A Day in the Life of a Hostel Traveler

Today was by far the most interesting day I've had on this trip to Europe thus far. I spent my entire morning at the National Galleries Scotland. I had such a fantastic time looking at a lot of amazing art. I walked through the gallery and saw so many incredible paintings and sculptures from all of the classic periods of art. There was Renaissance, medieval, restoration, Flemish and Dutch paintings. There was this amazing statue of the story of Cain and Able that was so incredibly beautiful. It was probably my favorite piece of the day. (I took a video of it because I could walk around it. I'll post that later when I figure the video things out.)     also saw this bust of Monsignor Carlo Antonio dal Pozzo. It was so incredibly lifelike. I felt like he would start talking to me. In fact all the art work was so stunning I had a smile plastered on my face the whole time. It was really nice going to the gallery by myself because I could linger as long as I wanted at paintings and sculptures. The amount of detail that went into these pieces was incredible, I can't even begin to imagine they time these artists put into creating these pieces.

On the way to the gallery I saw so many amazing buildings and monuments. This city just feels so old. Everything you see is just so stunning it doesn't even feel real. I spent most of my afternoon just walking the streets of Edinburgh before I went back to my hostel. I even did the terrible thing of going into a Doc Martin store and falling in love with these multi-tonal sparkly boots. I need them in my life but they aren't going to fit in my suitcase. Silly me, I tried them on and now I can't stop thinking about them. After that I went back to the hostel. I sat in the lounge drinking a smoothie and doing something email on my phone. Minding my own business. This is where things get interesting...            

 When I came back to the hostel I was just sitting in the lounge when a group of 3 walked up and sat in the same area I was. I somehow got involved in their conversation and we went for a hike to Arthor's Seat. From the top of this hill you could see the entire city of Edinburgh. It was incredible. This group (all North Americans I might add. Vancouver, Arazona, and Seattle, Washington) was pretty much the best, most sassy group I could have come across. The 2 girl, Jenna and Jules, met the day before and were oddly enough on very similar itineraries for their trips. The guy, Cole, they met during a walking tour of the city maybe an hour before they picked me up, he has been backpacking around the entirety of Europe for 3 months already and he goes home in 3 weeks. We had the most incredible time just walking around Edinburgh together. By the end of the night I had eaten, you ready for this, haggis. Well it was haggis stuffed chicken but it was also the best think I have eaten in the UK so far. It's going to be hard to top. It was more spicy than I expected it to be but it was just so good there was nothing left on my plate. Over dinner we talked about life, the universe, and everything in it. We took the questions from an experiment done to make strangers fall in love and answered them together. This experiment was 26 questions posed to 2 strangers who are facing each other and then stare into each other's eyes for 4 minutes after, the test guaranteed the strangers would fall in love. Well... That was not our purpose but it was a ton of fun getting to know 3 complete strangers in this way. We talked about some really deep things which brought us closer as a group I think. It gave us context into each other's lives so we could see why we were all on an adventure around Europe by ourselves. We got to a point where we felt like we knew each other for a long time instead of just a few hours. We were constantly making sassy sarcastic jokes with each other. I really couldn't have asked for a better group to meet up with. 

   

This was by far the bast experience I could have asked for and all I really wanted from the hostel life. Here's hoping I have more adventures like this one on the remaining days of my trip. 

Sorry, this one is going up lat because I had formatting issues there will be more pictures added to this post when I get back to my computer... Or when I can figure it out on my iPad. 

Off to Edinburgh!

Today I left London via the tube and hopped at train to Edinburgh. The international train station at Kings Cross has a 9 and 3/4 platform. It's not where the rest of the platforms are but it is in the main corridor and there is a cute shop next to it filled with Harry Potter stuff. The station itself was easier to find than I would have imagined, as was the tube. Public transportation in Europe is incredibly easy in comparison to the Bay Area.     


 Once on the train I started to watch a movie mindlessly until the gentleman in the seat next to me boarded the train. He was really a really nice older gentleman named Cliff who still had a wicked sense of adventure. We talked the entire train ride about everything. He is from Tennessee (another American, I know) and has been to 49 states, 28 countries, and 3 continents. We talked about traveling and found that we have similar interests and opinions on sightseeing. We like to have a general outline of what we want to see but we give ourselves the liberty to scratch things off if they won't fit into the schedule. We like traveling in smaller groups in order to see what we want to without having to appease the group. We like to see the things that are more off the beaten path and intellectually stimulating rather than getting stuck in the tourist traps. He gave me some advice on places to see while I'm here since he had been to Edinburgh before. We even talked about the taboo topic of politics... US politics and religion. It was amazing to have a frank conversation like this without it being confrontational since we both hate the 2 major party candidates but we have differing opinions on what to do about it. It was a very constructive conversation between a man 2 generations ahead of me who has traveled the world and worked for the government, and me, a girl raised in the liberal Bay Area knowing practically nothing but my own backyard and theatre. He is, by far, the most interesting person I have interacted with on this trips as of yet. We watched the English and Scottish countryside as we ride by and we're pointing out the different sights we were seeing. I have never seen water as blue as the North Sea. It was completely stunning as was all the architecture we passed.       


 Now I am in the bar of the hostel in Edinburgh and it is WAY nicer than the one at Holland Park in London.  They serve beer in this bar, unlike in London, and I am enjoying myself a brew local to Glasgow. The lockers for my belongings are bigger. The beds are bigger. It is just a more comfortable place in general. In the London hostel I had a really messy lady who stayed in the bed under me, a man that would come in to the room at 11:30 at night and be complaining loudly about something while thinking it would be fine to turn the light on, oh and did I mention the simphany of snoring? Here there are only 8 beds in the room and there is a private bathroom. We will see about the location of this hostel tomorrow when I decide to venture out into the wold of Scotland. Hopefully I will meet people who I can venture out with in this hostel. At least for one day before I leave, I am here for 3 full days before I catch the train back to London. I mean because if I don't find anyone to go around Scotland with, I might be tempted to just stay at the hostel bar desperately flirting with the incredibly attractive bartender. If he is the only friend I make in Scotland... I would be completely okay with that. I think I'm just going to ogle him from afar until I'm ready for another beer or bar food... Or whatever...   

 From Scotland, with love. 

Lunch with Pan... Peter Pan

The hostel experience has been treating me well so far. I've made friends with a very nice older gentleman we talk when I am at the locker where I keep my things. We exchanged emails because he is interested in how the rest of my trip is going to go. This hostel is pretty amazing the beds are relatively comfortable and the facility is located in a park. As of right now I would totally stay in this hostel again... But I will be bringing a towel next time. Here they charge you £2 to rent a towel and a £5 deposit. It's a little insane.     


 The first thing I did today was get lunch from Lunch at Whole Foods, which is HUGE by the way, and I walked myself over to Kensington Gardens. I stayed in the park for 5 hours. It was so beautiful.

I sat with Peter Pan to eat my lunch and stayed there for a long time. The Peter Pan statue is right next to a body of water called The Serpentine so I got to see a lot of ducks, geese, and swans. The statue was really interesting there were fairies, bunnies and all kinds of things at his feet. Apparently this statue was erected in the middle of the night in complete secret as a surprise mon May Day in 1912. Like it happened by magic. In the times on May 1 J.M. Barrie placed an announcement that read, "There is a surprise in store for the children who go to Kensington Gardens to feed the ducks this morning. Down by the little bay on the south-western side of the trail of the Serpentine they will find a May-day gift by Mr J.M. Barrie, a figure of Peter Pan blowing his pipe on the stump of a tree..." Kensington Gardens was close to where J.M. Barrie lived and WA s the place of inspiration for Peter Pan which was first published in 1902. (Now we are doen with the history section) While I was at the statue I met a very nice woman from Sacramento who just had to take a picture of herself with the statue for her sister. She said that her sister insists she is Peter Pan and still does at 60 years old. We chatted a bit because, let's be real, her sister and I have this in common. There is even a home video of me somewhere where I am asked about being a princess and my 2 year old self insisted I was Peter Pan.      

The next thing I did was I went to the Italian Gardens which is a beautiful area inside of Hyde Park (same place as Kensington Gardens). The Italian Gardens has 4 small ponds with fountains and lily pads, A traditional fountain in the middle, and a beautiful fountain at the end with statues imbedded in it. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a good picture if that because of where the sun was positioned. This is there I met a couple from New York. (Funny how everyone I seem to meet and talk to outside of the hostel is an American.) We talked for a while and I ended up taking a pricture for them. They were very nice and we talked about my time in Germany and that kind of thing. The took a picture of me, by myself, in front of the fountain I have put in the picture to the left. The ducks is what started the conversation between the New Yorkers and myself. We though it was funny that they seemed to be posing for us. The amount of birds and ballsey squirrels in Hyde park was amazing. When I would just stop to sit on a bench birds would just fly right up to me. It was very cool. I also saw this amazing bird that flew away before I could get a picture of it. This bird had a black and white body, red on top of its head, and an iridescent green also like the color of an oil spill on its long tail feathers. This bird was just stunning. 

 Next I found my way over to the Diana, Princess of Wales Mamorial fountain. This place was amazing. It is a separate section of the park gated off from the rest. The fountain was quite large and was a big textured circle. The water was clear and it was a great place to sit down and have a quiet moment to myself. But because I took a video I can't post it here (I might add it later if I figure it out).      

I mostly spent my day walking around Kensington and I loved it. I felt so comfortable in this area that I almost don't want to leave... But I get to see Edinburgh tomorrow and I'll come back to London before I leave. I popped into a few shops and caught me a fair amount of Pokemon. Literally Pokemon everywhere, and Pokemon I haven't seen in the states yet. (If you want to know about the Pokemon message me about it). I also stopped by the Science Meuseum which was not as exciting as I thought it was going to be.

 

Then for dinner I walked down the street and went to the Princess Victoria Pub and had myself a local beer and som fish and chips... And mushy peas... The beer was called Theakston and it was a very mellow IPA. The food was pretty good too. The breeding on the cod was crispy and delicious and the mushy peas were a total do again for me.... But I hate to say it... I've had better fish and chips in the states. The mushy peas I just can't get over. It is like peas mushed together with salt, pepper, cream, and sugar until it's the consistency of lumpy mashed potatos. It looked like some sort of baby food but I loved them. It's probably my favored thing I have dated in London. Odd as it is... I found a recipe on line if your interested but I don't know how good this one is. allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/1925/mushy-peas.aspx 

I had such a lovely time today. Learning to rely on myself and not having to worry about what anyone else wanted to do. Well I'm going to turn it because tomorrow I have a train to catch.

Bye bye from London Town.

Tripception!

Today is the day I go on my mini adventure, my trip within a trip... Tripception if you will. In order to stay in Europe for more than 90 days, because they wouldn't give me a visa, I have to take a trip outside of the EU. I decided I would go to London for 2 days, take the train to Edinburgh for 4 days, and come back to London for another 3. I am both completely terrified but also really excited to branch out and experience new things. I mean if I can take public transportation to the airport in a foreign city where I don't speak the language I think I can brave 10 days in the UK by myself. I will also be staying in hostels the whole time so maybe I will meet up with some awesome people and we will go exploring together. I think what makes me the most nervous is that I am staying by myself in hostels the whole time. I have never stayed in a hostel so I don't know what to really expect.

The TXL Airport here in Berlin is an interesting one to say the least. Apparently you don't have to get here half as early as American airports because you hang out outside of the terminal. You don't even go through security before going to the gate. It is all kind of in one I guess. It's not great for my anxiety but it is awesome in other respects. Like you can see the people you are leaving behind all the way up to the gate. Unlike in the US you have to leave everyone behind hours before your flight. 

 

Also can I point out my lunch inside the airport was the fanciest airport food ever! Fancy panini and a coffee with milk. Yum!

 

Public transport here is so easy once you figure it out... Which doesn't take long. I would love to take it back to the airport before I leave in December but I would have to make a good enough friend who would want to help me with my bags. But I have 3 months for that right?! 

 

More later when I land in London... Let the adventures begin! 

Rain Rain!

There is nothing like the first rain of the season. Opening the window and listening to the sound of sound of the raindrops falling on the leaves of the chestnut tree outside. Hearing some light thunder and the chestnuts falling out of the tree at an alarming rate to hit the aluminum roof of the trash room.

I am lucky enough to experience mine first rain here in Berlin. Here is nothing like the smell of rain. I caught myself just staring out my dark window into the night wishing I had a cup of tea. There is just something so beautiful and comforting about rain. If it wasn't midnight I would be stomping and dancing in it like a child.

I'm loving this!

But because it is Friday night and I have my window open to listen to the rain, I also get to listen to the people who are getting drunk and having a great time... I mean I don't speak a lot of German but... It sounds like they are having a blast.

Day 3: Out into the World

Since I haven't left the flat since I got here, today I decided to venture out into the world. After hours of prep I was ready to go. Because I don't have phone service yet, I had to kick it old school and map it before I left. I screenshot the maps so I had pictures on my phone and off I went. I was just not prepared for how hot it was going to be. It was 80 degrees. Yuck!

I went to the bank first which was about a mile away. It was really annoying passing 4 banks on the way there all because I had to go to the one who wouldn't charge me a fee. Anyway the walk was easy except the roads are cobblestone esc and were difficult to walk on. This is what I am blaming for the huge blister I have on my right heal. I'm talking huge!

The next place I went was to the grocery store. With the blister on my heal I didn't really feel like walking 10 minutes to the actual grocery store so I went to the small asian market next-door to my flat. I just got myself a couple of things to hold me over until I go to the real store. But, I forgot to buy bandaids or anything first aid related for my foot even though I meant too. I did buy some water because usually I am fine with tap but I am having trouble getting used to it. The bottles they have here are so oddly shaped. The one I got isn't even that weird.


Well that is all for now today in Berlin.

Tschüss!

The Journey

The morning of my flight went awesome for me! My mom walked me all the way to security and helped me with my 2 bags. It was really nice to have her there until she literally couldn't go any further with me. Security was quick and painless except when they had to double check me because of my ankle brace. I got wanded and checked for explosive residues all because I sprained my ankle. The TSA lady was really nice and was just chit chatting with me because she new it was fine but she had to follow protocol.

My international flight into Frankfurt was good! I lucked out and had no one in the 2 seats next to me so I got to spread out! It's a good thing too because the 2 jerks in front of me reclined their chairs back for the entire flight and were making out the entire time! It made it really difficult to get in and out of my seat. I wanted to kill them. For the in flight entertainment they only had the large screens for the entire cabin not the small seat back ones where you can choose your own movie. The movies were uninteresting until I accidentally switched one into German. Watching Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler with the wrong voices was pretty great. There was also one flight attendant who was super nice and very helpful.

Getting through customs and immigration was an odd experience because this lady didn't say one word to me. She just checked my ticket, checked my passport, stared at me for a minute, stamped my passport and sent me on my merry little way. But I did get a nod to acknowledge I was done.

Flying from Frankfurt to Berlin was so quick. I felt like I took off an the next minute we landed. The first thing they did on this flight though was give us a full size Milka bar. Let me tell you... you don't know what you are missing.

Everything happened so quickly today security was no problem, my flights were early, I was pre-boarded, and the airports were really easy to figure out. I even beat my flatmate to the flat. The only time I thought something was going to go wrong was in the taxi. The guy drove so aggressively and I thought every second that we would be getting in an accident. But I guess they all drive like that here.

I have a lot of things to do here to help me get settled. This all still just doesn't feel real. Hopefully a shower and waking up in Berlin tomorrow will do the trick.

Greetings from Berlin!

Today is the Day!

Today is the day! I am both extremely excited and nervous. I am mentally prepared for this trip but there are so many little things that are going to throw me through a loop once I am there. Like, I know German is the primary language spoken but I don't think that will set in until I am surrounded by conversations I can't eavesdrop into... easily.

It's taken a lot of planning and stress to get to this point but I am ready to go. The biggest problem I ran into was packing. Winter cloths are bulky and heavy! I had to pack 2 suitcases because I was way over my weight limit and I have to have room to bring my makeup kit back to The States with me. Well... it also doesn't help that my down parka takes up half of one suitcase even in a space bag.

I'm also sad to say that my mom had to cancel her business trip so she will no longer be flying with me into the Frankfurt airport. So I will be flying for 11 hours all by my lonesome. Hear's hoping I don't end up sitting next to someone who makes the flight feel longer.

Well, I'm off. Wish me luck!