A Long Introduction…
It’s 6:30 AM and I’m walking past over a bridge on the Limmat river into Zurich’s central train station. Tame Impala’s Let it Happen is blasting in my AirPods. Coffee in hand, I look at my itinerary. Two trains, one bus through the alps, and four hours to make it to Müstair, Switzerland; the “middle of nowhere,” as one Swiss local put it. In this very moment, I am 60% confident in making it smoothly, but vaguely excited for the prospects of getting lost in the Swiss-Italian alps.
My eyes are drooping because I decided to stay up late with Patty from the Philippines and her friends, Kat and Trevor. K and T are one of the coolest couples I’ve ever met, the kind of characters that are hard to forget. Trevor, 26, met Kat skiing in France when he was in the U.S. Air Force stationed in Sicily. Kat, 36, is a general surgeon in Zurich.
Trevor’s now living full time in Switzerland, learning German and getting his degree, while Kat works in the hospital full time. Patty met them while traveling a couple years ago and invited me to tag along to her reunion, adding me to her cadre of travel friends.
I finally peeled myself away from the outdoor bar and excellent conversation (travelers always have good stories to share). I had to go to bed at a somewhat sensible time before the early train journey. The bar, pictured below, on a section of the Limmat river. During the day, these outdoor pools serve as a male-only swimming club. It’s an unofficial gay men’s club, Kat told me
When I finally said my goodbyes — the one with Patty particularly sad, we had spent a couple of days doing some exploring and she feels like a close friend already — I started to walk back to my hostel in Old Town.
As I took a massive chomp out of my late-night sandwich, I looked up and my jaw dropped. Slade!
I spent an entire day with Slade in Lyon, France, last year.
Side note on Slade: during my solo travels I’ve been fortunate enough to encounter really fascinating and especially kind people. Spending the day with Slade reminded me that most people are good, most people are friendly. I’m often a culprit of the northeastern mentality: get your work done, focus on the people close to you, and no time for this sharing-my-truth-with-others BS. But I’ve had some of the best conversations of my life about faith, food, travel, and friendship with people like Slade, or Alicia in Jouques, or Jose & friends in Krakow (thanks for the beers!). Be open (while also being cautious, of course) and you’ll encounter more good than bad.
He’s a South African student in Barcelona. We had an incredible day of conversation and sight-seeing; he was one of my first true travel friends. With Slade I learned that meeting people while solo traveling is especially rewarding when you can be vulnerable — right off the bat, we talked about everything, from religion to family to romance.
I was in Barcelona last week and texted him to see if he was around. Nah, a semester abroad in Germany. But this weekend, it turns out, he was visiting friends in Zurich. We had a quick chat, a big hug, and lots of I-can’t-believe-this!
After that I hurried home, but still didn’t get a lick of sleep. Switzerland isn’t equipped for this ~great European heat wave~ (and neither am I…what do I miss most about America? AC everywhere…and ). It was about 90 sticky degrees in my room. I listened to my five other bunk mates snore. But it didn’t bother me much as I thought excitedly (and sweatily) about the day to come.
I also thought about how grateful I was for meeting all of these interesting people along my path. People who’s perspectives, kindness, and time has widened my world and enriched my experiences.
Before getting to Zurich, I ended a two-week stint of being visited by and traveling with friends from home. My people. It’s easily, predictably enjoyable to travel with people you love. But it was also quite different to the solo experience I have been having, meeting new friends and making memories with strangers — traveling with your friends is more comfortable. There’s no need to do all the getting-to-know-you and maneuver the mild awkwarness of building a fast connection.
I remember feeling worried as I got on the plane to Zurich from Barcelona: how will I do “on my own” again for over a month? Will I make amazing friends like Slade again?
Then I met Patty and the others.
But that’s traveling for ya, things always work out if you give new people the benefit of the doubt.
So without further ado, here’s a post celebrating friends, old and new. And, by the way, six countries in two weeks (and yeah I’m counting the mighty nation of Lichtenstein, thanks very much).
Countries 1-3: Hungary, Austria, and the Czech Republic
Budapest: Party Hostels and Special Guests
Last time we talked I was taking off from Pisa on my way to Budapest to kick off an eight-day, three-country tour with one of my first visitors ever from home: Luke! (AKA my boyfriend who I hadn’t seen since I started traveling this summer).
He wasn’t arriving until the next day, so I decided to stay in one of Budapest’s most popular hostels: The Hive. This turned out to be a massive success and mistake all at the same time.
The success: the people I met. Young travelers from all over the world flock to Budapest for what I soon learned was the nightlife. I did a classic hostel-bar-crawl and made friends from England, the Czech Republic, Jordan, India, Australia, and New Zealand. (Pro tip: hostel bar crawls are a great way to meet people when you’re alone, it’s a relatively safe way to see the liveliest parts of a new city at night. I wouldn’t go out alone, but in a group of other solo travelers, it feels much safer).
The mistake: the hostel itself. When I got back to finally sleep after many miles of bar-crawling, I realized that the middle of the hostel — a massive five-story building with an outdoor courtyard — was actually a full-on night club. I went to bed with AirPods shoved in my ears, soothed to sleep by the sweet sounds of reality television and the distant pounding bass and drunk bellows.
I’m an Independent B*tch But Some Company’s Nice…
I really enjoy solo traveling and challenging myself to see new places and meet new people. I love the independence, I love the sense of capability. Buuuuuut, lots of times, I have this little voice in the back of my head saying “I wish [insert person’s name] was here to see this with me.”
So I feel so grateful that I actually got to have [person’s name] there with me.
Luke took a week off from work to come visit me allll the way in Europe so we decided to really go for it: Budapest, Vienna, and Prague. Eight days.
I’ll spare you the ten pages it would take to list all of what we managed to see and do during our three-country tour (dry your tears). Instead, here are each of our favorites:
Budapest: We both voted for the night cruise on the Danube. The scenery was fantastic; Budapest castle and the lit-up parliament building. (The unlimited Prosecco was a minor factor in this consideration).
Vienna: I have two favorites; one was going to a classic coffee house and getting apple strudel (I’m shamelessly big on the tourist foods) and the other was dragging Luke to see the Gustav Klimt exhibit at Belvedere Palace. Luke’s favorite was the historical walking tour around the city.
Prague: Everything, just everything. This was by far our favorite city. Some particular highlights were walking around the Old Town, being asked to film a surprise proposal (!!!) for a couple we met, going to an outdoor market with traditional Czech food, and lots of yummy restaurants.
Country 4: España
Ah yes, my old stomping grounds. What would a trip to Europe be without a stop in Madrid?
Over the course of this year of travel, I’ve visited Madrid various (I’ve lost count) times because my wonderful cousins Amalia and Ana live there and so graciously allow me to curl up and rest in their apartment after long periods of vagabonding.
So after Luke left, I flew straight to Madrid to see my cousins and…even more friends from home!
Lucy, Mags, and Neloy have been traveling with friends throughout Europe and we all decided to meet in Madrid for a few nights.
After lots of tapas, some rooftop terrace adventures, and a few picturesque beverages, we all split up to continue on respective travels.
Neloy, his friend Neil, and I headed to Barcelona, a city I’ve never visited despite my many many forays into Spain.
Neloy also made sure to make one of my longtime travel dreams come true: a visit to Gaudi’s famous Park Güell.
Park Guel and the Summer of Disney Channel Original Movies
Park Güell was an especially notable — no, life changing — stop. If I think about it, my visit to Gaudi’s masterpiece has been an unstoppable culmination of cosmic inertia since August 25, 2006. The release of Cheetah Girls 2.
For those who live in the impenetrable gloom that is a life without Cheetah Girls, I’ll give you a little synopsis. Four girls from Manhattan. Different racial and socioeconomic backgrounds. But what brings them together?! The power of music.
Yes, this was the soundtrack of my childhood.
I’ve been dreaming of my Cheetah Girls moment since the tender age of eight. Any young American born between the age of 18 and 25 should understand the subliminal need to walk (or rather, “strut”) in the footsteps of these four titans of Disney Channel Original Movie productions.
Then I got to thinking…a lot of this summer has been like those Disney Channel Original Movies I used to watch (except the 23-year-old-visiting-convents-and-hanging-out-with-nuns part, but hey, maybe that will be the next blockbuster Disney franchise).
Who remembers Hillary Duff’s 2003 masterpiece set in Rome, The Lizzie McGuire Movie?
(American girl, traveling through her school, spends time in Rome. Ringing any bells people???? You really think I went to Rome for the history or the culture? Ha. Think again. I went to Rome to find a look-alike-pop start with whom to trade lives for a week. Obviously!)
So yeah, I’ve been living some childhood dreams.
Yet, there is only one Disney movie destination that evades me.
I’ll give you a hint… it’s the great European producer of pears and strong female monarchs. That’s right, you’ve guessed it: Genovia. My Princess Diaries moment will remain illusive, that is, until GoogleMaps gives me the most direct train and bus route to the small central European monarchy of Genovia. In the meantime, I’ve had to settle for Lichtenstein (read on…).
(But stay tuned for next time because I end up having a Julie Andrews moment in Salzburg.)
So what I can take away from this elevated psychoanalysis of my childhood cinematic preferences is a strong affinity for adventurous female protagonists that travel Europe.
Ok, this tangent done now. To the folks under 20 and over 30, don’t worry, the rest of this should be comprehensible.
Alone Again, Gotta Make Friends
Nel and Neil had to leave me in Barcelona so I reverted back to my solo traveler ways and found myself a bunk in a hostel. I spent the next two days exploring Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia, the Gothic old town, and the Picasso museum.
I also threw myself right back into hostel activities, keen to continue meeting new people now that *sniffle* all my home friends had left *sniffle*.
My hostel hosted a communal paella night followed by a group visit to some nearby bars:
I spent a fun evening with young travelers from Ireland, Australia, India, Colombia, and the US.
After spending time traveling with my best friends from home, I felt especially grateful for these little hostel connections. When you travel alone, you can miss the ease of being with your closest friends. They’re a community you’ve built around yourself for years so it’s easy to be vulnerable.
When you’re traveling alone, you miss that community, you feel socially uncomfortable. But meeting people in hostels — who are also missing their little communities — creates a sort of mutual understanding: we’ll be good friends for today and maybe tomorrow, we’ll be vulnerable and have deep conversations, we’ll keep each other safe if we go out, and we’ll wish each other well as we scatter across the world to the next destination.
When I came back to Europe in June, this was a lesson I had luckily already learned during my first stint of travel. Now, whenever I go to a hostel and meet a budding solo traveler, in the first legs of their journey, I always offer them the same advice: be more outgoing and more vulnerable than you would at home. It should be socially exhausting at the beginning. But then being open simply becomes who you are.
Countries 5 and 6: Switzerland-Lichtenstein-Switzerland
I was lucky enough to make another especially lasting “traveler friendship” in Zurich, my next stop after Barcelona.
I met Patty on my free walking tour of Zurich (which turns out to be the cheapest thing you can do in Switzerland). She grew up in the Philippines and now lives and works in England. Despite her demanding consulting job, she has managed to solo travel across 40 countries before meeting me.
Lucky for me, she invited me to country 41…
After chatting on our tour, we spent the day swimming in Lake Zurich:
We also watched the sunset at Uetliberg, the mountain overlooking the city.
That evening, Patty told me about her next excursion, a day trip to Lichtenstein (the generic brand of Genovia), number 41.
The next morning we took a train and bus to Vaduz, the capital of the tiny nation. We got our passports stamped, checked out Lichtenstein castle, and hopped on a bus to the tiny town of Steg.
I mean tiny. I think very few people visit Lichtenstein. I think even fewer people visit Steg. But they should. Check this out:
We stopped in a local cafe (like local, local - the owner did not speak a word of English and we had to order through pure gesticulation).
That night, we got back to Zurich which is when we met up with Kat and Trevor. And then Slade, of course.
Patty was a reminder of a lesson I’ve learned time and time again during my year of travel: success is not binary, it’s not monetary, and it’s certainly not confined to your careers. Success is measured in people, places, experiences.
Despite being a consultant at a prestigious firm, she sees success in her experiences and makes time for them. Work is important, she told me, but it’s not her everything.
When I initially embarked on this year of travel, I was stressed about postponing my ~professional life~ for twelve months. I feared I was encumbering my “PaTH tO sUcCeSS.”
But for Patty success the number of countries she’s visited and the people she’s met. For Trevor and Kat it’s their chance encounter and resulting engagement. And now, for me, it’s a set of experiences that have made me feel more capable, more confident than ever. It’s the stories I get to tell about the people I met. It’s a deeper connection to my faith and a better understanding of the world.
Next time: A Billion Year Old Convent in Switzerland
Back to the convent for me. Enough secular fun, don’t you think?? Over the next two weeks, I’ll be visiting two Benedictine monasteries, both in continual use since before 800 AD.
I’ll be alone for the the most part, but after two weeks with friends — old and new — I feel ready to take some time for myself. I’ll reflect in gratitude, no doubt, for the friends I got to see and the friends I made.
P.S. Bonus Country: Greetings from … Italy… Again! By Accident!
So at the beginning of this post I was wondering if I’d make it to rural Switzerland successfully.
Train one: success
Train two: success
Last Bus: ok…this seems right….whoa wait….am I in Italy?
So yeah, apparently (and this is 100% due to my lack of research), Mustair — the location of my next stop — is on the border with Southern Tyrol in Italy.
My issue was that the bus started speaking another language. Appppaarreently they speak Romansch — a Gallo-Romantic language that to my untrained ear sounds like a blend of German and Latin — in this part of Switzerland (again, my lack of research…).
Switzerland actually has four official languages — German, Italian, French, and Romansch. Italian and French, I can work with. German, I can Google-translate. But Romansch!?
(But you know me, an adventurer 😌. Venturing into the most linguistically and geographically remote areas of Switzerland!….even if purely by accident!)
Luckily, the Italian border was just a mile away from my destination. So I hopped off the bus, said a quick arrividerci/auf wiedersehen/au revoir/whatever-bye-is-in-romansche to the border officers, and made my way back to Switzerland through this amazing scenery:
I have a good feeling about this place.
I love you. Be safe!
I love you. Be safe!