India

Delhi 4 days/ Agra 1 day/Jaipur 1 day/ Delhi 2 days    

From Athens I flew through Moscow to New Delhi. 

At the Moscow airport I celebrated Halloween with pumpkin seeds that i had brought from Europe. 

On the 2nd I did a day tour of Delhi. On the tour I met 3 Indian guys traveling and touring. They were very nice and very curious about what I was doing and shocked that I was doing it alone. I very quickly realized that I was not surrounded by other independent travelers like I had been in Europe. This was fine, but I found it to be one of the most challenging places to meet people with similar mind sets. I found that the majority of people whom i encountered traveling were other Indians exploring other parts of their country and the main response I received was surprise and would recieve a lot of questions trying to somehow find a way to understand why someone would want to travel alone. The hard part for many of them to grasp was that I would make friends as I went and create new and unique experiences to learn and grow from and when I was on my own I would appreciate my surroundings and learn more about myself. 

November 3rd was Diwali or the Festival of Lights. This is one India's biggest festival celebrated by India's in all parts of the country. I was lucky enough to celebrate with the Govil family. The evening started with decorating, eating, and puja. After all of this the town exploded into smoke, lights and noise of fire crackers. It was a beautiful evening with very welcoming and friendly people. 

November 5th my day started at 6am getting ready for a three day golden triangle tour. I checked out of my hostel at 6:30 and went to find a rickshaw. The day before I was told I should pay 50 or 60 rupees but no more than 100. When I asked what the price would be the driver told me 300! I was astonished and just laughed. I told him I would pay 40. He settled for 50 which I was quite pleased with because I would have paid up to 70. It was a fairly sketchy ride because he kept asking if I had a boyfriend, offering me drugs, and stopping to smoke. Luckily I made it to the tour office without having to deal with anything serious. There were 5 of us on the tour. Two ladies for Goah and two older men from Sweden. The drive was insane; I have never seen such gridlock in my life. It puts Los angles and Seattle traffic to shame. 

In Agra we saw:

The red fort

The Taj Mahal

A marble handy craft shop

A rug and textiles shop

At the stores we got a initial presentation of what they did and how they did it which was fascinating but then came the sales pitch....both places started off with the bigger items with higher prices and then worked their way down to smaller more inexpensive items. It was very staged and although I loved everything they had it was all out of my budget and the way everything was presented was very sly and I didn't want to be a part of it. 

After checking into our hotel the two Swedish men and I went to dinner. It was delicious! I have no idea what I ate, all I know was that it was a chicken dish. I had asked the water for suggestions and taken his recommendation. I was quite pleased. We had a pleasant conversation and they paid for my dinner. I  hope that one day I will be able to do the same for another traveler. 

We returned from the tour on the 7th and for my remaining couple of days I didn't do much. I walked around the city and found good indian food to eat. One day I did a hop on hop off tour but only got off at one stop which was India gate. I enjoyed it because there was grass surrounding the gate and I just found a patch to sit and relax in. However, people made it very difficult for me to relax. One guy would come sit near me, leave, come back and sit again and the cycle continued for about 30min. After this a little girl that was on a picnic with her family came up to me and said "hello, how are you." This was not as annoying because she was cute and just practicing her English. Another group of little kids came and asked me for money and throwing rocks. A large group of school kids walked past staring and taking pictures. There were more encounters that occurred but I think my point was made. 

On the 10th of November I was excited to go to the airport and move to a different place because I felt I had exhausted things to do in Delhi.  Don't get me wrong, overall I enjoyed India but it was a lot to take in and I was ready to move on to other things.

I arrived at the airport in Delhi at 5am for my flight which I thought was at 7:10. Without a ticket they would not let me into the airport to check in. I thought this was going to be a real problem because i needed to go to the counter inside to check in and get my ticket but they wouldn't let me in without a ticket.... Finally someone pointed me in the direction of the ticket counter at the far end of the airport. I went and had them print out a form that basically just had my name on it and flight info. It was certainly not a ticket. Anyway, I then tried to check in and the lady at the Air India counter told me I needed to come back after 6am to check in. I was confused again. She wanted me to check in less than an hour before my international flight? Well, I soon found out that the flight was at 9am and not 7:10. I was glad that I had mistaken it for earlier and not later. Anyway, this caused yet another problem. I was getting picked up at the airport in Nepal by the trekking company and they were going to take me to my hotel but they were expecting me at around 9 when I would actually arrive around 11. The airport advertised free wifi but you could only access it with an Indian phone number to receive an SMS code. Great, I didn't have phone access, let alone an Indian phone number. After I was finally checked in I went to an information desk where they told me I could get free Internet at a desk inside. I found the desks that the lady was describing but all the computers were broken. I then went to a different information desk where I was told I could get Internet on the 4th floor. What? How am I supposed to get to the 4th floor? I finally found it but when I asked about free Internet they said you have to pay for access to the lounge to get Internet. I asked if there was a way to just pay for 5 minutes worth of Internet because I just needed to send one email. They were extremely nice and let me use the wifi for free. I sent an email to Raj telling him the new flight information to get picked up at the right time. However, I would not know if he received the email or if I would actually get picked up from the airport until I actually arrived. Ohh then came the visa application. I couldn't remember if I had my pictures for the visas in my carry on or where they would be if they were not there. They also did not take the Nepali Rupee for the visa fee. Somehow I was able to find my pictures in my carry on and paid with the only US money I had.

Greece

Thessaloniki, Greece 2 nights/ Olympus 2 nights/Thessaloniki 1 night

At the bus stop from the airport I met a Ricky,  a German guy who was heading to the same hostel as me. It was a long journey to the hostel from the airport and I was tired and hungover but we made it, checked in and got lunch. That evening 3 of us went on a free boat ride at the port of Tessoliniki. Yes free! It was not a scam! They strongly encouraged you to buy a drink which was how they made their money but it actually wasn't a scam- I was shocked. That evening a group of us went to the bars. 

The next morning was the 25th and we all met up for breakfast and then explored the city. 

While exploring we saw a fighter pilot, a submarine, and a bunch of cool streets with things going on. After exploring we decided to go to. He beach which was an hour bus ride away. We got snacks, changed into swim suits, and headed out. More refreshing water! We also stumbled on a gorp of people throwing blue chalk, making music, and walking around a fake camel. We joined in on the festival, they threw chalk at us and wished us good luck. We have no idea what had happened but it was fun and random! 

That night we were inspired to watch Top Gun which was relaxing. The next morning Brandon B and I had planned on hiking Mt. Olympus but were up really late so struggled a bit in the morning to get moving. We probably got three hours of sleep, left the hostel at 7:30 and started hiking at 10:10 from the base of the mountain, Litohoro, where the bus dropped us off. 

We got the the shelter at around 4:30. Towards the end of the hike it became a struggle. The temperature had dropped because it was later in the day as well as the altitude change and the shade was more frequent. I was wearing shorts and a tank top and clutching my water bottle to my chest with my fingers interlocked tougher. When we finally reached the shelter we had to sign in and my handwriting looked like a 2 year old's handwriting because I could barley move or feel my fingers. We were shown our room which was a twenty person dorm with two giant beds. There was no heating so we took as many blankets as we could, made our beds, and went to warm up and get some food in the common area. We both had spaghetti and meatballs with celebratory wine. We sat with Anna A and Jacquline. While talking to them we realized we had seen each other at the parking lot part way up the mountain and as we continued talking realized that pretty much everyone drives to that parking lot and then hikes to the Refuge. Brandon and I realized that we had done 11km more than almost everyone and that's why everyone else was making it look so easy and why we were struggling so much towards the end. Talking with Anna and Jacquline over dinner and hanging out afterwards was so nice; we couldn't have met better people! We joined another group of Greeks who were Los great to talk to and shared s bottle of vodka that they had brought up the mountain. 

The next morning Brandon and I decided to walk up the mountain a bit more instead of heading back down. As we were walking we kept wanting to go higher and higher because the view kept getting more incredible.

We then realized we were on the trail to the main summit. We continued hiking and said if we ran out of water or thought we couldn't do it without gear that we would tun back. Before we knew it we were about 30-40 min from the summit. However, it wasn't going to be a stroll in the park. We talked to several groups coming down who gave us some tips, told us to be extremely carful, but encouraged us to go for it. 40 min later we were at the highest point in Greece looking at the most stunning view on the most beautiful day. 

After appreciating the view, the experience, the spontaneity of this endeavor and taking a bunch of pictures we headed back down to the shelter. Fortunately they had space for us one more night because there was no way we could make it back down the mountain before dark or without freezing. We had another rewarding meal, hung out, and went to bed. 

Our final morning on mount Olympus was the 28th. We had breakfast, hiked down to the parking lot, and hitchhiked back to Litohoro where we started and needed to get the bus. The couple that drove us back into town were really friendly and made my first hitchhiking experience a positive one. 

That evening I did my laundry and relaxed back at The Little Big House Hostel. 

Athens, Greece 2 nights

After waiting for my laundry to dry I packed up all my things and took a bus to Athens. I left at 15:15 and arrived in Athens at 21:15. The bus stop in Athens that I got off at was not that well established and I could not figure out how to get to my hostel. I asked two people for directions. The first person said he didn't know where I was trying to go and the second person said what I was looking for was very far away. He tried to help me figure to a metro and a bus to get there but it got really complicated so he offered me a ride when his friend picked him up. With my new found hitchhiking skills I took the ride. They were very nice guys who told me that was a pretty sketchy part of town and thought I was crazy for traveling alone. They dropped me off right in front of my hostel which I could not have been more thankful for because it could have been a very long night for me. My last full day in Europe was the 30th. I did a free walking tour of Athens which lasted a couple of hours and allowed me to see most of what I wanted to. After the tour I headed back to the hostel planned some arrangements for India (my next destination), took a nap, had dinner, wrote postcards, and had a beer with some people from to hostel. The morning of the 31st I went to the post office then made my way to the airport to get my flight to India. I spend my Halloween on a flight form Athens to Moscow, Russia and in the Russian airport. I brought along pumpkins seeds to celebrate and had a candy bar. 

Olympic track:

Acropolis:

Lucky to Leave with all my Belongings

Venice, Italy 1 night

I met a girl from Korea at my hostel and we walked around taking pictures and exploring the winding streets of Venice. We got dinner after a long day of travel and waking around the city then called it a day. 

Florence, Italy 2 nights

October 15th, I took a train to Florence. As usual, checked into my hostel and got situated. Of course I met some more great people at the hostel who I walked around with before we had dinner at Tijuana which served Mexican food. We enjoyed fishbowl sized margaritas. 

On the 16th I did a day trip to Pisa. On the train I sat with an Italian man and an older couple from Portugal. With Portuguese, Italian and my broken Spanish we all tried to communicate a bit which was quite fun and a way to pass the time quite quickly. 

When returning to Florence I went to a garden which I did not have a ticket for and tried to enter through the wrong gate but the lady was nice and just let me in. I then bought pasta to cook and a bottle of wine for dinner. 

After eating, a group of us from the hostel attempted to find some open bars but had no luck. We ended up running around the streets in the poring rain. I was already soaking wet and had taken my flip flops off but a man selling umbrellas found it impair active to follow me around saying an umbrella was a good idea. 

Rome, Italy 2 nights

I pretty much wasted my first afternoon in Rome because I was hung over and all I could do was sleep. I took a long nap after I was able to check into my hostel and then decided that I should get up and do something. Dob, one of the Aussies I met in Vienna, happened to be in Rome at the same time so we met up for dinner and walked to the Trevi fountain. The fountain was absolutley a shit show of tourists. I took a picture from a distance with tons of people in it and threw a penny hoping it would make it into the water without hitting anyone.

While we were out waking around I am pretty sure we saw someone get robbed. A man dashed across several lanes of traffic with a womans purse in his hand so I can only assume that is what happened. After this I was a lot more aware of my surroundings and my bag, especially when I was walking by myself. 

The next morning Dob and I met at 8am to do some sight seeing. Our first stop was the fountain, in the hopes that it would not be as crowded. I had very little hope but to my surprise there were not that many people there. I could not believe it, it was actually a pleasent experience and we got to enjoy the fountain for what it was worth and not have to deal with a hundred other people at the same time.  

Naples, Italy 3 nights

The first night in Naples, October 20th, I met Katie, Adam, Huey, and James in the hostel bar. We had several rounds before making our way to the center where everyone hangs out and drinks at night. Once we got to the center I was amazed by the number of people there. Everyone was outside enjoying being outside and drinking. We met a few locals, had a few drinks, and enjoyed everything ourselves before heading back to bed. 

The next morning when I woke up I had trouble opening my right eye...I was not too sure what to think...I then got really itchy everywhere... I got out of bed to go to the bathroom and when I looked in the mirror it looked like I got punched in the face, my forehead just above my right eye had swollen to the size of a baseball! I put two and two together, it had to be bed bugs!! Ahhh! My worst nightmare. I was itchy all over, looked like an alien, and when returning to my room actually found a bed bug on my pillow. 

Here is the embarrassing photo or the bedbug attack...

I went to the reception desk and told them what happened. The guy working had me show him the bed and said he would change the sheets and spray. I didn't want to think about it so went to breakfast got some toast. Adam suggested getting putting ice on it so I did for a bit, I'm not sure if it actually helped but like to think it did. Another guy gave me an antihistamine. I normally don't take any type of medicine when I have any type of issue, I just let my body fight the cold, headache, or whatever the issue might be. However, I was desperate and did not think twice. Huey, James, Adam and I began our day by going to one of the castles in Naples; it gave us an unbeatable view of the city and mount Vesuvius. 

Afterwards, we made our way back to the main part of town where we had pizza for lunch at one of the most popular pizza places and did an underground tour of the city. 

The tour was interesting, we got to see underground passageways and part of the Greek Roman Theater. 

After all of this we made our way back to the hostel and I asked the lady at the reception desk if she could move me to another room after explaining what had happened. The hostel was very large so she moved me to the newer building. I made sure to check my things before moving to my new room so I would not bring any bed bugs with me. That night I was afraid to go to sleep even though I had checked my bed and it appeared to be fine. It was a very restless night of sleep; I woke up about every three hours. Luckily I did not have any new bites the next morning and the swelling around my eye went down a bit. 

That day, October 20th, I hung out with Adam, James, and Huey again; we did a day trip to Pompeii. It was a bigger site than I had expected and interesting to see what an enormous impact that a volcano can induce on a city. 

That evening I met Luciana, a Brazilian girl that was working at the hostel for a couple of weeks. She took us all to dinner at a local place. There was lots of yelling, some broken dishes, and confusion with orders but it was a great meal with a true Napoleon influence. 

On the 21st Luciana took us all to a local beach to swim. The water was amazingly clear with lots of life among the fish and coral. Adam and I swam over to a small island and explored a bit. When we got back to the rest of the group Huey told us that a kind in red shorts almost stole our bags. Apparently, he ran up to our stuff and could have taken anything he wanted but an extremely nice local told him to go away and then told Huey to pay more attention to our things. Needless to say, we got extremely lucky. The guys had rented a car and driven us all to the beach and were heading to Rome that afternoon. Luciana and Max (a bartender) convinced me to stay another day which was pretty easy because I had no plan so the guys dropped us off at the hostel and then made their way to Rome. That evening I made worked on figuring out plans on how to get to Athens and potential stops before hand. I could not find many good options and then talking to the receptionist she helped me find a cheap flight with Ryan air. The down side was I had to backtrack to Rome for the flight but I ended up staying at The Yellow hostel which was where the three Aussies were staying. 

When we were at the beach we also experienced an attempted robbery. We had our bags on shore, Adam and I decided to swim to the island in the above picture while everyone else stayed with the stuff. When we got back Huey said a kid had run up to our bags and could have easily taken them but a local older man yelled at him and told us to watch our stuff better. 

While I am on the topic of getting robbed someone attempted to pick pocket me on a tram that 

was jam packed. I didn't actually see it happen but after I got off the tram realized the zipper pockets on the clip part of my large backpack had been unzipped. Fortunately for me I don't keep anything important in therefor this exact reason! 

 

In spite of the bed bugs, attempted robbery and attempted pick pocket I loved Naples and could not have asked for a better group of people at a time that could have been really bad for me. 

Rome, Italy 1 night

On the 23rd I made my way back to Rome and met up with the guys for dinner. The water at dinner said I looked like a model and  I reminded him of someone famous  . While ordering we made a joke that I only need a piece of lettuce and a couple veggies. I ended up ordering a lasagna and salad which were delicious but as a joke he brought out a plate with two vegetables on it and a piece of lettuce. 

We then drank at the hostel bar. We got two free shots for taking a picture and posting it to Facebook, several beers, and I got a free shot for participating in a dance contest. Quite a night. The next morning I planned on leaving the hostel at 6 to get to the airport at 7 for my flight that boarded at 9. However, after quite an ambitious night of drinking I had a hard time waking up. My bunk mate actually ended up waking me up but it was 7am. I was already supposed to be at the airport!! I thought there was no way in hell I would make my flight. I was so tired and possibly a bit drunk still all I wanted to do was crawl back in bed and sleep for another 8 hours. However, I had already paid for the flight so I had to make an effort to try and get there. I struggled leaving the hostel. First of all I could not find my key to unlock my locker so I went to the front desk to ask for bolt cutters. I cut my lock and was able to get my things packed. The struggle continued when I went to check out I couldn't find my room key so I had to pay 2 euros. I then caught a bus to the airport where by some miracle I made my flight! When I boarded the flight attendant even out me in the first row because he needed a native English speaker in the emergency exit row. I sat next to a window, had loads of leg space, and no one was sitting next to me. Once the wheels were off the ground I was asleep to all of the world and woke up just before landing. I was the first person off of the plane and got my bag right away. I have no idea how this happened but it all worked out perfectly. 

CWS Family

Split, Croatia 2 nights

Night 1: After a beatiful bus ride along the coast of Croatia I checked into my hostel and then went on a walk. I made my way up a hill to get to a park. I got an amazing view of the sunset before heading back down and having chavapi for dinner and gelato for dessert; it was a very plesent afternoon. 

When I got back to my hostel there were more people around hanging out and socializing. I met a girl from Brazil, a girl from China, and two guys from Paris. We all decided to go out and explore the night life. We started on a street with a bunch of bars, had a couple drinks before making our way to a club. The club was full of locals and there was a live band playing music. 

The next day, I walked around a market, the old town, and touristy areas of the city. The market was nice. I was able to get good deals on fresh foods. 

That afternoon new people arrived at the hostel. Everyone was outgoing, social, and had an interesting story. As the afternoon turned to evening we decided to go to a market and by giant beers for about 1 USD. 

We played some drinking games before we made our way out to the bars. Since I had gone out the previous night I ended up being the tour guide and leading the way to the street with bars and then the club. This time we went to Vanilla which was across the street from the club that I was at the night before. The club atmosphere in Croatia is not the most upbeat. For the most part people are just standing around with stone faces smoking cigarettes. However, we did not let this stop the fun for us. There were enough of us from the hostel that we made our own fun. We had a few rounds of Yeager shots and danced amongst ourselves. After we had enough we all left and headed towards the water which was a little bit past our hostel. We had initially intended on finding a beach party before going to vanilla but were told by locals that because the season was ending that nothing was really happening. Therefore, after Vanilla we ended up at the port and went skinny dipping. The water was cold at first but refreshing and energizing. After our midnight swim we made our way back to the hostel and got ready for bed. 

The next morning I met up with some relatives that I just found out lived in Croatia. I'm not entirely sure how we are related but never the less we are family and it was great to spend a little bit of time with them. Later that afternoon everyone from the hostel met up again and we made our way to the beach. There was a small cliff on the way that a couple of us jumped off of and I swam the rest of the way to the beach which was about a 15 min swim. Several of us swam out form the beach to a water polo court that was in the middle of the water. Once we got there we just floated and chatted because we did not have a ball to play with. After about five min a local threw us a ball to play with and we invited him to play with us and about 6 local guys ended up joining. They were very good and said they played pretty much every day. I know some basic water polo but was no where near their skill level and including myself there were only 2 girls. It was a ton of fun though. We were in the water and playing for a couple hours. It was refreshing not only to be in the water but to get some exercise because it is very difficult to exercise while traveling, especially the kind of exercise that I am used to. This was by far one of my favorite days while traveling because I absolutely love being in the water and enjoyed the sun, loved meeting locals, and relaxing with great people. 

After a wonderful day at the beach I gathered my things from the hostel and made my way to the port to catch a ferry with a Brandon from California who showed up at the hostel and was headed to the same place. We got to the blue line ferry where I checked in and got my room key. I got an amazing deal online that allowed me to have an outside room with one other roommate for 20 euro and with port taxes ended up being 40 euro. This was cheaper than just buying deck space the day of so I was quite pleased to have a bed. Brandon and I hung out in the lounge bar area for a while before heading to bed. The next morning we met up, watched the sunrise, and then made our way to the train station. I did not have any plan at all. I wanted to go to Venice but thought it might be a bit out of the way and was thinking of skipping it and going to Florence. It was a good thing that I met Brandon though because he was planning on going to Venice and then making his way down to Florence and Rome so I decided to travel with him to Venice. However, when we were at the train station we bought different tickets to the same place. Out first train was the same but when we had to switch to another one realized he had paid for the fast train and I had paid for the original train. I took a picture of the dictions to the hostel he booked but once I got there did not end up finding that hostel but walked into another one and got a bed for the night. For not having a plan it worked out really well.