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…
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La Rochelle
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…
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Porto
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.
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Lisbon
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.
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Badajoz
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…
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