Break? What Break?
“What are you doing next week?” asks my flatmate.
“I am not sure why…?” I respond.
“Next week is Winter Break. Do you have any plans?”
“Oh God, I forgot! I need to start making calls!”
And so, commenced my planning for Winter Break – yes, the Friday before the start. I knew I wanted to do something, but I was not sure what I wanted to do and what made the most sense logistically. There was a myriad of decisions to be made starting out with some very basic questions: Where did I want to go? Did I want to travel with others? How much money did I want to spend?
Why I like Traveling Alone
Sometimes I prefer to be alone and travel alone. As an introvert, I sometimes find being around others exhausting. When I have to interact with others on top of being tired, it is even worse. If I am tired, I get grouchy and I just want others to leave me be (i.e. unpleasant to be around). I find that exploring a new place by myself, provides me with a chance to be reflective and move at my own pace.
Another issue I have when traveling in groups, is that sometimes people in a group want to do different things. Often these diverse opinions mean “compromise” (i.e. doing things that I do not wish to do on my vacation). For example, when I go on vacation, it rarely involves sleeping in or spending time by the beach. In new places (and even at home), I want to explore new sites that I have not seen before and fill by day with new and exciting experiences. I am one if those people who burns the candle at both ends; I will wake up early, leave the house and be gone until late in the evening. Sometimes when I go on vacations with friends it involves waiting until noon for everyone to get up, and then spending the day taking pictures, shopping, and finding places to eat. While I respect others and how they like to spend their vacation, that just is not me.
The last part of traveling with others which is hard, is deciding where to go. I texted a bunch of my Sciences Po exchange student friends to figure out what they were doing and it seemed like everyone wanted to go somewhere different for Winter Break. I hoped to spend my time in Central Europe. My mother’s side of the family has routes in Krakow, Poland and Vienna, Austria. Then during the early 20th century mass migration to America, they came on a boat from Europe through Ellis Island and settled in New York. I thought it would be great to learn more about my ancestry by going back to their homelands. On the other hand, my friends had different ideas. Oliver wanted to go to the Alps (I am not sure why since he does not ski). John wanted to go to Croatia, and Mary and Caite wanted to go to Italy. If I traveled with these friends, there would need to be some serious compromising.
Benefits of Traveling with Friends
However, there are perks to traveling with friends which I must mention:
The first benefit I think of is being able to share fun experiences with others. When I see or think of a joke (which I think is funny), I can turn to my friend and tell them. As well, some harder experiences are better to do with friends around. For example, when visiting cemeteries, I much prefer to go with someone else and we can take solace in each other’s company. Also, I do not find eating alone much fun. And who will take your touristy photos if your friends are not present?
Second, as a small woman, I believe that there is safety in numbers. When on the street in major cities (e.g. Boston, Paris, New York), I can sometimes feel vulnerable to being attacked or “cat called” on the street. I feel much better when I have a male friend around. This is not because I think he will be able to defend me, I have just found that people on the street and at parties are less likely to bother me when they see that I am accompanied by a male figure. *side note* I know that this is problematic for many different reasons and I am not happy about, nor condoning these cultural norms, yet unfortunately, my experiences have shown me that this is the way it is.
Finally, I think that it is nice to have a friend to lean on. For example, when I have flights before 6 AM, I find that I am much more motivated to get up when I have a friend nudging me to get my act together and wake up. As well, sometimes I need someone to push me to try different experiences ,or to remind me to have fun and not to get to caught up with finances.
The Plan
With some effort (and haggling) I worked out The Plan.
John, Oliver, and I decided that we would put our original ideas on hold. Although Budapest, Hungary was a first choice for none of us, we all wanted to go and could agree to the compromise. When searching for flights, we found these inexpensive tickets from Paris to Budapest with a 7-hour layover in Sofia, Bulgaria. This confused us greatly, because Sofia is farther east than Budapest. We saw the flight as a way to see another city and booked it.
We would spend one day in Sofia, three days in Budapest, then we would fly to Milan, Italy where we would meet up with Mary and Caite. The five of us would spend two days together and then go off on our own ways. From Milan I planned to fly to Brussels, where I would spend two days on my own. From there, I would bus back to Paris.
Sounds complicated? It was.
Breaking It Down
In order it was: Sofia, Budapest, Milan, Brussels, and back to Paris.
In numbers:
- Sciences Po friends = 4
- Days = 8
- Nights out = 7
- Hostels = 3
- Flights = 4
- Buses = 1
- Metro trips = 10
- Free walking tours = 5
- Pictures taken = 100
- Hours of sleep = 35
- Euros spent = 700
- Fun = Priceless
This was one of the best vacations I have ever had. I started to write this blog post and I realized that I needed to break up the post into discrete parts in order to write a post (versus a novel).
My plan is to publish Winter Break in three parts: (I) Travel Logistics (II) Janky Hostels and (III) Cheap Thrills
