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EUROPE 2023 🗺️🎒🛩️EUROPE 2023 🗺️🎒🛩️
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15 days of travel with my dear friends, and 49 days of solo travel, in search of new friends, places, and adventures! Read more
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  • TravelerEUROPE 2023 🗺️🎒🛩️
    Day 32

    Geneva Day 3

    July 20, 2023 in Switzerland ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Today was just a bigggg lake day. I woke up and had some free breakfast then met one of the fellas from last night’s group to go to the lake. We took the little ferry across the lake as opposed to walking- since it’s included in the free Geneva transport card that you get when you stay in a Geneva hotel or hostel. It was a cute little boat ride, only 5 minutes. We were only at the lake for a short while, he had to go catch his train after a short 40 minutes. I stuck around at the lake, read my book, and ultimately took a nap on the rocks. After that, I was getting hungry, but I spent so much money yesterday that I needed to be budget friendly. I went to the supermarket to get something, anything, that was edible for lunch and ended up getting an egg, ham, and cheese supermarket salad 😭😭 it was not very delicious, but I was just trying to be smart about my money out here, cuz I still have another 3 days out here. I also got a portugese tarte, which I saved for later. I then went back to the same lake spot where I hung out with more people from the night prior, this time I actually got into the water. It was a bit chilly, but refreshing, nonetheless. It was so funny to see how the swans would swim around the lake, paying no mind to the people- but I guess it’s more their home than ours, anyways. The others headed back and I stuck around again, reading my book and then walked across the bridge to go back to the hostel. I picked up some random food- which I did not enjoy, on the way back. I showered and freshened up and then met up with the group again just to hang out and have some take out drinks by the water. I didn’t end up having my drink but just spent the night chatting. Something kinda weird about this group is that like everyone is >25 so I felt really young 😭. The company is nice nonetheless, and they didn’t treat me any different than from one another, and everyone was still very kind. We went back to the hostel and it was early, so I called Lian and Alina for a little bit since I saw that they were together. Shared some of my stories and caught up and it was so nice to talk to them because it’s been like a month!!Read more

  • TravelerEUROPE 2023 🗺️🎒🛩️
    3
    Day 33

    Zürich Day 1

    July 21, 2023 in Switzerland ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    I woke up, ate the last bit of free breakfast, got my stuff together and checked out of the hostel. After, I went to get my eyelashes done- and they literally suck and I’m so sad about it. Like the lady didn’t even isolate my eyelashes so they’re all in clumps and ugh idk what to even do. I just kind of have to deal with it and hope that my natural lashes aren’t ruined 😭. After that I took a tram, then a bus, to the airport to catch the train to Zürich! Check the video of the sunflower fields! 😍🌻 i finally got to my destination and checked into my hostel. I had some very sweet roommates- Emma and Aubrey who were also very funny :) i went to the grocery store to get some microwave pasta for dinner😭😭 im running out of my switzerland budget here. But it was alright, and i ate with Aubrey and Emma who interestingly made beans with toast/rice cake, lemon juice, tomato, and greens for dinner. We played some card games and they went off to bed. Later on, I met up with Carys and Madi, who I essentially booked this part of the trip for! We planned to go to a club or something, but we just ended up grabbing some to-go sangrias and chatting and frolicking all night long. We each called our moms which was super sweet <3. We stumbled upon a beautiful garden and found ourselves by the water which was really nice! We had a hilarious 3-person scooter home and tuckered in for the night.Read more

  • TravelerEUROPE 2023 🗺️🎒🛩️
    2
    Day 34

    Zürich Day 2

    July 22, 2023 in Switzerland ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    This has got to be one of my favourite days on the trip so far! It was long, but super rewarding! I had the free breakfast at my hostel, and then Carys and Madi came over to my hostel to meet! We went on this hike that my hostelmate had done yesterday- she gave me an extremely detailed itinerary of what she did, so we followed it to the T! So, she gave me a dropped pin on the map and we just walked in that direction- we stopped by the grocery store to grab food on the way, and this already took an hour 😭 we also got distracted by farm animals and little gardens along the way. And then- the hike begins. It was only about 2 hours upward, very steep, a bit difficult, lots of breaks. But it’s okay! We had a lot of butterfly breaks on this part of the trek. We would sit down and butterflies would come and sit on our hands or our heads and it was the cutest thing ever!! Besides that, this part of the hike was the most difficult part. But, there were lots of viewpoints along the way, which was quite encouraging. We also got a bit lost and confused, but ultimately made our way to the first checkpoint, which was the top of Zürich!! The view was stunnnnnning! You could see the entire city on one side, and heaps of mountains on the other. Then, we had to find the cablecar down. We were a bit confused to start once again, but figured it out, and sort of had to walk across the mountain (with little to no incline) for another 2 ish hours. This part was also very lovely, as there was lots of vast farmland and fields. We did a lot of frolicking, a lot of laying down in the fields, a lot of laughing. We kept saying that we feel like fairies 🧚‍♀️🧚🧚‍♂️!! Soon, we finally made it to the cable car and took it down to the bottom. Afterwards, we bussed over to a park on the lake which was like a little island. Me and Carys did some swimming, and I had a little nap after. Later that evening, I grabbed some microwave dinner 😭😭 because I can’t afford a proper meal in the Swiss economy. After, we met up in hopes of going clubbing or something, but we just ended up walking around and sharing a bottle of wine, and sharing stories- because none of us wanted to pay 20-25 francs for entry 😞😞😞😞.Read more

  • TravelerEUROPE 2023 🗺️🎒🛩️
    Day 35

    Zürich Day 3

    July 23, 2023 in Switzerland ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    My legs and knees hurt so much today after the hike yesterday 😭😭 but you already know that im still gonna do 23,794 steps today! So the day of course, started with free breakfast, and I just had a slow morning- which was needed after yesterday’s long day. I had the chance to call some friends over breakfast- I found out that my boss keeps up with my blog sometimes and that honestly gives me life- HI WAYNE. Soon after, I went to meet Carys and Madi at the train station to bid them farewell. This was another hard, and sad goodbye 😭 especially because I know that this time it will be a while until I see them next. But I cherish the time that I got to spend with them, and I’m so happy that I booked this little bit in Zürich, and that we got to share this experience together! After, I went to get a reservation for my train later that night. Then, I walked around the city, and walked over each bridge that I saw, so it was like doing zig zags across the lake. Until, I got to the end of the lake, then I walked along the shore line ish until I was close to a grocery store. Something that sucked about today is that because it was Sunday, pretty much everything was closed- retail stores, grocery stores even. This was one of the few ones that were open. I got a budget lunch that consisted of bread, hummus, and cucumber 😍❤️. I sat by the lake and munched, listened to music, and cherished the last few moments in this expensive country. I went back to the hostel and decompressed, and also did some administrative business, sorting out some of the rest of my trip. Then, off I went to the train station! I had a pretzel kind of thing for dinner, and boarded my train. So basically, this was a night train, I had to take 2 to get to Vienna. On the first one I was literally placed across from a distressed baby 😭 so I could barely sleep cuz he kept on babbling and whining. I’m sorry but who brings like a literal newborn on a 3.5 hour train. I had a bit of a layover in Münich- which is actually where I was originally supposed to go during this time. Then, a 5 hour train to Vienna. Worst sleep of my life might I say. I have never missed sleeping in a bed more. But, I made it alive and it is what it is.Read more

  • TravelerEUROPE 2023 🗺️🎒🛩️
    Day 36

    Vienna Day 1- Salzburg

    July 24, 2023 in Austria ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    Touched down in Vienna very sleepy at about 6:30am 😭😭 i went to my hostel to drop off my bags, but luckily my room was actually ready! So i could just go in and put my stuff away there. Surprisingly, my hostelmate was awake already- because it was too hot to sleep, so we talked a bit and then went to get the free breakfast. I’m like 99% sure that the hostels that I’ve booked for the past 3 places are a chain so all of the breakfast is pretty much the same- bread, meat, cheese, yogurt, cereal. And i’m not complaining! We shared breakfast together and she went to try and sleep again. I decided that since my train pass was still active for today, that I would take advantage of that and go take a day trip to Salzburg, where the Sound of Music takes place! The trip didn’t start off too great. I was still exhausted from the lack of sleep the night before, and I couldn’t get a seat on the train for the first half hour so I sat on the floor 😭😭😭. Don’t come at me, I was really tired. Luckily I got a seat after some people got off after the first stop. I arrived in Salzburg around noon and started walking. This is technically the first place I’ve gotten to see in Austria, and wow, is it gorgeous! The buildings are so ornate, the mountains are lovely, the views are spectacular! I walked by Mozart’s house, didn’t go in because I wasn’t that interested. I walked across some bridges, and I sat by the water eating my lunch (a chicken burger lol). After, I walked by the church which was pretty from the outside! Then I went up to the Hohensalzburg Fortress, which sits at the top of Salzburg. I went mostly just for the views, which I think speak for itself. But, since I paid I thought that I might as well see the other things. I learned about the history of Salzburg- didn’t retain a lot but the salt trade was big around there. There was also a little puppet room which was cute. After, I walked down and wandered for a bit around the Altstadt area, which is mostly just shopping. Then suddenly, a rain and thunderstorm began! Luckily I got to the train station before it got really intense. Took a sleepy eepy train back to Vienna. Then I went to the mall to get sushi for dinner- I caved. I’ve been craving it so much, and although the quality is definitely not the same as Vancouver, it will do for now. I called Kseniya ❤️ and GOODNIGHTRead more

  • TravelerEUROPE 2023 🗺️🎒🛩️
    2
    Day 37

    Vienna Day 2

    July 25, 2023 in Austria ⋅ 🌧 18 °C

    You know the drill. Start off the day with free breakfast. But after I was stumped a bit, I had planned to have a big walk around the city day, but it was raining!!! But after some online research I came up with the perfect idea- museum day!!!! I love art museums so it was perfect. I went to the Albertina Museum which is like a palace and an art museum! I spent like 3 hours here LOL but there was just so much to see! There were 3 art exhibitions and then also the palace-y area. So obviously I went to look at all of them. The first was about a performance artist who created art that revolved around feminism, perspective, and other artsy stuff haha. The second exhibition was about allegory and historic reference in more scholarly art from the past. And the last exhibition was a whole collection that included some paintings from Degas, Monet, and Picasso! And then lastly was the Albertina Palace section which was very very opulent. The walls were decorated with silk, the finest marble, grand chandeliers. It was crazy to think that a family used to live here! After, I went to Bitzinger which was a little stand right outside of the museum. I got this cheese sausage thing which was pretty mid, but not bad. At this point the rain had stopped, so I walked around the main city- which is quite large! And very beautiful. The architecture here go craaaazy, the buildings are all so beautiful. I walked through a park which had a very sad canal….. After that, I had signed up for a walking tour so I went to meet the group by the Opera house. The walking tour was nice, the guide offered a lot of knowledge on the history of different landmarks and things around the area. We saw lots of sights, and learned lots of things. Something that she mentioned was that there’s an open air film festival that’s currently happening. So after the tour, I went with two girls- Marieke from Holland and Maddie from Australia, to the film festival! There were lots of food and drink stands- I got a very overpriced pork schnitzel, and we ate our food. We watched the film which was like an ice skating dance fairytale kinda thing? The plot was not very linear and I was quite confused. There were english subtitles though which was nice, but I was just lost at where the story was going 😭😭. We didn’t stay for the whole film, and I went off back to the hostel.Read more

  • TravelerEUROPE 2023 🗺️🎒🛩️
    Day 38

    Vienna Day 3

    July 26, 2023 in Austria ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    My day did not start off too well…. After free breakfast- and smuggling some food for lunch I set out to go to the Schonbrunn Palace, which has a huge garden that I planned to explore. So basically it went like this- I haven’t been buying public transit tickets, thinking I’m all sneaky. But apparently not because I got a FAT €105 FINE TODAY…………. (= $158 CAD) I was soooooo rattled. But it really is my own fault because literally everyone- people I’ve met and the friends from home- have told me stories about getting fines for trying to evade public transit fares. But no one that I’ve met has gotten a fine more than €60…. I’m gagged. But I guess this is the full Euro experience. I’ve decided that now it’s a funny story because I can’t keep putting out negative energy thinking about it. It’s already happened so its FINE…… just the most humbling experience ever.
    Rant over.
    I went to the palace and it was huge! And so was the garden. I walked around for a little bit- walked up to the main part and then around the botanical garden. To be honest, I was still feeling upset about the fine😭😭😭 I couldn’t enjoy the stroll in the park because all I could think about was the stupid ticket. I left and then went into the main city to do something else that would distract me. When I was exiting the station I was met with a super nice girl, Leni, who was fundraising for something but we just ended up talking for a while. It was such a concise interaction- because she was working technically, but it was so meaningful because I haven’t met many people in Vienna thus far. I got her contact, although I was leaving the next day. After I went to a traditional Viennese coffee house- which is noted to be a large part of Viennese culture. I settled for an apple strudel, and it was quite scrumptious. The interior of the coffee house was quite cozy and welcoming. After, I decided to do some retail therapy to make myself feel better, so I went to Zara and bought a cute crochet style skirt. I feel a bit better now. Then I went to the large church to go see the inside and it was graaaaand. The churches here never fail to exceed my expectations. It was a big one! After that, I headed back to the hostel to take a nap. Random side note, it was super windy and cold today which sucked because I only have one pair of pants and one longsleeve and I was still chilly. Anyways, the highlight of my time in Vienna came next. I went to the Vivaldi Four Seasons concert at the ‘Karlskirche,’ a church. I had walked by the church a couple of times on the outside but couldn’t bring myself to pay to see the inside so this was the perfect medium. Anyways, this concert was definitely one of my favourite moments in Europe in general. The performers were amazing!!! Especially the lead violinist- you could see how passionate he was, and see the music course through his body in his performance. You might think that watching people play the violin and cello would be boring, but when I was watching him- and the cellists, they truly embodied the music that they were playing. It was magical. And the church was soooooo beautiful too- it was the perfect evening. After the concert, I went to go eat that sausage thing again and stumbled upon what looked like a big party outside on the balcony of the museum? I just stood by while I ate because it was by the sausage place. After I finished eating, I headed on back to the hostel.
    And at the end of the day, the ticket didn’t even matter.    Read more

  • TravelerEUROPE 2023 🗺️🎒🛩️
    Day 39

    Budapest Day 1

    July 27, 2023 in Hungary ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Travel dayyyy. Luckily it wasn’t too long of a train tide. Well first, I had my free breakfast, and made sure to take extra for the road. While I was waiting for the train, I called Lauren and we caught up which is nice as always 🫶🏻 and then off I went to the train. I had to catch a metro first, and then the actual train to Budapest. The metro train was a bit late so it was leaving me with 10 minutes to find and catch the train. In moments like this I think about how much Ailish would hate to be travelling with me right now- cuz she’s always on top of being somewhere with a reasonable amount of time to figure things out 😅. The train ride started out…. Interesting. This train was quite nice and spacious! But there’s this thing where you can get a seat reservation for the train if you want, but you don’t have to. So obviously I didn’t. But the issue is that people will reserve last minute and then I have to move seats. Anyways, so some man came to take my seat so I just moved in. Suddenly he’s actually a literal creep and is being all like “I lost my phone and wallet and everything can you help me” and I feel literally trapped because I’m on the inside. Obviously I didn’t help him- I wasn’t being mean he’s just not the kind of person that you help- like, he didn’t even have a train ticket to be on the train, I’m pretty sure he was just trying to scam people. There were other things that he said that I didn’t like, but luckily 2 guys from the table across from me had moved to sit in front, and eventually the guy pissed off. Their friend moved into the weird guy’s seat, and I ended up chatting with them for the rest of the train ride! They were a nice group of friends from Scotland and they gave me lots of recommendations for things across Europe. Funny enough, two of them went to Vancouver for an exchange semester and they loved it! We laughed lots and I got to know them a bit. Even though the train ride started out weird, it ended up being my favourite train ride yet! The strangest of situations will always bring people together. More on that later.
    So I touched down in Budapest and walked for about 25 mins to my hostel. The first glaring truth is that my hostel sits on top of a bar so I came to realize that it was gonna be noisy. It’s all good though, I got ear plugs. I settled in my room and took a short nap and just some time to lay and decompress because idk why, that train ride drained me. After, I decided to walk out into the city just to check it out. First of all, I didn’t even realize that Hungary has a different currency, and I was really confused because everything looked like it was measured in altitude (350ft = 1€). I went to the inner city area, down to the river that separates ‘Buda’ and ‘Pest.’ I was standing, looking out at the water when suddenly a girl comes up to me and asks for a tissue because her makeup is running into her eye. We start chatting and I find out that she’s a local that lives here, her name’s Anna, and she’s about to meet her ex at the moment 😱. Suddenly I’m giving her relationship advice, and we’re talking and laughing but then we’re interrupted by her ex arriving to see her. We exchange contact and plan to catch up tomorrow!! After, I walk down to the water to catch up on my Vienna FindPenguin posts hahaha and then I walk up and over the bridge to watch the sun go down. I walk back towards my hostel and go to get some food because I’m starving! The reception lady at my hostel recommended this fast food italian place and it was quite delicious. I had “Cacciatore” which is like chicken paprikash with mascarpone and grana padano. Also did you know that paprika was invented in Hungary? After dinner I went back to the hostel where I met all of my roommates! It’s a room of 8, so there were quite a few groups. I ended up going out to the club with 3 girls from Spain from my room. I didn’t drink because I was honestly so tired, but I thought that I might as well check out the club that all of my roommates seem to be raving about. It’s only a 4 minutes walk away which was so ideal. We danced for a little bit but I ended up heading back after an hour cuz I’m tired. GN!!    Read more

  • TravelerEUROPE 2023 🗺️🎒🛩️
    Day 40

    Budapest Day 2

    July 28, 2023 in Hungary ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    Slept in today and I went to the grocery store to buy some ham and cheese for sandwiches cuz I still had bread and cucumber from Switzerland lolll. Went back to the hostel to make some sandwiches and chatted with an Aussie who’s actually moving to Whistler in a few months! What are the odds? After that, I went down closer to the Inner City because I had booked a walking tour. The tour covered a lot of the history of Hungary and took us to many of the main sights and sites. In the tour I saw the main church, which was stunning- I love the little sculptures of people that are in the roof part. After, the tour ended near the parliament building, so I went over there to look around, it was also stunning. After that, I walked over to the Buda castle, which is on the other side of the river. The castle area is like a whole district that sits atop a hill. I didn’t go inside the castle, but there was a garden, a balcony type thing, and then the entire district to just walk around and explore! The views here were amazing and you could see the entire Pest side of the city! After walking around for quite some time, I walked back over the bridge to Pest to meet with Anna (the girl from yesterday) and we went to a pretty traditional Hungarian restaurant. I got Pork with mushroom sauce and potatoes, and she got cherry and raspberry soup- which I’ve never heard of! They were both cold soups, the cherry one had some cinnamon in it and the raspberry one was quite tarte. And I tried some and enjoyed them both! I didn’t expect anything like it haha! After, I went back to the hostel to rest for a bit before going out with some of the girls from my room! I really got along with a girl named Carmen from the Netherlands! It’s just too bad that she was leaving the next day :-(. We went to the same place as I went the night before, and this time I got to see more of the club and omg its HUGE!! It has 6 different rooms with different kinds of music, but theres also like chill rooms that aren’t for clubbing and outdoor spaces idk it was massive I’ve never seen anything like it. And also it was packed like a can of sardines too it was crazyyy!!Read more

  • TravelerEUROPE 2023 🗺️🎒🛩️
    1
    Day 41

    Budapest Day 3

    July 29, 2023 in Hungary ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Slept in for a bit and then made myself a sandwich for the road! I went to meet Anna again, and I decided to go to a vintage art market around the city centre, that was recommend on yesterday’s tour. First, we stopped by some cute bookstores and stands- where I couldn’t read much because most of it was in Hungarian… Soon we actually made it to the market, and there was lots to see! Different jewellery, collections, crafty things, the list goes on. I got myself a cute little pair of earrings, and Anna got a couple of things herself. You know, Anna’s company is lovely nevertheless, but let me tell you, it is so nice to have someone with me that speaks the local language 😭😭😭. Hungarian is a particularly difficult language too. Anyways, after the market, we got some ice cream, of course. After that, we went to a thrift store, where I didn’t end up getting anything but found lots of cute things along the way. After that, we walked over the bridge to Buda and just walked around and went to the mall. We said our goodbyes and I walked back to the hostel. 4 of the girls from my hostel room and I went to get Langos which is like fried bread with sour cream, cheese, and I got Hungarian sausage on it too. It’s apparently a traditional Hungarian street food! It was very greasy, but was good! We sat in the park and ate it, then went back to our room. I had some downtime to figure out the rest of my trip, because I’m suddenly planning to go to Scotland now 😼 surprise! Anyways, we had to go out for my last night in Budapest!! We started out all together, but I ended up sticking with a girl named Estel from Copenhagen who I got on well with!! We ended up losing everyone, but had lots of fun together! She’s really into techno music, and usually I’m not at all, but I didn’t mind it this night! Once again, it’s sad that I had to say goodbye to her so quickly, even though I’d just met :-(

    Also attached at the end is a picture of my hostel haha it’s like the bar part and then up on the balcony is where my room is.

    I slept at 5am…..    Read more

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