Glen: Travel guide, prices and free housing · 2026

ЭБЭмиль Бурковbyrakk · Dec 15, 2017Read

Before heading West, we had a few days to spend as we pleased. We decided not to stay in New York, and in a couple of moments, we booked a bus tour. The tour route was as follows: Philadelphia – Washington D.C. – Niagara Falls. Along the way, we also stopped at Watkins Glen State Park, a glass museum, and visited the Canadian border. Initially, everything went off-plan. The bus from Cape Cod to New York turned out to be a completely different one and arrived at the wrong place. Instead, we ended up in a neighboring state. We had a couple of hours before the bus departure, and we were in the middle of nowhere, having absolutely no idea what to do. It was very early in the morning, and there was no one to ask. Google suggested we were near some subway station. We didn't know what kind of subway it was or where it went. We decided to just go there and ask the station staff. EZ ride Fortunately, we could catch a train directly to Brooklyn from there, and from there, we could somehow get to our bus. After figuring out the directions, we boarded the train and headed to New York. By the time we reached Brooklyn, we realized what a mess we were in. Time was tight, and we were already missing our tour. We had to call and text our guide: "Sorry, we'll be a little late, please wait for us." When we boarded the next train directly to the bus station, the guide started calling and texting incessantly. Eventually, when we reached the departure point, the bus was already gone. And again, we were incredibly lucky. My travel companion managed to find a Chinese bus a couple of meters away that was heading to Philadelphia. This was our chance! Paying about 12 bucks, we jumped on the bus and texted the guide that we would catch up with them there. We did manage to catch up with them, and by running from one bus to another, we saved the situation. We didn't really get to see Philadelphia, as they were already preparing to move on by the time we arrived. But the rest of the tour went without incident. Philadelphia: hello, goodbye I really liked the capital of the USA. Everything was perfectly clean and well-maintained, the buildings stood out for their architecture, and we saw FBI cars on the streets :) This time without delays, be more careful in the future I would have liked to stay in Washington longer. Despite the fact that we managed to see the White House, the "Pencil" (Washington Monument), the Pentagon, and the Lincoln Memorial, it wasn't enough for me. My soul craved adventure and exploration. I need to return someday and finish what I started. The Pencil looked even better from afar than up close Old man Lincoln Our next stop was Niagara Falls. The views from above were breathtaking. This waterfall is truly beautiful! It's worth seeing in real life; photos can't convey the experience. By the way, at night, the lighting turns on, and it looks completely different! Day view. I won't spoil the night one :) The tour also included a short film about the history of Niagara Falls (quite interesting), and we also took a boat ride right up to it. I don't know how my phone didn't get swept away by the water, but we were soaked to the bone. Even the raincoat given to everyone at the entrance didn't help. So, for decent photos from below, bring waterproof protection for your camera. Despite the fact that the tour was quite short, it was nice to feel the atmosphere of an endless road trip. You could turn on music, sit and look out the window, reflecting on the diversity of places in America. Not far from Niagara Watkins Glen State Park After the tour, we returned to New York happy, and the next day we headed to the airport. After arriving, we were supposed to pick up a rental car, meet some girls from our group, and set off to conquer the West Coast.

ENElizaveta Noreastpatterns · Nov 18, 2015Read

During the first two weeks, I was busy sorting out housing and work. Ogunquit is a tourist town, so real estate—and consequently, rent—is sky-high during the summer season, especially with the current exchange rate. The only option, if you hadn't taken care of it in advance, was to find a job that provided housing. The problem was that these two things are directly linked: you can only live somewhere as long as you are working there. I chose to go by my own to get deeper in to entire American culture to feel the whole experience living in US. I avoided Russian people, trying to communicate only with local ones. It was very helpful to learn language as well, so at this point I think that the best way to talk about US is to talk in English. In the first part of a day I helped two gay guys in the small bed and breakfast inn called Trellis house. Owners are Laurence and Glen. Laurence activity was connected to staffing, human resources and recruitment; he worked in Warner Bros., The Walt Disney Company, and Digital Domain in LA; and then 10 years as Vice President of Global Employment at Nuance Communications, a speech recognition software company in Boston. Glen directed Theater at Campbell Hall, a private K-12 school in Studio City, California. So as I figured out their previous work was full of stress, and now despite being engaged in this business with full-time availability, they enjoyed spending summer doing there job in the best way and making people happy. On there website it’s written that they have put their heart into renovating and thoughtfully handling Trellis house and it’s very true. Space of their inn is smart organized, they renewed design, let the fresh sea breeze into old-fashioned stuffy rooms. They gave new life to old things by restoration, beautiful colorful painting and patterns of textile. As for me it was the first place I’ve ever seen where something white was really white for long, plates, cups, towels, blankets, garden furniture – everything were shinning with whiteness and cleanness. So actually helping them about the house was delightful for me, I didn’t feel this job like routine, it was so naturally and it seemed like I was at home. Laurence loves cooking so breakfast was the way he could express himself while creating. He has great taste of everything including food and the point that he was cared about guests preferences made the breakfast important part of their experience staying at the Trellis house. Ones I’ve heard in the breakfast room about his cooking, what every food with his love in this harmonic atmosphere is the best they ever tried. Even people that didn’t want to have their breakfast or any special dish were like: «I am an allergic to grapefruits.. Well, actually I just don’t like them.. But your grapefruit Brule look so gorgeous; can I try just a little? Oh, and what about the whole thing?» And then of course they joined the second course.. Laurence was inspired by people and nature around, so he grown some bunches of blueberries, and made with them traditional Main breakfast with blueberry pancakes and sausages. Many guests were asking to share recipes and according to their advices now he is thinking about publishing his own cookbook. As well important part of my job was turning down service, it was about drawing curtains, leaving sweets and flowers in rooms before night. Laurence baked by himself and let me making some cakes as well. It was a great lesson and he showed me my usual mistake about creating pastry by telling that the main point of baking is that it is an exact thing so you just have to follow the recipe directly. They had a thought about Ogunquit that it is the place where sea meets garden, so I were very grateful to take part in gardening and making flower arrangements as well. It was my way of coloring world, creating, expressing and finding balance at the same time. As Laurence is a great teacher about external world, Glen helped me with finding harmony inside and

ENElizaveta Noreastpatterns · Nov 18, 2015Read

At some point guys that I worked with saw me feeling lonely and told to find some kids to play with. They gave me an advice to check the place in the downtown. It was restaurant on the Shore road called La Orilla that means the shore on Spanish. It was the restaurant of Mediterranean cuisine that was opened this season by Alex and her brother Matt. They were inspired by their trip to Spain. There were a painted box with interlaced woman and men on it that symbolized the passion of saffron, dried stigmas of Crocus sativus that were used as spice and orange color from ancient times. I was given a choice of work that I want to take part in, like hosting, that was connected with talking to people passing through, were I could catch them and sun light by blowing bubbles. Hostess stand was in vegetative patterns painted with crayons, and ones I noticed a question written there, what is your favorite color? Than my colorful game got started. I wrote an answer: The color of the Rainbow. Than I was inspired by food, like watermelons homemade pickles, tomatoes, red onion and fig jam, and created flower arrangements with white roses stained by splashes of vinous color, maroon ranunculus and branches of red rennet apples, that I found in the Trellis garden. From that point I realized that the light from people that I work with illuminated stained glass of my life. Other opportunity of this job was working as a food runner, it was connected to kitchen, where people that were working are full of art that you can notice in details like marigold petals garnish and painting on plates. They were at the exact point of creation, mixing tastes and smells. The smart thinking move of organization the space of this restaurant was that to rich the rest room guests had to pass through kitchen, hanging out there gave an opportunity of dancing, sharing food experience and taking part in cooking process. This place was kids and dog friendly, so it was full of joy and laughing. One day working as hostess I was sitting on a bench making silver rolls, night darkness was illuminated by the soft twinkle from threads of electric lights that was twisted through trees, I felt that I am exactly were I want to be now. It was some kind of a great endless party, while you were taking part in something that made people happy, enjoying food, music and themselves. The last day I was staying in Ogunquit Alex picked me to Portland where her boyfriend gave me a piano lesson. This evening was full of white Russian and we cycled barefoot on the roads of night sleeping port city. Next morning Glen picked me to Boston where I had an appointment in MIT to talk about applying on IDM, after then I got to know what should I do about my further education.

ASAnna Sapushevaany9377 · Sep 2, 2015Read

Dublin is an amazing city that captured my heart just as much as London. It is unique, unlike other capitals, colorful, small, and very soulful. It is worth noting the fickle weather; it changes many times a day, but that doesn't spoil the bright impression at all. You can probably walk across all of Dublin in one day—it is that small—but the city center deserves special attention. It is a hub of pubs and clubs; every evening, a noisy crowd of tourists and locals migrates from one drinking establishment to another, and the streets are full of musicians and other various street performers :) Here in Dublin, you will find the Guinness brewery, where the legendary Irish beer is produced; you can take a tour and observe the process of creating the drink. But more than the city's entertainment, I was struck by the surrounding nature. Ireland is a stunning country of green fields with peacefully grazing herds of sheep, picturesque mountains, crystal-clear lakes, and an abundance of places that seem untouched by civilization. On one of my three days in Dublin, I went to just such a place—Glendalough. It is located about an hour's drive from the city and is simply stunning in its beauty. We spent the whole day there, tirelessly exploring such breathtaking terrain. Returning to the city in the evening, despite the fatigue, we decided to head to the Temple Bar area—the city center, where an atmosphere of fun and carefree socializing always reigns. I haven't met such open and good-natured people as in Dublin for a long time. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to go to the ocean to see the Cliffs of Moher this time, but next time this place will be a mandatory stop on my itinerary!

KSKristina Sabelnikovasabelnickova.kristina · Feb 2, 2015Read

I expected the worst from the hostel at 4 Glengariff Road (you might be placed in another one), as I've stayed in quite a few decent ones, especially in the States, and in general, I like not to get my hopes up (less disappointment later). But all expectations of the worst vanished as soon as we entered the hostel. Its cool owner was already waiting for us; he automatically becomes your best friend and will help you with anything you ask. He just makes your day, blowing you away and cheering you up with his unreal positivity and friendliness =D Very good place, with breakfasts and dinners in the restaurant, clean showers and toilets, locks for lockers, and adapters from European to African plugs. Speaking of adapters, don't even think about buying them on the street or in tourist shops. EVERYONE IS TRYING TO MAKE MONEY OFF YOU. Just accept it as a given. Tourist shops don't have price tags because everything will be 3-4 times more expensive for you, for example, 80R for one adapter. An adapter at SPAR (which are all over the city) costs between 19-30R. You'll still have to go to tourist shops for souvenirs, but first, get a good tan, pick up a Cape Town accent, some audacity, and the skill of bargaining. Besides the awesome owner and the simply magical location of the hostel, there were a bunch of volunteers, mostly from Germany, but also from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Italy. Together with them, we conquered Cape Town's nightlife for the first time! Everything went very cool, we even kept our phones and money XD (because we left everything in the hostel under locks). The next day, the question arose about withdrawing money from cards and exchanging dollars for rands. There is a 7-Eleven store not far from the hostel, so forget about it. NEVER, do you hear me, NEVER withdraw money from the ATM in that store, you will be robbed blind before you even blink. There are plenty of ATMs around; only withdraw money from those ATMs (that's what they are called if you didn't know) that are away from prying eyes. Thieves are so professional that you must be on alert all the time. And yes, it's better to buy some cheap phone back home and go out, especially when going out, only with it and the amount of money you want to spend, no more. I haven't met a single Cape Towner yet who hasn't had their wallet or smartphone stolen at least once. A SIM card can be bought in any small shop, of which there are many, especially near the hostel on Main Road. Or in official stores, but then bring your passport. The cheapest connection is Cell C, the best and most expensive is Vodacom. I use Cell C, haven't complained yet =)) To top up your balance, you need to ask for Air-time in those same shops for any amount you are interested in. Further, I think you, dear reader, have already understood that you can only move around in the dark by taxi; you will receive a list of reliable services at the orientation meeting at SASTS, don't worry. Besides taxis, there are two public transport services in Cape, official MyCity Bus and unofficial Mini Bus Taxi. MyCity buses go everywhere and quite often. You need to buy a card for them, which can be done in almost any store (usually there are MyCity Bus stickers on the glass, price 35R) and put money on it (50R will be enough to start). I would advise against using mini-buses, especially in the evening, as they say, better safe than sorry...