the great backpack

Natalie (@ohheynat) & Jeannette (@Jeannette_RS) plan and research for their twenty day backpacking journey from Stockholm, Sweden to Milan, Italy. They call this adventure the "The Great Backpack" because...why not! They are looking forward to exploring each city, taking special interest in the tallest point of each city and local cuisine! Nat & JRS want to meet lots of people, make lots of memories and start the next chapter of their own lives with a BANG! After their journey Nat & JRS are returning to New York, New York to start the rest of their lives at "big girl" jobs. 3,338 miles, seven cities, two recent college grads and two backpacks that we have no idea how to pack.

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#tbt to this giant chocolate Berliner bear! You go, bear! #berlin #tgb (at Fassbender & Rausch Chocolatiers am Gendarmenmarkt)

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#thegreatbackpack could not have been possible without my JRSy girl. Whether we were hot and tired and trying to navigate a new city or eating pomme frites or climbing countless stairs or looking for a shady spot to sit...you were never more than an arm's reach away. These three weeks have been an incredible journey full of luck and laughs. Thanks for the amazing memories @jeannette_rs #tgb #theend #bestfriends #europe #luck

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"We travel both to forget and remember where we stand." #comolago #italia #tgb #lastday

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Milan: JRS

Looking back through some of the posts it's hard to believe We've done so much in so little time and I'm truly blessed to have this opportunity. I'm also thankful to be traveling with someone who is hard working and fun and also is appreciative of the opportunity we were given. Tomorrow we're off to Como for the day to see the beautiful lake. Milan is gorgeous and we even developed a little routine of drinking peroni in front of the castle. Tonight we bought cheese, chips, tuna sandwiches, cured meats and wine and had a buffet in bed whole Watching Italian MTV (first time we've had tv on the trip) It was great! We also so the duomo today which was breathe taking. Luckily not as many steps as the me tower in Cremona but still good! We did an excellent job navigating public transit today and it was mostly free because it was Sunday! Hotel America, our hostel, is very strange, but luckily it's a twin room with a sink. It's our final resting place before we return to New York.

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On the roof of the #duomo overlooking the city of #milan and it's absolutely beautiful and unrealistically hot! #italy

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Cremona: a sleepy city with a lot of stairs

Italy has been a bumpy ride to be perfectly honestly. We decided a bit at the tail end of our planning to be adventurous and book so airbnb night in Milan and Cremona. Finding our flat or "guest house" in Milan was quite the production...to say the least. This morning we rallied and found the metro stop that was "close" according to the airbnb listing but with two 10kg packs in the hot Italian sun JRS and I were boiling after our 20 minute hike to the station. We got on a lovely coach train and headed out to Cremona. The city was about an hour away from Milan and Ida our host for the night met us at the station in Cremona with her 5 month old puppy. The "close to the station" disclaimed on Ida's part actually was truthful and within minutes we were in her adorable flat. The first stop we made was intended to be the largest stone tower in Europe with it's 502 steps but as we learned... everything in Italy is closed from 12:30-2:30pm for lunch. So, in our typical rolling-with-the-punches attitude we headed to a cafe to grab some lunch for ourselves. The city streets were so much quieter than the hustle and bustle of our previous city visits that it was kind of weird at first. Lunch was delightful and after being recharged with some risotto, grilled fish and a macchiato we were ready to climb the tower. Each of the 502 steps was precariously either too wide or warped or slippery but carefully and holding the railing the whole time we finally made it to the top. Though the city itself is small, we had a pretty clear day and we were able to see some of the delightful Italian countryside. The serenity and quiet of being high up is what I like most about bell towers. It's so incredible to get a 360 panorama of a city and be able to quietly absorb the beauty of a sleepy town like Cremona. After our climb we set out to find Museu del Violino which is the primary tourist attraction in the city. Cremona is famous for its world class violin makers, spanning from the 15th century to present day. Not being an avid musician or violin builder myself I was a bit skeptical about whether or not this would be a good €6 spent or not. But now I can confidently recommend this museum to all visitors of Cremona. The museum had interactive design that was responsive to movement and corresponded to our audio guide seamlessly. Maybe it's my inner design dorky-ness but I adored the way the story of violin making was told and then supplemented with violin music and artifacts from Cremona's history as well. After our evening at the museum we had the required serving of minimum one gelato per day in Italy and sat in a piazza. Our night ended with beers and pizza at a local establishment that boasted stellar tripadvisor reviews and only minorly impressed our refined palettes. Also, the puppy that greeted us with our host earlier in the day at the station is a demon and pissed on my bed. Since that occasion she/he/(has a name but its very Italian and sounds something like Whimsy) has been biting me and JRS's ankles and scratching our legs quite ferociously. Cremona was a pleasant change of pace and I think it was a true and authentic taste of what tourists can often miss I big city trips.

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#startedfromthebottom #cremona #italy #ilovestairs (at Torrazzo of Cremona)

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I've always loved the view from above. #tgb #cremona #torrazzo (at Torrazzo)

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"The greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time. To be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted." #tgb #barcelona #paella #seafood

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Learning to make paella and making my own authentic sangria in #barcelona #spain #thegreatbackpack #tgb

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Luck: a force that brings good fortune or adversity. #barcelona #tattoo #sorrynotsorry #luck #thegreatbackpack #javier (at Barcelona España)

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A good night's rest

It's really hard to imagine but each and every day that we have gotten up from this trip we wake up super early and hit the town. Walking miles upon miles and soaking up the magnificent cities like sponges. All of this stimulation and emotion is truly physically exhausting. Any moment that we stop for even the briefest of moments it's impossible to not for a split second say "ok this is it...just leave me here and go on without me". This is obviously out of the question because JRS and I wouldn't even consider being more than 6ft away from each other. Last night we did get caught in a "sleep trap". Naps have been a common occurrence usually happening on the first day of each city in the middle of the day when we get the key to our hostel bed but yesterday we tried to "power through" the whole day before our siesta. This, along with quite an intense thunderstorm led us to sleep from 7pm last night to 8am this morning. I woke up feeling like Hercules and I'm beyond ready to get out and explore Barcelona. Also, our hostel is damn near perfection. Getting a brilliant upgrade to a twin private ensuite is quite the luxury. Maybe a little of Marie Antoinette rubbed off on me in Versailles. -Nat

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life is good today. #tgb #barcelona (at La Barceloneta)

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Barcelona

So we are in Barcelona and have already had an eventful morning. Our flight got in early and we made it right to our hostel without any trouble. We put our packs down and headed out to the beach. At the beach we had a mid morning snack of chips and beverages. Then we got two 6€ mojitos for 5€ total because of Natalie's haggling skills. Then we got little hair wraps on the beach. It's been great and it's only been a few hours!

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#transformationtuesday #tt #Barcelona #spain #thegreatbackpack #tgb (at La Barceloneta, Barcelona)

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Casual #yoga with the hommes at the #louvre #paris #france #tgb #thegreatbackpack (at Musée du Louvre)

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Paris😎Jeannette

Paris has been awesome so far. Tonight is our last night and then to Barcelona we go! I’ve been practicing my Español. We are looking forward to doing some beach sitting because Paris has been a whirlwind and we both have to come back since a lifetime is probably not enough time in Paris let alone 3 days. The Eiffel Tower was amazing, as was the view from Norte dame. At Norte dame, There were over 400 stairs we climbed and going down was harder than going up! The weather has been perfect, the food delicious, wine plentiful and company superb!