This week’s travel inspiration is the fact that I’ve been on the road for the last 48 hours. Traveling from the Greek island paradise of Kea to the city of Sarajevo has involved 1 ferry 2 buses and 3 trains, 2 of which were overnight. On the first overnight train, my friend Katie and I just booked normal seats and enjoyed no sleep–the train’s fluorescent lighting never so much as dimmed, and passengers came and went all evening. So, on the second overnighter, we learned our lesson and spent a little extra money on a berth. We also enjoyed an unexpected stopover in Sofia, Bulgaria because there were no direct…
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Tea Tuesday: Afternoon Tea in London
It’s the triumphant return of Tea Tuesday! I first visited London during my semester abroad in Barcelona. I had a friend studying in London, and spent a weekend visiting him; my two days in London were amazing, but they definitely weren’t enough time to see and do everything. One thing that I missed the first time around, which I knew I had to do when my brother and I visited was… Afternoon Tea. Now, there are a couple of ways to enjoy this quintessential British experience, which has been around since the 1840s. The most famous is probably to go to a fancy hotel like the Savoy or the Langham,…
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Drinking is an Important Part of the Culture…
My brother and I were in Edinburgh just long enough to walk the royal mile, eat some haggis, and drink some scotch. This is my brother, by the way, he’ll be joining us for the posts about the UK. You may notice that he’s carrying an umbrella. That’s because during our time in Edinburgh it rained, a lot. As a result, we found a culturally appropriate activity for a rainy afternoon– The Scotch Whisky Experience My brother really enjoys Scotch, and I had a lovely afternoon here, even as a newbie Scotch drinker. If you visit their website, you’ll notice that it’s a bit Disneyesque, and the tour even begins…
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Happy Halloween!
We interrupt the somewhat chronological order of this blog to bring you a very special Halloween post. Now, I will admit to not being the biggest fan of this holiday. I’ve never been one for big Halloween parties, I come up with good costume ideas, but don’t execute them, and, most importantly, I miss trick or treating… So, I wasn’t too bothered by the idea of not celebrating this year. After all, I don’t really have room in my backpack to carry around a costume. But then, this past weekend (Halloweekend, if you will) I took a tour of Kutna Hora, a small city, and UNESCO World Heritage Site, about…
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Weekly Travel Inspiration: The Happiest Countries in the World
When I first arrived in Copenhagen a few weeks ago, my mom (hi Mom!) shared this article with me on facebook. It lists the top 5 happiest countries in the world according to two different reports. The first is The World Happiness List (commissioned by the UN) which ranks Denmark as the happiest country in the world, and the Netherlands as fourth happiest. The other report is the Happy Planet Index, which looks at how happy the people are as well as how sustainable their lifestyle is. Costa Rica claims first place on this list. During The Great European Adventure, I’ve visited the Netherlands and Denmark, and my first trip…
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Thoughts on One Month of Travel
Wednesday was October 10th, which means I’ve officially been traveling for one month, and traveling alone for two weeks. So this seems as good a time as any to do a little reflecting. Here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly from one month of travel. The Good AKA The easier than I thought it was going to be In case you need convincing, here is one big argument in favor of traveling–it’s not that difficult technically. By which I mean, I have found the technical aspects of travel easy. Booking flights and hostels and finding your way around a foreign city don’t need to be intimidating. Almost everything can…
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Iceland: Last Look
Iceland was like no where else I’ve ever been. The scenery was otherworldly. When you live in the Northeastern United States, volcanic rocks are kind of exciting and exotic. Volcanoes? Awesome! You might look at lava rocks in eight grade science class. Well, in Iceland, pretty much every rock is a remnant from a volcano. And any trees you see were brought there and planted by people because only shrubs and bushes are native to the country. When Grace and I took a tour of Thingvellir National Park, we saw fissures in the earth where the American and Eurasian tectonic plates are pulling apart at a rate of 2 centimeters…
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The best thing I did in Iceland
If you have $640 in your savings account, spend 600 on a round trip flight to Reykjavik and 40 on a Northern Lights tour. I’ll wait while you go and book it. I am only half joking. I looked up the price of a flight out of Boston this weekend, and it’s significantly more than $600 to take a jaunt to Iceland on such short notice. However, if you book a month or two in advance as people normally book their vacations, $600 should be enough. Grace and I booked the Northern Lights Mystery tour with Iceland Excursions in association with Gray Line, a company that runs tours in many…
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Weekly Travel Inspiration: Scottish Independence
This week your travel inspiration is a BBC news article about a Scottish independence rally that happened in Edinburgh last weekend. Thousands at Scottish independence rally in Edinburgh A friend of mine who is a Gaelic speaker and a staunch supporter of Scottish independence posted this article on my facebook wall after we got dinner in Edinburgh. Over our meal, he informed me that a majority of Scottish people support independence, but I was still skeptical of the country’s ability to break away from the UK. There is a referendum vote on the matter planned for 2014, so I guess we’ll all find out then. Now, you may be wondering,…
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What I ate in Reykjavik, and so can you!
If you visit Iceland, you’ll hear about some local delicacies you must try, such as puffin (too cute to eat? think again!), hakarl (fermented shark), and brennevin (strong Icelandic alcohol similar to vodka). Despite these foods being “can’t miss” Icelandic experiences, I didn’t try any of them. Grace did order a stew with lamb in it one evening, and supposedly Icelandic lamb is something one ought to try. I can vouch for the fact that it was tender, and delicious. It may also make you feel slightly guilty because you’re eating a baby animal. Just saying… Regardless, here are some of the interesting places I ate and enjoyed in Reykjavik.…
