Just over a month ago, I was sitting in my room, avoiding endless amounts of homework and contemplating life and my future (as usual) and decided that it was time that I start looking for an internship! I'm currently studying advertising at the San Diego campus of many Art Institutes across North America. To graduate, with a pretty little piece of paper that claims I have a degree, I must complete a work placement.
Of course, in my adventurous nature, I started thinking about all of the places that I wanted to see in the world. Thailand, India, Indonesia, Australia... Newwwwwww Zealand!
I have many friends from New Zealand that I have met along my ways, here and there, and though all of them are out and about in the world, they have always spoken so highly of their native country. After hearing so many good things -- I was definitely intrigued. So as I sat at my desk, in my rickety, pink Ikea chair, my curiosity peaked at the possibility of an all encompassing, productive adventure. Why not go visit annnnnnnd do an internship there?! Win-win, if you ask me.
This is about the time when the googling began...
I looked up a list of advertising agencies in New Zealand, specifically in Auckland since most of my friends were from this area and could give me the most advice about it.
I emailed a few of the smaller agencies, thinking that I would have a better chance with the smaller ones, and then just for the heck of it.. I emailed a few of the agencies that are some of the biggest... the ones that have offices all over the world. I didn't think I would actually get a response back... I was sure they all get overloaded with emails on the daily... but then, not a few days later, I received an email back from someone at Whybin\TBWA! (One of the big'uns!) ---- Big Deal!
Before I knew it, I was on a skype interview with the managing director of Eleven PR within the TBWA group. Holy moly. I was so nervous I'm pretty sure I stuttered my way through at least half the interview.
Anyways, we ended the interview agreeing that we would reconvene in about a week and decide whether we both thought Eleven PR would be a good fit for me as next intern.
Let's just say, it wasn't an easy sell to my parents. Having just gotten back from the most incredible Europe trip ever, they weren't exactly stoked to send me off on another epic and costly adventure. I played my best cards, because as anyone would be able to note, this is a pretty incredible opportunity! After a week-long "discussion," (insert a few frustrated tears, alcoholic beverages, late night research sessions, speech rehearsals, and the like) I finally received the green light!
I immediately emailed Eleven PR, "If you'll have me, I'll be there!" To which I was accepted and was welcomed by the team! Wahoo! :)
Within a week, I had all my paperwork sorted to send into the New Zealand Consulate in hopes they would approve a work visa, under the student and trainee policy. After excitedly UPS-ing everything in, I sat and waited it out for, what possibly was, the longest three weeks in the history of... well... this year. Haha -- Common, I have to be realistic!
My work visa arrived a week before I was planning to leave. As soon as it arrived, I jumped online, booked my flight, booked my hotel and started contemplating how I was going to bring my closet and excessive amount of shoes to New Zealand!
---
Monday September 21st came quickly and with many tears, not sure if this was due to lack of sleep, hormones or the obvious - that I would just miss my friends and family. I spent the morning packing my life up in two giant suitcases, clothes in one, shoes & etc in the other (yes, I did bring that many shoes lol). I said good bye to my two amazing best friends, my parents and my fur ball, pup. My boyfriend got off work a smidge early and was able to drive me to the airport, which of course led to another tearful goodbye, on my end of course.
The flight was fantastic. Watched a few movies, listened to music, slept a solid 50% of it, ate... typical 13 hour flight, but quite comfortable. Air New Zealand, you know what's up. I will fly with you any day!
I landed to a wet and cloudy day in Auckland. I buzzed through customs, picked up my bags and as soon as I got out into the terminal I found the Telecom store to buy a sim card and data plan for my phone. Relieved that I had that part covered, I ventured out to get the "Super Shuttle" to drop me off at my hotel.
The people that were in the shuttle with me were very kind, one even offered up her contact details in case I needed any advice! And once I arrived at the hotel they all waved me off with a smile and well wishes.
My hotel was nice, I wouldn't say it's anything above an average hotel - comfy bed, mini fridge, bathroom, tv... can't complain at all! Wasn't in need of anything special! I spent the day wandering up and down the streets a bit before being back at the hotel by 3pm ready for a glass of wine and to lay in bed. Going 19 hours ahead was going to be interesting, hoping to adjust quickly!
I believe I fell asleep sometime around 5, lights on, tv on and remote still in hand... meh!
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Monday, September 10, 2012
Monday, July 30, 2012
Bucket List
When meeting new people and trying to break the ice, the one question I usually ask is "what is number 1 on your bucket list?" ...A lot of people have a tough time answering this, some have never even thought about it before, but I believe it's incredibly important. Everyone should have a bucket list. There are so many people in the world that are trying to learn more about themselves, trying to figure out what they're really passionate about or even what their goals are (because they do change from time to time!) and I feel like having a bucket list provides a little bit of insight into all those things. You're bucket list doesn't have to be realistic, it doesn't have to be affordable, it can be absolutely absurd... it can be whatever you want it to be because it. is. yours. And at the end of the day, they are your dreams on paper, no matter how big or small.
Now the reason why I ask people this when I first meet them? I believe that not only does it open them up a bit more to you and gets them thinking, but it gives a little bit more insight into who they are. Maybe the answer they give is really funny and it shows they know how to crack a joke or find humor in the little things... or maybe it's adventurous or something really, really unique. Either way, it's usually thoughtful and it's a great way to get to know someone.
So on that note,
if you don't have one - start one.
If you do, ask someone else and compare notes.
:)
In no particular order, these are some of the things on my bucket list:
1. Throw a dart on a map and travel to where ever it lands.
2. Build a snowman on the beach.
3. Eat a cheeseburger at the Taj Mahal.
4. Ride an elephant in India
5. Run across an MLB field while a baseball game is going on.
6. Run a marathon.
7. Publish a book.
8. Learn how to do a back flip.
9. Sleep in an igloo for a night.
10. Take the train all the way across Canada, from British Columbia to Nova Scotia
Now the reason why I ask people this when I first meet them? I believe that not only does it open them up a bit more to you and gets them thinking, but it gives a little bit more insight into who they are. Maybe the answer they give is really funny and it shows they know how to crack a joke or find humor in the little things... or maybe it's adventurous or something really, really unique. Either way, it's usually thoughtful and it's a great way to get to know someone.
So on that note,
if you don't have one - start one.
If you do, ask someone else and compare notes.
:)
In no particular order, these are some of the things on my bucket list:
1. Throw a dart on a map and travel to where ever it lands.
2. Build a snowman on the beach.
3. Eat a cheeseburger at the Taj Mahal.
4. Ride an elephant in India
5. Run across an MLB field while a baseball game is going on.
6. Run a marathon.
7. Publish a book.
8. Learn how to do a back flip.
9. Sleep in an igloo for a night.
10. Take the train all the way across Canada, from British Columbia to Nova Scotia
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Quote It
You have brains in your head and feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
You're on your own and you know what you know
And you are the one who'll decide where to go.
- Dr. Seuss
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Day 33: Ello, again, England!
Waking up this morning, I was excited to be getting on a plane again! With all the train rides I've been on the past month, I can definitely say I appreciate airplanes so much more than I had previously.
I slid off my top bunk and quietly got dressed, grabbed my suitcase and new duffel bag (..had to! Didn't want to be overweight again, haha!) I headed for the checkout, then the metro to Plaça Catalunya and then the bus to the airport! Phew!
I had made sure I was up early this morning because, as I had recalled, the bus ride from the airport was rather long and I didn't know what the airport would be like once I got there.
Well! When I arrived, I was about 3 hours early with not a soul around! I checked in immediately, hoping to enjoy all the shops I had seen when I flew in a few days earlier -- buuuuuut of course, with my luck, not only did I have a ton of time to kill, but all those great little shops were in a different area of the terminal that I couldn't get to! Bah!
I found a duty free, to which I had a gander around, then in a desperate act of hunger, grabbed an egg McMuffin from McDonalds... Not the smartest decision I could've made. I don't eat fast food all that often, so my stomach instantly turned after eating it.
With my phone on its last brink of life and my stomach feeling like I just swallowed a bucket-worth of grease, I found a cold tile on the floor to sit/ lay on beside a plug to charge my phone. Eventually, I had wandered looking for my gate, which they didn't actually announce until approximately 35 minutes prior to the flight.
Now let me just tell you...I boarded my large British Airways plane, and by gosh - AH-mazing! Can we just talk about the leather seats for a minute??! I was in the regular ol' economy seating that had big cushy leather seats and more legroom than annnyyyy delta flight I have ever been on! If I have the option to fly B.A. to anywhere I need to go in the future, you bet I'll be on that plane again! I believe... when I sat down... I just about burst out with a solid "Yippeeee!" in excitement.
Well done, British Airways, well done.
I arrived at London Heathrow airport within a few hours, most of which I had slept through. I sauntered on down to customs and I have to say, the customs officers in London are the happiest folk! Obviously this is the second time I've flown into London on this trip and both times they have been so friendly! The customs agent chatted me up about school... and art... and my trip... he asked me which country I had liked the best... It was so nice! And at the end of it he even told me to have a great time in London and with my family in Southampton! I walked away with a smile on my face and so appreciative of his friendliness! See! Simple kindness like that can go a long way!
I grabbed my suitcase at baggage claim and then headed out to find Julian & Karen, my dads cousins, with big, welcoming smiles on their faces and waving Union Jack flags! We hugged it out and then set out for Southampton!
Southampton is about an hour south of London, famous for the departure of the Titanic. My grandfather was born there and that's where a lot of his side of the family still resides. Needless to say, I was excited to see a little bit of my heritage and meet some family members I hadn't met before!
When we arrived, it's funny, all I could think about was how much Southampton reminded me of and resembled my hometown in Ontario. I definitely wasn't expecting that, but it was so great - it made it feel homey to me. Arriving at Karen & Julian's home, it was such a cute little house! Filled of nic nacs and photos and Beatles collector items! (Love the Beatles!) I was shown the bedroom that would be mine for the next couple nights and then just relaxed for a little bit before meeting up with Margie & Lec, two more family members of mine.
We went to a little place called...Uhh...Horseshoe... Horseshoe something-er-other Pub. Haha... Well whatever the name, they had great fish'n'chips -- and that was ooooookay with me! We had some drinks, some laughs, and Margie was sooo kind to have brought me a little goodie bag full of souvenirs I could take home to remember my visit! So, so nice of her!
Afterwards, Julian, Karen & I headed back to the house and all hung out on the couch watching this hilariously, raunchy show called Celebrity Juice. It was absolutely rah-diculous! Omg! A show like that would NEVER fly in North America! God, I love UK television! Haha! So funny! We watched a few episodes then called it a night!
Tomorrow, we plan to go see the Titanic Museum, so excited!
I slid off my top bunk and quietly got dressed, grabbed my suitcase and new duffel bag (..had to! Didn't want to be overweight again, haha!) I headed for the checkout, then the metro to Plaça Catalunya and then the bus to the airport! Phew!
I had made sure I was up early this morning because, as I had recalled, the bus ride from the airport was rather long and I didn't know what the airport would be like once I got there.
Well! When I arrived, I was about 3 hours early with not a soul around! I checked in immediately, hoping to enjoy all the shops I had seen when I flew in a few days earlier -- buuuuuut of course, with my luck, not only did I have a ton of time to kill, but all those great little shops were in a different area of the terminal that I couldn't get to! Bah!
I found a duty free, to which I had a gander around, then in a desperate act of hunger, grabbed an egg McMuffin from McDonalds... Not the smartest decision I could've made. I don't eat fast food all that often, so my stomach instantly turned after eating it.
With my phone on its last brink of life and my stomach feeling like I just swallowed a bucket-worth of grease, I found a cold tile on the floor to sit/ lay on beside a plug to charge my phone. Eventually, I had wandered looking for my gate, which they didn't actually announce until approximately 35 minutes prior to the flight.
Now let me just tell you...I boarded my large British Airways plane, and by gosh - AH-mazing! Can we just talk about the leather seats for a minute??! I was in the regular ol' economy seating that had big cushy leather seats and more legroom than annnyyyy delta flight I have ever been on! If I have the option to fly B.A. to anywhere I need to go in the future, you bet I'll be on that plane again! I believe... when I sat down... I just about burst out with a solid "Yippeeee!" in excitement.
Well done, British Airways, well done.
I arrived at London Heathrow airport within a few hours, most of which I had slept through. I sauntered on down to customs and I have to say, the customs officers in London are the happiest folk! Obviously this is the second time I've flown into London on this trip and both times they have been so friendly! The customs agent chatted me up about school... and art... and my trip... he asked me which country I had liked the best... It was so nice! And at the end of it he even told me to have a great time in London and with my family in Southampton! I walked away with a smile on my face and so appreciative of his friendliness! See! Simple kindness like that can go a long way!
I grabbed my suitcase at baggage claim and then headed out to find Julian & Karen, my dads cousins, with big, welcoming smiles on their faces and waving Union Jack flags! We hugged it out and then set out for Southampton!
Southampton is about an hour south of London, famous for the departure of the Titanic. My grandfather was born there and that's where a lot of his side of the family still resides. Needless to say, I was excited to see a little bit of my heritage and meet some family members I hadn't met before!
When we arrived, it's funny, all I could think about was how much Southampton reminded me of and resembled my hometown in Ontario. I definitely wasn't expecting that, but it was so great - it made it feel homey to me. Arriving at Karen & Julian's home, it was such a cute little house! Filled of nic nacs and photos and Beatles collector items! (Love the Beatles!) I was shown the bedroom that would be mine for the next couple nights and then just relaxed for a little bit before meeting up with Margie & Lec, two more family members of mine.
We went to a little place called...Uhh...Horseshoe... Horseshoe something-er-other Pub. Haha... Well whatever the name, they had great fish'n'chips -- and that was ooooookay with me! We had some drinks, some laughs, and Margie was sooo kind to have brought me a little goodie bag full of souvenirs I could take home to remember my visit! So, so nice of her!
Afterwards, Julian, Karen & I headed back to the house and all hung out on the couch watching this hilariously, raunchy show called Celebrity Juice. It was absolutely rah-diculous! Omg! A show like that would NEVER fly in North America! God, I love UK television! Haha! So funny! We watched a few episodes then called it a night!
Tomorrow, we plan to go see the Titanic Museum, so excited!
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Day 31: Busy day in Barcelona!
May 29th, 2012 ---
I woke up on my top bunk this morning ready to do some yoga! I threw on my gym clothes, looked up the time for a yoga place that I had found one street over from my hostel and headed out! I was lucky to find out there was a class within 20 minutes!
While I was waiting for the yoga place to open, I sat outside the door and a girl from Germany chatted me up who was super nice. Shortly after, the owner came and let us in.
The yoga studio was a cool little place, just a big open room smelling of incense, a table at the front of the room with some candles on it, as well as two small short walls on either side of the entrance creating a small changing area.
I walked in, paid my €3 for the class, grabbed a mat and sat down cross-legged. I was kind of nervous, since I've been feeling so out of shape on this trip and I hadn't done yoga since early April when I did it with my friend Lauren.
The class was an hour long. It actually wasn't that bad. There were a few parts here and there where I thoroughly regretted signing up and prayed for it to end soon, but like any fitness class, it's meant to challenge you and I ended up enjoying it when all was said and done!
I went back to my hostel around the corner and quickly showered and got ready to browse around Barcelona!
I headed out with my destination in mind: the market!
Everyone had told me how fantastic it was! With it only being 3 or 4 blocks away, I headed straight in that direction!
Walking through the entrance, I was amazed by the madness and the hustle-and-bustle of this crazy place! There were people everywhere! I grabbed an amazing banana-orange smoothie right at one of the first booths I came across and meandered up and down the rows. Everything was so beautiful!! So organized! It was like no market I've ever been to before!
Rows upon rows of candy, veggies, fruits, smoothies, nuts, spices, breads.. And theeeeeeen.. I passed a few meat counters.
Neeeeeeeverrrr have I ever been so disgusted. Sitting in the meat coolers were skinned sheep/lamb and pig heads... Skinned rabbits.... Chicken legs... Agghhh it was soooo gross!! I'm pretty sure I became a vegetarian as soon as I saw the skinless rabbit staring back at me. Ughhhh gives me shivers just thinking about it again. Ick!! Needless to say, I moved on pretty quickly!
I grabbed some fruit and some honey-covered almonds and then decided to roam the beautiful streets of Barcelona. (And by roam, I mean take in the sites... and the shoppinggggggg! Woop! Definitely got some cute new summer threads!)
Around 6, I sat down on the patio of a restaurant in Plaça Reial and ordered myself a sangria.
The waiter comes back a few minutes later and places a freakin JUG of sangria infront of me.
"1/2 liter of Sangria" Then walks away...
FO REAL?!! I just wanted a glass!! Hahaha oh boy...
I ordered a small salad and continued to work on my blog about my cruise and had about a glass and a half before I finally said no more! The jug didn't even look like I had put a dent in it! Haha oh well!
Following my Sangria, I walked back over to that great falafel place I found last night and got myself another for supper then headed back to the hostel to chill for a bit and charge my phone.
After hanging out for a while in the lounge of the hostel that was bumping music and buzzing with people, I decided I wanted to go do something!
I googled what some of the top touristy spots to see Gaudí architecture and head off to find the Metro!
The metro, I found, was super confusing! You have to go next to the tracks of certain lines to get to the stairs to other lines and one stop would have two entrances in different places, sometimes down the street from eachother.. It was weird and I didn't get it. Lol Somehow I managed to get it all sorted and made my way to Casa Batlló!
Casa Batlló is a huge apartment building that Gaudí designed. The whole building looks like fish bones. The balconies look like fish heads and the edges of the roof look like vertebrae. It's weird and creepy in a really fascinating way. When I arrived it was dusk and all the spotlights were on - lit up, it looked amazing!
After snapping some pics I was feeling gusty and confident enough to make my way over to La Sagrada Familia on the metro.
About three or so years ago, I had been browsing the National Geographic Traveller photography website when I stumbled upon an exquisite picture of La Bascilia de La Sagrada Familia. My mind was blown by this picture. For whatever reason, this basilica reminded me of a giant sandcastle.. Like those ones you used to make as a kid when you took wet sand and dripped it as high as it could go - that's what the towers of La Sagrada reminded me of. I mentally cataloged this image and stored the actual picture somewhere in the depths of my computer files never to be seen again. BUT I always remembered the name and that it was in Barcelona and one day I would go see it in person.
Well here I was, coming out of the metro excited to see this enormous church I had found out about years ago. I have to say I was shocked by the size of it! It was SO much smaller than I had imagined! I mean it was big, but I had always imagined it sooo much bigger because of all the aerial pictures I had seen previously made it look like it almost towered over the city!
Nonetheless, it was as exquisite as I had imagined. The lights shone up on to the church revealing all the outstanding detail of the grand entrance. It was a sight to be seen! I stood there for a little while, proud and happy (like that deep down, proud-of-yourself, accomplished kind of happy) that I could cross off seeing La Sagrada off my bucket list.
When I was content with myself, I hopped right back on the Metro and headed out to meet a familiar face from San Diego!
I met my friend Wes through another friend, Kurtis, from school. They grew up together in Steamboat, Colorado and now both happen to live in San Diego. I had hung out a few times with him around SD, even more when I had gone out to Steamboat back in January on a snowboarding trip. He was a cool guy. So when we realized that we both were going to be in Barcelona at the same time we had to meet up and grab a few drinks.
I arrived at his apartment and hung out with all his roommates before we all hopped in a cab and set off to Espit Chupito down near the water. This place literally had hundreds of names of shots on the wall! It was crazy! I have no idea what they ordered, but all of a sudden I heard my name get called by one of Wes' roommates and was led over to the bar where there was some sort of flaming shot put in front of me.
Oh dear God... :|
I was told to grab a straw and suck it back as fast as I could or else the straw would melt.
Errr..... When in Barcelona I guess!
So I grab a cute little pink straw and on the count of three, I sluuuuurrrp it back as fast I can!
Let me tell you... shots that are flaming... well, they burn just as much when they hit your insides. UGHHHH. Why I do this to myself, I really wonder sometimes.
-- wait..
YOLO! haha (You only live once)
Anyways... we had our shot there, then went to some little smelly Irish pub around the corner to listen to some awesome live music, dance and have another few drinks. It was a blast!
Around 1:30ish, I decided to head back to my hostel, which luckily was only like 2 blocks down and crash out. Definitely exhausted from another eventful day, might just have to keep it mellow tomorrow!
I woke up on my top bunk this morning ready to do some yoga! I threw on my gym clothes, looked up the time for a yoga place that I had found one street over from my hostel and headed out! I was lucky to find out there was a class within 20 minutes!
While I was waiting for the yoga place to open, I sat outside the door and a girl from Germany chatted me up who was super nice. Shortly after, the owner came and let us in.
The yoga studio was a cool little place, just a big open room smelling of incense, a table at the front of the room with some candles on it, as well as two small short walls on either side of the entrance creating a small changing area.
I walked in, paid my €3 for the class, grabbed a mat and sat down cross-legged. I was kind of nervous, since I've been feeling so out of shape on this trip and I hadn't done yoga since early April when I did it with my friend Lauren.
The class was an hour long. It actually wasn't that bad. There were a few parts here and there where I thoroughly regretted signing up and prayed for it to end soon, but like any fitness class, it's meant to challenge you and I ended up enjoying it when all was said and done!
I went back to my hostel around the corner and quickly showered and got ready to browse around Barcelona!
I headed out with my destination in mind: the market!
Everyone had told me how fantastic it was! With it only being 3 or 4 blocks away, I headed straight in that direction!
Walking through the entrance, I was amazed by the madness and the hustle-and-bustle of this crazy place! There were people everywhere! I grabbed an amazing banana-orange smoothie right at one of the first booths I came across and meandered up and down the rows. Everything was so beautiful!! So organized! It was like no market I've ever been to before!
Rows upon rows of candy, veggies, fruits, smoothies, nuts, spices, breads.. And theeeeeeen.. I passed a few meat counters.
Neeeeeeeverrrr have I ever been so disgusted. Sitting in the meat coolers were skinned sheep/lamb and pig heads... Skinned rabbits.... Chicken legs... Agghhh it was soooo gross!! I'm pretty sure I became a vegetarian as soon as I saw the skinless rabbit staring back at me. Ughhhh gives me shivers just thinking about it again. Ick!! Needless to say, I moved on pretty quickly!
I grabbed some fruit and some honey-covered almonds and then decided to roam the beautiful streets of Barcelona. (And by roam, I mean take in the sites... and the shoppinggggggg! Woop! Definitely got some cute new summer threads!)
Around 6, I sat down on the patio of a restaurant in Plaça Reial and ordered myself a sangria.
The waiter comes back a few minutes later and places a freakin JUG of sangria infront of me.
"1/2 liter of Sangria" Then walks away...
FO REAL?!! I just wanted a glass!! Hahaha oh boy...
I ordered a small salad and continued to work on my blog about my cruise and had about a glass and a half before I finally said no more! The jug didn't even look like I had put a dent in it! Haha oh well!
Following my Sangria, I walked back over to that great falafel place I found last night and got myself another for supper then headed back to the hostel to chill for a bit and charge my phone.
After hanging out for a while in the lounge of the hostel that was bumping music and buzzing with people, I decided I wanted to go do something!
I googled what some of the top touristy spots to see Gaudí architecture and head off to find the Metro!
The metro, I found, was super confusing! You have to go next to the tracks of certain lines to get to the stairs to other lines and one stop would have two entrances in different places, sometimes down the street from eachother.. It was weird and I didn't get it. Lol Somehow I managed to get it all sorted and made my way to Casa Batlló!
Casa Batlló is a huge apartment building that Gaudí designed. The whole building looks like fish bones. The balconies look like fish heads and the edges of the roof look like vertebrae. It's weird and creepy in a really fascinating way. When I arrived it was dusk and all the spotlights were on - lit up, it looked amazing!
After snapping some pics I was feeling gusty and confident enough to make my way over to La Sagrada Familia on the metro.
About three or so years ago, I had been browsing the National Geographic Traveller photography website when I stumbled upon an exquisite picture of La Bascilia de La Sagrada Familia. My mind was blown by this picture. For whatever reason, this basilica reminded me of a giant sandcastle.. Like those ones you used to make as a kid when you took wet sand and dripped it as high as it could go - that's what the towers of La Sagrada reminded me of. I mentally cataloged this image and stored the actual picture somewhere in the depths of my computer files never to be seen again. BUT I always remembered the name and that it was in Barcelona and one day I would go see it in person.
Well here I was, coming out of the metro excited to see this enormous church I had found out about years ago. I have to say I was shocked by the size of it! It was SO much smaller than I had imagined! I mean it was big, but I had always imagined it sooo much bigger because of all the aerial pictures I had seen previously made it look like it almost towered over the city!
Nonetheless, it was as exquisite as I had imagined. The lights shone up on to the church revealing all the outstanding detail of the grand entrance. It was a sight to be seen! I stood there for a little while, proud and happy (like that deep down, proud-of-yourself, accomplished kind of happy) that I could cross off seeing La Sagrada off my bucket list.
When I was content with myself, I hopped right back on the Metro and headed out to meet a familiar face from San Diego!
I met my friend Wes through another friend, Kurtis, from school. They grew up together in Steamboat, Colorado and now both happen to live in San Diego. I had hung out a few times with him around SD, even more when I had gone out to Steamboat back in January on a snowboarding trip. He was a cool guy. So when we realized that we both were going to be in Barcelona at the same time we had to meet up and grab a few drinks.
I arrived at his apartment and hung out with all his roommates before we all hopped in a cab and set off to Espit Chupito down near the water. This place literally had hundreds of names of shots on the wall! It was crazy! I have no idea what they ordered, but all of a sudden I heard my name get called by one of Wes' roommates and was led over to the bar where there was some sort of flaming shot put in front of me.
Oh dear God... :|
I was told to grab a straw and suck it back as fast as I could or else the straw would melt.
Errr..... When in Barcelona I guess!
So I grab a cute little pink straw and on the count of three, I sluuuuurrrp it back as fast I can!
Let me tell you... shots that are flaming... well, they burn just as much when they hit your insides. UGHHHH. Why I do this to myself, I really wonder sometimes.
-- wait..
YOLO! haha (You only live once)
Anyways... we had our shot there, then went to some little smelly Irish pub around the corner to listen to some awesome live music, dance and have another few drinks. It was a blast!
Around 1:30ish, I decided to head back to my hostel, which luckily was only like 2 blocks down and crash out. Definitely exhausted from another eventful day, might just have to keep it mellow tomorrow!
 |
| Candy at the Market! Mmm.. |
 |
| At the Market on La Ramblas! |
 |
| Casa Batlló |
 |
| La Bascilia de La Sagrada Familia |
Day 30: To Barcelona, I go!
May 28th, 2012 ---
Check out at the hotel was 10am this morning and though my flight wasn't until 2:30, I decided to head straight to the airport.
I walked over to the train station, hoping on the local line to Fiumicino Airport. The airport was a mad house. People and check in booths everywhere! I was sooo confused!
If you've ever been to the airport in Rome then you may understand why I suddenly became overwhelmed with confusion of where to go next! The gates to check in were EVERYWHERE!!! Maybe I'm spoiled when in the United States because our airports make it very easy to figure out where your airline check in is because all the stands are in one big line down the terminal, but in Rome you have hundreds of check in booths! I'm standing in the middle of the terminal with the stereotypical confused tourist look on my face, thinking "Uhhhhhhhhhh....."
I see airport security and ask where the information booth is so that maybe I could actually get some information about why the heck this airport has to be so confusing (okay, well no, but I could at least find out where my check in booth was!). The woman at the information desk gave me a number... because apparently it's actually not that hard to figure out where check in is if you notice the numbers on the top corners of each booth and look at the giant board that tells which airline is what number... Duhhhhh... (sigh..)
I walked over to the check-in and to my surprise (which I haven't ever notice in other airports) there was a giant scale to weigh your bags before you get to the desk.
Oh god.. here we go... please, please, please, please, please, pleeeeeeeeease don't be overweight!!!!
28kg. (61lbs... limit is still 50lbs...)
Son-of-a!!!!
Alright, alright.... So I drag my bag over to a nearby corner and start emptying. My carry-on bag almost ready to rip. (Hey, it was a free-with-purchase Steve Madden bag... they only hold up so well.)
I put my bag back on the scale, "24.1"
....hmm.... my carry-on is about to make me topple to one side, I'm starting to sweat from the lack of AC in this place, and the line up is starting to wrap around the corner..... WELL, time to cross my fingers and hope luck stays on my side for this one!
AN HOUR FREAKIN' LATER...
I finally get through the line, to the check-in counter and I put on my "Let-me-dazzle-you" face.
"Hiiii! How are you? (*insert big smile here*) ...Busy Day? ...Aww.. yeah, that's hard! ...Yes, I am going to Barcelona!" (Please don't look at my bag, please don't look at my bag...) "I know! ...Yeah, they reaaally should turn on the AC in here! ....So sorry to hear that! ...Well, have a great day!!!"
PHEW!
... almost wished I had left more stuff in my bag now! Ha!
Thank goodness I was so early because it took me another 30-40 minutes just to get through security! By the time I got to my gate, the flight was just beginning to board!
I was on an airline called Vueling. I was a little nervous because I had never heard of it before, but it was super cheap so I decided to take a chance! It turned out to be pretty great! I mean it was nothing super special but it was clean, the seats were comfortable and I can't complain about the service.
I was stoked to have an entire exit row to myself.. stretch out.. take a nap... take up as much room on the arm rests as I like.. Maybe sit in the aisle seat.. then have a peak out the window... You know, just enjoy the luxury of having an entire row to myself... that is until this older couple decided to switch seats and sit beside me RIGHT when we got into the air. (D'oh!) I wouldn't have minded it they had at least apologized for constantly bumping into me, trying to move my stuff to make room for their stuff and hogging the arm rests. Sigh... well at least I got lucky with the slightly overweight baggage right?
When we landed in Barcelona, I couldn't believe how beautiful the airport was! It was so modern and clean and open! They had tons of shops and restaurants and even a beautiful courtyard with trees and a grassy area in the courtyard to kick up your feet for a while and read a book, if you will. If only all airport looked like Barcelona's!
After I grabbed my bags, I soon realized my phone had no battery. I searched high and low for a plug and ended up being told the only outlets were in the washrooms.
Really?
Okay Barcelona Airport, you were pretty great until now.
So there I am standing in the bathroom with my phone plugged in and charging while watching women wash their hands, put on lipstick, powder their noses, fix their hair, etc... seeing a few drink from the sink was a little gross but whatever.. Not my cuppa'tea.. I guess when you're thirsty, you're thirsty, huh? Haha
I let my phone get to about 20% before getting out of there, with the directions on my phone, I caught the Aerobus to Plaça Catalunya where I would catch the metro to my hostel.
The metro was no big deal, got on at one stop, off at the next. Had no idea how close it really was... probably could've walked! Oh well. I walked a couple more blocks down to where it said my hostel was.. in this cute little square called Plaça Reial! The square featured lots of little cafes and restaurants with people sitting and drinking their sangria on the patios and a big round water fountain in the center. Super cute!
I walked through the entrance of Plaça Reial, off La Ramblas, and made a right - my hostel, Kabul, was just a few storefronts down. I was buzzed in and had the fun of lugging my giant suitcase and heavy carry-on up a flight of stairs to the check-in desk. There was music going people having beers at the bar around the corner in the lounge.. it was so lively in there! My excitement perked a little bit having stayed in really mellow accommodations previously.
After checking in, I took the elevator (thank God) up to my room on the third floor and put my stuff in my room. As I was starting to change, two girls walk in - my roommates for the night. "Hi!" They say hi back.. and then I quickly realize, after trying to make a bit of conversation with them, they don't know more than a few words of English. Of course I get stuck with the non-English speaking French chicks. Darn! Was really hoping to maybe make a cool friend today! Maybe later, downstairs I guess!
So I cleaned myself up, putting on a cute little outfit and then headed out the door to explore Barcelona before having to head over to Palau de la Musica Catalana for a Spanish guitar concert by Manuel Gonzalez!
---
When I first moved to San Diego, I had lived in an apartment in Mission Valley called Club River Run. It was the same complex that my school, the Art Institute, had their student housing. We thought this was a good plan for meeting people as well as being close to school, and for safety, etc. On one of my first days in the complex, there was a group of younger people (my age) sitting on their second-story walk-up balcony... as my mom and I walked by, all I hear is "Dammmmmmmnnnnnnn!"
Of course I crack up laughing, and then we all start laughing when my mom turns around and says "Oh thanks!" hahaha!
Well, that guy that said that... that was Afram, who later ended up becoming one of my best friends, and after that my roommate when I moved downtown. Afram grew up playing guitar with his dad, specifically that Spanish style. So when we became good friends, we would all sit in my living room doing homework, or on my balcony telling stories with Afram playing his guitar in the background. It got even better when we lived together and I would come home and he would be sitting on my couch or balcony just playing guitar. It was awesome! Him and I always used to talk about how great it would be to go see a real show, whether it be in LA sometime or one day, dare to dream, in Spain. Well Frammie, because of you, I fell in love with the sounds and styles of Spanish guitar and here I am, in Spain, off to see that concert!
---
After wandering around for a little while, I arrived at the beeeeeeeaaaauuuutifullll Palau Musica Catalana! Designed by architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner, it was built in the same Catalan modernista style that most of Gaudi's designs are done. It was amazing! The small details of the pillars, the ceilings, the walls, the windows... everything was so intricate! It was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997, in person, you can most definitely see why.
As I waited, in awe of the incredible and historical building I was standing in, I grabbed a quick appetizer and drink at the little bar set-up they had. I was absolutely starving from having not eaten in so long. Before I knew it, the lights started blinking and it was time to go find my seat!
I was sitting in the third box to the right of the stage, first row, and super cramped seating. I was relieved to have had a corner seat so I had a liiiiiiitttle bit of room, but still not much. Manuel Gonzalez comes out, everyone claps, and he sits down under the spotlight on a chair and begins to play.
It was so magical. I feel like Spanish guitar always evokes so much emotion when its played; sometimes I think even more than any other style of music. I love it. It was nice to even recognize some of the songs he played! He was fantastic!
After the show, I ended up meeting him, thanking him, and getting an autographed cd! Look at me go! Wahoo! haha Maybe I'll give it to Afram the next time I see him! :)
When I left the Palau, I was still starving and exhausted. That little appetizer did nothing. So I found an amazing little vegetarian place just on the outside Plaça Reial where I had my first falafal! I couldn't tell you what was in it, other than some hummus, I knew that much - but it was GREAT! If only I knew what the whole thing had in it so I could try and find it or make it in San Diego!
Oh well...
Following my first and awesome food experience in Barcelona, I went back to the hostel, exhausted. It was nice to meet my third roommate that night when I got back. She was super nice, chatty and from Vancouver! Sweeeeet! We chatted a little bit while I was laying on my top bunk, her on the bottom before finally passing out...
Nice end to a busy day! :)
----
This is Manuel Gonzalez at the Palau back in 2009, but he did play this song as well when I saw him! :)
---
Pictures of Palau De La Musica Catalana:
Check out at the hotel was 10am this morning and though my flight wasn't until 2:30, I decided to head straight to the airport.
I walked over to the train station, hoping on the local line to Fiumicino Airport. The airport was a mad house. People and check in booths everywhere! I was sooo confused!
If you've ever been to the airport in Rome then you may understand why I suddenly became overwhelmed with confusion of where to go next! The gates to check in were EVERYWHERE!!! Maybe I'm spoiled when in the United States because our airports make it very easy to figure out where your airline check in is because all the stands are in one big line down the terminal, but in Rome you have hundreds of check in booths! I'm standing in the middle of the terminal with the stereotypical confused tourist look on my face, thinking "Uhhhhhhhhhh....."
I see airport security and ask where the information booth is so that maybe I could actually get some information about why the heck this airport has to be so confusing (okay, well no, but I could at least find out where my check in booth was!). The woman at the information desk gave me a number... because apparently it's actually not that hard to figure out where check in is if you notice the numbers on the top corners of each booth and look at the giant board that tells which airline is what number... Duhhhhh... (sigh..)
I walked over to the check-in and to my surprise (which I haven't ever notice in other airports) there was a giant scale to weigh your bags before you get to the desk.
Oh god.. here we go... please, please, please, please, please, pleeeeeeeeease don't be overweight!!!!
28kg. (61lbs... limit is still 50lbs...)
Son-of-a!!!!
Alright, alright.... So I drag my bag over to a nearby corner and start emptying. My carry-on bag almost ready to rip. (Hey, it was a free-with-purchase Steve Madden bag... they only hold up so well.)
I put my bag back on the scale, "24.1"
....hmm.... my carry-on is about to make me topple to one side, I'm starting to sweat from the lack of AC in this place, and the line up is starting to wrap around the corner..... WELL, time to cross my fingers and hope luck stays on my side for this one!
AN HOUR FREAKIN' LATER...
I finally get through the line, to the check-in counter and I put on my "Let-me-dazzle-you" face.
"Hiiii! How are you? (*insert big smile here*) ...Busy Day? ...Aww.. yeah, that's hard! ...Yes, I am going to Barcelona!" (Please don't look at my bag, please don't look at my bag...) "I know! ...Yeah, they reaaally should turn on the AC in here! ....So sorry to hear that! ...Well, have a great day!!!"
PHEW!
... almost wished I had left more stuff in my bag now! Ha!
Thank goodness I was so early because it took me another 30-40 minutes just to get through security! By the time I got to my gate, the flight was just beginning to board!
I was on an airline called Vueling. I was a little nervous because I had never heard of it before, but it was super cheap so I decided to take a chance! It turned out to be pretty great! I mean it was nothing super special but it was clean, the seats were comfortable and I can't complain about the service.
I was stoked to have an entire exit row to myself.. stretch out.. take a nap... take up as much room on the arm rests as I like.. Maybe sit in the aisle seat.. then have a peak out the window... You know, just enjoy the luxury of having an entire row to myself... that is until this older couple decided to switch seats and sit beside me RIGHT when we got into the air. (D'oh!) I wouldn't have minded it they had at least apologized for constantly bumping into me, trying to move my stuff to make room for their stuff and hogging the arm rests. Sigh... well at least I got lucky with the slightly overweight baggage right?
When we landed in Barcelona, I couldn't believe how beautiful the airport was! It was so modern and clean and open! They had tons of shops and restaurants and even a beautiful courtyard with trees and a grassy area in the courtyard to kick up your feet for a while and read a book, if you will. If only all airport looked like Barcelona's!
After I grabbed my bags, I soon realized my phone had no battery. I searched high and low for a plug and ended up being told the only outlets were in the washrooms.
Really?
Okay Barcelona Airport, you were pretty great until now.
So there I am standing in the bathroom with my phone plugged in and charging while watching women wash their hands, put on lipstick, powder their noses, fix their hair, etc... seeing a few drink from the sink was a little gross but whatever.. Not my cuppa'tea.. I guess when you're thirsty, you're thirsty, huh? Haha
I let my phone get to about 20% before getting out of there, with the directions on my phone, I caught the Aerobus to Plaça Catalunya where I would catch the metro to my hostel.
The metro was no big deal, got on at one stop, off at the next. Had no idea how close it really was... probably could've walked! Oh well. I walked a couple more blocks down to where it said my hostel was.. in this cute little square called Plaça Reial! The square featured lots of little cafes and restaurants with people sitting and drinking their sangria on the patios and a big round water fountain in the center. Super cute!
I walked through the entrance of Plaça Reial, off La Ramblas, and made a right - my hostel, Kabul, was just a few storefronts down. I was buzzed in and had the fun of lugging my giant suitcase and heavy carry-on up a flight of stairs to the check-in desk. There was music going people having beers at the bar around the corner in the lounge.. it was so lively in there! My excitement perked a little bit having stayed in really mellow accommodations previously.
After checking in, I took the elevator (thank God) up to my room on the third floor and put my stuff in my room. As I was starting to change, two girls walk in - my roommates for the night. "Hi!" They say hi back.. and then I quickly realize, after trying to make a bit of conversation with them, they don't know more than a few words of English. Of course I get stuck with the non-English speaking French chicks. Darn! Was really hoping to maybe make a cool friend today! Maybe later, downstairs I guess!
So I cleaned myself up, putting on a cute little outfit and then headed out the door to explore Barcelona before having to head over to Palau de la Musica Catalana for a Spanish guitar concert by Manuel Gonzalez!
---
When I first moved to San Diego, I had lived in an apartment in Mission Valley called Club River Run. It was the same complex that my school, the Art Institute, had their student housing. We thought this was a good plan for meeting people as well as being close to school, and for safety, etc. On one of my first days in the complex, there was a group of younger people (my age) sitting on their second-story walk-up balcony... as my mom and I walked by, all I hear is "Dammmmmmmnnnnnnn!"
Of course I crack up laughing, and then we all start laughing when my mom turns around and says "Oh thanks!" hahaha!
Well, that guy that said that... that was Afram, who later ended up becoming one of my best friends, and after that my roommate when I moved downtown. Afram grew up playing guitar with his dad, specifically that Spanish style. So when we became good friends, we would all sit in my living room doing homework, or on my balcony telling stories with Afram playing his guitar in the background. It got even better when we lived together and I would come home and he would be sitting on my couch or balcony just playing guitar. It was awesome! Him and I always used to talk about how great it would be to go see a real show, whether it be in LA sometime or one day, dare to dream, in Spain. Well Frammie, because of you, I fell in love with the sounds and styles of Spanish guitar and here I am, in Spain, off to see that concert!
---
After wandering around for a little while, I arrived at the beeeeeeeaaaauuuutifullll Palau Musica Catalana! Designed by architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner, it was built in the same Catalan modernista style that most of Gaudi's designs are done. It was amazing! The small details of the pillars, the ceilings, the walls, the windows... everything was so intricate! It was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997, in person, you can most definitely see why.
As I waited, in awe of the incredible and historical building I was standing in, I grabbed a quick appetizer and drink at the little bar set-up they had. I was absolutely starving from having not eaten in so long. Before I knew it, the lights started blinking and it was time to go find my seat!
I was sitting in the third box to the right of the stage, first row, and super cramped seating. I was relieved to have had a corner seat so I had a liiiiiiitttle bit of room, but still not much. Manuel Gonzalez comes out, everyone claps, and he sits down under the spotlight on a chair and begins to play.
It was so magical. I feel like Spanish guitar always evokes so much emotion when its played; sometimes I think even more than any other style of music. I love it. It was nice to even recognize some of the songs he played! He was fantastic!
After the show, I ended up meeting him, thanking him, and getting an autographed cd! Look at me go! Wahoo! haha Maybe I'll give it to Afram the next time I see him! :)
When I left the Palau, I was still starving and exhausted. That little appetizer did nothing. So I found an amazing little vegetarian place just on the outside Plaça Reial where I had my first falafal! I couldn't tell you what was in it, other than some hummus, I knew that much - but it was GREAT! If only I knew what the whole thing had in it so I could try and find it or make it in San Diego!
Oh well...
Following my first and awesome food experience in Barcelona, I went back to the hostel, exhausted. It was nice to meet my third roommate that night when I got back. She was super nice, chatty and from Vancouver! Sweeeeet! We chatted a little bit while I was laying on my top bunk, her on the bottom before finally passing out...
Nice end to a busy day! :)
----
This is Manuel Gonzalez at the Palau back in 2009, but he did play this song as well when I saw him! :)
---
Pictures of Palau De La Musica Catalana:
Day 29: Extra little note..! ;)
Day 29: Extra Note...
I previously couldn't write about this before but when I decided to change my flight and head to Barcelona early, I also changed my flight to go back to California a week early.
Some reading, maybe be confused and surprised by this choice, but let me explain...
This trip has been a trip of a lifetime! I know that there are so many people that spend lifetimes dreaming of the adventure I have been on over the past little while and on that note, I don't even know where to begin to express my appreciation and just how grateful I am to have even been able to have such an incredible opportunity! On this trip, I have seen all sorts of different towns, cultures, churches, museums, ruins, etc and am at the point where, simply speaking, I'm freakin exhausted and ready to come home.
This past week on the cruise ship I had noticed much I'd been trying to avoid thinking about where I'm going because thinking about it started to seem more stressful than fun, and that is definitely not what it should be like at all. As I sat in my hotel in room trying to figure out where to go and for how long, I also noticed that I was planning in a way that was going to kill time rather than sight-see and explore... In my mind, I kept canceling out city-after-city thinking that about how exhausting it sounded bouncing around a several more cities. I kept thinking: "I just want to see Barcelona then head to England to see family and friends then go home."
After doing a bunch of research, I thought, if I'm at the point where I feel like I'm just trying to kill time and simply changing my flights is waaaaay cheaper than wasting the money going places I've lost motivation to see - I'd rather save the money for something else and come home early.
I'm happy the way this trip has gone, content with everything I've seen and at the point where I don't feel like I would have any little bit of regret coming home early.
So! I switched everything up!
Barcelona tomorrow, as said previously.
Fly into London, heading to Southampton to visit family on the 31st and then I'll be back in California on June 5th!
The reason I didn't write this/ post it previously was because there is this band from Spain that I really, really like called Crystal Fighters. When I had booked my trip I had looked into their tour dates to find out if I could catch them in Barcelona... I soon found out they would be doing their North American tour while I'd be on their side of the world - go figure! To make it even better they'd be in San Diego on June 6th! Of course, when I changed my flight I was ecstatic that I'd be able to go see them.
Now, I had introduced one of my friends to this band, which he now really likes and weeks ago I told him how bummed I was to miss their show but told him that he should definitely check them out! So as I was sitting talking to him on Facebook, knowing full well that I would be able to see them I brought up the Crystal Fighters concert again. He hadn't gotten a ticket yet. I never told him that I was coming home early but I ended up insisting and convincing him that he needed to get a ticket right at that moment! No holding back, no excuses: "JUST DO IT!!!!"
Finally, he sent me a picture of the confirmation of his ticket purchase.
He's going on about how he's actually kind of excited to go, intrigued to see how they'll be and that he'd take lots of pictures and videos for me!
Hahaha
Little did he know that I was sitting in my hotel room on the other side of the world cracking up laughing. As he was buying his ticket, I was buying mine. Lol
Afterwards, I text my roommates and the friend that is subletting my room telling them to get tickets to it, which they said they would. And finally I messaged the boyfriend of one of my very close friends and told him that he was not to tell her that I was coming home early but he had to get tickets to this show. At first he wasn't sure, it's finals week for them and they're in the midst of moving.. It's a hectic time, but he said he'd check it out.
Three days later I get a message from him saying how obsessed he is with Crystal Fighters and he bought tickets. Hahaha YES!
So to conclude this post, the reason this wasn't included before: I'm surprising two of my friends and will be partying with a whole whack of them the night after I get back! wahoo! Couldn't ruin the surprise!
:)
I previously couldn't write about this before but when I decided to change my flight and head to Barcelona early, I also changed my flight to go back to California a week early.
Some reading, maybe be confused and surprised by this choice, but let me explain...
This trip has been a trip of a lifetime! I know that there are so many people that spend lifetimes dreaming of the adventure I have been on over the past little while and on that note, I don't even know where to begin to express my appreciation and just how grateful I am to have even been able to have such an incredible opportunity! On this trip, I have seen all sorts of different towns, cultures, churches, museums, ruins, etc and am at the point where, simply speaking, I'm freakin exhausted and ready to come home.
This past week on the cruise ship I had noticed much I'd been trying to avoid thinking about where I'm going because thinking about it started to seem more stressful than fun, and that is definitely not what it should be like at all. As I sat in my hotel in room trying to figure out where to go and for how long, I also noticed that I was planning in a way that was going to kill time rather than sight-see and explore... In my mind, I kept canceling out city-after-city thinking that about how exhausting it sounded bouncing around a several more cities. I kept thinking: "I just want to see Barcelona then head to England to see family and friends then go home."
After doing a bunch of research, I thought, if I'm at the point where I feel like I'm just trying to kill time and simply changing my flights is waaaaay cheaper than wasting the money going places I've lost motivation to see - I'd rather save the money for something else and come home early.
I'm happy the way this trip has gone, content with everything I've seen and at the point where I don't feel like I would have any little bit of regret coming home early.
So! I switched everything up!
Barcelona tomorrow, as said previously.
Fly into London, heading to Southampton to visit family on the 31st and then I'll be back in California on June 5th!
The reason I didn't write this/ post it previously was because there is this band from Spain that I really, really like called Crystal Fighters. When I had booked my trip I had looked into their tour dates to find out if I could catch them in Barcelona... I soon found out they would be doing their North American tour while I'd be on their side of the world - go figure! To make it even better they'd be in San Diego on June 6th! Of course, when I changed my flight I was ecstatic that I'd be able to go see them.
Now, I had introduced one of my friends to this band, which he now really likes and weeks ago I told him how bummed I was to miss their show but told him that he should definitely check them out! So as I was sitting talking to him on Facebook, knowing full well that I would be able to see them I brought up the Crystal Fighters concert again. He hadn't gotten a ticket yet. I never told him that I was coming home early but I ended up insisting and convincing him that he needed to get a ticket right at that moment! No holding back, no excuses: "JUST DO IT!!!!"
Finally, he sent me a picture of the confirmation of his ticket purchase.
He's going on about how he's actually kind of excited to go, intrigued to see how they'll be and that he'd take lots of pictures and videos for me!
Hahaha
Little did he know that I was sitting in my hotel room on the other side of the world cracking up laughing. As he was buying his ticket, I was buying mine. Lol
Afterwards, I text my roommates and the friend that is subletting my room telling them to get tickets to it, which they said they would. And finally I messaged the boyfriend of one of my very close friends and told him that he was not to tell her that I was coming home early but he had to get tickets to this show. At first he wasn't sure, it's finals week for them and they're in the midst of moving.. It's a hectic time, but he said he'd check it out.
Three days later I get a message from him saying how obsessed he is with Crystal Fighters and he bought tickets. Hahaha YES!
So to conclude this post, the reason this wasn't included before: I'm surprising two of my friends and will be partying with a whole whack of them the night after I get back! wahoo! Couldn't ruin the surprise!
:)
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Day 23-29: Cruisinnnnn' (& boozin! Ha!)
May 21st- 27the, 2012 ---
My first cruise! :)
It was a totally blast! Sooo much fun!
My apologies for not writing about any of it while on board, I was busy relaxing, enjoying, partying, exploring, socialising, sightseeing, discovering, gambling, napping, dancing, laughing etc.
Waking up the next morning was a bit rough, but I met the tour group at the theatre and then got on the bus that was taking us to Taormina, Sicily! The bus drove along highways with ocean views, around windy roads and up steep hillsides till we got to the little town of Taormina. We were given about an hour and a half to walk along the cobblestone streets, browse the boutiques and go see the Greek Theatre.
Of all the cities I've been to in Italy - this one reeeeaally felt like Italy. To explain what I mean, it looked exactly the way I've always pictured/ remembered Italy. The sun shining, the buildings all having that very Tuscan feel to them, potted plants on balconies with colourful red and purple and pink flowers hanging down, awnings over the shops, people smiling, street musicians singing in Italian to the people sitting under umbrellas at cafés, a cat or two wandering around the street. It was so charming! It had so much character! It was the first time I walked down the street in Italy and really felt and saw the beauty I had remembered from my trip to Florence years ago.
I strolled down the streets, popping my head into a shop or two, finding a postcard for my little collection, and eventually making my way to the Greek Theatre.
I had hoped to go into the theatre, built out of the rock overlooking the ocean, but as it turned out (like most tourist sights) you needed to buy a ticket and they only took cash -- I stupidly had forgotten all my cash in my room and had about 40 cents on me (after having bought the postcard for 60.) I turned myself back around and made my way back to the meeting point for our tour.
We hopped back on the bus, now making our way to this area where there was mounds of lava rocks that came from the volcano of Mt. Etna. That was neat to see... But really, it just looked like a whole bunch of black, char-like, dirt and rocks. We spent about 10-15 minutes at the lava sight, people took pictures, then got back on the bus to head to Murgo Winery!
We had a wine tasting, where I found a light red wine I really enjoyed, at the same time as having some antipasti. We then went on a tour of the winery, which was really cool to see. Large barrels of wine you could purchase for €1.50 a litre.. Could you imagine if they did that anywhere in the city?!! Pretty sure every one that I know would be drinking a lot more wine! Haha
From there we went to a jewellery factory that was actually just this large, beautiful house in the suburbs - the jewellery making going on in the basement. It was cool to see and hear about the process of how they make their jewellery, but honestly.. the jewellery they made all looked kind of tacky to me! Guess it just wasn't really my style... Lol
After the jewellery factory, the bus ride back to the cruise ship was veryyyy quiet. I think 3/4ths of the people on the bus had fallen asleep. It was a long, busy day.
Arriving back on the ship around 6:30, I realized I really needed to figure out my plan for where I'd be headed to after the cruise. I had decided I was going to skip Rome and Florence, as I had been there previously when I was in high school. I also was feeling quite homesick and my motivation levels were lacking.
And this is what led to the first teary-eyed phone call home.
"hiiiii....."
"hey! How's the cruise??!!"
"it's good! So umm... Thought... What do you think about meeting me in Monaco after the cruise..?"
Obviously they knew something was wrong right away, which of course led to the inevitable tears when I tried to explain that I was just really missing home and that the language barriers and rude people FINALLY have gotten under my skin.
I'm tough chick and can't handle a lot, but hey, it's adds up eventually!
Eyes watery, tears rolling down my cheeks and nose sniffling away, I explained that as much fun as this whole trip has been it's really hard not having anybody for sooo long. Everyone that knows me knows that I'm a very independent person. I love doing my own thing, I'm perfectly content being on my own - but the reason for that is because I find people to talk to and be friendly with. Waiters/ waitresses, cashiers, other customers in stores.. Or even just walking down the street and smiling at someone and getting a smile back... Everyone contributes to others happiness in that kind of way. A simple genuine smile at a stranger can really go a long way! The most frustrating part of the past month in Europe has been the fact that NO ONE smiles back!!!!! My smiles are returned with puzzled faces or dirty looks. Especially in Italy and France. All of this general unfriendliness has equated to such a lack of emotion on my part because I've completely gotten sick of no one being friendly back. --- maybe that's how they all became grumpy people too.
I know the cruise will be a bit different because almost all of them speak English and everyone is really nice, but in that moment on the phone with my parents, whimpering away, I just hoped both or one of them would decide "okay, maybe we will go meet her." It was far-fetched thought, and I wasn't surprised when they tried to cheer me up, crack a few joke, told me to tough it out and that they were sending me a giant hug via phone.
I got off the phone, wiped my tears away, took a deep breath and gave myself a little pep-talk, reminding myself that I need to follow my own advice to other people about just going for it. I reminded myself that this is part of the experience, a new challenge and I'll be back home in no time! I got this and I'm gunna make the best of it!
So I jumped in the shower and leisurely got ready to make it for supper this time!
I head down to the Nutcracker Dining Room for 8:30, meeting my "table mates" who were from Georgia and maybe in their late 30s. They were the most interesting people.. kind of quiet... there were definitely a lot of awkward silences that evening! haha But oh well, the food was good!
I met up with Rob and Dave shortly after supper and partied with them, meeting some other young people on the boat as well, then headed to off to bed sometime around 2 maybe?
---
.....Okay, so apologize again... I'm continuing to write this almost a week after I got off the cruise! I had an absolute blast on the cruise ship and because there was so much to do and see and enjoy, it's getting a bit fuzzy now! haha! Oops... really shoulda been on this... Trying really hard not to make this all sound like "I woke up, I did this, I did this and then I did that and then I went to bed" haha So bare with me as I catch up on recalling my adventures!
:)
---
Following my busy and eventful day in Sicily, I was absolutely relieved to have a full day at sea! It's all Ive been looking forward to for weeks now! I can lay around, bum around, do nothing but soak up the sun and not feel like I'm missing a thing! So that's exactly what I did! I slept in, I went to the gym and ran for a bit, had a small lunch and then found myself a nice little lounge chair on the top deck and enjoyed the sunshine with a pina colada in hand! It was fantastic! That evening, I was getting ready for supper - it being formal night - I'm putting on my deodorant.. Grab this fantastic one shouldered turquoise dress I bought in Milan from Zara and as I put in on managed to get deodorant all on the side of it as I slid it over my head. Dammit!!!! Really?!!! Ughh... Oh the stupid little things that happen....
Having worked at a nice retail store called Le Chateau, that sold semi-formal wear back in Canada, I knew that if you rub a piece of lace or pantyhose over a deodorant mark it comes right off! Well, didn't have any pantyhose but had some knickers with lace on them and grabbed those.
'Commonnnnn... Please work... Please work....'
Nuthin.
Son-of-a..!
The fabric of the dress wouldn't give up. So I had about 10minutes to figure out a new outfit.. Which I didn't have much in the way of formal wear.
I threw my dress in the laundry bag and tried on a few outfits. I can proudly say I was only 5 er 10 minutes late for supper. Pretty good if ya ask me! Haha!
Following supper, I went to my first show on the boat! It was at the Metropolis theatre. The show was a performance of different songs from different musicals - Fosse, The Producers, Mamma Mia... It was cool... Buuuuuut kinda 'mehh'. Guess I'm not really into musicals much, after all. Haha
Afterwards, I met Rob and Dave's table mates, Rachel & Chad, who were on their honeymoon and so so nice & fun! We all hit the casino and then the Dungeon together and had a grand ol' time! Though this time I didnt stay out too late, didnt feel like being hungover for the tour I had the following morning!
---
On May 23rd, I woke up, threw on some clothes and before booking it down to the ice rink where I was meeting my next tour group, I quickly stepped out on the balcony to scope out the view!
Kusadasi, Turkey! Quite beautiful! From my balcony, Right next to the ship/ to my left, was the port and a large hillside decorated in suburban homes, small business, hotels and restaurants. Scanning out infront of me, there was a jut out in the land that had a walkway leading to a small but tree-covered (sort of) island. On the area of land, a castle and tall standing Turkish flag on it! Then obviously everything else around was just the ocean! HELLOOOO, Mediterranean!
I scooted on down to the ice rink, where my tour was meeting, we were off to Ephesus!
Now, in my mind I knew that Ephesus was a bunch of ruins of sorts.. but after driving about 25 minutes to thee area.. I was kind of expecting that they would be ruins scattered through out the city, with touristy shops and cafes, etc.. much like every other place I had been. --- Wrong. We were in the middle of no where and the "city" was a CITY of ruins! Ha! On the bus, they asked where everyone was from. When Canada was called, I raised my hand. --- Hey, I may live in San Diego.. but I'm still a canuck! haha
When we got off the bus, a guy came up to me and asked where in Canada I was from. Turns out he was from Mississauga, about 45 minutes outside of my hometown! His name was Trystan and his family was super funny! I ended up hanging out with them for most of the tour!
As for the tour... I don't know how much I can really say about it! I mean, it was a huge area of land covered in remnants of marble buildings and statues and the front of a giant library. I had heard about the Terrace Houses and they once housed the rich and royal. Thinking they were going to be beautiful homes in a built up city (which I had already been wrong about), I was reeeeally wrong about this one too. haha! It was historic ruins of, what would be the equivalent of condos, on a hillside which would have once looked over the main plaza and library. It was quite neat! Archaeologists have dug up and found the tiled floors and marble walls and have pieced large areas back together... world's hardest puzzle if you ask me! I couldn't imagine how difficult that must be! Fascinating stuff! They piece it back together down to the tiniest crumb of marble!
Oh and side note: there were cats EVERYWHERE!!! They're abandoned or wild, but these cats just roam around, all over Ephesus! They're friendly, a lot of people were petting them... I chose not too.. I didn't really feel like petting a dirty wild cat. Haha
After about 2 hours, we hoped back on the bus back into the town of Kusadasi, where our ship was docked at port and strolled into a rug "factory". Once again, it was like a hotel-like place, i believe there was even a hotel upstairs, and watched a performance of employees take out hundreds of rugs to display on the floor while the owner or manager explained the design style, the awards they won, how long it takes to make them, how they make them, etc. Having watched a young girl do a demonstration of how the rugs are made by hand, I COMPLETELY understand why rugs are so bloody so expensive now. They were saying that it can take up to 18 months or longer just to finish one rug! Though we had (in Turkish accent:) "no obligation to buy!" following the presentation, the manager assured us that if we wanted to purchase any of the rugs seen, they would gladly answer any questions we had and then this was when about 10 employees came out and started going around to every customer "politely" trying to get us to buy a rug. I wanted to crack up laughing when they got to me... the rugs are thousands of dollars and I'm sitting there in my scruffed up running shoes, t-shirt and hair a scraggly, frizzy mess -- do iiiiiiiiiiiiiii REALLY look like the one that's going to spend a couple grand on a freakin rug?! hahaha! Sorry sir, no rug for me!
I politely stood up, thanked them and headed out. Our tour now complete.
There was a big market of little shops and such touristy things right around the corner, so I walked over there and enjoyed the market, the shop owners whistling and chatting me up trying to get me into their stores. Quite hilarious the things they say to get someone in their store... "Let me be your boyfriend! I will give you good good deals!" "Ohhh sexyyy laddyyyyyy, I have leather jacket for you!" "Come to my shop! I have beautiful scarves!" I even had one guy ask for a kiss! Haha so forward!
After browsing the market for a bit, I went back to the ship to enjoy a fantastic nap, movie and then as I was getting ready for supper, I put on a little summery dress and then decided I didn't actually feel like going out that night after all. The hectic was of my whole trip was wearing me out! I decided to grab a small salad from the buffet on deck 11 and come back to my room for an early night and movie watching. Was quite nice!
---
The next morning, again I jumped outta bed and went down to meet my next tour group.
We had just arrived in the port of Athens, Greece!
I had purposely booked an excursion to the Acropolis because I had been told that getting into the downtown area and to the acropolis is somewhat difficult being about 25 minutes or so from port.
When I got to our meeting spot, I was happy to see a few familiar faces - Trystan and his family and a few others I had met the other day! Sweeeet! Won't be rollin completely solo on this one! It was also a nice reminder of my pep-talk that I had had after my teary phone call with my parents. People are friendly on this boat and I caaaan make friends with lots of people and not feel quite so alone! Things are lookin' up!
We got on the bus and head over to the Acropolis. Another bus ride which many people fell asleep on, but this time it was because of our tour guide. She was an older woman, maybe late 50s or early 60s and she had the quietest, soothing voice and talked so slow. None of us could help it! We were all trying to be polite and chipper, but when it's not even 8:30 in the morning and partying on a cruise each night before.. Well your bound to nod off here and there!
The one thing I did learn though, was that the Acropolis is not just the one columned building that Athens is famous for, it's actually the whole area on this hill with lots of ruins. Acropolis means something like 'high up'? And this whole area is sitting on a hilltop... Makes sense really.. Haha
When we got to the Acropolis, we were pretty much immediately given free time. (Little bit disappointing considering I had just paid for a tour when I could've caught a can for the same price and done it myself) But it was alright. Trystan and I walked up the hill, stopping and taking a few yoga-esque pictures atop some rocks with all of Athens in the background before heading up to the touristy-ruins area. At some point, I was talking to Trystan, thinking he was right behind me but in fact I had lost him in the crowd. Oops.. Guess I walk a bit fast... Haha I looked around and didn't see him anywhere, so I missioned around checking out the view and all the crumbled marble.
There were people EVERYWHERE!!!! I couldn't believe how packed it was. They also were doing a lot of restoration on the building, so a lot of it was covered in scaffolding and cranes were in the way of most of the good pictures I tried to get.
Either way, cool to see!
I walked back down the hill deciding to go find my postcard for my collection from every place I go. (Still cant believe I forgot to get one in Paris! Ugh!)(oh I may not have mentioned that before... But I forgot to buy a postcard in Paris. There we go, everyone is back in the loop! Lol)
I wandered the streets, like Ephesus, abandoned and wild dogs roamed around, friendly with most people. Apparently they are called the "Guard dogs" of the Acropolis. How cute. Ha
There wasn't anything to special about the area around the Acropolis but I found a place to grab a small sandwich, water and postcard then went to I meet my tour group, as well as apologise to Trystan for losing him. Lol
We got back on the bus, I drowned out most of what the tour guide said... Just couldn't focus on what she was saying -- so dull! We did a quick hop-off for a few pictures of one of the Olympic track stadiums, that was really awesome to see! I've never seen any Olympic place before! It was pretty simple, nothing to special, but there was an Olympic flag!! Haha I took some pictures, scoped it out and then head back on the bus to be dropped off at our port early afternoon.
Nothing special really happened after Athens. I went to the gym, laid out by the pool, then got a call from Rachel (from Rob & Dave's table) and she invited me to go see the ice show before supper with them and another couple they had met!
It was such a small invite, but it made my day! I was so happy I was getting invited to something!
When I'm in San Diego, I seem to always have an assortment of plans and I get lots of invitations for fun things, it's been one of the hard parts on this trip not having that. So it was so nice to be invited to something by her!
I met them at 7 at the the ice rink theatre and we watched a really cool hour-long ice show. Few of the girls fell, but all in all it was a great show!
Afterwards I ended up at their table for supper and then had another fun night dancing and hanging out with the many people I had come to meet on the boat! Another successful, enjoyable day!
---
We arrived in Crete around 6:30 the following morning. Having done some research, I knew that the town wasn't too far and I wanted to explore it on my own instead of doing a tour; especially because we were leaving the port at 2:30.
I set my alarm for 8:30, put on a little summer dress and went down to the gangway. Right outside the boat was a tourist information booth. I lined up to ask how I could get downtown to the market I had found out was there. I was told it was only a short bus ride away.
Perfect!
As I was in line to get a bus ticket, a woman came up to me.
"Hey! I dont know if you want to join us but my sons overheard you the other day saying that you were here solo! You're welcome to hop in our can and join us if ya like!"
I was thrilled! How nice of her!
Her and her family, from Minnesota, were so kind!
When we arrived at in town we all went over to explore the market. It was nice to have some company, but I soon realised that this woman was spending a solid 10-15 minutes or more at EVERY booth.
Really?
I didn't think it was possible to look at the same salad tossers and touristy nic nacs for that long at every store.
The indoor market was very small... Could've been covered in about 30minutes... We were in there for just over an hour.
Oh right, this is why I enjoy shopping and doing things solo. Haha
I stayed with them for a little bit longer throughout the outdoor part of it until I realised I had covered all the shops, doubled back and they hadn't even made it a quarter of the way through. (ergg...)
I felt the same way I used to feel when I was a young kid and my mom would drag me from store to store at the mall for hours. Starting to get fidgety, impatient, mentally complaining to myself. All I wanted to do was go.
Finally, I politely thanked them for letting me tag along and said I was going to go check out the harbour and I'd try to catch up with them later!
(pshhhh. no way!)
I walked down over to the harbour and across from it was a lighthouse that you could go around to. I had heard the view was really great from that side, so I head in that direction!
I walked for about 15 minutes all the way to right and around the harbour to where the pathway to the lighthouse was. I walked along the top of the high brick wall leading to the lighthouse, the waves crashing on rocks beside me and the water a beautiful turquoise blue.
When I got to the lighthouse, it was neat to see a complete panorama of the village and harbour of Chania. There were some small boats/ sail boats coming and going and you could see all the people walking along from shop to shop or at cafes. It was pretty!
After spending a few minutes at the lighthouse I turned around and decided to go find the post office to see if I could ship home a few gifts I had purchased.
I walked about 10-15 minutes till I finally found the place I was looking for. It was a courier/ FedEx place in an office building.
I walked up the stairs, walked into the office... Which was a grungy little joint... Desk.. Unused computer that looked like it was from the early 90s, a ceiling fan and insane humidity. I was a little iffy about it. But I decided to enquiry anyways.
I showed the guy what I wanted to ship and he grabbed a FedEx sheet. (it had a tracking code on it - phew!)
The guy spent a solid 15 minutes finding a box and wrapping it all up for me. He weighed it for me, got me to fill out all the forms, stickered it and then said "okay, €75."
"what?"
"€75"
"uhhhhhhh.... Hahahaha"
He looks at me puzzled."
"Really?"
"yes"
"I'm so sorry! Haha these items cost me about €10!! Hahaha I guess I'm gunna just have to get it home myself!! I'm sorry!"
Hahaha! €75??!! Bahahaha! Should've known it wouldn't have been cheap, but that's funny.. It weighed practically nothing! Hilarious!
He laughed and understood, and I went on my way, chuckling to myself as I'm walking out the building.
I decided to head back to the boat for some sun bathing and long gym sesh.
The day before I had sent my dress in to get washed... You know, the one that was apart of the deodorant situation.. Haha
It was supposed to be back by 5, and it was approaching 6:30... Supper was at 8:30 and it's formal night again! Uh oh...
I head down to guest relations and was relieved when the guy at the desk assured me he'd call housekeeping and make sure my dress arrived as soon as possible!
Phew!
Heading back to my room to shower and get ready, I was relieved when it arrived. I put my hair up in a poof ponytail (like teased underneath haha) and then put on my beautiful turquoise, one-shouldered dress with a little cognac coloured waist belt, couple gold bangles and my cognac coloured wedges. Feelin' good! Feelin' great! I went downstairs to the other dining room where I was meeting Rachel, Chad, Dave & Rob -- getting a few compliments on my dress on my way! Boo-yahhhh! This dress was a winner!
When I sat down at the table, one of the other waitresses (not for our table) came over and told me she saw me come in and told me I looked beautiful!
Awwwwww.. *insert cheesy grin here*
"thaaaaaaanks!!!" (if I could have high five'd myself, I probably would've.) haha
Supper was great, as always and afterwards we met up with the other couple we had all became friends with (Alexandra & Cliff) and then went to see another show. This one was a dance competition, but between guests on the boat.
Honestly, we were all in agreement that it was pretty lame, but we were really there to wait for the adult scavenger hunt that was to happen afterwards.
All of this was going on in the ice rink 'theatre?'. They had the flooring over the ice rink, and then divided up the entire audience, by section, asking for one female and one male to be team leaders for each team. I saw the spot light go on me and one of the organisers look straight at me.
"Noooooooooo!!!!!"
I lean over to Rachel, "I think they're coming for me... Dear God help me."
I tried to avoid eye contact.
The organizer comes straight to the row I'm sitting in... I slouch down... She looks over and points right at me, "You!"
DAMMIT! Why did I have to look up?!!
With the encouragement of everyone around me, I finally went down on the floor to be the team leader.
The organizer then looks at me and says "hmm... You should probably take off those heels, you're going to have to run."
...uhh....what?
...... I'm so not into this right now... ..Commmonnnnn, really?! What kind of scavenger hunt is this??!
And then!
My guardian angel came!
A girl runs down, not realising they had already picked me as team leader and was ecstatic to volunteer to be the leader.
I look at her: "ohhhhh! GIRL! Here! Go ahead!! Have fun!!!"
Hahaha YESSSSS!!!
So I was in the audience cracking up laughing watching our team and all the others have to race around to complete the scavenger hunt. The way it worked was we all stayed in our seats except the team leaders.
The activities coordinator/ host stood in the middle of the floor and announced what they had to find and show him. Every thing was in the room... Things like "someone with a piercing other than her ears," "a pair of pink panties," "two guys dirty dancing," "your favourite bartender," "a man wearing womens clothing."
It was hilarious!!! The very last one was the best. We had a longer amount of time for this. Each team had to have one guy, not wearing pants, wearing a girls bra and woman's shoes, carrying a handbag. The guys from each team had to stand up in a line and then do a sexy strut towards The cameraman & host.
It was hysterical!! We were all almost tears laughing so hard!
I can happily report, our team got 3rd place!
After the show, we all walked out and over to the casino bar, cracking up about the scavenger hunt. We grabbed a few drinks, then up to Ixtaba Lounge, a few decks up, where Absolut Vodka was sponsoring a club event. We danced and parties till pretty late and had a blast!
---
I woke up the following morning, at sea, soooo hungover! I slept and lounged around like a bump on a log till about noon before heading up tithe Windjammer to find something for lunch.
I grabbed some soup and crackers, asking the waiter if it was possible to get a strawberry banana smoothie to which I was absolutely thrilled when he came back with one!
I took a big gulp and almost threw up all over the table when I soon realised it had a TON of rum in it! I took a second look at my receipt:
"Daquiri"
Dahhhhh... That was like taking a bullet! Haha!
I finished my soup, went over to the bar and laughed with the bartender about the mistake while he made me an actual smoothie sans any kind of alcohol.
I went up to the top pool deck and enjoyed the sunshine for several hours before going up to the sports area to do some rock climbing with Rachel & Alex!
So, funny story...
Remember when I did a ropes course on the top of the mountain and jumped off an 18 meter tree in Switzerland? Well, apparently when roped in and about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way up a rock climbing wall (that's not all that high) I completely chicken out!
Turns out I don't do well with rock wall climbing! Haha!
I jumped down off the wall and handed in my stuff. Alex feeling the exact same way I had!
I went back to my room to do finish up my packing, as it was my last day!! I watched a movie while packing, showered, dressed and went to supper!
We had a great supper, Rob and Dave had a challenge/ dare to order every single entree on the menu and we were all cracking up because they did and actually finished every single one!!! It was insane!!! They have the most incredible metabolisms ever.
Damn personal trainers... Haha
As we had started doing every night, we went down to the casino bar, grabbed a few drinks then went to the dungeon for the last time! There wasnt many people there, a bunch that we knew but everyone left pretty early, as did I.
Tomorrow would be an early morning to depart this ship!
---
May 27th: Arriving back at the Port of Rome in Civitavecchia. I gathered all my stuff and was off the ship by 9:30.
I took the shuttle to the port entrance and walked over to the train station to catch a train to Rome where I would be staying for the night until I figured out my next move!
---
Arriving at my hotel, I decided to just chill out for a few hours and figure out what my plan would be for the rest of my trip.
Originally, I was thinking I would head to Monaco and then Marseilles but I began to feel like I really just wanted to go to Barcelona and then head to England afterwards to spend some time with my family and friends.
I spent most of the afternoon working out my accommodations, finding a flight to Barcelona and switching my flight from Barcelona to Heathrow Airport in London from June 6th (which I had originally booked it for) to May 31st.
Once I got all my loose ends tied, I thought 'WELL! When in Rome!' and decided to go out and grab some supper then do some last minute exploring before it got dark!
I went into the lobby and asked for a restaurant recommendation to which they directed me to a little place around the corner.
Some bruschetta, spaghetti and Prosecco later - I went off wandering! I ended up wandering so far I made it all the way to the Trevi fountain!
The Trevi is absolutely amazing! The whole piazza was soooo crowded but I still finagled my way through it to take in the enormous and intricately architected fountain. It is incredible and so beautiful!
If you think about it, it blows my mind that when the Trevi was constructed, they didn't have tons of technology and big machines, etc to create it. And like everything in Europe they put so much effort into the appearance and beauty of things. It's really quite fantastic if ya ask me! :)
By the time I had arrived at the Trevi it was already dusk so I didn't stay too long before I journeyed back to my hotel for a good nights rest.
Tomorrow I would have to get up and head to the airport for my next adventure to Barcelona!!!
Woo! :)
(ps. I'm writing/ updating my blog on my phone and it won't let me label or put my photos in order - when I get back to a real computer again I will organize & label! My apologies till then!)
My first cruise! :)
It was a totally blast! Sooo much fun!
My apologies for not writing about any of it while on board, I was busy relaxing, enjoying, partying, exploring, socialising, sightseeing, discovering, gambling, napping, dancing, laughing etc.
Waking up the next morning was a bit rough, but I met the tour group at the theatre and then got on the bus that was taking us to Taormina, Sicily! The bus drove along highways with ocean views, around windy roads and up steep hillsides till we got to the little town of Taormina. We were given about an hour and a half to walk along the cobblestone streets, browse the boutiques and go see the Greek Theatre.
Of all the cities I've been to in Italy - this one reeeeaally felt like Italy. To explain what I mean, it looked exactly the way I've always pictured/ remembered Italy. The sun shining, the buildings all having that very Tuscan feel to them, potted plants on balconies with colourful red and purple and pink flowers hanging down, awnings over the shops, people smiling, street musicians singing in Italian to the people sitting under umbrellas at cafés, a cat or two wandering around the street. It was so charming! It had so much character! It was the first time I walked down the street in Italy and really felt and saw the beauty I had remembered from my trip to Florence years ago.
I strolled down the streets, popping my head into a shop or two, finding a postcard for my little collection, and eventually making my way to the Greek Theatre.
I had hoped to go into the theatre, built out of the rock overlooking the ocean, but as it turned out (like most tourist sights) you needed to buy a ticket and they only took cash -- I stupidly had forgotten all my cash in my room and had about 40 cents on me (after having bought the postcard for 60.) I turned myself back around and made my way back to the meeting point for our tour.
We hopped back on the bus, now making our way to this area where there was mounds of lava rocks that came from the volcano of Mt. Etna. That was neat to see... But really, it just looked like a whole bunch of black, char-like, dirt and rocks. We spent about 10-15 minutes at the lava sight, people took pictures, then got back on the bus to head to Murgo Winery!
We had a wine tasting, where I found a light red wine I really enjoyed, at the same time as having some antipasti. We then went on a tour of the winery, which was really cool to see. Large barrels of wine you could purchase for €1.50 a litre.. Could you imagine if they did that anywhere in the city?!! Pretty sure every one that I know would be drinking a lot more wine! Haha
From there we went to a jewellery factory that was actually just this large, beautiful house in the suburbs - the jewellery making going on in the basement. It was cool to see and hear about the process of how they make their jewellery, but honestly.. the jewellery they made all looked kind of tacky to me! Guess it just wasn't really my style... Lol
After the jewellery factory, the bus ride back to the cruise ship was veryyyy quiet. I think 3/4ths of the people on the bus had fallen asleep. It was a long, busy day.
Arriving back on the ship around 6:30, I realized I really needed to figure out my plan for where I'd be headed to after the cruise. I had decided I was going to skip Rome and Florence, as I had been there previously when I was in high school. I also was feeling quite homesick and my motivation levels were lacking.
And this is what led to the first teary-eyed phone call home.
"hiiiii....."
"hey! How's the cruise??!!"
"it's good! So umm... Thought... What do you think about meeting me in Monaco after the cruise..?"
Obviously they knew something was wrong right away, which of course led to the inevitable tears when I tried to explain that I was just really missing home and that the language barriers and rude people FINALLY have gotten under my skin.
I'm tough chick and can't handle a lot, but hey, it's adds up eventually!
Eyes watery, tears rolling down my cheeks and nose sniffling away, I explained that as much fun as this whole trip has been it's really hard not having anybody for sooo long. Everyone that knows me knows that I'm a very independent person. I love doing my own thing, I'm perfectly content being on my own - but the reason for that is because I find people to talk to and be friendly with. Waiters/ waitresses, cashiers, other customers in stores.. Or even just walking down the street and smiling at someone and getting a smile back... Everyone contributes to others happiness in that kind of way. A simple genuine smile at a stranger can really go a long way! The most frustrating part of the past month in Europe has been the fact that NO ONE smiles back!!!!! My smiles are returned with puzzled faces or dirty looks. Especially in Italy and France. All of this general unfriendliness has equated to such a lack of emotion on my part because I've completely gotten sick of no one being friendly back. --- maybe that's how they all became grumpy people too.
I know the cruise will be a bit different because almost all of them speak English and everyone is really nice, but in that moment on the phone with my parents, whimpering away, I just hoped both or one of them would decide "okay, maybe we will go meet her." It was far-fetched thought, and I wasn't surprised when they tried to cheer me up, crack a few joke, told me to tough it out and that they were sending me a giant hug via phone.
I got off the phone, wiped my tears away, took a deep breath and gave myself a little pep-talk, reminding myself that I need to follow my own advice to other people about just going for it. I reminded myself that this is part of the experience, a new challenge and I'll be back home in no time! I got this and I'm gunna make the best of it!
So I jumped in the shower and leisurely got ready to make it for supper this time!
I head down to the Nutcracker Dining Room for 8:30, meeting my "table mates" who were from Georgia and maybe in their late 30s. They were the most interesting people.. kind of quiet... there were definitely a lot of awkward silences that evening! haha But oh well, the food was good!
I met up with Rob and Dave shortly after supper and partied with them, meeting some other young people on the boat as well, then headed to off to bed sometime around 2 maybe?
---
.....Okay, so apologize again... I'm continuing to write this almost a week after I got off the cruise! I had an absolute blast on the cruise ship and because there was so much to do and see and enjoy, it's getting a bit fuzzy now! haha! Oops... really shoulda been on this... Trying really hard not to make this all sound like "I woke up, I did this, I did this and then I did that and then I went to bed" haha So bare with me as I catch up on recalling my adventures!
:)
---
Following my busy and eventful day in Sicily, I was absolutely relieved to have a full day at sea! It's all Ive been looking forward to for weeks now! I can lay around, bum around, do nothing but soak up the sun and not feel like I'm missing a thing! So that's exactly what I did! I slept in, I went to the gym and ran for a bit, had a small lunch and then found myself a nice little lounge chair on the top deck and enjoyed the sunshine with a pina colada in hand! It was fantastic! That evening, I was getting ready for supper - it being formal night - I'm putting on my deodorant.. Grab this fantastic one shouldered turquoise dress I bought in Milan from Zara and as I put in on managed to get deodorant all on the side of it as I slid it over my head. Dammit!!!! Really?!!! Ughh... Oh the stupid little things that happen....
Having worked at a nice retail store called Le Chateau, that sold semi-formal wear back in Canada, I knew that if you rub a piece of lace or pantyhose over a deodorant mark it comes right off! Well, didn't have any pantyhose but had some knickers with lace on them and grabbed those.
'Commonnnnn... Please work... Please work....'
Nuthin.
Son-of-a..!
The fabric of the dress wouldn't give up. So I had about 10minutes to figure out a new outfit.. Which I didn't have much in the way of formal wear.
I threw my dress in the laundry bag and tried on a few outfits. I can proudly say I was only 5 er 10 minutes late for supper. Pretty good if ya ask me! Haha!
Following supper, I went to my first show on the boat! It was at the Metropolis theatre. The show was a performance of different songs from different musicals - Fosse, The Producers, Mamma Mia... It was cool... Buuuuuut kinda 'mehh'. Guess I'm not really into musicals much, after all. Haha
Afterwards, I met Rob and Dave's table mates, Rachel & Chad, who were on their honeymoon and so so nice & fun! We all hit the casino and then the Dungeon together and had a grand ol' time! Though this time I didnt stay out too late, didnt feel like being hungover for the tour I had the following morning!
---
On May 23rd, I woke up, threw on some clothes and before booking it down to the ice rink where I was meeting my next tour group, I quickly stepped out on the balcony to scope out the view!
Kusadasi, Turkey! Quite beautiful! From my balcony, Right next to the ship/ to my left, was the port and a large hillside decorated in suburban homes, small business, hotels and restaurants. Scanning out infront of me, there was a jut out in the land that had a walkway leading to a small but tree-covered (sort of) island. On the area of land, a castle and tall standing Turkish flag on it! Then obviously everything else around was just the ocean! HELLOOOO, Mediterranean!
I scooted on down to the ice rink, where my tour was meeting, we were off to Ephesus!
Now, in my mind I knew that Ephesus was a bunch of ruins of sorts.. but after driving about 25 minutes to thee area.. I was kind of expecting that they would be ruins scattered through out the city, with touristy shops and cafes, etc.. much like every other place I had been. --- Wrong. We were in the middle of no where and the "city" was a CITY of ruins! Ha! On the bus, they asked where everyone was from. When Canada was called, I raised my hand. --- Hey, I may live in San Diego.. but I'm still a canuck! haha
When we got off the bus, a guy came up to me and asked where in Canada I was from. Turns out he was from Mississauga, about 45 minutes outside of my hometown! His name was Trystan and his family was super funny! I ended up hanging out with them for most of the tour!
As for the tour... I don't know how much I can really say about it! I mean, it was a huge area of land covered in remnants of marble buildings and statues and the front of a giant library. I had heard about the Terrace Houses and they once housed the rich and royal. Thinking they were going to be beautiful homes in a built up city (which I had already been wrong about), I was reeeeally wrong about this one too. haha! It was historic ruins of, what would be the equivalent of condos, on a hillside which would have once looked over the main plaza and library. It was quite neat! Archaeologists have dug up and found the tiled floors and marble walls and have pieced large areas back together... world's hardest puzzle if you ask me! I couldn't imagine how difficult that must be! Fascinating stuff! They piece it back together down to the tiniest crumb of marble!
Oh and side note: there were cats EVERYWHERE!!! They're abandoned or wild, but these cats just roam around, all over Ephesus! They're friendly, a lot of people were petting them... I chose not too.. I didn't really feel like petting a dirty wild cat. Haha
After about 2 hours, we hoped back on the bus back into the town of Kusadasi, where our ship was docked at port and strolled into a rug "factory". Once again, it was like a hotel-like place, i believe there was even a hotel upstairs, and watched a performance of employees take out hundreds of rugs to display on the floor while the owner or manager explained the design style, the awards they won, how long it takes to make them, how they make them, etc. Having watched a young girl do a demonstration of how the rugs are made by hand, I COMPLETELY understand why rugs are so bloody so expensive now. They were saying that it can take up to 18 months or longer just to finish one rug! Though we had (in Turkish accent:) "no obligation to buy!" following the presentation, the manager assured us that if we wanted to purchase any of the rugs seen, they would gladly answer any questions we had and then this was when about 10 employees came out and started going around to every customer "politely" trying to get us to buy a rug. I wanted to crack up laughing when they got to me... the rugs are thousands of dollars and I'm sitting there in my scruffed up running shoes, t-shirt and hair a scraggly, frizzy mess -- do iiiiiiiiiiiiiii REALLY look like the one that's going to spend a couple grand on a freakin rug?! hahaha! Sorry sir, no rug for me!
I politely stood up, thanked them and headed out. Our tour now complete.
There was a big market of little shops and such touristy things right around the corner, so I walked over there and enjoyed the market, the shop owners whistling and chatting me up trying to get me into their stores. Quite hilarious the things they say to get someone in their store... "Let me be your boyfriend! I will give you good good deals!" "Ohhh sexyyy laddyyyyyy, I have leather jacket for you!" "Come to my shop! I have beautiful scarves!" I even had one guy ask for a kiss! Haha so forward!
After browsing the market for a bit, I went back to the ship to enjoy a fantastic nap, movie and then as I was getting ready for supper, I put on a little summery dress and then decided I didn't actually feel like going out that night after all. The hectic was of my whole trip was wearing me out! I decided to grab a small salad from the buffet on deck 11 and come back to my room for an early night and movie watching. Was quite nice!
---
The next morning, again I jumped outta bed and went down to meet my next tour group.
We had just arrived in the port of Athens, Greece!
I had purposely booked an excursion to the Acropolis because I had been told that getting into the downtown area and to the acropolis is somewhat difficult being about 25 minutes or so from port.
When I got to our meeting spot, I was happy to see a few familiar faces - Trystan and his family and a few others I had met the other day! Sweeeet! Won't be rollin completely solo on this one! It was also a nice reminder of my pep-talk that I had had after my teary phone call with my parents. People are friendly on this boat and I caaaan make friends with lots of people and not feel quite so alone! Things are lookin' up!
We got on the bus and head over to the Acropolis. Another bus ride which many people fell asleep on, but this time it was because of our tour guide. She was an older woman, maybe late 50s or early 60s and she had the quietest, soothing voice and talked so slow. None of us could help it! We were all trying to be polite and chipper, but when it's not even 8:30 in the morning and partying on a cruise each night before.. Well your bound to nod off here and there!
The one thing I did learn though, was that the Acropolis is not just the one columned building that Athens is famous for, it's actually the whole area on this hill with lots of ruins. Acropolis means something like 'high up'? And this whole area is sitting on a hilltop... Makes sense really.. Haha
When we got to the Acropolis, we were pretty much immediately given free time. (Little bit disappointing considering I had just paid for a tour when I could've caught a can for the same price and done it myself) But it was alright. Trystan and I walked up the hill, stopping and taking a few yoga-esque pictures atop some rocks with all of Athens in the background before heading up to the touristy-ruins area. At some point, I was talking to Trystan, thinking he was right behind me but in fact I had lost him in the crowd. Oops.. Guess I walk a bit fast... Haha I looked around and didn't see him anywhere, so I missioned around checking out the view and all the crumbled marble.
There were people EVERYWHERE!!!! I couldn't believe how packed it was. They also were doing a lot of restoration on the building, so a lot of it was covered in scaffolding and cranes were in the way of most of the good pictures I tried to get.
Either way, cool to see!
I walked back down the hill deciding to go find my postcard for my collection from every place I go. (Still cant believe I forgot to get one in Paris! Ugh!)(oh I may not have mentioned that before... But I forgot to buy a postcard in Paris. There we go, everyone is back in the loop! Lol)
I wandered the streets, like Ephesus, abandoned and wild dogs roamed around, friendly with most people. Apparently they are called the "Guard dogs" of the Acropolis. How cute. Ha
There wasn't anything to special about the area around the Acropolis but I found a place to grab a small sandwich, water and postcard then went to I meet my tour group, as well as apologise to Trystan for losing him. Lol
We got back on the bus, I drowned out most of what the tour guide said... Just couldn't focus on what she was saying -- so dull! We did a quick hop-off for a few pictures of one of the Olympic track stadiums, that was really awesome to see! I've never seen any Olympic place before! It was pretty simple, nothing to special, but there was an Olympic flag!! Haha I took some pictures, scoped it out and then head back on the bus to be dropped off at our port early afternoon.
Nothing special really happened after Athens. I went to the gym, laid out by the pool, then got a call from Rachel (from Rob & Dave's table) and she invited me to go see the ice show before supper with them and another couple they had met!
It was such a small invite, but it made my day! I was so happy I was getting invited to something!
When I'm in San Diego, I seem to always have an assortment of plans and I get lots of invitations for fun things, it's been one of the hard parts on this trip not having that. So it was so nice to be invited to something by her!
I met them at 7 at the the ice rink theatre and we watched a really cool hour-long ice show. Few of the girls fell, but all in all it was a great show!
Afterwards I ended up at their table for supper and then had another fun night dancing and hanging out with the many people I had come to meet on the boat! Another successful, enjoyable day!
---
We arrived in Crete around 6:30 the following morning. Having done some research, I knew that the town wasn't too far and I wanted to explore it on my own instead of doing a tour; especially because we were leaving the port at 2:30.
I set my alarm for 8:30, put on a little summer dress and went down to the gangway. Right outside the boat was a tourist information booth. I lined up to ask how I could get downtown to the market I had found out was there. I was told it was only a short bus ride away.
Perfect!
As I was in line to get a bus ticket, a woman came up to me.
"Hey! I dont know if you want to join us but my sons overheard you the other day saying that you were here solo! You're welcome to hop in our can and join us if ya like!"
I was thrilled! How nice of her!
Her and her family, from Minnesota, were so kind!
When we arrived at in town we all went over to explore the market. It was nice to have some company, but I soon realised that this woman was spending a solid 10-15 minutes or more at EVERY booth.
Really?
I didn't think it was possible to look at the same salad tossers and touristy nic nacs for that long at every store.
The indoor market was very small... Could've been covered in about 30minutes... We were in there for just over an hour.
Oh right, this is why I enjoy shopping and doing things solo. Haha
I stayed with them for a little bit longer throughout the outdoor part of it until I realised I had covered all the shops, doubled back and they hadn't even made it a quarter of the way through. (ergg...)
I felt the same way I used to feel when I was a young kid and my mom would drag me from store to store at the mall for hours. Starting to get fidgety, impatient, mentally complaining to myself. All I wanted to do was go.
Finally, I politely thanked them for letting me tag along and said I was going to go check out the harbour and I'd try to catch up with them later!
(pshhhh. no way!)
I walked down over to the harbour and across from it was a lighthouse that you could go around to. I had heard the view was really great from that side, so I head in that direction!
I walked for about 15 minutes all the way to right and around the harbour to where the pathway to the lighthouse was. I walked along the top of the high brick wall leading to the lighthouse, the waves crashing on rocks beside me and the water a beautiful turquoise blue.
When I got to the lighthouse, it was neat to see a complete panorama of the village and harbour of Chania. There were some small boats/ sail boats coming and going and you could see all the people walking along from shop to shop or at cafes. It was pretty!
After spending a few minutes at the lighthouse I turned around and decided to go find the post office to see if I could ship home a few gifts I had purchased.
I walked about 10-15 minutes till I finally found the place I was looking for. It was a courier/ FedEx place in an office building.
I walked up the stairs, walked into the office... Which was a grungy little joint... Desk.. Unused computer that looked like it was from the early 90s, a ceiling fan and insane humidity. I was a little iffy about it. But I decided to enquiry anyways.
I showed the guy what I wanted to ship and he grabbed a FedEx sheet. (it had a tracking code on it - phew!)
The guy spent a solid 15 minutes finding a box and wrapping it all up for me. He weighed it for me, got me to fill out all the forms, stickered it and then said "okay, €75."
"what?"
"€75"
"uhhhhhhh.... Hahahaha"
He looks at me puzzled."
"Really?"
"yes"
"I'm so sorry! Haha these items cost me about €10!! Hahaha I guess I'm gunna just have to get it home myself!! I'm sorry!"
Hahaha! €75??!! Bahahaha! Should've known it wouldn't have been cheap, but that's funny.. It weighed practically nothing! Hilarious!
He laughed and understood, and I went on my way, chuckling to myself as I'm walking out the building.
I decided to head back to the boat for some sun bathing and long gym sesh.
The day before I had sent my dress in to get washed... You know, the one that was apart of the deodorant situation.. Haha
It was supposed to be back by 5, and it was approaching 6:30... Supper was at 8:30 and it's formal night again! Uh oh...
I head down to guest relations and was relieved when the guy at the desk assured me he'd call housekeeping and make sure my dress arrived as soon as possible!
Phew!
Heading back to my room to shower and get ready, I was relieved when it arrived. I put my hair up in a poof ponytail (like teased underneath haha) and then put on my beautiful turquoise, one-shouldered dress with a little cognac coloured waist belt, couple gold bangles and my cognac coloured wedges. Feelin' good! Feelin' great! I went downstairs to the other dining room where I was meeting Rachel, Chad, Dave & Rob -- getting a few compliments on my dress on my way! Boo-yahhhh! This dress was a winner!
When I sat down at the table, one of the other waitresses (not for our table) came over and told me she saw me come in and told me I looked beautiful!
Awwwwww.. *insert cheesy grin here*
"thaaaaaaanks!!!" (if I could have high five'd myself, I probably would've.) haha
Supper was great, as always and afterwards we met up with the other couple we had all became friends with (Alexandra & Cliff) and then went to see another show. This one was a dance competition, but between guests on the boat.
Honestly, we were all in agreement that it was pretty lame, but we were really there to wait for the adult scavenger hunt that was to happen afterwards.
All of this was going on in the ice rink 'theatre?'. They had the flooring over the ice rink, and then divided up the entire audience, by section, asking for one female and one male to be team leaders for each team. I saw the spot light go on me and one of the organisers look straight at me.
"Noooooooooo!!!!!"
I lean over to Rachel, "I think they're coming for me... Dear God help me."
I tried to avoid eye contact.
The organizer comes straight to the row I'm sitting in... I slouch down... She looks over and points right at me, "You!"
DAMMIT! Why did I have to look up?!!
With the encouragement of everyone around me, I finally went down on the floor to be the team leader.
The organizer then looks at me and says "hmm... You should probably take off those heels, you're going to have to run."
...uhh....what?
...... I'm so not into this right now... ..Commmonnnnn, really?! What kind of scavenger hunt is this??!
And then!
My guardian angel came!
A girl runs down, not realising they had already picked me as team leader and was ecstatic to volunteer to be the leader.
I look at her: "ohhhhh! GIRL! Here! Go ahead!! Have fun!!!"
Hahaha YESSSSS!!!
So I was in the audience cracking up laughing watching our team and all the others have to race around to complete the scavenger hunt. The way it worked was we all stayed in our seats except the team leaders.
The activities coordinator/ host stood in the middle of the floor and announced what they had to find and show him. Every thing was in the room... Things like "someone with a piercing other than her ears," "a pair of pink panties," "two guys dirty dancing," "your favourite bartender," "a man wearing womens clothing."
It was hilarious!!! The very last one was the best. We had a longer amount of time for this. Each team had to have one guy, not wearing pants, wearing a girls bra and woman's shoes, carrying a handbag. The guys from each team had to stand up in a line and then do a sexy strut towards The cameraman & host.
It was hysterical!! We were all almost tears laughing so hard!
I can happily report, our team got 3rd place!
After the show, we all walked out and over to the casino bar, cracking up about the scavenger hunt. We grabbed a few drinks, then up to Ixtaba Lounge, a few decks up, where Absolut Vodka was sponsoring a club event. We danced and parties till pretty late and had a blast!
---
I woke up the following morning, at sea, soooo hungover! I slept and lounged around like a bump on a log till about noon before heading up tithe Windjammer to find something for lunch.
I grabbed some soup and crackers, asking the waiter if it was possible to get a strawberry banana smoothie to which I was absolutely thrilled when he came back with one!
I took a big gulp and almost threw up all over the table when I soon realised it had a TON of rum in it! I took a second look at my receipt:
"Daquiri"
Dahhhhh... That was like taking a bullet! Haha!
I finished my soup, went over to the bar and laughed with the bartender about the mistake while he made me an actual smoothie sans any kind of alcohol.
I went up to the top pool deck and enjoyed the sunshine for several hours before going up to the sports area to do some rock climbing with Rachel & Alex!
So, funny story...
Remember when I did a ropes course on the top of the mountain and jumped off an 18 meter tree in Switzerland? Well, apparently when roped in and about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way up a rock climbing wall (that's not all that high) I completely chicken out!
Turns out I don't do well with rock wall climbing! Haha!
I jumped down off the wall and handed in my stuff. Alex feeling the exact same way I had!
I went back to my room to do finish up my packing, as it was my last day!! I watched a movie while packing, showered, dressed and went to supper!
We had a great supper, Rob and Dave had a challenge/ dare to order every single entree on the menu and we were all cracking up because they did and actually finished every single one!!! It was insane!!! They have the most incredible metabolisms ever.
Damn personal trainers... Haha
As we had started doing every night, we went down to the casino bar, grabbed a few drinks then went to the dungeon for the last time! There wasnt many people there, a bunch that we knew but everyone left pretty early, as did I.
Tomorrow would be an early morning to depart this ship!
---
May 27th: Arriving back at the Port of Rome in Civitavecchia. I gathered all my stuff and was off the ship by 9:30.
I took the shuttle to the port entrance and walked over to the train station to catch a train to Rome where I would be staying for the night until I figured out my next move!
---
Arriving at my hotel, I decided to just chill out for a few hours and figure out what my plan would be for the rest of my trip.
Originally, I was thinking I would head to Monaco and then Marseilles but I began to feel like I really just wanted to go to Barcelona and then head to England afterwards to spend some time with my family and friends.
I spent most of the afternoon working out my accommodations, finding a flight to Barcelona and switching my flight from Barcelona to Heathrow Airport in London from June 6th (which I had originally booked it for) to May 31st.
Once I got all my loose ends tied, I thought 'WELL! When in Rome!' and decided to go out and grab some supper then do some last minute exploring before it got dark!
I went into the lobby and asked for a restaurant recommendation to which they directed me to a little place around the corner.
Some bruschetta, spaghetti and Prosecco later - I went off wandering! I ended up wandering so far I made it all the way to the Trevi fountain!
The Trevi is absolutely amazing! The whole piazza was soooo crowded but I still finagled my way through it to take in the enormous and intricately architected fountain. It is incredible and so beautiful!
If you think about it, it blows my mind that when the Trevi was constructed, they didn't have tons of technology and big machines, etc to create it. And like everything in Europe they put so much effort into the appearance and beauty of things. It's really quite fantastic if ya ask me! :)
By the time I had arrived at the Trevi it was already dusk so I didn't stay too long before I journeyed back to my hotel for a good nights rest.
Tomorrow I would have to get up and head to the airport for my next adventure to Barcelona!!!
Woo! :)
(ps. I'm writing/ updating my blog on my phone and it won't let me label or put my photos in order - when I get back to a real computer again I will organize & label! My apologies till then!)
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Day 22: I'm on a boat!
May 20th, 2012 ---
Okay, I lie, I'm on a ship! Yeaahhhhhhh!!!!!!
I woke up this morning, quickly threw together the last bits of my stuff and headed for the complimentary breakfast in the hotel. Some yogurt, a pancake, croissant and tea later I was checking out and trying to figure out where to go with the hotel shuttle to the cruise ship not leaving till noon and it was only 10am.
I'm standing outside, luggage in one hand, the other blocking the sun as I looked out to see if I could catch a taxi, when an older Irish couple come out of the hotel and ask if I'm heading to the ship.
"Yes! The Royal Caribbean?"
Turns out they had were headed that way as well and told me that I could walk with them if I liked. Apparently there was a complimentary shuttle just down a few blocks at the entrance of all the ports.
Perfect!
I follow them down, very nice couple, and then was greeted by the bus driver who watched my every move walking towards the bus, saying "bellaaaa, bella! You know what that mean?" I smiled and nodded, thanking him."Bellissima!"
The bus dropped me off infront of a big white tent about 6-or-so minutes down the road - it was so exciting to see this ENORMOUS cruise ship docked beside it! I was so giddy and excited!!!
I gave my suitcase to one of the attendants standing by and then mosey'd on over to fill out a few forms, drink some lemonade and wait for my number to be called to check in!
After checking in and getting my SeaPass card, i had to hand over my passport to the police (who apparently keep it the whole cruise) and I walked up and on to the massive cruise ship!
It didn't take as long as I thought to get lost. Having walked on, I immediately had no idea what to do or where I was going! A woman with a welcoming face immediately saw my confusion,
"can I help?"
"umm... actually, yes. I don't know where to go!"
And that's when she looked at me and said "Anywhere! Go explore!"
I couldn't help but laugh, if she only knew that all I've been doing for the past 22 days is exploring! Haha!
I asked her if I could see my room, to which she said wouldn't be ready for another 2 hours but if I wanted to, I could go up to the 5th floor - The Promenade, and grab a drink or have some munchies.
As the elevator dinged at the 5th floor, I walked out and was blown away at the size of this promenade. Shops, restaurants, stairs going up and down and decorations hanging from high above! It was beautiful!
Since I had managed to check in and be on board before the suggested boarding time, there weren't very many people around! It was nice to wander around a few floors of the ship, exploring, while no one was around and it was quiet and peaceful.
As I wandered, my carry-on bag getting a biiiiiiit heavy for my liking, I managed to find the champagne bar! Hallelujah! Hahaha! Time to get my celebration on!
Took out my little SeaPass card, grabbed a mimosa and then happily read my book at one of the tables. How exciting!! I feel like I'm on a real vacation now!!
I mean, not that this whole trip hasn't been an amazing vacation already.. I'm talkin' about little-umbrella-in-your-piña-colada-while-you-bask-in-the-sunshine-on-the-pool-deck kind of vacation! Haha (Well okay, I know I still had a mimosa in hand but the piña coladas will come and I'll be ready to take a sip and a bite of the pineapple that is so nicely placed on the rims edge!
So, I read my book for a little bit then found out that there was a lunch buffet a few floors up. I found the guest relations desk, grabbed a few descriptions and itineraries then decided it might be nice to scope out the buffet and grab some veggies!
While stacking my plate with some healthy snacks, I ended up running into the Irish couple again who warmly welcomed me to sit at their table with them! We chatted about all the fun things described on the itinerary and before we knew it, it was one o'clock and we could go see our rooms! Wahoo!
I go on a search for the elevators and after pressing the button, the elevator doors open to a few people inside - two of them were very good looking, muscly, guys who look to be around my age and have an accent. Woop! HELLO! Haha
I get in the pretty silent elevator, and quietly but clearly I can hear this really crappy JLo and Pitbull song that I despise. (Of all the crap elevator music they could play...JLo really? Ha! -- Whatever, vacation!)
I get out on the 8th floor, so do the cute guys.
Hmm.. Okay.
I'm walking down the hall, them slightly behind me - walking in the same direction - still hearing JLo playing on what must be the hallway speakers.. I find my room and then as I'm digging for my SeaPass card it occurs to me that that crappy music? Yeah, it was coming from myyyy headphones! Dahhhhhh! Hahahaha GO FIGURE!
(Insert red, embarrassed cheeks here.)
All the people in the elevator must've been thinking "who IS this girl? Jammin to JLo... Diva" haha
Oh well! C'est La Vie!
Standing infront of my room, on the door is a sign saying "Bon Voyage!" -- how cute!
Hmm.. Wait a minute.. No one else's door has a cute little sign on it...
Mom.....?
... Dad......?
Hahaha
I open the door and there are little streamers and decorations all over the room in blue and yellow and "Bon Voyage!" exclamations everywhere!
Awwwwwwwww! :) Yayyyyyyyy! Thanks parents!!!
The room is fantastic! Big enough closet to unpack my suitcase! Vanity! Tv! Couch! Super comfortable queen bed and wicked balcony that was looking out to the ocean! Wahoooo!
BRING ON THE PIÑA COLADAS AND LITTLE UMBRELLAS!
I put down all my stuff then do a solid flying Superman pounce on my bed and soak it in! It's time to relax and fiinnnnaaaaally not have to think about the next train I have to hop on or who may yell at me about putting my feet up! Take that crazy Italian man! In yo face! Ha!
I open up the balcony door, enjoying a great view of the ocean and another couple cruise ships docked beside ours then decide to go find out what the gym is like!
On deck 11, where the lunch buffet was (at the Windjammer restaurant), there was a large pool and lots of chairs for soaking in the sun, and then behind the pool was the gym and spa!
The gym was on the very back of the boat with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the ocean! YEEEEESSSS!!!!!!
If you know me well enough, you know I go to the gym pretty much every day, sometimes twice a day, plus yoga (sometimes). I'm very active and love it! Its how I de-stress and always stay positive. And for the last month and a half, not only have I been eating my weight in incredible European food, I have also had very little time to go to the gym having had my best friend from Canada visit before my trip, working, freelancing, trip planning, going to Canada before Europe.. It's been pretty hectic. Thus leaving me feeling crappy and unhealthy. So, I'm sure its needless to say at this point that when I found the gym I was stoked! Now all I had to do was get some running shoes from one of the stores in the promenade and I'd be good to go!
I wandered around the ship some more, checking out the mini golf and the rock climbing wall and the spa and the library, all the while awaiting the shops to open as well as constantly seeing those hot elevator guys around.
I literally saw them everywhere I went! It was so weird. They probably thought I was creeping or something lol aghh... Haha
Finally the shops opened, I ran down to buy a pair of running shoes and then headed back to my room to change and give my parents a call.
As I was on the phone with them, I hear a knock on the door. My "stateroom attendant" introduces himself (his name I can't remember - oops) and he brings in a bottle of wine and a fruit basket with a note: "Happy first cruise!!! Have fun! XO Love Mom and Dad!"
Dawwwww, I have great parents! :) Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
I talked to them about everything I had seen on the ship thus far and then went off to the gym! (Seeing the guys one more time on the way... seriously, in gym clothes now? Can't catch a break!)
After working out for about an hour, I headed back to my room, showered, watched some tv, changed... Taking my time, enjoying life -- by this point it was already 9ish and I had missed my 8:30 seating for supper. I knew I was going to miss it because of the gym, but I didn't mind, wasn't thaaaaaat hungry anyways.
I went downstairs to the Promenade and spent some more time exploring, grabbing a mini calzone at the snack restaurant making small talk with the bartender and people around me. Again... Seeing those guys... I swear they're following me now. Haha! Then I head down to the casino to look around.
When I come out the other side, as I'm walking up the stairs, I see the guys one more time. They stop and watch me for a second, so finally I turn around and before I have a chance to open my mouth, they laugh and say "You're following us huh?" (agghh!)
I start laughing- "I thought you guys were following me!"
They (Rob & Dave) ask if I'm here alone and I explain what I've been doing for the last few weeks. Rob & Dave are personal trainers from Dublin. They ask where I'm from and as it turns out one of them just so happens to be coming to San Diego a few days after I get back! How funny!
So as we're talking about San Diego, a girl perks up as she's coming down the stairs that were all standing on, "San Diego?! Did I hear you say something about Pacific Beach?" Her name is Holladais, about our age, and lives in Coronado!
We decide to all grab drinks together and go down to the night club on board called "The Dungeon".
Hours, dancing, tequila and several drinks later - it was time to call it a night. It was almost 2am and I had to be up for a tour of Taormina, Sicily at 7am.
Uggghhhh.... Why do I do this to myself???!
I'm gunna just go ahead and say/ put the blame on "college years".
Haha! Ugh...
Okay, I lie, I'm on a ship! Yeaahhhhhhh!!!!!!
I woke up this morning, quickly threw together the last bits of my stuff and headed for the complimentary breakfast in the hotel. Some yogurt, a pancake, croissant and tea later I was checking out and trying to figure out where to go with the hotel shuttle to the cruise ship not leaving till noon and it was only 10am.
I'm standing outside, luggage in one hand, the other blocking the sun as I looked out to see if I could catch a taxi, when an older Irish couple come out of the hotel and ask if I'm heading to the ship.
"Yes! The Royal Caribbean?"
Turns out they had were headed that way as well and told me that I could walk with them if I liked. Apparently there was a complimentary shuttle just down a few blocks at the entrance of all the ports.
Perfect!
I follow them down, very nice couple, and then was greeted by the bus driver who watched my every move walking towards the bus, saying "bellaaaa, bella! You know what that mean?" I smiled and nodded, thanking him."Bellissima!"
The bus dropped me off infront of a big white tent about 6-or-so minutes down the road - it was so exciting to see this ENORMOUS cruise ship docked beside it! I was so giddy and excited!!!
I gave my suitcase to one of the attendants standing by and then mosey'd on over to fill out a few forms, drink some lemonade and wait for my number to be called to check in!
After checking in and getting my SeaPass card, i had to hand over my passport to the police (who apparently keep it the whole cruise) and I walked up and on to the massive cruise ship!
It didn't take as long as I thought to get lost. Having walked on, I immediately had no idea what to do or where I was going! A woman with a welcoming face immediately saw my confusion,
"can I help?"
"umm... actually, yes. I don't know where to go!"
And that's when she looked at me and said "Anywhere! Go explore!"
I couldn't help but laugh, if she only knew that all I've been doing for the past 22 days is exploring! Haha!
I asked her if I could see my room, to which she said wouldn't be ready for another 2 hours but if I wanted to, I could go up to the 5th floor - The Promenade, and grab a drink or have some munchies.
As the elevator dinged at the 5th floor, I walked out and was blown away at the size of this promenade. Shops, restaurants, stairs going up and down and decorations hanging from high above! It was beautiful!
Since I had managed to check in and be on board before the suggested boarding time, there weren't very many people around! It was nice to wander around a few floors of the ship, exploring, while no one was around and it was quiet and peaceful.
As I wandered, my carry-on bag getting a biiiiiiit heavy for my liking, I managed to find the champagne bar! Hallelujah! Hahaha! Time to get my celebration on!
Took out my little SeaPass card, grabbed a mimosa and then happily read my book at one of the tables. How exciting!! I feel like I'm on a real vacation now!!
I mean, not that this whole trip hasn't been an amazing vacation already.. I'm talkin' about little-umbrella-in-your-piña-colada-while-you-bask-in-the-sunshine-on-the-pool-deck kind of vacation! Haha (Well okay, I know I still had a mimosa in hand but the piña coladas will come and I'll be ready to take a sip and a bite of the pineapple that is so nicely placed on the rims edge!
So, I read my book for a little bit then found out that there was a lunch buffet a few floors up. I found the guest relations desk, grabbed a few descriptions and itineraries then decided it might be nice to scope out the buffet and grab some veggies!
While stacking my plate with some healthy snacks, I ended up running into the Irish couple again who warmly welcomed me to sit at their table with them! We chatted about all the fun things described on the itinerary and before we knew it, it was one o'clock and we could go see our rooms! Wahoo!
I go on a search for the elevators and after pressing the button, the elevator doors open to a few people inside - two of them were very good looking, muscly, guys who look to be around my age and have an accent. Woop! HELLO! Haha
I get in the pretty silent elevator, and quietly but clearly I can hear this really crappy JLo and Pitbull song that I despise. (Of all the crap elevator music they could play...JLo really? Ha! -- Whatever, vacation!)
I get out on the 8th floor, so do the cute guys.
Hmm.. Okay.
I'm walking down the hall, them slightly behind me - walking in the same direction - still hearing JLo playing on what must be the hallway speakers.. I find my room and then as I'm digging for my SeaPass card it occurs to me that that crappy music? Yeah, it was coming from myyyy headphones! Dahhhhhh! Hahahaha GO FIGURE!
(Insert red, embarrassed cheeks here.)
All the people in the elevator must've been thinking "who IS this girl? Jammin to JLo... Diva" haha
Oh well! C'est La Vie!
Standing infront of my room, on the door is a sign saying "Bon Voyage!" -- how cute!
Hmm.. Wait a minute.. No one else's door has a cute little sign on it...
Mom.....?
... Dad......?
Hahaha
I open the door and there are little streamers and decorations all over the room in blue and yellow and "Bon Voyage!" exclamations everywhere!
Awwwwwwwww! :) Yayyyyyyyy! Thanks parents!!!
The room is fantastic! Big enough closet to unpack my suitcase! Vanity! Tv! Couch! Super comfortable queen bed and wicked balcony that was looking out to the ocean! Wahoooo!
BRING ON THE PIÑA COLADAS AND LITTLE UMBRELLAS!
I put down all my stuff then do a solid flying Superman pounce on my bed and soak it in! It's time to relax and fiinnnnaaaaally not have to think about the next train I have to hop on or who may yell at me about putting my feet up! Take that crazy Italian man! In yo face! Ha!
I open up the balcony door, enjoying a great view of the ocean and another couple cruise ships docked beside ours then decide to go find out what the gym is like!
On deck 11, where the lunch buffet was (at the Windjammer restaurant), there was a large pool and lots of chairs for soaking in the sun, and then behind the pool was the gym and spa!
The gym was on the very back of the boat with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the ocean! YEEEEESSSS!!!!!!
If you know me well enough, you know I go to the gym pretty much every day, sometimes twice a day, plus yoga (sometimes). I'm very active and love it! Its how I de-stress and always stay positive. And for the last month and a half, not only have I been eating my weight in incredible European food, I have also had very little time to go to the gym having had my best friend from Canada visit before my trip, working, freelancing, trip planning, going to Canada before Europe.. It's been pretty hectic. Thus leaving me feeling crappy and unhealthy. So, I'm sure its needless to say at this point that when I found the gym I was stoked! Now all I had to do was get some running shoes from one of the stores in the promenade and I'd be good to go!
I wandered around the ship some more, checking out the mini golf and the rock climbing wall and the spa and the library, all the while awaiting the shops to open as well as constantly seeing those hot elevator guys around.
I literally saw them everywhere I went! It was so weird. They probably thought I was creeping or something lol aghh... Haha
Finally the shops opened, I ran down to buy a pair of running shoes and then headed back to my room to change and give my parents a call.
As I was on the phone with them, I hear a knock on the door. My "stateroom attendant" introduces himself (his name I can't remember - oops) and he brings in a bottle of wine and a fruit basket with a note: "Happy first cruise!!! Have fun! XO Love Mom and Dad!"
Dawwwww, I have great parents! :) Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
I talked to them about everything I had seen on the ship thus far and then went off to the gym! (Seeing the guys one more time on the way... seriously, in gym clothes now? Can't catch a break!)
After working out for about an hour, I headed back to my room, showered, watched some tv, changed... Taking my time, enjoying life -- by this point it was already 9ish and I had missed my 8:30 seating for supper. I knew I was going to miss it because of the gym, but I didn't mind, wasn't thaaaaaat hungry anyways.
I went downstairs to the Promenade and spent some more time exploring, grabbing a mini calzone at the snack restaurant making small talk with the bartender and people around me. Again... Seeing those guys... I swear they're following me now. Haha! Then I head down to the casino to look around.
When I come out the other side, as I'm walking up the stairs, I see the guys one more time. They stop and watch me for a second, so finally I turn around and before I have a chance to open my mouth, they laugh and say "You're following us huh?" (agghh!)
I start laughing- "I thought you guys were following me!"
They (Rob & Dave) ask if I'm here alone and I explain what I've been doing for the last few weeks. Rob & Dave are personal trainers from Dublin. They ask where I'm from and as it turns out one of them just so happens to be coming to San Diego a few days after I get back! How funny!
So as we're talking about San Diego, a girl perks up as she's coming down the stairs that were all standing on, "San Diego?! Did I hear you say something about Pacific Beach?" Her name is Holladais, about our age, and lives in Coronado!
We decide to all grab drinks together and go down to the night club on board called "The Dungeon".
Hours, dancing, tequila and several drinks later - it was time to call it a night. It was almost 2am and I had to be up for a tour of Taormina, Sicily at 7am.
Uggghhhh.... Why do I do this to myself???!
I'm gunna just go ahead and say/ put the blame on "college years".
Haha! Ugh...
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