Chapter 1 over: Adios Europe

It is an emotional day in our little hotel room by the Madrid airport. We leave for Dubai tomorrow at 2pm (if there are no delays of course) and will arrive in Dubai just after midnight. It marks the end of our Europe trip but the beginning of the rest and we are filled with mixed feelings.

Europe has treated us well. We have discovered the true beauty and charm as well as the unique characteristics of each country. Great family and friends has also been a (MASSIVE) plus. However, we are looking forward with excitement and apprehension for Dubai, United Emirates and Cape Town, South Africa. Both places are incredibly foreign to us, and we of course will be known foreigners: "The tourists". It will be an exciting adventurous 3 weeks before we make our arrival in Australia.

The last few days in Spain have been nice and fairly low key. Malaga was wonderful but we had quite the time trying to find our hostel. Seville was beautiful but we did not spend too much time exploring since we were so exhausted from snorers and uncoordinated sleeping times. We have officially decided snorers should be banded from sleeping in a dorm. Sam spent one night in Malaga sleeping on the cold hard tiles of their little balcony with a pillow and small blanket because there was an old man sleeping in their dorm snored as loud as a chainsaw. He also had many other disgusting bodily functions going on. 3 hours of sleep was not enough to fully function on. BUT that aside we had a wonderful relaxing time and enjoyed our last few days in the warmth and beauty of Spain. We decided against going to Cadiz so we would have more time to enjoy Seville.

Today we did not end up exploring any of Madrid as originally hoped. In Malaga we discovered Mike had accidently forgotten the powercord for the computer back in Barcelona. It had been an early morning start and we had been tired. After messaging the hostel we discovered they did have it and we could pick it up. So today we trained the x number of hours to Barcelona and then went to Madrid. It was a long 13 hour day. We now have the cord and that is all that matters.

It is know one am and we are all but finished packing our stuff for tomorrow. It is time to sign off and say goodnight!

Sam and Mike
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
missing you all. lots of love.

Joie de Vivre

Hey Hey Everybody!

It has been a little while since our last post. We were in Nice for two days after the last post and enjoyed a relaxing beach day in October! Definitely cannot complain about that. But Nice was extremely overpriced and a short stay was much appreciated by our wallet. We then headed to Sam´s G. Aunt Jessica´s and G. Uncle Mikes for 5 nights and had an absolutely delightful time. We were well taken cared of in all departments (comfy bed, warm house, dynamite food, an abundance of wine -- and most importantly love and company). We enjoyed many home cooked meals and even expanded our palate by nibbling on some mussels and snails. Sam now enjoys red wine! Daily outings to the surrounding areas of ¨deepest, darkest France¨were really fun. We saw magnificant views, cute shops and a gorgeous abbey. We expanded our knowledge on an abundance of topics including Airbus and their design of the A380 on a tour with Uncle Mike´s additional information. It was definitely something we had never experienced before. We also had the pleasure of seeing G. AJ´s and G.U. Mike´s new house under construction and the gorgeous piece of property it sits on. Mike really hit it off with their dog Meggie and they enjoyed many walks and play sessions. We were sad to go.

The delight did not end. After a nightmarish 12 hour day training from Montauban to Barcelona we made it! Hungry at our one am arrival we hunted down a burger king and stumbled upon the Sagrada Familia --- what an impressive building!! We would see it in detail a few days later. No site seeing that day. Early morning we set out to see Mike´s Dad and Joan in Peniscola. (The gag was the emphasis on the first half of the location! haha.) Again we had an awesome time relaxing with Mark and Joan. They had a comfortable suite at their resort with a gorgeous view of the beach. Some drinks on the patio, buffet dinners and a relaxing walk through the local town and beach ate up 2 days. We are very greatful for their hospitality and fun company! It was really nice to have a taste of home and they are missed.

We went back to Barcelona for a day and half and fell in love with the city. Absolutely in Love. A self tour and a walking tour of Gaudi has made us decide to return in the near future. We did not spend enough time here. INTERESTING side note. When on the Gaudi tour a loud thunderous bang erupted in the middle of the street and people screamed and were running for shelter. We thought a bomb had exploded and I half expected to turn around and see the road in smitherns with the deafening sound. Turns out the transport truck parked beside where we were standing had something explode inside it. How comforting?? Sam had the shakes.

We are currently in Malaga, 6 hours by train south of Barcelona. It is beautiful here as well. The catch is we realized Mike had accidently forgotten the powercord for the laptop back in Barcelona. Luckily they have found it and are holding it for us, so at the end of our Spain trip we will make a detour to retrieve it.

Tomorrow we set out for Seville and then Cadiz before ending our Europe journey.
We are both excited and nervous for the new adventures and sad to leave behind such a beautiful place that has taken care of us for the past 4 months.

We are truly truly greatful for everyone who has taken us in during our adventure!
Lots of love
and missing everyone at home immensely.

Venice, Florence and Cinque Terre - the trifecta

Ciao from Italy! We have once again been visiting beautiful Italy! After a long (and late) train from Zagreb, Croatia to Venice, we spent the day exploring the beautiful city.  Venice is absolutely amazing. The narrow winding streets coupled with the canals, gondalas and beautiful buildings makes for a mesmerizing experience. We decided to get lost in the beauty of the city and put away the map. Halfway through the day we ran into Will and his new friend from Milan. The four of us enjoyed delicious Italian pizza and hot chocolate before continuing our wandering. They tried to convince us to pay for a  ride in one of the Gondolas - but this adventure would cost 80-100 euros, and the budget just wasn't allowing it. When it came time to leave the enchanted island for our camping site we ended up being cold, tired and out of 30 euros. The bus we were to catch never arrived and after catching a taxi we arrived at our overpriced, loud and cold campsite bungalow. Thank goodness the thing had a heater. In the morning we set out for Florence.
We immediately felt at "home" in Florence. We stayed at a one star hotel for three nights, located near the biggest local market. We used it as a base to explore Siena and Pisa. Florence with its famous statue of David and large markets, selling all kinds of goods including leather, was really fun to explore. We spent our Thanksgiving evening  watching the sunset on the hill overlooking the city and then indulging in dinner at a restaurant. Some wine was involved which was a real treat. We spent the afternoon in Siena, a small town an hour and a half from Florence by train. It has well preserved medieval buildings. The main piazza was awesome, and we spent some time just sitting there enjoying the atmosphere. Pisa was also a short trip from Florence, where we spent most of our time taking the iconic tourist photos. After pisa we caught the late afternoon train to Milan.
Early the next morning we had our reservation to see Leonardo's famous Last Supper painting. At 9am we went through the different chambers to enter the fragile but magnificant painting. It is massive and faded. Many additional layers of painting have been removed to show the original base painted. The best view came from standing  back and taking the whole thing in, truly admiring one of the most cherished and valuable pieces of art. We were only alotted 15 minutes before having to move on.
We decided to head straight to our next destination - Cinque Terre. We arrived in the late afternoon and the weather was AWESOME. We stayed in Riomaggiore - the furthest down of the 5 cities. We checked into our little apartment and went out to explore the minature town. We sat on the rocky beach for a few hours and enjoyed the last minutes of sun. We made our own pasta dish and relaxed for the following day - to explore the other towns.
Early the next morning we set out to explore the other towns in order: Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso. There is a hiking path of varying distances connecting each of the towns. We discovered the one connecting Manarola to Corniglia was closed due to landslides so we opted for the train. The views were absolutely breathtaking. People had attached locks all along the siderails and wire mesh lining the "via delamore". We never made it to Monterosso because we loved Vernazza so much. It was an hour and a half uphill trek to this city. We sat at the harbour and soaked up the rays and indulged in delicious gelato. Chocolate and raspberry..mhmm.. By far one of our most favourite spots. In the evening we enjoyed a few cocktails at the local Riomaggiore bar (steps from our apartment) to get access to their "free" wifi. (I don't think it counts as free when you are buying overpriced drinks). After that we bought a local pizza, some wine and headed for the rocks to watch the sunset. It was beautiful. Although a little windy, we devoured our margherita pizza (giving the crusts to a poor deformed seagull) and watching the sun creep lower and lower along the horizon until it disappeared completely. it is moments like these where we really appreciate how fortunate we are. Cinque Terre is by far one of the most beautiful cities in Italy, and the entire world.
Today - we are headed for Nice, France for two nights. Then we head off to see Sam's G. Aunt Jessica outside of Toulouse, France. We are excited for a potential beach day in the middle of October and even more excited to meet A. Jessica and U. Mike. It is hard to believe we have been gone from home for over 3, going on 4 months. The adventures never cease to amaze us, but the heartache of home can be strong at some points. We just want to say we miss everyone and think about them often. Thank you for supporting us on an adventure of a lifetime!

The ups and downs of travel

Holla

So here is the update of our adventures since Prague. Vienna is a beautiful city but unfortunately we did not get to explore a lot of it. As mentioned, we decided to stay an extra night because of Sam's migraines but it was pointless because we ended up having a room-mate from hell. He had undiagnosed sleep apnea - and for those who don't know what that is ... the person literally stop breathing in his/her sleep and suffocates. SO the individual ends up snoring and gasping for air REALLY loud and at random points. He was underneath Sam and shook the whole bed. We had 0 hours of sleep. Sam tried putting music on full blast (which was awful when combined with a migraine) and covered her ears to amplify the music sound but could still hear him loud and clear above it all. At around 5 am we left the room and sat outside on the stairwell. The rest of the day we decided to just sleep. BUT to put the cherry on top there was construction going on outside so it was still not peaceful. THAT aside, Vienna was beautiful - we explored the city for a day and even went to the Sigmund Freud museum. This was a huge treat since we are both psychology buffs. It was where he worked and practised until just before his death. We caught an evening train from Vienna to Budapest to continue our journey.

We arrived in Budapest around 9pm and knew we had to take the bus 2 stops and then the tram 2 stops before ending up at our hostel. We managed to go the wrong way both times - lucky us! The hostel was amazing - on the smaller side but much more intimate. It was like having a bunch of flat mates. Here is where we discovered our next downer - Sam was covered in bites - they fit the description and nature of bed bug bites - and we freaked out. Those things are incredibly itchy! Thank goodness for planning ahead and having benadryl. Everything has since been cleaned in heat and our bags have been vacummed to death. But it was / is stressful. No new bites - so the signs are looking good.

Budapest was AWESOME! If we hadn't had a limited time schedule we could have easily stayed a week. In the 3 nights we stayed we went to the opening of a new club; were escorted home by a nice local; attended a booze cruise with stunning views of Parliament and important buildings; partied on a club- boat; went caving or "splunking" (we got to wear a helmet, body suit and headlight); and indulged in the most amazing thermae spa. Sam tried the massage but it wasn't up to the standards to the ones she was used to. The girl drove her thumbs and fingers into the muscles.The caving was probably the highlight of Budapest because we went into the depths of the caves with literally a headlight and had to weasel through holes barely big enough for a person! Definitely a thrill! We had to RUN with our backpacks to catch our train to Zagreb - we made it with a minute to spare. Dripping with sweat and panting like dogs we high-fived the successful but stressful train boarding.

The train was due to arrived in Zagreb, Croatia at 11:23 pm - but thanks to delays we did not arrived until 1:30 AM and we had to find the hostel tired and grumpy. But we did succeed. We were lucky it had 24 hour reception. After a `good` nights sleep we explored some of Zagreb before making the journey to Plitivice National Park, where we spent 2 days. We stayed at a camping site 6 kilometres from the National Park which was a plus because it was cheaper BUT we ended up having to backtrack and still walk 3 km with our backpacks on the side of a busy and unsafe roadway. The bungalow we rented was nice and the bathrooms were the cleanest we had ever seen at a campground. The people are so friendly!! We took the 9am shuttle to the park the following day and did the full hike (with time to spare) before the 5pm shuttle back to the campground. The waterfalls were plentiful and beautiful; the water was turquoise blue and clear enough to see down into the depths. The only negative was that Sam was feeling really light-headed and sick with a terrible headache that worsened through-out the day. By the evening she had a bad fever and discovered white spots in her throat. We decided to spend just the one day in the lake so we could head to Split.

Split - Today we caught the bus to split at 9:30 am and arrived at 4 in the afternoon. Upon arrival at our guesthouse (YES finally some private accommodation without annoying room mates - and for only 15 euros a night total) - we told the owner and manager of Sam`s illness and he escorted us to his family clinic, had Sam in within 20 minutes and made sure she could communicate with the doctor and THEN took us to the pharmacy to get the antibiotics. Godsend! In the supermarket the butcher was really nice as well with helping us find things. So far, an amazing stay and we have not even done anything.

Our adventures have now been mixed with some of the nuances of travel - the worst being illness and a potential encounter with the night-time critters. Hopefully things will improve and we can continue making amazing memories!

Ciao for now!