I hate packing. Is there anything worse than packing other than unpacking? Tomorrow, I leave for Madrid, but I am so far from being ready to go. There are so many guides online on how to pack for trips abroad. Let me tell you what not to do, by a notorious overpacker.
My first stop on our Italian tour was to the breathtakingly beautiful city of Venice. It’s an intricate, small, city with so much history and adventure. I’m lucky to have had my friend as my travel companion who could read a map and navigate around the city with ease. Venice can be a bit like a maze because the canals chop up the streets, meaning you’re always having to turn in some different direction.
I haven’t gone on any amazing trips yet, but I did do something pretty cool. Everyone knows that Spain is known for its tapas: little bites of food like appetizers. My friend and I went on a tapeo: going from restaurant to restaurant eating tapas. The city I live in, Tarragona, hosts “Tarraco Tapes” every spring and fall, perfect for bingeing on tapas.
Our final stop on our Benelux tour was to the infamous city of Amsterdam. If I’m being upfront and honest, I have no desire to return to Amsterdam ever. Saying that, it is something that is interesting to visit at least once. Their culture is definitely different, but that is not necessarily a bad thing! So let’s see what makes up Amsterdam beyond what it is known for.
We’re kind of spoiled in the US. Theaters and grocery stores are still often open on major holidays. Even public transportation still operates. That is not the case for much of Europe. Stores and museums begin closing early on Christmas Eve and hardly anything is open on Christmas Day. We still managed to make the most of our time, preferring to get out and explore instead of staying in the apartment doing nothing.
Only have a short time to visit Barcelona? Let me start off saying it’s impossible to get a full grasp of the wonder of Barcelona in just a few short hours, but it’s also possible to see many important sites in just a five hours. The transit system is fantastic and cheap. It’s easy to see a lot in a small amount of time.
I live just an hour from Barcelona. Trains leave every hour from my city to Barcelona. It’s really easy to make a day trip to Barcelona. One day, a friend and I decided to take a short trip to the city to pass the time. After dealing with a screaming toddler for the duration of the train trip, we arrived in a cold and rainy Barcelona.
On Friday, my friends and I decided to meet up in Barcelona for a fun weekend after a long week of classes. Chelsey came from Andorra with a ride from a teacher from her school, Erin lives just outside of Barcelona and was able to take a bus and a metro, and I decided to take the train up there.