Some Photos

We arrived in Martingy Switzerland at 10am. On our way through the alps, there was a beautiful rainbow. We love it here. Hope you enjoy a few of our pictures.

I heart kittens

Gaudi's apartment

Hiking the Italian Alps with Fede, Anna Rita, Paolo, Giorgio, and Pam the dog

La Plaza Reail in Barcelona

I heart Le Alpe

I hope Mark will do a separate post on how these last few days have impacted him, and I plan to write more later (we will hopefully do laundry and hang out in an internet cafe tomorrow when we arrive in Switzerland). For now though, a few words. Spending these last few days in the Italian Alps have been surreal. We spent the last two days with Fede and her friends, hiking, singing, cooking, talking, and relaxing, with Le Alpe (the Alps) as our backdrop. I couldn't ask for a better respite. The house we stayed at was situated in an abandoned village, and was built right next to a babbling stream. We fell asleep to a sound that most people need a cd to hear. Truly incredible. I am so thankful for this time, especially because my Italian has greatly improved and I'm feeling more secure about our time in Sicily with my cousins that don't speak any English!!

Tomorrow, off to Switzerland. It's a two hour bus ride from the Aosta Valley. We'll be staying with Stefan, another couch-surfing host. I hear Mark speaking Spanish to the Italians in the other room so I think I'll go... =)

Aosta

We arrived safely in Aosta this evening, after an eventful three hour train ride through both green and snow-capped mountains during a thunderstorm. The Italian trains aren't exactly Amtrak quality, and there was a huge leak overhead, which spilled several cups of water on us while we were sleeping. It was more funny than anything though.

Fede was waiting for us at the train station, and then took us back to her place in a CAR. We've been walking about 10 miles a day (no exaggeration -- we are on our feet from about 9am - 12 or 1am every day), so the car was a welcome surprise. Fede then showed us to our room, which is super clean, neatly decorated, and private! Her entire apartment is immaculate. We honestly could not ask for better accomodations. She is extremely sweet, is conversational in English, and apparently I've impressed her with my Italian. She said I am the first American woman she knows that can speak Italian! (I told her that sadly, it is rare for a public American school to offer more than Spanish, Latin, and maybe French.) We just found out that none of the others going on the hike tomorrow speak English, so I will be speaking Italian all day! Mark speaks Spanish to the Italians and most of the time they look at him like he has six heads, but occasionally he gets away with it. =)

Fede had to go to work tonight, and does not come home until 6am. She'll then sleep most of the day, leaving Mark and I free to relax tthis evening and catch up on all that sleep we missed last night. Then tomorrow we can walk around the town, and enjoy the goregous views before our hike. There may be a Brasilian couchsurfer coming tonight as well. Mark and I have really enjoyed getting to know other international travelers.

Just wanted to update about our arrival in Aosta. Since we will be sleeping in the mountains tomorrow, I probably will not post again for a few days. If you don't hear from us by Tuesday, it means we got eaten by bears. Ciao a tutti!

Benvenuti a Italia!

Ciao belle! We have arrived in Italy. Last night, we took a train to Girona, in Spain, which is a smaller city north of Barcelona. Girona is a much quieter, but equally impressive place. Ryanair, a low-cost European airline flies out of Girona, so we found a couchsurfing host to have us before our flight to Torino, and after our flight home from Sicilia. Her name is Alicia. She was so kind and accomodating. We had a great time. She had some amazing cherries as a snack when we arrived, (yay for fruit!!) and took us to pinxos ('pinches'). Pinxos are little snacks on small pieces of baguette, like smoked salmon with vegetables, parrots' eggs and peppers (yes, I had that one), red peppers stuffed with tuna, and my favorite -- anchovies with lots of other little goodies. The restaurant was not touristy at all, was cheap, and offered delicious food. Alicia's friend Esteban, who just happens to want to be a writer!, came along as well. Later, we met up with a few more friends, and watched some traditional Catalan dancing in the piazza.

When we arrived back to Alicia's apartment, we had the typical couchsurfing exchange with her and her roommate, Laia, about politics in America. =) Most of our conversations were true Spanglish! Mark did great trying to explain complicated ideas in Spanish, and I picked up on the non-verbal cues when it looked like the girls had no idea what we were talking about. We have been a good team.

We'll be heading back to Alicia's in a few weeks, on our way back to Barcelona from Sicilia so we'll spend some more time with her, Esteban, and Laia then. There will be a third couchsurfer then as well. We're looking forward to more time with them. During our final stay in Girona, we plan to head to the nearby town of Figueres, the hometown of Salvador Dali, where there is a Dali museum.

The least fun part of our time in Girona was waking up in the middle of the night. The plane departed at 6:30am, so we had to wake up at 4:30am!! Needless to say, neither of us were too excited about that. We're now enjoying a leisurely day in Torino, checking email, eating pizza (Mark says he has died and gone to heaven) and sampling all of the gelato we can find. We are saving the mecca of gelato for this afternoon though -- Grom. It was highly recommended to us when we went to an Italian gelateria in Spain, and the two locations in NYC have created quite a buzz. I will keep you posted.

We like Torino, but are looking forward to our time in Aosta and Switzerland as well. We take a two hour train to Fede's place in Aosta at 5pm. Tomorrow, we are hiking the Italian alps and sleeping in a little hut for the night with Fede and her friends! She does not speak much English, and I doubt her friends do either, so my Italian will really be tested.

OK -- I think they are going to charge us a lot for this internet time so gotta jet! Hope everyone is well. xo

We´ve arrived!

We left Newton at 5pm on Sunday, and arrived in Barcelona at 8pm on Monday. What a trip! We had a six hour layover in London so we decided against sleep and went to Windsor Castle instead.

We´re staying in the spare bedroom of a young couple´s apartment in a trendy area of Barcelona. We get lost every time we try to get home...it took us TWO hours tonight. But anyway. Monday night, Andy, our host, took us to a cool tapas place. Tuesday we went to Sagrada Famiglia, and Parc Guell, both homes to Antonio Gaudi´s works. I´m now a huge fan.

Today, we went to the beach where we were accosted by illegal immigrants wanting to give us massages...and Mark and I both gladly took two for 5 Euros a piece. Wow! In the afternoon, we went to Mont Juic, the site of the 1992 Olympics. We saw an amazing Flamenco show. The best part of our trip so far has been a bit unexpected though. Mark jumped a fence into the Catalunya Gastronomic Conference tonight. I couldn´t leave him in there, so I snuck past two security guards and we ate AMAZING food and stuffed ourselves silly with everything from fried calamari to crema catalunya. No one would have noticed we weren´t from Spain, except I had on flip flops and a Red Sox hat, which I ended up taking off. The only downside to the party was that on the way home, which normally should have taken an hour, we walked UP the mountain, instead of down. Two hours later, here we are.

This was done very quickly, but I just wanted to update everyone. Tomorrow, off to Girona and then we fly to Torino early the next morning. besos,

Mark and Megan

Itinerary

Here is our expected itinerary. We'll be online occasionally to book rooms or post a bit to let everyone know we're safe and happy. Feel free to leave suggestions or comments. Ciao!

June 14 9:30pm British Airways Flight BA 0214 to London

6 hour layover at Heathrow

SPAIN

June 15 2:50pm BA Flight 0480 London to Barcelona, land @ 5:55pm
Lodging: Room in an apartment of young people in el Born neighborhood

June 16 - Explore Barcelona

Lodging: Apartment in el Born

June 17 - Explore Barcelona
Lodging: Apartment in el Born

June 18 - Explore Barcelona
1.5 hour train ride to Girona in late afternoon
Lodging: Couchsurfing at Alicia's in Girona

ITALY

June 19
RyanAir flight FR9111 - Girona to Torino, 6:30 - 8am
Explore Torino
Take bus or train to Valle de Aosta in late afternoon
Lodging: Couchsurfing with Fede in Aosta

June 20
Explore Aosta
Lodging: Couchsurfing with Fede in Aosta

June 21
Explore Aosta
Lodging: Couchsurfing with Fede in Aosta

SWITZERLAND

June 22
8am bus to Martigny, Switzerland
Lodging: Couchsurfing with Stefan




June 23
Explore Switzerland
Lodging: Couchsurfing with Stefan

SICILY

June 24
RyanAir flight FR8629 - Turin to Trapani, 7:30 - 9pm
Lodging: Podere San Giovanni (San Giovanni Farm)

June 25 Drive/ride along northern coast of Sicily
Stop in Cefalu or Oliveri/Tindari
Lodging: Maybe meet some relatives?

June 26
Aeolian Islands, leave from Milazzo
Lodging: Maybe meet some relatives?

June 27
Taormina
Lodging: Casale Praia in Letojanni

June 28
Taormina
Lodging: Casale Praia in Letojanni

June 29
Greek ruins at Agrigento
Lodging: Back to Podere San Giovanni



June 30
RyanAir flight FR9361 - Trapani to Girona, 4:35pm - 6:25pm
Lodging - Couchsurfing with Alicia again!

July 1
Explore Girona or Barcelona
Lodging - TBD

July 2
British Airways Flight BA 7072 Barcelona to Heathrow, 4:35pm
BA 0239 Heathrow to Boston, arrive home at 9:45pm

Mark and Megan's Excellent (European) Adventures

Welcome back!
When Mark and I married, I was 22. Mark traveled all over Europe the year before we met; I had never left the country. The only trips I'd been on were to Disneyworld and Cape Cod. I loved those vacations, but always dreamed of visiting Ireland, Italy, and Germany. I never felt particularly Irish, Italian, or German, but thought that if I traveled to those places, I might have more of a connection to my heritage. I feel so blessed that this has been case with Italy. I never imagined I'd be there twice in two years, and with two of my favorite people in the whole world - my husband and my sister!

A few weeks ago, Mark and I booked a 16 day trip to Europe. He graduated from Babson on May 16th, and is currently job hunting. It seemed like good timing - neither of us would be working. (I suppose to some Debbie Downers, that sounds like bad timing.) Anyway, I knew I wanted to blog about our travels. Why? There are a number of reasons, but for the general public, the most relevent one is as follows. There's a book that Wisconsin Beth always used to refer to, and I've heard it's now a movie - "He's just not that into you." Tweak that phrase a little, and you have our philosophy on traveling. Mark and I know that you're just not that into us. So we'll refrain from tweeting, updating our Facebook statuses daily, and flooding your inbox while we're on vacation (and you're at your desk.) That said, there are a decent number of people who may want to hear how things are going as we make our way through a few countries. Thus, the blog.

Our Itinerary
I won't be updating daily. It'll probably be more like every few days, depending on where we stay. We leave for Spain on June 14th at 9:30pm, and arrive in Barcelona at 4:55pm on June 15th. We'll spend a few days in Barcelona, then head to Tornio, Italia on June 19th, making our way to the Aosta Valley in the Italian Alps (and if we can manage it, a few days in Switzerland). On June 24th, we fly to Sicilia, and will tour the island, hopefully meeting some distant cousins. Our return flight to Boston is on July 2nd.

Money Talk
After my trip to Italy last year, and the go at it this year, I'm half-heartedly considering writing a book called, "The Poor Man's Guide to Europe." Maybe some of my posts will turn into chapters. Whenever I tell people (most of whom have higher-paying jobs than we do) about my previous trip, and the one we've booked, they ask how we have the funds, or make comments about how it must be nice to afford a trip to Europe. Though there are certainly exceptions and seasons in our lives, most people have options, and can prioritize the way they spend their money. Things that some consider non-negotiable (like drinks, movies, shoes, and fancy dinners), might just be options for others. Additionally, there are ways to get cheap or free flights, low or no-cost accomodations, eat three meals a day, and still enjoy your time in Europe. The prioritizing that needs to happen both in your daily life as you're saving up for a trip like this, and while overseas, is not for everyone. It may take some time (Mark and I have been married 6 years!), but it can be done. Not having children makes the whole process a lot easier, too! Maybe I'll do a posting series about the financial piece when we're back.

So, check in whenever, and leave us some love (or suggestions). Ciao, adios!