Week 5 of my 5-week interrailing trip round Europe
And it’s the end. Can’t quite believe it, but also very happy to be headed home!
Monday
Final full day in Lisbon. Included doing some work (I’m glad I had a few bits of work to during the trip, as it helped show what a digital nomadic life could be like. I definitely felt more balanced when I could do two or three hours’ work and I think I would make sure, on future trips to have a project to work on, though ideally not one with a hard deadline, in case of WiFi problems and the like, so I could balance my days OK.) and riding on the iconic little yellow tram and being in a busy tourist area, and eating ice cream (in a tub, rather than a cone, because it melts too quickly in this heat) having a lovely cold beer on a very hot day. Oh, and of course, more tiles!
Tuesday
Tuesday was predominantly a travel day, with an early start – Lisbon to Entroncamento, Entroncamento to Badajoz and Badajoz to Puertollano. Lovely long train journeys, really, with beautiful views and lots of reading and dozing time. A close call in Entroncamento, when I got the platforms muddled and only just jumped on the train a couple of minutes before it left. Phew! And a conductor who felt I should have a reservation, but also didn’t kick me off or charge me, which was nice, obviously. (Railplanner app says no reservations needed; Badajoz guy at the station, when I was booking other reservations said they’re optional and it’s not busy on a Tuesday, so I didn’t get one, but it would have been free if I had, so probably should have!). Puertollano was a sleeping stop but I did manage to get out to eat some food in a nice little bar, where I would have loved to hang out and chat with friends/family, but didn’t feel like staying for another drink after finishing eating (especially as I only managed half my pizza).
Wednesday
My first mess-up of trains for this trip – I think it was pretty good to have got to Week 5 before making a mistake, to be honest. Got on the wrong train in Ciudad Real, which meant an extra 10 euros on another seat reservation and a split journey, rather than a leisurely four and a half hours from Ciudad Real to Barcelona. Not a big deal, really. I also managed to eat out at a very nice Lebanese restaurant that had loads of vegetarian options.
Thursday
Walked around Barcelona and also rode the metro a bit. Didn’t make it to anything famous, but enjoyed soaking everything up and spotting a bit of street art. Was pretty tired as well, though, and think my body and brain are definitely wanting to get home.
Friday
Very pleasant and comfortable TGV journey from Barcelona to Paris. No issues, no delays, no cancellations (though I believe other trains on the day may have been cancelled or shortened). Didn’t get to the hotel until about seven pm and, even though it wasn’t dark yet, I don’t like arriving places that late, especially places that are such a long way from the station. Staying in a not terribly cheap (I’m guessing because it’s the start of Easter holidays for like the whole of Europe) Ibis Budget on the outskirts of Montmartre. It’s comfortable and breakfast is included, but I’d prefer being a bit closer to ‘stuff’.
Saturday
Did some good Paris wandering, including Montmartre and Sacre-Coeur (one of my favourite spots in Paris to be honest) and then the Latin Quarter, including not going into Shakespeare and Co (queues!!), buying some things from a stall along the banks of the Seine, wandering along the Seine, a lovely lunch in a beautiful little café that, although in the middle of a popular area, didn’t feel touristy, and a leisurely wander to Place de la Bastille, before a metro ride back to the hotel and watching lots of TV on the laptop.
Sunday
Sunday morning was VERY COLD wandering and taking some pics of another famous French landmark (you know the one) and then meeting a friend for lunch a gallery and coffee and cake. Very pleasant afternoon. I made a point of not looking people up while I was travelling, even though my various illustration and pattern design networks mean I do know people (to some extent) in pretty much every city. I did think about it, but decided that I wanted this trip to be all about me exploring and doing my own thing and allowing myself to be entirely me and do entirely what I wanted and not being in social mode at all. But… I’ve explored Paris a lot over the years, and I was also getting a little bit tired of the pace and, actually, the just being me, so it was a bonus when Elise reached out to see if I could fit in meeting up. And I think maybe next time I take a trip like this (which probably wouldn’t be as long or full-on as this one, at least for a few years) I will reach out to contacts where I’m going, because there’s a whole other dimension to chatting to people who actually live in the place and seeing it from their viewpoint. I also, as I think I’ve mentioned already, would stay in places for longer periods, so would have time to do ‘me’, some work, some ‘normal’ touristy culture things and a bit of hanging with friends who live there.
General thoughts
I am typing this Monday morning, before leaving the hotel to walk to the metro to take me to Gare de Nord and the Eurostar to take me to London and then train from London to Stroud and HOME!!! I am really, really looking forward to being home and seeing everyone and getting hugs from those offering them. I am looking forward to being able to work at a proper desk with my giant screen and second screen. To sleeping in my own bed. To having people to talk to (though Chris and I have spoken pretty much every day). To having the garden to go and sit in. To hopefully having the stamina to fairly easily go for my daily walks out to Slad and back and possibly some longer ones along the canal sometimes (I’ve averaged around 12000 steps a day over the past month and have had some days that were close to 30000 steps). To cooking. To seeing my sister and going to the circus. To seeing friends. To spending time with a cat sat on my lap. To getting back to routines and normal life (though it’s the school holidays so routines won’t quite be normal for a couple of weeks). To drawing and painting more (it’s so strange that I haven’t done loads of that while travelling; I really thought I would, but I think perhaps it will all feed into my work somehow).
I think one of the things about travel is that it can remind you what you love about home. And what home means to you. I have loved exploring and loved seeing the different paces of life in different cities and countries. I have loved speaking (even for only brief moments) the languages that I have and attempting those that I’m not brilliant at or don’t speak (really only Amsterdam where that was an issue). I have loved seeing street art and decorative and architectural art of various kinds throughout my travels. I have loved making a point of just exploring and not trying to tick off landmarks and famous things.
I have found that I prefer staying in AirBnB whole flats, even if they are only teeny studio flats, where I can cook and sit on a sofa and at a desk or dinging table, and can wash my clothes. But that these need to be, usually, for longer stays and hotels for the one-night stops en route. I know that I will stay for longer periods in future – at least 3 full days, I would say, and more if a place is well situated for day trips out on local trains. (But make sure to eat out at a local restaurant at least once and stop for a coffee or beer, to ensure that I am putting money into the local economy, because there are obviously ethical issues with this style of accommodation.) I didn’t explore any small towns or villages and would really love to do that in the future.
I think I probably need to suck it up and get a Kindle (or similar) for future trips because it was hard when I ran out of books and had to rely on the small selections on the English-language shelves of local bookshops. And books are heavy! Or maybe come up with other ways to have a good book supply.
I would just take (Simple) soap and not shower gel in order to pack the whole tub of my co-wash. I ran out just over half way though and my hair is really annoyed about it and is probably going to take five weeks to recover and get back to its normality.
Clothingwise, I think I got it mostly right, but I think I would pack a better dress, rather than tunic one I did. And I would make sure to have dress and skirt that could be layered with shirts and jumpers, etc. and perhaps not bother with jeans, as I’m more a dress and skirt person. I was fine with just my walking trainers, though they were a bit hot when it was hitting 28 degrees Celsius in Spain. But I don’t think I’d pack sandals unless I was specifically only going somewhere very warm.
I managed well with the backpack and I had two tote bags for when I needed to carry extra. On train journeys I usually had snacks and drinks in one of the tote bags and on one journey, all the books went in a tote bag because it was hot weather an I had to pack more clothes into the backpack.
I kind of regret not making a decision to pick up a postcard or a fridge magnet (or something like that) in each city, though actually that would have cost quite a bit.
I wish I’d managed at least one stay in a hostel, to experience the different atmosphere. But the private rooms (and I really can’t stay in a dorm for a multitude of reasons) usually cost more than a cheap hotel, so I never did. I will look more closely at this next time and try to make sure to fit at least one hostel stay in.
I would do my utmost to arrive places by around 4pm at the latest, because both times when I arrived around seven I got a bit panicked and worried (especially in Lisbon when it was dark at that point – before the clocks went back and Portugal is an hour earlier the rest of Western Europe). Unless the hotel was VERY close to the station.
But all in all, it was an amazing experience and a very fitting fiftieth birthday present to myself (I am not fifty until October, but this was the best period to fit it in). I have been to some places I really wanted to visit. I have done a lot of train travel. I have seen a variety of countryside and geography. I have been to six countries (and through another three – Belgium, Austria and Monaco – on the train). I have taken tonnes of photos that I will look through and digest and sort later. I think it will be interesting to see what sorts of things caught my eye the most.
I am very happy and lucky to have been able to do this. And I would highly recommend it to anyone who is thinking it sounds good. Happy to answer any questions anyone might have (of course I only have my particular experience to go by, but I am sure there is some useful advice and information I could impart).
Thanks to those of you have followed along in whatever capacity. I’ve enjoyed knowing people were enjoying hearing and seeing about my trip.
See the route and lots of pictures on Find Penguins
A reminder that you can see the whole trip on Find Penguins – you can see a map of where I went and ‘footprints’ with lots of photos and some words and ponderings (some longer than others). You can scroll through the footprints either oldest or newest first (so, now it’s at an end you might want to look through ‘oldest first’ so you can see how the whole trip went. Or you can just look through ‘photos’ only (but then you miss out on my go-with-the-flow, in-the-moment thoughts about that day).
Week 4 of my 5-week interrailing trip round Europe
Wow! Only one week left.
Monday
This was my extra day in Valencia, and it was nice to have it, because I got to wander round a less crazy Valencia and just enjoy pottering without stopping at a Falla every couple of hundred feet! It was a fairly laid-back day and just had a hotel picnic, rather than going out for a meal. The bed in that hotel was not very comfortable (or it might have been more about having a crazily sore shoulder, but I think the two made each other worse). But it was a nice place and I liked being close to the sea.
Tuesday
I made sure to get to the station early so that I could make a reservation for the Madrid to Badajoz trip on Wednesday. But then, the train was delayed by a whole hour, so there was a fair bit of sitting around waiting. The trip itself was fairly quick – just under two and a half hours. Got the metro to near my hotel and checked in. Room was fine, although there was a drip in the bathroom that was a bit annoying. It was a nice area with a lively, young and vibrant feeling. I had a beer and some olives and then went to dinner. There was a vegan restaurant quite close, so I went there. I over-ordered so left about half of the food, which felt a bit bad about. Actually, realised that I ordered something that I thought was a starter, but it was from the section of things to share. So not surprising, really. Sorted out where I’d be staying the next day. I had been hoping for a five-day stay in Lisbon, with maybe some daytrips out to a couple of places, but couldn’t find anything in my budget. So ended up booking three nights in Badajoz
Wednesday to Saturday
Nice train journey to Badajoz, and I sorted out the rest of the trip, booking TGV, AirBnBs and hotels and filling in my rail planner.
Lovely AirBnB in a great location. Quite a way from the station, but actually not that far when you don’t listen to Google Maps (probably 20 minutes walk), but right in the middle of the old town. I spent a pleasant few days, wandering around and seeing loads and loads of street art, and also visiting a couple of (FREE!) art galleries, as well as the Alcazaba. Cooked all my own food. And did a bit of work and just had a nice and relaxing time. Oh, this place had a REALLY comfortable bed.
Weekend (and into next week)
And Saturday was crossing the border into Portugal and moving to UK time, because Portugal runs an hour behind its neighbours. (But only briefly, because the clocks went forward on Sunday, so I was back to the time I was used to, but will then jump forward on Tuesday when I go back to Spain. The train journey was fine, but VERY hot. The train between Badajoz and Entroncamento is a tiny little green train. The size of a bus and a half, I’d say. But it wasn’t remotely full. It stopped at LOADS of stations, and did get busier as we got closer to Lisbon.
Arriving in Lisbon was a bit overwhelming. I think the first time I’ve fully felt that all of this trip, in fact. It was quite late (only six but almost dark – see above re. time difference). I had (as I have all through this trip) looked up how to get to the AirBnB by public transport and there was a bus that would go almost door to door, so that’s the one I was going to get. First of all I wandered round trying to work out where to get the transport tickets and finally went and gone one from a counter. Then I couldn’t find where the bus picked up from. The station was surrounded by bus stops and there was a big bus station right next to it. I asked multiple people and they all told me different things and pointed to me to this stop and that stop. But none of them had the number of the bus on them. I stood at the stop where Google Maps thought I should for about three buses worth of time and it never appeared (but lots of others did – a number of which would have got me VERY close to my AirBnB it turned out, but I was not in the frame of mind to dig down and think straight). In the end I got a taxi. It’s quite a long way from the station. The bus I was trying to get would have taken 40 minutes. So, I got some extra cash out from a machine, just in case. And then sat in this taxi, watching myself move through the city on the screen of my phone (I always have this fear that taxi drivers are going to rip me off – I don’t think any ever have, so not sure where that comes from). It was perfectly reasonable price and I still have the extra money I took out and the driver seemed very happy when I told him to keep the change (literally only a few Euros). And then I managed to negotiate the lock box and the stairs and got into the nicest AirBnB (and the AirBnBs are nicer than hotels because they’re bigger and have more you can do) I’ve had the whole trip. Two bedrooms, living room, reading nook, kitchen with very good washer dryer, lovely shower (actually the water pressure sucks, but you can’t have everything) and a balcony. Wandered quickly down to a shop round the corner to grab some supplies and cooked some dinner. And put a wash on of pretty much all my clothes (except for the warmer clothes that have barely been touched since Germany).
Sunday I started the day with some work and then went for a wander and took lots and lots of photos of tiles. So many tiles. And a wander round a museum. Picked up some more supplies. Had lunch and then a siesta that lasted a bit longer than I’d anticipated (note to self, maybe set an alarm if you’re having a siesta?). Then I walked up to the station from where I will need to get the train on Tuesday very early morning, to make sure I know where it is. Can’t miss the train from Lisbon. Tuesday is already going to be the longest travel day yet (over twelve hours, if you include getting to Lisbon Oriente station from the AirBnB). And picked up a couple more supplies. I want to make sure I have enough liquids and snacks for the train journeys on Tuesday, because a lot (or possibly all) of them will be on trains that don’t have buffets and I don’t want to be stuck on a very hot train again without enough liquid. Cooked a meal and danced around to some music (that’s something I realised I have barely done while away, though have listened to music on the train journeys, but not the dancing around to loud music while cooking that I do at home). Did a bit of homework and read a bit then typed this up. And, since I had such a long siesta, I’m going to do a bit of work before bed.
Next week (the last one!!) will be another full day in Lisbon (going to get me on a tram and explore a bit further afield, I think) and then back to Spain and then France at the end of the week.
General thoughts
Still enjoying myself, but definitely looking forward to going home and being with my family. I do really like having solo time, but I think this trip has probably stretched it a little bit far! And getting back to routines and normality and looking forward to spending the next few weeks digesting and processing the trip and hopefully outputting some art of some kind that draws on it all!
Follow me on Find Penguins
A reminder that you can follow along with my trip on Find Penguins – you can see a map of where I’ve been so far and see ‘footprints’ with lots of photos and some words and ponderings (some longer than others). If you’re into it, you can sign up yourself and share your own trips and also get notifications whenever I post a new footprint (that may be a bit excessive if you’re not a member of my family).
Week 3 of my 5-week interrailing trip round Europe
A week of train strike games, strange struggles to cross borders, unexpected new places, and going ‘home’ (or to somewhere that was home four decades ago).
Monday
Monday was my ‘extra’ day in Nice. Very glad I took it and in an AirBnB, so I could properly unwind and reset. I finished the work early in the morning and was able to go out and wander and then get some more vegetables to cook myself food. I had another wander in the early evening and then settled in for an evening with a book and a bit of TV and some drawing.
I felt very comfortable in Nice and I am certain it is somewhere I will return to for a longer stay.
Tuesday
Tuesday was a train day with trains from Nice to Marseille (2.5 hours), Marseilles to Avignon (1.5 hour) and Avignon to Nîmes (40 minutes). Nîmes was not on the original plan. Originally, I thought I would spend two nights in Nice and two nights in Montpellier and then head off on the lovely coast-hugging journey to Port-Bou and the border with Spain. But the train strikes in France were now rolling strikes, which meant you had to check at around 5pm each day, what trains were running the next day. And adjust your plans accordingly. Nîmes felt like a good choice as it got me a bit closer to the border and looked like a nice place.
I booked a hotel (Ibis Budget) very near the train station (facing it, in fact – though it still took me going out the wrong exit of the train station and then walking all the way round the block before I found the very obvious entrance to the hotel!) so that I could make an early (6.05am!) train in the morning. It wasn’t too far from the historic centre, either, so I had a nice wander in the late afternoon. Sat and had a beer and watched the world. Ate a chocolate crepe while wandering the winding little streets. Sat for a while in a big square area that had lots of benches and was nice for people watching, and chatted to Chris.
And then nipped into a supermarket close to the hotel to get some bits so I could have a hotel picnic – bread, cheese, tomato and a big bottle of Orangina. And got a reasonably early night to be ready for the early start.
Wednesday
In checking the train information the day before, I had jumped to an incorrect conclusion (mostly because I was looking at two sources, rather than just relying on the local TER PDF). I thought that the train would be going all the way to PortBou, but just not calling at the stops after Narbonne. However, it was just fully stopping in Narbonne. At 8 am in the morning. After what really didn’t feel like enough sleep.
I sat in the station for a while going through my TER information with a fine-tooth comb and also trying to see if there were any relevant TGVs that could get me somewhere from where I could then get across the border. I also looked at Flixbus and even Blabacar. There were some bus replacements running from Perpignan later that day, if I could get to Perpignan. But all the Blabacar lifts that were coming up would require me to get to the outskirts of town, and I didn’t feel up to that. I couldn’t find anything that looked like it would work.
So then I made a punt that the next day’s trains would be an alternate of this day’s – i.e. they would be similar to the day before’s and therefore would get me from Narbonne to Portbou (kind of – none of them were actually going all the way to Portbou, but to the French border town of Cerbère). And I then needed somewhere to sleep, and ideally somewhere that would let me check in early. I looked at a few hotels, but then thought I would try AirBnB. I found someone who did not have anyone staying the night before (according to their booking calendar on AirBnB, anyway) and sent the a message asking if they would be OK with an early check-in and why. They thankfully responded positively and I made my way to their little studio.
I dumped my stuff and then had a wander around Narbonne, which turned out to be quite pretty, with a canal and winding streets. I bought a baguette filled with mozzarella and tomato and pesto and only ate about a third of it. I took it back to the studio and put it in the fridge for later and then had a good long nap! Woke up in time to check the next day’s trains and my punt had worked and I could get to Cerbère the next day, and thence, it seemed to Barcelona. Phew.
I went to the grocery across the road to stock up on snacks and then, on a whim, decided to go get some pudding from the boulangerie/patisserie across the (other) street – where they had a three for the price of two deal on. Bonus! I ate two of my treats for pudding (had the rest of the baguette for my ‘main’) and saved the other to have for breakfast in the morning. And it was time to set my alarm for very early again!
Thursday
Thursday was about lots of changes. And rail-replacement buses. There were two buses to get, one from Narbonne to Perpignan (somewhere I’d always wanted to go, but didn’t really get to take any of it in and only had 20 minutes milling around outside the station), then Perpignan to Cerbère Mairie (aka, the bus can’t actually get to the station itself so drops you off outside the Mairie). They actually turned out to be the exact same bus. If I’d thought to ask I could have been sat on the bus during that 20-minute wait. But as it was I instead got chatting to a lovely Dutch couple who had been having all the struggles with the train strikes. They were three days behind their plan, having got the train from Amsterdam to Paris where they expected to pick up the fast TGV to Barcleona, but no. They had a number of days of creeping down through France on TERs and bus replacements and late night check-ins at hotels and were rather fed up with the whole thing. Though both smiling a lot despite this. They also weren’t very sympathetic towards the strikers, having had their retirement age raised for quite a while and a fair bit higher than the French plan, and themselves having been perfectly happy waiting for 67.
The bus journey was beautiful. I know the train journey is also supposed to be beautiful and I’m sure it is, but I think we saw more than we would have on the train, as we were winding our way up and round mountains (where I imagine there will have been some tunnels). When we got to Cerbère, we had to find the train station. The bus driver pointed ‘that way’ and then with no clear signage we asked a lady, who said ‘Oh no, the trains aren’t running, you have to get buses from the Mairie.’ But when said that we were looking to get a Spanish train she told us how to get there. Which involved walking through a really long tunnel and climbing A LOT of steps. The lady at the ticket office was a bit confused as she said Spanish trains didn’t usually pick anyone up here. But there were other people waiting so it looked promising. (And I had found it both on the RENFE app and on the rail planner, so I felt it had to exist.) We had a moment of panic when we looked at how much grass was growing along the rail track, surely indicating that it’s an unused track. But lo-and-behold a train appeared through the tunnel and it was a Spanish one. Hooray! We were excited. And thank you RENFE for helping poor travellers like us to cross the border. (Another interrailer had done this a few days before and this train hadn’t been available, so she got a taxi across the border. So my new Dutch friends and I planned to do the same if this somehow didn’t work.) The train journey was four minutes through the tunnel to PortBou on the Spanish side of the border. And from there I had a regional train planned, which looked like it was running as planned.
The Dutch couple ended up catching the same train. I was settling down in a four-seater when they called me over to ask if I wanted to sit with them. I really should have gone with my introversion default and said I was fine there, but I didn’t, and joined them. Perhaps because it felt quite nice to have some conversation, after a while of not. But I ended up sitting in a really weird way, with crossed legs on the seat and my back facing the aisle, so I could look out the window and not get my feet in the way of anyone else’s feet, and also so I wasn’t constantly in eye contact reach. I am certain that this is responsible for the really sore shoulderblade area that I have had ever since. But it was nice to have a bit of a chat. They decided to skip Barcelona (their plans had been to have a couple of nights there and a couple of nights in Valencia, before moving on to stay with some friends in Spain, but they only had one night left before they were supposed to get to their friends, so decided to go straight to Valencia so they could have a bit of glimpse of Fallas).
I had somewhere booked in Barcelona though, and walked down to the hotel (which was booked through AirBnB – weirdly) and enjoyed walking down, though the bags were starting to feel burdensome as my shoulder felt a bit sore. I was too early to check-in which I knew, but I also knew that the hotel had lockers to keep your bags in. They also had a lovely rest room with comfy chairs and free cold water and free wifi where you could sit and wait for your check-in, which I felt was a nice touch, but I wanted to wander, so I dropped my backpack and snack bag off and went wandering round the local area. I liked it. It was not an overly touristy area and I enjoyed observing people going about their everyday life. And enjoyed the juxtaposition of older, traditional buildings with very modern ones. I sat at a café and had a cold beer and a tortilla (not an actual bocadillo, but still good).Even though I hadn’t been to Barcelona, the Spanishness made it feel familiar to me and in particular the heat felt like Spanish heat (it had a different feel to the same temperature in Italy and France; I think it’s perhaps down to the humidity, but might also be down to how the buildings work with the heat). And then wandered back to the hotel. I ended up not going out in the evening and just eating a bit of the snacks I had and sleeping quite early. My start the next day was really late compared to the last couple of days, but I was exhausted from all the 1-day stops and early starts (NOTE: 1-night stops are not ideal when interrailing!).
Friday
Lovely train journey on the regional train from Barcelona to Valencia. It was five and a half hours (and actually took six), but it was perfectly comfortable and pleasant. I really do enjoy long journeys like that. I don’t mind some changes, but a long direct train is very pleasant indeed, especially when it’s taking you through some new countryside to observe. The train started very busy (but only so busy that there were a few people standing – not UK kind of busy!) and I did think everyone was going to Valencia and I’d be stuck on the right-hand side the whole time again. But I managed to swap over to the left about halfway through and got to see some glimpses of sea.
I arrived in Valencia still not sure whether to walk to my hotel or get public transport. I walked out of the station into fairly large crowds and I hadn’t seen anywhere to buy tickets (note, there are ticket machines at all the metro stations and most tram stops, so I would have been fine), so I decided to at least start walking. It was a long walk. Google Maps said it would take an hour and seven minutes. It took me two hours! But I did stop quite a lot and even took a few little detours to take pictures of fallas I saw. And I was soaking up a whole tonne of sense memories – especially from the little fireworks kids throw all the time. I even got to see a parade of falleras and falleros – would have missed that if I’d got the metro.
My hotel is by the beach. I have no real recollection of Valencia having a beach, and certainly didn’t regularly go hang out there. I wonder if it was harder to get to then and perhaps it was even not fully part of Valencia? Certainly the walkways and cycle paths and wheelchair paths that are built alongside the beach look to be quite modern. The hotel is fine. Fairly basic, but fine. No kettle, though. (Note, next time I will buy one of those cool little fold-up mini kettles, and take a travel mug of some kind, so I can hot drinks all the time!) I checked in and got settled and then went and had dinner in one of the many restaurants along the seafront. I had vegetable paella and then a kind of bread and butter pudding made out of brioche. Had a beer with the paella and a glass of cava with the pudding. Very nice.
Saturday
Saturday I walked almost 30,000 steps. I wandered out in the general direction of the street I used to live, stopping and meandering off to look at any Falla I saw, and also grabbing some churros and chocolate sauce (I have never had any chocolate sauce with churros that tasted right to me, though plenty that have been nice in their own way. This was right. Or otherwise how I remember it from my childhood.) Taking pictures of arty things that struck my and interesting buildings and so on, as well.
I found my street. And found that it was incredibly busy. Because it had won the top prize and loads of people were going to see it. I couldn’t get a full shot of my building (only go the bottom of our windows, as we were on the top floor) because it was so busy, but it was still nice to see and to see how it had changed. I walked around the neighbourhood a little more and then wandered along to the river bed to experience the amazing park that’s there now. Sat for a half hour to chill and have a chat with Chris. And then I wandered in toward the centre. Moving around Fallas and winding streets and dodging crowds. There were points where there were huge crowds watching parades of falleras and falleros, for example.
At some point I decided to head back to the hotel, catching a few fallas, but mostly walking along a very long straight road that went alongside the university (modern-looking campus that I’m fairly certain wasn’t there when we were, but who knows). My shoulder was getting worse and worse and I did a bunch of stretching exercises as I walked and carried my cross-body bag in my hands as I think it was aggravating it. Ate at one of the restaurants again and that wasn’t anywhere near as nice as the other one. I had a vegetable pizza, but it seemed they didn’t pre-cook the vegetables in any way, so they had no real flavour to them and the dough was a bit weird. Plus it was busy and I just felt kind of awkward, whereas I’d felt comfortable and happy in the other one. I had an ice cream after too, but didn’t enjoy it much as it was melting too quickly (I thought that wouldn’t happen at night!) and I was probably too full from the pizza, so threw half of it away. And then I went to bed and to sleep and couldn’t for the life of me manage to get up and go watch fireworks at one in the morning!
Sunday
This was a much more leisurely day and I got a day ticket on the metro/trams so I didn’t have to walk as much (though still clocked up over 16,000!). I headed out to Joaquin Sorolla station, where I’ll need to go from to get to Madrid, so that I could get a reservation on a fast train for Monday. (Getting to Madrid from Valencia on little regional trains is not really doable, unless you want to break it up over a couple of days, which I didn’t.) Unfortunately (though also unsurprisingly) all the trains were fully booked, apart from either a really early one or a really late one, neither of which I was prepared to do. So instead I got a reservation for one on Tuesday and extended my stay at the hotel another night (for the non-Fallas price!).
I wandered a bit up near that station and then did a bit of hopping on and off the metro and wandering around near different stops.
But then made my way back to the hotel to make sure I had a siesta. So that I could get out and see at least one Crema (burning of the Fallas). I did not want to get up when I woke, and my body really would have preferred to stay in bed, but I forced myself to get up and out. I decided that I would see if I could watch the crema of the Falla of my old street. Which was possibly a silly decision in some ways as it’s quite a popular one and also because it turned out it burnt half an hour later than the rest of them (apart from the city square one that burns at 11pm). I also got there far too soon (actually caught a glimpse of the burning of the children’s falla, which happens at 8pm) and I was expecting to be able to sit down somewhere to get some food, but that didn’t seem to be happening. What I should have done was have dinner by the beach again and then wandered down. But never mind. I did get some churros an bueñoles (may have spelt that wrong – little deep-fried battered blobs of pumpkin!) and a can of Pepsi.
I walked round the block a few times, sat down outside a café, thinking I’d get a beer, but stood up again 10 minutes later when no-one had come to ask me if I wanted anything (I know I could have grabbed her attention myself, or gone inside and got something, but I didn’t). And then I stood and waited for 10 pm and then looked it up and found out that it would actually be 10.30 pm. So many times I came close to giving up and going back to the hotel, but I stuck it out. I was happy to have. There was a firework display before they set it fire, so it was OK that I missed the big fireworks the night before, and then they set it alight and it was burnt pretty quickly (actually, I didn’t stay to see it completely burn as I wanted to make sure to get on the metro and it not be too crowded). I’m very glad I made it and that it was that one I watched. I think we watched from our balcony 40 years ago, but not positive.
I was grateful that metro and trams run 24-hours during fallas (though feel sorry for the drivers missing out on the festivities) and got back to the hotel by about 11.30, I think. Chatted with Chris, then uploaded everything to Find Penguins and then finally went to sleep. The bed is not helping with my shoulder pain – it’s tending to be very bad when I wake up.
General thoughts
While the train strikes are frustrating (I do support and respect the right to withdraw labour), I have enjoyed some of the unexpected places or experiences it has brought me – new towns, bus journeys winding through beautiful mountains and chance encounters and pleasant conversations with new people. Having the pass, and the fact that I’m tending not to book anything too far in advance or anything that can’t be cancelled, means it’s fairly easy to change plans. (The one I’m worrying about at the moment is the getting home leg – I have looked up planes, though, and there are some fall backs if necessary. I am going to keep an eye on whether or not the rolling strike is continuing this week and work out whether to try for short hops up through France, or what.)
It’s been really lovely visiting Valencia again and especially finally getting to see Fallas for the second time in my life. Such an amazing and crazy festival. I love it. It’s been a bit sad thinking that Brian and Jenny didn’t get to experience it again, too. I know they really loved it the first time.
I definitely find it easier when I have longer stays, so if I … WHEN I do this again I will not get a continuous pass, but an X days in X time pass and I will go for 3- or 4-day stays in most places (except for the occasional one-night stop near a station purely to break up a long leg). And I’ll probably default to AirBnB style apartments rather than hotels, so I can cook for myself a lot more. An occasional fancy meal out is nice, but having to navigate restaurant menus as a vegetarian (who would really like to be a vegan) makes it harder and also I can feed myself for a lot less money usually and ensure I get a good variety of nutrients, etc.
Follow me on Find Penguins
A reminder that you can follow along with my trip on Find Penguins – you can see a map of where I’ve been so far and see ‘footprints’ with lots of photos and some words and ponderings (some longer than others). If you’re into it, you can sign up yourself and share your own trips and also get notifications whenever I post a new footprint (that may be a bit excessive if you’re not a member of my family).
Week 2 of my 5-week interrailing trip round Europe
Some of this was written on my phone on trains while travelling. Some of it was written on Sunday night, with my laptop lying to me and saying it was only just gone 8pm, when actually it was 9pm. Here. Obviously. It was 8pm in the UK, and in (some parts of??) Portugal (huh, who knew?). I haven’t adjusted tenses and so on to compensate. Mostly because I’m too tired, but also because it perhaps adds authenticity and a feeling of being there, too. (Or it’s just confusing, in which case sorry, but, like I said… too tired!)
Monday
Up VERY early to get the 7.30 train from Munich to Bologna. Note to self: only need just over an hour, even if you’re not at all packed.
Long train journey on an EC train. Not as comfortable as the ICE train was, but still fine and I had an actual view through the window, which was particularly useful for seeing all the mountains we were travelling through. The scale was mad. They seemed really close but then you could see there was a whole big town of teeny looking houses in front and realised they were quite far away.
As always (how am I already saying ‘always after a just a week of doing this?), I was fascinated in the changes along the route of house types. We actually went through Austria for some of the journey and I could imagine Heidi in lots of the houses.
The temperature also climbed as we travelled further south, from below zero in Munich in the morning to, I think, 16°C by the time we got to Bologna.
I switched trains in Bologna, to a Regionale (they don’t need reservations but are still valid with interrail pass). It’s a double-decker. How exciting for someone from the UK where we definitely (right?) don’t have double-decker trains.
Reached Ferrara and had a long walk (actually not hugely long, but felt longer with a backpack and dressed for further north) to the hotel. It’s a beautiful little hotel, though definitely not modern. Fortunately they have one socket that takes the general European type plugs (my research assured me that you rarely find the old-fashioned ones in Italy any more). The room smells a bit damp, but I will accustom to that, I imagine. The heating is on! What? It’s too warm for heating. I have a shower and then go out in search of food.
I went out far too early for food. Should have had a siesta and then gone out. I walk round and round and round. Oh my goodness, Ferrara is so beautiful. Just my kind of place. Loads of old buildings, small windy streets. I saw at least ten bookshops – maybe Ferrara is the Hay on Wye of Italy? I love it. But could I find anywhere to get dinner? No. I could have had multiple Aperol Spritzes, or teeny tiny shots of strong coffee. But no food. This may be one of the times when not being solo would have been useful. I probably would have happily sat down for a drink and a chat if I were with someone else and passed the time until dinner was being served. But I was too tired and I can’t chat to myself and it’s too dark to read a book. So I went and grabbed some stuff from a Co-op (called Co-op, I’m not using it generically) and then went to McDonald’s, which apparently hasn’t moved with the times as much as German McDonald’s, because there were no veggie options. So I had fries and a mixed salad (which was actually really nice and my body will have appreciated the vitamins, I’m sure).
Back to the hotel, where I had a quick chat with Chris and then dozed off before setting everything up to charge and going to sleep properly.
Tuesday
I slept really well. Only woke once to go to the loo (that’s the way I measure these things). Woke naturally at 6.40 and looked at stuff on the internet for a bit before grabbing a shower (the water pressure isn’t brilliant, but still refreshing) and getting dressed. Got stuff ready for a day at the fair, including getting my portfolio loaded up on the iPad just in case someone asks, though am mostly going to soak up and be inspired. Had breakfast (which is included at this hotel – I never pay extra for breakfast as I’m not usually able to eat much that early) – a croissant and a cappuccino – which was lovely, and read my book while eating. There were multiple nationalities in the breakfast room, which I love. French, Japanese, American and English (me). I love being surrounded by people talking in loads of different languages – though I must say the Americans drowned everyone else out quite well.
Then time to walk back to the station and head to Bologna. Walked on the other side of the road this time to get a different perspective. Lots of bikes her too. And I noticed how a lot of the women are riding the bikes with amazing posture – completely straight upright backs like there’s no effort at all (though, it’s really flat so maybe it actually is no effort). But of a wait at the station and then onto the Regionale (this train goes between Venice and Ferrara – I think Ferrara would make a brilliant base for exploring – Bologna, Venice, Verona and Florence all quite close by). The train has USB chargers so I give my phone a boost without running down the brick and type this.
A packed bus from Bologna station took me out to the book fair. (I’ve written a separate post about the book fair, as not everyone will be interested in that – given lots of friends and family will be reading the posts about my trip and they’re not necessarily interested in thoughts about an illustration-heavy book fair, like my illustration friends and colleagues probably are.)
After wandering the book fair for a few hours, I headed back into the centre of Bologna to wander (love it – little streets, old beautiful buildings, lots of terracotta colours, parades everywhere to shelter pedestrians from sun or rain) and to look for some lunch. I wandered quite a bit and in the end just decided to sit at one of the tables in the streets (I did check that there was something I could eat on the menu first).
I’d been really looking forward to eating Italian food in actual Italy for the first time in a while (actually, in just over three years, as Rome was my very last trip overseas, a srprs.me on with my youngest daughter, who was only 10 then); prior to that it was 1995! Sadly, it did not meet (or come close to meeting, if I’m honest) expectations. In the middle of a very touristy area, I suppose that’s not a huge surprise. I had vegetable tortelloni and caponata with baked cheese. The tortelloni was not freshly made, and it was very undercooked (NOT just al dente – but about a third of it was still dry). The caponata on the other hand was so overcooked you could barely distinguish the vegetables in it and the cheese wasn’t hot enough so not really melty. But worst of all, I felt strongly that I could taste chicken stock and so I couldn’t finish it because all I could think of was that it was cooked in chicken stock (it may well not have been, but once I start thinking it, I can’t unthink it). [If you don’t know this about me already, I am a third generation vegetarian; never willingly eaten meat. I also try intermittently to become a vegan and currently finding it a lot easier not to try until I go home, when I may well be ready to COMMIT!]
After that, I wandered a little more but then decided to head back to Ferrara. I got a bus, then got off it a couple of stops away, having realised it was going in the wrong direction (in my defence there was building work going on in the street I got the bus and the bus stop I should have been able to get it from was not functioning). Got on the correct bus and went to the train station and thence back to Ferrara. Long walk back to the hotel and a fairly early night.
Wednesday
Wednesday was spent in Ferrara. There was a train (and other public transport) strike in Italy. It’s quite possible I could have got places but I decided exploring Ferrara would be perfect. And it was indeed very enjoyable.
I browsed bookshops (there are LOADS of bookshops in Ferrara – including a bookshop full of Catholic masses and with a nun greeting you as you come through the door and a very academic bookshop that seemed to be full of people’s theses, but also plenty of ‘normal’ bookshops). I didn’t buy anything. I only found one shelf of English-language (and French and German, actually) books but nothing jumped out and wanted to be read by me. Plus I still had books to read.
I sat in a café drinking cappuccino and aranciata (fizzy orange) and reading my book and then I went and had a gelato (my first ice cream of the trip). Then I wandered out to look at the river, which wasn’t hugely impressive. And managed to completely miss seeing the old city walls (I walked alongside the river a while, having seen what looked like a big park on the map, hoping to find an entrance and have a bit of a nature bath, but it was very hot and I gave up and turned back. When I looked later, I realised if I’d walk a bit further I would have got into it and been able to see the walls. Ah well, that’s something to do on another visit.)
I had some snacks for lunch and a slice of (not very nice – threw half of it away) pizza and a bit of a siesta. And then I went out for dinner! I looked stuff up and found a place literally around the corner which sounded nice, so I walked round there, opened the door and asked if they had a table for one. They were very nice and welcoming (and didn’t sit me by the loo – apparently lots of solo women diners get plonked next to the loo or at the bar, but thankfully neither of these has happened to me). I had a full four courses, and a 0,5 litre carafe of (fizzy) white wine and a litre bottle of fizzy water. It was Delicious. Truly. And I can now say I have eaten proper Italian food (not vegan, but vegetarian – I can’t speak for the cheese, actually, but I have usually not worried too much about that for some reason).
Thursday
Thursday was Venice! About an hour and a half on the train, so not too difficult. Loved the morning, when I wandered out toward the edges and through lots and lots of quiet, peaceful little streets and over bridges and canals. Sat down on a bench and soaked it all up. Loved loved loved the lack of cars. And there weren’t any bicycles either, which was pleasant – Ferrara has a lot bikes and I felt like I was going to be run over by one every couple of minutes!
The afternoon wandering was a lot busier, as I ended up in more central areas and walking in throngs of people down some of the streets and across some of the bridges. I still enjoyed seeing what I saw, but the crowds were a bit much for me. I ended up grabbing a pizza and a cold beer down a street near the station as I had a long wait for the next train (though it turned out a longer wait ever, because there had been an accident and all the trains in and out of Venice had been delayed). The pizza was actually lovely, and so was the beer. They were just exactly what I needed at the moment, including the chance to sit down and read for a bit. On the train, I ended up chatting to an American (I think) couple who live in Switzerland but were on a little break and staying in a spa hotel in a spa town (can’t remember the name) and doing little day trips in the mornings and then enjoying the spa in the afternoon. They were very nice. Back to the hotel and then yet another quite early night. All this walking is exhausting!
Friday
A moving on day.
Ferrara to Bologna. Wait about 50 minutes.
Bologna to Parma. Wait about 50 minutes.
Parma to La Spezia.
This was to be a short stop. Just one night. Because I couldn’t quite make it all the way to Nice in one day, from Ferrara. But also because La Spezia was on my list of places I’d like to see. I got there early enough to be able to take a wander before it got dark. And it was lovely. Nice big old buildings. And the sea!!! I my goodness. I just stood there and breathed it in and with it came such a feeling of calm and peace. I love the sea. And there were a lot of lovely plants too – loads of cactuses and succulents and palm trees.
Oh, and I sat in a café near the sea and had an Aperol Spritz. Because I kept seeing everyone drinking them (there seems to be a rule that you drink one or two of these in Italy at around 5 or 6 o’clock) and they look so pretty. But I hadn’t had one because I know I don’t like them. I decided I would try one anyway, because maybe I do like them now. Tastes change after all. Nope. Still don’t like them. I like sweet flavourings in my fizzy wine – Aperol is so very not sweet. Ah well, I did it. And now I know.
I did eat dinner in La Spezia and it was fine. Nothing amazing and probably paid more than I should for it, but it was what I needed at the time (spaghetti ala pomodoro and tiramisu and a glass of white sparkling wine) and then another of those early night things. I seem to have a lot of them on this trip!
I was quite wheezy in the night for an hour or so. Realised, with hindsight (and talking to Chris) that it was being by the sea. The same thing happened to me my first couple of days in St Ives, and then I acclimatised. It’s very unpleasant though. But I slept better once that had dissipated.
Saturday
And moving on again…
La Spezia to Genoa.
Genoa to Ventimiglia.
Ventimiglia to Nice.
All three trips alongside the sea but with a lot of time in tunnels, too. Pleasant. Genoa to Ventimiglia train was a quite old one and had dirty windows (not that you couldn’t see through, but that you couldn’t take good pictures through!) and was a bit uncomfortable by the end of the two and a bit hours.
Arrived in Nice and spent most of the walk from the station to the AirBnB in digital conversation with the AirBnB host who was explaining how to get the keys and exactly where the flat was both on the street and within the building. Thanks to her excellent descriptions, I found it fine, but barely took any photos while walking.
I will be in Nice until early Tuesday morning. I decided stay a day longer than planned and get a home-like place, rather than hotel room, for various reasons, including needing to use a washing machine, having some work to do and wanting to really wind down and feel a bit settled briefly.
The trip so far has been amazing and nothing awful has happened. But it has been quite fast paced and I’ve done a lot of walking and a lot of taking in new sights. And a lot of discombobulation, albeit on a fairly minor level since Europe as a whole (especially western Europe) is very familiar to me. I love the train days, and I love the walking round discovering a new place days. But I needed a mostly sitting and being day or two.
After dropping my things off at the studio, I took a quick wander and found a Spar, where I bought VEGETABLES, and pasta, and passata, and tomato and vegetable puree, and haricot beans, and cheese, and milk, and beer. And I came back and cooked myself a meal. Nothing fancy or complicated, but reasonably healthy. And just what I needed. And I put a load of washing on. Bliss.
Sunday
I had a lie in until gone 9am! Though that may be because I spent all night blowing my nose. Woked feeling full of cold (though there’s a good chance it’s hayfever not a cold – and yes I am taking my antihistamines and brought enough with me to last the whole trip). Put the sofa bed away, showered, ate some cold pasta (of course, I made enough for four meals!) and then sat at the table with my laptop and did some work.
Took a break around 1.30 pm to wander down to the sea (there’s sea here, too!) and sat in the lovely long park they have here, live sketching (something I almost never do, but thought I would somehow miraculously be doing the second I got off the Eurostar, but it was fun, so hopefully I’ll find more time and inspiration to do so again) and chatting to a beggar about learning languages and architecture and how annoying it is that everyone pays for everything with cards these days (I must get some cash out and turn it into little coins so that I can actually give out some money). He was very nice, anyway.
And that reminds me about the beggar in Venice who pointed me in the correct direction (to the railway) after I’d walked past him (and sadly ignored him) three times. I stopped and chatted to him and gave him some money (the last of my coins, in fact) and apologised for walking past him three times. It’s difficult in busy tourist areas, because there are a lot of people asking for small change. I have found myself switching off and not seeing them, which is not who I want to be. I’m not sure where to go from that thought, though. Make sure I have lots of small coins in my pocket? Somehow fix the political system in every country I come across so no-one needs to sleep or beg on the streets? Or keep turning away? Will have to see. [Side note: Don’t remember seeing any beggars or obviously homeless people in Amsterdam. Are they doing something right? And, if so, why aren’t other countries, including ours?]
Back to the studio for more pasta and more work. Then more pasta and more work. It turned out to not be quite as small an amount of work as I thought, but I think I should be done with it by tomorrow lunchtime and I’m enjoying getting my brain working in a different way, so should still get some nice Nice exploration done (see what I did there?) Now I need to put this up on my blog and then get the sofa bed out and get a not so early night. And hope that I wake completely snot-free, and ready for Week 3.
Follow me on Find Penguins
A reminder that you can follow along with my trip on Find Penguins – you can see a map of where I’ve been so far and see ‘footprints’ with lots of photos and some words and ponderings (some longer than others). If you’re into it, you can sign up yourself and share your own trips and also get notifications whenever I post a new footprint (that may be a bit excessive if you’re not a member of my family).
Week 1 of my 5-week interrailing trip round Europe
End of first week – Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich
Monday
Train to London – fine (nice to get an early one without paying a small fortune)
Waiting a lot at St Pancras as vey early (better early than late). Bought a book and some snacks.
Eurostar to Amsterdam. Absolutely fine. Fell asleep and completely missed going into the tunnel.
Arrived Amsterdam and got out of the gate with my QR code (apparently Netherlands is the only place that works, though!)
Exited the station the wrong side and ended up walking all the way around and ending up in front of the station. But that’s fine as got to see the water and North Amsterdam on the other side.
Walked up, using Google maps, to the hotel. Lots of canals. Busy streets. LOTS of bicycles – watch out for them, they ignore red lights. Got some cash out. Found hotel. VERY steep steps to reception. Thankfully room on the same floor as reception. Nice woman behind reception. Room is TINY and a bit worn around the edges, but fine. Got some food (vegan burger at Flower Burger – yummy). Went to sleep.
Tuesday
Had breakfast at hotel. Could only face a croissant and coffee, and probably shouldn’t have, but it was included. Wandered round Amsterdam all of Tuesday morning and into afternoon. Was wet (actually snowing at first). Beautiful. Love the canals so much. Love the plants outside people’s buildings. Love the bikes parked up against walls and along the canals. Walked down to museum district and ate some chips and mayonnaise. Outside. Very cold. A pigeon was eyeing up my chips but lost out. Didn’t go in any museum, because they all charged over 20 euros and none of them jumped out enough to make me want to pay that. Went in a museum bookshop and window shopped lots of lovely art books. Bought some bits and bobs from a supermarket. Went back to the hotel and had a nap. Wandered into town in search of food and ended up having chips and mayonnaise again. Nice enough, but really filling! Wandered back to the hotel and went to sleep. May have watched some TV. Don’t remember. Talked to Chris, but can’t remember if it was in the evening or in the day.
Wednesday
Train to Berlin. Nice train. Didn’t get a reservation. Quite busy. Got moved about half an hour into the journey. But then the seat I found was fine (confirmed by conductor). Nice and comfortable. Got a tea from the buffet and proud to have spoken German with no problem to the guy working the buffet.
Arrived Berlin. Easily got the S-Bahn to Charlottenburg. Very pleased to find out I could use interrail pass for S-Bahn journeys. Never got asked to show my ticket, but apparently they are super strict if you get caught without a valid ticket.
Lovely hotel room. Big room. Comfortable bed (two of them, though I only used one!). Great shower. Ate at a very basic Italian across the street from the hotel and had a pizza and a beer. Nice enough. Cash only. Thankfully I had some cash on me!
Thursday
Started by wandering down through Charlottenburg. I wanted to find some jazz bars in case I felt up to going to one in the evening. Took photos of nice buildings. Got the S-bahn at Zoologischer Gardens and went down to the east to see the Eastside Gallery (part of the Berlin wall that is covered in loads of artists’ murals). Then wandered further looking for a free art museum place. I found it, but couldn’t work out what was going on inside. Saw a photography exhibition of different sides of Istanbul which was interesting. Wandered further until I got an S-bahn station (can’t remember which one) and got on, planning to go back to the hotel but took a spur of the moment jump off at Hackescher Market which was nice – little artisan market and there was a nice looking Italian restaurant there so I had a very late lunch/early dinner – HUGE mixed salad and then spaghetti pomodoro. And a beer. Then went back to the hotel and hung out for the rest of the evening, with a couple of cans of gin and tonic and finished watching S2 of Harlem.
Friday
I had looked up different areas of Berlin and had some ideas of places to look around. I wandered down to Tiergarten and then decided to walk all the way through the park, which was lovely. I forget how much I can miss nature when I’m on a city break, and given I’m pretty much on a five-week city break I need to fold in some nature time, for sure. Ended up in an area with lots of huge buildings which was quite interesting. Went back to the hotel and had a nap. Ended up just grabbing McDonalds and bringing it back to the room in the evening. I felt a bit like a second day was overkill, although I totally could have explored more and gone to a few more of the places on the list I had.
Saturday
Train to Munich. I was originally going to get the 9.30 train but realised that it would probably be busy on a Saturday so looked up to see if I could get a reservation and couldn’t get one until the 11.30 train, so switched things round in the pass and paid for the reservation, which I’m glad I did, as the train was very busy. The journey was fine, except I had a window seat that had no window. I read lots and enjoyed the journey and only dozed a bit. Arrived Munich after 5. Found the hotel, and was a bit concerned it seemed like a rough area, but I think it was purely that it was a really busy time of day. Beautiful hotel room with lovely wallpaper and comfortable bed. Went out looking for food and a wander. Happy wandering around the (very busy) old town and catching glimpses of beautiful buildings. Found a restaurant (Italian. Again.) and was very glad that they seated me despite it just being me, as it was busy and they sat me at a table of for three and at no time tried to hurry me out. Lovely food – spinach ravioli followed by tiramisu (which I don’t normally like, but this was delicious). And this time I had a glass of Prosecco instead of a beer. Found my way back to the hotel without having to check Google maps at all. Was very proud of that.
Sunday
Lovely day. Wandered lots in Munich, starting in the old town and took loads of pictures. Then wandered down to the river and walked alongside it for a while until I got to the Bavarian National Museum. On a Sunday it only costs one euro, so I spent maybe an hour and a half wandering in there. I didn’t take any photos as I wasn’t sure if you were allowed to. But saw some stunning tapestries, extraordinary statues in a variety of media. What struck me most about the statues was the exquisite detail on hair, and in particular beards. Also quite a bit of porcelain and crockery and ornate furniture. Lovely. I don’t think I saw it all. Was a bit of a maze. But I was starting to get too hot and didn’t have my water with me as you had to leave your bags and coats due to security risks. After that I found my way back to the old town, where I had a haloumi sandwich and sat and ate it very messily. Then wandered back to the hotel, stopping for a mocha in Starbucks as I was really really cold. Then I had my requisite nap. I wonder if I am taking on my mum’s old habit of needing a siesta every day. Then had a long chat with Chris, and ate some crisps and jaffa cakes while watching Mrs Maisel and drawing nothing much at all on the iPad. (I have definitely not become a travel sketcher – yet, at least. Nor have I become a travel novelist. Mostly I am just a traveller, and that’s actually probably enough!) Now typing this out, which ideally would go on the blog, but then I’d need a picture for it, and I don’t have time to draw a picture. Maybe I’ll put it on the blog anyway and retrospectively add a picture. And now I realise I need to do a Duolingo lesson and then get to bed, because I have a 7.30 train to Bologna in the morning. Finally I will be able to eat Italian food in actual Italy!
General thoughts
Have had lots of lovely phone calls with Chris, hearing about what’s happening back home and telling him about what I’ve been doing here. We think we missed talking on Wednesday. I do like having that touchstone to home.
I haven’t felt lonely (though maybe I would if I didn’t have those calls). I like the time in hotel rooms reading and watching and drawing (have not been doing huge amounts of drawing, though – would like to do more).
I’ve been tending to eat one meal a day and then have other snacks around that. I’m not getting overly hungry and that seems to be working out fine so far. The next hotel (four nights in Ferrara) includes breakfast, so will see if I can bring myself to have some, so as to save some money.
It feels like two nights is my optimum, apart from the two specific events I’m booked for (Bologna Book Fair next week and then Fallas in Valencia a bit further on). Though that might just be because I wasn’t as taken with Berlin as the other two places so far. I don’t feel like I’d want another day in Munich though, even though I really enjoyed today’s wanderings. We’ll see.
Hotels have been fine so far. This one’s the prettiest, Amsterdam was the one with the most character and Berlin the most comfortable. So far.
Trains have been fabulous so far.
Some potential issues coming up with the French strikes. Will not know for sure until Tuesday evening/Wednesday morning whether or how they will affect me, but I have found some ferries to Spain, should I not be able to get through France. Fingers crossed it will be fine though, because I REALLY want to see Nice and speak a language I can speak REALLY well.
Follow me on Find Penguins
You can follow along with my trip on Find Penguins – you can see a map of where I’ve been so far and see ‘footprints’ with lots of photos and some words and ponderings (some longer than others). If you’re into it, you can sign up yourself and share your own trips and also get notifications whenever I post a new footprint (that may be a bit excessive if you’re not a member of my family).
One week to go
This time next week I’ll be in London on my way to St Pancras station, where I’ll be catching the Eurostar to Amsterdam.
I have two nights booked in Amsterdam and then two nights booked in Paris at the end (Eurostar home from Paris). I have two chunks of time booked in the middle, for specific events (Ferrara for four nights to coincide with the Bologna Children’s Book Fair) and Valencia for three nights to coincide with the end of Fallas – which I haven’t experienced in four decades!).
Other than that I will be deciding as I go. Currently, I’m thinking [Amsterdam], Berlin, Munich, maybe Verona, [Ferrara], Florence, La Spezia, Genoa, Nice, Montpelier, Barcelona, [Valencia], Seville, (bus to) Faro, Lisbon, Porto, Bordeaux, [Paris]. But… I am prepared to cut out some of the stops and stay longer in places if I’m finding it tiring. Also might consider heading straight south and leaving Germany for another trip, if it’s too cold. And, I’m also willing to do shorter stops places, and spend more time on trains, because I really do love train travel (ask me again in 6 weeks and I may have a different opinion, of course). I will also need to be prepared for things like train strikes (these happen in Europe, too), maintenance work on lines and so on.
I have a global two month pass, so I can be flexible. I am planning to mostly take the smaller, slower trains that require no reservation, though I will take at least a couple of the fast ones just to experience proper modern train travel (because we haven’t really got that in the UK – most of western Europe has been building super fast train lines and modern trains over the past few decades; we haven’t).
Packing
I have a couple of things to pick up today and few clothes that are in the washing machine. So from tomorrow, I intend to be fully packed (or as close to it as I can get – my iPad won’t go in the bag until the last minute!) and I will also do a walk carrying my bags to ensure they’re manageable.
I am trying to pack as light as I can. Which is a definite challenge. I’ve got a lot better with clothes over the years, from taking away a different dress for every single day to just a handful of basic outfits. And, I will be washing as I go – 5 weeks of underwear would take up a backpack of its own! I will have a couple of vests, a pair of cycling shorts, one dress, one skirt, one shirt, jeans and a t-shirt, plus undies. If I get fed up wearing the same clothes all the time, I’ll discard/donate (depending on whether they’re donatable) and buy something new.
My biggest challenge in packing light is art supplies and books (including sketch- and notebooks). I have compressed down my art supplies into a much smaller pencil case and varying colours across supplies (so I have Posca pens in a couple of colours, Caran D’ache Necolor in a couple of other colours, pencils in a couple of other colours, etc. I also bought some ink cartridges and will just have a black fountain pen. And a blackwing pencil. ONE paperback sketchbook. When I fill it, I will post it home and buy another. I am going to buy a notebook when I get there, because I love European exercise books (really hoping that the Dutch have similar ones to French, Spanish and Italian, now), for journaling. And I will take two fiction paperbacks. And when I finish one I will leave it for someone else to enjoy – e.g. at hotels or hostels, etc. – and buy a new one (whenever I’ve travelled in Europe there have always been plenty of English-language books in bookshops, plus when I’m in France and Spain I can pick up something in French or Spanish).
I bought a tiny, really cheap, and not very powerful laptop to take with me. My Surface Book is really heavy and its battery has pretty much given up staying charged for more than half an hour. I am not planning to do publishing work while away, but do want to be able to write and also this way I can do a bit of work if I need to or feel the urge. I will be doing illustration work while away – the iPad is fully portable and that’s what I do pretty much everything on. I’m considering getting Affinity Designer on the iPad so I can put together patterns on the iPad too, as I’ve not been able to do that well on the iPad and still default to desktop Illustrator, which I don’t think the crappy laptop can handle.
Eeek
So now really all that’s left is to work through the nerves about going away for such a long time. I know it will be an amazing experience for me (also know that there will be frustrations along the way and it won’t be constantly amazing) and I am really glad I’m doing it, but it’s also a bit daunting to be away from my family for longer than I have ever been away from them. I’m fairly sure that a week is the longest any of us have been apart. Of course, they’ll all be fine, there are no worries about that, but it will be weird not to be there in person with them for so long.
Planning a big European train adventure
I will be turning fifty next year. Half a century. And, because I fully intend to live until I’m a hundred1, I am treating this as the half-way marker on my journey through life. As such, it requires a big celebration of some kind.
For almost the last decade I have assumed that the big celebration for my fiftieth, would be a really big party. Maybe a shared party with one of my friends who are also turning fifty next year. But as it grew closer, I realised that I don’t actually want a big party. I’ll almost certainly have a few smaller celebrations with close friend groups and close family. But a big party where I’d need to mix multiple separate friend groups and different branches of family? Where I would get to spend at most ten minutes with each group, and still less with the most special people? Nah. That sounds more like my idea of hell (well, hell would probably also include a bunch of people I really really can’t stand, but purgatory at least).
What I wanted, I realised, was something big and memorable that would be something to look back on with joy and gratitude, but that could also be a starting point for what I want a lot of in the next few decades. And what jumped out at me was travel. I started really diving into travel in 2019 and the start of 2020, then this big global thing happened to stop it. And I haven’t left the country (the UK that is – I have made it to both Scotland and Wales) since. What I was doing then was a LOT OF flying (after more than a decade of no flying at all and as someone who doesn’t drive, so I didn’t feel TOO guilty about it), but the pandemic made me rethink that a bit – not just for the benefit of the environment, though that is definitely a big factor, but also in terms of slowing the heck down. I had already decided that my next trips would be by train, rather than super-quick, super-fast (though, actually, when you’re going to Europe, not that fast when you have to sit and wait in the airport for hours and queue for hours in passport lines) short-haul flights. I would save flying for the further afield trips.
So I decided that my big celebratory thing that I will do some time between this October (my 49th birthday) and next October (the big FIVE OH) will be to buy an interrail pass and run off for a month. The kids are (or will both be by then) teenagers and, while they MIGHT miss me a bit, they’re not going to be detrimentally affected by my absence. To be honest, they probably wouldn’t have been if I’d done it five years ago, or even ten, but it would have been unfair to Chris to leave him to hold the fort entirely on his own when they still needed walking to and from school and multiple activities and supervising constantly at home (and I’m pretty sure I would have been seriously miffed if he wanted to take off for a whole month back then!). Mostly these days, though, all we need to do is make sure the house has plenty of food in and their bank accounts and school/college lunch accounts are stocked and they sort themselves out the rest of the time. Family dinners still happen, though not every evening like they used to, and we do hang out and chat a bit, but a lot of the time they are off doing their own thing, in their rooms, or out with friends. What’s App, Skype, etc. mean we’ll still be in touch plenty and I frequently settle sibling disputes via What’s App rather than in person now, so could probably still do so from across the Channel, if it were needed. Though I would be leaving in the very capable hands of their other parent, and happily return the favour another time.
Planning a solo interrailing trip
I haven’t decided when exactly I’ll be taking this trip, other than some time between October 2022 and October 2023. I do know I probably want to be home for my actual fiftieth, so it would definitely be before then. I also know I don’t want to go during the school holidays, as I’d like to be available to do stuff with the kids then, and also because it’s likely to be busier in the holidays, especially the summer holidays. (I’m also quite into the idea of doing a shorter version with the rest of the family, or any of them who want to come along, at some point. Maybe I can wangle what I did with my travel in 2019/2020 and have a separate trip with each member of the family! That way I get to have multiple trips. Though that does sound a TAD selfish, plus excessive, and a little bit expensive! We’ll see.)
I’m also still very much in the research stages and need to decide what I want out of the trip and what sort of travelling I want to do. I am fairly certain that I don’t want this to be a super speedy rush around the whole of Europe spending a single night in all the big cities. I want to go slowly. Maybe taking a handful of the super-quick trains, but then using the small regional trains (that mostly don’t need extra seat reservations and other fees) and maybe even deciding to hop off a train in a town that looks interesting and seeing if I can find somewhere to stay there, rather than booking everything in advance.
I had thought I’d mostly go with AirBnB style accommodation, booking flats where I can cook for myself, but have since thought that I will probably go with rooms in (fairly cheap) hotels. I don’t need to eat at a restaurant every day, but can pick up snacks from street stalls or picnic food and then maybe have a restaurant lunch one day and dinner another day. I also don’t have to have three courses every meal, so it doesn’t have to be a super expensive thing to feed myself. Since it’s just me, I don’t have to worry about my snoring waking people up or having enough space for everyone to have privacy (which is why we’ve taken to booking AirBnB style accommodation when we go places together, rather than cramped hotel rooms).
So… I definitely can’t cover the whole of Europe in a month, if I’m slow travelling. I will need to decide where to narrow down my trip. Whether to concentrate on two or three countries very close together, or make one or two of those fast trains I include take me from one side of Europe to the other, or from North to South and have two or three separate chunks for the trip. I’m currently leaning toward concentrating on France, Spain, Portugal and Italy, and leaving the rest of Europe for another trip. But … I may well change my mind. What I’m definitely getting from all my research is the certainty that this won’t be the last trip of this kind, but rather the first of many.
I’m reading a lot of blog posts and articles about European train travel, solo travel, and solo travel particularly as an older woman. I have bought a copy of Europe by Rail [affiliate link], which is amazingly useful and an enjoyable read. And, of course, looking at The Man in Seat 61 a lot!
I think I’ll probably write a few posts about the planning and research (for example, to work or not to work, what to pack and what sort of bag(s) to take, how many books to take, how not to buy stuff while I’m travelling (I do have a tendency to come home with a lot of extra books, art supplies and pretty bits and bobs, which would obviously be difficult to carry on such a long trip) and there’s a fairly decent chance I’ll write some while I’m actually travelling, too. Hopefully, I’ll also get into travel illustration of some kind during the trip, which I’ve been awfully rubbish at so far (see below for some of the few pictures I’ve drawn while traveling), but I’m making no promises on that. Definitely will depend on whether I am taking work of any kind with me.
I’m hoping some of you will enjoy reading about this trip (before, during and after!). I know I love reading about this kind of thing myself, anyway, so I’m sure I can’t be the only one.
1 Yeah, I’m definitely going to need to step up my getting healthy and fit efforts to have a chance of achieving that. But I do think a positive attitude has a significant effect, too.
Travelling while vegetarian
And here’s Part 4 of my trip review. Part 1 was about holidaying with srprs.me, Part 2Part 2 was about holidaying alone and Part 3Part 3 was all about Malaga. This part is about travelling as a (lifelong) vegetarian.
This was by far the most challenging aspect of the trip and the single thing that concerns me most about doing another similar trip.
My first night, I ended up eating in the hotel bar, because I didn’t feel confident about heading into the centre when it was dark and I hadn’t yet found my bearings (would have been absolutely fine, especially with the help of the trusty maps on my phone, which got me around the city the rest of the time) and the restaurant had just shut.
There was a single vegetarian option on the menu, which was a starter – deep friend camembert with red berry coulis. I asked the waiter if there was anything else vegetarian and he suggested they could do me there speciality salad, but leave out the tuna. So I agreed to have the salad followed by the camembert. And a cold beer (that was very good – and I’m fortunately not too fussy about making sure beer and wine is vegetarian).
The salad was fine and came with a mini bottle of balsamic vinegar and mini bottle of olive oil to drizzle over. And salt. Until, that is, I came across the two pieces of tuna that I hadn’t quite managed to remove from what must have been a ready-prepared salad. I removed them and kept eating, but as soon as I’d seen them the rest of the salad started to taste of tuna. The camembert was lovely, but quite dry.
I missed out on pudding somehow, too. I thought I’d said yes the pudding menu and ordered another beer at the same time. The waiter looked surprised and then brought the beer. Pretty sure I’d said I wanted beer for pudding and to not see the menu. Ah well. I had some sweets in the room left over from the journey.
The next day, after a breakfast (which was absolutely fine and classic hotel breakfast) at the hotel (thank you to srprs.me who added that option in as an unbooked extra) I wandered into the centre. I really wanted a bocadillo de tortilla, which is one of my all-time favourite Spanish ‘meals’. (Spanish omelette, made from onion, potato and egg, in a sandwich.) Couldn’t find any anywhere. I had a waffle at the Picasso museum, along with a (far too strong for me) coffee, while relaxing in a very pleasant and cool courtyard.
The best I could manage, mid-afternoon, was a ‘pincho de tortilla’ with some bread on the side (and a cold beer, of course). It was lovely, but I would have liked more.
Somehow, I didn’t manage to have churros y chocolate (probably my second favourite Spanish ‘meal’) – I think this was because it was just too hot, but am very annoyed with myself that I didn’t.
Dinner the next two nights was a lot better, but took a fair bit of searching. I walked around and around and around the historical centre looking at all the menus and seeing pretty much nothing I could eat. I found an Italian restaurant, though, which is my continental Europe go-to because there are always vegetarian options of pizza or pasta. I had a lovely aubergine, tomato and mozzarella pasta dish (with linguine) and a cold beer. Again, I managed to miss out on pudding, though. I thought I’d asked for the pudding menu (and my Spanish isn’t awful – I lived in Spain for a year as a kid, have a GCSE in it and even ran a Spanish club at our primary school for a term) but the waitress brought me the bill instead. Ah well. I got an ice cream for pudding instead, which was delicious.
The second night, I looked stuff up on the internet before going into town. There were some vegetarian/vegan restaurants but they all sounded a bit too wholesome for me (I’m not an especially healthy vegetarian – I like a lot of carbs and am very very fond of cheese), so I decided to go to an Italian restaurant which looked really good. Except, after walking around the block about five times, I realised that it didn’t exist anymore. Another (posh-looking and with nothing much veggie on the menu) restaurant seemed to have expanded into its space. So I headed back into the historical centre again, determined not to go to the same Italian restaurant again. It was still far too early for dinner, really, but I was looking around trying to find somewhere to go. I spotted a sign that specifically mentioned vegetarian options.
I was determined to go there for dinner, after I’d had a beer and pudding (having done some more reading, it turned out that Spanish people – I have no recollection of this at all – tend to go out for a cake and a little drink in the late afternoon and then eat dinner (and not pudding) later in the evening, around 9 or so. So I had a beer (actually two small beers) while reading my book and watching the world pass by (probably one of my favourite things to do on holiday) and then got an ice cream and tried to find my way back. And failed completely. The street was too small to appear on my phone’s map. I walked around and around and took this turning and that turning and totally couldn’t find it.
So, I ended up back with my default option – an Italian restaurant, though a different one to the night before. Where I had to have Caprese, because it’s Rosemary’s favourite (it was a massive helping though, and I think probably meant to be shared between three or four people). And then I had another pasta, aubergine, tomato and mozzarella dish. Delicious, but I was far too full after my ice cream and two beers. Ah well.
What’s the lesson here? Maybe it’s to just embrace Italian restaurants and accept that those are where you’re going to be able to eat a proper meal without any meat or fish. Or maybe it’s to read up a bit on what traditional local dishes are generally OK and go order them. Or to look up the vegetarian restaurants (because most cities do have one or two) and go eat there, even if it’s too healthy! It’s definitely not to not go, just in case, however. If push comes to shove, you can just go grab some bread and cheese and leave the restaurants alone (in fact, that’s what I ended up doing for lunch on my second day)!
Visiting Malaga
Part 3 of my trip review. Part 1 was about holidaying via srprs.me and Part 2 was about holidaying solo. This one’s all about Malaga, and Part 4 is about travelling as a vegetarian.
Well, that was an eye-opener and a definite benefit of using srprs.me! I would never ever have a booked a holiday to Malaga. Never. It was always associated with the Costa del Sol and all the very worst aspects of Brits abroad. I thought of it as somewhere ‘young people’ (yeah, don’t count myself in that category anymore) go to club and get far too drunk. I thought of it as the place people fly to end up in all those Brit-overflowing sunny resorts. Not somewhere remotely appealing to me.
But, boy, was I wrong. (It’s quite possible all the above is still true, but I didn’t see a single iota of it, except perhaps in the queues for the planes, but even then most everyone I met was lovely – oh yes, apart from the two very well-dressed couples who were very rude, entitled and queue-jumpy; not sure what they were doing flying on a budget airline.)
Malaga is an amazing city!
It has a really beautiful historical area, with all the windy, narrow streets a girl could want (my top thing on any city break is wandering round old, narrow streets).
It has a very impressive beach, with lots of playgrounds and even some grown-up gym equipment alongside it (to be honest, I am not really a beach person, but I do love the sea and walking along next to it was gorgeous.
It has loads and loads of museums and galleries (I only managed to visit a handful of them).
And some beautiful architecture to admire.
It has some gorgeous parks (though I didn’t really find anywhere with patches of grass to sit on – just lots of benches).
It has lots and lots of bars and restaurants (though see my next post if you’re vegetarian).
It has some cool and quirky little shops, as well as a metric tonne of souvenir shops.
It has some quite impressive street art.
Oh, and ice cream. Didn’t take a picture of either of the ice creams I had, but they were delicious.
It’s a reasonably small city, so you can walk it without too much hassle (I walked everywhere, except for getting the bus from the airport and the train back to the airport), though there are buses and it looks like a small metro system, too.
I think it has good potential as somewhere to visit with children – spend the morning on the beach and then go museum or gallery browsing in the afternoon (in the cool of the air-conditioning) and then head into the centre for a pizza or paella or something in the evening. The centre was full of families – and lots of children eating out and hanging out with their family, even as late as 10pm (which is as late as I managed to stay out!).
I would happily go back again and there are some places I missed that I’d particularly like to visit – the Pompidou Centre (yes, related to the one in Paris), the Museum of Culture and Costumes (I think that’s what it was called – I walked passed it at night) and the market. But I’m sure there are lots more places of interest to visit, that I don’t know about.
Holidaying solo
Welcome to Part 2 of my trip review (and sorry it’s taking me so long to write it all up – somehow that vision of being a travel blogger jetting off to all corners (hmm, there aren’t actually any corners on a globe, are there?) of the Earth is fading slightly – probably should have written while I was there!). Part 1 dealt with the experience of travelling with srprs.me.
This may well be down to all the introspection I’ve been doing and the whole trying to work out Who am I? What do I want to be? What do I want to do? What makes me happy? and the answers to many other equally self-obsessed questions. But I really really wanted to go on holiday on my own.
I wanted to travel on my own, without the need to talk to other people all the time, or to worry about children annoying other passengers, or running off where I can’t see them. I wanted to stay in a hotel room on my own (that, I’ve done before a few times, to be fair – at conferences, for work, and one time I even booked myself into a cheap hotel in Cheltenham for a couple of nights in the run up to an Open University exam to get my revision done). I wanted to decide when to leave and how to travel. I wanted to be entirely responsible for everything – where to eat, what museums (if any) to visit, whether to walk or get buses or trains, whether to just sit down at the nearest bar to have a beer, whether to sit and draw or read. What time to go to sleep. What time to wake up… Mostly I didn’t want to have to talk to other people all the time – yes, even my family!
Lots of people (especially other mothers) kept saying how brave I was. And I’m really struggling with this. Would they say Chris was brave if he did it? I honestly don’t think so. So is it brave because I’m a woman? Should I be scared of travelling on my own? What should I be expecting to happen? Or is it brave because I’m a mother? And if so, is it because I’m leaving my children? I don’t get this. I’m leaving them with their father, who spends as much time as me being responsible for them. I’m leaving them during the week when they’ll be at school the majority of the time. Why is it brave to do that, but not for mothers who travel to work every day? Is it just because I’m going to be somewhere they’re not? Am I supposed to worry that something awful is going to happen and I’ll be too far to run back? I don’t think I can survive life if I’m constantly worrying about what awful things are going to happen (and as someone who has suffered from chronic stress and anxiety, I don’t need to add something else in there to worry about, thank you).
What I did feel was brave, though, was recognising that this was something I wanted and needed to do and getting it together and booking the trip. I didn’t think it was especially brave that it took me almost 6 months to do so from the moment I realised I needed to do it. I suppose it was brave to embrace the unknown and leave my destination in the hands of complete strangers, but actually that made it so much easier, so no that probably wasn’t brave. Yes, it is brave to recognise a need in yourself and to go ahead and make it happen. I hope I can manage more of that bravery in the next months and years and, well, really for the rest of my life.
So, how was it actually? Travelling and holidaying alone? Was it absolutely perfect? Was it everything I dreamed of and hoped for?
Probably not, to be honest. Loads of it was, though. I definitely appreciated being in charge of the pace of walking round museums – no-one ever ever wants to go at exactly the same pace as me, and that can be sooooo annoying. I also liked being able to just wander without having to worry about small feet or someone else wanting to do something different. I liked being able to change my mind about what I was doing because I saw a nice park, or an interesting looking gallery.
I missed having someone to talk to, though! All that itching for not having to talk people all the time, but it turns out I do need some interaction and conversation. So that’s an interesting bit of self-knowledge. Fortunately, my phone worked completely normally there, so I did speak to Chris quite a lot. But I would have appreciated having someone to sit down with at dinner time to chat about the different things we’d seen or done during the day. (Yes, this is where I should have got my Surface, or a notebook even, out and written it all down. Lesson for next time, perhaps.)
I didn’t ever feel unsafe or scared, except maybe the very first night when I didn’t feel up to going out to explore and ended up eating (not very well) in the hotel bar. If I’d only walked two minutes down the street, I would have been in a lively area near the station, and a bit further and I’d have been in among loads of people. Apart from that evening, I walked around the city in the day and the night without feeling at all worried or scared, even when I took wrong turnings and ended up walking through quieter areas.
I didn’t ever feel awkward asking for a table for one. I had a book with me and sketchbook (somehow never got the latter out in restaurants – maybe because I was so into the book) and my phone, of course, and would get one of them out as soon as I sat down, but then often look around instead of reading. I didn’t ever feel I shouldn’t be having a beer on my own (only drank beer, not wine, for some reason – actually, probably because it was really really hot).
I did enjoy having the hotel room to myself, though I did also miss cuddles with Chris and the girls. I think I spent too much time in the hotel room, though and should have got up earlier in the mornings and come home later (another lesson for next time).
I feel I need to do this again a few times to truly know whether it’s something I want to do (holidaying solo, I mean) as a regular thing. I feel like there are some things I’d do differently. I think I’d probably speak to other people more (I spoke to some lovely people on the train and in the airport queues). I think I’d know where to head in the airport to feel more comfortable. I think I’d walk taller and carry less stuff when walking round the city. I think I’d have more confidence to just sit down in a bar/restaurant and not wander round loads trying to find the right one. I think I’d get out my sketchbook more and also use the Surface or notebook to record my thoughts and impressions more immediately and regularly.
I think I can also take some lessons from this experience and port them to holidaying with the rest of the family, or friends. For example, making sure I get a bit of solitary time, but also making the most of having people there to talk to and laugh with – and doing so! And lots of cuddles.
The experience wasn’t absolute perfection, but it was enjoyable and rewarding and personality-building. And I will definitely do it again – hopefully in the not too distant future.