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!

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!

Slack line, spikeball, frisbee, and graduation: enduring and enjoying 2021

On October 1, 2021October 1, 2021 By ambertravelingIn Backpacking, teaching1 Comment

It has been a long and intense year as the world has faced a global pandemic. I spent most of it alone in a room behind my grandmas house attending online grad school and making music for my YouTube channel. As an extrovert, it was exhausting and lonely trying to avoid gatherings. After a year of hard work and too much screen time, I graduated with a teaching credential and masters of education from UCSB. Now I can teach elementary school anywhere in California, and I will be a better candidate to teach at international schools abroad.

Despite only being together for online classes, I did get to graduate in person with friends from the program. All three of these awesome girls got jobs and are working as elementary school teachers!

Can you find me in this picture? Hint: look for the dog!

Last summer, just after graduating in June, I taught second grade at an in-person summer school, where I had 12 students in my class from 6 to 7 years old. I taught math in the morning and reading and writing in the afternoon, and brought my ukulele every day to brighten the atmosphere. I felt like the pied piper when I collected them from recess and they followed me back to the classroom in a single line, some dancing to my music!

I loved dressing up for all of the special events on Fridays at summer school! We celebrated pajama day, crazy hair day, and the 4th of July!

Students were required to wear masks (which get soggy sometimes) wash their hands frequently (luckily we had a sink in our classroom) and keep 3 feet distance between each other. There were a few meltdowns and I definitely practiced my conflict resolution skills as some of them were at school for the first time in a while. One girl started sobbing when she couldn’t erase with her crayon, and it took half the day to help her calm down.

Despite the challenges, I do love teaching, bringing joy and music and movement to my classroom, where I strive to inspire kids to be confident in our ridiculous and unpredictable world. I love that I can incorporate my talents and interests like art, music, and sports. I often lead yoga and meditation with my kiddos, which I benefit from as well!

Meanwhile, after lots of home workouts in my backyard during the worst part of the pandemic, I was so glad to play ultimate frisbee again with my friends in Santa Barbara. There are pick-up games almost every day of the week here. We play on the beach in the soft sand and oftentimes swim in the ocean afterwards. I also got to play on a coed team called Robot for a bit!

I love the ultimate frisbee community in Santa Barbara!

I also got into spike ball, a game sort of similar to volleyball but played with a small round net and a 4-inch yellow ball. With a partner, you serve, pass, and spike the ball into the tiny trampoline-like net, and the other team passes it and smashes it back to you.

During spikeball Fridays I would also set up my slack line, another one of my obscure quarantine hobby. I learned how to slackline at UC Santa Cruz a few years ago, but this year I purchased my own and learned how to set it up – it’s like a tightrope between two trees. Now I can go forwards, backwards, and turn around! There were a few musicians in this group and we had some jam sessions, too.

During most of the pandemic I was living at my grandmother’s house and my mom’s house, and I am grateful for both of them for the housing. It was really wonderful to live near my family after living abroad for the past 8 years. I got to spend a lot of time with my grandma Jeney and my uncle Jimmy, who owns an ice cream shop in Ventura, my awesome aunt Monika who is a chiropractor in town, and my sister Kimberly who just had her second baby!

After graduating, I decided to take a year off and backpack around Europe. Before I left, I felt full of self doubt, some annoying questions swarming my head – when am I going to find a partner? Or somewhere permanent to live? Most of my friends have spouses or long term partners, and at times I feel sad when I compare myself to them. But while a part of me feels those societal pressures, I feel in my gut that I’m doing the right thing for myself now. I’m on the brink of a great adventure!

Before I jump into my career, which I expect will be hard to deviate from once I get started, I’m taking a year off to think about what I want to do next. Now I’m in Merano, Italy, writing from an apartment of a new friend I’m couchsurfing with. I’ll travel around Europe for the next few months, go home for Christmas, and maybe travel again to South or Central America in the spring of 2022. In fall of 2022, I’m planning to more abroad again to teach English in another country (like I already did in Japan and Spain). I’m thinking about somewhere in Asia or South America or perhaps Europe… Any connections or advice for international schools abroad are welcome!

Now I’m one month into my jaunt in Europe. The trip began in Switzerland with more via ferratas, which are protected self-belayed climbing routes, with my dad. We did via ferratas in Kandersteg and Leukerbad, Switzerland. Then we hiked the AV1, an 8 day trek from Lago de Briaes to Belluno, where I met a group of exuberant Americans and was invited to their rented villa in Siena. Now I’ve been enjoying traveling alone for a few weeks in Florence, Siena, Venice, Lavis, and now Merano.

Sending love and good vibes to all my friends and family and anyone who is reading this! I continue to wear a mask indoors and am avoiding crowded places. Stay healthy and safe everyone!