The European Adventure

As promised, this blog will be littered with posts about my trip for the next few weeks. For those of you who are unaware of my exploits, here is a quick summary of the details:

  Image courtesy of alicepopkorn on Flickr

• Left: May 26
• Returned: June 23
• Countries visited: United Kingdom, France, Monaco, Italy, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland (see the map for cities)
  
• Pictures taken: 7 (I "lost" my camera early in the trip, this story will be explained later. Basically none of the pictures used in these posts are mine).

Overall the trip was an amazing experience. It was a personal pilgrimage into the world that taught me a lot about people, cultures, history, and also quite a bit about myself. This trip was also my first time outside of the country.

I didn't plan very much for the trip before I left, which had both an upside and downside. The positive aspect of this was that I was able to remain flexible. For instance I had not originally planned to visit Germany, but changed my mind partway through the trip, which I do not for a second regret. The downside is that I should have done more research about specific museums/tours/etc as well as just general history of the places I was visiting. Overall though it worked pretty well. I met people along the way who were even more spontaneous than I was, as well as some who had rigid plans. Different strokes for different folks and all that.

I chose to travel alone for this journey and was a little bit afraid of the consequences that decision might bring. Luckily I was able to meet some really cool people along the way. I also managed to not get too lost... for the most part. I never stayed more than 2 nights in any city except Rome and Dublin, so I was on the go quite a bit.

I sort of tried to split my time between "seeing the sights" and just exploring on my own. I think I found a fairly good balance. I didn't see everything, nor did I try to. I couchsurfed in London, Paris, Berlin, and Dublin (sort of... I stayed with Clay in Dublin). The rest of the time I stayed in hostels/hotels for the most part. They were both fun but very different experiences which I will talk about in later posts.

Over the next couple of weeks I will probably dedicate a post to each city/area I visited. I kept a journal throughout most of the trip, which will hopefully help me remember and keep track of some of the things that happened. I will try to keep the posts to a manageable length, but a lot happened so no promises. Here are a few highlights to whet your appetite:

• Favorite city: Berlin
• Favorite non-city: Torri Superiore
• Favorite tour: scuba diving off the Côte d'Azur in Nice.
  
• Beers consumed: A lot
• Items lost: towel, soap, sunglasses
• Food most consumed: Pizza... by far

Feel free to post comments/questions as I go along and as always I will try to respond to them as best I can.