Facebook is mostly useless in terms of facilitating anything actually "social," but the thing I still find value in, the memories, has been showing me all kinds of Europe stuff for the last two weeks. Naturally, it has me thinking a lot about the trip. I can't believe that it was already a year ago. I don't know why we didn't do something similar this summer.
To recap, we did a Northern Europe cruise. We started in the UK and France, then Iceland, Norway, ending in Denmark. The cruise was aboard the Disney Dream. It was the first time that I've ever taken two consecutive weeks off from work, and I also can't understand why it took that long to do so. Despite the dense activity, especially on port days, it was easily one of the best trips I've ever had. It had the intended effect, that I could sample many countries and think about which ones I'd like to revisit.
The UK is sometimes written off by travel snobs because it's the "easy" country for Americans, but in a lot of ways, it's like New York. You see so many movies there that it feels familiar, but when you get there, you desperately want to explore as much as possible. We were in London for less than 24 hours, and so jet lagged and sleep deprived that we didn't really get a proper shot to enjoy it. A year later, I'm still troubled by that. In the evening, we ended up having dinner at the hotel, then walked around the immediate area (from the London Eye to Westminster), before getting back to the hotel around 9. We intentionally played this by ear, but I had ambitions of seeing a show on the West End, given our likely Eastern time bodies. But we were fried, and had to get our car to Southampton at 8 in the morning. Also, I have an Ohio friend who has been living there for a few years, and I'm jealous of his adventures.
One of our port days was in Ålesund, Norway, and it was absolutely beautiful. It was also a Sunday, so our interaction with locals and local businesses was largely limited to our bus tour around surrounding islands. The people we did meet were lovely, plus one gigantic dog. It made me want to see Oslo (where we have friends), and maybe even do a driving trip around the country. It's like a different world.
Ending in Copenhagen was also special. Consider just the initial impression this city left us. We got on an electric bus at the port (and tellingly, almost everyone else, Americans, waited for cars), alone, and transferred to the metro, both using the Copenhagen Card that gets you all-you-can-eat transportation and attractions. There are no gates, just a trust that you tap your card on and off the busses and trains. Sometimes, an agent would roam trains to confirm legal usage. Once in the city, we learned that half the population commuted on bikes. It was like visiting a different, better world. We were only there, also, for about a day. Again, wonderful people, wonderful city.
The challenge in European travel is a combination of the cost of the flights and the time required. You effectively lose a day in each direction. You can't do it while school is in, so you have a three-month window. These are more excuses than anything. I suppose the other challenge is that we would have to choose one destination. Also, we'd like to do a similar cruise around the Mediterranean, and see Spain, possibly Portugal, plus Italy and Greece. Maybe we need to commit to that.
To be clear, despite my recent disenchantment with the American political situation, it's not that I dislike our country, it's just that the more I see of the world, the more I appreciate a wider view of the world and its many cultures at large. When your history is only 250 years, it's crazy to learn more about histories that are four-digit numbers. And I haven't even scratched the surface of Africa, South America, Asia and Australia...
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