Oops.

This afternoon on the train from Sevilla to Barcelona, it suddenly hit me:  just days into my big adventure, I have abandoned my blog!

Oddly enough, the day I wrote my last post, I was invited to go on the hostel's pub crawl with some folks I met on a walking tour and a guy in my hostel.  I mentioned this invitation via text to my beloved best friend and #1 travel companion - and of course, she talked me into it.  (Her sage words of advice before my departure - be good, be safe, be bold.  Well, here was the bold.  Plus, if you're going to party as a woman traveling alone, best to do it with a local guide taking care of you.)

Let us from here on refer to the guy from my hostel as Hostel Guy (see previous post...and also that guy in a hostel who is strumming a guitar he found in the common area and sharing his bottle of wine with anyone who's around...and who's traveling to get some distance from challenging life circumstances...etc.  In many ways, he IS your typical backpacker.)  But despite it all, Hostel Guy and I wound up hitting it off and that same night, he suggested we travel together for a while.  We enjoyed our last two days in Lisbon together and then he came with me to Sevilla.  Many hours were passed wandering through parks, enjoying drinks and meals at the "tapateria" near our pension in Sevilla, and climbing into fountains for the perfect photo.  To be fair, there was also a lot of eye-rolling at his raunchy sense of humor or needling me for my feminism - but that's all one.

It was oddly refreshing - together we did a lot of everyday things that don't scream "Eurotrip."  We got haircuts.  We searched for a post office.  We hung out at the beach.  We got tattoos together.  We went to the movies (I bet Pitch Perfect 2 is even better in English).  We played at a playground.  We walked and ate and drank and talked a LOT.  We discovered major similarities and a world of difference between us.  Hostel Guy has been in Europe for almost two months already and previously spent eight days in Barcelona, so we parted ways this morning - he's off to Madrid and Florence.

Hostel Guy said something interesting when talking about two guys he met and became very close to in Paris.  "When you're overseas, it's like relationships are on fast-forward."  Too true.  This is a concept that, as an expat, I am already familiar with; I have been blessed in my two short years in Korea with four wonderful women who I consider among my best friends, just as close as those from high school or college.  Similarly, taking a risk and doing something outside my comfort zone turned into a fun adventure with a fantastic bro and travel buddy extraordinaire, as well as a new perspective on travel.

Now, this is hardly a retraction of my previous post - I stand by my own travel style.  But as I committed to doing at the beginning of this trip, remaining open-minded while traveling has challenged me and changed me.  I still love waking up early, going on walking tours, making my own walking tours, sitting in Starbucks and reading for a few hours.  But I've learned that if I let myself be open to it, I can also love new people and their travel styles, even when talking to someone I don't know scares the introverted bejeezus right out of me.

So here's to you, Hostel Guy.  Thanks for changing my perspective.  Now back to solo excursions and exploring Barcelona!

(Full disclosure - as I write this, I am reading Kristin Chenoweth's autobiography in bed in my new hostel.  Baby steps.  All in good time!)

Not Your Typical Backpacker

My idea of a great day of solo travel looks something like this:

Wake up relatively early

Have a leisurely breakfast and coffee with a book

Go on a walking tour

Grab lunch when I start to feel hungry again

Explore a few sites that stood out to me from the tour

Stop for a coffee and some people watching and write in my travel journal

Wander the neighborhood I am in

Find somewhere that looks interesting or is Lonely Planet recommended for dinner

Head back to the hostel

Shower, repack, read, and go to bed

For many backpackers, it seems to me that their ideal day looks something more like this:

Sleep late

Stumble downstairs for the tail end of the free breakfast

Bum around the hostel for a couple hours

Motivated by hunger, seek out lunch

Hang out outside the hostel for a bit

Take a late afternoon nap

Have dinner

Get rip-roaring drunk

Loudly return to shared room at 1am

Is one inherently right or wrong?  No.  Am I perfectly content to spend my entire trip not really meeting or getting to know anyone?  Totallly.  But the culture of hostels sometimes makes me feel like I am doing something wrong by not wanting to party and hang out with my fellow backpackers around the clock.  (Don't get me wrong, I love hostels, and you can expect a post on why at some point.)

But here's the thing - I travel solo because I want to set my own agenda.  If little ol' introverted Grace doesn't need extended human interaction, she shouldn't feel pressured to seek it out.  There are parties everywhere in the world, I don't feel the need to go out in every city I visit - especially as a woman on my own where it can quite frankly be dangerous to get a little too sloshed.  I came for culture, for history, for what is unique about each place, and I will discover that in my own way.  If I met someone in a hostel interested in a similar experience?  Well, that's a horse of a different colour.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to a cool Starbucks I saw yesterday before jumping on a walking tour of the Alfama district - time to kick off another great day in Lisbon :)

The Two-Week Ship

One of the beautiful things about an extended Eurotrip is the people you see again.  On our free tour of Seville, I nudged Hostel Guy and gestured toward a pair in the group.  "Weren't they in our hostel in Lissbon?"  Being Hostel Guy, he was obviously best friends with them (and everyone else at the hostel), so we went over for a joyous reunion.

At some point as we strolled from point F to point G, one of them mentioned "the two-week ship."  I was intrigued, so further description was offered.  Two weeks into your trip, you lay out everything in your backpack.  Is there anything you didn't touch in the first two weeks?  Ship it home.  Also a good time to lose some weight in souvenirs you've purchased up to that point.  Brilliant, I thought.  And perfect timing - the two-week mark was the beginning of family time in Italy, so I'd extend it to four weeks and send home any souvenirs procured in Tuscany as well.  Now that's a license to buy wine if I ever heard one.*

I thought and planned a lot before finally sitting down to pack for this trip.  What did I REALLY need to bring to Europe for eight weeks?  I Googled things along the lines of "backpacking through Europe packing list" a gazillion times.  But of course, even with all that thoughtful planning, there were some things I got right and some things I didn't.  Below I have listed the 5 best packing choices I made, the 5 things I regret bringing, and the 5 things I wish I had brought.

Best:

1.  USB wall charger - What with the iPhone, iPad, keyboard, Kindle, Fitbit, and portable charger all needing at least occasional charging, I had to find a good solution so that I was not that hated person in the hostel using every outlet, and carrying around 17 adapters.  Enter the USB wall charger.  It comes with a variety of adapters for different countries and has four slots, so I can simultaneously charge multiple devices with only one wall outlet.

2.  ClamCase - I waffled for a while as to what technology to bring on my trip.  Obviously the iPhone was coming, but I couldn't decide between my iPad and my Macbook Air.  In his infinite wisdom, my father suggested getting a really good keyboard for the iPad, largely due to the difference in price point between iPad purchased three years ago and Macbook that is six months old.  After consulting with my school's head of IT, I purchased a ClamCase, and I LOVE it.  It's so good that I sometimes reach for the track pad as if it is a laptop and am surprised not to find it.

3.  Packing cubes - I'll admit it, I'd never heard of packing cubes before I started doing packing research for this trip.  I consulted many many lists such as this one, and packing cubes came up again and again.  I was convinced I didn't need them...but after seeing them listed so many times, I figured it couldn't hurt to try them out.  I bought a set of three and used only the bigger two for this trip.  Great for easily finding tops vs. bottoms, clean vs. dirty - the combinations are limitless!

4.  SCOTTeVEST - I love this thing.  I bought their RFID travel vest and it was worth every penny.  It has 18 (yes, 18) pockets, including pockets dedicated to a tablet, a water bottle, a passport, an ID card, cash, change, earbuds, and more.  I will say that their "No Bulge" technology left a little to be desired when the vest was fully stocked and zipped, but not bad overall.  Disclaimer:  wearing this vest may cause people to make fun of you (yeah, Hostel Guy, I'm talking to you).  I say worth it.

5.  3 pairs of shoes - Let me tell you, I wavered on this for some time.  I was committed to a pair of Toms as my main everyday shoes, and anyone who has used a shared shower or been to a beach will side with me on flip flops.  I really wanted to find a pair of Birkenstocks as a secondary daily wear pair, but alas, my teeny feet restrict me to kids sizes and I couldn't find a pair I loved.  I could have just kept the flip flops as a secondary day shoe, but I just don't trust my $2 Old Navy flip flops that well.  So, I wound up bringing a pair of dress-up-or-dress-down black sandals.  First day in Lisbon, it pours, my Toms are soaked.  Enter the black sandals.  The next night, I decide to go on pub crawl.  Hello again, old friends.  The following day, I go to the beach.  Greetings, flip flops.  I stand by my three pairs of shoes.

Worst:

1.  Socks - Okay, after all that waxing nostalgic about shoes, this is a bit of a head-scratcher.  But if you read between the lines there, do any of those shoes require socks?  Nope.  But, I thought, what if my feet get cold one night?  FYI, those socks were never worn or washed.  Bottom line - if you are bringing anything (particularly an article of clothing) "just in case" - it's not worth it.  I just-in-case-d myself into 2 pairs of pants where one would have more than sufficed, 2 long-sleeved shirts where one went untouched for the whole trip, 2 outer garments of which I only ever used one.  If it turns out there is something you really need, chances are Europe has it.

2.  Passport belt - This one may also seem a bit confusing.  Every traveler's best friend, right?  Not when you've got the SCOTTeVEST.  It has dedicated (and highly secure) pockets for passport, cash, and change.  I barely needed a wallet, much less a passport belt.  When staying in a particular city, I locked up large amounts of cash, passport, etc. in my backpack or a locker and carried only what I needed in the vest or a small backpack.  On travel day, it was perfect for keeping my passport, tickets/boarding passes, portable charger, phone, etc at my disposal.  Particularly on a day where I really stand out as a tourist, it was good to know that all my stuff was pretty pickpocket-safe.

3.  Umbrella - I used it once.  Yes, it was on my first day, so at first I was deluded into thinking it was a brilliant choice.  Since then it has sat in my backpack completely unused.  If you decide you really need one, the second it starts to drizzle, there will be ponchos and umbrellas at every storefront.

4.  Water bottle - Okay, this was partly my particular water bottle.  It proved rather leaky, you see.  And while I am all about being eco-friendly and reducing carbon footprint, I am also all about ice-cold water.  Eventually I found a relatively sturdy plastic bottle that I got for a euro or so that I used in the hostel, but when out and about, I typically bought a bottle on the go or chugged it down with a meal.

5.  Makeup - First, let me confess:  I am pretty damn femme.  I love makeup.  On a typical work day, I wear Bb cream, concealer, blush, eyeshadow, translucent powder, eyeliner, mascara, and lipstick.  On this busy and sweaty trip, I can count on one hand the number of times I wore makeup.  I am so glad I talked myself down to just concealer, mascara, and lipstick (although it was still a real challenge to walk past Sephora).

I wish I had:

1.  Waterproof toiletry kit - I got a hanging toiletry kit that was recommended on one of the lists I consulted, but sadly - it was not waterproof.  While it wasn't an extreme hardship to pull out my shower stuff every day, it was enough of a hassle to be an annoyance.

2.  A deck of cards - Cards are a great way to break the ice, kill some time, make new friends, become very popular very quickly...I meant to bring a deck and they just didn't make it into the pack.  Drat.

3.  More T-shirts - I wound up going to H&M in Lisbon to pick up two more short-sleeved t-shirts.  I was cool with my 3 pairs of shorts and a pair of stretchy capris, as those could be reworn.  But sweating in the European summer, the t-shirts needed to be retired after a day of wear.  I'd brought a couple tank tops, but they don't really work with the SCOTTeVEST.

4.  More dresses - If you are coming to Europe in the summer, you want sundresses.  Light, breezy, easy to pack, easy to wear.  Dress up and dress down.  Obviously these did NOT go with the SCOTTeVEST, but as I became more confident (and bought a gorgeous Italian leather purse that I wanted to show off), the vest mostly came out to play on big travel days.

5.  More accessories - I brought a lot of scarves to accessorize.  News flash - it gets HOT in Europe in the summer.  From Seville to Venice, it was way too hot to wear a scarf.  Necklaces and earrings would have been more lightweight, more compact, and more comfortable in the summer sun.

With those last three, I have probably lost a lot of my audience - sorry non-femmes!  How about you?  What are the best and worst packing decisions you've made?

* No.  No it's not.  You can't ship wine from Italy to Korea.  Or from Italy to the USA.  Do yourself a favour and do some research before you buy five bottles.

Lisbon: First Impressions

Greetings from Lisbon!  I've been here a little less than 24 hours, but here are a few things that struck me so far:

* The people are so friendly.  From my cab driver to the reception at my hostel to my tour guide this morning to restaurant proprieters, everyone has been amazing.

* Cobblestones...cobblestones everywhere.  Those who know me well know that I despise cobblestones, but will tolerate them in places where they are historic.  Like here.

* On that note, this place reminds me of cities in Jerusalem and Palestine in some ways.  Different sites transport me to Jerusalem, Hebron, Haifa.

* Wine, cheese, sausage, olives, and bread can (and should?) be eaten for every meal.

* Super walkable city.  The Alfama (where I'm staying) is characterized by narrow windy streets, but outside that everything is very navigable.  Even within the Alfama, Google Maps has not led me astray!

* Hostels are great.  In some ways they really challenge me as an introvert (one of my big goals on this trip, actually), but the structures they have in place for orienting you to a place and meeting people are phenomenal.  The one I am at now is particularly excellent at these things!

* My friend Alex once told me that speaking Portuguese is just like speaking Spanish with your mouth full of marbles.  How right she was.

I'll try and give an overview of my time in Lisbon once I wrap up here - I had a great day of touring Belem and seeking out great food.  For now, I am happily ensconced in my bed at my hostel, drying out my very soggy shoes (it poured today), finishing my book, and heading to bed before a tour of Santri tomorrow.  Sweet dreams!

Freak Out!

"You're so brave."

"I could never do what you're doing."

"And you're going ALONE?"

Ever since I decided to spend my summer vacation backpacking solo through Europe, I have heard a lot of comments such as this.  As I said goodbye to my roommate this morning, she echoed this sentiment once more.

The funny thing is - I didn't think twice about it.

The last time I was embarking on a major trip like this was shortly after my college graduation, when driving my eight-passenger van across the country from Massachusetts to California.  It was looking for a while like that would be solo, which made me apprehensive only because there were some long driving days that would be much better split between two drivers.  Fortunately the fates intervened and my best friend was my copilot for an unforgettable two-week adventure.

Planning my Europe trip, my best friend is really the only one I would have wanted in it with me for the long haul.  As a recent college graduate herself, she is low on funds and busy pounding the pavement looking for work, so she unfortunately couldn't tag along.  My mother anxiously asked every time we talked about the trip if I had "found someone to come with me yet."  An introvert like myself, I asked her - "Is there anyone other than Dad who YOU would want to spend eight weeks straight with?!"  My point was well taken.

Throughout the planning - the itinerary, the logistics, the sightseeing - I rarely felt nervous or anxious, only excited.  The last time I felt this way was in my sophomore year of college researching study abroad programs.  As I looked into Buddhism intensives in India I felt nervous.  When I discovered Hebrew University of Jerusalem's program, I couldn't contain my joy.  That's how I knew it was right, and how I knew my European adventure was right.

But - I have a pattern of last-minute freak outs.  Ask my parents; the night before I embark upon any major life change (going to college, joining a traveling sports ministry program, moving to Korea), I am sobbing in their bed.  Last night, my final evening in a familiar bed, room, apartment, city, country - I went to bed and quickly fell asleep for seven fairly uninterrupted hours.  This morning I woke up, dressed, packed my last few things, and headed to the airport.  I'm not freaking out.

Which, of course, is making me freak out.

Stay tuned - I'm off to Lisbon!

Why Travel?

The URL of this blog, "No Such Beauty," holds multiple meanings for me.  One is that I believe in the unique beauty of every place I visit.  No two scenes are the same, and every new vista fills me with a sense of awe and wonder.  On Couchsurfing.org, one question they ask is about one amazing thing you have seen or done.  I will still never forget standing on the Mount of Beatitudes on Christmas day, looking down at the Sea of Galilee, where the sun was just peeking through the clouds.  Seeing the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbor Bridge for the first time in glorious sunlight was astonishing.  Walking through the peaceful streets of Gion after sunset was one of the most serene experiences of my life.  Every new place I visit holds new surprises and views that take my breath away.

Beyond the obvious allure of landscapes and architecture, I find beauty in the cultures and people I encounter.  No matter how radically different the lifestyles, belief systems, traditions, politics, and values, I seek the common humanity that binds us together.  In the extreme, it can be challenging to uncover that - but we all laugh, we all mourn, we all celebrate, we all rage, we all love.  With each new challenge to what I think I know, I expand my worldview and learn.  Everyone you will ever meet knows something that you do not - and I think that is beautiful.  Not to mention, when you are in an unfamiliar place, you are going to have to seek help and ask for support, which is in and of itself a challenge for this introverted gal!

The other meaning comes from a song I performed with my college choir, "The Road Home."  We performed this piece at my baccalaureate, so it packs quite the emotional punch with me.  One of my favourite lines is, "There's no such beauty as where you belong."  As an international teacher, the concept of "home" is rather fraught.  I have my apartment here in Incheon; I have my permanent address at my parents' house in California; I have my ties to my beloved home of homes, my college in Western Massachusetts; I have a magnificent friend community in Boston.  I had a similar crisis during my study abroad in Jerusalem.  My older and wiser sister gave me some excellent advice, from her own journey of self-discovery during her year abroad in Quito, Ecuador.  I can't find the message or e-mail she sent me to quote her, but the gist was this:  as you continue to travel, you move from feeling as if you belong nowhere to feeling as if you belong everywhere.  Rather than a homeless nomad, you feel like an adventurous wanderer.  As my friends scatter across the world, and my travels take me to new places, I find new homes, new communities, and new opportunities.  I am not homeless; I am homeful.

Bottom line:  I travel to be amazed, challenge myself, and find a sense of belonging.  What about you?  What gives you the urge to get up and go?