Europe Trip 2015: Week 1

EUROPE TRIP 2015: WEEK 1

I have decided to break up my blogs into weekly segments, so this is the post for my first week in Sweden! I apologize if it's difficult to follow...I wrote the posts when I could, so the dates jump around a bit (but it is in chronological order) and my grammar may not be perfect. Either way, I hope you enjoy getting a sneak peek inside my European adventures! (P.S. I will post lots and lots of pictures to Facebook once I return home). 

Wednesday, August 19th

Hello from Sweden!!

It is 12:26pm on Wednesday, August 19th, and I am all settled in at Matilda's place! Before I tell you about the super exciting things I've been up to today (breakfast and showering, woohoo!), I'm going to fill you in on the past couple days of traveling! 

The Trip to the Airport

My aunt Karen and her daughters Amelia and Katrina (who were flying back to Texas that same day) picked me up to go to the airport around 1:15pm on Monday, August 17th. After getting turned around with all the construction and detours, we arrived at the airport around 3:45pm. Amelia and Katrina's flight left at 5:40pm, but because they were flying out of Terminal 1 and needed Karen's assistance, they dropped me off at Terminal 2 first. We unloaded my suitcases, hugged goodbye, and off I went into the airport! The airport wasn't busy, so after checking my bags, going through security, and finding my gate, it was only a little after 4:00pm! My flight wasn't scheduled to leave until 7:30pm, so I put my 3 hours of free time to good use by eating some food and working on a job application. It was close to 7:30pm when we started the boarding process, and we didn't take off until close to 8:00pm. 

The Plane Ride - Minneapolis, USA to Reykjaví, Iceland

On the plane I sat next to a nice guy named Tyler who was going to Sweden for grad school. We started chatting about where we're from, and when I mentioned that I was from Carlton, the woman to Tyler's left chimed in that she knew where Carlton was, because her husband (sitting across the aisle to her left) was from Carlton as well! We got to talking, and it turns out that the couple is the aunt and uncle of one of my former high school classmates (Chris Belich) who lives not too far from me in Carlton. As if that wasn't enough, the couple currently lives just a few blocks from where Tyler is from in the cities—small world! Anyways, the flight was about 5.5 hours long, and it went pretty smoothly. The plane wasn't the comfiest and it got a bit chilly, but I wasn't going to complain too much; after all, it is a metal tube transporting me across the world to go on awesome adventures. I kept myself entertained with movies, music, and a game on my phone. The airline offered a decent selection of movies, so I watched The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1, part of a documentary about the Eyjafjallajokull volcano that erupted in Iceland in March of 2010, and almost all of The Wizard of Oz. We landed at 6:30am Iceland time, and after a brief stop at the bathroom and asking for directions, I made my way to my next gate. The airport was pretty small (yet slightly confusing) and the area I was going to was going through some renovations, so it was kind of chilly due to being on ground level and waiting to go outside. We got on a small bus which shuttled us a little ways across the airport grounds to our plane, and we boarded shortly after that. 

The Plane Ride - Reykjaví, Iceland to Stockholm, Sweden

The plane taking me to Sweden was probably the comfiest plane I've ever been on; the seats were huge and there was lots of leg room. I had no problem getting comfy on this plane, and I was actually a little sad when it came time to get off. This flight was only about 2.75 hours long, so I watched one movie, What to Expect When You're Expecting, and then played a game on my phone before we landed. After little to no sleep on my first flight, I was very tired on this flight, but I was never able to fully fall asleep. We arrived in Sweden around 1:00pm (Sweden time), I got my bags without incident (thank goodness), and then I met up with Matilda! It was so nice to see a familiar face, and having her there made finding and riding the train back to her place in Linköping much less stressful. After buying a very expensive (but much needed) coffee from Starbucks, we went to wait for the train. 

My Train Experience

Our train left the station around 2:30pm, and I found the whole experience to be very fun. I always think of Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Express when I think about riding a train, and although they are very different (for obvious reasons), I found the small similarities delightful. One thing I couldn't help but notice during the 3 hour train ride is that the scenery (landscape, trees, rocks, etc.) in Sweden is very similar to Minnesota's. We finally arrived at the our destination, and Matilda's dad, Mikael, picked us up from the train station. After a quick stop at the grocery store, we went home to the apartment. 

Tuesday Night - Dinner, a Walk, and Bedtime

Walking around Linköping

After getting settled in, Mikael and his girlfriend Saow (who is from Thailand) cooked a delicious dinner of pork chops, potatoes in a creamy sauce (similar to scalloped potatoes), and a salad. After dinner, Matilda and I walked around her town. She showed me the running trail near her house, and then we explored "Old Town", which is a part of her town where they moved the original buildings of Linköping. There was also some farm buildings, and throughout our walk we saw some goats, horses, bunnies, and a cow! At one point, we followed the sound of swing dance music that led us to a little outdoor dance! It appeared to be primarily attended by older folks, but it still looked like fun! After walking around for 1.5 hours, we came home to watch some TV (we decided on One Tree Hill) and eat ice cream before bed! I was completely exhausted after being awake for 34 hours straight, and I finally went to bed around 11pm. 

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It is currently 9:49pm on Wednesday, August 19th, and I am going to write a quick review of my first full day in Sweden before I head to bed!

Wednesday, August 19th

My “Morning”

My day didn’t start until a little after 11:00am, because I was actually able to sleep in—yay! After being awake for 34 hours and dealing with the time change, my body definitely needed the rest! I had a whole grain bun type thing with peanut butter and banana on top for a quick breakfast, and then I took a much needed shower. I spent my free time writing a blog post (the one above) until Matilda got home from work around 1:45pm, and then headed out to explore more of her town!

Food Trucks & Exploration

Thai Noodles with Veggies

The Linköping Stadsfest (Cityfest) is happening this week, so there are lots of activities going on, and we decided to grab lunch at one of the food trucks in the city. There were different trucks from different places all over the world (USA, Italy, France, Poland, Hungary, Greece, etc.) which provided us with lots of options to choose from! I was looking for lunch food, but there was one booth that was completely stocked with giant mounds of fudge in almost any flavor you could think of, and it was very hard to resist—it smelled so yummy! I narrowed down my food truck choices to kabobs from Poland, a Greek gyro, or noodles with vegetables from Thailand. In the end, I chose the noodles with vegetables, which ended up to be kind of disappointing, but tasty nonetheless. Matilda went a sweeter route and got a Nutella and strawberry filled crepe, which looked amazing! After we filled our bellies, we walked around the botanical garden, watched some of the Cityfest rides being set up, did a quick grocery store run, and then headed home. We arrived home around 5:30pm, and we laid low the rest of the evening. We watched a few more episodes of One Tree Hill, ate some dinner and ice cream, figured out our plans for tomorrow, and then I retired to my bedroom. 

I just finished packing my things for our trip to Göteborg (Gothenburg) tomorrow! We are going to go to an amusement park from 3:00pm-11:00pm with one of Matilda’s friends, and then we’ll do a bit of exploring on Friday before we head back home. The bus ride is about 4 hours long, but the bus looks super comfy and we’re bringing some entertainment with us, so it won’t be too bad! 

I know it’s only been one full day, but I am loving Sweden and the feeling of being immersed in a different culture. I am looking forward to all the other adventures we have planned over the next 3 weeks! We have to be up at 6:00am tomorrow to catch our bus at 7:40am, so I am going to say goodnight!

God natt och dröm sött! 

(Good night and sweet dreams!)

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Saturday, August 22nd

Hello everyone! It is 10:09am on Saturday, August 22nd, and I’m taking a moment to check in with everyone and tell you all about our trip to Göteborg (Gothenburg)! 

A Brief Jane Update

I’ve been having a little trouble sleeping (waking up in the middle of the night and can’t fall back asleep) and I am a little homesick at times (which has surprised me), but aside from those minor inconveniences, things are great! 

Thursday, August 20th

Thursday Scramble to the Bus

On Thursday, August 20th, we woke up early to catch our bus to Göteborg (Gothenburg). I woke up around 6:00am, but that didn’t give me enough time to get ready, as I was in the middle of packing some food for the trip when Matilda came and asked if I was ready to go. I threw all my food in a bag, stuck it in my backpack, and we rushed out the door. We sped walked to the bus stop up the road to catch a bus to get to the bus that was taking us to Göteborg (so many buses!), and we arrived at our destination with plenty of time to spare.

The Bus to Göteborg

The bus to Göteborg was a double decker bus complete with a wc (bathroom), reclining chairs, electrical outlets, and free wifi (which made the 4 hour bus ride much more comfortable), and it left the station promptly at 7:25am. I must admit that I wasn’t feeling too hot during the bus ride. I was extremely tired due to lack of sleep the night before, I had a headache (which I’m assuming was caused by caffeine withdrawal, as I haven’t been having my daily coffee like I do back home), and the bus was making me nauseous. About 3/4 way through the ride, we decided

to move up to the very front of the bus, which helped with the motion sickness a bit, and the view out the giant window from the top of the double decker bus was great! We finally arrived at Central Station in Göteborg around 11:30am and made the 1 mile or so walk to our hotel. 

Gothia Towers

The hotel we stayed at was called Gothia Towers, and it was located directly across the street from Liseberg, the amusement park we were going to later that afternoon. Thankfully we were able to check in early, which gave us time to eat some food, relax, and get ready before we walked across the street to meet Matilda’s friend, Janni, at Liseberg. 

Liseberg

We headed to Liseberg around 2:00pm and walked around a little bit until the park gates opened at 3:00pm. After buying our wristbands, we headed into the park and met up with Janni. I was a little worried that I wouldn’t be able to handle too many rides because I get motion sick quite easily, but I was able to go on more rides than I thought! The details of the day (the order in which we rode the rides/which rides went on before or after dinner) are a bit fuzzy already, so I’m just going to list all of the rides we went on and then tell you a little bit about each one. I will also link the italicized name to the description and picture of the ride on the Liseberg website!

Balder—Balder is a brown wooden roller coaster with a very steep initial drop (70 degrees I think) and a lot more ups and downs along the way! It was fun, but a little too hilly for me.

Lisebergbanan—I do believe this rollercoaster is an original/the first rollercoaster of the park. The front cart is shaped like a train, which made the ride more entertaining. This one had lots of speed and big turns, but not too many drops. I really liked it! 

Lisberghjulet—Also know as “The Liseberg Wheel”, which was a ferris wheel! We went on this ride twice to help us relax after the more intense rides. The second time we rode on it was during the sunset, which was beautiful, but it was hard to get decent pictures through the glass. 

Kållerado—This was a ride down the rapids in one of those giant circular tubes (very similar to the rapids ride at Valley Fair). None of us really wanted to get wet, so we cheated and bought ponchos out of the vending machine (ha!). 

Slänggungan—This ride is your basic swing ride. It looks like a giant tree/carousel and the swings are hanging down from it. This ride makes you feel like your free, floating around in a circle high in the air, but it definitely made me nauseas. Swings are not my friend, but they’re so fun!

AtmosFear—I am happy to say that we all went on this ride and lived to tell the tale! AtmosFear is the tallest free fall attraction in Europe, standing at 116 meters (381 ft) and reaching the speed of 110 kph (70mph). Janni and I were reluctant to go on this ride (Janni’s afraid of heights and I’m afraid of stomach issues), but Matilda convinced us to go in the end. I’m really glad we faced our fears and went on this ride, because the view overlooking Göteborg at sunset was beautiful, and it turned out to be an exciting ride! I couldn’t stop laughing once we were back on the ground. 

Uppswinget—This ride is basically an extreme swing (again, very similar to the one at Valley Fair). I love this ride, but I know it makes me sick, so we saved it for last. 

Kristallsalongen—I almost forgot the House of Mirrors! It's not so much a ride as it is a fun house...of mirrors...it's pretty self explanatory! All of the distorted images of ourselves provided us with lots and lots of laughter!

Fun at Liseberg

So there you have it! Those are all of the rides we went on together. Matilda and Janni went on a very intense rollercoaster called “Helix” two times, both of which I opted out of. For dinner we got kebab from a place called “t.ex Kebab”. Kebab is basically a plate of your choice of meat, french fries, and some lettuce, doused in a creamy type of sauce (similar to ranch dressing in a way). It was fun to eat something I have never eaten before, and it was a yummy amusement park treat. Before we left the park around 11:00pm, we treated ourselves to Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and visited the gift shop. We made the very short walk back to our hotel, said goodbye to Janni, and turned in for the night.

Friday, August 21st

Free Breakfast, Yay!

Continental Breakfast at Gothia Towers

It is now the morning of Friday, August 21st. I didn’t sleep very well that night, but knowing that there was free breakfast waiting for me downstairs made it much easier to get out of bed when my alarm went off at 7:40am. Matilda and I were both very excited for the continental breakfast, so we made ourselves (somewhat) presentable and headed downstairs to eat. The breakfast choices in Sweden are quite a bit different than the breakfast choices in the US, and there was a huge selection of food to choose from. The largest table had all different kinds of breads and rolls, another table was filled with lunch meats, cheeses, vegetables, and herring, there was a yogurt bar, a table of fruit, a table of coffee, tea, and some little cakes, and then there was a table of hot foods including eggs, bacon, meatballs, pancakes (Swedish style), and more. I stayed within my comfort zone and created a plate comprised of two slices of ham, a few cucumber slices, a Swedish pancake with strawberry jam, scrambled eggs, a piece of melon, an orange slice, and a tiny square of a cake. Oh, and a cup of coffee on the side, of course! The food was all very tasty, and after we had our fill we returned to our room to pack our things. After we were all packed and ready to go, we checked out and then checked our bags at the hotel so we didn’t have to carry them with us all day while we explored Göteborg. 

Exploring Göteborg

Boat Tour in Göteborg

We left the hotel around 10:30am, and our day of exploring Göteborg began. We did a little shopping and sightseeing before we took a boat tour through the canal! The tour was about 50 minutes long, and it took us through the canal, out into the harbor, and back. We went under many different bridges that each had their own name and meaning, which was really neat. The tour guide (who explained everything in Swedish AND English, yay!) pointed out many different sights and told us lots of fun facts about Göteborg (*I will post these pictures/explanations when I return home).  After the boat tour, we walked over to the Botanical Garden. This is when things took a turn for the worse. Begin: The Great Phone Chase. We were taking pictures of some flowers by the fountain in the center of the garden when Matilda realized she didn’t have her phone. We scoured the area we were currently at and retraced our steps all the way back to the boat tour, but there was no phone to be found. We tried calling Matilda’s phone from another person’s phone, but still nothing. At that point we were thinking she either dropped it and someone stole it, or she was pit pocketed, which wasn’t likely. In a last ditch effort, Matilda suggested we find free wifi so we could connect to Facebook from my phone. We found a McDonalds nearby and connected to Facebook. Against all odds, there was a comment notification from Matilda’s dad on the picture I had posted and tagged Matilda in the day before. His comment told us that someone had called him saying they had found Matilda’s phone! We knew at that point that the phone was safe, but we still needed to call Matilda’s phone to find out exactly where to pick it up, so we ran back to the boat tour place and asked to borrow their phone. A guy who works in the garden answered and explained that he had found the phone lying on a bench and called the most recently/frequently called number (Matilda’s dad). He told us his location, and we rushed to go meet up with him at the playground in the garden, which is where we were finally reunited with the phone! My prayers were definitely answered that day, and my faith in humanity was restored. It’s moments like these when I’m very thankful for modern day technology! We breathed many sighs of relief before making our way through the rest of the botanical garden. We took a look inside the greenhouse and then walked around a little garden with lots of different flowers before it was time for us to make our way back to the hotel to pick up our bags. We arrived at the hotel, claimed our bags, and went to the bathroom before making the 1 mile walk back to the bus station. 

Goodbye Göteborg: The Bus Ride Home

The bus we took home wasn’t as fancy as the one we took to get to Göteborg, but it was still a comfy ride nonetheless. We took seats in the very back of the bus, drew the curtains, and got settled in. It felt sooo good to sit down after a long day on our feet! A little under an hour into the 4 hour bus ride we decided to watch a movie, so we put on “The Grand Budapest Hotel”. We started strong, but eventually all the action of the day caught up with us and we both ended up nodding off. We still had about 1.5 hours left of the bus ride when we came to, but it went by fairly quickly. Matilda’s dad picked us up from the bus station around 8:30pm and brought us back home.

Family Dinner

Family Dinner - Group Photo

We got home and freshened up a bit before Matilda’s sister Malin and her husband Peter arrived for a family dinner to say goodbye to Mikael before he and Saow leave for their 3 week trip to Thailand next Wednesday. Saow made three different Thai dishes to be served over rice, which were all very delicious! Matilda’s dad and Saow don’t really speak English at all, but Matilda, Malin, and Peter do, so I was able to converse with them in English, but most of the evening was spoken in Swedish. It was fun listening to the conversation and trying to pick out words that I knew. It was around 11:45pm when I was struggling to stay awake, so I said goodnight to everyone and headed to bed. I was feeling quite homesick this evening, so I looked at pictures of my parents and snuggled with a Twins blanket before drifting off to sleep. 

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Monday, August 24th

Good morning from Sweden! It is 9:42am on Monday, August 24th, and I have just finished eating my breakfast of oatmeal with raisins and banana. Matilda is working with her sister until around 2:00-3:00pm today, and once they get home we are going to Smultronstället Glassrestaurang, which is an ice cream restaurant! Cool, right?!

I have filled you in on our adventures through Friday, August 21st, so I will now fill you in on everything we did over the weekend, starting on Saturday, August 22nd! 

Saturday, August 22nd

Adventure Golf & Ice Cream in Berg Slussar

Adventure Golf in Berg

My alarm woke me up on Saturday, August 22nd around 9:00am. I slept through the night and probably could have slept more, but it was time to get ready to take on the day! Matilda’s sister Malin and her husband Peter picked us up at 11:15am and dropped us off in Berg, where we were meeting Matilda’s friends Charlie and Victoria for Adventure Golf (mini golf)! We arrived in Berg (slussar) an hour early, so we did some exploring first. The Berg slussar, Göta kanal is located there, along with Roxen Lake, so we walked down the hill alongside the canal to the lake. It was a beautiful lake, and there were people hanging out at the beach and sunbathing on the hills by the canal. Around 12:15pm, we made our way back up to the mini golf building, met with Charlie and Victoria, and began our game of adventure golf! Charlie used to play in a mini golf league, so he crushed us all. Victoria and Matilda did well, and Matilda even got a hole in one! I started off doing pretty well, but I lost my touch as the game went on (I clearly didn’t inherit my dad’s golfing skills). I came in dead last, but Matilda only beat me by one point! After our golf game, we got some ice cream and sat on a grassy hill and simply enjoyed the sunny summer day. We took the bus back to Linköping around 2:30pm. 

Lunch & Shopping in Linköping

The Linköping Stadsfest (Cityfest) we went to a couple days before was still in full swing, and Charlie and Victoria wanted to check out the food trucks. After seeing all the choices, they decided they wanted to go to Subway instead. As a tourist in a foreign country, I found this to be very amusing, but if I were back home I probably would have done the same thing! Subway always smells the same, so I felt right at home! Haha. Matilda and I were still full from ice cream, so we didn’t get subs. After Charlie and Victoria finished eating, we did a little shopping at H&M and The New Yorker in an attempt to find me a pair of shorts. I brought 3 pairs of sports shorts with me, but I don’t own a pair of decent jean shorts. Matilda and I had looked for some in Göteborg, but we came up empty. I ended up finding a pair of jean shorts on sale at The New Yorker for about $11.50! They were a little short for my liking, but they were rolled up at the bottom and I could see that it would be easy to rip out the seams and roll them down (which it was)! We then said goodbye to Charlie and Victoria and made a quick stop at the grocery store before walking home.  We had a couple of hours to kill once we got home before we needed to get ready for the Måns concert that evening at 9:00pm, so we relaxed, ate dinner, and watched some One Tree Hill. 

Måns Concert at the Linköping Stadsfest

Måns

We grabbed our cameras and left for the Måns concert around 8:00pm. We walked around and looked at all the rides and games before meeting up with Malin and her friend Sophia at the concert stage. The concert was amazing, and I think Måns is now one of my new favorite artists! Måns Zelmerlöw was on American Idol a long time ago, but he got his big break when he won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2015. Most of his songs are in English, but he also sang a couple in Swedish and did a really funny sing-a-long song. One of the band members translated the sing-a-long song to English, and it was hilarious! There were 17,000 people in attendance that evening which set the record for the highest attended concert in Linköping! Overall, the concert was lots of fun, and I’m really glad I got to experience some good music while in Sweden. :)

Sunday, August 23rd

Hockey Game—Linköping HC vs. SC Bern

LHC Hockey Game

The only thing on our agenda for Sunday was a LHC (Linköping Hockey Club) hockey game—yay, hockey! It was nice to have a low-key day after a few days of what felt like non-stop action.  Matilda worked until 10:00am, and we didn’t leave for the hockey game until around 1:15pm, so I spent the morning blogging before getting ready for the game. We did a little sightseeing down by the river near the hockey arena before meeting up with Charlie and Victoria for the hockey game at 3:00pm. We made our way to the Saab Arena, bought our tickets, and found some seats. It was a really fun game, and Linköping HC beat SC Bern 3-2 in a shootout! After the game, we said goodbye to Charlie and Victoria and headed home. We made a quick stop at the grocery store for Matilda, and a stop at Subway for me. I was craving Subway after visiting it the day before, so I picked up a sub to bring home for dinner. Matilda whipped up a quick dinner for herself once we got home, and then we settled into our usual routine of watching One Tree Hill before bed. About two episodes in, I started craving ice cream, so we paused our show and walked to the tiny grocery down the street to pick up my favorite kind, Nogger, which is vanilla ice cream with a hazelnut nougat (?) swirl. I also picked up a chocolate bar, because the chocolate here is sooo good! Anyways, we got back home, watched a couple more episodes of One Tree Hill, and then got ready for bed. I retired to my room and read a few verses from my Bible before turning in for the night. 

Monday, August 24th

And now we are back to today, Monday, August 24th! It is now 10:54am (blogging is time consuming!), and as I mentioned before, Matilda is working with her sister until around 2:00-3:00pm, so I’m spending the morning catching up on my blog. I am thinking about showering and possibly taking a walk down the road to get some coffee and enjoy the fresh air. I will check back in later tonight! I hope you are all doing well! xo
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Good evening everyone! 

It's 10:08pm, and I am finally sitting down to finish this weeks blog post! I did end up going for a nice little walk this morning/afternoon, and I didn't get lost, so that's a major plus! I basically left the apartment and walked in a straight line the entire way. I ended up coming across a little grocery store, so I poked my head in there and examined the food and candy selections. There's something about foreign foods that draw me in...I'm definitely going to need to stock up before I head back to the US! I showered and ate lunch once I got back to the apartment, and then I laid low until Matilda and Malin arrived home from work at 2:30pm. They changed out of their work clothes and then we headed out to get ice cream at Smultronstället Glassrestaurang in Soderkoping!

Smultronstället Glassrestaurang

"Casino"

So much ice cream!

The 45 minute drive to Soderkoping was very scenic with lots farmland. We found a place to park and walked to the ice cream restaurant, which was located by the Göta Canal. The Göta canal stretches 190 km, and it's the same canal by the adventure golf course we were at on Saturday! Once we were seated, we then had to choose one ice cream dish from the 30+ page menu. This was definitely one of the hardest decisions I've had to make on this trip so far! ;) All of the descriptions of the dishes were in Swedish, but there was a picture of the dish as well which helped a lot! I was looking for something with chocolate, and I ended up choosing a dish called "Casino", which had chocolate fudge ice cream, hazelnut ice cream, and tons of hot fudge topped with a playing card, a little tennis ball keychain, two wafer straws, lots of whipped cream, and a cherry on top! Wowzas! Can you say ice cream coma?! The serving glass was as big as my head! I ate nearly all of it, and I regret nothing. It was a delicious, one of a kind experience! (*Shoutout to my aunt Alice: I was thinking of you! You would have been proud!)

Overlooking Soderkoping

After we let the ice cream settle in our stomachs or a while, we went across the canal and took a mini hike up lots of stairs to a gazebo overlooking the city. The view from the top was beautiful, and it felt so peaceful up there. Looking out, you could see the entire city and some farmland in the distance. There was a slight breeze and the sun provided a warm evening glow. Hearing the sounds of the city from afar and breathing in the fresh air was just so refreshing. There was a slight feeling of fall in the air tonight, which makes me happy. I love summer, but I am ready for fall weather so I can wear sweaters and drink lots of warm coffee. :) Anyways, we eventually made our way back down the stairs, wandered by the canal for a little while, and then headed to the car to go home. We arrived home around 7:30pm, and Matilda and I spent the rest of the night watching a few episodes of One Tree Hill before saying goodnight. 
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This concludes the tales from the first week of my European adventures. I hope you enjoyed the read! Stay tuned for a post next week documenting the second week of my trip.

♥ Jane 

(Shoutout to my parents: I think of you everyday - love and miss you lots!)