2000: England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales
I spent about 25 days in England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland when I was 16. We went throughGlobus, a traditional “bus tour” company. I suppose this was ideal, as it was my grandparents, and my grandpa’s elderly brother and his wife. I had never been overseas before, so everything was a wonder to me, although I do remember getting ‘cathedral-ed out’. We saw a LOT of churches. I enjoyed the castle ruins more, the ones you could run around in.
Highlights of this trip for me:
The Tower of London, London
Hampton Court Palace, London
York, England
Glastonbury, England
The scenery in Scotland
Edinburgh, Scotland
County Cork, Ireland
Dublin, Ireland
2001: Mainland Europe
This my first trip away from home without my parents/grandparents, and I was homesick… for about one day, and then I was just so happy to be traveling! I took this trip with my French Club. None of my close friends were part of the group, there some upper and lower classmen, and many older (think: retirees) members of the community along. This was another whirlwind trip by bus, very “guided” in every sense, and the very last of this type of tour I’m ever likely to do. It was too commercial, too brief, and too sterile for my tastes now, but I was just happy to be going back then. We visited the following cities: London, Brussels, Amsterdam, Heidelberg, Munich, Cologne, Salzburg, Vienna, Venice, Lake Maggiore, Zermatt, Lake Geneva, and Paris.
- The Cliffs of Dover, England
Highlights of this trip for me:
The Moulin Rouge show in Paris
Coffee at the cafe that Mozart supposedly drank at in Salzburg
“The Sound of Music” sites in Salzburg
Walking through the mountains in Zermatt, Switzerland
The “mountaineer” cemetery in Zermatt
Belgian waffles in Brussels
Venice, all of Venice
Across the Never Sky 