[2012] Bavarian Road trip with Billy and Nate

Zurich --> Basel --> Leysin --> Zermatt --> Neuschwanstein Castle --> Munich --> St. Gilgen --> Salzburg --> Basel

It's always so nice when friends visit. This trip was a bromantic road trip that I crashed for the most part. We visited places that we've been before, but it was so much more fun with great company and with people who appreciated it all.

Can't wait for Nate's ukulele single to be recorded about this trip
;)

[2012] Petra, Jordan

After the longest Ferry ride known to man (11 hrs) from Egypt, we took a taxi from the port to Petra. (I should mention, it took a long while negotiating with the taxi the price of the ride, since he was trying to take advantage of us, but we managed to get a fair fare.) We arrived at 1 am and luckily the hotel owner had called to check that we were still staying there and had waited up to let us in. We woke up at the crack of dawn and went to Petra as soon as it opened, maybe 6am (I can't recall anymore). It was a great call though, we were able to see it without any crowds. By 9am we had decided we'd seen enough and started moving to our next destination: Jerusalem (with a stop at the Dead Sea of corse). I know some people would advise to visit Petra for a full day, but the length we wandered was perfect for us. It may have had to do with the fact that we were running on just a few hours of sleep and my allergies were horrible.

I look really unhappy for some reason riding this donkey! Maybe it was my allergies? Ah---Choo!

[2012] Jerusalem, Israel

This is probably in my top 3 places to visit as a tourist. It was absolutely jam packed with history and life. I was surprised at how spiritual this visit was, which sounds dumb now that I think of it. I guess, I wasn't planning on it being spiritual for me. Amidst the myriad of religions, people, tourists and just business of the city, we fell in love with it. I found that seeing people's faith so overtly in their actions and emotions was really moving for me. I'm so glad that I was lucky enough to visit this sacred place. 

I think one of the best decisions we made before traveling to Israel was using AirBnB. This was our first time to use it and we ended up staying with Barak and Idan. They were the best hosts! The price of the room was so reasonable and we got very good tips on places to eat and really enjoyed getting to know them. We stayed in a few times because Hayes was really sick from a stomach bug he caught in Egypt, so we watched the Amazing Race Israel, baked cupcakes together and were even invited to join them for Shabbat with their friends.  We enjoyed great food and even better conversations. We have yet to have as good of an experience with AirBnb, but we understand that sometimes you just click with people.

Another highlight on this trip was the food! Especially the local meals that were recommended to us. I think Israel makes the best salads in the world. They had the most surprising combinations of fruit, nuts, vegetables and cheese. Hayes' highlight were the fresh juices that you could find on every street corner with pomegranates that they would squeeze in front of you for just a few dollars.

Hopefully we will make it back to Israel. We have plans to visit the Sea of Galilee next time.

[2012] Dahab, Egypt

Hayes and I spent a few days at this hidden oasis in Dahab. We stayed at a lovely hotel run by a German lady named Emily. She was such a genuine host, who made our stay so comfortable. I'm so glad I read through the reviews before I overlooked her modest rooms. Her Egyptian business partner was a great chef and we enjoyed a few meals prepared by him. I can't wait to visit again! (We're just waiting for the craziness in Egypt to end.)

Just out in front of the hotel you could snorkel and see the most amazing reef filled with coral and life. It was called the eel garden. And, in the few days I was there I was able to get my diving certification too. Yay!

[2012] The Dead Sea, Jordan

We made a stop at the Dead Sea on our way from Petra to Israel for about 2 hours. It was so worth it. It is the most bizarre thing in the world. It is so oversaturated with salt that it is so viscous and it smells almost like fuel. We were warned by our friend Sarah Lilo that's it's better if you take goggles and so we did. It was really great to have them, because we could be more comfortable in the water. There's really no worry that your head will go under the water, but if you accidentally touch your eyes your poor eyes will suffer some burnage. I paid a few dollars to do a mud body masque which was pretty cool too. This is one of the coolest natural phenomena I have ever seen. 

[2012] Epernay, France

We enjoyed a 2 nights in Epernay with our friends Mari and Liam during our spring break. We really liked the Moet and Chandon tour to their underground cellars that are massive! Supposedly they have F1 races down there?! Our minds were boggled trying to calculate how many bottles were stored in the one hallway we went through, let alone how much it was worth. The unfortunate part of the tour was the promo video they played for us right at the beginning. We were put in a room to watch a ~7min long commercial, while Scarlett Johansson narrated with key words like: luxury, fragrant, effervescence, etc. BARF! What a major turn off. They almost won us over when we were forced to pick up our two glasses of champagne at the same time, encouraging us to double fist white and rose champagne. Classy~

Our highlight was the restaurant La Grillade Gourmande. Wonderful food, great atmosphere, really really good wine pairings and an amazing owner that made you feel like special guests to his personal home.

We had another one of our meals at a Thai restaurant where local musicians performed. At the end of the evening I had the courage to asked one of them if I could try out their accordion. The accordion is my new favourite instrument. (I actually have a personal rule that if a street performer is playing the accordion I must give them some money--this is my attempt to ensure that accordions keep being played) I was able to push out a um-cha-cha beat while I made a simple melody with my left hand, even though it was my first time trying one out. I think everyone was impressed, or at least they feigned it when they applauded my efforts! **It should be noted that there were only a handful of people left in the restaurant at this point, mainly my friends and the staff.

Hopefully next time we go Perrier & Jouet will be open because it was NEVER open to sell us their pretty bottles of champagne. Or their pretty champagne flutes at that.

[2012] London Summer Olymics, Great Brittain

We went to the London Summer Olympics in 2012 to check off something from my partner's bucket list: to watch the 50 free and 100 fly finals. We went to London on an Easyjet flight that cost exactly 9 GBP, less than the processing fee, stayed at our friend's brother's apartment and only had a ticket to the swimming daytime qualifiers. This was after scouring the Olympics website for re-released tickets only days before our flight. We ended up being able to get tickets for our friends too. We were basically in the nosebleeds for the prelims, but it was still really fun watching. Once we were in Olympic park the atmosphere was contagious, everyone was just so happy and positive.

About an hour or two before the evening swimming finals, we sat outside the aquatics center and made a sign that said "tickets?", within 3 minutes we were approached by an American and asked us to promise that we'd be cheering for Missy. We promised and purchased our first ticket. Another 5 minutes after that, a sweet Japanese woman asked us if we'd like to buy her ticket, except that it was very expensive. Her tickets were for the best section! We ended up getting a real bargain on the ticket and took it off her hands. Although the tickets weren't together, we ended up just sitting in the front section (because it was so empty). We took photos with Phelps' mom, threw the 50 free gold medalist our American flag and even got him to pose for us. Considering we went to London without tickets to the event we wanted to go to, we think we were quite successful, but we learned a real lesson, it's really easy to go to the Olympics, just show up! It's not as hard as you think. We spent a magical 24 hours in London!