Category: International Travels

Have you ever dreamed of visiting another country, in particular visiting our friends across the pond. Yet, lack of time and low funds were the key factors in making this impossible. Well I have good news, because I am going to share how I did it all while being a broke college student.

Welcome to London, and most importantly welcome to my first real taste of traveling abroad all alone. Now before we talk about the whole trip, let me just explain that this trip could not come at a better time, I had been saving throughout the year and was expected to graduate at the end of the year. What I am getting at here is that I had the necessary funds going into the trip and also had exact dates of when I would be fully capable to go on my trip. So it was settled, I was to visit the UK in June for around $500(saved around $200 choosing to fly out of Vancouver over SeaTac). Finally, lets get this survival guide started.

Do accommodate for Cheap!

I chose to stay at yet another hostel, this hostel was called Clink261 and was centrally located within the Kings Cross St. Pancras train station and a very upbeat environment full of shopping, sight seeing, and eateries. My dorm was a 18 bedded mix dorm, had a full kitchen, hang out area, computers with wifi, and clean showers for only $20 US dollars a night.

Do that bike tour!

On my first full day in the city I wanted to go exploring so I signed up for a bike tour using the “Airbnb” app, this amazing tour had us touring around major architecture landmarks and a pub stop at the end all while riding vintage Mary Poppin-like bikes. In a 3 and a half hour adventure around the city we were able to visit parts of Westminster, Southwark, Lambeth, and the River Thames for only $45 US dollars. Some key take aways is that I was able to ride to Buckingham Palace and see the Queens guards march, drink a couple pints and one of the oldest pubs in the area, catch a glimpse of the last gasoline lit light pole in the entire city, and put my own personal artistic touch on the walls of “The Vault”, made popular by the infamous Banksy. (Pictures below)

Eat the Fish!

If England is known for anything, it is that you play futbol with a passion and fish and chips is to die for. I know I made it a mission for myself to try a plate when I landed to get my hands on a English delicacy. I stopped in at “Eddies Fish Bar” one late night in town as it was right down the street, the place looked pretty generic on the outside but boy when I say that fish just melts in your mouth, it really does. It was a pleasant $10 US dollar meal meal that came loaded with chips and tartar sauce.

Do the Shopping!

When I first arrived off the train in Kings Row I knew instantly I wanted to do some shopping since London is such a prestigious fashion mecca. Just remember you heard it from me first, your first and only stop should be “Soho”. Soho is in the Westminster section of London and is full of restaurants, shopping, and tons of nightlife activities. I was fortunate to purchase my first pair of Lacoste sneakers while there, but sadly I am terrible at keeping white shoes white and avoiding creases.

I would also recommend checking out the Camden town area, in was also within walking distance of my hostel, but my lack of time shortened my itinerary greatly.

Well there it is folks, my short visit to experience the United Kingdom. Hope you all enjoyed the read, next vlog will be part of my trip when I stayed a few days in the Netherlands and eventually made my way to an Amsterdam Cafe. Stay tuned….

-Sincerely

Jehrrico

Hello everyone, welcome back to my blog and happy New Year to all! I first want to start off by saying that this blog will be different than previous blogs, this blog will also include cost of each and every dollar I spent on this trip. So without further ado, lets jump back in to my traveling adventures 🙂

In today’s blog I write about my most recent trip I took to Canada to celebrate New Years Eve with my girlfriend in the Provence of Vancouver, British Columbia. Now as I mentioned earlier I want to include all prices for my trip, and with that I have to mention that a round trip from where we reside in northern Washington state is about 220 miles. The total trip in gas costed me around $50 US dollars in a vehicle to gets about 25-30 mpg. I am assuming most of my readers live south of us, so depending on vehicle and distance I am just giving a rough estimate to take into account.

Once we figured out how we were getting there, next we needed to find accommodation that was not only reasonably priced but also available during this time. Now as most of my readers have come to know, I am a huge proponent on hostel staying when I travel, and I can best sum it up as affordable accommodation establishments, in a dorm-like atmosphere, with travel enthusiasts. In our case we decided to stay at “Samesun Vancouver” hostel in the Yaletown section of the cities downtown. At Samesun Vancouver I purchased two beds in a 4 person mixed dorm for $40 US dollars each (side note: the more occupancy in the room, the lower the price). This dorm included fresh linens, shower towels, storage lockers, umbrellas (apparently it rains a lot), free breakfast, and specials at the in-house bar located on the bottom floor. On top of all that good stuff, we were centrally located in the heart of it all, which saved us from needing to purchase a ride share to destinations. I also wanted to mention that the Holiday Inn up the street had an open garage that allowed us to park there, and we purchased a 24hour pass that costed us $4. So now I covered the cost for the gas to get there, where we were staying, and parking, and so far our trip total was around $134 US dollars.

Once we were all settled in, it was now time to kick off this new year in style and get this party started! We began our night with drinks at the pub located within the hostel called “The Beaver”, we both ordered one drink to ease into the night, I chose a Russel Wee Angry Scotch Ale (try and say that five times fast), my choice selection came about because I am a fan of IPA’s, the ABV was a strong 6.5%, and it was pretty affordable at around $6 US dollars (Remember I paid in Canadian currency, but I am putting in US terms to simplify). From there we walked to the historical “Gas Town” neighborhood of the city, the oldest section of the city named after the seaman Jack “Gassy” Deighton, which is full of neat shops, restaurants, clubs, and so much more on cobblestone roads.

Now we did not really have a plan on where we were going for the night, but we wanted to make sure we avoided large cover charges and long lines. The first bar we stopped at in Gas Town was called Steam Works, it was a two floor establishment that also was a real upscale restaurant. I ordered a Flagship IPA (see I told you I was a fan), it was a citrusy one with a tropical aroma for only $7.50 US. We continued on with our exploration of the city taking in glimpses of this magnificently built city and looking for the next destination. After many stops at establishments with outrages cover charges we stumbled upon the pub called “She Bee”, we decided this would be our final stop before the clock hit midnight, so I decided to buy us a round of Crown royal shots (Tawni’s favorite), give or take with the tip I left they came out to $10 US total. Trip total so far: $157.50 US.

After all the shenanigans of welcoming in the New Year, we decided to make the trek back to our hostel, but before that we had to grab us a bite of the French/Canadian cuisine known simply as “Poutine”. This amazing delicacy is a basket full of French fries, lathered with some cheese curds, and smothered in gravy (I decided to treat myself and had them toss in some Montreal Smoked meat on top) priced around $10 US. Soon after we chowed down and hit the sheets for a good night sleep on some of the most comfortable mattresses I have ever been on. Trip total so far: $167.50 US dollar.

The very next morning we woke up bright and early to catch some breakfast on the bottom floor, the buffet style station was full of eggs, toast, bagels, fruit, pastries, juice, and coffee, so we fueled up on that before we began our day. After that we began to get ready (clean dorm room, keys, pickup car), because check out was at 11am and we wanted to see the city in the day time before we headed back to the states.

We started to wind down our trip by driving to a souvenir shop close by called “Snowggle”, and we scored some really neat Canadian inspired t-shirts 3 for $50 CA, which in turned came out to $38.31 US. With a little more window shopping after that (Yes, I took a picture of store because it had “DAVID” in its name), we got hungry and decided to test out the sushi game at a restaurant called Sushi Yan, and boy were we satisfied! Sadly I forgot the names of the rolls we ordered, but they were good size portions, very delicious, and came in at around $7.66 US dollars each.

Total cost of the trip (even adding in the parking meter & smoothie I bought to break change for it), came out to $226.47!!!! Obviously it seems like a lot, but take into you could lower these cost by only paying for your own individual bed, and if you are coming with friends to split the gas evenly. If there is a will, there is a way.

Well there it is folks, that is how my amazing last minute trip to Canada with my gorgeous girlfriend for New Years Eve went. I really hope as my readers this encourages each and every one of you to start planning your next adventure. And stay tune for my upcoming blogs as I prepare for my upcoming trip to “Iceland” in March!

-Have a good one

Jehrrico