I've decided to switch jobs, and there was a good opportunity for me to take a month break before starting the new job. At first I wanted to go around the world, and visit places like India, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, and all that jazz, but after looking into the details, I realized that one month wasn't going to be enough, and I had even less time to plan for it. So I settled on touring Europe.
My tentative plan is as follows, with tentative days of stay in parenthesis:
London (4) -> Paris (2) -> Bergen, Norway (4) -> Rome (2) -> Marrakesh, Morocco (4) -> Athens (3) -> Istanbul (11)
I have a friend (Soj) in London, so that's my start city, and we plan to visit Norway together for a weekend. But as you can tell from the disproportionate number of days I've assigned to Istanbul, that's the city I'm most curious and excited to see. Paris was a last minute addition, as it was so close to London, and my main motivation going there is to eat French pastries. As a comparison, seeing the Louvre or the Eiffel tower is like a 6.5 on a scale 1-10, and French pastries is like a 9.
My main goal for traveling is to see how people live. Instead of sightseeing the important landmarks or the museums, I'm more interested in seeing the everyday lifestyles of ordinary people, how they move around, what they eat, where they hang out. This is the reason for me wanting to visit Marrakesh and Istanbul. My fondest memories of traveling abroad is when I was able to speak to the locals in their language (in China and Japan), either by asking them for directions, asking how much something was, or what their favorite thing on the menu was. I remember walking into a Chinese pastry shop in Wuhan, and as soon as I asked in my broken Chinese, "Which one tastes the best?" the two girls attending the counter, who seemed bored out of their minds, instantly brightened up and offered suggestions on various things to try. I think there was something special about being a foreigner in a city and asking a local in their own language. I think the feeling would be different if I were to go to London and ask a local for directions in English. Also, I've heard that American tourists aren't particularly well received in Europe. But because I look asian, I might get a different treatment. We will see.
My other main goal for traveling in Europe, particularly, is for the history. I'm fascinated by ancient history, and Athens and Rome seem like the mecca for the time period that I'm interested in.
So far only my flight to London and Istanbul has been booked. Nothing else is planned. I plan to book things as I go along. The good thing about that is I can be flexible, but the bad thing is that I might pay more for last minute bookings, or worse, some of the tickets and tours might be sold out.
Today I'm flying into Chicago to see my nephew for a few days, and on Friday night, I'm flying out to London. I'm so excited!
While I'm at it, let's talk about packing. I bought a Osprey Farpoint 40 pack, and a Hikpro Ultralight daypack. I read up a lot on traveling light, and decided to pack all my stuff into these two. They're really packed to the brim, and I'm amazed at how others can travel even lighter than this.
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