Many, many years ago, when I was just a young law school graduate, I spent a month walking around Europe. Well, Madrid, Barcelona, Ibiza, Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan, London, Amsterdam, and Paris, to be exact. Nope, I didn't backpack my way through and I didn't stay in hostels, but I did walk. Everywhere that my two feet can take me in those cities. And since I was such an amateur traveler at that time (as well as a poor, unemployed student), I didn't have proper walking shoes, just a pair of really good wedge flip flops. I didn't even get the wedge for comfort but to add some height to me since I'm really short and I had this fear of being mistaken as a child and kidnapped. But, I digress.
There are so many stories about that trip I've been wanting to write about. I learned a lot in that month. Not only about the different cities and countries we visited, but about myself and my travel partner. I got lucky that my friend, Claudia, and I got along well. Although there were moments when we got on each other's nerves, we managed to have a great time through the ups and downs, i.e. missing luggage, torn luggage, getting lost (many, many times), high fevers, non air conditioned room, heatwave, thunderstorms, windstorms, etc. In reminiscing about that trip, I thought I'd list some of the things I learned:
1. If you're traveling on a budget, and do not want to stay in hostels, stay at a hotel that has free breakfast. No matter how little sleep Claudia and I got the night before, we got up early in the morning for the free breakfast and loaded up on muffins, fruit, cereal and coffee. It saved us from spending money on breakfast and lunch, so we were able to afford a good dinner. Although we didn't splurge on expensive dinners either, we did go to at least one nice restaurant in every city.
2. Choose your travel partner carefully and wisely, especially if there's only the two of you traveling together. In our case, Claudia and I shared a room and spent every day together for a month. That was 30 days of togetherness. So, it was important that we got along. It was important that we communicated. We didn't have all the same interests in terms of what we wanted to see and experience at every destination, but we had a give and take policy. We took turns choosing what we would do for the day and evening, and there were no complaints. Okay, sometimes there were, but we agreed to agree. And we agreed to stay together always. Except for one party that Claudia went to in Ibiza with our tour group while I stayed at the hotel to sleep (I was much too tired), we stuck together. I believe it's important to stay together especially if you're two young women traveling in a foreign country. (And although Ibiza was wild, I was reassured that Claudia would be okay since by that time, we had been traveling with the tour group for over a week and she promised not to wander away from them. I still didn't get much sleep, but the extreme humidity and heat with no air condition may have been a factor. Nonetheless, we stuck together for the rest of the trip - no matter how tired either one of us were.)
3. A tour group is not a bad way to go. Since it was our first trip to Europe, Claudia and I opted to go with a tour group around Spain and to London, Amsterdam and Paris. We did Italy on our own, which turned out fine since we were already accustomed to the euro and had become a pro at reading maps.
4. Pack lightly, especially if you will be traveling every three days to a different city. Carrying or rolling around a large suitcase on cobblestone streets can be a health hazard resulting in excruciating pain on your arms, legs and back. If that happens, you will most likely not enjoy your trip. Remember that there are laundromats in most places (at least most big cities), and if there isn't one, well, undergarments, T-shirts, and tank tops are not too difficult to hand wash.
5. If you're traveling to a foreign country, exchange money before you reach your place of destination or at least at the airport when you arrive. I hardly carry cash with me, but when traveling (especially to a foreign country), it's important to at least have enough cash to pay for a taxi from the airport to the hotel. Madrid was the city Claudia and I landed in to start our European vacation. We arrived during siesta time, which meant that all the banks were closed. Again, since we were newbie travelers, we only had traveler's checks (remember this was a long time ago), which the cab drivers were not accepting nor were they accepting American dollars. Of course, we learned all of this only after the cab driver was already stopped in front of our hotel. It was a stressful way to start our vacation with an angry cab driver who we could barely understand. But finally, past the language barrier and frustration, he took us to an ATM to withdraw cash. We weren't yet accustomed to the euro at that time, so I think we got jipped. Our cab fare ended up costing us about fifty dollars each. I think it was supposed to be fifty dollars total. But, I guess we deserved it for being ignorant. Now, I always check the average cost of the cab fare beforehand. The Internet is wonderful that way.
Here's a few pictures from that European adventure:
La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain
Rome, Italy
Florence, Italy
Big Ben, London, England
Paris, France
This was our last stop before we headed home. As you can see, I look tired. But I also look very happy. I wanted to stay in Paris. If I didn't have my brother's wedding, I might have stayed. Got a job at a cafe and wrote. After walking its streets, I understood why many writers were (are) drawn to Paris. I want to return to Paris to write. One day.
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