Mar 25, 2017

Solo Trip - Europe 2017

In March earlier this year I spent two weeks doing my absolute favorite thing in the world: traveling the world. Most of you know this already, but for those that don’t, I have a small (read: major) obsession with traveling. A lot of my travel experiences have been solo trips, and my latest international trip was no exception. Some people wonder why I’m okay with traveling solo, and honestly, it isn’t my favorite, because it’s nice to have company during dinner and other down times, but for me solo travel is often the only chance I get to travel and I’m not about to choose to stay home just because no one wants to go with me. I’m not sure whether or not that’s depressing, but for the sake of my sanity I’ll go with no, it’s not.

Solo traveling is a really interesting experience, and it definitely isn’t for everyone. For me, I noticed that solo traveling is such a freeing experience. I get to make all the decisions about what I eat, where I go, and what I do without any compromises. In the grand scheme of things, I spend very little time traveling and my list of things I want to see and do is so incredibly long that I cherish every second of every moment that I get to spend traveling and I’m happy to not have to waste that time doing things I don’t necessarily care for.

The other interesting thing about solo travel is that you really learn a lot about who you really are as a person, which can be both amazing and terrifying, believe me. Traveling solo is a life changing experience, and I’d recommend it to anyone who will listen. With that said, I am finally getting around to writing about my latest solo adventure across Europe and here are some photos and notes from the trip.

In March 2017 I visited a total of four countries and six cities in two weeks and I got to spend the whole two weeks doing my favorite things: taking pictures, looking at cool architecture, and eating new foods.

My itinerary:

Trip Length - March 11 - 25, 2017

March 11-14: Amsterdam - Netherlands

March 15-18: Brussels, Bruges, Ghent - Belgium

March 19-21: Prague - Czech Republic

March 21-24: Budapest - Hungary

March 25: return home

I traveled on almost every possible mode of transportation on this trip, from planes to trains to buses to boats to trams to bicycles and so on, and I loved every minute of it. One of my favorite parts of Europe is how easy it is to get around without a car, and especially how affordable it is to fly between destinations.

AMSTERDAM

Some highlights from my 3 days in Amsterdam include drinking beers on the rooftop of the Heineken Experience, our boat almost crashing into another boat on the hour-long canal cruise (dubbed “booze cruise”), spending a few moments alone with the bookcase that hid the entrance to the Franks’ apartment in the Anne Frank House, seeing Van Gogh’s Sunflowers up close and personal but missing the Wheat Field with Crows because it was being restored at the time, shopping for tulips at the Bloemenmarkt (floating flower market), wandering through the never-ending Rijksmuseum (I was just there for the architecture), learning how to taste cheese and getting my “professional cheese taster” certificate, bar hopping through the red light district and trying to catch someone buying a prostitute, and finally, riding the trams while eating brownies, which is not recommended (because you might get lost). After the rest of my two week trip had passed by, I had to return to Amsterdam for my flight back to the U.S.,so I came back a day before my flight home and had one last day to spend in Amsterdam. I stayed at a really modern hotel near the airport that was super luxurious and high-tech. The TV read “Welcome, Brianna” when I checked into my room. I spent the day taking a bus from the airport to the Keukenhof gardens, which is where you would find the endless tulip fields, but unfortunately I was there at the end of March and most of the “wild” tulips in the fields weren’t blooming yet. Keukenhof is also home to gorgeously landscaped gardens, where there were tulips and tons of other flowers growing. It was a beautiful sunny day, albeit windy, for wandering around the gardens. Food highlights of the city include beer, brownies, bitterballen (fried mashed potato and gravy balls), and poffertjes (mini pancakes).

BRUSSELS/BRUGES/GHENT

Some highlights from Brussels include spending my entire trip in the Grand Place (not quite, but almost, haha!). I gawked with the rest of the tourists at the famous tiny peeing sculpture known as Mannekin Pis. The nightlife in Brussels was pretty fun, and my favorite museum that I’ve visited in awhile was the Musical Instruments Museum, which had SO MANY old instruments from so many countries and so many eras on display. I was given an audio guide that you could type the number for the instrument you were looking at and it would play a song of the instrument playing. It was very cool! I also took a day trip to Ghent & Bruges by bus, which was entertaining. We didn’t even plan it together, but it turned out that two girls that I spent time with in Amsterdam also traveled to Brussels afterwards and were on my bus trip to Ghent & Bruges.The three of us met another girl who was traveling solo during our lunch in Bruges. She ended up tagging along with me in Bruges while I spent our free hour shopping for chocolate (obviously). Food highlights from Belgium include fries with mayo (always a favorite of mine), fancy molded chocolates (mostly truffles, with delicious gooeyness inside), waffles, lambic beer, mussels, and more beer.

PRAGUE

Prague was by far my favorite city that I visited on this trip! The first full day I was there I was a little down because it was cold and raining and I wasn’t sure what to do, and I felt a little lonely with no one to hole up in a cafe with to keep dry and warm. While desperately searching for somewhere to sit and stay dry and coming up empty, I remembered that the town hall tower had a viewing deck at the top, so I bought an entry ticket and hopped the elevator to go up and I was amazed when I got to the top because I saw an endless sea of orange tile roofs stretched out before me in the hazy, cloudy sky. The viewing platform (thankfully covered so I could stay dry) had 4 sides and was narrow (only 1 person deep). I walked around all 4 sides like 3 times taking about a million pictures. I was pretty content after that since the rain and fog made everything look spectacular. That was my favorite view of the entire trip. Highlights from Prague include: my view from the Town Hall tower onto the Old Town Square, seeing the Snow Queen Ballet at the National Theater, hearing the National Symphony at the Rudolfinum, ending up on a private electric bike tour around the city (my booking had been rescheduled due to rain, and no one else chose the time that I chose, so I had two tour guides leading me around the city by myself), gawking at Frank Gehry’s dancing house, strolling across the Charles Bridge, visiting Castle Hill, taking model-esque photos in front of the John Lennon Wall, and having lunch at the Strahov Monastery while waiting for the library to open. Food highlights from Prague include: Schnitzel, Pilsner Urquell, Bread dumplings, Trdelnik, Goulash.

BUDAPEST

By the time I made it to Budapest, I was slightly worn out from all the hopping around traveling I had been doing. And Budapest isn’t a small city, it’s quite large, so I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the options I had for things to do. Luckily, I got to spend an entire day relaxing in the Szechenyi thermal baths (well planned, Bri), which was the whole reason I wanted to go to Budapest, besides to see the architecture. Imagine hopping between 12+ different hot mineral pools, both indoors and outdoors, surrounded by beautiful architecture and switching off between relaxing in saunas, and swimming in a cooling off pool all by yourself...that was my day. The thermal baths were definitely my favorite part about Budapest. I think my second favorite part of Budapest was how cheap a glass of wine was, since that area of Hungary is known for wine and there are vineyards outside the city. I had tickets to see Othello at the Opera House, and I was kind of dreading the opera since I’ve decided I’m not much of a fan, so before the opera I went to a wine bar and accidentally got drunk because I drank a fair amount of wine because it was so inexpensive. Haha, oops! Needless to say it made the opera far more enjoyable. Other highlights from Budapest include: eating sausage at the Market Hall, sightseeing on a cruise on the Danube at night, touring Parliament and seeing the Hungarian crown jewels, visiting Matthais Church and the Fisherman’s Bastion, riding the Castle Hill Funicular, and riding a bus across the Chain Bridge. Food highlights from Budapest include: goulash soup, strudel, smoked paprika, and so much wine!