Another great way to experience the real culture of the places you are visiting, is by using www.CouchSurfing.com.
With CouchSurfing, you can ask locals, who are members of the website, to host you. Travellers are often offered a couch or a spare bed to sleep on - and it's completely free.
Hosts usually want to get to know their visitors better to get an insight into their culture. This often happens over dinner at the host's house where either the guest or the host cooks a meal from their home country.
Some will take you to a local club or bar for a drink and some will take you sightseeing around town. It is totally up to the host to decide how long they can host you. It all depends on their schedule (some will lend a key to their guests so they can let themselves in) but also about the chemistry between host and traveller. There is, however, never any guarantees of a free spot. You may need to write multiple hosts in each city you visit to find a host who is home and able to have you stay with them.
I have surfed couches in Trieste, Italy and Vienna, Austria. Both times, my hosts were really nice and I spent a lot of time with them in the evening after they came home from work.
This may seem to many as a very unsafe way to travel, but there are certain safety security facilities established by the people behind CouchSurfing. This way you can limit your search for couches to only show members who have been verified by CouchSurfing. You also have the option to read about the hosts before you contact them. Many guests choose to grade and write a line or two about their experience while staying with their hosts. This feature is a great way to find the ideal host for you.
April 09, 2012
Travelling is Living
I've travelled most of my life. Primarily in Europe but also in USA and Canada. My travels started in 1987 when I was 2 years old when my family went on a road trip to France. A long drive for a family with two children on the back seat. But this trip and many more like it established a strong endurance when it comes to one thing - waiting...
I've waited a lot in my life. In the army they told us "Hurry up and wait!" which is a very confusing command to be given. Waiting is a funny thing. Time spent waiting can be used for a lot of different things - depending on the situation. At work you can be waiting to be given more work. You could be waiting for that phone call telling you whether or not you got that job you've worked so hard for. You can be waiting for the new iPhone 5. I've tried all of them. And there are unimaginable many reasons why you wait. But what do you do with your time while you wait? Do you check the news on your phone? Do you do the dishes? Or perhaps read a book?
I tried turning the waiting time to my advantage deliberately once. I went on an Interrail trip on my own.
Interrail is a way of travelling in Europe using only trains. I took the train from Copenhagen and went through Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, France and Belgium before returning to Denmark three weeks later.
To me, it was surprisingly inexpensive to travel this way. I bought a ticket in Denmark that allowed me to travel for 10 days within a 22 day period for only € 260. This method of transport is much different than going on a plane or driving on the autobahn blasting through the countryside without looking out the window. While making your way through the European landscape, travellers get a unique way to spend their time waiting: seeing the raw nature that is Europe - while relaxing.
First, please know that you cannot expect to be understood everywhere in Europe when travelling around. English will go a long way, but not the whole way. Especially in southern European countries, people don't bother learning English in general - especially the older generation.
Second, you need to be open to new ways of living and cultures. I met a girl from USA once who travelled on her own to Russia. She was supposed to be there for three weeks, but returned after only two weeks. When I talked to her about it, she told me that she had returned because nobody spoke English in Russia and thus seemed rude and ignorant to her. To me, the girl was the ignorant one. How can she expect people in Russia to understand her when she only speaks English? She told me that she had made no effort in learning any Russian before or during her trip.
In Europe you will find a new language in each country (back to basics, I know). And a lot of dialects. You will not be understood everywhere and you cannot always use what you know to get what you want. You will need to study your destination and adapt to your surroundings. I was in Italy on my road trip and wanted to relax and watch a movie in the cinema. However, it occurred to me that all movies in italian cinemas are dubbed into Italian - and are not shown in their original language. When I realized this, I also realized why most Italians don't speak English. Nothing on tv is in English. Everything is dubbed. I'm betting that Italians do this to preserve their cultural identity and not be turned by Hollywood.
Interrail is an awesome way to meet locals and new people while travelling. I met a lot of people on the trains who were doing the same as me. I even joined a few groups here and there to have company while travelling. And we had a blast!
Interrail is an amazing way to travel. But do it before you turn 25 or the price will rise. Go before it's too late.
I've waited a lot in my life. In the army they told us "Hurry up and wait!" which is a very confusing command to be given. Waiting is a funny thing. Time spent waiting can be used for a lot of different things - depending on the situation. At work you can be waiting to be given more work. You could be waiting for that phone call telling you whether or not you got that job you've worked so hard for. You can be waiting for the new iPhone 5. I've tried all of them. And there are unimaginable many reasons why you wait. But what do you do with your time while you wait? Do you check the news on your phone? Do you do the dishes? Or perhaps read a book?
I tried turning the waiting time to my advantage deliberately once. I went on an Interrail trip on my own.
Interrail is a way of travelling in Europe using only trains. I took the train from Copenhagen and went through Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, France and Belgium before returning to Denmark three weeks later.
To me, it was surprisingly inexpensive to travel this way. I bought a ticket in Denmark that allowed me to travel for 10 days within a 22 day period for only € 260. This method of transport is much different than going on a plane or driving on the autobahn blasting through the countryside without looking out the window. While making your way through the European landscape, travellers get a unique way to spend their time waiting: seeing the raw nature that is Europe - while relaxing.
First, please know that you cannot expect to be understood everywhere in Europe when travelling around. English will go a long way, but not the whole way. Especially in southern European countries, people don't bother learning English in general - especially the older generation.
Second, you need to be open to new ways of living and cultures. I met a girl from USA once who travelled on her own to Russia. She was supposed to be there for three weeks, but returned after only two weeks. When I talked to her about it, she told me that she had returned because nobody spoke English in Russia and thus seemed rude and ignorant to her. To me, the girl was the ignorant one. How can she expect people in Russia to understand her when she only speaks English? She told me that she had made no effort in learning any Russian before or during her trip.
In Europe you will find a new language in each country (back to basics, I know). And a lot of dialects. You will not be understood everywhere and you cannot always use what you know to get what you want. You will need to study your destination and adapt to your surroundings. I was in Italy on my road trip and wanted to relax and watch a movie in the cinema. However, it occurred to me that all movies in italian cinemas are dubbed into Italian - and are not shown in their original language. When I realized this, I also realized why most Italians don't speak English. Nothing on tv is in English. Everything is dubbed. I'm betting that Italians do this to preserve their cultural identity and not be turned by Hollywood.
Interrail is an awesome way to meet locals and new people while travelling. I met a lot of people on the trains who were doing the same as me. I even joined a few groups here and there to have company while travelling. And we had a blast!
Interrail is an amazing way to travel. But do it before you turn 25 or the price will rise. Go before it's too late.
February 15, 2012
How to travel
Many people don't know how to go about getting the lowest prices when travelling abroad. Here is a short review of websites you should consider using when looking for cheap ways to travel.
First, if you are the kind of person who likes to plan everything yourself, you need to know the website www.momondo.com - Momondo is a website searching through a bunch of different airlines and travel agencies online such as Air France and Expedia to find you the cheapest flight and then redirect you to the cheapest place to get your tickets. They don't sell any tickets and they don't endorse one airline over the other. Recently, they have expanded to also allow users to search for the cheapest hotels and car rentals, but I still have my doubts about this as hotels often have different names on different websites which makes it hard to compare them. And you can also find cheaper car rentals on other websites - sometimes in connection with booking your hotel or flight. But you should definitely check out Momondo to find the cheapest flights.
But sometimes it can be cheaper not to use these search engines and buy two separate tickets if you want to go somewhere. Let me explain. If you find a ticket from London to Chicago for $500 it may be cheaper to look for tickets from London to New York and again from New York to Chicago. The last option may give you an extra connection, but it may in some cases save you a lot of money.
When looking for accommodation you should have a look at either www.booking.com or www.hotels.com - both are really really easy to find you way around and give you a lot of search filters you can apply to find the right hotel for you. Personally, I have often found www.booking.com to be the better choice with the best prices - but I have been proved wrong on this. So use both of them and choose wisely. Oh and look out for hotels that charge you for WiFi. Don't choose those hotels - charging for WiFi seems greedy.
Getting the right price when renting a car is a bit more tricky. I've tried a lot of options and I haven't found one place with the cheapest prices. It really depends on where and when you're going. But good websites to have in mind include www.rentalcars.com (same company as Booking.com) and www.autoeurope.com (when renting a car in Europe). If you choose to rent a car directly at one of the big car rental companies (Avis, Hertz, Enterprise etc.), make sure to find that voucher number. You can often find them online by spending a few minutes on Google. They often give you a free upgrade, free milage or 10% discount. Make sure you find the best option for you as you can't use more than one voucher for each rental.
I hope you are able to use these hints for when you want to book your next travel.
The beginning
Dear readers,
I created this blog to tell the world of my explorations when going abroad. My story of travelling goes way back to the mid 1980's when I went with my parents to France more times than I can count. I won't bother you with stories from when I was about 4 years old - instead I will tell the stories from my adult life. All the stories from buying a spontaneous plane ticket to New York 16 hours before departure to my interrail trip alone across Europe.
This is my story.
Show My Travels on a bigger map
I created this blog to tell the world of my explorations when going abroad. My story of travelling goes way back to the mid 1980's when I went with my parents to France more times than I can count. I won't bother you with stories from when I was about 4 years old - instead I will tell the stories from my adult life. All the stories from buying a spontaneous plane ticket to New York 16 hours before departure to my interrail trip alone across Europe.
This is my story.
Show My Travels on a bigger map
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