Liechtenstein + Switzerland

October 25, 2023Leave a comment

Warning: this is going to be a photo heavy post because these countries were so dang beautiful!

CITY: Vaduz

HOW LONG: 1 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

I stayed at the only hostel in Liechtenstein: Schaan-Vaduz Youth Hostel. True to its name, it’s in between Schaan & Vaduz (which is the capital of Liechtenstein). Not true to its name, it’s not really a youth hostel as there were plenty of families. But beggars can’t be choosers, and this is a great affordable option in a very expensive country. Fun fact, Liechtenstein has the highest per capita GDP in the world. Great free breakfast & parking was available for $10 Swiss Francs. Facilities were fairly modern & bathrooms were nice. Huge dining hall like area with tons of seating.

Where to eat:

The standout meal was at Hotel Turna Malbun, where I tried Spaetzle Pfanne. Basically it’s eggnoodles with ham, bacon, onion and cheese aka obviously I loved it. It was huge so I saved half for dinner!

What to do:

Liechtenstein is tiny. Literally the 6th smallest country in the world! This means it’s very easy to see almost everything in one day, but I was happy to have 2 days to run around. Even though I knew it was small going into the trip, I still was blown away by how small it was haha. Despite its small size, I was very glad to heave a car because it made it so easy to move freely around the country at my leisure. Here are the villages I saw & what I did in each:

Also this blog post was incredibly helpful in planning my time here!

Vaduz – the capital. I took a ride on the City train, a cute little tourist train looking open air bus that took us on an hour tour around the city. We got to see the famous Rote House (Red House) & the Vaduz Castle where the prince currently lives. I got a tourist passport stamp on my Liechtenstein postcard (since I didn’t want to risk messing with my actual passport).

Triesenberg – My favorite part was honestly driving up to this village. The views are stunning as you zig zag up the mountain. Not much to do here but I walked around for 10 min (haha all the villages are tiny!).

Malbun – this was my favorite spot. Felt like I was in the Swiss Alps. Very picturesque. I had a yummy lunch (see above) and then took the chairlift up to the peak and did the hour long hike back down to the base. It was gorgeous & I got to catch up with a friend on my way down.

Stause Steg – I explored less of the village and more just went for a walk up the river flowing through here. I also had my monthly call with my friend/mentor! Pretty great spot for a FaceTime.

Balzers – Visited the castle. Great views of the whole town from there.

The hike I did on my second day here was Fürstensteig. Beautiful views were at one point you could see Austria, Switzerland & Liechtenstein! It’s about 6km and takes around 2-3 hrs. There are some parts that have a sheer drop off so I wouldn’t recommend it if you have a fear of heights.

Overall Thoughts:

I knew going into Liechtenstein that it was small, but I don’t think you can really comprehend it until you actually are here. It is comically small, but dang is it beautiful. To be fair, you basically feel like you are in Switzerland. If I didn’t tell you we had crossed the border, you wouldn’t know you were in a completely different country. It’s super beautiful, has dramatic views from the mountains, and is incredibly clean. Not tons of tourists, but there are definitely some. English was widely spoken and it’s easy to get around in your rental car or by bus. While I wouldn’t say it’s worth a visit coming allllll the way from the US, it’s certainly worth a visit if you are in the region!

CITY: Brienz

HOW LONG: 3 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

I stayed at this incredible Airbnb. It truly was spectacular. I was there solo so obviously just needed a room, not a whole airbnb (& as we know Switzerland is expensive, so even just a room with a single bed wasn’t cheap). I wanted to be near the hikes/towns I wanted to go to + I had a car so decided against staying at a hostel in Lucerne (even though that was my original plan). I am SO glad I pivoted. This airbnb was so incredibly charming & had wonderful views of rolling green fields with cows on one side and stunning view of the lake on the other. Can’t beat it. It felt very authentic.

Where to eat:

I mostly bought groceries since this country is so expensive, but when I was in Grindelwald, the waitress accidentally thought I was with the couple ahead of me in line and asked “table for 3?” The couple chuckled and said “no, just two” before turning to me to stay “unless you want to join?” I don’t think they realized that I would enthusiastically take them up on their offer, since we all know I love meeting new people! I quickly found out that they were from Buffalo, NY and had just arrived fresh off the plane from the US. Lunch was their first stop… and, oh by the way, it’s their honeymoon. I quickly laughed while apologizing for crashing their first honeymoon activity. Luckily they said they appreciated the warm welcome as it was their first time leaving the US. They said it helped ease the culture shock. We admired the beautiful views from Bebbis and ordered our lunch. As a treat, I suggested some chocolate fondue for dessert. They happily agreed. I wouldn’t recommend this restaurant for the food, but for a drink with a great view I can endorse it. Anyway, it was so fun chatting with them. I hope to cross paths with them again!

What to do:

Oh boy. SO much. The two main activities I focused on were visiting cute, quaint towns & hiking in the incredible nature so here’s a list.

Towns to visit:

Grindelwald – probably the most quaint village of them all. Expensive, but a no brainer to visit.
Lauterbrunnen- very cute & small. Start here to then visit Gimmelwald & Murren.
Gimmelwald & Murren- both are located way up in the mountains. You take a gondola ride up to Gimmelwald and then take another one up to Murren. Highly recommend going all the way up to Murren and then do a 30 min walk down to Gimmelwald. From there, you can take the gondola back down to base. You get unbelievable views of the valley and it’s just wild to be so high up in the cliffs.
Interlaken- located between two lakes (hence the name 😉 ), a nice sized town amongst all the tiny villages. A bustling downtown with lots of shops & restaurants. Worth a stroll & a meal.

Hikes:

My favorite hike was one my friend recommended (shoutout to Joe). Don’t miss the ~5 mile loop around Oeschinen Lake. Here’s an in depth description of the hike itself. It has unbelievable views, a well-marked path, a lake with the bluest water, and a small hut with snacks half way through- what more could you want! One watch out: there were plenty of people in October, so I am sure it’s way more packed in July/August. Also, definitely take the gondola from Kandersteg up to the trailhead. You’ll get plenty of exercise with just the 5 mile hike.

First sight of the lake – water is insane

The other hike I did was on my way from Liechtenstein to Brienz. Seealpsee is one of the most beautiful little lakes and is located in the Alpstein region of Appenzell. It was about 90 min to get there & back. I can’t stress how idyllic it was. Once you arrive (be prepared for some uphill hiking), there is a little restaurant with a gorgeous outdoor deck & you can rent row boats. Alternatively, if you have time, you can make a loop around the lake.

I didn’t have time, but Joe also recommended this hike. It’s a challenging 6km point to point hike near Grindelwald.

Overall Thoughts:

Holy moly I forgot how much I love Switzerland. I felt at peace. I felt like I could breathe. I felt content. I felt full. I know it’s expensive, but I think it’s worth every penny. I can’t wait to go back with a more thought out plan + with more time. I don’t think you could run out of things to do (aka hikes to do) even if you spent a lifetime here. It’s magical.

BUDGET FOR 4 DAYS IN Liechtenstein + Switzerland:

Accommodation: $387 ($97 per night) Yep – let me repeat this region is PRICY, but also I stayed in a private room in an Airbnb for 3 nights, which drove up the cost.

Food: $142

Groceries: $37

Activities: $80

Local Transportation: $541 – rental car + gas (turns out it is not a good idea to wait until the last minute to rent a car – lesson learned haha)

Total: $1200 (Daily average: $300)

Transportation to next destination: $105 (Flight to London)

Walking Retreat + Bordeaux

October 11, 2023October 11, 20231 Comment

This blog will be slightly different as the large chunk of my time was at a walking & intermittent fasting retreat!

I needed to kill 6 days between visiting Abi in Sheffield and heading to Surrey for Bex’s wedding so I chose to invest in myself a bit (since I’m feeling a little burnt out) by heading to a retreat in the South of France. Here’s the link in case anyone is curious!

I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but I really enjoyed it. My goal was two fold: get a taste of walking the Camino to see whether it’s something I’d want to do in its entirety in the future & try to get a better handle of my eating habits while traveling. I always struggle with my weight/eating habits while traveling (annoyingly).

The retreat delivered on both goals! I spent three days on the Camino, each day walking a different section. The first day I walked 8 miles from Eauze to Manciet. The second day was 9 miles from Manciet to Nogaro. The third day was a doozy – 19 miles from Nogaro to Aire-sur-l’Adour!! It was so grounding, calming, & refreshing to just walk for miles on end amidst all the vineyards. I enjoyed chatting with fellow Camino walkers as well. It definitely confirmed that it’s something I want to do in the future! Now just to find the time haha

I had never tried intermittent fasting before but the host explained it as basically giving our bodies time to process the food we eat & cleanse itself. When we are eating all day long, our bodies are just tirelessly trying to keep up with everything. I am no means an expert but that resonated with me. She had me start with 8 hours eating window with a 16 hour fast. I chose to eat between 11-7pm, but she said as life happens, you can always move this window around. For example, at the wedding (knowing there would be food later on and I’d be tempted to eat it), I ate between 1-9pm. I really like that it’s both structured but also flexible. I’m good at following rules, so if the rule is to stop eating after my window closes, I so far have been successful at doing so. Anyway, I’m going to try to keep this up as I continue to travel as I think this is going to work better for me than other strategies.

Lastly, the retreat had 6 horses (3 beautiful black horse & 3 miniature horses). The one other person at the retreat was actually there for a horse meditation retreat (the host also offers this program). Because there were only two of us, we each learned about the other’s retreat. I did some horse meditation and he did some intermittent fasting – a win win. Always fun to try new things!

On to the actual touristy bit: I had to rent a car to get to the retreat, which I was a bit anxious for but it ended up being awesome! After the retreat ended I booked an airbnb in Bordeaux for 2 nights. I used the journey from the retreat to Bordeaux to visit a bunch of spots along the way. There’s no way if I didn’t have the rental car that I could’ve done this.

The drive itself was a treat, just slowly meandering through small towns and hundreds of vineyards. My first destination was Arcachon. I strolled along the beach and bought a sandwich for dinner later.

Next I headed to Chateau de la Brede. Just a gorgeous property and I enjoyed walking around the whole spread. Crazy to think what life would’ve been like here in it’s hey day.

Lastly, I raced to Saint Émilion. Known as a very cute little town outside of Bordeaux, it was perfect for sitting on a bench and enjoying my sandwich while the sun set. Highly recommend a stop here if you are ever in Bordeaux. It’s a fabulous day trip!

Bordeaux itself just felt so French! As my retreat host said “it’s my favorite city in the world, it’s like how Paris was 20 years ago” Architecture was beautiful and the city felt quite clean. Lots of beautiful streets to walk around.

I did a walking tour as an efficient way to learn about the city since I only had one day here. After a girl I met on the tour and I headed to lunch at Nom d’Une Crepe, since I couldn’t go to France without having a crepe!

I also treated myself to cookie dough from Be my cookie and a cookie from Pepite cookie 😝

Overall I really enjoyed my stay in France (as always)! Fun to explore a region I hadn’t been to before in a way I haven’t done before (a retreat). As I continue to travel and inevitably get burnt out, nice to have another option for mixing it up. I might have to do more retreats in the future 🙂

Northern Ireland

October 6, 2023Leave a comment

CITY: Belfast

HOW LONG: 4 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

I stayed at Global Village, which was a fabulous hostel! Beds were comfy, had personal usb charging for your phone & a little shelf to put your stuff. Lockers under the bed fit both my backpacks for safekeeping. Also, they had a decent free breakfast of cereal & toast. Kitchen facilities were decent and the two common areas were spacious & cozy. Easy to meet people! I also met the owner who was very kind & even graciously refunded me a night when I last minute decent to go to Derry for a night with Ashleigh, an Aussie gal I met on the walking tour. The only slight downside is that it’s about a 20 min walk to the center of Belfast, but it’s an easy walk or bus ride. 9.5/10 would recommend this place!!

Where to eat:

I don’t have a ton of recommendations for sadly. I wasn’t overly impressed with the food in Northern Ireland sorry to say.

I tried JuiceJar and was pretty disappointed with the smoothie bowl. It was very icy and bland.

Ashleigh & I went to a few pubs while traveling together but nothing notable.

What to do:

The walking tour proved to be very pivotal to my time in Northern Ireland as I met Ashleigh, who ended up being my partner in crime most of the time while I was visiting. She showed up to the walking tour with very cute blonde curly hair so I went over and quickly complimented her & asked what her routine was like! We became fast friends during the tour and after we decided to go to lunch together. Then she invited me to join her to the Titanic museum. Then she suggested I join her in the rental car for the next 2 days to explore the countryside with an overnight in Derry. I decided to skip the tour I had booked and forego my night in the hostel (although I ended up getting that refunded) and said “heck yes.” I truly love being about to meet people and then changing plans to follow them on new adventures!

Okay now for what we did:

Titanic Museum – Firmly okay. We felt like we didn’t learn much in the first half of the tour, although the second half was better. It seemed to be more about the building of the ship, when obviously we wanted to understand more about why it sank.

Dark Hedges– Made famous from Game of Thrones! Northern Ireland played a big role in the filming of HBO’s Game of Thrones, with over 25 filming locations. Pretty stunning in real life!

Kinbane Castle – Fairly rundown but in a beautiful spot. Gorgeous walk to get to this lesser known castle and we didn’t run into a single other tourist!

Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge – One of the most photographed spots in Northern Ireland! It is thought salmon fishermen have been building bridges to the island for over 350 years. It has taken many forms over the years, but the current one was built in 2008. In 2018, the bridge had over 485k visitors.

Giants Causeway – This is what I was most excited to see! Pretty wild natural phenomenon. Almost 60 million years ago the Giants Causeway was formed, and this series of basalt rock columns is Northern Ireland’s only UNESCO world heritage site. Definitely a highlight, but it POURED rain on us on our walk back to the car, which was less fun.

We stay overnight in Derry at Ashleigh’s hotel, but sadly given our big day, we were too tired to do anything once we arrived except get dinner. Both of us were let down by the restaurant so just headed back to the hotel to watch the first episode of the last season of Sex Education, which had just been released. We had a great night’s sleep before getting up early to head back to Belfast since Ashleigh has a wedding to get to!

Overall thoughts:

I ended up having a blast, but if I hadn’t met Ashleigh, who knows if I would be saying the same thing. I’m always saying, traveling is all about who you meet!!! Also we were dying laughing half the time trying to guess if the people around us were speaking English or another language. Ashleigh even asked a few people and each time they laughed and said “of course we are speaking English.” Holy Moly is the Northern Irish accent hard to understand haha

BUDGET FOR 4 DAYS IN Northern Ireland:

Accommodation: $86 ($28.66 per night) – Ended up getting one free night since I stayed with Ashleigh in her hotel in Derry.

Food: $67

Groceries: $0 (ate out + free breakfast at the hostel/hotel)

Activities: $119 (paid for a tour I ended up skipping to explore with Ashleigh + all the entrance fees + Titanic Museum)

Local Transportation: $86.70 (higher than normal due to the rental car)

Total: $359.7 (Daily average: $90)

Transportation to next destination: $201 (Connecting flight to France)- Bought last minute 😦 * Update – because the first flight ended up getting cancelled, I got $275 in compensation – yay EU flight compensation rules! This means I ended up $75 richer from the whole ordeal – and I still made it to France 🙂

Latvia

October 1, 2023May 17, 2024Leave a comment

CITY: Riga

HOW LONG: 3 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

I stayed at Cinnamon Sally’s hostel. Overall this is a fabulous hostel, but there was one major downside. First the good:

Super social & easy to meet people; organized social activities for the guests almost every day
Location was great – near the bus & train station, and only 10-15 min from Old Town. Grocery store across the street!
Bed was comfy, rooms were not cramped, & there were large lockers for your stuff.
Free breakfast that includes yummy fresh waffles! There were tons of toppings/spreads as well including my favorite: peanut butter!
A few different spots to sit with a computer and work or just chill & meet people.
Lots of volunteers & folks working so it was easy to get any questions answered.

Then the bad:

I found a bed bug in bed: When I went to bed at midnight, I felt something on my arm and grabbed it between my fingers in the dark. I thought “there’s no way it’s a bed bug but I’ll shine my phone on it anyway” Sure enough…. it was a bed bug 😦 Luckily it hadn’t bit me so I just killed it and went out to reception to get me a new bed. Here’s where I messed up, I let them give me a bed in the same bedroom
I woke up to more bed bugs: Cut to 2:30am and I wake up to me itching my arms…. I immediately fully wake up and grab my phone to shine the light, and yep there’s another bed bug scurrying around in my bed. I count 6 bites on my arms and back. Once again I kill it, but now there is now way I can go to bed. For one, the reception is now closed and two, I won’t even be able to sleep anyway. Now I get to begin the fun process of gathering all my things and going out to the common room to inspect every inch of every item to ensure no bed bugs got into my stuff. After much research about bed bugs, since this is the fourth time I have gotten them while traveling (1x in Naples, Italy in 2016, 1x in Gili T, Indonesia in 2020, 1x in Skopje, North Macedonia in Aug, and now Riga) and bed bugs don’t tend to carry any diseases so while the bites are itchy & annoying, it’s not that different than getting a bunch of mosquito bites. The thing you have to worry about is that they are incredibly difficult to get rid of and they are happy to hitch hike in your stuff all the way to your home (or wherever you are going next). Hence why it’s common to get them in hostels & hotels (since so many people are coming & going). Given this, after you find bed bugs, it’s incredibly important to ensure that they don’t continue on your journey with you , which inevitably means taking 1-2 hours to meticulously inspect your stuff and/or subjecting your bag to heat, since extreme heat or extreme cold are the only things that kill bed bugs. One technique often used by backpackers in hot places, is to put their bag in a black trash bag & leave it in the sun for a day or two. Well now you know way more than you want about bed bugs 🙂 Your welcome!!
All in all I don’t really blame hostels/hotels because they can do their best to keep bed bugs at bay, but travelers can just as easily bring them in. Given that, I don’t get mad at hostels for having bed bugs, but I certainly judge them based on how they handle the aftermath. I would give this hostel a 7/10 in their response. They ultimately gave me a refund on the night, free laundry & a new bed in a new room for my final night, but they were a little slow to agree to it and seemed to be slightly skeptical that I’d actually had bedbugs, even though I had photos… Definitely some room for improvement on how they treated me, especially since I’d had 2 hours of sleep!

Weirdly enough, I would still recommend this hostel but I probably can only give it a 7/10 because of the bed bug situation.

WHERE TO EAT:

The hostel had a delicious free breakfast in the morning so I would fill up on that and then I cooked at the hostel for dinner 🙂

WHAT TO DO:

As always, I headed out on the free walking tour my first day there. I wrangled two Germans from the hostel into joining me and after the walking tour, we grabbed some snacks & headed to one of the many beautiful parks to soak up the sun.

I did a day trip to Sigulda to visit the Castle, do some walking in Gauja National Park, and see the highest and widest cave in the Baltics.

Lastly don’t miss Riga Central Market, Europe’s largest market & bazaar. It’s over 72,000 square meters (778,000 square feet), featuring more than 3,000 stands.

While I didn’t have time for it, another great option for a day trip is Jūrmala to visit the beach!

I also joined a gym that was nearby the hostel because they had a 3 day trial for 10 euros 🙂

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Riga is a very approachable city with clean streets, and a healthy mixture of old & new architecture. It was easy to get around and the parks were a dream. I met a few folks that had visited Riga and then never left, so it does seem to have something about it 🙂

BUDGET FOR 3 DAYS IN Latvia:

Accommodation: $71 ($24 per night) but I did get $24 back because of the bed bugs.

Food: $0

Groceries: $37

Activities: $6

Health: $10 (gym)

Local Transportation: $11

Total: $133 (Daily average: $44)

Transportation to next destination: $128 (Flight to London)

The Pursuit Of Travel

A solo traveler's guide to the world

Month: October 2023

Liechtenstein + Switzerland

CITY: Vaduz

HOW LONG: 1 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

Where to eat:

What to do:

Overall Thoughts:

CITY: Brienz

HOW LONG: 3 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

Where to eat:

What to do:

Towns to visit:

Hikes:

Overall Thoughts:

BUDGET FOR 4 DAYS IN Liechtenstein + Switzerland:

Walking Retreat + Bordeaux

Northern Ireland

CITY: Belfast

HOW LONG: 4 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

Where to eat:

What to do:

Overall thoughts:

BUDGET FOR 4 DAYS IN Northern Ireland:

Latvia

CITY: Riga

HOW LONG: 3 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

WHERE TO EAT:

WHAT TO DO:

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

BUDGET FOR 3 DAYS IN Latvia: