Summary of my trip to Europe

In the summer of 1997 I traveled to Europe for a couple of weeks. It was a trip that I had always wanted to take, yet I don’t think I believed I was actually taking the trip until I stepped off the plane in Greece, completely enveloped in a foreign culture. I went to six major cities in five countries (Greece, Italy, Germany, France, Great Britain.) over a period of sixteen days. It was the first time I had ever been outside of the United States and I found in planning the trip that I had many apprehensions and fears. I spoke nor understood any foreign languages nor had I any experience traveling in foreign places. These fears were subdued once I left the U.S. and arrived in Europe. I found that train stations and airports had picture icons designed to make life easier for travelers, information booths and tourism departments had people who spoke some form of basic broken English, and when those sources were not available to me I usually ran into another English speaking traveler like myself who could point me in the right direction. I found some countries easier to navigate than others, yet nothing compared to the good ole’ USA. I had my fair share of difficulties traveling abroad, but I got through them all and have few if any complaints about my travels.

My two greatest companions on my journey were my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and Frommner’s 1997 Guide to Europe on 50 Dollars a Day. These were two key elements and I would have felt lost without them both. I had planned to make seven Eurorail connecting trains during my weeks in Europe and at the trip’s conclusion, I was seven for seven. Without speaking the language and with only my planned resources to guide me, this was certainly an act of God. During this time, I heard horror stories from countless travelers and several people sleeping in the same compartment as I were even robbed yet, no harm ever befell me despite my vulnerable status.

My Frommer’s guide was the "rod and staff" that comforted me on my trip. An absolute European traveler’s Bible, it gave me maps of each city, monetary conversion factors, guides to restaurants and hotels, museum hours of operation and admission fees, and thousands upon thousands of other tips and tidbits of info designed to make Europe easier. It was an absolute must, worth its weight in Gold.

Each of the places I visited warranted several days and often there was only one day I had allotted to spend at a given local. There were also several places that I would have liked to have gone, but time simply did not permit and several tough choices had to be made. I had designed the vacation with the goal of seeing a "sampling" of Europe. I had heard stories all my life of the beauty and grandeur that was out there and I wanted to see as much of it as I could given the amount of time that I had. Now, looking back on those days, I can honestly say that I accomplished my goal and in the process had the time of my life.

On the pages which follow, I have included exerts from my personal journal which I religiously wrote in every day of my trip. In some cases, thoughts and events are described in greater detail than written in my journal as my circumstances were not always favorable for writing exhaustively about everything. I also took photos of absolutely everything I saw and many of them are included on their respective pages. Due to the size and quality of the photos, several of the pages may take as long as a minute or two to load, but they're well worth the wait. So sit back, relax, and join me for a while on my vacation through Europe.

Let's go to Europe!!