So, this is my first entry of what hopes to be a very successful blog. I will say that despite my many travels, I've never kept a blog before and am primarily doing this for the peace of mind of my parents - which may end up being counter-productive now that I think about it... I've only journaled in the past so I hope to keep the 'TMI' moments to a minimum.... (no promises).
While I really hate writing about myself, I'm kind of hoping that someone who doesn't know me actually reads this and finds it somewhat interesting (and maybe even helpful?), so I'll give a tiny bit of background. I am 22 years old, and I feel like I have a pretty normal life. I just graduated last spring with a degree in International Studies from SFU in Vancouver, and am at that awkward crossroads in life between school and career. I've been waitressing for six years now, and while I love aspects of these jobs - mostly the people and the love of food and wine - I don't want this to define the rest of my life. I've been extremely lucky and traveled quite a bit in the past, reaching destinations like the Galapagos, Tanzania, Peru, and Japan, just to name a few, and so it seemed pretty natural for me to continue satisfying my travel bug before figuring out what the hell I'm going to do with the rest of my life. And honestly, I'm exhausted of thinking about it. It is so daunting trying to figure out what your passions really are, and even harder to get your foot in the door. I sometimes feel like the world is coming down on my shoulders and I have no idea in which direction to throw it. It also conveniently happens to be that I now have about eight months to finish my graduation portfolio from the Photography program at Langara College. Solution to a lack of pictures? Travel (duh). So I'm giving myself five months of freedom to do what I want, when I want, and go home with a finished portfolio and some peace of mind headed into my future. And hopefully, since I tend to be a slightly adventurous traveler, I can create some good stories along the way (I'm willing to try out most things once, and I will DEFINITELY eat anything once - weird foods are a hobby).
Okay, so I have five months away from home and have probably only actually planned a few weeks of it, but here's the itinerary so far:
1. Skiing in Austria and visiting Florence/Tuscany. (check mark)
2. Volunteer teaching English in southern Thailand for three weeks.
3. Hopefully meet some nice travelers in Thailand and travel with them through Southeast Asia for a month.
4. Either keep travelling in Asia for the month of March OR go volunteer in India for a month (which is HIGHLY enticing right now....any advice from anyone?).
5. Meet up with Saskia in Bali and scuba dive as much as possible in the Indonesian islands.
6. Meet up with Steph in Cairns, and drive down the Eastern Coast to Melbourne before flying home!
(...all of the above will probably change twenty times, but that's kinda the point of the trip...)
So far, I've completed the European leg of my trip, and have decided to condense it into one entry. As many of my friends know, my family has the tradition of going to Austria at Christmas. We stay at a hotel in a small town in the Alps called Au. I think it is probably safe to say I have now been more than ten times in my lifetime. My grandmother, who is now 91, has been going to this hotel for 75 years, so our family is well-versed with the 'Au tradition'. I won't go into too much detail about the trip - mostly because I'd be pretty bored to write it all down - but basically we skiied in the different resorts around the area (Damuls, Arlberg), and spent time with my grandmother. We actually succeeded (I use the word 'succeeded' very loosely) at taking her cross-country skiing one day. We also indulged in the naked sauna, probably our new favourite thing to do at the Krone Hotel. Europeans do not hold back on the nudity. We do. We try to be subtle and pretend that we're not actually wearing swimsuits under our towels, but it never really works. Oh, wait. That's a partial lie. My dad is naked under his towel. Oh, no wait. My dad's just naked (he fits right in, I'll give him that). My sister, Nick (her boyfriend), and I try to avoid the naked people - who are all in the sagging age range - but we never succeed. We then get to point out all the people we saw naked at dinner, and are pretty much scarred for life. And then we EAT. Eating is probably our biggest past time in Au and a dieter's nightmare. Every night we have hors d'oeuvres in our rooms, get nice and buzzed off of duty-free liquor, and then sit down to a five-course meal that usually involves questionable meats and gelatinous things. And then there's New Year's Eve, which we refer to as 'The Never Ending Meal'. It's normally about eight or nine courses, and just when you think you're done, they serve the midnight buffet. We also eat giant breakfasts filled with coldcuts, cheeses, and breads, and then stuff ourselves with wienerle and pommes on the ski mountain. I also have a deep obsession with germknoedel, which is a giant yeast dumpling filled with prune jam and drenched in custard. So, no, we do not starve, we usually gain ten pounds instead.
After Au, my family tries to go to another city or place reasonably close by, so that we get to see something new. This year, we chose Florence and Tuscany. The after-Au trip is usually pretty short - only a few days - so we really only get a taste of the place, but we definitely try to smush in as much sightseeing as humanly possible. Since there were five of us, we rented an apartment in downtown Florence. We visited the Uffizi (where you can see Botticelli's the Birth of Venus), went to see Michelangelo's David and Pieta, and climbed to the top of the dome in the cathedral. We also spent a day driving around Tuscany, trying to find vineyards that were open for tasting (I think we tried ten, but only succeeded at two), and walked around the medieval town of San Gimignano. We shopped way too much for italian leather, which is ridiculously overwhelming in Florence, and then we ATE. I think the entire time we were there, all most of us had was pasta, paninis, cappucinos, croissants, and gelato. We obviously also drank a ton of wine. I never realised just how many wineries there are in Tuscany. I've been to Napa and Sonoma, and of course the Okanagan and Niagara, but it felt like there were so many more. Maybe it was only because I don't really know italian wines that well, so all the labels seemed so obscure. I also didn't recognise any of the names. While you can always find your generic wine on the shelves at home, I never saw a bottle of generic italian wine that I'd had at home. As a wine enthusiast and a drinking-in-general enthusiast (that's what working in the restaurant industry does to you), this was AMAZING!!! Definitely will have to go back.
So now, here I am, waiting for a flight to Bangkok. People keep asking me if I'm excited or nervous about my trip, and I never really give an answer. Honestly, I think I've just been anticipating it for so long, I'm just ready to start and be there. This is probably the only opportunity I'll get for years to just take off and be spontaneous, and it's exciting to not feel the pressures of real life, of a job, or school. I don't really have any expectations either (except maybe not to die...). Funny enough, I also just noticed that I'm wearing a t-shirt right now that says "The world's mine oyster" (ironic, right??). So with that, here I go!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment