Travel Blog

Well I just spent the last three days traveling to Greece from Barcelona. I had to spend the night in Bari, Italy since ferries don’t run on Sundays. I met a few people on my ferry that were also headed to Athens. 2 couples. Mark and Meghan and Beth and Paul. Mark and Meghan are from Canada and Beth and Paul are from San Fran.

We spent the night in the same hostel and dint do any sight seeing since we got in late. But we did eat at an amazing resturant. Today we did the whole sight seeing thing. We saw trhe Acropolis and temples, etc. Very cool. Then we went back to the same resturant to stuff our selves again. We are all heading to Santorini today….the island everyone HAS TO GO TO, apparently. Then we are probably off to Crete and then I’m off to Mikynos one way or another.

Soon I’ll be off to Egypt. And then, with Danielle’s itinerary (crosses fingers) I”ll be heading to Israel. Thanks DD!

Well…gotta go for now.

Today I spent the relaxing around the city center. Barcelona is beautiful. They speak Catalan which is pretty different from Spanish but to a foreigner sound similar. The streets look like modern day versions of a Spanish port town in Christopher Columbus´s day. Small, tight corridors among tall gothic buildings. Musicians add to the atmosphere as their guitars or accordians echo thru the alleys.

I visited a huge Cathedral designed by Gaudi called La Sagrada Familia. I now understand the full meaning of the term ¨gaudi¨. This thing is extrodinary! And over the top! They started building in the 1890´s and still have approx. 200 more years of construction! WHAT?!?!

One of the artists commissioned for some of the scultures around the cathedral has a flavor I find absolutely amazing. I´ll find his name and post his works. He has some pencil drawings on display in the Gaudi museum.

So everytime I tell someone I´m traveling the world the issue of money comes up. I guess that natural. And being that the lot of you are using this as a travel guide I guess I should be more considerate considering money matters.

Here´s the haps. I started planning this trip with the idea of spending $5000 total….Food, accomodtions, airfare, intracity transportation…everything.

That idea soon flew out the window. A trip around the world for $5000 is not possible. Here is what I spent initially to get started:

1. One set of plane tickets around the world: about $3800
2. One Eurail Pass, 1st class, 15 travel days within 2 months: $914

A total of about $4700. Here´s where that takes me: Portland>New York>Iceland>London — I´ll stop here a note that my channel tunnel train ticket was NOT included but was discounted due to my Eurail pass. I forget the exact cost but it was about €37 or so. From here I used my Eurail pass to get around Europe until I catch a flight from — Greece>Egypt>Israel>Turkey>India>Thailand — here I have no flight or travel arrangments to get me out of Thailand. I must find my own way to Singapore to catch a flight. — Singapore>Austrailia>L.A.>Portland.

All my tickets are partly refundable and transferable. Meaning for $25-$75 I can change the date of any flight and at the cost of $100 I can cancel any flight and get the difference back. For instance, I´ll be cancelling my flight from LA to Portland which costs about $174. I will be refunded $74 which I will use to catch flight to Phoenix for Jon´s wedding the following day.

Now the fun part. I budgeted another $5000 for accomodation, intracity travel, food, tourism fees, etc. throughout Europe. I´ve been extreeeeeemly careless with my money. I haven´t budgeted per day and I´ve afforded 3 and 4 star hotel accomodations on occation. I have splurged. I´ve been on the road for 5 weeks and I have a little less than 3 weeks left. And I have $1700 of my $5000 left. Not bad.

If you plan all your trains, reservation fees (about €3 per stop and trains that require reservations), hotel/hostel accomodations before you leave you could easily do Europe for 2 months on much less that $5000. Unfortunately that may take some of the fun and adventure out of your journey. I´ve had loads of fun and come across extrodinary deals from just winging it.

Stay in hostels that are less than €25 and make sure they have a kitchen and cheap or FREE internet access (like the place I´m at now!) Also plan and book your hostels and trains ahead of time. Some hostels or bungalos in camp sites are under €20…like €10-€14. Not bad. Some are expensive and the price goes up during tourist season (usually June-August…sometimes May-Sept.)

I have learned my lesson the best way. Trial and error. And next time I´ll be able to do a trip for super cheap. Maybe I´ll write a book!

So far so good. I just got in and found a nice hostel for €21. I am beat though since I didnt sleep much on the train. I think I´ll go take a nap then explore the town. Any ideas?

I’m currently on the internet at Western Union in La Spezia, Italy. The obnoxious American comes in. She’s from Arizona, she tells the man at the counter. She’s trying to receive $500 from someone in Arizona. She has no money and needs it promptly. The wire transfer is for a J.C. Doe and here US Passport says Joan Carol Doe. They cannot give her the cash since the names do not match on the order and her ID. She proceeds to get angry. She whips out her Arizona Driver’s License and shows them it says J.C. Doe and that J.C. stands for Joan Carol. They cannot or will not budge. He want to help but the system will not allow him to deviate from protocol. She becomes irate. Eventually she convinces the man to make a call to the head office to see if there is anything he can do. She takes a seat next to me.

I said “So you are from Arizona! Ay?”….reminance from my run in with the Canadians. She proceed to tell me she is from Mesa and is moving to Italy to start a Bed and Breakfast. I said I was from Scottsdale and she exclaimed she went to Scottsdale High School class of ‘67. She asked where I went to highschool. I said in Oregon. and she exclaimed “Where!?”. She told me the love of her life lives in Portland. I told her my family lives there and I went to highschool in southern Oregon and moved to Phoenix for college. We continued to talk about my decision to quit the most enjoyable job I’ve had so far and go travel.

She said, “You are doing what I’m doing. You hit the ‘Fuck It’ button. But it’s good you are doing it now. It took me 57 years to figure it out.”

I laughed and said “Yes, I guess you could say that. People have asked me if I’m going thru some sort of mid-life crisis or something.”

She said, “No, you and I and the rest like us are experiencing a different kind of life.” She proceeded to tell me about her thoughts on the matter and it sounded like she was reading my mind and speaking my thoughts aloud. Our conversation was very interesting. Even though my money was quickly disappearing on unused internet time, as I sat there listening and talking with her, I didn’t seem to mind.

Soon enough she parted and we wished each other good journies. It’s strange how the synchronicities of the Universe work out in our lives. God works in mysterious ways.