Week of Blogging - Day 3

How Did You Do It?

As some of you know, back in 2012 I did a 3.5 month backpacking trip across Europe by myself. In the nearly two years that have passed since that trip, one of the most common questions I’ve gotten from other people is “How did you do it?” This question perplexes me to no end, as to me the answer seems quite simple, and I thought it might be worthwhile to lay out my thoughts on this question. So, how did I do it, you ask? The answer is this: planning and preparation. I had known that I wanted to take this trip for a long time before I actually departed, so about a year beforehand I started thinking over where I wanted to go. In my spare time I would ponder what countries, cities and other things I wanted to see and over time I formed a mental list, which later became an actual list. I looked online at various websites for information on how to travel and watched programs on TV and YouTube to help sort out how I would travel and gain more ideas on what to do overseas. Another valuable resource was a friend of mine who had taken his own European journey about a year earlier, and he gave me advice based upon his own experiences overseas. Once I had a general idea of the time period I would be in Europe, I started looking at plane tickets and bought a rail pass. With the plane tickets and the rail pass purchased, I had locked in the time frame that I would be spending in Europe, and then I started making more exact plans of where I would go, how I would get from place to place and what I would do while there. Just over a month before departure, I quit my job and made the arrangements for accommodations in the first few cities I would visit. From then on I did more studying and acquired the various things I would need to take with me on my journey. Soon enough, the big day arrived, I went to the airport, got on a plane and began my assault on the European continent.

That covers how I got to Europe. How I managed the trip once I arrived is a topic for another time. I had learned a lot before departure, but I still had a lot to learn once I got to Europe. These days I find myself being the one giving out the travel advice to others who are looking to take their own journeys. I certainly don’t mind doing this, as I know my experience can be a great help to others in planning their trip, but whenever I do this I’m left with the desire go back myself and do it all over again. When I got back from my trip I made a promise to myself that I would go back one day, and that’s a promise I intend to keep.