If you are like me, a college student who is trying to figure out their life after college while trying to make it through university and graduate with a degree, the question of "where am I going to live after I graduate" probably crosses your mind a lot. At least, it does for me. So, if you are in the same boat as me or you are getting to that age where you are getting ready to retire but want to experience more of the world, then you should take a look at this list:
15. Finland
14. Australia
13. United Kingdom
12. Ireland
11. Austria
10. Japan
9. Iceland
8. United States
7. New Zealand
6. Switzerland
5. Canada
4. Netherlands
3. Germany
2. Norway
1. Sweden
The countries in bold are the places I am seriously considering moving and settling down in after I graduate from university.
You can read up all you want with this.
Travel on wanderlusters!
Showing posts with label Switzerland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Switzerland. Show all posts
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
I FORGOT HOW MUCH I MISSED HOME
I expected to wake up this morning to sunshine, birds chirping, smell of coffee coming from my Keurig and do a dramatic getting out of bed scene....nope, clouds, silence (which is SO nice after being in a city the last 5.5 months) and my legs tangled in my comforter. Except I woke up at home, in America, for the first time in almost half a year, so I guess that compensates for the lack of birds chirping, fresh coffee and sunshine. Maybe tomorrow?
I spent my morning wondering why on Earth I was drinking hot coffee (from my Keurig) and a cold fresh fruit smoothie. I was alternating between the two and realized that a) my teeth will be screwed and b) my tummy will not be so happy with me in following minutes. Granted, I was in a daze staring outside and my uber green backyard while I was alternating but I snapped to and decided to focus on drinking the first quality cup I have made in over 5 months. Let me tell you, I cannot make a cup of coffee for shit when in Prague. My coffee machine there is a joke and the instant coffee makes my gag reflex present. You get the idea, right?
Oh and of course I spent my morning in my bed watching Good Morning America and relaxing. I forgot how much I missed the little things about home and everyone at home while I was away at school. I am so happy to be home though and cannot wait to be here again for 4 months if I end up going to Uruguay during the spring of 2014.
I'm spending the day celebrating Father's Day seeing as yesterday I had an array of errands and Sunday, the actual Father's Day, was spent between Barcelona, Geneva and New York City. Most importantly though, I will be writing the posts on my recent travels and the long ago promised GUAM post. I know, I am really late....but it's better than never getting it!
Until then, travel on wanderlusters!
P.S. for a little smile this morning, read this cute story!
I spent my morning wondering why on Earth I was drinking hot coffee (from my Keurig) and a cold fresh fruit smoothie. I was alternating between the two and realized that a) my teeth will be screwed and b) my tummy will not be so happy with me in following minutes. Granted, I was in a daze staring outside and my uber green backyard while I was alternating but I snapped to and decided to focus on drinking the first quality cup I have made in over 5 months. Let me tell you, I cannot make a cup of coffee for shit when in Prague. My coffee machine there is a joke and the instant coffee makes my gag reflex present. You get the idea, right?
Oh and of course I spent my morning in my bed watching Good Morning America and relaxing. I forgot how much I missed the little things about home and everyone at home while I was away at school. I am so happy to be home though and cannot wait to be here again for 4 months if I end up going to Uruguay during the spring of 2014.
I'm spending the day celebrating Father's Day seeing as yesterday I had an array of errands and Sunday, the actual Father's Day, was spent between Barcelona, Geneva and New York City. Most importantly though, I will be writing the posts on my recent travels and the long ago promised GUAM post. I know, I am really late....but it's better than never getting it!
Until then, travel on wanderlusters!
P.S. for a little smile this morning, read this cute story!
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
HIDDEN HOTELS
We all love a little adventure when traveling and we tend to see the hotel as the "safe zone" or "adventure free zone" so-to-speak. You know, you go there to relax and rest your head in between adventures. Well, with these hotels, getting to the hotel is just the beginning of the adventure!
Here's a list of some of the world's hardest to get to hotels:
1. Parador de Ronda- Ronda, Spain
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2. Bivacco Gervasutti- Mont Blanc, Italy
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3. Hotel Caesar Augustus- Capri, Italy
4. 3100 Kulmhotel Gornergrat- Zermatt, Switzerland
5. Hotel Costa Verde 727 Fuselage- Costa Verde, Costa Rica
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6. Rifugio Torre Di Pisa- Cavignon Peak, Val di Fiemme, Italy
7. Whitepod Hotel- Les Cerniers, Switzerland
Ever been to one of these hotels? What was your experience?
I'm thinking I want to go to the Whitepod in Switzerland sometime soon!
Travel on wanderlusters!
Monday, May 27, 2013
SWITZERLAND: WE CAME, WE SAW, WE ATE TOO MUCH CHOCOLATE AND CHEESE
Hello beautiful people!
I just came back from our first adventure of Eurotrip 2013, Switzerland! To my surprise, it ended up being a surprise trip to Germany as well. Well, we stopped in quaint town for about 3 hours but hey, that is still considered 'going to Germany', right?
On Friday evening, we rushed to the main bus station here in Prague and boarded our...small, uncomfortable...bus. I must say we were surprised because the brochure for the tour said 'comfortable bus, screens, bathroom and complimentary drinks'...yeah, no. Not the case whatsoever. I guess that's what you get for booking an extremely cheap trip to Switzerland. Aside from that and the 10 hour sleep-less bus ride, we arrived in the beautiful Zurich at about 6 (AM).
Zurich looked like a city out of a fairy-tale; castles, churches, bridges and flowers were everywhere. We got out of the bus and walked the empty streets of the city with wide eyes and flashes from our cameras going off every few seconds. I was in love with the city before I even got to the canal and bridges. Before heading to the most beautiful area of the city, we walked through the cute streets, all adorned with Swiss flags and flowers in the windows. If you ever have been given a stereotypical description of Switzerland (blonde haired people, mountains galore, flowers, chocolate, cute streets and adorable houses/stores all squished together), it is exactly what you imagined. When we did make it over to the canals, I fell in love and wanted to hug this place. I think I took about 200 pictures in a solid 10 minutes, there was so much to take in at once; it was all almost overwhelming!
We split off from the tour group and wandered through the streets of Zurich, stopping in a public bathroom to brush our teeth, freshen up and take on the rainy, cold city. Yes, we really did brush our teeth in a public bathroom, I couldn't help but laugh at the reaction of some of the local Swiss women. When we freshened up, we strolled through the streets and into a few shops. After about 45 minutes of aimlessly walking around and snapping pictures everywhere, we stumbled upon Sprungli (which we later found out was one of Zurich's must go to places) and drooled over the macaroons, pastries and CHOCOLATES. Of course whenever a macaroon presents itself near me, I have to buy one...or some...so I bought a little box of them. Two salted caramel (my favorite), one gold champagne and one complimentary rhubarb. Deliciiiiiious. I also bought two bars of the house Swiss chocolate which was AMAZING. Seriously, one of the best chocolates I have ever eaten (the best I have had thus far is Norwegian chocolate). You know when they say Swiss chocolate is to die for? They mean it, even if you aren't a big chocolate fan, definitely try Swiss chocolate because it will change your life!
After satisfying our sweet teeth...sweet tooths? Never wrote about plural sweet tooth(s), hmm. Anyways, we wandered around some more and the sun finally began to shine (yay!) We headed back towards the canals and churches and ran into a wedding, yes, literally ran into a wedding. We attempted to go into the church when we realized wait...they are having a wedding here! Oops! So we quickly went off in the other direction towards what we thought was the Lindt chocolate factory. After a few minutes of trying to figure out where the door to this factory might be, we realized it was just a sign for the chocolate and not actually a factory. Defeated, we turned the corner and discovered the Saturday market! Full of fake Louis Vuitton, Burberry, antiques, hot-dogs, overpriced sandwiches, Cinderella shoes, fur coats and Indian home decor.
My one friend bought the Cinderella-esque shoes for about 20 euros and we went on to explore the rest of what Zurich had to offer. We stumbled into a cafe for coffee to warm ourselves up and avoid the rain. We lounged for about an hour and I laughed as my friends paid a ridiculous amount of money for a cup of black coffee and a cafe latte. Crazy, crazy people I am friends with! When the rain let up a bit, we walked on some of the smaller, quieter streets and came across a cheese shop. Overwhelmed by the amount of cheese and all the possibilities, we finally came to a decision and bought large amounts of cheese. I got just one, a mild house cheese, while my friends bought a little portion of several different kinds. I am one of those cheese and crackers type of people and I love cheese on pretty much anything so I was excited to try this super-hyped about Swiss cheese. Thankfully, I randomly chose well and got myself a yummy portion of authentic Swiss cheese.
We finished our time in Zurich by sitting by the lake, surrounded by mountains, yachts, geese and beautiful homes, with a bratwurst, bread and cheese and Swiss chocolate pieces in each of our hands. Happiness at it's finest; enjoying the little things in life, as I like to say. The view was so beautiful and the sun was shining which made it that much better! Definitely a good time in Zurich and I will be back in Switzerland, maybe not Zurich because it seemed to be more for business-types, elders but still a good welcoming to Switzerland. I would love to see Geneva (my flight from Barcelona to NYC this summer goes there, why? Who knows, doesn't make sense), the Matterhorn, the Alps, some of those beautiful meadows/fields full of flowers and Lucerne. Maybe not this year but definitely one day!
After Zurich, we headed to Rhein Falls which was incredible! The falls were so powerful and fast I was just amazed by it all. The water was so unbelievably clear too. There was an option to head on a boat and close to the falls but we declined in fear of getting too cold and soaking wet before the 10 hour ride home. So, we just walked around and went down as close to the water as we could. We got back to the visitor center just before a storm rolled in so we relaxed in the bus before heading off to the next place...Constance, Switzerland. Constance is a town on the border of Switzerland and Germany but with the rain we just went to Germany and stopped there for a few hours. My one friend and I stayed on the bus and slept some of our exhaustion off but went to explore shortly later. We wandered through the Bavarian-style town and tried to find something quick, cheap but filling to eat. We gave up the search as it started to rain and went into a random Indian hole-in-the-wall. It was one of those dark, creepy restaurants but with very friendly owners, who told us where exactly in Germany we were because frankly, we had no idea when the bus parked. We bonded with them in broken English for a few minutes before our takeaway was ready.
When we got back to the bus, we ate like there was no tomorrow...me not so much because I had a strange feeling that my chicken was not cooked all the way...and proceeded home. We were lucky with a beautiful sunset towards our drive through Germany which put us to sleep for the next few hours. 10 hours later, at about 5 (am) we arrived back in freezing Prague and I rejoiced at the sight of a shower and my comfy bed.
All in all, I would say weekend trip to Switzerland and unexpected Germany was a success! All I know is that I am just so happy to be traveling again and I cannot wait for the rest of travels this coming month and the travels coming throughout the rest of this year! It will be a year of traveling with wanderlust.
Mis Luftchüssiboot isch volle Aal! Next stop: Budapest, Hungary this weekend!
Travel on wanderlusters!
If you are going to Zurich, be sure to visit:
1. Wander through Old Town (Altstade)
2. Window shop along Bahnhofstrasse
3. Indulge in Swiss chocolates from Sprungli.
4. Eat a lunch of Swiss cheese fondue at an outdoor cafe.
5. Take a boat tour of Lake Promenade.
6. Visit the Zurich Opera House.
7. Snap some photos of the Great Church (Grossmunster), Church of Our Lady (Fraumunster) and the canals nearby.
8. Make it over to the Saturday markets by the lake.
9. Spend a rainy afternoon in the Swiss National Museum or Museum of Art (Kunsthaus Zurich).
10. Smell the flowers at the Botanical Garden.
11. Get splashed by the Rhein Falls.
12. Spend a few hours in the west area of Zurich.
I just came back from our first adventure of Eurotrip 2013, Switzerland! To my surprise, it ended up being a surprise trip to Germany as well. Well, we stopped in quaint town for about 3 hours but hey, that is still considered 'going to Germany', right?
On Friday evening, we rushed to the main bus station here in Prague and boarded our...small, uncomfortable...bus. I must say we were surprised because the brochure for the tour said 'comfortable bus, screens, bathroom and complimentary drinks'...yeah, no. Not the case whatsoever. I guess that's what you get for booking an extremely cheap trip to Switzerland. Aside from that and the 10 hour sleep-less bus ride, we arrived in the beautiful Zurich at about 6 (AM).
Zurich looked like a city out of a fairy-tale; castles, churches, bridges and flowers were everywhere. We got out of the bus and walked the empty streets of the city with wide eyes and flashes from our cameras going off every few seconds. I was in love with the city before I even got to the canal and bridges. Before heading to the most beautiful area of the city, we walked through the cute streets, all adorned with Swiss flags and flowers in the windows. If you ever have been given a stereotypical description of Switzerland (blonde haired people, mountains galore, flowers, chocolate, cute streets and adorable houses/stores all squished together), it is exactly what you imagined. When we did make it over to the canals, I fell in love and wanted to hug this place. I think I took about 200 pictures in a solid 10 minutes, there was so much to take in at once; it was all almost overwhelming!
We split off from the tour group and wandered through the streets of Zurich, stopping in a public bathroom to brush our teeth, freshen up and take on the rainy, cold city. Yes, we really did brush our teeth in a public bathroom, I couldn't help but laugh at the reaction of some of the local Swiss women. When we freshened up, we strolled through the streets and into a few shops. After about 45 minutes of aimlessly walking around and snapping pictures everywhere, we stumbled upon Sprungli (which we later found out was one of Zurich's must go to places) and drooled over the macaroons, pastries and CHOCOLATES. Of course whenever a macaroon presents itself near me, I have to buy one...or some...so I bought a little box of them. Two salted caramel (my favorite), one gold champagne and one complimentary rhubarb. Deliciiiiiious. I also bought two bars of the house Swiss chocolate which was AMAZING. Seriously, one of the best chocolates I have ever eaten (the best I have had thus far is Norwegian chocolate). You know when they say Swiss chocolate is to die for? They mean it, even if you aren't a big chocolate fan, definitely try Swiss chocolate because it will change your life!
After satisfying our sweet teeth...sweet tooths? Never wrote about plural sweet tooth(s), hmm. Anyways, we wandered around some more and the sun finally began to shine (yay!) We headed back towards the canals and churches and ran into a wedding, yes, literally ran into a wedding. We attempted to go into the church when we realized wait...they are having a wedding here! Oops! So we quickly went off in the other direction towards what we thought was the Lindt chocolate factory. After a few minutes of trying to figure out where the door to this factory might be, we realized it was just a sign for the chocolate and not actually a factory. Defeated, we turned the corner and discovered the Saturday market! Full of fake Louis Vuitton, Burberry, antiques, hot-dogs, overpriced sandwiches, Cinderella shoes, fur coats and Indian home decor.
My one friend bought the Cinderella-esque shoes for about 20 euros and we went on to explore the rest of what Zurich had to offer. We stumbled into a cafe for coffee to warm ourselves up and avoid the rain. We lounged for about an hour and I laughed as my friends paid a ridiculous amount of money for a cup of black coffee and a cafe latte. Crazy, crazy people I am friends with! When the rain let up a bit, we walked on some of the smaller, quieter streets and came across a cheese shop. Overwhelmed by the amount of cheese and all the possibilities, we finally came to a decision and bought large amounts of cheese. I got just one, a mild house cheese, while my friends bought a little portion of several different kinds. I am one of those cheese and crackers type of people and I love cheese on pretty much anything so I was excited to try this super-hyped about Swiss cheese. Thankfully, I randomly chose well and got myself a yummy portion of authentic Swiss cheese.
We finished our time in Zurich by sitting by the lake, surrounded by mountains, yachts, geese and beautiful homes, with a bratwurst, bread and cheese and Swiss chocolate pieces in each of our hands. Happiness at it's finest; enjoying the little things in life, as I like to say. The view was so beautiful and the sun was shining which made it that much better! Definitely a good time in Zurich and I will be back in Switzerland, maybe not Zurich because it seemed to be more for business-types, elders but still a good welcoming to Switzerland. I would love to see Geneva (my flight from Barcelona to NYC this summer goes there, why? Who knows, doesn't make sense), the Matterhorn, the Alps, some of those beautiful meadows/fields full of flowers and Lucerne. Maybe not this year but definitely one day!
After Zurich, we headed to Rhein Falls which was incredible! The falls were so powerful and fast I was just amazed by it all. The water was so unbelievably clear too. There was an option to head on a boat and close to the falls but we declined in fear of getting too cold and soaking wet before the 10 hour ride home. So, we just walked around and went down as close to the water as we could. We got back to the visitor center just before a storm rolled in so we relaxed in the bus before heading off to the next place...Constance, Switzerland. Constance is a town on the border of Switzerland and Germany but with the rain we just went to Germany and stopped there for a few hours. My one friend and I stayed on the bus and slept some of our exhaustion off but went to explore shortly later. We wandered through the Bavarian-style town and tried to find something quick, cheap but filling to eat. We gave up the search as it started to rain and went into a random Indian hole-in-the-wall. It was one of those dark, creepy restaurants but with very friendly owners, who told us where exactly in Germany we were because frankly, we had no idea when the bus parked. We bonded with them in broken English for a few minutes before our takeaway was ready.
When we got back to the bus, we ate like there was no tomorrow...me not so much because I had a strange feeling that my chicken was not cooked all the way...and proceeded home. We were lucky with a beautiful sunset towards our drive through Germany which put us to sleep for the next few hours. 10 hours later, at about 5 (am) we arrived back in freezing Prague and I rejoiced at the sight of a shower and my comfy bed.
All in all, I would say weekend trip to Switzerland and unexpected Germany was a success! All I know is that I am just so happy to be traveling again and I cannot wait for the rest of travels this coming month and the travels coming throughout the rest of this year! It will be a year of traveling with wanderlust.
Travel on wanderlusters!
If you are going to Zurich, be sure to visit:
1. Wander through Old Town (Altstade)
2. Window shop along Bahnhofstrasse
3. Indulge in Swiss chocolates from Sprungli.
4. Eat a lunch of Swiss cheese fondue at an outdoor cafe.
5. Take a boat tour of Lake Promenade.
6. Visit the Zurich Opera House.
7. Snap some photos of the Great Church (Grossmunster), Church of Our Lady (Fraumunster) and the canals nearby.
8. Make it over to the Saturday markets by the lake.
9. Spend a rainy afternoon in the Swiss National Museum or Museum of Art (Kunsthaus Zurich).
10. Smell the flowers at the Botanical Garden.
11. Get splashed by the Rhein Falls.
12. Spend a few hours in the west area of Zurich.
Saturday, May 25, 2013
SWIMMING IN THE CLEAR
You know when you are on vacation (or home) and you go to the ocean/sea/lake/other body of water and it's almost like walking into a dark pit of unknown fear. You walk in and start swimming only to feel something slimy on your feet or legs, fish nibbling at your body or a freaky unawareness of just how deep the water is...I don't know about you, but that scares the living shittake mushrooms out of me and I would rather just lay on the beach and become a lobster instead of experience that.
If you hate it too, here's a list of 34 places throughout the world that has clear water (thank you water gods):
1. Linapacan Island, Palawan, Philippines
2. The Maldives
3. Dog Island, San Blas, Panama
4. Cayo Coco, Cuba
5. Cala Macarelleta, Menorca, Spain
6. Sua Trench, Samoa
7. Crater Lake, Oregon, USA
8. Bak Bak Beach, Borneo
9. Jiuzhaigou Valley, Sichuan, China
10. Sabah, Malaysia
11. Jenny Lake, Wyoming, USA
12. Rio Sucuri, Brazil
13. Calanque de Sormiou, France
14. Panari Island, Okinawa, Japan
15. Puerto Ayora, Galapagos
16. Lake Tahoe, Nevada, USA
17. Cayos Cochinos, Honduras
18. Primosten, Croatia
19. St. George, Bermuda
20. Hanauma Bay, Oahu, Hawaii
21. Pupu Springs, New Zealand
22. Calanque d'En-Vau, France
23. Rio Azul, Argentina
24. Corfu, Greece
25. Aitutaki, Cook Islands
26. Koh Phi Phi Don, Thailand
27. Playa Blanca, Colombia
28. Blue Lake, New Zealand (apparently the clearest water in the world)
29. Konigssee, Germany
30. Valle Verzasca, Switzerland
31. Tioman Island, Malaysia
32. Belo Sur Mer, Madagascar
33. Lake Marjorie, California, USA
34. Bodrum, Turkey
I'm dreaming of basking in these waters, are you?
Travel on wanderlusters!
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