Rach & Shelly

Frick and Frack Travel Europe

Rach & Shelly

So I'm sure you are all wondering, are Rachael and Shelly going to survive this adventure? Well this will serve as your window to the show that is, our life! We're about to begin an adventure of a life time... slumming it, also known as backpacking, through Europe!

Follow at your own risk 😉



Europe » Italy » Campania » Naples May 15th 2011

We got into Naples by train and then took to Metro to our stop where the hostel was. Rachael had to use the bathroom so she payed the 20cents and walked into the public bathrooms that are set up outside the metro. Once you put the money in the door opens. Only one person can use the bathroom at a time. The door instantly closes behind you and you are trapped until you finish your buisiness. There is a button to push that gives you about 2 squares of toilet paper at a time and you are only allowed to push it 5 times. There are no toilet seats in Italy so hovering is a must which makes things even more scary. The floor in the public bathroom is soaking wet as if someone goes in ... read more
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Europe » Italy » Lazio » Rome May 10th 2011

We arrived in Rome by train. It took us about 4 hours to get there and was very cramped. Once we got off the train we had to take the metro to the bus station and then take a bus to our campsite. We arrived almost perfectly into rush hour and missed the first bus to our campsite because it was so crowded. When we finally got on the bus thankfully we met a few german girls who gave us the heads up when it came to our stop. The bus was so crowded you couldn't see any signs or move for that matter to see where you were so we were thankful they were so nice. We finally got to our campsite and checked into our tent that was set up identical to the tent ... read more
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Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Florence May 7th 2011

We arrived at the train station and had to travel to another station then take a bus to the campsite. We noticed people that looked just like us (big backpack on the back and small one on the front), yes they were one of us, and they looked lost. So we ended up showing them the way the get there, and they helped too! We got to the campsite and we were staying in a tent but this was no tent that you would picture camping in back home. This tent had a sliding door that locked, and two bunk beds in there with two ligths as well. This was a pretty nice tent. The rest of the day we just hung out and did some much needed laundry. The campsite had these strange footbath looking ... read more
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Europe » Italy » Veneto » Venice May 4th 2011

We flew into Venice from Toulouse and as you start the landing you can see roads in the sea that the boats travel on between the different islands. You can also see how the city seems to be partially under water. It was amazing to see Venice from the air. We arrived and had to take a very long bus ride to our campsite. We were staying on a different island than the main one that Venice is on. We arrived at the campsite and we were staying in a hard top camper that was just big enough to fit two cots and a self. The campsite had a small supermarket, pizzaria, restaurant, and a bar... just what we needed! We wandered around the campsite seeing all it had to offer and ran into a bunch ... read more
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Palace
Murano Glass

Europe » France May 4th 2011

So most of you are probably wondering how we ended up in France in the first place, let alone come to work on a farm.... Well this is where our good friends Maddie and Cory come in once again to this story. When we were in Lagos Portugal we were all sitting around having a drink and telling stories of our European adventures when Maddie and Cory told their story of working on a dairy farm in France call Ferme Fromage de Solere. They gave us great detail and after a few beers and discussion we emailed the farm and asked if we could stay for a while. We got an email back about a day later that said we could stay as long as we liked and the dates we had chosen worked out perfect ... read more
The lake at night
Jelte, Fie, Wendela
Shelly, Rachael, Onno, Jelte, Berbere

Europe » Spain » Catalonia » Barcelona April 25th 2011

We flew into Barcelona from Sevilla pretty late at night, we were groggy and ready for a peaceful night sleep. We got into the hostel at about 2am, the night guard showed us to our room and we were out. A merely 5 hours later, we were rudely awakened by what sounded like a million school children running up and down the hall screaming... you can imagine how happy we were with that. There was no point in sleeping anymore because even the sound of our music turned up as loud as possible couldn't drown out their noise. We got up, got ready and set out to see Barcelona in the day light, first things first, we of course needed a coffee. We walked around for a bit just taking in the sights. We caught the ... read more
Design on the ceiling
Walk through the park
View from the top

Europe » Spain April 19th 2011

Before we start this blog we would like to inform everyone that we realize that we have not written in a while and yes we are both still alive just been busy with life as you will soon find out in later blogs to come. So a few weeks ago we were in Seville Spain living in a hostel right next to “Cathedral de Seville” fitting name seeing as we were in the heart of the city. The Cathedral was one of the most beautiful churches we’ve visited on our entire trip. It was enormous, with an outdoor courtyard and about 10 different rooms for prayer and relaxation. The outside of the building was amazing, great architecture and had detailed statues all around it. The detail on the outside was almost nothing compared to the inside ... read more
Inside Sevilla Cathedral
Cieling of Sevilla Cathedral
Outside the Cathedral

Europe » Portugal » Algarve » Lagos April 14th 2011

We arrived to Lagos Portugal from Lisbon Portugal by bus on the 5th of April. We used the directions that hostel bookers gave us to find the hostel and somehow managed to get lost. In our defense, we were a bit tired and definitely in shock of how beautiful everything was. Thankfully the size of the town is very small so after we made a loop we figured out where we were and found our guest house. The guest house is located almost directly city center and is right off of a main street. Literally there is no sidewalk so if you step out of the front door without looking you could get squashed by locals driving fast along the one lane streets. We walked in to the guest house through a tiny door that was ... read more
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Europe » Portugal » Lisboa April 4th 2011

We arrived in lisbon, Portugal by bus from Porto. The bus took about 4 hours and was full of stinky sweaty people topped off by tiny seats which made even the best of friends uncomfortable sitting next to eachother. We finally arrived to the city and caught the Metro to the stop that led us to our hostel. When we arrived we realized the address of the hostel was about 10 feet from the exit to the metro but we were confused as to where the enterance was. We noticed where our hostel should be was actually a suvenier shop we looked a little closer and saw a sign that said hostel with letters that looked like they once said Kitch, the name of our hostel. We stumbled inside the gift shop and low and behold ... read more
View from our Hostel balcony
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Plant Nerd

Europe » Portugal » Northern » Porto March 27th 2011

We arrived in Porto and took the subway to the street that the hostel was on, we came to #93 which is what it said it was in the directions and there was no sign for the Atum Guest House. We must have looked very confused because someone was in the window above watching us, he yelled down, "Michelle?" Shelly answered and well we were 'home'. We looked around a little skeptical that this was the right place but Padro walked us in, sat us down and took a map out explaining the best places to go. He told us all about Porto and Lisbon. We then walked around the little apartment and it was... hard to describe, but pretty cool. There was about 5 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, a kitchen and a balcony. It was getting ... read more
Shel outside Croft Wine Cave
Us inside the caves
Small beach just outside Porto




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