Spring Break Bucket List

Hola!

As many of you may know, I love making lists. I use them to plan my days, weeks, and years. In essence, they help me schedule my life and make the most of my time. Thus, I thought I would create a grand TO-DO LIST for my upcoming travels.

Spring Break Bucket List

LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND

Go hiking in Lausanne, Switzerland

Explore Lake Geneva on a boat

Bike on the Lausanne route

Visit the Jardín Botanique 

Consume Swiss chocolates

See the Notre Dame Cathedral 

Run in Lausanne, Switzerland

Drink a latté from a Lausanne Starbucks

CHAMONIX, FRANCE

Downhill ski in the French Alps

Cross-country ski in Chamonix, France

Hottub at Chalet Les Frenes

Run in Chamonix, France

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

Visit the Jardín Anglais

Tell time at the Flower Clock

See the Jet d'Eau

Try fondue at Bains de Pâquis

Walk through Bourg du Four

Drink a latté from a Geneva Starbucks

Run in Geneva, Switzerland

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY

Get scared in the House of Terror

See the Danube Promenade in Budapest

Walk on the Buda Chain Bridge

Ride on a Budapest street car

Visit Vorosmarty Square

Try a pastry or coffee from Zserbo Cukraszda

Run in Budapest, Hungary

Walk through Andrasyut neighborhood 

Have a drink at one of the Ruin Pubs

Swim and relax in a Turkish Bath

Drink a latté from a Budapest Starbucks

Shop at the Easter Market on Vörösmarty Tér

Run in Budapest, Hungary

Learn simple Hungarian

General

Make a new friend

Strike up conversation with a local

Watch the sunrise

10 days, 4 cities, 36 things - let's do it! 

Cheers,

Anna

PS. Any suggestions? Comment to let me know!

A Classic Story

Hola! 

My feelings about spring break have taken a 180 degree turn due to a lovely email I just received. Before I explain further, let me give you some background information to set the scene.

In January, I booked my home flight from Geneva to Madrid. It was a steal! It only cost 50 euros. Fast forward one month. In the end of February, I received an email from the travel agency saying that I needed to send them a copy of my passport in order to confirm the flight. Confused, I asked my professor and she examined the information and reported that it was from a reliable source. Thus, I replied with the needed information. 

Later that day, I got a response thanking me for my passport, and that the flight could now be reserved. It ended with my favorite line: "Please note that the ticket price has now changed to 250 euros." 

SWEET.

This meant that the flight went from $60 to $300, and none of it was my fault. Fortunately, they let me cancel it before the purchase was finalized. Needless to say, I said "Hasta luego Swiss Airlines, I'm going to find a new flight."

And that I did! The cheapest flight I could find was now $100, which was more expensive than my original, but definitely better than $300 flight. It left two hours later than my friends' flight, but it was the best option. My friends promised they would wait for me in the Madrid airport, so everything was good! All was set - all the flights were finally booked.

LOOK AT THE EMAIL I GOT TODAY! 

My new Geneva to Madrid flight, the one that has caused me all the struggles and tears, was just cancelled! I'm the only one of this flight too - my friends still have theirs - so looks like I'm stuck in Geneva! 

Cheapest flight is now $600.

Cheers,
Anna 

Ps. I hope you were able to sense my sarcasm in my last paragraph. I'm not happy about this at all.

Unexpected Changes

Hola! 

The wifi at my house is down, so I only have internet access at school, which closes in 30 minutes (9:00 PM). Because of this, I only have time to write a short post! 

Due to limited time, I thought I'd give some brief updates on my travels. After looking up prices of trains and hostels, my friends and I realized that it was too expensive to go to our original destination of Interlaken, Switzerland. Thus, we had to turn to Plan B. We fly into Geneva on Friday, March 22nd, and leave for Budapest on Wednesday, March 30th. This makes a total of five days in Switzerland. We thought to ourselves, "Let's just stay in Geneva and take day trips, as there are many unique places within an hour of the city." We were set on this plan, that is, until we found that all of the hostels in Geneva were booked. Shoot! 

On to Plan C! At this point, we had to get creative and find places that had 1) relatively cheap transportation costs 2) fun activities and 3) hostels with room for four! This was surprisingly fun and easy to research, and soon enough we had a plan that worked! 

(New) Spring Break Plan:

Friday - Fly from Madrid to Geneva, and take train (1 hr) to Lausanne, Switzerland. We will spend two days in this beautiful town on Lake Geneva.

Lausanne, Switzerland

Sunday - Take train back to Geneva, and catch a bus to Chamonix, France. We will spend two days in this quaint ski village. I am extremely excited for this part of the trip because we get to ski in the French Alps! Even more, we are staying at a cute bed and breakfast tucked between the mountains. 

Chamonix, France

Skiing in the French Alps!

 Tuesday: Bus back to Geneva, spend the day exploring the town. We found a hostel that had an opening for this night, so we will be able to see the city! 

Geneva, Switzerland

On Wednesday, we depart for Budapest, Hungary. I would post more about this half of the trip, but I'm about to get kicked out of the school because it's now closing! 

I'll end with saying how happy I am with the way things turned out, and that I think that Plan C is actually better than Plan A. I am more excited than ever to go. It's coming up fast, too! We leave a week from this Friday!  

Cheers,
Anna