Surrealness of it all..
June 15th, 2008 by shinzu
Surreal. That’s how things feel right now after being in Europe for two weeks. The first time I went backpacking through Europe, my friends Curtis and Anne instrumental in helping plan my trip. And in that first experience, my eyes opened up to the European lifestyle, food, and culture.
I have to say the last two weeks have been intense. This time around, the trip was planned without tapping with too much outside help, with most of the planning being done by me and some other friends.
One may say that two weeks may seem like a really short time, but to us it seemed like a long time (which is a good thing). You know you had a good trip when you get home and you are adjusting to driving again, what your room even looks like, and the streets in California.
Everything to me is still sort of a dreamland because one day ago I was clubbing in a bar in Dublin. 3 days ago I was hiking in Prague. 6 days ago I was enjoying some great beer in Amsterdam. 9 days ago I had a picnic underneath the Eiffel Tower. 11 days ago I was at the tennis French Open (Roland Garros).
On a second trip to Europe, I wouldn’t think it would have such a huge impact on my world viewpoint, but since I’ve gotten more into politics lately, I’ve been able to keep up of the local European local politics and contrast it with what we get in the US.
Some interesting stats.
- 50 miles walked on the trip. We probably averaged about 5 miles a day
- 5 flights taken on the trip. We flew into London. Took a plane from Amsterdam to Prague. Prague to Dublin. Dublin to Heathro. Heathro to Los ANgeles
- 2 trains taken. Took the train from London to Paris and Paris to Amsterdam.
- 2 times we were running to catch a plane/train. Oh boy.. one morning we literally ran to the train station because we slightly overslept.
- 15 beers tasted on the trip. Tried beers at Amsterdam, Prague, and Dublin.
- 1 number of times we got ripped off. The people in Prague blow.