The end of Eurotrip

Well everyone, Eurotrip 2014 has come to an end and it was pretty spectacular. There were some low moments but mostly all highs. It was worth every penny :) but before I reminisce, I'll recap today's events.  The pattern of travel days being short and stressful has continued. We had awhile in Paris as our Eurostar train was scheduled to leave at 5:13. So we took our time checking out and packing, had a nice leisurely lunch, and meandered over to Notre Dame with the intent of going in. However, the line to get in was extremely long. I do not remember lines being this long at attractions but that could be a product of elapsed time and visiting in October versus August. So we decided to ditch the waiting and just admire the church from the outside.  

This picture tells it all: when one of us is comfortable in the weather, the other is not. 

Check out those gargoyles 

This left us with a lot of time to kill before we had wanted to be back at the hotel to retrieve our things. So we explored some surrounding shops and had some delicious ice cream. 

We made it back to the hotel at 4:15 and was at the train station by 4:40. Once we were at the train station, I had a refreshing, delicious and much needed coke while Leah enjoyed a double espresso. We even got some gummies at the candy bar they had in the station.  Around 5:00 we started towards our train, following signs directing us to check-in upstairs.  So I find an attendant and ask her which direction to go and she informs us that we are too late for our train. But it hasn't left yet! "You're too late, you have to check in at least 30 minutes before it departs". You mean the 30 plus minutes we just wasted sitting around?!? Oh those 30 minutes.  My mother would be proud of me for keeping it together and not having a full blown panic meltdown at having missed a train since we are flying out early in the morning.  I did have a panicky look on my face but no tears so I'll chalk that up as a victory.  Anyways, I go to the ticket sales counter and tell a salesperson our situation. Luckily, there was another train that was leaving in an hour and he could put us on that at no charge. Crisis averted and breathing easy. So we start the check-in process which is actually code for full blown customs for entering The UK which we hadn't even entered yet! We had to get our passport stamped, fill out an embarking card, be questioned as to why we were only in England for 12 hours, get the card stamped again, go through security, and then wait to board the train. No wonder they wouldn't let us on 10 minutes before the train left.  Afterwards, we found it quite ironic that we had spent the whole day commenting how much time we had to kill... 

Post freak out/glad we made it face

So the train ride was pretty uneventful (the bottle of wine we finished may have helped) and we have since arrived to our hotel, the Crompton Guest House in Hounslow, Englad which is close to the airport.  This place is gorgeous. We have named it the Indian Palace as it is owned and operated by and Indian couple and decorated like a palace. I'm kind of sad that I'm only going to be spending a few hours here. I also may or may not have been inspired to wallpaper my walls at home...

For dinner, we headed next door to a traditional looking pub. However, it's not so traditional as they stop serving pub food at 9:00 and start serving Indian food. Good thing that I love Indian food because that's all there was. Whatever I ordered was delicious. 

Depsite the trip coming to an end, I am looking forward to going home. It's always nice to be able to sleep in your own bed, use your phone and internet whenever you want, wash your clothes...those little things. I think I would like to share with you my favorite moments of the trip in each city:

London - seeing the musical, Once

Amsterdam - Sky City music festival (might be the best overall)

Berlin - the Beer & Currywurst tour

Prague - the Prague Food tour and shopping :)

Paris - gathering items for a picnic at the Eiffer Tower

All in all it was a wonderful vacation. I've learned a few things along the way that will help in my travel planning in the future:

1. Traveling to another city is best done in the morning because otherwise the travel day is kind of a waste day. 

2. The pop up maps I bought for Paris and London are the worst. Missing streets make it extremely hard to navigate. The Streetwise maps are much better.

3. You can download google maps app and search for your destination via car, walking, metro while you have wifi. It will pull up step by step instructions and will even track you using GPS even without wifi or cell access. This was really handy!

4. I think a RT ticket is not the best if going to multiple cities. We would have much rather left from Paris today than have had to come back to London for the night. 

5. For the love of god only pack one suitcase!!!! Just restrain yourself and pack only one. Not one plus a carryon plus a personal item. Because it is a hassle to lug around but also embarrassing to be the most overpacked tourists everywhere we go. 

I hope you've enjoyed reading about our trip! Until next time...