8 months. 15 countries. 21 Airbnbs. 12 hotels. 57 trains. 2 ferries. 2 buses.
123 blog posts, with dozens left to write.
1 first draft completed. 1 round of edits done. 1 new novel started.
A lifetime of memories.
Today we head back to FL. We fly out of Heathrow on Virgin Atlantic, nonstop to Tampa. We used points we earned traveling the last 8 months to buy first class tickets, and I’m actually looking forward to the 10.5 hour flight.
When we left the US, we only had the first six weeks in Rome planned. We had a general idea of where we wanted to go, but also wanted to be flexible. After Rome, we planned the rest of the trip 2-4 weeks at a time. While it initially gave me some anxiety not having a full itinerary, it was really nice to be able to pivot when we found something we wanted to do.
We happened across some great things, such as the 1,000 Miglia Race, and some not as pleasant things, like the riots in Lyon.
We crossed a lot of things off our bucket list, and added things we didn’t know existed. We learned a lot, about Europe and ourselves, and I’m basically a pro at all things laundry and coffee in Europe. I never did conquer the bidet, though.
We are so grateful that we had the opportunity to do this. We will all have regrets, but mine will never be that I waited too long to travel around Europe. We arrived with the plan to figure out if we wanted to move here and are leaving with more places on the list than when we arrived.
I love Europe, but I am very excited to get home to my own bed, my beloved Dyson hair dryer, and all of my bird and dolphin friends. Luckily, I’ll get to relive our experiences as I catch up on the blog posts and sort through the 15,000 pictures on my phone!