It’s been a full decade since I first ventured abroad. I was 24 and had never been out of the continental US. Not even to TJ, even though it was only 20 minutes south of me. (Believe it folks…)
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| Image from google |
That year, several friends were going overseas: one friend to Japan, another to Korean, and yet another to India. I remember thinking, “why not me?” My cousin (Chris) had just finished her BA in Communications, also from UC San Diego and we were hanging out over the summer. During one of our regular Puzzle Fighter wars, we were talking about our friends’ travels (some of her friends were also heading off the mainland) and decided that we should go somewhere too!
She, also, was an international-border-crossing virgin. Immediately, we were able to decide upon Europe. Many of our friends had gone backpacking there, which gave us the confidence that we could do it too. Independently we came up with where we wanted to go. I always wanted to go to Spain and France, and if I remember right, she wanted to go to Italy and England. In any case, what I do remember is that logistically, we were not picking similar areas.
We decided to think about it some more and regroup. On our next session, Chris mentioned that one of her roommates (Daria) went on a tour with a company called
Contiki. For those of you who aren’t familiar, this is a touring company that markets to 18-35 year olds. They have different destinations and agendas to fit your needs. Anyway, her friend raved on about how much fun she had, so Chris and I started looking into packages.
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| European Vista Contiki 2011 |
We wanted to go for 3 weeks and selected their European Vista tour. This was a 20 day trip that went through: England, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Belgium, Liechtenstein, Monaco, and Switzerland. (If I remember it right.) Today the same trip has changed, but you still get the idea.
This map gives you an idea of what we were doing, but we didn't go to the Czech Republic or through Rhine Valley.
Daria told us that she had a blast and made a few really good friends on the trip. Since this was right after
9/11, we were the only US citizens on the tour. There were about 5 or 6 Canadians, 2 gals from Japan, a guy from Peru (I think, it's been a decade, hard to remember now!) and a bunch of Ozzies. By a bunch, I mean about 45. They were the friendliest group of people and instead of hanging out in smaller groups, we hung out with practically everyone. Chris and I definitely lucked out in that collectively our tour group was very social and we got to know a lot of great people.
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| Group Photo in Italy |
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| The girls on the boat cruise |
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| At Hofbraeuhaus in Munich with Aaron, Lou, Carl, Steve, Holly, Katherine, Chris and Sam |
Although it's been a decade since we left (holy cow!), I still keep in touch with several of them. This is quite a feat since this was when email was relatively new and FB didn't exist! Not only that, but I have been able to see them either when I was visiting or when they were.
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| Laura and me in Victoria, Australia |
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| Me and Cath in Central Park, NY |
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| Steve, Rita, me and Carl in Melbourne |
I hope to add a few more pictures to these (when I find them and when I am able to take more). And for your viewing pleasure a few great shots of Europe:
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| View from the boat |
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| Moulin Rouge in Paris |
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| The Coliseum in Rome |
