Australia Day 3: Outdoors in Adelaide

Another early morning in Adelaide! The Jet lag is still in effect so I woke up unusually early but that's okay because today I am going hiking for the first time with my cousin.  Today we are hiking about 3 miles to Mount Lofty. When we drove there I was surprised at how many people where there hiking; it's something I would never find in Texas.  We started it off with a nice photo in front of a little waterfall (I'm rocking my bodypop leggings). Then we started actually hiking and man, was it brutal! My legs were so sore from climbing all the way to the top. Some sections of the hike were incredibly steep. When we finally reached the top we celebrated with ice pops and selfies. The view of Adelaide was worth the effort. The downhill was a lot easier aside from me eating it once as I was going down a steep bit. But it's okay I have bruises and battle scars to show off my first hiking expedition.

After the hike, we all went to a family picnic in the park.  We played ball and ate shrimp on the barbie (hehe). Life in Australia is very laid back.

At sunset, we drove to Glenelg beach with our cousins. The water was cold and the waves were fierce. We tried playing beach volleyball but it did not go too well so we ended up playing in the water which was very salty.

This is what I would call an active day. We spent a lot of our day outside. It was very fun.

I'm going to Australia!

Get ready for new installment of Connie-travels-the-world-even-though-she-hates-flying. I originally started this blog to write travel diaries of my time in Europe (hence the name girlinafantasyland). And it's pretty hard to devote a blog to travel if you're a broke college student and not constantly traveling. But I am excited to share with you all who take the time to read my blog that I am going to Australia for 10 days.

I don't share too much about my family on this blog but I will say that most of my mom's side of the family lives in Australia (my mom is one of the few of her siblings who left to live in America). So I have three aunt's and their respective families living there that I haven't seen since I was 6.

I will be going to Adelaide for Christmas and Sydney for New Years. So be prepared for some daily posts in two months. And if anyone has suggestion for sights to see in Australia, let me know!

xx

December 28, 2013: There's No Place Like Home

"Maybe you had to leave in order to miss a place; maybe you had to travel to figure out how beloved your starting place was." -Jodi Picoult

          Getting to go abroad for the semester was one the greatest and scariest things I have ever done.  I loved that I got to go study in the UK at such a internationally flavoured university. You could walk up the stairwells of the library and hear phone conversations in 3 different languages. As interesting as it was to study abroad, the experience of being on my own for the first time, magnified by living in a different country has given me a greater appreciation for the stability and familiarity of home. For the first 18 years of your life, you take for granted the house you live in, the parents who feed and love you, the friends you've known for years and the routine you've crafted for yourself.  When you leave for the first time, it feels as if the world is suddenly upside down.  The things in your life that have been constants for your entire life are suddenly not there. 
   
          The reality starts to settle in when you have your first fever and suddenly you have to set reminders on your phone to self-medicate with Advil because your mother isn't there. You don't realize how much she means to you until you are thousands of miles away because before you were a college student, she was always there for you. And now, she is replaced by words from an email and pixels from a webcam.

          After staying in Boston for a night, I was ready to head home.  After a total of about 4 hours and one final boarding pass printout, one final security checkpoint and one final plane boarding, I was off to DFW.  I saw my mom and my brother greeting me at the airport. I hadn't seen their faces in nearly four months! It was so glad to be back home and get reoriented with my home. Was my bathroom sink always that low? Were the lights always that bright? Anyways, that was the conclusion of my semester abroad and subsequent two weeks around Europe. There were highs and lows to this trip but everything is a learning experience and I definitely became a wiser person after this.  To end it with a cliche: there's no place like home.

P.S. If you have read my entire travel diary, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking the time to listen to my story. Whether you know me personally or not, whether you clicked on a link that I advertised for found this my mistake, thank you. I know these are not uploaded in real time and these last posts are six weeks overdue but I really do appreciate everyone reading. I don't care if there's two or two hundred of you all. As long as there is an audience, there is a blogger.

December 27, 2013: Farewell Europe/Travel Pains Part 2

"Experience, travel - these are as education in themselves." -Euripides

Last day in Spain. Last Day in Europe. Last Day in Another Country. Who knows when the next time is that I will go international.  The past two weeks have been an absolute whirlwind for me.  And today was going to be no different.

I had a morning flight and after what happened last time, I was determined to be there early. I am implementing a three-hour rule for every plane trip I take hereon out. I booked my flight to DFW through Aer Lingus which made two stops; one at Dublin and one at Boston.  I checked in and went through security for the last time for hopefully a long time. The wait began. Time comes to board and no one lets us in. Apparently Dublin had some bad weather and our flight had been delayed for two hours. In my mind I was irritated about waiting more especially after I arrived at the airport early but even more worried about making my connecting flight which was I had a three hour layover to cushion any mishaps (later I would realize that this wouldn't be an issue).  We finally boarded and flew to Dublin in bad weather condition.  Turbulence was awful and I have to say that this was the one time where applauding after the pilot landed the aircraft was socially acceptable.

I was stressing out about missing my flight to Boston. This was the big transcontinental one. Who knows if they would have another flight?  It turns out that I wouldn't have to worry since that flight had also been delayed.  What was even more excruciating about the wait is that they didn't have a definitive time of when they would leave. The screen would always say "More info at 4:30, 5:30 etc." They finally opened up a gate to board three hours after it was initially scheduled. Then factoring time to board and takeoff, tack on another half hour.  The bright side was that my seat was at the front of economy (movin' on up) so I got extra legroom just like my previous transcontinental trip to Scotland. I can't tell you how good it feel to have that extra bit of space.

The six hours flew by faster that I thought it would. They didn't have any tv shows or movies that I wanted to watch (first world problems) so I just listened to music and started reading Divergent.  I figured my flight to Dallas was a definite no-go so I prepared for the worst. And my fears were reassured. But fortunately I got a complimentary night's stay at the Boston Hilton. I had never been "put up" at a hotel before so I was pretty shocked that I didn't have to spend a dime on the room.

After a combined 6.5 hours of flight delays and a total of 10 hours in the air, I would be completely fine if I didn't get to go on a plane trip for the next couple years.

December 26, 2013: Madrid Round 2

"Travel teaches toleration." -Benjamin Disraeli
If I had not already said it before, I will say it now.  Travel is a true test of a relationship, whether it be with family, friends or a significant other.  Tensions can run high or you can experience travel euphoria.  Usually, it is a mix of the two.  I definitely think my friendship with my best friend has grown stronger through this journey.  We learned a lot about each other. We learned what makes the other one tick, makes the other one uncomfortable, and of course makes the other one laugh.

We started off with a walking tour of Madrid hosted my Sandemans New Madrid Free Walking Tour. I had gone to one in Amsterdam and thought it was such a priceless (get it?) experience and I really learned a lot about the city.  This one was not as great as the one in Amsterdam but still a quality tour regardless. After all, Madrid is not exactly the city of vice, but they do have a complicated story of succession of kings, one that I could not recall even if I tried.

After the tour we walked to the Templo De Debod which was a great FREE thing to see.  It's a very scenic attraction (one of my favorites pictures from the entire trip) and has an interesting backstory.  Look it up if you have the time.

We walked around the two squares Plaza Mayor and Puerta Del Sol again.  Eager to eat, we stopped at a little shop (and I mean little) and ordered two calamari sandwiches which I didn't know at the time was actually a very popular food item in Madrid.  They were pretty inexpensive too (flashback to all the times I payed a large sum to eat calamari in America).

That pretty much ended our last full day in Europe.  Susan, if you are reading this, thank you for everything.  I couldn't imagine doing this with anyone else but you. Sidenote: How freaky is that dark cloud behind the Palacio Real?

December 25, 2013: Merry Christmas from Barcelona

"Christmas isn't a season. It's a feeling." -Edna Ferber

If I were to rank all the Christmases that I have had, this would easily be in the top 3 if not #1.  We didn't do anything too special in the morning since we had to get on a train to go back to Madrid.  Another two and a half hours later, we arrived and took a taxi to our hotel.  I don't remember too much about the hotel except that the floor in the bar area had glass and you could see the basement which was decorated in a very unique way (see below) and we stayed in a bright pink room.

We went out to walk the streets and the two main busy areas, Plaza Mayor and Puerta Del Sol (Puerta Del Sol is much better).  Be warned, these are high traffic areas.  We ate at a McDonald's there (classy right?).  We walked around a little more, waiting for the big Christmas tree to light up, which it eventually did and we awkwardly asked a Chinese tourist to take our photo.

We went back to the hotel and decided to indulge ourselves at the bar.  I saw that they had fresh sangria which I didn't know until after that day that sangria actually originated from Spain (that explains the pronunciation).  Susan and I had both ordered sangria.  She took a one-and-done sip and then proceeded to order champagne, oranges and molten chocolate cake.  So guess who got to drink two glasses of sangria?  Needless to say, I was a little buzzed and giggly that night.

Double the pleasure, Double the fun 

I want all oranges to be prepared for consumption in this manner from now on.

Cue mouth-watering...

We went back to our room and listed to some Pete Holmes comedy bits.  If you don't know who he is, you are missing out on a good laugh. He's even got his own talk show on TBS. It was a great end to a great day. I loved being able to share this day with my best friend. Bon Nadal Barcelona. Feliz Navidad Madrid.
(Susan asked me to take a photo of her doing this, so I thought it was only appropriate for me to share it with the world wide web. You're Welcome Susan.)

December 24, 2013: Christmas Eve in Barcelona

 A new day in Barcelona.  We started our day with another 15 Euro breakfast. I should say that it is 15 for each of us. These hotels man. Anyways, after filling up, we took a taxi down to the Sagrada Familia.  The line wasn't too long. We arrived around opening time and waited for only 15 minutes to get our tickets.  The attraction itself wasn't too entertaining, but keep in mind, it is a religious building, not a carnival.  The stained glass and architecture of the Sagrada Familia really create the beauty of this structure. There is a reason that this is one of the most visited attractions in Europe.

Look at the stained glass.

The outside of the Sagrada Familia.

We hopped on the bus tour again. Not really to go anywhere but just to see the city.  I learned a lot about the city and about how they hosted the Summer Olympics back in 1992.  We passed by Bernabeu Stadium where FC Barcelona plays.  I am not a big fan of soccer (ahem, football) but I knew the magnitude of importance that this stadium holds for Barca fans.  If I ever come back to Barcelona, it will definitely be one of the places I go visit.

Another stop on the bus tour was Maremagnum, a nice shopping center. Not as big as the malls back home, but much bigger and more urban than the shops we had seen on the streets.  I bought a nice black sequin dress that I wore to dinner that night for around 20 euros. After that we went to an aquarium next to Maremagnum. It was a nice little aquarium. Not the best 25 euros I ever spent, but certainly not the worst.

For Christmas Eve, Susan treated me to a fancy dinner at a restaurant in the Maremagnum.  We were originally going to go to a different dinner but we messed up the directions (oops haha).  Regardless, it was a great meal and a great way to spend Christmas Eve. She spent I think 80 euros on dinner. I know money doesn't buy friendship, but I don't know how many non-friends would drop 80 euros on a dinner for two. Love ya girl! 

December 23, 2013: Day of Antoni Gaudi in Barcelona

Today was a busy day for me and Susan in Barcelona.  We started off with a pricey 15 Euro breakfast. Gotta love those swanky hotels. Then we set off for Casa Battlo, which we were idiotically pronouncing incorrectly for the longest time.  It was one of the things that Susan really wanted to see.  It was a very intricately designed house with an amazing roof.  Definitely a must-see in Barcelona.

After that, we walked down a couple of blocks to Casa Mila aka La Pedrera, another one of Antoni Gaudi's creations.  It also had a nice roof. Seeing a trend here?

Park Guell was the next stop on our Day of Gaudi.  It's far from the area of Barcelona we were at but thanks to a hop-on hop-off bus tour I convinced Susan to take, we were able to get there easily.  I would highly recommend looking into these types of bus tours at any city you travel to, they will save you a lot of taxis.  Park Guell was very nice.  I got a nice picture of Susan with this lizard thing.

December 22, 2013: Day Two in Madrid/Barcelona

Today was the day we were to take the train from Madrid to Barcelona.  It was a very easy process and the train took about 3 hours.  We arrived in Barcelona and checked into our hotel.

We walked down La Rambla and to Palau Guell, one of Antoni Gaudi's creations.  The ticket came with an audio tour, which was a great way to learn about the building.  The highlight of this exhibit was the rooftop, decorated with interesting ceramic covered chimneys, a perfect photo op!

For dinner, we wanted a nice traditional Spanish meal.  There were a lot of restaurants on the same street as our hotel so we decided to go in and have paella.  We ordered a combination paella with seafood, chicken and vegetables to split between the two of us.  The person who was running the small restaurant was very generous and gave us a larger paella free of charge.  He gave us a free bottle of water and even offered us free shots, which we politely declined as we rushed out.  There is a fine line between being generous and creepy.  But it's a nice anecdote to tell our friends, especially because of the fact that my friend misinterpreted the word "shot" for "shirt" and didn't understand why I was adamant on declining his offer.

December 21, 2013: Day One in Madrid

         

          Today we took it slow as my best friend was still recovering from jet lag.  We took a nice stroll through Retiro Park, which she suggested.  I was surprised to find that rollerblading was a fun pastime for the people of Madrid.  In the park, we visited the Crystal House (a misnomer seeing that it is actually made of glass, but pretty to look at nonetheless).  There were also two free museums in the park, which were a nice way to kill time.  It was a nice change of pace after my jam-packed days in Amsterdam and Rome.  I wasn’t able to go to Vondelpark in Amsterdam so this was a nice substitute.  Susan was enjoying it, as was I. 

          I was able to convince Susan to visit The Royal Palace in Madrid. I would say that it was definitely the highlight of my day.  We walked through many of the elegantly decorated rooms in the palace and took a look through the armory.  It was a great inside look at the way the Spanish Royals must have lived. I highly recommend visiting the Palace. We ended our day early to get a jumpstart on tomorrow.  

          I wished we could have gone out later but I wanted my best friend to be comfortable her first time away.  When traveling with a friend there is definitely a lot of give and take and two people with different interests. But in the end, I was okay with giving up some freedom and control to have a travelling companion around Spain, especially since my Spanish is severely limited.

December 20, 2013: Travel Pains

"I have found out that there ain't no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them." -Mark Twain

I think this will go down as one of the worst days of my life.  I check out of my hostel with over 2 hours before my flight departs so I think I have time. I spend time waiting at Termini Station to get on a bus to the Airport. Time is a little tight but the airport is less than 10 miles away so I think it’s going to be fine. And then traffic. Fucking Rome traffic. I swear those Romans are god-awful drivers. I don’t know if it’s their fault or if it is the poor city planning that’s to blame.  I’m pissed so I say both. It took 15 minutes just to get out of the busy part of Rome.  Long story short, I missed my flight and the next one was 8 hours later.  So I’m waiting in the airport frantically trying to reach my best friend.  She finally calls and my phone can’t get her call. I start panicking because I know that she’s scared and the Information Desk isn’t very helpful, directing me to a payphone that I’m pretty sure was broken.  I go into a souvenir shop begging the lady to let me borrow a phone. She is just an unhelpful and directs me to the payphone that doesn’t work.  Customer Service must be a foreign concept in Italy.  The people at American Airlines would bend over backwards to help me out.  Thankfully, an Italian lady saw how frantic I was and let me borrow her phone to make a call.  I will never forget that. It renews my hope that there are still good people in this world.  I hope karma rewards her for her kindness.

After a few more grueling hours of waiting, I was finally on a plane to Madrid.  Once I landed in Madrid and collected my luggage, I hopped into a taxi towards the hotel.  We drove through the streets of Madrid and all the Christmas lights they had set up for the holiday season.  I arrived at the hotel and was finally reunited with my best friend Susan after what seems like ages.  It was so refreshing to be in a hotel with a full size bed and my own bathroom after staying at hostels for the past week. 

December 19, 2013: Day Two in Rome

"Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, is the ideas of living." -Miriam Beard

I realized after all of my travelling that it takes a day to figure out how to properly navigate a new city.  By now, I knew where to get on my bus and where to go.  I decided to go back to Vatican City and see the Vatican Museum.

I will never forget the moment before I was about to enter the Vatican museum.  I was stopped by a man who was trying to sell me a tour with a guide around the Vatican Museum for 40 euros. I tried to bow out but he was very persistent and would not let me leave. I just had to walk away and less than 10 seconds another one approaches me. Like seriously? Did you not just see me talking to your comrade? I was going to tell him the same thing I told the first guy and then a British girl walks by having just left the Vatican Museum and yells over to me “Don’t listen to him! It’s a scam!” and a part of me wanted to yell back so badly “I KNOW!” like right in the guy’s face to let him know that I wasn’t falling for it. So heed my warning, never take a tour offered by a guy on the street. Plan it out beforehand. Rome definitely wasn’t as museum-heavy as Amsterdam but this one museum had more than enough to entertain me. Spend a couple hours at the Vatican Museum and you will be thoroughly satisfied.  At first I was a little hesitant at paying 16 euros to get into the museum but then I realized that it is a very large museum, like a museum conglomerate. You will get your money’s worth plus extra.

I remember after finishing walking through the Vatican Museum, I was trying to find the beautiful spiral staircase that I had seen in photos. I was about to head towards the exit but something was telling me to go back and find it. I was at the gift shop that was arranged around a circular banister.  Across from be I see people start to walk down an incline and then I looked over the banister and sure enough I had found the staircase.  It made for a gorgeous photo.

After the Vatican Museum I walked around to kill time until a free walking tour of Rome was to start.  I went to a McDonalds and was surprised at how packed it was.  It just goes to show how influential America is.  I ordered my meal and a Pistachio Mcflurry that I’m pretty sure was just a vanilla Mcflurry with crushed pistachios and green flavoring. 

Once I met up with the tour guide and met some nice people, we travelled around Rome.  The guide was a little soft-spoken and the tour was not as great as the one in Amsterdam, but I still learned a lot about the ancient city.  I got my photo taken at the Trevi fountain and saw a someone proposing to his girlfriend in front of the fountain. After parting ways, I walked back to my hostel and on the way bought a few souvenirs for my family and ate dinner at a nearby pizzeria. I packed up my things and fell asleep, ready for tomorrow. Ciao Roma!