..you're only lost if you know where you're going..
Thoughts
Central American Getaway: Mexico or elsewhere?
0It’s well and truly winter here in Whistler, and given all this talk of sunshine at home in Australia, we’re considering taking a break from the cold and heading south in March or April to get a week of sun. Problem is, we know nothing about this part of the world.
Seems as though most people head to Mexico. Cancun is the obvious decision there, but reports are that it’s one of the more expensive places to go in Mexico. From what I’m reading, it sounds like a bit of a concrete jungle too – well and truly exploited by the resorts and tourism industry. With that said, while I prefer the idea of going somewhere that hasn’t just been used by big business to make money, realistically all we want to do is go and soak up the sun for a couple of days, so it makes me wonder if it matters.
As far as flights go, Mazatlán in Mexico appears to be one of the cheapest vacation spots and from what I read, appears to still have some charm, something that the more commercialised tourists spots lack. I hear however, that the beaches aren’t as nice on that side of the country.
It’s no big deal, it just means I have plenty of research to do. If anyone has any suggestions for a nice Central American getaway let me know!
Interlude
4Today we are on the OBB EC 531 train from Wien Meidling (Vienna) to Villach Hbf, which is in Southern Austria.
Before I begin though, I don’t want to detract from what we have done on this trip. The entire thing has been a great experience to date and we have learned a lot about history, geography, and most importantly eachother, and “us” as a couple. With the exception of Langkawi and Singapore (because a lot of time was spent in nature there) we have experienced times that have been boring, disappointing and in some ways depressing.
For sure, I sound like some 25 year old from Australia that has every opportunity in the world and still complains. It’s not like that.. You see, Jess and I aren’t really city people. I mean, we love our home town of Adelaide, but realistically we don’t spend every night sitting in a restaurant, or out on a terrace having a drink. When the weekend rolls around we head for the hills or go for a walk down Linear Park.
Stockholm was fun. Warsaw was exciting because of our friends. Prague was cheap and beautiful. Vienna is amazing and probably my favourite city so far (and one of us will blog about this soon), but as I sit on this train and stare out the window I am finally really excited about where we are at.
As we roll on the beautiful little villages pass by. Forests are everywhere, broken up by green grassy fields. As we climb the mountains, snow begins to litter the forests. We pass through a lot of short tunnels so the mountains must be steep, and every so often we will cross a river on a very picturesque bridge.
Usually a short distance from a village will be a small industrial area, however they aren’t ugly like those next to most railways. Yards are small and tidy. It is interesting, not repulsive.
As we rise higher into the mountains there is the occasional chairlift in the distance – if you look closely you can see people skiing down the slopes. The clouds amongst the snow capped mountain peaks make me imagine just how fresh the air must be out there.
We are on our way to Udine in Italy. By the time I post this we will be there. We alight the train in Villach and catch an Intercitybus from there. Here we will stay with Jess’ family, something we are both really looking forward to.
Like I have said, we are learning. We have realised that even though we are overseas, we still have the same interests. For example, while the museums here are obviously well setup and have a lot to offer, we never go to them in Australia, so why would we be completely amazed about one on the other side of the world?
This may read negatively, it isn’t intended. With just over a month of travelling behind us we have made some really important observations that will help us to enjoy all of our future travels.
From Udine we will explore Italy a little, then fly from Rome to Brussels. It will be a short stay in Brussels (it was the cheapest way to Amsterdam from Rome) and take a bus for a week or so in Amsterdam where we will see one of our favourite bands, Phoenix, in concert.
From here we aren’t 100% sure on how things will go. We will either head to Geneva in Switzerland or Stuttgart in Germany, and then make our way to see more family in a town called Domat/Ems, just outside of Chur in Switzerland. If we head to Geneva first we will probably visit Stuttgart after Domat/Ems, and vice versa. I’m hoping to visit the Porsche museum in Stuttgart but we’ll see how we go. If it’s too hard we won’t bother. Jess is all for it though – just another reason why I married her.
Regardless of what happens after Amsterdam, I think this will be a part of the trip that we will really love. We will get a chance to see some more countryside and some smaller towns – it will be a nice break from the major cities.
I am a little sick, but feel a lot better now than I did two days ago. We have been eating well and avoiding alcohol which has helped a lot. Hopefully in a day or so I’ll be 100% again.
Anyway enough typing for today. Time to stare out the window some more.
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