Where Am I Now?!?!??

Barcelona for Cheap, Bulls, Credit Fraud, and Beaches

dopelorrie — Thu, 17 Jul 2014 19:16:00 GMT

Hmm where to start. I think I left off with my first couple of days in Barcelona. I did quite a bit while I was there but I hope to visit again because I feel like there was so much other ood but it's entirely possible. Now, this cool s**t that I wasn't able to do. It's a pretty big city. DId some touristy things and got to experience friday night concerts in the streets of La Raval. My CS host, Jose, took me and another couchsurfer out to go see a little night life in the less touristy areas. Random streets in between buildings had DJs or bands playing and locals and some tourists alike partied the night away. I also rented a bike for a few hours and aimlessly rode around. Ended up at the beach and holy balls was there a s**t ton of people. Also it wouldn't be a Lorrie bike riding story without me getting lost and eating pavement at some point. I won't go into detail. But yes...both those things happened.

As the title implies I wanted to touch on how you can do a lot of things for relatively cheap in Barcelona. It's viewed as an expensive city to stay in and explore and as someone who's walked a good majority of the city and who's had locals help them out I can say you can probably spend around only €20 a day. I myself didn't abide by that budget every day because I like to splurge on food but it's entirely possible. Now, this is strictly speaking in terms of activities and not your accomodation. There are a lot of nice hostels for relatively cheap, airbnb has a lot of hosts in Barcelona, and then there's couchsurfing (I did a combo of couchsurfing and a hostel). Also, don't sleep on the beach because YOU WILL BE ROBBED and there are machines that groom the sand all night.

First of all, get yourself a T10 Metro ticket at any Metro entrance at a ticket station. It's good for 10 journeys on any public transit in the city. Don't worry about zones because this ticket covers zone 1 and i can tell you that it pretty muh covers almost all of Barcelona. You can walk everywhere like I did but some of those walks from place to place can take an hour or more depending on your pace. And after backpacking and exploring other cities, trust me, your feet will thank you. The metro can be a bit daunting but take your time to figure out which line you're using. Also make sure to follow the signs for your train line all the way. I thought a few different lines were meeting in one platform and I almost got on the wrong train. Every line has their own platform and they're color coded so the platform will have that color represented throughout. The T10 pass is totally worth it at €10.30 as opposed to €2.15 per individual ticket. There are other ticket packages so it depends on your preference. But this one is particularly good if you're only going to be there 3-5 days. Luckily, I can read Spanish pretty well but if you can't don't worry too much about using the ticket machines. The icons are pretty easy to figure out if you've ever used BART or something similar and T10 metro will be one of the choices. I know that blows about half of your daily budget but rather you should spread the cost over the amount of days you're staying and keep that noted. There's the common city tour buses (the red double deckers) that every major city has that takes you to major areas and it's a walk on walk off kind of thing. Total ripoff at more than €20 and you don't learn anymore than you would from free pamphlets from each place.

As far as activities. The Magic Fountain show is exactly what it sounds like. At Castelle de Montjuic in Plaza Espana is in the summer and starts at 21:00 and I think there are several shows until midnight. Interesting mix of songs the fountain goes too including Catalunya specific ones, Queen, and I'm pretty sure I heard the Star Wars theme. Castelle de Montjuic is a castle and a museum in one. On Saturdays it's free to go in after 15:00 but I'm not sure on other days. It has a lot of Catalunyan art from different time periods. There's also a large theater that they put on live shows. The building itself is cool to see. The Plaza del Toros is in the same area. It's a former runnings of the bulls arena that has now been turned into a mall. It looks cool and there's an elevator to go to the roof which has some nice views of the city and especially Plaza Espana. Sagrada Familia is the most famous Roman Catholic church in the city and the building is totally worth the view. I met someone who said that you really should see the inside (which I didn't get to do) but buy your ticket online to avoid the lines. There were a ton of people there. Park Guell can be reached by the metro at the stop lesseps and follow the signs to the park. It's a bit of a walk and uphill. There are buses too. Tourism guides make it seem like you have to pay to see most of the park and that there's only a small free area that you should get to early. Truth is the entire f***ing park is free except for the monument and a Gaudi exhibition. Which I don't really think is worth the price. The park itself is huge and at the top you can see some of the best views of Barcelona ever. Then there's a bar called Travel bar and they're headquarters for the company Travel Bound. They have free walking tours everyday at certain times and have a bunch of other activities aimed at backpackers and students. And it's worht it to see the less touristy areas of La Raval and Poble Sec. Maybe have a travel partner or a local show you around at night because it gets a bit creepy getting lost in the streets. But you will find some awesome divey bars and great food places.

Now as far as staying on budget while still being able to eat. Cafes and bakeries are your friend. Every place has a menu of the day that lasts until 14:00 mostly and some are really good deals that have a an entree, a drink, and a dessert. Don't go to chains or large restaurants near shopping areas and malls because, although good, are expensive for smaller meals. Things you should try...seafood paella, churros from an actual churreria, whatever pintxos look good, various red wines. Xurreria in the El Barri Gotic neighborhood has, hands down, the best churros I've ever had and for cheap. It's pretty traditional to get them with chocolate so I highly advise you to do so. There's a ton of grocery stores with a great slection of Spanish meats and cheeses and you can get fresh artisan breads from panaderias for cheap so you can still have an authentic food experience. If you have access to a kitchen then you have more options.

So yeah, there's my little tidbits of advice for travelers. A bit long but I hope someone finds it useful one day.

Next thing I know I'm on a train 4 hours to Pamplona. Most of you know I had already planned to go to Pamplona for the San Fermin Festival. The streets were filled with people wearing the traditional feestival attire...white clothes with red accents, mainly a red bandana around your neck and a red sash tied at the waist. I of course dressed up. I had to buy pants there because I forgot mine. Damn it, I actually was at a perfectly suitable event for my white pants and I f***ing forgot them. MEH.

They say the streets run with rivers of wine and that is definitely true. Almost everyone will have red wine spilled or rained on them at some point, especially at night when everyone is good and drunk. There's suprisingly a ton of families and kids during the day enjoying the festival but the nightlife is a different beast. Every convenient mart that sold beverages had combo deals of alcohol and soda. The most common being red wine and coke to make calimocho or kalitmotxo in Basque. Too many of those kind of feels like drinking a Four Loko but it tastes better. The same idea of alcohol thinning your blood and your heart racing from the sugar content making you drunk faster. I prefer my clara con limon (beer + lemon soda) for a more refreshing experience. If you're easily put off by getting drinks spilled on you than you probably shouldn't be at a bar during San Fermin. No one gives any f**ks. But it's all in good fun, I honestly had a great time. People would still be up until maybe 4 or 5am. I never really stayed out that late to be honest.

In the midst of all the festivities I had a bit of misfortune happen. I had a lovely case of credit card fraud. When I tried to pay for my hostel my card was declined and I ended up paying in cash. I was pretty concerned about it especially after my card was again declined for a bus ticket. The bank website was down for maintenance and it came back online later that night. I had found that my bank account had been cleaned out the day before I arrived in Pamplona. Someone spent money at Ralph Lauren...pssh come on, that's definitely not me. I hit up my mom and my sister via the internetwebtings and had my sister call the bank to see what I could do. I was worried but not at the same time because I had my other credit card and some cash left...at the very least I knew I could get to the airport when I needed to and get home. I made calls the next morning to get everything situated and disputed the charges. It was a bit of a bummer to cancel my card because I could no longer withdraw any cash. And cash is more widely used.

(tangent: As far has having money in Europe I wait until I arrive to get cash. Using foreign cards at stores and other places could rack up service charges and cash is generally easier to use especially when you buy smaller items or go to smaller local stores. Currency exchange at airports are a total rip off. Better to keep your USD for when you get back and head for an ATM. Aiports usually have ATMs that accept a wide range of cards and personally my card only gets charged $5 for each transaction so I normally withdraw a few hundred euros. I know La Caixa bank accepts a variety of cards. It charges the same $5 and has been found in all of the cities I've been to. When I go out I only carry a day's worth of cash and my card for emergencies and i keep everything locked up. If you don't want to leave anything in your hotel you can keep the rest of the stuff in a money belt that tucks under your clothes and the day's worth can be held in a zippered wallet (I personally have the zippered wallet chained to my pants/shorts). I luckily had enough cash for my hostel when my account was compromised.)

When I was getting things situated I was worried that I had not been careful here in Spain. I couldn't even think of when it would have happened. I physically had my card so I figured the number was compromised and thought I may have had a lapse of judgement. Like leaving my wallet alone on my bed when I went to the bathroom or something (I was in a hostel). It didn't make sense though because I didn't let that thing leave my side...I slept with it chained to my pocket still. Turns out all the purchases were made in California...in Contra Costa County...in Pleasanton. It was peculiar bacuse it happened half way through my Spain trip. To save money, I hadn't been to many bars when my trip was getting closer. My friend said her mom's account was compromised a few months ago and she doesn't go to very many sketchy places. SO it goes to show that s**t just happens.

A lot of Americans are afraid to travel abroad in fear of being robbed or getting their s**t stolen but to tell you the truth, I've been screwed over in the states way more than I ever had in another country. We have a lot of crime and even when you're careful things still happen. When you go to other countries my general rule is don't be stupid. You may laugh and say "I think there's more to it than that." But when you think about it, is there? Being aware of your surroundings, traveling at appropriate times, not talking to sketchy people, keeping your important documents hidden or secured I think fall under "being smart and not doing dumb things." As much as I love the movie Taken, that entire movie could have been avoided if her dumba** friend didn't lead the first stranger they met directly to the front door of the apartment building. At least at a hostel or hotel it's more public and has other guests and their own security. But they were in an apartment by themselves and of course that girl dies eventually. I've never seen Hostel but since I'm writing this you can rest assured that I haven't experienced any crazy Eli Roth situations. My hostels have been good and have only gotten a bit nicer along the way. Well, this current hostel doesn't really have a common area besides the kitchen and i feel like a shut in chilling on my computer in the room. Oh well. Anyway, moral of the story don't be stupid anywhere. I'm normally pretty alert seeing as I live in Oakland but I guess everyone lets their guard down and can be overly comfortable with the place they live. Still don't know how it happened but I've gotten everything squared away now and I'll hopefully have a new debit card when I get back.

Despite the setbacks I have still had a good time here. I was able to watch the 8th and last bull run from a balcony I rented on airbnb months ago so I got a good deal. It's very common for people who live on the streets of the bull run to rent out balcony space for spectators and it can get pretty expensive. I figured it was worth it though and I got my balcony a lot cheaper on airbnb than on tourist websites. In my fail of a selfie above, you'll see I'm on Calle Estefeta which is the longest straight away of the run. It's right before dead man's curve and you get to see a lot since you can see down to the end of the street. Hearing the rockets going off to signify the start of the run made you excited for what's to come. Then you see the crowd of people turn that corner at dead man's curve running with a purpose. From what I saw and talking to a couple of runners there were people that just got in the way. As in, they just looked confused and didn't run when they needed to. And they're most commonly the ones that get hurt. I mean, wtf were they expecting was going to happen? Also, people are really bad at jumping fences and end up getting their legs hit. The bulls are huge and unlike the smaller bulls they release into the coliseum at the end who have their horns blunted...these f***ers definitely still had their sharp horns in tact. A guys leg got gored. He was pinned against a wall right by me, there was a lower balcony that blocked it a bit. You could see the muscles in his leg and the skin flap. I only saw it for a split second IRL but it was gnarly. He got hit again trying to crross the fence. That particular bull stuck around the area for a while looking for victims.

I also stayed for the closing ceremony, Pobre Mi. Everyone holds candles and sing a song by the same name and kind of "mourn" the end of the festival (but in actuality I'm sure most were happy about it). Then it's one last night of debauchery into the wee hours of the morning. To my surprise the city is really quick about cleaning after San Fermin. I left around 11:00 and the streets were clean and bar and restaurant owners were practically done cleaning. It was a different place.

Next thing I know I'm on a bus to Donostia/San Sebastian. Originally I wanted to fly into Donostia but decided I wanted to save it for last and I'm glad I did. When I got here I immediately fell in love with the place and I hadn't even been to the beaches yet. My hostel is only 2 blocks from the beach so I took the time to even out my tan today haha. I surprisingly haven't taken many pictures yet but I have plenty of time. Yesterday I made a short trip to the small fishing town of Getaria. Lovely little place and home to a few txaokoli wineries as well as being very close to many others. The fresh fish dishes at the restaurants are bomb. I hike around Mount San Anton and saw great views of the sea, Getaria, and the neighboring towns.

I still have the rest of today, tomorrow, and a part of Saturday here in the lovely city of Donostia. I still have a lot of things to see and do before I head back to Bilbao and fly back to the states. I'm a bit bummed I had to cut out France from my trip due to my financial mishap. The buses to Biarritz only take cash and Bordeaux by train is expensive. I was going to rideshare to Bordeaux (BlaBlaCar is a widely known rideshare website in Europe) but that would have to be cash too. I literally have maybe €3 in cash and some change. I luckily have my bus ticket back to Bilbao already and put aside the cash for the airport bus so I wouldn't spend it. France will have to be another time I guess. I do have to add that, physically, I've been a lot better now. My body was pretty shot when I was in Barcelona. My feet were hurting terribly from the multiple miles I walked. My bag would continuously get heavier as the minutes passed. When I was finally at the place I was staying at and I could leave my bag behind to explore, I was still in pain and sucked it up. I did a lot in Barcelona but my whole body hurt...I think my teeth were even sore. I rested up my body more in Pamplona and I've felt a lot better since. My lower body is used to the abuse now but I do enjoy relaxing more on the last leg of my trip here in Donostia. Don't get me wrong I'm still going out to do stuff but I don't mind chilling at a spot overlooking the sea. I do have to say after all this walking and hiking my legs look great hahahaha. Well, I'll see you later b****es! :P

Rain To Sunshine

dopelorrie — Fri, 11 Jul 2014 16:11:00 GMT

Happy Friday! Or almost Friday back in California. I have had unreliable internet this week and haven't really stayed inside long enough to write a post. But here I am! So currently I'm in Barcelona just to let you know.

Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday I walked all over Bilbao and now know that city pretty well. Oh! I finally got a Spanish phone number to keep in contact with people and hostels I'm staying with. I bought a cheapy phone because the place I went to didn't have a micro SIM for my phone. I'm a bit upset because I later passed a bunch of known phone companies that probably would have had one...would have been kind of cheaper considering I wouldn't have to buy a whole new phone. But look how cute it is....

Anyway, it rained most days in Bilbao but it was still fun. Went around Bilbao's old town (which had a lot of good pintxo bars), went on a boat ride on the river, walked f**king everywhere...my feet still hurt because I still walk everywhere. I did take the metro at one point and it is exactly BART but much cleaner, interesting looking, and the trains don't sound like death so you could probably have a conversation if you wanted to. Bilbao is really into contemporary art and the buildings are interesting. A good mix of old and new buildiings with different styles.

I also found a cool spot to just chill on a bench overlooking the city. When you're heading more into the hills there's elevators outside that can take you up maybe one street or several. Also escalators...I'm sure they'd be interesting to have in San Francisco especially for lazy people like me. Escalator land! Fairly Odd Parents reference...No?...Okay moving on. I also have to add that my host, Carlos, hosted a dinner party Monday night with a few fellow couchsurfers and his friends. Really fun and great to meet new people. I made pancit mom! I had to make it vegan (withn chicken and shrimp on the side for the meat eaters) though and use vegetable broth and it wasn't as good to me but everyone else liked it.

I took a bus ride to the small town of Bakio and went on a 30-45 minute hike to San Juan De Gaztelugatxe. It's a little island with a 10th century hermitage at the top dedicated to John the Baptist. It's off the Coast of Biscay and can be reached by a winding staircase with 241 steps. Most people drive there but I depended on the bus and my feet. The bus ride was cool because I got to kind of see the country side of the Basque country. And Bakio has a beach.

Had a flight to around 10:50pm and arrived in Barcelona a little before midnight. Luckily my new Couchsurfing host was okay with the late arrival. Didn't really sleep until 2:30am. I've realized around here that people go out and stay out late and wake up early. Bars can be open until the wee hours of the morning in Barcelona. In Bilbao it was like that on weekends but weekdays close relatively early. I went from rainy Bilbao to sunny, hot Barcelona. I love and hate the sun. I've walked around a good amount of the city already and have seen some Gaudi buildings, Sagrada Familia, Plaza De Espana, La Rambla and Plaza De Catalunya. I've seen a good amount of the touristy things. My host, Jose, took me out to La Raval and Poble Sec and I got to see a more relaxed side of Barcelona where not a lot of tourists are. Found a cool little bar with the ambiance of a "dive bar" which I love. I also passed a churreria...basically a bakery just for churros. If you know me you know I f***ing love churros damn it. Need to hit that up today. Traditional Spanish churros come with chocolate and I am excited. Anyway, I was able to see a different side of the city that I probably wouldn't have otherwise seen by myself (well maybe, I like to just wander). I still have a couple of days here before Pamplona.

Also there's an artist by the name of Fernandon Botero and he makes all his subjects fat. Here's a statue of a fat cat....

Photos: Spain!

dopelorrie — Mon, 7 Jul 2014 20:29:00 GMT

Exactly what the title implies

Spain Trip Has Started!

dopelorrie — Mon, 7 Jul 2014 19:33:00 GMT

So I´m recapping the last couple of days of been here. Internet has been a bit of an issue but I think from now on I should be okay. Firewalls and my tablet just not connecting to routers seem to have been the the culprit in most cases. My host now has an extra laptop so...here I am! Anway, let us start from the beginning.

Friday July 4th my friend Kenny dropped me off at SFO (I am entrusting my friends to move my car for street sweeping while I´m gone. Here´s hoping there´s no parking tickets when I get back :P). My bag unfortunately didn´t follow Lufthansa´s policy for carry ons so I had to check it in. I had a smaller personal bag with my cameras and I didn´t realize I could have carried my tablet separately onto the plane. Needless to say I was paranoid of the its condition in the checked luggage.

My 11 hour flight to Munich wasn´t bad at all. Lufthansa was one of my better airline experiences. All the flight attendants were friendly and my dinner, breakfast, and snacks were actually pretty good. As far as airline food that is. Munich international is pretty nice and big. In the 2 hour layover there can´t really say I did much. Í found a computer hub with 20 minutes of free internet, but at least 5 of those minutes were me trying to figure out how to type on the keybaord. Letters were in different places and using certain symbols didn´t use Shift. It was a struggle.

Then I was on my way to Bilbao. The two things I was worried about when I got off the plane was ¨I hope my bag is here¨and ¨Hope my tablet isn´t f!!ked up.¨ Waiting for my bag was like.....I thought I was going to think of some witty comparison but I´m coming up blank. It just kind of sucked because I was paranoid. It´s been a few years since I´ve traveled far but I think it´s a concern for travelers in general. Not seeing it on the belt was nervewrecking but I saw this family I remember seeing on both flights go to another baggage claim so I followed. And BAM! There was my bag and I was way too excited. As excited as I was when I got my own gameboy color (<-trust me, I was ecstatic).

After the airport my first night and day in Bilbao were a bit rocky. I was staying at a hostel for the night and new what bus I had to take to get there. I unfortunately wasn´t paying attention and got off at the wrong stop. I got a bit lost and wandered for almost an hour with only a vague idea of where I was going. I was mainly follwing signs towards the Guggenheim since my hostel was near it and I´ve looked at enough maps before my trip to know some of the main streets. It wasn´t too bad because it was a Saturday night and there was plenty of people out and everything was well lighted outside. I walked around the streets near the Guggenheim for a while until I realized that I had passed the hostel several times. I remember them saying on their site that they were directly across from the musem and it didn´t occur to me that they meant across the bridge on the other side of the river. Wonderful. But I finally got there. It was really nice out so I dropped my stuff off and went on a night photography adventure which was pretty amazing.

Getting over jet lag was lame. I coldn´t really sleep that night at the hostel because my body was still on California time. I was up at 4am and was trying to force myself to sleep until 7am. Check out was 11am and I wasn´t meeting my Couchsurfing host until 3. My main bag has bagpack straps and carrying that thing for a few hours was a workout. Having my side sling camera bag and that on my right shoulder has gotten it pretty sore. I don´t have that much stuff in there and I can´t figure out why it´s so god damn heavy. I was waiting for a bus tour when it just started pouring and I had to find cover. I ended up eating lunch at a cafe. I´ve found that I get too nervous when I start to speak Spanish. If there´s one thing I know how to do, it´s order food. I knew what to say but when I went to say anything I stumbled on my words and ended up speaking English. Meh. The waitress was patient with me which was nice and most people I´ve met so far speak a little English. I´m hoping to kind of get over my fear on this trip and get a little better at my Spanish. I just need to start trying more. The rain stopped long enough for me to get to my host, Carlos´ place. Nice guy and has a lot of couchsurfing experience hosting. I settled in and took a freaking nap because I was tired. He took me out around some areas of Bilbao and he knows his city really well. Shared a lot of Basque history and we had a few drinks and really good pintxos (Basque tapas) at a couple of bars. We met up with other Bilbao hosts (they all know each other) and their surfers. It was a nice end to a pretty up and down day.

I finally got a good night´s sleep and I think I´m finally on Spain time. My body is ready. I´m going to do more sightseeing without the burden of my bag. The great thing about this city is that everything is within walking distance and other close by cities are within a close reach with the metro so I´m excited for a new day. After all this walking, which I´m sure I´ll do the rest of my trip, I´m going to halve great calves haha. And Carlos is hosting a dinner party today with friends and other couchsurfers so I´m excited. I´m going to make pancit and I hope it´s as good as my mom´s. I´ll try to update tomorrow.

Also Carlos´laptop keeps red underlining everything I type and I realized it´s because everything is in Spanish. But I´m sure my grammar and spelling is atrocius nonetheless :P