My European Adventure: 2 weeks, 4 countries, and 6 cities in 7 days: Part 1: Intro
Wow! What a crazy 2 weeks it was! And I'm ready to start sharing this incredible journey with all of you!
Welcome to my European adventure!
This will be your intro to this great adventure, where I'll talk a little bit about what inspired it, how I began to plan it, and then an overview of the trip, to be followed up by individual posts for each significant part of the trip! So, let's get started, shall we?
It all started with Paris. I've been there quite a few times, and it is one of my favorite cities that I've been to, but I haven't been in about 5 years. So an opportunity arose to go for fairly cheap due to some travel hacking tips as well as a place to crash for a couple weeks. Booked.
Awesome! I'm going back to Paris! For 2 weeks! Cool! I can see all the things I've seen before...again...for 2 weeks..? Hmm. Maybe 2 weeks is a bit long for a city I've been to so often. It would be great to have a couple little trips to break things up... I know! Maybe I'll go to Cannes for a few days in the South of France! But, I've been there too, and my great uncle there is going through some things, maybe not the best time. Hmm. Oh! Maybe my friend Natyra whom I met traveling while in Israel is still living in Switzerland! I could see her for a day or so and check out Switzerland a little bit, the trains are pretty cheap, no? searches trains to Zurich Wow! This is doable, and I've never seen Switzerland! Let me shoot her a message!
After speaking with her, turns out she won't be there when I will, as she is going on her own adventure. But, the idea is already in my head, and so are these prices. But, if it's so cheap to go to Switzerland....where else could I go?
From here, the adventure began to take shape: I would spend 1 week in France, with a 2 day trip to Normandy, and then I would spend the 2nd week traveling across Europe, but where to go? The first place that came to mind, was Amsterdam. It's a famous place I've always heard about, not very far from Paris, and has cheap buses that go there. That will be the first stop.
Okay, now where to? Let's see. Switzerland is still in my mind, and there's an overnight train to Luzern, so I can sleep on the train, save money by not getting a hostel, and get there right at day break! Awesome!
Okay, wow, hostels are pretty expensive in Luzern, plus I don't think I need more than 1 day there, so what could I do.... Woah! Where is this amazing place?!? Lauterbrunnen? Sold! I'll go there the same evening, sleep there, and have 1 day there!
Okay, I've seen an amazing Swiss sort of metropolitan city, I've seen an amazing Swiss country side village, what about something in the middle, a bit of a cross of both? Enter, the Swiss city of Lugano! On the coast of Lake Lugano, and on the border of Italy!
Alright, now I need to get back to Paris, and I have one day before my flight that I could use for this trip, or spend it in Paris...Hmm....Off to Milano, Italy it is, where I can score a cheap TGV train ticket back to Paris from!
Whew! Pretty crazy, huh? 6 main cities in only 7 days, and even more, that you'll read about later!
So to recap, the plan was, Monday, November 5th, overnight bus to Amsterdam, leave at 11pm, arrive at 6:30am. Stay there that night. Wednesday, leave at 7pm, arrive at 8am in Luzern, Switzerland on Thursday. Leave Thursday night to Lauterbrunnen, sleep there. Leave Lauterbrunnen Friday evening, arrive in Lugano. Leave Lugano on Sunday night, and arrive in Milan that night. Leave Milan on Tuesday morning, and arrive back to Paris.
From now on, I will refer to the 2nd week as "The Euro Trip", and after booking my hostels and train tickets, it came out to $371.00 for that week. Perhaps I'll break down these costs further in another post later on if you'd like that?
So, with this brief introduction and overview out of the way, the next chapter will be either on Paris or my adventures in Normandy, where I explored the beaches and monuments of the D-day invasions! Make sure to check back in for the next installment! And feel free to ask any questions you may have!
Best,
Sean Gold
www.Instagram.com/SeanGoldPhoto
A Day in Provincetown - The Return of the Blog!
Hello! Welcome back!
It's been far too long, but I've finally decided to revive my blog after about 2 years of neglect.
For the last couple of years I've mostly been focusing my efforts on my Instagram @SeanGoldPhotos, which I still will, but finally came to the conclusion that it wasn't enough to fully share my experiences as I'd like, and to the extent that I'm able to here. So, without further ado...
It's was 4am. I had just went to bed about 2 hours ago. I pop up anyways and go over my bag I hastily packed the night before. It looks good. I take my phone off the charger, my portable battery pack as well, and I'm out the door.
I meet up with my friends and after a small delay, we're on our way before the sun had even awoke.
It's about a 2 hour drive from where we left to Provincetown, and it's quite the gorgeous drive, especially in the early morning.
Our first stop after arriving was at Race Point Beach, where we saw some seals as well as a wild fox combing the beach. Can you see him in the grass in the photo below?
After that we went to check out more of the town and other beaches.
After exploring the main street and such for a little while, we decided to rent bicycles and explored more of the coast, ultimately ending up on a bike path through the sand dunes!
Later in the day, we took a water shuttle to the tip of the Cape, called Long Point. You can actually walk there, which I wanted to do, but we were tight on time, and turns out there's quite a bit of poison ivy along the way as well I was told after. Once there, after watching the seals play a bit and explored a little bit, I took my drone out and took to the skies for this next series of images. And be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom to check out my video from this trip as well!
Well, thanks for checking out my blog, whether you're returning from before, or it's your first time, thank you! And I hope you'll follow along on my journey! I've got quite a backlog of things to post about! And I'll leave you with my drone video I made from this day! Enjoy!
Drone Views of Provincetown
The Giants of Hong Kong
Late last year I was fortunate enough to be able to visit the unique land that is Hong Kong.
This was one of my favorite, if not my most favorite views of the city. It's almost surreal to see these towering, giant buildings sprawling across the landscape, in every which way, and seemingly infinitely. To walk below them and between them, then to view them as a whole from above, as in this case from Victoria Peak.
This is the view from the mountain that is directly behind the city of Hong Kong, on Hong Kong island. You can get up it a few different ways, from buses to driving, but I ended up on the bit more pricey, and touristy, cable car that ascends the side of the mountain, offering incredible views along the way up, though you may have trouble seeing them if you're not in a seat and concentrating on not falling backwards when you go vertical on your ascension.
In hind sight, I wish I had visited this place at least once more, but it was a bit of a hassle to get to. Especially to photograph sunrise, but that would be even more difficult, and factoring in the giant 6 inch spiders I came across on the mountain, that's not really a place I want to be climbing in the morning darkness.
But if you do find yourself in Hong Kong, visiting Victoria Peak should be considered mandatory. There's no views quite like it.
- Sean Gold
Boston on Ice || Boston,MA
Boston on Ice || Boston,MA
Welcome back!
I know it's been a while since my last posting here, but I was trying out a new blog on Tumblr, which was going well, but I sort of missed this blog here, so I'm starting it up again!
So if you're in the New England area, Boston especially, you don't need me to tell you what a crazy winter it's been. A new record of snowfall in the course of 1 month, and 3rd snowiest winter in our history, so far!
Though difficult, I headed into Boston one night to check out the conditions, and made my way over to the Seaport, which was covered in snow!
Here's one of the images I made that night down by the harbor!
Boston on IceMy favorite view of Boston on a freezing winter night.
New Lens, Old Favorite! || Seaport District, Boston MA
Greetings!
Shortly after the return from my trip to Israel, I picked up a new lens to add to my tool set! The main type of lens I had been missing was an Ultra Wide Angle, and it was time that I got one! So, I did....and it's amazing!
I recently took it out to Boston to test it out and see how it performed and what I could capture with it. I ended up going to one of my favorite locations in Boston by the Seaport, to see my favorite view of the Skyline. It was a rainy day out, which can be a hassle, but it also often makes for very dramatic conditions, from wet grounds and objects, to great clouds that reflect colorful sunset light and such!
So after a few hours waiting for sunset and then for twilight, here's one of the images I captured that evening! Enjoy! :)
