HCAU Travels: Travelling with Your Best Friend
The stress and boredom of studying, no social life, and exams inevitably results in summer planning with your closest friends. This is exactly how my summer began.
- Berlin
On the 25th May, my best friend and I packed our back packs and headed to Berlin. After a stressful experience at passport security we were finally on our way to the hotel. Tired from travelling but excited to start our adventure in Berlin, we arrived at our hotel to find there was no booking under our name. This was not the start to our holiday we had imagined and the excitement of our week together was beginning to wane. After much deliberation with the receptionist we finally got a room and everything seemed a little brighter.
The next morning, we put our negativity behind us and headed out to explore the wonderful city.
Berlin Wall: Number one rule when travelling: find the free things to do so you can spend all your money on food. We headed to the famous Berlin Wall to check out the various paintings merged together on the concrete barrier which ideologically divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989. It was eye-catching to see the energy put into expressing the hope for a better world.
Berlin TV tower Fernsehturm: Many people had mentioned to us about taking the tour up the TV tower to look over the city. So on our last night we headed up after dinner and we were not disappointed. The bright lights splattered across Berlin were incredible. For only €13 this was by far the best experience in Berlin.
After a quick two days in Berlin, we headed to the beautiful city of Barcelona to experience the culture, food, and sun it had to offer.
- Barcelona
Casa Batllo: This beautifully created building was the first thing we saw in Barcelona and immediately we knew it was going to be a holiday filled with photo opportunities. Even standing outside we could appreciate the talent of Antoni Gaudi.
A beautiful mistake: As we wandered through the Ciutadella Park we stumbled across a display of statues and fountains known as the Castell dels Tres Dragons. This became our daily spot to stroll through after breakfast.
Brunch: Our friendship was built 10 years ago on a love of good food and we put this bond to good use when we found the most incredible brunch stop in Barcelona. Brunch & Cake By The Sea is a healthy yet delicious café ideally situated which did not cost the world. This is an essential pit stop when holidaying in Barcelona and became the hot topic of our Instagram feed.
Our last adventure took us to Prague and by far our favourite holiday of the season. Prague had a lot to offer, from cheap beer to eccentric buildings, we knew we would find a lot of fun things to do here.
- Prague
The Lennon Wall: Created in 1981, this wall represents the legend that is John Lennon. It is free to walk through and at the end of the wall lies a small pub, the John Lennon Pub, which captures his music and fashion. This was a great way to appreciate music and art.
Night time pedalo ride: This was by far the best experience we had in Prague. Although sitting in a pedalo at 9pm doesn’t sound like fun, until you’ve floated down the Vltava – the longest river within the Czech Republic – you will not understand the peace and relaxation that follows this experience. If I lived in the Czech Republic, I would definitely want this to be a first date.