plan well before hand!
people are generally helpful, but you have to be patient
know the language! at least a little
pop hostel (madrid) is awesome!
when in lisbon, know where the beach is first, or find people who do. don't assume it's right there. there may be a train in the way.
never ever ever go to irun train station for 6 hours. (only grumpy gnomes go to irun)
eurail passes require reservations that need to be paid for on each train. they don't tell you that part.
you don't have to do touristy things to have fun
bread is good
don't accept anything from anyone in paris if they claim it is free
talk to people you don't know- other travelers, people in the train stations, planes, etc. you might make a new friend.
don't forget to drink water! don't forget to eat!
make sure you have a little cash on you cause atms aren't always reliable...
it is possible to walk everywhere in france, even if it looks confusing and long. the metro is dirty anyway
the metro in madrid, though, rocks
marlboro reds smell terrible (and according to tucker taste even worse)
sign language!
keep a supply of cookies on hand for stressful moments.
stay longer than 2 nights in each place. 20 kilograms equals 50 lbs.
be flexible
keep a journal
everything is better at 4 am
nothing is better than a friend when you are in a strange place
Monday, June 23, 2008
finale
well, we're home. it was an adventure, but we're home. as soon as we got out of madrid, everything went well, so we knew it had to be the right choice. but right now, i'd rather be back in london. i miss it so much! and i miss being with tucker all the time. i'm kinda not looking forward to having a room to myself tonight. :(
anyway, after leaving pop hostel, we headed to a new hostel for the night in madrid (until we could find a flight). unfortunately we walked about 10 blocks in the wrong direction. it was not one of my better moments. it was my closest point to breaking down. but we turned around and walked 18 blocks to get to where we were supposed to be, found the hostel, and relaxed a bit. it was hotel quality for hostel price. so nice. showered, took care of some email stuff, tucker talked to his mom and she tried everything in her power to get us home. she's so cool!
we went to the airport that night, found out that there was a flight leaving that night that we could afford, so we hurried home, grabbed our stuff, and went back to the airport to get on the plane to london. got to london about 1 am, spent the night there waiting for Delta to open at 6 am, but of course we didn't sleep. who does that, really? we ate some mcdonalds (kinda gross), did some sketching, read some books, and camped out in the airport. once 6 o'clock rolled around, we got in line, talked to the guy, and he did everything he could to help us get our tickets changed to leave as soon as possible. and it cost $100 less than we hoped, so we were happy. waited around a couple more hours for that flight, then took off for connecticut. delta is so great, good food all the time, 3 good movies, slept a bit but not enough, and got off on american soil. it felt good. then we had about a 6 1/2 hour layover. called everyone we could think of to tell them we were in the states, read some more, at good mcdonalds. discovered that it is probably written into the airport employee contracts to be rude and unhelpful to people who haven't slept properly in 48 hours. went into a british style pub to make things better, and it helped. got on a teeny tiny plane that was freezing cold, and took off for sioux falls. got into sioux falls, saw britta (our friend who picked us up), and basically tackled her with hugs and kisses. a familiar face! it was happy. talked the whole way home (as in orange city), where britta dropped us off at the movie theater so that tucker's friend emma could take us to her place to crash for the night. picked up some snacks and watched fantasia. well, sort of. tucker and i were out before the dinosaurs died. oh well.
slept in til gma betty and tressy called to pick me up at caseys, and drove home. it was sad saying goodbye to tucker. we've spent so much time together the past week, plus all the time in london, that it feels strange not to have him here. i should call him.... tomorrow. we need to sleep. it's only 9pm but i'm ready to crash. i was ready for bed about 3 hours ago.
okay, that is basically the end of my adventure. short lived, not as planned, but it was good. learned a lot and had some fun. met great people and tried lots of new things. i miss it, and i want to go back. i'm not ready to be home. but i know that it is better this way. with everything that went wrong, this is better. seeing how happy tucker was to be back made it all worth it. i know it was much harder on him to be away from home. but it is all okay now, i hope.
so yeah. next time (hopefully there will be a next time) we will know what to do differently, how to do this thing better and get the most out of it.
anyway, after leaving pop hostel, we headed to a new hostel for the night in madrid (until we could find a flight). unfortunately we walked about 10 blocks in the wrong direction. it was not one of my better moments. it was my closest point to breaking down. but we turned around and walked 18 blocks to get to where we were supposed to be, found the hostel, and relaxed a bit. it was hotel quality for hostel price. so nice. showered, took care of some email stuff, tucker talked to his mom and she tried everything in her power to get us home. she's so cool!
we went to the airport that night, found out that there was a flight leaving that night that we could afford, so we hurried home, grabbed our stuff, and went back to the airport to get on the plane to london. got to london about 1 am, spent the night there waiting for Delta to open at 6 am, but of course we didn't sleep. who does that, really? we ate some mcdonalds (kinda gross), did some sketching, read some books, and camped out in the airport. once 6 o'clock rolled around, we got in line, talked to the guy, and he did everything he could to help us get our tickets changed to leave as soon as possible. and it cost $100 less than we hoped, so we were happy. waited around a couple more hours for that flight, then took off for connecticut. delta is so great, good food all the time, 3 good movies, slept a bit but not enough, and got off on american soil. it felt good. then we had about a 6 1/2 hour layover. called everyone we could think of to tell them we were in the states, read some more, at good mcdonalds. discovered that it is probably written into the airport employee contracts to be rude and unhelpful to people who haven't slept properly in 48 hours. went into a british style pub to make things better, and it helped. got on a teeny tiny plane that was freezing cold, and took off for sioux falls. got into sioux falls, saw britta (our friend who picked us up), and basically tackled her with hugs and kisses. a familiar face! it was happy. talked the whole way home (as in orange city), where britta dropped us off at the movie theater so that tucker's friend emma could take us to her place to crash for the night. picked up some snacks and watched fantasia. well, sort of. tucker and i were out before the dinosaurs died. oh well.
slept in til gma betty and tressy called to pick me up at caseys, and drove home. it was sad saying goodbye to tucker. we've spent so much time together the past week, plus all the time in london, that it feels strange not to have him here. i should call him.... tomorrow. we need to sleep. it's only 9pm but i'm ready to crash. i was ready for bed about 3 hours ago.
okay, that is basically the end of my adventure. short lived, not as planned, but it was good. learned a lot and had some fun. met great people and tried lots of new things. i miss it, and i want to go back. i'm not ready to be home. but i know that it is better this way. with everything that went wrong, this is better. seeing how happy tucker was to be back made it all worth it. i know it was much harder on him to be away from home. but it is all okay now, i hope.
so yeah. next time (hopefully there will be a next time) we will know what to do differently, how to do this thing better and get the most out of it.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
huzzah!
okay, here is for real what's happening. we are coming home. we are having too many things go wrong here in europe, we're stressed, the good days are outweighed by the bad, and we're sick of it. mostly tucker is, but i'm not staying unless he is. we've decided, and we're sticking to it. we have to, we just bought plane tickets to london, leaving at 10 tonight. yeah, it's all happening fast. went to the airport in madrid, talked to a couple airlines, found one cheapish. cheaper than what we found online anyway. so we are getting to london in a few hours. then we will change our tickets home to leave as soon as possible. that'll cost us another $300-600, but i did my best to figure out how much i have left in my account and i'm pretty sure i have enough.
anyways.... when we get back to the states, i'll call family peeps to pick me up somewhere. i don't know where or when yet, but i'll call when i do know.
i realize that we wasted a lot of money on this trip, for the eurail passes and everything, and i'm sad we have to end it so soon. but with everything going wrong it's clear europe doesn't want us here at this time.
so yeah. thanks for the prayers and support and listening to my ramblings on this blog, and i'll probaby see ya in a few days!
love you all
anyways.... when we get back to the states, i'll call family peeps to pick me up somewhere. i don't know where or when yet, but i'll call when i do know.
i realize that we wasted a lot of money on this trip, for the eurail passes and everything, and i'm sad we have to end it so soon. but with everything going wrong it's clear europe doesn't want us here at this time.
so yeah. thanks for the prayers and support and listening to my ramblings on this blog, and i'll probaby see ya in a few days!
love you all
i don´t know what´s going on...
we may be coming home soon. how soon, i have no idea. how we´ll get there, i have no idea. how much it will cost, i have no idea. i don´t even know what to write right now. nothing is set. if anything changes, of course i´ll let you know.
love you all
love you all
Friday, June 20, 2008
quickie
alright, so planes and trains are ridiculously expensive to paris and london, so we´ve decided (i think) to take a couple days in barcelona, probably meet up with the canadian girls we met her, and see what happens after that. still a bit stressed. watching a lot of football. we´re kinda homeless after tonight, cause the hostel is booked but they said they´d help us find some place. and if we are still here after tomorrow night, there are openings, so we can come back before we go to barcelona. at least we like madrid....
checking out a hostel in barcelona that looks amazing, but i´ll have to discuss it with the man first to be sure of dates and important things like that.
sorry this wasn´t too informative or exciting
lots of love
checking out a hostel in barcelona that looks amazing, but i´ll have to discuss it with the man first to be sure of dates and important things like that.
sorry this wasn´t too informative or exciting
lots of love
well well well
*sigh* okay, here´s what´s new. there are strikes in the train station in madrid (or something) and so we waited forever and a half to get to the window to reserve our tickets to paris, just to find out that the only seats available are the expensive sleeping car ones. new plan: fly directly to london and pay for at least one more night in madrid. new problem: expensive. cheapest flight found so far is $315. but it´s non-stop, only 2 1/2 hours. still looking though. we´re a bit aggravated, so i want to get that part out of the way before i start talking about our experiences in madrid thus far. it´s stressful at the moment, so blowing off steam and eating cookies is good. but money may be needed from home if we don´t figure something out.
*deep breaths* okay...
anyway, we got on the train from lisbon, talked to this really cool girl from California- Veronica. sat near her on the train, too, and had similar destinations so we were together awhile. the train was kinda sucky at first. we sat down, and our chairs moved. we tried to look out the window, and we weren´t next to one. the coach was full of people. but then the attendant guy came and fixed our seats, and as he left he almost got hit in the face by the door. our entire car erupted in laughter. the spanish lady behind us offered to spray us in the face with an unknown orange spritz, and it felt good. just for fresh air as opposed to train car stuffiness. then sleep. or something like it. slept more than usual, i guess, but it was a longer train. 10 hours. and kinda bumpy. and for awhile, we were stopped at a station for a very long time, for no apparent reason. but we made it. finding the hostel was fairly easy. it´s kinda tucked away and we almost passed it. actually, tucker did. it´s small, the bathrooms are rediculously tiny, but the atmosphere is incredible. the people are helpful, speak decent english, there are a lot of people our age here, a lot of americans, and they are all interesting people. met a guy from new zealand who is traveling the world in 6 months. he´s half done. a couple girls from canada. a couple from australia.
basically, tucker and i hung out in the tv room (where smoking is allowed, but there is a vent so it doesnt smell at all) all day watching movies with random people. then at about 12:30 am about 8 or 9 of us went out to a bar nearby. for some reason we got free shots of vodka and caramel. it was pretty good, and it was free. the people we were with aren´t the type of people i usually hang out with, but i´m glad i did. they were a blast! when the bar closed, we didn´t really want to go to bed, so we hung out at this tiny park (it had a 3 foot slide and some springy animal things) until almost 4 am. it was great. we named the rabbit springy Javier Pablo. we were with the candadians and the australians and a few people from the US so we compared/made fun of each other. talked a bit of politics. one girl from canada was into theatre, one guy from california loves street art and painting. mostly we laughed at nothing. people on the streets were selling beer, so others kept drinking. it was fun to watch them. i had the shot of and half a lemonade without spending a dime, so i was happy just to see the others get dizzy on the playground.
we haven´t even explored madrid yet, but it´s great. we may be here longer anyway, though, because of the whole travel thing. still working on it, though. it´s not working out so well. i´m getting a bit irritated.
paris is stupid. trains are stupid. tucker thinks it will be easier and cheaper to just go home. i´m not ready to give up! maybe we could continue backpacking like originally planned, and get or God help us figure this out!
*deep breaths* okay...
anyway, we got on the train from lisbon, talked to this really cool girl from California- Veronica. sat near her on the train, too, and had similar destinations so we were together awhile. the train was kinda sucky at first. we sat down, and our chairs moved. we tried to look out the window, and we weren´t next to one. the coach was full of people. but then the attendant guy came and fixed our seats, and as he left he almost got hit in the face by the door. our entire car erupted in laughter. the spanish lady behind us offered to spray us in the face with an unknown orange spritz, and it felt good. just for fresh air as opposed to train car stuffiness. then sleep. or something like it. slept more than usual, i guess, but it was a longer train. 10 hours. and kinda bumpy. and for awhile, we were stopped at a station for a very long time, for no apparent reason. but we made it. finding the hostel was fairly easy. it´s kinda tucked away and we almost passed it. actually, tucker did. it´s small, the bathrooms are rediculously tiny, but the atmosphere is incredible. the people are helpful, speak decent english, there are a lot of people our age here, a lot of americans, and they are all interesting people. met a guy from new zealand who is traveling the world in 6 months. he´s half done. a couple girls from canada. a couple from australia.
basically, tucker and i hung out in the tv room (where smoking is allowed, but there is a vent so it doesnt smell at all) all day watching movies with random people. then at about 12:30 am about 8 or 9 of us went out to a bar nearby. for some reason we got free shots of vodka and caramel. it was pretty good, and it was free. the people we were with aren´t the type of people i usually hang out with, but i´m glad i did. they were a blast! when the bar closed, we didn´t really want to go to bed, so we hung out at this tiny park (it had a 3 foot slide and some springy animal things) until almost 4 am. it was great. we named the rabbit springy Javier Pablo. we were with the candadians and the australians and a few people from the US so we compared/made fun of each other. talked a bit of politics. one girl from canada was into theatre, one guy from california loves street art and painting. mostly we laughed at nothing. people on the streets were selling beer, so others kept drinking. it was fun to watch them. i had the shot of and half a lemonade without spending a dime, so i was happy just to see the others get dizzy on the playground.
we haven´t even explored madrid yet, but it´s great. we may be here longer anyway, though, because of the whole travel thing. still working on it, though. it´s not working out so well. i´m getting a bit irritated.
paris is stupid. trains are stupid. tucker thinks it will be easier and cheaper to just go home. i´m not ready to give up! maybe we could continue backpacking like originally planned, and get or God help us figure this out!
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
going to madrid
so today is our last day in lisbon, and we wandered around looking at the city, finally. we´ve been here for two days, and we just decided to let go of our grudge of no beach and walk. and it was good. there are a lot of bakeries, a lot of interesting buildings with graffit, a lot of interesting people. we sat in a park thing and talked a lot about books and movies and the history of middle earth (cause i´m a nerd and know middle earth history better than american history...). walked some more, ate lunch at the snack bar we always go to, walked some more, talked about graphic novels and good stuff. we saw an Indian (as in Native American, but not american?) street band playing in a plaza-ish place, listened to them for awhile. i miss music like that, it was so good. then we sat near a fountain for awhile, took some pics.
it was a nice warm day and we are probably going to be red tomorrow, but it´s okay. now we are checked out of our room but still hanging out in the hostel, our train leaves at 10pm tonight, and then it´f off to madrid!! we´ll be there 2 nights, probably partying all the time, but not really. we´ll find something fun to do, though. then paris for a night (if we can find a good cheap hostel), and a short train and ferry back to the UK.
it was a good day today, we can leave lisbon without the feelings of regret we had when we got here. tucker and i just spent a lot of time talking about whatever. more of that will be good. i guess that´s it for now, i´ll talk to you next from madrid!
love you all, peace out
it was a nice warm day and we are probably going to be red tomorrow, but it´s okay. now we are checked out of our room but still hanging out in the hostel, our train leaves at 10pm tonight, and then it´f off to madrid!! we´ll be there 2 nights, probably partying all the time, but not really. we´ll find something fun to do, though. then paris for a night (if we can find a good cheap hostel), and a short train and ferry back to the UK.
it was a good day today, we can leave lisbon without the feelings of regret we had when we got here. tucker and i just spent a lot of time talking about whatever. more of that will be good. i guess that´s it for now, i´ll talk to you next from madrid!
love you all, peace out
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