Notes from Abroad

It was a 2.5 or so hour flight to Copenhagen that started with me sitting around Barcelona airport just waiting for the check-in to open. I took one of those cheap flights on Transavia and the check-in is only open for the two hours leading up to departure. The woman in the information counter in Terminal C told me that I needed to go to Terminal A. I had just come from Terminal A and I didn’t see anything resembling a Transavia check-in. But she had to know what she was talking about, right? I got to Terminal A, asked the info desk if this was, in fact, the right Terminal, and upon confirmation I grabbed myself some breakfast and waited until 9:30.

Around 9AM I decided to go look around again – maybe I’d missed the check-in the first time. Still nothing. And looking on the Sortidas (departures) board the closest thing to Copenhagen was Helsinki and I knew that the Spanish word for Copenhagen couldn’t be that far off. So I went back to the information counter (a different window this time) and asked the woman there why my flight wasn’t listed on the departures board. “Oh that flight? You need to go to Terminal B.” “Terminal B?” “Si, Terminal B numberos cuarenta y quatro a cuarenta y seis.” Well, at least I was getting specifics this time. So I headed back to Terminal B. At this point I’ve walked the length of the airport at least 2.5 times and all I wanted to do was get my bag on the plane. I could see it from a mile away – a whole bunch of tall, blonde people waiting under a sign that said Copenhague. At last!

The flight was uneventful. I slept for all but about 30 minutes of it.

Upon arriving in Copenhagen I had to find my way to my hotel for the night. Stupid me didn’t check the second page of my reservation to see if they’d included directions from the airport. The other hostels had included it, but this particular place included a “Click for directions” link instead. Bah.

I had to wing it. In Danish. Which I don’t speak. And all of that crap about everyone in Denmark speaking English? Yeah, that’s everyone but the voice on the Metro train and the maps that tell you where to go and where to transfer. The man at the info desk told me I needed to get to Central Station and circled it on a map for me. Problem: the Metro he told me to take doesn’t stop at a Central Station. He didn’t tell me where or how to transfer. And the machines that dispense tickets for the Metro? Unlike Barcelona and Madrid, these machines only speak to you in Danish.

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[Filed 09:01AM, while waiting for my plane in the airport in Barcelona, Spain.]

Trip Stats:
Cities visited: 2
Broken Sunglasses: 1
Major bruises received: 1
Lost clothing: 1 pair of underwear that I think fell out of my locker in Barcelona (TMI?)
Blisters: still ow.

Only 4 days into my trip but it feels like it’s been forever. That’s probably mostly because I had less than 4 hours of sleep last night (yay for early flights…:\). I was in a panic that I wouldn’t wake up in time and so all of that wonderful sleep I’d gotten the night before was put to waste.

Rewinding:

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[Filed 11:05PM, on a train somewhere between Mardrid and Barcelona, Spain.]

Well, I’m on the train from Madrid to Barcelona. It’s 10PM and we decided to take an overnight train to save ourselves the hostel fee and to avoid the ridiculous costs of taking one of the high speed trains. This one is an 8 hour journey overnight as opposed to what I think would be about a 3 hour trip otherwise. We couldn’t get couchettes or anything like that, so hopefully we’ll be able to get at least a little bit of sleep in our seats.

I haven’t been on a long distance train before – most, if not all of my train travel has been on NJ Transit trains between Pt. Pleasant and NYC – but this train is set up like the trains Harry Potter takes to Hogwarts. I’m not going to lie, it’s pretty cool. Now if only someone would walk around with chocolate frogs and those crazy colored jelly beans…

Anyway…back to Madrid…

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Hello Hello!

It’s 7:25PM, but my brain thinks it’s about midnight. I’m kind of fuzzy on what day it is (Thursday according to my calendar) and I’ve already managed to develop blisters from all of the walking. It’s hot as all heck and I seem to be insatiably thirsty, but it’s awesome so far!

Unfortunately, I don’t have a phone at the moment. I’ve poked around in various shops but all of the cheap phones don’t have SIM cards. I’m already starting to miss my iPhone. I’ve gone to pull it out a few times and then realized that I couldn’t use it. Ah withdrawal…

The good news is: I’m not completely Spanish illiterate! Yay! I’ve managed to survive the last 11 hours without too many problems…

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Tomorrow’s the big day!

AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

I can’t believe the countdown is already at 0. Where the heck did the time go!? I really have no idea.

Being sick for pretty much the entire week last week was a blessing and a curse: It forced me to stay home and relax (and book some hostels), but it also kept me from going out and getting the things I needed. Luckily I managed to gather everything up over these last few days and my list is now complete (I hope!).

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Well that’s it – classes are over, finals are over, and all that’s left to do is graduate. These last few weeks have been absolutely crazy. but they’re over and now I have an entire week (a.k.a. Senior Week) to just hang out in Ithaca and do whatever my little heart desires. And then I realized: oh boy, I’m leaving in 16 days. I don’t even know where I’m going to stay or where I’m going to go! So much to do!

So my week of downtime has turned into a week of scouring the web for planes, trains, ferries and hostels to try to piece together at least the first few weeks of my trip. It’s been a very expensive past few days and I’ve only booked about two weeks worth of travel and lodging, but I think that’s more sticker shock than anything else.

Why the changes? Well, I’ve decided to put myself at the whim of cheap transportation and (hopefully) comfortable, but affordable hostels. Along the way I’ve found a few sites to be absolutely indispensable:

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Sorry for disappearing over the last week or so. We’re in the final stretch of the semester and life is a little hectic.

So what’s new?
I’m working with someone from STA Travel to get my various passes in order. I’ll be using the BusAbout and Eurail passes that I won to supplement some of my travels around the continent. As for the plane tickets that were also a part of the prize, it looks like I’m going to be planning a second, mini-trip to the UK sometime next spring (yay!).

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STA Travel held a blog contest and asked readers to submit a must-see place in Europe. One comment would be randomly chosen to win a trip to Europe.

I entered and didn’t really think much of it. No one ever wins these things, right? Then I got an email: I won!!!

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As more friends find out about my upcoming adventure, I am getting more and more advice about places to go and things that I just have to see. So I’m putting it out there: where should I go? Ignoring the itinerary I set out (because I think it’s going to be subject to an overhaul next week…more on that later), where do you suggest I spend my time? I’m up for anything – from a tiny town in Bavaria to Piccadilly Circus (though, the less touristy a place is the better in my opinion) – I’d love your suggestions. It’d be even better if you could suggest an awesome hostel in the area because as I’ve mentioned, I’d like to avoid sleeping on park benches!

Go on, leave a comment! If I end up going to that particular place, I’ll even take a photo in your honor (or send you a post card…snail mail is fun!)

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