Day 35: TRAVEL/Paris. Today was...brutal. It started last night. I slept on a train from Porto to San Sebastian. I had three girls in my cabin who were really nice. But it was just hard to fall asleep. I woke up with 30 minutes left in the ride. No problem. I got to San Sebastian and decided to go to France. So I bought a ticket for the border. Ok. Now I know what country I'm sleeping in tonight. I got a coffee and breakfast in San Sebastian. Short train ride to the border. At the border I learned that going to Bordeaux was free with my pass. So I got another coffee at a cafe with wifi. Except I was no longer on the peninsula, so there were no hostels in Bordeaux. Or Toulouse. Or ... read more

Day 14: Barcelona. I would like to take a picture of this day and keep it forever. This was my favorite day so far. Today I remembered that cities are about the experiences and people rather than the sights. I had breakfast with my new Italian friend Lorenzo. It was cloudy, so I was going to do some sightseeing. But I decided to go to Sitges beach with him about 40 minutes south of Barcelona. It was sunny, beautiful, and hot. The beach was clean and not crowded. About 2 hours in we realized that we were, in fact, on a gay beach. The people watching was awesome. After a shower and siesta, we met a Belgian guy and Australian girl. Martin and Roxanne. Both solo travelers. Martin and Lorenzo made a really good dinner for ... read more

This is how I will blog this summer. Later, I'll do more detailed posts. But this is the best way for me to have experiences and share them with you. Day 1: Rome. Today I saw the Colosseum and pyramid. I hiked up to a great view of Rome. I saw the inside of an Irish pub (go Argentina!) and watched the USA lose in Venezia Piazza. I learned that restaurant owners who want pigeons to go away sprinkle chili flakes on the ground. Day 2: Rome. Today I walked forever. I saw the rest of Rome. I ate a lot of gelato (all of the gelato). I watched the sun set and I sat in a mostly-empty St. Peter's square until I got kicked out (who knew it closed?) Day 3: Rome. Today I went ... read more

I've been slacking on blog posts, but I promise I will catch up eventually. Tomorrow I embark on what will probably be the biggest adventure of my life. I bought a Eurail Global Pass for 2 months that essentially gives me unlimited access to trains in 27 different countries for two months. I am starting in Rome and moving on from there. There is no plan. I am alone. I have never been more excited for anything in my life. I am couchsurfing as much as I can. It's a great way to meet people, see the local sides of cities, and save money. I have a couchsurfer lined up for Rome and then another afterwards in a small town in Italy called Terni. My mom and Darcy are going to be getting all of my ... read more

We drove to Zagreb on Easter Sunday. Let me rephrase that. We spent the entirety of Easter Sunday driving to Zagreb. The bus ride was along the Dalmatian coast again, which was a win, and we even got to stop in Split for a brief break! It was a really good thing that we had loaded up on snacks because all of the things were closed. Everywhere. We got to Zagreb and night and found our couchsurfer's flat easily. His name is Julien and he's from France. He moved to Zagreb for a girl and fell in love with the city. He's a professional photographer who takes these amazing pictures and is super nice. Kathleen and I were exhausted from sitting on a bus all day (it's real, okay?), so we fell asleep pretty quickly. On ... read more