#left home at 7:20am and got back at 11:20pm

[aefensteorrra]

pottery class was lots of fun and I definitely want to do more! it felt good to do something with my hands and I felt very calm the whole time :) I only hope my mug survives the kiln lol

[bunvoyagesarah]

El Camino de Santiago de Compostela

I am verry behind on writing this.  About three months behind. I will do my best to recap.  And luckily, for this part, I kept a pretty detailed journal.  

Monday, January 13 Day 1- O2 Hostel to Se Cathedral de Porto to Foz de Duoro to Matosinhos to Lavra to Labruge 30km/18miles

Bruno and I discussed leaving at 7am.  I had barely slept because I was nervous about getting lost and worried about carrying my bags.  At 7am, I was ready to walk out the door.  Bruno, however was still in his bed asleep. I will admit, I did not know him very well and thought, “Should I just leave him or should I wake him up? We said 7am right?” I decided to give it another 10 minutes, and sure enough, by then he was awake and moving. We left around 7:25am. I’ll tell you right now because I wish I had known then: We never once left on time despite Bruno asking me every night what time we should leave in the morning.  

Bruno and I set out to the Central Portuguese Route of El Camino from our hostel in Porto.  I had read that the Coastal Route, whilst getting out of Porto city is much nicer, so we walked along the Duoro River for most of the morning and then the next day we would be able to meet up with the Central path.  We stopped for lunch along the path. Bruno kept saying, “Oh we’ll be there by 12.” We were not there by 12. We met another Brazilian guy, Arturo who gave us lots of tips, as he had already hiked El Camino Frances route a year earlier.  He recommended the app that I was still trying to figure out, Buen Camino.

We arrived at 2:15pm to Albergue de Labruge, our friend Arturo kept walking another 10km to the next town.  The albergues don’t usually open until about 2pm and because it was winter, there was no one there. Either way, we wanted to rest.  We waited a few minutes and then a girl appeared to have us register in their book, show us where the donation box was, and put a stamp in our “passports.” I had been worried that the albergue would be full, as I had read that so many people walk and they only have so many beds. That was never the case along the entire route.  In fact, we had the opposite occur, where Bruno and I were the only people in some of the places we stayed.  

I was very sore. I laid down on the bed in all my clothes and multiple blankets and took a nap.  I woke up still very sore with a blister on my pinky toe.  You know your feet are sore when you don’t want to put on your shoes, but they are better to cushion your feet than walking barefoot.  I unfortunately did not have any flip-flops to wear.  Eventually, some older Spanish men showed up, and then much later, a German man. I did not have a sleeping bag, and there was not much heating in this old building. Luckily, there were only five of us in the room with 10 single beds, so I stole three blankets, and used one to put down on the plastic mattress and used the others on top of me. This first day was hard. I actually wrote in my journal, “What was I thinking?” After the nap and shower, I felt better, and by morning, I was ready to go again.  

Tuesday, January 14 Day 2- Labruge to Vila de Conde to Touguinha to Junqueira to Acros to San Pedro de Rates 27.6km/17.15miles

We left at 7:45am.  Bruno had suggested instead of strapping my small backpack to the back of my big backpack that I carry the small backpack in the front of my body, like a baby carrier.  This ended up being a lot more comfortable and I continued to walk this way for the rest of the journey.  I did shove a lot of my things, my computer being one of thing into my larger 55 liter backpack, so more of the weight was on my hips, compared to my shoulders with my front backpack.   

Again, by 12:30pm, I was very tired.  My back was very sore.  I am now in a love-hate relationship with my hiking buddy.  It was love because he kept me going, but hate because he asked so many questions when sometimes I just wanted silence.  

We arrived to the albergue at 2:25pm.  This albergue in Rates was run by an older guy who lived on the Camino for years. He had no phone and he sits in the living room reading all day.  He recommended a place to eat with big portions and got us settled into our room. Bruno and I were in a room with five bunk beds, so luckily I had lots of blankets again.  Later, a German guy named Jonas was put into another room with probably another five bunk beds.  We were the only three people to sleep there that night.  I was quickly finding the shower at the end of the day to be the best thing in the world.  It warmed me and relaxed all my tired muscles.  

Jonas and I ended up getting a dinner and drinks at the restaurant recommended by the albergue.  It was about seven euros for the pork schnitzel, salad, potatoes, and half a bottle of wine.  This was the only dinner I ate out during my journey. The albergue was a five euro donation.

Wednesday, January 15 Day 3- San Pedro de Rate to Pedra Furada to Pereira to Bacelinhos to Barcelos to Tamel (San Pedro de Fins) 33km/21miles

We left at 8:53am and it had been raining pretty hard overnight and when we woke up, but by about 8:40am, it had stopped so we left then. We ran into Jonas, the German from the night before along the trail but he was stopping in Barcelos, so we never saw him again after that. Bruno and I had made good time to Barcelos, so decided to keep going to Tamel even though Barcelos is a bigger town.  

It was getting dark by the time we arrived at 5:50pm. And the rain was just starting in the last 100 meters, so we arrived a little wet. Again we were the only ones there on arrival.  This bunk room had about eight bunk beds and was pretty cold with no blankets. Two German girls arrived in from even more rain and darkness.  After talking to them for a bit, they went to bed.  We snuck the small portable space heater from the laundry area up to our room and plugged it in. The one girl wanted me to turn it off, so I said, “Sure, before I go to sleep.” Bruno had not yet come up to the room, and I knew full well that he’d turn it back before going to sleep, so lucky for me I didn’t freeze.  The girl turned it off in the middle of the night, but come morning, I turned it back on. They were gone before we got downstairs.  

Thursday, January 16 Day 4- Tamel to Corgo  10km/6miles 

We left Tamel just before 9am. We had heard about this homestay in Corgo called Casa de Fernanda from the guy in Rates, but knew it was not very far. Figured we could use a short day. I had also really wanted to stay there, as it was a home cooked meal by Fernanda and breakfast in the morning with her husband, Juanito.  

Because it was such a short day, we arrived at 11:15am, despite Bruno walking in flip flops for most of the morning because his shoes were bothering him. We sat outside for an hour or two and that’s when Juanito showed up and talked to Bruno for a little in Portuguese and then let us into the building where they had about twelve single beds in a room and a bathroom. Juanito brought us out soup and bread, which was so nice. Around dinner time, Fernanda called us over for dinner.  She made this amazing roasted chicken with beans and sausage and sauce over rice along with bread and cabbage. She served us her homemade red wine and then after dinner, different types of Port including my favorite: Tawny Port. Then the “fire water.” We had a great time talking with Fernanda about how she became somewhat of a legend on the Central Route.  What had started as a woman knocking on her door about twenty years ago looking for a place to stay has become a building with 12 beds.  While we were the only people to stay there that night, she often takes “reservations” for people.  She can also sleep two people on the porch, which some people hate, and some people request. She also mentioned how they had to put the sign up about the suggested donation of 20 Euros and how she feels bad doing it, but otherwise people leave nothing. She lives in the house with her husband, and happened to be picking up her daughter from college that night, but the three of them had a meal together later.  

Friday, January 17 Day 5- Corgo to Valinhas to Barros to Ponte de Lima to Rubiaes 38km/23.6miles

In the morning, Fernanda had gone but her husband served us tea and bread with jam or chorizo and cheese. Despite telling Bruno we should really leave by 9am, we didn’t leave the kitchen until 9am and we’re walking by 9:20am.  I found I really liked to leave before 8am because I seemed to get tired around noon regardless, so the further I could get before noon, the better. I met two Ukrainian women who spoke very little English, but we each took some pictures for the other and then a selfie together.    

I had planned for us to spend the night in Ponte de Lima, which would have been about 14km, but we got there by 12:20pm, and even though it was a big town that was beautiful, we were well rested from the day before. I convince Bruno we should go all the way to Rubiaes and definitely didn’t mention that there was a big hill on the way.  However, it took us some time to get through Ponte de Lima after stopping at an ATM for me and a grocery store for lunch and extra snacks, so after climbing this 500m hill, we stopping for a few minutes for the view, we continues on our descent.  I remember we kept saying to each other that we should be there about 5:30, and giving ourselves until 6pm to get there with breaks.  The last 40 minutes was in the dark, with my headlamp dead and Bruno’s windup flashlight leading the way.  We were so happy to finally arrive.  Normally, there would be lots of places to stay between these two bigger towns, but because it was January, many of the homestays or private albergues were closed due to low demand and left us staying at the cheaper, public albergues that run on donations in Portugal or eight Euros per person in Spain and are only in the bigger towns roughly 20-30km apart. The homestays and private albergues are necessary in the summer, as sometimes you can’t get into the public albergues if you show up too late, but so far we hadn’t been running into many people and this was not an issue for us at all.  

We go to open the door and it’s locked and there’s a sign saying they close at 6pm! We try and another door and are talking to each other about what to do for maybe a minute, when this woman pokes her head out of a window from the 2nd floor right above the front door.  She says the front desk lady left, but she’s going to come down and see if she can open the door for us.  

(Side note: These albergues are usually “open” from 2pm-8 or 9pm, which is just to say that’s when someone is there to give you a bed, stamp your “passport,” and collect the donation or fee for staying. Once the front desk agent leaves, the front door is locked from the outside with no way to get back in and you, as a pilgrim are not really suppose to let people in, as it could be a “security problem”.  There’s always a door to leave out of in the morning that will lock behind you, whether it’s a side door or front door.)

This woman came down a minute later and opened the door for us.  Her and her husband were the only people staying there and we were so thankful for them, otherwise we likely would have slept next to the building. Instead, we had a nice space heater, and there were lots of blankets in our four bunk bed room. Bruno ran out to the store, another couple kilometers away, which I couldn’t believe after we had such a long day. Meanwhile, I made a pasta dinner and chatted with the couple who were very nice.  

Saturday, January 18 Day 6- Rubiaes to Cossourado to Pedreira to Valenca 20km/12.6miles

We left at 9:10am. Bruno and I had talked about going all the way into Spain, just a couple more kilometers, but about halfway through the day decided to finish in Valenca, mostly because it the albergue would be cheaper and donation based rather than the required eight Euros that we were told (and did) happen in Spain. It also started raining very hard just as we were approaching the albergue, so we were drenched coming in around 2pm.  We dropped all our stuff in the laundry area to dry and then checked in. This front desk guy was adamant about not letting strangers in, probably because then the building wouldn’t be collecting any money from them.  

I now had blisters on both my ankles, under the balls of my feet and the underside of my left pinky toe was one big blister. I had found a sign that advertised someone picking up my bag and taking it straight to Santiago for 30Euros, but in the end decided against it, as I was now that much stronger and felt like I had already come so far with my bag that I could finish with it too.

There was a large grocery store very close to our albergue, that I spent some time in there.  One of my favorite things to get was six eggs. I would hard boiled all of them that night and carry them for a snack the next couple days.  I also ate a lot of oranges as snack/lunch.  Usually at night I had pasta. And for breakfast, some Brevita biscuits.  

We were the only people in this huge albergue. There were at least two rooms each with 30 bunk beds (60 people).  I can’t imagine how loud and busy it must be in the summer with all those beds full and bags everywhere.  Bruno and I took about three beds each, drying out our stuff, spreading out our toiletries, and taking turns in the bathroom’s shower area without having to get dressed in the stall.  On the downside, there were a lot less people on the route to talk to and not people hanging out in the albergues.  

Sunday, January 19 Day 7- Valenca to Tui to O Porrino 25.7km/16miles

Bruno and I left right at 9am. The old fortress that was right next to the albergue was the first thing we walked to.  I lost Bruno in there, knowing he liked fortresses from his Army days and would be stopping lots to take YouTube videos and pictures.  I didn’t see him for the rest of the day, although when I lost him, I never thought he was THAT far behind me, so when I ran into the German couple from Rubiaes, and they asked where Bruno was, I said he was right behind me, little did I know he would be hours behind me by the end of the day.  

It was a beautiful day and also an actual trail rather than cobblestones or pavement which is much harder on your feet. Then I crossed the bridge into Tui, Spain, walked along the river for a bit. At one point the path split in two. I took the “complimentary” path, which I had quickly googled was more of a trail and nature.  

I arrived at the albergue in O Porrino at 3:30pm and the sign on the door says they open at 3pm, but no one is there. After sitting outside in the sun for a bit, I googled other places to stay and found a nearby hostel for 10Euros a night. The girl at the hostel tells me the albergue is closed for the winter.  I am pretty sure Bruno is never going to find me here, but shoot him a message for when he gets wifi again and think maybe we’ll meet in the future.  

This hostel is so nice, with sheets, a blanket, a bedside lamp, and a curtain over the bed, it’s amazing, but my level of luxury shot way up.  I even went back out and walked through the town looking to see if I could see Bruno coming into the village and tell him the public albergue was closed, but I didn’t see him.  I was making some more hard boiled eggs when all the sudden Bruno comes up to the door. I go to let him as it’s a buzzer system with the front desk.  He is just as surprised as I am that we’ve found each other! The girl at the front desk was already gone by the time he arrives at 5:30pm so I just show him an empty bed, since even though there were more people here than most places, there are still a lot of empty beds.  The girl ends up coming back due to another customer’s issue with his room.  Bruno ended up hiding on the bed behind the curtain and never had to pay, although we split the share of my bed.  

I have found that 25km is a good distance for a day.  Too much more is exhausting, and much less you feel unaccomplished.  However, now in Spain, there’s very little options for where to stay, so we’re pretty much stuck doing about 20km for the rest of the journey.  

Monday, January 20 Day 8- O Porrino to Mos to Redonela 18km/11.25miles

Bruno’s foot was bothering him, so he stayed at the hostel in the morning to ice his foot down.  I was starting out very slow every morning as my muscles needed to loosen up.  I stopped by a sign and took a couple timer-pics to show I had less than 100km to go.

About 15 minutes later, this Kiwi woman came up behind me and we walked the rest of the day together, which made it go by so fast. She had a lot less stuff than I did, as she had her bag shipped and was staying in hotels along the way that were organized for her by a tour company, which just goes to show that there are so many different types of pilgrims and everyone can do it. It was great talking with her, as she grew up in Dunedin, where I did a semester of university.  We ate lunch together in Redonela, and by the time we were finishing Bruno was arriving, so she met him after hearing me talk about him all day.  She then continued onto Arcade where her bag was waiting for her.  

There are a few other people in our albergue, Lucasz (Polish) and Viktor (Spanish) and another guy we never saw. I did my laundry in the washing machine and dryer here, which was very nice to wear some clean clothes again! There was also a festival happening outside of our albergue, so around 8pm, a large parade of people went by with horns and drums and people dressed in Catholic robes.   Tuesday, January 21 Day 9- Redonela to Soutomaier to Arcade to Ponteverde 21km/13.3miles

I started without Bruno again, but this time told him which albergue I’d be going to.  I left around 8am thought I was going very slow, even though I never saw anyone from the albergue in Redonela pass me.  I ran into Lynn, the Kiwi, during the last 5km and we walked the rest of the way together.  

I was the first to arrive at this albergue, and it wasn’t even open.  This strange man with rainbow colored hair came over and started to crack my back and give me a shoulder massage.  It was all very weird, but also felt good.  As soon as I was able to check in, I went to walk around the village and to a grocery store to pick up some food for dinner and lunch the next day.  By the time I got back to the albergue, there were a lot more people, with Bruno, Viktor, and Lucasz being three of them.  I got another massage from Luis, also known as Rainbow Hair Man by our group and fell asleep very early.

Wednesday, January 22 Day 10- Ponteverde to Caldes de Reis 27km/17miles

I left the hostel around 8:40am and it was just getting light out due to the one hour time change we had when we entered Spain. The Brazilians (a husband and wife and their friend) left around the same time and I walked shortly behind them for most of the day.  They didn’t speak much English.  Luis, Rainbow Hair Man, was also walking with us in the beginning, and I kept thinking he must just be showing his Brazilian friends how to get through the town, and then he just kept walking, and walking, all while not carrying anything, not even water, and just in his tie-dye hoodie, elephant pants, and flip flops all the way to Caldes de Reis.

Since I was walking alone, I decided to listen to two “How I Built This” episodes.  These really helped the time to go by quickly.  

I arrived to the albergue around 2:30pm, again before anyone else. The Brazilians, I saw went into another place for the night.  After walking around for a little bit, I went back to the albergue, and Viktor and Bruno were outside.  I mentioned to Bruno that he could probably sneak into this one too if he wanted to. He left and came back a little later for me to sneak him in. Then out of nowhere, the guy that had checked me in came up to the four bedroom apartment and started knocking on doors to find the pilgrim that had snuck in.  Bruno fessed up and went down to pay.  The rest of our “crew” was there- 1 Czech girl (Kate), 1 German girl (Victoria), Viktor and Lucasz. We sat around having dinner in a very cramped kitchen.  

Thursday, January 23 Day 11- Caldes de Reis to Padron 21km/13miles

I am almost there! I walked alone again today and took some breaks just to sit as my legs were tired. At this point, I was taking ibuprofen every morning just to get through the initial pain of my stiff muscles and blisters on my feet.   

This town was bigger than most, but still quite small.  There was a man that owned a bar on the corner that watches the pilgrims come in and has them all sign a book.  He has dozens of filled books from the pilgrims and tons of country/El Camino memorabilia from people—shells, pennants, flags, pictures, etc. I walked around town with Viktor for a little bit, and got a couple extra stamps from the cathedral and bar man.  

I booked three nights in a hostel in Santiago when I got to the albergue around 2pm. I’m excited to have a sheet on the bed with a blanket. Everyone from our group and the Brazilians are in this albergue, along with some new people, as this is the last big albergue before Santiago.

Friday, January 24 Day 12- Padron to Santiago de Compostela 29km/18miles

Bruno and I agreed we would walk the last day together.  I, of course, was waiting for him to leave at the time we had agreed on, but alas we left at about 8:50am. Nothing too exciting happened along the walk, except that we were excited to arrive in Santiago.  The last two hours my knee really started to bother me and I took more ibuprofen.  I knew I could rest in Santiago once we arrived and pushed through the pain to the end. 

Santiago de Compostela is a big enough city and the arrows pointing us on the right path had been there at every point along the last 280km, until the very last two kilometers when I had to pull out my map just to get us to the Cathedral.  We actually had to ask someone for directions. And then we came up to the side of the Cathedral and were impressed and stopped to take pictures and I was ready to collapse.  Bruno wanted to keep going around the corner and after being dragged around the corner, I was like, “Oh, this is it!” Victoria and Kate were sitting on square in front of the Cathedral and I joined them while Bruno had a moment with God. Victor arrived shortly after with food and then the Brazilians came and we cheered them on.  It was nice to have our group together and we sat in the sun for hours together admiring the Cathedral, chatting, and drinking some beers to celebrate.  Then we went to the office to get our official certificates of completion.  Apparently, you can wait for hours in line to get your “passport” checked and receive your certificate.  We were the only people there and it took no more than five minutes for all five of us to get our certificates.   Then we went into the Cathedral, which is currently undergoing renovations, but we were still able to see some stuff inside despite a lot of scaffolding. We went in groups as they didn’t allow big bags. Kate then left for her Couchsurfing host’s place.  The rest of us went onto my hostel, where they also booked beds for the night. We then all freshened up and went to the grocery store to make dinner.  We decided to do a group dinner. Viktor made a Spanish omelet, Victoria made a salad, I made fudge for dessert, and Bruno was in charge of beer and wine.  We had cheese and crackers, a seafood pastry, and chips, so by the end, we each spent 12 Euros and were stuffed. We ran into Lucasz on the way back from Cathedral tour and he met us for the beginning of the dinner, but then had to go.  Kate and her couchsurfing host came for part of dinner too and then we all went on a tour of Santiago at night with her host. I was exhausted and crashed right after the tour while Victoria, Bruno, and Viktor continued to stay out.   Saturday In the morning, we did more of the same, walked around Santiago, sat in front of the Cathedral talking. It was bittersweet and it felt like we had accomplished so much.  In the end, I thought it could have been a metaphor of life: There were no signs to point you in the right direction, no cared that we had just walked 280 kilometers to get there, and we enter from the back of the Cathedral, not at all anticipating that. At the end of the day, I walked Victoria and Bruno to the bus station for them to go back to what just took us 12 days to walk, on a three-hour bus.  

Sunday I walked more around Santiago by myself. Ate some delicious Churros con Chocolate and then for dinner had some grilled octopus, Puplo Gallego. I ran into Viktor, who was now joined by his girlfriend for the weekend. And we agreed to meet up when I went to Madrid the next day, which is where he was from. Then I just hung out in the hostel with this girl, Naty who was studying in Santiago for the semester on an exchange program.  

[remembermemorablememories]

Sunday, February 10, 2019

post #398

Typing this on my phone on the train on this day (february 10) and finishing up on my laptop

Main points: - Walk in the cold and snow to take a train to Portland - Meet up with Jonah and get biscuits for lunch - Visit Nike store - Go to pittock mansion and blue star donuts for donuts - Pok Pok Thai food for dinner - Train back home

Today I: - Woke up at 6am to my alarm. Jwoos and I got ready and left the Airbnb around 6:30am. We walked to the main road and tried to call an Uber and Lyft but there wasn't anyone around cause it was early and bad weather. We decided we should just walk it, which was about a thirty minute walk. It was so cold omg. My feet are freezing cause a lot of sidewalks weren't shoveled and the cold started to fade through to my feet

We got to King Street station around 7am and just caught our train, which left at 7:20am. We got a slip after checking in and boarded to our assigned seats

The train ride was about 3 hours, and we arrived around 10:50am. Jwoos mostly napped on the train and I just listened to music on Spotify. Took some video of the passing scenery covered in snow. I also watched vox downloaded episodes I had for the plane ride "the female orgasm" and "political correctness"

- We met up with Jonah on a street just outside Union station. We spent some time trying to find each other cause it was a bit confusing. We were trying to meet up halfway walking towards each other cause he was walking towards the station and asked us to start walking towards him. Eventually we figured it out and met up and walked to his apt. It was so nice out in Portland, sunny and like 30s or so

We dropped off our bags at Jonah's apt and then he took us to a biscuit place called pine state biscuits. It was reaaaaally good. Also over the morning Jonah and I caught up about how things have been since Christmas, talking about college life vs work life, my apt search, etc. Jonah also got to meet and know jwoos a bit better like what school he went to, where he grew up, etc

Once we finished eating, we drove over to Nike to check out the campus. But then were told by security the campus was closed cause of the bad snow weather they were expecting over the weekend. Even though it was completely clear today LOL. Rip

We took some pics out front and then drove over to a Nike store to do some shopping. I bought Stefan janoski and a pair of track pants. Jonah showed me some running shoes (zoom pegasus) and they were really cushioned and comfy. Then offered to buy me the pair. Then I was like no no no no no no no but he insisted and after a bunch of back and forth he let me pick the gray color

We checked out then dropped off our stuff at his apt. We hung out for a bit while he was doing laundry and we watched an episode of explained on vox, "can we live forever?".

- After some resting/chilling, he drove us to Pittock mansion to get views of Portland. It was a pretty nice view. I thought the light snow on the trees looked really nice. But it was also starting to get cold. The clouds came out and there were snow flurries falling. Yikes. We took some pics then drove down the mountain to a nearby park to fly the drone

I flew it around the surrounding area getting views of the city then Jonah played with it. He seemed to have a lot of fun with it :D even though it was a bit windy, the drone did well. We also tried out the sports mode which I had never done before. But it basically made the drone hyper sensitive to everything. Also my fingers were really cold cause it was like 30 degrees by now ish

- We drove back towards Jonah's apt and stopped by blue star donuts for a little snack. I got a chocolate something and it was really good. So did jwoos, and Jonah got a raspberry something. We walked around 23rd Ave for a few blocks while eating and then turned around to go back to the car cause we were getting cold LOL

We stopped by the apt to figure out where to go for dinner. Jonah said there was a Vietnam place (luc lac) and Thai place and we decided on the Thai place, Pok Pok

Around 6pm walked there and got seated right away. We got four dishes. Some beef, Pok pok, salad, fish, and wings. It was a pretty solid meal, shared family style. While we were eating we talked about Lightroom vs Photoshop, tech interview vs business interview, and recounting my knee story when I was 7 :p

- around 7pm, we walked back, got our stuff, then Jonah drove us back to Union station and we said goodbye. Our train was for 7:20pm and we got there around 7pm. while we waited for the train, jwoos and i talked a bit about family, relatives, shoes/high heat, and some other stuff. i learned about “high heat” and “sneakerheads” today from jonah. Our train was a bit delayed but we boarded and left around 7:40pm

Riding the train rn back to Seattle

update:

i typed up february 10 and february 9 (half of it) on the train ride back to seattle. but it was just really inefficient with my phone’s keyboard. also watched “global water crisis” and the woman’s pay gap on vox explained on netflix (downloaded offline). we got back to seattle around 11:30pm. i napped the last hour from like 10:30pm-11:30pm. then we waited for like 20 minutes trying to call an uber. it seemed like it snowed some more in seattle while we were gone. richard in a prius, our savior, picked us up and took us home

we got back around 12am, jwoos showered while i played with the cat/texted sheena cause something happened again between her and ben. then i showered and went to sleep by like 1am

the end

what a fun day :D i think i captured the main points while typing this on my phone. hopefully...

[teekoyang]

I spent three nights and four days in Rome. However, two full days were spent figuring out transit and where I needed to be. 

The trip was overshadowed by my strenuous experience getting to the London Stansted airport, which is north of my flat. This tiny airport is located 36 minutes away by car and a little bit over an hour by public transit. As a recent graduate student, every penny counts thus public transit is the way to go!

I made it to the stop for the National Express bus and waited for at least 45 minutes. When I realized that the bus was 10 minutes late to pick up the passengers, I went over to security. Security informed me that the bus will be half an hour late. WHAT!!!? My flight was at 1:20pm and by this time it was 11:20am! I was so upset and started opening my uber app when a nice girl from Czech Republic suggested that we split a cab because security told her it would be cheaper than Uber. 

The cab took another 20 minutes to show up and to our dismay, he only accepted cash. Mind you, I generally don’t carry cash with me and time was not on our side. The cab driver suggested for me to find an atm, but the girl had cash! She is my savior! We decided that when we arrive at the airport, I would then find an atm and pay her back the money. 

By the time we reached the airport, it was 12:20pm. The girl went to search for an atm while I went to check-in because I had an American passport. I had my boarding pass on the app and when I went to the counter to check-in, I couldn’t... apparently, for RYANAIR airline, non-eu citizens are required to print out their boarding pass. I had to pay £15 to print out my boarding pass and £7 for a fast-pass through security. I paid almost $30 USD!

IT IS NOW ALMOST 1PM!! I hastily went through security and was told I was only allowed a small ziplock bag for my liquids, meaning, I had to throw away all my liquid lipsticks, face moisturizer, and Vera Wang perfume, plus all of my shower products. HELLO, I JUST FINISHED GRADUATE SCHOOL! I AM TRYING TO SAVE EVERY PENNY BY NOT BUYING NEW PRODUCTS! 

As I was getting rid of my things, this wave of emotions washed over me as I was reminded of the time during my undergrad where I was so excited to receive the opportunity to study abroad in Italy. I was prepared and paid for the ticket to go. The day of the flight, I arrived at check-in and the lady from American Airlines stated that I was an hour early when I should have been two hours early for an international flight. She then said I needed to call my travel agent and book another ticket.  I was an innocent first-time flyer who have never flown on my own before. And before I knew it, the voice in the intercom at the airport kept announcing my name. 

I’m not sure why I didn’t have the strength to fight American Airlines. I was sitting and crying as I called Priceline. They quoted me for $2000, and I had already paid almost $2000 to go. I called my parents and they willingly told me to use their card and I said... no. I left the airport and went back to attend classes at OU, and continued to help my parents at their restaurant 3 hours away during the weekends. 

Seven years later from that experience, I WAS NOT GOING TO MISS MY FLIGHT TO ROME! I finally left security and sprinted for 10 minutes to my 1:20 flight. Seriously, London Stansted is designed for visitors to shop and is made of mazes that lead to restaurants you have to run through to get to your gate. And I made it there... at 1:20! 

Where is my savior!?? When I made it to the line, I bumped into the Czech Republic girl who had paid for my cab earlier. She couldn’t find an atm and left to check-in her flight. We exchanged information on Facebook and called it a day. 

Finally, I landed in Rome at 4pm. I had to pay €5 for a bus from the airport to the Roma Termini. From there, I paid €1.50 for a 100 minute MetroCard to my Airbnb near the Rebibbia station. And to my luck, right when I got out of the train in Rebibbia, MY PHONE DIES! 

I tried memorizing the address and how to get there but ended up lost. I met a lady who only spoke Italian and she pointed me to a large grocery store. I went inside to ask if I could charge my phone for a few minutes, and the manager, in Italian, said she would only charge my phone if I purchased an item...

At 8pm, I bought a frozen pizza and a kinder bar. Waited 10 minutes for my phone to charge and left to find my Airbnb. I walked to the street and asked the locals where this building was, and NO ONE could point me in the right direction. By 9pm, an elderly woman from London who had been living in Italy for 30 years, used her phone to call the owners of the Airbnb to find my building (I had called multiple times but no one would pick up, and I wrote a message). The elderly lady walked with me to the building and I finally made it. 

DEAR LAWD GEEZUSSSSSSS!!! I spent 13 hours getting to my Airbnb. This was a record! THANK YOU IF YOU’RE READING THIS LONG-ASS BLOG POST!

My sister, who is stationed in Naples, met me the next day. We spent most of our time walking around the Colosseum and following the travel guide from Google. This helped immensely as the guide provided a map of things to see if you only have 24 hours. I had delicious pasta and wine. 

For nighttime activities, we went out to Shari Vari Playhouse. When we were there, one of the employees actually tried to make us pay more for our two shots when we had previously paid less with another bartender! My sister and I were there for only an hour when we decided to go back home (Yes, we are boring). 

The next day, we headed for Vatican City but the rain started to pour. We had lunch at a Chinese restaurant (Yes, we went to Italy for Asian food!) and took shelter at a cute cafe. By this time, my sister had to leave to catch her train back to Naples. I stayed behind and made it inside St. Peter’s Basilica, the most beautiful church I’ve seen thus far. It was huge and full of tourists. 

I had dinner nearby and left for my Airbnb. My flight was the next day, and better believe, transit was a struggle. The bus from Roma Termini to the airport was late so I befriended a nice South African couple where we ended up splitting a cab. 

This couple, the cutest couple ever, had so much love between them. The boyfriend adored her and left his home in South Africa to follow his girlfriend in London as she finishes her degree. He worked in finance and was able to transfer jobs easily. They were so kind and this made the end of my Rome trip much smoother. 

And fate played a major role again when we boarded for our seats, this lovely couple had the seats next to me! I never got their names, but if you both are out there, you’re #relationshipgoals! 

Overall, I adored Rome, but I personally wouldn’t want to go back. The locals hate the tourists, understandable, but not a good position for the tourist. The transit was a headache and I spent most of my time frustrated. The best part was spending time with the sis and making her my obligatory instagram photographer (haha). 

And below is an image of us Facetiming with our baby sis, Nico, who lives vicariously through us back in the states. <3

[byjackli]

April 8, 2017

We planned to attend Syracuse University’s Engineering and Computer Science open house and stay overnight so we could adventure on the following day. We didn’t starting packing until Saturday morning. Since Syracuse University is approximately five hours from home and the check-in starts at 8:30am, we had to rush. I didn’t know at the time, but 8:30am is only check-in, the event starts at 9:00am, so we had more time to work with than I had thought. Anyways, my brother woke me up at 2:00am and we didn’t leave until 3:24am. We packed a lot of snacks including Nature Valley bars, chips, ritzs, and much more.

The tank was half-full, so we stopped for a refuel. The roads were empty, barely any activity was noticeable. It felt like a ghost town with electricity that was about to deplete. 3:38am, we left the gas station for Syracuse. Oh, almost forgot to mention, I was in the passenger seat as the navigator. We took i-295 into Bronx and merged onto i-95.

We then crossed the George Washington Bridge into New Jersey and got onto the Palisades Interstate Parkway. When we crossed into New Jersey and was paying the toll, we could notice a strong weed stench in the air. The smell invaded our vehicle as we drove away.

Palisades Interstate Parkway is dotted with many viewing points, all are beautiful. I really wanted to stop, but refrained from doing so due to the tight schedule. If I had knew beforehand, it would’ve been wonderful to stop. The road was completely empty and visibility was only few hundred feet. At 4:35am, we pulled off to the shoulder for a brief pit-stop.

At 4:46am, I could barely make out that we were in the trough of rolling hills. Some people drove with their high beams on, which was extremely blinding and annoying. At one point, an oncoming car had blinded us while we were approaching a curve. Boy, we almost flew off the road!

4:50am, we made our way into a parking area for another pit-stop. I took this time to quickly snap a few photos of the view. The plan was dad drive the first half and I’ll drive the second half, so I swapped seats with James so I could nap. I didn’t want to be dozing while driving.

About an hour later, I woke up as we pulled into McDonald’s. Perfect, I thought. Not only was I hungry, but I had to use the restroom. I opened the door and the wind hugged me like a dog that hasn’t seen his owner in years. My excitement was quickly killed when we found out that McDonald’s was still closed. When we got back on the highway, I fell asleep again.

6:20am, I woke up to find us entering East Branch Rest Area. The sky is now lit. Couple people had to take dumps, so we were a little behind the original schedule. I took some pictures while we waited.

At this point, I wanted to drive, but my parents disapproved. I was deeply disappointed and unhappy. We left at 6:35am. While we were on the road, I really wished we were in a modern minivan with rollable side windows or a vehicle with a sunroof. I wanted to stick my head out and get crispy-clean images.

The rest of the ride was boring with a dash of beauty here and there. I dozed off every now and then, so there are probably moment’s that I missed. Along the road, I noticed there were mini towns. I couldn’t help but wonder how they survived in the winter.

I woke up from a mini-nap to the sound of mom calling “we’re almost here!” As we exit the ramp, I see moderately sized buildings to my right. The first thing that came to mind was baby-city. By the time we entered the parking lot, it was about 8:10am. 

Before we came to Syracuse University for the open house, I had to RSVP online. The guest limit was three, or so the website’s highest number was 3. The thing was, the entire family was coming, so we split the group into two. Since there was also an open house for prospective students, I signed James up and told him to lead one group. Dad, Aaron, and I were all in one group and the others were with James. Anyways, Aaron and I grabbed couple of snacks and bottled water and headed to check in first because prospective student open house doesn’t begin until 10:00am. When we left the parking garage, three ladies kindly directed us towards the campus. I don’t know if it was a small town or what, but I thought everything was miniature-sized, especially the white garbage truck.

8:33am, I am waiting for dad to finish using the restroom. When he came out, he decided to phone mom and call everyone over. He left the building to help guide them to the check-in. 8:48am, everyone is in the check-in area and we start arguing about how to split the group. When we finally got everything sorted out, I went up to check in. The young man says “how many in your party” and I respond with a question: “is there a limit?” He says no, how many did you have in mind. Seven. We lined up to get orange wristbands. They explained that the wristbands allows us to get lunch later in the day. 

I grabbed my tote bag and went into the auditorium, quite a small place. As we enter, we are directed to fill seats starting from the far right. The order, from right to left, is dad, me Baron, Aaron, Ann, James, and finally, mom. We waited for approximately 19 minutes before dad wanted to tell mom he was going back to the car for a nap. I passed the message along the line and what came back to me cracked me up. They said “mom’s sleeping.” Dad was tired from all the driving, so he returned for a nap.

An hour after, the first presentation concluded and we headed to specific orientations. On the way there, my siblings started complaining. They wanted to return to the car. I was quite annoyed but did my best to oppress it. I sent them back and continued the day with my mom. The walk to the next building was very short. When we entered the building, Syracuse students and faculty were already setting up for their mini science fair demo.

11:08am, the information session drew to an end. Thank goodness because my mom couldn’t take it any longer. The information session was pretty interesting, answered a lot of questions that I never would’ve thought of. For example, work study is a fixed amount, but time spent earning work study isn’t. I chatted with one of the sophomore students to clarify some floating thoughts and questions. By then, it was almost 11:30am, so we headed towards The Quad for lunch. The Quad is an open field with tents set up for lunch.

11:33pm, mom and I are eating lunch. I got a modest portion of one hot dog, two scoops of beans, chips, salad, and jalapeno. We sat at a table in the corner of a tent which shielded us from the wind. I finished early, so I left to get a cup of hot water, which tasted weird. As I was gulping down the water, I was wondering what my siblings were eating. Look what they’re missing out I thought. I went back for a turkey sandwich with more beans, salad, chips, and another jalapeno.

After lunch, mom and I went on a residential tour. We went to the Shaw Hall, which I did not really like. Everything was crammed and tight, but what was I supposed to expect. I’ve no recollection of visiting any other dorms.

Afterwards, we decided to return to the car. When we got back, I took out the water bottle and admired it. I opened it and smelled the inside, boy was it a mistake.. We had snacks and quick talk about what we were going to do next. Then I suggested to drive, but was turned down like I was previously. We left at 1:46pm and I, along with my disappointment, decided to take a nap for approximately four hours straight.

I woke up at 5:20pm, or so I’m guessing with my moody disappointment. See, I opened my eyes at 5:35pm because they were going to ditch me in the car. Before I opened my eyes, about five songs had gone by, the average length of a song is three minutes, so that’s approximately fifteen minutes. Anyways, we went into Costco and bought couple of things. Dad thought there was no tax, but there actually was, but less than New York City’s.

After shopping was finished, we tried to add air to the tire at Costco’s Tire Department, but they were closed. We found an Exxon gas station and used their dollar pump, which lasted three minutes. I guess plans for staying overnight are cancelled. It’s alright, we’ll try again for the University at Buffalo open house.

6:42, we hit to road back to New York City. The car ride home, majority of my siblings snoozed off. I had the chance to see the sun set.

While on the Harlem River Drive, I started to wonder if we should head to Long Island City for some beautiful nightscapes. The weather was about 53 degrees Fahrenheit with 15 mile-per-hour winds, not that bad. I argued that by the time we got through the traffic, the sky would be pitch dark, perfect for nightscapes. Additionally, by the time we finished exploring, the traffic would’ve died down. By 7:38pm, it was decided and I added LIC to the route.

Approximately 37 minutes later, we arrived at Gantry Plaza State Park. We were fortunate to find a parking spot right in front of the park. We had mini snacks and left to observe. I walked to the edge of the walkway and realized the Cola sign was nearby. My family and I went towards the sign. Along the way, few of my siblings felt the urge to use the restroom. While at the Cola sign, the youngest brother went to search for a restroom but returned with no luck.

We spent a total of about an hour and half at the park before we left. We were going to explore the other half of the park with views of the World Trade Center, but my siblings were growing urgent to use the restroom. There was no traffic, so we got home at 10:11pm. 

Wonderful day we had. Cannot wait for a road trip during the summer, it would be such a wonderful experience. On this day, I learned a lot about Syracuse University. I also learned a lot about keeping a careful eye on my items. When I got home, I had trouble finding my remote and battery cap. Cheap and replaceable items, but a hassle. Hopefully they’re in the passenger side compartment.