Tag Archives: solo female travel

One Week Until Europe!

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I need this vacation so bad.  I can not wait to be out in the world where my biggest stress is not being able to find iced coffee.

I am STILL not ready to leave.  I am not even sure how this happened.  I am one of those “packs months in advance!” neurotic kinda gals.  My life is just so hectic right now. I can not wait to escape it.  I can not wait to be standing HERE:

061_001_Belogradchishkakrepost.jpg

How do places like that exist on this planet and why the hell have I waited so long to see them?

I am also insanely excited to take my first steps on the continent of Asia.  Sure it’s cheating as I am doing this in Istanbul.  But I’m counting it.

Yesterday, my job asked us to pick which summer Fridays we want.  I love picking summer Fridays.  I love how I was already off for four of them, so I am gaining back more vacation time.  This also means I now have an additional two long weekends that I need to make plans for.

My head is all over the place today.  My job is insane. The people who work here should not be allowed to see daylight.   I can not wait to be far away.  Come on one week from today…..just one more week.  I can do this.

 

 

 

Two Weeks Until Euro Extravaganza!

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I am getting freaked out about how close my trip is. I am still not ready to go.  I am also still redoing my plans.  My last revision now has me going to Belgrade, Serbia and taking an overnight train to Bulgaria.  I have always wanted to take an overnight train.  I am sure that the reality of it will never match the vision of it that I have developed in my head.  But in the end, I will still have crossed yet another item off my bucket list.

It is so difficult planning travel in the Balkan countries.  Public transportation information is basically nonexistent online.  Adding to that, there is just so much to see.  It is killing me to know that lack of complete freedom in life is keeping me from seeing these places that I will be so close to:dubrovnik-croatia

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Three Weeks Until Euro Extravaganza!

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This morning I got up for work.  My first thought was “THREE WEEKS UNTIL VACATION!!!!”.  While getting my morning iced coffee out of the refrigerator, I noticed a fortune cookie that was leftover from last weekend.  I opened it and got THIS:

goningYes misspelled fortune cookie, yes I am.

My trip is so soon and I am still not ready.  Today I have decided to redo my itinerary again.  This is all because I can not find out if the Nis, Serbia bus station has luggage lockers. I had planned to stop there for a few hours between Sarajevo and Sofia.   If i take a chance and leave my trip the way its been cemented in for weeks now, I may find myself carrying my bag around sightseeing.  The internet tells me nothing.  So here I am right now taking a break from going  nutso and redoing my itinerary to switch out the “stop there for a few hours” part with “spend one night in Nis”.  Then I have to find a night in Bulgaria to give up so that I have a night to spend there.  I really need to consider booking more flexible trips, where I don’t insist upon seeing so much at one shot, so that I do have spare days.  But I don’t want to, because I want to see every inch of planet earth right NOW.

So my updated upcoming travels are now:

April 26 – May 20 – Europe

May 22 – May 27 – Seattle, WA

May 29 – June 3 – Austin, TX

June 6 – June 9 – combo of Chicago and Toronto.

I am the opposite of a fan of my job.  But I will admit that I am in love with both the amount of vacation time I get, as well as the fact that they let me take it all in a row like this.  Most places would not.

 

 

My 26 Hour Greyhound Bus Trip to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

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Just about every trip I have ever taken has revolved around either bands or casinos.

A few years ago, I was booked for a fest in Austin.  Shortly before, I ended up backing out. But I did not want to undo my vacation time, so I had to find somewhere else to go.  Armed with a free roundtrip Greyhound bus ticket to anywhere Greyhound travels to, I decided to take a long distance bus trip to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  Why Milwaukee?  Who knows.  I wanted to go somewhere around 20 hours-ish away so Wisconsin won.  It’s really that simple.

I had booked two nights via Priceline at the Hilton City Center.   Gorgeous hotel.  Just in case you are unaware, www.biddingfortravel.com is the most useful tool when Pricelining a hotel.

When I was researching things to do in Milwaukee, I stumbled upon a bed and breakfast inside a mansion.  This looked so cool!  So I extended my trip to leave a day earlier so I could spend one night here.

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That Time There Was a Ball Gag in My Las Vegas Hotel Room.

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So I love Las Vegas.  I have been there 238947382 times and the amount of pages worth of trip reports I have for my many trips, is eleventy billion times that number.

Today, we shall be revisiting a single day back in December of 2008:

Monday, December 29, 2008 – Day Eighteen of Twenty One

Today is laundry day.  I don’t really need to do laundry anymore this trip but I need to be at a machine where I put in money and take SOMETHING out of it.

Today is also moving day.  I’m leaving Fitzgeralds and checking into Sahara.

Once packed, I called the bell desk to have my bags picked up and stored. I then pulled a Ross-from-Friends and stayed in my room until checkout. This was a mistake because my channel flipping got me the Maury Povich show. Today’s theme is “Pregnant at 13 – Who is the Father”.  It seems a whole lotta under aged chicks boffed a whole lotta dudes and don’t know WHICH predator the father is. As if this isn’t disturbing enough, there was never a mention of statutory rape, nor were there any police officers there to bum rush the stage to handcuff anyone who was proven to have committed statutory rape once the paternity results were in.

That’s enough, I am out of here.

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Milan, Italy: Last Stop on First Backpacking Trip

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duomo milan italy

After a full day in Florence, it was time to head to Milan, my last stop on this trip.

Upon arriving at Milan Central, I was really surprised to see how elegant this train station is.  I was not expecting that.  You could seriously spend some time here just admiring it.

milan train station, milan italy

milan train station, milan, italy

 

train station, milan, italy

Even though this is my last stop, I am still staying near the train station so that I can take a shuttle to the airport.  I am at Hotel Cristallo, which is a mere two blocks from the train station…if you don’t get lost.  I did, as always.  So it took me about an hour to get to my hotel.  I wish I were kidding or exaggerating.

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Pisa, Italy: Leaning Tower of Pisa and Baptistry

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The second biggest highlight of my trip to Florence, right behind Ponte Vecchio, was my side trip to Pisa.  Before leaving home, I stopped at Target to buy a diary to bring with me.  I found one with the Leaning Tower of Pisa on it.  I thought how much I would love going through this trip, writing in my diary and then getting to take a picture of it in front of the tower.
diary

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Florence, Italy: Ponte Vecchio, Duomo, Boboli Gardens and Piazzale Michelangelo

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ponte-vecchio-from-piazzale-1024x768I am in love with bridges. I love the way they look, I love walking over them.  I have several bookmarks of bridges I am dying to visit on my computer.

Once I had my airfare figured out for this trip and discovered I would be flying home from Milan, the first thing I did was check and see if a trip to Florence to see if Ponte Vecchio was feasible.  It was!  I am going to see Ponte Vecchio!

The train from Venice to Florence was one of those where you are forced to sit facing someone.  The couple across from me were actually in the wrong car.  They belonged in first class.  When they were told this by the attendant, they opted to stay in their seats, across from me, facing me.  MOVE GOD DAMMIT.  YOU BELONG IN FIRST CLASS.  WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?

I arrive in Florence in the evening.  I am staying at Hotel Bellavista, located right near the train station.  I always prefer being in walking distance of the train station so that I don’t risk being late and missing my train when it’s time to leave.  I of course get lost, because this is what I do.  This time it was because my map showed that if I were to make a right at the McDonalds, the street my hotel was on would be right there.  Turns out it was, but I was making a right at the McDonalds near the train station exit and my map was referencing one right outside the train station.  Who needs all these freaking McDonalds?  We aren’t in America for crissakes.

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Venice, Italy: You Are Beautiful But I Still Don’t Like You

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rialto bridge, venice, italy

Ahhhh….Venice.  The city once dubbed by The New York Times as “the most beautiful city built by man.”  Who would not love Venice?

Me. That’s who.  Allow me to channel my inner Grumpy Cat for this post.

I could not wait to be in Venice.  I bought not one, not two, but THREE Venice guide books.  I even carried one around with me on this trip so I could gaze lovingly at the colorful pictures in anticipation.

And as it turns out I hated Venice. Hated it.

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