What an adventure the past couple of weeks have been!

Traipsing around Europe and the United Kingdom with the love of my life has been absolutely amazing and I wish we could continue the adventure.

Going to Europe with no real plans and being open to whatever may happen brought some wonderful and unexpected surprises. That’s not to say everything was rosy, but it wasn’t all bad either. There were lessons learned and some things I would probably do differently when I go again, but I wouldn’t change the experiences, nor lessons learned –not one of them!

This whirlwind adventure was my dream and I am very blessed that my husband of 30 years went along with my crazy scheme. He had no idea what he was getting himself into but just knew that it was something I wanted to do and so he went with it.

We left on Friday, July 26 and returned Tuesday, Aug 13. During those 19 days of traveling we…

Visited 7 countries – Germany, Belgium, Scotland, England, Ireland, Luxembourg, and France.

Walked a total of 206,316 steps… for a total of 86.85 miles… burning 49,947 calories.

Traveled through 10 airports… on 7 airplanes… used 6 taxis… 8 trains… 3 buses and 2 rental cars… traveling in excess of 16,000 miles.

Stayed in 7 hotels … and with 1 family.

Slept just over 99 hours … averaging approximately 5.26 hours of sleep a night.

Visited 4 Harley Davidson dealerships, 5 museums, 2 libraries, 5 castles, 19 pubs, 2 tattoo parlors, 4 cemeteries, and 2 churches.

Got 3 tattoos, bought 15 tee-shirts and took 1,047 pictures.

Observations in Europe

• Pepsi or Coke will come with either lemon, lime or orange slices in it but never plain… and very little ice.
• Hotels do not have ice machines.
• Club sandwiches are only made with chicken.
• Restaurants only carry paper straws.
• The mother in me kind of freaks every time I see a young person raise a glass of beer and they are obviously under 21… Belgium allows at 16.
• It’s a toss-up for bathroom fees.
• Everyone carries or pushes luggage.
• 5am is not too early to drink beer.

  

• Beer at 8am goes well with orange juice.
• Your beer will come in the correct glass identifying the beer you’re drinking.
• There are no fountain drinks and no free refills.
• It’s extremely rare that a hotel in Europe or the U.K. will have A/C
• Eating in Europe is not conducive to the Weight Watchers diet.
• Most European or U.K. sausages are just meat… no spices and totally bland. Thank goodness most tables have salt & pepper.
• Hotels in Europe and the U.K. do not provide washcloths… bring a shower pouf.
• Hotels in Europe and the U.K. do not provide mini-fridges in rooms.
• Waiters will not bring the check to you, you have to ask for it… They’re not rushing to kick you out.
• No one believes in cold drinks on this continent.
• If you ask for ice, they ask whether you want two or three cubes.
• When making a store purchase, the clerk will ask if you want a bag… then charge you for the bag.
• Restaurants only offer raspberry, black currant or marmalade jam for toast. Not a grape or strawberry to be seen.
• Dinner is from 6 to 8pm.
• Life is slower-paced and enjoyed more.
• The streets are practically empty at 4pm but the day’s just kicking off at 8pm… and continues into the early morning hours … every day!

But … I could really live in Europe.