TravelStream™ news feed for member yah27 on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/yah27 en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 11 Feb 2008 19:26:45 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yah27/europe_-2007/1198927140/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yah27/europe_-2007/1198927140/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yah27/europe_-2007/1198927140/tpod.html Mon, 11 Feb 2008 19:26:45 -0500 100 days of Backpacking across Europe.

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Paris, France

Paris is known for many things. City of Romance, lights, lovers, artists, fashion, French cuisine, rude people, Parisians. Spending Christmas here has been a perfect choice not because it celebrates Christmas better than other cities, but it just has a nice ring to it. Christmas in Paris. :)

I had my own presumption of Paris, like millions of others who visit the city every year and the expectations were somewhat unrealistic. When I first arrived here, not only did I think Paris was dirty but overrated. That was during the day time when the streets were crowded with tourists rushing to possibly see everything Paris has to offer. I just thought it was pretty ordinary. BUT, once the sun came down and lights started to flash on the Eiffel tower, the city transformed into something that I've yet to experience in any other city. The city is simply magical. Millions of decorated lights, Christmas tree in front of the Notre Dame, Parisians in their mink coats and the river in the center of the city made hours of walking effortless.

A week in Paris was not nearly enough to see the full spectrum of the city. I, too, went to all the touristy sites such as Versailles, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Moulin Rouge (outside), and the Louvre. But none of them beats the time I spent at the Tuilerie Garden in the center of the city just watching people and enjoying every single moment, mesmerized by the fact that I was in Paris. While sitting at the park, I also had some time to reflect on my journey for the past 3 months. It felt like 3 years. So many places and faces, churches and museums, bars and clubs, food and beers, airplane and train rides, I realize I'm living the dream.

Yes, Parisians are bit rude and proud, but I think that sort of arrogance adds to the city's ambiance. My impression of Paris started below par but ended on a high note, wishing to stay bit longer. But I'll be back in Paris for one reason or another and decided to join Scottish on their NYE festival. From the French to Scottish, I'm sure there will be many comparisons made. So, another airplane ride, another city and another adventure will begin here in Europe.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yah27/europe_-2007/1200146520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yah27/europe_-2007/1200146520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yah27/europe_-2007/1200146520/tpod.html Mon, 21 Jan 2008 04:12:00 -0500 100 days of Backpacking across Europe.

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Los Angeles, California, United States

2 weeks have gone by since my return and it's been difficult to readjust back to reality. After going back to work this past week, it almost felt like I never left. My desk, coworkers, workloads all haven't changed a bit and seemed like 3 ½ months just flew by. It's almost if I stopped the time here in LA and went on my travels. In small ways, it was easier to get right back since not much has changed here. However, I can't make the same statement for myself as I feel much different now than before backpacking for 100 days.

Traveling has taught me so much about this world that we live in as well as myself. That was my goal from the beginning to learn about different cultures and meet as many people as possible. Precisely, I wanted to know what we share in common and understand the differences. Obviously visiting each city for few days to a week is not nearly enough to understand different cultures, but I did my best to learn the history and the people of all the places that I visited.

Europe is a fascinating place, exceeding my expectations by hundred miles. Continent full of cultures, languages, history and conflicts, Europe has seen it all. While all the countries are shoulder to shoulder, there are clear distinctions between each country and some are much more visible than others. For instance, you can feel the passion of Italians. You can see the quality of life in Switzerland. You can notice German's efficiency, Spain's laid back lifestyle and Ireland's friendliness. Characteristics of each country are well represented in their daily lives and my goal was to bring some of them back home.

Before I left, I've seen pictures of Eiffel Tower, Berlin Wall, Buckingham Palace and it was nice to finally see it in person. But ultimately, it was the interaction with people that I'll remember for many years to come. I've found inspirations in small places and through all the people I've met. It's difficult not to be inspired by other backpackers who are all traveling to understand the bigger picture in sort of speak. I met countless number of travelers daring to step out to the unknowns and explore new grounds. I met a tiny girl from south korea who walked 500 miles in 40 days from French border to west coast of Spain. An Argentinian who came to Europe to work through his travels to finance the trip. Catalonian doctors who volunteer in Africa to give hope. I will remember their stories and experiences.

As backpackers, we all go through tough times, facing adversities daily and learning to cope with unfamiliar elements. I believe it's through those experiences that change how you view the world and see yourself. Although I still have many questions, I found many answers along the way and I can notice the shift in my reactions and perception. When you start to question the very basics and open you mind to see things differently, you begin to collect new sets of paradigm in your life. In essence, the last 100 days have shown me the things that I once thought were so important in my life are less significant now.

Looking back at my travels, I enjoyed every single moment and that's quite different from how I lived my life in the past. I was too caught up in the past or the future and as a result, I didn't recognize of all the beautiful things that were happening right before my eyes. Either I'd let my past hold me back on moving forward or in anticipation of things to come, I'd let the moments drift away. Because I knew how extraordinary this opportunity was, I made a strong effort to stay in the moment and truly enjoy every passing minute.

Through it all, I couldn't be more satisfied with the result of my trip. Before leaving for Europe, I really wanted to do two things which was go snowboarding and attend a soccer match. I've been fortunate enough to do both and had the best time of my life. Watching Spain vs. Sweden in Real Madrid stadium was a lifetime experience and riding the Switz mountain was about as good as it'll ever get. But I can say the same for this whole trip. I've been wanting to backpack for so long and to be able to finally live the dream was unreal.

So, here I am, back in LA, having major post-vacation depression. I'm already thinking of my next travels to SE Asia and I believe I'll continue to backpack as long as I can. So, until next time, I hope you enjoyed my blog and thanks for coming with me to Europe.

*Special thanks to Benj, Mike, Jaume and Greg for inviting me to their homes and allowed me to experience your respective country's culture from inside out. Thank you and I hope to see you all in LA. :)






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London, United Kingdom

Coming back to London for the second time wasn't nearly as exciting as my very first time. Of course it's not really fair to compare the two because my first time in London was also my first time in Europe. I stayed at the same hostel where I first started and it was a strange feeling. After traveling for 3 months, i remember what i first felt when i first arrived. Excited, motivated, bit nervous, not knowing what to expect but after coming back to the exact place where i started, it felt good to know that not only did i survive, but had an amazing journey as well.

My original plan was to come back to London few days before my departure but ended up staying here for my last week of the trip. From my last time here, i knew my ins-and-outs of the city and in small ways, i felt like i was a local. Knowing where to eat and not having to look at the map is a huge plus. Fortunately for me, London is a huge city and i still had much to see. I focused on going to different museums, simply because all the museums are free in London. I'm at the end of my trip which means i'm quite broke, painfully eating KFC almost every night.

During my stay here, I was fortunate to get some sunshines in between the rains. London is much more beautiful when the sun is up with blue skies but that's almost as rare as UCLA winning anything in football. Well, maybe not that bad... I don't know what it's like here during the summer and I'd love to come back to Europe in the summer to join all the festivals. Traveling in the winter has been excellent but I do regret missing all the festivals and the lovely beaches. Perhaps i'll get another 3 months off during the summer. What do you think, Gerry? :)

I was quite sad when my time came up to go home, but I had no regrets. I know my family is eagerly waiting for my return as well as my boss at work for different reasons. I'll have to go back to work on the following monday which will give me just enough time to recoup and adjust back to the working lifestyle. I guess all good things must come to an end, no matter how hard you try. But the end means a new beginning and I'm looking forward to my return to the states. For now, i have a long flight, 18 hours to be precise, waiting for me at the Heathrow Airport.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yah27/europe_-2007/1199304960/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yah27/europe_-2007/1199304960/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/yah27/europe_-2007/1199304960/tpod.html Sun, 06 Jan 2008 15:19:39 -0500 100 days of Backpacking across Europe.

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Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Hogmanay is a 3-day NYE festival held in Edinburgh, Scotland. I heard about the reputation of Scottish and their parties so I decided to join in on their fun. Hogmanay is a yearly event but it's been cancelled twice in the last four years due to the weather, including the last year. Therefore, this year was set to make up for the last year and the city was in full festival mode. Bit of rain and the cold weather didn't stop this year's Hogmanay and more than 100,000 people showed up for the event. I saw and met people from all over the world to celebrate NYE here in Edinburgh and I knew I was at the right place for the last day in 2007.

On the NYE day, I picked up my street pass and went to the festival around 8pm. It was already full of people celebrating, drinking, dancing, singing, pissing, vomiting, name it, I saw it. People in kilts, crazy hats and outfits certainly made the festival even more colorful. I also wanted to try on kilts but I wasn't going to try on my first skirt during this cold weather.

While squeezing to get one place to another, I ran into two Aussies I snowboarded with in Poland. Talk about random!@# In the middle of thousands and thousands of people, it was unbelievable to run into them and we shared a good laugh, exchanging travel stories after Poland. After the countdown, explosion of fireworks lit up the sky from all different angles and people just went nuts, hugging, kissing, dancing and screaming all at the same time. Scottish, like the Irish, are so very friendly by nature and it was too much fun to share that moment with them.

Good times were had which meant the next day was a struggle to get up. The whole city looked pretty much dead on the first and the few people that were out on the streets looked like zombies in search for blood, or in this case, water. Of course it was raining again as well which made the whole day even gloomier. With that, I decided to go to London bit earlier and see the rest of UK until I finally head back home.
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Glasgow, United Kingdom

I came to Glasgow first before making my way to Edinburgh. Glasgow is really small and not much to see here but i was finally relieved to come to a place where i can communicate. I also got to watch a movie at a theatre for the first time in three months. During my travels, one of three books i read was Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and loved it. Hence, when i realized the movie was out, i had to go see it and the movie was quite good as well.

On a different note, my hostel here in Glasgow was one of the worst hostel i've stayed during my travels. It was not only dirty but it smelled like god knows what and filled with snoring people. my only hope was my train ticket to edinburgh and i woke up early next morning to hop on the train to Hogmanay.
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Strasbourg, France

Strasbourg, France
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Bern, Switzerland

Bern, Switzerland
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Chur, Switzerland

Chur + Bonaduz + Greg's House
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Munich, Germany

Munich Pictures.
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Interlaken, Switzerland

I finally got to snowboard today in Switzerland. Let me tell you, you haven't really snowboarded until you ride the Switz mtn. This was vastly different from my Poland experience and the runs are huge here in Switzerland. You first take the gondola all the up to the peak of the mtn (2500 meters) and from there, you start riding down to any of the stop points. the scenery was simply amazing and i never snowboarded with such scenic background. just breathtaking. i just got back now so i'm still high from the ride. great time and i'll post some pictures later.

as you might have noticed, i've been behind on my posts. it's been getting harder to get wifi and also now that i have 20 days left to go, i've been fairly busy, planning my last leg of the trip. nonetheless, i'll post some pictures for the other cities (chur & munich) later in the week.

i'm going to France tmrw but i don't even know where i'm going. i have to be in paris by the 23rd or 24th so i have few extra days. i think i'll just go to the train station tmrw and find the cheapest route to France and stay there for few days. we'll see what happens...hopefully, i won't be sleeping in the train station...
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