Here is an overview of my personal connection the country and the experience that I had in the six weeks I was there…

After spending five nights in Tel Aviv, I was eager to return to nature. While Tel Aviv has magnificent beaches and eclectic neighborhoods, I wanted to go hiking. Ten months into my trip, I had been doing some form of hiking multiple times a week. Being surrounded by cars, buses, bicycles and people was overwhelming and frustrating…

I spent my first five full days in Israel getting acclimated in Tel Aviv. I started planning a route through the country. I was determined to use the bus and train system to get where I needed to go even though it is not up to par with European standards. Just like in every other country I visit, I need to get my backpacking tools in order before I leave the hub city: my bus pass and my cell phone SIM card…

I started Google-ing the hell out of backpacking the French Alps around Grenoble. I knew I wanted to stay at some sort of hostel or campsite that had amenities. It was mid-September and the days were still quite hot, so a pool would be lovely too. It also has to be accessible via public transportation from the center of Grenoble. I was not about to drive a car through the Alps with my limited driving experience…

Grenoble is the gateway to the French Alps. It does not have the best train connections, so I had to be strategic about my plan. You can get there from Montpelier directly. The city is surrounded by the Alps though. It’s not something you can really grasp until you are there. Walking around the city, you see the Alps in the distance almost everywhere.

Montpelier is a beautiful city. It’s famous for its beach but I was really not feeling like beach time. I wanted more green, more nature, especially after Aix-Les-Bains. I walked around the town and had my beer and took my pretty photos.

In planning my French journey, I wanted to take advantage of the new low-cost high-speed train system France has spent billions of euros developing. Known as OUIGO (like “yes! go!”), the SNCF developed this as a new product from scratch to compete with the discount airline product that is risking to takeover the French railway market.

The train ride to Macon was beautiful. My host was waiting for me in the train platform underpass. I wasn’t sure if it was polite or creepy. He gave me a hug right away. That was the beginning of the overly touchy behavior. In the summer he runs a B&B but he told me there was no guests and that’s why he wanted companionship. Well, that story changed quite quickly when he picked me up…

French train rides really are stunning. If you can catch a good price for a ride, I think it’s worth riding the trains just for fun. After 7 hours of train travel with a transfer from Gare de Montparnasse to Gare de Lyon in Paris, I would arrive in the spa town of Aix-Les-Bains. The views out of the window are incredible and, of course, the grand stations are historical. While I was in La Rochelle, I was researching all of the HI hostels in the region of my Workaway in Macon, because I had a few days to kill before my arrival…

I had been looking forward to my arrival in France since the beginning of my backpacking journey. I knew I would end up there at some point in the summer. It was September and the weather was perfect. I did not have an itinerary, I just knew that I wanted to see some more of the country…

I was super excited to share a dorm room with Anna again and add another phase to our travel-based friendship. This would also mean that my entire Portugal trip was filled with loving friendship experiences. This was so unexpected. What a stark contrast from my experience in Spain.

My arrival in Lisbon started with a direct visit to the apartment where Anna, Alyssa, Tame and their two friends, Arminda & Will from London, were staying. I’ve known this group for something like 15 years. We had traveled previously to Vieques, Puerto Rico. I knew we were compatible travelers.

As mentioned in my previous post, after recovering 700 photos from my iPhone backup, I was able to remember what I actually did in Laos with my friend Richard (from Singapore). Some of the photos exhibit such glorious nature that I wanted to write another Laos post to share the beauty with you. The sad part of the story is that Laos has dangerous roads. Maybe taking public buses would have been safer than having a private driver? I’ll never know.

I’m writing this post after having been back in the States for four solid months. I’m back to “normal life”. I still think about my trip every single day. I wonder what my goals are too, now that I’m in the city working. It took me a while to accept that I need to make time for writing. When I was traveling, it just came naturally and I genuinely loved it. I think it’s a sign that working in the city is pulling me away from doing the things I really love: traveling and writing.

The plan was for my final stint in Spain to end with an emotional experience that would rectify all of the dissonance I felt for the previous three weeks. In Spain, at this point, I had seen massive cities, mountain-side towns, mosques, cathedrals, forests, rivers, lakes, and everything in between. The one thing I had not experienced was making a new Spanish friend…

My final big city stop in Spain would be Seville. I thought if I could make up to Basque Country after Portugal, I would see San Sebastian and Bilbao. Alas, as you will soon find out, that did not happen. Visiting Seville satisfied a fifteen year dream of seeing the cities of Spain, implanted in my brain during my college years when friends returned from study abroad in Europe. Indeed their architectural beauty holds true. I believe Seville may have the most beautiful city center…

Not to complain about visiting Spain in the summer or anything but, oh boy, does it get hot! After my time in the mountains in Alora, I was determined to spend more time in the mountains in Granada. This would be for the weekend of my birthday as well. I wanted a place with views and quiet so I could focus on catching up on my travel writing. I found what looked like a great hostel up in the mountains in the town of Quentar…

Malaga was the beginning of a multi-week long experience in southern Spain. I would travel through the mountains of Andalucia and see the highlights of region. My friend A, from New York, was studying Spanish in Malaga. We decided to meet up there and explore the area around Malaga together…

In Cordoba, I discovered a unique accommodation style to Spain. The pension is an affordable barebones offering with private bedrooms and sometimes private bathrooms. The rooms are tiny but that does not bother me. I had air conditioning and a full size bed. The guy at check in was super friendly and happy to see me…

The Jewish Genealogy Conference would be taking place in Warsaw. I was in Zamosc. To get back to Warsaw, I had to go through Lublin again. I would take the bus from Zamosc to Lublin and then board a train to Warsaw. I realize this is the best travel itinerary now that I’ve done the direct bus on the crazy road to Warsaw in the opposite direction…

The train from Berlin to Warsaw was unmemorable.  I left early in the morning and I do not really remember the ride.  I do remember arriving in Warsaw and thinking, “oh jeez, this place again?” It’s six hours from Berlin to Warsaw and then another 2 hours to Zamosc via Lublin (even though it’s not that far away)…

I would lay there tossing and turning all night. The noise from outside was so incredibly loud that earplugs and putting my head under the pillow simply did not work. I tried sleeping in the lounge of the hostel and the worker came to wake me up and tell me I couldn’t be there. We got into a mini-argument about how helpless we all are from the noise situation. The plan was to take the train to Jozefow the next day.  I wanted to be well-rested and alert. I was pretty nervous about the whole thing. I wasn’t even sure Jozefow had a train station…

I wanted to see Lublin before I left Poland. I needed to go back to Warsaw, to something familiar, to regroup after my experiences in Krakow. The weekend in Warsaw, now my second time in Warsaw, was uneventful.  It’s an easy city to navigate. I know where to eat and where to chill.  I know that the bar and dance club scene kinda sucks on weekends. I know the drivers are crazy aggressive.  I booked my train to Lublin and my hostel there.