Hey Everyone! Happy almost May! It's crazy that this month is here because as of today, I head home back to the states in 20 days. I can't really wrap my head around it so instead I thought I would delve into the pictures I took a couple of weeks ago when I visited the island of Madeira, Portugal. If you've been keeping up with my posts, you know I visited Lisbon last fall and had an amazing time. When my roomate mentioned she wanted to check out an island off the coast of Portugal, I jumped at the chance. It was definitely a crazy adventure to say the least. The first thing I want to say is that when booking airline tickets, always double check everything. That way you wont end up like me; 4:30 a.m. on the day of the flight without an actual plane ticket because you forgot to confirm the payment online. Cue a rather large, last minute payment (huge shoutout to my mother for being the best and being there to give some much needed advice!) and I was on my way to the island with a stopover in Lisbon. Also: make sure to double check your layover information so you don't end up sprinting to your gate and almost missing your second flight by 5 minutes. Yes, that was me as well. Happy to say that I made it to Madeira by noon and we were checking into our adorable airbnb by two p.m. We were staying pretty close to the downtown area and definitely lucked out with the view. The one downside was that the weather was definitely not ideal for our time there. The first couple days it was cloudy and very windy. This made the bus tour we took the second day pretty interesting. We had a fun time touring around the island and seeing the sites, but it definitely would have been nicer in the sun. Luckily for us, it started to taper off into nicer weather towards the evening of the second day and I managed to snap a few good photos. Saturday was our last full day in Madeira as we had an early morning flight on Sunday. We ended up moving to a hotel for the last night because the airbnb had been booked up, but it had a wonderful view as well and they graciously upgraded us to a suite so there were no complaints on our side. I spent the day walking around and enjoying the laid back atmosphere of the town. The sun was out for the most part and in the afternoon we hung out by the pool before going to dinner. On Sunday morning we were up early at 4:30 and on our way to the airport. It was a fairly easy trip home and we made in to Granada around 5 p.m. after flying into Malaga and taking the bus. I have a few more posts to wrap up this incredible year of traveling and although I'm sad it is coming to an end, I can't wait to get back and see my friends and family! Counting down the days <3
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Towards the end of last month my school gave us a week off for spring break and with a week to go, I hadn't planned anything. I was surfing facebook one evening and received a message from a family friend who lives in Surrey. She graciously invited me to stay with them if I was every in the area, and so I booked a flight! The first night I arrived pretty late and it was almost 10 p.m. by the time I navigated my way across the city by the metro system to meet my host. The next morning we got up early and headed out to see Brighton which is on the coast. We stopped for a traditional English fry up which was amazing. The English sure know how to do breakfast right! Brighton itself was adorable and had the cutest streets full of interesting shops and definitely had a personality of its own. We ended up walking along the boardwalk and lunching on fish and chips. It was really nice to be back on the beach again after all of this time being away from Santa Barbara. The next morning I woke up early again and took the train into the city. My friends from school back home happened to be spending their spring break in London as well and we planned to meet up. They treated me to tea time at the Ritz and we had the most lovely time catching up! We then caught a bus to Notting Hill and had a lot of fun tooling around Portobello market. We'd all seen the movie "Notting Hill" and were so excited to be in the same neighborhood that the story took place in.
After that, it was decided that a walk along the river would be perfect and we made our way up the Thames in the opposite direction. It was so wonderful to explore via foot. I really love taking advantage of those days with good weather and with such good company, it was a truly great day. I want to give some shoutouts to the beautiful people who made this trip so amazing! A huge thank you to my hosts: Miatta and Ambah. You made me feel so welcome and at home, I couldn't have asked for a better time with you guys. To Rachel: thank you for spending your last day of your trip with me. I can't wait to see you back in Santa Barbara. And lastly to Kasia: with friends like you I will always be rich in happiness.
I had always wanted to go to Switzerland, so when my roomate asked me if I wanted to go towards the end of February, I jumped at the chance! We flew from Granada to Geneva on Thursday and got in pretty late. After a big meal and some hot chocolate, we hit the hay because we had an early train to catch in the morning. At 9 a.m. we were up and ready to go. Our train from Geneva to Gstaad was about two hours. It was my second time taking a train in Europe and I loved every minute of it. The train car was made up of windows and the second hour was spent traipsing throughout the snowy countryside. It was incredibly beautiful. Also we were able to order some wine which was a bonus! We got to Gstaad in the afternoon and made our way to our hotel before exploring the downtown area. Our hotel was located a bit out of town up on a hill. Though it was a minor inconvenience, it made for some pretty spectacular views. There were a lot of fun stores to window shop and it was pretty quiet downtown. We walked around and had some lunch before checking out the ski rentals. In Granada, it is possible to rent ski clothes as well as ski gear, so I figured it would be the same in Switzerland. It turns out that it is not the same, and we ended up acquiring some new snow gear. Though it was slightly frustrating, I was excited to get up the next day and head out to the mountain. We got to the first run around 11 and I soon figured out that I had overestimated my skiing ability as I found myself off-course, lost in some trees, afraid to go down the steep runs. After about 45 minutes, I made it down the mountain to a bemused roomate who dragged me back up the mountain to try again. We took a quick break for some fries and beer, and she gave me some quick ski tips. Fast forward a few hours -- I was happy to be done with skiing but pleased with the progress I'd made. The next day we took the train back to Geneva and decided to explore the city for our last day. It was overcast and pretty empty as it was a Sunday, but we still had a lot of fun walking around. We had lunch at a cute diner and walked around attempting to find a charger and wifi. This led us to an Irish bar, which then led us to deciding we wanted to go see a movie. Movies in Spain are dubbed in Spanish and I haven't wanted to go see one where the dialogue doesn't match a persons moving lips, so I was really excited at the notion of seeing a movie in English. We found the only open movie theater, payed 35 Swiss Francs for our tickets, and than half-way through, decided we were utterly confused at the plot line and lack of action that we decided to leave early. Cue the part where; we got lost for an hour, took a ridiculously expensive taxi ride back to our hotel, and then got up early for our 8 a.m. flight and you've got the rest of our trip. All in all I had a lot of fun and am happy I went. I think next time I'll just put a little bit more effort into planning. I know it's been a while since my last post and I do want to apologize for dropping the ball! March has been a busy month filled with birthdays and traveling and family visits so I do have a lot to catch up on. Keep your eyes peeled for some new posts coming your way soon!
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Amani P.Last fall I took off for a year abroad. Now I'm back in the states, trying to figure out this crazy thing we call life! Archives
February 2017
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