Thoughts To Ponder

"When you travel, it’s not like you take a part of each place away with you;
Rather, it’s as if you leave a part of yourself there, like a part of you forever belongs to that place – the time, the people, and the things you saw; and over time, it gets burned deeper into your soul. You eternally belong to it"

Anon

Couch Surfing

As the trip details begin to fall into place and excitement continues to grow, it is time to start aligning the core logistics of the trip: transportation, lodging, etc. This week my attention has been on lodging. So far I know that in Brussels, Belgium we will be staying with some friends, but other than that I have yet to firm up our lodging arrangements. The group is open to considering “all options,” which includes the traditional venues like hotels and hostels, as well as untraditional avenues such as “couch surfing.” (Disclaimer: To put my mother's nerves at rest let me clarify...At some point I may consider this...not this trip but someday...)


According to UrbanDictionary.com, couch surfing is a cheap form of lodging used mainly by college-students or recent college-grads, where one stays on acquaintance's couches rather than a hotel.

Over the years I have had an increasing number of friends swear by couch surfing to make their travel plans fit into a limited budget. For many of them, couch surfing is the primary form of lodging that they seek.

CouchSurfing (an organization that is the leading the trend in couch surfing) is an international non-profit network that connects travelers with locals in over 230 countries and territories around the world. Since 2004, members have been using our system to come together for cultural exchange, friendship, and learning experiences. Today, over a million people who might otherwise never meet are able to share hospitality and cultural understanding.

Testimonial

"Through CS, besides visiting new places, we get to know new people and their culture. The trips get even more interesting. And we can also bring the world closer, when contacting people who come to our city. There's another thing too: with CS we learn to trust almost unconditionally, to share our little world, and to meet new people without expectations; and most of the time, we have good surprises. I can say I've made some good friends and I've met nice people thanks to CS. At least for me, it's so important or even more than the places I've been."
IARA SANTIAGO (Brazil)
Apr 4, 2009

I would be completely open to this, but I think for this trip the whole group would want to surf together if we do this.

Any suggestions on where to stay in the following locations? Hotels, hostels, home stays, anything really as long as we can go as a group. We are currently looking for lodging in:
London, UK
Prague, Czech Republic
Vienna, Austria
Budapest, Hungary
Zagreb, Croatia
Milan, Italy
Rome, Italy

Have any of you participated in the CouchSurfing phenomenon yet? If so, share your experience!

Thoughts to Ponder

"We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open."

Jawaharal Nehru

mTrip Travel Guides

"mTrip Travel Guides help you get around the city just like your own personal tour guide would. mTrip is the only city guide for iPhone & iPod Touch that creates a unique and customized travel itinerary to reflect your travel interests, trip dates, geographical location, pace preference, opening hours of attractions and ratings submitted by other travelers. Add your own points of interest, ratings and reviews. Have the map locate you and find your best route by subway or foot. Locate points of interest nearby. Also, free, unlimited, up-to-date and no roaming fees!"

I watched the demo on this app at mtrip.com and fell in love! I wish I was traveling soon so that I could have an excuse to buy the app! Cities include Amsterdam, Barcelona, Istanbul, London, Madrid, Paris, Rome Vienna in Europe (among others); Chicago, LA, NYC, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. in North America; and Beijing and Tokyo in Asia Pacific (among others). And they are constantly adding new destinations.

Each destination is $5.99 at the iTunes app store. However, that is cheaper than buying travel books or carrying around a bunch of maps and guides! Everything is located in one easy to access spot! Check out the demo here: mTrip Travel Guides.

FINAL ROUTE

ATTENTION ATTENTION! THE FINAL ROUTE HAS BEEN PLANNED!
After much debate and a lot of thought, my fellow travelers and I have decided on our final route for our Great European Adventure! See the map below for the dates and locations we plan on visiting. More info on each destination to come....

Blog Find: Trans World Expedition

Jen, being the blogging queen she is, is always finding new blogs and sometimes forwards me links to something that may interest me. A while ago she sent me a link to a blog titled Trans World Expedition. The following description pretty much sums it up:

In the summer of 2009, Nicolas Rapp decided to take a break from his Art Director job at The Associated Press to attempt a one-year overland travel around the world in a 1996 Toyota Land Cruiser.

You can follow Nic around the world as he starts in journey in New York, travels through Central and South America, crosses the ocean (not via his Land Cruiser obviously!) and continues through Africa and beyond. Read about his car problems, the people he meets and the adventures he has at Trans World Expedition.

Thoughts to Ponder

{via The Bottom of the Ironing Basket}

"Adventure is a path. Real adventure - self-determined, self-motivated, often risky - forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world. The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness. In this way you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind - and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. This will change you. Nothing will ever again be black-and-white."

Mark Jenkins

Technological Oops!

For all of our faithful followers out there...sorry about the map issues in our first Discovery of Far Away Lands post. You know technology, it is never perfect! I promise the next Discovery of Far Away Lands post will be better than ever! (Luckily I don't have much to live up to in terms of a map!)
Have a great week!
xoxo,
Jen

Discovering Far Away Lands

Another new feature that will be posted on The Travel Adventures of Miss Molly is what I like to call "Discovering Far Away Lands". (Creative, I know) These posts will focus on one, two or maybe more countries a week and will spotlight a specific location or landmark in that country. A map will be included for those of you that are geographically challenged (is that the correct term?) and of course some history. It wouldn't be a Miss Molly post if there wasn't some history included! So sit back and enjoy your trip around the world!

This week we have three interesting locations for you; Ireland, Spain and Portugal.

Ireland

Suspended seven stories above the ground, the Blarney Stone can be found at the top of Blarney Castle Tower. Known worldwide as the legendary Stone of Eloquence - kiss it and you will be filled with the gift of gab.

Spain

Toledo, Spain - "Holy Toledo" isn't just an expression! This historic city in central Spain is positively packed with religious sites. A unique and richly diverse city, Toledo features Arab, Jewish, Christian, and even Roman and Visigothic elements. Toledo is located in the Castille region of central Spain.

Portugal

The Stone house is located in Nas montanhas de Fafe, Portugal, epidermises the trend of using sustainable materials in your home. This resistance is mainly ensured by two giant boulders which are also walls for the unusual residence. This Flintstone like house seems like a perfect getaway from the stress and the commotion of modern living.

*Note: Click on the markers on the map to see a picture of the discussed locations. Also, we'd love to hear from you! These countries are still in the running for Miss Molly's Great European Adventure! So either comment below, email Miss Molly, or email the blog at adventuresofmissmolly@gmail.com. Email us the sites you love in these countries as well as 'must sees'.

Travel Apps: Tripit

"With today's myriad of travel sites, even the most experienced traveler has their hands full managing all the details of a typical trip. Booking airline tickets, hotels, rental cars and restaurants leaves you with lots of separate pieces of paper. Throw in maps, directions, things to do, and weather and the chaos multiplies.

TripIt turns chaos into order by making it easy for anyone to:

• Organize trip details into one master online itinerary -- even if arrangements are booked at multiple travel sites
• Automatically include maps, directions and weather in their master itinerary
• Have the option to book restaurants, theater tickets, activities and more right from within the online itinerary
• Safely access travel plans online, share them, check-in for flights, or print an itinerary"

Perfect for Miss Molly because not only can this app be used on her iPod, but her Blackberry as well. She'll be able to get instant access to all the information she may need on the road, even when she can't connect to the Internet. Miss Molly will only need to sign up for FREE at www.tripit.com and download the app for FREE for either her iPod or Blackberry and she can keep her life instantly organized.

{via Tripit}

Travel Apps: The Introduction

Blogging Best-y Jen here....I wanted to say hi and introduce a little feature that I will be authoring on The Travel Adventures of Miss Molly called Travel Apps.

Anyone that knows Miss Molly knows that she is very...how shall I put this...well she is technologically advanced when it comes to her Blackberry and work emails, however, when it comes to leisure, that's a whole new issue. Miss Molly just recently joined 2010 by now owning an iPod touch. I adore my iPod touch and was thrilled when she told me she got one. However, the showing Miss Molly the world of iTunes, Apple Apps and everything else that goes along with it became....interesting. Miss Molly was more interested in apps that helped with organizing and planning than for fun (shocking I know).

So I wanted to introduce this feature that will help her and all the other travelers of the world either be found or get lost during their next great adventure. I'm sure I will have some organizational tools and geeky smart kid apps...but my main hope is that I am able to ease Miss Molly into the world of Apple Apps and enjoy her adventures with her iPod a little more.
xoxo,
Jen

Thoughts to Ponder

{via The Bottom of the Laundry Basket}

"I haven't been everywhere, but it's on my list."
Susan Sontag

I'm Back!!

I'm back! Sorry for the lag in posts, but I assure you, I am back in action now! A lot has changed since my last update:

1. After much deliberation and discussion, three co-travelers will be joining me on this European excursion. Whitney, Kayla and Sommer are all dying to go with an I have agreed to act as the travel guide (not sure that they fully understand what they have gotten themselves into!);
2. The tickets have been booked! We will arrive in London on December 17th at 7:40 a.m. and we will depart from Rome on January 3rd;
3. After arriving, we will spend a day in London before taking the Chunnel and train over to Paris. Following a quick tour of Paris, the troops will head to Brussels to visit a friend for a couple days. After that, I am not 100% sure where we are headed.

Stay tuned....