Upon returning from my Zambian extravaganza, I realized that one of the coolest things about coming home from an awesome trip is looking forward to the next one. I'll tell stories about my experiences forever and constantly look back at the lessons I learned, but after a couple days that travel bug starts squirming around again.
My girlfriend Courtlyn and I are off to Barcelona in March. We both have the same spring break which works out great, and we're really excited for a number of reasons, besides that fact that we are simply going to one of the most beautifully cultural cities in the world.
We're beyond jazzed to say the least. One of the coolest parts about the trip is that neither of us have even been there. When we found time to sit down and frantically swipe through the Skyscanner App, an amazing app for cheap flights that's a sin not to know about and use, we basically searched for lowest cost flights to anywhere in Europe.
This is kind of how we arrived at Barcelona as our March destination. We wanted to go to a place that neither of s have ever been, so we could experience it for the first time together (awhhh), and it had to be on the cheaper side... airfare included.
Amsterdam came up as a potential city right away, and we considered it our top choice. The flight was cheap, and man is it a cool place. But then we realized we were making a small mistake; not a big one, but one that could be easily averted.
In March Amsterdam is still freezing, plus the city isn't the cheapest. But let's face the facts: if you're going to Amsterdam, you're going there to ride a vintage bicycle through freshly fallen leafs as the reflections of you and your lover follow along on the glimmering canals, right? It's pretty much the only reason you go.
In all seriousness, the city is probably nothing short of amazing in March as well, but we made our choice. Barcelona it was. Not as cold, not as expensive, cheaper flight. Actually, still a little chilly. Just not as frigid.
After all this, it's one of the best pieces of advice I can give in my early travel stage: Find the country/city with the cheapest plane ticket, and freakin' go there. After you figure out the general continent or country, that's all you have to do.
A lot of stepping out of your comfort zone is buying that ticket. Just click. Even if you don't have the spending money yet, buy the ticket. It will motivate you to get that extra cash you need once you get to your destination. Hey, it might be stressful, and you might have to start selling things on eBay to make ends meet for the good of the trip, but it will keep you motivated. This is probably bad advice... Don't sell your siblings things on eBay like myself. Only if you want to travel and be an international man of mystery.
Anyway, it should be a fun trip. Right now we are in the process of being excited, sending each other pictures of cool cafes, and planning out our days as the countdown continues.
We actually just got a room on Air BnB in the Gothic Quarter which is insane. It's the central area of Barcelona with the superb architecture and narrow streets, snaking around the city like a lively maze. We got it for a good price, too.
In no time at all you can expect to see some cliché, artsy pictures of Court drinking coffee on a gothic balcony plop onto your Instagram feed.
More to come.
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| Much potential for cliché-balcony-coffee pictures, you're welcome. |
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