As we’re all at home, praying hard that the global pandemic situation will improve, the only traveling we can really do now is through others’ stories and our own memories. Here’s a short story about a little misadventure back from my solo travels in the colorful city of Lisbon, Portugal. This post, “What Are You Waiting For?” was my original submission to World Nomads in … Continue reading What Are You Waiting For?
With every step, we descended deeper underground, not quite sure of what we’d find at the end of this very long wooden staircase. After a long, overnight journey by coach from Budapest, we’d finally arrived in Krakow, and this was our first stop after depositing our luggage. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much until we were about 64m underground, less than halfway into the … Continue reading Krakow’s Wieliczka Salt Mine: Journey to the Center of the Earth (Almost)
Dubbed the Pearl of the Danube, the Paris of the East, and even the Capital of Spas and Thermal Baths, Budapest, the wonderfully beautiful capital city of Hungary, certainly lives up to its nicknames. But if not for the friends I’d just made in France who wanted to travel around Central and Eastern Europe during our term break, I probably would have missed out on … Continue reading Budapest, Hungary: Fresh Perspectives and Childlike Wonder
You never forget how a city makes you feel, especially when that city is as dynamic and bursting with life as Paris. It’s been a year and a half since I’ve returned, and even though I only spent less than half a year there, I still miss it deeply. It’s strange how the grass is always greener on the other side – after a couple … Continue reading The 15 Little Things You Miss About Paris
An alternative title: Learning The Hard Way That Porto Cannot Be ‘Done’ In A Day. By the time I’d realised that taking the public transport to Portugal’s second largest city, Porto, and planning to return to Lisbon the same day was not a great idea, it was already too late. I was already halfway through the three-and-a-half-hour journey to Porto on the slow train, with … Continue reading To Porto and Back in a Day: Solo Tripping to Lisbon, Portugal (Part 3)
No trip to Lisbon is complete without a day trip to the nearby UNESCO World Heritage town of Sintra, located just about 45 minutes away from the city by train. Sintra was the destination that drew me to Lisbon when I was deciding on the city to pick for my solo trip because I’d heard so much about the colorful Pena Palace, and so I … Continue reading The Fairytale Land of Sintra: Solo Tripping to Lisbon, Portugal (Part 2)
At sunset, as I walked out of the Cais do Sodré train station towards the aptly named Sunset Destination hostel I’d booked for the next five days, I looked up to the pastel colored sky – a calm blue chasing away the pink and orange hues of the setting sun that had already disappeared beyond the horizon – and at that moment, I knew that … Continue reading A Leap of Courage: Solo Tripping to Lisbon, Portugal (Part 1)
The Louvre is a world-famous symbol of Paris, but there’s so much more the city has to offer. Here are five other museums to check out. Continue reading 5 Underrated Museums in Paris