I took an overnight train from Krakow to Prague. My advice for that train? Don’t pay more than the standard fare, even if you want a smaller compartment, because you won’t get it. All the compartments are the same size — they can hold six people, three bunks on each side — just hope that some of the beds aren’t occupied. When you arrive, you’ll need to convert the benches into beds yourself and put on sheets. The conductor on my train didn’t speak English, so when faced with compartment mix-ups he was unable to say more than “no” to his passengers. He was in an awful mood when we…
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Tea Tuesday: Home From Hawai’i
You may have noticed on the sidebar that my current location has changed. This time last week, E and I said our goodbyes to Maui, and returned to New England. It was an interesting first week back: Monday night we slept on a beach in Hawai’i, Tuesday night we slept on a bench in the San Diego airport, and Wednesday night, after more than 24 hours of traveling, we slept in a bed at E’s parents’ house in New Hampshire. It was our first time sleeping in a real bed in two months! After just one day of recovering from our jet lag, we were off again! Luckily, we were…
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Weekly Travel Inspiration: Wild by Cheryl Strayed
I know everyone and their brother read Wild when it came out last year, hit #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List, and became an Oprah’s Book Cub Pick, but I only just finished it, and found it to be a great inspiration. The book’s subtitle is “From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail,” and it recounts the author’s experiences hiking over 1,000 miles through California and Oregon, alone, at the age of 26. As such, it could be considered a travel memoir, but Strayed elegantly weaves this tale with the events which led to her taking this trip — the sudden death of her mother, and…
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Travel is a bit like acting
Throughout high school and college, I did theater. I loved being on stage with an audience watching, but unlike many of my friends, I didn’t want to pursue acting as a career. For me, acting has always been a fun hobby. I think one reason I like traveling is because it’s a little bit like acting. When I travel, I assume a travel persona, and this persona is different depending on where I am and how I’m traveling. I noticed this most obviously while living in Hana, Hawai’i for the last two months. Hana is located on the Eastern end of Maui, and is only accessible by plane or driving…
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A Happy and Amusing Daytrip from Krakow
My previous Krakow post was about taking a daytrip to Auschwitz. This post is a more cheerful daytrip you can take away from the city. Easily accessible by bus (take number 304 from Pawia St), the Wieliczka Salt Mine is a wonder to behold. English tours leave at least once an hour, and while they are a little pricey (73 zloty/23 USD), I did mention in the previous sentence that this place is “a wonder to behold.” The tour begins with everyone walking down 350 steps (don’t worry, you take an elevator back up) to help you understand what the salt miners did on a daily basis. Once you arrive…
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Tea Tuesday: Brewsday
This Tea Tuesday, I’m mixing it up and writing about another brewed beverage — beer! E’s sister, Farley, and a few other people at the farm are home brewers who regularly make beer for the enjoyment of the rest of us. It rained this afternoon, which meant working on the land wasn’t an option, so everyone decided to tap a keg instead (great work ethic here). When I asked Far about it, she gave me the beginner’s guide to brewing beer, and told me about the type we drank this evening. Now, I’ve been on a few brewery tours, so I was aware of the basic fact that beer is…
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Apparently, I’m an optimist
I think it’s time for a little meta-blogging. By which I mean, this post is about blogging and also my feelings, but don’t let that scare you away because it also includes funny anecdotes! While this is a travel blog, not a personal blog, I can write about no one’s experiences but my own, and I hope you find the narrative of my life mildly interesting. Two weeks ago, a friend commented on my post about how Krakow was a turning point when I was backpacking Europe. She said: “Nice to hear about the real feelings… you are usually so upbeat that the tough times make you seem more approachable.…
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Weekly Travel Inspiration: International Women’s Day
In case you were unaware, today is International Women’s Day, and I am both a woman and a feminist. So your travel inspiration this week is a round up of links about awesome women. 1. Bosnian Woman Helped Make Rape a War Crime via The New York Times: “For centuries, rape was considered a byproduct of wars — collateral damage suffered by women, horrors often overshadowed by massacres. Even though the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 prohibited wartime rape, no court ever raised charges until Sivac and Cigelj presented their overwhelming evidence.” This first link isn’t a happy one, but it’s an important read. It feels especially relevant in light…
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Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum
While I was in Krakow, I took a daytrip to Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum. I wasn’t planning to blog about this experience. When I visited Auschwitz, I tried to conduct myself respectfully, and to give the space the reverence it deserved. I hadn’t planned on taking photos, but after arriving, I felt comfortable doing so as a way to solidify the experience. I think photographing a site such as Auschwitz could actually be beneficial in light of Holocaust deniers and others who would have us believe that this piece of history isn’t worth remembering. The Holocaust happened, and there are millions of us with photographic evidence of this fact —…
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Tea Tuesday: All the Mint
All mint tea is not created equal. Probably because there are so many different kinds of mint to choose from. For the most part, if you purchase bagged mint tea in the grocery store, it will either be labeled “peppermint” or simply “mint,” in which case it is likely to have more of a spearmint flavor. At Hana Farms, however, we have at least seven different kinds of mint growing, each of which has a unique flavor and could be made into a distinct tea. Almost all of them grow in our official Tea Garden, but some of them also grow as weeds around the entire property. The most prevalent…
