Kendra has been to: Andorra, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Peru, Poland, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican. Get your own travel map from Matador Network.
K.S. in CZK
From South Korea to the Czech Republic...and beyond.
Friday, December 05, 2014
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
A Note on Saying Goodbyes
Old Town |
Last fall the Korea reunions began with VL, when she came to Prague for a whirlwind two days of sightseeing and catching up. Then, back in April, MR and C came to Prague, and we saw a symbolic witch burning ceremony, grabbed beers at The Pub (a chain where each table has it's own keg and spigots for you to pour your own Pilsner Urquell), and had a long walk around the city to see some of the sights. It was great catching up with them and hearing about their travels post-Korea, and their thoughts about returning home to the USA and CA.
Bridges on the Vlatava |
Later in the summer I got to meet up with another traveler, RP, who had just finished a month's worth of travel on the Trans-Siberian railroad, in order to get from Korea to her new destination: Spain. We had a great time catching up, swapping stories, and gossiping about Swedish Jesus-look-alikes at a table near us (more on that in a later blog post).
Locks near the Lennon Wall |
When I first came to Prague I only knew one person in the city, my friend MO, who I mentioned in the last update. We'd stayed in touch since meeting at Georgetown as part of The Fund for American Studies (TFAS) in the summer of 2008. Last November I caught up with another TFAS Alum, MP, when I visited Oxford, and most recently I got to visit a third alum, MS, in Bratislava (...another upcoming blog).
Moreover, I've been lucky enough to see friends from Ithaca College while here in Europe, whose visits I've recounted before - TL and JA in London, AB in Paris, and DK in Prague.
And those are only the reunions in Europe! Of course the summer between Korea and Prague was FILLED with reunions - in NYC, Toronto, Chicago, Washington D.C, and, of course, back home in WI.
The John Lennon Wall |
Friday, October 12, 2012
The Sights and Sounds of Summer
Roses at the Rudolfinum |
Senate Gardens |
A white peacock! |
Llama: Silvia Perez Cruz and Ravid Goldschmidt |
Exams, Erasmus, Events and Exhaustion: June in and around Prague
Prague |
Prague |
Karlstejn |
Karlstejn |
There was not a student discount price, and it was such a lovely day anyway that I personally had no real desire to pay to join a group tour of the inside of the castle. Instead we had a picnic lunch that we'd brought along, and we enjoyed the pleasure of each others' company in the shade of the castle walls. After lunch we wandered around outside the castle, taking pictures and enjoying the nice day, before heading back to Prague.
Karlstejn Castle |
Old meets new: 10th C. castle, 21st C. music festival |
MO and Me (before deciding the music was bad) |
Thursday, October 11, 2012
May in the Mediterranean Part III: Bologna and Venice
Bologna |
Bologna |
Graffiti in Bologna |
We had been able to take a day trip to Florence in the winter, and wanted to take a day trip to Rome or Venice this time. Rome proved to be far more expensive, so we got cheap round-trip tickets to Venice and got up early Saturday to head to the floating city.
We arrived midday and decided to take the last train back that evening around midnight. This meant we had a good number of hours to meander through the tiny streets, taking in the sights, sounds, and smells. It was a perfect, cloudless, sundress-wearing day.
I had visited Venice with Girl Scouts on our trip in 2005, and had expected to be blown away but found it overwhelming, smelly, crowded, and unpleasant - not least because by then my travel companions and I were beginning to tire of one another as well, I think, and had different ideas about what we wanted from out trip.
I was very much looking forward to a day trip with my favorite travel companion to realign Venice with my original high-expectations, and this time I was not disappointed.
We chose, as always, to keep things inexpensive, bringing along sandwiches we'd made at home (thanks mom and dad for teaching me that early on), and sticking to walking to explore rather than spending an exorbitant amount on the boats traversing the waterways.
While there were numerous times during the day when we wanted to reconsider this decision, tempted by the plethora of gondolas, we managed to stick to our instincts and stay on our feet. In fact, eleven hours later when we boarded the train back, I'd only spent money on one gelato and one calzone, plus the 12 euro round trip train. Venice is probably the cheapest trip I've taken this year! It can be done!
What can I even say about Venice? It's like no city I've ever been to, thanks to the lack of cars and the hundreds - or thousands, probably - of boats and waterways. The alleys twist and turn, inviting you to get lost and not care (hard for a cartophile* like myself), and sometimes bringing you to a sudden drop-off into the water, or a dead end in a tiny courtyard, or, if you're lucky, to your desired destination.
My travel buddy and I are both photoholics, so we spent a good deal of time just snapping one picture after another, which, in hindsight, look like similar scenes but at the time each one seemed new and different from the last - a gondola ride, eves hanging over the water, the narrow alleys with clothes hanging from balconies, the piazzas, and, of course, the water all around.
I had the same map I'd taken in 2005, with my notes from that time, so I enjoyed being able to retrace my steps. I even rediscovered the street where our hostel had been, though there was no sign of the hostel from what I could see - our outbreak of bedbugs and the lack of services at the time meant that I wasn't really surprised by it's absence.
I also found the mask shop where I bought my Venetian mask, but it had changed quite a bit in 7 years and I saw no sign of the old man and old woman who had worked there then, who had shared their stories about learning to make the masks, and how they were made, and about their long, long years together as owners and artisans in that shop.
We found a different shop this time, though, and enjoyed trying on the masks there, where the craftsman even gave us his black cape to intensify the effect of the masks, and I enjoyed being able to speak with him in Italian about the stories behind the masks as well.
We passed by the Rialto, checked out a museum of musical instruments which were incredible and unique, traversed multiple lovely piazzas, passed through a few markets, found our way to St. Mark's and the Bridge of Sighs, by the Academy, and basically went wherever our feet took us.
It was a relaxed day for the most part, and since it was May the crowds were only just beginning to grow, unlike the trip in late June 2005 when I could hardly see the streets, as in Florence. This time we had streets to ourselves at times, and were able to move without constantly running into people or feeling the need to follow the flow in order to simply get anywhere.
I am incredibly happy to have had the chance to go back this second time and appreciate the city more. I hope to visit again someday with more cash in my pocket so that I can indulge myself in a gondola ride!
For now, just visiting with my travel buddy made it yet another wonderful trip in Europe :)
*cartophile is not in the dictionary, unless you count the urban dictionary, which defined it as I do: one who loves maps!
Monday, October 01, 2012
The Blog Where I Plead and Beg You to Travel (and give you links to help you get started)
Athens, Greece |
Florence, Italy |
Dresden, Germany |
Vienna, Austria |
Krakow, Poland |
Paris, France |
Thessaloniki, Greece |
Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic |
Prague, Czech Republic |
Venice, Italy |
USEFUL LINKS AND TRAVEL TIPS!
Getting to Europe:
Oxford, United Kingdom |
The Search Engines:
To find a cheap flight to Europe from the US or beyond can be difficult. I recommend doing searches on any sites you can find, whether they are the airline websites or consolidation websites, or search engines. Two that I didn't know about until after I'd left the states the first time are AirlineConsolidator (this is where I found my Chicago-Prague ticket last year, one-way for $486 - all taxes included) and Vayama.. Of course there are also the more well-known: Orbitz, Kayak, Expedia, and so on.
Auschwitz-Birkenau, Poland |
A trick I learned about these sites is that you need to use a different browser to search sometimes, because if you keep looking with the same browser day-after-day, the site will stop showing you the lowest price. When I got my ticket to Prague last year, I thought I'd lost my flight because I waited two weeks to see if I could find a better option. Then my friend warned me about this, I changed browsers and, viola, my cheap flight was still there after all! So don't let them fool you!
Traveling within Europe:
London, United Kingdom |
Most trips I took this past year were by bus. Student Agency is a great bus company based in the Czech Republic, with buses to/from destinations all over Europe - I took a 20+ hour bus to and from London, even, for a round trip cost of about $50. Yep. Really. They also serve hot drinks - coffee, cappuccino, tea, or hot cocoa - on the trip (included in the ticket price), as well as showing movies/TV with your own controls at each seat to choose your language, or to listen to the radio. The seats are pretty comfy and recline some, so you can get rest. There is a toilet on the bus, and they also stop for rest/smoke/bathroom/food breaks every 3 hours or so. Basically it's the best bus company I have ever encountered.
Karlstejn, Czech Republic |
Budapest, Hungary |
We got our Italy-Greece tickets with Ryan Air, but other options also include Easy Jet, Wizz Air. I don't like traveling by plane as much, but it certainly can be faster and with these companies it's often affordable, too. Even major airlines have great deals at times - I flew Prague to Toulouse for 60 Euros with AirFrance, and my friend bought his a week earlier for 40 Euros - so timing can be everything!
Bologna, Italy |
Rail:
When I visited France, Switzerland and Italy in 2005 with Girl Scouts ;) we used a rail pass for students that was the best deal for the trip we took, because they have a plan specifically for those three countries. In general, though, I've found that buses are often cheaper and faster for single trips from point A to point B. However, trains can also offer special deals, or different trains could have different prices. For example, a trip from Bologna to Venice on the higher speed newer train could cost up to 60 euros per person, but we took the regional slower train for 10 euros per person.
Plzen, Czech Republic |
Carshares and Hitchhiking:
Bratislava, Slovakia |
Toulouse, France |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)