independent, intentional travel
This past December, Matt and I set out on our ten-day, three-country Christmas Market tour of Eastern Europe. Our first stop was Wrocław, Poland — a city I visited for the first time on a solo trip back in March 2019. It was really exciting to be back there, especially in such a different situation than the first time.
I obviously enjoyed the city enough to come back, so I wanted to share more about what it’s like to visit. Here’s everything you need to know about Wroclaw, Poland. [Read more…]
Happy New Year! 🎉 It’s hard to believe we’re only two weeks from the one-year anniversary of our big move to Alicante — I guess time flies when you’re having fun. 2024 was a fantastic year of new friends and new places (and our wedding in Catalonia as well), and I can’t wait to see what 2025 brings. Right now, we’re in Cardiff, Wales, until we head back to Spain for Spanish Christmas. But today, I want to share a bit more about our Eastern Europe Christmas Market trip from last month.
I felt like 10 days (plus one extra day for traveling home) was the perfect amount of time for the three cities we visited: Wroclaw, Poland; Prague, Czechia; and Bratislava, Slovakia. Our trip lasted from December 13-23, which was also a really good time to visit because some of the markets are closed on December 24 and/or 25. So, here’s our exact itinerary if you want to plan your own trip next year! [Read more…]
There are just under 10 days until Christmas, so I’m super excited about my next mini-series of blogs between now and then — reviewing three Christmas markets in Eastern Europe! This past Friday, Matt and I set out for a 10-day trip to Wroclaw, Prague, and Bratislava, to celebrate my 32nd birthday (which was Saturday) and take advantage of one of the best parts of living in Europe: the Christmas markets. And I’ll also be checking my 31st country off the list when we get to Slovakia.
So, first up, we have the Wroclaw, Poland, Christmas Market. I’d been to Wroclaw once before, on a solo trip in March 2019 when I was living in Madrid. I was excited to come back with Matt, and really excited for the pierogies. But how does the Wroclaw Christmas Market stack up?
Here’s everything you need to know about the Wroclaw Christmas Market. [Read more…]
The last time — and only other time — I tried to take an international bus trip, it didn’t turn out very well. That was when I wanted to go from Brussels to Amsterdam. After waiting for the bus to show up for two and a half hours, in the pouring rain and freezing cold very early in the morning, I gave up and took the train.
So I was a little nervous about my plan to take a bus from Wrocław, Poland, to Berlin. I decided to use a different bus company than the one that had failed me (I’m looking at you, OuiBus). My friends Carson and Natalie had used FlixBus for their trip from Paris to Madrid, and their bus clearly showed up, so my standards were pretty low. But I have to say I really enjoyed my FlixBus experience! [Read more…]
View in Wrocław at Market Square
I had an ulterior motive when it came to visiting Poland for the first time. Way back in 2012, after spending a Christmas in the far northeast of Germany with my boyfriend’s family, we’d driven across the border to Szczecin just to say we’d stepped foot there. (And I think we ate pizza.) But since I didn’t spend much time there, I never really felt that I could say I’d *been* to Poland.
In order to alleviate this traveler’s cognitive dissonance, I kept an eye on flights to Poland in 2019, during my first year living in Spain. And finally, a cheap flight to a city called Wrocław aligned with a puente (long weekend) from school. [Read more…]