Tag > travel

May 18, 2012
Spain
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Easter eggs

Salamanca, Spain

Having gotten little sleep in Madrid (good hostel, but everyone seemed eager to go out and return in the early hours of the morning), I was quite ready to leave. I resolved to head to Salamanca, but to stop in Segovia first if I woke up early enough to catch the bus – which I easily did, when some people in my dorm came back at 5 and snored so loud my earplugs didn’t help…

I had three hours in Segovia, which was more than enough for the pleasant but very small old city. The view is dominated by an enormous Roman-constructed aqueduct, a marvel to behold. Along with a pretty plaza, a castle on the edge, a nice view from the walls, and a museum visit about the geography of the area and its history as an industrial center for glass and wool, the visit was short and sweet. Continue reading →

May 17, 2012
Spain
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Dissent

Madrid, Spain

The six hour bus ride from Santander to Madrid was gorgeous, full of picturesque little villages set in front of mountains and valleys that zoomed by in a flash – I wish I had taken my camera out earlier. But then this happened.

A fellow passenger hopped on about halfway through the journey in Burgos. As I was chilling out to my music and enjoying the scenery, he tapped me on the shoulder, asked if I knew Madrid (I said no, and that I was just a traveller), then asked if he could join me – despite the bus being nearly empty. Continue reading →

May 14, 2012
Spain
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Opposites

Santander, Spain

After a night full of crowded streets (football match, Bilbao lost) and a lovely morning walk through Bilbao’s Casco Viejo – and of course, more pintxos, for the last time – it was time to head out of Basque Country. A two hour bus ride through some very beautiful coastal roads (I wish I had taken more pictures) brought me to Santander.

Despite my hostel being literally one block away from the bus station, it took me almost half an hour to find it! Fail. I didn’t have a map…and neither did my hostel. The tourism office closed very early on Sunday, and I couldn’t get a map there either. For the first time, I just walked around aimlessly. Continue reading →

May 12, 2012
Spain
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Exquisite snacking

San Sebastián, Spain

Maybe it wasn’t such a great idea to take a night bus out of Barcelona to San Sebastián… I left at 10:15 pm and arrived at 5:30 am, having not fallen asleep at all the entire time. My hostel didn’t open until 9 am – actually, not even until 9:30 when I called, after no one answered the door. But I sat at the bus station (it’s literally an outdoor bus stop, thank goodness the weather was okay) until the sun rose just before 7, then walked around town, a little weary after three consecutive days of little sleep.

My first view of the Playa de la Concha…and my jaw just dropped. All the tiredness went away. Continue reading →

May 9, 2012
Spain
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Directions

Barcelona, Spain

It’s amazing how quickly I veered from “What am I doing here?!” to “Can I live here already?”

Well, I’ll start from the top. What happens when you lose that spark, the one that makes you want to keep travelling?

It’s certainly a odd time to have this moment, at the beginning of a trip. But in essence, this is the middle of a longer one.

I walked for ten hours on my second day (first full day) in Barcelona. Went from tourist site to tourist site. Everything was there, everything was wonderful! I started my day out in Parc Güell, designed by the architect Antoni Gaudí, whose work runs prolific around the city, walked the Gràcia neighbourhood, the sprawling Passeig de Gràcia with La Pedrera and Casa Batllo (two more works of Gaudí, and I went inside La Padrera), Plaça Catalunya, La Boqueria (one of many markets in Barcelona that could give Granville Island in Vancouver a run for its money), Las Ramblas, Plaça Espanya, Torre Agbar, and a bunch of other places in between. I got lost like 10 times trying to follow my map. (If you know your Barcelona geography, you’ll realise that many of these places are very far apart. I walked to most of them.) Continue reading →

May 6, 2012
+ General
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Part 2

It’s been a little under a month since I returned home. Since the last blog, I’ve been able to absorb and appreciate more everything that I’ve seen…but I think this is an ongoing process.

I restart my travels again with another mixture of feelings. Yes, I’m excited, and no, the jitters that I had back in December aren’t there anymore. But I’ve gotten so comfortable with home, almost too much so, and the fact that I realistically only have another week and a half of this life waiting for me in September (before I move to Boston) leaves me with a twinge of unhealthy attachment. I will miss my friends and family, and Vancouver itself. Continue reading →

Apr 9, 2012
Ecuador
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Middle

Quito, Ecuador

Finish at the middle.  This is it: my final stop in South America.

I chose to end here because the place has some significance – I wanted to go from the “end of the world” (Fin del Mundo, Ushuaia) by surface transport to the middle of the world (Mitad del Mundo, Quito).  I’ve both exceeded and fallen short of this goal – exceeded, by going to Antarctica; short, by flying back to Punta Arenas, Chile (thus skipping a 12 hour bus ride between Ushuaia and Punta Arenas).  Oh well, close enough, more than enough!  I’ve travelled over 21000 km this trip (excluding the flights to and from Vancouver), over 7000 km of which was by bus.  Including the flights to/from Vancouver, I’ve travelled 40500 km, more than the circumference of the world.

But yet not enough!  It feels a bit like a cruel joke I played on myself – there’s so much more I want to see now.  Colombia, especially – and it’d be lovely to keep on going with Óscar and Silvia.  And after having my heart set on changing my flight, and then not being able to do so affordably, my original goal feels like I’m losing out on something. Continue reading →

Apr 6, 2012
Ecuador
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Jump

Baños, Ecuador

What a weird name.  I’ve made far too many terrible jokes, before even getting here, of “Nosotros vamos a Baños!  Ah mira, baños!  Ya estamos aqui!”

“Baños” means baths.  It also means washrooms.  But this town, Baños de Agua Santa, is so named because of the thermals (hot springs) in the area…I think.  Seeing signs saying “Baños” everywhere in town is certainly confusing when you’re actually looking for a washroom. Continue reading →

Apr 5, 2012
Ecuador
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Taste

Cuenca, Ecuador

The final country, final days, final stretch. I really don’t want this to be over!

I’ll pick up immediately where I left off. I arrived at my hostel in Cuenca and gave some big hugs. Turns out Óscar and Silvia were already waiting for me and had made dinner! So sweet of them. And they’ve been waiting for me two days, having done virtually no sightseeing, opting to wait till I arrived.

I offhandedly mentioned to Óscar that I normally wake up at 6 now, due to a combination of strange factors. This was not the case today. Still, Óscar, thinking that I would be up by 7:30, went out and bought food, then made breakfast. I woke up at 9:30 shocked and extremely thankful for another meal prepared for me. Awwww! Continue reading →