Another "era" comes to an end this Saturday as I move out of my 2nd host family's house. It was a fun two and a half months but like all good things it must come to an end. So I'm packing up my bags on what will be the first leg of a multi leg journey that will take me through the vacation we get for Semana Santa. The things you can do with 12 days off is pretty amazing (once you get past the equally amazing amount of money you'll likely spend) and you can dash off to a variety of places. But first, updates.
I'm all packed up and ready to get on to my next location. I think the next host family should be just as awesome as the previous two and the son of the family is one of the kids I teach in my extra after school classes so there will already be some familiarity. I can say that moving is much less stressful when you live out of a suitcase or two. After college I remember having a TON of stuff and thinking what can I do with all of it. I sold a good amount of items and donated quite a few as well and the rest is sitting in my car waiting for me back home. I miss you cammy cam (that's my toyota camry for those of you who didn't know). I have even managed to shed weight while I've been here, in reference to my luggage of course, and I'm curious to weigh my bag at the aiport to see if I truly made any headway. My mom did an awesome job keeping me stocked at some crucial moments during the trip so my hat is off to her, she's got some surefire souvenirs and hugs coming her way in a few months. I think it's good that I had this experience traveling because yes indeed those travel blogs you see are true when they say that you really don't need a lot of the "things" you have. Memories trump possessions about 99.9999999% of the time I believe. I can appreciate having a much smaller carousel of clothing options but when all of your clothes are your go to clothes, it feels pretty cool.
So now onto the good stuff. I planned out a little journey over the 11-12 day break because I thought hey, "even though the weather isn't so great now, when will I ever have 12 days off to travel again...IN SPAIN!" So I got to scavenging the interwebs for deals on travel and flights. I knew I wanted to get back to the Emerald Isle so that was an easy starting point and then I said hey there will still be a week left after that trip. So I went to Skyscanner, I recommend that every traveler do this, and I typed in flights to ANYWHERE. The cool thing about this website is that you can look at flights by ascending price to destinations anywhere on the globe. Granted the best deals are often not conducive to enjoyable travel, they do actually exist. I chose to head over to Paris and then back to Spain for a jaunt up to beautiful San Sebastian. I was feeling pretty good about myself for finding cheap flights but then the reality of hostel/hotel stays and bus/train fare reared it's ugly head. I put my head down, closed my eyes, and just started typing in my memorized from overuse card number until I was set. The damage was done, not too bad, but still a bummer when you see that your plane ride is the same price as a train ticket. Oh well travel trumps these petty snags. I'm gonna take a bajillion pictures to counter the pain it caused me. I love me a good sunrise if you haven't guessed already.
Itinerary:
Staring off in Dublin/Cork and hopefully I can see anything I missed from the first trip. I'm definitely going back to St. Stephen's Green for two ok three main reasons. 1. The mall is awesome and has wifi where there is also food 2. There was an amazing and cheap candy cart 3. Did I mention the food
Then it's off to Paris to brush up on my french skills and visit with an old friend who's doing it big and studying abroad in France. I couldn't pass up the chance to swing by and say hello. Also I've been wanting to see the tower for a long while now and seeing it in person should be pretty darn cool.
Then for the most lengthy part of the trip, travel wise, I fly back to Barcelona then take a 7 hour bus ride up north to San Sebastian, but in this little diamond of a town they have what I hear to be the best Pinchos for miles around and some pretty incredible views as well. Fingers are crossed that the rain takes a break for that weekend.
Me on the bus ride up most likely:
San Sebastian:
Let's just say there will be pictures to follow. Until the next time
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