Tag: Europe Travel

Skeason in France

I’m wrapping up the skeason (ski season) from my home base in Chamonix, France, and in between shipping out my boards back to the US / shedding many a tear, I decided to collate my notes from the past 2 months into a quick review. Goes without saying these are all my own thoughts and many people I’m sure have differing opinions. That’s completely ok. Like most things in life, there are 2 kinds of people: Those who agree with me, and those who are wrong.

The People

  • French people have a terrible rep abroad, mainly due to the Parisians (people from Paris). But I think I’ve figured out why. It’s related to the 4 categories of attractiveness in people: Ugly, Ugly-Hot, Hot-Ugly, and Hot. Ugly is just ugly. Ugly-Hot is someone who is supposed to be conventionally ugly, but somehow hot. Hot-Ugly is someone who is supposed to be conventionally hot, but somehow ugly. And Hot is just hot. So relating this to the personalities of people, I think there are another 4 archetypes: Mean, Mean-Nice, Nice-Mean, and Nice. Mean is just Mean. Mean-Nice is someone who on the exterior is Mean, but in reality, is Nice. Nice-Mean is someone who on the exterior is Nice, but in reality, is Mean. And Nice is Nice. (Ok, fine, there are some slight nuances in my portrayal of the Ugly-Hot Spectrum, but you get the gist) Now, this is where the French come in, and how I might now generalize (which is never fair to individuals) an entire country. I think that France has a hugely disproportionate amount of Mean-Nice people compared to the rest of the countries. Yes, there are Mean French, and yes there are Nice French. But the amount of French that seem mean on the exterior, but are actually nice when you get to know them, is my reason for why the French have a “bad rep.”
  • Just saying Bonjour, Salut, Merci, etc. goes a long way in France
  • Damn these people really love their baguettes, cheese, and wine
  • The French reaaally love their strikes. I feel like they have strikes every 2 weeks. Macron raising the retirement age? Workers not getting paid a fair wage? Any minor inconvenience in French lives? Let’s go on strike, remove train/bus routes, and close down ski mountains, except for one shitty lift.
  • I want to start a competition board between France and US, to see how many days it’s possible to go without an incident. For France it can be Strikes, and for the US it can be Mass Shootings. No idea who would win.
  • This may come across as harsh – but as you can see from the amount of F-bombs and lack of political correctness, I don’t really care – French kids are annoying. Most kids across the world are at times, but their cuteness usually outweighs it. In my, I’ll admit, “limited” experience, not so for the French. They are complete heathens on public transport, often completely unsupervised and yelling at each other for no particular reason. And I thought Americans were supposed to be the loud ones.

The Accommodation

  • Getting a sublet or apartment during ski season is basically impossible unless you book like a year in advance, have accommodation through work, or are related to a prince/business mogul and money just flows from you. Because I wanted flexibility with my time, I ended up booking hostels in advance (with 1 week at a time increments), often with double bookings for multiple places, and always with the free cancellation option. This allowed me the flexibility to cancel one hostel if I liked the other better, cancel both if I wanted to go to Italy for the week, and guaranteed that I’d always have a place to sleep.
  • There are 4 main Hostels in Chamonix: Chamonix Lodge, The Vert, Auberge de Jeunesse HI Hostel, and this other Chalet that no one goes to.
  • Chamonix Lodge: This was my main home base and favorite. I liked it because it was close to Chamonix Sud bus station and had a nice kitchen. The workers were also super nice and always let me stay in the same bed (without having to check out) if I had overlapping reservations.
  • The Vert: Probably the best vibe. They had a bar downstairs and pod-like dorm rooms for additional privacy. Also a minute’s walk from a bus station. Decided I would end up spending too much money if I stayed here (no real kitchen), but I would still often stop by in the evening for pre-drinks.
  • Auberge de Jeunesse HI Hostel: The best spot if you are skiing without a pass. The owner has a ridiculously exclusive deal for the Chamonix Valley Mountains, where you can always get a day pass for 26 euros through the hostel. Take into account the price of the dorm room (26 euro/day) and renting of ski gear (15 euro/day), and you can go on a ski trip to one of Europe’s most renowned ski resorts for a very affordable rate. Didn’t help me as much though since I had my own gear and the season pass.

The Town / Transportation

  • Ski Towns all have the vibe I like to be around. It’s a universal feeling and does not matter whether you’re in US, Canada, or Europe. Chamonix is no exception: the constant bustle of people buying ski gear, the apres culture, and the mountains surrounding the town create an ambiance that is akin to Christmas and Winter itself.
  • Transportation takes a while to get used to. I find being around Chamonix Sud/Centre makes it easier, as every bus line runs through them. The Line numbers can be confusing, as there are multiple Line 1 and Line 2s. When in doubt, look for the final destination name and ask the Bus Driver (But say Bonjour to him first!)
    • Line 14: Brevent
    • Line 1: Flegere
    • Line 2/2B: Le Tour – takes you to Flegere, Grand Montet, and Le Tour
    • Line 1: Les Houches (Need to stand on the other side of the street)

The Food

  • Favorite Restaurant: Mumma, an Asian/French fusion that will leave your mouth watering at the thought of it and your wallet empty if you frequent too much
  • Favorite Cheap Eat: Poco Loco. Labeled “fast food” that usually takes 45 min wait time. But it’s cheap and their spicy sauce is like cocaine. Plus their bread/buns are made fresh every day.
  • Favorite Healthy Restaurant: Arctic Juice & Cafe. Lunches here are great. Fresh smoothies/juices and healthy bowls/sandwiches to cure your hangovers from the previous night’s debauchery.
  • Favorite Coffee Shop: Shouka (best coffee, but no wifi) or Cafe du Genepy (cheap coffee and fast wifi)
  • Other Good Spots: Cool Cats (signature hot dogs), L’Hydromel, Josephines (get the oysters), Le National, Munchies, and Big Horn Bistro

The Bars / Nightlife

  • Best Early Apres Spot: Chambre Neuf. Be prepared for a live band (sometimes karaoke) and standing on tables. Can feel like a sauna inside.
  • Best Spot for Pool: Beckett and Wilde. Irish Pub a little out of the way from downtown Chamonix.
  • Best Spot for Dancing: La Folie Douce after midnight. The upstairs bar is a classier setting with chandeliers, while the downstairs turns into a club at night. Catch me downstairs towards the end of the night.
  • Best Spot for a Date: L’Hydromel. Good, chill bar that also serves great food.
  • Latest Spot Open: Amnesia nightclub. Hit or miss. Some people love it, while others would rather gauge their eyeballs out instead of visiting. Considering I was given a bottle of champagne by some random people when I visited, I had a blast.
  • Best Social Bar: Bar’d Up. This place is great for meeting/talking to people and is part of the main bar strip. I like to go here first, make friends, and start a pub crawl down the strip. All the bars in this area (Les Caves, Barracuda, etc) are fun and a good time.

The Mountains

  • Rankings of the Cham Valley Mountains: 5) Les Houches < 4) Le Tour < 3) Le Brevant < 2) Flegere < 1) Grand Montets
    • Note: Not including Les Planards, Le Savoy, and La Vormaine – bunny hills they are.
    • Les Houches: Perfect spot to work on switch riding. Easy enough mountain with some cute shops around that are actually pretty cheap for baguettes/deserts. A couple really good lips and kicks for working on 1s. Really mellow but long runs that will make your ears pop if you go from top to bottom.
    • Le Tour: fuck you and your T-bars. I want to have kids in the future, but not sure if my balls will still be intact after all your unnecessary tugs while pulling us up with your 1950s model. (I am undefeated and have not fallen once this year, however. Much better than my 50-50 ratio last season) As for the mountain itself, ok terrain, a lot of catwalks, and very windy at the top. The best stuff is on the back side of this lift which I believe is technically a part of Le Balme. If you go for a hike and ski off-piste to the right, you’re in Switzerland, which is cool. There is also a really nice tree/mogul run under the lift. And do not take the bus back, but instead, jump on the train with a coffee / chocolat. Views are even more breathtaking when you have a heated seat.
      • Edit: I have now fallen off the T bar this year, 3 times in a singular day. There goes my perfect record.
      • It’s February and they just created their terrain park. Now that it’s a dry season and hasn’t snowed in forever, I’m spending most of my days here.
    • Brevant / Flegere: I’ll put these on the same pedestal because I often hit them on the same day. Flegere is slightly steeper, but good runs off-piste on both.
    • Grand Montets: My favorite. Steepest terrain, least busy, and has the most untouched snow off-piste. Love this place.
    • Honorable Mention – Courmayeur: Picture this, you’ve gone an entire month without fresh powder (basically February), and then all of sudden, you hear a whisper about a storm coming to Italy, your next-door neighbor. You visit, and the tales from far and wide were true, the storm hit. Naturally, you go back there all week. Just as my opinions on the attractiveness level of females vary from reality under the influence of alcohol, so do my opinions of mountains on powder days. For this reason, I cannot fairly rank Courmayeur, but for the days I was there, it was a 10/10 supermodel.

Random Thoughts

  • It’s definitely worth checking out the Aiguille Du Midi (which is a great viewpoint of Mont Blanc and the surrounding valley) and Mer De Glace (which has Ice Caves). You can also glacier ski from Aiguille Du Midi into Mer De Glace by the Vallee Blanche route. Or just take gondolas up to visit both separately.
  • Got to demo some boards over the last couple of days – rankings: KORUA OTTO < AMPLID Ticket Twin < CAPITA DOA. Move over Burton, I’m a Capita guy now (although I’m still using your bindings Burton, and bag…and socks)
    • After buying a new board, I’ve decided I’m going to stop making dumb purchases, like spending big money on alcohol and dates. Pow is not forever, but fun at least
  • Fuck. It’s killing me not being in the States as they have THE GREATEST YEAR EVER with snow, and Europe is struggling. I need to unsubscribe from all my email accounts like Open Snow, ICON, etc
  • Snowboarding is one of those things, like surfing, where you can’t help but enter the state of flow. It’s impossible to think about anything else, you are so focused on catching that next jump, timing the wave, preparing for a drop, looking to connect a turn. It’s fully immersive, and when the moment is right, true bliss. Humans and nature working together as one in perfect symmetry
  • There’s times when I feel like I’m making a lot of progress on the mountain, and other times when I feel like I’m walking in a circle
  • Lost my hat in some strangers’ hot tub this past Saturday. I guess that’s what I deserve for drunkenly walking into their backyard at 4am because I heard them playing Coldplay. Nice guys, those Brits though. If only I could remember where their chalet was. Must have all been a dream. No, my arm still hurts from the cuts I got slipping on the ice on the way out of the hot tub. It was real.
  • Moved Hostels from Chamonix Lodge to Auberge de Jeunesse HI Hostel, and it’s kind of been a culture shock. Everyone in this hostel and bar are all French. I’m used to English just being the default language everyone uses in hostels, but not here.
  • A lot of Aussies / Kiwis working as seasonaires in Chamonix. Good lot, and boy do I love their slang
  • Do not trust the buses in Chamonix. I’ve traveled all over Europe and Asia, and can confidently say that they are up there in the top charts for being the most unpredictable. Early? Late? Next bus scheduled showing up before the previous bus? All of the above. Once, I showed up at the bus stop and hashed down the bus driver. He stops, but slightly ahead of where the bus normally stops. No worries, I think, I’ll just get into the middle doors. But this driver had a different plan and only opens the front doors. I then walk to the front of the bus, and he closes the doors in my face. I frantically knock on the doors, while he slowly starts driving away, all to the disgust of the people inside the bus, who were like “let him in.” Out of nowhere, this little French man/boy comes into view and says: “English?” “Yes” I say. He says “come follow me” and darts off into the distance. I follow and ask him why the busman did not let me in, to which his response was: “This is France.” We run downhill, through an underground tunnel, and across a small field to just catch the bus rounding the corner for the next stop – this time the driver slowing but never stopping to all our waving and yells. The French man, yells, “damn,” and takes off again into the dark. I decide to try and take a different bus line, which was either incredibly late or on strike. Regardless, I never went to the gym that day.
  • Cigarette breaks are treated as sacred and a human right in France. Its also one of the 3 breakfast criteria, what I like to call the 3 Cs – Coffee, Croissant, and Cigarette
  • Highlight of the trip: Having a huge US group of 16 peeps fly out to ski for a week. Y’all know who you are. Y’all are dope. And the best skiers on the mountain.

Welp, that’s a wrap for the skeason. Can’t wait for next year. Maybe Japan?

Strange Hacks to Nomadic Travel

So I’ve been nomadic for about 3 years now, and have developed a couple hacks/things that I like to do when I’m bouncing around from place to place. I wrote down this list for myself as a reminder and am sharing it in case anyone else finds the list useful.

Technology

  • Future Flight Ticket for Forward Travel: used to get into countries, and to ship bags overseas. If you travel like me, you often don’t know where you are going to be tomorrow, let alone when you are leaving a particular country. To avoid planning, there are sites online to get you a flight ticket to show to travel authorities. Some of the sites just use photoshop to generate a fake flight ticket, while other sites pay for a flight ticket and cancel it on your behalf after a time period (different rates apply for 24-hour versus several-week periods)
  • Incognito mode for booking flights (cheaper)
  • VPN: allows access to geo-restricted content and keeps your personal information secure while using public Wi-Fi. I used it to access my sister’s HBO account in France (when they don’t have access to HBO Max) so I can watch “True Detective”
  • Google Translate: communicate with locals, read menus, scan health ingredients on products. I once had a full 45-minute conversation with my Turkish taxi driver in Istanbul through the app
  • Currency converter app: always good to stay up to date on local prices
  • Ride-sharing apps: These can be a more affordable and convenient alternative to traditional taxi services. Every place has their own version. For example: the cheapest in Asia is usually Grab or Gojek
  • Travel itinerary app: This will help you keep track of your flights, hotels, and other reservations in one place
  • Flight tracking app: helps to stay informed about flight delays and gate changes
  • Google Maps App: While in the US, Apple Maps may be more reliable, I find Google Maps to be much better abroad. A lot of my friends like MAPS.ME but I never really got into it.
  • E-sim: Extra props to you if it’s a regional pass. (ex: for all of Europe, all of Asia) I use Airalo, and have been a big fan. Really nice to get off a flight/bus/train and immediately have access to the world on my phone without having to stop by a store. While my friends are frantically looking for a 7-Eleven and trying to figure out how to activate their phones, I’m already routing myself to the nearest bakery, listening to music, and swiping through the DAPPS to meet up with a local
  • Travelers Insurance: important to have peace of mind when doing activities like surfing and skiing abroad. I have World Nomads, but other big players are SafetyWing and Allianz

Accommodation

  • Booking Hostels with Free Cancelation: used during ski season and around other events like Octoberfest, when I wanted to have flexibility with schedules but not miss out on opportunities to stay in specific areas
  • Analyze Hostelworld for looking at “how busy” hostels might be (I typically prefer hostels with more people)
  • Before booking a stay, cross-check other accommodation sites like booking.com. There are often arbitrage opportunities across the sites with prices
    • Note: You can always book the cheapest hostel, but party/hangout at the best one
    • Helps to have or make a friend who is staying at the hostel, or if the hostel has a bar that you can buy a drink at
  • When booking accommodation/hostels:
    • Look at blogs online of the best places to stay
    • Use the hostelworld app to see how many people have booked a specific place
    • Create your own ranking system for the things you care about and how to weigh the decision
    • Questions for the ranking system can include:
      • Does it have laundry machines?
      • AC?
      • How many people are in the dorm room? Note: I personally like 4-8 people. I stayed in a dorm room once with 32 beds and decided that it will never be worth the 98 cents a night saved, instead of “splurging” for a smaller room
      • How far from the city center? For most cities, I like being as close to city center as possible, but there are a couple of exceptions. E.g. in Rome I prefer the historic district, in Glasgow I prefer West Side, etc.
      • Insert other things that you care about

General Tips / Tricks

  • Bring a blender: used to make healthy smoothies and green drinks on the road. My friends and I would always travel with this when road-tripping, and whoever woke up first would make a smoothie for everyone
  • Reimbursement for Delayed Baggage
    • This can come through your credit card, Travel Insurance, or directly through the Airline itself
    • I once received 450 euros for my bag being delayed a couple of days
  • Use Starbucks / Mcdonalds for consistent wifi
  • Centralize and Decentralize valuables
    • Decentralize: Multiple credit/debit cards, but store them in different locations
    • Centralize: On travel day, have everything important (for me, that’s my drone, credit cards, passport) in the same-day bag. Never check this bag and always keep it next to you
  • When in expensive cities and looking for cheap meals, use:
    • Bakeries. They are not just desert spots and often have paninis and sandwiches
    • 7 Eleven / Spar / Tesco / Convenient store meals to go
  • When going grocery shopping, look to see if there is an “International section/shelf.” I often look for this so I can buy peanut butter
  • When in a city and craving to play music, walk into a music shop and “demo” guitars /pianos for free
  • Use walking tours as an overview of the city, opportunity to meet new people, and ability to memorize obscure facts and be an intellectual. More on that here
  • When entering a new city/place, immediately take a picture and tag your location on social media. You never know what friends / fellow travelers are in your area, and it’s always great to reconnect

Portugal & Spain Thoughts

Going through old notes and unfortunately, I didn’t write much in Portugal and Spain – too busy surfing and dancing / sweating my ass off I guess. Posting what I did write and adding a little extra flavor to some of the things I remembered that are sticking out to me.

Portugal

  • I remember when I found out my Dad went to Florida as a kid. As a kid who never traveled anywhere, I was infatuated and asked him a million questions about what it was like. His answer: “the orange juice there was really good.” Well after traveling through Spain and Portugal, I can fully attest that Florida orange juice has nothing on the stuff over here. If Florida is weed, this Europe shit is heroine.
  • Pace of life is significantly slower over here. Reminds me of Hawaii, but it’s a different vibe. Hawaii has a really cool Aloha and Mahalo culture. Yet at times in Oahu (not as much on other islands), it feels quite commercialized. Parallel example: that natural Christmas spirit in cities during month of December is there, but is often ruined by all the stores trying to sell you stuff in that “culture.” I don’t get any of that here in Portugal, or particularly so far in Lagos.
  • Had a date spot to be used as THE metric for all other date spots. Pizza, wine, picnic style, and the cliffs of the Algarve for sunset. Simplistic and magical.
  • Lisbon is very similar to San Francisco. On the coast? Check. Big red bridge? Check. Hills all over the city that make your knees want to collapse and you to utilize that red bridge for an unintended purpose? Check. Jokes aside – both great cities, good food, entertaining people, fun place.
  • Ok, after a couple of weeks on the coast, I’ve decided there is a good chance I move to a spot like Peniche, Ericeira, or Nazare and live out the rest of my days on a shack on the beach. I’ll catch/eat raw fish and surf my days away. What more does one need? Life as a recipe can be quite simple: just add water. Also special shoutout to the Peniche Surfing Lodge and the squad. Y’all are fucking awesome – Catcha on another wave, another day.
  • Ended my time in Portugal at Porto, which is extremely underrated. Could be the port wine talking. Dang, that stuff is just like me: strong and sweet.

Spain

  • Time to brush up on that good ol High School Spanish classes: “Como estas?”, “tengo hambre”, and “donde esta la biblioteca?”
    • I’m both equally shocked and impressed with how little and yet how much I retained from those classes. There’s times where I felt like I was “transactional/conversational” ready and other times I ended up ordering the completely wrong meal. A lot of “Que?” And “Como?” popping up after I randomly put together a completely incoherent sentence structure.
    • Twas fun getting to know the differences between what I was taught and how people actually converse. Example: instead of saying “yo quiero ….” for ordering, I ended up saying “Me pones … por favor”
  • I have a friend back in the US who, whenever he does cheers, touches his glass to the table – I thought he created that and I started doing it because I thought it was cool…only to find out that all of Spain (and probably a lot of other countries) do this. Not so original now, hey Beane. No apoya no folla…
  • Highlights include strolling through the plazas of Madrid, marveling at the works of Picasso / Salvador Dali, catching a football game in Sevilla, walking the beaches of Cadiz, admiring the alcazar/aqueduct of Segovia, drinking horchata in Valencia, and skating/dancing through Barcelona. All in +40 degree (+100 F) weather…
  • If you visit 1 city in Spain, make it Barcelona. Hundreds of cities later and it’s still my favorite in the whole world. The food (would be tough to be vegetarian here…), the architecture (Gaudi is a God), the skating scene (never a good day unless someone is bleeding), the beach (someone say volleyball, Maverick?), the clubs (time to go out when other cities fall asleep), the people, and the smell…ok, we can skip that last one. But everything else about this place is perfect and thought through. Even the grid patterns of the streets were designed for airflow/circulation and visibility…This place has got it all.
  • Special shoutout to my friend Sara who played tour guide for me around Madrid, Felix who I traveled with around Portugal / Spain (and who somehow never failed to create his own pub crawl with +20 people. Where were our special club promoter drink discounts?), Catherine who showed me all the best traditional Spanish dishes in Sevilla, and all the other friends I made along the way.
  • Sitting in a cafe in Thailand and thinking back to my time in Spain, I’m still amazed at the kindness people will show you when you are traveling. Millions of examples are floating to my mind but one is sticking out for me right now – my first day in Spain. My flight from Scotland to Madrid had just landed (really late at night) and I was trying to take public transport from the airport to city center, when all of a sudden, the train stopped running and we were all told to get off at the train stop and take another method of transportation into the city. Murphy’s Law kicks in and of course my cell phone service decided to not work. Right when I’m starting to think I’ll be stranded, this couple I had talked briefly to on the train mentioned that they were going into the city and asked if I wanted to jump in their Uber. They then refused to let me pay for anything and told me to go out and buy myself a drink. People amaze me. Just when you think you’re better off living on a beach by yourself, you realize that we are all humans and most people are good people. If somehow you see this – thanks again for the ride Gary / Karley, and I hope your honeymoon was amazing 🙂

On Walking Tours

I’ve done walking tours across +25 countries in Europe, and the reason I keep coming back are for 4 main reasons:

  1. Free (just need to tip at the end)
  2. Gives a nice overview of the new city and helps me catch my bearings (Doing it the first day is incredibly helpful to find out cheap places to eat and where to go out)
  3. Opportunity to meet people (can’t tell you how many friends I’ve made from them)
  4. Gives me the ability to memorize one obscure fact that I can pawn off as my own knowledge in a random future pub to impress strangers (and ideally improve my chances of being seen as a not complete degenerate, or a worthy companion to a cute female)

With all that in mind, I’ve found quite a few similarities from country to country that I find entertaining/interesting. If you want to avoid some walking tours, become slightly less ignorant of the world, or improve your own chances of impressing your significant other / person of interest / pet cat, then feel free to read on about the weird facts.

Disclaimer: I’m going to make generalizations. These apply to some European cities, but obviously not all.

  • Water out the window. Back in the day, to get rid of human waste (I’ll let you deduce what all of this encompasses), people would just toss it out of their window into the streets. To avoid it hitting the people below, a lot of cities had their own expressions to warn the people to move out of harm’s way. Scots would yell “gardyloo”, Spanish would yell “Aqua va!”, etc.
  • Why do buildings have a second floor that sticks out further than the first floor? Answer: Taxes. A lot of cities used to charge based on the square footage from the ground, so people could save extra money if they built their homes with a smaller base
  • Circular paint spots on old buildings? Most likely old bullet holes from a civil war.
  • Why are staircases in castles built to spiral in a clockwise direction? Since castles were fortifications, these staircases were designed to be narrow and difficult for enemy soldiers to fight their way up. By building these staircases clockwise, the enemy (mostly right-handed) would need to round each curve of the wall before striking the defenders, often exposing themselves in the process. This gave the defenders a massive advantage, as they would be able to protect themselves using the inner wall and attack the enemy with their right hand wielding their swords. Other defense strategies were often put in place, such as intentionally making certain halls dark/dimly lit, having uneven stairs, trap doors in certain sections, holes where archers could shoot through, etc.
  • Why was a certain city district destroyed? Always comes down to a couple things, which are easily guessable based on the region. Its either a natural disaster (earthquake, fire) or humans (wars)
  • Every city in Europe swears they are “different from everyone else” and have a “cafe culture” where *shockingly, gasp* people love to drink coffee and gossip. Never would’ve guessed that. Can’t believe people like to be caffeinated or drink. Why would anyone ever do that.
  • Rules of Equestrian Statues: If the horse is rearing up and has 2 feet raised off the ground, then the rider died in battle. If the horse has one foot raised, then the rider died of injuries sustained in action shortly after the battle ended. And if the horse has all four hooves on the ground, then the rider died of natural causes.
  • Almost all things associated with culture and history can be explained by one of these 4 empires:
    • Roman Empire – greatest influence on western culture—especially in regard to architecture, language, literature, art, and science
    • Ottoman Empire – Islamic empire of Suleyman the Magnificent that covered: Southeastern Europe, Western Asia, and North Africa
    • British Empire – had about a quarter of the planet and population at its height and colonies on every continent
    • Macedonian Empire – one of the shortest-lived but most powerful empires in the world, under Alexander the Great
  • Most cities have fallen to one of the 4 empires listed above, before eventually gaining their country’s independence
  • Food is incredibly regionally based.
    • Irish and English Breakfast is basically the same
    • All the Balkans basically eat the same thing. Bureks for breakfast, some type of meat platter and salad for the other meals.
    • Germany, Austria, and Hungary have similar cuisines (basis of meat and potatoes)
    • Shall I go on?
  • Mention of World War 1 or 2 and the effects it had on the city. (Communistic architecture, concentration camps, destroyed buildings, etc)
  • Walking tours usually focus around Old Town, because Old Town > New Town – better for accommodation, restaurants, and nightlife usually
  • Numbers of religion are fabricated and higher than actuality. Some censuses don’t even have an option for non-religious / atheists. Religion in some areas is also viewed as cultural (e.g. people will view themselves as Muslim but won’t practice or follow all rules)
    • Eastern European countries are definitely more religious than Western European countries, and religion is still very much engrained in the city culture / practices
  • Height limitations on city buildings – Unlike the US, there are not many skyscrapers due to the rules about buildings not being higher than a particular church or government building.
  • Lot of old fortresses overlooking or in the outskirts of cities. These places where men have laid down their lives and fallen for the city has now been reduced to the make-out spot for teenagers
  • Cities almost always have a strategic access to water, being built around a river or coastline, with an old system of wells or aqueducts in place
  • Cities are either cat or dog focused, and they love em dearly.
    • Edinburgh, Scotland has a statue erected for a dog (Greyfriars Bobby) that died 150 years ago. Many people call it the “most famous statue” in all of Edinburgh.
    • Dubrovnik, Croatia once constructed a small house for a cat (Anastazija) on a step of the Rector’s Palace, and when the government decided to remove the house, it sparked an outrage amongst the people. The people protested and began writing negative reviews of the museum – bringing it down to 1.8 out of 10 stars. They also had an online petition that received more votes than what the mayor got when he was elected.
  • Tours always start in the central square (called a piazza, plaza, etc.)

With all this in mind, the next time you find yourself in a new city, I highly recommend you do a walking tour. And I’ll also look forward to hearing your obscure, random fact over some drinks at the pub.

England (Mainly London) Thoughts

  • Upon visiting London, I’ve officially checked off 1/3 travel goals I’ve had since middle school when I was finally starting to get that craving to travel. (The life goal: Coffee/Tea on a raining day in London. The other 2 to be completed: Vacation in Santorini Greece, backpack across New Zealand)
  • My list of top touristy shit to do: 1) Tower of London 2) Tower Bridge 3) British Museum 4) London Eye 5) Buckingham Palace 6) Trafalgar Square 7) Houses of Parliament 8) Shakespeare’s Globe 9) HMS Belfast 10) Camden Market
  • London actually has bike lanes! NYC could learn a thing or two from this. Yeah fuck you and your tickets NYPD.
  • Besides the bike lanes, there actually is a lot of similarities between London and NYC – both extremely large cities filled with busy (sometimes pretentious) individuals. Amazing restaurants, activities, and other entertainment that will leave your wallet crying. But the people living in both cities will tell you they can’t imagine living anywhere else.
  • Camden Street might be my favorite market I’ve ever been to. The decorations, the water, the streets, the shops, the people, the food…all amazing. Best part: the sampling. When I was a child, after a soccer (sorry, football) game, my Dad often went to Costco to pickup food for the family weekend. Yet somehow he never seemed to comprehend that after playing a game of soccer and burning hundreds of calories, I would be hungry. It was in these moments that Costco was my saving grace. I’d hit up every single sample stations and usually repeat spots to get enough of a meal to quench the appetite. Camden took me back to this memory, except the samples here was from some of the freshest meat, potatoes, and deserts I’ve ever had.
  • New (Terrible) Business Idea: Right by Platform 9 and 3/4, there should be a “rent a child” station – this could be utilized for all the adults like me who want to take a picture, but feel awkward. Being able to pay a couple quid to rent a child to escort them will make waiting in line less embarrassing, and give the adult someone to talk to about their love of the books / movies. The child can also be there as a caretaker (and accountant) for the foreign adult who may most likely wander into the Harry Potter store and want to buy everything there.
  • Hoping that Brits find my accent as charming and attractive as I find theirs. Ah no way, this can’t be objectively true….Well come to think of it, there has to be something there due to the scarcity model. You hear a Brit (am I allowed to call them Brits?) speak in the US, it’s rare and deemed more attractive. Perhaps the opposite could ring true in London. Yes, perhaps. Need to remain optimistic and hopeful.
  • Overheard in the streets of London:
    • Girl 1: “Why did you do it?”
    • Girl 2: “Because he was sooo hot.”
    • People really aren’t that different from place to place.
  • If you want to be a posh tourist and visit Buckingham Palace, its worth going to watch the changing of the Queens Guard – 11 am weekdays, 10am Sundays
  • Was not allowed into a club because the bouncer “could see in my eyes I was drunk.” Literally didn’t even have a single lick of alcohol in the past 48 hours. Fuck Fabric nightclub.
  • British Museum Notes
    • Oh the famous British museum – Look at the history of England and all its artifacts? No, more like look at all the things across the world that Britain stole haha. I think I’m allowed to call the kettle black since the US is just like this. (Takes one to know one)
    • For a good 2 hours while visiting, (don’t ask me why) all I could think about was how I would get away with stealing items, and what items would be impossible to steal. (6 tonnes of stone lion? Yeah infeasible) Is this an admission of guilt? Absolutely not.
    • 2 things I found most interesting: Mummies and Money sections
      • Mummies – naturally anything dead and yet still not fully dead due to preservation will be fascinating. Most humans I think are in a constant stage of fear and curiosity about the process of death, as well as how other humans have dealt with it
      • Money – could be my finance major or my internal greed I have always felt as a kid, but I found this incredible interesting. (Total nerd move I know) One part worth noting – they went all the way from the start of exchange of goods and system of accounting —> “present day” where they talked about “electronic cash” and how we may live in a future without any physical coins / paper, just paying with a credit/debit card. In my opinion, this falls incredibly short of where we have been for the last +10 years. (bitcoin invented in 2009) I wonder when crypto will be included in this museum, because it will happen some day soon and should already be included.
  • I actually like Shakespeare plays. After seeing my Insta post of the Harry Potter picture at Platform 9 & 3/4, my friend Mike challenged me to watch a play and “be cultured.” Turns out for 5-10 euros you can do just that.
  • As this was my second country in Europe, this was the first time I was able to meetup with “old travel friends” who I made in Ireland. A simple game of Wordle with an Auzzie in the Galway hostel led to hanging out again with her in London. And a British hostel mate from Dublin became my local tour guide of Wimbledon. This friend Charlie introduced me to the beautiful world of British parties, fish & chips, Wetherspoons (Spoons) pubs, and how to drunkenly navigate the tube and trains of England. Solid lad.
  • England could very well be a good country to post up for the incoming World Cup this Autumn. We shall see.