Stories From Backpacking Europe Solo

After some shorter prepare trips close to my new dwelling base in the Netherlands, I embarked on an extended travel journey around Europe. In whole, I visited 5 countries: Netherlands, Belgium, France, Switzerland, and Germany.

Both the shorter journeys and longer journey had been great experiences filled with superb people, funny quirks and attention-grabbing occasions, and i would be doing the Internet a disservice by not sharing it all!

Contents

The Stars Aligned! Netherlands: Eindhoven, Amsterdam, s’Hertogenbosch, Rotterdam Belgium: Antwerp France: Paris Switzerland: Zurich, Lucerne Germany: Frankfurt, Berlin, Dusseldorf Final Thoughts: Culture, Re-visiting

This can be a bit of a long story. I attempt to take care of continuity in describing my long train journey by all 5 international locations, while additionally sprinkling in some pictures and particulars about these locations once i visited them earlier than or after the massive journey.

All the photographs had been taken by me! Benefit from the story 🙂

The Stars Aligned!

I had always wished to do a longer “backpacking” trip across Europe after studying stories on-line and seeing YouTubers document their adventures. I had flipped by means of the Lonely Planet books that confirmed the routes you would take, and always dreamt about doing something crazy like spending a couple of weeks simply taking trains and visiting all these unique places. I had plenty of traveling expertise already, with my journeys everywhere in the US and Canada, so I used to be used to the logistics of journey and moving around. But, I had by no means embarked to any European countries.

In the fall of 2021, so much was going in my head about my next steps in life.

– I wished to go away my present job; I wasn’t actually enjoying my engineering position- I was financially able to finishing paying off my final scholar loan the following spring- I would be graduating from my masters diploma in spring too

I decided that I wished to move right into a tangentially related discipline, and I used to be motivated to be taught extra past what I was completing soon in my masters. I had the credentials to attempt an EngD or PhD program acceptance, so I started shopping around on-line for the appropriate fit. Since I had an curiosity in traveling to Europe, I utilized to alternatives on the market too, within the UK and Netherlands.

Only a few weeks or so after I applied to the program within the Netherlands, I received an email that I was invited to the primary stage of interviewing. That the very first thing I realized about making use of for positions in Europe: they get again to you numerous quicker. I’ll spare the main points of interviewing from this journey log, but long story quick, I used to be accepted into this system. The college supplied me a job as part of this system, and so they instantly began figuring out paperwork to get me a residence permit. I’d start residing, working, and finding out in NL beginning within the fall of 2022.

And that was my ticket to travel Europe – I deliberate to get an apartment a number of months early and journey earlier than starting the program. I checked on-line that I might keep in NL for some time before starting at the college, and began to seek for housing.

A singular set of circumstances

This journey was completely different from different US to Europe adventures because I might have a European house base in NL. So once i flew out there, I instantly had a spot to stay that wasn’t an AirBnB (I had a lease on it), and that i might all the time go right again there as a substitute of having to fly again to the US.

As a bonus, I signed the contract for the job supply at the college which was part of this system, so I had to worry much less about spending a number of months off of labor, as a result of after all of it, I already knew I’d be getting revenue once more. Truly, the stars aligned for me to discover Europe, and I was excited to make it occur.

Netherlands

I visited many locations in the Netherlands exterior of Eindhoven, together with Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Breda, Tilburg, s’Hertogenbosch (often called den Bosch), and more. During my big practice journey, I only went to Rotterdam for a day. I explored different cities earlier than I began working to get snug earlier than I left for the big journey.

The bikes whiz round all over the place. Something I used to be caught off guard by was how many individuals smoked cigarettes – they’re everywhere. The Netherlands is flat and known for it’s rainy weather, but there have been loads of sunny days this summer due to a drought. I seen how on clear days, I might actually see the stars within the evening sky effectively – the light pollution was not dangerous at all.

Eindhoven: Home Base!

Eindhoven could be my new dwelling for just a few years. I did some Google Maps exploration beforehand to grasp where I’d be, and i had modest expectations. The images of campus appeared nice, and i appreciated the fact that I would be about about 10 minutes by bike to the train station.

The primary big downside: discovering housing

Eindhoven is a small metropolis in south Holland the place the university I can be working and studying at was situated. Finding housing on Facebook was not possible as a single pupil, and i mean that very severely… some college students who’re accepted by no means discover housing, and are advised to not come. Others look far away, generally an hour out by practice. It’s insanity, however the Netherlands is densely populated and very competitive when it comes to housing.

Eindhoven, from “Dak van Brabant” – the highest point – an previous trash hill that has a nice view of town.

I utilized as quickly as doable (in all probability around February/early March) to the university’s system which could assist me find housing, they usually got here by way of after a number of months to get me a place though there have been no guarantees. I remember getting the e-mail from them that there were 2 rooms accessible in one of the scholar homes. I opened it up on my telephone early within the morning while I used to be nonetheless in bed, and immediately got up and opened my laptop to enter the system and reserve one of them for me. Even then, I used to be frightened that each might have already been taken.

I purposefully applied to start the lease at a time when loads of scholars wouldn’t be moving in, not only so that I’d have time to travel before the semester, but additionally to extend the odds that fewer people had been looking for that time period. So I picked like June 1. And that worked.

Arrival and Exploration

I flew from Boston to Amsterdam one-means on a nonstop, 6 hour flight. In Amsterdam, I boarded a practice to Eindhoven to pick up my keys and enter my new studio. Luckily, the studio got here furnished, so I had one much less factor to fret about.

The downtown part of Eindhoven is nice. It’s small, however it’s cute, there’s an out of doors merry-go-spherical and an indoor shopping mall area. A tall church touches the skies in the center. Certainly one of the primary issues I did was exit and purchase a bicycle, because the bike lanes are incredible out right here. It poured rain the day I went out to walk to the bike shop, but I was already too committed, and saw no purpose not to purchase a used bike and trip residence… I couldn’t get any more soaked, and the bike was used, so it didn’t matter.

I sheltered for what seemed like the worst part of the rain storm, and then gave up and accepted that I would get soaked. Welcome to the Netherlands. Here’s the bike I obtained, a bit of distorted from a wide angle lens. The again rack got here in handy to get massive cereal bins from the grocery retailer. I promptly took it in all places because it was really easy to get round – NL is flat, and bike lanes are ubiquitous.

One unlucky thing was that the bike lanes that I could use to directly get on campus have been shut down for the summer time for construction, because they have been rebuilding a whole part of the pathways. So I had to make some very roundabout cycling routes to get where I needed to go if I needed to go west. It didn’t grow to be much of an issue as soon as I figured it out, and i could get to the train station or campus inside 15 minutes.

Amsterdam

I only visited Amsterdam a few occasions, properly after work began. I wanted to add a few pics right here regardless earlier than I dive deeper into the longer prepare journey. One time I made the journey up there closer to the holiday season, so it was festively lit up. Amsterdam is a stupendous place, and when I am going there I can really inform that the smaller cities are like miniature variations of it.

I found an amazing bookstore “Kok Antiquariaat” full of antique books, old maps, typewriters, and eclectic finds like 200 year outdated start certificates and footage. I love this type of stuff and will definitely return. I rode the tram a couple of occasions to get around – it’s trendy and smooth, much nicer than Boston 🙂

Amsterdam Centraal, the primary train station, options a grand piano that’s free to play! Many stations within the Netherlands have pianos, but they are principally uprights, and lots of are in dangerous shape (damaged keys and pedals, and so forth. as a result of everyone bangs on them). The grand piano was numerous fun to play.

s’Hertogenbosch: Quiet Life

Something nice about NL is that the trains go everywhere in the nation, so you possibly can easily go to smaller towns and quaint villages along the principle prepare routes with none trouble. s’Hertogenbosch is alongside the route from Eindhoven to Amsterdam.

Everyone knows s’Hertogenbosch as den Bosch. It’s a quaint, small city, a quiet place to loosen up, watch the activity on the canals, benefit from the small retailers and bike lanes. The atmosphere is laid again and there’s huge open area in and around the city to get a break from the denser areas of NL.

The trains are nice. You can take your bike on them as effectively during off-peak hours, so I brought my bike to den Bosch and explored for a short time. There may be a large cathedral close to the center.

Rotterdam: Boats & Bridges

I arrived in Rotterdam to spend one night there before going to Paris. It was a grey day and that i walked all over the town. These canals were right outdoors the principle Rotterdam station, together with some sculpture art installations. Rotterdam felt extra official, like people had been there to work. I obtained a slice of freshly made pizza from a local store as a late lunch and watched the world go by for a bit.

To get to Paris from Eindhoven, I took the traditional NS prepare to Rotterdam and then boarded a Thalys high velocity rail to Paris. I wished to go early in the morning to Paris so I’d get there around lunchtime (and it wouldn’t be darkish once i arrived and had to find my AirBnB), so I stayed a evening in Rotterdam and left the following morning. This turned out to be a good decision additionally because Thalys had points with the heat during the afternoons. Some trains actually broke down on the tracks because of how scorching it was.

I feel essentially the most well-identified failure that caught media attention left a practice was stranded for four 4 hours and other people were breaking windows attempting to cool themselves down. This occurred a day or two before my Thalys journey. Europe was in the course of an enormous heat wave, and I used to be simply beginning my journey. I thanked my lucky stars that I didn’t e book that afternoon train experience.

Boats

Boats. Everywhere. Hey look – Hugo is the identify of the code I used to build this web site.

The second picture from above is on the Rotterdam Maritime Museum, which was so much cooler than I expected it to be. I discovered a fascination for the mannequin boats that they had on display, and was amazed past phrases at a few of the nautical themed paintings. Rotterdam was as soon as the largest port in the world!

Imagine that – setting sail without any communications to residence, for months on finish, with nothing however wind energy!

Look at all these little particulars on this model! Somebody spent quite a lot of time and it really showed. There have been extra models and paintings in the museum that I spent time admiring. Rotterdam had some distinctive architecture too.

Making associates on a bridge and being idiot tourists

In some unspecified time in the future, I was strolling throughout a bridge in Rotterdam, and that i caught a flick of weird eye contact with the guy strolling in entrance of me. I thought there was no approach he was going to bother me – he was there with a girl and it was broad daylight. My guard was fairly excessive as this was the primary day of my massive journey, so I didn’t want any bother on the first day.

He requested me to take his picture, that’s all. Relax, man. I took him and his wife’s image, he took mine, and we began chatting. I realized he was from Portugal, his identify was Mario, and he was here together with his spouse for the day. He was shocked to listen to I used to be only 23. Eventually he said we must always share numbers, and we began to try to figure out first how to try to text one another or name, which didn’t work, and then the right way to get WhatsApp to recognize my American number on his machine, and vice versa for me (there’s some trick about utilizing +00 or some derivative).

This look for much longer than I anticipated, and i truthfully simply seemed up and away sooner or later to attempt to sign we should always simply transfer on. I figured I knew the quantity now as a result of we tried to name each other, so ultimately I could go home and check out all the variations of the + and a 0, and considered one of them would work. But Mario trudged alongside to attempt to figure it out, and that i had nothing that I was really waiting to do, so took the additional 10 minutes to play with it.

We had been interrupted by this sort of loudspeaker message coming from somewhere in Dutch. It was just sounds to us, neither of us knew how to speak the language. We appeared up and round, shrugged, and seemed back down at our devices to debug.

Again, this time a bit more hasty in tone, the Dutch loudspeakers fired up a few minutes later. By this time we looked up and back, and realized that there was a line of people lined up behind these purple and white bars, because the bridge operators have been trying to boost the bridge to let a tall boat via beneath.

We each had a superb snicker and seemed like idiot tourists. The laughter about this ended my annoyance about phone expertise immediately. After we parted ways, I noticed Mario and his wife later on that day close to the train station, and we went to go see some last-minute attraction that they had been interested by due to the structure (each of them were artwork teachers). Mario, if/once i go to Portugal sometime, I’ll message you and see what you might be as much as.

Below: Mario in orange together with his spouse, whereas she describes how dumb we seemed as clueless vacationers.

The bedbug scare

I woke up after sleeping one night time in Rotterdam at an AirBnB and realized I had a bit of a rash on my arms. I believed nothing of it initially, however then I realized that just a few of the bumps were in a line, and a few fast Googling revealed this may need been bedbugs. I strategized on how one can handle this case, as a result of I didn’t need to unfold them, and in addition didn’t know if these were actual mattress bug bites.

So, I threw out the clothes I slept in and any that touched the bed and moved on. When i received to Paris, I became confident that it was just a heat rash. It was very hot in the room. Still, I don’t remorse tossing a few of my clothes… higher to be protected than sorry, and that i have no idea to this present day if I dodged a bullet or not.

Bye bye, Rotterdam. Before I discuss Paris, I’ll point out Belgium, which I visited earlier than my longer trip.

Belgium

For only spending a day in Antwerp, Belgium, I sure did take numerous photographs, I think about as a result of it was so sunny.

Antwerp: Bumpy Biking and a Castle

I spent a day in Antwerp about per week before I went on the long prepare trip. It was not far from south Holland where my studio was, and i needed to see what this Belgian city was like. A colleague of mine recommended Ghent, actually, but I by no means got the possibility to go out there and check it out – perhaps sometime.

Antwerp’s cobblestone roads were rather more bumpy than in NL. I rented a bike – one of those silly trying ones with small wheels, and a seat post about 4 toes long to accommodate it – and explored round town.

The roads and structure were very pretty. Antwerp is a cute and enjoyable place to explore.

The “Het Steen” castle was cool, and so were so much of these inviting, homey areas that were type of walled off from the common chaos. I’d love to live somewhere out right here. It’s like Inferno from CSGO. I think about waking up and it simply being peaceful and sunny like on the suitable below. I don’t even suppose vehicles could attain into many of those areas, I had to go up stairs and round solely walkable bends typically.

When i took the Thalys by means of Belgium on my technique to Paris, I looked out the window and noticed items of Belgium – some for the second time. I hadn’t deliberate to stop in Belgium again; I used to be wanting to see Paris and beyond. Plus, Belgium was so shut that I might all the time make a weekend journey to see one thing there if I wished to.

So lengthy Belgium – and again to where I left off about my lengthy prepare journey.

France

I traveled by practice throughout France, however solely stopped in Paris. Which, I do know, just isn’t the easiest way to really visit and explore France, however I wished to go see what this metropolis was all about. I spent every week in Paris – too lengthy. After the 4th day or so, I was burnt from the environment… you’ll see why. Nevertheless, it was all around a enjoyable expertise.

Paris: Beautiful Insanity

Parks and Gardens

Paris had some actually lovely inexperienced areas that I enjoyed exploring a bit, nevertheless it was a bit too scorching to stay around for too lengthy if no shade was available. Shade is limited. Since everybody takes the shady spots, it was a scarce resource. But, I did get to calm down for a bit and watch the hilarious chaos of dad and mom and their kids play with the sailboats on the Jardin du Luxembourg. They’d these kinds of long rods that would push the boats round until they caught the wind, and the children would run throughout and almost poke everyone with them.

The parents would try to regulate them, but to no avail. The little sailboats have been colorfully painted and reminded me of Rotterdam’s ship models that I loved looking at. That complete backyard space was stunning.

It’s too sizzling

Remember that heat wave I discussed? It was in full blast at this level. It felt like a hundred degrees simply. And a place like Paris will not be the most effective place to be in that state of affairs: the tourists pack the town tight. I had thrown out my pair of lighter athletic pants that I was planning to put on essentially day by day, so I went in and purchased a pair of low cost board shorts. I realized later that there was a giant hole in one of the pockets, so I introduced my shoulder pack in every single place.

Scammers

Immediately off the practice I used to be greeted by scammers and hagglers whereas I used to be walking to my AirBnB. One guy hassled me from behind it appeared (because I by no means saw him), one thing he stated in French that I heard “American” in it, one other really touched my shoulder while he said something, assumedly to ask for money possibly? I made positive to not make eye contact and stored transferring. I always put my wallet and passport right into a zippered pocket, or better yet, in a zippered pocket deep in my bag if I had it with me in order that I may keep monitor of it.

Others have been older ladies asking you to signal some petition, but I already knew that was a trick to get cash, so that one was no shock to me and didn’t catch me off guard, I truly laughed, and she appeared shocked at that.

Other individuals just sat on the ground with a cup and waited for tourists to present them cash. They didn’t actually look homeless, not less than not like what homeless individuals look like in the US, so I think about they had been just scamming. Maybe I’m too cynical. Oh effectively, I needed to be to keep a hold of my money in Paris, that’s for sure …

Open air artwork shops

The outside art retailers have been cute and have been an interesting mix of actually good artwork, and lame marked up souvenir trinkets. I don’t have any good footage of these, but they lined up the sides of the canals on the upper levels, and attracted a lot of consideration.

Arc de Triomphe

I walked down the well-known Champs-Elysses avenue after taking the metro to the Arc de Triomphe. I will point out that the metro in Paris had the shortest time between doors opening and closing I had ever experienced. It needed to be something like perhaps 8 seconds, and they would shut and the train would keep going. Seems they have it found out though, as a result of the trains have been fixed and you may get one reliably, or wait like a minute and a half for the following one to come barrelling in.

I had lovely weather in Paris, however wow it was hot.

Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower was a should see, however I wasn’t certain if I would actually go up into it or not. It was so hot and the place was packed. After some thought, I did find yourself waiting in line and walking up to the first and second platforms. The ultimate, highest platform was closed during this time, but the views from the first and second were completely stunning.

Pantheon & Sainte-Chapelle

The place I used to be staying was proper subsequent to the Pantheon, which was incredible only for the size of the columns and peak of the structure. It actually is a marvel how these places have been built years ago. The bigger-than-life paintings on the partitions have been absolutely beautiful.

The Sainte-Chapelle was lovely, however it was far too crowded to really enjoy it. There was a lot to read about the totally different stained glass pictures and what they depicted, however the ambiance was not very conducive to get pleasure from it. Seriously, there have been approach too many individuals in there – the hosts had to keep “shushing” everyone to quiet down. Regardless, it was very pretty!

The Louvre & Chloe

Yup, I was that vacationer who confirmed up on the Louvre at 9am in the summer season with no ticket. The road was probably 800 ft lengthy? All in all, I waited for about 3-four hours. It obviously began to get actually sizzling, and that i tried to conserve my water. Naturally, I fell into the sunk-value fallacy and figured I’d push by to the end. I obtained fortunate that they even let more people in, because the place was packed.

Throughout the time ready, I made associates with a Chinese girl named Chloe who was touring alone too.

My Louvre favorites

– Large frescos- Impressionism and landscapes- Ceramics and carpets

The size of those bigger works at all times impresses me. I used to be also jealous of a few of these incredible carpets that have been hand-stitched ages in the past. The detail and handiwork was awesome. It made me need a high quality carpet.

Blue and teal designs on white ceramic resonate effectively with me. After a couple of hours inside, I acquired to a spot the place I may look out the window and noticed that the road of people had dissipated – earlier than, people had been lined up the whole length of this yard and beyond.

I didn’t even hassle to attempt to get close to the Mona Lisa or something like that. Chloe and i hung out together and explored what we might. I saw Chloe again a number of days later to go get ice cream and do something, I overlook precisely what we did another afternoon while we were both nonetheless in city. She was accepted for fashion school in Sweden and went again there sooner or later. I’ve forgotten to remain in contact, I ought to text her now that I’m desirous about it.

An Illegal AirBnB?

At some point I received a message from my AirBnB host warning me that the landlords didn’t just like the AirBnB I used to be at and that if they ever requested, just make something up about how we knew each other and don’t mention AirBnB. I used to be a bit peeved about it however said screw it, advantageous, this is the least of my worries, I’m 23 and solo traveling Europe ffs.

After all, someday I entered the place at the exact moment when the landlords were about to stroll out, and they followed me in and requested me questions. I lied pretty effectively (I think?) they usually tried to name the host, however in fact he didn’t pick up. They said he wasn’t allowed to rent the place because of the terms of his lease, primarily. They didn’t converse English effectively, which labored to my advantage, as a result of they had to get some other lady to return out from the room nearby and translate for them. I advised them I was leaving on Tuesday, and that the host would be again there within the morning. Fun fact: I left Monday.

French individuals hate vacationers, and that i don’t blame them

French people have been a bit rough. Some dudes got into an argument outdoors my room late at night time, like 3am or one thing. I heard one man get punched arduous and fall (move out?), I might tell the sound of the flesh getting hit and then him collapsing.

The French individuals in Paris weren’t terribly pleasant to tourists except they were shop homeowners, and truthfully I can’t blame them. If I lived there and had all those thousands and thousands of individuals come in and bombard the place yearly, I’d go loopy. My endurance was already skinny after just some days in city.

Rock and Mineral Gallery

One unique attraction I chose to visit was the “Gallery of Mineralogy and Geology”. It was small, but I wanted some downtime to be away from the big crowds. I really like geological stuff like this. The pink rock is known as “Rhodochrosite”.

I thought I could escape Paris in here, but then some French local (I assume) in entrance of me in line acquired into an argument with the principle desk concerning the opening time of the place. I’m fairly sure that’s what it was about, as a result of he was there waiting before the doorways opened. I couldn’t understand the French, but it was a nice reminder of the culture 🙂

Travel laundry, woo!

Something else I did in Paris was I did wash for the first time throughout touring. It was a simple process, and now I’m glad I didn’t deliver absurd quantities of tshirts and stuff and as a substitute chose to just wash as I travelled.

Pro tip: convey some washing machine pods in your journey bag (Tide pods, or generic no matter). This makes it so much simpler because in any other case you may have purchase it from the laundromat, and they might be out, or it’d take so many coins that it’s annnoying. It’s doable, but just having like 3 washer pods in a plastic bag your backpack (in case one in every of them gets crushed and bursts or something) weighs almost nothing and that’s good for at the very least a number of weeks of traveling.

Food

I ate the perfect Italian meal in my life in Paris. I acquired this ravioli in a yellow sauce with arugula, and wow it was superb. I did attempt some French macarons, but I wasn’t terribly impressed, it was like eating a delicate cookie. Maybe it was simply too scorching and i didn’t focus sufficient on the taste.

A number of final pictures – me on the Eiffel tower, and an upwards shot on the columns of the Pantheon.

So long, Paris! Off to see some mountains! I snuck out of the AirBnB and went to the practice station around 6am.

Switzerland

Of all the nations I planned to visit, I was most excited to see Switzerland. Being a fan of the mountains (my household vacataioned in New Hampshire my complete childhood), I used to be positively excited to see some Alps. I had only seen bits and pieces of them from drone flying movies earlier than, and imagined that seeing them first-hand would leave me awestruck.

Switzerland is known to be an costly place to travel, so I figured I would stay in an AirBnB for 4 days or so as an alternative of a full week. The plan was to make use of of these days to take a trip to Lucerne (about an hour by practice). In Lucerne, I could trip one of many gondolas up into the mountains!

A practice crossing a bridge close to Rhine Falls, exterior of Zurich. One among my favourite images from the journey.

Zurich: Beauty, Bougie

Zurich was clean, filled with wealthy folks, and exceptionally lovely. I transformed Euros to Swiss Francs earlier than I went, however I only did like 60 CHF… I anticipated to largely use my debit card, which ended up working positive. These blue waters had been exceptional – take a look at how clear and clean they appear. The architecture of my AirBnB was more open and had large home windows. I felt like I may breathe once more after the chaos of Paris.

Immediately hurt myself

Somehow I received my hand stuck in an automatic door that linked to the stairwell of my AirBnB the primary morning I used to be there. I moved the handle to the aspect to get it to mechanically open, because it was before the opening hours of the pharmacy that the place linked to. I wasn’t anticipating it to principally slam shut instantly after opening like 8 inches, so my hand acquired caught in it. Luckily it was padded but it did damage for a minute after I ripped it out. The door had to close fully earlier than I could use the handle again and get it to open. It was a kind of moments I had that “shock” feeling where the machine was combating against me, and i wasn’t certain if it will end up hurting me really badly, so I acquired a nice enhance of adrenaline.

My room was proper next to a tram cease, so I received to make use of that to get into downtown. It was a nice place! I ate out a bit much less right here than other places, as it was all expensive, but this time I had a larger place to stick with a fridge to share with the host, and it was total a enjoyable and gratifying atmosphere.

I rented a bike right here for a couple of hours in the future, not like Paris, where I didn’t dare to get on two wheels. Downtown was beautiful – actually – that vivid blue mountain water actually stuck out and the place was clean and fashionable. It was undoubtedly a fancier place with a bunch of sports vehicles around, however still felt inviting and blissful.

Swimming to cool down, discovered the nudists

Cooling down was all the time a high precedence, and i obtained ice cream by the water. A number of days later, I swam within the lake in Zurich! I went to the far end away from most people, after which realized that there have been a bunch of nudists on the opposite facet of the bushes down there, however it was too late and I was already within the water.

Lucerne: Mountains!

It was finally time! I checked the weather, purchased the gondola tickets and hopped on the prepare. It was mountain time!

Lucerne was a wonderful place, and that i did spend a little bit bit of time walking round downtown.

Again, these blue waters had been simply astonishing to see, particularly with the mountains within the background.

Mt. Pilatus

I showed up within the morning to the bottom of Mt. Pilatus simply in case it was busy, but it wasn’t, and i already had a QR code for my ticket. I walked in, and inside 5 minutes was on the gondola. The trip to the highest (7000 feet) is cut up up into a couple of sections. The final part is just not a small little 4-seater gondola, it’s like an entire room.

I was joined by a neighborhood on my trip up. He mentioned he spoke just a little little bit of English, after which we had a complete dialog like we were each native speakers. That is how Europeans are, they’re too humble about their language abilities. The onnly factor he messed up was he stated it was “dusty” as a substitute of “foggy”. I think to myself, there’s no approach I would be capable to have the level of conversation with him in another language if I solely knew “a little bit”. Europeans are humorous.

Mt. Pilatus was a tremendous experience. The gondola rides were out of this world! On the top there was more to explore, totally different paths and one that went straight via the rock to the opposite facet of a mountain top. I breathed in the contemporary mountain air with joy.

There’s a resort and buildings on top that are such an engineering marvel to see.

You may see the walkway on the aspect of the mountain I bought to hike.

Notice the pink practice on the side of the mountain, making its approach up to the hotel.

Here is yet one more picture of downtown (left). On the best: a efficiency on high of Mt. Pilatus.

Really, the images converse for themselves. After a couple of hours on the summit, I took the gondolas back down, stopping at one of many intermediary sections and getting out to briefly take a walk. It was all timed nicely – the other tourists were now coming up in full swing, and I was already gone earlier than it got actually busy. I never had to wait for a gondola 🙂

I used to be unhappy to depart Switzerland, however it was far too costly to stay for too much longer – I undoubtedly deliberate it proper to remain for less than per week.

Germany

My closing 9 days or so had been spent in Germany. Most of this time was spent in Berlin. I took the train from Zurich to Frankfurt, stayed for a evening after which traveled all the way throughout the country on the prepare to Berlin. The plan was to see how I felt and if I needed to proceed north by Copenhagen and up into Scandinavia, I may switch someplace near Hamburg after coming from Berlin and make my way up there. If I acquired tired, the plan was to take the prepare west to Dusseldorf and make my manner back into NL.

Frankfurt: A informal stop to break apart the train rides

I picked a cool museum to take a look at in Frankfurt, and some smaller sights that I needed to walk to. Something that basically stuck out was the areas across the prepare station had been tremendous sketchy, wow. I walked via what felt like drug kingpin alley twice whereas I was there, and then one more time within the morning to get again to the station and be on my way. The remainder of the place though was well saved.

I ate a big breakfast… it was dino museum day.

I will admit that I didn’t really do my research a lot on what was in Frankfurt to really check out. Downtown I found some interesting architecture. I was solely here to break apart the Zurich to Berlin trip, and it labored out nicely.

Berlin: Hip and Happening

After a 6 hour rail trip east, I had seen plenty of Germany whiz by on the prepare. I made a mistake and bought off the practice one stop earlier than (it was delayed and the timetable changed), so I didn’t really begin my journey on the central station. I had many hours to make use of earlier than I could verify into my room, so I wasn’t fearful.

I realized beforehand from somebody (Mario, perhaps) that there was a 9 euro practice ticket I may get, so I’d solely pay 9 euros for my use of the metro while I used to be there! What an amazing deal. I got that and took the metro into the middle of town.

I showed up in Berlin and there was some type of weed occasion that was occurring. I proceeded to rent a bike and cycled by way of the Tiergarten, noticed the Brandenburger Tor and the Berliner Dom.

The dom was truly a nice place to only hang out and watch the world go by. I was in no rush because my room wasn’t out there till later that afternoon, so I laid down on the grass here and closed my eyes.

Berlin had well-priced meals. Not too costly, not cheap garbage, just right. I could get a very good portion Chinese meal with the meat, vegetables, rice, and a gingerale and not feel like I broke the bank. This Chinese meal was a godsend because I used to be actually hungry.

Although, it’s annoying that in Europe they give out such small drinks. This glass wasn’t half full because I drank half of it – that is all they gave me. I had to get used to drinking after I was achieved consuming, that’s the trick, that approach I didn’t sip it a bunch of times and realize there was nothing left by the top of the meal.

Museum Island

Museum Island was something that I ought to have deliberate just a little additional in advance, but I used to be lucky that I did get to go into a number of the museums even with solely a days discover shopping for the tickets online beforehand. The museums have been busy, but not packed, and had all types of interesting artifacts.

I found the cuneiform tablets and hieroglyphics particularly fascinating. The cuneiform was written a lot smaller than I imagined! It was similar to an everyday person had picked up a pen and wrote letters into clay. I had at all times assumed that it would be bigger as a result of you’d want finer tools and a less malleable surface to make it readable at this dimension. But no, historical folks were crafty and made it work.

More Live Music, Outdoor Market

I liked how I may simply stroll around Berlin and stuff would be happening, so it felt like I wasn’t just awkwardly looking at town and its options alone. There were folks out and about at these occasions and stuff, hanging out, enjoying themselves. I felt surprisingly not out of place.

It felt like Berlin was a place where individuals were legitimately accustomed to hanging out in public, which is one thing that I simply never grew up doing. Here, there have been just individuals round, they usually weren’t ready for one thing or going somewhere straight away, they have been simply fortunately chilling.

There was more dwell music exterior of just the weed event, I believe some of it was lip syncing here. This man got up on stage who was very assured, probably drunk, and sang something horribly, however everyone sort of felt that it was only a social gathering so it didn’t matter.

And there was lots of people right here! I legitimately just stumbled upon an outdoor market that was connected to this outdoor area space. I like to suppose it was just me having good luck, however it appears that evidently these types of events were all over in Berlin, so in all probability anyplace I would have gone there would have been one thing happening.

The factor with Berlin was that there was quite a lot of larger spaces, both with trees or just open spaces to set up out of doors actions. It didn’t really feel like a densely packed metropolis, it felt properly unfold out and pleasing. The trams made it easy to get around on my 9 euro ticket.

Chaotic scammer games

Throughout my time in Berlin I saw many scammers. Those that actually stuck out were actually total teams of them taking people’s money in faux gambling video games. One guy would sit on the bottom and play some fast-paced dice sport with a cup, hiding the dice and making them re-appear, and they’d all shout in German when something occurred that was necessary in the game.

I don’t really assume anybody understood the way it worked before “buying in”, and the cash was simply misplaced to the house regardless. It was fairly effectively arrange – they’d get 5 or 6 guys out there to whoop and holler and get other men to join in on it, and then just take their money and pretend they didn’t understand the sport. Or a minimum of, that’s what it appeared like from afar.

I saw the identical guys pulling this stunt close to an out of doors market by the Dom and then once more at Checkpoint Charlie.

AirBnB with a Piano!

My AirBnB had a piano in it! I hadn’t performed in years but nonetheless opened the cover and played with it a bit. My host was very nice, I received to meet her entire family. They made me food and we talked for a very long time. If I return, I will text them and see what’s up.

Swimming

To get away from the town, I took the prepare like forty minutes down to this lake referred to as “Strandbad Wannsee”, which I was not expecting to be as large and well maintained as it was. It was like going to the seaside.

Radio Tower

Berlin’s radio tower wasn’t one thing I was planning to visit, however I ended up close by and stated screw it, I’ll purchase a ticket and go up in it. The view was great, and the platform had all these explanation placards that aligned with the viewpoint, so you may look at the diagrams and study what you were looking at.

Berlin Wall

I obtained engrossed in a number of the history of the Berlin wall when i went down to Checkpoint Charlie and in addition went to see a number of the remains. I purposefully didn’t take too many footage of it. Honestly, it was unnerving. To suppose that it blocked folks from dwelling higher lives, and that folks died crossing or trying to, is scary. It made me happy with my country that we fought in opposition to communism.

Dusseldorf: Final Stop

After Berlin, I used to be tired. I had traveled quite a bit in the last 3 weeks or so, and in direction of the top of my week in Berlin, I determined to end this lengthy journey with one last cease in Dusseldorf for half a day (to interrupt apart an 7-hour prepare journey), before making it back to the Netherlands.

I used to be wanting to get house at this level. After arriving in Dusseldorf, I walked a bit across the botanical gardens, noticed this cool old automotive and made small speak with the owner, got hassled by some assumed scammer downtown, and known as it a wrap. I bought on the prepare an hour early to head dwelling than I used to be planning to. I used to be able to be back at home base once more.

I used to be attempting to relax and sat down subsequent to the water downtown when this man confirmed up along with his young kid and began spreading food, so a whole squad of ducks confirmed up to feast. I thought it was funny and actually wasn’t irritated by it – but why did he sit almost right in entrance of me with all the opposite space around?

I walked on the paths by the water round Dusseldorf too. Basically this was a very spacious metropolis.

From Dusseldorf, I took the practice back into NL to Eindhoven, and I was again at house base. Over the remaining few weeks earlier than my job began, I traveled extra of NL and obtained accustomed to the world I was in.

Final Thoughts

Wow, this came out actually lengthy. I had quite a bit to share, and tons of footage. I spent in all probability 4 hours simply copying the pictures from my phone, curating them and fitting them to the best sizes. If anyone reads all this and scrolls via, thanks! I hope you enjoyed the adventure.

Culture & Language

Yes, the tradition is far different out in Europe, however it isn’t shocking. I’d go extra in depth on this in another page, but actually Europeans appear good and very succesful, particularly with communication (languages), and being open. I had almost totally good experiences, minus a couple of scammers and not super friendly Parisians. I used to be impressed at how far English took me – I by no means got right into a situation where I couldn’t do something because I didn’t know the native language.

Where would I visit once more?

I’d love to go back to Switzerland or Berlin. I wouldn’t go back to Paris, but different areas of France could be fascinating to explore. Belgium is one place that I may see myself visiting as a getaway to relax or something, however I probably wouldn’t go back in the hopes of discovering attention-grabbing journey journeys. It’s extra a place that I’d need to retreat to.

Personal takeaways

I’ll probably make a put up that goes extra in-depth about how I’ve modified as a person from this journey and what actually stuck with me as I moved on with my life. I feel that I’m more confident after these adventures, and that I perceive European tradition better.

This was a once-in-a-lifetime adventure, and that i tried my best to make the most of it. I plan to journey extra of Europe and surely will make more fun reminiscences like these!

lashaynewton