From Salzburg we took a train south to Slovenia. Before I talk about Slovenia I need to talk about this train ride. This route was was everything I had hoped for when I imagined riding trains through Europe. We wound through narrow mountain passes with crystal clear rivers running beside the tracks. Then the view would open up into scenic valleys sprinkled with picturesque alpine villages. Lake Bled The beauty of that train ride was a hint of what was…
If I had been planning this part of the trip by myself I probably wouldn’t have gone to Salzburg. It’s not a typical backpacker destination (probably because it’s expensive). Other than vague ideas about Mozart and the Sound of Music I didn’t know what it would have to offer. However, Dan found out that the world’s largest ice cave is near Salzburg and couldn’t wait to see it. Sam and Spencer were easily convinced and I was happy to come…
From Budapest we hopped on a train to Vienna, another big city that would end up being a bit of a whirlwind. I didn’t know what to expect from Vienna. Before arriving I knew very little about Austrian culture. I imagined Vienna as a city of manicured plazas, grand palaces, and opera houses. This is accurate to a certain extent but Vienna has a lot more to offer. These are some of my favorite things we did there. Visiting the…
At the beginning of August Dan’s brother, Sam, and our friend, Spencer, met us in Budapest. We were super excited to see some familiar faces and to share our travels with friends from back home. At this point, though, we’ve come to realize that traveling with other people means picking up the pace. While Dan and I have the luxury of moving slowly and keeping our plans relatively loose, most people only get to travel for a few weeks a…
When we were putting this trip together the plan was always to spend most of our Europe time in Eastern Europe. We had heard it was much cheaper than Western Europe and we were excited to get off the typical European-vacation route and see some less touristy places. However, as you can probably tell from the posts up to this point, it took us quite a while to actually make our way east. Poland was our first taste of the…
Once we had committed to coming to Germany it seemed silly to leave without spending some time in Berlin. We were worried about it being big and expensive but it seemed silly not to see one of Europe’s great cities. Luckily we were able to get a good deal on a hotel and, thanks to an influx of immigrants, Berlin actually has a ton of super cheap, delicious ethnic food. Berlin is a city where it is easy to get…
Germany wasn’t high on our list when we were planning this trip. We assumed it would be too expensive and that we could save it for a future vacation. However, when we started looking at flights back to the continent from Ireland Munich was the cheapest option. Plus our friend Sascha was kind enough to let us crash at his apartment. It seemed like the stars were aligning and it was an easy decision to add Germany to our itinerary….
Before I talk about our time in Cork and Dingle I have to mention our quick sojourn to the west coast town of Lahinch and our visit to the Cliffs of Moher. We had stopped in Lahinch to visit more of my relatives. While we were there we decided we couldn’t miss the opportunity to see the famous cliffs, located just a few kilometers away. I had been to the Cliffs of Moher on my first trip to Ireland five…
When we started planning this trip I knew I wanted Ireland on the itinerary. My grandfather was Irish and even though I am part of the third generation born in the United States, my family has kept in touch with our relatives back in Ireland. I got to meet some of them when I visited Ireland for the first time five years ago. I couldn’t wait to get back and explore more of this beautiful country, this time with Dan…
Dan and I only had a week in Scotland on our own before we were due to meet my family in St. Andrews for my cousin’s college graduation. With only seven days and no car we knew we wouldn’t be able to squeeze in all of Scotland’s must-see destinations. We definitely wanted to hit the two major cities: Edinburgh and Glasgow. We also felt like we couldn’t go to Scotland and not enjoy some of the beautiful countryside. Unfortunately we…