One year ago today, myself and three gal pals embarked on a 30 day trip across the pond. And I’m going to do something I didn’t do when I went abroad… I am going to blog about it. I did however, keep a journal throughout the trip, which re-reading, has allowed me to do some reminiscing about this trip. Most of the details in this post I’m probably going to take directly from my journal. I don’t have the best memory. Writing down things always helps.
To start, I’ll tell you about who I went with: Stephanie, Gabriela and Chelsea. We were all recent graduates and friends from college. Steph and I hadn’t been abroad before. Steph had never even ridden on a plane before this trip. Aside from Gaby, none of us had never been to Europe before. But all four of us were ready to take on these three weeks of fun, fun, fun!
- Steph’s mom took this at the airport. Us U.S. gals, ready to take on Europe!
Now, where did we go? We visited three countries: the UK, Italy, and France in that order. I don’t want this post to be a million miles long, and as there is A LOT to say about this trip, so, I think I might indulge and dedicate a separate post for each city we stayed in. Yes. I think I will do that. It will give me another reason to re-live some great memories. ♥
We spent months planning before we left. And even after all the work that was put into planning, I don’t think we could have been prepared for how overwhelmed we were going to feel after arriving. There was just so much to do and see, and plenty of moments where we were like, “what now?” And boy, did we got lost. A lot. Basically 90% of the time we weren’t exactly sure where we were.
An 8+ hour flight is the longest flight I’ve ever been on. Flying isn’t my favorite form of transportation, but this flight was so incredibly smooth and comfortable. A toothbrush, pillow, and blanket were waiting for each of us in our seats and every passenger had their own personal television with an incredible selection of movies to choose from. I played Her, Labor Day and Winter’s Tale — and I fell asleep halfway through all of them. This is what happens when you’re the sleepiest person on the planet and a flight includes complimentary wine.
Around 5AM, we were served breakfast. I enjoyed traditional English breakfast tea as we were flying over the UK and I remember being over the moon thrilled about that. We landed on schedule, 6:50AM and stepping off the plane you could already feel a temperature difference. We definitely weren’t in Florida anymore and even though we would have been sleeping Florida-time, we were running on excitement once we landed (although that was a little short-lived)… more on London Town, soon!
I still can’t believe we left for Europe a year ago today. Things were so different. I think we returned from Europe as different people, our worldview widened, and our hearts and minds still in travel-mode but also in that “I’ll be home soon and will have dependable WiFi again” mindset. Despite the fact that this trip had it’s stressful moments, we learned a lot about each other as fellow travelers. This trip undoubtedly strengthened the friendship I have with Gaby, Chelsea and Stephanie. And if y’all ever read this, know how I much I love you girls. And miss you. It’s been a few months since I’ve seen any of you (and this needs to change). I couldn’t think of a another group of friends I would have wanted to share this experience with.
JACKIEXPLORES 