Eurotrip '05: The Journey Home

Mon, August 8, 2005

Day of days. The end of an era. Well, here I sit at 39,000 feet traveling at 574 miles per hour as I blast my way home to Newfoundland from our stop-over in Montreal Dorval (damn non-direct flights!) My trip has come to an end just as fast as it all began. I can’t believe it. I can’t believe it. But before the goodbyes are said and this chapter of my life closes, I still have my last 24 hours in Europe to describe – so here we go, one last time…

Steve and I arrived at Krista’s at around 11am on Sunday (as predicted) after a bit of a walk from Liverpool Street station – it was a nice morning, and we knew the area, so why not walk? (Plus the tube was down I believe :) . Once there we chilled out with the girls for a while and got cleaned up. Then we got ready and decided to hit the town. We headed to Hyde Park for a stroll around the gardens – a very cool spot. Then we headed on down to the river and Tower Bridge for some last photo ops. From here we were feeling a bit hungry, so we went to Wagamoma’s Japanese Restaurant just up from Tottingham Court Road tube stop – pretty frigging delicious! Once we had our fill of Asian cuisine we headed on down to ye olde booze shoppe to pick up our last Kronenburg 1664’s for a while.

We drank our booze in Krista’s room as we talked, laughed and reminisced about our incredible trip for most of the evening. We finally decided to get off our asses and go out at around 11pm, but it was Sunday, so naturally the pubs were closed! Thus, we headed on back to Krista’s and gladly finished off the remaining booze cache of Stella’s. We eventually passed out, but not before Steve and I had a ‘feats of strength’ wrestling match for the air mattress. I won, and slept like a baby. I don’t think Northcott minded too much… we were tanked up enough to comfortably pass out on the floor with a few blankets.

I was up very early today (Monday, the 8th) – couldn’t sleep for some reason, which has been the story of the last few days (or weeks, maybe). We got all of our shit together, including all the warm stuff we had dumped off with Krista back at the beginning of the trip. Who’d have thought I’d miss my hoody so much? We got ready to go and hit the tube at Russell Square at 11:30am. Said our goodbyes to Krista – that was kinda sad, but we knew we’d see her soon so that’s cool. From there we rode the Piccadilly line one last time westward to Heathrow and our flight home.

It’s currently 21:33 Eastern Standard Time, so that’s 02:33 to me! Blah! I’ve probably said this before on this trip: 13 hour travel days are for the birds. At least the boy and I got some free Sleamen Cream Ales out of the deal. Actually, we ate like friggin kings on the international flight to Montreal – 2 full meals, 2 snacks, and a ton of free beers – awesome! Though I think it’s hitting Ginny the wrong way. She was looking pretty sick for a while, tho she’s looking much better there now.

So yeah, we get in at 00:35 NL Time, or 04:00 to me – Bollocks!! Once I arrive, I’ve gotta get my pack and get down to Bri’s, so by the time I get to relax, I’ll have been up for about 24 hours. But whatever! I have the sneaking suspicion that I’ll be getting all the sleep I can handle in the very immanent future. I called Dad from Dorval… they’re coming out to the city Wednesday night. It looks like I’m gonna head on home with them on Thursday and hopefully hit Terra Nova for a round of golf on Friday as long as the weather holds up. Tomorrow is Ricketts’ birthday as well – and he’s leaving soon - so I’m sure we’re gonna be getting on the go this week.

But anyway…. EUROPE! AH!!! I miss you already! I miss your accents and your confusion I miss aggravations trumped by amusement and awe. I miss your adventure. Man, what a trip. If not for this full journal in front of me I think I’d have a much harder time convincing myself that this really happened. Hell, even with this journal it’s still a stretch!

Today marks 10 weeks to the day since I left home to travel overseas with some of my best friends. I faced some misfortune along the way, but it was massively and almost laughably overshadowed by the absolute beauty and diversity of the things I have experienced. If I could ever have the opportunity to do something like this again in my life, I would hold myself among the luckiest men alive. Truth is… I already do.
Pictures can’t do justice to what I’ve seen. Words can’t describe what I’ve felt. Stories can’t illustrate the characters I’ve met. But it’s all here in my mind, and with the aid of these pages I hope to hold on to these memories for the rest of my days.

I backpacked Europe. I lived my dream. It’s hard to truly grasp and appreciate a situation while you are essentially still in it. I’m sure the true magnitude of it all will really begin to materialize as I return home with my stories. It’s funny, because in some ways I think that’s one of the reasons why we choose venture out in the first place – just so we can come home again and tell people what we did. That, and of course much more importantly, we venture out because our experiences are what makes us the people we are. Our compassion, our ability to relate, and our understanding and appreciation of things older, greater and larger than ourselves – all these things grow, and you grow in turn. If nothing else, I am truly thankful to have been blessed with such an opportunity, and I appreciate my world all the more for it.

But anyway – I’m rambling…. Lack of sleep sometimes makes my writing suffer from mountain stream syndrome: focused, concise and to the point at first, but quickly becoming long, winding and rambling.

Bottom line – this was the best trip ever. I absolutely regret nothing – not one single moment of these 70 days.

Everyone keeps asking me what my favorite place on this trip was. That’s an incredibly tough question. I liken it to being asked who your favorite child is. Your answer would probably (hopefully) be that you love them all equally but for different reasons. Of course, some favorites exist for me on this trip – these aren’t kids we’re talking about, they’re destinations. So, in no particular order, here are some of my favorite places and why they made the favorites list:

1. Gryon, Switzerland… The alps are truly a wonder of the world. Amazing.
2. Glen Coe, Scotland… Absolutely gorgeous and awe inspiring.
3. Edinburgh, Scotland… I just love that city. I don’t know if it’s the castle or the people, but I just love the vibe.
4. Santorini, Greece… A fairytale tropical paradise. Unbelievable beauty (this was Ginny’s hands-down favorite)
5. Zdar, Alicante and Valladolid… The hospitality of Vera, Laura, Arantxa, Aitur and all the other new friends made this trip for me. Good people are everywhere - they are living proof of this fact.
6. Cliffs of Moher, Ireland… Pictures can’t capture how amazing the cliffs really are.
7. Florence, Italy… From above, when the cars are gone, you can feel the renaissance and the history come back to the city.
8. Berlin… Just because it has been through so much and has come so far. It’s an awesome city. If you go: Brewer’s Walking Tour all the way.
9. London… It will always hold a special place in my heart. My first visited and first loved European city.
10. Paris… What can I say? It’s the city of love. Hopeless romantics don’t stand a chance in a place as beautiful as this.

Ten seems like a good place to stop, so I will. But truthfully, every place we visited on this trip was awesome in its own way. I wouldn’t change a thing (except maybe to have enough time and money to stay over here longer!)


Well… my plane just began it’s decent into St. John’s so these are the dying moments of my journey - time to say goodbye.
The trip of all trips has been just that, and I’d do it all again right now in a heartbeat. I’m already looking forward to the day when I return to Europe and say:

I remember this place.
I had the time of my life here when I was 24.
Those were the days.

Reid
August 9, 2005