Trippers of the Week: Noa, Xiana and Rafa
This week we have not one but three Trippers of the Week - meet Noa, Xiana & Rafa, three very cool Trippers from Spain
Tell us a bit about yourselves and how you met.
Me and Xiana met each other in school when we were 5 years old. We were two little girls with strange names who, without knowing it, would be best friends 'til now.
When we were eighteen, we decided to leave our small city called Ourense (Galicia), and our desire to learn and see the world led us to Barcelona. There, we both obtained college degrees in Advertising and Public Relations.
At our college, Pompeu Fabra University, we met Rafa, our last point in the triangle. He was a guy from Valencia who came one day to our student residence with a smile in his face.
Since then our friendships have continued to grow and we are here now, living in the same flat - sharing our lives.
What is it that makes you addicted to travel?
For us, traveling is a way to enjoy. Life is too short, and you have to fill it with good experiences and good stories to tell. When you travel, you learn from others, most importantly, you learn about yourself. You see things with different eyes. And of course, you visit new places, meet new friends, break the routine and create a lot of anecdotes to remember. How could we not be addicted to travel?
Of the places you've traveled, which has surprised you the most? How?
One of the places that surprised us the most, was El Perito Moreno Glacier (Argentina). When we were in the Chilean part of Patagonia, we decided to take a tour and visit El Perito Moreno, a big glacier located in Los Glaciares National Park in the southwest of Santa Cruz Province, Argentina.
[caption id="attachment_4654" align="aligncenter" width="576" caption="The 3 of us in the Perito Moreno"][/caption]
We had heard that the Perito Moreno Glacier was one of only three Patagonian glaciers that were still growing, and we didn't want to miss the opportunity to see such a unique spectacle in the world - a large mass of ice that moves and which releases large blocks of ice every so often.
We took a bus at Puerto Natales (Chile) and we spent 5 hours just getting to the glacier. It was overwhelming. Awesome. It was exciting to see that - a wonder of nature. At first, we saw the great glacier landscape surrounded by nature and it was shocking. As we approached the glacier via boat, it was... no words. We could see small ice ruptures and feel the cold wind on our noses.
[caption id="attachment_4653" align="aligncenter" width="576" caption="Perito Moreno Glacier"][/caption]
We took millions of photos, we smiled a lot, we had an unforgettable experience. The 10 hours trip was worth it.
You lived together in Chile. Share with us a favorite story from your time there.
One of the most awesome trips we did during our period in Chile was the travel to Antofagasta and the Atacama Desert. We traveled with Roro, our best friend in Chile, who managed to organize the whole trip. This journey was a few days before the Bicentennial of Chile (September 18, 2010), the day the whole country commemorated the 200th anniversary of the independence process of Chile. We started the holidays traveling between Antofagasta and San Pedro de Atacama, a little village in the middle of the Atacama Desert. We crossed the desert by night, driving 5 hours surrounded by a sky full of millions of stars and heading toward a completely black horizon which seemed to never end. It was a ride to remember and definitely one of the most incredible experiences we all had in Chile. We spent a few days there, getting to know the whole area and visiting amazing landscapes such as the Moon Valley, Tatio Geysers, Highland Lake...
[caption id="attachment_4656" align="aligncenter" width="576" caption="Atacama Desert"][/caption]
After that we got back to Antofagasta and spent the Bicentennial Day with Roro and his family, who invited us to their family house in Antofagasta so we could celebrate the Bicentennial with a Chilean family. We ate local Chilean food and drink (choripanes, anticuchos, pisco sour, helado de tres leches...) and spent the night singing and dancing typical Chilean celebration songs, the Cueca. We are still grateful to Roro and his family for letting us enjoy this excetional day in Chilean history with them.
[caption id="attachment_4655" align="aligncenter" width="576" caption="Antofagasta"][/caption]
A few days later we returned to Santiago. This trip was an unforgettable experience for the three of us, because it took place just one month after arriving in Chile, and we couldn't believe how lucky we were of getting to know the local people and places the way we did. This trip was the start of a lot of amazing experiences in Chile we'll never forget.
This summer, you Tripped in NYC. Tell us about that experience.
This summer, we traveled for the first time to the United States. Our main destination was the city of New York, but as we went for almost a month, we saw many more places in the U.S. and Canada: Boston, Washington, Niagara Falls, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal… It was really awesome!
[caption id="attachment_4657" align="aligncenter" width="576" caption="Arriving in NYC"][/caption]
And among all the cool things that we experienced on the journey, meeting Todd was, without doubt, one of them. We met through Tripping, and although he could not host us three at his apartment ... he did a lot more for us! He met us in person, and he offered to take us to a baseball game in Staten Island! It was an amazing evening; we took the ferry to the island together, and it was the first time we saw the Statue of Liberty. Then we arrived at the baseball field, where we could see the whole skyline of Manhattan! It was a minor league game, so the atmosphere was very cozy. It was the first baseball game we saw in our lives, so Todd offered to explain to us the rules of the game. Thanks to his brother, he managed to get free passes to the all-you-can-eat area. We we took a picture with the team mascot! An amazing evening.
[caption id="attachment_4658" align="aligncenter" width="576" caption="Human Pyramid with friends we made in Central Park"][/caption]
But our adventures with Todd did not end that day. He invited us to his apartment and the truth is that it was a day we will never forget. His building is in the Murray Hill area, and it has facilities that make it seem a hotel - games room, swimming pool, hot tub, gym ... and best of all an amazing rooftop, with an amazing vista of the East River and around Manhattan! It was so incredible that we spent much of the afternoon just enjoying the sights. We watched dusk fall over New York, with the Empire State, Chrysler and all other illuminated buildings - all from the terrace of a real Newyorker. We were so happy that we could hardly speak!
[caption id="attachment_4659" align="aligncenter" width="576" caption="View from Todd's rooftop"][/caption]
That is what you get Tripping: you meet people, see things and live experiences you could never get if you were an ordinary tourist. Thank you, Tripping!
Where are you traveling next?
What a tough question! It's really hard to decide just one place where we want to go, because we want to go everywhere after all! We're now saving money for our next big trip, and we would love to go to Australia and New Zealand to stay there as long as we could. Although we'll probably go to some other place around Europe before the Australia walkabout, as we have some friends studying abroad in Paris, Maastricht, London and Berlin. We love to go to new places and enjoy not only the spot but the people there. The best thing nowadays is you don't need to know anyone before traveling to a new place, you can get in contact with new people through Tripping and meet them wherever you want to go. And, although we don't know where we'll be traveling next, we're sure we can use Tripping, because we had great experiences using it in the past and we're sure we'll do more great things soon thanks to it.
Wow! We just got goosebumps. Thank you Noa, Xiana and Rafa for your kind words and for being part of our community.
To connect with our Trippers of the Week, check out their Tripping profile.