Africa and Europe Adventure Next Week

Next week, I leave for another adventure.

Lisbon, Portugal for two full days. Madrid, Spain for one night (layover), hopefully I can sneak a flamenco dance and a sangria in there. Then Marrakech, Morocco, Africa. One week volunteering through IVHQ (International Volunteer Headquaters). I've been with them a lot (Guatemala, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Peru), I am only going through this program for the safety of the leaders and other people volunteering. Morocco can be scary for solo female travelers, so IVHQ will give me a sense of safety and daily communication. Volunteering with children as always. Home stay family placement as well, so home cooked Moroccan meals.

After this week in Africa, Nick will meet me there and spend a day to show him around. Next day, we head off to Budapest, Hungary for two full days. Next, Warsaw, Poland for two full days. Lastly, Frankfurt, Germany for a night (hopefully sneak in a beer garden) before we fly straight back to Chicago.

Nick and I were originally going to Cairo, Egypt instead of Poland. He even had tickets for camel rides and to see the Giza pyramids. I even had my plane ticket, still do. BUT, there are wars going on in the city. Bombs exploding in the city of Cairo. There's a travel advisory on the government page. So better safe than sorry. We can go another time, it's on our bucket list.

Lisbon > Madrid > Marrakech > Cairo > Budapest > Poland > Frankfurt > Home


Once back, our next trip is to Cancun, Mexico at an all inclusive resort for a May weekend to see one of his old friends get married.


Updated last few months:

• April: Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Hungary, Poland, Germany
• May: Mexico
• June: Argentina and Brazil
• July: Austraila and New Zealand 
• August: Start my career as an art educator (London?)
• Winter Break: Alaska for Northern Lights
• Spring Break: ???
• Summer 2020 Break: Asia and maybe Australia/New Zealand 
• ?: Norway, Sweden, and Denmark

Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Louisiana

I feel dirty after this trip. The day after Fat Tuesday, I woke up to blue boa feathers flying around and a mountain of beads next to my bunk bed. As well, thee worst hangover I have ever experience. Sorry Grandmas.

BESIDES the dirty feeling, NOLA (New Orleans Louisiana) was incredible! The voodoo/vampire/ghost/witch vibe was probably my favourite part. The French Quarter was beaautiful with all of the old buildings and gas lamps.

But, let me go in order so I can backtrack my memories. Nick and I left on March 2nd (Saturday), flew from Milwaukee to Chicago then Chicago to Springfield, Missouri to meet up with my old high school art best friend, Micayla. We were tired (especially Nick since he worked a third shift and then went straight to our flights) so we didn't do much that evening. Got some Hurts Donuts (my favourite, been to Springfield myself about three times), had some pizza, shopped for glitter at Target, picked up some bottles for the week, drank a little while we played cards against humanity with Micayla's friend, Steph. Then we all passed out by 8pm. Left at 6am for the road in Micayla's blue Volvo. Micayla drove first through Arkansas (bought a jiggly gator magnet somewhere in Arkansas) and then I drove through Mississippi, and lastly, Nick drove into Louisiana. It was a total of eleven hours, almost four hours each. Not bad!

Our first night in NOLA, we got a little excited to say the least. We were hurting the next day. Hit Bourbon Street when we said we wouldn't one hour before we got to the French Quarter. Already, people going crazy and beads littering the street. However, the parades and festivities have been going on for over a month, at least. So no surprise at the drunk bead chaos two days before Fat Tuesday.

Next day, brunch. Brunch was well needed for our stomachs. Went to the Court of Two Sisters in the French Quarter. They had a brunch buffet with all sorts of things to eat, from ribs to omelettes. Also some jazz band playing around us while we ate. This day I bought all things I wanted: a voodoo doll, gifts for my grandma and a friend, an extremely large long sleeve shirt, and i got a palm/tarot card reading. Walked through the square to the river. And as for the evening, we kept it quiet because we knew the next day would be crazy. Frenchman street is the perfect place for that. Jazz and live music down the entire street. Quiet but lively. Had a few beers and left to sleep.

Woke up to Kings Cake. Five of them from our Airbnb hosts. For those of you who don't know what it is, I'll try my best to explain. It's a festive cake for this holiday and inside the cake is a plastic baby and who finds it, is the king. After we put glitter on our faces, hair, and beard we all were ready for the parades. It was crazy. We got an Uber to a brunch spot near the Quarter and it was super busy so we decided to walk in this parade going by to find somewhere else. Well, we forgot about food as soon as we saw all of the amazing costumes. Just one after another. I felt so under dressed. It was insane who much work and thought and craziness went into them. After about two hours of that, we sat down for Cafe Du Monde for some coffee and beignets (highly recommend). Then continued through the craziness.

Negatives:

• Finding somewhere to pee without an hour long line is HARD. 
• Ubers were surging over 5 times the amount ($108 ride for 2.7 mile drive) and the traffic made it hard for our uber drivers to get to us (causing a two hour wait).
• Pedialyte tastes like salty butt. 

A positive is that it is open liqour there so you could carry an entire 750ml bottle of tequila or whatever right down the street. We saved money on buying drinks for sure because we brought our own.

The next morning. Death was among us. Glitter littered our floor. Blue boa feathers flying around the room, and the glorious mountain of well-earned beads. Like I said, I felt dirty. I am so happy I experienced it but never, never again will I come back to NOLA for Mardi Gras. I do really want to come back and see the cemeteries!

This day of feeling like death, we went to a brunch spot right next to where we were staying called Toast. Waited forever. Food was really good, so worth it. After we headed to the art museum, NOMA (New Orleans Museum of Art). Spent a good amount of time enjoying art and the sculpture garden. Then headed back to nap and get ready for our evening of ghosts. We booked a Ghost and Vampire tour. I guess I expected more from it. It was really cool to see the exact building of some of the famous stories, in particular, Madame LaLaurie. After we went to the best place I ate in NOLA. BBKings. Live music and ribs galore.

Next morning we left for Baton Rouge. Got breakfast at Louie's Cafe. Met Mike, Micayla's friend who lives there. Then continued to drive. Me first, Micayla next, and Lastly, Nick. It was way longer coming back then going there. We did stop in Memphis at Memphis Barbecue Co. which I also highly recommend if you want to try some real ribs. Guy Fieri went there if that helps influence you. I tried brisket, ribs, and the pulled pork. All to die for. Once back in Springfield we all just went horizontal quick. It was one in the morning when we did get back. 

Nick and I got our flights back home the next morning. Which we almost didn't because the standby seats were kind of sparse and to rent a car (yeah crazy, to drive another eight hours to Milwaukee) was about $400. But luckily, we got back by 7pm that night. My shower and my cat's fat cheeks were calling me back home.

San Diego, California

February 22nd Friday (suppose to be the 20th but Spirit Airlines canceled our flight) to the 26th Wednesday. Honolulu was our original idea but San Diego was cheaper (way cheaper) and closer, oh well. Lia, the best friend, and I made this our birthday trip. Mine was January 28th and hers was February 12th. We were also suppose to go between our birthdays but she couldn't get off work that week. So our plans got very messed up but it really was a relaxing adventure over there. Lots of food and hanging out at our AWESOME hostel. I highly recommend this place if you ever go to San Diego. USA Hostels Ocean Beach is the name. Just look that up, I found it on hostelworld.com. Affordable, perfect location, the house itself is fun with the patio and paintings and the volunteer staff. Also you can see airplanes coming in and out every ten or twenty minutes right above your head on the back patio of the hostel. Landing into San Diego we were flying level and so close to the downtown skyscrapers, I have never seen anything like that with all of my flying, so I thought that was very cool.

Anyway, to sum up our trip we ate a lot of good food which included: Baked Bear (custom ice cream sandwich shop [which we discovered this mouth watering desert in San Francisco last August]), Hodads (famous burger shop, almost always a line outside the door), she got Cheba Hut (toasted sub shop with weed puns), I got an acaci bowl, and last one I will list is the BBQ house we went to our last two nights. BBQ House and Grill, just right next to our hostel. Ribs and wings were perfect. Safe to say, I am not a vegetarian anymore.

We also did a lot of shopping. Walking and browsing all of the shops on the boardwalk and the surrounding ones by our hostel. I got a dress and a kimono. Scooters helped us get around. Birds, Lyfts, Uber, Limes were everywhere. Uber scooters were the easiest. The day we used them, we drove over 15 miles with them and it only costed us under $5!

Our first night, we went to a beach bon fire that the hostel provided. We all walked to the beach (5 minute walk) and roasted some marshmallows for our smores which they hooked us up with as well. It was a beautiful time, meeting more friends (Ona from Rhode Island and Ramon from Chicago to be exact), drinking, eating smores, and sitting on the beach with the ocean waves and stars. The best moment that night was Ramon. It was his birthday and his last night. He thought it would be a great moment to go run into the ocean. So out of no where, we see him sprint toward the water and throw his shirt and pants off and just dove right in. Swam and splashed around for like five minutes and came running back soaked. The next morning before he left, he said he couldn't find his underwear.

Next day, we went to La Jolla for three hours with the hostel (they provided a free ride there and back). Seals everywhere. A cool cave to walk in. Shops and nice patio restaurants. But back to the seals, we were able to walk right up to them. Lia wanted to pet one so bad and at the last minute she decided to pet thee largest one there and right before she did, like an inch away, a lady screamed at her saying it's a $10,000 fine and they have huge teeth. So thankfully she didn't. We saw two seals fight, a bunch of baby seals, and them walking around with their flippers.

Saturday night we went out, of course. All dressed up and went downtown. Covers all around but the places we chose were really fun. The Tipsy Crow, Whiskey Girl, and BarleyMash were the bars we went to.

Watched the sunset one night as well, by the ocean and pier. Saw a bunch of bubbles and a guy throwing a boomerang around. We also got some tattoos too. Lia got a lady bug and I got a beetle (or my travel bug - pun intended).

NOW, I am packed and ready to leave early this next morning for Springfield Missouri with Nick to get to my friend Micayla's place. Then to drive down with her to New Orleans for Mardi Gras! This trip will be March 2nd Saturday to March 8th Friday. 

PLANS AS OF NOW..

The rest of my travel-year plans as of now..

• February: Honolulu, Hawaii

• March: New Orleans, Louisiana 

• April: Morocco, Africa and Budapest, Hungary

• May: Cancun, Mexico

• June: Moscow, Russia and London, England

• July: Brazil and Argentina

Other maybe places: Iceland, Lisbon, Oslo, Stockholm, and Copenhagen

2020 Summer Break: Thailand and Tokyo, Japan 

    Chichen Itza, Mexico 2016

Germany, Czech, Austria Road Trip Video

Munich/Munchen, Germany and Amsterdam

MUNCHEN. I was impressed with Munich. Didn't think it would be too amazing but it was great place to end our trip (or so we thought, get to that later). Can you guys guess where we went first? If you guessed city center for the christmas market, then you're right. Marienplatz, city center.

Gluhwein and the best brat ever. I had to get sauerkrat and ketchup and the best brat. It was our last night in Germany. Nick was a trooper and helped me find the best one too. Got our mugs of gluhwein as well, walked around again. Looked at all of the beautiful steins and clocks, never got one. I really wanted a big beautiful stein, but ended up not because the outrageous price of anywhere between fifty euro and up to like 130 euro. Went to thee Haufbrau Haus in Munchen, like the original first one. It was huge and beautiful. We each only had one liter of beer, walked around to see the lockers (lockers for steins of famous people or people who rent them, but it can take years and years to be on a list for that), heard the band, and then left. Walked around a bit more and that was it. Oh, he ended up getting his mom a gift the last night, after myself reminding him since day one. You could say he is a procrastinator.

Next morning, we left for Frankfurt at 4am. He drove the entire way. I offered, felt bad. A four hour drive.

AMSTERDAM. Well, with standby you can also not get a seat. We woke up to head to the frankfurt airport and there were negative six seats on the plane, but we tried anyway. Went through security and such and ended up watching our plane take off with out us. Nick was doing his little thing of looking at different flights and seats and departures or whatever. Ended up getting a train to Amsterdam from Frankfurt because the next day there were three flights to Detroit with like 30+ open seats.

Got a great hostel, I recommend: Flying Pig Hostel. Perfect location. Right in front of the Amsterdam Centraal Station. Since this was my third time in Amsterdam, it felt so familiar being back. No christmas market there, no mug for us, which made my luggage happier. We just ended up walking around after dinner at a pizza and pasta spot. Walked through the red light district and had a few Heinekens. Flugels. A chocolate waffle. Rained that night.

Went to bed early that Saturday night and left very early for the airport again. Once we got to our gate, it was filled AGAIN. I felt like I was about to live in Europe at that point. The lady came up to us and said to Nick "Do you want to get a seat? But she cannot have one." and there was no way to switch due to his priority. But through all of that headache, right before they closed the door they threw a ticket at both of us and we got on. Just like that. Last freaking minute. Felt as soon as I sat down and buckled up, we were in the air five minutes later. We both flew to Detroit, an eight hour flight and then split up once in Detroit. He went to Omaha for the family and I went to Milwaukee.

It was a wonderful two weeks in Europe! April, I will be back!