European Excursion

Between my time in Africa and arriving home in the states, my friends and I had a European excursion. We took the train and traveled through Holland, Germany, Austria, and Italy seeing the sights and visiting friends from Mercy Ships. Along the way, I wrote a journal and kept notes in case I ever traveled through Europe again... or write my own travel guide.

Don't forget to take pictures!

1. Make friends and travel with a Type A person (Thanks Rachel!) so she plans the trip and you don't have to worry about anything. Avoid using the "Idiot's Guide to Europe" from 1985 (like I did) because the reminders about camera film, cassette tapes, and exchanging money at every border... doesn't help.

2. Travel with morning people: this is a toss up. I am a night owl and sleep-in person, but I did get to see a lot more each day because my friends were willing to take the "wrath of Allison" waking me up in the morning. Take naps on train rides when no one is looking. :)

3. Use the EuroStar train pass because it allows you to pick your dates and the countries for a set price. Reservations are the same price for any coach so we traveled comfortably in first class with our ipods, books, and BIG backpacks.

4. Speaking of backpacks... my jansport had the honor of being the most important because it was designated the "food backpack". Each country we (Linda had a radar) found the closest grocery store and stocked up on snacks, etc. We all took turns carrying the "baby" in the front.

5. Eat and enjoy! We all thought we would lose our "mercy hips" because of the walking, but we made it up by eating the local crusine. We ate it all- like cheese & stroopwafels in Holland, kebabs in Germany, schniztel & apple strudel in Austria, and pizza & gelato in Italy. Yum!

6. With only a few days in each country, do the typical tourist attractions, but also enjoy what the locals do in their home country. We always showed up on market day!

Holland: Anne Frank House in Amsterdam and Mercy Ships Reunion in Gouda.

Biked, milked a cow, and, sailing to see the windmills.

Germany: Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin Wall, and Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp.

Austria: Sound of Music Tour (Thanks girls for suffering for my bday!) and climbing a mountain for a beautiful view (good suffering for me).

Italy: Boat rides & eating at a local pizzeria in Venice and Colosseum & Sistine Chapel in Rome.

7. Walk!! Print out free walking tours online, but designated a person as the guide even if they can't pronounce the street names. Walk to the tourist attraction, because you never know what you miss if you're underground and its not nice to be herded like cattle in the subway. Take a day off between climbing a mountain in Austria and walking the canals in Venice.

8. Travel with people that know the language or can get by with sign language. "Dank u vel" Linda for being our voice in Holland and "danke" Sarah for being our translator in Austria and Germany (to get directions to our hostel). Soak up the culture in each country by learning some common phrases too.

9. Stay in hostels for about 20 Euros a night, but check reviews first or you might have to stay in a fancy hotel in Rome for 100 Euros a night. Slept in a total of ten beds this trip. Thanks for all the families that hosted us! Nothing is cheap/free in Europe unless you plan it right. Museums pass in Germany on Thursday and last weekend in Rome- historical sites are free. Going to the bathroom will even cost you, but my claim to fame is that I never had to pay!

10. Finally, its about making memories with friends while traveling. I'm a people-person, so I would never do this alone. It was great to meet up with friends from the ship and even make new ones (like the brave, Toni!) The best part was trying to explain how we know each other because we came from all over the world. All of us had our annoying quirks, however we were patient, flexible, and we laughed a lot and we were still friends at the end of our three-week European excursion.

Rachel (Boston), Linda (Canada), Toni (Oregon), me (Texas), and Sarah (Austria).