Blog - Page 2 of 2 - Wild Color Macrame

September 4, 2018July 16, 2021

The Laundry Struggles of a Backpacker

We arrived in Santorini, Greece, where everyone dresses to the nines. We stopped for lunch at an upscale rooftop bar. It had been about a week since we last did laundry and it was our third day wearing the same clothes. We were stinky.

Hey, laundry is hard when you’re hopping from country to country every few days and wearing a new set of clothes on a travel day is a backpacking no-no. I’m sure my fellow travelers are familiar with the difficulties of doing laundry abroad. Below are a few of our most humorous struggles.

Dryers aren’t a thing in Europe

My husband, father and I were in the first country of the trip: Germany. We knew our next destination wouldn’t have a washer, so we threw a load in the evening before we had to leave for Prague.

Our AirBnb didn’t have a dryer, so we used every square inch of the apartment to lay out our clothes to dry – jeans included. I can almost hear my mom groaning and saying, “Emma! The jeans wouldn’t be dry by the next morning!” Yeah, mom, we discovered that the hard way.

The next morning we each had a pile of wet clothes to haul to Prague. Thank goodness we were taking a bus, and were not required to weigh our luggage!

Lesson learned: If you don’t have a dryer, don’t wash your heavy clothes the night before traveling.

The washer settings are in a different language

On our second laundry attempt in the Netherlands we were thrilled that we brought small baggies of powder laundry detergent because our AirBnb didn’t provide any. I highly recommend doing this – buying a giant batch of detergent while traveling is such a waste.

While my husband and father were out grabbing groceries, I attempted to start a load of laundry. To be honest, I’m not that good at English laundry, so imagine my struggle with Dutch laundry.

So here I am looking at my options:

Intensief…hmm sounds too intense.

Kort programma… let’s skip that and come back to it.

Centrifugeren…skip.

Spoelen and centrifuge…crap.

Katoen…huh, maybe that’s for cotton stuff.

Synthetisch…maybe that’s for synthetic materials?

Handwas…no, I don’t want to hand wash, I want YOU to wash them.

Babykatoen…aww baby cotton!

After washing on Kort programma for 30 minutes our laundry came out fine. We put our clothes on the patio to dry. A bird pooped on them less than 10 minutes later so we kort programma’d a second time.

Halfway through our trip we got smart and started paying a laundry mat to wash our clothes. It usually cost about 10 Euro a load, which was a lot, but worth it.

Thanks for reading,

Emma

August 28, 2018April 25, 2021

Burano, Italy is a Colorful Slice of Heaven

The first time I heard of Burano it was on one of those, “Brightly Colored Towns you Have to Visit,” blogs. Today, images of Burano flood Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook. Many refer to Burano as an, “Instagrammer’s paradise,” because you really can’t take a bad photo here. Bottom line: this place is touristy. However, if you’re already in Venice, Burano is absolutely worth a day trip.

Read more about our time in Venice here.

What to expect

Lace

Burano is known for intricate lace pieces. Whether or not you’re planning on buying a souvenir, it’s fun to stop in a lace shop and take a look. We almost bought my sister an embroidered handkerchief for her wedding day, but at 40 Euro a piece we decided against it. I regret that – you’re only in Burano once! Go ahead and buy the easy to haul around souvenir!

Seafood

We ended up at some run-of-the-mill seafood restaurant that was stuffy and overpriced. My advice: look into restaurants before you reach the island. If you don’t do any research beforehand, get away from the main corridor for lunch. From what I could tell, the areas with the boldest, brightest colored homes had the highest price entrees.

Cats

If you’re a fan of felines, pick up cat food before you get to Burano. We offered treats to some local kitties (though they seemed well cared for). The cats loved the treats, but disliked being touched. We dropped a treat on the sidewalk and otherwise let them be.

Bright colors

Obviously, this place is colorful. My husband and I got creative and decided to showcase all of the building colors with goofy selfies. We could’ve taken a couple dozen more, but you get the idea!

Getting there

Getting to the islands of Burano, Murano and Torcello is easy, especially by ferry/water bus. I recommend getting an ACTV Water Bus pass the moment you arrive in Venice. We found an ACTV kiosk before we even left the main train station.

From what I remember, the passes were around 20 Euro for 24 hours. It was wonderful having unlimited access to the water buses during our time in Venice. Here’s an ACTV timetable, for reference. The ride took approximately 35 minutes from F.te Nove “A” (where our hostel was located) to the island of Burano.

My husband and I spent a full day in Burano and skipped Murano and Torcello. But I’ve heard that you could fit all islands into one day trip.

Could you live here?

I have a journal entry from Burano that’s all about picturing myself living there. Could I do it?

Imagine what it would be like living on a touristy island. That alone would be a little strange. Now imagine what it would be like having tourists take photos of your brightly colored home.

When we were passing through the alleyways of Burano, my husband and I saw a little girl playing with an Elsa doll from the movie Frozen (I guess the Frozen craze reached all corners of the Earth). When the little girl saw us she said, “Ciao!” as if she was used to people passing by her front door.

Another odd sight, when you see it through the eyes of the locals, is tourists taking photos of laundry lines. If I lived in Burano, I would be hesitant to hang intimates on the line for the world to see.

I genuinely loved Burano and was so glad we took a full day to explore it, despite it being a little touristy for our taste.

Thanks for reading,

Emma

August 23, 2018April 25, 2021

A Gloomy Day at Point Reyes

I love the fog in Northern California. We didn’t have much fog in Colorado. I remember one foggy morning when I was in elementary school. It was so foggy I couldn’t see the stop sign down the road. I thought, ‘The sky is falling! The world is coming to an end.’

I was a little melodramatic.

The fun part about being new to a state is that every weekend is an adventure. We heard Point Reyes was stunning, so off we went to explore another piece of our new paradise.

Getting there

Point Reyes National Seashore is located on the coast of Marin County, about an hour north of San Francisco (an hour west of us over in Santa Rosa). The drive is fairly easy, but the entire time you’re wondering, ‘Where’s the beach!?’ Oh, it’s there. It’s just too foggy to see. As you pass through Inverness Park, the roads get rougher. (This is where we discovered we needed new shocks on the car.)

Hiking

We missed the alert on the National Park Service website that said that the Lighthouse was being renovated. We couldn’t get near it! I was so bummed. The restorations will be taking place from August to October, 2018. However, we did park at the Lighthouse parking lot and explore a few small trails.

I was blown away by the beauty. Truly. For the first time since we returned from Europe, I had one of those, ‘Wow…’ moments. Point Reyes really took my breath away.

Weather

The Northern California coast has unpredictable weather (says the girl who has lived here two months). All two times we’ve visited the coast the weather has gone from breezy and chilly (multiple clothing layers required) to sunny and comfortable. We packed for both possibilities and I finally found a use for my hooded sweater dress.

The one year mark

Point Reyes was exactly what I needed on this particular day. It was the one year anniversary of my mom’s passing (read more about that here). I didn’t know how to spend the day. My mom and I loved to shop together, but a crowded mall was the last place I wanted to be.

My husband Michael and I decided on Point Reyes because we wanted time alone together to reflect on my mother’s life and our past year without her. It felt like the scenery was mirroring our emotions, perfectly setting the stage to grieve and say goodbye and good riddance to a painful 12 months.

Let me tell you something about the one year mark of a loved one’s passing: day 365 feels no different than day 364. I had been building it up for a year like it would be the second hardest day of my life. Truth is, it just reminded me of how far I’ve come, and how missing her will never go away.

The beach

After we explored the area near the Lighthouse, we went to Drake’s Beach. The water was refreshingly cold and totally unswimable. But the beach was long and flat, perfect for a peaceful walk. We saw a handful of seals out in the water — it was my first time seeing seals in the wild! They look like little water cats and I immediately fell in love.

I adored Point Reyes and I can’t wait to explore it some more. Next time I’ll be sure to check out Cowgirl Creamery and the Cypress Tunnel. I was so bummed to have missed them on my first visit!

By the way, my husband and I are gonna bring back kiting. Ya know, the act of flying a kite? No one kites anymore. So we’re bringing it back. Join us if you dare.

Thanks for reading,

Emma

August 21, 2018April 25, 2021

Sleeping in a French Bubble Hotel

To start, I’ll say that staying in the Attrap Reves Bubble Hotel in Allauch, France was a huge highlight of our trip. It was high on my bucket list when we started planning our adventure and it didn’t disappoint.

This is true “glamping,” or “glamorous camping.” You get to sleep under the stars, wake up naturally to the sunrise and have your morning coffee on a picnic table. However, you still have the comforts of a closed room, bed, air conditioning and full bathroom just a couple hundred feet away.

Privacy

Hmm, a clear bubble…can’t people see into that? Don’t worry, Attrap Reves is strict when it comes to ensuring the privacy of their guests. We stayed in the Zen Bubble and had very clear Zen signs pointing the way to our room. The signs are in French, so upon arrival a tour guide showed us which sign led us to the bathrooms, pool, kitchen and our room. She also pointed out what the signs to other bubbles looked like so we could steer clear of other people’s zones. While there was no lock to our actual bubble or bubble area, we never felt nervous. There’s less than 15 people on site at all times, and it feels safe.

Weather

We visited at the end of June and the bubble temperature was just about perfect, albeit a little warm at 5:00 p.m. when we arrived. The tour guide said that while the bubble heats up a lot during the day, the evenings are just about perfect because the internal temperature matches the external temperature. She was right, we slept like babies.

The bubble hotel is open year around, and as far as I can tell online, no one is hating on it in the dead of winter. There was a small air conditioner in our bubble, I believe it had a heat setting as well.

Inside the bubble

I got a kick out of this: our tour guide explained that if you open the bubble’s outside zipper AND inside zipper simultaneously the entire thing deflates. Boy, were we cautious: opening the first zipper, stepping in the hallway, closing the first zipper, opening the second zipper, stepping in the bubble, closing the second zipper.

The bubble décor was lovely. I just fell in love with the lime green bedding against the forest background. The furniture was purposefully low to the ground to allow optimal 360 degree viewing.

The acoustics in the bubble were pretty funky. My husband Michael and I felt like our ears were popping because of the way sound bounced off of the walls. The bubble itself is made of recycled plastic and feels soft to the touch, like an inflatable pool raft.

Getting there

The hotel is a 30 minute drive from Marseille, France. During the entire drive, we wondered if we were going the wrong way. For starters, Marseille is a big city and for a good 25 minutes of the drive you are still in the city wondering how you could possibly end up in a forested area. Then, for the last 5 minutes of driving, you’re winding through a very narrow residential area. The gate is not labeled and if it wasn’t for our navigation system insisting that we arrived, we wouldn’t have known it was Attrap Reves.

By the way, we totally crashed our rental car as we arrived at Attrap Reves. Be careful turning around on those steep roads, especially with a manual car! Each bubble comes with one parking space, by the way.

Dinner and breakfast

After crashing the rental car, there was no way we were heading back out for dinner. You need to let the hotel know in advance if you want a picnic dinner, and it comes at an additional cost. Thankfully, they had an extra dinner in the back for us, even though we didn’t reserve a plate. The cost was worth it! We ate in our bubble. Everything was delicious.

The next morning, we requested our breakfast at 9:00 a.m. and ate in the dining room area. It always cracks me up how Europeans include an entire loaf of bread with breakfast. My husband loved it. I stuck with yogurt. The cost of breakfast is included in your booking price.

Overall, our stay at Attrap Reves was incredible. We couldn’t get over the gorgeous view from our bed and loved waking up to the rising sun. Surprisingly, after sunrise we were able to fall back asleep until about 8:30!

Even if you aren’t heading to the south of France anytime soon, I encourage you to think outside of the box for your lodging experiences. At around 100 Euro a bubble, the price isn’t that outrageous for a once in a lifetime experience! Next on my lodging bucket list: a tree house. Any recommendations?

Thanks for reading,

Emma