Never Stay at the Paris Hotel Liege

I am not a picky hotel person, I'm really not. I do tend to look at reviews, but often think people are too particular. It was not the hotel's fault that there was a noisy toddler in the next room etc.

That was why when I saw the numerous positive reviews for Paris Hotel Liege I figured it would be okay. Both me and my traveling partner agreed that this was just a place to sleep and would be fine. We knew we planned to stay in the city as much as possible so a nice hotel was low priority. However, little did we know what we were getting into.

When we first arrived I will say the staff was nice and it was very close to Gaar du Nord (the train station). However, the positive impression ended there. We climbed up an incredibly narrow flight of stairs and onto a landing that was dark. We actually had to find a light switch for the hallway. As we opened the door we were overwhelmed with the smell of mold. There was no toilet paper in the room. None. The towels were kind of just folded up on the side of the tub and there was no hand soap. We decided on our way down to ask for a new room. They were very accommodating and said we could switch the next day.

When we got back they had restocked the toilet paper, towels and soap (thank goodness!). That night we slept fine. However, the WiFi did not work well at all. The next day we decided we didn't really need a new room after all but forgot to let the front desk know on our way out. As a result we came back to quite the surprise. We went to our room and couldn't get in. We figured our key had just stopped working and went and got some help from the front desk who couldn't get it to work either. Eventually they got the door open and our stuff was gone. What.

It turns out they had just packed up our stuff (haphazardly - Coletta's toothbrush was in with my clothes) and moved it. Now none of our stuff was missing, but I mean that was so weird. It was very invasive. 

Upon inspecting our new room, we realized we were better off in our first room. This room's ceiling was about to cave in. Talk about water damage! Just a warning, some of the pictures are gross.

And of course there was the mold. Oh the mold. It was everywhere, particularly around the tub.

And in the toilet. (WARNING GROSS PIC BELOW)

And one of the weirdest parts of this hotel? My towel was not even from the hotel! I picked up a seemingly white hotel towel only to discover some embroidery on it. It was a website about camping in Paris. What. On. Earth.

I think the kicker was that there was actually a patch of floor missing. Yes, missing. Coletta just about fell as she tried to walk to her bed. The floor was gone and they just covered over it with carpet. That seems safe...

Luckily we were troopers and just decided that it wasn't a huge deal. The beds were clean (ok there was a huge bleach stain on my blanket - ew) and pretty comfortable. The WiFi worked alright in our new room and the location and price were right, but I would not stay here again. I also would highly recommend you find somewhere else to stay in Paris. I loved Paris, but not our hotel.

Tips for Prolonged Traveling in a Carry-On

For my recent trip to Europe I went on 5 planes, 7 trains (not including subway trains) and multiple buses. I was so glad that I decided to pack for carry-on only.  In the past I have been rather unlucky with my baggage and if the airline were to lose my bag, getting it back would be almost impossible because I moved around so much. Here are the things that I discovered worked the best for me.

1. Only bring 2 pairs of shoes. No more, no less. I brought a pair of Sperry Topsiders that I bought back in August specifically for this trip. I can't tell you how much of a great idea that was. They were the perfect walking shoes.

My Sperrys looking well-loved

I loved the purple soles

Now I specifically think that two pairs of shoes are a good idea because it helps to prevent blisters by switching up your walking shoes. For my second pair of shoes I chose a pair of seriously comfortable combat boots. They are flannel- lined and I water-proofed them to boot (sorry for the pun). These were perfect for those inevitable cold, rainy days.

These beautiful boots

I actually wore a hole in the heel, I've worn these so much

The only thing I would have done differently with these boots would be to add some insoles to give my arches a little more support. The only additional shoe that I thought about bringing was a pair of flip-flops for the shower at the hostel, however I only stayed one night in a hostel on my last trip so I opted to leave those behind.

2. Pack Light! I only brought clothing items that I thought I could wear multiple times and stayed within a basic color scheme. I folded everything up very small and put my clothes in giant zip lock bags. I flattened the air out and carefully filled my 60L pack. This also added extra insurance that my clothes would stay dry. I once had a bag that was checked at the plane and sat on the runway in the rain actually fall over and lay in a puddle for about 20 minutes. I had to spend a week in Canada with soggy clothes. Not ideal.

Now, the trick to being able to carry the pack on the plane, is to not fill it completely. This leaves room for souvenirs or to combine your day pack and main pack if you don't want to carry two bags at any point. The only item I brought but didn't wear was my fancy party dress. I ended up taking it easy for New Years and I was fine with that!

My 60L pack

My clothes in zip lock bags

3. Bring a shampoo bar. I discovered this shampoo bar at Lush and it was a great idea! It meant less liquid to carry around - always a plus when dealing with airlines. Also, it turns out that the shampoo bar works fantastically! It really helped control the oil that is naturally in my hair. My only complaint is that if you don't completely dry the bar, it will get mushy in the tin. The trick is to take the bar out of the tin and dry it that way after use.

Lush Shampoo Bar

Slightly Dented Lush Tin

Melted bottom of my shampoo bar

4. Bring a tablet instead of a laptop. I brought an iPad mini and a bluetooth mini keyboard instead of my expensive laptop and it worked perfectly! I was able to keep up with my work documents, post blogs, and keep in touch with home all through the use of my iPad mini. It was light, portable and no where near as expensive as my laptop, thus it was cheaper to insure.

 Hope this helps!

Malena

What to Do Differently Next Time You Travel

My trip to Europe was absolutely fabulous. However, there are always things that I can do better! Here are some things that I think I could have changed about how I packed or traveled.

1. Bring a smaller backpack.

I absolutely love the backpack I brought on the trip! It was my mom's (thus free) and it held everything I could possibly want and more. The problem? It got HEAVY.  I had my DSLR, Kindle, emergency kit, iPad mini and usually my scarf, gloves and hat inside of it. I think next time I will leave the kindle at home. I wound up having very little time to read during the work portion of the trip - I can just use my iPad for the times when I can read. As for the vacation portion of my trip? I picked up a free book at my hostel! For my next trip I am going to look into a backpack that has better support.

2. Be specific with meeting points at airports

I learned the hard way how important it is to be VERY specific as to where you will meet someone in an airport. WiFi often does not work or is limited in foreign airports and  thus it is nearly impossible to get a hold of who you are meeting.

3. Double and triple check the quality of your hotel

Despite both my traveling buddy and I inspecting and approving the hotel in Paris, it turned out to be quite below our expectations. It had mold, water damage, and they moved our belongings without us present. I will have a separate blog post about this coming soon! To be honest, I'm not sure what more we could have done. Almost everyone gave the hotel an 8 out of 10! It was quite odd. The hotel did have a good location and the people were very nice, but it was hardly an 8.

4. Buy a sim card before leaving

I had a nearly impossible time getting a sim card to work in my phone while abroad. It was a hassle trying to find a shop that would sell me one, then I needed internet (which didn't exist at our hotel) to activate it. I plan on getting a sim card in the states for Germany and London when I travel this April.

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Best of Amsterdam And Rotterdam

This is a similar post to my previous two - a recap of my favorite places and photos, this time from Holland.

I got a wonderful bike tour of Rotterdam - the way it was meant to be seen!

Classic Holland shot. Beautiful.

This was on the boat tour in Rotterdam. You can really tell how much I love to travel.

Me and a family friend, Coletta on the boat tour.

Rotterdam has some seriously cool architecture. 

Goofing off with some local statues.

Got some new shoes. 

Me with a windmill!

This is a shopping mall (I think) in Amsterdam.

Have I mentioned that I love Amsterdam?

Seriously so beautiful.

And this was a local flower mart. I love me some Tulips!

Malena

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France Favorites

This post features all of my favorite spots or memories from my trip to Paris, France! I was lucky enough to explore the City of Love with an old family friend, Coletta.

The first thing we did when we arrived in Paris was visit the Notre Dam.

We then checked out the cutest little bookstore.

Not the best picture, but it was the first picture of the eiffel tower of the trip!

I thought this one turned out very nicely. I even like that it is a little off center.

The grid work of the Eiffel Tower - we took the stairs down and I snapped this picture along the way.

We then stumbled across the famous Lock Bridge.

I was prepared and added a lock for me and my boyfriend.

The Lock Bridge was near the Louvre so we took a quick picture of the famous pyramid. However, the weather was quite nice so we decided to save touring the inside for another day when the weather wasn't as nice. (Yes, I only have on one glove. I lost a glove and my lens cap in Paris... oops)

So instead we saw The Arc de Triomphe! We even went up on the top.

We got some seriously awesome views of the city.

And of course when you're in Paris you have to find an amazing bakery! SO GOOD.

We wanted to see the Eiffel Tower in the day time too.

We did make sure to go check out the inside of the Louvre too. It was breathtaking and so huge!

One of our last stops was the Sacre Coeur. We loved the area around the church as well so we explored some nearby squares.

Overall I absolutely loved my experience in Paris! The only minor setback was the quality of our hotel - expect a blogpost on that coming soon!

Malena

The Best of Spain

I thought I would collect my favorite photos and memories from each country and make a blog post for each one. Let's start with Spain.

Puerta de Alcala - unfortunately this was taken on the move out of a bus window, but still. This was my first experience in Madrid!

The next day we got to explore a bit more on foot. This is me in front of the Palacio Real!

This was a not so perfect shot, but still Madrid's Cathedral was beautiful. I wasn't feeling very well during this part of the trip so the shot's aren't the best.

This was where we had lunch! It was a market place that you could wander around and pick and choose your meal. Again, not the best picture.

Next stop Barcelona!

We made a pit stop at the Olympic Stadium from the Olympics in Barcelona in 1992

This was a beautiful Cathedral in Barcelona - we had a lovely walking tour all around this area.

The beautiful interior.

This was taken out of a train window from Lloret de Mar to Barcelona. 

Downtown Barcelona! So beautiful. There were lights everywhere.

Hanging in an Ice Bar in Barcelona.

This was a really cool experience and I'm so glad we got to experience Barcelona. 

Overall my trip was fantastic and I can't wait to go back!

Malena