Exploring Europe (part 2)

On January 3, 2024January 6, 2024 By ambertravelingIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

80 days in Europe with a 7kg backpack:
~ 2 weeks climbing around Switzerland with my dad
~ A 6-day trek in Merano, Italy and hiking in the Dolomites
~ Volunteering as a teacher in Poland
~ Berlin, Amsterdam, Ireland, and Chicago

For me, travel is mostly about the people I meet. Sure, I love epic nature, great food, and sketching in museums – but meeting people is what really expands my worldview. It changes my ideas about what is possible in life.

My (second) 80 day backpacking Europe trip has come to a close. After countless flights, trains, couches, hostels, and hotels, I’m so grateful to be home. Next time I might cap my trip at 60 days since I felt homesick for the last 20, missing everyday conveniences like having a kitchen, laundry machine, and not having to pack my 15 lb bag every few days filled with my dirty clothes.

Although I trudge through many moments of loneliness and solitude, I enjoy traveling alone. I saved money on accommodation by using couchsurfing, traveling for part of the trip with my dad, and visiting several friends (thanks Anne Claude, Klaus, Emer, and Natalie!)

Part 1: Road Trip with Dad in Switzerland

I have to thank my dad for passing on to me his sense of adventure – this was our 7th trip together! We’ve also trekked in Nepal, done the 4-day W trek in Patagonia, hiked the AV1 for 8 days in Italy, and climbed many via ferratas in France, Switzerland, and Italy.

We rode the Santa Barbara Airbus to LAX, flew to Vienna, Austria, took a train to Salzburg – Mozart’s birthplace – and, (twenty hours later), we taxied to our AirBnB. Paying homage to my great uncle Oscar Hammerstein (my great grandma’s sister married him) we opted for the Sound of Music tour the next day – I loved visiting scenes from the movie and singing on the bus, especially “Doe a Deer” (my nephew’s favorite!) and “The Lonely Goatherd” (yodelee!)

Next, we did my dads favorite annual activity: renting a car to drive around Switzerland. His specialties are via ferratas (protected climbing routes – we have our own harnesses!) and hot spring towns. I can recommend Bad Ischl – with dozens of pools of different temperatures and a warm lazy river.

We did an awesome via for the second time next to the Eiger! Starting with a hour long hike from Kleine Sheidigg (where my dad worked at the fancy Bellevue hotel for a winter season when he was 22!) to the start of the via, you make your way up a steep trail, part of it with ladder-like rungs in the cliff, winding up and up until finally you are on the top of a tall hill next to the Eiger – I borrowed someone’s binoculars to squint at the professional climbers ascending its face! At the top of the via I found myself with several other climbers. (I tried to unsuccessfully flirt with the single ones.) The descent is rocky and steep, and has ropes to lower yourself backwards down rocky outcrops.

In Leukerbad, Switzerland, we returned to our favorite hotel owned by friendly Chinese immigrants who remembered us from previous visits. They used to run a school in China but disagreed with the national politics and decided to emigrate to Switzerland. Their daughter is a champion skier! In Leukerbad, we took the gondola up the 2322m tall mountain and did the sporty via ferrata which includes some strange challenges like climbing across dangling logs. The next day I hiked Gemmi Pass (2.1 mi / 3074.1 ft gain) by myself – some insanely fit elderly Swiss grandparents passed me – then took the gondola down. My dad was having some knee issues so he went to the thermal baths instead.

My favorite via ferrata is in Kandersteg because it has a huge zipline across a waterfall. We climbed with our friend Anne Claude who used to Au Pair for my aunt Jeni Reiko in Santa Barbara 20 years ago. At this point I split up from my dad – ciao, papa! – took a train to her house, and spent a few days hiking, biking, and swimming in the lake around Zug.

Next, I took a train and bus to spend a solo day visiting a beautiful, but freezing, river swimming spot in Switzerland called Bellinzona. I spent the night at a cheap hotel room with a single bed and the next day took a train to visit my friend Klaus. I met Klaus 4 years ago after he fixed a flat tire in my dads rental car while driving around the Dolomites. He’s a few years older than me, also loves via ferratas, and has a car – what a great friend!

Part 2: Northern Italy with Klaus

Here are some highlights from my 14 days visiting Klaus. He also visited me in California a few years ago – we drove from Santa Barbara to the Grand Canyon and hiked to the bottom!

6 day hike in Merano, Italy

This was the best part of the whole trip. You hike for 5 to 12 miles per day, sleep in fancy hotels and rustic cabins, with hot showers and delicious Italian food every night. We reconvened with my dad and his friend Mark, and the four of us made a great hiking team. Thanks a lot to Klaus for booking all of our hotels and mountain huts in advance! It was not crowded or expensive (compared to Switzerland!) – each night was between $40-60 per person, sometimes including dinner and breakfast! You carry a light backpack with just one change of clothes (so you have hiking clothes and sleeping clothes) a water bottle, and raincoat. It rained just one of the six days. I celebrated my 33rd birthday at one of the huts, and everybody sang me happy birthday in German!

7 Days in San Vigilio

Klaus lives in a house he built with his brother on the side of a mountain in a tiny town called San Vigilio, population of 1400. He speaks English, German, Italian, and Ladin, a language that only 30,000 people speak. We spent a day recovering from our hike, and then he toured me all around the Dolomites.

Highlights were:

An easy but long via ferrata in Tre Cime that is more hiking than climbing, with incredible views of the pointy surrounding mountains.
A hike to Lago Sorapis – the worn-down, slippery trail is next to a cliff and inundated with visitors, but well worth it for the bright turquoise mirror lake!
A road trip to visit Grossglockner mountain including a hike in the mining tunnels and epic mountain views (but I got a little carsick on the winding roads)
I took a Vespa driving lesson and was able to drive a 1955 BJ Vespa in Klaus’s driveway and backyard
A 6-hour day hike to the Piz da Peres peak near his house

Klaus is also a fantastic cook and made pizza from scratch, and his mom made us several traditional Tyrolean meals including ravioli. We had dinner with his friends at the eccentric Hotel Al Plan. Thanks to the friendly owners Mauricio and for another wonderful visit!

Part 3: Poland

Klaus dropped me off at a train station in San Lorenzo, and I had to transfer 3 times to get to Bergamo where I had booked a suspiciously cheap hotel near the train station. There were drug dealers outside the door when I first met the organizer, a very tattooed and pierced young woman who advised me to turn left instead of right at the corner to avoid them. I walked about 5k to the old town (in the daylight!) and really enjoyed the cobblestone streets and pedestrian friendly city – I try to hit 10,000 steps per day (and often double this or more!) while traveling since I am not visiting a gym or playing ultimate frisbee which is my normal routine. By this point on my trip I had also started doing 50 push ups and a morning mobility/yoga routine most days not to lose my fitness.

From Bergamo I flew to Krakow where I had booked a hostel for a few nights. (I could have taken the train, I know sometimes I make choices that are bad for the environment – but it’s part of traveling, and I buy the carbon offsets… At least I’m mostly vegan.) Rooms at Greg and Tom’s hostel are mediocre and you have to share a bathroom with 12 people but the cons are heavily outweighed by the pros – free buffet dinners every night! A perfect way to meet other travelers!

Krakow has a beautiful old town with cobblestone streets and here is where I discovered my passion for doing walking tours in Spanish – after my 3 years in Spain and 1 year in Colombia I’m afraid I’ll lose my Spanish if I don’t use it! On the walking tour, I made a Mexican friend Arantxa, a solo traveler high school science teacher touring all over Europe. Nos vemos en México, amiga!

I also visited Auschwitz, a powerful and depressing place, but a must- visit just two hours from Krakow by bus.

After 3 nights in the uncomfortable but also social and fun hostel full of 20 year olds (am I too old for this?) I rewarded myself with 1 night in a fancy hotel – 70 euros per night – before showing up at the train station the next day to meet the other volunteers for the Angloville program. I heard about this volunteer program in Poland while teaching English in Spain, and signed up for a week-long stint teaching adults in exchange for free food and accommodation.

A funny travel moment: trying to cross a stream of thousands of runners in a 5k circling the old town (I was inside!) in order to get to the train station in time! I just joined the race and jogged across!

The hotel was in Bacheladowka, a mountainous region of Poland surrounded by green hills. During the day, volunteers converse one-on-one with Polish adults for about 5-6 hours with free time in between sessions to hike, use the pool, sauna, and hot tub, and I even got a massage one evening. Some of the conversations we had while walking outside, and one day we were all blessed with fresh snow! We also took a day trip to the Zakopane mountains. Any native English speaker is eligible to volunteer. Volunteers were in between the ages of 20 and 70 – check out Angloville.com!

Back in Krakow I spent another night at my favorite hotel near the train station, and got ready for the next leg of my journey…

Part 4: City Slicking

I flew from Krakow to Berlin – although in retrospect I wish I had taken the train to be more environmentally conscious- and took a bus to the train station to meet 2 Japanese friends who I had met while teaching English in Japan in 2014! Maki and Kaho now live in Dusseldorf, Germany. We shared a tiny airbnb and cooked okonomiyaki – o sashi buri (nostalgic moment!) Spending 3 days straight with them helped me brush up on my Japanese – sukoshi nihongo hanasemasu!

After the airbnb, I took the easy and wonderful Berlin public transportation (buses, trains, trams, bikes – you name it) to meet my new German couchsurfing host Christian. His apartment is smack-dab in the middle of Museum Island where the best museums in Berlin are located. Now that I have 53 references on couchsurfing.com, people trust me and invite me to their homes – I make sure to check that they have plenty of references before I visit! Christian showed me the city by bike (he used to work for a bike tour company!) and worked from 1pm to 11pm at a Tesla Factory, so during this time I visited museums, took another Spanish walking tour, and just spent some time relaxing and doing nothing in his apartment – I definitely felt tired and needed some down-time.

While carrying my (slightly heavier) 17 pound backpack I biked to the train station at 6am using the public bikes to catch the 10 hour train ride to Amsterdam, where I met my parents! They had just done a river boat cruise from Basel, Switzerland to Amsterdam, Holland. Instead of crashing in their hotel room (which I did the last few nights!) I stayed with a great couchsurfing host Sandor who had an inflatable mattress in a guest room (score!). He gave me a walking tour all around the canals and to the top floor of a 5-story local library with a great view of the city. I cooked dinner for him both nights – couchsurfing is not just mooching! I always try to spend time with my hosts, make meals for them, and give them a postcard from Santa Barbara with a nice thank you note when I leave. And clean up after myself, of course!!!

My highlights of Amsterdam were the museums – the Rijksmuseum with Vermeer’s “The Milkmaid” and the Van Gogh Museum – both of which I got to visit with my mom and dad! My lowlight of Amsterdam was almost getting hit by a bicycle while crossing the street. We also took a day trip by train to visit Harlaam, a quaint Dutch village with an amazing central cathedral and windmill museum.

After saying goodbye to my parents in Amsterdam, I was feeling really sad and lonely and wanted to see some familiar faces again. I flew to Innsbruck, Austria to spend a few days hiking and exploring alone until Klaus met me for the weekend. We hiked to the top of Gipfelbuch Gleirschspitze which is 2317m tall! Gondolas and funiculars get you very high up the mountain so it was only a 45 minute hike to get there from the top of all the public transport.

Then I took a train to Munich where I reunited with my high school friend Tessa Jacobs, a Californian who lives in Germany where she is raising her baby girl Artemis! The number of benefits she receives is incredible – she has a year long maternity leave that paid her full salary for the first 3 months and 60% for the rest of the year. She works for a university and is also an amazing artist. Walking around the city with her while she carried her adorable 6-month-old in a front pack, showing me her favorite cafes, stopping to change the diapers in pharmacies that offered free diapers and wipes, made me think that if I ever want kids, Germany would be a smart place to raise them. By contrast, some of my friends in the USA only got 6 weeks paid maternity leave! Horrendous!

Lastly, I finished off my Europe trip visiting my dear friend Emer in Dublin, Ireland. We met while teaching English in Japan in 2015, and she visited me in Santa Barbara last summer! Emer is sort of my Irish doppelganger, a super cheerful and active girl who is captain of a women’s ultimate frisbee team and also an elementary school teacher. Despite insane winds and wet weather she forced me to hike up several mountains, but we were rewarded with views of rainbows (and leprechauns!) We stayed a few days in Dublin and took a little road trip out to Galway and Clifden, and I tried to play my new Irish whistle with an Irish band at a bar downstairs from our Airbnb. I also joined 2 frisbee practices – thanks so much Emer!

My final friend to stave off the loneliness of solo travel (and solo life!!) was Natalie in Chicago! We’ve known each other since junior high school, so staying with her in her posh Chicago apartment was comfortable and fun. I’m so proud of Natalie, who has a PhD in botany and was just hired as a professor at the Botanic Gardens!! You go girl! Chicago has world-renowned museums and we visited an entirely vegan grocery store!

Part 5: Take Away

Learning a new language is like growing a new soul, said someone at some point to me along my journey… and since I learned bits of German, Italian, and French on this trip, and also had a lot of opportunities to speak Spanish, I can feel my soul growing and expanding every time I travel.

I met so many fascinating and inspiring people along my journey. The American perspective is only one of many options that we have to live our lives. Especially as someone with privilege and choice in where and how to live, meeting these people gives me ideas of how to live in a more sustainable, interesting, and fun way.

Mother-daughter bikepackers:
At a public park in Innsbruck I saw some women pushing their heavily-loaded bikes filled with camping supplies – so of course I had to introduce myself to them. Turns out they are a mother and daughter team biking from Berlin to Spain over the course of 2 years and are just a few months in. 12-year-old Lotte is homeschooled during this time and doing all kinds of projects about sustainability, and draws and reads on her ipad. She is getting an amazing education! You can follow their journey on their instagram @giantleaplife.

Moving to Europe for social services:
In Munich, my couchsurfing host Mayur told me about why he decided to move to Europe at the age of 36 after 10 years in Dubai. His idea was that European social services are the best in the world – so he will be well taken care of as he gets older. I had great conversations with him and would love to reconnect if I ever visit Munich again – thank you so much!

Living somewhere where drivers licenses are unnecessary:
There are many cities in Europe (and some in the USA) where cars are unnecessary – 2 of my 40-year-old couchsurfing hosts, in Berlin and Amsterdam, didn’t have drivers licenses! Why are we so reliant on cars in the USA? Can we please invest in public transportation and consider people above cars?

Backpacking and traveling are fun, but I also miss being in the classroom. I want to continue my dream of living and teaching in other countries. I have started job hunting for a new international school, and hopefully in the fall of 2024 I will have a new class full of bright, inquisitive, creative kids who will have a lot to teach me, too!

Teaching Third Grade in Pereira, Colombia

On June 6, 2023June 24, 2023 By ambertravelingIn Uncategorized1 Comment

My one year teaching contract for third grade at a bilingual school in Pereira, Colombia, has come to a close.

What I love about my life here:

My inquisitive and creative students! I have 20 students – all Colombian – whose parents enrolled them in this bilingual school with native English speaking teachers so they can be fluent by the time they graduate. I teach reading, writing, science, math, and social studies in English. They have 3 to 5 classes with me per day, and the other classes such as PE, music, and art are taught in Spanish by Colombian teachers. We’ve done some amazing projects this year, such as designing your own dream home using area and perimeter — one girl put in a cinema and spa! Another project was drawing a map of a country or continent of their choice. One girl was so inspired, she took it home and created a detailed world map over the weekend. Other classes came to visit and my students presented their projects to them. In science, we recently planted seedlings, which are now starting to sprout. One girl brought a microscope to school, and it was so fun to see them finding tiny things to look at, like ants, leaves, dirt, and the water from the school. When my parents visited, we did a hybrid science and art class about endangered and extinct animals where students first studied and then created their own animals with clay – their projects were incredible! We read “Charlotte’s Web” and watched the live-action movie with popcorn and snacks.
My classroom is a creative place where students (and I!) feel at home, with daily songs and a classroom economy. In the morning, the student of the day, which rotates alphabetically, chooses two or three songs to sing from our class playlist. We have been learning a new song about once every two weeks – I print the lyrics with some blank spaces, and students listen to the song and try to fill in the blanks. Then I write out the lyrics on a poster. I chose the first 5 songs, including a few that I had written such as “I am Powerful” and “The 5 Senses Song” but now the students always choose the songs by vote. Students who try their best to sing the song move up the behavior chart, and when they move up 3 notches from “Ready to Learn” up to “Amazing,” they receive $1 Ms. Young Dollar. They can also receive dollars for taking beautiful notes during direct instruction time, or doing homework (which isn’t mandatory at this school), or cleaning up without being asked, or finishing challenging activities. I have $1’s, $5’s, $10’s, $20’s, $50’s, and $100 dollar bills. The students formed groups so they work together to save money. On Friday, our classroom store is open, and students can buy things like mochis (their favorite squishy little animal toys), fancy pens and pencils, cute erasers, and postcards from California. (All pictures are shared with permission from the school, the kids, and their parents.)

Colombia is so inexpensive! My 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 2 balcony apartment on the fifth floor is 1,400,000 pesos per month (about $315 USD). I can get all my groceries for $10 or $20 per week. I pay about $30/month for the school lunch, which is less than $2 per lunch. A taxi ride anywhere in the city never costs more than $5.
Fresh fruit – there are so many unique fruits here that I had never tried before. It was so fun (and inexpensive) to try all of them – a vegan’s paradise! Some of my new favorites are chontaduro, granadilla, and araza. Chontaduros are a starchy, potato-esque fruit which they cover with honey and lemon and you can buy on the street in a plastic cup with a toothpick for about 3000 pesos (less than a dollar.) Granadilla are yellow on the outside and you open them to be rewarded with tiny white and yellow sweet, soft seeds. Araza are tiny orange mangos which are even sweeter than the normal ones!
My ultimate frisbee team has been my rock this year, keeping me in shape, giving me a social outlet and an opportunity to be immersed in Spanish. We practice Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 8 – 10pm, and sometimes on weekends. I’ve gone to 5 weekend tournaments with them in places like Manizales, Florida (not the state, a town in Colombia!), and Chinchina. The tournaments are so fun – often with camping, or everyone staying in a cheap hotel, with games all day Saturday Sunday and carpooling there and back. This team is quite competitive and they push me to run faster and improve as a player, and they have even trusted me to be one of the handlers – the position that has the control of the disk and throws downfield to cutters, or players who try to get open. In the tournaments I was both handling and cutting.

Dance classes at my gym, Danzika, is another warm community of Colombians who have welcomed me with open arms and fancy feet. It’s difficult to balance frisbee and danzika, since both hobbies require so much high impact on my knees and ankles!
I have made some Colombian friends who I spend time with on the weekend. We cook together, go to movies, and sometimes go hiking or travel to another nearby town. During the weekend I try my best not to speak any English since I spend so much time during the week speaking English to my students.
The weather is great – in the 70’s and 80’s all year round!

A few reasons of why I’m leaving:

Although I feel safe in my apartment and at school, which both have porteros, or security doormen, walking around the city of Pereira is something I wouldn’t do alone. From my apartment I walk to my gym by myself, which is in a big mall about a 8 minute walk away, but besides grocery shopping I don’t feel comfortable walking around alone. This fear of being in public is a new sensation for me, as I am a big solo-traveler and have traveled to many countries alone (Morocco, Vietnam, Spain, Italy, Austria, and Japan to name a few). Many say that in these incidents it’s important not to “dar papaya” or “don’t put yourself in a position where people can easily take advantage of you.”
Even though Pereira is a small city (population about 500,000) in the coffee-region of Colombia, with lots of natural beauty around, the city is full of smog and pollution. There are some infrastructure issues, very few parks in the city, and a volcano that’s erupting nearby disrupted the gas line to the city, blocking my hot water for a week! (I feel like not having hot water is really a first world problem, as the majority of my Colombian friends and coworkers don’t have hot water in their apartments!) Even though it’s been difficult, these experiences have shown me how privileged I am, how the amenities I expect aren’t necessities, and have taught me to be more resilient and resourceful.
I’m really homesick and miss my family, especially my nephews!

After school ends on June 14, I’ll spend a few weeks traveling in Colombia with my friend Shad, beginning with a 3 day trek that starts in the Cocora Valley. Then I’ll meet him again in Medellin. On July 5 I’ll fly to my hometown of Santa Barbara, California for a few months spending lots of time with my nephews, playing beach ultimate frisbee, and swimming in the ocean!! At the end of August I’ll go to Europe for 3 months. The first month will be hiking and climbing via ferratas with my dad in the Austrian and Swiss Alps and Italian dolomites. In October and November I’ll float like a feather, backpack around to new places and visit friends. I hope to visit my friend Jessica in the Canary Islands, and visit old friends (and my old frisbee team!) in Malaga in southern Spain, where I lived for 2 years teaching English in 2020. Hit me up if you want me to visit you in Europe, or if you want to travel together for a week or two in October or November!

Thanks for reading!

Mi nueva vida en Pereira, Colombia

On September 12, 2022March 16, 2023 By ambertravelingIn Uncategorized2 Comments

Llevo casi 4 meses viviendo en Pereira, Colombia. Me encanta mi vida aquí – tengo un trabajo que amo, un equipo de ultimate frisbee muy divertido, y vivo en una parte del país con selvas y montañas alrededor.

Actualmente, estoy enseñando tercer grado en Liceo Inglés, una escuela internacional y bilingüe. Antes llevaba 2 años enseñando inglés en Japón y 3 años en España, pero en Colombia es diferente porque ahora tengo el certificado para ser maestra y la maestría en educación. Por lo tanto, ahora tengo mi propia clase de tercero, en la cual enseño a 20 niños colombianos 4 asignaturas – matemáticas, ciencias, lectoescritura y sociales. Mis estudiantes tienen 8 o 9 años, y todos son muy graciosos y creativos – para resumir, tengo un grupo maravilloso.

En mi clase, aprovecho todo lo que aprendí durante el año pasado cuando trabajé como maestra sustituta en Santa Barbara, California. Además, tengo un estudiante del día, el cual cambia cada día. Esta estudiante toma decisiones tales como qué canción vamos a cantar. El estudiante del día también elige cual mascota va a dar las instrucciones durante el día. Tenemos un león, una tortuga, y un elefante ya que los niños tienen que dibujar comida para ellos. Hasta el momento, hemos aprendido una nueva canción cada semana. Así pues, mis estudiantes pueden cantar más de 10 canciones en inglés.

¡La semana pasada cantamos uno en una asamblea enfrente de toda la escuela!

Las canciones de mi clase son:

Doe a Deer from the Sound of Music (written by my great uncle)
Country Roads by John Denver
Count on Me by Bruno Mars
Lean on me by Bill Withers
The Five Senses Song by me!
I am Powerful by me!
You’ve got a Friend in Me by Randy Newman
Breaking Free from High School Musical
Roar by Katy Perry
We are the Champions by Queen
Happier by Marshmallow

(también tenemos una youtube playlist)

Tengo una tienda para motivarlos a trabajar. Tengo el personaje de Ms. Young para dar dolares a los niños cuando ayudan a otros y demuestran responsabilidad o buenas actos – y tengo una tienda que está abierta cada viernes. Ellos pueden comprar cosas reales como lápices, peluchitos, cuadernitos y juguetes. En efecto, es muy divertido y los niños pueden practicar matemáticas ya que tengo billetes de 1, 5, 10, 20, y 50.

También estoy muy agradecida por mi equipo de ultimate frisbee aquí. Se llama La Perla, es un equipo mixto super divertido. Entrenamos miércoles y viernes, y he jugado torneos con ellos en Manizales y Chinchiná. En Noviembre habrá un torneo de 3 días, El Abierto de la Montaña.

Los fines de semana me gusta salir de Pereira porque hay muchos pueblos bonitos alrededor. Hasta el momento, he visitado Santa Rosa, Salento, el Valle de Cócora (la inspiración para la película Encanto), y Finlandia. Vivo 15 minutos caminando desde la estación de transporte entonces es fácil coger un bus los fines de semana. ¿Quién viene a visitarme?

Mi nueva amiga de trabajo Abbe! Ella enseña 5th grade.

My Nepal adventure

On July 13, 2022July 23, 2022 By ambertravelingIn Uncategorized3 Comments

A 1 month trip with my dad
~ 7 days exploring Kathmandu
~ 8 days volunteering in Kakani
~ 9-day trek in Nar Phu Valley
~ 5 days in Pokhara

I look back, and I see my dad trudging up the steep snowy slope. My father Kevin Young, who runs about 5 miles every day on the beaches in Santa Barbara, huffs and puffs up the hill, breathing in and out with each step, his feet following the snowy footprints. His porter Rhamdhoj is just behind him, with two huge duffel bags filled with our jackets and sleeping bags perched on his shoulders.

The snowy peaks of the Himalayas stretch out before me. I’m standing at the apex of the 17,300 foot Kang La pass, higher than any mountain in the continental USA. My enthusiastic hiking buddies cheer me on, and after I catch my breath and chug some water, I join the cheering squad to welcome the rest of the group.

Today is the 8th day of our 10 day hike in the Nar Phu Valley. We started hiking in the dark at 4am, and it took us until noon to reach the top of the pass. I grin, thinking that the hardest part of the trek is over – but we still have 5000 feet of descent on a steep rocky trail.

Arriving to Kathmandu

I landed with my dad at the hot and stuffy airport, and after we waited in line to buy a visa, we were picked up by Jeevan, one of our guides. His little car zig-zagged through a maze of honking horns and swerving motor bikes to our first hotel, a slightly ramshackle but incredibly cheap ($30/night for 2) hotel in the heart of Thamel, the tourist area. The noisy streets are lined with knock-off North Face and Patagonia stores, Tibetan souvenir shops, Irish pubs, massage parlors, and little corner stores.

Dad and I spent the first 3 days getting accustomed to the noise and the traffic, but also taking in the powerful new sights, sounds, and smells. Goats, dogs, cats, and monkeys roam the city. We find quiet corners of peace in the shrines and temples, which are oftentimes filled with cooing pigeons.

A lesson from Kathmandu traffic : Go with the flow and all will be well, even in the midst of insanity.

After a few days in the chaos of Kathmandu, we met the rest of our tour group from Wildland Trekking. I was so glad that there were 2 other women – Jessica, a doctor from Virginia, and Cherie, a nurse from West Los Angeles. The three of us became good friends, giggling in our shared rooms at night and swapping travel stories. Our group also included Joe, a retired firefighter, Josh, a school superintendent, and our trip leader Dennis, a writer for Outside Magazine, and my dad Kevin Young.

Painting a School in Kakani Village

After a day tour of Kathmandu to places like a an orphanage and trade training non-profit (NepalYouthFoundation.org) a monkey temple and a public crematorium (where for a $10 entrance fee you can watch bodies being cremated) the 6 of us loaded into a van and bumped down a pot-holed highway for 2 hours to Kakani Village. The community welcomed us with a ceremony including a parade and speeches. Part of our guided trip from Wildland Trekking included a week of volunteering and a $5000 donation to build a health clinic in Kakani Village.

We slept in fancy tents with real beds at Kakani Adventure Camp, where we were treated to spicy and delicious meals like momos (Nepali dumplings), curries, vegetable fritters, and wild nettle soup.

If you travel to Kathmandu, Kakani Adventure Camp is only 1.5 hours away by bus or car, and for about $30 per day they will arrange transport for you and cook 3 amazing meals per day, and provide unique and comfortable tent lodging with panoramic views.

For our volunteer work, everyday we hiked about 2.5 miles each way to Kakani Brighter School, which we painted yellow. Kakani Brighter school was founded by Japanese donors in 2006 who never got around to painting it yellow, which is the traditional color of Nepali schools. 

We 7 Americans along with some Nepali helpers cleaned the brick walls, primed them in white, and painted the walls. As we were only there for 6 days, a local painter was hired to paint the harder to reach higher areas and the back of the school.

Meanwhile, every day I talked with students and teachers, and befriended Binod, the school principal. We chatted about the differences in education systems and values between Nepal and the USA, and he gave me a class of about 40 (very well behaved) students aged 5 to 15 to teach on our last day there. I lead an impromptu class featuring geography, hygiene, music, and self-confidence. We sang “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes,” talked about the importance of hand-washing, and practiced mindfulness and positive affirmations. Jessica and my dad helped teach, too.

We noticed that the bathrooms at the school had sinks but no soap – so my dad bought soap for the whole school, as well as soccer balls and some notebooks, pencils, and pens. On our last day we were honored with a beautiful ceremony where the students, teachers, and principal thanked us and presented us with colorful scarves. I’ll never forget how excited the kids were to receive their soccer balls. Some things transcend language, like joy.

We were told the school did not own a computer, even though some older students took a computer class. Upon our return to the USA, my dad raised $500 from our facebook friends and donated 2 computers to the school via the nonprofit “Mothers and Children Arts Foundation.”

We thanked the staff at Kakani Adventure Camp by cooking a meal for them – it was Jessica’s idea, who had also volunteered in Africa. It was nice to reverse the roles to cook for the chef and serve the waiter. Our waiter Nishan was a cheerful Nepali 19-year-old who joined us for morning yoga and taught me some Nepali phrases. He was very sad to see us leave and I gave him one of my ultimate frisbee shirts.

Thanks to Nishan and a lot of repetition, I learned a few phrases and words in Nepali so I could connect with the locals. How are you – tapailai kosto cha? What’s your name? Tapai ko nam ke ho? My name is Amber. Miru nam Amber ho. Kukur means dog. It brought me joy to practice with people who I met.

The 9-Day Nar Phu Trek

After a much-needed rest day in Kathmandu, where I got a $35 90-minute massage, we set off on the next part of our adventure – a 9-day trek in the Nar Phu Valley. But first we had to get there. We loaded up on a bus with our porters, guides, and hikers at 5am. It took 6 hours in a bumpy bus to Besisahar where we had dahl baht (lentils with rice and potatoes) for lunch, and then continued on a bumpier 4-wheel drive jeep down swerving mountain roads.

The road we drove on was part of the Annapurna Circuit, so we saw trekkers trudging through the dust of our jeeps. Though less appealing for hikers, these roads significantly improved the lives of local villagers who are able to get resources more easily thanks to vehicular transport. We also hiked to towns where resources like flour, rice, sugar, tea, building materials, and other essentials have to be carried by mules or porters.

We first reached Kote, a dusty town next to the road where we spent our first night, and set the next day for a 12-mile hike across many swaying metal bridges. At one point the trail went directly under a raging waterfall along a cliff.

We reached Meta, a tiny ‘village’ of two hotels, where we spent the night in a hotel with no heating or bedding. Thankfully our porters carried our heavy sleeping bags and down jackets for us, so I was never cold at night even while sleeping with snow covered peaks all around us.

The next day was 11.6 miles and 1500 foot elevation gain and ended in Phu, a town with an altitude of 13,500 feet. The scenery was reminiscent of the Grand Canyon, including the mules.

In Phu, we distributed some of the 200 solar lights we had been carrying with us to donate. We made sure to give one to every household in Phu, and meeting all the villagers and seeing how grateful they were was so heartwarming. We were invited to have tea and visited with an older lady who told us about her life.

During the harsh winter months, the whole village descends the valley to Meta (where we spent our first night) to spend the winter in a slightly warmer climate. The lower-altitude villagers open their homes to host those from higher altitude places for the coldest part of the winter. I love how the community members support each other when times get hard – it’s hard to imagine this happening in the USA. If your house was too cold to live in the winter, can you imagine your neighbors inviting you to come live with them?

The next day, I went on an optional 11.4 mile hike to Himlung Base camp, elevation 15,800 feet, where I met dozens of climbers staying in bright yellow tents and attempting a climb of 23,345 feet. There is an alpine academy where students are summiting as part of their final project – it takes them about 20 days!

We continued the next day 14 miles down a Grand Canyon-esque trail, dodging mules and porters delivering impressive loads to the village. On the way there, we had to cross a bridge with a 1000-foot drop off over a raging river. We stopped at an old monastery that was abandoned because it is in an earthquake zone.

We slept at Narfetti Monastery, elevation 11,600 feet, nestled in the Nar Phu valley and only accessible by trail. Donkeys and people carry the supplies needed for the monks and hikers who stay there. When I arrived, I saw some porters and a few other hikers playing volleyball. Of course I had to join in. This is where I met Chris and Valentine, two French hikers doing the same route as us. We became good friends, and I was able to see them again in Pokhara and Paris, and I hope they will visit me someday in California (or wherever I happen to be living in the world!)

After the monastery was the big trek up and over the Kang La pass, the longest day of our hike – we rose at 3am and I finished hiking around 5pm – so it took 14 hours!

Once we finished our trek – my knees were very sore from the last day of steep downhill – I said goodbye to the group. We had a ceremony where we tipped the guides and porters, which pretty much doubled their salaries, and made speeches of appreciation for them.

My dad did another 6 day trek to the Annapurna Sanctuary with his favorite porter Rhamdhoj, and I had had enough hiking so we split up. Along with my new friend Cherie from our hiking group, I relaxed for 5 days in Pokhara, a quaint lake town perfect for a tourist’s respite. I got massages, took a yoga class every day with views overlooking the lake, and met up again with my new French friends Valentine and Chris and for boat rides, short hikes, and live music at night. I borrowed a guitar from some of the local musicians and played some songs at a few of the bars (see my youtube channel to hear my music – youtube.com/ambertraveling).

To Sum It Up

For me, travel isn’t just about seeing amazing places – that’s just one of the many perks. It’s about meeting people and learning about them. How do they live? What do they value? What do they love to do? Knowing this about different people expands my worldview and broadens my perspective. It shows me what is possible in this life that I couldn’t learn just by staying home. In my hometown of Santa Barbara, California, most of my friends and acquaintances have fairly similar backgrounds, and I LOVE to meet people who have had such a different life story to share.

I’d love to go back someday. There are so many more hikes I could do – I’d like to do the Annapurna Sanctuary someday, and maybe Everest Base Camp.

I am so impressed by the Nepali people who survive with so little, but never cease to be generous. We have so much to learn from them. They are resilient and welcoming people. Nepali people who survive with so little still smile and wave at us when we hiked past their homes. We met some women who had to hike 2 hours every day to collect water from a raging river. These same women offered us tea. After this trip, I feel so much more gratitude for all the conveniences I have in my life – electricity, running water, trash pick-up, internet…

If you have a chance, go to Nepal. The people are incredible. The mountains are epic. The food is flavorful, varied, and vegan-friendly. I made friends that I will keep for life, and I’ll never forget the feeling of being surrounded by the peaceful and majestic Himalayas.

A snowy descent to Phantom Ranch

On March 8, 2022March 12, 2022 By ambertravelingIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Seeing the Grand Canyon in the snow was magical!

I met Klaus the mechanic in a tiny town in northern Italy called San Vigilio. My dad had driven over a nail in our rental car, and Klaus fixed it for us. Upon meeting 3 years ago, we found that we both liked hiking and climbing via ferratas, and climbed and hiked together in the following weeks. I had visited Klaus twice already in Europe and now it was his turn to come try out his English in the USA.

The Grand Canyon was on his bucket list. I had already hiked down and up the Grand Canyon in 2015 before I moved to Japan. Since Klaus had hosted me and driven me all around the Italian Dolomites a few months earlier, I felt it was only fair to take him on an epic road trip driving from Santa Barbara to the Grand Canyon!

After a few days showing him around Santa Barbara, we left early on a Sunday morning. Luckily Europeans can drive in the US for 6 months with a European drivers license, so we took turns driving the 6 hours to Las Vegas, where I had booked us one night in the Treasure Island Hotel. We enjoyed walking down the strip, seeing the Bellagio Fountain Light show, and checking out the indoor canals and the fake blue sky at the Venetian hotel.

After I took advantage of the stellar hotel gym, we got a fairly early start and stopped at the Hoover Dam on the way from Vegas to The Grand Canyon.

Pro tip: The Hoover Dam offers $10 parking in several places, but if you drive across the dam first, there are several free parking lots on the other side!

It was about a 4 hour drive from Vegas to the Grand Canyon. I had booked us a room for 4 nights at the Yavapai Lodge, which was a 15 minute walk from the Canyon Rim. None of the rooms had WiFi, which was a blessing and a curse, as I had to teach an online class and have a job interview from the lobby of the hotel with shoddy internet connection. The first day we did a 5-mile hike down Bright Angel trailhead, which was brown and red at the time. Lucky for us it snowed 6 inches that night, dusting everything in white.

We wanted to stay overnight at the campgrounds/cabins at Phantom Ranch but didn’t have a reservation, but after talking to a friendly hotel concierge, we found out it was still possible.

Pro tip: To get a last-minute booking at Phantom Ranch, go to the Bright Angel Lobby and ask at the adventure desk for any cancellations. They asked me to come back at 7am the next day, and when I did, a $200 cabin was available for the following evening! This was lucky because you oftentimes have to book them a year in advance!

Now that we had our cabin booked, we stocked up with snacks at the Grand Canyon Village Market and Deli, which is comparable to a Vons but a little bit pricier. We didn’t want to pay the $45 – $60 per meals offered at Phantom Ranch so we opted to bring our own food. Most of the food and supplies down there are carried in by mules!

Since I had gone down South Kaibab and up Bright Angel 7 years ago on my solo hike, we opted to go the opposite direction. We got an early start at about 8:00, parking my car for free at the Bright Angel Lodge, and descended 10.5 miles into the canyon. A ranger had recommended that we get micro-spikes for our hiking boots which proved to be very helpful in preventing slipping, especially on the downhill. I also used hiking poles.

The further we descended, the warmer it got – about a third of the way down, all the snow had melted. I saw a condor circling in the bright blue sky. I enjoyed chatting with some other hikers at the rest stops where I ate my hummus and avocado sandwich.

Finally we reached the Colorado river – a beautiful sight for our tired knees – and we only had 2 miles to go. The trail meandered next to the river, and we were rewarded with views of the river snaking through the canyon. We arrived at Phantom Ranch at about 3:30, with enough time to take showers and settle into our new home for the evening.

Pro tip: At Phantom Ranch, if you are too cheap to pay for the expensive but notoriously good food like we were, you can ask the kitchen for hot water which they give you free of charge. We used this to fill our freeze dried backpacker meal and to drink tea which we brought.

At night, the stars blinked like a blanket of bright, inquisitive eyes. Down there at the bottom of the canyon, there is no light pollution, and the walkways are lit with special red lights to preserve night vision. Luckily I brought my dad’s fluffy marshmallow jacket that he brought with him to the Himalayas which allowed me to stay outside a long time, admiring the night sky.

The hike out was about 8 miles up the South Kaibab trail, and not as bad as I expected. We left Phantom Ranch at 7:30AM and made it out by 1:00, and took the shuttle to our car by 1:30.

Pro tip: There are free shuttles all over the Grand Canyon, taking you from trailheads to viewspots to visitors centers, which come about every 15 minutes.

Since we made it to the car so early, we hopped in an started driving. 4 hours later when we felt tired we stopped at a random Super 8 hotel in Quartzite, woke up early the next day for a quick tour of Joshua Tree, and stayed for 1 night with my cousin in Woodland Hills before heading back to Santa Barbara. But we couldn’t miss a stop at my uncle’s McConnell’s Ice Cream store in Ventura!

I feel so privileged and grateful to be able to go on these adventures. This trip was more expensive than my usual travels – about $850 for the 8-day adventure (I split the costs of gas, food, tickets, and hotels with Klaus.) On most of my trips for accommodation I usually use couch surfing or stay with friends. But there are certain places that are just worth it, and the Grand Canyon is one of them.

Tips for visiting Phantom Ranch: To visit this slice of tranquility, you have to arrive on foot or by mule. I recommend hiking poles for the steep downhill hike. Try to get there before 6pm so you can take a hot shower – the showers are only open between 4 and 6pm.

And to conclude, a poem I scrawled on a piece of random paper:

Step by step
We descend
Down
Into the canyon
My knees tired
But the rhythm of my poles
Helps me find peace.
I am one with myself
And everything around me.
The red cliffs
A sacred place
A condor circles above
Its wingspan immense
Reminding me
To breathe.

72 days with a backpack: Solo Travel in Europe

On December 3, 2021March 17, 2022 By ambertravelingIn Backpacking, Couchsurfing, europe, Pretty Places, spainLeave a comment

After two and a half months gallivanting around Europe, I am finally back home in Santa Barbara. Over the course of 72 days, I visited Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Prague (The Czech Republic), Freiburg (Germany), Las Palmas (Spain), Casablanca (Morocco), Washington DC, and Vegas. Check out an interactive map of where I went in Europe below or click here!

As I’m now reflecting on my trip, I feel so grateful for all of the kind souls who I met along the way, who made my trip more interesting and more affordable. I was hosted by 15 people – 7 from the couchsurfing website, one who I met randomly, and 7 old friends. Here’s an overview of my adventure!

My first stop was in Geneva, Switzerland! All I had with me was this 32 liter backpack!

On August 27, I took the Santa Barbara Airbus to LAX and flew to Geneva, Switzerland, where I and stayed with Alex, my first couchsurfing host, and explored by myself. When asking for directions from a woman sitting on a bench, I made friends with Katia, a Swiss lady who had relocated to live in Uruguay. We spent the morning together walking by the Rhone river, and we later visited a contemporary arts museum. She invited me to stay with her in Uruguay – which I might do next spring! Alex, Katia and I had dinner together at a restaurant (the only time I ate out in Switzerland as it is notoriously expensive) and I had a €30 veggie burger. (Ridiculous!!!)

Then I used one day of my 3-day train pass (about €300, but it’s not consecutive – you select the days within a month) to meet my father in Kandersteg, a small mountain village with epic hiking and climbing. Our plan was to do a few via ferratas – or “iron way” in Italian (see my previous blog post about via ferratas) – which are climbing routes enhanced with extra protection like ladders and steel cables. We did the longest via ferrata in Switzerland which took 5 hours to climb plus 2 hours to walk back to the start – along a glacier!

Then we started an 8 day trek in the Italian Dolomites from Dobbiacho to Belluno (with a 4-day break in Cortina) along with Greg and Bill, two of his friends from elementary school. So it was me and three 60-something year olds sharing tiny dorm rooms in mountain huts – despite the snoring, the scenery was spectacular! Thanks to my dad for planning (and paying for!) most of this part of my trip!

Ready for some solo adventuring, I set off alone on a tour of Italy. Traveling by train, I visited Florence, Siena, Pisa, Venice, Verona, Lavis, San Vigilio, and Merano – trying to visit both places urban and rural, couchsurfing when I could to save on accommodation and make new friends. I met a big group of Americans traveling who had rented a villa in Siena, and I asked if I could tag along for a few days – and so I found myself in a gorgeous vineyard in Siena for my birthday! They rented a big van and I was invited with them to visit Pisa and some hot springs.

So you see, even when I travel alone, I usually find myself surrounded by people! I’m quite extraverted and I enjoy meeting new friends from different countries. However, there are times when I feel tired of being around new people – I get a feeling that I’ve had too much input and not enough time to process. When I start to feel this way, I get myself a private room in a youth hostel or cheap hotel to decompress for a few days.

I was in awe at the Duomo in Florence, although I avoided museums and crowded indoor places because of the virus. Thanks to my German friend Melissa, who I met when I played on the ultimate frisbee team in Malaga, Spain, I played in an beach ultimate frisbee tournament in Bibione, Italy. I met some very generous players there who offered to host me later in Vienna.

With all my stuff at the Duomo in Florence.

Such a blast playing at the Austrian Beach Nationals ultimate frisbee tournament in Bibione, Italy!

After about three weeks in Italy, on October 9, I took a train to Innsbruck where I joined my couchsurfing host Christian for an epic snow hike. My next stop was Salzburg, where I sang the Sound of Music songs in the informative and fun free walking tour. In Salzburg, I stayed at Wolfgang’s hostel, which was industrial, expensive (€25 for a dorm, €70 for a private room), and not too cozy – luckily I made some new friends while doing my laundry (in the outrageously overpriced laundry machine, €10 for wash and dry. Mostly I washed my clothes in the sink.)

Then I had to visit my new frisbee friends Ting Ting and Leon in Vienna – I met them at the ultimate frisbee tournament in Italy, and they had generously invited me to stay with them! They had an extra room in their apartment. Leon gave me his old cleats that were too small for him – which I dangled off my backpack all the way to California – so I was able to join 2 turf field ultimate frisbee practices. Ting Ting loaned me her bike so I could get there easily. We had a make-your-own sushi night, and we watched the USA Ultimate Frisbee Nationals – they knew more of the pro frisbee players names than I did! What amazing hosts!

While they were working, I took some time to rest in their apartment – travel can be exhausting!! – and when I had finally gathered up the strength, I visited the Belvedere Palace in Vienna. I was in tears while looking at some of the art, especially when I found a painting that I remembered from a high school history textbook. I felt such a strong sense of gratitude for being where I was.

I am often hit with this magical, powerful feeling when I am solo traveling – that I’m here alone, in the right place, at the right time, somewhere very far away from home, and it’s meant to be. In contrast, I sometimes feel waves of loneliness and solitude and homesickness. But like everything in life, these moments pass, and the journey continues.

Sometimes on these longer trips I feel exhausted from planning and moving. On days like that, I honor my feelings and try not to do anything too ambitious that day – maybe just take a walk, and I’ll take my book to read in a sunny place, and that’s it. In my 20’s, I felt the need to be doing, moving, accomplishing, and if I missed a day and wasn’t productive, I felt like a failure. Only in the recent years have I learned how to embrace and honor rest. I’m still working on not feeling guilty about it.

I visited Prague for 5 days, and was mesmerized by the cobblestone streets and detailed and colorful architecture – I felt like I was walking through a fairy tale. I found another ultimate frisbee team there (we practiced indoors on a handball court as it was freezing outside) as well as swing dancing – two of my favorite hobbies! I enjoyed cooking for my friendly couchsurfing host Juraj.

Some hosts prefer to cook for me to showcase some of their local cuisine -like Hannes in Italy who made a spectacular knodel, or potato dumplings, and Dario in Lavis who made a kind of pumpkin pasta from scratch – but oftentimes I’ll try to cook for them to show my appreciation for their generosity. My signature dishes are baked sweet potato with greens or a big veggie stir fry.

Then I took an uncomfortable overnight bus where I had to change seats at 3AM to spend Halloween weekend with my good friend Ganga and his Turkish fiancée Pinar in Freiburg, Germany. I had been bugging Ganga since I had first got to Europe, asking if there was any good time for me to visit. I also sent him some postcards reminding him that I was in Europe – and voila! One day he sent a message inviting me to stay for Halloween weekend. Thanks, Ganga!!

I met Ganga when we were both teaching English in Malaga, Spain – he is from Florida but has decided to try to live in Germany permanently. Both he and Pinar are in graduate school in Freiburg studying renewable energy engineering. They loaned me their landlord’s rusty extra bike and I trailed them around the city. We visited a lake surrounded by red, yellow, and orange trees as well as a free, public zoo. Even though my tourist’s view is limited, I observed that society seems fairer and more equitable in Germany, as zoos and other public services are accessible for all.

We were standing on a hillside so I look short!

Next I visited Anne Claude, a good family friend whose mother met my dad 35 years ago while running a 5k in Switzerland. Anne Claude was an au pair for my aunt in the 80’s. Anne Claude lives in Zug, a beautiful lake town in Switzerland near Zürich, so of course I had to stop by for a few days. I had visited her a few years previously and am always amazed by her energy – we hiked up Zugerberg mountain (that she sometimes runs up) and on the way down it started pouring rain. So we jogged, soaked, back to her house!

She also took me on a day trip to a glass blowing factory and to see the famous bridges in Lucerne. Thanks Anne Claude!

Anne Claude runs up mountains and does cross country skiing – shes amazing!

Then I flew from Basil to Las Palmas, the Canary Islands, to visit my friend Jessica, who I had met four years ago in Almendralejo, Spain where we were both teaching English. It was my second time visiting Jessica – she lived in Tenerife last year. I’m so proud of her for living her dream life – she has been living in Spain for the past 4 and a half years! Check out her youtube channel!

We explored the island by car (thanks to her Spanish boyfriend Nestor who drove us) and went on a hike to Roque Nublo, an outer-space-like rocky landscape in the middle of the island. The food there was cheap and delicious compared to the rest of the places I visited in Europe.

Soon my 90 day tourist visa was running out, so I booked a cheap flight for only €300, the caveat being a 24 hour layover in Casablanca, Morocco. Luckily I had already traveled solo in Morocco and made a lot of friends, so I knew someone who I could stay with! I visited Ali two years ago when he lived in Rabat – we met through the couchsurfing app.

Since Ali had to go to work early the next day – he is a math teacher at a high school – and I had an afternoon flight, I went on a long walk in his neighborhood in the morning. I almost made it to a forest he recommended, but a scary barking dog prompted me to turn around and head back. His neighborhood was overrun with stray dogs and cats, and as a shortcut to get to his apartment from the train station, I had to climb through a small hole in a wall.

As it’s an Arabic country, I’m more cautious about how I dress and wear long sleeves and pants when I visit, although I don’t wear a headscarf. Many women don’t – in fact, I made friends with a very friendly girl named Hafsa on the train who helped me find my stop who wasn’t wearing one. Most people in Morocco speak Arabic and French, although the younger people tend to speak English, too. But when buying my train ticket, the employee didn’t speak English, so I attempted to speak French so I could understand the correct time of departure – I guess my French numbers are good enough! Merci beaucoup!

Dogs, cats, and cows running around outside these apartments in Casablanca

Finally I made it to Washington DC, and after a $60 uber ride from the airport with a really grumpy driver, I spent a week with my sister and her kids, biking to see the memorials and museums in my non-babysitting hours. I rented an electric bike using LIME – it was expensive but fun – about $12 for a 20 minute ride. My favorite memorial is the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial which has so many inspiring quotes from him. Here are a few of my favorites:

“We shall overcome, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

“Injustice everywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.”

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

Travel is oftentimes not comfortable or convenient, and is often challenging, and I find myself knowing myself and trusting myself more deeply as I am faced with different obstacles. The best advice I have for solo travelers is to be outgoing, make new friends, but to also trust your intuition. Rest when you need to.

My favorite museums in DC are the National Art Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery, so I visited both – and I was particularly impressed by the paintings and photographs of Hung Liu, a Chinese American artist who portrays underrepresented groups like immigrants and working class women. She paints on huge canvas prints of old photographs and adds drips and shadows, creating realistic yet spooky images. Thanks to my friend Rebecca (who I met while teaching English in Japan) for inviting me to the exhibit!

Finally I flew to my cousin’s wedding in Las Vegas before finally hitching a ride home with my parents (who were also at the wedding) back to Santa Barbara.

It all felt like a whirlwind, and it feels like a miracle that I made it home! Traveling alone gives me a lot of self-efficacy and appreciation for my freedom. I can’t believe that I did all of that – wow! But somehow even though I’ve been here for only 3 weeks, I managed to get a holiday job at the Yes store, a seasonal shop selling handmade products like ceramics and art made by local artists.

My life feels like a never-ending adventure with so much movement, and I am really grateful to be home – I’m trying to ground myself for a few months. However, my wanderlust has not expired! I plan to visit a Spanish-speaking country (somewhere safe and south of California) next year in March, April, and May. Any recommendations or connections appreciated! I would love to do an intensive Spanish language school and a yoga teacher training.

Then I hope to work at a summer school or summer camp here in Santa Barbara in June, perhaps. In fall of 2022, I hope to have found a job at an international school so I can continue to pursue my teaching career overseas.

If you made it to the end, thank you so much for reading (or skimming)! As always, feedback and advice is always appreciated. Have you been to any of these places? Can you relate to any part of my adventures? Sending love and joy to all. Happy holidays everyone!