for dinner at a cute cafe on Île Saint-Louis, near the Notre Dame. This was the very first cafe I went to with Rowen at the beginning of my trip, so it was quite nice to come full circle and have my last meal out at the same cafe! After dinner, I met up with Lara and Timnit at Place de la République. Along with Rohini, and one of our good friends Lydia, we went to one of my favourite bars in the 12th, called Le Comptoir Général. It was an early night out for me, but a great way to spend my last night with some good friends!

My last day in Paris was spent with Lara and Timnit, showing them around and getting lunch together in the Marais. Because they had done no sight seeing at all the previous day, I attempted to show them as much of Paris as possible, including Pompidou, Hôtel de Ville, Notre Dame, and the Eiffel Tower in the evening, just before sunset. From there I showed them the Arc de Triomphe, and Champs Elysées before letting them take a look at the Pyramides du Louvre while I met up with my friends Simone and Lydia to say goodbye!  There is way too much to say about my travelling, but I’m going to attempt to summarize most of it anyways. That night, I hopped on an overnight bus to Amsterdam. My friends decided to join me the following day, as they didn’t want to spend a whole night on a bus, but they ended up missing their bus and catching the next one a little later in the day. I can’t say I was surprised when they broke the news to me, but because of the circumstances, I had to spend most of the day in Amsterdam alone. I started off the day by wandering around the streets, and trying to find the Hillsong location so I could go to church, but I couldn’t for the life of me find it, so I decided to go back to the hostel and spend a bit of time getting some things done online, before going on a walking tour. When the walking tour was done, I went back to the hostel to meet up with Lara and Timnit. We spent the evening on a Red Light District walking tour, which was actually super interesting. We then spent almost the entire night just walking around the Red Light District, mostly people watching. The following day, we walked around a lot and hit up most of the tourist attractions, including the Amsterdam sign, Heineken Factory, Anne Frank House. After dinner we went to an ice bar, where we enjoyed some beverages out of ice glasses. I had already been to a better one in Prague, but decided to accompany my friends and give this one a try anyways. Our last half-day in Amsterdam was spent on a Heineken boat river cruise, where we drank beer and enjoyed Amsterdam’s beauty from the water. After going back the the hostel and grabbing our things, we caught a bus to the Eindhoven airport (about 1.5 hours outside of Amsterdam), and from there caught our flight to Copenhagen. 

We arrived in Copenhagen after dark, so didn’t get up to anything at all after arriving at our hostel. The following morning, we ate an overpriced, underwhelming breakfast at our hostel, before heading out. It took Lara and Timnit way longer to get ready than me, so I decided to head out before them just to walk around and explore a little. I then met up with Timnit and Lara, and we spent most of the afternoon on a walking tour of the city.  On our second day, Lara and I went for breakfast at this really cool cafe called Laundromat. Essentially it’s a laundromat & a cafe, so people can enjoy food/coffee while they wait for their laundry to clean/dry. We then rented bikes from our hostel and spent most of the day biking around the city. First, we stopped to checkout Christiania, a ‘freetown’ in the middle of Copenhagen. This was probably one of the weirdest things I’ve ever seen, and felt almost like an out of body experience. Essentially, the area consists of former military barracks, which eventually became inhabited by squatters, and is now a self-proclaimed autonomous anarchist community, governed by their own laws. It’s a bit of a hippy town where marijuana is sold and used, while it is still considered illegal in the city of Copenhagen itself. From there we biked to Nyhavn to enjoy an ice cream with a beautiful view of the pier, before ending our day at the Little Mermaid statue. (Hans Christian Andersen, the author of The Little Mermaid fairy tale was Danish). That evening, we decided to do a pub crawl, since a friend of mine had recommended it. It was actually really fun; we met a ton of people and danced all night long. Our last day was spent mostly eating and lazying around. Before heading to the airport to catch our 4pm flight to Berlin, we got lunch, walked around the area near our hostel, and sat in a park for a while.

Berlin was definitely not what I expected, but it actually surprised me a lot, and it’s definitely somewhere I would’ve loved to spend more time. We arrived in the evening, took the S bahn to our hostel and got dinner (Kebabs), before getting ready to go out. We were sharing our 6 bed dorm with 3 British boys who had already been in Berlin for a few days, so we ended up tagging along with them and all going out together. Because we didn’t get back to our hostel until the morning, we slept in for a bit, then I went for a walk along the East Side Gallery and took some pictures while Timnit and Lara were still getting ready. We then went to Bundestaag/Parliament building (I was able to reserve tickets ahead of time), and we walked around that area to the Bradenburg gate. After failing to get into possibly the most ‘famous’ club in the world, because it’s nearly impossible to be let into, we went to a really cool club on the water, where I was on the verge of falling asleep the entire night. After a good sleep-in, day 2 was spent on an “alternative walking tour” which was a really interesting tour about Berlin’s street art scene and ‘grungy’ lifestyle. After the tour, we walked a bit of the Berlin Wall (East Side Gallery), and then took the U bahn over to Mauer Park, where there’s a cool outdoor flea market on Sundays. We got there a little late into the afternoon, so people were emptying out and the vendors were already cleaning up/ taking down their stalls when we arrived. Earlier in the day, our tour guide from the alternative tour swindled us into going on a Pub Crawl that night, so after dinner, we spent the night socializing and dancing with new friends.