My most fearful moments traveling

Some of you might say that you are 'jealous' or 'envy' the life I live, or you wish that you were doing what I was. Although, I rarely share my travel woes on my blog but today I am going to compile them here in a neatly comprehensive list.

*drum roll*

NOT SPEAKING THE LANGUAGE - I love languages, I really do BUT those first couple people I try my new words on are terrifying. Are they going to laugh in my face? Correct me? Ignore me? Who knows...anything could happen. You very quickly learn from locals the words for 'I don't understand'. At least you can use this back at them later. >.<

BEING ENTIRELY ALONE - I love and hate this so much. The solitude is amazing, I read books, play guitar and wander around in parks taking pictures. Then I realize I don't have anyone to share them with, I thank the Webz for Instagram.

HOLIDAY MISHAPS - I miss holidays, like recently I realized I missed Mother's Day entirely. Not just by days... but just out right blanked out, until it was pointed out that it was Mother's Day in the country I was in. So Mother's Day is different in different countries, who knew. I swear I am not a bad daughter!!

In Canada it was the second Sunday in May, in Poland it was 26th...on a Wednesday.

UNREACHABLE - You don't have wifi, there is no one around. You're having a great time climbing a volcano or hiking up a side of the mountain to get a good sunset view. Then you place your foot down that funny way and you think to yourself 'if I died right now, no one would know. I should have told someone....maybe the receptionist back at the hostel?'

FOOD THAT SCARES YOU - You can eat Horses, Kangaroos, Ostriches, Deers, Rabbits, Snakes OH MY....Oh right last but not least a plethora of bugs!

Come on' I'm sure you found something gross on this list.

BEING SICK - Not only is the doctor scary enough in your own country. IMAGINE THIS...they don't speak your language, they can't read your insurance (or you don't have any), you have an embarrassing sickness, hidden fees? nobody knows. Most of all you can't crawl into your own bed. Trust me I actually get scared when I cough sometimes.

POST VACATION DEPRESSION - this is the one that terrifies me. I know that when I return home that I am not the same person as when I left but there is a fear that no one will 'understand' me that I have become unrelatable. People might get sick of me only talking about my travels...I might never get to travel again. 

I even thought to myself, 

'I wonder if anyone else have moments like this during their travels. Low and behold, there are!' 

And that idea turned into a Facebook group where people can ask questions, talk about their travel woes with a good group of people. :) No pressure. I'll just be rambling, I hope that it will be a good outlet. Uplifting and fun. 

What can I say? I am an eccentric dreamer...

Jenny Makes her 1st Travel Video (POLAND)

 'Poland' 

by Jenny and Monika 

A lot of you have probably already watched the video Monika and I made of Poland. Needless to say that I have to make sure it gets a spot on my blog. After hours of editing I recalled my fear that previously haunted me about creating video content. It is time consuming and well, not the most easily of tasks for someone that isn't skilled in this department. Making the videos though, were bundles of fun and I think I am getting slightly better at it.

It is really nice to be able to enjoy meals with someone and have a partner to travel around a country. Let alone a native to the country. We all know that I love learning languages and eating food. Let's see if I can continue to find people along the way that will assist in my video ventures.

I'm happy to take any advice in regards to making better quality videos but until then I am just going to have fun and see if I can get my friends to laugh with me along the way. I hope you found the video as funny and entertaining as it was to make.

<3  

P.S. If I am able to make videos during this Eurotrip the blog posts will most likely be less frequent. Maybe it is easier for some of you to watch or read. Let me know :) I would like to stay connected until I return home to Canada-land.

Kraków

Arrival at the main station after a 3 hour train ride I overcome with a quiet calm and little dash of bustle at the same time, if that's even possible.

We walked to the old town through a park where we enjoyed my first polish pretzel and looked around, I was smiling about the good weather since I arrived. It's not too hot not too cold. The breeze is refreshing and the smell of pastries is everywhere. 

There was delightful people dressed up and little polish nick nacks that you could buy. I figured that this was an excellent tourist hub. Did I mention that this this place is chalked full of history and culture! I couldn't even bare to retain all the information but I enjoyed learning all about it. 

Jewish district. Kazimierz in Polish.

In Jew town there was old shops like grocery stores, tailor, shoe makers that have been converted into a restaurant. 

The area had a cemetery, synagogues and lots of additional buildings I've forgotten. My most mentionable was these pen face sandwiches. A brilliant invention that should be sold all over the world, I thought: 'why don't we sell these at home?' 

Afterwards we wandered back to old town to vendor window shop and grab some food.  Thanks to Monika's friend we had a place to stay. The video I'm going to put together will have more details about Kraków. 

If your ever in Poland I love this place! I highly recommend it. (Almost even took a teaching job here:P)

Seriously awesome open face sandwich, stay tuned for the movie. 

Arrival in Poland

Arriving in Poland was filled with wonderful waves of emotions. I was reunited at the airport by my dear friend Monika. Wow, I couldn't believe I had traveled so far!

We walked back to her house after taking a bus and a tram where I explored the nearby park.

Attended her work at her university's Japanese department, which I thought was a bit ironic. (Since that is where we met and I was just in Japan less than a month ago)

I ended up falling asleep since the total time from my house to hers was 28 hours. I was trying to do my best to fight off jet lag and stay awake for the rest of the day. After she was finished work we walked around and visited the square, saw the park from the outer rim and the opera house. 

It's been awhile since I've had a homemade meal and are at the table. All I can say is how grateful I am to be here, finally. 

We spent the rest of the evening watching some TV. And I tried my best to learn how to say some polish cities since they have proven to have an almost unpronounceable language with so many 'z,y and c's seriously! 

This is hilarious I was laughing my ass off. 

Give it a go. Haha. I had a whirlwind of fun already and I've only been here for 24 hours. Tomorrow we head off to Kraków. 

So long Taiwan

Here I am again off to the airport, I've been at this bus stop so many times now. Sending people off and going back to Taoyuan airport time and time again. 

My return to Taichung and the back to Taipei....

I've been here for a total of almost half a year and now it is time to move onwards to Europe. If it wasn't for Taiwan I wouldn't have been able to meet an abundance of lovely people. 

There are moments when you know you're in the right place at the right time and I am sure that Taipei was one of those places. Friendly people riding around with CD on their baskets, drumming parades on the street, night markets galore and a familia that came to warm my heart faster than I could have ever imagined. 

I made a group of friends that took me in and most of all showed me that there was always going to be a place that I would be welcomed back. Although I don't know when I will be back in Asia, I am sure that I am going to return to this side of the country. There are just too many countries left on this side of the world that I need to visit. 

I'm going to miss you Taiwan, you've been nothing but good to me. I'm sure that I'll be seeing a lot of the wonderful travellers I've meet here in the upcoming days. :) Until then, I'll see everyone on the other side.