European Hostels under 20 Euros?!

If you're planning your European getaway and are high on taste but low on funds, consider staying at some of these places. I've stayed at Seven in Sorrento and LOVED it. I tell all the people I know about it. Now I'm excited about some of these others.

Europe's Top 10 Luxury Hostels under 20 Euros

Hong Kong en route to Bangkok

I've never been to Asia. Well, I *have* but only to Singapore and only for 3 days.

So, ever the "most bang for my buck" kinda gal, it was decided that we would incorporate a stop in Hong Kong on our way to Bangkok. We have 26 hours to land, find a place to stay, roam the city, and make it to the Peak.

We're going to do the Peak Tram at sunset. It looks awesome. Check it out: Hong Kong Peak Experience

I found this article from Time with the Top 10 Things To Do In Hong Kong in 24 Hours

1: Victoria Peak (already on the list!)
2: Lin Heung Tea House
3: Charter a Junk (makes me think of an ad we ran here at work.See below)
4: The Intercontinental's Infinity Pools
5: Temple St. Night Market (loooove markets, so I'm putting this on the list also)
6: Heli-Tour of Hong Kong
7: Cha Chan Tang
8: Star Ferry
9: Chungking Mansions
10: Roof of the IFC Mall

Central America, Here I Come!

I booked my flights to Central America yesterday. I can't wait.

Next step is to book our hop-on-hop-off bus with Bamba Experience.

The idea is to start in Guatemala and head north through Belize til we get to Cancun, where we are flying home from.

Because I'm such a planner, and I'm so short on time, here's a run down of all the things we're planning to do. Did I miss anything?

Guatemala to Cancun – July 24 to Aug 3                                                                                   

Starting Point	Time	End Point	Time	Notes
July 24
Toronto	14:20	Guatemala City	19:15	VIA MIA
Guatemala City	21:00	Antigua	22:00	Hostel bus pick up
July 25
Antigua	14:00	Antigua	22:00	Incl Volcano tour
July 26
Antigua	08:00	Lanquin	14:00	6h hostel bus
July 27
Lanquin	09:00	Flores	16:00	7h hostel bus
July 28
Flores/Tikal	04:30am	Flores	13:00	Incl Tikal tour – leaves EARLY
July 29
Flores	07:30	Belize City	13:30	6h bus
July 30
Belize	08:00	Caye Caulker	16:30	Water Taxi
July 31
Belize	09:00	Chetumal	14:00
Chetumal	17:45	Tulum	19:25
Aug 1
Tulum	15:40	Playa Del Carmen	16:40	Visit ruins in morning
Playa Del Carmen	21:00	Cancun	22:00	Dinner and afternoon in PdC
Aug 2
Cancun	ALL DAY	Cancun	ALL DAY	Beach! Relax! Go to bed early
Aug 3
Cancun	07:00	Toronto	17:50

Thailand Planning

In about 5 weeks I'm taking off on my next adventure. As I mentioned before I'm off to Thailand with two of my good friends. We've only got about 10 days to see as much of the country as possible. We are all photographers, so we want to be able to hit all the photogenic sites (and a beach or two for me, hopefully...)

Here's the itinerary (for the most part) if you're interested. We're trying to not plan too much of the trip and just let it happen, but with only 10 days we're forced to set a few parameters:


Depart from Toronto at 10am. Convince myself to sleep on the plane so that I can function when we arrive in Hong Kong. Spend 24 hours in Hong Kong just because we can. Hopefully do a whirlwind tour of the city and see what we can in a short period of time. I'd love to hit a night market if possible.

Hong Kong at Night  (Google Image)

We fly out of Hong Kong in the afternoon and arrive into Bangkok in the late afternoon. We've got an airport hotel booked, so we'll drop off our stuff and probably take a bus into the city (or maybe just sleep, it's hard to say).







Next morning we have a relatively early morning flight to Chiang Mai. We have about 3 days in Chiang Mai to check out the temples, elephants, markets and hilltribes.

I've been given a heads up that we know a family that operates a bar/restaurant that we should check out, The Lost Hut, so we will definitely do that. I've also heard that if you're going to do a cooking class in Thailand, the northern part is the place to do it.

Long Neck Tribe (Google Image)

 


After that we head to Phuket to take in some beach action. The guys aren't as stoked about the beach as I am but I refuse to go to Thailand and not see at least SOME sun. They're more than welcome to go do their own thing while I frolic in the water. I have full intentions of attempting to surf ... and probably doing some snorkelling. Will probably look here for more ideas on what to do in Phuket

Koh Phi Phi (Google Image)

From here we're going to hit up Krabi province and it's islands (Ko Phi Phi for example), the backdrop for the movie The Beach.

After some beach time, which I'm sure will also include lots of party time, we're heading back up to Bangkok for the last few days before returning home. I've already made some Twitter friends that we are going to meet up with to get a photo tour. Since it's our last stop before heading back, I'm really looking forward to some night markets and maybe the Ampawa Floating Market, if we have time.

There are so many things I'm looking forward to doing on this trip - eating being a huge part of it. I love Thai food. Well, lets be frank, I love food. I'll try just about anything once... and if this includes some of the stranger things like roasted tarantulas or crickets, I'll give it a go. Rice and rice noodles, I live for those things. I think I'm going to be the only person who comes back from Thailand having put on weight.

 

 

 

image courtesy of wikipedia

Overall, I can't wait. It will be a fantastic trip and I'm sure I'll have a million awesome photos to share when I get back so that I'm not forced to steal images off the internet to fill my blog with :)

Peru Travel Talk at Backpacking Latin America at Univ of Western

If you're around University of Western tomorrow, come by and check out my travel talk on Peru (I'll post the info here afterward so all my hard work isn't completely forgotten).

SUR LA is Students United in Representation of Latin America  - and they want everyone to learn about the Latin American culture! Click here to check out the Facebook event!

Central America - Where and What to do?

My cousin informed me earlier this year that if I wanted/needed a travel partner for this summer she would gladly follow me anywhere I wanted to go.

That's a pretty tall order to fill, wouldn't you say?

I'd originally wanted to organize a trip to Egypt with the bunch of us that were in Peru together, but a few things came up that would make such a trip somewhat difficult (including, but not exclusively limited to the issues Egypt has had lately).

So then I started thinking about Central America. I'd enjoyed Peru a lot and I had been considering doing a trip there earlier as well. I asked my cousin what she thought and she said she was up for an adventure to anywhere I was hoping to go... so the planning started.

Unfortunately I don't have as many vacation days this year as I had last year, so my time will be a bit shorter than in previous years (though I think I hit the jack pot last year with trips to Vegas, Vancouver, Finland/France/UK AND Peru all between April and November) but I still think it's do-able to see as much of the area as possible.

The options consist of 2 different ideas:

Costa Rica and Panama - lots of adventurey things to do plus a bit easier to get around and more backpacker friendly but more expensive due to being more touristy

or Mexico (Cancun/Cozumel/Playa Del Carmen), Belize and Guatemala - a bit more off the beaten track, with lots of diving/snorkelling to do as well as a bit cheaper and things like Mayan ruins to check out.

At this point the price of flights is similar to all destinations so that's not a big factor - but I'm taking advice and  suggestions - where do you think I should go?

The A-Train will be leaving the station again soon!

Today I booked my next trip.

In May I will be taking off with one of my best friends and his best friend to beautiful Thailand.

Any tips and advice is totally appreciated! More details to come as I plan what we're going to do while we are there!