England and Scotland

My time in the UK was the perfect end to my European travels. I had 10 days with two of my dear friends from California, Alexis and Buster. They are currently living in the lovely town of Bedford for four months while Buster is there for work. Well, they definitely wouldn’t describe Bedford as lovely but I had a pleasant time there due to the great company. My first few days in England were in Bedford, a very small English town. I met some of their friends, got to see and American movie, and enjoyed some quality time with Alexis and Buster. Their hotel was like a palace for me so I was also able to catch up on some rest and relaxation which was much appreciated! 

While in England Alexis and I took a small road trip to a small town called Malvern. It is the hometown of my good friend Ed, who was part of my South East Asia travel family. I was so excited to be reunited with Ed and he took us all around his cute hometown. Malvern is so pretty and surrounded by the Malvern Hills. We took a hike to the top of the hills and were able to see a view of seven counties. It was really beautiful and my pictures were not quite able to capture how lovely it was. While most people spend all of their time in London while visiting England, I was so happy to be in the country side seeing the small towns of England. Ed and I remised about our time in Asia, telling Alexis all of our funny stories and we had an absolutely wonderful day. Unfortunately, we had to say bye to Ed by early evening but we returned to Bedford and had an amazing Thai dinner with Buster and his friend. I was super happy to have my first Thai meal since my time spent in Thailand. We had a night out in Bedford which included an Elvis kareokee performance by Buster! I learned that my friend could not only sing but do once class act Elvis impersonation!

The next day Lex and I went to London to meet two of my hometown friends for a lunch abroad. My friends from Crystal Lake, Jacqui Zuniga and Jamie Wagner, were travling Europe for one month together. We happened to be in England at the same time so we took the chance to reunite. Two reunions in one week! I was so lucky. We had a great lunch and exchanged funny travel stories. That afternoon was the only time I spent in London. I had spent a week in London in 2006 so I had already done all the tourist must sees in London a few years back. That night we made our way to Buster’s home town in Northern England. It was another picturesque town covered with hills and green landscape. I had my first traditional cup of English tea and yes, it was quite crappy! … which I was warned it would be as it was handed to me by Buster himself. We had an afternoon of an exhilarating game of cricket- not so exhilarating- and beer. It was a traditional English Saturday. I was so happy to meet Buster’s lovely family and spend more time in the country side of England.

From there Alexis and I made our way to Edinburgh, Scotland. Scotland was amazing! I loved the accents and the people were so nice. For some of you who may not know, I have a slightly excessive love for all things Scottish. I was super excited to be in Scotland and while I would have loved to spend more time here, and I know I must go back, I am so happy I got to spend a couple of days there. We did a lot of touristy things while in Edinburgh and saw so much in a small amount of time. We took a tour through the Edinburgh Castle and the Hollyrood Castle (this is the castle Queen Elizabeth stays in when she visits Scotland). I loved touring the castles since they explained so much of Scottish History which I found so interesting. On our last night we did a haunted tour of Old Edinburgh and the underground vaults that lie below part of the city. It was pretty interesting. We learned where certain sayings like dead ringer, saved by the bell and shit faced come from!....

·         Dead Ringer and Saved By the Bell- back in the day, when autopsies, causes of death, and hospitals were not of the best quality, people were occasionally buried alive by accident. To try and prevent a death when someone was buried alive they would tie a string to the finger of the buried body which lead to a bell above ground. If you woke up buried alive, you could ring the bell and hope that some simpatheic soul would hear your call and save you! So... if you got out... you were "Saved by the Bell!"

·         Shit faced- back when homes did not have toilets and they had to use a simple bin or bowl to “do their business” at 10pm every night the people in town took their bin and disposed of their business with a good toss of the continents from the bowls straight into the streets. 10pm also happened to be the time the bars closed; so more than once a wandering drunk would leave the bar, stumble along the street, and get a good face full of unpleasant “business” if he was not paying attention. He would wake up in the morning “shit faced”…. Hence the saying we all use today!

So as you can see, not only did we get a scary underground tour, but we learned something too! The Ghost tour was fun and to give you an idea if it was any good Alexis and I did end up curled in a ball sitting on a wet and dirty floor, hugging each other and screaming in fear at one point! Yikes... and yes... kind of embarrassing but mostly hilarious! Scotland was awesome. The people were kind, the accents were great, and Edinburgh was a fun town filled with tons of history. I definitely must go back for more time someday. After Scotland we made our way back to England for my last day in the UK. I had a traditional English tea time with Alexis and a goodbye dinner and drinks with Alexis and Buster. I was so nervous to leave and head back to the states but I was excited to be meeting my dear old friend Stephanie in Florida. After England I have one pit stop in the US before I head back to California and officially make it around the world. I must give a big thank you to Alexis and Buster who treated me so well and made my time in the UK absolutely lovely! I cannot believe the Bombino World Tour is almost complete. Please stay tuned for the final “return to the states” post coming soon!

First night out in Bedford, England with Alexis

Dancing English men outside the hotel! Random!

Day trip to Malvern to meet up with Ed- pretty town

Lunch in Malvern with Alexis and Ed

Yummy English lunch- English food usually isn't the best you have ever eaten so this was exciting!

So happy to be reunited! I love my SE Asia travel family!

Hike to the top of the Malvern Hills- amazing!

Malvern Hills

Day trip to London to meet Jamie and Jacqui

Road trip to Northern England

Morning with and English Tea and English Bobby (Police Man)

My lovely UK Hosts- Buster and Alexis

Traditional English Saturday- beer and Criket

Hollyrood Castel in Scotland

Hollyrood Castle

Loving Scotland

Beers at the Scottish Pub

Edinburgh Castle

View of Edinburgh

Edinburgh Castle

View of Edinburgh from the "Arthur's Seat" hike

Hike of Arthur's Seat- incredible views of all of Edinburgh

Top of the hike- wonderful afternoon

Ghost Tour Underground Vaults

Traditional English Tea

afternoon of scones and coffee

Picture with the random pig at the hotel- thanks for everything Lex and Buster!

España... te amo siempe!

I had an amazing 2 days and 3 nights in Spain after my time in Italy. I loved every minute of it. I felt at home and completely happy.  In 2006 I had lived in Spain for six months while studying at the Universidad de Malaga. I decided to take a quick trip back to Malaga so I could enjoy the beach, speak Spanish, and return a place I used to call home. I was lucky enough to stay with a great couch surfing host, Francis, and his adorably sweet dog Rooney. Amazingly enough, Francis was able to show me something I had never seen of Malaga each day I was there even though I had lived there before.

On my first night there he took me to an amazing restaurant on the beach where I ate the most delicious fish I have ever eaten. We walked on the boardwalk, people watched, and ended up relaxing on the beach most of my first evening. The next day he took me to a beautiful local beach I had never been to in my six months living in Malaga in 2006. Later that night Nikki arrived to Malaga and joined me for the rest of my time in Spain. We went out that night Spanish style- tapas, tinto de verano (a cold red wine drink with lemon lime soda-so tasty), and a long night out enjoying 1 euro chupitos (shots) and great conversation.  The next day Nikki and I made Francis an American breakfast of pancakes and eggs before enjoying another lovely day at the beach. On my last night in Spain, Francis taught us how to make Spanish tortilla (it is similar to an omlette but with all sorts of goodies like potatoes, peppers, and onions). Yum! We drank beer and Rioja and watched the Formula 1 Races all night. I had so much fun with Francis and Rooney- they really made my time in Spain exactly what I wanted- lots of Spanish and lots of relaxation! I was so surprised how quickly my love for Spain became a part of me again. Right when I stepped outside of the airport I felt happy and like I was where I was supposed to be. I am so grateful I had the chance to return and enjoy two very perfect days in Malaga!

Malaga

Francis and Rooney

before a night out of tapas and chupitos

Calle Larrios- famous street in Malga

Old stomping grounds! Used to come here all the time when I lived here :)

Aparently G.W. Bush is on the same dictator list as Hugo Chaves! Yikes- sorry Bush supporters! They are names of chupitos at Urbano

night out in Malaga

American Breakfast!

So pretty

Beach day

teaching me how to cook the tortilla española

Traditional Spanish Dinner for my last night in Spain :)

Ciao Italia- a month in Italy comes to a close....

Venice

I only spent two days in Venice, with one day of touring the city so I will post some pictures but my experience there wasn't as in depth as it has been in other places. The best thing to do in Venice is to just get lost in the city walking down the small and unorganized streets. Seeing a city on water is quite interesting. It is very pretty and great place to spend a day at. Venice is a very expensive city though so I stayed in a trailer park outside of the city while I was there!.... it was awesome! I loved it- it was quite the nice trailer park. There was a pool and Nikki and I were able to get a mobile room to ourselves- amazing!

Venice- the typical way to get from point A from point B

Alley ways of water

Day in Venice

Walking over a pretty bridge

Trinket shops everywhere

Tiny little alleys- hope you are skinny!

Pretty bridges and shops everywhere

Tuscany

After a quick trip to Venice I made my way to Tuscany. This is an area I was very excited to spend time in.  I had two full weeks in this region, and while I would have loved to spend more time in the countryside, I can still confirm that it is a beautiful area of Italy and definitely worth a visit. I spent time in Florence, Follonica, Siena and Pisa while I was in Tuscany. I couch surfed the whole way and met a lot of new people.  Here is a small bit on each area I spent time in!

Florence- Round 1
When Nikki and I arrived to Florence we made our way to our first couch surf stop in an amazing location- right in the center of the lovely city. We were staying with a couch surfer named Giuseppe. He is a crazy dude with lots of energy and tons of friends. It seemed as if he knew everyone in Florence. He and his friends were nice enough to show both Nikki and I around on our first two days in city. We were taken to see the Duomo, the center, the old bridge, and quite a few old churches and piazzas. I apologies in advance; you won’t get too many details on museums or monuments in the remainder of my blog as I am the worst tourist ever and I don’t enter into most of these. Opps! Don’t get me wrong, I think they are all beautiful and valuable and if I were on a vacation I would definitely enjoy them in more depth but when you travel for an extended period of time you can only enter to so many churches and monuments before they start to blend a small bit. Throughout the end of this trip, I have been much more involved in meeting the people living in the area and getting to know what I can of their culture. That is part of why couch surfing has been so great. It is a way to meet the locals and get to know what it is really like to live in these countries I am traveling too. 

El Duomo- view from Giuseppe's balcony

Great market in Florence

Duomo during the day

Gelato Festival!

River in Florence

Out at aperetif with our couch surfing host and his friends

Beautiful Florence

Great city

Follonica- a quite beach town in Tuscany
After a few days in Tuscany I made my way to a beach town called Follonica. It was a very quiet and relaxing town.  I was able to go for a run in the morning and enjoy a late afternoon tea for the two days I was there.  I cooked Italian dinner with my host each night and I was able to learn a little bit more about “the art of cooking pasta.” They are very serious about how to cook pasta and what sauce or meat each type of pasta should be paired with. My host, Alessio, explained to me that the Italian food in America is just not Italian food at all! Haha! I was able to see more of the country side in Follonica which was really nice. It reminded me a bit of the Midwest and the beautiful country sides that I used to see every day in Iowa. I took a really nice hike to a very beautiful beach and enjoyed an amazing day of sun! 

View from the Balcony in Follonica

the country side

Pretty hike to the beach

Follonica

Day at the beach

Sienna & Pisa- The Leaning Tower visit 
I was excited to be back in a city with a little more action after a couple of quite days at the beach. In Sienna I surfed with Sercan- a really cool dude from Turkey! Nikki was lucky enough to find Sercan and we enjoyed three days together in Siena. We did a lot of cooking and hanging out for our time with Sercan. Siena is pretty small and we were able to see it in a day. Nikki and I cooked all sorts of American food for Sercan . He was happy with every meal so looks like we haven’t forgotten everything while we have been away. We took a day trip to Pisa just to take funny pictures with the Leaning Tower. We got some pretty good shots since Nikki made us stay there for two hours trying all sorts of funny things- it was actually pretty funny and we laughed a lot- mostly at other people doing the same thing as us. While we may reunite in Spain for a day at the beach,  Sienna was the last town I travelled in Nikki’s company. So now my backpacking crew is down to one and I am finishing my trip the way I started- solo. While I the company I have had throughout this experience has been beyond incredible, I am excited to finish this trip on my own and test out how my traveling skills have improved since day one.

Siena

Nikki and I- enjoy the view of all of Siena

Duomo in Siena- doumos everywhere!

Sercan- our couch surf host

yup- we shared that little thing!

Pisa!

So funny! Tons of people doing funny things to take pictures with the Leaning Tower.

Now that is one big hug!

Florence- Round 2
I ended my time in Italy in Florence. I spent a few days just walking around the city, trying to get to know the area as best as possible, and finding my own little special spots. For example, I found a lovely library where I was able to spend an entire raining day reading on the covered roof with a view of the Duomo. I couch surfed with two different hosts- Guiseppe again, and Ilya (a couch surfing king- he has hosted 90 people in a year!). I even was so lucky to meet an American, Zac, at an Irish bar one raining day who is living in Italy with his mother for a month. They took me in for two nights and gave me a home! I spent two fun days with them- they were so kind, helpful, and beyond generous! I could never thank them enough and once again I made friends who will forever have a home with me where I am. This was a wonderful end to my time in Italy. A month flew by quickly but I was lucky to see so much. Ciao Italy-Grazie for the amazing pizza, pasta, and 3 extra kilos that came with it! ;)

Ilja- my very Italian couch surfing host- cooking an Italian Dinner!

With the locals- by the end of this month I can officially understand Italian- we communicated by them speaking Italian and me speaking Spanish- how fun!

Yum!

tiny cars everywhere

Out for aperetif with couch surfers

Zac and Michele- American family who adopted me in Florence!

the famous David- Ciao Italia!