That summary of Europe
Or rather.
Stuck in Europe, the summary
In short, our little trip started on 19.08 for me. Drove, with my friend, from Tartu to Switzerland (with a few days in Austria) where I picked up Reet, Saskia and Emmi on 24.08.
First it was Switzerland. 5 days and two locations.
Grindelwald and Seealpsee (24.08-29.08). Probably the best places we went to during our whole trip
Then it was Italy. 2 weeks and two locations, a week in each.
Lake Como (29.08-05.09). Probably the most touristy place in Europe we went to..
Alba (05.09-12.09). Where we drank and drove.
Then it was France. 2 weeks and two locations, a week in each.
Close to Nice (12.09-19.09). We found that not every road has a sidewalk and that a pool isn’t something we’d be using all that much.
Valras Plage (19.09-26.09). Probably would have been the most touristy place (in Europe) we went to, if it hadn’t been off season by the time we arrived. Thus it was just… cold… and empty.
Then Spain came. Spent a lot of time in that country’s coastal area (well, because it’s just so big).
Castelldefels (26.09-03.10). Probably our best accommodation ever, had it not been the tiniest bed and.
Valencia (03.10-10.10). The only location of our trip that had an actual city’s centre in walking distance (not a village’s)
San Javier (10.10-17.10). The place with all the mud.
Monachil (17.10-22.10). That place that reminded us of Switzerland. Wasn’t Switzerland, but at least we walked to 3300+ meters high.
El Gastor (22.10-31.10). The place that could have been something, if the accommodation hadn’t been so bad that we actually left a day earlier.
A random place (31.10-01.11). A good night’s sleep.
Madrid (01.11-06.11). The only location of our trip in which we stayed in a city’s centre. Where we finally all got ill.
So. We stayed in 12 locations (excluding the good night’s sleep).
When we first started planning the trip, we indeed planned on being in Europe for 2 months, but there were supposed to be just 2 locations and we were supposed to go and live there like the locals do. As you might already know, the plans changed, because of Saskia’s swimming camp between 22.10-01.11 in south of Spain. So, instead of being a month near the Alps and a month in Tuscany. We drove a tiny bit each week. We could have driven for longer and stayed in less places, but then the drives would have been too exhausting for Emmi and yada yada yada…. You know all of this already.
So. Let’s get to the real story. Why did I call this chapter “Stuck in Europe”.
First of all. I never wanted to go to Europe. I’m not saying that Europe is bad. There are gems here, for example:
I have never been to the Middle of Norway that has the most impressive fjords I would dream of (a mountain, for me, is too much (I’m no mountaineer), but a fjord from a fjord, now that’s a view for a tourist).
Iceland, I’d go back there any day (summer months of course).
Acores, I would have visited again (a proper visit, with more island hopping – again, on summer months of course)
Then there are the small islands next to Iceland, that would be a dream to visit in the summer. The Faroe Islands.
And yes, Switzerland has been a dream of some sort for a while.
But out of all those wonderful places, I only got a small, a tiny taste of Switzerland. It’s because of several reasons.
None of those places are cheap in any way (the accommodation, the restaurants), so they would eat our budget like crazy.
To go to all those places, we’d need to use planes and rental cars. I’m not sure if you have noticed, but as plane prices get cheaper, rental car prices go up. Also, no plane is cheaper than a plane.
Also, I can trust my car and I like my car and I could bring A LOT MORE STUFF with me on the trip.
Also, all those places are best visited (for me) in summer months. And summer was over. But why did you not go to this trip earlier, then, Dario? That’s a good question. In all honesty, because of Corona. I was young and ignorant and was hoping that the later we leave, the freer the world will be for us. The world did actually open up a little because of our wait, but I’m not sure that our destinations outside Europe were affected by this, though. Anyway, we did leave a late as possible to have the most optimal amount of money that we could have (the government would still pay for 6 more months for one of us to stay home with Emmi) and as early as possible to set everything in order at home for our leave (get rid of the cats, deal with our employers, find someone to pay our bills at home for us etc)
Also, have I told You that Reet doesn’t like cold locations after our last trip to Iceland? Like… at… all.
So. Taking our own car to southern Europe was most cost-effective and “how bad could the rest of the Europe be?”, we thought.
I can tell you right here and now that. Not bad, not bad at all. A walk in your backyard is not bad either, it’s nothing special, but it’s not bad. I’m not saying that we didn’t see and do some great stuff, like:
Ate lunch at locations with some of the most impressive views I will ever see.
Outdid ourselves by ascending and descending 800 meters (twice)
Drank and drove
Ate grapes from the trees.
Went for an ice cream in the middle of the night, every night, for 7 nights in a row.
Got stopped by the police for walking where no-one has ever walked before.
Saw some cows, some more cows and some bears and lions and zebras and penguins and other animals and fish.
Were chased by a goat.
Played mud monsters.
Wore a hat in the pool, not because of free will.
Got ill, like, really ill.
Experienced living in places worse than home (and they all were… worse than home… like every single place had a different problem so big that even I complained)
We did all that, and I’m so thankful that we got to experience it all and regret nothing, especially because we always planned on being in Europe for 2 months and the initial idea of being in only 2 places instead of the 12… Well, that would have been much-much worse. But.
But all these places, when we’d plan for a trip to Europe properly, like plan each week separately for like 3 months per week (well, like we usually do - plan for our next one-week trip when we have a vacation from work once a quarter), then we wouldn’t have gone to any of those places, except for Switzerland. We stayed where we needed to stay, to not add too many extra kilometres and time to the most optimal route to Southern Spain. The location choices were rushed and based on one or two (if we got lucky) viewpoints or experiences that a quick google search would give us from close to the route and the accommodation options were limited every time, because of last minute bookings.
So, we did all that and every day we thought. Today was an okay day or even a great day. But never did we think back and said to each other “Wow, this week was the best week ever, I’m glad we chose this over Iceland, or Norway, or Acores …”. Then again, our budget would never have allowed us to visit those places and because we did take that route, Saskia could see her friends after 2 long months before we’d go to the other side of the world for 4 more months. And we saw places we wouldn’t have seen otherwise and maybe because of those places; we appreciate our own home a bit more.
Can’t shake the feeling though, that “stuck in Europe” feeling. I have been talking about Europe and it’s “could have been better places” this whole time. We could go to Europe anytime. Why in the world did we choose to be in Europe for the first two months (if we hadn’t, then Saskia’s camp wouldn’t even had come up), why were we so afraid to leave Europe, if we haven’t seen most of the world yet. Why waste our time in our backyard, where we could do 1-week-long trips anytime we want?
Fucking Covid and me being so fucking afraid and paranoid about everything. We could have gone to Costa Rica two months earlier – the borders were open for us already when our trip started. Then to Mexico, that was open as well. And then to wherever the world would let us at that time. But no, we were afraid that when we started with Costa Rica then we’d need to come back to Europe, because every other country and/or continent is closed for us and then we’d be stuck in Europe in an even colder weather than we were. And that would be awful.
So, we decided to be stuck in Europe, not on our dream path, for 2 months and that was fine, but oh we were happy by the end of it, to get away from it. Well, it was like 12 degrees here by the time we left on 06.11 and that’s like a lot of cold and we did not have proper clothes for that kind of weather.
The next location, Costa Rica, now that… That was Reet’s dream to go to since we visited Limon on a Cruise ship a few years back. We took a tour to the countryside when we were docked. And I guess that the guide was so handsome, that she just needed to go back there. So we planned another 2 months for that… Definitely not going to feel stuck there, am I right?
Some random thoughts about travelling with children when switching places every week.
Saskia hated unpacking. Almost never wanted to unpack, because what’s the point. That annoyed the shit out of Reet.
Emmi likes everything. She liked all the places we were at and adjusted latest by the second night at the location. We were mostly afraid of the long drives. But she managed to keep herself together even when we had 5-hour-long drives (of course we did make stops in between).
Saskia misses her friends. She likes her phone now more than ever. We, unfortunately, are not very considerate either. We’re not filling our days with activities she likes to do (shopping, adventure parks etc). Once a week, if she’s lucky, she can have what she wants, rest of the time, we get what we want.
I couldn’t shake the feeling that Emmi would like a friend. She’s currently really attached to Reet, more than we’d be comfortable with when we’d stay at home. She’d always go to other children (mostly older than her) and watch them. And they’d come and try to talk with her, but while she’s starting to understand us better and better, Italian, French, Spanish and English, she doesn’t understand. Also. Every day, new child to look at and try to get their attention. That’s… like… sad.
Everyone should have their own room. Even Emmi should be put to sleep in a room away from the living room, so that we’d be able to watch tv while she sleeps. So we don’t even want to think about a “two king-size-bed hotel room”, even if it’s an all-inclusive 5-star one. Well… maybe… for a few days :D but not more!
Maybe 2 weeks at a time is better if you can live with yourself. I have found that my limit is about 10 days in one place, then I’d get restless (good luck to me in Mexico, where we’d be staying in one place for 28 days). With 7 days… It’s like…
We just unpacked
we just found the best playground for Emmi
we just met those nice people near our accommodation.
We just figured out what food is good in which store
We just found out which restaurant is good (and we don’t have a budget to go to a restaurant every day, so we’d need more days to go to the same restaurant again).
Didn’t we just drive here like a day before yesterday, and we need to drive another 3-4 hours Today?
But that’s for Emmi and us. With Saskia. She’s 11. A difficult age. Doesn’t want to do anything with us and… she doesn’t also seem too keen on finding a person to play with for a few days and I’m not sure even 2 weeks would be enough. She’d unpack, though, when it’s more than 7 days after a small back and forth with Reet.
And then we’d get to the next location and the location switching negative thoughts are gone, because the new place is surely better than the last one… but for how long can you keep it up... With every move, those negative feelings get stronger and stronger.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: “They are spoiled”. And I got to tell you: Yes, we are. We are not interested in cockroaches and/or staying all in one room for a little something called “a better location”. But wait… Why do we even need better locations? Well, because why not, why can’t we dream. Why can’t we have goals for the future? We went into this adventure knowing that we will not have a budget to live in all-inclusive grand villas and we can’t fill our calendars with expensive activities for every single day. We knew all that. We still like what we are doing. For the amount of money we have put in and the amount of planning we do, this is quite an okay journey, but it doesn’t make each of the locations and experiences the best things ever. The trip, as a whole, will be an experience like no other and we are super happy that we did it. But when we look at the details, then nothing is perfect. And that’s fine – Also… more interesting, isn’t it?!
