My sister arrives for her trip around Europe today. She's going to be here in Galway until Monday, and then we are going to Norway! We're going to spend 5 days there, then I will return to Ireland while she continues on her journey. Then we are going to meet in Amsterdam on August 2 for 4 days.
And then 2 weeks later, Phil arrives! We're going to take a trip up to Northern Ireland his first weekend here, and then after my symposium (which officially ends my program!) we are going to Edinburgh for 2 days, followed by 6 days in Rome and Florence and 7 days going around Croatia! Woot woot! After that, I have 2 more days in Galway before I head back home to Tucson.
So I'm checking off nearly everything on that list I posted in April, except for Budapest and a music festival (and more people visiting!). I figure I can go to a festival in the States anyhow, but I am sad about Budapest. I do intend to return to Europe in a few years to see Greece and Turkey, so perhaps I will get there then.
And now for my trip review! The first one will be of the first trip I took after I moved to Galway. This was a 5(ish) day, 4 night trip to Barcelona, Spain with Ariel and Sarita in early September. I flew on Ryanair, and brought only a carry-on. The budget airlines that have such great fares around Europe have rather strict baggage policies - I plan to go more into detail about those in another post later this week.
Packing list:
2 tops
1 cami
1 tank top
1 halter top
2 skirts
1 pair of shorts
1 pair of jeans
1 pair of sandals
1 pair of sneakers
1 pair of pajamas (t-shirt + gym shorts)
1 rain jacket
Purchased there:
1 tank top
On the plane ride over, I wore my jeans (thrifted), tennis shoes (Converse), cami (Forever 21), and a 3/4 length sleeved top (JC Penny). However, I arrived quite late that night, so did little more than get to the hostel before I was in my pajamas.
On the second day, I wore the cami under the tank top (Forever 21), and paired them with a geometric skirt (Forever 21). I also wore the one pair of sandals (Payless) that I brought.
This was a mistake, both the wearing of these particular sandals and the bringing of only one pair. I had forgotten about the whole hostel/shared bathroom/not the most sanitary showers issue, and thus had forgotten a pair of flip flops to wear in the shower. I ended up wearing these sandals, which have two straps, that whole over the big toe look that was popular a while ago, to shower instead, and in the process managed to wash off some sort of coating from the insides of the straps. Walking around Park GΓΌell and La Rambla for hours that day and dancing at bars and and crazy clubs until 5 am resulted in nasty blisters that I still have scars from. Remember: flips flops are required when staying in hostels.
On the third day, I reverted to wearing my sneakers to help protect my injured feet. Even while at the beach.
And the beach was pretty much the only place we went that day, although we did manage to get some delicious juice.
I wore them with white shorts (Forever 21) and my other top (Charlotte Russe), and honestly, I felt a little more European with the combination of shorts and Converse high tops. Not entirely sure why, and I probably just seemed crazy to everyone else.
On the fourth day, I wanted to wear my second skirt (thrifted). However, I still had blisters on my feet. The following odd combination and color clash resulted:
In addition, the tank top I had purchased the day before to wear with the skirt was rather voluminous, and looked very odd with this wrap skirt. Thus, I found myself wearing just the cami this day (Don't worry, I had washed it in the sink the day before so it was clean at this point!).
Since this was another day spent walking all around the city, I was more concerned with comfort than appearance anyways. However, I did sacrifice comfort that night, as we were going out on the town again.
This black halter (Forever 21) and white shorts finished with a pair of green sneakers would have been just a bit too strange, even for me.
The final day in Barcelona saw us all feeling tired and a bit sick:
That voluminous tank top I had purchased was my only clean shirt, so I threw it on with the jeans I had worn on the plane ride over, along with a scarf I had purchased from a street vendor there. Overall, this wardrobe, which featured lots of white, an oddity for me, worked well on this trip, when temperatures were in the 80s and the skies were always sunny. But please, remember to bring a second pair of sandals for summer travels. Not only would a pair of flip flops have proved a better option for showering than the strappy sandals, they would have been wearable even with the blisters I had, since their straps would have hit different places on my feet than the strappy sandals.
All of these clothes, along with my camera, underwear, snacks, towel, and other travel necessities fit fine into my carry-on, with some room to spare. Next post, I intend to talk in more detail about packing for these sorts of trips, and how not to get ripped off by budget airlines. Because that always sucks.
And now I must go meet Hillary at the bus station! Hooray!
