Zagreb + Plitvice Lakes :: Dreams Do Come True

I was in Zagreb/Plitvice from Nov 5-7.

Day 1
I was finally going to the place that I had dreamed about since studying abroad 4, almost 5 years ago. Tammy, Tina and I woke up early to begin our 8 hour trek to Zagreb by taking a nice walk to the train station. We hopped on the train, them in 1st class and me in 2nd class (thanks, Eurail…) and I was just amazed at the foggy, rainy, mountain scenery at we passed. At one point, we were in the clouds since they were so low. And snow couldn’t have been more than 200m above our heads. We had to switch trains at one of the last villages in Austria so we could make way through Slovenia into Croatia. I even got 2 new stamps in my passport! (one from Slovenia saying I left the Schengen area and one from Croatia since they aren’t part of it…yet) I love how full my passport is getting 🙂 we arrived to Zagreb around 5pm and since we were at the same hostel, Hostel Shappy (I booked the same as them), we made our way and walked over into the downtown area. As I’ve said before, travel really takes it out of ya, so we were pretty wiped by the time we got there. Luckily, the place was super clean and pretty empty which was welcoming. We went to the local grocery store and bought some food for dinner and lunch the next day. We also made arrangements for a minibus to pick us up to take us out to Plitvice Lakes so we didn’t have to worry with bus schedules. We called it a night since we had a big day the following day.

Plitvice Day
Hold on while I let this out….AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I was so flipping excited to go to the lakes that I barely got any sleep the night before. The bus driver picked us up at 9am and we made the 2.5 hour journey out there, stopping at this incredible small village full of waterfalls. We arrived around 11:45am and the driver was going to be leaving at 4pm, which basically gave us 4 hours in the park. We all wanted to do a bit of a walk, so once we had purchased our tickets, we started walking on the upper rim of the waterfalls and around the lakes. We made it all the way up to the beginning of the upper lakes before heading back down and to the ferry that would take us across to thee other side of the rim (we would have hiked, but we were pressed for time). We made our way through the waters and to some great scenic points before coming upon the Big Waterfall (yes, that is its real name) where we stood in awe of how incredible it was. Unfortunately, we had to skedaddle to make the bus back to Zagreb, but I got some amazing photos of it all.

After our return, Tina was pretty exhausted, so we hung out back at the hostel while Tammy and I headed out to this wine festival that we had been told about. We arrived to the big tent and hung out, listened to traditional Croatian folk music and sipped on our hot wine. We walked around to find some food and wound up getting huge things of curly fries for dinner. Wine + fries = diet of champions. Since they would be leaving early in the morning for Munich, we went back and fell asleep.

Day 3
I woke up to an empty room, which was nice, but strange. I checked out and decided to get a better look at Zagreb before I left at 12:45pm. I went to the church and checked out the main square before grabbing my stuff and heading to the train station to catch my..bus. Yeah, the rail track is under construction, so we had to take a direct bus to Split. Ha! I split for Split. The bus ride was quiet, so I was able to get a few things done including reading an entire book and figuring out my remaining time in Europe.

C’est la Vie en Paris :: Day 3

Really, our second full day in Paris, and my French is starting to come back to me. Mind you, I have not really spoken French in, gosh, 4 years or so. It’s nice to be able to understand things, or at least be able to read and translate to George, who is so adorably clueless about the language. We decided to do all the truly touristy things and get them out of the way. We started our day at the Notre Dame cathedral, which has gone a complete transformation since I went last. Huge line of people, ropes designated where to go, souvenir coin machines and a souvenir shop.

There were a ton of people inside, but we managed to get by and see the spectacular cathedral in all of its glory. Next, we walked to the Champs-Élysées, which I grossly underestimated how far it actually was. We made it to the top of the street, where we looked at the Arc de Triomphe and the Unknown Soldier memorial flame, but we did not climb to the top. We were waiting.

On our final walk (it is cheaper to walk, my motto is that G-d gave me two healthy legs and I’m going to use them…I don’t think George shares the same view), we went to the famous Eiffel Tower. It is really an engineering feat. After capturing it from many views, we walked up to the base…where there was a line from one side to the other. Just to take the elevator to the top. Seeing as we had just walked our daily allotted amount, there was no way we were climbing. So we sat in the park, ate some ice cream, watched some kids make out, and watched some Americans take 45 jumping and “twerking” shots. After all that exploration, we decided that the metro was in order and made our way back to the hostel. I was making bolognese that night, and George could not wait.
We spent the night drinking a big bottle of red, hanging out with our roommate and chilling in the common room. We did have to wake up early for our big trek to Versailles.

Cost Recap :: Amsterdam

We spent a total of 3 days and 2 nights since we included the cost of the overnight train in our Berlin costs. Here is the breakdown:

€110 :: Accommodation
€108 :: Food + Drinks
€66 :: Tours, Museum, Cruise
————
€284

With the current and pretty much non fluctuating Euro to USD ratio at $1.35 to €1, the equivalent in dollars is $384.

That ends up being about $64 or €47.33 a day per person. A little higher than our average, but we did splurge a bit on food and accommodation.

Cost Recap :: Belgium

For our 2.5 days and 3 nights in Belgium, Brussels and Bruges, we spent:

€125 :: Accommodation
€65 :: Food + Drinks
€18 :: Walking Tour + Metro Tickets
—————–
€208

With our handy dandy math skills, that equals out to $281.66 total.

Per person, per day that is $56.33. These small countries are starting to add up.

Sweatin’ in Oslo and Bergen is a Bust

Wow, sorry it’s been a few days since posting. George and I took a few days to just explore, relax and unwind in Scandinavia. Well, I’m going to start where we left off.

George and I arrived in Oslo at the airport that is about an hour away from the city. We were a little late getting in and didn’t end up in the city until about noon, 12:30pm. We booked reservations and George’s train ticket on an overnight train for that evening so we could arrive in Bergen bright and early in the morning. After taking care of a bit of business, we put our big backpacks in the lockers at the train station for only 50 NOK which is about $9 for both of us to walk around the city without being miserable. My favorite thing to do when I get to a city is to go to the tourist office to find out what some of the highlights of the city are. They recommended a few places and on our way to see them, we stopped at a hamburger joint where we split a meal that was 75 NOK or about $13(!). Man, I miss In n Out and their delicious prices.

Not wanting to spend too much money on our 10 hour adventure, we wound up walking up and down the main shopping area, going to this incredible sculpture park and walking around the old fortress before ending at a grocery store, Rema 1000, to make our own sandwiches. In our lack of knowing Norwegian, we thought we were buying a small thing of butter or soft cheese, but we ended up buying a small thing of yeast. I opened it up and it smelled funkkkkkay. Oh the joys of new languages. For the record, gjær is the Norwegian word for yeast. Don’t make our same mistake. We made the sandwiches in the train station and waited for our train to come, holding our pee the entire time because they want to charge you 10 NOK or almost $2 to use the public restroom. Please, I would rather squat in the middle of the station than pay those prices.

Now, you may ask why the title includes the word sweating? Well, Oslo was very warm. So warm in fact, that I took off my jacket and cardigan and was rocking the tank top. It was really nice to have some sun and warmth after a cold Dublin. But our hopes of more sun were about to be dashed.

We boarded our night train and had reserved seats, but luckily the train was mostly empty, so we were able to stretch out over a couple of seats. The train company hands out little packs for the night trains complete with ear plugs, eye mask,blow up pillow and blanket. It’s the little things like that that make me happy. Nevertheless, neither of us got too much sleep since it wasn’t the most comfortable ride, but we awoke in Bergen…to rain. And the tourist info center didn’t open until 9am. So we sat in the train station decked out in full winter gear for 2 hours trying to wait out the storm. Didn’t work, but at least when we ventured out, we found some food and the info center was open with free wi-fi. We booked one night at an inn about a 15 minute walk outside city center. The hosts were very gracious and kind allowing us to check-in at 10 in the morning. We stayed in most of the day, hand washed some laundry and only went outside to check out the city when the rain reduced down to a drizzle. We checked out the domkirk, daily fish market, where I tried reindeer sausage and George tried whale sausage (he said it started off good and just left a bad aftertaste), an old part of Bergen, the harbor and grabbed some food for dinner.

Now this is still up in the air for debate, but I may or may not have thrown a small temper tantrum. The ONE thing I wanted to see in Bergen were the fjords and it was being destroyed by the rain and fog. We spent about an hour trying to figure out how to leave Bergen and go to anywhere with sun. In the end, we stayed the night and when we woke up to rain the next morning, we left on the first train back to Oslo. The train ride back to Oslo is the gorgeous Bergen Railway. I was so excited that I was still able to see my fjords and some amazing scenery. We stayed the night in Oslo before deciding to head to Copenhagen the next day.

George’s Reflection :: A month on the road

It’s been a little over a month since we left the US, and have to say this experience has been a tremendous eye-opener.

There are many things I like: there’s tons of old buildings, museums, and tours (which appeals to the historian in me), the landscapes are stunning, the food is delicious and there are bars everywhere! 🙂 There are also many things I hate: customer service blows, efficiency is not a priority (ATM machines, WIFI, and trains are constantly out of order), eating out is expensive as @%*#, and the weather alone in Northern Europe explains why people left.

It took almost a month for me to get used to sharing a living space with other people, but I’m just starting to get used to it. The funniest thing that happened so far, was walking in on one of the hostel employees banging a tenant in the bed next to mine.

Looking back, my favorite country so far has been Ireland, but they all have something great to offer. As I’m writing this we are on a train to Denmark and then hopefully on to some warmer weather. South of France here I come! 😉

Lauren’s Reflection :: A month on the road

I think that it’s important through this journey that both George and I take a chance to reflect on our adventure so far. Although we have been one the road since August 9th, we’ve been in Europe for a little over a month. It’s definitely been a different ride this time around for me. The last time I was in Europe, I was studying abroad, had my own space, I was on my own time and could go and do as I pleased. This time, it’s very different being around another person for literally 24/7 who has never traveled extensively. There have definitely been some ups and downs.

I have to say, George was not prepared for this trip at all. He definitely didn’t know what he was getting himself into between the hostels, lack of privacy, constant moving around and the amount of money we were spending. I’ve been trying my best to ride with the rollercoaster of emotions that he is going through as well as what I’m going through and experiencing. All in all, after all this time, he seems to be more at ease with what we are doing and has become a great travel companion. Sleep also helps 🙂

For me, I have learned that there will ALWAYS be that one snorer in every dorm room that you want to throttle. Ear plugs are way more comfortable than listening to them snore all night. American music will always dominate in every country. I truly hate Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” song. Wearing make-up when it’s raining is overrated. I am more tolerant than I used to be. George and I balance each other out well. The countryside is becoming better than the big cities. A smile and patience will get you everywhere.

We’ll see where we’re at in another month after a few more travels. For now, stay tuned as we work though Scandinavia and the rest of continental Europe.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the day that we leave. Our flight is booked and we are headed to Boston at 10:15pm. I’m especially excited for this portion of the trip because I get to see one of my best friends in the whole world. One Miss Alexandra Tighe. Eeeeeeee!!!!

Also, my last day with TJA is tomorrow. It is bittersweet because I’m excited for the next chapter in my life, but I’m leaving behind an amazing job and people. My replacement at the agency is doing great and will be ready to rock n’ roll on his own on Monday.

As a side note, George got me a sweet present today….an iPad mini! So I’ll be able to keep things updated as we go.

I will be updating you all on my packing list (um…it was an interesting experience) and where we are planning on going on our adventure in my next couple posts, so stay tuned! It’s just getting good.

So…I Did It.

I quit my job. I quit my cosy, cushy, wonderful, amazing job.

Now begins the fun of planning and figuring out this insane European adventure.

WOW. Excuse me while I let out a few little hoots and howls.

A very abbreviated background for you first time readers:

A long, long time ago in a galaxy far away…okay, so maybe it wasn’t in a different galaxy and it really wasn’t that long ago, but here is a quick history of the George and Lauren story and how we are where we are.

George and I met during our sophomore year of college and immediately became inseparable. Having already been bitten by the never deadly, but always dangerous travel bug, I consequently signed George up as my travel buddy and started planning some incredible adventures from Seattle, Vancouver, Bellingham, San Francisco, up and down the coast of California, epic road trips to Missouri and up the Pacific Coast Hwy. He became my new favorite travel companion. In between all of this travel, I managed to study abroad in France for a semester and that travel bug turned into a travel disease. I believe the Doctor said that it is completely incurable at this point. Oh, darn.

Well now, 5.5 years, college degrees, living in both San Diego and Scottsdale, working full-time and many adventures later, we end up here. I have just quit my job to travel and start the next chapter in my life.

It’s a big leap of faith in the uncertainty and unknown, but I’ve always been the cannonball-in-the-deep-end type of girl.

Stay tuned for updates on our nearing adventure!

All for now,

Lauren