View of the Alps - click 
on image and look for 
hikers near bottom 
 
 

 
The beautiful hike down offered 
more great views

I told my friends about Chamonix in an email postcard: 

Two days of hiking, seeing glaciers and riding luges kept me busy in Chamonix.  The only other resident of the dorm-style hotel I stayed in was Karina, a 28 YO nurse from Melbourne, Australia.  She is spending 4 months travelling, and started in the States: LA, San Fran, New Orleans, DC, Boston.  She liked Boston best. "It's very much like Melbourne: great restaurants, cafes and bars." Her travel continued on to Europe, mainly Italy. 

"I think that Americans don't get to travel because they move away from their parents so early, so they don't have the money."  Karina stayed with her parents thoughout college.  Her parents were very strict, requiring a midnight curfew through her first year in college.  A 2-week shouting match with her dad got those rules relaxed, a  bit. 

"I broke up with my boyfriend to travel.  He wasn't very impressed."  She won't return to nursing.  Dentistry, her childhood desire, means five more years at the university.  "Maybe I'll study travel and tourism" 

"Don't let the bed bugs bite," she said as I headed to bed.  A favorite phrase of my grandfather's, I was surprised at its  universality.  We compared notes on our home town biting bugs.  Fire ants don't even compare to the little Australian bug whose bite kills in 8 to 14 minutes.