We have seen and done so much in 2 months.
The majority of our time we spent in Italy ... we loved it and would highly recommend it. !!
Mostly the trip was stress free as we had few restraints on time or expectations. We found the most difficult was always trying to find our accommodation when we arrived somewhere new. We learned to email ahead and ask for directions but often, even then, it was not easy..... particularly if it involved a bus or other public transit. Since we were traveling off season, many of the tourist centers, especially in train stations, were closed. And all information centers were closed on Sundays. And of course without the language it was hard to ask where to find the bus or the bus schedule. But only once did we finally give up and we took a cab.
The old way, we and others, travelled... pulling into a station and heading to the tourist booth to have them find a room, is long gone. Tourist booths closed... all rooms filled way in advance. Traveling is so popular, tripsdvisor and other sites so prevalent, finding a decent room at a decent price last minute, is improbable :(
Although we found every place we visited, exciting, interesting and worth every minute we spent there.,,for us the smaller areas were more to our liking... all of Tuscany, the Amalfi Coast and Cinque Terre in Italy and the outskirts of Amsterdam and we loved Prague.
And we were soooooo lucky with the weather. We had only 3 days of rain in the entire 8 weeks. And one of those days was a travel day so we were on the train.
In Italy we discovered they had
- fantastic eyeglasses with hundreds of shapes and colours to choose from
- cute short hair cuts for young women
- and of course amazing SHOES !!
- a no nonsense approach to validating your ticket on transit. They had a lot of transit people checking and if you didn't punch your ticket there was no getting away with it. The fine was €50 on the spot and 3 times we saw people get charged....tourists and locals
- yum yum yummy coffee and gelato
General "stuff"
- all of Italy was humid even late Sept. and there were tiny mosquitoes with vicious bites :(
- lots of graffiti in all countries and not just by the train areas
- train travel was easy and the way to go
- we never had the same type of train twice, even in the same country, so we never knew what we would get. Some comfortable, some not so great, some wifi, some compartments etc.
- there were lots of taps/ spouts/ dispensers to refill water bottles in all countries
- McDonald's, Zara and H&M were everywhere
- very few people used their own bags for shopping.... all stores gave plastic.. this surprised us :(
- for us, buying the train tickets as we went, was cheaper than buying a Eurorail pass
- everything was a lot more expensive than we anticipated ...I paid $6 for a coke light in Paris.
- I did everything off my phone as we were doing only lightweight carryon but it all would have been a lot easier with my IPad..... My old eyes and fingers caused me lots of frustrations and the use of many "bad" words
- we definitely relied on Internet for everything from booking places... to emailing...to checking what sights to see... to buying tickets online to avoid long lineups at museums...
- very few young people had tattoes
- the Samsonite bags we bought were great. We used them both as backpack and wheeling, depending on our situation. You can fit a surprising amount in a carryon if you plan ahead. Ron and I were both happy with our clothes/shoes selection and we used everything. Although I am ready for some different choices I didn't find it bad to have limits. Traveling with carryon made it so much easier.
A couple of mishaps
- in Prague... in a space of 2 blocks.. I lost my bracelet I have worn every day since Ron gave it to me 14 years ago
- Ron left his "Life is Good" baseball cap in a castle in Salzburg. He wore it all the time. Maybe we'll have to go back to Boston to purchase a replacement :)
- the newish New Balance runners Ron bought for the trip, broke down after 2 weeks so he had to buy new ones. He suffered for a week with a blood blister
- I got some type of insect bite at an outdoor food market in Vienna and had a swollen painful wrist and thumb for a week
- and finally at our last security checkpoint in Amsterdam airport. For some reason we all had to go through two checks. Ron had to take his bracelet off again and you know how he loves this process...lol His bracelet snapped in half. Not a happy camper.
We met lots of interesting people. These few I'll mention but we met many more.
- the people from Ladner who shared our train compartment ...ironic. They gave us some good travel tips
- a couple from Boston, on the bus going into Venice ...about our age. They had rented a houseboat to tour the Mediterranean with friends. He suffered a seizure and when they took him to the hospital they discovered a brain tumour. They were going to try and see if he could manage an hour in Venice before they headed home the next day. Made us realize again the importance of having travel insurance and that you need to keep going and exploring while you can. You never know what lies ahead.
- a young couple from Charleston.. Ashley and Harrison...lol... We met them on our only bus trip from Siena to Rome. They were backpacking and had been to a Chianti wine festival in the area. They bought a case of wine and also a specifically made large padded suitcase to bring the wine back home. And they were still going to spend 4 days in Rome. Seemed really crazy to us !!!
But by far the most interesting were 2 fellows in their 70's we shared a train compartment with from Salzburg on our way to Venice. One lived in Frankfurt and the other, a retired teacher, lived in Lyon. They didn't speak the same language but were able to communicate with a little mixture of both languages. They met 30 years ago while staying at the same place with their families well on vacation. They kept in touch via email and occasional visits. They wanted to reconnect and spend some time together . They decided to climb the Tyrolean Mountains for a week, with only a small backpack, going from refuge to refuge at night, sleeping on the floor if necessary. They were excited about the adventure... with no reservations about the weather...which was not looking great. They were so refreshing and intriguing. Their "whatever will be" attitude was such an inspiration.
In the end we realized that travel can be just travel unless you let go then it becomes an exciting adventure. We always laughed and said "we're never hopelessly lost just somewhere we didn't expect to be" and it was great. We savoured and appreciated every moment and every experience good and bad.
But my favorite memory of this trip will be perplexed, inquisitive Ron saying many times every day, of ancient cultures and buildings ....
"How did they do that?"
