"Your only limit is your mind." – Unknown
2020 is now in full swing but I still wanted to write a post to reflect on my winter break trip for 2019-2020. Posts highlighting each place I went are definitely coming, as well as vlogs where I documented my trip. However, now that I’m back in my routine of work in Spain, I wanted to write down my thoughts on how everything went overall. So if you’re interested in how I spent winter break (17 days) solo traveling around Europe during the holiday season, keep reading.
The itch to travel has not shut up ever since I took my first major solo trip to Montreal, Canada in May 2018. Since then I’ve done several trips, big and small. I decided last minute to take a plane to Denver, Colorado to spend my birthday. Like my trip to Portugal, it was last minute (even more so) and I just went with my gut. I didn’t want to spend hundreds on an international flight and there are still many places in the U.S. I have yet to explore.
Since I’ve never been to that side of the country before, I thought visiting Denver would be a great choice. So I booked my plane ticket, a bed in a hostel and began putting together a Google Doc of my intended itinerary. If you’d like to read about my time in Denver, Colorado for my birthday, keep reading.
Almost one year ago I made a list of the cities I’d love to visit specifically in the winter. Most of the choices involved spending winter in Europe. However, I was in a very different place in my life during that time. First of all, I wasn’t living in Europe! Now that I am, I can stop saying “what if” to many of the cities I’d like to spend my winter in Europe, and actually start planning!
Here is my list of what I’d like to do and see this winter in Europe as I continue my expat journey in this part of the world. If you’re interested in finding out, keep reading.
If you’ve seen photos of Portugal, there’s a great chance you’ve come across the gorgeous castles in Sintra. Sintra is a beautiful town near the capital city of Lisbon. This makes a great day trip for people staying in Lisbon, which is exactly what I did during my Portugal trip. If you’d like to read about how to get to Sintra and how to make most of your trip, keep reading.
Sometimes I let my desire to travel the world blind me to the fact that there are amazing places to visit right here in the U.S. Denver, Colorado has been on my bucket list of cities to visit for a while now. There are many appealing things about Denver I can’t wait to see. When you’re reading this, I’ll be in Denver to celebrate my birthday! Not only will it be my first time to Denver, but also to that side of the U.S.
In preparation for my trip I began putting together a document of all the places in Denver I want to see. If you’d like to see what is on my Denver bucket list, then keep reading!
If you are looking for day trips from Porto, Aveiro is a great option. This canal-filled city is sometimes referred to as the Venice of Portugal. There are many day trip options from Porto. But Aveiro is a great, easy option for those of you. Plus, travel within Portugal is not only cheap, but efficient. So, if you’d like to know what to expect from a day trip from Porto to Aveiro, keep reading.
I want to travel the world. And I’m slowly but surely starting to do so. I recently went on my first overseas trip to Portugal and it was amazing. However, I also have student loans and I’m not raking in 6 figures (yet!). So I have to plan and budget accordingly in order to do what I love: travel.
For me and many others, hostels are the way to be able to save money while traveling. Accommodations are often the biggest killer for travelers. It can be your biggest expense, more than flights, food and activities combined. Luckily we live in a world with more options. There are Airbnb’s, which you can get for great deals, especially in Europe. However, even that can be out of your price range. Thus, I decided to dabble into the world of hostels for the first time. If you’d like to know about what to expect, keep reading.