My first stop on my backpacking tour was in Valencia, Spain to visit my sister. She spent the spring semester studying in Valencia, so I got to stay at her host family and see her life in Valencia. Pictures of Kristen and me with her host mom, Rosa, and her room ( a little messy…
We are traveling on budget airlines, which gave was the cheapest route to see the places I wanted to see. On these budget airlines you can only take one carry-on size bag for free- meaning lots of adventure and repeated outfits. (If it looks like I’m visiting all these countries over 4 days, it’s because…
If you read the last blog post about Reykjavik and it seemed like there were only a few pictures or there were grammatical errors, I accidentally published a draft of it before I was finished. It takes at least a couple days to find enough wifi and time to upload all the pictures for each…
One of the tips I got for my great ideas tour was to make sure I included some cities where I could relax and take a break from moving everyday from sunrise to sunset. Santorini was a perfect place to stop, take a breath and simply enjoy. We flew on a budget airline from London…
After Santorini, we had 24 hours to spend in Athens before Kristen had to catch her flight home. We planned to make the most of our short time in the city to see as much as possible. We arrived on our flight from Santorini around 9 a.m. We left the airport right away to catch…
Sorry for the delay since my last post. I was sick for awhile, but I have finally turned the corner (I’m not taking as many trips to the bathroom) and I can post this piece about Portugal as soon as the Internet is strong enough. Next stop on my trip was Lisbon, Portugal. I was…
Next stop was Porto, a beautiful city on the edge of the Rio Douro. We took a bus up the coast from Lisbon to Porto, arriving in the city in the early afternoon. The hostel was located on a one-way cobblestone street near the center of the city. Following a tip from my friend Luisa…
We found the Manneken Pis, the famous fountain statue of a little boy peeing. He usually has an outfit on to match the season, but the monument was under construction so he had no clothes. He is used as a symbol all over the city. At night they light up the Grand Place in a rainbow…
My favorite experiences in Split were the evening concerts at the courtyard in the shadow of the Roman ruins. We sat for hours on the steps of the plaza just listening to the musicians. It was a perfect space for dancing under the stars, although no one danced. I would love to return someday to…
A beautiful option for exploring Croatia is island hopping. We had a free day in Split so we bought ferry tickets the night before to go to the island Hvar for a day trip. (Alex and Elizabeth said we couldn’t miss it). Unfortunately, I got sick that night and couldn’t take the trip the next morning, so…
