11 Favorite Moments from Backpacking Europe
You don’t even understand how hard it is to try to boil down my 2 week backpacking trip into the “best parts.” It’s like trying to ask someone what the best part of a cake recipe is: it only works because all the ingredients are there working together.
Nevertheless, people keep asking me some of the highlights, so I did my best to try to distill some of my favorite parts of my trip. These are by no means all suggestions or things that I think everyone would equally enjoy, but they’re the parts that for me made me so over the top giddy.
That’s the thing about travel–it’s not about following someone else’s itinerary. There’s no guarantee that if they had a great time doing something then you automatically will also. It’s about creating your own journey based on what you know about yourself, what you enjoy, what you don’t.
For instance, had I spent all my time in Dublin doing the things people say you “should” enjoy when you’re there, it’d probably mean I was spending a lot of my time at different famous pubs, which for this sober gal, sounds like a miserable time. Or in Amsterdam, it might have looked like spending my whole day at the Rjks or Van Gogh museums–not quite my thing.
Point being: It’s about creating your own path.
So here’s a short recollection of my journey to serve as some inspiration for what an off-the-beaten-path trip can look like. And don’t worry, I’m not here to just paint a rosy picture–I’ll also be writing an article about everything that went wrong (because it’s funny), the people I met, and specific highlights from each country. But as an overarching overview of the whole experience, here’s what I got as an initial list:
(These are in no specific order other than the way my wild mind came up with them. For context: 15 day trip–Dubin, Ireland-Scotland-England-The Netherlands.)
(I’ll come back to this article in the next few days and add images and links to the places.)
1. The connections I made with people
Okay, I could (and will) be writing an entire series of articles just about the people I met and sharing some of their stories, but from a bird’s eye view, I can say that the connections I made along the journey were the highlight for me. I’ve written about traveling alone before and how there are always so many connections to be made that you’re never really lonely.
This trip brought that to the extreme as I wasn’t just traveling in the US, but internationally for the first time solo. Meeting so many different people from so many different walks of life and still having a magical connection formed with each of them was just so amazing. I had coffee with a woman in Amsterdam for 2 hours. I talked with a 5-generation international candy store owner for over an hour.
It was the serendipity of my trip. Again, in the coming days and weeks you can expect to hear more about the 30+ meaningful connections I made.
2. All the moments of serendipity
Speaking of serendipity, that’s the part I love about traveling, and especially traveling alone. I never know exactly what’s going to happen or what tomfoolery I’m going to find myself in! It’s a thing that forces you to be in the moment. Burning Man calls this the urgency of the present moment (I haven't personally been [yet], but I heard about it on a podcast).
Think about it–how many times in your normal daily life do you have absolutely no idea what’s going to happen? Everything is so predictable. And even the unpredictable is within specific bounds. I love not knowing what'll happen.
For instance, I was overwhelmed in Amsterdam and hopped on a random bus and rode it to the end of the line and back so I could calm down. On that trip, I found School of Life, an organization I’ve been following for years that I didn’t realize was in Amsterdam! Stopping there was a treat.
In another example, I stopped by the York Print museum, and the guy there mentioned stopping at the York gallery, and when I did, I found a treasure of an LGBT art collection that was so amazing I was inspired to write a letter to the museum curator.
When walking around London, I found a pop up chess club that I hung out with for a few hours (and got creamed at–good practice for my English accent saying “bloody hell”).
What I love about traveling are all the things I don’t plan for!
3. Riding a bike during Amsterdam rush hour
There’s also excitement in the things I do plan, though. Going to Amsterdam, I didn’t have a full itinerary planned, but I knew I wanted to ride a bike like the locals since it’s the most bike friendly country in the world. This experience did not disappoint. It was absolutely incredible to see such a massive amount of bikes, and that no one wears helmets because it’s so commonplace that drivers fully respect and anticipate mobs (literally) of bikers everywhere.
This was absolutely incredible. So fun. Also cool to see the different cultures of it. I saw business people riding bikes, women dressed in total fancy garments, young and elderly people alike. I saw whole families and dogs on bike contraptions. It’s really a way of life and it was amazing to see. The infrastructure around biking was also really cool. Bike lanes everywhere, bike traffic lights, parking spots everywhere. It was just amazing. I would go back in a heartbeat just to ride around the country even more.
4. Having locals plan my itinerary
Anyone who knows me knows I'm not much of a planner. In fact, for this trip, all I had planned by the time I left home was:
Flight into Dublin
Harry Mack concert in Dublin
My friend’s wedding in Scotland
A hotel for 2 nights in Scotland where the wedding was
Flight out of Amsterdam 15 days later
So here’s what I DIDN’T have planned:
No plan for where I was going to stay 85% of the time
No plan for how I'd get from the airport to Dublin Center City
No plan for Dublin to Scotland flight
No plan for getting from Scotland to England
No plan for getting from England to The Netherlands
No previously planned foreign currency on hand
No international cell service plan figured out
Yea. Believe it or not, I'm good at not planning.
That definitely created some stress at times, but I tend to prefer traveling like that (okay, I will admit seeing it spelled out on paper like that does seem a little wild), as it allows for a lot of the adventure and serendipity that I crave.
Whenever anyone would hear that I'm backpacking and traveling to a certain country next, they’d have suggestions, and by not having a previously scheduled itinerary, I was able to actually take them. When they asked what I was going to see in England, for instance, they were able to fill in my itinerary beyond the “Maybe a couple days in London?” plan that I had.
It made it feel like I had a trip made just for me by the cool people I met along the way. I had no intention to do many of the stops and things I did.
Stops in Pitlochry, Dunkeld, and York were nowhere on my radar, and ended up being some of the best parts of my trip thanks to suggestions from the locals.
5. Scotland hikes
There's a hike in Scotland I did to see the Pitlochry Dam, Salmon Ladder, and this cool Iron Suspension Bridge. The Dam had a fun visitor center that was interesting to read and see exhibits about the dam and the construction of the salmon ladder.
The salmon ladder is basically this pathway the engineers created so the dam didn’t mess with the ecological system of the salmon swimming upstream at certain parts of the year. I was so bummed to hear I was a couple weeks late from seeing salmon jumping the ladder, but I felt better when many of the locals had said they’d never even seen one in their whole time living in Scotland.
I’m also a fan of bridges, so checking out the pedestrian suspension bridge was really fun. There were little locks put everywhere on it to mark different relationships. I always wondered, if the couple breaks up, do they come back and take the lock off?
The path back from the hike also had me find this really fun park with an inground trampoline which I couldn't resist but jump around on like a 7-year old.
Hermitage
Another notable hike in Scotland was one I did when I was staying in Dunkeld called the Hermitage. I actually hiked it on two separate days, because the first day I thought I was doing the Hermitage trail and it turns out I wasn’t and a new local friend insisted that it was a must see.
Being in nature there with the huge rolling hills, it was just so serene, and exactly what I needed to get some clarity on a few things I was dealing with. I’m always bound to leave any time spent in nature with an awakening of some sort, and I definitely did.
This time, it was an awakening of what I really want for my life and my future, what I'd want in a relationship, and some things I was doing that were serving as distractions from really being honest with myself about that.
That, plus the trees and the hills were absolutely majestic and beautiful.
6. Print Museum in Dublin
Visiting the print museum was a total fluke. I didn’t even know it existed until I stumbled on it online when I was already in Dublin. When asking the folks at the hostel for directions, they said that they’d never heard about it, and that made me proud that I was even exploring some of their own city that they had never seen or even heard of.
At the museum was this fabulous fella named Carmien. He was so passionate about printing, his energy was contagious. He had so many funny jokes and taught me some interesting things about printing as well. There were all these huge machines and processes from way back then.
1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic
The thing that got me was the story behind the printing of the 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic (basically the Irish Declaration of Independence).
When I heard about the lengths the people went through to print this, I ended up buying a copy to bring home and hang on my wall, though I have no Irish in my blood whatsoever.
The story so resonated with me as a writer in that the printing folks needed to print the document in secret, they didn’t have enough typeface, and didn’t have enough letters (that’s why there’s some printing errors and mistakes in the document if you look closely). It speaks to having something that you have such a strong conviction that is worth saying, that you go through any challenges to make sure people can hear it.
Powerful stuff.
And then, for the rest of my 2-week trip, I had to figure out how to fit a cardboard poster tube in my backpack…
7. Harry Mack Show
Harry Mack was the one thing I had plans for during my stay in Dublin. It’s funny, he’s an improv rapper who performed just 2 hours from my home in Cleveland a few months prior, but the tour date was sold out before I could get tickets, so I joked how I traveled all the way to Ireland just to see him.
I got to meet him and he was super cool (and sweaty). This guy just so inspires me with his talent and his positive energy (check out his stuff!), and he was flattered that someone was there all the way from The States to see him.
The gay bar after the show
Side note: I made friends with two guys at the show (I’ll write about them more in a future article). We ended up going to the gay bar together afterwards and it was both of their first times! So here I was, enjoying my travels and helping the world be a little more gay at the same time.)
8. Hotels vs hostels
I didn’t have a single hotel or hostel planned for where I’d be staying on my trip, except for 2 nights in a hotel in Dundee for the wedding (which turned out to be 4 nights by the time I left).
And then, a former coworker who also went to the wedding was talking about a backpacking trip he took back when he was in his 20s. He said he stayed in hotels and when I asked why he didn’t stay in hostels, his simple answer served as this epiphany moment for me.
“I just prefer hotels,” he said. And then all of a sudden, something clicked.
Epiphany moment
Before then, I’d spent 2 nights in a hostel in Dublin because it was cheaper, and planned to stay in hostels the majority of my trip. While it was manageable, I realized that as an introvert I very much treasure time alone to myself, privacy, and not being interrupted by people’s snoring when I need to sleep (I plan to write an article about the guy I thought was dying in his sleep because he snores like Darth Vader).
And then I realized, “Wait, I prefer hotels, too. So why don’t I stay in hotels?” And from then, I committed to staying in hotels the rest of my trip, not hostels. Yes, it was more expensive, and yes, it was worth it. I was worth it. And I loved it.
Giving myself that permission was another huge growth moment of how I’m worth the extra money. I don’t need to sacrifice my comfort just to save a couple bucks.
[The funny part is one Saturday night in London I didn’t plan ahead and could only find a $450 dollar/night hotel. So guess where I stayed? 4 stars and a beautiful view baby!! And no guilt! (Check back for the article I wrote about the girl at the London hotel restaurant that I asked out on a date…)]
9. The giddiness of riding trains and planes
Don’t ask me what it is, but there’s something about being on a train or plane (not so much a car or bus) that just makes me so giddy, so cozy. The views were absolutely spectacular across Scotland from Edinburgh to Dundee. It was then that I started realizing all the happy cows and sheep, compared to in the US (on this trip, I decided to become a pescatarian).
Also, the picnics on the train or plane were so delightful. I get nervous when I fall asleep because I don’t want to miss it. I love having my little tray with my little croissant and little jam and butter and yogurt. It’s rare I don’t eat whatever they give me, even if it’s not something I’d normally eat (like the passion fruit mousse, thanks Delta–it was delicious).
I also had a boss who used to say he did his best work in planes at 30,0000 feet. I tend to feel similar– I get some of my best thinking and writing done when I'm miles above ground, or moving in a train at 120 miles per hour.
10. Forced day of rest
I was only 5 days into my trip when I was starting to not feel well. I was totally coming down with some kind of flu or cold, and on top of that, my feet hurt, and my back felt tweaked from carrying a 30+ pound pack around. I was not okay. But there was still so much to see.
A big thing for me was to actually take a day to rest. Especially for me, as someone who is so go go go, for me to take a day to rest and listen to my body was a huge step of growth for me. And I’m glad I did. I believe that if I tried to push through that, it would've been a matter of time before I crashed and burned and was forced to stop.
It was funny when I got home and looked at my steps from my trip (avg 17,000/day) to see how much I guess I really did need that one day to recuperate.
11. Sending postcards to friends (and myself)
Whenever I travel, I get postcards to send to a few friends, and also one to myself. It’s a tradition, and on my fridge are a half dozen cards and letters I’ve written to myself. But it’s a really fun part for me. I love that it forces me many times to go to the local post office, not a usual tourist spot. Where I get to see a bit of how locals act and interact with each other.
I paid $2 per stamp back to the USA, and sent a handful from 4 countries, but it was worth it. I had to buy different stamps in each country, and that also felt good to support such a global industry, so simple.
I drop a card here, and magic, somehow it gets all the way back home! Wow! I love it.
There’s so much more!
Like I said, it’s really hard to sum up two weeks in just a few bullets. And I don’t think this list does that all, but it’s at least a little glimpse into the moments of joy I had while overseas. I’ll do part 2 with more highlights.
I can’t wait to travel back abroad. If I’m an expat living in Europe 10 years from now, that trip will be the reason why.
If you’ve never traveled alone before, domestically or internationally, I can’t speak highly enough of it.