I started trying to figure out the main attractions I want to see while in Barcelona since that’s my first stop.
1.) Las Ramblas - Well my Hostel is off of Las Ramblas anyways, but I definitely want to walk from end to end. I heard some areas may be a little seedier? Not sure how true that is, but I’ll see when I get there.
2.) La Sagrada Familia - This unfinished cathedral sounds really sweet. I read somewhere that currently they are projecting that it will be completed in 2026 if all goes according to plan. Considering construction was started in 1882, there’s no guarantee it will actually be completed by 2026.
3.) Museo Picasso - I’m not a huge art buff, but I think it would be interesting to see a lot of Picasso’s paintings from all different times in his life.
4.) Beaches - I haven’t found one in particular that I want to visit, but I definitely need to make it to the Mediterranean.
Any other sites I must see? I’ll hopefully be adding to this list of things to see in the near future.
Here is an updated packing list. I cut some stuff out, but this is what I’ve come up with.
Clothes:
1 Pair of Jeans
1 Pair of Light Khakis
1 Polo Shirt
1 Mountain Hardware Wicked Long Sleeve T - Dries quicker than a cotton shirt
1 Rain Jacket
1 Button up shirt - Not sure about this. Might lose it and just go with the polo for formal wear…
3 T Shirts
2-3 pairs quick dry boxers
1 pair mesh shorts
2-3 pairs quick dry coolmax socks
1 bandana
Shower sandals
1 pair of shoes
Other:
Money belt
Lock
Digital Camera
Ipod shuffle + computer charging cord
Journal/Pen
Basic Toiletries that I can’t buy abroad (contacts, glasses, etc)
Flashlight
Day pack
Large plastic bags for dirty laundry
Rubber laundry line (the braided kind)
That’s what I have right now. I’m asking for some of the stuff for my birthday (day pack, laundry line, rain jacket) and I’ll hopefully be able to make my bag pass as carry on. I will not be able to bring a knife or sewing kit if I’m planning on carrying on, so I can just buy that overseas.
Many members on the forum (http://travelpunk.com/boards) recommended this movie, so I finally bought it a couple weeks ago. I watched it for the second time the other day with my dad and brother while I was home in Maryland. This movie is the quintessential backpackers movie, and I wish there were more awesome documentaries like this. Not only is this movie well done, but it brings up so many great points about backpacking and life in general.
Both Brooke (narrator/documenter) and Jens left high paying jobs because they weren’t satisfied with their jobs or the lifestyle that they were starting to settle into. I feel like this often; however, I just do not have the guts to do something as bold as these guys. A great point in the movie is when Brooke is in Nepal and two Nepalese men just cannot understand why Brooke would leave a high paying job that he worked so hard to acquire. What is it about Western society that makes us so unhappy with our lives? Is it that there is more stress, and we are expected to do more in a shorter amount of time? Or are young people finally realizing that they do not have to settle into a traditional lifestyle until much later?
The movie mentions that you remember the places you visit because of the people you meet at that specific time. You can return to that country, to that exact city, but it won’t be the same. No matter how much you promise to stay in touch, you start to drift away and slowly e-mails stop getting returned. While this may not be true for everyone, especially in the days of facebook and other social networking sites, it does ring true to a certain. I met some great people in Ireland 2 years ago, and I kept in touch with some of them for a while, but eventually we just grew apart. I hope that this time will be different, and I will forge some more meaningful friendships.
This movie makes me realize that after my trip this summer, I will still have a huge amount of traveling left to do. I’ve got my whole life, and I need to make sure to make time for these trips regardless of what I do in my career.
I highly recommend visiting http://www.amapforsaturday.com/ and buying a copy of the dvd if you haven’t already seen it before.
I ordered my railpass today. I went with the 4 country, 8 day youth saver pass, and I’m looking forward to getting it in the mail because it will make the trip seem that much more real. I’m really looking forward to seeing what rail travel is all about. I’ve used metros before in big cities, but I’ve never traveled for long distances by train. I have to make sure that at least one night, I take an overnight train and sleep in a cauchette. It might not be the most glamorous, but ever since I saw The Darjeeling Limited, I thought it would be cool to sleep on a train.
I also booked the first few nights for Barcelona and Sevilla. I want to make sure my trip gets off to a good start, so I booked Kabul hostel (recommended on the boards) for Barcelona, and I booked Samay Hostel (recommended by Joe7f) in Sevilla. I’m trying to make sure I get a good, semi-cheap nights sleep, but I also want to allow some room for spontaneity depending on if I want to go someplace that I didn’t originally intend on visiting. With the beginning of my trip booked ahead and the middle (mountain hostel in gimmelwald), I’m going to see if I can get by just booking a couple days ahead once I’m in Europe. I might have to rethink this plan for weekends though.
I ‘m definitely counting down the days until I’m done my job and then it’s off to Europe. My birthday is coming up in May, so hopefully I will be able to get a lot of the small stuff I need for Europe from family.
Today was a great day. Went to the library, but they didn’t have any good language cds and I don’t have a cassette player, so I’ll have to figure something out. The podcasts are actually very helpful, so I’ll probably just continue using those.
Music is a huge part of a trip because there is going to be a ton of down time on trains or if I just want to relax at some point during my trip. When I went to Ireland, I used an old 256 mb mp3 player simply because I didn’t want to bring my more expensive ipod and I didn’t have to worry about recharging it because it ran on 1 AA battery. I have an ipod shuffle now, and I think it would be perfect for taking to Europe. It’s small, and if it gets stolen, it’s only $50 to replace it. I think I can bring the computer usb charger and use that if I’m at an internet cafe or in a hostel. The only downside is that it is 1GB, so it only stores like 250-300 songs. That means I have to carefully choose a playlist for my trip. I like to listen to albums front to back, so much of the music I will bring will be entire albums. I will choose my favorite or 2 favorite cds by my favorite artists currently.
Europe 2008 Playlist:
1.) Bloc Party - Weekend in the City - This album makes me feel so nostalgic about something that I can’t quite place.
2.) Lucero - That Much Further West - If you’ve never heard of this band, you need to check out this album. Probably my favorite album ever.
3.) Ryan Adams - Gold - Amazing album. I’m tempted to fit Love is Hell into here as well, but Gold is a little less depressing.
4.) The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible - Tough call between this and The Funeral, but I think I like Neon Bible as a whole just a little bit more.
5.) Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I am, That’s What I’m Not - Great album from front to back.
6.) The Decemberists - Picaresque - This album has so many cool songs. From the upbeat “16 Military Wives” to the accordion filled “Mariners Revenge Song”
7.) The Libertines - The Libertines - I like both of their cds, but I think their self titled album is better.
8.) Muse - Absolution - These guys have an awesome sound.
9.) The National - not sure - I really like these guys, so if I’m still digging them in June, I will throw one of their albums on my ipod.
10.) Patrick Park - Loneliness Knows My Name - My cousin gave me a song by Patrick Park back in my freshmen year of college and I immediately bought his whole album. This is a solid album from front to back.
11.) Radiohead - The Bends - Still my favorite Radiohead album. In Rainbows is way overrated. I love a lot of songs on it, but it’s definitely not my favorite. OK computer is probably my second favorite after the bends followed by Hail to the Thief.
12.) The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow - I really love this album, but I may have overdosed on it. I might have to replace this with either Wincing the Night Away or Oh, Inverted World just for a change of pace.
13.) Weezer - Pinkerton - One word. Amazing.
14.) Wilco - Summerteeth - I might have to add in Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and maybe even A Ghost is Born as well. It’s too hard to pick just one album by them.
That’s what I’ve got so far. I’d love to put way more on it, but I only have 1 GB to work with and I want to put on albums that I get the most out of. If you’ve never heard it, I highly suggest That Much Further West by Lucero again.
Oh yeah, LETS GO CAPS!
As I start to book some hostels ahead of time (I’d love to just wing it, but I’d rather have a good, cheap place to stay, especially during peak traveling time), I am able to determine my itinerary a little bit more accurately. One of my main goals is to spend about a week (7 nights) in Gimmelwald, Switzerland because I’ve heard amazing things about mountain hostel and I think it would be a great middle/end of a trip. Chilling up in the Alps and relaxing is going to be so awesome. My goal is to arrive in Gimmelwald around the 27th of June (I put in a reservation today, so hopefully I’ll hear back tomorrow to see if they have availability). This will put me in Switzerland around the end of the Euro 2008 Football Championship which will be held until the 29th. Hopefully things won’t be too crazy or expensive. This is perfect because it leaves me with about 5 days to get back to Barcelona for when I fly out the 9th of July. These last few days will hopefully be spent in Avignon and the surrounding areas as I travel back to Barcelona along the Mediterranean. I’m leaving open the possibility of changing my itinerary as I go, but I will post what I have now.
June 11th, arrive in Barcelona in the AM. Spend 8 days between Barcelona, Sevilla, and Toledo. This puts me in Barcelona for the weekend (plenty of time to party) and exploring Sevilla and Toledo during the week.
June 19th, arrive in Paris for the weekend (Thursday, Friday, Saturday)
June 22nd, arrive in Munich. Spend 5 days in Munich/making daytrips somewhere nearby.
June 27th Gimmelwald, Switzerland chilling in the Alps
July 4th Avignon and slowly making my way back to Barcelona
July 8th Barcelona, chill for the evening and fly out on July 9th.
I’ve got the main cities I want to go to and I’m leaving it up in the air for day trips around those cities. I think I will be fine with the 8 day, 2 month 4 country youth pass since I will be using the days for the big trips (Barcelona -> Sevilla, Sevilla -> Toledo, Toledo -> Paris, Paris -> Munich, Munich -> Interlaken, Interlaken -> Avignon, Avignon -> Barcelona). That accounts for 7 of those days and I’ll use the last day at some point where I have to pay for an expensive daytrip ticket.
If you can’t tell, I love planning things out. I love doing all of the research and looking into cool things to see. Each week that passes at work, I’m that much closer to being done with this job and enjoying Europe!
I don’t speak French. I don’t speak German. It’s been a long time since I’ve spoken any Spanish, and at least in Barcelona, they speak a different dialect of Spanish (catalan) than they teach in school in the US. Despite this, I’m actually not too worried about being able to communicate in Europe. Granted, I’ll run into people who speak English, and I do not think it will be difficult meeting people in hostels. I at least want to be able to communicate using basic phrases when I am at a grocery store, in a bar, or asking for directions. Here are a couple solutions I’ve come up with:
1.) A simple google search for “French phrases” or “German phrases” brings up a bunch of websites, many of which phonetically spell out the words for you. Pronunciation could be an issue though, so that’s why there is #2.
2.) Go to the iTunes store, click on Podcasts. Click on “Education” under categories. Click on “Language Courses” under more education. Download whichever podcast suits you. I downloaded “Survival Phrases - French” and “Learn French with Coffee Break French.” Not sure how the second one is yet (it was recommended on the forums), but the first one is nice to be able to figure out really simple phrases, although each lesson only has 2 or 3 new phrases.
3.) I’m going to check out the public library and see if they have any language courses on CD or cassette tape (I don’t have a cassette tape player, but maybe I could rent one?). This could help since I could listen to these in the car if I felt like it. Hell, maybe I’ll try listening to them in my sleep and see if that helps at all (it’s worth a try even if it doesn’t work).
So those are my ideas so far. I plan to have a decent amount of phrases memorized by the time of my trip so that I’m not constantly pulling out a dictionary or list of phrases. I will print out phrases for my trip so that I can pass time on the trains. I’ve wanted to get really good at a language ever since I stopped in high school, so this is really exciting because it’s giving me a reason to at least get started learning the very basics in other languages. I’m just realizing that I have less than 2 months to go until my trip. I should probably buy my rail pass in the next few weeks.
Clothes:
1 Pair of Jeans
1 Pair of Light Khakis
1 Polo Shirt
1 Thermal Shirt
1 Light Jacket
1 Button up shirt
4 T Shirts
2-3 pairs quick dry boxers
1 pair mesh shorts
5 pairs socks
1 bandana
Shower sandals
1 pair of shoes
Other:
Money belt
Lock
Digital Camera
Ipod shuffle + computer charging cord
Journal
Basic Toiletries
Sewing Kit
Tide to go
Flashlight
Day pack
This is what I have come up with so far. I still need to get a good light jacket and a rain jacket/portable umbrella. I also need to get a good pair of shoes that I are comfortable, but also nice enough to go out to bars and pubs. I know a lot of people recommend against bringing jeans, but I really want jeans because it’s practically all I wear. If they get dirty enough, I’ll just pay to wash/dry them.
One option I am thinking of is packing my regular backpack as tightly as possible and seeing if I could avoid checking it. When it is not filled it is: 25″ tall and 12″ wide. I will post a picture of it later once the batteries are charged. I’m not sure how feasible it would be as a carry on, but I think it might work. I’m fine with packing light, since I’m fine wearing tshirts and jeans most days with a nicer dress shirt on occasion. I would be wearing some of this stuff to the airport to save on space in my pack as well.
Here is the backpack I used for Ireland. It is a 35L Millet pack and it comes with a raincover hidden away in a pouch. It has a lot of straps that you can pull to tighten it up if some space isn’t used. I’m thinking about packing it up soon and seeing if it would meet the criteria for carry on. I’m flying with US Air and from their website, they said it couldn’t be bigger than: 11×14x26 inches. I think might be able to meet that requirement.
Just making up this packing list is making me wish the summer would hurry up and get here.
I did a lot of research about Eurail passes using some websites that TravelPunkers recommended:
Rail Saver
Rick Steves Rail Pass
I was going back and forth with what type of pass I would be getting, but since I’ve finally ironed out a decent itinerary, I plugged it all into the Rail Saver website and they recommended the 4 country, 8 day in 2 month youth pass. This is the rough itinerary I put into the RailSaver site. The pass won’t cover day trips, so I need to figure out if I’m going to just pay those out of pocket or if I should get a 10 day pass.
15 June BARCELONA to SEVILLA
17 June SEVILLA to TOLEDO
18 June TOLEDO to PARIS
22 June PARIS to FRANKFURT
24 June FRANKFURT to MUNICH
27 June MUNICH to INTERLAKEN OST
4 July INTERLAKEN OST to AVIGNON
7 July AVIGNON to BARCELONA
I will probably modify this because I’m not sure if I want to go to Frankfurt or if I want to adjust the days. Since my flight leaves July 9th, I can adjust this so that I get into Barcelona on the 8th instead.
I talked to one of the Spanish teachers that I teach with and he is going to recommend some cool places in Barcelona, Sevilla, and Toledo. I’m finally at that moment where I’m so excited and yet I keep thinking to myself “what the hell am I doing? How am I going to get around, get directions, etc.?” Granted, I know some people will speak English as a second language, but it’ll definitely make this trip more interesting. I know a lot of people get this feeling as well. It’s that excitement and anxiety mixing together, but I know once I’m in Europe for a couple days, I’ll feel way better about things.
Tomorrow I will be posting the packing list that I’ve come up with so far.
I have been teaching high school math for the past year, and I have already been anxiously awaiting my last day so that I can finally be free from this job. The fact that I just bought this plane ticket makes the end of the school year that much more exciting. It finally makes this trip real instead of just something that I’ve been planning off and on for the past couple weeks. Even though I want this summer to come as soon as possible, there is still much I need to do for this trip. Here’s a list of some stuff I need to do between now and the trip:
1.) Learn basic phrases in French, German, and Spanish. I took Spanish in high school, but I have forgotten most of it. This will be the quickest to learn, although there are also different versions of Spanish in different parts of Spain. For the French, I can talk to some of the French teachers at my school to help me figure out some common phrases and write them down phonetically.
2.) Find some good shoes for Europe. I want a pair that are comfortable, but also acceptable for bars, pubs, etc.
3.) Start finding some places that I definitely want to visit. I am open to figuring things out along the way, but I’d like my first few days booked in a hostel in Barcelona and then Sevilla. After that I will try to book a couple days ahead wherever I am going. I will probably book Mountain Hostel in Gimmelwald ahead of time as well because I really want to stay there.
I’m sure there’s stuff that I’m missing. In addition to planning for this trip, I also have to focus on packing stuff up in my apartment before I move.
My brother and I visited Ireland for 2 weeks in June 2006. We had a great time, and thinking about this trip to Europe is bringing back some great memories from Ireland. We met some cool people, but I also learned how I should approach this trip differently this time. As a group, it can sometimes be harder to meet people because you already have people to hang out with. Not that I’ll always travel by myself, but I feel like I can really try to break out of my shell and meet more people if I am by myself this time around. There are pros and cons to traveling alone and with others. Here are some pictures I found of the trip:
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