Riding the Train in Tunisia (And The Perils of Hiring a Tour Guide)

One of the scariest things about traveling alone is the possibility that something bad could happen to you and no one would be there to help. You can also be taken advantage of more easily. With no one there to talk things through or bounce ideas off of, you're left with only one perspective and it's sometimes hard to know if it's right. But there are definitely good things about traveling alone, too. You can do what you want, when you want and you don't have to compromise on anything. Some of my best stories have happened while I was traveling alone, which you can read about here and here.

After spending a few weeks in Morocco with a friend, she flew home and I went on to Tunisia by myself. I was pretty nervous because it's a 3rd world, Muslim, North African country that didn't really have a lot of solo, women travelers of any nationality, including it's own. Upon arrival, I made the rookie mistake of not knowing what my taxi driver was charging me for the trip to my hotel and definitely overpaid. I was tired from traveling all day (and a near meltdown at the Marrakesh airport when they couldn't find our reservation) and a bit nervous about being on my own, so I was just thankful to be safely at my hotel and didn't really care too much. The next day, I decided to take a train to the ancient Punic city of Carthage and eventually on to the charming town of Sidi Bou Said. It was a local train and very rickety. As I got on and found a seat, a group of about 8 young men, around 18-20 years old, sat down and took a keen interest in me. All I could think about was, if they wanted to do something to me, there was literally nothing I could do about it. I was terrified.

But it turns out, all they wanted to do was ask me questions. None of them had ever met an American before; they were just some alien creatures they saw on TV. I was such a novelty to them. They wanted to know what America was like, if I'd ever heard of Britney Spears or Akon, how I liked Tunisia, and where I was going that day. I tried to explain to them that I was going Carthage, but they couldn't understand what I was saying. After saying it several times (seriously, I don't know how else to say it!) they finally understood, "Ah! Cart-age!" Well, that explains it. As we approached my stop, they tried to get me to stay on longer, that there was nothing worth seeing, just a bunch of old ruins. They didn't get that that was exactly what I came to see. Weird Americans. I bid them farewell and headed to the first site.

As I was walking up the road to the museum, a taxi driver stopped and offered to drive me to all the important sites of Carthage, tell me about them, and eventually take me on to Sidi Bou Said. I was pretty skeptical at first, knowing that I could do it on my own and not have to worry if this guy was serious or trying to kidnap me. But it was also a billion degrees out, I knew that traveling by train was slow and not always easy, and it would be nice to see some places not on the train route. We agreed on a price (not making that mistake again!) and off we went.

Antonine Baths

The sites varied between the mundane (the Military and Commercial Harbors) and the awesome (the Antonine Baths). There was an amphitheater which seemed small, but used to hold up to 30,000 people, and more mosaics than I've ever seen in my life. While much of the ancient city is now upper class coastal suburb, there is still a lot to see, and worth every dime and second. You can easily imagine Hannibal and his elephants marching off to war, or Aeneas seeking shelter from the fall of Troy in Queen Dido's arms before breaking her heart to found Rome. It's a magical place full of history and legend.

The amphitheater

The main square of Sidi Bou Said

A colorful back alleyway.

After visiting nearly every site in Carthage, it was time to head to Sidi Bou Said. This small, wealthy suburb of Tunis is known for it's white buildings with blue trim, and Islamic art and architecture. There isn't a lot to do or see here, but it's nice to walk around and have dinner. As I got out of the cab, the driver said he was leaving. What?! How was I supposed to get back to Tunis?! I sat and argued with him but he was insistent. He said he only agreed to take me to Sidi Bou Said, he had to get home to his wife and kids. I could hire another taxi to take me back or take the train. I was annoyed, but what was I going to do?

Beautiful door with Islamic detail

It was now evening and things were starting to close. I walked around town, taking pictures and looking for somewhere to eat. I honestly can't remember if I found any food or not, I was too worried about getting back to Tunis! After wandering around this charming town for a bit, I finally found a cab to take me back to my hotel. He didn't speak any English which gave me a chance to use my French, which was clearly not as good as I thought it was, as he couldn't understand even the name of my hotel, La Masion Blanc. After driving around lost, he eventually pulled over and asked someone to help translate. From there, it was a quick trip and I was finally home! It was a long and sometimes stressful day, and I was still annoyed with my tour guide taxi driver, but one thing I found out that day, and the rest of my days in Tunisia was that everyone there was incredibly friendly, delighted to help a foreigner, and thrilled to meet a real American. It was completely opposite of what I expected and I felt so thankful that I had the opportunity to hopefully make a positive impact on them. They had definitely done that for me.

Making the Most of a Layover

I think it's clear by now that I like to pack a lot into my trips. I've sacrificed sleep, safety and with great difficulty, food, to make sure I get to see everything I possibly can with the limited time I have available to me. One way I've found to add some sightseeing to an already packed schedule is to do a short tour during a layover. Usually you'll need a good 6-7 hours minimum to make this worthwhile, but rather than sitting in an airport playing with my phone or generally being bored, I like to go out and see a bit of the city I'm stopped in.

The first time I did this, we were flying KLM to Casablanca, Morocco. Our layover was in Amsterdam and we had 7 hours between flights. Since we had so much time, we researched ahead of the trip and found that the Amsterdam airport led tours originating and concluding at the airport of varying lengths, depending on your layover time. You find the tour companies desk, tell them how long your layover is, and they tell you how long of a tour you have time for. Once you've paid, they quickly take you through customs and out to a waiting van.

Our tour took us first to a wooden shoe making shop. We got to see a demonstration of how they were made and learn a bit about the history of why they ever became a thing in the first place (they were cheap, practical, and it didn't hurt if the cows stepped on your feet!). After the shoes, we stopped at a windmill for a photo op before driving through the city past the Van Gogh museum and the Red Light District to a dock. We were hustled to the front of the line to get on a boat for a trip around the canals. We saw both old and new Amsterdam, the Ann Frank house, and learned how people moved into their tall, narrow buildings using the hook at the top of each house. Finally we headed back to the airport to catch our next flight. But we definitely felt the need to go back and make a full trip in the future.

Another time I had a 6 hour layover in London on my way to Madrid, Spain. I had been to London before, but there was plenty I hadn't seen. Before leaving, I talked to a friend who grew up there and asked what was something I could reasonably see in that time frame, knowing I had to take the tube into the city, which requires about an hour on either side. We decided that I could probably see all of the Tower of London in that time, and if I had more, I could swing by Westminster Abby and one of his favorite local pubs on my way back.

After sleepily trying to use my Seattle train card to get on the London tube, I finally made it into the city and to the Tower. I was just in time to catch a free Beef-eater guided tour. I highly recommend this as you learn a lot and many of the tour guides have a great sense of humor. However, not included in the tour is the crown jewels. I looked at the line and decided that there was no way I would be able to see them and still make my connecting flight. I walked around the Tower for awhile longer, exploring everything else there was to see, then headed back to the airport and on to Madrid. 

We Will Follow You Wherever You May Go (Following the Sounders to Trinidad & Tobago)

As I think I've mentioned a time or two, I have a deep and ardent love for sports. I grew up with baseball and football, but more recently, I've fallen in love with the Sounders, Seattle's soccer team. It makes sense; I love the rest of the world, the rest of the world loves soccer (football, futbol, il calcio, etc), therefore I should love soccer (okay, maybe that's not exactly how it works, but I'm going with it). And when I can combine my love of sports with my passion for travel, so much the better for me!

In 2012, the Sounders were part of a competition known as CONCACAF Champions League, where they play clubs from MLS, Central America and the Caribbean. There's always one home and one away game. That season, one of the teams they played was Caladonia AIA FC from Trinidad & Tobago. I had already taken a lot of time off that year to visit friends and family in Denver, Monterey and Boston, plus I was planning a trip to India so I wasn't sure I could find another week off to go to the Caribbean. But, of course, I did.

We flew into Port of Spain, Trinidad, the day before the match and checked into one of the sketchiest hostels I've ever stayed in. I'm not sure it was very clean, but it was cheap and we weren't staying for long. We wandered around the city, but not too far as Port of Spain has a reputation for being pretty unsafe. There were 10 of us total flying in for the match and we all met up at our hostel the day of the match to pre-funk. We had a cab come pick us up and with the rules of the road being what they are in T&T, we crammed all of us and our beers into the van and off we went to the stadium!

Our tifo. "The entire world will tremble at your might"

At the players hotel, having a drink

An hour later, we arrived and were shuttled through the back hallways to get our tickets and on to our seats. There was almost no one else there! We met up with a few other Sounders fans and combined I think we outnumbered the hometown crowd! We went about setting up our tifo display and taking pictures of our team warming up. The match was a lot of fun, we won, and apparently all you could hear on the TV was us singing for our boys. After the match, the players and coaches came over to shake our hands, thank us for coming and invited us back to their hotel for a round of drinks on them. How cool!

The next day was the 50th anniversary of Independence for Trinidad & Tobago; there had been fireworks every night leading up to this day. Red and black flags flew everywhere and it was quite the festive atmosphere. But we had a boat to catch to Tobago where the beach part of our vacation began! The ferry took about an hour and we were picked up at the dock by someone from our hotel (which was SO much nicer than the hostel on Trinidad!). It was right on the beach nestled in it's own little cove. I'm an early riser so every morning I'd get up and sit on the balcony, watching the waves and reading a book. We spent most of the time in the water, floating and lying on the beach. There was also a little waterfall not too far away that we walked to one day and two of our friends got engaged (with a lot of nudging from me and the other girl we were traveling with). We went on a fishing trip, saw dolphins and cooked up what we caught on a beach at the south end of the island. It truly was paradise.

This was my first international away trip to support the Sounders, and for the last few years they haven't been in CCL so we haven't been able to make these kinds of trips very often, but if they continue playing the way they have been this year, I see more away trips like this in my future. I'm hoping El Salvador. Or maybe Panama! Either way it will be a riot!

How To Deal With An Emergency Abroad (Losing Your Passport in Costa Rica)

Back in 2007, a friend and I spent 10 days in Costa Rica. It was a wonderful trip filled with wild animals, SCUBA diving, sun bathing and getting a passport stolen. I'm sorry, what? Yep, my friend had her passport (and all her documentation, camera, etc) stolen at the very beginning of our vacation.

The city of San Jose

We flew in to San Jose, spent a day walking around the city, seeing what there was to see, before catching the bus the next day to La Fortuna. I had all my important stuff at my feet, while my friend had put her bag above her head with the strap hanging down so she could keep an eye on it. It was a 4 hour ride through the mountains with beautiful views. After a little more than 2 hours, we stopped for a bathroom break and my friend went to grab her bag, except it wasn't there. She searched everywhere looking for it but sure enough, it was gone.

When we got to La Fortuna, we immediately started calling the embassy in San Jose to see how we should handle this. We were told we would have to come in and apply for a temporary passport so she could leave the country, but it was Friday, we wouldn't be able to get back there until Tuesday. After calling home to have copies of her documents that she had left behind faxed down to our hotel, we decided that I would pay for the rest of the trip on my credit card and we would leave early Tuesday morning to get back to the embassy when it opens at 8 so we could hopefully still make our flight to the Corcovado Rain Forest later that day.

Arenal Volcano

With that sorted, there wasn't much more to do about it until Tuesday, so we enjoyed La Fortuna, hiking the Arenal volcano (where we saw Spider and Howler Monkeys!), relaxing in the hot springs and riding horses to a waterfall to swim. Then we took a boat to Monteverde where we went zip lining and toured the cloud forest canopy looking for birds (we saw a Quetzal) and other wild life. Even with the passport situation hanging over our heads, we had a wonderful time!

Zip lining in Monteverde!

Tuesday morning we got a taxi at 4am to make the drive back to San Jose. We got there right at opening and with the copies of her original documents and some teasing from the guy at the desk, we were able to get a new passport in about an hour. It was expensive ($100 or so) and definitely caused a lot of stress and lost sleep, but it was surprisingly easier than expected. We were even able to make our flight with time to spare. With a way for us to both leave the country, the rest of the trip was far more relaxing.

The plane landed on a dirt strip in the middle of the rain forest, with four sticks and some corrugated tin thrown together into a makeshift airport. A car picked us up and drove us down to the beach where we climbed into a boat that took us to the tent camp. It was heaven on earth. We relaxed on the beach, went for a trek through the woods, spent a day SCUBA diving, and even got to see a sloth and the Scarlet Macaws! If you ever get a chance to go to Costa Rica, I highly recommend the Corcovado Adventures Tent Camp. It made the stress from the earlier part of the trip seem like it never even happened.

Me! SCUBA diving!

A Scarlet Macaw

Overall, it was a fabulous trip, something we both said many times on the flight home, despite having the passport stolen. It's one of those things that, aside from having your self stolen (kidnapped), is kind of the worst case scenario while traveling abroad. It was incredibly stressful at the time, but looking back on it, it's really not the vacation ending disaster it seems to be, if you have taken a few easy, precautionary steps. We always make sure to leave copies of all our important documents at home, but now we also exchange copies of them with each other to make it even easier. And always, ALWAYS keep your most important stuff in your sight at all times. You just never know what could happen.

You Ate A What?!

Back in February, I went to Thailand and Cambodia for a couple weeks and boy, what a trip! The weather was hot, the sites were stunning and the food was to die for. We had a lot of amazing things planned, but before I left, one of my friends from Vietnam told me that of all the things I was going to do, the most important cultural experience I had to try was to eat a fried bug. Gross!

Now, I'm pretty adventurous. I'm willing to try almost anything. But eating an insect? It gives me the heeby jeebies just thinking about it! I promised her I would keep an eye out and if I came across one, I would do it.

We spent the entire 2 and a half weeks doing amazing, wondrous things, all of which I will write about someday in another post (I hope). Throughout the trip, I tried to make good on my promise, but nary a fried bug was to be found! Maybe I would make it through without ever having to experience this. Fingers crossed.

On our last night, we decided to walk around Kao San Road in Bangkok. We couldn't leave Thailand without experiencing the tourist ghetto! After wandering for a couple hours, my friend pointed out a local girl eating fried grasshoppers. "Kelsey! You have to go ask her where she got those so you can eat your bug!!" Nooooooooo! I was SO CLOSE to being able to say I had legitimately tried and just couldn't find them! Instead, she pointed me to a cart on the street with a variety of multi-legged creatures on it. Eek!

We walked over and debated the merits of each bug, which would be best to eat and why. I was going to go for a cricket, but my friend was all, "What if the legs get stuck in your throat?? That would be the worst!" and I didn't want to eat something that was too big, either! Finally I decided on what looked like a fried grub. For 10 baht, it was mine to do with as I pleased. I held the stick with my bug on it thinking, "What am I doing? This is cray cray!"

Finally, I just did it. I stuck it in my mouth and chewed. And you know what? It really wasn't that bad! I'm not saying I would eat these things regularly, but for having to try it once, it tasted a lot better than expected. And now I can say that I really did experience Thai culture.

Two Days in Turkey (Or, What Happens When You Travel On a Whim)

Last fall when I was traveling in Bulgaria, my friend and I decided to go to Istanbul for two days on a whim. It's only an 8 hour overnight bus ride from Varna so we could easily spend a couple days in Istanbul without losing too many in Bulgaria, either. Plus I had a friend who was studying there at the time. She could show us the ropes, nothing to worry about! At least, that was the plan.

Unfortunately, due to spotty internet connections, we weren't able to sync up. That wasn't going to stop us from going though. I booked a hotel for one night before we left and off we went! The ride was long, but the buses in Bulgaria are definitely the way to travel. Free wifi on board and snacks/drinks were served. But no matter which mode of transportation you choose, there's always those people on board. You know the ones. They talk loudly, listen to their music, kick the back of your seat. They made sleeping very difficult.

When we got to the border crossing, we had to all get off the bus into the freezing cold night, stand in line to buy a visa (as the only two American passport holders, we were the only ones required to get visas and we were grossly overcharged for this) and get our passports stamped, grab our bags, walk through a security set up, and finally get back on the bus.

We arrived in Istanbul around 6am and found a cab to take us to our hotel, which was in Sultanahmet. Because we were so early, we weren't able to check in, so we sat in the lobby for a half hour until they could look up our reservations. Turns out there is more than one of our hotel in the area and we were at the wrong one! I knew it was too nice for what we were paying. Fortunately our real hotel was a short walk away and we found it easily.

The Spice Market at 8am...no crowds!

After dropping our stuff off  with the hotel staff (still too early to check in) and eating a quick breakfast with phenomenal views of the Bosphorus, we headed over to the Spice Market before the crowds showed up. There was so much to see and buy! We walked up and down the isles, checking out the spices, buying gifts for people back home (and ourselves, of course!). Most stalls sell virtually the same things so it's just a matter of finding the best price for the exact object you want.

Once we'd finished at the Spice Market, we walked to the Grand Bazaar. This place is huge! It's very easy to get lost in. And while it caters more to tourists these days than the locals of yesterday, you still feel like you're stepping back in time when you walk through this maze of shops and restaurants. It was still early so we were able to navigate the halls with relative ease. We wanted to buy everything!

Colorful lanterns in the Grand Bazaar

Next was a tour of the Haggia Sofia. All I can say is WOW! It really is gorgeous. I don't have the words to describe it so do yourself a favor and just go there (and look for the Viking grafiti!).

After a well earned a rest and some lunch, we headed over to the Blue Mosque. From the outside, this is the building most people think is the Haggia Sofia. It's definitely more impressive looking. However, while the Haggie Sofia is a museum of both Christian and Muslim art and architecture, the Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmed Mosque) is still a working mosque and appropriate dress is required for entry. Apparently my pants were too tight and I was required to put on a long skirt. They were provided for free. It doesn't take long to get through the mosque. It's beautiful inside, but you're mostly looking at all the tile work (which is blue, of course) on the columns and ceiling. There's also a steady stream of people coming in to worship, so it's best to stay out of their way.

Inside the Blue Mosque

Finally we went to the Topkapi Palace. The grounds were beautiful, the harem was stunning, and all the buildings were impressive. We saw an old library and collections of clothes, jewels and weapons worn and used by the Sultans who used to live here. We made it out to the area overlooking the Bosphorus, all the while listening to our audio guides.

By this point, we were exhausted down to our bones. We'd seen so much in one day, walked over most of Sultanahmet, slept little on the bus and were just ready to be done. We somehow made our way back to the hotel (shopping along the way, of course) and checked in. We were too tired to even eat, so we did our best American impressions and had pizza delivered to our room. But since this is not a normal concept for the Turks; when my friend asked about a menu at the front desk, they walked her over to the place itself to order. To our credit, it was Turkish pizza, and to the hotel's credit, they brought it up to us when it was ready. We ate and passed out.

The second day was the day where our lack of planning began to show. Another friend had recently visited Turkey on a much longer trip and had given us some tips of things to do while in Istanbul. One of them was a lunch place on the Asian side. Our instructions were very clear, we had to take the ferry across. We found the ferry dock and boarded, thinking we could just as easily walk across the bridge. But we didn't want to get lost. When the ferry left, it didn't go the way we expected it to. In fact, where were we going? The Asian side is back there! I guess a map would have been helpful here.

Since we were convinced we were in the wrong place, we stayed on the ferry thinking maybe it would stop on the "Asian side"...but it didn't. When we got back to where we started, we realized that what we had thought was the Asian side, wasn't. After looking it up on the phone, we discovered that the Asian side was where we had originally gone, so we rode the ferry back again! This time, we got off and tried to find the road to the lunch place. We wandered all over the hill looking for any signs of life, trying to ask the locals where we needed to go. They kept telling us it was 3k away. That can't be right, it's supposed to be just up the street! Turns out, we took the wrong ferry. Uuuuuuuunnnnhhhhhhhh.

So we walked the 3k to the right part of town, which was evident by the steady thrum of tourists and finally made our way to the restaurant, Ciya Sofrasi. Let me tell you, it was so worth it! The Turkish meatballs were delicious, as was the "salad bar". We ordered a little bit of almost everything and shared it. After lunch, we wandered around the side streets for awhile, stopped for a Turkish coffee before heading back to the right ferry dock to the European side.

Turkish coffee makes you do weird things

On the other side, we took a walk across the Galata Bridge, then went back to the Grand Bazaar for some last minute shopping before we had to leave to go back to Bulgaria. Little did we know just how bad the traffic in Istanbul can be! Fortunately we had the scariest cab driver ever who raced through traffic to get us to the bus station with seconds to spare! Except he dropped us off at the wrong terminal! One of the workers for the bus company ran us over to the right one and after getting us there, followed us on to the bus to demand payment. Such is how it works in Turkey, I guess! The border crossing was much easier on the way back, and we both slept a lot more, from pure exhaustion I think. But we made it and had a great whirlwind tour of Istanbul that has only whet the appetite! Next time I'll make sure to look at a map first though. 

Birthday Fun in Tanzania

I'm lucky enough to have many friends that love to travel as much as I do. Some of these friends I have met on my travels and some through other friends who love to travel. But I still have friends I've never traveled with. One of these friends will be celebrating a big birthday next year (I won't say what it is, but it rhymes with shmorty). She's my former boss from my lifeguarding days and current hiking/mountain climbing buddy. Like me, she has the mindset of not wanting to do it, but wanting to have done it. At least when it comes to climbing mountains. But for that special birthday of hers next year, we've decided to celebrate in a way we're both very much looking forward to. Climbing Mt Kilimanjaro.

Yikes! I can't think of too many more difficult ways to spend a birthday! Kilimanjaro is one of the Seven Summits, the tallest mountain in Africa and the tallest free standing mountain in the world. And it will be one trip neither of us will forget. On top of the mountain climbing, we plan to go on a few safaris, volunteer with the locals either building schools or working at hospitals, or whatever we find that works with our schedule/budget, and possibly a few days on the beaches of Zanzibar. You could do a lot worse.

After much research, we've chosen to do the Lemosho route to the top. It's less traveled but just as scenic (if not more so) as the very popular Machame (Whiskey) route. It does take an extra day and therefore cost more, but that means another day to acclimatize, so it's worth it. Plus it has one of the best success rates of all the routes on the mountain. The hike travels through 5 climate zones, from dense jungle to moorlands to alpine desert and more. You summit at sunrise on the 6th day, followed by a quick day and a half descent. Several years ago, Comic Relief in the UK sent 9 celebrities to climb this route for charity and I figured if they could do it, so can I! The documentary can be found on YouTube under Big Red Nose Climb, in seven parts. I haven't been able to find it all in one piece.

I'm also really excited about going on a safari or 3. Both the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater are located near Kilimanjaro, as is Lake Manyara where you can see the flamingos! January through July is the great migration in the Serengeti so we're hoping to catch the tail end of it before we start our climb. Elephants are my favorite animal and nothing would give me greater joy than the opportunity to see them in the wild.

The last part of this trip, though probably the first thing we'll do, is volunteering. Tanzania is a beautiful country with so much to offer, but they are very poor. Tourism from people wanting to climb Kilimanjaro has injected the country with much needed cash flow, but it still has a long way to go. We haven't settled on which program we want to go with but we have many options. The two front runners as of right now are a 16 day program in Zanzibar building schools and Cradle of Love. The safaris, trips around the island and beach/dive time are included in the time and cost of the Zanzibar program, but Cradle of Love allows you to work directly with the children. We'll also be asking our friends and families if they want to donate any school supplies, climbing gear or sports equipment that we could take over and give to the kids and porters.

This trip is still a year away, but the planning and saving has already begun. It's definitely going to be the most expensive trip I've ever taken, but I think it will also be one of the most fulfilling.

Photo credit: Mr. Google