The Traveling Scholar

My cousin, S., who has been my temporary neighbor for the past 10 days has officially left London to begin the second part of her adventure with her mom! She’s heading to Paris tonight, Switzerland after and then hitting up Italy again for some new sights. I’ve gotten so accustomed to having her next door, watching movies, having slumber parties a la versions of our 7-year-old selves that it’s going to be so weird going to sleep tonight and not seeing her!

S., if you’re reading this: thank you for being such a great travel buddy and neighbor! I’m going to miss you — can’t wait to see you when you’re back in Londontown!

Want to (re-)read about our amazing adventures? Click on the pictures to find out more!

Lots of love,

It’s been such an incredible year, it’s hard for me to really accept that it’s coming to an end. While I recently made the decision to stay in London (post-Ghana and provided I find a job), my time as a traveling MSc student is coming to a close. Despite the lack of cash in my bank account, I would definitely argue that this year has been worth every cent. I have seen so many new places, experienced new cultures and have learned how to travel like a pro!

So, 11 months and 15 countries later… what’s the verdict?

Well, let’s be realistic: some countries are just hard to compare. Can you really compare Turkey with Scotland? Ireland with Malta? They’re entirely different and each have their own je ne sais quoi. That being said, however, I’m going to do my best to compile some Top 5 lists from this year of travel. Mind you, for many countries I only visited one or two cities, so I do realize that it’s hard to extrapolate that experience to generalize an entire country. Though I realize that, I’m going to do it anyway. As I don’t want this post to be nine thousand paragraphs long, I’m going to have to break it down. I’m going to start today with top five favorite cities (not to be confused with favorite countries):

Rome: I had prepared myself. Everyone I talked to said that Rome was dirty; that it was overrated. Regardless, it was a must-see for me, so L. and I departed on our Roman adventure in November 2009. While it’s a bit dirty (it’s a city after all!), it was not overrated! I absolutely loved it! Perhaps it was the time of year we went (not so touristy and not miserably hot), perhaps it was the good company or maybe — just maybe — it was because the city is truly a wonderfully historic place to visit. History, culture, friendly Italians, great food and an amazing atmosphere. Viva Roma!

Nice: Well, our South of France experiences were primarily limited to the beach, but even at that I would go back in a heart beat. Admittedly, the beaches of Antibes were nicer than Nice, but the perfect weather, and feeling of pure relaxation was amazing!

Edinburgh: How do people find this city boring? Perhaps it’s not as fast-paced as London or as cosmopolitan as Paris, but it definitely has a charm that I absolutely loved. Despite being there during freezing December when the days were short and snow-laden, it was still magnificent. The history and Scottish culture ooze out of everything in Old Town Edinburgh. Yes, it’s a bit touristy (think kilts, tartans and Scottish shortbread sold everywhere), but I’m okay with that. I am a tourist after all!

The Amalfi Coast: I realize the Amalfi Coast isn’t a ‘city’ as such, but I have to lump the area together for the purposes of this Top 5 list. If I had to pick a city on the coast that I found most awe-inspiring, it would have to be Positano. All of the towns have their own charm, though, and none are short of beauty and landscape. Gorgeous weather, water, views… just all around amazing. Probably the spot I’d most recommend to people!

London: Oh, London. How could it not be number one? It amazes me that people use London as a connection point to get to other European cities without properly exploring it. A city jam-packed with culture, history, musicals, shopping, nightlife, parks and everything else your little traveling heart desires? Sure, the weather isn’t the greatest, but in my opinion that’s a small price to pay for everything else that comes in the perfectly packaged city that is London. Could there be a more perfect city? I’m going to guess not.

What are your favorite cities in Europe?
I’d love to hear so I can add them to my agenda!

Love from the best city in the world,

After our bout of sightseeing in Dublin and our relaxing day in Connemara, S. and I had plans to head back to Galway bright and early to rent a car in Eyre Square. We hadn’t really planned it in advance, but (rather naively) assumed that we’d be able to snag a car at the centre. We hopped on a 9:15A bus from Clifden to Galway and arrived in Galway’s city centre by 11A. We headed down to the nearby Budget rental centre and waited to grab an available car. Now, you may remember me mentioning that this past weekend marked the culmination of Galway’s busiest week of the year: the Galway races. Apparently the races are a pretty big to-do because nearly everyone we talked to asked if we were heading to check out the event. Of course, if we had known that this was going on we would probably have better planned our bookings, but we had no idea. As you can probably imagine, we were quickly dismissed after we strolled up to the rental desk and asked for a vehicle. Didn’t we know? It was the busiest weekend of the year and there wouldn’t be a car available until Monday. We sat outside and phoned every other rental car in Galway to no avail. Our plan was ruined! Eeek.

Now, this wouldn’t have been an issue had we not had our lives in tow: massive 60+ lb. suitcase, laptop cases, purses… ugggh. We had a momentary freakout and then sped off to the visitors centre where an all-too-kind Galwegian helped us sort out our lives. While our fantasy car rental exploration day was a bit ruined, we had a pretty decent alternate: we got a Cliffs of Moher tour for 20 euro (15 for me with a student discount!), that was going to take us to the Cliffs by way of a number of small cities with a number of photo stops. Bonus? They had room to store our luggage on the bus! Perfect!

The ride to the cliffs was about two hours and we passed through darling towns and gorgeous countryside on the way. After leaving County Galway, we passed through the Burren in County Clare. Apparently, “Burren” comes from Boireann (Irish for ’stony district’) in reference to the limestone hills and valleys that cover the area. No joke — limestone everywhere!

After passing through the Burren and stopping for some photo snapping opportunities, we made it to the cliffs!

Stellar. Seriously awesome. I was a bit sad that the clouds got in the way of picture-taking, but there wasn’t really much I could do about that! Being that it’s Ireland and the weather is incredibly temperamental, the rain and crazy wind came to a halt shortly after we arrived and made way for semi-sunny skies and white, pillowy clouds. I still don’t understand how the weather can change so drastically in 15 minutes but after living in London for the year, I’ve stopped questioning it.

The skies ended up clearing quite a bit and you could actually see the shadows of the Aran Islands in the distance. S. and I were both a bit sad that our Aran Islands-excursion didn’t pan out as planned, but maybe next time! I tried to snag some shots of them from a distance, but to no avail; they just look like light patches of water.

After hitting up the cliffs, we stopped for lunch at a cute little pub/restaurant in nearby Doolin and grabbed a bowl of seafood chowder (!!) before heading back up to Galway. From there, we had to grab tickets down to Cork to find a place near the airport for our early morning flight. Want to see how the night panned out and check out our five-star hotel? Click here to read about it!

All in all (I’ve said this already), I was impressed by Ireland. Weather and shit storm aside, I thought the country was beautiful and the culture was unique. I’m surprised to say this, but I would definitely go back in the future, with more time dedicated to each region. This trip to Ireland marked my last real ‘leisure trip’ of the year. Traveling this month officially depleted my bank account and it’s now time to refocus on life and dissertation-writing. I will, of course, be heading to Scotland next month with Mac, but that’s been planned for a bit! While traveling in Western Europe is far from cheap, it is definitely doable on a budget (as most twenty-something broke ass college kids can attest to)!

Check back soon as I recount my journeys and highlight my favorite destinations from this past year!

Love from happy (cloudy) London,

After our time exploring Dublin, S. and I decided to head to Galway. Unfortunately, the Galway races were taking place the weekend we decided to head over causing hotel prices to shoot through the roof and availability to go down the toilet. For a single night, hotel prices in Galway were running at around €175 – 250 per night for an average room — way over our budget.  Instead, we decided to check out the nearby-ish area of Connemara, a bit west of Galway. In actuality, it’s more than a bit west, but we weren’t aware of that at the time. We ended up booking a room at Gannon’s B&B in Clifden, the capital of Connemara.

The train from Dublin to Galway wasn’t cheap (€48) but I was able to snag a deal online that helped ease the pain a bit — €25 if you purchase in advance online. Considering it gets you (literally) across the country, I guess that’s not so awful! We were in Galway for but a short bit of time before we jumped on a Bus Eireann coach to Clifden (€10). I had thought the ride to Clifden was going to be about 45 minutes based on the map I had browsed. I clearly didn’t take into consideration a) the fact that we were taking a bus vs. a train; b) the fact that the roads were much more rural in the far west and c) the fact that buses do make stops every so often. The journey ended up taking us about an hour and a half in total before we arrived in the picturesque village of Clifden. Though it was a rather long ride, I must admit that the scenery was stunning: hill after hill of rolling green, streams, ponds, horses, sheep… the works. After that ride, I can most definitely understand why it’s referred to as the Emerald Isle!

We checked into Gannon’s and fell in love immediately. Despite the fact that it was a trek to get out there, the couple that hosted us was amazing — beyond friendly and so incredibly helpful. The rooms were huge and the bathrooms were stellar. Plus, our breakfast the next day was amazing — by far the best breakfast we had during our trip (think homemade bread, homemade scones, fruit, coffee, mmmmm….). We spent an hour or so decompressing before heading out to explore the town.

Mind you, ‘exploring Clifden’ takes about an hour. The town is small, but despite (or perhaps because of?) it’s petite size, it was incredibly charming. Little Celtic stores, mom and pop jewelers and teensy grocers sat between a million B&Bs and loads of Irish restaurants and pubs. After checking out the town, we ended up stopping for lunch/dinner at a little pub where we grabbed (no surprise here) seafood chowder and toasties. Definitely a perfect combination to warm us up in the Irish rain.

We headed back shortly after and dealt with some emotional business before planning for our next day in Ireland. On the agenda: Cliffs of Moher, Blarney Castle, car rentals and more. Stay tuned to find out more about our Irish trip gone awry!

Gotta get back to dissertation-writing!

Lots of love,

PS. As you know, S. and I are back in London and she just got a room for the next week! Exciting part? It’s right next door to me! Bliss!

Well, S. and I are officially back in London (in my glorious new palace — updates to come!), but I have to take a moment to revisit our time in Ireland. While the trip didn’t turn out exactly as we had expected (there were more than a few obstacles), I have to admit that I am thoroughly impressed with Ireland on the whole. Everything was working against it: I had a mishap at the airport, the weather was super sh*t, emotions were all over the place, it was the busiest weekend in Galway (unbeknownst to us the Galway Races were on!) and thus prices were through the roof and availability for everything was low. Despite that, however, the place was gorgeous! I really, really liked it. It’s incredibly regionally diverse, which definitely adds to its charm and I would definitely recommend it to other visitors. I plan on going back in the future with more money in my pocket and more time on my hands to appopriately explore the the West Coast and the Southwest.

There’s no way I can capture everything in a single post, so I’ll start with Dublin for today. After that crazy airport debacle and a four-hour delay, we arrived in Dublin at around 430P. A short bus ride (€7) took us to the city centre where we jumped off and took a quick stroll to our Temple Bar hotel, Farrington’s. We were thoroughly confused when we approached Farrington’s — it’s a pub and we were certain we booked a hotel to sleep at and not a pub (although I questioned whether they were one and the same for Irish folk). After entering, we met the oh-so-nice manager and got keys to our B&B which was right around the corner (not in the pub). The room was extraordinarily nice — big room, huge bathroom (with a jacuzzi tub!), internet that mostly worked and, above all, a perfect location. While we may have gotten it a bit cheaper if we booked in advance, we were pretty happy with the price for the location (€118 for two nights).

After getting settled, we headed out to The Purty Kitchen for dinner (a gastropub of sorts). I was super impressed with their menu (I was expecting typical greasy pub food) and their prices (€5 for deliciously wonderful crostini and salad) — definitely a bargain! We planned out our excursions for day two and headed back to our gloriously comfortable beds for the night.

Day two was our Dublin sightseeing day. We had a few things on our agenda and had everything mapped out. Stop number one: St. Patrick’s Cathedral. A church was built on the site in 1191 and they recently (broadly speaking) celebrated 800 years of worship. 800. We didn’t to go in, but we were definitely impressed with the architecture… always makes me wonder how people built these amazing structures without technology and machinery!

The next stop was definitely on the top of my list: Christ Church Cathedral. One awesome thing about Dublin? It’s such a great walking city! Everything that tourists typically want to see in Dublin is within walking distance. The Guinness Storehouse is the furthest point and it’s maybe a mile from everything else. Christ Church, for example, was about five minutes walking from St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

Early manuscripts apparently date Christ Church back to around 1030 AD. Pretty astounding. There was no way I was going to visit and not go inside. For a mere €3, S. and I got in (thank you, student discount) and got to check out the inside:

Check out my photos for more.

Next stop? Dublin Castle! Oh, how I wish I could say I was impressed with the castle, but no. Perhaps hitting up Edinburgh Castle jaded me? Not sure, but it’s definitely not what I expected. On the bright side, you can explore the majority of the castle grounds for free, so it’s certainly not a waste of money!

The picture above is actually the only ‘castle-y’ part of the castle. The rest of the castle grounds look more Victorian and are definitely not what you envision when you think of fairy tale castles. The gardens, though, are quite nice. Definitely worth a stroll around, even if just for a few pictures.

After Dublin Castle, we grabbed lunch (seafood chowder was our food of choice for the entire trip!) and headed down to the Guinness Storehouse, S.’s number one must-see for the Dublin leg of our adventure! Every living human being knows Guinness and the factory is certainly a testament to its legacy. The place is massive and the marketing is absolutely amazing. It’s not cheap to get in (€11 for students, €13 or €15 for adults) but the ticket includes a free pint at the end of the tour plus pretty incredible views of the city from the Gravity Bar on the top floor.

All in all, we had an amazing day. We had only allocated that day and a half to exploring Dublin and though we could have easily enjoyed a few more days there, I think we had enough time to see the things we really wanted to check out. The city is great, the people are friendly and the Temple Bar area is so charming, albeit a bit touristy. As vegetarians it was a bit difficult to feast on real Irish fare (lots of meatiness), but we managed. On the bright side (?), it was a bit cold outside so seafood chowder and potato & leek soup definitely fit the bill!

Check back tomorrow to see our trip to Clifden, Connemara by way of Galway! Lots of traveling and lots of gorgeous Irish countryside.

Love from England,

PS. Dad, mom and professors who may (or may not) be reading this: I took a break from dissertation-writing to write this post. I’m being ever so diligent in getting to work on my dissertation now that I’m back. Cue motivation!

Due to the fact that I got a message from someone today mentioning how ‘glamorous’ my life is, I thought I’d share the following news (indeed a testament to my glitzy lifestyle):

S. and I are sleeping in the airport.

After trying to find a hotel/B&B/whatever for tonight (at short notice), we are posted up in a restaurant booth getting ready to crash for the night. Thank God our flight is early…

On the bright side, they have wi-fi!

Can’t wait to be back in London!

xoxo from Cork,

As you’re probably (maybe?) aware, S. and I are in Ireland and, I must admit, I love it! I hadn’t expected to be so mesmerized but the country is so green and lush and the people are so amazingly friendly! We’re in Connemara now (a bit west of Galway) but updates on our fun in Dublin will be up soon (think Dublin Castle, Christchurch Cathedral, the Guinness Storehouse and so much more)! Here are some pictures to whet your appetites until then:

Love from Ireland,

Our trip to Andorra wasn’t something we had initially planned. We had talked about doing a day trip from Barcelona but after looking at accommodation prices in Barcelona vs. Andorra, we decided that Andorra could perhaps be more of a destination in and of itself rather than a day trip (costs for hotels were significantly cheaper). Our day and a half (two nights) there ended up being a brilliant decision – Andorra is absolutely amazing. Truly, brilliantly amazing.

Getting to Andorra is a feat in and of itself; you can’t really go on a whim. Due to the fact that the Principality of Andorra (a little country of its own with 70,000 people or so) is tucked away in the Pyrenees, the rough terrain means that it doesn’t have a train station nor does it have an airport. Ultimately there are three options: rent a car and drive in, bus in from Barcelona or Toulouse (the nearest airports) or grab the helicopter you have sitting around and drop into their helipad.

S. and I didn’t know this beforehand (not really, at least) but Andorra is a baller country. There are two real reasons people go to Andorra: to enjoy the natural beauty (skiing in the winter, water sports and hiking in the summer) or to shop. The streets are filled with shops and the country is known for its shopping (and allegedly discounted prices). The ‘well-priced’ shopping I had read about was really hard for me to place: yes, there were discounts everywhere but when discounts are on D&G, Prada, Tod’s, Chloe, etc., it’s difficult. While €900 for a bag might be a good deal (for that particular bag), it’s definitely out of my price range regardless. Moral of the story: if you’re a baller in the same way that Andorra is, you’ll be in a shopper’s paradise!

S. and I did some shopping, yes, but that’s not why we were there. Instead, we focused our sights on hiking in the Pyrenees. You may recall our amazing hike while we were at the Amalfi Coast? This was equally amazing although entirely different. The hike was steep and rugged but the air was much cooler and the path was a bit shorter. Check out some snapshots from our journey:

For anyone heading to Andorra/thinking about heading to Andorra, there are loads of hiking trails there. You can also book guided hikes through Naturlandia (kind of like the Disneyland of the Andorran outdoors) if you want something more organized. For anyone looking for a self-guided hike, the tourist offices in Andorra have a thousand guides with tons of different hikes depending on the amount of time you have to spare and your fitness level: some are mostly flatland while others are straight rock-climbing.

All in all, my personal experience in Andorra was amazing. The natural beauty of the country is mesmerizing and the feel of it is very familiar. It reminds me very much of Lake Tahoe with its stunning landscape and ski town feel, but it has a chic air about it that Tahoe sometimes lacks. In all honesty, while it was a random choice of place to visit, I felt an instant connection with the place that blurred my memories of Barcelona. Yes, Barcelona is amazing/interesting/fun, but it’s kind of overdone in my opinion.  Andorra is quite the opposite. It’s certainly not overdone and it has an appeal that has nothing to do with things that have to be purchased; it’s naturally awesome.

Some things we learned about Andorra/important take-aways:

1)      Andorra is a baller country. If you, too, are a baller you’re in for fun!

2)      By our standards, pizza and beer is typical Andorran fare. We feasted on veggie pizza and beer (gasp! – I never order beer!) both nights.

3)      The Andorran lingua franca is Catalan but you can get away with Spanish and French (and English at most places).

4)      Renting a car would be valuable. While it can be expensive to nab a vehicle, Andorra’s public transport is a bit more limited than many EU countries. A car will get you to tucked away areas with some stellar views.

Check out all of my pictures from Barcelona and Andorra!

Lots of love,

Alright, kiddos. I’ve clearly been slacking on updates, but in my defense our internet has been awful at the last few spots we’ve stayed at! While S. and I are in Ireland right now, I’m gonna try to catch up on the Spanish-soaked days of our adventures. Barcelona was great and Andorra was even better, so I’ll have to rewind and start from the beginning. Let’s go back – waaaaay back – to Barcelona.

S. and I arrived in Barcelona the evening of the 23rd, checked in at our hotel, and had time to grab dinner at a nearby eatery before heading to bed. While I’ve been to Spain before, Barcelona was unique in the sense that the citizens speak Catalan (and Spanish). The flag of Catalunya graces many a balcony and Catalunyan patches sit at most tourist shops. We ended up staying in E’ixample at Hotel del Comte and saved tons of money! While we looked at places in the Las Ramblas area, our place was about a 15 minute walk from there and we grabbed a killer room for about $100 a night. Only downside: the internet was super in-and-out.

In any case, with limited time in Catalunya’s capital, we opted for some Hop On/Hop Off bus action to make the most of our time. Barcelona is a city loaded with sites and one that I felt couldn’t be seen on foot in the time we had. For anyone that is also hitting up this city with limited time, I would totally recommend the Hop On/Hop Off buses. There are a number of them that run throughout the area and hit up all the main sites within a short period of time. When we woke up the morning of the 24^th, we headed down to Catalunya Square and jumped on one of three bus lines to begin our sightseeing adventure. Here’s a bit of a photo tour of our trip… so many sights!

Catalunya Square

Some views of the city.

The Columbus Monument!

FC Barcelona’s stadium — holds 100′000 people!

And, of course, loads of Gaudi’s masterpieces strewn across the city:

La Sagrada Familia (pictured above) was one of the top must-sees on my Barcelona list. I have always questioned it’s ‘beauty’ as such (I think it looks like a melting candle), but the fact that construction is still underway after having been started by Antoni Gaudi in 1882 is incredible to me. There’s certainly something awe-inspiring about it!

After our hop on/hop off tour, we headed back, got ready and headed out for paella and sangria to experience true Spanish cuisine (we were informed that true Catalonian cuisine wasn’t anything too special).

In true S-squared fashion, day two in Barcelona was time for us to hang out on the beach! We spent most of the day soaking up sunshine and relaxing before heading out semi-early. I have to say that thus far, Barcelona’s beaches are some of the best we’ve seen! They were a bit crowded with it being a summer Sunday, but the beaches were big and sandy! To top it off, we were able to rent chairs and an umbrella for 17 euro for the entire day. Bliss.

All in all, I liked Barcelona, but I wouldn’t go much further than that. Many of my friends who have visited are obsessed but I’ve enjoyed a number of our other trips more. The beaches were great and it was so much fun practicing Spanish for a few days but our time in Andorra was so incredibly amazing that it kind of blurs my memories of Catalunya. Stay tuned, though — more on that tomorrow!

Happy travels,

Until I get a chance to update you all about Andorra, here are some photos of its amazingness! I can’t even explain how much I loved Andorra — it’s like Tahoe but cuter and cooler (because it’s in Europe, of course):

xoxo,