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Euro Quest
  • Pearse Schoenberger
mrt. – jun. 2024

Euro Quest

Let the next stage of my life begin! For three months, I'll be wandering through rolling countrysides, sharp cliffs, quaint towns, and bustling city squares all over Europe, sharing as many stories as I can. Here's to making a lifetime of memories! Meer informatie
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Nieuwste eerst
  • Het begin van de reis
    16 maart 2024
    Pearse SchoenbergerEuro QuestReiziger
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    Leaving Home

    16 maart 2024, Canada ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    Wow! This is it. Crazy to be believe this is actually happening. There is a huge mix of stress, anxiety, happiness and everything in between. I am dreading the over 8 hour flight but it will be nothing in comparison to the life changing trip I am about to experience.Meer informatie

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    First leg finished

    17 maart 2024, Nederland ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    Wow, what a flight, quite painful. It was longer than I wanted, and it was more painful than I wanted. But the food was good at least, cheesy chicken with quinoa and pesto. Even got a free mini bottle of wine! Can't go wrong with that. Turns out I can not sleep on planes, even with the boring 4 hr movie called Justice League. It doesn't help when a poor old man sitting in front of you faints as he stands up and gives everyone a heart attack scare. That woke me right up. It was just like the movies. A doctor stood up and even came to help. Luckily, he was ok! And luckily for me, getting to my next flight was a breeze, and I think it's only 30 minutes long, so thank god. Time for a full day of Scotland with no sleep! But hey, it's just the beginning, so it is so worth it.Meer informatie

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    Day Two: Edinburgh

    17 maart 2024, Schotland ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    You always see european towns in movies and photos, but it is truly incredible how different everything feels and looks. Everywhere u look is a photo. Truly give you feelings of awe and total loss of words. Just doesn't feel real! But day one was a good start to the trip, other than the kinda bad pub food I had for lunch and the fact I was half asleep for the whole day. Still had to start with a bang, St Patty's Day! And the hostel had a pub crawl for it. They started with some drinking games for the group then had two pretty cool bars, one had a slide and a ball pit, and the other was way too full, as you can see in the video. It was so hot, musty, and claustrophobic, but being in a bar that was busy with everyone singing was worth the experience. Overall, I am so excited to be here and meeting all these cool people, and being able to start with Amanda is truly a blast.Meer informatie

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    Day Three: Edinburgh

    18 maart 2024, Schotland ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    The first full day in Europe, and of course, I finished with solid 23 thousand steps. And man, those are hard steps with many hills and uneven ground; extra tough when considering I am breaking in new shoes. But it was amazing to just experience the area and culture. It's incredible the number of people I've spoken to from Europe who don't have their drivers license. Everything is just easier without a car over here. Honestly I am already starting to love that, but I have almost walked across too many streets forgetting about cars, on top of looking the wrong way because they all drive on the wrong side of the road! But today the highlight was for sure Dean town, it is an old area with beautiful buildings and a river but the best part was the path beside the river where we took the photos on the tree. A truly zen place to listen to the water and some beautiful bird calls. Amanda talked about how Ivy is almost a weed over here, but man, it is so breathtaking to see it on the trees and buildings. I also got to see my first crazy church, and man, the size and style is just so incredible. My mouth was open the whole time. We even got to hear the organ play! Unfortunately, the food has been slightly disappointing. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but everything here is so expensive and just average. For example, I bought a burger, side fries, and a beer for 30 pounds! More than at home, yet you don't tip, so it equals out a bit? There isn't even an option to tip! I can not complain because being here is treat enough. The food might not be everything, but we did do a whiskey tasting where I got to appreciate how amazing Scotch Whiskey really is, I even have a new one I want to show my dad! I have been trying extra hard to take lots of photos and I already feel so good about, it is nice as it is to live in the moment, but it's extra nice to look back and relive the moment; it also helps when you feel like you look good in some of them!Meer informatie

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    Day Four: Scottish Highlands

    19 maart 2024, Schotland ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    Today might have not been a large walking day, but it was a long driving day. From edinburgh to Fort William totaling around 81 miles, plus our stops and detours. And I can officially say that even as a passenger, driving over here is stressful. Not only is everything on the left, but the roads are so small. Yet it is all worth it, with the freedom to do whatever we made some very interesting stops. Even going to the midhope Castle, a filming location in Outlander! Even learning about pigeon coops, and how they became a solution to feed serfs year round. Turns out the owner of midhope was pissed he had to pay for it, so he built the largest ugly one he could; classic human behavior, some things never change. After not going into the Stirling castle and decided to only have lunch outside it since it was too expensive with not enough time to enjoy everything in it. So we continued on our journey, seeing some incredible views. The valleys and the mountains just lead such a scale that is unmatched. Coming with the expectation of little hills and seeing these massive mountains were spectacular! It feels so mythical. Something out of a fairy tale. It was just an awe-inspiring day, a nice reset after the expensive, high energy, busy couple of days in edinburgh. It is nice to be in nature and all these huge open spaces. But it certainly isn't getting cheaper, I did pick the most expensive place to start. But hey, it's better to do it when u have money!Meer informatie

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    Day Five: Oban

    20 maart 2024, Schotland ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    Today was a great day! I think my post will be smaller today because, man, I am so tired. Jet lag does really suck, I have not been sleeping great. And I do not like writing. It was a big hike day for us. I ended up doing two pretty amazing hikes with some very lucky, beautiful weather. On our drive, we even ran across a castle on this little island. It was exactly what I saw when I thought of scotland. The second hike was a highlight as well; seeing the loch from a high point was so spectacular. Even got to walk up to a ruined castle, which is something out of a dream. But it closed at 4, we got there at 4:10. Buts ok even the outside was so cool to see. Got to finish it off with a cheap meal (noodles) in bed watching a journey to the center of the earth drinking a bottle of wine. A great way to spend the night. But honestly, all this history is the best part, I do love to think about all the crazy stories each brick holds.Meer informatie

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    Day Six: Fort William

    21 maart 2024, Schotland ⋅ 🌫 9 °C

    Welcome to the true Scottish experience. Today was rainy, windy, and foggy. Yet it was absolutely fantastic. When I was planning to come to Scotland, this was exactly what I expected, and it was beautiful. Even got to see some sheep, as soon as we entered the field, they walked up and just stared at us. Honestly, they are very cute animals. Bht then we started the hikes with a waterfall. Walking through a valley, looking around at misty hills with a massive waterfall in the rain, was just breathtaking. It all just made me feel so small in the right kind of way. Just leaving your soul so satisfied and relaxed. I felt at peace. Nothing else mattered. Even got to walk on a bridge that was made up of 3 metal wires, two to hold on to and one to walk on, completely terrifying experience over a river when fast winds are pushing you around. But where else do u get to do something like that?? Walking back was its own experience, I have never felt wind so hard. You think it would suck but it made the hike. We were both completed soaked at the end, too. Afterward, we went up to the viaduct that was featured in Harry Potter. On the way, we randomly stopped at a church over looking a loch for lunch, which ended up being where Outlander filmed a wedding! A truly get find. But the Viaduct was so large that it is truly a marvel how people build things like this back in the day. And it's always insane to go to film locations. As it kid, it feels like something you will never have a chance to see, yet here we are! We decided to do a larger loop, but of course, it started raining again, and even Scottish rain can get annoying over time. Yet it was the right decision since we got more great high views and got to go through a board walk in a fairy tale forest and have a coffee in an old train dinner car to warm up before we left. Overall, I think our two full days were a perfect combination of weather and locations to get a solid grasp on the Highlands! Now it's time for a beer, dinner, and some quality cousin time. Can't wait to see what's next.Meer informatie

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    Day Seven: The Road Back to Edinburgh

    22 maart 2024, Schotland ⋅ 🌬 3 °C

    Today was a perfect end to the Highlands tour. I am leaving feeling satisfied. We were going to start with a hike by the three sisters, which we stopped at on our way up. But Scottish weather took over. It was winding like yesterday but so much colder. So, instead, we ended up finding a little waterfall right below the highway. There were 3 falls merging to one, and it was a cool find with the mountain backdrop. It even started hailing out of nowhere for only about 2 minutes. It was so unexpected yet an exciting and random moment to lighten the mood and make the drive so much easier. On the way back, since we didn't hike, we had time to go to a castle ruins as well as the Stirling castle museum. We started with the ruins, which was really our hidden gem of the trip. It was in a picturesque town with classic architecture surrounded by mountains and a massive river with cascades. Then, walking up to the ruins, you could instantly feel the history and memories stored there. It felt so strange seeing a place that stored generations of memories. Turns out that this castle has a dark past. When walking around it, I passed a stone lined hole, and at first, I believed it was just a cellar or something. Turns out it was the execution pit where they decapitated people... There was even a hanging tree. But it did honestly make the experience even better. It was one of the best stops for me. On our way back through the town, we found a burial site that was on an island and just decided to check it out. It was for the McNabbs. Which seemed so familiar, and it was driving me insane where I knew that name from. By the craziest of coincidences, I am related to the McNabbs! What are the odds of that? And we weren't even supposed to go to this town in the first place. It is hard to comprehend how things work out sometimes. Moreover, as soon as we entered the burial site, the clouds cleared, and it stopped rain, to start raining as soon as we left! Then, to finish the drive, I got to tour a castle museum. A chance to hear all the long forgotten stories of the past. It was so interesting to see why things were built and how many times the ownership of the castle changed. Within a span of just under 50 years, the castle was under seige 8 times, which from 1296 to 1299, the castle was retaken each year by the other side. The poor common people! Even crazier there was no water in the castle, so everyone was given one free Scottish ale pint (which is equivalent to 4.5 pints today). It was a great finish to the Highlands for sure. Getting to see all the views, especially from the castle, was mindblowing. Honestly, I won't change a thing about this leg of the trip. It was a great chance to get comfortable with traveling. Thanks, Amanda. While also getting to see everything I would ever want from Scotland. Cheers to this, and I can't wait for portugal!Meer informatie

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    Day Nine: Lisbon

    24 maart 2024, Portugal ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    Today, I do not have much for you. It ended up being a long day for me. Turns out you should really not book flights for the wrong month... I woke up at 3 a.m., 4 a.m., and 5 a.m. for this morning flight I never even had. I was just sitting in that airport wondering how the hell I would get to lisbon. But I kept my cool because I knew everything would be OK, that I could figure it out. It was a very expensive mistake, around 800 dollars. But after a very long day of traveling I arrived at 8:00 pm. It was so confusing walking around. Winding streets everywhere, narrow walkways, and a lot of buildings looking similar. And holy, it is such a workout trying to get around. Honestly, walking around lisbon is harder than all of the hikes I did in Scotland! It sucks even more when u got lost and ended up walking around aimlessly for over an hour. But we had a very nice dinner on a rooftop bar and ended up going out to some of the bars, which are all so small and narrow. Every single one was packed. Good memories today, and I met some really cool people. And they weren't even from our hostel.Meer informatie

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    Day Ten: A Relaxing Reset

    25 maart 2024, Portugal ⋅ 🌬 15 °C

    So it turns out that after partying a little too hard, you have no energy the next day... so, no crazy sightseeing today. But that didn't ruin the lisbon experience. We ended up walking around and finding e-bikes. I thought they would be like the scooters where they just move for you, but it turns out they assist your pedaling. With both of us too stubborn to admit anything, we ended up traveling on the broken ones as well; and with the big hills we had to bike, we were very dead. Turns out about 75 percent of the bikes are broken. We tried quite a few. And later in the day I finally found a new one, and it was night and day. But before I continued by our bike adventure, we did stop around downtown for a coffee, burger, and even a massage. And holy, the massage was amazing, my man moved in ways I didn't think were possible. But man, I was sore before the end of the day. After this, we got back on the bikes for a casual 30-minute ride to a birthday dinner of my dad's family friend. One, it wasn't 30 minutes, and two, it took us through the sketchy areas. It took us a full hour, and we even had to go through a homeless camp on the way. Not to mention, it was pouring rain the whole time. I felt horrible when we arrived, but luckily nothing started yet, so it all worked out. But I'm not sure if it was a cultural thing or just there, but dinner started at like 8:45, and we didn't finish eating till close to midnight. But it was still a very cool experience talking to some locals, drinking some good wine and relaxing. Even had a chance to speak to a local lawyer. Every day, I feel more and more inclined to suck it up and go to law school! But who knows? I still have a lot to experience here in europe!Meer informatie

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    Day Eleven: Around Lisbon

    26 maart 2024, Portugal ⋅ 🌬 14 °C

    With plans for big days, we set alarms for 7:30, ready to hang out Helena for a day towards Sintra. Yet all is never set in stone. We ended up sleeping in till 12 (we have not been sleeping at all...) and Helena ended up being sick or unwell, so we didn't get to go. But that's OK, Ethan loves the ocean and fish, so we ended up in the oceanarium! Wow, it was amazing. There were so many fish and interesting exhibits. There was one with penguins that had no glass or wall between us, and one was sitting right on the end, I could have petted him if I wanted! Then, right after, there was one with birds, which were being fed right in front of us. The lady would throw food in the air, and the bird would honestly be flying a couple inches from our heads. It's just so strange because I feel like back home, you would never be able to be right beside the animals. Maybe North Americans are really assholes. But afterward, we finally risked the public transportation to head to the lisbon castle. It went quite smoothly, but man, the bus was LOADED with people. Ended up stopping for a 4.80 euro sandwich and coffee (how is it so cheap!) On our way up to the castle, we decided to use the e scooters. Then, to realize certain areas you can not park the scooters... so we had to go back to where we started. But we did get to stop for some crazy views! I did almost fall off the viewpoint, but luckily, I was there to catch myself! After all this, when we finally got to the castle, it was too late... so for the third time this trip, I arrived late for something. But that's OK, there is so much to see, and honestly, I have had so much fun just being present in this crazy new world, having a coffee or just walking around is treat alone. We even found this little secret gem of a rooftop bar with fabulous views and vibes. There is nothing better than watching the city with a bottle of wine. It's a great way to close out the day. Until you realize you never had dinner when you finally reach the hostel and the only place open was this hole in a way. The kitchen was closed, but they said they would make their meat of the day, with no idea what it was, wondering if it is even a good idea to eat here we dug in. And wow, it is so far one of my favorite meals for sure! That was the best way to finish the day.Meer informatie

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    Day Twelve: Sintra

    27 maart 2024, Portugal ⋅ 🌬 14 °C

    Today, I managed to get a pretty good sleep. But these hostel beds get so hot I was sweating all morning. And to top it off, I woke up with a sore throat. A pretty bad one, too. It felt like knives when I swallowed. But that's OK. We power through. Decided to take public transportation to get to Sintra. It was quite the experience. It was so confusing to actually buy the ticket. Luckily, someone helped us buy it. When we finally got to Sintra, it was pouring rain and super windy. And too made it better our ticket wasn't working and we couldn't leave the train station. We walked around trying to get help and ended up having to jump a fence to get out. But when we finally made it, it was amazing walking into the garden, field, or whatever you would call it, and the rain really did make everything greener. This "castle" was on a hillside with a whole bunch of random ruins, buildings, and paths. We got to walk around in the forest around random walls and get a great view of the valley. There was even this well that went down into the ground. A lot of the descriptions they had around didn't make a lot of sense to me, but this well seemed to be made as an analogy for something. It was about the decent to hell and the light of heaven or something. But there were also some underground paths that were completely dark. You needed a flashlight to get around. It was so spooky and so fun to joke around with ethan in it. There was also the main mansion when the owners lived. It was extravagant and completely over the top, someone who really needed to flex his wealth. It was beautiful, though, for sure. Someplace I couldn't imagine living in. They had a separate pool room and a separate smoking/games room. There were some many different places nestled here that gave us a taste of different architectural styles and so much more. On the way back, we found yet another rooftop bar over looking an even crazier view! But we were both so tired. We crawled our way back home and went to bed early!Meer informatie

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    Day Thirteen: Travel to Porto

    28 maart 2024, Portugal ⋅ 🌬 17 °C

    Today was a very chill day, we took a 4 hour train to Porto at 11:30 today. Had a like e-scooter ride there going past some Familiar sights! But it's so weird to find what train you actually have to take. Maybe it's just different here, but nowhere on the ticket does it say the train. We had to ask a full Portuguese person, and they just said linhe 3 or something. We would have missed the train if it wasn't for that. But the ride was smooth, and we had a nice British woman who entertained us for the ride. When we got Porto we tried to find our hostel. It was so strange because it was inside the train station. But then we walked around a little bit and found an old church in the city center which had a Lazer light show which was so spectacular. But before we went to that we had a classic porto dish called francesinha. Holy shit that was heavy. It's a sandwich filled with different meets covered in cheese and soaked in a beer and red wine sauce. It was good, but it did destroy me. It was very heavy and too much for me. Personally, only having it once is perfect for me.It's weird seeing these modern light shows in a church that was built so many years ago. After having one beer, which was 8.50 euros!!! Way too much, we went to bed since I am trying to feel better. It was a good start to a new beautiful city.Meer informatie

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    Day Fourteen: Porto Explored

    29 maart 2024, Portugal ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    This morning, I finally woke up to a throat, which did feel better! It's not 100 perfect, but a lot better. And for the first time on the trip so far we got free breakfast! And it was honestly better than the breakfast I had to pay for in edinburgh. When we finally got moving, we went to a church that was built in the 12 century where we met a tour guide, which led us to a free English tour in the afternoon. But we had to kill some time, so we found a garden that we walked to. It had roosters and peacocks! But after walking around for 5 minutes, we were kinda disappointed because it was small and not much there. So we opened google Maps to go somewhere else to see there was a huge section we missed around the building we were at! And thank god we noticed because it was so beautiful. There were more birds, trees, and fantastic views over looking the river. At one point, we were standing under a sheltered area to stay away from the rain, and a male peacock was just chilling right beside us. Even watched him lunge at a woman. And I have never heard a peacock before, but it is not as pretty as you would think. It is very loud and sharp. I should also clarify that Ethan had a song stuck in his head, and if he sang it, he asked that I should slap him on the back of the head. So he asked for it! I swear I'm not a bad friend. After that, we started walking over to our free walking tour, but we decided to stop for lunch. We stopped at the most random little place, and no one spoke English at all. I felt very out of place. But that was the idea. I had to find some authentic Portuguese food! For 9.50€ we got a beer, cabbage soup, and a pork dish with special sauce. Ethan didn't realize what he was getting and ended up getting a dish with tripe. I tried it and couldn't do it. The texture was horrible! The walking tour was fantastic. He talked about the history of Portugal and porto and gave us lots of fun facts and good viewpoints. Turns out port isn't even made in Porto. It's only aged here, and it was made because they had a treaty with britian to ship wine over when they were fighting with France (where they normally get wine) but it was too far of a journey and it would all spoil because the alcohol percentage is too low. So they add brandy when making wine to create a higher percentage wine that was sweeter and thicker. And it never spoiled on the way to Britain. And it turns out the train station our hostel is in is a UNESCO world heritage site where there are 22,000 painted tiles depicting different historical moments. And the evolution of travel all the way to trains. The hostel was a good find for sure! Afterward, we finally went went out drinking. It feels good close to 100 percent. But when we got to the pub crawl it was not what I was expecting, a very interesting crowd for sure. It was nothing like edinburgh. So it started slow, but as we started getting comfortable, it was a blast. It's so weird going drinking where everyone is from a different country. And the guide even took us to local bars, and the alcohol is so much cheaper! We got a pint of beer for 2.50€. The locals here, though, love sweet drinks. I know the hangovers will be horrible. But for some reason, the only beer you can buy here is Super Bock. But I can't finish this post without talking about one bar. There was a french rugy team partying. We were all outside and the person beside me just said "oh my god, what the fuck" so I turn around to look at the bar. And all I see is 10 plus guys standing on tables just, butt ass naked. And I mean NAKED. I saw a few too many twigs and berries tonight. Overall, everyone was so nice, and we ended up making more fun memories.Meer informatie

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    Day Fifteen: Coastal Sunset

    30 maart 2024, Portugal ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    Very hungover, walking, wine, sunset.

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    Day Sixteen: Eight Hours of Carpooling

    31 maart 2024, Spanje ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    Today was the dreaded 8-hour carpool ride to Madrid. And we slept in a little, but we didn't have time to do anything before he picked us up. He made us walk 30 minutes to a pick-up location and even kinda forced us to come early. It was normal Ford focus, and there were 5 of us. So, the middle seat! Me and Ethan ended up splitting being the middle, but man, it killed my ass. It was worse than the flight over! When we finally got there, they even dropped us off 30-minute walk away. But that's OK, it's a beautiful city and fun just to walk around, a much needed walk after sitting for so long. There seemed to be a lot of large historical buildings too. We walked past the largest parliament? Building I have ever seen, too. Check-in was easy, and the beds seemed nice enough. The pillows were strange, though; they were super narrow and very long. There were two of them, so one was a nice cuddle pillow. But before the night we really needed something to eat. But everything was so expensive and full. We kept going somewhere and it was too full or too expensive. Finally said screw it and ended at one. It seemed seemed expensive at first, so we decided to split one order of ribs, and it turns out the dish was huge and delicious! For the night, we came to the conclusion that every new hostel we go to we should start with some event to meet the people there. So we did the pub crawl. And it started with free sangria! Anything free always tastes better. There were probably about 10 people for it, and they were all really nice! Going out, we ended up mostly hanging with this guy named Tom from America, someone from Britain, a guy from Greece, and a lady from Ukraine (who is living there now). Turns out she has to go to a shelter every night to sleep, and they can see the missiles in the sky, too. It's some really scary stuff. But it was one of the best nights. We ended up going to 4 or 5 bars finishing the night at a nightclub. And multiple times, we thought we were at the nightclub, but we weren't. The bars are so insane and fun here. Me and Ethan even used his jacket for limbo, and everyone loved it! It was one of the best nights so far. Everyone was super friendly, and the bars were so fun! I have now found out that I enjoy dancing! It was so fun that it turned into a very late night. Everything is open crazy late. The party culture is so much different, but the people are so easy-going, and I'm never worried. But I have still been smart enough to get home safe :)Meer informatie

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    Day Seventeen: The "busy" Madrid Day

    1 april 2024, Spanje ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    Today was our only full day in Madrid, so we planned to wake up early and see as much as possible. But as we have already learned a few times, drinking and staying up late has its repercussions. We woke up at about 11:00... so there went half our day. Luckily, we were not as hungover, just tired. So we stopped for food and coffee, I got a grilled chicken burger, which was as good as you can tell. Then we decided to go off to El Retiro Park. And I have never seen a bigger park in a city before... we honestly spend the whole afternoon here, and we still missed some stuff in it. Turns out there is a whole soccer field we never saw. I dont even feel bad for missing anything because of how beautiful it was. It was so nice to just walk around, and it was on the first full days of the sun. And holy, it was nice. I even bought sunscreen for my neck because it was worried! We even ran into one of the people from last night there, we walked around for a bit with them, but they were so hungover they just kind of left. And later, when I posted on instagram from the park, someone from porto responded that they were their too, on the same day! But we even found a little green hill to just lay down to enjoy the sun. There was a massive monument that was 30 meters tall by a huge pool. I wish I was cool enough to have a monument that large! There was even another pool that had koi fish, turtles, and black swans as well as a large greenhouse right beside this. We were sitting by the water, and I was just playing around, and a Koi fish even tried to eat my finger on top of a turtle just swimming up right in front of to stare through my soul. It was the perfect place to be hungover. We were leaving and saw that there was a rose garden we somehow missed, so we turned around and walked about 10 minutes to see it. No roses though ahaha, guess they haven't bloomed yet. Afterward, we e-scootered back to the hostel, stopped for a small meal, and just chilled. I was tired so I just stayed and went to bed. Ethan found some friends from last night so decided to go out again. I am sure he had a good night!Meer informatie

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    Day Eighteen: Barcelona Here We Come!

    2 april 2024, Spanje ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    Today was the road to our final stop before the guided tour! We had a late morning train to catch at 11:25. No worries at all! I went to bed early, ready for a relaxed morning. Then I wake up to Ethan's head, looking down from the top bunk, saying, " it's 11, we need to wake up now!" He had face paint on, blood on his face, and man, I was so lost. How the hell did I sleep for 11 hours?!?! And the one who partied woke me up!! Choas ensues as we run to get to the train station. Of course, it is a 30-minute walk.. so we jump on e-scooters and make it with a little time left. But in Spain you can only park them in certain areas and we couldn't find one.. and when we did ethan's app was buggy and didn't work. So I ran to the station while he tried to find a different one. And, of course, there is security. And the train just left, like a minute too late... so there goes more money. But it's official, I have booked for the wrong time and arrived late. So, really, I've made all the mistakes u can, so nothing else will happen! I hope. And I should say Ethan did this on no sleep and severely hungover, so good for him. But afterward, when we arrived, we walked over to the hostel, got comfortable, and went for food. We went everywhere nearby to buy food but everywhere was closed... we couldn't find food at all! Finally landed on a place. It was funny because the guy even had to use Google translate to ask us what we wanted. And of course, the burger we got was medium rare, which is way too normal here. It makes the meat a little too slimy... Overall, it felt like another nice local find. It's extra nice because the burgers without extra charge include cheese, fried egg, and bacon. Then we went back to the hostel and got another free dinner too, some nice pesto pasta! Then, since we decided to go to the pub crawl on the first day of any hostel, we went out again. Honestly, this time, it was disappointing. It was free but stopped at one bar and one club. It was free, though, with a free shot! We did start with drinking games at the hostel. It was this board with different bubbles containing activities. The crowd was not very fun, but the idea of the game was awesome! I feel like the night went the same way. It was not very exciting. Me and Ethan ended up just going to the beach right beside the bar and had a bro to bro moment talking about life and things. He is my brother, and it is truly unreal to have him here with me. Makes everything feel like a dream. I love you, Ethan, and I'm glad we are making everything work and just having a blast!Meer informatie

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  • Pearse SchoenbergerEuro QuestReiziger
    111

    Day Nineteen: Barcelona

    3 april 2024, Spanje ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    I am not 100 percent sure why, but me and Ethan have been so tired, sleeping in every day. Even when we haven't been drinking as much! I guess we are preparing ourselves for the parties on the guided tour. So we got up and decided to find food on the beach. So we started walking with empty stomachs. As we walked down farther and farther, the more confused we got. It was just highway, to then find out that below our hostel is just a huge shipping habour with no beach nearby. When we finally pulled up google Maps, we realized that we were 2 hours walk away from the beach. But whatever, that's what you do here. So we keep going and firm on the idea that we will eat at the beach. Walking up Hill makes it so much harder when u are so hungry! On our journey over, we went over a hill, which we didn't realize had a fantastic view of the city, and a fantastic view of the Sagrada Familia, which truly towers over everything else. I have never gotten goose bumps, just looking at a building before. But it was truly spectacular. And we could barely see it! At this point, we realized we it was already almost 2, and we hadn't eaten or gotten to the beach, so we changed tactics and decided to go start to the Sagrada Familia because we really didn't want to miss it. On the way, we stopped for food at a random stop we past. And finally decided to try paella. It was amazing too! Probably tied for the best meal of the trip so far, tied with the late night random meal in lisbon. While sitting and eating, we started looking to see if we get online tickets to skip the line to then find out we couldn't get tickets at all. We looked at everything, even third-party companies. The only thing available was a ticket for 60 euros per person... a lot of money. So we decided to figure this place out tomorrow, and we head start for the beach. Which was still a 40-minute walk away. Walking in the sun did help a lot. It's been 18 days for me without any solid, warm summer day. Getting to the beach was a long time coming. It was very hot and very beautiful, we bought some overpriced beers and sat on the sand and took it all in. There were a stupid number of beach vendors, though, and they would not leave you alone. If you said anything, they would attach to you. One guy said 1 moijito for 7€ and we managed to get 2 for 8€ with extra alcohol (still not a lot of alcohol), and another was trying to sell 2 cans of beer for 4€ we kept fighting him saying we weren't interested, he only had 3 beers and ended up coming down saying he would get another and do 4 for 5€. But we didn't want to give money for a beer he would have to leave to get, so we said no once again. 30 minutes later, he came back with 4 beers and offered us the same deal, so we did take it. It was very nice just to relax and hang out on the beach. Afterward, we just headed back to the hostel and got some meat to add to the free vegetarian meal. It was sweet potato, so I was a little of my league, but I ended up eating 2 portions because he refuses to eat cauliflower. I did enjoy it. I just wish they had meat. We do get hungry walking all day. Afterward, we just had a couple beers and chilled in their common area to the point where I just fell asleep for a while and crawled back to my bed for a good night's sleep.Meer informatie

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  • Pearse SchoenbergerEuro QuestReiziger
    1
    1211

    Day Twenty: Sagrada Familia and Old Town

    4 april 2024, Spanje ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    Today started strong. We actually ate breakfast! Well, brunch. It wasn't breakfast food, but it was something. It was doner? Basically, it was donair meat with fries. It was the closest food we could find that wasn't too expensive. All the cafés we looked for were closed... and it was 11:00 anyway. Still tasty with the dill sauce. Off the famous Sagrada Familia! Unfortunately, not inside. Of course, everything is pre-booked. We get the next best, a walking tour with the hostel. As we walked out of the Metro, we headed over to the meeting place of KFC. Without even realizing it, I turned around to see the Familia just towering over me. It is such an overwhelming building to see in person. It's actually super cool that the shape of the church is all based on gravity. Guadi put weights on string to see how it would hang. Then, he flipped it and shaped the church based on the distribution. So it almost looks like it is falling towards the sky. It's such an interesting church, with each side being different and complex in every corner. There, in symbolizations facet of this church. The first side we saw was about life and birth full of nature and lots of noise. The other one which is built circles around death and the story of Jesus's last couple of days. This one is designed more minimal and abstract. None of the characters are realistic because they wanted to emphasize the feelings and emotions over the events. What is interesting about this church is that it is done completely by a private organization and isn't being built by any government or church. So actually, the church has complained about some aspects of the statues and art on the familia. For the one where Jesus is on the cross, he is nailed on the wrist and is completely naked. This is the historical method they used, which is more accurate than the churches depiction, and they vocalized their opinion but couldn't stop it because they are private. The church was also upset about their depiction of judas kiss of betrayal because it was too intimate for two men. The other side of the ownership coin is the fact they make a profit and don't release their revenue, all while not paying taxes. Apparently, all extra funds will go to charity when the church is finished, but no one knows how much money they are making. And to be a part of history, we took a selfie in front of the soon to be grand entrance of it. So, one day, when we are older, we can take another one to compare. And we can be in the history books of the construction of it! Afterward, we decided to walk up Parc Guell to at least go into something. So after 35 minutes of straight uphill, we realized it was sold out... so I guess it doesn't matter the time of year you have to pre-book everything. So afterwards, we walked down the hill, so much nicer, and went to the Gothic old city area. It is quite the contrast from the new area of Barcelona, which was built in squares compared to the narrow scrambled "roads" of the old town. Fun fact the diagonal corners of the squares where designed for the larger turn ratio of tram systems because it was believed to be the future of transportation. The old town was very nice, we got to go to a church from the 14th century too. But of course it was too late to go inside. We just walked down some narrow streets and stopped at a place for a beer. It really had great vibes. Even had a candle holder with, I swear, the only purpose to build the biggest wax tower. Then we just took the Metro home and bought 4 burger patties, tomato sauce, and pasta for only 8 euros. And it was actually good for how cheap it was! Then I'm early bedtime for our crazy early start tomorrow with the contiki tour!Meer informatie

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  • Pearse SchoenbergerEuro QuestReiziger
    1111

    Day Twenty-One: Start of Contiki in Nice

    5 april 2024, Frankrijk ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    Today was the start of our Contiki tour! So, a very early start. We were so stressed about making on time at 7:00am. So stressed we were actually 30 minutes early. But it went very smoothly, and there were 14 of us getting on and 36 some people already with the group. It is certainly weird joining a group who has been together and partied for 8 days. But the couch is crazy nice! And we are super high up on the couch, so the views are nicer, and it's a lot easier to see out. On the bus, after passing out and slobbering over myself... oops, we played "speed dating," where we just swapped seats and talked to each other for 2 minutes each. We ended up doing it for just over an hour. Honestly, it is quite a nice crowd. Everyone is super nice and here just to make friends, so talking around is easy. On the way up, a total drive of 8 hours... we stopped at this small French town. It looked like they were stuck in time for sure. We had just about 45 minutes to walk around and see the town. This town was built by the Romans, so they actually had a mini colosseum! We were told it was paid to get in, and we wouldn't have enough time. Which is a bummer, but I just decided to see if we could get in because it looked empty. I took Ethan and this other guy we met and just walked right in. The lady at the desk didn't say anything, and it just worked. So we got to see inside and even the view from the top. Which was awesome. You could see so far in every direction. It did just get me excited for the Rome colosseum! We continued driving, and we got to the hostel at around 7 with a free dinner at 8. (Free in the sense we already paid for it). So we showered up and reset for the evening. In Spain and now France, I really noticed how slow service is. I swear the people need nap breaks or something. Because the food and even just a couple of scoops of ice cream took forever. I do feel bad because it was only two people service the whole crowd, and the kitchen was upstairs. They were sweating, just running up and down those stairs. The food was OK, ahah. I got beef stew and mash potatoes. When the contiki guide was asking what we wanted, she just said beef, so I got excited thinking steak. But it was stew. It wasn't bad, but the mashed potatoes were a soup, really. And some of the guys had some whiskey with me, which was pretty good. One was a smokey one that only I really liked. I should have taken a picture for my dad. For desert, there were two options, and I got the tiramisu; it ended up being basically all cream. But we did get to go out afterward. Went to Wayne's bar. A little place with live music. And tables they let you stand on. And wow, it made me feel really tall. As you can see in the photo, my neck turned 90 degrees. But it was a lot of fun, the band was really good and everyone was into it but holy I was sweating the whole time. And I couldn't easily cool off with a beer or drink because the drinks were 9€... after a while, we just walked back with some of the boys and played ping pong, which was great. Then hit the sheets.Meer informatie

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  • Pearse SchoenbergerEuro QuestReiziger
    111

    Day Twenty-Two: Nice and Monaco

    6 april 2024, Monaco ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    Day two of Contiki, and it started strong with having to pay for all the excursions. A solid 313€... big ouch after also spending almost 10€ a drink last night. But after having the included breakfast and being told I snored with my eyes open... we were on the move. And actually early! Unusual for us. We walked around with our bunk mate and some other guys for a while. We also stopped for a coffee. Afterward, we went to skip some rocks on the beach. It was not a sandy beach. But the views were just spectacular on the beach. You truly feel like you are in a movie. Just on the coast with beautiful buildings just layered on the hillsides. Then the other boys went off the bike ride we didn't do, and we just sat on the beach for a while. I decided to wear my flip flops walking around today, and I learned the hard way about breaking your shoes in. They were super comfortable, but the strap rubbed the shit out of the top of my foot. I couldn't walk around in them, but I was stuck in them. So you just suck it up. Spoiler alert, I guess, we are heading to Monte Carlo Casino later, but apparently, they have a strictish dress code and, of course, backpacking. I have nothing fancy. The only shoes I have are bright blue hikers. So Bec, our guide, said there was an H&M, so that is where we went. I ended up buying a new bathsuit (sorry, dad didn't really want your old one), a button-up shirt, and a cheap pair of nice-looking sneakers. Wasn't that cheap over all. Still spend just under 60€, ouch again. Then, on the way back to the hostel, we stopped at this burger place for lunch. And they even asked us if we wanted the burger well done! Thank god. And It was delicious, a nice BBQ burger with bacon and sautéed onions. It was expensive, for the burger fries and a drink it was 18€. We went back to the hostel and showered all the sweat from last night and got all fancy for the trip to monaco. I got to say it felt really nice to actually dress up and not wear the same t-shirts for once. Very refreshing! Ethan showered and everything first and went to get a quick drink before coming back to gether dressed. So then I showered and decided to get fully ready. Afterward, I met him, had a beer, and went back to get him dressed and for my passport. We did, in fact, not realize what time it was, and we were running short on it. We knew monaco was going to be expensive, so we quickly bought this chicken skewer from a Chinese place, shoved our faces, and left. When we reached the hostel, it turned out our hostel room door was broken. Our roommate was there too, and our door was just beeping at us. The problem was in monaco. The only way into the casino was if you had your passport because monaco citizens are not allowed to gamble. So we really needed it. And of course we talked to our travel guide and she explicitly said they can not wait for us if we are late... So, of course, we are all sweating our ass off. Luckily, the receptionist found a master key and let us in. Ethan was getting undressed before we were even in the room. And we sprinted our ass out of the hostel to the couch. Guess what?!? The couch was late anyways so we had plenty of time. But very stressful for sure. I really didn't want to miss out on that. The road to monaco was insanely beautiful, I am not sure if anything will beat those views. Just overlooking this city on the hills and the water... it was amazing just looking out of the window. And we had a quick stop for a grpup photo and pictures where they surprised us with some prosceco! I didn't realize either that monaco wasn't a part of the EU and has 12 millioniares per square km... it is only 2 square kilometers. We started monaco on a viewpoint overlooking the bay with all the crazy fancy boats. George Clooney has his yacht in there! We had time to walk around, and I wanted to get souvenir. Ethan just accidentally knocked over a hat, and he was just swearing at both of us and said he was closing and took the shit out of my hand that I was telling him I was buying. It's always the French people. Have yet to meet a nice one. Then we got to go to the Monte Carlo Casino. And as soon as we walked up, the whole street was just full of super cars. Millions of dollars just sitting right in front of me. With valet just driving these crazy cars, like how do I get that job?? But walking in to Monte Carlo was unreal, I'm used to the river Cree or the St. albert casino. This is a different beast. But honestly, it was smaller than I thought it would. I do guarantee there is plenty of the casino we can't see as commoners. Of course, the first thing I do is pull out some chips with another guy. And now I can officially say I gambled in Monte Carlo. And I can say I lost 50€ in one bet... of course, the guy convinced me to put all my money down on black at Roulette. The worst part of it was a different guy asked me to pick a number, I picked 12. A red number. And I pit money on black right after. AND IT LANDED ON 12. So I was stupid. I didn't want it to be over, so I grabbed a ten and put it into a roulette machine. Somehow, I did manage to turn that back into 60. So I did break even and even hit the right number! It was more fun than I would like to admit. But I had to leave, I only had an hour, unfortunately, or for the best. But afterward, we had a nice chill night. I just hung out with the group at the hostel and had a couple of drinks.Meer informatie

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  • Pearse SchoenbergerEuro QuestReiziger
    11

    Day Twenty-Three: Cinque Terre

    7 april 2024, Italië ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Today, we were off to one of the places I was most excited about, Cinque Terre! But even the drive down was pretty nice. We got to drive along the coast and see some water, towns, and fields. It was also weird how many tunnels we went through and how they were often houses and towns right above the tunnel, too. I wonder if your house would shake if a semi drove through. When we were finally in Italy, we had a 45-minute check stop, and it is completely different how you order food. Here, you pay for the pizza and coffee, and they give you a receipt, which u have to talk to different people, which give you the item you bought. So could I use the same receipt twice? But the pizza I got was a salami pizza (pepperoni), and it was some of the best pizza I ever had. The sauce was just fantastic with the crust. I was also very hungry, so that probably helped. Then, we trucked the rest of the way over to Cinque Terre. For this part, we were kind of left on our own. Bec gave us a train pass to jump between towns and sent us off with a meet-up point at 8:10 pm. Three other guys decided to join us, Kevin, Nathan, and Nick. We ended up sitting at the beach, drinking wine and cocktails for a while. And we went for a swim. It's weird because I feel the ocean doesn't smell salty here, but man, it tastes salty for sure. Luckily, why watch is water resistant because I totally forgot to take it off. It was nice to sit in the sun and relax with wine, but it did take up too much of our limited time here. So we went back to the train station to try and figure out how it worked so we could get to the next town. We finally figured it out to realize that at the end, we accidentally took an express train past all the islands. So, of course, we had to wait and take the next train back. There goes more precious time... but when we finally started walking around and it was such a cool place, super narrow alleyways, lots of stairs, and a beautiful ocean. We even walked up and found this mini castle ruins, which cost 2 euros to see. It was worth the cheap price. It had a fantastic view of the town and the surrounding area. Then, we skipped a town to jump to the one I was most excited about. And it was so beautiful just looking at this town on a cliff above the water. We all decided to get dinner somewhere, so we walked around trying to find a place to eat, and holy everywhere was so expensive. One place was selling the catch of the day for 70€... we managed to find one place that wasn't quite as expensive and walked in to find the whole travel group already eating there. What are the odds of that? But we all ordered some wine and some pesto pasta, which apparently was crested here! And it was delicious, I got ravioli. But it was still 15€ or something, and we got to protein, and the portion was a little small. But since we were so slow with the towns we did, we only got to see 3/5 towns... but that's OK, I had such a great experience in the ones I did go to, and it seems they are all quite similar. We arrived at the meet-up location early, and it seemed most people did too, but I went and bought water and went to the bathroom. I finished and came out before the time we were supposed to leave, but everyone was gone... I called Ethan, and he wasn't picking up. One of the other guys on the trip did text me and said he would send me his location ping. When I got it and looked, it was a 20-minute walk away. I was so confused about how they got so far away so fast, but I just started running. It was the most stressful run of my life because the ping he gave me was a couch parking lot. Our guide has been clear about leaving people behind if they take too long. So as I am running and getting close, I see our bus driving on the road, so I start waving freaking out about not being picked up. Luckily, he stopped, and I walked in to see a completely empty bus... I was early, and like 5 minutes early, too, as I saw the crowd walking over. Turns out he sent the end location and not where they were. So I freaked out for no reason. But me and Ethan did have a little heated talk afterward because we were both so stressed, but it was just in the moment. Turns out he forgot to activate his new esim so he didn't have internet and that's why he didn't pick up. But it is what it is. Everything worked out. It was a long bus ride back to the hotel, an extra hour, 40 minutes. And it was a tough ride because it's when our sickness really hit us out of nowhere. Ethan was having it a lot harder than me for sure. But I was miserable. So we finally get there, and I am so ready just to lay down and sleep it off to find out we went to the wrong location... and the one we need to go to is another hour, 40 minutes drive away... so you can say we had a shitty ass night being sick ass fuck in a couch that we shouldn't be in. But that's OK, we made it to the hostel and I crashed hard.Meer informatie

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  • Pearse SchoenbergerEuro QuestReiziger
    111

    Day Twenty-Four: Pisa to Florence

    8 april 2024, Italië ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Today was quite the sick day for us. Very slow. We headed over to Pisa in the morning for a quick detour. After being there and seeing it, I feel like it's one of those places you go to just to say you have seen it. Don't get me wrong, it is a beautiful tower with a fascinating history, but after seeing some of the craziest stuff in europe, this becomes average ahaha. I did not know about other buildings that are right beside it. I always thought it was on its own. We didn't get to go into away of them because we only had like 20 minutes to walk around. Apparently, in Pisa, it is illegal to sell and buy stuff in random places that aren't licensed, but if the cop sees it, you get the ticket, not the seller... Then off to Florence! I felt so bad on the couch. My sickness turned into a cough that kept me up last night, and for everyone to hear and get them sick... but in Florence, I did not get a chance to see david. Honestly, I didn't get a chance to see much at all. We started as a group and went to a leather, gold, and silver store. And it did smell great, got to love leather. They had a little talk about leather and the history of it as well as how their stuff is made. Honestly, I wasn't too interested. Both me and Ethan just wanted to sit and eat. We bolted out as soon as we could and just went on our own, so we didn't have to small talk. We ended up getting a sandwich, which was very interesting it had pickled zucchini, maybe? No idea but I did finish that salty ass sandwich. Afterward, we got some authentic gelato. Bec gave us tips on how to tell if it's fresh: in silver containers, not overflowing, and banana flavor can't be yellow. But then we walked to a really nice cafe and had this random iced drink, maybe matcha. It wasn't bad. Then, before the bus came, I just laid down on the grass in the sun. I needed that for sure. And of course, tonight was the Tuscan evening event with contiki. So we quickly got dressed and went off. The dinner was amazing. The whole trip, both Ethan and I have been waiting for steak; here we got Tuscan steak too... the massive tomahawk steak. But I'm getting a head of myself, as you can see I really love my meat ahah. It was a four course meal with wine as well. It was on a Tuscan winery as well. It was nice because our table had two empty seats so we got more wine and food than all the other tables. And of course I have to take advantage and drink as much wine as possible. The dinner cost 55 euro so I need my money's worth. The course was antipasto (meat, bread, and bruschetta), pasta (rigatoni in a tomato sauce), the steak, and desert (some random cake). Honestly, it was a great experience, the wine was good, the food was delicious, and we got serenaded by an opera singer. He had such a beautiful voice, and it really brought the night together. There was also a guy playing the piano and playing other types of music. And he played some fun songs so everyone got up and danced. Ethan and I also slowed dance, which was funny. I did get caught being a little too handsy. Very good night, but the bus right back was tough. Everyone was singing, and music was blasting, yet I was sick, tired, and ready for bed. So when we got back I went straight there.Meer informatie

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