It has been two weeks since I’ve left Maastricht. Two weeks since I picnicked with friends under the overcast but lovable Maastricht skies, two weeks since my bicycle handlebars rattled my hands while riding on the Vrijtof cobblestone. Two weeks since I (embarrassingly) cried at the final party saying goodbye to the faces of foreign countries that had become my best friends over the 6 months I spent in Maastricht. It has been an impactful six months, and I’ve emerged as a totally different person from the girl who stepped off the airplane in January. Cheers to Maastricht, and now onto part two of my adventure: Two months as a vagabond traveling around Europe.
A basic itinerary:
June 15-20 BARCELONA (with Marta, Annie, Casey, Kate see Laura, Jaume, Santiago)
June 20-23 GRANADA
June 23-25 SEVILLA (meet with Peter)
June 26-27 MADRID
June 27 PAMPLONA (meet with Theresa)
June 28-29 HARO (with Theresa) for Batella de Vino Festival
June 30-July 3 VENICE (meet with Gil)
July 4-10 CROATIA (meet with Kate, Phish, Shopvy, Jimmy in Dubrovnik July 7)
July 11-12 BELGRADE
July 12-19 SOFIA and roadtrip through BULGARIA (Meet with Dilyana, Cami)
July 20-? BUDAPEST
? Prague
? Vienna
? Bratislava
? Travel back through Germany to Amsterdam
August 8 FLIGHT TO CHICAGO (hello family :D)
My schedule is flexible and constantly changing because I am on a Continuous Global Eurail Pass. This pass allows me to hop on and hop off trains and travel around with little obligation to pre-reserve tickets and have set destinations. I’m loving the freedom this pass gives me, and I HIGHLY recommend anyone traveling Europe to look into traveling with a Eurail pass. Train stations are much better located than airports, and it is much more convenient to ride a train than go through airport security etc.. Also, traveling via train is still travel because you get to watch countries, small towns and life go flashing by the window. I’ve been on the road for only two weeks and I’m over halfway towards paying the cost of the pass off, so it is an economical and convenient travel option.
A few things to note: I chose to backpack on my own and it is working out to be one of the best decisions of the trip. On Facebook I created a group WHERE IN THE WORLD https://www.facebook.com/groups/473880139359236/ and added all my friends both from exchange and home that I knew were traveling. On the group, we all posted our basic summer routes. This has helped facilitate people meeting up all over Europe and is the reason I saw Peter in Sevilla, and will meet up with friends in Croatia.
Backpacking alone has always been my plan, and I’m quickly realizing that the “alone” part doesn’t really happen. Click here to read about why I’ve spent less time alone because I’m alone. At the end of my trip I’ll post about “The Coolest People I Met On The Road.” Also check out “The Ten Types of People You See at Hostels.”
Another note: I am working from an iPad on the trip and am finding it difficult to post photos on the blog. I’m trying to figure out a solution, but I might just end up posting only text then coming back and filling in photos later. I apologize for this and I hope that readers will return and look over the blog again mid-August when posts are cleaned up and more complete! As for now, I am enjoying traveling and am just posting extremely raw, unedited, photoless posts that I will then return to and refine when I’m back home and have more time to dedicate to the blog.
A final note: HUGE THANK YOU TO MY PARENTS who have encouraged me to travel and always push me to try new things. Traveling alone is scary, and it is a testament to their parenting and endless compassion and encouragement that I have the self-efficacy to go on this adventure. When my mom was 21, she also backpacked Europe and wore small gold hoop earrings. Those earrings have been passed down to me, and I am proudly wearing them for their second tour around Europe. She and my father understand how impactful a trip like this is, and I will be forever grateful that they have gifted me with this opportunity to experience all the greatness of life.
I’ve asked my mom to write a post from the parents perspective about sending their child abroad. You can READ HOLLY PAYNE’S post here (when she writes it.)
Read all my travel stories, inevitable trip disasters, fun people encounters, new cultural experiences and all the surprises that will fill my next two months backpacking under Blogs —> Pt. 2 VAGABOND.
Cheers! Reagan
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