European Discovery May 15-30, 2015

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It is amazing to sit here today and think about my Europe trip. It was such an incredible experience from start to finish. The people I met on the trip was super amazing and even to this very day there are still posts in the Facebook and WhatsApp groups, which make me smile every time I read someone posting. This was the 2nd Contiki trip for me and just learning about different cultures and experiences makes you a much better person and well rounded.

In general, a few quick facts about the trip:

43 people in total. It is a bit daunting to learn so many people names and remember a lot about them. You would think that not all of them will talk to each other, however I felt everyone was super chill with each other. In addition, learning about everyone usage of the metric system and how different that is from the US was another fascinating point of topic.

The pasta in Italy was only ok (mostly au dente). I was expecting a bit more from the pasta though this take out pasta place by the Coliseum was fantastic. The pizza was amazing in Italy and loved it a lot better than any pizza I have had in the States. The ingredients were fresh and you can taste the authenticity in what you received rather than a greasy oily mess that many pizzas are in the US. Chianti and Bordeaux wine in Italy are as good as advertised. It might be the 2nd best place I have ever had wine in my travels just behind Napa Valley wine.

The weather in general was surprisingly damp and cold. I only had one warm day and that was in Italy. Selfie sticks was sold all over every country. I knew these were popular but didn't realize the global appeal of it.

The trip started on the 15th on a large plane however in a small seat next to a guy who took up most of the aisle. The dinner was delicious where I had a chicken curry with rice. In addition, had a small bottle of vodka with tonic to go with that. Breakfast time consisted of a muffin and yogurt. Overall a pretty good flight though I didn't sleep. After, I got off the plane it took about 30 minutes to get through customs and made my way to the London Underground. It is a lot better than the LIRR or NYC subways as the cars was kept cool by the AC and very clean. In general during the trip, you do not have to wait long for another train to come and each line is just as comfortable as the other ones are. However, the LIRR have overhead areas for baggage whereas the London Underground you need to get a seat by a door so you can lay your luggage against the wall. I took the Piccadilly line for about 45-50 minutes until it got to Russell Square.

I brought my bag up once I go to Russell Square. It was super crowded so I figured I would take the stairs up. This was one of the dumbest things that I did. As I brought it up I realized that there was a lot more stairs than I realized. By the time I got to the top I was exhausted and drenched with sweat. I noticed after I got out that it is an emergency stairwell only and was about 175-180 steps in total. I went to my hotel to check in. As I checked in I was able to contact two of the people from my trip, Khoa and Emilio, through Whats App. Before the trip, a Facebook and What's App groups was set up with most of the trip mates so it would help to meet up when got there.

During the walk around the city with Khoa and Emilio, we went to a few different sites: St James Park (beautiful park that had these huge pelicans and ducks), Parliament, Big Ben, London Eye, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey and British Museum. It was a fantastic day and I especially loved the British Museum, which is free to get in and has a lot of exhibits. We purchased an oyster card, which is similar to the MTA card used to get around the subways in NY, however the Oyster Card is far superior. I put 20 pounds on the card and didn't have to recharge the card once, even after using it on my first day in London and later in the trip. We got drinks at the Red Lion Bar. At night time, I went back to the room and met most of the tour people at the Contiki Basement. It was great to meet people that I spoke to online before the trip. In addition, I got to meet the tour leader Matt and bus driver Marco. After the meetup, there was a happy hour held at this bar nearby for all of us. I had fish and chips which was ok and then went back early around 9:00PM because I didn't sleep all day and next day we had to get up at 6:45AM.

The next morning I woke up and went to the bus. I got on the bright pink colored bus and noticed this pink elephant in the front seat. I moved to the back and sat down. One downfall of the trip was no free wifi on the bus. At first, it bothered me since on the Australia Contiki trip I had wifi on the bus the whole time, however by the end of the trip I got used to it. Driving through England, our tour director, Matt introduced our mascot, Snuffie the elephant. In addition, he gave us interesting fun facts about the country and history, and would continue to do so with each country we went to. I loved it and really put things into perspective. The bus drive was great learning about all the new people on the trip. Unfortunately, in our drive we hit about an hour of dead stop traffic. We made our way to the white cliffs of Dover, where you can see the French coast. Our bus got onto a transport and we got off to go to the top deck to see the beautiful views of Dover. On the transport, there was a Starbucks and a lot of good conversation with the tour mates.

Once the transport arrived, we drove into Belgium making our way to Amsterdam (Netherlands). On the way, we did a speed dating type game, where the person near the window would stay in the seat, and the person on the outside would move to the seat in front of them and talk to that person. It was a great ice breaker game and really allowed me to meet everyone on the trip, minus a few people who I would meet once I got into Amsterdam. Driving through Belgium, there was huge farms, cows and windmills all over. As soon as we got into Netherlands, I saw flat woods and a lot of green. It was a beautiful drive. We stopped at a rest stop and there was a charge of 0.50 Euros for a restroom. I was amazed by this considering I have never heard of paid public toilets, but this something common in different part of Europe.

We arrived into Amsterdam and you see a lot of canals and bicycles all over. The city itself is really breathtaking and a highly recommended visit. We arrived at the hotel and got to meet the remaining tour mates. They were just as fantastic as the people I had already met. We got to eat dinner and headed out for a boat tour. The city was lit up and was so picturesque. We got onto the canal tour. It was one of the funniest activities on the trip. There was an open bar, views of all the canals and lit up buildings and tried Flugel (this syrup tasting alcohol). We got off the boat and this is where the evening went from amazing to fun, but yet weird.

We get an offer to go to a live sex show. I thought perhaps it was a comedy of some sort. Wow was I wrong. I will definitely keep this PG rated but it is exactly what you think it was. I sat in the second row and sat stunned the whole show. There was crowd participation and a few people from our trip got involved in the show to do some funny yet provocative acts. After the show we went to the "special cafes" and got to try Space cake. The city itself has a lot of these "special cafes" and definitely offers a unique environment. Wow, quite potent is all I will say. The city at night is beautiful with the buildings on the water all lit up. You have girls in windows asking you to come in for special services. People literally walked into windows/doors and went into the back, only in Amsterdam. We ended up at a bar. At one point, these knights and a king came over. It was so odd. They wanted a condom for the king since it was for a bachelor party. We didn't have one so he got upset with us and left the table. In addition, the fire alarm went off with loud shrilling noise for 5 minutes straight until they got it to turn off. It was definitely a night for the ages!

The next day we went for stroll around the city and got to see the city during the day time. There are a bunch of house boats on the water and the city is just as beautiful in the day time as it is at night time. There was rose petals falling from the trees with the sunshine making it a perfect day. We visited the Ann Frank museum. It was very surreal walking around seeing part of history and the stories told was quite moving. We left the city on a bus and took a group picture by this huge windmill. It was a fantastic way to end the city and to see what more adventures awaited me.

On the way to St. Goar, Germany, you see beautiful views and houses in the mountain. The city itself is a small charming place right on the Rhine Valley. It has Lorelai rock as well to see. We stayed at this bed and breakfast. I had a 4th floor views and you can see the charming city in action. The city is quite small with only a few main roads making it up. At night time, we did a wine tasting. We went downstairs into this cold cave area. One of the hosts had this thick German accent so trying to understand him was difficult. Afterwards, quite a lot of drinking got down in the hotel bar and lobby. There was a jager shots competition that went on between two different people from the tour and the winner got to move on. I definitely got my butt kicked by one of the tour mates, Sam. During the competition, it was pitting people from the US versus the world, so some people were chanting USA USA after a person from the states one. Even the guys from the wine tasting got to hang with us and drink in the bar. It was such a fun evening overall.

The next morning at breakfast, I received a Facebook message that one of the tour members Adam got locked inside his room. I have heard of people getting locked out but never the other way around. His roommate Patrick had to go open the door to let him out. Before we left, we got to check out some beautiful beer steins for purchase, and got myself a Contiki one which I totally love. It has all the places that are visited on the tour along with pictures on it and in block. In addition, we got to see a store that sold homemade coo coo clocks. We left and departed for Munich passing by the Darby arena. We arrived into Munich and got to see the Glockenspeil and Rathuas Apoetheke. I was quite nervous coming in because the next excursion was the city bike ride tour. I hadn't rode a bicycle in about 15 years and was a little scared. Once, I got the hang of it I absolutely loved it and eventually led me to buying my own bike at home. The Mike's Bike tour was one of the best excursions got to do. The city was stunning to see. Our bike guide kept saying mmmm okay every time he started to talk. It totally reminded me of the surfer instructor that I had in Australia.

The tour allowed us to see some churches, ride through this humungous park that was double the size of Central Park and the beer garden. The beer garden is where Octoberfest is held and was just surreal to be at knowing that millions of people will descend down here in October. At the beer garden, I got to drank some huge liter beers, along with amazing pork shoulder, potatoes and gigantic pretzels. It was such a delicious meal and getting to ride off the beer/food definitely helped. At the end of the tour, we saw a surfing area where surfers ride water waves and did tricks in the water. Pretty spectacular site to see. We finished up the tour and made our way to the Hoftbraus beer hall. It was such a fantastic atmosphere with women dressed in authentic German gear, huge liter beers and great friends. Another fantastic night was in the books. We ended up at another bar afterwards and such a beautiful city to walk around

We woke up the next morning and was out by 6:45AM. I will say doing big nights of drinking definitely doesn't get easier as get older. On the drive, we went through Austria. You look left and right and see lush green trees all over. It was rainy but could still see everything on the drive. Being on the bus for so long, we all had to find different ways to entertain ourselves besides talking to each other. There was dancing that went on the bus instructed from one of the tour mates, Hajera. In addition, selfie sticks came out to take pictures, as well as the development of a bromance between many of the guys, or as it was referred, "gayticki". It definitely made the time go by faster traveling from country to country.

We got the rafting place and split into our rafting groups. It was such a blast and the rapids weren't too rough. As you went down the river, you got to see mountains and trees of the Tyrol region. It was a beautiful site to see. Unfortunately on the tour, one of the girls in the other raft swung her oar and hit another girl in her raft Crystal in the mouth and chipped a tooth. Crystal had to leave and go to the dentist. We saw her later that evening and looked as good as new and repaired. After the rafting, we went to the Syvarvoski Museum. I didn't do the tour since I had no interest in it. A few of us found this kid gymnasium and had a blast. They gave us socks to wear and you can go on the swings and climb different things. It definitely made us feel like little kids again.

After leaving the museum, we headed to Hoftgarden. On the way we played Heads up on the bus. It was a fun game that I had never played before and definitely a bit nerve racking. You have this computer thing with words on the display on your forehead and people have to yell at clues until you guess what the word is then you move on to the next. I did ok in it for my first time. This game helped to kill half the bus trip as we drove. The town of Hoftgarden was small with goats up on a hill as we drove in. We saw roosters in a coop. We got settled in and went to the supermarket to get cheap alcohol and food. We got to dinner and celebrate one of the tour mates Emilio 21st birthday. It was a delicious dinner and had schnapps shots to celebrate it. At one point, one of the tour mates and the bartender Bryce had acoustic guitar performances with songs like Wonderwall from Oasis with sing alongs. It was another moment I won't ever forget. Afterwards, we headed upstairs and pregamed and went to a local bar. There was some dancing and just great laughs for another fun evening. Celebrating in these small towns definitely was just as fun as being in a big city.

An odd moment happened when I woke up at around 4AM. I didn't see my roommate Matt so I figured maybe he met a woman. At around 6AM he still didn't return to the room and I got concerned. I sent him a message on What app but no response. At around breakfast time he was still missing and started telling everyone including the tour director about him. In addition, another tour mate Dasheek was missing. We got on the bus and waited for about 10-15 minutes and finally they both showed up. The story became that Matt fell asleep in Dasheek room and them both returning on the bus was almost like a walk of shame for them both, definitely a pretty funny moment On the drive through Austria highway, we hit a lot of traffic and at one point was a dead stop. In addition, it was snowing all over. In speaking with my tour mates from South Africa and Australia they had never seen heavy snow ever before. The bus driver Marco allowed them to get out and run around in the snow. It was a funny site to see since being in New York snow in the winter is so common and we get so sick of it by the end of winter. To keep sanity we played heads up with most of the bus participating. We hit in total 3 hours of traffic with 2 hours not moving anywhere. Without great friends, it would have made it like an eternity.

We went through Austria into Italy. The drive through Italy like most of the drives was surreal. It has lush green grass with deep valleys with cities tucked away in the mountains. Some parts contain houses on top of the hills with long wine vineyards stretching as far as the eye can see. Just beautiful is all I can put into words to describe it. In addition, a rainbow peaked out during the trip which put the finishing touches on the drive to Venice. We got to the ferry after 5-6 hour drive and got on. The ferry ride was stunning. It was sunset out and see all these buildings on the ride over to Venice. We got into Venice and went to dinner. At dinner, we went to this Italian restaurant. It was delicious family style. At one point, this guy started to play different songs on his guitar and one song he played was the chicken dance. Most of the guys got up and started to do the chicken dance. It was a hilarious site. A lot of wine, great food and company made for an awesome evening.

The next day we took the ferry back over and got to see Venice during the day time. It really is amazing how a city can be built with walking paths and canals. We went to the Rialto bridge and tried some delicious pizza, cappuccinos and coffee gelato. We went into this beautiful church with colorful ceilings up as high as the sky. Afterwards, we split into groups to go on the gondola ride. It was one of my highlights of the trip. Taking this gondola down the different canals and seeing how everything was built around the water is a site I won't ever forget. We left on the way to Rome and the funny thing is coming into the city I wasn't impressed. It was kind of ragged looking and I thought this is it. Well, was I wrong about that. We got to the hotel and departed for dinner. We had a delicious dinner and scullied (drank the remaining wine from dinner quickly) back on the way from dinner. On the bus back, it was crazy with people dancing and the wave ongoing through the whole bus. Our morning song for the trip became "Every chance we get we run" by David Guetta/Tegan & Sara. It was a song I wasn't familiar with before the trip but now it is a common song on my playlist. So much energy and after drinking really becomes a fun song to dance to. At the hotel, we went to the bar. It was a lot of fun with our group being the only ones dancing. We did a lot of shots and dancing with our tour guide Matt and bus driver Marco. Another fun night was in order.

In Italy, there is no free wifi anywhere except in Florence. It was liberating in a way to not have use of my phone for most of Italy because I was able to enjoy the cities without much outside distraction. In Rome, I got to do the Vatican tour. It was such a fantastic experience to see everything especially the Sistine Chapel. I got to find a seat at one point and just stare at the beauty of the Chapel. Really amazing how something like that could have been done so long ago and withstood the test of time. At one point I ended up getting lost from my group for a few minutes but thankfully found my way back to everyone. We left and departed for the Colosseum. On the way, it was pouring outside. I was in shorts and short sleeve shirt so I was freezing. We got refuge under a tree. By the time the rain stopped, I was completely soaked and had goosebumps from head to toe. Walking through the Colosseum was another experience that really hit home for me. I remember learning in school about all the battles that took place inside and to be there you could picture the arena to be filled with people all those years ago.

We left the Colisseum and departed for the Spanish Steps. We took a picture with some of us on top of the steps. We had delicious gelato during the day and for dinner I ate gnocchi. The pasta in Italy was ok but I loved the pizza in Italy the best. The pizza had fresh ingredients and not as greasy as pizza in the states are. I went to bed early that night. It was important during the trip to get some sleep because it was a lot of running from one place to the next and could definitely burn yourself out. The next morning we departed for Florence. On the bus, it started out as one person sleeping on the floor to get comfortable to nap. After awhile, it became 3-4 people sleeping so you had to tip toe around them if you wanted to go to the front. Florence was my favorite of the Italian cities. We did a walking tour and saw sites like the Duomo which is a massive church. The city itself had a lot of culture and loved the atmosphere of the city. Everywhere you go in Florence and Rome you had gipsies that kept bothering you. At one point, I got fed up in Florence and told off one to stay away from me. It really just annoyed me to the greatest ends. The hotel we stayed at in Florence had a little balcony which was fun to be able to walk out onto. On the way to dinner, we saw protestors blocking traffic and noticed green and red smoke. I wasn't sure why the protests was going on. At our Tuscan dinner, 5 bottles of red wine was consumed. A lot of dancing went on the bus probably the wine kicking in and went to this Florence disco. It was a lot of fun and not too crowded of a club.

The next morning we left for Switzerland. The drive through the country was awesome. The lakes was so clear and huge mountains all over. We took a cable car up to the top of Mt Stansehorn. On top of the mountain, the views down was amazing. I thought how weird and amazing at the same time to be in the Switzerland Alps. A snowball fight occurred between everyone which was fun to do. We came down the mountain and I thought my trip was going to take an awful turn for the worse. I looked frantically for my camera to take a picture and I couldn't find it. I was panicked because I had about 1200 pictures on my camera at that point. My tour manager spoke to the cable car operators and it would be the next morning to see if my camera was found. During that evening, we walked through Lucerne containing coffee side shops. Pretty charming small city. We stayed that evening in a makeshift jail. It was a pretty charming place to stay in with bars all over inside the hotel and had the look of a real jail. I didn't have time to eat dinner so I had Mcdonalds and ice cream before the lake cruise. Switzerland was an expensive country where some of the tour mates told me it cost them 30 Euros for a burger and beer so in a way was glad didn't end up eating anything fancy. We took a lake cruise that evening and got to see nice views from the waterfront and on the boat. Off the boat, we saw these huge swans and later went to a night club. It was an ok club and headed home early.

The next morning I found out from Matt that the tour operators found my camera. I had to take a cab from the hotel to the Mountain and come back as quick as I could for our bus to depart for France. The cab driver spoke little english and there was confusion as he thought I wanted to go up the mountain. It cost me 65 Euros for the round trip. At one point he dropped me off I got my camera and then I noticed he was going to leave. I stopped him and tried to explain I wanted to go back to the hotel. He stopped and talked to someone locally in another language and I believe he was making fun of me. He probably thought I didn't want to go up the mountain. I got back and our tour departed for France.

The drive to France we saw a bunch of cows on the side of the road. Once we got into Paris, I noticed a Jaguar parked on the side of the road and someone stole their rims in broad daylight. Quite a brash move but no one else saw it. We checked into our hotel room. It was small and a big difficult to have 3 people sleep in. That evening we departed for the Eiffel Tour. Similar to the Colosseum, Big Ben and other worldly sites it stunned me the beauty of it in person. It was so massive in person definitely bigger than I thought. On the first floor you can walk on glass and see all the people hundreds of feet below you. On top, I decided to buy a 12 euro champagne glass. it was small but how many times in life can you say I had a glass of champagne on top of the Eiffel Tower. Looking around the city at night time it was a beautiful city. it was my 2nd favorite city of the trip by far. A bunch of us ran down 300 steps to the bottom. Afterwards, many of us sat at this park that looked at the tower. People came to us in the park selling us cigarettes, wine and beer. You could bargain them down and get it for cheap. Many of these sellers were extremely pushy and kept trying to sell you things even if you told them no. We saw a light show at the Eiffel Tower. It was beautiful and added another fantastic memory to the trip I wouldn't ever forget. We left and went to a cafe that had crepes. I had this delicious Nutella crepe.

The next day we started off with this perfumery tour. It was probably my least favorite thing on the tour. We split into smaller groups and saw the city. I got to see the Arc De Triomphe. We went into this famous Macaroon store and got a few to have. So delicious! In addition, for lunch I ate an Italian croque monoseuir and had this rosse hosegaarden raspberry tasting beer. It was a fantastic meal. We went to the love lock bridge which is a bridge covered in locks that people write on the locks. It was pretty cool to see and knowing now that the bridge is going to be closing I am happy I saw it. The Louvre unfortunately was closed that day but did get to see the outside of it. We saw the Larce De Triomphe. Once the tour assembled at our designated time, Matt and Adam were missing. On the bus ride back, we saw them riding bicycles and they got ahead of us with the traffic in the city. We went that evening to a topless Burlesque show. Matt and Chris from the tour got pulled on stage to participate in the show. The show itself had dancing, jugglers and other entertaining acts. The dinner wasn't so great. Our table got rowdy from the drinking that twice the waiter told us to quiet down. A fun night was going to be in order. We left and saw sunlight still out at 9:45PM. We went to a local Irish bar and ended our trip on a high note. The next day we said our goodbyes for those not coming back on the shuttle to London. It was so sad to do as I made a lot of friends that I won't ever soon forget.

We did the boat tour back to Dover and hit a lot of traffic getting into London about 1.5 hours worth due to a major accident. There was a car with the roof completely taken off. I showered once got back to the hotel and got to meet up with Vino, Emilio and Scotty. We did this delicious meal that cost 10 GBP for a burger, cider and onion rings. The company was fantastic and the meal was delicious. We met up with the remaining tour mates and saw Matt the tour guide at this local bar and enjoyed the evening. The next day Vic who was from England gave us a tour of the city of London. I got a Pimms drink to try (lemon like taste) and did this Westminster tour which allowed us to see the Tower of London, London bridge and London eye. We saw Westminster Abbey with the guards on horses. They stood still and allowed people to take pictures with them. We walked through the beautiful St James Park. We went to Buckingham Palace and saw a lot of people dressed in fancy hats going inside. The guards checked their passports and we ended up finding out they were having afternoon tea with the Queens. We saw Hyde Park and Parliament. A few of us went back to get ready for dinner.

We took the London Underground to Covent Gardens. We decided to take the steps up to the top. It was similar to my earlier experience where it was 196 steps to the top. We were all exhausted afterwards. We got a beer in a local pub and went to Piccadilly Circle. It surprised me because it wasn't a circus and is a common misconception. It had a lot of restaurants and bars. tried to give in a 50 GBP and the restaurant wouldn't take it because of the age of the bill. It was a minor annoyance and had to exchange it at a Post Office later in the trip to get a new 50. We got dinner in Covent Gardens afterwards and to my surprise it isn't a garden. it is a modern city with a lot of places to eat and pretty upscale looking. We went to the bar later and I said my goodbye to the remaining tour mates. It was hard to leave them all after two weeks of amazing memories and now was alone in the city of London.

The next day I went to a quaint coffee shop by hotel for breakfast. i did a Big Bus tour. I started out on top but then it got cold and rainy so I went to the bottom. The bus tour had great city views, seeing sites I had seen before and other ones I hadn't seen yet, such as Marble Arch, Green Park and Kensington Palace. I thought the tour was ok but had seen most of the sites with Vic the day before, plus when I arrived into London initially. I got a delicious rueben pastrami sandwich on baguette for lunch. I relaxed in the room for a little awhile. For dinner, I ate at this Japanese restaurant 10 minutes from the hotel. I loved the food and had a conveyor belt of different sushi and appetizer dishes you could ask the waiter/waitress to take off for you. I talked to this nice older British gentleman sitting next to me and went to bed early that night.

The following morning, I did a Parliament tour. It was an ok tour but they didn't allow you to take many pictures on it. I got to see these beautiful golden chairs in a room where the lords speak that had bright red couches and microphones all over. In addition, rooms had statues of Margaret Thatcher, Winston Churchill and other famous British historians. I got to see the House of Commons room which had long green benches and chairs for prime ministers and other important leaders to sit in. I left the tour left for Trafalgar Square and got to meet up with my Australia tour mates Will and Rachel and meet their son Frankie. It was great to catch up with them. The Square had huge lion statues and a guy on a horse. We walked through St James Park and got lunch. We had a blast catching up. After a few hours, I had to depart for my flight. In the airport afterwards I went for a drink at this pub. They had free popcorn that was tasty to go with the beer. I walked to my flight thinking how weird it was going home. I had such an amazing trip and met countless fantastic people. I knew it would be something I would never forget.

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