18 Days Wander

Experiences and some stories from an 18-day-trip between 10 different countries in Europe.

Scroll down, down, dooooown, for a Tl;Dr “I'd rather you read the whole boring post though, it's my first, show some support -.- "

Let me first say I am very glad you are here! Being here, reading my very first post about the trip I've done means a lot to me! The beginnings are always the hardest, and in writing a post about a travel experience can be harder than anyone can imagine! for this reason, I am very thankful that you've taken the time even to read this very boring paragraph! Let's get into business!

I'll start by something I will never ever forget, I arrived to Zurich - Switzerland around 1:00 AM and the hostel I stayed at (Hostel Link) lets you check in the latest at 10:00 PM! 3 hours late is a huge matter in Switzerland, and in all Europe in general, for this reason I arrived at the hostel and tried to ring the bell, no one answered, there is a number you can contact in such cases but, SWITZERLAND is not in the European Union!!! Which means NO ROAMING for free, you have to pay 10 Euros for every MB of data you use, do you think I will pay this much to send a Whatsapp message while my mobile will take advantage of that and start downloading the next episode of “Vis a vis” on Netflix? absolutely not! and to make matters worse; it started raining and there was literally no where for me to go. Add to that, that there is literally no open wireless networks in the whole city to connect to, you are in Switzerland! You are supposed to be rich! Why don't you have your own freaking Wifi subscription?

Long story short, I lost hope and started walking in order to find someone who might help, and two Swiss girls here came to the rescue! They were leaving a bar and looked at me in surprise, asking me: Are you lost?

I was like; I am 26 years old, I shouldn't be lost but my situation is bla bla bla… in one second, Naomi -One of the two girls- shared her hotspot with me to try to contact the number on Whatsapp, I stupidly saved the number as “Hostel” and i tried contacting them, not knowing that i was sending another number saved as “Hostel” that a poor guy in Dubai just bought a couple of days ago! See photo below!

Only to discover that the number on the bell doesn't have a whatsapp account I asked the girls to walk with me to the hostel's door to try to figure out something, and i was too embarrassed, two Swiss girls standing under the rain trying to help me while i am being hopeless! We tried to call the hostel and no one answered, another guy passed by and told us a lot of people has faced a similar issue and they slept in the street (There's no any other hostel in the city and the cheapest hotel is 200 Euros each night :))

Here i freaked out, what will I do, will I really become homeless for the day? in Switzerland? Is it the best place to be a homeless at?

Minutes later FINALLY Naomi received a call from the hostel owner and told her the number of the combination lock to unlock the door.

I went into the hostel and thanked the two girls so much for their amazing support, they wished me a great day in Switzerland and that they were sorry my arrival sucked and I simply said: As long as there are people like you in Switzerland, it will never suck!

Thank you Naomi (I knew her name because her wifi hotspot's password was: “AskNaomi”) and Thank you to the other girl I didn't get the chance to know her name!

In Instagram photos at the end of the post you'll see how amazing Zurich was.

Now why Luxembourg? As always the curious Nadir is checking Ryanair to see how cheap flights can get, and he just found that a flight from Barcelona to Luxembourg is for just 22 Euros (Two ways!) and what did Nadir do? He simply bought it! After buying the tickets, I was thinking and i realized that one week in Luxembourg is too much! It's a small country and it is very cold to go to the small cities and experience the village life, it is worth it during spring and fall, not in the crazy winter! So i started planning a small Europe trip, first i looked at the closest cities to visit and Metz in France was the preferred option! After that I knew that I've always wanted to visit Strasbourg, so i made it my second destination, although I didn't know how I will go there or by which mean of transportation! And there my planning stopped, I was like “okay when I arrive there I will decide where to go next!”

I arrived in Luxembourg flying with Ryanair and I was taken away with its beauty, it is literally a gem among all the cities that surround it! And in that Gem i stayed in a hostel called Luxembourg Youth Hostel -Pretty creative name isn't it?- It was the only option as it is the only hostel in the country! and i paid 26.70 Euros for each night, I stayed two nights and then hit the road to Metz.

In Metz I was astonished by the beauty of the city, it is superb, the cathedrals, the architecture, the river and the boats! Everything was just perfect there! I walked around and went to Primark in a shopping mall there -I can't resist going to Primark whenever I see it” And i bought plenty of stuff I never saw in any other Primark!

After that I took the train which I decided was the best way to go to Strasbourg and while it took around 1 hour and a half, I enjoyed listening to some of Coldplay's gems! (Check the Spotify Playlist)

In Strasbourg I stayed in a hostel that gave me a confusion I've never experiences! At first I wanted to rate it 1/5 as there was only one bathroom in each floor for around 10 to 12 people in each floor, and the floor where I was stayed at had NO HOT WATER! there is only one water boiler that can be switched between the two floors and that was so bad! and as messy as any place can be, this hostel was the messiest (I don't think this is an actual word), everywhere there was something, random things, papers, magazines, newspapers, baskets, glasses! Everything! I met some amazing friends there which reduced the hate I had for the hostel and after that I went to the bus station to take the bus to my next destination; Zurich! and there the bus didn't arrive for a long time and after contacting the company (Flixbus) they told us that the bus had a breakdown and will be very late, so I decided to reschedule my trip and take another bus that leaves after three hours!

I went back to the hostel and I re-met the friends I made during my stay there the night before and here I was surprised, we went to the lobby of the hostel and there was a PIANO! and a lot of board games as well! We started to play the Piano and sing a long and then played battleship and some card games and here I started forgetting the hate I had for the hostel and decided to love it! So this confusing resulted in rating it 6/10 and writing what you've just read in the reviews on booking.com

I know what you're reading, if anybody ever reached this point, can be very boring, but this is my first post so bare with me. Thank you!

Okay going back to talking about the trip, After the delay and going in the new bus, I arrived Zurich and what I talked about next happened, and by the way, the hostel was LUXURIOUS in an amazing day! Check its link up as well! Zurich is very beautiful but if you're not there for the shopping, there's nothing much to do, just a day is enough to see its most famous places.

After Zurich i decided to go to Milan as although I've lived in Italy for 6 months during my Erasmus experience in 2014-2015 but I haven't been there! so i took another bus and in less than 4 hours I was in the city of fashion! I stayed in a hostel (Hostel link) that was absolutely stunning, it had a restaurant, a church and some other halls for activities, and after talking to the lady in charge (Maria) she told me that they are trying to make the hostel become a home for so many people, especially people with disabilities which is amazing! I highly recommend anyone going to Milan and want to enjoy an authentic hostel to stay there.

Visiting the Duomo de Milano and taking a photo there was a must and then going into the gallery where you see how expensive life can get and then walk around the city is the perfect combination.

One day was enough for Milan and then while I am writing this I am on my way to Luxembourg again on a nine-hour bus ride.

No Tl;Dr! Go back and read the whole post, you lazy!