gotravelise-blog

[gotravelise-blog]

Days 61 - 68: Saturday, March 3rd to Saturday March 10th

Saturday:

Megan and I left our station around 7am to go into London (her boyfriend was arriving around the same time as Jacob, except he was flying into Gatwick). We hopped on the underground together for one stop before going our separate ways. After taking the central line for a bit, I switched to the Piccadilly line which I rode for about 45 minutes to get to Heathrow. I had to walk for a little while to get to arrivals, and I got there right around the time Jacob was supposed to be landing. (Unfortunately, his flight was delayed by almost 40 minutes). But, I was standing there waiting for him when he came through security, so all was well!!

From Arrivals we took a shuttle bus over to Easirent, where Jacob was renting his car for the week. It was supposed to be a standard Fiat, but in the end it was an automatic Kia that was about the same size and shape. (I for one was glad it was automatic, one less thing to worry about). Anyway, we hopped in and I started our navigation for our Southampton hotel. It took some getting used to, driving on the wrong side of the road, but I felt pretty comfortable with Jacob's driving.

Jacob booked our Southampton hotel and it was really nice! It was one of those typical English hotels with two twin beds instead of two doubles, but it was super comfy and authentic-looking. It took us a while to find the car park, but once we did, we went in to our hotel, spruced up a bit, and head out for the soccer game (Premiere League - Southampton v. Stoke). O the way we picked up a couple of sandwiches and ate them on our walk. I had Google maps open to guide us to the stadium, but it wasn't long before I could put it away and just follow the crowds.

We were sitting essentially on the floor so we had a simultaneously perfect and terrible view of the game. We had a blast watching, but man were the spectators ever rude! Screaming at their players, boo-ing injured opponents, complaining… They certainly had a negative attitude. It was unlike any hockey game I've been to, that's for sure. In the end, the teams tied 0-0.

After we left the soccer game, we walked back to the hotel to get on the Wi-Fi and see what was nearby to eat. We found an Indian place that was highly rated and just across the street from our hotel (which was great for me cause I was super tired). The Indian food WAS really good, definitely too expensive, but worth it.

After supper, we went back to the hotel and got an early night so that Jacob could recover from his jet lag before an early rise ad more travel the next morning.

Sunday:

On Sunday, we left Southampton and navigated for Portsmouth. We wanted to go there to see some of the nautical history of England. We arrived and went to Tesco to pick up a few things for the week: snacks, lunch for the day, a pack of bottled water, etc. An interesting thing about this Tesco was that it opened its doors at 9:30 (about when we arrived) but the cash registers didn't open until 10. We were confused for a while until we realized we just had to join the lines and wait for the cashiers. A minute's walk from the Tesco parking lot was a McDonald's, where Jacob and I got coffee and some breakfast before heading over to the Historic Dockyard.

We found our way to the dockyard car park and headed in to buy tickets. We were mainly there to see the HMS Victory like our Dad saw in the 70s. We could have gotten tickets to the whole historic dockyard for only a few pounds more, but we were heading to Poole later that day to see the Poole museum (which closed at 4) so we knew there was no point in paying for it all. Interestingly, the ticket will be good for a whole year, if I ever find myself back in Portsmouth in 2018.

We walked down to the HMS Victory and followed through the ship with their audio tour. It was astoundingly well preserved and so full of history. It really felt like going back in time to be on it. Following the tour, Jacob and I shopped around the Historic Dockyard gift shops for a while, then we left to check out the waterfront and take out some cash at an ATM to pay for our parking at the car park.

From there, we left for Poole. We found another car park and then headed down Poole's historic streets. We went straight to the Poole museum, which had free admission (yay!) and wandered through the exhibits, with a particular eye for any discussion of Poole's connection with Newfoundland. There was no Newfoundland exhibit, but pieces of our influence were in panels all over the place. There was much discussion of how the Newfoundland fishery were the source of wealth for many Poole families, including the one who built Mansion house. Because the museum had free entry we picked up a couple of things from the gift shop and then wandered down along the waterfront for a while (it was a beautiful sunny day). We ended up getting fish cakes superfood salad at a restaurant called "Slug Lettuce" (which tasted way better than that name implies). After that, we set out for our Air Bnb, which was just outside of Poole, in Bournemouth. After a few hitches with getting a parking space, we checked in and got all settled in to the apartment, then we walked up the street to a pub called "All Hail Ale". We were just about the only ones there and we didn't think the locals were too fond of us (probably as some of our conversation consisted of us marvelling at how the (nonexistent) snow was causing trouble for UK roadways.

We went back to the Air Bnb and went to bed (I tried to shower but the water was ICE, so I resolved to try again the next day).

Monday:

We got up and planned to leave around 8am to arrive for our tour of Stonehenge, which we had booked for 9:30. We got a bit lost along the way and ended up getting there closer to 10am, but they told us that was no problem, and that a shuttle bus leaves for the stones every 10 minutes or so. (Also I had managed to accidentally book us for the wrong day as well, so they were very forgiving). We went into the museum section and read all about what we would be seeing before hopping on the bus. It was fascinating how much history there was to learn about. We picked up an audio tour before hopping on the bus. We were the only ones on the bus on the way over (we understood it being early on a Monday, in addition to the snow they got, kept some of the crowds - and staff - away). We walked around Stonehenge and listened to the audio tour, learning a bit more than we had at the museum. It was truly a surreal experience to be at Stonehenge, something you read about and see so many photos of all your life.

When we were ready to go, we went back to the car, and Jacob ate his salad from the day before and I had a snack, then we headed for (first a gas station) then Bath.

It was about another hour to Bath, and Jacob and I were really starting to enjoy the road-tripping now. We listened to lots of music and I navigated while Jacob drove confidently on the left side of the road. LOL.

We found ourselves another car park in Bath, which was surrounded by lots of shopping and historical monuments alike. Our check-in at our next Air Bnb wasn't until 3pm, so we headed to the Roman Baths and did a whole tour there, which again was SUPER cool. There was so much Roman history in this one spot, and the historic site's staff were still excavating more of the site while we were there. At the end of the tour you drink some of the bath water (which scared me at first because the water you see as you go around is GREEN). But, this water was essentially mineral water that was from the site but cleaned. It was cool to say that we drank it.

We left the Roman Baths, picked up the car, and went to our Air Bnb, where our host, Jean, met us. The Air Bnb was a huge, tall house which she still lived in; more like a proper bed and breakfast. She was very kind and told us all about things to do in the area and then left us to it. She even lent me an umbrella! After dropping off our things, we went back into the city centre and got fish and chips for dinner, then wandered around for a bit longer before going back to the Air Bnb (it was POURING rain at this point). I had SUCH a comfortable sleep at the Air Bnb; the mattress was super comfy and the whole place was very homey. I didn't want to leave when we got up early to head back to Harlow for my 2pm class.

Tuesday:

We ran into some road closures on our way back to Harlow (small country roads with snow accumulated on them) and a lot of traffic as we made our way around London and back to campus. We got to Harlow around 11 and then walked up to McDonald's for lunch. We walked bac and I headed to class while Jacob headed over to his hotel in Harlow (about a 10-minute walk).

I had class for nearly two hours, then I got a shower and we went down to supper in dining hall (Jacob joined us). We had mushroom pasta for dinner. At 7pm, we went over to the classroom for George to run us through the events of the following day (Wednesday). We would head into London around 7:30, do our tour of Bloomberg from 8:30-10:30 and Lloyds of London from 1:30-3:30 ish. Jacob and I had been planning to go to the pub that evening but considering our early rise, we decided to go to bed. Which was kind of sad because Jacob had to go back to his hotel then, and me to my res room.

Wednesday:

I got up about 5:45 and curled my hair and did my makeup and got dressed in business formal for our tour day. Jacob and I walked down to the train station around 7 to get our train tickets ahead of time. We hopped on the 7:30 train (which was running a bit late, closer to 7:45). This train was PACKED. We had to stand for the whole 45-minute journey. One of my friends nearly fainted. It was a bad time. Finally, we got off the train and switched to the underground, which was even worse. Our prof squished himself in and went on, but it was another three or more trains before the whole class got to our destination (thankfully we were only riding one stop, but the underground cars were literally sardine cans). Jacob and I were the last to arrive, but the class waited for us (not the prof) and we finally made our way to Bloomberg, about a half hour late. Thankfully, the building was a stone's throw from the underground stop.

We then had our tour of Bloomberg (my favourite part was they have a gathering floor with free food and drinks all day, including a full English breakfast in the morning) who wouldn't want to work for that perk?? After our Bloomberg tour we went to a pub called Crosse Keys and had lunch (Jacob and I both had Margherita pizzas). Then we went on to do our tour of Lloyds of London. After that tour, many people went back to Harlow, others stayed in to catch theatre shows or just enjoy the sunny day. Rebecca C, Regan, Marcus, Nicole N, Laura, Jacob and I stayed in as well; Laura, Jacob and I wandered around before the Vance Joy concert. We went to Three so Laura could top up her phone plan, wandered around the area of the concert, and finally got some Italian food in Oxford Circus before heading back to the concert.

Jacob headed back to Harlow while we headed off to see Vance Joy. It was surreal getting to see him in concert again. Laura and I swore he saw us in the audience and gave us a nod. Before he came on, I got a message from my Mom that she had received the UK Mother's Day flowers I had asked Jack to send her, and also that I had received a scholarship, so it was a happy time all around.

By the end of the concert my feet were KILLING me from having been on heels for so long. The commute back to Harlow felt like it took forever with that. When I finally got back it was the best feeling to get those shoes off and shower before crawling into bed.

Thursday:

The next morning Rebecca left for UH and Jacob and I got ready and hopped back in the rental car to go south again for a little while. We started the day around 9:30 when we left for Fort Amherst. We arrived there around 11 and were surprised to find that all tours had already ended for the day? It seemed early for that, but we walked around the site anyway and I was distinctly reminded of Signal Hill, and Fort Amherst at home. Following that short visit (since we couldn't access much of the site) we headed for Chislehurst, where Jacob had read on Trip Advisor about the Chislehurst Caves. Were we ever glad he found them - they made for our favourite part of his visit. We arrived about 50 minutes before the next tour, so we got lunch on site at their café. Jacob had veggie chilli with nachos and I had a veggie burger and fries. Jacob also had a blackcurrant drink (he was trying to have blackcurrant, gooseberry, and all English-flavoured things while he was here). After a quick lunch, it was time to start the tour!

Were we ever glad Jacob found this site. They were a huge labyrinth of caves carved before even the Romans, but used by the Romans for chalk. During WWI, the caves were used for munitions storage, in the 1920s and 1930s as a mushroom farm, and during WWII the caves were the largest underground bunker to protect the public from the Blitz, and housed around 15,000 people. There was a barber, a dentist, a doctor, and a bunk bed area, a church carved into the caves, and even bathrooms. Since WWII, the caves have largely been preserved to exhibit all that history, but they have also made for film locations for Dr. Who and numerous films.

The town the caves were in was beautiful, and we tried to drive around and see more of it but the traffic was just too bad and we ended up routing back to Harlow. Unfortunately, Googl took us right through London in rush hour, so we were 2-3 hours getting out of that tangle and back to campus. Though we arrived close to dinnertime, we had had our meals plated that evening, so we couldn't go and sit down with the rest of class. I went down and had some salad, though, and then we picked up our plated meals and took them back up to our kitchen. The meal that night was a Quorn dish with new potatoes, green beans and spinach. While we were up there finishing supper, I called Nan and told her about how we got to go to Stonehenge (it was her suggestion and not something we had originally planned). Shortly after 7 I realized I was supposed to be over in the classroom getting my paper while George went through it. Ooops! I went over a bit late but I was pleasantly surprised to have gotten an 89%. Toward the end of the meeting George told us that he was giving us all an extra 0.5 marks, which bumped up my paper to a 92%(!!!) I was so glad, because I was really worried about the quality of this paper.

This night, Jacob was able to stay on campus with us, up in the guest room, room 20, which in my opinion was way nicer than our rooms. Once he had everything all settled away up there, Jacob, Rebecca and I went over to the Crown for a couple of drinks. Jacob had gone there by himself on Wednesday (while we were at the concert) and really liked it, so we were all happy to go there again on Thursday night. There was a cat at the pub that night (I think the owners' cat).

We went back to Harlow around 11pm and went to bed - the next day Jacob and I were heading to London and Rebecca was heading to Prague.

Friday:

Jacob and I went down to Café Blue to get a latte, then headed down to the train station around 9:30. We went in to London and thankfully got a seat on the train this time!! Following the 40-minute ride, we left Liverpool Street Station and walked around until we found somewhere to get coffee and breakfast. We found a bagel shop which was AWESOME. I got a bagel sandwich with scrambled eggs, avocado and cream cheese. I'm starting to get used to the eating-and-walking thing. From there we headed to Shakespeare's Globe and did a tour which was SUPER cool! I couldn't believe it was only there since the 1990's.

After the tour, we crossed the Millennium Bridge and headed toward the London Transport Museum, to get tickets for the evening 1920s night we were going to with Jacob's friend from school and her boyfriend. We found out that you can only get the tickets online, so we headed somewhere for lunch and got on their Wi-Fi to buy them. Then we wandered around The Strand a bit and went in some stores.. Unfortunately it was raining a TON so it wasn't too nice being outside. We went into Covent Garden and looked around the markets until finally making our way back to the museum and getting a drink and muffin at their café. Jacob's friend (Verity) and her BF met us there and we went to a bar across the street for a while before heading back to the museum.

The museum exhibition was pretty cool - it was about women in the 1920s and 1930s, posters that were used to promote the London Underground, and London transport in general (much of the main museum was open to explore). They also had 1920s-esque singers and dancers who performed regularly. It made us wish we were dressed in that attire! We had a pretty good time though. We left there around 8 or 9pm and headed down the street to an Indian restaurant for some late supper. We had supper and left there around 10:30pm. By then I was getting a little anxious to get back to the train station to make sure we got on the last train, so we headed (all 4 of us) to the underground station at Leicester Square, switched underground trains together, and finally went separate ways a few stops in to the second train. Then Jacob and I got to Liverpool Street Station, hopped on the 2nd-last train back to Harlow for the night, and headed back into Harlow. Once we got back, Rebecca had already left for Prague and Jacob slept in her bed that night.

Saturday:

We slept in a bit Saturday morning and Jacob packed up all his things. I packed my purse and all I would need for a day in London. We left campus around noon and went to McDonalds where Jacob got coffee and I got some lunch. Unfortunately, I realized then that I was out of data on my phone, so Jacob drove me into Harlow Town, where Three (the mobile store) was located in their mall. Thankfully I was in and out of there in less than 10 minutes and we were back on track to Heathrow. We navigated to a gas station right next to the Easirent because Jacob had agreed to leave the car "full-to-full".  He dropped off the car with no issues and we took the shuttle back to Terminal 2. I went with him all the way up to security where we said goodbye and he went on. It was so great to have him visit.. I only wish more family members could come visit me now.

After Jacob went on through security, I had to go find my way back to the underground and through London to get back to Harlow. The set-up they had was very confusing but finally I was able to buy my train and underground ticket (travel card) on my phone and print it near the Heathrow express train (and then walk back to the underground station).

I rode the Piccadilly line another 45-minutes back to central London and got off at Leicester Square again. I wanted to go to NARS (a cosmetics store) which I had seen on Friday when I was out with Jacob and his friends. My friend and I both wanted to re-stock our concealers which we had run out of, so I picked us each up one. It was more expensive than I wanted to pay (probably more for its location than anything) but I told myself that this would be my treat to myself after getting a scholarship and good mark on my paper. Not to mention incentive to keep getting good grades. (I've got to start in on more homework after I finish this journal entry).

After leaving NARS I walked about 10 minutes to Holburn station, where I got on the central line back to London Liverpool Street Station. I got on the 6:30pm train and arrived back in Harlow a little after 7. It was already dark and a little spooky, but I made it back to res no problem. By this time I was hungry and tired so I heated up some leftovers (Friday's plated meal). And more or less got in bed early and caught up on TV shows and just relaxed. It was sad to have Jacob gone, but I was so glad he was able to come visit… So It was worth it to feel sad that he had to leave. On to a weekend FULL of homework to get ahead before tons of travel as I near the end of my time over here.

[gotravelise-blog]

Days 57 - 60: Tuesday, February 27th to Friday, March 2nd

Spent a late night Tuesday finishing my second paper for my course at Harlow. On Wednesday morning our guest speaker for class (someone from Newfoundland who works at KPMG) didn't arrive in time for class because of snow both at home and over here. So, George gave us a lecture on tax law. On Thursday we went to UH and went through the normal routine of class and studying in the library on our long break; luckily our group was able to get our presentation moved to March 15th, meaning I can skip next week's classes to spend the whole day with Jacob when he's here. On Friday I was going to have a dentist appointment because I thought my wisdom teeth were bothering me, but it turned out to be a kanker in the back of my mouth. Will need to look at getting them out soon though.

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Days 53 - 56: Friday, February 23rd to Monday, February 26th

Friday

We left for Nice around 1pm. It felt like Florida when we arrived; there were palm trees EVERYWHERE and we were right next to the beach. I was surprised to find that it was a rocky beach and not a sandy beach. We took the bus for a few stops and got off on the beachfront - Promenade des Anglais - and walked a mere 5 minutes to our beautiful Air Bnb. We met our host, settled in, and went downstairs to a bakery in our building. We got a baguette to split between us and we each bough some macarons as well. (The pistachio flavour was my favourite). We went out for supper shortly after and ended up on a stretch of pedestrian street where people were fighting for our business. We ended up in a restaurant called Bazar because it wasn't too expensive, and it was crowded, which implied to us that it must be good. I had veggie pizza and everyone else had burgers that were still pink… Eek, not a cultural food thing I can get behind. After that we bought some wine and had it back at our Air Bnb before heading to bed for our early rise.

Saturday

We got up and ready and were picked up at our Air Bnb at 9am by our tour guide, Cyril, for our vineyard tour. Unfortunately, it was pouring rain and would be for the rest of our time in Nice.

Hurried by our early rise, I didn't have time for breakfast and I just hopped in the van hoping for the best. Thankfully, Kelli bought me an almond croissant from the bakery in our building because I had told her how I always need to have breakfast in the mornings. What a good friend!!

Once everyone was in the van, we started our tour by driving for an hour or so into Provence (Nice is in the Côte d'Azur region), where we stopped for "un café Americain" (if you order coffee they'll give you an espresso, yikes). Before heading to the first vineyard. Along the way, our tour guide told us all about the sights we were seeing and admitted he was glad to be doing a tour in the off season. He said that most of what he does at this time of year are transferring people to and from the airport, so this was a nice change for him. He also told us that Nice gets about 320 sunny days a year and apologized for the poor weather we were having. We also discussed wine and how most of us found red wine too strong, and Cyril explained that red wine is strongest when coming from very hot and sunny places, as the sun has that effect on the grapes and resultant wine. He mentioned that we should try more red wine from Northern French regions. After a bit more driving we finally arrived at the first vineyard, Château Font du Broc. This was owned by some multi-millionaire tycoon who used to have a monopoly on tires for all of France. Bored with all his money he bought these acres of land and made a vineyard. He also keeps special horses there to be trained for dressage; some of them competed and won Olympic medals, though once it was under the Portuguese flag. After touring the grounds (including the underground cellar with the barrels of wine), we tasted the wine there by the fireplace. This vineyard is known for its rosé, and it was the one I liked the best, so I bought a bottle along with some souvenirs when we paid for the wine tasting.

Following this we went to a place for lunch in between the two, more pizza.

The next vineyard was Château St. Roseline, in honour of a saint who was actually mummified and who they have on display at the chapel next-door.

Wine tasting here was free! And we had a whole lot of it. I liked the wine better at the first vineyard, but it was still really good wine to my uncultured tastebuds. After having lots of wine, we went up to the chapel and saw the preserved St. Roseline and her preserved eyes(!) Needless to say this was a little bit spooky. Most of us also did not enjoy entering a chapel so shortly after drinking so much wine.

After leaving the chapel Cyril made his way back to our Air Bnb. He was such a great tour guide! I highly recommend "Friend in France" tour company to anyone planning to visit Nice.

We came back to our Air Bnb, got ourselves another baguette and more macarons, had a snack, and then went down to the beach for a little while. We got Subway for dinner to save some money, then went back up to the Air Bnb to go about drinking our French rosé before heading out to the Carnaval.

So, we thought the Carnaval de Nice would be a parade with standing room for free…. But boy were we wrong. It was a MASSIVE event, and I cost €5 just to get in past the barricades to see what was happening. But it was SO WORTH THE MONEY. The Carnaval was space themed this year, so there were floats with Star Wars characters, zodiac signs, aliens, space shuttles, and all the normal parade features like percussionists and dancers. It was such a blast! Also, it conveniently stopped raining in the evening so we got to fully enjoy it.

The Carnaval was also very political; there were many references to Trump and North Korea that were very explicit, and I was honestly surprised this event wasn't more well-known at home.

After the Carnaval we came back to get ready for bed.

Sunday

Sunday morning it was pouring rain again, and we set out to see some more sights of Nice. We went to an open market that had every kind of fresh food imaginable, flowers, hand-made trinkets, and more. My friends bought some dried fruit, and I bought a mini quiche and another almond croissant. (This trip I was sustained by bread and wine). They also had little dishes, fresh herbs, fresh fish, vegetables, etc. We found an archway to eat some of the food we bought and then we headed out to try and find the lookout spot overlooking the city and ocean.

We wandered around and up some stairs to no avail. Finally, one of my friends stopped someone to ask if he spoke English, to which he said no. My French teachers would have been proud of me because I successfully interacted with this Frenchman who directed us to the lookout. Yay!

The lookout provided a gorgeous view of the city and ocean as promised (some photos above). There were also waterfalls up above the lookout point that were nice to see.

By the time we left the lookout point, more Carnaval activities had begun which meant we had to walk all around a main point of the city in order to get to the train station on our way back to Monaco. But, we caught the last train in with minutes to spare.

Unfortunately, it was raining even more in Monaco. We walked around and enjoyed the sights, got a bite to eat and wandered over by the casino and expensive cars. I had a moment of feeling like absolute trash as my travel umbrella turned inside-out from the rain as I walked past the casino and multiple Ferraris. Maybe one day I will be that rich. But also, probably not. We essentially swam back to the train station and went back to the Air Bnb.

Once back, we ordered in sushi for dinner and got an early night.

Monday

I got up early to pack for our return flight to Harlow. I woke up to a notification on my phone telling me that our flight was delayed an hour, but we still had to be at the airport normal time. This was followed up by a nosebleed which took away from packing time. FINALLY, I finished packing and we set out for the bus stop to go back to the airport. Once we were there and through security we had a gate change. Eventually we boarded, and I looked out to see that it was snowing. In Nice. I'd like to go back one day and see the south of France sunny, like you picture it. LOL.

We arrived back in Harlow around noon and came back and hit the bunk for a while before having supper and getting an early night.

[gotravelise-blog]

Days 51 - 52: Wednesday, February 21st to Thursday, February 22nd

Another few uneventful days in Harlow! Homework and whatnot. My foam mattress topper came in thank GOODNESS. No more springs in my back.

[gotravelise-blog]

When I tell people I saw Milky Chance and say they never heard of that band, until I play them Stolen Dance.

AMAZING show.

Milky Chance

17 February 2018

ROXY, Prague

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Days 45 - 50: Friday, February 16th to Tuesday, February 20th

Prague, Czech Republic

Friday:

We got up and had a leisurely day of packing, catching up on things like laundry and homework, and relaxing a bit.

I Left London Stansted with Rebecca en route to Prague around 9:30 pm. The flight was slightly delayed leaving, but as was my experience with every delayed flight so far, we have still arrived early or at least on time. We arrived in Prague around 11:30pm local time and went about finding our way to our hostel (Sir Toby's Hostel).

While we were figuring it out, the arrival door SWARMED with police and airport security who asked us to move out of the area which was pretty freaky until we realized there had been an unattended bag they had to search (why they did this in such a public area is beyond me, but from what we could see of the bag it seemed innocently forgotten). In the end it was too late to take the most direct public transit so we took a taxi to the hostel for about $30-40.

We checked in and went up many stairs to our dorm on the 3rd floor, and went about finding bunks in the pretty full room… Then we got into bed (still comfier than my bed in Harlow).

Saturday:

We got up around 8:30-9ish and set about hitting up many of the touristy spots of Prague. We walked into town (about an hour or so) passing over and under many bridges along the way. We went to see Charles Bridge, the Old Town area, and the John Lennon wall. On the way we stumbled upon people filming on an old cobblestone street horse and carriages with actors dressed in period clothing. We're still not sure what film or show it was for. We also attempted to see the Astrological Clock (which was under repair) and the other touristy things in the area.

We ended up at the Hard Rock Café for lunch, then we made our way back to the hostel for a nap before getting ready to see Milky Chance that night. 

We left around 6pm and took the train into town to Roxy, the club where the Milky Chance concert was going to take place. We grabbed some quick dinner at a nearby café and then joined the lineup to get inside. This was the moment of truth - whether or not our Facebook-organized, PayPal-commissioned concert tickets were real… and they were! The concert was absolutely incredible and absolutely surpassed my expectations. I was so excited for this concert and it was everything I had hoped for!

After the concert we were pooped so we headed back to the hostel and went straight to bed.

Sunday:

We slept in a bit later on Sunday which made our day get off to a bit of a late start as Rebecca and I both needed to shower and it seemed as though everyone else in the hostel needed to shower that morning too. 

We went down to the kitchen to get some breakfast that morning and met a couple of folks from the states - a guy from Colorado and a girl from Pittsburg (they were't travelling together). We were commonly mistaken for American again, sigh.

We set out for Prague Castle then, which was quite a sight to see! It was about $11 for entry to every exhibition there, so we took our time and explored and enjoyed the panoramic views of the city.

We found our way back to the city centre after visiting the castle and had quesadillas at a restaurant called the Fat Cat. We followed that up with Trdlnik (like a churro with ice cream and chocolate) for which there were stalls all over the place. (This was so so so so good.)

We went back to the hostel after that and had a nap and then went down to our hostel bar for happy hour (7-8pm). Have I mentioned how cheap everything is in Prague? Beer is usually between $1-3 for a big jug, roundtrip tram tickets are $3, our hostel for four nights cost us about $40….. I could get used to this kind of travel.

I was down in the hostel bar/common room from about 8pm-3am, it was such a blast! We played games and got to know the other people who came down for games night - there were people from the US, Australia, Mexico, Northern Ireland, England, Israel, and even one other girl from Canada.

I got a quick shower then hopped into bed for a bit.

Monday:

We got up early and went back into the Old Town area to do some souvenir shopping and see if there was anything we hadn't covered. We went a bit cheaper on lunch by going to McDonald's, then we went back to the hostel to get ourselves ready for the evening - we were meeting up with Sophia from our class who is studying in Prague and who just got back from Berlin. (Mom and Dad if you're reading this, yes - the same Sophia who I knew in elementary school who moved to Gander. I've come full circle!)

Sophia met us at our hostel and we went to an authentic Czech restaurant that she was introduced to by a Czech person from her university. She then showed us her residence and introduced us to her roommates (Rebecca will be studying abroad again in the fall, this time in Prague, so it was great for her to see it). We then went to their residence pub for a little bit and then on the tram to a club that sounded super cool; apparently it had dogs and swings and jazz music, and when you went in you paid a sort of "cover" but basically they just load the money on a chip that you tap on which drink you want, and whatever you don't spend you get back at the end.

Unfortunately, it was getting kind of late by the time we got there so there was a long line outside that wasn't budging, and Rebecca and I, aware we had to leave for the airport around 4am, decided it was best to take the trams back to our hostel before they changed to the night schedule and we risked getting back late.

By now there were far fewer people in our room (I guess a lot of people had only been there for the weekend) so we packed and went to bed for a sort of nap before heading out to take the transit to the airport. 

Tuesday:

We quickly learned that the schedule was very different at that hour and we ended up going back to the hostel where they called us a cab which was much more convenient, especially with our big packs on.

The airport was different from any I had been in - we started by going through customs, then we walked through duty free and restaurants, and each gate had its own security. It did make for a quick process though. We were a bit delayed leaving because they had to de-ice the plane, but the RyanAir folks missed my bag for the cargo hold so I got to take it on board which streamlined our way out of the airport upon our arrival. From there we hopped the bus to Harlow and got in bed to rest up for a bit before doing some homework and having supper with the approximately 4-5 students (in our class) that are here this week.

[gotravelise-blog]

Days 35 - 44 - Tuesday, February 6th to Wednesday, February 15th

Spent this week and weekend in Harlow preparing for our Organizational Theory midterm, attending UofH classes, and catching up on other little things. Not too much happened that was eventful, we went to the Crown (our local pub) one evening, I studied a LOT, I ate ots of food, and on Valentine's Day a bunch of us walked up to the local movie theatre in POURING RAIN to see the last 50 Shades of Grey Movie. Lol.

Next trip: Prague!

[gotravelise-blog]

Days 30 - 34 - Thursday, February 1st to Monday, February 5th

Thursday:

Left London in the evening for Switzerland. We flew into Basel and then took a bus to the Basel train station; from there we took a 2.5 hour train ride to Interlaken Ost (East) the last stop on the train.

I knew this country was expensive, but the train into and out of Interlaken cost $84 CAD so this immediately set the tone for how careful I would have to be on my spending while I was there!

We got off the train and set out for our hostel (Backpacker's Villa Sonnenhof) and it was pretty dark, with just streetlights. In the air there were clouds and what looked like smoke. So, we toddled on into the Interlaken main square, and we stopped and looked up again at that smoke and realized, no… That was snow capping the mountains that surrounded us. It was a dizzying moment. It was so dark we couldn't see them, but we were excited to get up in the morning to see them.

Our hostel was amazing. They awaited our arrival and even though all seven of us had booked separately, they put us all in one room. The hostel also had "tokens" that you could use to buy hot drinks in the lobby (mochas, coffees, hot chocolate - tea was free), two for each day of your stay. They also had free breakfast in the mornings (toast, yogourt, cereal) and free postcards. They also had a kitchen we could use! If that weren't all great enough, our room was amazing. It was all panelled all in wood so it looked very authentic and how I would imagine a Swiss hostel to look.  Our room a balcony, and we were so excited to see the mountains in the morning that we got up at sunrise.

Friday:

We got up early and watched the sun rise over the mountains and got a few pictures as you see above! We then got suited up and got breakfast before going paragliding. Me and my friend Alex were SUPER nervous but everyone else was surprisingly really not. We were met in the lobby at 10:45 and picked up in a shuttle bus that took us a few minutes down the road to the little stall where we get boots and snow pants. Then we drove up a bit farther (between this stall and our hostel was a big field where they land) to pick up our pilots. We started heading up the mountain in the bus and we listened as one man stood up and explained how it works, and then handed out sheets of paper with each pilot's names on it. I remember thinking that the guy who explained the rules made me feel super comfortable, so I hoped to be with him, and coincidentally, I was! God was looking out for me : .

In any case, we enjoyed the beautiful views all the way up the mountain, then walked up a hill to the launching point. It was literally a hill. It was just a hill you had to run down. I was still super nervous. But they had us go in quick succession, so I didn't have too long to think about it. We ran ran ran down the hill which got pretty hard with the resistance of the parachute behind us, but eventually there was a stomach-drop moment and we floated up! Then I sat back into the seat while my pilot thermalled us up into the clouds. (We were literally in the clouds it was pretty freaky). He said he wanted to go up as high as we could to make the trip last as long as possible. So then we caught the wind and floated across a valley (and I tried to look straight at the mountains as opposed to straight down). We floated on past trees and around the corner where we could see the two lakes, Thun and Brienz, the river and town built in between (as you can probably guess, Interlaken gets its name for being a town located between two lakes).  We looked down on the city, and on approach to the field, my pilot asked me, "do you like roller coasters?" to which I said "NO, NO TRICKS PLEASE." (Earlier we saw paragliders doing flips and it was mentioned that we could do them too). Although I think I would have found it fun in hindsight, I didn't want to push myself on my first truly out-of-my-comfort-zone experience.

The ride was so peaceful, and it was nice chatting with our pilot; I told him we were from Newfoundland and he said that is the #1 place he wants to visit right now. He said he had a Newfoundland-oriented travel magazine back at home he was reading! He said it would probably be a few years before he felt it would be feasible for him/his family to go, but still it was a cool thing.

When we came in to land, we swung a few feet away from the top of the hotel (the pilot joked that it was a "fly-through" restaurant) and then we approached the ground and I had to push myself out of the seat to get my feet ready for landing. I have to say I felt pretty wobbly after free-floating for so long, but we came in so gently I didn't even have to take multiple steps, I sort of just… Stood.

I thanked Kurt and he gave me the photos from the flight which we transferred onto my phone. While we were doing that he showed me a picture of he and his daughter paragliding together. I wished them the best and that I hoped they would get to visit Newfoundland someday. What an unforgettable experience.

We spent the rest of the day walking around Interlaken and buying some food at the grocery store to minimize how much we had to eat out because everything was so expensive.

Later on in the evening we went to the other side of the big centre of the square where there was a bi skating rink and trail, as well as a "Swiss Chalet" (not what we thought it was but) a real tented chalet full of food vendors, a DJ, a bar, and picnic tables with sheepskin blankets. We went skating for an hour or so and then got something to eat in the chalet. Then we went back to our hostel, got some hot chocolate, and went to bed.

Saturday:

We split our group of 7 into two smaller groups, and Allison, Islay and I went to Lake Thun. It was a long walk but beautiful. We had lunch by the lake and watched as ducks, American Coots (little black ducks with white bills that make high pitched "noots") and a swan (just as scary as they are at home, it came up and hissed at me) swam by.

The other group did a chocolate-making course (it was really expensive so I didn't take part but I tried some of their chocolate after and it was wonderful).

That evening we went out to find somewhere to eat and everything was PACKED. We went to an authentic fondue restaurant a staff member at our hostel recommended, but apparently no restaurant will take you without a reservation (even if there seems to be space).

Finally, we found an Italian restaurant, of all places, but it was really good and they could split our bills which most European countries won't do, so we left happily overall.

Sunday:

We stayed in our small groups of 3 and 4 on Sunday. We went to the other lake, Lake Briez. Incidentally, the other group went to Brienz on Saturday and Thun on Sunday, so it worked out for us!

It was colder so we didn't linger around for too long, but we saw lots of cute dogs. We approached the lake by road, but went back along the water on a trail which was absolutely beautiful. We followed the water all the way to the train station where we hopped on and took a train a bit higher in the mountains in Lauterbrunnen.

We got soup and a brownie at a little café called Airtime Café. We wandered around a bit longer and then made our way back to Interlaken for the evening.

There's a place at the top point of Europe that you can take the train to that I'd like to visit. It was too expensive for me this time, but it's this cool observatory and there was a James Bond scene filmed there. Pretty cool.

Monday:

We packed up our things and checked out of our room, then had breakfast one more time before getting on the train back to Basel. It was wonderful taking the train back in the day, when we could actually see the water and mountains.

We arrived back in the evening and got our pre-arranged cab back to Harlow. I unpacked and did laundry. What a BEAUTIFUL place. Would definitely visit again.

[gotravelise-blog]

Playing Catch Up

Day 22 - Wednesday, January 24th

Homework day.

Day 23 - Thursday, January 25th

First day of classes at the University of Hertfordshire; we had to lectures from 2-5 and then headed back on the coach bus for dinner.

Days 24 to 26 -  Friday, January 26th to Sunday, January 28th

Spent the weekend in Harlow catching up on homework and relaxing. Went to the grocery store, Tesco and re-stocked some groceries.

Day 27 - Monday, January 29th

Spent the day in Harlow and went into London in the evening to see Mamma Mia at the Novello Theatre. We went to pick up our tickets in the late afternoon then went to the nearby pub (The Wellington) for a cider and fish and chips before the show. The show was all-around amazing - we had perfect seats in the dress circle, the music was great, it was my friend’s first “Broadway” musical (she went to see it again a few weeks later) and it was a nice night out as well.

Day 28 - Tuesday, January 30th

Like the excellent student I am, I had to finish my paper due on the 31st all in one day. I mean don’t get me wrong I had started it but there was a long way to go before I slept (finally went to bed at 6am - class was at 10am). I passed in the paper before crawling into bed for a few hours. 

Day 29 - Wednesday, January 31st

Went to class a few hours after going to bed where we had a guest speaker from the Canadian High Commission. It’s a good thing this topic is right up my alley or else I would have been at risk of falling asleep. Maybe I’ll be a diplomat one day? Haha.

[gotravelise-blog]

Day 21 - Back at It (January 23rd, 2018)

Today I slept in until 11 after my late night and enjoyed a fairly leisurely day around campus until class at 2 with our Scottish prof, Don.

Class was pretty fun as always and we had a short break before supper at 5:30. Supper was really good - green curry quorn - which I had never heard of but which was really good. I ate too much again.

After supper I was about to do either this blogging or my homework which I desperately needed to do, when my friend messaged me and asked to join them in watching the Bachelor. So we watched that for a bit and some other friends came and went (there was a laundry mishap, some people who wanted to see their room, and some others joining us for TV).

Scrolling through Instagram I saw that one of our friends on the trip had stumbled upon a very exclusive small venue event for 50 people with one of our favourite artists, and I showed my friend Laura who is his #1 fan, and we immediately looked into and SOMEHOW lucked into the last two tickets(!!!) So tomorrow we’re going straight from UH to this crazy concert experience and I am so excited and nervous and ah!!!!

[gotravelise-blog]

Day 20 - A Danish in Denmark

We got up early and packed out things in order to check out for 11. Unfortunately our flight wasn’t until 11 at night so we had a whole day with our heavy packs on our backs and nothing for certain to do.

We ended up at St. Peder’s Bakery, the oldest bakery in Copenhagen, established in the 1600′s. It was surprisingly cheap and not-so-surprisingly delicious.

From there we went to the Ripley’s Believe it or Not museum, which was interesting, but not totally worth the money. Then we went to a library for a few hours, and from there the train station for McDonald’s, a coffee shop (Espresso House) for hot drinks and a chance to charge our phones, and then to the airport.

Finally we arrived back in London where our faithful minibus driver Jan was waiting for us and took us straight back to Harlow for £5 each.

I was up late doing laundry and showering but thankfully Rebecca was visiting her boyfriend so I didn’t wake her up!

[gotravelise-blog]

Day 19 - A Day of Repeats (January 21st, 2018)

Today we went back to Bowl Market (this time I got a porridge bowl) and we also went back to New Haven and got some group photos. From there, we went to see Christiania which everyone was marvelling about. It was definitely an interesting experience! We wandered around and eventually went back to the hostel for a well needed nap. We got packed up and ready to check out the next day.

[gotravelise-blog]

Day 18 - Day Trip to Sweden (January 20th, 2018)

Today we went to Bowl Market for breakfast and got açai bowls which were delicious! From there we hopped on a train to Malmo and spent the day in Sweden! Who knew Denmark and Sweden were a mere 40 minute train ride apart. There we visited an old castle which was now a historic and natural history museum as well as an aquarium. It was very cold there and a lot like home in my opinion. We also saw house boats along the water which was really cool. For dinner we found a pub and had delicious burgers and fries with Somersby to drink before we made it back to our hostel.

That evening the majority of our group went out to check out the club scene but me and my friend Islay stayed in.