Day Trip to Segovia

Segovia was a simple day trip from Madrid. I would highly recommend you to go on your own given how completely accessible it is. There are many organized trips out there that would combine Segovia, Avila and Toledo with different combinations and permutations, it’s very attractive for someone who has less time, but you do waste time on the bus (since it’s slower than high speed train) and you’ll see less. I did Segovia and Toledo on different days in order to have enough time.

Segovia definitely took less time than Toledo purely from distance perspective and how long it took to tour the major attractions, I’d say half a day might be sufficient if you don’t stop a lot.

Madrid Solo(ish) – 4D3N

I told myself not long ago that I’d strive to do a solo trip once every year, and ideally that trip will be in nature as I find that’s when I can relax the most. This year, I wasn’t quite able to fit something nature-ish due to my work trip schedules, so I decided to make Madrid the solo trip of the year in Sep 2019!

Madrid is a gorgeous place and it was easy to fall in love with it. Weather is generally good (although it unluckily rained a lot when I was there), transport system super efficient, and key places are located close to each other. There are plenty of famous day trips out from Madrid that takes under an hour to get to as well, which I’ll cover in this post 🙂

Artsy Boston

Easily my favorite city out of the mini East Coast tour we did. New York was a hot mess, definitely a wonder to finally be at, but I couldn’t see myself living there. Washington DC was super pristine and cultured, but just a tad too proper. Philly was a small place and I’ve always been quite a big city kinda girl. Boston felt like the perfect in between, there’s so much of culture and history going around in this place that come together neatly packed in beautiful red bricks and fresh seafood.

Philly cheesesteaks & more

Our third pit stop in our mini US tour was Philadelphia, which for some reason my Dad was really keen on visiting. All I really knew of Philly at that point was their cheesesteaks lmao but it did turn out to be a charming little town which was anyway on the way to our final destination at Boston.

The pristine lands of Washington DC.

Going for fancy ass titles now instead of a descriptive one. Hahaha.

The parents were super happy to be in Washington DC, the capital of the US. And also because it’s very clean and pristine, instead of the hot mess that was New York.

Experiencing an overnight flight delay for the first time @ Frankfurt.

It was inevitable and bound to happen eventually with the recent travels I’ve been doing. I’ve experienced it two years back during our Euro grad trip when the Rome airport caught on fire and we were delayed for a lot of hours. But it wasn’t an overnight delay like the recent one I just experienced.

Wandering around wintry New York.

As a kid, NYC was a dream city for me in many ways. I was impressionable, I watched consumed of American media, I played Neopets and met tons of friends from NYC, and just.. everything. When we went to the US as a family back when i was around 15 maybe, we went everywhere but the east coast, so we missed NYC and I suppose some part of me still felt that desire from 15 YO me.

Finland Solo: Auroras, huskies & everything cold

There’s just something undeniably magical about the arctic North aka Lapland in Finland. It’s cold and quiet, almost fascinating in its loneliness, filled with magical phenomenons like the Aurora/Northern Lights and magical creatures like reindeers and huskies (they’re magical k!!!!!).

Switzerland Solo: Jungfrau region

This is part two of my post on Switzerland. Find part one here on Lucerne.

Jungfaru, one of the most touristy mountain areas. There are plenty of spots to stay here, with the most popular being Interlaken. Interlaken in itself is a town so you get the benefits of restaurants and shops at your convenience. But it can look a bit dull in this season, as the mists hang low and the sun isn’t strong (dropped by once at night and it was sad). It’s the main station to go everywhere else, but if Alps is your destination, you’re only heading upwards so you can afford to stay further up. I chose the valleys of Lauterbrunnen as cable cars / trains to popular peaks start there.

Switzerland Solo: Lucerne & Mt. Rigi

Time had finally come for my first proper solo trip! It might seem like a rather random location, but it was one of the best options as I was traveling to Europe for work, and one of the flights had a layover at Zurich. It was part impulse I suppose, I just felt like I wanted to extend for a little while and that stopover felt perfect. Between the few countries to choose from, Switzerland felt the safest.