Travel Recap

Travel Recap

My love for traveling started back in September, 2021. My friend’s parents live in Cologne, Germany and I’d always wanted to do more traveling so why not start there? One month before I was supposed to fly to Cologne, my friend told me her Visa wouldn’t let her out of country. So, I went by myself.

This started a whole new adventure of traveling by myself. My advice? DO IT. You won’t regret it and I truly got to know myself on a whole other level. Here are all the places I’ve been in the last three years.

Oh, and don’t think I’m rich. I just know how to save… and then spend it all.

Here is my travel recap:

Cologne, Germany

Cologne, Germany, could be a really fun city, but since I was with my friend’s parents, it was a very ‘chill’ experience. I only spent about two days there total but it was really nice. Cologne is quaint and very very quiet. Nothing compared to NYC. My friend’s parents did, however, take me to a bar and I had the pleasure of drinking the famous Kolsch beer. I’m not much of a beer drinker but this was GOOOOD.

I also had a different friend that was supposed to meet me in Amsterdam but the day before I was supposed to leave Cologne to head there, she got covid. At that time, you still needed a negative covid test to fly and since hers was positive, there was no way to get there. This was definitely God’s way of saying, “Girl, you will do this by yourself.” And I hopped on a bus and did just that.

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Now Amsterdam was cool. It was colorful, vibrant, and felt magical. My biggest regret was not doing the Anne Frank House, but by the time I got there, it was sold out. I spent my birthday here and treated myself to a spa. Can I just say, the US could NEVER?! When you go in there, they say, “take off your clothes. Here’s a towel.” I immediately got insecure but then looked around and saw a whole bunch of naked. So many old man balls that I got less insecure and went naked myself.

My birthday dinner was a piece of pizza by myself at a random fountain in the red light district. Best. Day. Ever.

Paris, France

Paris is one of my favorite places in the entire world. French people hate Americans (I had to walk the entire way to my hostel from the Eiffel Tower (3 miles) because every time I tried getting an uber, they’d call (probably) saying “where are you” and I’d answer in my very much American Accent, “English?” and then they’d hang up.) Besides that, Paris was a dream.

Also seeing the Mona Lisa was a little bit underwhelming. It’s much smaller than you think it is.

But the food was amazing, the tower was cooler than I thought it was, and although communication wasn’t great with the french, I felt a connection to the entire place. If you’re traveling by yourself, stay in this hostel. It was clean and respectable- and only $40 a night.

Madrid, Spain

Madrid is a lovely place. I would spend an entire summer here if I could. The language is beautiful, the people are kind, buildings are cozy, and the food tastes pure. A friend of mine was going to NYU Madrid so I had her to guide me, which made things 10 times more fun. We went to clubs, ate out, smoked too many cigarettes and had just a splendid time.

3 fun facts of Madrid:

• It’s cold in the fall/winter. You might be thinking “duh” but when I think of Spain, the word ‘hot’ comes to mind. Think again sister.
• There are absolutely no rodents. No rats, mice, squirrels. I hung out in a park there for a couple hours and saw one bird. Incredibly crazy. They’re probably somewhere but none that I saw in the 6 days I was there.
• Cats are EVERYWHERE

Rome, Italy

Rome was nice. It wasn’t my absolute favorite place, but it did feel magical.

My first meal was great. I had these Italian men who loved me and made me a cappuccino with my name on it, and a napkin rose. It was very sweet.

I didn’t even realize that it was Wednesday and, passing the Vatican City, got to see the Pope give a sermon. A wonderful little surprise while visiting.

Oh and I could never forget the Colosseum. It was Gorgeous!

Niagara Falls, Canada

Niagara falls has a special place in my heart because of everything that went WRONG on this trip. Sounds like a trip I shouldn’t even mention, but it ended up being one of the best one’s I’ve been on. My friend Keita and I took a 7 hour train up to Buffalo, NY from NYC. We had everything planned- rent a car, drive it over to Canada, go on hikes, do a wine vineyard, maybe even do some goat yoga, but when we got to the car rental, they asked for a credit card that neither one of us had.

Before you judge, we were 23 years old okay. Who has a credit card at 23 years old? They should have had a banner on their website that said “YOU DUMMIES NEED A CREDIT CARD TO RENT A CAR.” But since we didn’t, we couldn’t get a car, and had to improvise.

Keita’s mom came in clutch and had lots of Hilton points so we stayed in a Hilton right on the other side of the Canadian Border, in Niagara Falls and just winged it.

We went to my first casino, lost 20 dollars, and then went to see the fire works over the waterfall. Keita and I also went on a boat tour, ate out and swam in the hotel pool. This doesn’t sound very exciting but we joked around the entire time and I peed myself twice laughing so hard about our unfortunate events.

Copenhagen, Denmark

Keita and I only had about two days to spend in Copenhagen so we squeezed everything we could in that short amount of time.

We saw the Little Mermaid, went to the Amalienborg Museum (I’m not a huge museum lover but this was the best one I’ve ever been to), and chowed down on a famous sausage at Harry’s Place! Oh, we also slept in a box, literally:

Lofoten Islands, Norway

The Lofoten Islands in Norway were by far my favorite place I have traveled so far. We went in April so it was still cold and snowy- exactly what we wanted. There wasn’t many people and the mountains were beautifully snow covered. I will never forget how absolutely breathtaking the northern lights were too.

If you ever go, just know taking the ferry is vital in getting over there. Start in Bodo and then head over on the ferry. We were so nervous about this because we couldn’t find a lot of information on the ferry but turns out it’s completely free and easy to get to!

Ireland

It’s a must to travel in Ireland sometime in your life. It’s beyond gorgeous and the history is so powerful. We decided to do all of it so we rented a car (which took a while to get used to since driving is on the opposite side) and drove down the East coast to Waterford, onto the Southern coast to Cork, to the Dingle Peninsula on the West coast and then to Dublin.

We hit all of our goals to see which were:

• Glendalough parks
• Blarney Castle & Gardens
• Pet sheep at the Dingle Peninsula
• Leap Castle
• Have a Guinness at Sean’s Bar
• St. Patricks Cathedral

Cape Cod

Cape Cod was a wonderful birthday trip with my boyfriend. His uncle has a house up there and we spent my birthday bowling, mini golfing, hiking in the rain, and making lasagna . It was honestly perfect. Cape Cod is really beautiful and next time we will go in the summer to enjoy the beaches.