I don’t think like normal people.  This is something I’ve come to realize over the years.  While it’s not necessarily a bad thing (unless you count the time I totally messed up a project because I took it in a different direction), it can make things more …interesting in my head.

A Eurotrip can be a tricky thing for some people.  It can mean getting as many stamps as possible in your passport, or seeing as many places as possible before you have to high-tail it back home, or just bouncing around like crazy.  Some people consider this a bad thing, like it’s a “frat-boy” way of looking at travel (“dude, I’ve been drunk in 6 different countries”).  And, I’ll confess, it is for some people.  (I’ll also confess that I love getting passport stamps – they’re so pretty!)

For some people (like me) it’s more like a taste-test.  Like in a wine-tasting where you get a bit of each type of wine so that you can see what you like.  Then, once you know what you like, you can order bottles and bottles of it!!  (Drink moderately, kids, be safe).

A couple of years ago I did a Eurotrip with R and I have a lot of observations from the trip.  It consisted of:

• 2.5 days in Berlin
• 2.5 days in Vienna (1 day in Brataslava)
• 2 days in Frankfurt
• 3 days in Dublin
• 1.2 days in Paris

Berlin was beautiful and 2.5 days wasn’t enough.  I definitely plan on going back there (after working on my German a bit more).

Vienna was nice, but things close early.  But there’s awesome cake (plus that place that discounts the cake after a certain hour).  It’d be nice to go back, but it’s not at the top of my list.

Frankfurt was nice as well, but 2.5 days was enough for us.  We did all the touristy stuff in one day, and then did a trip along the Rhine River in our second day.  I consider Frankfurt done.

Dublin was great and I would back (in fact I’m currently planning a trip back there).

Paris was nice, but expensive.  And then the fact that the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays and guess which day I went to Paris (but I’m not still really bitter, I swear, right, okay, do you belive me, stupid Tuesdays…).  My current plan is to go back for one day to see the Louvre, but then to move onto other French cities (I hear Nice is nice).

So that was my “taste” of Europe.  I collected a lot of information about the cities themselves, the sights to see (and not to see), the places to eat, how the subways/busses work, how to get from the airport to other places, nice districts and areas of town.  I also learned which places I’d like to see more of and which places I can cross off my list.

See, I’m not the type of person that feels as if I only get one chance at a trip.  If I really want to go back, I will.  I will find a way to get myself back to that place.  There’s something comforting about going somewhere that you know and trying new places within that familiar place.  “Once in a lifetime” is not a phrase that applies to me.

So spending a week in a place can be great, but I wouldn’t know what I’d have done with myself for a week in Frankfurt (day trips probably) and I would be so broke if I’d had a week in Paris.