Tag Travel

In 1934, a group of Sierra Club volunteers built a rustic, hostel-style retreat for hikers, skiers, and mountain climbers.

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Being the place I grew up, Oakland holds a special place in my heart. However, I’ll admit there’s a lot about it that I don’t know.

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Sea otters might not be the cutest animal on the planet (have you seen pictures of a Siberian flying squirrel??), but they are pretty darn cute.

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Libraries are one of my favorite places to visit when I’m traveling or in search of somewhere to work. Sure, coffee shops are great (I’m writing this from a coffee shop), but constanly buying coffee does a number on my wallet and my stomach. Plus, as a book-lover, being surrounded by stacks of books and that distinct old-book smell is always comforting wherever I am. If you’re not already convinced by the old-book smell, libraries also often have free wifi.

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Libraries I’ve Visited (and What I’ve Learned From Them)

Rockridge Public Library

California, United States

Tip: If you’re going to be working on your laptop, don’t leave it unattended.

This depends on where you are, but especially if you don’t know the area too well, don’t leave it up to chance. Especially in cities like Oakland, laptops will get stolen. If you have to go to the bathroom (another benefit of libraries: usually free bathrooms), take your laptop with you. It’s weird, but what’s worse — some weird looks or ending up laptop-less?

Other than the theft problem, the Rockridge library has everything you could want: free wifi, bathrooms, water fountain, seating, computers, charging outlets, and plenty of books. My favorite part is the puzzle table.

UC Berkeley Doe Library

California, United States

Tip: For university libraries, check ahead of time to make sure you can get in — some are only available to students or faculty. Also, sometimes they only have Edurome wifi, which you need an account connected to a university.

The Doe Library is open to anyone and it is beautiful. If you’re in the area and want a student atmosphere, this is the place. Book shelves lining the walls, high ceilings, and big windows, it really is a picturesque place to get some work done. Word of warning though: if I remember correctly, the library uses Edurome wifi which might be only for students or people with an active Edurome account.

Sheffield Central Library

Sheffield, England

Tip: If your laptop has minimal battery life like mine, sus out a desk or area with outlets within reach. If you don’t need to plug in, areas that aren’t close to outlets will likely be more available.

The best place I found for outlets in this library was the computer room. On the top floor the library also has a cafe, but when I was there, it was closed. Note: when the cafe is closed, so is the bathroom! You can also cross the street and hang out in the Winter Gardens which also has free wifi and you get to be surrounded by plants (but there aren’t any outlets).

Boulder Main Library

Colorado, United States

Tip: Libraries often have printers you can use for a small fee. If you don’t have a printer or you’re traveling without access to a printer, this can be a great option.

Boulder’s Main Library was semi-recently renovated and it is beautiful. Not old-time, dramatic architecture beautiful, but still really nice. They also often have free events and classes and are right by Boulder Creek so you can check out a book and go read by the creek.

Hulme High Street Library

Manchester, England

Tip: Libraries are a great place to look at newspapers or magazines if you don’t want to shell out for a subscription or would rather share and conserve paper.

Bonus tip: going to libraries when traveling is often where you can meet locals or actually get an idea of the area — look at what books they display, hang out, meet people. They will also often have little local history or art exibits too.

This library is in connection with a leisure center, so it’s not huge, but it still has a good selection. I was especially interested to see what books they were putting on show (a lot of self-help books). Nothing ridiculously special, but the wifi was good and the atmosphere felt very local.

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Beautiful Libraries on My Bucket List

These libraries look incredible and I would love to visit them. At the same time, most of these breathtaking book-houses, are not exactly you’re standard public library. Many, you can’t just get in and go on your laptop. They are tourist attractions (still beautiful though!).

If you want somewhere for refuge from the tourists or to get some work done, I would try a quick google search of the closest public library in your area. You can try university libraries, but those won’t often be open to the public. Google Maps is honestly your best friend in this case.

The John Rylands Library

Manchester, England

This library is part of the University of Manchester and may be a little exclusive if you’re not a student. The website says you have to pay (£75 per year) to be an external member of the library, but for a one time visit, you can get in with a photo ID.

Bodleian Library

Oxford, England

Again, as a university library, it’s not entirely open to the public, but you can visit and take a tour. Just think of it as visiting a castle for books.

Bibliotheque Interuniversitaire de la Sorbonne

Paris, France

University library again, so maybe a little exclusive. Maybe they’d let you take a quick tour of the place? Or you might be able to pre-register as a visitor, but they seem to be pretty specific that you need to be a student, teacher, or researcher.

Admont Abbey Library

Admont, Austria

The library of Admon Abbey is apparently the world’s largest monastery library. According to their website, “The library holds some 70,000 volumes while the Abbey in total owns nearly 200,000 books.”

The library is open to the public (huzzah!), but there is an entrance fee. It’s a tourist attraction at this point, after all. With seven ceiling frescos and elaborate, limewood carvings, I’d pay the €11.50 to spend a day here.

Strahov Monastery Library

Prague, Czech Republic

Again in a monastery (did you know monasteries had this many gorgeous libraries?), but it is open to the public! For a fee, that is. Again — tourist attraction.

The library does have a reading room if you’re trying to get some research in and, as far as I can tell, it’s open to the public.

Real Gabinete Português De Leitura

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The Real Gabinete may not be open to the public. I can’t even tell if this one is open to visitors. One can only hope though…

Rampur Raza Library

Rampur, India

Even if you can’t go inside, just the outside is worth visiting. Talk about palace of knowledge.

Wiblingen Abbey Library

Ulm, Germany

Yes, another monastery. Admission is €5, but that’s for the monastery’s library and museum and includes an audio guide. Not too bad if you ask me. It’s not so much of a reading library, but you can’t say these monasteries didn’t value books.

This event was how my list of dumb shit I’ve done began in the first place. Good times… Or in this case, incredibly stressful and stupid times.

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Before you board a plane, read the plane ticket. Just do it. Even if the text is crazy small and upside down.

Lumbering down the corridor in the Edinburgh airport at 6:15 am I sorely regretted not fully reading my plane ticket (dumb move #1). I was a mess. My shoes were untied, belt was half on, and I was sweating like a beer-bellied man trying to run in the summer. I had a pack on my back and front and both were swinging and bumping against me as I “ran”. I had run all the way back to check-in, gotten the stupid blue verified stamp on my boarding pass, and gone back through security all because the woman at the boarding gate wouldn’t let me on the plane without that stamp. The gate was at the end of this corridor.

I turned the last corner and Cam was walking towards me carrying his two packs. He shook his head. I collapsed against the wall letting my bags slip down. The tears I’d been forcing back (it hadn’t been a disaster yet) came down full force (it was now a disaster). I was in full toddler tantrum mode in the middle of an airport hallway. Probably not my best moment. I later realized if I had known Cam was going to wait for me regardless, I could have left my bags with him and run through without them (dumb move #2).

Lumbering down the corridor in the Edinburgh airport at 6:15 am I sorely regretted not fully reading my plane ticket (dumb move #1).

When Cam got to me, I wiped my cheeks and stared up at him. His shoulders hunched as he looked at me. He had bags under his eyes. His brown curly hair frizzed like he’d just gotten out of bed, but I knew he hadn’t slept at all that night. “Have they closed the gate?” I asked. I guessed the answer, but couldn’t help hoping.

“Yeah,” Cam said. “Riccardo and I tried to stop them as long as we could, but they weren’t having any of it.” Cam shook his head. “We can try to go back though.”

I got up, trying to put myself back together, and we walked back to gate 21. Just the one woman who sent me off in the first place was at the counter. The doors behind her were shut. She looked up with a completely straight face. “We’ve already shut the gates, there is absolutely no entry.”

“Is there not anything you can do?” Cam asked. “If not you, then could we maybe speak to your manager and maybe they can do something?”

I later realized if I had known Cam was going to wait for me regardless, I could have left my bags with him and run through without them (dumb move #2).

“No. I am the floor supervisor and even if there was something I could do, the plane as already left. You’ll have to go to the ticket desk and try to get on the next flight to Malaga.”

She was in no mood for trying to help. I assumed she was at the end of working the nightshift so she was just tired and done with people; especially dumb Americans who can’t read their boarding pass. I didn’t blame her. I picked up my things, tears blurring my vision, and started walking away. Cam followed.

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Turned out the next flight from Edinburgh to Malaga was in two days, but we were able to get a flight from Glasgow to Madrid for the next morning without having to buy new tickets. We got a bus to Glasgow, I speed booked a “Wee Bungalow” on AirBnB for the night, and we camped out in Strathclyde’s student union until 2 pm when we could check in. I had wanted to visit Glasgow at some point anyway. Preferably when I had actually planned to go to Glasgow, but beggars can’t be choosers.

For dinner, we went to a restaurant our AirBnB host, Francis, recommended called Piccolo Mondo. She’d never been there, but it was apparently ‘where the young people liked to eat.’ It looked like a mix between a romantic Italian restaurant, a sports pub, and a club. The red carpet and candles said restaurant, the massive TVs playing football said sports pub, and the loud electronic music said club.

“How much you wanna bet Francis recommended this place for the steaks because I’m American?”

“Oh, I’m sure that’s why she recommended it. All you Americans are the same, aren’t you? You love your fast food and steaks.” (Francis had recommended McDonnalds and Burger King first.)

When we got our food Cam said, “just think, if you hadn’t missed the flight, we would never have discovered this restaurant.” Cam took a bite of his haggis.

“I know. You should be thanking me, really. Who wants to follow the plans anyway? Gotta keep you on your toes.” I picked at my pasta trying to avoid the onions. “So I listened to this podcast about adventure writing a couple months ago and the guy said every time he’s in some shitty situation, his first thought is, ‘This is going to make such a good story.'”

Cam laughed. “This is definitely quite a story.”

“Exactly! This entire time, I’ve just been thinking, at least I’m getting a good story.”

Cam nodded. “At this point, you probably have enough material for a book.”

“Oh, I have a full series. It’ll be called Dumb Shit I do.”

“But would you separate them by categories or time?” Cam asked, laughing.

‘Categories.’ I thought for a moment. “It could be a trilogy.” I counted them off with my fingers. “Dumb shit I do mountaineering, dumb shit I do traveling, and dumb shit I do in general.’”

Cam snickered. “Half the travel one would just be on getting to Spain.”

“At this rate, Spain is going to have its own special edition.”

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Fast forward to the Madrid airport (I made the flight this time, we don’t have to talk about it anymore). We had two hours to get from the airport to the train station before the last train of the day left. Now, when you have plans to catch a train in a different country, the logical thing would be to buy tickets ahead of time, right? Well, I didn’t (dumb move #3).

When you have plans to catch a train in a different country, the logical thing would be to buy tickets ahead of time, right? Well, I didn’t (dumb move #3).

One wrong bus incident later, and we’d made it to the station 10 minutes before the train would leave. Would have been fine if we already had tickets, but we couldn’t get the ticket machine to work. It only took contactless and my card is not that advanced. (Turns out you can use Apple Pay as contactless to avoid this issue. Dumb move #4.) So, instead of being on the train, we successfully watched the train station’s LED display board change our train’s status from arrived, to departing, to departed.

Apparently the universe had decided we would be renting a car and doing a 7-hour road trip to Ronda instead. The good news: we still got a whole 8 hours in our AirBnB in Ronda, and we were able to drive up the hill to where we were staying in El Chorro for the rest of the week.

I was trying to save my traveling stories of dumb shit I do for some perfect time or ideal publication but honestly, I think it’s funny, so I want to share it with you.

I’ve noticed that some of my favorite traveling stories to share with people are often the ones I should probably be embarrassed about. But who doesn’t like to laugh at that idiot person who bought a small package of yeast thinking it was butter? I know I do.

While all these could potentially be short stories, for now, they are just a list. Maybe I’ll start writing about each one individually and if I do, I’ll start linking to that full story. On that note, if there’s one where you desperately need to hear the whole story, let me know! Put it in a comment! Send me an email! Write a personalized post card! It’s your choice really.

So without further ramblings,

The Dumb Shit I’ve Done Traveling:

Israel/Euro-trip:

• Somehow losing an entire outfit without realizing it. I still don’t know where I left them.

• Buying sparkling red wine when I wanted normal cheap red wine. On the bright side — I will never forget that frizzante means sparkling or fizzy in Italian.

• Slicing the tip of my thumb while cutting chorizo. I have no excuses for this one other than the chorizo was really good and the knife was really sharp.

• Dropping a hot oven tray on my knee. I was trying to save a pizza, can you blame me? Why anyone trusted me to take a sliding pizza out of the oven is another question.

• Buying a cube of yeast thinking it was a baby cube of butter. It fit in the palm of my hand. It was SO cute. Fun fact though, fresh yeast does not taste cute.

• Almost taking someone else’s bread at a bakery because the woman put it on the counter next to mine. The first time, the lady laughed, and we moved on. The next morning when I accidentally did it again she was not so amused. What can I say, shopping in a language I don’t know is stressful.

• Forgetting to put on sunscreen then going climbing in the sun for four hours. The word for after-sun in French is après-soleil.

Iceland:

• Making a detailed itinerary of my cycling route, then forgetting the itinerary in the pack I left behind.

• Also, conveniently leaving my journal I was going to document the trip with in that pack.

• Not realizing there was a specific bike path and biking on a motorway. In my defense, it hadn’t looked like a motorway at first.

• Buying a can of beans then not having a can opener. Note to self: not all cans are easy open.

• The biggest one for Iceland: Not being much of a cyclist and deciding to do a 6-day bikepacking trip by myself. Who’d have thought that was a bad idea?

Spain:

• My personal favorite: Not reading the fine print on my plane ticket and missing the flight because I hadn’t gotten a visa stamp at the check-in desk.

• Boarding the wrong bus and then missing the last train of the day because I hadn’t bought tickets ahead of time.

• Leaving a bathing suite out to dry at your hostel is a practical thing to do, right? Less practical — forgetting to repack it before leaving the hostel.

Hopefully, this has made you feel better about your traveling incidents. Or maybe you’re a perfect traveler, in which case, hopefully I’ve given you a reason to laugh or be deeply confused at how anyone could travel so much and still make so many mistakes. Maybe both.

Happy traveling!

Nine days is hardly enough time to see an entire country, but Birthright sure does try to pack it all in and make it work. Our leaders and tour guide herded all 29 of us from one place to another to make sure we got the “authentic” experience. Sound contradictory to you? Me too. However, with the restraints the trip has, the trip did a pretty great job. I didn’t know what I was expecting, but in the end it was definitely a trip I’m happy I made.

What is Birthright?

Birthright is a trip to Israel for youth from 18 to 26 years old (there’s now also a 27 to 32 option) who have any sort of Jewish background. The trip is funded in part by the Israeli government, but primarily by donations (especially from a few super donor billionaires with known political leanings…). At the same time, Birthright says they are apolitical and mean to show Israel without bias. I think they may try to do this, but there will always at least be some bias and there is something to be said for looking for more information than just the facts that they give (same with information from any source, really).

In short, Birthright is the main organization, which pays other tour services to actually lead the trips. Because of that, there are a ton of different types of trips with different themes and goals. The trip I did was called “Hi-Gear” and advertised outdoor adventure. There were other themes like cooking, LGBT, classic, and history. Really a big, “choose your own Jewish adventure”.

The Itinerary

There are certain parts of every trip that is all the same, then extra sites depending on the trip type. In general, the trips are all pretty streamlined, so I’m not going to spend too much time on it. My trip went something like this:

Day one/Thursday: Get into Tel Aviv super late and drive 1 ½ hours to the hotel.

Day two/Friday: 6:30 am start then four hour drive south, hiking, short rappel, and night in Eilat.

Day three/Saturday: Shabbat. Geopolitical lecture and beach swimming. Night out in Eilat.

Day four/Sunday: Early morning hike and snorkeling in Eilat, then 4 hour drive to Tel Aviv. Night out in Tel Aviv.

Day five/Monday: 7 am breakfast to drive 1 ½ hours from Netanya to Tel Aviv. Day in Tel Aviv then driving 3 hours north.

Day six/Tuesday: Early morning hike then a glass of wine at a winery and rafting after.

Day seven/Wednesday: Early start to drive 3 hours back to Tel Aviv for the Holocaust Remembrance Museum. 2 hour drive south. Camping (getting to sleep around 12 am).

Day eight/Thursday: 3:30 am wake up to hike Masada and see the sunrise. Camel riding, the dead sea, and Krav Maga after dinner.

Day nine/Friday: Day in Jerusalem. Shabbat dinner.

Day ten/Saturday: Shabbat. Relaxing, packing, looking back on the trip. Then bus to the airport (for everyone not extending) at 1:30 am.

One prevailing factor on the trip: a whole lot of activity and driving with a distinct lack of sleep. On the other hand, we covered a lot of ground, spent a lot of time outside, and learned a lot about Israel and different people’s perspectives on being Jewish. The good and bad of a packed schedule.

The Experience

If you’ve read any of my past posts, you’ll know I usually travel solo. This was very different. We clogged sidewalks and took over restaurants. I was now a part of the matching-shirt-lanyard-wearing groups that I try to avoid. Add in my general introverted tendencies, and big groups can get overwhelming. Half the time, I’d almost guiltily pass up going for drinks with everyone to sit in my room by myself instead.

We were shuttled around, told interesting information about the places we saw, and spoon fed facts about the culture. I shut my brain off and enjoyed the ride, but I wouldn’t call it an active learning experience. I only really put the cities together when I was on my own taking the bus through Jerusalem and the train to and from Tel Aviv.

On the other hand, the people I met on the trip made being in a group worth it. In some ways, it turned into a classic high school scene with cliques and status. At the same time, everyone was nice, welcoming and no one acted “better” than anyone else. There wasn’t a single person in the group you couldn’t have a productive, fun, or interesting conversation with. Hearing other people’s stories and perspectives was probably the most memorable part of the trip.

Mid-way through the trip, I created a goal to get candid photos of every person in our group. I wanted to get photos of people when they weren’t posing, but just being themselves. I did better for some photos than for others. By the end, getting all 30+ became a bit of a rush order and I admit, some people’s photos ended up posed. A good portion of the group also probably saw me taking what looked like creepy stalker photos. Some of the photos I was pretty happy with though. At one point, maybe I’ll post all of them (with everyone’s permission of course) but for now, a couple of my favorites.

So long for now, Iceland

It’s been almost a week since I’ve left Iceland and I cannot believe how quickly it all went. It feels like just yesterday I was getting pelted with rain and wind while attempting to cycle up hills… Good times. To sum up, I wanted to do a bit of an overview of the route I ended up doing and since visuals are always helpful:

So, if I had managed to cycle the entire route, I would have travelled approximately 208 miles/335 km and climbed 4,022 ft/ 1,226 meters in six days. Since I did not cycle the entire way, my estimated total is actually something around 142 miles/ 228 km and 2,367 ft/ 721 meters in six days. Slightly less impressive, but I’ll take it. Of course, that does include carrying all the food, camping gear, clothes, and toiletries on the bike and on a bike, that weight adds up.

Funniest part of the trip was when I tried to get off my bike on the side of the road, lost my balance, and just tipped over because of how heavy the panniers were. Of course, the whole bike tipped over on top of me too. I inwardly hope some driver passing by did a spit-take or something seeing this cyclist all decked out in waterproof gear randomly tipping over.

Overall though, I’d say it was a success. It was cold, wet, and mentally exhausting, but a success nonetheless. If I had a chance to go back and do it differently, I might have tried to go up the west coast instead, because I heard the weather is sometimes better in that area and it might have been less touristy, but we live and learn.

That’s all for now. Who knows when I’ll get traveling again or where I’ll be going, but hopefully it’ll be soon!

Keeping it chill

As much as adventuring and traveling alone has it’s peaceful and enlightening moments, I have to admit it does have its downsides. For one, I’ve have a lot of time to think about what I’ve left behind in Scotland. The past year, I have made some amazing friends and met people I will never forget. While I hope to stay connected with many of them in this exciting world of technology, it is far from being able to send a quick facebook message and meet up 30 minutes later for a spontaneous sea dip. I miss that. I think it’ll be a long time before I stop missing the community I found in St. Andrews. Traveling alone is such an extreme difference, it’s hard not to miss it even more.

Don’t get me wrong, I love traveling alone – you meet way more new people and get to do exactly what you want without having to compromise. Just today, I’ve met an English guy named Terry who spends 6 months out of every year traveling and a German girl named Carol who also studied English and is now a marketing manager. On the other hand, when I’m by myself in my tent, it’s cold, and the wind is shaking the tent like crazy, it can be hard to remember there’s a world outside the tent where you’re not all alone.

In other news, it took me two hours to cycle just under 10 miles today because of headwind. Some horses looked at me like I was from mars then started running along the fence with me. So far, I’ve had at least seven people say in some way or another either, they’re impressed I’m cycling by myself in Iceland or I’m crazy for cycling by myself in Iceland. I’m inclined to go with the latter.

It’s hard to beat reigning wind

I have to confess that I cheated today (and it’s only the first day!). I got my bike all fitted out from Reykjavik bike tours and as I started cycling, it started raining.

It took me approximately 4 hours to ride 12 miles and I wasn’t even close to where I’d planned to camp for the first night. My waterproof trousers were drenched and when I stood up my shoes made that squashy sound like when you step in mud. I was on flat ground, cycling on the lowest gear, and still struggling because of the headwind. Then add in the hills and I was a goner. The thing that kept me from full tantrum mode though was the little ray of sunlight that created a full rainbow right in front of me.

At the top of a hill I’d been pushing my bike up, a guy with a pickup truck flashed his turn signal and a little further up he pulled over. I struggled back onto my bike and fought my way through the head wind and rain to the truck. Ten minutes drive and one hill later, the guy pointed to the side of the road and said ‘that’s where you’d be 2 hours from now if you’d kept riding.’ We drove another 15 minutes until actually getting to Selfoss.