We’re currently on the plane flying over Lybia, Serbia and Greece and I’m reminded of the start of our trip.
Back then our days were spent narrowly avoiding natural disasters of epic proportions. The Christchurch earthquake really upset our plan to spend seven days getting into the southern way of life. We were all ready to become rascist, get into fights outside KFC and wear tops that aren’t quite long enough to cover our midrifs.
As for Japan, having avoided Christchurch only a few weeks previously, Richard found it very surreal to watch the BBC news in Cardiff showing pictures of Narita airport under threat of collapse. We had flown out from there three days previously. We found Japan lovely, beautiful, friendly and peaceful. It was an absolute highlight of our trip and I’m sure Lady Gaga is right when she says it is still safe to travel there.
Our final destinations were Amsterdam, Antwerp, Bruge and Paris. We changed our plans slightly and stayed three extra nights in Amsterdam. I can see you all sniggering now, but actually we didn’t stay in Amsterdam longer because I lost Richard somewhere between the “coffee shops” and the “shop windows!” We simply felt like slowing the pace down a bit and settling into a city. Which we did. We drank traditional dutch gin, known as ”bols”, we walked around the parks, we marvelled at Van Gogh and we went to the beach. (Not something I’d recommend when visiting Amsterdam!) We also developed a keen hatred for bicycles.
Next was Antwerp in Belgium. Antwerp was spectacular. The churches are the best in all of Europe, the streets are wonderful, the people are lovely and they have good beer, (apparently!) I enjoyed the peach one, and something I had at the beginning of the beer festival. Everything after that is a blur of being kissed by several wonderful men and eating sausages at 2am.
Unfortunately due to our Amsterdam extension we had to miss out on going to Bruge, something we will probably regret later, but for now, it was a relief not to have to negotiate yet another train station. Some time later in life, if we’re lucky, we’d love to go back and see all of Belgium. It is a wonderful little country and we’re still curious about Bruge.
Our final train journey was a two hour zoom from Antwerp to Paris and a true taste of first class. Free food and drink, free wifi, comfy seats and big windows. A fitting way to end “the trip of a lifetime.”
Sitting here on the plane, Richard and I are thinking of all the great things about our holiday. I suppose there are too many to mention. The best metro line was Vienna, the best toilets in Japan, and the worst in Paris. The hottest guys are in Germany (surprisingly!) the best girlie weekend would be spent in Lyon and the boys should go to Berlin. The novelty of cobblestone streets wore off about five minutes into Europe. Europeans have no notion of personal space, the males have no manners and there are too many Americans in Italy, Prague, Paris…..
The best travel gifts people gave us were, in no particular order, Richard’s magic flannel from Tom and Kelly and the mini hard drive from Commercial Play Systems. The most useful thing we brought with us was Nancy’s European travel adaptor.
The best art galleries are the Edinburgh contemporary art galleries, the Leopold in Vienna, the Musee d’Orsay and the Kunsthalle in Hamburg. Although, we saw hundreds more that are also brilliant so it’s hard to narrow it down. The best park is Lyon, for it’s beautiful lake. Although every park in Europe is stunning and I treasured the time I got to spend sitting in them.
I wouldn’t go back to Marseille, but I loved Lyon. I have many favourite cities, Ljublijana, Antwerp…. Richard can’t decide what his favourite is either. He liked every place we went, although the amount of pavement the cyclists take up in most of Western Europe bothered him immensely.
Richard tells me I’ve slept in 37 different beds, and used countless disgusting public toilets. We’ve discovered a rat in our restaurant in Vienna and an unknown species of insect in our food in Paris. We spent the first two months of our trip sneezing and coughing and have suffered various ailments, including a rash on Rachael in Japan, bites on Richard somewhere between Ireland and Manchester, a burn on Richard due to a hazardous towel rail in Manchester, wax on Richard’s shoes in London and a massive bruise on Richard’s side due to falling off a bed in Dublin when not even under the influence and in front of his mother-in-law.
We would both dearly love to cook dinner, eat marmite, talk to someone in English without speaking as though they are handicapped and perhaps even get a job, a car and a flat. (Ask me that again in three weeks.)
I guess we’re both ready to get back to familiar territory, which shows we really had a brilliant trip. It has indeed been the trip of a lifetime, although I’m not ready to call it that yet, as I’d like to do it all again one day.
Although, if we do make it back to Europe, we’d hire a car and travel round Slovenia, or just go to Denmark and Belgium. Or if Richard gets his way, we’d do the countries we still have to go to, Croatia, Switzerland, Portugal, Spain, Russia…..
However, after six months it’s time to get back down to business. We are looking forward to normal life again and welcoming our friends and family when they visit us in Hobart.
Disclaimer: Use of a Lady Gaga opinion is purely due to watching the news, not because I in any way think her opinion matters.
