Apparently if you are an Australian between the ages of 18-25 you would either have been to Europe, or known a couple of people who has been who falls in the same age category. Knowing these kind of stats makes you think if your trip really is special, especially when you know that to come from Australia to Europe will cause a detrimental affect on your wallet. The amount in my pockets, that I planned for the 6 months of Europe (and one month of Burkina Faso), will require as much budgeting as possible. One friend of mine, from New Zealand, seems to be the perfect person to grab a few tips from to run yourself on an economic trip around the northern hemisphere. The thing that I find hard to accommodate is to be able to fully appreciate the entirety of the continent without spending too much. As we all are aware, Western Europe is under the European Union and is one of the strongest economies in the world and this seems to be the place people are touring the most. The regions I want to see people in seem to fall into the more expensive regions of Europe as well. Norway, Sweden, England, France, Germany these are amongst the more expensive countries in the region. Other countries definitely on my agenda I am not aware of their prices yet, and maybe this changes with tourists (if you know what I mean), Portugal, Slovenia, Ireland, Belgium, Denmark.
Doing some random internet searches and reading of things in EOAS, you could always go to Europe at any time of the year and still find an abundance of tourists. With so many things in such a tiny continent, it really is accessible (well, some of the Eastern European countries need some well organised Visas for some reason) and can suit anyones desires. I suppose the biggest hurdle would be the language barrier more then the cultural adaption. Well, considering I know no other language at an adequate level, this surely is going to bring about some memorable occasions.
Now, to iterate the reason for my travels, I wanted to primarily see the people who I have never seen in my life but are still considered as being family. This hence meant that I would definitely go to Germany and Slovenia, possibly even Croatia and Austria. Slowly but surely, I got to meet more people through both college and my course. The idea of going to Portugal came about when I was in central California, where a Peruvian guy I became pretty good buddies with said he had a fairly welcoming aunt in Lisbon. Lets see if I can get in touch with him and hence catch up with a contact in Portugal. North Ireland was similar to Portugal, while I was spending one of my last nights in San Francisco I was happy to get cleaned up and rest after 6 months of travel, well at the hostel I met up with five pretty awesome North Irelanders, who greatly pushed my happy buttons and said we should meet up when we were in each others continents… so here it was, enough said.
What do I want from each country? Lets see what each region is known for: Norway and whales, Sweden and meatballs, Slovenia and tranquility, Denmark and… Denmark, Portugal and Sangria, Ireland and the real Guinness, England and… the Queen, France and the language of love, Germany and meat. Well, obviously each place has more then one single thing to it but the best way for me to get appreciation is by trying to meet people through an Internet organisation that I am a part of and hopefully they will come from a regional place with its own lifestyle (like the Amish). Entering Europe, after Africa, I should be a bronzed Adonis, but by the end of it things will be different. I would have spent a good portion of my trip in the midst of a European Winter, so maybe whiteness will be the dominating pigment… unless a solarium is a culture experience in February.
So, I know the things I want to experience are nature, architecture, foods, festivals, exercise, uniqueness and abilities to achieve something in each region that is considered as being a local experience. Lets see what the times behold.
