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May 2018 | Travel Summary and Statistics
Month #1 | Travel Summary
It’s hard to believe a full month has gone by already. Technically Mac & I left on our European Adventure on the 6th of May, but for all intents and purposes* I’ll be doing the monthly recap with the travel summary and statistics based on the calendar months.
*Did anyone else always think it was intensive purposes??? Just me??? …well this is awkward…
France
The month of May saw us leaving Canada (for who knows how long) and arriving in Paris. We had awesome weather for our first week in France and we made sure to fill our days exploring the cities we visited. Since we tended to stay outside of the city centres, we were able to explore small towns and villages we otherwise wouldn’t have seen. But we did make sure to spend a full day touring the vibrant centre of Paris.
Related Posts: Paris in a Day
We headed south from Paris to the city of Versailles where we spent a day roaming the elegant and ornate rooms of the Chateaux de Versailles. The Palace and neighbouring grounds were huge! Our tired legs kept us from seeing every nook and cranny, but we came away with some great memories and tips for those looking to have a stress-free visit.
Related Posts: Chateaux de Versailles
Our next steps in France took us north; our first stop being the town of Arras. It was here that we were able to go visit the Vimy Ridge Memorial. As Canadians we were truly touched by the monument and memorial at this historically significant location. The final city we saw in France was Lille. We managed to snag a private walking tour of the city (unintentionally!) and we learned so much about this colourful city.
Related Posts: Vimy Ridge Memorial
Belgium
After Lille it was into our second country, Belgium!! We had an amazing experience in the first city we stopped – Kortrijk! Our awesome hosts took us to a sing-a-thon in the park, to the ‘Best Fries in Belgium’, and to a fun festival downtown. We also spent a day exploring the countryside. We stopped at Tyne Cot Cemetery and later Ieper (Ypres) where we learned more about the horrors of World War I.
Related Posts: Excerpts from France
The end of May saw us exploring Gent, which turned out to be one of the most picturesque cities we’ve visited so far! From Gent we switched gears a bit and headed to volunteer on a permaculture farm in the country! Our days were filled with weeding, gardening, cooking from scratch, eating hoards of freshly made sourdough bread, and fawning over the adorable animals of course.
Related Posts: Gushing Over Gent
Fiertel | Walking with Saints
Statistics
By the Numbers
Number of Countries: 2 (France & Belgium)
Number of Cities: 7
Number of CouchSurfing Hosts: 5
Number of Loaves of Bread Consumed: I’d say 20, but that would be lying…
Number of Rides Hitched: 10
Budget Breakdown
Lodging: 69.20€
Food: 291.51€
Beers: 85.66€
Activities: 105.30€
Transportation: 110.30€
Miscellaneous: 34.99€
Total: 696.96€ (~$1106.29CAD)
This breaks down to 13.94€ per person per day (since we started travelling on May 6, our month of May had 25 days)
Note: these numbers do not include our flight to Paris, travel insurance, or any ATM/exchange fees incurred.
Highlights & Lowlights
Embracing Slow & Community-Oriented Travel – we started CouchSurfing during our US Road Trip and had amazing experiences. We’ve continued the trend in Europe and it’s enriched our travels so much. The people we’ve stayed with have all been so kind and welcoming. It’s because of our hosts that we’ve gone on some amazing adventures and visited parts of cities that we otherwise wouldn’t have known about. I’m looking forward to continuing to CouchSurf throughout our travels.
Hitch Hiking – yes, it’s true, Mac & I have jumped aboard the thumbing express. I’ll likely dedicate a full post to this at some point, but our main logic is we have more time than money and we want to connect with others. We view hitch hiking how we view CouchSurfing. As an opportunity to meet people and discover and learn about things. As noted above we’ve hitch hiked 10+ times already and have yet to have an uncomfortable experience. I know this might not be our experience forever, but we’ve been loving it so far!
Hello Summer! – we were truly graced with amazing weather in May. We did have some windy & rainy days (I’m looking at you Arras & Lille), but overall our days have been filled with sunshine and blue skies. Fingers crossed I haven’t jinxed it!
Losing my Sunglasses – Back in Canada I splurged and got some polarized sunglasses for our trip. Somewhere between Toronto and Paris they grew legs and jumped out of my backpack. I have no idea how I lost them, but here’s hoping they’re the only thing I lose on this trip!
LOL’s
I mentioned in my Kortrijk post that the Dutch language has not come easily to Mac or I. Coupled with our rusty French, and my inability to separate Spanish & French in my brain, we’re making due by honing in on our gesturing skills. So, imagine my total embarrassment after having a seemingly decent conversation in French with a lovely Belgian man, that when I went to say goodbye and thank him for his time, I smiled, waved, and confidently spewed out an enthusiastic Muchas Gracias!!!! D’oh!! Total face palm!!!
What’s Next
June is shaping up to be an exciting month! Mac and I have recently discovered that we’re solar powered. Meaning, we do & feel our best when the days are long and sunny! To fully embrace this, we have wild visions of going as far north as we can for the Summer Solstice! We’re aiming to be somewhere in Sweden or Norway but we don’t have any firm plans yet. I can’t even imagine the never-ending daylight up there. Where we are now, it’s bright from ~5:00am – 10:30pm!! Bring on the sunshine!
In other exciting news, our old flatmate Cristina is coming to Europe! We lived together in Auckland and have kept in touch since we left. She’s visiting Europe on a whirlwind 3 week trip, so we’re hoping to see her on a few of the days that she’s spending in Berlin, Germany! I’m beyond excited and can’t wait to see her!
How was your month of May? What are your plans for June??
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