For the many months before backpacking through Europe, I was excited. I read travel blogs most nights and dreamed of foreign lands. And then the tickets were booked and work became more occupying and my friends graduated from university. And because I didn't allow myself to plan the trip, I didn't know how to prepare. I became apprehensive rather than excited, and the whole thing felt like a sentence rather than an adventure. I went to Belarus and was able to take video for the team along with preaching and serving with children. The whole time though, I remained nervous about my upcoming flight to Ireland.
When I left the mission team at the airport, my loneliness became almost a solid thing. The mission team leaders had confidence in my abilities to find my way, but I didn't share those feelings. Yet I made it. I found my connecting flight to Ireland, sat exhausted in the Irish rain for customs to let me in the country, and made it to my B&B. The next day, I took the bus to Dublin and met with the doctor and office manager for the clinic where I work(ed?) and they paid for my meals and Guinness Brewery tour. Then we parted ways so that I could visit a host family in Dundalk which, I discovered, was a far more boring place than Dublin. I went from there to Belfast after St Patty's Day, and learned on the way that some buses are 45 minutes late and it's not your fault but theirs. I stayed in Belfast and slept well with good Internet and a friend from JBU at the manor where I had studied just four years before after my freshman year. I took the ferry to Scotland and made my way to Glasgow to try CouchSurfing for the first time. My host turned out to be unavailable, but he found me a place to stay with nine Brazilians (all university students). Food was prepared for me but sleep was not quite ideal. However, I did make friends and made the most of it and left for Edinburgh that Sunday. My host in Edinburgh was the most accommodating I've yet had. He worked as a masseur and was very kind, but also liked to get drunk every night. Every night. I was only to stay for a few days, but Edinburgh was so incredible that I wanted to stay more, and my host was more than accommodating, even giving me the keys to the apartment one night when he wouldn't be home to let me in.
From there, I went to London on a night bus which I knew was not always the best idea, but my sleeping abilities did end up pulling me through quite well.
While in London, I stayed with a British friend I had made while studying abroad in Italy. He and his flatmate were both very witty, but I ended up able to keep up with them. However, the British comedies they had me watch in an effort to turn me British were so difficult to follow, with such strong accents, that I must say I did not go British from that. I spent most of my time in London visiting the free museums. In London, these museums are plentiful, and made for wonderful afternoons. I also ate Cadbury chocolates, mostly Crunchies, nonstop. Because really.
From London, I took a bus through the chunnel (one of the eight modern wonders of the world) to Paris, where I stayed with the Barlows, the family who had hosted the small group I taught in high school. They were gracious in allowing me to stay right up until the night they moved to California, at which point I was forced to pay for a hostel. The hostel was actually very good, and I do hope to stay there again with a much more free flow of cash. But then again, I feel that way with most of Paris, since it is among the most expensive cities in the world. My last night in Paris, I actually stayed outside the city with a CouchSurfing host whose job was “computer scientist”, which was something I learned nothing more about since his English was so poor. Though he did dislike that I had a Macbook. We watched Man Vs Wild and since I had seen the episode before, it was just fine that the episode was in French, and my Parisian host and I were both laughing out loud when Bear Grylls ate bugs and raw fish.
From Paris, I ventured on to Vienna, Austria, where my CouchSurfing host was a freshman at university who, like me, was well-traveled. She and her friends were German, but she was kind enough to take me out at night when they went to house parties and such. I felt quite old, not just because of the age difference, but also because I have never really been one for being out till dawn. Dawn really just isn’t my favorite time of day. Anyway, I also met up with my friend Jamie and her friend whom she had met in Ireland, and we did a wee tour of Vienna on our own. I had almost no takeaway from it, but it was an enjoyable time nonetheless. I had no host and did not want to pay for a room on my last night, so that began a whole other adventure...
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