Paris, Strasbourg, the Alsace, and More Cities Please

Ahh, Paris. It's the perfect place for cemeteries and macarons, my favorite things. Well, actually, macarons are off the list of favorite things. I ate way too many of them. Good thing the last one I ate was the best one. LOOK NO FURTHER: Winner of the macaron tasting tour is Pierre Herme, specifically, the vanilla and olive oil flavor. I didn't go that many places, though, because I was fed up with sweets. I'm all about the cheese and bread now.

I had a macaron from McDonalds...I don't want to talk about it

Winner of the cemetery tour? Pere Lachaise, duh, although it had an unfair advantage considering it was cloudy and thundering while we were there. Also, Oscar Wilde's grave.

6 Months in Europe: Yes, It's Happening

The day is finally here. Steve and I are leaving for ~6 months to backpack around Europe. This is my first time traveling with a giant backpack instead of a carry-on sized one and it looks comically large. This is the main thing I'm worrying about right now because I literally cannot remember how checked luggage works, and it's also very concerning to be separated from anything in my carefully (ha) selected inventory. Also concerning: it took me about 10 minutes to remember the word "inventory".

So far, our itinerary looks something like this:

September 14th: Fly from Seattle to Iceland.

September 15th: Arrive at Keflavik airport early in the morning. Rent a car. Drive around all day until our flight to Paris.

September 16th: Arrive in Paris very early in the morning. Be tired. Brace self for Steve’s nonstop impressions of French people.

Septermber 19th: Leave Paris. Steve goes on to visit his family in England, while I take a train to Strasbourg.

September 19th-21st: Alsace region of France.

September 22nd: Freiburg, Germany

September 23rd: Bus from Freiburg to Munich

Septermber 24th and 25th: Oktoberfest

September 26th: Innsbruck, Austria

September 27th: Meet back up with Steve in Verona, Italy

September 28th: Bolzano, Italy

September 29th: Venice, Italy

?????

Greece! Turkey! Georgia! And so on.

I am really, really looking forward to Greece, Turkey, and Georgia. I've never been to any of those countries and they sound great. Sometime in mid-November, we will be in central Europe before going to England for Christmas. Then, we will hopefully fly to Morocco.

Crossing fingers for no major volcanic eruptions in Iceland!

Chiang Mai, Thailand - September 2012

Toward the end of our backpacking trip in Southeast Asia last year, Steve and I spent a week in Chiang Mai. Though there's plenty going on--jungle treks, rafting, mountain biking, and any number of other adventure excursions--we didn't really do anything. We wanted to save our money for our final stop, Hong Kong, and figured attractive, affordable Chiang Mai was a good place to enjoy the simple (and cheap) life. As anyone who has been to Thailand knows, you don't need to be on a constant adrenaline rush for the days to fly by.

We enjoyed browsing the various markets and sampling food, wandering among the multitude of temples, playing badminton in the park, and cruising around on bicycles. And, um, eating breakfast, according my picture of an adorable latte. I'm still pretty impressed by how much nothing we did without the aide of the Internet--wifi at our guesthouse was only turned on at night.

Nong Khai, Thailand - September 2012

Sitting here in a suburban coffee shop after a day at work, it's hard to imagine that a year ago, my boyfriend and I were backpacking in Southeast Asia. I'd go back in a second, even if it means withstanding outrageous humidity, daily downpours, and instant ants whenever a certain someone gets cookie crumbs all over the bed. Instead, I'll have to settle for a little reminiscing.

It Began in Budapest

I recently purchased a book on my trip to San Francisco called The Finno-Ugrian Vampire by Noemi Szecsi, translated into English from Hungarian. The cover makes it look like some kind of vampire Sex in the City, but I promise it's not. Anyway, it's set in Budapest, with the main character living near City Park, and it got me reminiscing about my time in one of my favorite cities ever.

Castle Hill in Buda

In March of 2011, I traveled alone for the first time, and it all started in Budapest. After a week of driving around England with my uncle, I flew in from London-Luton Airport and, upon arrival, shut myself in a bathroom stall and hyperventilated into the pages of my Lonely Planet book. Eventually, I made it onto a bus into the city and found my hostel without issue. I had rapidly come down with a cold that all the gummy vitamins in Boots couldn't alleviate, so after a walk to Margaret Island and a stroll around a grocery store, I went to sleep at the unthinkable hour of eight. Yes, PM.

Why Travel?

A road through Albania

Like many young people going to university, I had an idea of how my life would go: I'd graduate, get an entry-level job, gradually increase my income with each passing year, get married at some point, have some kids, and live a stable, if uneventful life with two weeks of vacation a year. Looking back, it's scary to think that could have happened if the economy hadn't crashed right before I graduated. Fresh out of school, the only job I could get was working as a barista. I couldn't afford to move out of my parents' house, but as a result, I didn't have many expenses.