As Jeremiah said, I had to write my own wrap up to our Europe trip as well! I just couldn't leave it with my last post. I have too many thoughts about the trip as a whole to do that!
First off, I am so glad that Jeremiah and I decided to do this trip. Thanks to my sister and brother-in-law for planting the idea in our heads! I learned so much from the trip, both before with the planning and during the trip with the newness and uncertainty of it all.
I am so grateful to Jeremiah for being my travel partner! Take him along if you want to go to Europe! First of all, before we left he was so on top of printing every document off and getting things done early. If you know him at all, that shouldn't surprise you! But during the trip he always remained calm when I got a little stressed, he downloaded an app for every country's metro system I'm pretty sure, he was directing me which way to go, he wasn't afraid to ask questions, and he put up with some seriously bad allergies with a mostly positive attitude. I was definitely lucky to have him by my side!
As for traveling itself, I learned that pretty much everyone speaks English everywhere! It makes me want to learn all of their languages because we were always so relieved when people spoke English! I felt bad or ignorant for not speaking their language! I also learned that Europe has some amazing public transportation. The U.S. should take a page out of their book! The trains are going everywhere, all the time.
Jeremiah and I feel like expert backpackers now! We had an overnight train, a very early flight, a last minute Hostel booking, a cancelled Airbnb, long walks with our huge backpacks, hand-washed our laundry, found and used a laundromat for the first time, rotated through only 4 shirts, and the list goes on!
Of course, not everything was perfect (definitely not), and we certainly aren't actually "experts," but I am grateful for every part of this Europe trip and happy I could do it with my best friend! Thanks for reading everyone! As Jeremiah said, check back for updates on his internship and come September, more stories from my experiences abroad, but solo this time!
Also, if anyone is curious and looking into backpacking yourself, I took a couple of pictures of what I brought, though these pictures don't include everything. Big backpack: 4 shirts (1 long sleeve, 1 t-shirt, 2 nicer shirts), two pants, two shorts, one maxi skirt, one jacket, one dress, flip flops, sneakers, Keens, two plastic bags, mini straightener, microfiber towel, sleep sack, toiletries.
Small backpack: Umbrella, Passport, phone charger, outlet converter, three small locks, one padlock, reusable water bottle, two books, journal, pen, money, money belt, credit cards, sunglasses, go pro, selfie stick.
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