MADRID:
First city is done done we have survived our stay in Madrid. After a long flight waiting for our backpacks and finding our way to the hostel, which we extremely recommend (Ok Hostel). This place is more than just OK its fantastic the atmosphere, the staff, the location a few blocks away from Plaza Mayor. First day in the city we did the walking tour the hostel provided which gave us an over view of where everything was located. But the best part of it was a Churro place that the guide recommended Chocolateria San Gines.

  (http://chocolateriasangines.com).

What can we say it was amazing the chocolate was perfectly tempered not overly sweet and covered this crunchy crispy churro so perfect unlike anything we had ever tasted. After taking this little break we continued walking and exploring the city and besides all the gorgeous architecture and monuments of the city we began to notice these Museos de Jamon (Ham Museums). This place is a meat lovers heaven!!!! Jamon Serrano, Jamon Iberico, Chorizo hanging from the ceiling, what a beauty. Abby and I could not just go in without buying anything, so we ended up buying some Jamon Iberico. Just by looking at how the man carved the Jamon we new it was going to delicious. 

Stick around more about Madrid will be shared. Below we have shared links to places we recommend as well as our Instagram with day to day pictures of our adventures.

Links:

Chocolateria San Gines

Instagram: Around_the_world_on_a_plate

Ok Hostel

Day 1: Let the adventures begin!

Day 1: Travel... lots and lots of travel.
Currently sitting in the Copenhagen airport on an 8 hour layover waiting for Marla's flight from LA to land!

I still cant believe that our trip is finally beginning!
Here is our general itinerary so yall can follow, map, meet up with us, or suggest places or people to see!

August
20-24: Madrid, Spain
25-27: Valencia, Spain for the Tomato Festival
28-31: Barcelona, Spain
September
1-3: San Sebastian, Spain
3-5: Toulouse, France
5-6: Nice, France
7-28: Arrive at our first WWOOF location in San Miniato, Italy
         A beautiful organic vineyard set it Tuscany
        http://www.cosimomariamasini.it/en/

29- Oct 4: Traveling in southern Italy
October
5- 28: WWOOF location #2 in Parma, Italy
30: Arrive in Croatia
November
6-9: Budapest, Hungary
10-19: travel through Germany (Munich, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Dusseldorf)
20-24: Amsterdam, Netherlands
25-28: Brussels, Belgium
28-Dec 5: London, England
December
5-9: Dublin, Ireland
Leaving Europe: Marla back to LA for a month then down to AUSTRALIA
                           Abby down to Sydney, Australia

If you have any suggestions for travel please message us!

We are going to miss everyone so much! But we promise to keep everyone updated!

Where it all started

Marla and I met at the CIA on our very first day at the New York campus. We lived across the hall from each other in Hudson, the Freshman Dorm that always had a faint smell of stale beer and feet. 

By the luck of the draw we were put into the same Culinary Fundamentals class (fate) and had the exact same schedule every day. Throughout the semester we grew closer over burnt braises and broken hollandaise. 

After our externships we caught the travel bug and began joking about how we wanted to backpack across Europe, but never thought it could actually work... little did we know. 

Fate struck again and we were roommates in the Townhouses during the first two semesters of the Bachelors program. Last summer we had many adventures to New York City, Brooklyn, Boston, Connecticut, Mexico, San Diego, and numerous road trips with friends when ever we had time away from school and work.

We continued to joke about going to Europe and Australia as our graduation date creeped up on us, it was idea we couldn't get out of our heads. In December we finally pulled the trigger and bought one way tickets to Madrid, Spain starting August 19, only one month after graduation but just in time for the Valencia Tomato Festival. 

We have each spent the last semester away from the New York Campus studying Farm to Table cuisine in the Napa Valley (Me) and in Texas studying Latin Cuisine (Marla) and planning the trip through Email and BuzzFeed lists like 'Top ten best hostels in Europe'. Before we begin our last semester at the Culinary Inst. of America we are going on a 2 week Trip to China through school to studying Food, wine, and agriculture.

We hope that through this blog we will be able to share our experiences, food, and travels with all of our loved ones from where ever the next year or two takes us! 

Wǎn'ān (thats good night in Chinese, only 9 more days to learn)

Abby