I'm going to UK and Ireland! April 28-May 19.

The best part about living in Europe has to be the cheap plane tickets. Since my work contract is finished I started to plan my trips.

So the plan is to travel all over the UK and Ireland from April 28th-May 19. Then bike the south of France with my girlfriend till Spain. Then I want to travel the East south of Europe before heading back to Canada. Of course all this is subject to change, except the UK trip since I already bought my tickets :D

Here is the amazing deal I found with Ryanair after half a day of research and coordinating with friends there to figure out accommodations.

Of course I had to post my awesome find on my FB, here is the status:

Bought my plane tickets for UK and Ireland! April 28-May 4 Dublin, May 4-7 Glasgow, May 7-11 Edinburgh, , May 19 flight back for Basel.

All this for less than 60 Euros! Love Ryanair!

The plan for the UK trip this time was just a coincidence. I actually don't have too much interest in the UK but since the tickets were cheap and I have got some friends there I thought why not! I am also itching to get back into standup comedy. There are no outlets here in France. So as soon as I booked my tickets I started to research on open mic nights in UK and Ireland. Hopefully I will be able to perform while I am over the pond.

That's it for now! I am really excited about the start of vacation! Especially since now I have extra money from CAF (housing allowance).

Peace from Guebwiller. 

Dijon: best French food experience

As soon as I landed in Basel, I took a train to Dijon to meet up with Alexia. She was staying at this nice couple's airbnb apartment and we had a great time in Dijon thanks to them!

Dijon as a whole was a very nice and clean city. The city center is very walkable and the weather was perfect. Alexia showed me around the city since she already had been there for 1 day. We checked out the churches, museum and learned about the history of Dijon.

The best part of the trip has to be the food! We got recommendations for some restaurants by our airbnb hosts Pierrec and Chloe. We didn't get to check out all of them unfortunately. The one's we did sample: French and Morrocain was amazing. The French restaurant especially had really big portions and cheap prices. 10Euros for lunch for an amazing French cooked steak and sides.

Best French meal had so far.

Morrocan dish

Dijon mustard!

Finally after a relaxing end to my trip I took a carpool back to Guebwiller and officially ended my 2 week vacation.


Peace from Dijon.

Bucharest Romania - the unexpected jem

I absolutely adore the city of Bucharest after only 2 days.

My experience here has been amazing thanks to the hostel staff, friends and Romanian food and architecture.

To be honest coming into Romania I did not expect much. I always had this notion that Romania was a third world ish country in Europe - how wrong I was. Romania is a modern city just like any other you would find in France or Germany. The exception being the place is not touristic at all! I mean that in the best way possible! Touring around the city it had a calm feeling and any attractions you went to were sparse with people and really gave you a feel that the whole city is here for you to enjoy!

The city's architecture is another marvel. The building are majestic in this Gothic style that is hard to put into words. Especially the Opera house and the library. Plus Romania boast the largest building in Europe and the second largest in the world. It is really massive! The communist party originally built it for the party. Today less than 30% of it is occupied and a tour of the place covers less than 5% of the grounds in 2 hours. Unfortunately I did not get the chance to check out the Palace on the inside but I will definitely be making another trip back here.

As for the opera house it has the cheapest tickets in Europe with seats starting from just 5 euros! Again with such a short stay I was not able to check out an opera. All the seats were sold out. I did have a chance to go inside and the interior is just stunning.

Even though it feels like any other big European city in the urban planning. The best draw of Romania has to be the price. I thought Istanbul was cheap, but Romania is even cheaper! I ate at the fanciest of restaurants and the bill came to less than 10 euros for a 3 course meal! Speaking of which the food is just amazing!

I got some really great recommendations from my hostel staff and tried everything from Pelosci to Salemanco. I don't think the spelling is right but trust me they are amazing. Photos below.

Finally as with any city I fallen in love with the people is what matters most. I met so many interesting and made many new friends at my hostel. Hsing Zhang a Taiwanese PHD graduate from Stanford can speak 24 languages. Natalia American girl from United states traveling in Europe for 4 month. Brian a 50 something old traveling junkie from Dublin. Roxanna the hostel staff who had a great sense of humour and Lidia and Irma two Spanish girls who are doing Erasmus in France. There are so many stories involving these people to put down in words. But the world is quite small and I'm sure I will run into them again somewhere down the road again.

Now I am waiting or my airplane to go back to France and go to Dijon for my final destination before heading back to Guebwiller.

Soup amazing!

Cabbage with meat inside and Polenta. Didn't like the Polenta but the other thing is amazing!

Salemenko, fried donuts with jam and sour cream. Way too heavy haha but pretty good. All 3 dishes together costed less than 10 euros!

Most of the streets in Bucharest are like this, clean and neat! Not at all what I was expecting!

Lamb chop dish for 12 Euros! 

The weirdest statue I have ever seen

They have their own take on classic French patisserie 

Look at the amazing architecture! 

Me with my walking tour group

Library such amazing architechture

Pelosci with cabbage stew ! So good!

Inside of the opera house, it was very extravagent and elegant, best of all no tourists except me and 3 other people! 

Me with Hsing Zhang who can speak 24 languages

Hsing Zhang, Irma, Lidia, Ruxana, Natalia and me. Great people I met at the hostel. Hsing Zhang, Natalia and Ruxanna signe up to be my first hostel guests in Canada when I open my hostel haha!

Me outside the opera house!

Peace from Bucharest.

P.s. almost forgot but we saw the president of Bucharest haha. Photos to follow.

Another piece of good news turns out there was no one else on the airplane who could speak English and/or wanted the responsibility of sitting next to the emergency exits. I was the last one on the plane and the stewardess asked if I spoke English and seated me alone in the emergency exit row! Score more leg room and space!

Look at this space! the other people are crammed in together in the other rows while me and this other guy have the whole row to ourselves and extra leg room just cause we speak English!

Istanbul day 4: little mosque on the Bosphorus and more Turkish friends!

I met up with Ahmed again today and we had another adventure! Ahmed researched a lot prior to coming to Turkey and since he is middle eastern he knows a lot more about the culture.

For our first stop we checked out the Ortakoy mosque by the Bosphorus. It turned out Turkey to the middle east as Korea is to Asia in terms of dramas. Turkey produces many the top viewed dramas for the middle east. Ortakoy mosque especially is well known. It is a much smaller mosque than the other one's I have been to but the architechture is more unique in that it has these western chandelier hung high from the ceiling and very vibrant in its colors and decorations.

Our next stop was Takshim square which houses the party and shopping district of Istanbul. By chance we got lost and asked for directions from Ozan a Turkish mechanical engineering student who could speak perfect English. We really hit it off and so we decided to have drinks after in the evening once he finished his classes.

I toured Takshim square some more by myself and said goodbye to my new friend Ahmed as he had to catch his flight to Dubai.

In the evening I got drinks near Takshim square with Ozan and Guly his friend from German class who works for Volvo. We discussed everything from politics, religion to sex without restriction. They told me about how their president is trying to gather more power and how corrupt the party is. It was all very interesting and before we parted they took me to try some local street food - clams stuffed with rice and spices.

Finally I bid them goodbye as I prepare for my departure tomorrow.

Peace from Istanbul.

Bosphorus bridge

Ortakoy mosque

This man was making these glass sculptures by hand and mouth! I have never seen anything like it and bought some souvenirs for my mom. 

Inside the Ortakoy mosque

dolphin phone!

Kumpur - think loaded potatoe on steroids

Baklava - sweet with pistachios!

Ozan, me and Guly

Takshim square

Istanbul day 3 - the French, Syrian Canadian, Turkish connection

One of the reasons I love traveling by myself is the people. You get to meet so many people just randomly.

Yesterday was just such a day. I met a French guy who is traveling around the world on his bike - also named Jack. A Syrian Canadian Ahmed. Finally two Turkish locals Tugce and Bekir.

I started a conversation with Jack just outside the blue mosque and he has his full biking gear. What a surprise it was to find that he is also from France. We switched between French and English as we ate lunch together and he told me about his travels and experiences. He is almost home after 5 years of circumventing the globe. His blog is here:

After my lunch with Jack I checked out the new mosque where I met Ahmed. It turned out he is also from Canada. He is originally Syrian and his family lives in Dubai so he is passing through Turkey on his vacation. Ahmed is a practicing Muslim and he taught me a lot about the faith, the practices and the difference in beliefs. It really added more depth and gave me a new understanding of the mosques.

So of course finally I invited Ahmed to come with me to the Asian side of Istanbul to meet my couchsurfer friends Tugce and Bekir. Tugce is a tour guide in Istanbul so it was great she took us to some coffee shops and showed us around. She was a Muslim not anymore and it was really interesting hearing about her experience. Bekir is her high school friend. He is trying to become an English teacher. It was cold so I gave him my hat that I bought from Japan. It was great since it made him really happy and I had already bought a new hat from Istanbul 

After we parted ways Ahmed and I took an underground train (it goes under the Bosphorus) to go back to the European side. And we finished the night by chatting till 12am and eating at a local dinner.

Tugce, Bekir, me and Ahmed

Jacque from France. His amazing blog: http://www.jacquesroad.blogspot.fr/

A little globe he had on his bike of his route. There is a whole other side 

Inside the Hagia Sophia

Bekir and Ahmed

Me with Bekir who is sporting his new hat which I bought in Japan and gave to him. 

Eating Lamhun 

Adena - lamb skewers mixed with other meats and spices

Peace from Istanbul.