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When was your first trip to Europe?

Pauline

Forums Admin
Family photos show that I went to England and Ireland with my mother to visit family when I was two, but I don't remember.

The summer after I finished high school, 1972, my friend Ada and I flew from Toronto to London, spent a couple of nights with my relatives, got ourselves to Paris somehow and hitchhiked to Pamplona, Spain for the Running of the Bulls and to meet a traveling Canadian guy I had a crush on. An interesting week there, but no luck between me and the guy, then to San Sebastian. All too interesting for two teenagers with little money and no understanding of what there was to do in Europe, so we took the train to Holland and spent a month with Ada's relatives.

Not an ideal trip and because of circumstances and money I did not return until 1988 when Steve and I did our "year in Europe". That was when the Europe love affair started for me.

When was your first trip to Europe? What was it like?
 
My first trip was a 9-day business trip to HP offices outside London and Amsterdam in 1986.

My HP supervisor, who was British, arranged for me to stay in a lovely country hotel near Ascot and made sure I had a nice big Ford for a rental car. I know she meant well, but it was the WORST car imaginable for me to drive on the wrong side of tiny roads and find my way to and from the HP offices for four days. My only glimpse of London was when my plane flew over before landing at Heathrow.

Then I flew to Amsterdam, where I had a two-hour meeting and then four days on my own before my flight home. I had a great time wandering around Amsterdam, saw Keukenhoff Gardens at the peak of tulip season, and took a train to Delft on Easter Sunday before flying home on Monday.

The next year, Frank and I made our first trip to France, and since then I've averaged one trip a year, a couple of years with two trips and a few with none.
 
My first trip to Europe was for three months summer of 1960. I had finished grad school and as a soon to be architect I had to take the "Grand Tour". Flew Idlewild to Gatwick (with an unscheduled stop in Shannon) on a chartered Lockheed Constilation. England, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and France. I have a ton of 35mm slides that I haven't looked at in years.

With one exception I hadn't again visited Europe until 1998. But since then I've been to Italy 24 times. A love affair, I know.
 
Armed with a Eurail Pass, I traveled for 3 months in the spring/summer of 1971, just before my senior year in college. It's amazing to think that before this trip I had never seen a loaf of French bread or a croissant, traveled by train, or met anyone from Canada or Australia. On the Icelandic Air flight to Luxembourg, I remember several guys roaming the aisles playing guitars, and everyone singing along. The whole plane was filled with backpackers, and I think the round trip fare from Texas was about $125.00. I fell in love with Ireland and Greece, and returned to those two countries in the spring of 1974. I took the Magic Bus from London to Athens, which was an adventure in itself!

I didn't visit Europe again until a 50th birthday trip to Italy with a group of friends who were also celebrating this milestone. Italy was a revelation, and I have returned several times with my husband Chuck. In 2011 we visited Scotland and England, and are about to leave on our first trip to France. I'm tucking in a week in London also, leaving next week.
 
The whole plane was filled with backpackers, and I think the round trip fare from Texas was about $125.00.
My friend and I should have got a Eurail pass - it would have been much better. Hitchhiking was dodgy and we had a couple of dodgy experiences. You were there the year before us. We stayed in those cheap hostels.
 
That's true -- almost all expenses paid was an advantage (they cut me off as soon as that meeting in Amsterdam was over). Plus, Frank and I hadn't apart for that long before and I managed to spend about $750 in long distance charges that I couldn't put on my expense account.
 
My first trip was in 2006, at age 42, with my sister and mother. It was the first trip to Europe for all three of us. My sister was invited to present some research findings at a conference in Budapest, so Mom and I decided to tag along for the ride. We expanded our trip to include some time in Italy...and I fell head over heels in love.
 
My first trip to Europe wasn't until the mid-'90's after I was done raising my children. As a child and an adolescent I lived in Japan for 4 years, total. My father was a naval officer and he loved Asia. But in my late 40's I spent nearly a month traveling in Italy with my best friend, her mother and aunt. The two older women, both artists, had been traveling in Europe for over 30 years so I just said lead, I will follow. They were wonderful guides and got a great kick out of my reactions to all the places they took me. It wasn't slow travel (though we did spend an entire week in an apartment in Rome) but I got a taste of where I wanted to return….Not only did I fall for Italy but went back every six months after that until now! And I also explored the British Isles, France and Spain. I've got a long list of other places to go but find it hard to leave Italy…….

Ciao,
Cheryl
www.italianexcursion.com
 
This is a fun topic and I am enjoying reading about everyone's stories. I made my first trip in 1993. I went solo on one of those whirl wind group tours which included London, Italy, France, Amsterdam, Austria, Switzerland, Germany. I remember that back then each country had their own currency. I booked two additional nights in London before my group tour started. And then at the end, while the group returned to London to return home from there, I decided to leave the group in Amsterdam and booked a train back to France where I spent an additional week on my own. I had a great time exploring Paris at my leisure.

I learned my first valuable travel tip on my first day in London (Europe). I was so excited to have finally made it to Europe that as soon as I landed and checked into my hotel I got directions and went out to find the Tower of London then find the Hard Rock Cafe (I really wanted a London T-Shirt). When I first saw the Tower of London is when it finally hit me that I was actually in Europe and although I have forgotten other details of that first trip, I remember that moment so clearly. It was a long time dream come true.

After taking a tour (which was amazing) I somehow find my way to the Hard Rock Cafe where after buying my T-Shirt I have dinner and a drink. As I was getting ready to leave I realized that I not only didn't have the address to my hotel, I didn't even know the name. I was so excited to start exploring it never occurred to me to write it down. Technology wasn't as it is now. I had no I-touch with PDF files containing my itinerary, no cell phone to call and no tour company phone number to inquire. It was getting late. I finally remember that in writing the address to the Hard Rock Cafe, I used the stationary pad next to the phone in the hotel. I pulled it out and thankfully I see the name of the hotel on the letterhead. I hopped in a London Taxi (that was fun) and made it back to the hotel. To this day I never venture off without having the name/address of my hotel or apartment no matter where I am. :)

I didn't get to return to Europe again until 2005. Doing another group tour with my friend, and adding a week of independent travel to Tuscany and the Cinque Terre. I was posting questions for this segment of my trip on the tour company's community forum and one of the members told me about Slow Talk, where I was introduced to the concept of Slow Travel and staying in vacation apartments rather than a hotel. In 2007 I returned to Venice and rented my first vacation apartment and I loved the experience. So I did it again in Edinburgh, Seville, Amsterdam, Berlin, Praiano (where I stayed for 3 weeks in one spot for the first time). I feel very fortunate to have seen so many wonderful places in Europe and I hope to be able to continue. :)
 
My first trip to Europe was in 1984 when I was 17. It was a small group set up by my high school French teacher with 3 studetns and a few parents. Both my mom and grandmother went. We had a few days in London (awful hotel full of students) then took the hovercraft from Dover to Calais and had a few more days in Paris. Not exactly slow travel but it was certainly the start of something for me. We laughed a lot...at the ball bearings shooting out of my friend's hairdryer when she forgot the adapter, the look on my mom's face when I told her the hamburger she wanted in Paris was horsemeat, my grandmother speaking Italian to the fruit market guy and my French teacher jumping off and on the Métro to see if we were paying attention.

I took a few more European trips after that then had a long break for college, career, husband, kids, etc. I took my husband to Italy in 2007 and we've taken the kids over twice since then. We are back this summer for our 20th anniversary. I see a break in our future (saving for college tuition), but have told the kids they can choose a spot for high school graduation and we'll do our best.

My style of travel has certainly changed after all these years, but my excitement for it has not.
 
To this day I never venture off without having the name/address of my hotel or apartment no matter where I am.
I always worry about this! I make a detailed itinerary for a trip, including details like directions to each accommodation, how long the drive will take, who we are meeting for lunch, plus all contact information - including my own phone number and address back home. If I get amnesia during a trip - I am ready!
 
I took a few more European trips after that then had a long break for college, career, husband, kids, etc.
I think this is the reality for most of us. After my trip to Europe after high school, I did not have the time and money again until I was in my 30s and only then because I didn't have kids! Travel to Europe from North America takes a lot of money and time. We are lucky we are able to do the traveling now.
 
Interesting thread.My first trip to Europe was in grade 13. I guess it would have been 1982. I was 18 and had been saving to backpack throughout the UK in the summer to celebrate being finished school. An opportunity came up to go to the USSR with a school group and I jumped at it.

This was near the end of the cold war. Tourists were not common in the USSR. Security was intense. Western companies were still trying to figure out how to enter the Russian markets.

I had never flown in my life and during that 12 days I went on 10 flights.

I kept a journal which I still have. It is interesting to read the perspectives of my 18 year old self.

We were supposed to land in Moscow but some army guys needed a flight so we unexpectedly landed in Leningrad (St Petersburg now) instead. No one was expecting us so our government appointed tour guide was no where to be found. Well, presumably they were in Moscow waiting there. I remember the chaos of the airport, no one speaking English, and trying to figure out what was happening, and how we'd get to Moscow. In hindsight, our chaperones must have been having a conniption.

We finally got to Moscow and we met our guide. She was assigned to us for the entire duration of the trip -and she stuck to us like glue. Of course being 18 we thought it was a great sport to try and lose the guide.

On one of our escapes we ended up on the famous Moscow subway. Our adventure took a turn when we realized all the writing was only in Cyrllic and none of us could read it or knew the name of the subway stop where we had started. The Moscow subway is HUGE! Finally my friend who was Polish was able to communicate a bit with someone . . . enough to figure out where we needed to go.

The black market was thriving and people were desperate for western goods. When you went into the country you had to show how many rubles you were bringing in and when you left you had to show how many you had left as well as the receipts for everything you had spent. There'd be trouble if they didn't match up.

When we were in Red Square a guy wearing a Toronto Blue Jay cap approached us. We figured he was from Canada like us. He was not. Later a bunch of us snuck out and visited him at his apartment. He was a seller in the black market. He wanted our jeans and our Polo/Lacoste shirts. My roommate traded most of the contets of his suitcase for a Russian army uniform (which he had to wear home under the clothes he had left to try and hide it). Later we realized just how few places there were to use those rubles that we received for selling our clothing. It made for lots of vodka being purchased.

At the Kremlin we, bring 18 and foolish, raced to the walls and put our arms up against the wall as if we were under arrest. A passing soldier raised her gun and gestured to us to move along. One of our friends snapped a picture at the moment and it REALLY does look like we were under arrest with a gun pointed at our backs. My mom lost it a bit when she saw that.

One night we went to the American Embassy - passing through incredible security - it was surreal to be in the middle of Moscow listening to music we knew, playing pool, drinking beer, and eating burgers and hot dogs.

There were lost of complaints about the food. No one wanted to eat Russian food. Why go to Russia if you weren't going to eat the food and explore the culture?

We sure explored the drinking culture. Vodka and beer were everywhere. Everywhere including all over my passport - every time I pulled it out subsequently the agent smiled a knowing smile and sent me along. It was my first passport.I still have it. It still smells of beer. :)

We stayed in Moscow, Leningrad, and Kiev. I recall Moscow as drab,serious and full of self-importance. Leningrad was beautiful with art and culture. Kiev was like a breath of fresh air; colourful. It may be because it was spring and it was so much further south ...who knows?

We had many organized meetings with students our age. All of them told us how wonderful the communist system was - it was as if they were reading from a script which they likely were.When we snuck away from our handlers and wandered behind the facades of the fancy buildings you could see from the street we realized that underneath the surface there was a different world; a world where everyone was NOT equal and clearly some folks had fewer opportunities.

After we left the USSR we traveled to Brussels for a few days. What a difference between the two worlds! It was Easter, flowers were blooming, shops were FULL of chocolate treats, and the bars were full of life. I still have a beer glass that I 'liberated' from one of the bars and pull it out from time to time to enjoy a cold one.

It was an amazing experience.

After the trip I got so wrapped up in university, then paying off student debt, that I didn't make it back to Europe until 2006. I've been back 12 times since then. I still like to explore, chafe at being guided too much, try to experience as much of the local culture as I can, and yes, break the rules from time to time.
 
I was born in Munich, Germany... so my time in Europe goes back to my beginning. My parents were very young; my dad was in the military and they lived off base in the village of Bad Aibling between Munich and Salzburg. They returned to the USA when I was still a baby, but I grew up watching my parents' slides and hearing their stories. We lived in Melbourne, Australia from when I was 8 until almost 13. I always dreamed of going to Europe.

However this didn't happen until I was 35 years old and right after Charley & I got engaged. I went with two girlfriends on a two week trip in November 1991. We got $350 round trip tickets to and from Frankfurt, and put together a fast-paced itinerary that made all three of us happy: Vienna, Salzburg, Oberammergau, a stop in Bad Aibling, Munich, Lucerne, Paris, and back to the Frankfurt airport. Later I calculated that we had spent about 1/3 of our time on trains, but we had a wonderful time... saw so much in that short time.

Charley and I honeymooned six months later in London... and the rest is history. In the past 22 years I've been to Europe more than 30 times... one trip lasting 14 months. We've pretty much spent every summer in Europe since 2004. Now we have a European-0riented business and our own place in Provence. I love to return to the same places and the friendships we've developed, but also enjoy new explorations.

We want to do another long stay of a year... hoping this will work out for 2016.
 
My first trip to Europe was in the mid '80s, a 10 day junket to France. I (and a previous girlfriend - this was a long time ago!) spent a week in Paris and a couple of days in the Loire valley, based in Tours. I had read a newspaper article about the Leonardo da Vinci exhibit in Amboise, where Leonardo is said to have spent his last years. I have always been fascinated by Leonardo and the visit to his residence was not disappointing - at that time, you went to the house, range a doorbell, waited to be let in and then wandered around. A little more discovered now - Pauline and I went there a few years ago.

As a side note, Pauline and I have visited Vinci in Italy where Leonardo was born (the da Vinci part). There is a museum there with working models of many of his inventions and other samples of his work.
 

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