The Pacific Crest Trail

I believe that life was created to live, not just to get by, or make money, or be complacent or comfortable. We, as human beings were made to push ourselves - so that is exactly what I am doing. Again.

My awesome, attractive, goofy, firefighter/wilderness God of a boyfriend has inspired me to take on the challenge of the Pacific Crest Trail. For those of you who have never heard of the PCT, it is a fantastically challenging trip of a lifetime in which Mark and I will hike over 2,660 miles stretching from the California-Mexico border to Manning Park (across the border into Canada).

The trip is sectioned off into about 5 months worth of hiking, and is the longest established trail in the world. During those months, the climate, terrain, and will power will vary from scorching hot to blisteringly cold, wet, and icy. We try to keep things interesting.

And so, I embark on a crazy journey (again) and leave my job and comfort behind (again) to explore yet another part of the world we live in. I am very excited, and am looking forward to sharing will all of you the ups and downs of my trip! Hopefully, a little bit more thoroughly than last time.

SOME IMPORTANT NEW INFORMATION:

Since my boyfriend and I are doing a couples hike, we are creating a couples blog called Hiker Trash at its Finest.

• It can be conveniently found at hikertrashatitsfinest.blogspot.com
• The new blog will be geared towards a more technical description of how hiking the PCT works.
• I still plan on writing here, but most of my posts will be on the hiker trash blog.
• Also, Mark will be a co-author on the new blog, so you'll get a different perspective than you do here! After all, life is nothing but the perspective that you're looking at it with.

And with that, I leave now to begin this crazy adventure. I appreciate your patience with this blog and Hiker Trash, and am looking forward to sharing everything!

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Ask away.

-A

Adventure Never Sleeps

To start, I greatly apologize to all my readers who thought that I was raped and killed in Europe because I stopped posting. My incredibly lame excuse for that is that I fell ill after too many beers and too much fun, ending up in the hospital in Amsterdam. No serious problems (thanks for caring), but that combined with lack of decent internet was too much for me.

On a brighter, more interesting note, I will give you a 3 second run down on what has happened of the last few months:

(Extremely Brief) Europe Overview:

• 11 different countries 
• Met some amazing people along the way (as was expected)
• Favorite country: Portugal
• Favorite city: Amsterdam (no, I did not smoke or hire a talented female escort - even though that is what you are supposed to do)
• Questions? Ask away. I'm too distracted at the moment to add anything else.
• Oh, highly recommend to anyone - I felt completely empowered and self sufficient
• NO, I received no donations or funding from anyone but myself - yay self-sufficiency!

Life Overview: (main points only)

• Am lucky enough to have found an amazing boyfriend, Mark
• Quit my management position at Beanscene
• Decided spontaneously to hike the Pacific Crest Trail

And with that said, I would like to introduce my newest and greatest adventure yet: The Pacific Crest Trail. I have renewed enthusiasm for blogging and have a boyfriend to push me when I need a little extra umph.

Stay tuned!

-A

My Adopted City

I have talked to several people who mentioned having adopted cities around the world - you know, home away from home cities that really grab you and hold on for dear life. I have always wanted to learn Portuguese but never had any reason to until now, so I am officially adoption Porto, Portugal (and Portugal as a country in general).

Nothing in particular was incredibly spectacular, but maybe that's why I liked it so much. It was a normal city, with locals and culture and fantastic food and silly traditions like all countries and cities (should) have. The hostel I stayed in (Yes! Porto Hostel) was incredible and I met several older (27-32) friends there who openly shared their adventures and languages with me. My room had an amazing view or the city center and gave free shots to the guests at 11pm!

The city itself was wonderful as well. I went on two free walking tours with the same guide and feel like I really saw the center in the two days I was there. I attended a Porto football game (soccer for all you Americans) and supported the locals, ate traditional food, went Port wine tasting, bought pastries at the best bakery in the city, and more. I loved it. I love the language, the people, the relaxed atmosphere - I am already planning my trip back!

Quick note: night life was good but not as good as Barcelona, but I had more friends in Spain which probably added to that. Currently in historical and fantastic Roma, Italia! Met a lovely French friend, Michael, and had drinks with my waiter from dinner last night who kept giving me free Lemoncello shots and drew a whipped cream heart on my tiramisu. Oh Italians... They are just as bad as I expected. More updates later!!

-A

Catch Up Time - Barcelona, Spain

Ahhh, beautiful Barcelona. So it is true - everything that I heard about Barcelona is true. It is absolutely fantastic and I now plan and staying for an extended period of time (maybe 6 months?) to learn Spanish and embrace their culture. I am disappointed that I did not get the chance to visit elsewhere in Spain, but maybe that is a good thing. I probably wouldn't ever leave...

I met a few really wonderful people durring my stay there including Ina, my fellow teanager (19), and Zach, a scary tattooed Canadian (secretly a big teady bear). My favorite part about Barcelona - besides the obvious architecture, culture, beaches, etc. - were the people I spent time with. My hostel is an infamous party place where the staff are just as involved with pub crawls and outings as the guests are. We ended up becoming very close - it was probably the booze, actually - and I plan on meeting up with them durring my travels!

Just to give you a visual, imagine walking down small pedestrian outdoor corridors to the beach, drinking cold beer and cider, hair being blown by the wind and kissed with the salty air. Picture getting lost in the local markets full to the brim with produce and eating gelato in the park. And then... The night life. Pub Crawling is a great way to see the local hang outs. It usually consists of  3 bars and a club, somtimes including free drinks or shots. Meet locals, and if your lucky you will get to watch a stripper dance in a giant martini glass full of water!

Quickly worth mentioning is the notorious shots bar around the corner. It offers 600 completely original shots ranging from the "Boy Scout" ( involves roasting a marshmello over flaming alcohol - my favorite) to "Exorcist" (involving a horribly mysterious mixture that I refused to try). Great atmosphere, although it gets pretty crazy and packed the closer you get to midnight.

I can't wait to visit again and see everything I didn't get a chance to see! Four days was definately not enough time to really experience the sites and absorbe the crowd.

Back for more soon,
-A

Communicating With the French Police

I apologize for being out of contact for the last few days (it seems like a blink of an eye to me, but it probably feels a lot longer for all my adoring fans back home). I will say that it was not my fault - the blame belongs to the French police and the jerks who stole my phone in the metro station. Let me debrief you:

So here I was, minding my own business, trying to get my shit together in the main metro station in Lyon, France. I was approached by four boys (and I do mean boys... the youngest was about 7) and was asked if I wanted to buy a metro ticket from them. I said no, because it was obviously a used ticket, and turned to buy my own, and then BAM - the youngest snatched my phone from my pocket and they were gone before I could turn around. Long story short, a woman called the cops and I was stuck in the police station trying to explain what happened (which I didn´t see) to French police men (who did not speak more than a word of English).

And now I know why French police men are so loved and respected by their people (sarcasm). Any who, I´ll give a quick update on what else has happened. I met a wonderful French/English man in Thonon-les-Bains, France - he was getting tattooed at the same time as me, and we bonded over our mutual pain. He is lovely and kind and proves that all French stereotypes have exceptions - so thank you Chris for making France worth every second of inconvenience that I did experience.

In other news, I stayed with a wonderful couple in Lyon. Mostly, I recovered from my sour first experience while in Lyon, but they walked me around and showed me a good time with their friends later on. I can´t wait to go back and truly experience Lyon! Old town is beautiful there, and I ate the best meal of my whole trip while there (including snail, which isn´t nearly as bad at you would think it is). 

Currently, I am in beautiful Barcelona, and there is a good chance I will never leave! That´s for a new post though. Ciao!

-A

Bucket List

Like many celebrated holidays, I don't see the point of Valentine's Day. No mater what, I end up being alone, whether I am currently single, dating, or in a relationship (frankly I'm not sure what I am right now) it doesn't matter. So, instead of celebrating this meaningless holiday that supports wasteful habits and consumerism, I am permanently reminding myself that life takes you where it wants to - whether you succeed or not depends on your ability to ride the waves so to speak. Today is the day that I will be tattooed by one of my favorite artists: Xoil (Loic) in Thonon-les-Bains, France at Needles Side Tattoo!

I am both nervous and excited - mostly nervous because I have no idea what my tattoo looks like, how long it will take, or how much it will cost. I'm being spontaneous,  I guess.

In other news, I see the mail truck outside, hopefully with my Eurorail Pass! And I have been thinking a lot these last few days about my life and what I want to accomplish, so I started a bucket list:

Amanda's Bucket List:

• Visit 30 countries by the time I'm 25
• Work with/train elephants in Sri Lanka or elsewhere in Asia
• Work with wildlife conservation through www.projects-abroad.co.uk
• Volunteer in an orphanage
• Get my Master Diving Certification
• Get my Paragliding Certification
• Do research in Antarctica
• Swim in the Red Sea
• Swim with great white sharks
• Touch a whale in the wild
• Hike to Base Camp (at least) on Mt. Everest
• Through-hike the PCT
• Learn 3 foreign languages

And so, with that I leave you. I will be sure to post pictures of my masterpiece when it is finished. Off to get tatted!

-A

P.S. Happy Valentine's Day to all those lucky couples who get to be with eachother today.

PICTURES!

Everyone, my lovely room mate Peter is letting me borrow his computer so that I can start to catch up on picture posting. Hang in there, and soon all the pictures will be up! yay!