2 Weeks in Europe Taught Me...

Here's a list of things, in no particular order, that I learned while in Europe this summer:

• NYC drivers are nothing compared to drivers in Italy....those people are INSANE
• Olive oil and bread is the best pre-dinner snack EVER
• Bread for breakfast every day is enough to make you crazy
• I need to learn another language (I can't tell you how difficult it was to communicate in countries where most people don't speak English....especially in Italy)
• Romanians are known to be pickpockets (who knew?)
• Old Gypsy ladies go HARD trying to get your money
• People with body odor shouldn't even be allowed on the subway platform much less on the actual subway, or Metro if you like.
• Snails are surprisingly tasty
• Currency conversion is the devil
• What looks like a sidewalk is actually a street; learned that the hard way....smh
• Starbucks is literally EVERYWHERE
• Europe has a totally different breed of homeless people (we saw a man with no arms O_O)

I'm sure there's lots of other things that I just can't think of at the moment. I may add to this in the future.

My EF College Break Experience

The purpose of this blog is simply to share my experience touring with the company EF College Break. Before and even after I signed up for my EF tour I did a lot of research and read a ton of customer reviews to get an idea of how legit they are and make sure it wasn't a scam. There were a number of things that I found questionable before the tour which had me a little hesitant. For example, it seemed as if most of the positive reviews for the company were from people who worked for them or had something to gain by promoting them (for example, campus managers for the company get a free trip if they get a certain number of people to sign up and use their promo code). However, I was reassured when I found out by pure chance that a good friend of mine had traveled with EF in high school and had a very good experience. After that I wasn't really worried about it being a scam job anymore.

Now on to what I did and didn't like while on the tour......

They have what they call 'optional excursions' during the tour. In lieu of free time you pay an extra fee to do something extra in the different countries (ie: Flamenco dancing, wine tasting, Monte Carlo night, a trip to Toledo, etc). My problem was that about 3 days before I was set to depart I got a call from EF saying 3 of the optionals I signed up for had been canceled....womp, womp. Naturally they were the ones I was most looking forward too--Rome cooking class, a side trip to Salamanca and a visit to the Monte-Carlo casino in Monaco. It pissed me off but hey, stuff happens. At the time I didn't know why but for two of the excursions not enough people had signed up and the Grand Prix was going on in Monaco at the time we were in France so the streets were blocked and the bus wouldn't have been able to drive us there.

The main thing I disliked on tour was the bus rides in between cities and countries. We had 8 and 10 hour days riding this big coach bus from Madrid to Barcelona to Cannes, etc. All together we spent over a day of our 15 day tour traveling. If I'm not mistaken there were two 10 hour days and two 8 hour days. 3-4 days if you count flying there and flying home. A lot of us felt it wasn't really fair to have travel time included as part of the days of our tour. The traveling also cut a lot of our time in certain cities like Cannes and Florence. We spent about 10 hours driving to France so it was evening when we got there (around 6-7p), then we had an outing the next day until 4p and the day after we were on the road again to Italy. The same thing happened in Florence. We were only there for two days and the majority of one was spent riding the bus there. I really felt cheated out of my time there (on the up side that's the perfect excuse to go back).

Another thing I didn't like was that I felt like I HAD to tip the bus driver and tour director. It's not that I really minded tipping them but I didn't like being told how much I should tip. We were told to tip the driver about 3-5 Euro per day of driving (at the end of the tour from France to Italy we had the same driver for everything). Then we were told to tip the tour director about 8-10 Euro per day of the tour. For 15 days that's 150 Euro. Umm, NOT gonna happen. As awesome as our tour director was (Marcello if you happen to go on an EF tour), there's no way I was giving him that much money.

Those are really the only negatives I have about EF and the tour itself. Overall I had a great time and would travel with them again. I'd also recommend them to others because the prices are pretty reasonable for what you get compared to other companies or planning a trip on your own (believe me I looked for cheaper before making a final decision). I felt there was a really good balance between the structured outings to museums, sites, etc and free time to do whatever you wanted. Honestly, you can do whatever you want on the tour just as long as you make it to the bus on time to go to the next city. Our tour director warned that in the past he's had to leave people behind who didn't make it to the bus on time. Can't say I blame him. There's no reason to throw the entire group off schedule just because a few people can't get out of bed.

Sorry this is kinda long but whatever. That's all for now. (Edited to add the video I made of my tour)

Disclaimer: This video was made prior to me having an iPhone and new digital camera....lol

Eurotrips and Such: Italy

The last stop on my little Eurotrip/tour was Italy. We went to Assisi, Pisa (where of course I did the cheesy tourist shot of myself holding up the leaning tower), Florence, a little town called San Gimignano for a wine tasting, the Vatican and ended things in Rome. Rome of course was the place with the crappiest hotel service known to man but I'll get into that later.

Pardon my tour director's feet....

To be honest, Italy was a bit of a let down for me. It's not that I didn't enjoy it but it just wasn't as enjoyable as I was expecting. For one thing, I had better Italian food in Spain than I did there which was really surprising. Also, I really enjoyed Florence but we didn't get to spend much time there. Only about a day and a half really, but on the plus side I learned how to tell real from fake leather (FYI: Florence is probably most known for their leather goods so it's a big deal and there's leather shops every 2 feet). Other than all the leather stuff I honestly don't remember what there was to see in Florence because we were there for such a short time. It was all a blur and the rain didn't help. I tried going to the Pantheon but I think it was closed. Unfortunate since we walked all the way there in the rain.On the other hand, there were some really nice views, especially at night by the water so that was cool. Other than that I really don't have much to say about Florence.

And then there was Rome. Of course we saw all of the traditional stuff: Trevi Fountain, Colosseum, Roman ruins, Circus Maximus (or what's left of it), the Spanish Steps and the Vatican which I know is technically another city but you get the idea. The Spanish steps at night were pretty cool because it was just a bunch of people out walking around having a good time and some playing guitar and singing songs. Trevi Fountain was also pretty cool to see at night but it's ridiculously crowded. I was most excited about seeing the Colosseum thanks to four years of Latin in high school. My teacher would be so proud. The ruins were actually pretty lame because it's basically a bunch of beat down rocks but hearing the history behind them was VERY cool.

The Colosseum

Trevi Fountain

While we were in Rome there was a huge parade going on and I have absolutely no idea what it was about but it had the streets shut down for hours. I also heard that the Today Show was at the Vatican the day we were there which is part of the reason we had to push back our time to visit. By the way, if you ever go to the Vatican museum and the Sistine Chapel, make reservations and arrive EARLY. The line to get inside was literally around the block. I think our tour director said something about it being a wait of an hour or more. I wouldn't be surprised if the wait to get in was a good 3-4 hours. No joke. Then they don't restrict the number of people they allow inside so it's VERY crowded and can be VERY hot. Some people in my group almost passed out so be sure to bring water if you go inside.

Now for the the worst hotel of life: Hotel San Guisto in Rome. Why do I hate it so much you ask? How about because our door wouldn't lock from the outside and the staff were completely rude and unhelpful in trying to fix it.When my roommate first got the key and went to our room she said there was someone in there trying to fix the door but they left. Then she went to the front desk but they weren't helpful. After that I went and some guy came up and did some little "trick" and the door locked from the outside. It only took about 10 minutes. I'm sorry but it should NOT take 10 minutes to lock or unlock a door from the outside. That's just ridiculous. Then they tried to make us seem like idiots for not catching on to the little trick of locking the door. I feel that they should have just given us a new room with a working door because it was unsafe to have our belongings in there when we were unable to lock the door. Of course that was too much to ask. It was just really frustrating to have to go through this entire process just to leave then go back into our room. I would NEVER stay there again and I would tell anyone else to avoid that place as well. Bastards.

That's all for now, hope I didn't forget anything. Happy travels!

Eurotrips and Such: France

Before I get started, I forgot to add in the 'Spain' post that I had to travel solo....in a way. 2 of my friends were supposed to go on this trip with me but one told me at the last minute she wasn't able to go because of financial issues and the other I haven't even heard from.

Now that we've got that out of the way, let me tell you about my time in France....

First off, we weren't there long enough which is the perfect excuse to go back someday. Half the time was spent on a bus driving from Spain to France so we didn't get there until around 7pm. Then the next day we had a day trip to a perfume factory and got back around 4pm but had to leave the next morning. Anyway, I really enjoyed what little time I spent in France. We didn't go the traditional route which is Paris, Eiffel Tower, etc. We were in the south of France in Cannes (you know, the place with the huge film festival) then spent a brief moment in Nice followed by a morning pit stop in Monaco on the way to Italy.

I wasn't there for long so I couldn't do much and therefore there's not much for me to talk about in this post. I will say that the beach (which was across the street from our hotel) was beautiful with CLEAN and clear water. Emphasis on the clean which is rare in American beaches. I tried French food and yes I mean snails. It wasn't the usual escargot because they didn't have it at this particular restaurant but it was some other snail. The waiter said the difference is that the snails we had live in a different part of the ocean or something like that. They were actually pretty good but fishy smelling so try to just eat it without smelling too hard.

In my opinion, one of the best parts of France (and the entire trip) was the hotel we stayed in. It was awesome because the rooms were really like little apartments. There was a kitchen area with a table & chairs, stove, sink, refrigerator, and the cabinets had full sets of dishes with silverware and everything. We were in a quad so there was one room with a big bed, another with bunk beds and a pull out couch. And the bathroom was clean which is always good. The pool at the hotel was also beautiful but we opted for the beach. If you ever go to Cannes be sure to stay at the Pierre & Vacances Cannes Beach @ 11, av Pierre Semard, Cannes la Bocca.


That's really all I have to say about France. I mean, it's the freaking French Riviera, what more do you want! Next up: Tales from Italy!

Eurotrips and Such: Spain

So as I said in my preview post, I recently returned from 2 weeks of touring in Europe. I went with a tour group of about 40 people to Spain, France and Italy. I haven't decided yet if I want to give the name of the tour group I went with. I'll know by the end of this post. I'm not sure how to go about this so I think I'll break it down by country and give you my highs and lows.

 Spain:
This was by far my favorite part of the trip which is good because that's what I was most looking forward to. We went to Madrid, Barcelona and a little town called Zaragoza. To be honest I thought I would like Barcelona the best but it was somewhat disappointing (largely because of the hotel location). Madrid however was a very pleasant surprise. The good thing about Madrid was that our hotel was in a very good location with tons of little shops and restaurants all around. It was also walking distance to a lot of things like the Prado and Reina Sofia Museums. In fact, the Reina Sofia was located directly behind our hotel, all you had to do is walk out the back entrance and there it was.

Where the row boating took place at Retiro Park.

We were also very close to Retiro Park where we had a fun and interesting day of row boating, the mafia and bunnies. A crazy combination I know, maybe I should explain. The row boating is pretty self explanatory, you pay a few Euros and rent a boat for 45 minutes, nothing complicated. After the boats we went walking around the park and ran into an older (maybe 30s-40s) Spanish guy named 'Carlos' with a rabbit on a leash. Her name was Lolita. He pretty much showed/followed us around the park for the next few hours. The most interesting thing is that he barely spoke any English and we barely spoke any Spanish which was actually kinda fun. The good news is that he showed us a cheap place to eat and we found our way to another part of the park with a little lake with swans, turtles, frogs and a waterfall. While there we asked for a picture and he said he couldn't because he was in the mafia. Red flag much? Not that we ditched him right away. We saw some other tourists and offered to take pictures of them when they told us to ditch Carlos because he was probably a pick-pocket. Soon after that we ditched him when he told us to follow him through the park somewhere and we walked in the other direction. All in all, it was a good day.

Lolita

Barcelona was cool but I honestly liked Madrid better. For starters, we got upgraded to a 4 star hotel in BCN which sounds like a good thing but it turned out not to be. The only REALLY good thing about that hotel was that the breakfast was more like what we have in American hotels, ie. eggs, fruit, meats, etc. The other hotel breakfasts mainly consisted of bread in the form of croissants and pastries. My main issue is that this hotel was far away from everything, which was really annoying considering that our previous hotel was walking distance to everything thing. As if the 10 mile trek up the hill to the hotel wasn't bad enough, there was absolutely nothing fun or even remotely interesting to do nearby. Correction: There was ONE really good Italian restaurant down the hill with the best pizza I've ever had in my life. Otherwise that place was a bust.Other than that, La Rambla/Las Ramblas/La Ramblas or however you say it is a pretty cool little area. Lot's of shops, restaurants and bars. It's really busy and always full of people. I think the most interesting part was the big food market La Boqueria (I think). There's all kinds of animal parts, fruits and other food for sale in there. I recommend trying the coconut smoothie. Very good.

Smoothies in the food market, they have all kinds of flavors.

Of course no visit to Spain is complete without a little Sangria.....

Not sure why the pic came out weird after I rotated it...whatever.

If you're planning a trip to Spain, here are the places I recommend:

Madrid
-Retiro Park
-Royal Palace
-Gran Via
-Debod Temple
-Hotel Mediodia (nice central location in my opinion)
-Plaza Mayor

Barcelona
-La Ramblas
-The beach (obviously)
-La Boqueria

That's all for now, the next post will be about my brief encounter in France.

(ps: Hold tight to your purse, pick pockets are rampant in Spain and it's ALWAYS crowded as hell)