Tips and Tricks 1

I have only been traveling for about a week so I am still new to this but these or some tricks and tips I have learned so far.

-Detachable day pack is very helpful

-always have a pen on you

-take pictures of metro routes and bus routes with your phone so you can bring it up on your phone and know where you are

- bring an extension cord for hostels so you can plug in multiple things and also reach the top bunk

- if you have the option pick a bottom bunk unless the hostel is very cold pick the top (due to air density and convection :-)

- don't listen to music on your headphones like everyone does in america unless you want to travel all of Europe by yourself and not meet anyone.

- carry lots of cereal/breakfast bars with you to eat on the train and when your on the go.  Sometimes you don't have time to get food.

- try and have a water bottle on you at all times too.  Europe doesn't have as many water fountains and the breakfast bars make you really thirsty :-)

- like everyone says TRAVEL LIGHT.  I see people trying to get on these trains with huge suitcases that barely fit and they need 5 guys and a tractor to lift it into the train.  I meet a girl at a hostel that brought a curling iron and some other stuff she didn't even use.  If you think you might need it leave it at home and buy it over here if you actually really need it.  I brought two pairs of jeans and I am starting to think that might even be to much.

-If you have the money take trains.  You can see the country side and don't have to be there 2 hours early for a flight that is outside of the city.  ( I am still calculating if the euro rail global pass is worth it or not.  I will know by the end of my trip)

- If your handed something almost always don't take it.

- if someone tells you "you don't need to go to another country.  You haven't even see all of your country yet". . . . don't listen to them.  Trust me :-D

-  if you like partying with all tourists, seeing every attraction in a large group, living as if you were in the united states, take a cruise, go on a big tourist bus or stay in all 5 star hotels and restaurants.   If you like learning new things, meeting new people, and experience life differently go down those back alleys or take the time to sit on a park bench by yourself and watch the little things and tricks the locals do.

- if your traveling for a long time don't plan your whole trip out step by step.  It is a good idea to get a general idea what you want to do and see though.  My itinerary lasted for about one day.

- sign up for as many activities at the hostel as you can.   You meet so many good people.

- as everyone says, learn hello, goodbye, thanks a lot, sorry, excuse me,  where I am now ( for when your lost and pointing at a map), the numbers 1 to 10, and wow your hot.    The last one is optional  :-D

Last night in Granada

The last night in Granada I didn't spend partying.  I actually tried to head to the train station in order to get tickets for the train I am on now to Barcelona.  It turned out the ticket office was closed for the holiday.   That explained why everyone was all dressed up and the girls where wearing very elegant skirts with their hair all done up.  I was going to try and get a picture but I didn't want to look like a creeper so I decided that wouldn't be a great idea.
Obviously I was able to get tickets in the morning by the fact I'm on the train now, so that worked out smoothly.  But this blog is not about train stations closing early.  Its about how freaking nice the Spanish people are here.

So the office was closed so I had to take a bus back.  I didn't exactly know what bus to take so I asked a couple ," donde esta la plaza de nueva".  They said in Spanish either take bus 3, 33 ,or 7.  I was lucky to got that far but I still didnt know how many stops. So they told me to follow them because they are getting off their.  So onto the crowded bus I went.  I am guessing it was more crowded then normal because of the festival.  In the united states I'm pretty sure they wouldn't let that many people on the bus at one time but hey this is Spain.  So I squeezed in tight so the bus door could at least close behind me.  Once the bus started moving I was getting all bounced around every which way.  I was just thankful I didn't have my 30 pound backpack to deal with too.  I lost the couple in the crowd so I just decided to guess which stop to get off.   Sounds a little reckless but was the best idea I had at the time.  Sure enough at the second to last stop I was going to get off I saw the lady outside of the bus looking at me and pointing at the ground.  I couldn't tell if she was speaking Spanish or Arabic or Greek, but you didn't have to be a rocket scientist to tell she was saying, " get off here.  Get off here.".  So I sprung into action and tried to push through the crowd like a teenage girl pushing through a crowd at a Justin Bieber concert.   Right when I was about to get off the bus the doors slammed shut and I looked up at her through the glass doors.  Realizing my fate, I was just hoping the next stop was not to far away.  Right as the bus started to move her husband ran to the front to flag the bus down.  By then everyone could see that I was trying to get off and a few people were saying out loud," uno minuto  ( and other stuff I didn't understand).". Sure enough the bus came to an abrupt stop and the back doors opened.  With a big smile filled across my face, I thanked everyone on the bus and the couple several times. 
I'm sure everyone on the bus and the couple had places to be and people to see but they still went out of their way to help me.  And I'm sure I would have been easily OK getting off at another stop but it was just the thought and initiative to help me that i really appreciated.  Oh how I love you Spain!   I am curious to see what I think of the French . . . . .   

Granada day 3

I'm sooo excited I just can't hide it.   I'm about to lose control and i think i like it.   Hey hey I think I like it.   Heading off to the lovely city of Barcelona by train.  You could probably take a wild guess to what song I'm listening too :-D.  It has been sunny and beautiful everyday of my vacation thus far with not a drop of rain in sight.   Granada was another great city very similar to Seville.  The big thing I did in Granada on day three and the main reason I went to Granada was to visit the breath taking Alhambra.

The Alhambra was first started by sultan Al-Ahmar back in 1238 and for the next two centuries it was constructed into an amazing palace filled with gardens and Islamic architecture like nothing else in the world. 
Unfortunately the Spanish Catholics wanted to take over the Islamic strong hold for many years and finally got their wish in 1492 and forced the Islamic people to leave their home and life's work.  This event ended the 780 year struggle between Muslims and Christians.  I guess that is enough history for one blog but it is important to touch on the history so I can truly understand and appreciate my pictures and blog entries when I come back to reminisce on the good times when I'm retired.
So day 3 of Granada started out early.  The online tickets sold out 3 weeks before I arrived in Granada, but they still had about 2000 that could be purchased at the front entrance.  Being that the Alhambra is the government's biggest money maker I didn't want to risk being late and not getting a ticket.
So I left at 7:30 and was there at about 8 after a long walk.  I was planning on going with my friends from Australia but they had bought tickets a month ago so could sleep in.  

Lucky for me there was not a single person in line and I just walked right in.  While in the Nasrid Palace, supposabley the spot where Ferdinand and Isabella approved Christopher Columbus's trip to the new world, I asked a couple from California if they could take a picture of me and I returned that favor and took a picture of them.   We ended up walking through the whole palace together.
After the palace we headed to the general life gardens (also apart of the Alhambra).   Here you had to show your ticket again in order to get in.  And of course they had there's all ready and I was scrambling in my bag looking for it.  And yeah. . . I lost it.  I'm sure for everyone that knows me they are not surprised at all.  In fact I'm sure you are all surprised that that's all I lost haha. Oh yeah,  I did loose my watch hiking in the mountains 2 days ago too.  Good thing I left my big baller shot caller watch at home.  We decided to ask the security guard if we still could get in.  The answer was a quick no and he looked at Anna's and Charles's ticket and told us to head back to the alcazar.  So they were nice enough to walk back with me.  We talked to a few people and they didn't know what we were talking about.  And of course no one that worked their really spoke English and we didn't really speak Spanish.
  About to loose hope we asked one more person.  The nice lady responded, "uno minuto" after we told her our story.  And sure enough she came back with a white crumbled up ticket in her hand.  Out of the thousands of people walking around, someone must have picked it up and returned it.  Sometimes I just wish I was lucky once in awhile :-D
The Generalife gardens where well worth the quest for my missing ticket  though.   They were constructed between the 12th and 14th centuries and felt like a piece of heaven. 

A guide book said be prepared to spend at least three and a half hours there . . .  we spent 6.  Enough time to build up quite an appetite. After I thought they couldn't get any nicer, they invited me out to dinner.   It was a very lovely meal which was  followed by them walking me back to their hotel for tea, danishes,cookies, and a razor.  To get you up to speed, earlier I was telling them that my mom wouldn't approve with my scruffy beard/ mexican mustache and I couldn't find a razor in the pharmacies.   So ironically they received a free razor with their hotel room that they didn't need.  So if you are reading this Anna or Charles, thanks again for the company, lovely meal, and the razor.
 

Nasrid Palace, Generalife Gardens, Alcazaba, Carvings that Covered the Palace, Great Company

Granada day 1 and 2

The hostel is absolutely amazing.  It is like I'm staying in a fancy hotel that is only 19 dollars a night.  My room has a fridge, freezer, and a stove in it and to get into my room I just wave a keycard over the door Handel and it opens.  Just like Seville this hostel has events which I signed up for right away.

I did a free tapas tour the evening I got here and then did a waterfalls hike with the same people I meet from the tapas tour.  The waterfalls were nice but the scenery of the hike was amazing.  We hiked through a cave and some parts of the hike you had to put your back back on your stomach and crawl.  It was really fun.  Only thing was it got my shorts and shirt a little dirty so I might actually have to finally move on to my second and last pair of clothes finally.  We had a lovely pick nick and finished our hike at a local mountain restaurant that had amazing food.  Everything was fresh and locally grown.  I even kinda liked the olives which amazed me.  The olive oil was from an olive press right up the road and the ham was from a local market. 

After we were finished with our meal we crammed into the tour guides little car and headed back to the hostel. 
I went out for some food with a nice girl from Israel who lead the tapas tour yesterday and my two mates from Australia that I meet in Seville and their room mate.  We sat with an older couple from Granada who helped us find a good look out spot to see the city and the el ambrah.  After we were done the lady kissed us on the cheek and I assumed I should kiss her back on the other cheek.  I wasn't quite sure but I just puckered up and went for it.   She didn't seem to be weirded out so I guess I did well hahah. 

The girl from Israel headed home and we went on a quest to find the look out to see the el ambrah at night.  The look out was lovely and the walk back at midnight was lovely too.  I got back at like 1 in the morning and was surprised to find I was the first one back. . .  oh Spain how you continue to amaze me hahah.  Now I'm off to bed for an early morning at the el ambrah tomorrow.

Notes ( constantly updated )

Sevilla

        Culture:   layed back,  2-5 usually off work and drinking beer and eating food,  stay up very late

Sevilla day 3

And as you can imagine I missed 8:30 to 10:30 breakfast again.  I did manage to check out of my room by 11 to move into an adjacent room.  I mostly relaxed during the day.  Went to a weird mushroom looking structure which was supposable the biggest wooden structure in the world but I don't know if I was buying it.  Had a lovely time Drinking  beer and eating tapas with a lovely girl from Holland that also works at the hostel. 
That evening I went on the free jewish quarters walking tour that was hosted by the hostel.  The hostel it self was owned by a Jewish family 500 years ago and had a lot of character.  The front door was Hugh and had a littler door to walk in and out of almost like a cat or dog door but bigger.  The tour was amazing.  Right from the start he said he was not going to tell us a lot of details and history because you can just look that up on line on wikkipedia.  Instead he told us the culture and exactly why some of the buildings were the way they were and so forth.  In the beginning he said sevillens pretend to be rich, they pretend to be religious and are lazy.   I was so confused in the beginning but as the tour went on he brought everything together and it all made sense.  During one part of the tour he was talking about air density and heat transfer of the side walks for just a little bit and he said sorry I'm an engineer and he looked right at me and smiled a little.  I think he could tell that I was the only one that didn't look like a deer in headlights.

After everyone gave him tips for his great job. Me and Sofia and three others stayed around and was asking a few other questions of some good spots and it just happened that he was like " you know what.  I'm free right now.  Let's go".   So he took us to three local tapas bars and picked out 7 tapas that we all shared and tried everything and it was awesome.  He knew I wanted to get the ham tapas so he told me dont get it here i know a better spot so he took us to a great place for the best ham.  Unfortunately they were sold out so we got some other tapas there.   But I got to try snails that were in a kind of spicy liquid type sauce.  They were a lot different then the snails I had in Italy when I was younger though.  These were much smaller and still had the head.  The trick to eating them was to bite the head a little bit and then suck them out of the shell.  After a little while I was eating them like potato chips.  You can't just have one :-D.

And for you guys that don't know, tapas are a small side dish that you get when you order a beer.   They originated because the Spanish used to take a long break from work and would drink beer with friends and family.  But they didn't want to go back to work intoxicated so they would eat food along with their beer.  Just a quick fun fact.

We all went our separate ways at about 11 o'clock and I went back to the hostel to get ready for the bar crawl round 2 ( for some reason after your first time its free).  I went up to the balcony on top of the hostel that over looks the city to have some beers with the staff before I headed out.  I ended up just going to the bar with them because I was having to much.  The night was filled with mohetos, crappy cheap beer, walls lined with sex comics, sitting in a circle around the bar listening to a weed smoking shoeless hippy from San Francisco play the guitar, getting dragged by a guy from Italy for free shots because he knew the bar tender ( he works at the sister hostel down the road), shots that are tonic and tequila that you hold your hand over the glass and slam it on the bar and you are supposed to drink just the foam.   As everyone knows from Penn state I'm not the best shot taker in the world.  I'm more of a mixed drink guy.  So I managed to make quite a mess.  But no one cared and the guy from Italy gave me a high five followed by a huge followed by a kiss on the head which I was not really expecting hahaha.

I did manage to make it up for breakfast the next day somehow.  After lunch I packed up and gave everyone hugs as they tried to convince me to stay another night but I had more of the world to see than just sevilla.  Maybe I will return in a month or two.  So I'm off to granada and looking forward to what's to come. I'm starting to get better at understanding the public transportation as well church makes things easier. .  I am also meeting back up with two friends, or should i say mates, from Australia tomorrow that were at pieea and the bar crawl with me.  

The train ride is beautiful and I am 15 minutes from my stop.  So I think ;-) Already have the hostel booked ahead of time for 2 or 3 nights I forgot.  See mom and dad, I can plan a little bit hahah.  

Welp, I will talk to you later.  For now  !Chau!

Sevilla day 2

Day 2 was my favorite day in sevilla.   The hostel had tours that you could sign up for and pick and choose which ones you want to do.  And because I am traveling along I was able to sign up for exactly everything I was interested in and wanted to see and do.   I choose a pieaa (sp?) class, flamenco dancing show and tour ( recommended by my cousin Katherine), and pub/bar crawl making for a busy day.

To be honest with you I wasn't extremely excited about a dancing show that I just paid 18 euros for to see but everyone recommended it and it is very cultural so I felt a little obligated.. . . .  best 18 euros I spent all trip.  We all walked over as a group from the hostel and meet up with a sister hostel as well.   The tour was nice, the free sangria was nice, and the show was out of this world.   Flamenco dancing takes a little bit of everything from a lot of cultures and is usually performed in a very small setting so you can feel the rhythm and energy.  And that is just what they had there.  I was lucky enough that me and two girls from Israel (roommates from that night) were able to get a front row seat with my knees pressed up against the stage.  It was performed by a singer, an amazing guitarist ( best I have ever seen.  They are all word class performers and travel to Japan and all around the world), and there was a female dancer and a male dancer that performed both separately and together.  All the dances were just amazing.  Right away the hair on my arms stud straight up as the rhythm of the guitar, the snapping of fingers, and the dancers shoes slamming the stage filled the small room.  Everything motion was precise and crisp.  The guitar player and singer look at the dancers feet in order to match their mood and tempo.  I'm starting to get goose bumps again from just typing up this blog haha.  A few times I had to move my head back to stay out of the way of the female dancers very long dress.  To anyone that visits the south of Spain a flamenco show is a must.  You could watch videos or YouTube it or listen to it on headphones but it truly is nothing like seeing it live.

The pieaa class was free and we learned about where it came from and why it was called that and how to make it obviously.  Side note. .  just passed huge rolling fields of weird small bushes all in a perfect row.  That i need to ask what they are.  Ok back to pieaa :-).   It was also just a very fun family dinner with everyone as well.   Unfortunately it started getting cold and my v neck just was not cutting it. So I asked Sofia (activities director). How far away our hostel was from the sister hostel.  She said 5 minutes walk if you don't get lost which you probably would.  Well I was cockey and figured I was good at maps I would be fine. . . .  yeah, not the case at all.  5 minute walk turned into 45 minute adventure around the streets of sevilla at dusk.  I wouldn't take back a single minute of it.  I talked to so many people that were all so helpful.  I have never felt so safe in a city anywhere in the usa.  I know you must be worried because it sounds scarry and all, but you have to trust me.  Extremely safe.  I even ran into another parade that was filled with locals.  I asked a gentlemen there where I was and what the parade was all about.   I couldn't understand anything.  After a few hand signals and speaking slowly I realized where I was and that the parade was a religious thing that only happens 2 times a year and they walk from one church to the other.  Is it possible that I interpreted it wrong . . .  most likely but it sounds good right. :-).  I reached the hostel just in time because those few cups of sangria from the paieei party were going through me pretty fast hahaja.  I had the receptionist call the other hostel to see if they would still be there if I head back.  They said the party will still be going on and I managed to head back flawlessly.

After we filled up on food and birthday cake it was time to get ready for the bar crawl.   It was a great chance to meet even more people and I think the 2 free shots at ever bar most likely helped.  We ended at a discotecha and by the end only the few and the proud remained.  Most people were either tired by 5 am , couldn't take any more, or got sick.  It was very late and after 8 shots and people buying lots of drinks for one another it makes sense.  I'd say I represented the usa/Penn state well.  And that includes foosball.  Even managed to beat a guy from Brazil by one point.  The frat guy from Ohio university was the one that got sick.. .   Figures. Hahah.   The only disappointment was that the disco techa couldn't fulfill my isle brothers request for shout.  Maybe in Granada :-D  The night ended with me playing chess at 6 am in the common room with the night receptionist from Germany.  And as you can imagine I missed 8:30 to 10:30 breakfast again.  I did manage to check out of my room by 11 to move into an adjacent room.

Sevilla day 1

I finally pulled together the will power to leave beautiful sevilla.  My one night stay ended up being a total of 3 nights.  After just being at the hostel for one day my nervous butterfly's vanished.  I slept in and missed the free breakfast that ends at 10:30.   I learned that either in the USA or Spain I still love my sleep.  So lucky for me the hostel has a free food section in the fridge that other travelers have left which happened to be fresh pineapple and toast which I love.  But missing the free breakfast also had another benefit that I didnt relize until now while I'm on the train to Granada. 

All the tourists and everyone traveling takes advantage of the free breakfast which makes sense.  But once the breakfast is over all the travelers head out to the city and the kitchen fills up with the people that work at the hostel.  So I was able to sit down and talk with everyone that works there and I became very good friends with the whole staff.

I visited the plaza De espana and the cathedral de sevilla after breakfast.  The cathedral is the worlds largest Gothic building in the entire world.  And because it was Sunday I got In for free.  Right when I walked in my jaw dropped. After about two minutes of taking it all in this loud deep organ filled the entire church with a bellowing sound that was just incredible.  I actually went in a second time shortly after just to make sure what I was seeing was real and every time you go in or out there are these ladies with like little green branches that walk up to you and say all these things in Spanish that I didn't understand.  But I've heard stories about people doing that in Europe and none of them had a happy ending.  So I did the no gracias and keep walking technique. 

I also visited a supermarket that Sophie told me about at breakfast.  It was a little off the beaten trail so I was able to see the culture a little more which was nice.  I spent about an hour just looking around and taking everything in and just noticing the similarities and differences from the united states.   And note to self. . .  don't spend a lot of time looking for peanut butter, it is really non existent in Spain.  So I scratched the idea of peanut butter and went with breakfast bars.   

I still have two more days in Seville to talk about and to type. . .  ugh.  I have to start making these shorter or something.  I still have an hour on the train so we will see if I can get through the next two days before my adventures in Granada begin.

First full day in sevilla

Yesterday was absolutely amazing and I will post all about it if I have time tonight.  I origionaly wanted to stay here for one night but I keep asking the receptionist if they have available rooms and they keep saying yes.  I already have tonight booked again :-).  At this rate I will never leave Spain. 

Long day of travel

After I got off the plane at 8:40 am on Saturday in madrid I decided to walk around for a little.  I took the metro to see the palace de real which was an amazing structure made out of almost all marble.  After the quick visit of Madrid i was back on the metro heading to the train station to head right down to Seville.  Unfortunately it was not as easy as I expected.   Once there there was a huge wait to get tickets and I ended up finally getting a ticket to sevilla but The train didn't leave for another 4 hours.   By then I was tired but knew I had to stay awake to get the train.  Unfortunately my will power wasn't enough and i ended up sleeping in the public train station in downtown madrid  for about 20 minutes. I woke up to a man with three bloody fingers about to drip on the station floor which was a little bit scary.   It turned out he went to reach for a his tooth brush and grabbed his razzer instead which gave him three hugh cuts on his fingers. . .  or at least that's what he said.  He is probably going to be scared to brush his teeth every time now.  Looking back at it i probably should try a little harder to stay awake.  I eventually boarded the train after a long wait.

It was my first time on a high speed train and everything was so new to me.  I was playing with the fold out desks and turning on and off the reading lights.  The rail assistant came around and handed out these spherical objects which I had no idea if I had to pay for it if I opened it or what.  After a couple of minutes of sign language with  the women across from me I realized that they were just head phones that were free to watch the on board movies.  The train was very smooth and goes over 200mph. By the time I reached the hostel i was running on a 20 minute train station nap for the last 24 hours so I was exhausted.  And sleeping in a train station in Madrid is not the best sleep.  I swear they design those seats so it is impossible to fall asleep. It happened that my 6 person hostel room only had me in it for the night so I had my own room and bathroom for the night which was mostly needed.  I slept for a good 11 hours.

Let the games begin.

The day I have been waiting anxiously for and have been planing for is finally here.   My good friend Ryan Vasilick picked me up at 2 and chauffeured me to the Philadelphia international airport for my flight to Spain at 6:45.   Everything went smoothly and flawlessly excluding our attempts to say "ToyBoat" three times fast on the car ride down.   Seriously,  try it yourself out loud.  You will be sure to laugh at yourself a little.

We said our good byes and i was on my own.  A lone wolf with out a wolf pack . . . oh sorry let me not get to carried away  . I was a little self conscious walking to my departure gate with a big smile on my face looking like a weirdo.  I was just all excited to be embarking on this solo quest.  I am sure i definitely had some nervous butterfly's too.

The united airlines plane was amazing.  8 rows of seats wide ( and I happened to get a window seat :-)   And TV's on the front of every chair with settings that tell you how fast the plane is going (whopping 626mph),GPS coordinates, temperature outside the plane, which was -76 degrees by the way, altitude and all other sorts of stuff.   As an engineer I got a real kick out of that hahah.

I was seated next to a very nice man that travels to Valencia a lot and was telling me about some neat things about the area and how I better make sure I don't get glued to Spain and forget to go home to my job in August.  I laughed and told him that might not be out of the question.. . ..  Oh wait, my parents might be reading this.  What I really said was naaa I'll be back with plenty of time to get ready for my job!

Because it was a red eye and I wouldn't be getting into Madrid till 8:30am and I still had to get all the way down to Seville I told myself that i should definitely no questions asked sleep on the flight over, But that was before I found out they had 36 movies to choose from.   And for everyone that knows me you know how I get when watching a movie.  I'm glued to that screen like my dog Ginger is glued to my mom.  The only thing that distracted me was spaghetti dinner with salad and a dessert.   And not to forget the complementary wine.  It might have been boxed wine that reminded me of junior year frat party but hey,  it was still wine.  And I think it made me laugh a little harder during Ice Age. 

Very Rough Itinerary Plan

Being that I am traveling alone, my plans could change at any time depending on if i meet a great group of travel companions or hear about a great destination that sparks my interests.   (click on picture for enlarged view)

Backpack?

deciding which backpack to bring along with me.  I really like the Osprey Farpoint 55.
Not sure if 55 liters will be large enough for two months.

Testing at home

Testing Testing one two three.

Just testing to see how the blog works before I begin my adventure.