Belgium or Bust

Leaving Amsterdam was a bit of a stressful situation to say the least, although I did finally have a great night’s sleep which I think helped me stay a little less on edge. Driving around that city is a bit of a nightmare because of the bikes and pedestrians but walking to the train station would’ve been annoying with my luggage. The hotel concierge told me that Uber drivers often don’t accept the rides there because it is a short trip and I was canceled on three times before one accepted and picked me up. We took a super roundabout way of getting to the train station, but I had given myself plenty of time, naturally. I had thought my ticket was for the Eurostar and online it had suggested getting there 60-90 minutes early for security and customs so I was planning on 90 in case I had some direction issues in the station finding the correct gate. Luckily, because I had scoped it out yesterday, I knew where to go. Once on the platform, I asked the guys working (who were SUPER nice) where to go because it was just a regular platform and I assumed since going to another county, I had to do customs and security like I did when I took the train from Paris to London last year. I told them I had a Eurostar ticket and they pointed me in that direction, but when I got there, it was closed. I was about to freak TF out and then walked back to the guys who had helped me first and showed them my ticket and it turns out, I am an idiot and I assumed it was Eurostar, but it was just Rail Europe and the platform I was on was correct. I definitely didn’t have to be there that early and my 9:28 train was still over an hour away. However, there was an 8:28 train that they said I could hop on with my ticket. I was a little confused by that, but got on anyway hoping for the best and hoping it stopped at the station I needed. If not, I could just hop on a train to the other or uber to my hotel. I had initially picked this station in Brussels because it was only a five minute walk from my hotel.

Sydney is the NYC on the Other Side of the World

Our third and final stop on this absolutely amazing trip was Sydney. When I think of Sydney, I think of the Sydney Opera House. To be honest, I didn’t really know much else about it. Someone had mentioned that it was more of a hustle and bustle city than Melbourne and much more fast paced so that was my kind of energy and I was excited to see what this city had to offer. Plus we had some really cool stuff planned as well. We were definitely going to make the best out of last destination. 

Day 13 Sydney: Our flight out to Sydney this morning wasn’t until noon so we had a 9:15 pick-up from the hotel to the airport. Since I am incapable of sleeping in, I got up around 6:30 and after laying in bed for a bit, I decided that I needed to get down to the beach. I had to try again after getting “lost” last time. I got dressed and went to the front desk to get directions again and when the guy gave me directions, he told me to turn left at the end of the street. Last time, I went right which is why I had issues finding it. I asked him if I had to trek through the jungle to reach it and he said definitely not so I was relieved. I got there easily this time and was blown away by how pretty the beach was. I had read about Four Mile Beach in my research for this trip and now I was on it. It was gorgeous. So many people running and walking and a beautiful sunrise. 

The Most Beautiful Thing I've Ever Seen

 Okay, location two in Australia is ON. We lost a night and a morning here in Port Douglas due to our cancellation from Melbourne, but made due anyway. This isn’t a big city with a ton to do on our own, so it wasn’t a huge deal losing that time, but the whole travel experience of coming here SUCCCKKKEEEDDD. More on that right here… 

Day 10 Port Douglas: This morning started as a travel day with a very early flight from Melbourne to Cairns. We were flying the same airline we took to get to Australia (Jetstar) so wanted to get there with plenty of time in case any issues arose. Since our original flight had already been canceled, we definitely didn’t want to miss this one. Check-in and security were pretty seamless, but the baggage drop-off had some issues and the belt kept breaking down. The woman working there was trying to help me and kept walking away to fix it, then would come back to help us. This must’ve happened five times. J had her baggage go through and the belt kept stopping with mine because people were sticking their hands in it a couple belts away. After happening multiple times, she finally manually entered my info and then got the bag to go through. Success…or so I thought…

From Canceled Flights to Football Games

We are now in a new country and ready for a new adventure. From Indonesia to Australia, it's our second and our last country of this trip with three stops down under. We have a lot planned in all three places and are excited to explore new cities and see even more gorgeous scenery along the way. So without further ado...

(Day 6: Travel Day)The flight from Bali to Melbourne was uh, interesting. It was bizarre for a lot of reasons and I don’t know what the reasoning is for a lot of the things that happened, but they were weird. After having to redistribute the stuff in my suitcase to my carry-ons (again), J and I got through security pretty quickly. As I said in my previous post, we had a lot of time to kill so we found a seat in their dining area and did some research on more things to do in Melbourne and sat around. We then decided we would go and find the gate which was easy enough, but after sitting there for like a half hour, security asked everyone to exit the area, only to invite everyone in after checking their bags again. Not only did all our belongings go through security when entering the airport, we also went through the usual security, so this third step seemed quite unnecessary. Not to mention they wouldn’t allow any liquids (including the water bottles we just bought) back into the gate waiting area. They had to be emptied, yet there was no water option in the gate area. I have zero clue why they wouldn’t allow it and I will get to why it was ruder and more weird in a minute. 

I Forgot About the Snakes

The second half of our Bali portion of this trip was to Nusa Dua, located on the east coast. The weather is very different from the jungle of Ubud. The location we are staying in is actually hosting the G 20 Summit in November, so it is the nicest part of the area and has a lot of security which always makes us feel safe. It was dark when we arrived so it was hard to get a full lay of the land, but it looked super nice. 

Day 4 Nusa Dua: J and I got to our new hotel last night (day 3) and holy shit, we were absolutely blown away by this place. We had looked it up online before coming so had an idea of what we were in for, but wow, this blew us away. When we walked into our villa, we immediately saw our very own private pool. Again, we knew we’d have this, but damn, it was gorge. There was a giant open air seating area with fan and TV and little kitchen set-up as well. On either side of the villa were our own rooms. J and I each had our own suites in this villa and each one had a giant sleeping area, walk-

in closet, giant tub, and separate shower area. My shower was exceptionally cool because it was
indoor/outdoor. One side was into my suite and the other side was directly outside, no wall. There also was a completely outdoor shower around the corner as well. It was sick, plain and simple. 

Elephants yes, Monkeys no

It has certainly been a while since I wrote, but a new, big summer trip seemed like the perfect excuse to write again. Mostly for me to have solid memories of this trip and know what I was feeling at the time. I didn’t do it when I went to Paris and London over spring break, but decided I would bring it back for this summer trip so I could have the memories written down forever. And for my friends and family to read about the adventures had this go around. 

This summer is #RayRaysBalistralianvacay and is taking us to Bali (Ubud and Nusa Dua) and Australia (Melbourne, Port Douglas, and Sydney).  It was a trip over two years postponed due to COVID, but finally came to fruition. I am currently here with my friend J, the same one who I have now gone to Croatia, Greece, Turkey, Italy, (unplanned Germany), Sweden, Denmark Budapest, and Italy with. We started talking about and planning for this trip in December of 2019,
booked and put down our (huge) deposit for it in January of 2020, and then we all know what happened in March of 2020, that is still ongoing, albeit, luckily not as bad. 

The pandemic put all travel to a halt and although J and I were highly disappointed with having to wait two whole summers while the world started opening up again, we were finally able to make this happen. With our vaccinations done and borders open, it was go time. So without further ado, let’s start this trip…

Europe (Take 4) by the Numbers...

I am finally back and almost almost recovered from a little over two weeks in Europe. This was my fifth time across the Atlantic and my 4th time for a big multi-country European trip. It was once again absolutely incredible and each and every day was amazing and I didn't want it to end. I woke up every morning excited for the day ahead and went to sleep each night with an exhausted smile on my face. How can anyone be unhappy exploring and wandering with beauty surrounding them?!? Traveling truly gives me life and I just love doing it.

When in Rome (part II)

DAY 15 

We got a late start this morning for two reasons: 1) we were out late last night and 2) we weren’t getting picked up until ten for our tour of Pompeii.  As soon as we left the hotel, it started pouring. Like absolutely raining hard. We got drizzled on for like two minutes yesterday and looked at the forecast for today and knew rain was supposed to come, but man, it was really coming down. We hoped it would get it all out of its system by the time we reached Pompeii, and it did. For the time being. 

Today was AMAZING

DAY 14

If possible, today was even better than yesterday. On Thursday we had decided that we wanted to do both Positano and Amalfi today, but weren’t sure if we should use the public bus or the ferries, but ultimately decided to book a day boat trip that went to both Positano and Amalfi, but also made a stop at an island. We looked online, read the reviews, which were all positive, and booked it. We got picked up in our lobby a little before nine this morning and headed to a different dock than yesterday. In our van over there, there was a couple from NJ we started talking to. They ended up being on our boat as well which was great. 

Grateful AF

DAY 13

Today was a day we had really been looking forward to, our day trip to Capri.  We got picked up in the lobby at 9:30 and boarded a van to head to the dock. Once there and checked in, we waited a significant amount of time to board our boat. Things seemed quite unorganized down there, but eventually after waiting over a half hour in the heat, we boarded the boat to what seemed a not-so-happy boat captain. It was a really nice boat and there were only 10 other people on it which made it great, as if we were on a boat with friends: not packed at all and didn’t feel like a tour. We sat up in the front of the boat just living the dream. 

Stressful beginning, amazing end

DAY 12

Today was another train travel day for us, a long one, but this one didn’t go as smoothly as the first one. After eating breakfast (and taking some leftovers with us to use with our leftovers from last night for our lunch today), and getting our last views of the Cinque Terre, it was time to head to the train station to catch our first train, which was taking us to Pisa. At Pisa, we were supposed to have a 15 minutes layover until our next train that was at 10:32; however, things got tricky. We got on our first train on time, but there were some points along the way where we stopped for an extended period of time, which ended up causing delays. Initially they said it would be an overall 10 minute delay, then it turned into 15 minutes, and by the time we got to Pisa to catch our second train, it had been 17 minutes and we missed our second train. At this point I was half freaking out, half calm, as I know this was out of our control, but it could still mess up the whole day of travel. We kind of assumed the next train was another commuter train and there would probably be another one soon enough, but the timing had to be right to catch our third connection, which was definitely not a commuter train and we couldn’t afford to miss. 

Another day, another hike

DAY 11

We “slept in” this morning until seven. We wanted to eat breakfast and hit the road to another town. There was a train strike today so the trains weren’t going to be running so we were super happy that we did our hike and trained to the other villages yesterday. There was another town we thought of hitting up called Portovene, but to get there you either had to take a train, walk a half mile, and then get on a public bus and that seemed excessive. Or we could have gotten a ferry there, but it was 36 euro and that was just too expensive for something we were meh about. So instead, we started our day with a hike in the other direction of the Cinque Terre villages and headed toward Punta Mesca. We thought about heading to Levanto but that was about a 2.5 hour hike in almost 90 degrees with no way back but to hike so we passed on that. Punta Mesca was about an hour (2 miles hiking) into that hike and we decided to do that and then would just hike back. What we didn’t know was that the hike was straight uphill on very steep grounds and uneven, high steps. All without any shade. It was pretty brutal and our legs weren’t exactly 100% from yesterday, but we took the challenge head on. We were sweating bullets. Like an insane amount. And my friend’s fingers got ridiculously swollen like sausages which was actually hilarious, yet, mildly concerning. 

Pesto x3

DAY 10

With our first full day in the Cinque Terre, we wanted to get started bright and early before it got too hot. It was going to be over 90 degrees today and with our hiking planned and visits to all four of the other villages, we didn’t want to be doing that at peak heat. 

We were out the door at 6:30 ready to hit the road. We planned to hike the first two and then take the train to the second two because the path was closed due to rock slides and such. The first hike was about 3.5 km and was a lot of uphill stairs made of rock and steep inclines and declines. If I wasn’t in such good shape, this would have been pretty difficult. It took us about an hour to get to the first village of Vernazza. Once there we walked around a bit, took pics and then were ready to start our second hike to Corniglia. Because we went so early, we also didn’t have to pay the trail fee because it didn’t start until 8:00. That was clutch. 

Planes, trains, and seaside views

DAY 9

Today was a long travel day with two flights and three trains and took us from Hungary to Italy. We had one flight from Budapest to Munich and then another one from Munich to Pisa. Once in Pisa we had to take a train from the airport to Pisa Central Station. We had a timed ticket, but got our luggage earlier than expected so went to the train. We had timed tickets and we were supposed to get a 1:40 train from the airport to the Pisa Central Station. This was what we were anxious over. We were supposed to have a six minute transfer and that was stressing us out. But since we got on an earlier initial train, we didn’t have to rush. From Pisa Central we needed to get to La Spezia Migliarina, and then finally from there to Monterosso. Initially our second train ticket was scheduled for 1:54, but there was a 1:34 with the same route so we asked one of the conductors if we could get on the earlier train with our timed tickets and he said yes, but god forbid something happened, we weren’t insured with these. We wanted to take the earlier train so we didn’t feel as rushed at the next station. These trains seemed to be like Metra commuter trains leaving quite frequently so I was pretty sure we were doing this correctly. But it was quite nerve racking though being in a foreign country and not being familiar with things and just hoping to make the right trains and not to get lost. 

I should really go back to Sunday School

DAY 8

With about one hour of sleep last night due to a very late night out dancing and partying, my alarm went off way earlier than I would have liked, but we had the Parliament tour scheduled for 9 am. I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t go and wondered what the inside looked like so I sucked it up and walked over for the tour. I’m not even gonna lie and say it wasn’t a struggle, because it was. I wasn’t hungover, I was just tired AF. 

The tour was about 40 minutes and honestly didn’t show that much. The coolest part of it was the room where all the congressmen meet and laws and such are decided. We also saw the crown, but weren’t allowed to take pictures of that. The hallways and staircases, as well as the ceilings were very intricate and pretty. The tour actually seemed really quick and soon enough it was over and I was walking back to the hotel.

The Parliament does not disappoint

DAY 7

The alarm went off at 5:10 this morning because we wanted to try and get to the Szèchenyi bath house. We had heard going to these bath houses was an absolute must, but when we looked them up online, they looked so so crowded. Of course we wanted to experience these, but we also wanted to get cool pictures too so the hope was that if we went really early in the morning, like when they open at 6, we’d be able to do that. 

When we got up, we got dressed and then took the subway line to get to the bathhouse. The system was once again very easy to figure out, so we walked over there, bought our tickets from the machine, and got on the train, which luckily arrived the minute we got on the platform. It was quick and easy train ride right to the thermal spa stop and once we got off it was right there. We walked into the main entrance, paid our fee (which was only like $2.50) and entered the maze of the locker room to enter the indoor spas and then made our way outside. It’s basically like a giant pool complex with two casual, chill pools (one was was like hot tub temperature and the other a tad cooler) and then a giant lap pool as well. Again, the architecture around it was beautiful and just made the ambiance even better. There were so few people there too, I’d say about 98% local, and us. We went in the water immediately and swam around, took pics, swam some more and just waded in the water hopefully taking in some healing properties. The water is supposedly of very high quality and can do a lot for you. I was definitely up for that. We spent about an hour there and then headed back on the train back to the hotel for breakfast. 

Buda Buda Buda, Buda Buda Budapest

DAY 6

We arrived in Budapest around 1:00 and were out the door and ready to explore by about 2:30. As usual, once we got settled, we got our map, compared it to our list and began the day, much later than usual, but on a mission to get shit done and see all that we could. 

We have a tour schedules tomorrow but wanted to cover some stuff on our own and if we got back, at least we’ll get the history and background information tomorrow. 

Pandas and Hippos and Baboons Oh My

DAY 5

After accomplishing everything we wanted to do in the first two days, today was more of a relaxed, chill day. We decided that we would go to the Copenhagen zoo. We both love zoos, and this one looked like a really good one. Plus, they have a lot of animals that I’ve never seen before. 

The zoo was about a 20 minute walk there. Once there, we got our tickets and our map and decided our route. First up was the lions, but they were asleep, but we still saw them at least. Then we saw the polar bears their baby, and then a brown bear. I’ve never seen a brown bear before so that was cool. He even pooped right in front of us, which is always hilarious. You know the phrase “Does a bear shit in the woods?”, well he def does at the zoo. 

Started with Tivoli, Ended with Tivoli

DAY 4

This morning started bright and early with a 5:10 wake-up call. We had wanted to rent bikes and take them around the city early, before people were out so we could explore a little more without any crowds. We got the bikes for free in turn of our room not getting cleaned for two days. We were totally fine with that and can get new towels and make our own bed in order to save some money. Additionally our hotel provides each guest with a cell phone with a data plan for google maps, google, phone calls, etc... so we were able to take this with us for more information and directions. 

Jumpin’ for Joy in Copenhagen

DAY 3

This morning started with an early breakfast and a cab ride to the airport to head to Copenhagen. The flight was super quick and soon enough we landed in Denmark. We got our luggage, grabbed a cab, and got to our super cute hotel. Our room wasn’t ready this time so we dropped off our bags, had a very long convo over our map and our list with the guy at the desk and were on our way.