Travel blogs are informative and instructive, but they also make you wander-hungry. And sometimes regular hungry, especially if you’re into food like I am. So this week I thought I’d post the top ten most amazing moments I had backpacking with my husband for ten weeks last summer.
10. Seeing the Scottish castle rising over the hill that we would be living in for free (article to come soon) for the next few weeks and realizing it was all real. Running up the stairs when we got there like little kids at Disneyworld.
9. Realizing I had just saved several hundred dollars on our Irish car rental. Yes! Having the cashier give me a congratulatory smile and nod, like I had figured out the correct answer to a fairytale riddle.
8. Wandering the market in Valencia, picking from different cheeses and sausage for lunch. Marveling over shellfish and seafood I couldn’t even identify. Grabbing a huge fresh squeezed Valencia orange juice, a giant horxata, and paprika-soaked meats for less than ten euro.
7. Sharing a bottle of cider with our Airbnb host, an ex-pat luxury fashion editor, in Milan. Oh, the stories!
6. Sitting outside my favorite cafe on Rue Mouffetard in Paris with a cappuccino, an apricot mini-tarte, and my journal, sketching.
5. Eating some of the best italian food of my life in El Brellin in Milan. Yes, I am a little food obsessed. Totally okay with that. Food to me is part of the magical, temporary nature of our lives.
4. Having a martini in the Monte Carlo in Monaco. Eat your heart out 007.
3. Going to my favorite London neighborhood (Camden Town) after ten years and seeing my husband also fall in love with it at first sight
2. Seeing the sunrise over the Mediterranean the first time after an all-nighter in Ibiza
And my most amazing moment backpacking Europe was….
- Sitting in a beautiful touring drummer’s apartment in Avignon, smoking a cigarette over breakfast(sorry, mom!) talking fluently in French about life with a traveling German girl of my own age.
This was the first time I felt like I was a part of Europe instead of just a visitor there. When you travel, it’s easy to just skim the surface- hanging out with one-day hostel friends, going to the major tourist areas, and not interacting in any meaningful way with locals. Sometimes having “an authentic experience” just means listening and opening up to a shop owner or tour guide. Sometimes it means staying in an Airbnb and making friends with your host, sacrificing exploring time for banter over a glass of wine. Sometimes it just means loafing around the kitchen.
More than just the moments above, I remember the people we met on the road and their stories. I remember how Alan almost bought an elephant. I remember “Ulysses” the angry Australian teaching us how to be homeless. I remember running into a couple from Amsterdam two cities later and hearing about their time as personal chefs in Cambodia. I remember our host explaining why her apartment might be bugged by the KGB.
And now, because we’ve kept in touch with some of our friends a year later, we get to hear what it’s like to build guitars in Prague, to teach English in Morocco, to pitch a bid in Dubai. Hearing their stories keeps my feet ready for the road (and gives me a place to stay in many foreign cities!) In many ways, the people we met were the most valuable backpacking moment of all.
What’s crazy is that for two people doing almost three months of traveling in some of the most expensive places on the planet, still enjoying nice dinners, museums, and stuff only cost around $6k American. I know it feels that way sometimes, but these kinds of experiences are attainable. I know people who spend several thousand dollars just to go to Disney World. If that’s your thing, cool, but if you want to spend a fun few hours, browse fares on my current favorite travel app, Momondo, and see how you can get almost anywhere on the planet for $300.
