And the Adventure Continues...

I've been in Korea now for 6 days, and its been fun and very relaxing - exactly what I needed after a busy seven weeks in Europe! I've been golfing, shopping, sleeping in, watching TV...its been great. I even went out on Friday with my Dad (talk about a new experience)! And I just found out about another adventure...


So yesterday I tried flying out on a military flight, like how we got to Japan. Well, that didn't work out too well - there were a TON of people looking to do exactly what I wanted to do and get to Seattle. I probably could've gotten to Misawa Air Base, Japan, but that would have left me in Japan - not exactly near my final destination! We left the air terminal and went back to sleep (ok, I went to sleep, and Dad had to go to work after being up since 4:00AM) and tried figuring out a solution. After talking with Mom, we realized the best way for me to get home would be to purchase a ticket and not try for a military flight. A college student isn't really top priority in the military (go figure) so the likelihood of me flying out before the end of August was...not ideal. Thus, it was over to the travel agent here on base to figure out a ticket! 


Dad and I went to the travel agent and try figuring out a ticket. YIKES! So expensive. Thats when the travel agent says "wait". She goes on to explain that if I have a 24 hour layover in Honolulu, the ticket is $300 cheaper. Uh, hello? 24 hours (midnight to midnight) in Hawaii?? I'll take that! 


So that is now the plan. I'm leaving Osan 5:00AM on Saturday, and fly out of Korea at around 10:00AM, getting in to Hawaii at midnight on Friday. Then, I have a 24 hour layover in Honolulu before heading to Seattle and then Anchorage on Saturday night. The plan: stay on base (its way cheaper!) and then go to the beach on Saturday. Yes! One more "daycation" before my adventure back home is complete. Sounds good to me! 


I'll keep you up to date about how this all goes :) 


annyeong (goodbye in Korean!)

How to Travel Europe with less than 200 dollars in your pocket…

So I just looked at my bank account and not including flights or hostel/hotel stays, I traveled Europe for a week for less than 200 dollars. That includes food, all of the sightseeing we did, metro rides, souvenirs, the whole shebang. WOW! OK, so technically I spent probably around 500 with flights and hostel/hotel stays, but hey, that’s still pretty good, right? And if you want to add in all of my Spain adventures as well, I’d say I spent around $650…not to shabby! Here are some tips for you future travelers:

1)  Go before you’re 26! The Euro 26 card gets you discounts on pretty much anything you want to see or do. So use it!

2)   Do everything that is free, and consider what you’re willing to spend when there’s money involved. For example – we didn’t do the Colosseum because we saw enough of it from the outside, and we went to the Louvre when it was free, thus saving money when we could’ve spent waayyy more.

3)   DO spend quality money on food. Hello!!! This should be obvious. If you want authentic Italian pizza or real French crepes, they will cost more. But isn’t an extra 3 euro worth it?

4)   DO order alcohol instead of water. I’m sure my parents LOVE this advice, but its true. Water is so expensive there! Even if you ask for tap water, they might not give it to you or it might not be free. Most of the time wine or beer was cheaper! So buy it while you’re legal and live it up :)

5)   Make sure to not be so busy that you can’t people watch and just enjoy your time. Half of the time we didn’t spend money because we weren’t in an area to do so! We sat around and soaked in the culture by not going to a bunch of tourist stops and instead sat and ate either gelato or crepes and just enjoyed. You learn a TON by people watching, by the way, and its free entertainment!

6)   Understand that you will probably come back later when you have more money. This means that you don’t have to fly RyanAir and get frustrated when its an hour or two late…lovely

7)   Don’t keep track of money like it’s your life. You will NOT enjoy the experience as much as you could if you worry that you can or cannot afford something. And if you really like something, buy it! You won’t ever regret spending quality money on a quality gift, souvenir, clothing item, etc.

8)   Above all, have fun. Realize that this will be the only time in your life that you have the freedom to do whatever you want, see whatever you want, go wherever you want. I loved having that freedom! This is something that will always stay with me, no matter what.

So I think that’s pretty much it…I was trying to get to 10 but I think this is a good starting point! Just remember, you have one life to live, so live it. Don’t let anything else get in the way :)

Bonjour Paris!

So yet again I feel like I get on a roll blogging often…and then nothing. I’m so sorry! I guess life gets in the way sometimes, and traveling in general. Right now, I’m sitting at a Subway (YUM!) near my gate, ready to head back to Paris and then after a 4 hour layover, head on my 10 hour flight back to Korea. The plus side of this? The flight to Korea is 2 hours shorter than it was getting here. I guess the winds are on our side now! The bad side – 13 hours on an airplane, and 7-8ish hours of sitting in an airport. Oh, and now they just started construction near the gate, so a jackhammer is pounding away…lovely. Anyways, I digress, but here’s how the rest of my travels panned out, for your reading pleasure :)

The second day in Rome we took a little time off, sleeping in before heading to the Spanish Steps and the shopping district of Rome. Of course, we walked, but because Rome is so small, it really wasn’t that bad of a jaunt. Plus, we got to see more of the city, which is always fun! Luckily when we got to the Spanish steps we were at the top, so we didn’t have to climb up all the stairs ;) After walking down and of course taking some pictures, we went shopping! Ok, window shopping, lets be honest here. Hermés, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Chanel, Gucci…yeah, you get the picture. We did stop in Burberry just to look, and found some great clothes – too bad I’m on a college budget! Put it this way, an adorable trenchcoat for a 3 year old was $350…and there wasn’t too much fabric. Ahh, maybe one day…

So being in Rome, of course we were on a strict gelato diet – as much as we could eat! However, Carlye and I were the only ones up for it today, so we found a gelato place and then relaxed on the steps, people watching (one of Carlye’s favorite activities, understandably so haha). This is where we found out exactly how small this world is sometimes. So these guys come up to Carlye and ask her to take a picture of them. Well not one actually, but quite a few. They were so picky! They left, but came back around 10 minutes later, and one of them aksed us where we were from, because he had a bet, judging from our accent (he was American, and his friend was Italian). Come to find out, he’s from Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and goes to UW-Madison! Of course I tell him from Stoughton, and he knows where it is…and THEN I remember my two friends from my study abroad program in Spain who are from Sheboygan…no way, there’s no way they could know each other, could they? So I ask this guy if he knows Liz or Jen, and he says that Jen was his ex-girlfriend. HOLD THE PHONE! Soooo crazy. Anyway, we shared some laughs about it, and then we went on our separate ways, still not believing how we always seem to meet random people who always provide for some good stories!

The Spanish Steps

The rest of the day was pretty chill, Nikki left that night because she had an early morning flight the next day so we went back to the hostel and just chilled. We couldn’t believe it was already time to split up! Our Rome adventure was coming to an end :( After getting Nikki safely to the bus for the airport, Melissa, Carlye, and I headed to the best tiramisu place in Rome, according to Carlye’s thorough investigation. Holy cow, it was SOOO good! YUM. It was a good way to end the trip – relaxing, people watching, enjoying a great dessert…ahh.

The next day we headed back to the Vatican quick to get a rosary for Carlye’s mom, and we went back to the Trevi Fountain because Carlye desperately wanted these fabulous knee-high brown Italian leather boots – so chic! Then it was back to the hostel to check out, and then to the airport…next stop – Paris!

Thanks to Ryanair, we got into Paris about 2 hours after we were supposed to, but I guess that’s what you get with a budget airlines, right?? We checked into our hotel (ah yes, a hotel! Our hostel days are over!) and got to sleep – we had a busy day the next morning, as usual!

SO this is when we got a HUGE reality check – although the EU all uses the same currency, it does NOT mean each country costs the same…I mean, duh, its kind of obvious, but we hadn’t really considered that fact beforehand…uh oh. This was when we wanted to go to breakfast and realized it was around 8 Euro…hmm. Luckily there was this adorable bakery right down the street with 1.20 euro croissants – perfect! We grabbed one of these and headed about 3 blocks from our hotel and there it was – the Eiffel Tower! Yeah, great location for a hotel :)  We had decided to go up to the top at night, so we just walked under it, but it is still gorgeous. Yes, supposedly the Tokyo Tower (which I went up earlier this summer) is taller, but its way uglier. The Eiffel Tower is pretty not only because of the wrought iron/steel/metal combo, but also because of its location. There’s a huge park (almost like the National Mall in DC) and then its right next to the Siene…just gorgeous. Anyways, we were craving caffeine by this point, so we stopped at the closest café for some cappuccino – so Parisian! After our 5 euro coffee (wow, SO expensive!) we made our way to the Champs Elysees, again for more window shopping. Basically there were the same stores as in Rome, but it was prettier. The Champs Elysees is a gorgeous street with wide sidewalks and literally hundreds of stores that I can’t afford – but hey, a girl can dream! Oh, but I definitely could afford McDonalds, just fyi…yeah, McDonalds on the Champs Elysees – high class, right?

The Eiffel Tower

Hehe :)

At the end of the Champs Elysees was the Arc de Triomphe, which we explored a little bit, and then we walked the other side of the Champs – dreaming of the possibilities of course :) By then, we were craving some crepes, so we headed to Montmartre, a neighborhood where Carlye had some pretty good crepes last time she was here back in high school. Well, needless to say we walked…and Paris is way bigger than Rome. There were even hills! Good thing Toledo was hilly, so we weren’t out of breath by the time we got there, just dead tired. Well, we got there and found an ah-mazing creperie, where we each ordered differently (and of course tried all three). My favorite was my own, banana chocolate, but the nutella and honey cinnamon were both delectable as well :)

Arc de Triomphe

YUM!

After the creperie we made our way to Moulin Rouge (ONLY to get a picture, promise) and we found some souvenirs as well. I’ve started a shot-glass/magnet collection of all the countries I’ve been in. Too bad this stroke of genius didn’t come before however, because I don’t have either from Japan! Hmm, I guess I’ll just have to go back…anyways, after Moulin Rouge we walked BACK up the hill to the top of Montmartre, where Sacre Coeur is. Sacre Coeur is a cathedral on the highest point in Paris, and they’ve had someone constantly praying there day and night for 125 years. That’s a LONG time! We didn’t go inside, but we were able to get a great view of the city! Along the way we got to see this cute little square literally filled with artists who sketched and painted portraits. Some of the work was amazing! I would’ve done it if I was vain enough to have a portrait of myself, but I thought that wasn’t the type of artwork my roommates wanted in our apartment ;)

Moulin Rouge

The paintings!

After that, we headed back to the hotel and relaxed for a little while before meeting up with a friend from Spain for dinner. Jono had texted us telling us of this great fondue restaurant near his hostel and we had nothing better to do so we said sure! For those of you who don’t know of the famous Oldenkamp Christmas Eve dinner, we ALWAYS do fondue – ever since I was like, 10! I was psyched, and seeing as I was the only one who had done fondue before, got to teach everyone the ropes! Here’s the thing about ordering in a language you know nothing about however – there will be snags. In Italy, we got away with a lot because Italian and Spanish are so similar, people could understand what we were trying to say…not so in Paris. So instead of ordering two meats and two breads so we could get both oil and cheese fondue, we all ended up ordering meat, because we assumed the bread would come with – not so. Instead, we had this HUGE bowl of meat delivered to us, and we were all looking at it going – hmm, how are we going to eat al that?? Well, we ended up talking to the waiter and we switched the mix-up, so we were able to get both meat and cheese, and it was plenty for all of us. And what did we drink, you ask? Wine, but not served in a glass. Instead, this place kept it classy and we had wine out of baby bottles – yup, nipple and all. If you can’t tell, it was a great night, and I was stuffed by the time we left.

Fondue!

No sooner had we left than another one of our Fundie friends from Spain texted us, saying they wanted to meet up! Of course we wanted to see them, they had been staying with a friend from France and we were dying to meet him and catch up! So we made our way back to the Eiffel Tower (thankfully taking the metro this time) and went to the park to take in the Tower at night. Wow. It’s just so pretty! Every hour on the hour for five minutes, the Eiffel “glitters” with blinking lights on and off. We got there at 10 and hung out, buying wine and champagne from the vendors and relaxing, enjoying each other’s company and the Parisian nightlife. When we met up with the other Fundies we asked Ton and Boris, the two French guys with them, if Paris had any nightlife, and they said that basically this is what they do – sit and watch the Eiffel Tower. Pretty chill if you ask me, and very calming…I enjoyed it after so many busy nights!

The Eiffel Tower at night - its even sparkling! 

The next day we decided to tackle the Louvre, and lucky for us, it was free that day!  However, because it was free for us, it was also free for everyone else…meaning big lines! We got there early lucky enough, and walked around, seeing more statues and Egyptian exhibits than paintings, until we got to the Mona Lisa. Wow – impressive, but the room was so crowded! We didn’t get super close, but close enough to get a glimpse and a picture of course :)

The Louvre

And...voila! (a little blurry, but thats as close as we got)

After the Louvre we headed to Notre Dame, but alas, no Hunchback was to be found. However, it was as gorgeous as ever, cavernous, with light shining through hundreds of stained glass windows. It was busy, of course, and with it being Sunday people wanted to worship as well, so we kept our visit short.

Notre Dame

After Notre Dame, we headed back to Montmartre, to meet up with Jono and go to the Sacre Coeur, and we actually went inside this time. It was the most modern cathedral I’ve been in – construction was finished in 1914. We basically walked around and then were going to go up to the top because of the supposed great views of the city, but because it cost 5 euro, we didn’t (you know us, the poor college kids).

After Sacre Coeur we left Jono to do his thing and we went back to our hotel to start packing up. We could NOT believe it was our last night! We were all somewhat lazy and out-of-it so not much packing got done (except for Carlye, when she gets on task nothing can stop that girl) and then 7:30 rolled around – time for our last European adventure! We got ready and headed to the Eiffel Tower, this time to go to the top :)

Needless to say, our plan of going up around sunset so we could get day and night pictures was brilliant. So brilliant that a ton of other people had the same idea! Crazy how that works sometimes…mindreaders.  An hour later we got up to the second tier and had a great view of the sunset while we waited in line to go to the top. We got there as soon as the sun set, and it was gorgeous! Beautiful reds and purples still lined the sky, and Paris was laid out right below us. Wow. We walked around on the inside and the outside, pausing for a photo op, and then headed back down. We were going to get some champagne, but for 10 euro…yeah, that was a no go ;)  After two short elevator rides later, the Eiffel Tower excursion was complete, and we were officially done being tourists. So sad! However, before the night was done we stopped at Haagen Daz (SPELLING) for some delicious sundaes. And for 7 euro, they were uh-mazing. So much brownie and chocolate and syrupy goodness – yum! Words cannot describe how complete that ice cream made our trip!

Paris at night :)

So we went back and finished packing, and the following morning got up VERY early for one last breakfast together. After a delectable meal of baguettes, croissants, and coffee, it was au revoir to Melissa and Carlye, who headed back to the States. An hour later, it was au revoir Paris for me, and Jono and I met up to head back to Madrid. He left on Tuesday and I left on Wednesday. To entertain myself on Tuesday I went back to some of my favorite places in Madrid one last time, and then said goodbye to the country I feel apart of now.

So that brings me to now, where I’m sitting on a plane (back to Paris ironically) before my long flight back to Korea. Who knows how long I’ll be there!? I’m trying to get on a flight back to Seattle on Tuesday, or Monday in the US, but remember at the beginning of my blog? It took forever…so we’ll see. Keep your fingers crossed!

Au revoir once more :) 

In Transit...

SO I'm sitting in the Paris airport, with about 5 minutes left of free internet...I promise more blog posts are coming, but I can't put them on right now because I don't want to pay for internet, I need to buy dinner instead haha ;) As soon as I get back to Korea safe, I'll be sure to post all about my Parisian adventures :) Until then...


au revoir!

When in Rome...

When in Rome, do as the Romans do: walk. Walk EVERYWHERE. In the heat - and still love it here. Today, we literally started at one end of Rome and walked to the other, taking in everything at once (well, everything besides the Spanish Steps, because they were too far away - tomorrow's adventure for sure.) We started out bright and early at Vatican City, passing a TON of people (literally, the line was 5 wide and a half mile long) because we bought our tickets online in advance, so smart! We had to bypass a few tour groups, so we breezed by some frescos and statues, intent on finding the Sistine Chapel. Some right and left turns later, there it was! Our entrance was a little anticlimactic, we thought there would be a grandiose door or something, but when we walked in, that feeling changed. We got there super early, so there weren't that many people, and we sat on the sides, craning our necks for a good half an hour looking at everything. It was amazing! But then, it started to get busy, so we decided to get a jump on the rest of the day. We walked through some of the Vatican museums, then headed through the Vatican grottoes, then to St. Peter's Basilica. It was all just fantastic - I found it very spiritual, and even though I'm not Catholic, appreciated just how amazing Vatican City is. Even praying in St. Peter's Basilica was an amazing experience. We walked around St. Peter's square as well, then headed on a HUGE walk from Vatican City back to our hostel.


To start off, we went to Castel Sant'Angelo, one of the churches in Angels and Demons, and then headed across the river to the Piazza Navona, a quaint plaza with a TON of art vendors! Then we were off to the Pantheon, famous for its round oculous at the top (a circle without a roof! where does the rain go??) We had to take a gelato break at this point, and then we were off to Iglesia Sant'Ignazio, one of the places Jeff recommended to us. After that, we headed to the Trevi Fountain, then the ancient city again. We also had gone do the Trevi Fountain at night, so it was cool to see it in the daylight. I should mention that we had some DELICIOUS Italian pizza last night - OH so good, and wine too :) The food here, I hate to admit, is waayyyy better than Spanish food - go figure. PLUS, gelato is my new favorite dessert. We've already had it 3 times, and its just amazing. Way better than ice cream, and not as cold. YUM!


Anyways, we pretty much explored the entire city. I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking! Tonight, we're off for pasta and tiramisu, and then a wine bar, so Carlye and the rest of us amateur wine connoisseurs can decide what wine we like the best :)


Arrivederci!

Best pizza ever - the tomatoes were SOOO fresh!

St. Peter's Basilica

St. Peter's Square

Roma!

Piazza Navona

The Pantheon

Iglesia de Sant'Ignazio

The Trevi Fountain! To make a proper wish: Wish, then with your right hand, throw the coin over your left shoulder - voila!

Roma bella

So we made it! We've been in Rome officially for 6 hours, and have fallen in love with the city - although the language barrier is something new again haha. I keep speaking Spanish! Oops - at least they can understand me! 


We dropped our stuff off at our hostel and explored for a little bit - going for paninis and gelato because of COURSE, we're in Italy and have to eat what they do! Darn...


After stuffing our faces we headed to the Colosseum and old city district, which was amazing! Its only about 10 minutes away from our hostel, so its the perfect location! The old city was amazing, we're definitely doing an actual tour (ok, buying the tickets so we can go in, and not just walk around) tomorrow, but for now we just explored. We also went to Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II, a huge shrine and tomb of the unknown soldier. 

Colosseum!

The monument...

As for right now, we're relaxing, and heading to the Trevi Fountain soon for pizza and tiramisu (yes mom, I will have a bite for you I promise!!). I can't wait


As they say in Italy...ciao! 

And We're Off!!

So today we had to say goodbye to amazing Toledo - my new home away from home! After a relaxing weekend of hanging out with friends, relaxing, and (not to my liking) packing, we had our last breakfast this morning, and then with 2 HUMUNGOUS bags, plus a backpack and purse, we headed out - at first attempting to walk the whole way. If I haven't vented about it before, I'm going to now - Toledo is a city BUILT on a hill. Not one street is completely flat. Put that with a ton of cobblestones, and you have a burning sensation in your legs every time you walk out the door. Not that I mind that, my legs look great from this summer, but adding all the luggage made it almost impossible to even get to the main plaza, and it was hot today, so I was dripping sweat by 9:00AM - lovely. Luckily, we were all going through the same way, so the four of us decided to taxi it to the train station. Best 2 euro I've spent thus far (not including all the gallons of water I've downed). We took the Renfe train from Toledo to Madrid, and then it was ANOTHER adventure taking the Metro to the airport. Three train rides and two transfers later, we were finally at the airport, and then we had to trek to terminal 1, waayyyy down from the bus station. Luckily at this point Nikki and I got to drop one of our suitcases off at the consigna, or the airport lockers. We're going back to Madrid for our flights home, so we didn't want to travel with extra baggage!

At the consigna, we met a guy named Jeff from Florida. He had just finished a semester study abroad program in Santander, and was trying to fly back on stand-by...lets just say he wasn't successful his first day. He ended up hanging out with us all day! It was fun, just chatting and swapping travel and study abroad experiences. We spent the day at el Parque de Buen Retiro, one of my favorite places in Madrid, and then went for churros con chocolate at San Gines - best churros ever. I think I blogged about them already, but yes, basically heaven in a cup mixed with heaven from the fryer (translation: delicious, and probably loaded with calories - great haha)

Other than that, it was a pretty relaxing day, we've just been hanging out around the hotel and collecting ourselves before a marathon trip. 7 days, 2 countries, a million things to do with great friends - CANNOT wait. Our goal is to constantly be uploading pictures and blogging, so hopefully I'll be able to share every night!

For one of my last blog posts from España :(

¡Hasta!