#case 3: tram people are striking so i have to get the bus or a taxi

[justabunchofdragons]

oh my god. universe HATES me

[gabriellemallett]

How the Oyster Card is Helping Education

Any native Londoner, or even those who have only visited the British capital for a few days, should be well aware of the Oyster Card. It’s a transport card that was first introduced in 2003 and 17 years later Transport For London (TFL) issues 700,000 cards a month.

Despite its numerous disruptions and worker strikes, TFL has a far-reaching and well-integrated transport network. It comprises of roads, bus routes, trains, trams, subways and the Dockland Light Railway (DLR) service and it is constantly expanding. On all of these modes of transports commuters can use an Oyster Card.

But how does the transition from a paper ticket to a plastic card impact the education system?

First, let’s outline the 5 main types of Oyster Cards:

1.      5-10 year old Oyster Card

2.      11-15 years old Oyster Card

3.      16+ Oyster Card

4.      18+ Oyster Card

5.      Adult Oyster Card

Each card gives users varying discounts on their underground and tram travel and all Oyster cards for children up to the age of 18 have free travel on buses.

The journey to school can be a short walk from home but for those living further away another mode of transport is needed.

This is where the Oyster card comes in, allowing children an unlimited number of discounted or free journeys, every single day. According to the 2011 census, there were 1.4 million children aged 5-19 in London, meaning that the student Oyster Card has a huge market of 17% of the capital’s population. With an annual adult Oyster Card costing nearly £850, it may seem counter-intuitive for TFL to give away over 1 million oyster cards to children, resulting in a loss of well over 850 million a year. However, there’s more to it than that.

Although London is the UK’s capital, its population experiences large socio-economic disparities. This is underpinned by high costs of living. In the area where I grew up, which according to government statistics is not the poorest borough in the city, it was normal for no one to own a passport, all of our school meals were free, it never occurred to us that others had to pay, and only those whose parents’ could afford it would wear school uniform regularly. This was a childhood that I know many people in my current university, Oxford, have never had to experience. Only now, looking back am I able to reflect on the impact of the Oyster Card. Regardless of a parent’s socioeconomic background, they could send their children to school without having to sacrifice a gaping amount of their weekly budget. The Oyster Card gives one less thing for parents to worry about, especially as most schools are only a bus ride or two away.

In the case of education, it means that everyone, regardless of their economic background, can have access to school and I can’t help but think of the countries in the world where some children have to literally trek to school as shown in the documentary “On the Way to School”.

It also makes me wonder whether more effort needs to be taken by policy makers in more economically developed countries to combat poor transport systems. In my research, I also read into the American School Bus system and the transport system in general. There are many inefficiencies due to poor city planning and a lack of reliable public transport, at times these links have even been severed in favour of highways for cars. In fact, some US politicians view public transit as a social welfare programme and so there is reluctance to invest in a better system. This isn’t the case throughout the nation, places like New York, San Francisco and Chicago have grid-like city structures and therefore experience better public transport networks. Perhaps similar cities could adopt London’s Oyster Card system for the benefit of the young population.

The Oyster Card initiative helps children get to school at discount prices or for free. This substantially decreases school absence being attributed to a lack of money to fund travel. Consequently, this improves school attendance and gives students greater access to education. As the city grows, as does the skills gap and more initiatives to ease the lives of students and families could seek to fix this issue in the long run.

-Gabrielle (Bree) Mallett

[cbk1000]

Hi! I remember that trip you took to Europe all by yourself, and I have to tell you that's one of the most inspiring things I've ever seen. And I honestly mean that. I'm starting college this year and it's been a life long dream of mine to do the same (I live in Europe btw so it's a bit easier for me maybe). . So I wanted to ask, was it scary, how did you talk yourself into going, would you go again, do you have some advice on how to spend as little money as possible etc?

I would actually LOVE to do it again; it was the best vacation I’ve ever taken. 

I actually tried to talk myself OUT of going; I knew it was a bit nuts. I’d never been overseas before (I’d travelled a bit in the States at that point, but the only time I’d been out of the country was a day trip to Canada when I was 14 or so), and to just throw yourself headfirst into overseas travel by doing a solo three month trip is kind of batshit. But I’m kind of batshit, so it suited me.

I did a lot of research by reading blogs and articles written by backpackers who had done what I wanted to do, so I knew it was probably something I would enjoy. I also like doing things by myself, so I knew I probably wouldn’t have any major issues with loneliness, and I’m comfortable chatting up strangers, which is the name of the game when you’re a solo traveler. And I think those are really two of the most important things to consider when you’re backpacking by yourself: put yourself out there. You’ll meet some amazing people and when you do feel that pang of loneliness, you’ll always be able to find a companion to go sightseeing with. At the same time, don’t be afraid to do things by yourself; I did a lot of solo sightseeing, and it was amazing. You don’t have to get a consensus from a group on who wants to do what; no one argues; no one wants to do things their way. You just pick wherever the hell you want to go, and you go. Some of my favourite parts of my trip involved me just rambling alone around some city. I actually found a really amazing little archaeology museum in Croatia that way.

As for keeping costs down, Nomadic Matt  has a lot of really good general tips and also breaks down average costs and accommodations by region. I would definitely take a look through his site; I used it for some of my research. You have a huge advantage as a European; there are tons of budget airlines and bus lines you can take advantage of. Airfare was one of my biggest expenses; a roundtrip ticket from the west coast of the U.S. to Ireland (where I started) isn’t cheap. 

Some hostels will occasionally do free dinners for their guests, so you might want to keep an eye out for that sort of thing (they’ll usually advertise on their website). There was a hostel in Budapest that did a free dinner for the backpackers on Tuesdays and Thursdays, if I remember correctly. They would make traditional Hungarian dishes for us to try, and everyone would sit around a big table and eat and chat. There was also a hostel in Scotland (Inverness, I think?) that did a haggis dinner for the guests. Some of them also have restaurants attached that are decently priced for budget travelers. Mostly, however, I would just look up the nearest grocery store and stock up on a few essentials. I’d usually buy some rolls, maybe a bit of cheese, some stuff for a few days’ worth of breakfast, etc. I usually would get a bunch of greens and some vegetables too so I could make up some cheap, easy salads. The vast majority of hostels will have a kitchen so you can store your food and also have a place to prep it if necessary. It’s worth popping into little cafes sometimes, too. There was one right round the corner from my hostel in Belfast where you could get a huge bowl of oatmeal for £3; it filled me up till lunch when I would snack on whatever I got at the grocery store. I stayed three days and ate there every morning. 

Some countries and cities are just going to be more expensive than others. London was a lot of fun, but it was also fucking hell on the wallet. Once you start getting into eastern Europe, everything starts getting a lot cheaper, so that’s something to keep in mind. The hostel I stayed at in Croatia cost me $10 a night. Also, if you want to see a lot of popular tourist attractions, look into whether or not there’s a city pass; lots of cities have them. Buying a city pass will get you into a bunch of the major attractions at a heavily discounted price. Remember that paying to see certain attractions is worth it, but you can honestly wander across some really amazing stuff just by heading out on foot and getting to know a city in a way that riding a tram or bus will never allow you to become acquainted with it. 

Was it scary?

Yes. You’re striking out, completely alone, for a country full of strangers speaking a language you might not even know. If you’re not a little bit nervous about that, you’re probably a little bit stupid. It’s ok to be scared. Honestly? When I was boarding my flight to Dublin, there was a moment when I didn’t know if I could get on the plane. That was partly because I have a pretty severe phobia of flying; but it was also partly because I stopped and said to myself, what in the holy MOTHERFUCK am I doing?? It was insane. Probably someone was going to rob me and then later I would be murdered and my mother would get to say, “I told you so” over my grave while in hell I cursed and gnashed my teeth at the murderer who enabled my mother to get to be smug about my disastrous failure as a traveler and human being in general. It’s scary; for those few moments before you internally slap yourself as you’re frantically calculating all the things that can go terribly wrong when you step foot outside familiar soil, it’s paralyzing.

It was also, hands-down, one of the most amazing experiences of my life and I don’t regret a second of it. You will be frustrated. Unless you have a far better sense of direction than I do, you will get lost. A lot. (Just keep walking until something looks familiar; you’ll find your way back eventually. And if all else fails, find the nearest shop or tourist booth and make a self-deprecating sad face and pull out your map. A roommate and I once had a Hungarian man who really didn’t even speak English help us try to read a map while we were wandering, completely lost, around Budapest at like one in the morning. People will help you.) Sometimes your card won’t work on a tram ticket machine in the Netherlands because you didn’t know those fuckers only take Dutch bank cards and you don’t have any proper currency on you because you just took a bus in from London and all your money is still in pounds and you’re stranded in the middle of  RANDOM PARKING LOT WHERE THE BUS JUST DROPPED YOU OFF WHICH YOU THOUGHT WAS GOING TO BE AN ACTUAL BUS STATION BUT IT’S NOT (thx) AND YOU WILL WONDER HOW THE FUCK ALL AM I GOING TO GET TO AMSTERDAM FROM HERE. Take a deep breath; you will have moments like that. You will figure out how the fuck all you’re going to get to Amsterdam from there (plead your case to a kindly tram driver and they will give you a free ride into the city; it helps if you first make friends with an English/German woman who will also plead your case + point you to the nearest ATM once you reach the city). 

It will make you a better problem solver; you will come away with an immense satisfaction. To rely so completely on yourself, and to succeed, even imperfectly, is so ridiculously gratifying. 

All you need is a little common sense and enough guts to push yourself into actually doing it. I promise you, it’s much easier than it looks.

[grgop]

Geneva, the French and the Međimurci

After months of residing in the darkness of inactivity here comes a fresh review of the recent trip to Switzerland. Those 3 days were without expectations and with plenty of spontaneous decisions that turned out...awesome. I even managed get my Master thesis done and sent to print hours before the trip thus not having to bring my laptop there and work at the airport. I would also use this chance to thank again our hosts for the wonderful time we spent there as well as for helping us with the stay in Geneve. Merci beaucoup...or whatever you write it.  Now what was all this about, when, why and how...please start scrolling. The whole trip was planned a few months ago as one our best and closest Uni colleagues was going to get married. Since we were sitting next to each other since the day 1 of the University life (and were breaking the Erasmus Intership Exchange ice together writing the letters and creating our portfolios in the bars between the Uni lectures...) there was no way for me not to come there. Wait a bit more to see the wedding pics. The interesting story is that she had met her future husband during Erasmus internship in Paris while I was in Vienna (maybe I should apply again for the exchange?). One of the last things in life I imagined was ending up on a wedding in Switzerland and be surrounded with the French and the Međimurci. On the trip there and back again I was with a few colleagues whom we will refer to as “the Noone”. Let’s start with...

DAY 1: Travelling from Zagreb to Venice Marco Polo Airport. Getting lost in Venice. Evening arrival to Geneve 

Just before our trip there were several problems that were kept in secret in order not to spread panic. Our return flight with EasyJet was cancelled due to French Airline’s strike and luckily I was online to check us in on the next one an hour later. Had we not had the second flight the same evening things would gotten nasty with the bus schedule and arriving home on Monday morning to hand in our binded Master’s thesises. 

The second crisis emerged early in the morning around 3am when I realized:

a) I left the sunglasses at my barber’s desk the day earlier

b) I forgot the headphones on my desk!!

We travelled with Flixbus, direct line from Zagreb to Marco Polo Airport, at 7.30am and arrived a bit later than scheduled due to traffic problems on the Italian highway and a traffic mess at the bus station in Trieste (sorry Italians, it was another prejudice come true...). 

We came to our destination around 2.30pm and had almost 5 hours free before the flight. And what should we do?

Go to Venice of course! For the price of 15 Euros you get the bus return ticket from the airport to Venice. My colleague was there for the first time and for me it was the 3rd. I honestly didn’t expect going there but ... was worth it. The plan was to drink coffee somewhere but we didn’t have time as...umm... I wanted to make a tour around and we got lost on our way back...just a bit. : -) In the end we managed to get in time back.

The overall impression of Venice?

Crowded, hot, stinky...few buildings and streets that impress you in the beginning and then you get bored and start counting nationalities and bricks in the walls. As well as the shades to hide in. 

Just before the security check in I realized that I totally messed up with clothes and items in the travel bag...bringing unecessary stuff that took plenty of space. Never again listen to the others and just keep it simple. So I was forced to put my pants, part of ceremonial clothes etc. into the bags of my colleagues. :-D Just like Voldemort with the horcruxes.

Speaking of food and water supplies on your trips and specifically at the airports...there are two kinds of people in this world. Those who buy the bottled water in duty free shops... and those who drink and fill them in the restrooms (toilets). During my 3 days I only drank water from the restroom. Save money, save the nature. 

Our flight was around 8pm and I spent most of it (one hour) sleeping dead tired. For those of you who’ve been following me from before you might remember I’ve already been to Switzerland but never in Geneve. (scroll down the blog for those posts).

Geneva airport? While going towards the exit you pass by numerous billboards of the Swiss watches...Rolex, Rolex, Rolex...and Rolex..and so on for the next 5 minutes. The good thing is that all the arriving guests have 80 minutes free public transport ticket so we went to the next stop (Geneve Cornavin). Our hostel (Geneve Hostel) was about 5-7 minutes by foot and close to the Geneva lake. Boys in one room, girls in another to avoid the potential problems. And unplanned weddings. 

At the hostel we were also given free public transport ticket that was valid for the whole Saturday and Sunday which helped a lot. It included the train, the boats, the buses and the tram within Geneve. Since France was super close (cca 4 km) there was even a tram line leading there (about 30 minutes)...we heard you can have a cheaper lunch there and planned “to visit France” on Sunday but plans changed. 

Before the sleep we searched around the hostel area for some cheap place to grab some food. Now, the word “cheap” in Switzerland is not as same as “cheap” here and the best for your psychological health is not to convert the currency. We found the Ali Kebab place right next to the hostel and ate Chicken Kebab with some salad and French fries for 17,5 Franks, a meal we split for two. This was relatively similar to some prices here so it was not that bad at all. I could have eaten though the whole plate again but my wallet couldn’t. No complaints anyway!

DAY 2: Morning tour around Geneve. Going to the ceremony. The wedding and the afterparty.

I’m a morning person and Saturday morning was no exception. Woke up early, took a shower, breakfast when there aren’t many people and already ready to go at 7.30am. I got the public transport and city landmarks map at the hostel staff and  went to the lake with another early bird. Here are some impressions of the streets, people and cityscape.

Plenty of runners with bluetooth headphones, people walking with dogs, the cylists, expensive cars you see in James Bond movies, the specific architecture, plenty of hotels and banks, mostly clean sterile streets, the promenade and the boats. Pretty much international population and French language everywhere. And I don’t speak French except for few words but was interesting to be in an “alien” surroundings. The lake that is as huge as the sea yet fresh water. Ducks everywhere. What I loved was seeing the bike roads across the promenade and the streets of Geneve. More about it on Day 3. Speaking of traffic behaviour they all more or less stop when you approach the pedestrian zebra crossing and stop even 0,5 m before it if the red light turns on. On contrary, here you’d get run over even if you were sitting on your balcony.

We went back to pick up the third early bird and started our little tour around. There were several bridges in the center and you had a boat connection with other side of the lake. There is the huge wheel with cafes around the big bridge. One of the Geneve’s landmarks is the huge fountain which we reached later and had a free shower. One of the things that pleasantly surprised me was (as I had found out later) the artistic project “Happy City” where there were ca. 20 painted pianos placed around the city’s squares, parks, streets and bridges...where you do as it says “Play, I’m here for you”. So I did what they required you to do. Playing piano on Lake Geneva was another thing I never thought about ... but now I can say “new achievement unlocked”. 

We walked a bit more to the inside of the other side up and down the streets, seen some churches and lots of interenational bars and restaurants. Expensive exotic cars again..and then decided it’s time to go back to hostel. 

On our way back we checked out Lidl and took some emergency food to have just in case of unexpected hunger. This saved us on the next day. I also almost forgot that right now I can buy and drink Rivella.

Travelling to Gland and the Wedding.

We jumped into our suits and wedding clothes and went to the train station around 2pm. We had to arrive to Gland which is ca 20 minutes away from Geneve and there our fiancée’s family was going to pick us up and transport to the ceremony’s place. While there we got to know our French roommates and colleagues offiancé.

What I liked (and probably others) there weren’t many people as it usually is the case here. I won’t go into details here and throw emotions but here are some things. Close friends and family from both sides, that’s it. The ceremony took place at the fairy location called Le Moulin du Creux. Beautiful house with garden, creek and forest around located 100 meters from the road. Check the nice photos of it and you’ll get the idea.

We had two-three pastors, the French ones and the Croatian one. Since most of us didn’t speak nor understood French we had a translator. And it was funny because she was a Slovene translating into Serbian mostly. :)) Nevertheless, an interesting ceremony and a special moment for our now married couple!

What was also new was that after taking pictures and rushing to the tables with food and drinks we also had a game organized - seek and answer game. They hid around 30 photos around the area and we got the papers with questions in French and Croatian. For my team it was kind of a fail in the end. We were trying to learn a few useful French phrases such as J'ai soif which means “I’m thirsty” when sneaking around the table with served drinks.

The other games included a catapult and a cubic football. There was also a gigantic version of the Jenga Tower which was fun to play. We took and received as a memory the polaroid photo with our couple and later moved inside for the dinner and the rest of the show. We watched short movie clips that fiance’s family created about him and our friend. The only problem we had was that we didn’t understand anything as there were no subtitles. :-)

After few more games and meals it was time to go out on the field and light the lanterns. This was a cool thing and my first time to show up and do the thing actually, I think we all enjoyed it. I have no photos of it though but you can imagined what it looked liked having many of them flying up. Let’s hope non of them fell on the forest below. :-D

Soon followed afterparty with some dance music. Some people already had to part and leave. Finally, around 2am we also decided to leave as we didn’t want to miss our train back to Geneve. And of course we missed the first one by being 5 minutes late.

We came to the hostel around 4am and straight to bed.

DAY 3: Tour around Geneve one more time. Coffee & city bikes. Departure.

The final day is here. So far everything great! We made a deal to meet with friends from Nyon around 10.30h at the giant wheel in the center. Shower, breakfast and baggage packed and locked in the hostel. Ready to go. 

We took the boat to the other side and soon met with our friends. We then wasted around an hour going to the “old center” only to find nothing interesting there. However, we saw more of the public pianos and parks. For the next half an hour we were on a quest to find a solid cafe to sit and talk about life. 

We ended up below the giant wheel and had a tiny cup of coffee for 4 Franks. Naturally, we stayed for 2 hours sitting & chatting there to compensate the loss. I ran out of cash and asked the waiter where to go. After all, Geneva is the city of banks and I hadn’t seen a single ATM machine there.  Before running for some cash we decided to visit the giant fountain. On our way there I stopped by the public piano which was now free of ambitious moms and their kids who just pressed random keys but had a cool photo. Actually, I was doing the same. It was funny to have the unusual audience around you. 

Soon by the fountain. Time for a group photo! 

  Time flew by quickly and our friends had to find the bus station as they were leaving sooner than us. We went to the center in search of places to eat and after parting with them three of the original squad left. We had a few hours left before rushing to the train station and the airport. Having lunch in France? Visiting France by trams? Visiting France on bikes? Using city bikes to go around? We rushed to the nearst bike station and...all the bikes were gone. Second chance at the one across the bridge. We somehow were lazy to walk and wasted time on the boat. What happened there? Only two bikes left. I agreed to run  to the other station as the rest follows me. But the guy working there couldn’t find the keys of the bike so we waster 10 minutes there filling the papers and waiting for him to come to common sense. The third and the last luck before giving up was using the tram to the Station No. 5 ... and...three bikes left, keys in the hands and off we go!

There is no better feeling than going around the new place by bike. Pure freedom and flexbility. We gave 20 Franks deposit and decided towards the north along the lake. Bike routes almost everywhere. Going between the streets was fun. No fear of the vehicles around us.

We did cca 10 km in total in about more than hour stopping to take the pictues (the evidences). The idea was to go to France but by democracy 2:1 we gave up from that idea fearing something could go wrong and we get stuck in the middle of nowhere and miss the plane. So we returned the bikes close to our hostel, took the baggage and went to the train station. There we found a nice souvenir and chocolate shop....you can’t leave without one kitschy fridge magnet and a few Toblerones. We met the other Croats who were going back by plane to Venice and I again reorganized my bagge stuff into 2-3 bags of other people. The food from Lidl helped a bit. As well as the good old fresh water from the restroom.  I slept again in the plane this time successfully hiding my cabin baggage under my seat as the plane was crowded and full of passangers because of the cancelled flight. New achievement unlocked.  We had almost 3 hours to wait for the 2.15am Flixbus for Zagreb. Being dead hungry we checked the available offers at the backery there and found some snacks to survive till home. This time Flixbus didn’t have the second floor (on Friday we found the first row spots on the 2nd floor, the best view and the best way to get killed in an accident). But who cares, soon home! The route was shorter as we stopped only in Ljubljana...I woke up two times in total and the second on just at the Croatian border. The bus arrived precisely at 7.30am to Zagreb, to the most beautiful of the ugliest bus stations in the area. Finally, seeing “Mamiću cigane” grafitti around the station I can say “Welcome back home!”.

[janiedean]

Hi Lavi :) I need your help! cause I'm moving to Roma soon for 2 months and I don't really know anything about the city :/// First, I would need advice for the place I'll stay in, I have 3 options basically : Trastevere, Aventino, or near the basilica santa maria maggiore. Knowing that I would need to be in the city center (next to the palazzo colonna) every day?? And general advices about living in Roma would be awesome too! Grazie

hey!

okay so first thing I REALLY HOPE YOU HAVE A GOOD TIME HERE rn the administration is... terrible but hopefully it won’t deter you from enjoying it. in order:

palazzo colonna is right in the city center but in theory all three options are good because aventino is behind the coliseum which is within walking distance, santa maria maggiore is near the main station but it’s also within walking distance and trastevere is a bit farther but you can get to piazza venezia quickly with the tram which is like the one public transport that works. in theory aventino is more quiet and has a lot of green and it’s not that filled with tourists but it should be less cheap (if you’re renting) but like if you can afford it maybe it’s the best choice, but it also has the least choice of like, shops and restaurants and so on. trastevere has all the typical restaurants and is a lot more lively and is full of nice shops, but it’s also stock-full of tourists and unless you find a secluded place good luck sleeping during the weekends. santa maria maggiore depends on where you are because in between the church and the station it’s cheaper but it’s basically the multicultural area which is not as well kept as the others - sadly - and on the other side instead there’s monti which is a very nice and actually not too touristy neighborhood which has also good public transportation so it depends on what are your specific needs, but all three are good picks also because you can get to piazza venezia by foot anyway if everything else fails. I’d say weigh your specific needs (if you want to party in your free time trastevere or s. maria maggiore is better, if you want quiet and calm aventino would be better) and see but all those choices are good;

as far as general advice goes, in order, PUBLIC TRANSPORT AND SHIT and then WHAT YOU CAN DO:

know it from the get-go - public transport is shitty. if you can walk, WALK. if you can’t, get an app on your phone - the best are probus, citymapper and muoviroma - which tells you when the bus is coming if it’s coming - sometimes they fuck up but it’s better that you do. really, GET AN APP, because otherwise waiting for the bus will be hell. the metro is more reliable but taken in the morning or at 5-7 PM it’s hell - you’ll get people in your face and pressed up to you like sardines most of the time. the only good public transport is the tram and it’s not everywhere. do not expect it to work properly. there’s a strike about every other friday (I KNOW) so be prepared to walk. if you’re here for two months you can get the monthly card - at least it’s cheap, even if the service is shitty. 80% of the time the bus driver won’t speak very good english. anyway, do not expect good public transport. ever;

don't use taxis or try not to. the prices are some of the highest in the country and they'll rob you in any case. clearly if you need to get someplace at 3 AM then you don't have much choice, but the number for calling one is just in Italian I think, so you'd have to stop one unless you learn enough italian or you know it well enough to navigate it. especially, try don't take one from the airport because it'll cost you around 70 euros tops unless you want to spend them, of course. or you can try the private taxi companies - the one everyone recommends me is samarcanda, they also accept credit cards while regular taxis might not; (in case, go on ONLY THE WHITE ONES)

if you need directions, beware that a good 50% of the people here either speak English pretty badly. So in case you do need to ask, I'd suggest asking at a newsstand or bar or shop - at the center there's probably more of a chance that they actually do speak English. If you learn the basic Italian for directions it might help a lot, but if you ask random people they might be crap at communication;

if you need to buy food, we have a few supermarket chains. todis has the best price/quality ratio, conad is okay, carrefour is good but pricey, coop is good if you find one, the rest can be good or not but those are the most popular supermarket chains;

alf of the people who drive around here should have their license removed. (personal experience.) pay extra attention while crossing any road and try to mind noisy traffic. that might seem kind of stupid, but there's a bunch of people passing with red lights or starting the car as soon as it's green and stuff like that which never happens when I go outside Italy (most times). oh, and pay attention to motorcycles because 75% of people driving one should have their license removed instead of just half and they tend to break rules more than car drivers do;

if you want to rent a car or try to get one while you’re here you can but I would advise strongly against it because parking is a bitch and *I* hate driving in this city I can’t imagine someone not adjusted to it;

now, since it’s long, under the cut you get food/tourism advice/tourist traps and stuff. :)

Tourist traps and stuff that is advisable to avoid

There aren't many tourist traps in the strict sense since pretty much everything is worth visiting, but here are the ones I'm aware of, plus a few tips.

- Don't get on the top of St. Peter's. I don't know why it's apparently a great thing to do but it's totally not worth it. They charge you, there's always a line that can go from mid-long to long as fuck and the view isn't anything that special either. You can get a better one for free if you take a walk up the Gianicolo hill or the Pincio gardens just to say two. Or you can take the elevator on the Altare della patria.

When you go to the Coliseum/Roman forum, avoid fake gladiators before they throw an arm around your shoulder and take a picture with you because then they'll want to get paid for it even if you didn't ask. Unless you want one but it’s like ROBBERY. XD

When eating, avoid restaurants in the center offering you tourist menus or pasta/pizza menus. They'll tell you that you can have any pasta or pizza you want and stuff to drink for seven euros, but then looking at the menu since most pastas cost more than that, they'll mostly give you just one or two choices for either. Also 99% of the times it's frozen and re-heated, and at that point you can spend ten euros and go to a proper cheap pizza place. Also beware generally of places that offer pasta and pizza at the same time anyway - most proper pizza restaurants have a pasta/meat/vegetables/etc. choice anyway even if they don't advertise it, and whatever offers stuff like pasta/pizza/Italian typical food at once is usually not a good choice. If they sport an Italian flag or the Coliseum or St. Peter's on the menu outside then it's probably not a good place. XD

Generally eating cheap

Since I scared you off the cheap kind of restaurant, some eating cheaply advice. Now, unless you go to very fancy places and/or renomated restaurants and/or smack in the center, it's easy-ish enough to eat with no more than 12 euros per person in regular restaurants/pizza places. Also most Chinese restaurants are pretty cheap. But if you just want something quick for lunch or anything, there are a lot of places that sell pizza by the weight. You can just go in and say that you want three euros of that kind of pizza and that's all you'll pay, and they also sell appetizers to go with it (like, idk, arancini or supplìs, google them XD) and you'll get out of there having spent five euros at most. Most ice cream places are good by default so that's a good option as well. Or most bars have a kitchen and offer pasta/meat/vegetables at lunch and you pay less than what you'd get in a restaurant. Also if you want to try typical local stuff (though if you're vegetarian Roman food might not be your cup of tea) you can just go to Trastevere and there virtually each restaurant is good. Actually if you want to try pizza there, this is my favorite place; the pizza is excellent, everything else is, prices are reasonable and you don't pay for the service, just for the food. (Anyway, check for pizzas. There's Neapolitan and Roman - most places do it the Roman way but if you check they might do it the Roman way as well. The difference is that the former is the real pizza, the second is very thin rather than tall. They usually specify it, if it's Neapolitan. /end rant)

If you're into Jewish food then you could go to the ghetto, which is the second-oldest ghetto in the world (nothing to be proud but it's info) and where they have a bunch of great places to eat typical Jewish/Roman stuff, but I can't guarantee about the cheapness. TRY THE ARTICHOKES FOR THE LOVE OF GOD;

Other random tips before the to-see list

From what I gathered, if you need euros it's better to get them at a bank/ATM rather than at any change shop or at airports. They don't rob you that much on it, but it's still more convenient not to get money in there.

Use tap water. Rome is full of fountains and all the water is good to drink. It's actually very good water objectively XD and rather than getting charged two euros for half a liter you can just buy a bottle once and fill it in at your hotel or at the first random fountain you see in the street. It's all safe.

Any place that charges you more than one euro for one coffee that isn't strictly in the center or in Via Veneto (except for my favorite place in the center - Sant’Eustachio - which is totally worth every penny) is best left alone. Today a lot of places offer American coffee too but I’d advise trying the espresso ;)

- Don't try to rent a bicycle. High chance is that someone will hit you.

Or: come with jackets or a huge scarf with you even if it's nice hot weather because otherwise they won't let you inside churches. especially at St. Peter's they're strict like hell -- they won't let you in with one-quarter sleeves, you need to have at least half of your arms covered. And once I brought a friend to a crypt which I'll list in the to-see things which isn't inside the church, it's under it, and the guardian was looking in obvious disapproval at a bunch of Germans going inside in shorts and tank tops, so anyway if you want to get inside churches don't do it with your shoulders uncovered.

The shiny list of things you absolutely need to see, or try to if you don't have time

1. Coliseum + Roman Forum. Or, well, come on, we were awesome before popes re-built this city. Okay, with all seriousness, I'm not going to play tourist guide here because that'd be redundant, but you really should go see them.

Aaand advice in order to go quicker: usually lines at the Coliseum are huge. Depends on day/time, but unless you're going very early or very late it'll take you a while. So, either you can book your ticket (with at least one day of advance, they won't let you otherwise) or you go the sneaky way. Which is: you can get a ticket for Coliseum & Roman forum together as well, at both Coliseum and the forum. Since the forum usually has like 1/10 of the line, you go to the forum first, visit there and then go to the Coliseum, be like 'I HAVE MY TICKET ALREADY' and skip the line.

2. The center! Which means like twenty things together, but they're all close-ish to each other so in theory if you spend one day walking (or two half days walking) you can totes manage it. What you should go see in the center, not including the churches because I'll make a list out of those in another point:

a) The Pantheon;

b) Piazza di Spagna (where, if you're English lit nerds, you can go visit Keats' house - they say it's the Keats/Shelley museum but just Keats lived in there. Anyway, it's at the right of the stairs and apparently 90% of the visiting people are English and the people there go like 'OMGWHUT' when Italians go in, but however, it's a little cool museum and if you have some time it could be worth a visit);

c) Fontana di Trevi;

d) Via del Corso (where you go buy stuff if you're cool and have a lot of money);

e) Piazza Venezia ---> the Campidoglio hill (where there's a square and a palace by Michelangelo and the Capitolini museums - more on those later) --> the Trajan column;

f) Piazza Barberini (Bernini fountains!);

g) Piazza Navona (Bernini fountain + Borromini church + the square was actually a stadium in Roman times);

h) Campo dei fiori aka my favorite place and one of the best places to eat so YOU NEED TO GO SEE IT AND THAT'S THE END OF IT;

i) Piazza del popolo;

l) Porta Pia + imperial walls surrounding it;

m) all the roads in between that + the churches that I'll list in a short while.

n) ETA BECAUSE FOR SOME REASON I FORGOT: Piazza Argentina, where there's a colony of 300 cats in the Roman ruins there and you can pet them for free. Well obv not 300 at a time but yeah they totally want to be petted and there's a volunteer association taking care of them so they're clean and everything and so basically it's just a huge free petting zoo.

3. The churches!

Okay, telling you to go to all the churches in Rome would be insane as there's one every three buildings, so I'll give you a run down of the places that are worth checking out because of a) the architects, b) the paintings inside, c) other stuff of importance.

a) Basilicas first, obviously:

a1 -> St. Paul's. (No, I didn't list St. Peter's first. *cough*) it’s my favorite of the basilicas, especially because it's way older than St. Peter's and still has some Byzantine mosaics as well. Disadvantage: since it was built outside the Roman walls back then (VERY MUCH outside) it's smack down in the middle of suburbs, so you need to go there with the subway and there's nothing else around to see UNLESS YOU GO TO THE NOT-CATHOLIC CEMETERY to visit keats and shelley, it’s the previous metro stop;

a2 -> St. Peter's obviously. If only because Michelangelo's Pietà is in there and you -have- to see that, no discussions. XD No well obviously you have to go. I'm probably just sick of it because I've been there so many times that I barely notice anything else anymore

a3 -> St. John's, which is also quite worth visiting, and it's next to San Giovanni which is a pretty lively zone where you can totally go to have a drink or something to eat

a4 -> santa maria maggiore ;) 

There are three others as well but those four are the most important ones. Now, other churches:

b) San Luigi dei Francesi, Sant'Agostino and Santa Maria del popolo

have a considerable advantage that makes them VERY much worthy to be visited: all of them have Caravaggio paintings inside. Actually, the first has three, the second one, the third two, and they're all masterpieces, so those are totally worth visiting.

c) Sant'Andrea al Quirinale and San Carlino alle Quattro Fontane

are two churches near the Quirinale (where the President of the Republic lives -- NOT the PM, thanks XD), the first was designed by Bernini and the second by Borromini, which are both pretty much encompassing what you want to see about Baroque in Rome. They're both absolutely wonderful though I like Borromini's better. Regarding Borromini, it's his also the one in Piazza Navona.

d) Bernini speaking, in Santa Maria della Vittoria you will find the Ecstasy of St. Theresa sculpture - it's kind of fun that when I bring people there without telling them what's inside everyone is like 'OMG IS THAT IN HERE' because it's not the kind of church you notice.

e) Chiesa di Santa Maria Immacolata a Via Veneto  or where the crypt I was talking to you before is. Major point of interest: said crypt is made of human bones. Warning: since human bones/skeletons creep me out like nothing else I've never set foot inside or I'd have ended up with a major case of WANTING TO GET THE SHIT OUT OF THERE, but people with less problems with it assure me that it's amazing. Your pick. xD

f) San Clemente aka a minor basilica which is also one of our oldest churches and is definitely worth a visit, if only because you can sort of see how it's two churches one built over the other. It also has some catacombs (thankfully skeletons-free) which are pretty much worth a visit as I think they're the only ones that remained here in pretty good condition.

Obviously there's a bunch of other churches but those are the ones I wouldn't miss.

4. Museums:

4a: Vatican museums. Or, if you need to pick ONE then I'd go here even if clearly it's the most pricey and it'll take you half a day to see it. BUT, it has the Sistine Chapel and Raphael's chambers and pretty much some of the best things you can see here so yeah, totally recommending it. Other recommendation: either book tickets online (you'll pay like 3 euros more) or go there at lunch time around 12.30/1 PM because otherwise high chances are that you'll queue for hours. Also if you're a student and have a card or a document from your school bring it along because you can pay 8 euros instead of 14 to get in.

4b: Galleria Barberini: they have a lot of Reinassance/Baroque paintings, Caravaggio included, and they're much cheaper.

4c: Galleria Borghese: probably the besty out of said public museums. It has sculptures/paintings/everything from a lot of artists and also contains famous things as well but a) you have to book, b) they'll kick you out after two hours regardless of the point you reached, so while being there try to go as quick as possible. If you finish you can always go back.

4d: Musei Capitolini: or, the oldest public museums in the world! (Really.) They have a lot of ancient Roman statues/ruins/etc along with the Marcus Aurelius statue which is the only original Roman bronze around, so it's totally worth a visit. Their paintings are great as well.

4e: if you're into it, next to Galleria Borghese there's a pretty good modern art gallery, but I haven't been there in ages and I'm not that much into very modern art anyway so you should probably check before listening to me.

5. I’d also go to Trastevere/the isola tiberina if you don’t go LIVE there of course XD

6. Also if you have time take a train at ostiense and go to the ruins at Ostia Antica. then take a train from any regular station and go see Villa Adriana in Tivoli ;)

feel free to ask for any other advice!

[crimsonblackrose]

I’ve spent a lot of time waffling this year back and forth between traveling or not. On the one hand I’m heading home in March and I should be saving my money to help get me through until I find a job and have health insurance and try to figure out what it means to be an adult in America. (I’ve realized I’ve spent most of my independent adult life in South Korea and as well as most of my adult job experience in South Korea and it’s going to be a weird transition which I’ll discuss in some later post.)

A lot of that really concerns me, I’m leaving what is essentially financial stability and all these other things to go home to great unknowns and the idea of just staying in Korea and saving my money for a rainy day seems like the smart move. I also need to pack. I have 5 years worth of my adult life in South Korea that I need to go through. But maybe first I should watch “Tidying up with Marie Kondo?” (ah that’s procrastination at its finest right there)

But on the other hand I don’t know when I’ll be able to travel again after I’m in the States. It feels like I’m jumping feet first into cement and I’m not sure when I’ll be able to break free. I’m sure I’ll be able to travel within the continental United States, but branching outwards again seems like it’ll take awhile to work up to. And that’s what made me decide to go. The next step was where. I wanted to go to Hong Kong or New Zealand but both places seemed like it wasn’t the best time to go. And surprisingly France was fairly cheap for around when I could take vacation days. So I decided for the first time since moving to South Korea to leave Asia for a vacation and go, not to the States, but to Europe. I double checked a couple times that there weren’t any travel warnings and there were month old notices about the strikes but it seemed no one had updated those to say that things were unsafe. I downloaded Citymapper, purchased some travel wifi, and the Paris Pass, and prepped my plans which I then sent to my parents. Here’s the plan, edited a bit from what I sent my parents to be more accurately reflect my trip: Paris 2020.

A lot of my friends in South Korea are in a similar boat as me. A lot of them are planning to go home soon or are in the midst of moving, so many many of them are staying home this winter, or they’ve already made plans. I figured if I was going to go I had to go on my own.

I’ve traveled alone before. I’ve traveled all over Korea on my own, as well as Japan, Thailand, and Taiwan. I knew that one of my professors that took us to Prague would be in Paris around the same time so I made plans to meet up with her, but that was it. The other person I thought I knew in Paris actually wasn’t in Paris or even France at all. So I read some blogs and figured, as long as I looked like I knew what I’m doing, stayed busy, booked a hotel in a good area then I should’ve been fine. I also figured it’d be a good test run for moving back to the Chicago area. In Korea I can just leave my phone on a table and it’ll be there when I get back. There aren’t really pick pockets, so you can walk around with your bag open and more often than not be fine. There’s CCTV everywhere so if something happens you just have to pull footage, it deters a lot.

Even though it was technically going to be a 6 day trip it was actually only 3 full days in Paris. The cheapest trip I had an option for that I felt comfortable doing had an overnight layover in Osaka and I’d loose a day on my way back from Paris. So I tried to cram as much into those 3 days as possible. A lot changed from my original plan due to the days places were open, the changes in hours due to the strikes and my limited amount of time. I originally planned to spend my last day at Disney, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I tried finding all the unique Parisian Disney things online to get myself hyped up and make a list of goals, only to find almost nothing that didn’t require a reservation months in advance. I couldn’t find blog posts or Instagram posts raving the unique Disney Parisian foods or snacks or souvenirs like they do for Tokyo Disney and Disney Sea. So I scrapped my plans to go. Which with how exhausted I was by the time Monday rolled around was probably for the best.

I was in Paris in early January while the strikes were happening. This will probably get posted several months later at which point I hope they’ve been resolved. Public transportation was still accessible however it was very limited. Depending on the train, the services were drastically cut or not running at all. This meant buses were crammed pack full of people, especially during rush hour times in the morning and evening.

 It made getting around really difficult but not impossible. A lot of people I talked to mentioned how due to the strikes; Uber and taxi’s had hiked up their prices. I didn’t use Uber or taxi’s to get around and instead relied heavily on the app: Citymapper. I tried using Google maps only once to try and get to Versailles and it suggested I take a metro line that wasn’t working that day, which I only realized after buying the tickets and making my way to an empty platform. 

The one thing I would note about Citymapper is to double check everything. If you can, look up the address then copy and paste it into the search, or make sure the name of the place is correct and in French. Because in English we called Versailles the “Palace of Versailles��, but when I typed that into my map it sent me to the wrong place around Viroflay. It suggested I take the big out of town train down to Viroflay, transfer on a mini little local tram, and then walk the rest of the way to a green looking area that was not in-fact Versailles. (Which is what led me to Google mapping it and end up with tickets going for a line that wasn’t running.)

The little grey you-are-here symbol on the left with the clock is the actual Palace of Versailles known in French as Château de Versailles while the other one to the upper right is where Citymapper originally tried to send me. They’re a good 40 minutes away from each other, 50 minutes if you try to walk it. Thankfully I could take the bus but I wasn’t sure if I needed exact change, which I didn’t have. The machines only took coins or a card so I was concerned the bus would be the same. Which meant I also had to hike around to find somewhere where I could break a bill and get 1.90 euros in change to pay for the bus to Versailles. I did eventually make it but it was frustrating how much time I lost.

It was however, the only time Citymapper let me down. It was pretty accurate the rest of the time, though the bus back to the airport did not come nearly as often as it said it would but I can’t hardly fault the app for that one. I was in the right spot and I was very early so I wasn’t too upset.

Generally getting around you can get a train pass. They have card passes like most cities that you can tap to get into the station or on the bus. Or you can get a little paper card that you feed into the reader every time you get on or go up to a turnstile.

Sortie means exit. Follow the signs to get out of train stations or anywhere else you might be.

 Because I paid for 3 days of the Paris Pass it meant that I got 3 days of public transit access between zones 1-3 which sadly did not include Versailles. It is possible, but expensive, to get a pass that includes more zones.  It included practically everything else in downtown Paris that was working. For everything else I bought on board (the bus generally) with exact change. For the airport Roissy bus I purchased my ticket down to Opera at the information center in the airport and back to the airport from Opera directly from the bus driver at the bus stop. It was about 13.90 euros which is more than Citymapper quoted, but it might be cheaper if you have a pass.

For every other bus it was about 1.90 in coins which I always made sure I had exact, then would take the ticket they gave me and fed it into the feeder. No one scanned to get out or used the readers to leave the buses or trains so I now I just have a large pile of tickets.

In case the reader doesn’t work you have to show the ticket you are using to the bus driver. Because this occasionally happens you need to write your name on the pass and the dates it’ll be used.

Nom: last name prénom: first name

Other popular ways of getting around which Citymapper included locations of were scooters and bikes. It was really nice to see the Strike safe options as well as what my options were.

Usually what I did was a combination of a bus and walking, a lot of walking.

Citymapper also have some fun Easter eggs.

Depending on the location I could play a mini game where I tried to slingshot myself (not actually myself) to the destination. And there was a Cheshire cat that tended to move around the map.

Before I left for Paris I tried to look up ways to stay safe. A lot of them reassured that you could in fact, as a woman travel safely in Paris on your own you just needed to look like you knew where you were going, be careful of pick pockets and be extra careful at night. A lot of touristy and not so touristy places also warned to be aware of pick pockets, even a small English friendly cafe I went to had signs up everywhere warning people of pick pockets.

There are a couple scams I read up about. One was people trying who ask if you dropped a piece of jewelry and someone else will root around in your bag while you talk to the first person. Or they will try to sell you the jewelry. Another similar one is to hand you something or start drawing your picture or try to give you something and then demand money.

I didn’t run into any of these. Instead I ran into “Petition Pick Pocket” a lot. Usually someone would ask me

“Do you speak English?” and then would go into a spiel about how they were collecting signatures to help some cause or another. It was usually handicapped people. To which the first time this happened as I was walking away from the Eiffel Tower I responded: “I don’t live here.”

To which the woman responded that it was an international thing. To which I said again, “I don’t live here.” and quickly walked across the street with one of the men  who was a vendor selling Eiffel Tower souvenirs near the area who had thankfully called out to me that I could cross since there wasn’t a sign. Super grateful to him for giving me an out to the situation.

This is a common scam that gets used a lot in different countries. I’ve run into it in Seoul, near the church in Myeongdong, I just hadn’t realized what it was at the time. In that case it sort of made sense due to the location as the woman wanted to gather signatures to do something about abortions. But again, it’s really strange that she’d pick a non-Korean person to gather a signature from. Just like the one’s in Paris it doesn’t make sense.

Why only ask English speakers? If you want change made for your petition and for any governmental official to actually care it has to be done by locals. Almost no government or political thing I know of is totally chill with you coming up with a list of signatures from random people who don’t live in the area and who aren’t citizens.

If you just need random signatures that aren’t locals you could just do it yourself with random different names and trying to write differently. You don’t actually need to petition. But the whole point of petitioning is to get support from locals, not tourists/visitors.

They don’t explain fully what it’s for. The idea though is for it to be something that you’d be a horrible person to turn away from. Helping poor babies or children who need assistance. Usually something that will earn you all the dirty looks if you refuse. But how do I know exactly how it would help? If it’s not explained well but in a rush of words how can I be sure I’m not being tricked like people commonly are when people suggest ending women’s suffrage (their right to vote but it sounds like they’re suffering so sometimes people get tricked). If you run into other organizations then they’re more than happy to talk your ear off if you’ll stand still long enough to listen. But these don’t.

So how is it a scam and not just things that don’t make sense logically? Generally there’s about two ways it can go. But the beginning will be the same. A person with a clipboard (in all cases I ran into it was a woman) will ask “Do you speak English?” and then ask for you to sign a petition of some kind. Either when they manage to foist the clipboard and pen into your hands to sign they’ll take the time to root around in your purse or bag while you can’t see it because you’re attention has been directed to the clipboard, or they’ll ask for a donation and try to shame you into giving something because it’s for a good cause.  Either way if you run into them it’s best not to converse and just walk away as fast as you can or pop into a shop.

I’m super grateful for the guy near the Eiffel Tower who I got to walk with. But the absolutely worst time I had with them was waiting for the Roissy airport bus. I waited for maybe 20 minutes with a growing amount of people around me also waiting for the bus and they came in droves every couple of minutes. Because I looked like I was alone they came up to me at least 5 times within that twenty minute period specifically and stopped. Most of the time if I just shook my head and didn’t look at them they’d go away, but I had one who gave me the dirtiest look when I refused to talk to her after she’d tapped my shoulder. I couldn’t go anywhere, I needed to take the bus to the airport. So I just held my stuff close and tried to make sure nothing was accessible. They finally left me alone when another actual tourist asked me if I spoke English and was going to the airport and started telling me the awful time she’d had trying to find the airport bus.

It seemed like they were only targeting women who were on their own.

This of course doesn’t mean don’t talk to strangers who ask if you speak English. It does mean to have your guard up though, especially if they’ve got a clipboard. In my case outside of the bus stop waiting for the airport more often then not people were lost and needing directions. But because people are use to the “do you speak English” being a lead to getting pick pocketed a lot of people weren’t getting helped. One guy near the Eiffel Tower asked if I knew anywhere to buy a jacket nearby because on the coldest windiest morning he was out as if he’d packed for a business meeting somewhere tropical rather than France in winter, and we both realized there was nothing nearby except one tourist spot selling sweaters. Also due to the strikes a lot of Parisans would ask me about when the bus was coming but due to my lack of French I’d lead with a sorry? Which usually they’d re-ask in English except one guy who went “sorry? Sorry?! Sorry!” as if he’d never heard such a ridiculous thing before in his life before leaving in a huff. And then there was the Puerto Rican mother who had had the worst luck with finding her way around because no one would answer her or stop to help her when she asked for help and who became my airport travel buddy. Thankfully after a lot of asking she did eventually get help but it was after finding non-Parisians who could speak Spanish or English. Sometimes I’d also just have concerned people with tourist maps walk up to me and show me the map and I’d confirm on my phone and point them in the right direction or in cafes when people realized there was no wifi and thus they couldn’t look up their directions as they had hoped.

Anyway just be very careful and make sure all your stuff is zipped up and you’re guarding it well and avoid people with clipboards asking if you speak English trying to collect your signature.

I don’t always write about how my flights to places went. I’ve had awful flight experiences and great experiences. There’s airlines I love and airlines I hate. And generally an airline named after the country it’s from are pretty decent. There is one that’s pretty awful that I hope I never fly again, but that’s besides the point. I took a couple different airlines to and from Paris. I took Korean air to Osaka, and KLM to Amsterdam and then out of Amsterdam. But my Air France trip from Osaka to Paris was magical.

I sat in a row with two women, one Japanese who spoke fluent English, and one Korean who was doing her best. I tried to help with small things like soup and snacks with the words I knew and the woman was delighted I knew some Korean. Lo and behold after some chatting she lives in the same city I live in in Korea and was flying with her daughter who spoke more English but was seated in a different row. On my left side was a French family of four with two small children. The small eldest boy kept getting lost in his wanderings of the aisle so I’d put out my hand and would point towards his row, to the point whenever he’d toddle over he’d first look up at me, confirm it was me, and then head into his row to his seat. It was quite cute. It was also a pretty stressed family since they had two small children who did not want to sit for a 10 hour+ flight and at least one of which kept jumping off to go into the aisle, where he nearly got crushed by the flight attendant with a trolley. (I awkwardly had to put my hand on the guys back because I didn’t know any other fast way to stop him from crushing the kid, but thankfully this was greatly appreciated since he hadn’t seen the child playing in the aisle.)

But the magic of the trip wasn’t just the strange community I felt in my area with small children in the aisle or being walked back and forth down the aisle followed by their parents, as a little girl did followed by her super tall multi-lingual French dad.

The magic resided near the bathrooms and in the fact no one seemed to care if you were up and out of your seat. On most flights there seems to be some annoyance to if you’re up and about. You’re constantly in someones way or in their bubble of space if you’re up. It’s only acceptable if you’re out of the way and waiting for the bathroom. But this Air France flight I was on did not care. No one batted an eye, no one complained, no flight attendant told anyone to remain in their seats or to go back, unless there was turbulence and it was unsafe. In fact the area around the bathrooms was made into what felt like, as a young Japanese boy said to us, a party.

Rather than go up and down the aisles multiple times offering water and snacks they set it up near the bathrooms as a self serve area, which some people knew and others didn’t. It took me awhile to get use to the idea. People stood around helping themselves to water, juice and soda and chatting with the people around them. Organically moving to adjust for new people or to let others pass or the flight attendants access their supplies. But there was never any pressure to return to our seats, something I doubted the Japanese boy ever did since every time I came back he was still there, chatting with someone new. About part way through the flight snacks were brought out and at first I thought it was the attendant preparing to walk them down the aisles and returned to my seat only to realize it was self serve. So what had been a big box of sandwiches and momiji manju, when I returned with my seat neighbor and her daughter was now just mars chocolates and ice cream. There was also self serve packets of soup and hot chocolate.

I really greatly enjoyed that flight. I liked getting to chat with other people on the flight who were extremely friendly. The family to my left even gave me a Japanese rolled up cookie part way through the flight. I’m sure to some people having the kids in the aisle and unable to sit still was annoying, especially for the people in front of them and behind them but sitting off to the side was totally fine and I had a very peaceful and fun flight and I hope to one day get to enjoy the magic of that self serve snack and drink section again.

When I was in junior high school and high school we had two options for languages. Spanish and French. Before we decided on one we had to take both for a 1/3rd of a semester. The majority of my grade took Spanish, but on the very first day I was determined that I would not take Spanish. Not because of a lack of interest in the language or a true love of French but because the teacher spoke in monotone without any inflection whatsoever and I feared I’d fall asleep in his class and fail. So I took French and I took it for the entirety of high school, becoming one of the few kids in Independent French which was like self-study where we read and translated books. You would think because I was in French club and in such high levels of French classes that I’d drop into Paris without any concern for the language. But I’ve been in South Korea for 5 years. And in college rather than continuing French I dabbled in other languages like Japanese and a short stint in ASL. All of this has made my French super rusty to the point I sat on the flight shaking my mental language piggy bank for the French I remembered. Bonjour (hello/good morning), Excusez-moi (excuse me), s’il vous plâit (please), au revoir (goodbye), ça va? (It’s okay?), Je m’appelle Lauren. (My name is Lauren) Je suis américaine. (I am an American) Parlez voux anglais? (Do you speak English?) merci beaucoup (thank you very much).

It was better than I feared. But still, on my flight there was a mini French course and I threw myself into that in the hopes of jogging my memory. I remembered more than I had expected when confronted with the games and quizzes. The little song we did for the months of the year was still there and I remembered about half of the days of the week. But when confronted with actual sentences while I did well with the tests and quizzes they didn’t stick. Which meant most of my interactions started with a French greeting,  and then delved into my request in English or stumbling to read what it was I wanted to order, and then ending in a French thank you. Which is kind of disappointing. It makes me wonder how I would’ve fared if I’d gone on the French trip in high school. (

Though no one else signed up for the French trip while I was in high school so I don’t think it would’ve happened anyway.) But like most major cities there was a lot of English around and people who spoke English.

Reading blogs made it sound like you needed to announce loudly to every single person you saw Bonjour! or they’d instantly shut off and treat you with disdain. I found as long as I said bonjour first before stating what I wanted I was usually fine. I didn’t have to say bonjour to every staffer I possibly saw which was what one blog I read suggested, after all usually they were busy. I did however say it to the front desk of my hotel every morning and tried to remember to switch to Bonsoir whenever evening rolled around. But I also had wifi that worked 90% of my trip so I didn’t get lost and usually was in touristy areas so I could ask an information desk for help with whatever I was lost with. The only time I ran into “rude” Parisians was when they were super busy and I didn’t find it that rude. It was just more of a bored or quick tone. But I do agree with saying hello or good evening in French and a nice merci in there to help show some respect to the country you’re visiting.

I’m actually really glad I went to Paris this January. I had a really good, though exhausting time.

A Solo Trip to Paris I've spent a lot of time waffling this year back and forth between traveling or not. On the one hand I'm heading home in March and I should be saving my money to help get me through until I find a job and have health insurance and try to figure out what it means to be an adult in America.