A month ago, Kristen and I embarked on a road trip across Europe. I am going to do my best to put the emotions and feelings from this trip into words. Even though it happened, I’m still trying to process my experiences while on the trip because most of them were incredibly breathtaking and left me in total awe. It took a long 9 months of planning, but we did it.
First and foremost, two months before you travel, be sure to actually locate your passport – the one thing I failed to do. I spent the weekend before we left like I would any other: catching up on work and shootings, attempting to pack, and failing miserably. I have always kept my passport in the same place, so I thought nothing of it until I tried to locate it. Frantically, I turned my entire house upside down to no avail. I sat there convincing myself that it had to be at work and that I would check the next day. Unfortunately, it wasn’t there, and I was crushed. I didn’t know how I could be so irresponsible and lose something so important. Thankfully, my boss informed me that I could get a same day passport in New Orleans if I couldn’t find mine (extremely helpful tip that ultimately ended up being my lifesaver).
Later that night, my parents helped search in every possible place, and my passport still did not turn up. I only had one option left – I drove to New Orleans the next morning, and thankfully, they took care of me.
Days 1 & 2: Barcelona & Figueres
If there is one city that I would never drive in again, it would be Barcelona. I can appreciate the food and the architecture, but the driving left a bad taste in my mouth. Throw two girls into a new country along with culture shock and jet lag, and you would get Kristen and me on our first day there. We ate incredible food, drank delicious sangria, wandered through the streets, and went to La Boqueria where we found delicious chocolates and fresh squeezed juices. After we left Barcelona we headed to Figueres, Salvador Dali’s hometown. It was quaint, quiet, and the complete opposite of Barcelona. I just need to brag on the paella I had while was there because, damn, it was phenomenal.
Day 3: Nice, France & Cinque Terre, Italy
Nice was supposed to be a stopping point to sleep on our trip because we didn’t really have anything planned and didn’t really know a lot about it. Neither of us realized how much we would actually love Nice. The warm sunshine and crystal blue Mediterranean were absolutely wonderful. After we left Nice, we headed towards Cinque Terre to spend more time on the coast before we headed to the mountains.
Day 4: Tre Cime di Lavaredo
Kristen and I do this thing, which isn’t always in our best interest, where we wait until we are both hangry before we eat. We ended up stopping at a little restaurant near the road up to Tre Cime where I ate some of the best spaghetti of my life. We paid the toll, made the drive up to Rifugio Auronzo, parked the car, and took off hiking. It’s hard to describe the exact feeling that rises in your stomach when you’re experiencing something so surreal, the one you get when you’re at a loss for words and you can’t believe you are actually standing there. One I recognized because the same thing happened to me at the Grand Canyon years ago.
Day 5: Lago di Braies & Hallstatt, Austria
Expectation verses reality was constantly in my mind during this trip. When you follow amazing photographers on instragram, who have been to all the places you are going, you expect them to be the exact same. That’s my struggle with social media at this point in my life. I expect things to be the way I have seen them through other people, instead of just letting them exist without high expectations. This happened with Lago di Braies. I’ve seen so many amazing photographs of this lake and we got here, it didn’t feel like every picture I had previously seen. I’m trying to be better at accepting things as they are.
Day 6: Dachstein Glacier World
I’ve been asked a handful of times since I have been home what my favorite part of the trip was. It’s hard picking one specific place or experience from my trip, especially because each place had something different to offer. If I absolutely had to pick my favorite from this trip, it would have to be Dachstein. From the incredible views, amazing weather, snow covered mountains, and the Stairway to Nothingness, this was easily my favorite day.
Day 7: Aare Gorge
After we spent the night in our camping pod in Flims, we headed towards Interlaken. Along the way, we stopped at the Aare Gorge to explore. I wish I would’ve taken more pictures of Interlaken, but the weather had already contributed to the lack of photographs I was capturing. I did end up buying some champagne infused chocolate truffles while in Interlaken, and as I type this, I regret not buying more – my mouth is still watering for them.
Day 8 & 9: Lauterbrunnan to Zermatt to Barcelona
I have dreamed of skydiving in the Swiss Alps for nearly ten years. When Kristen and I started planning our European adventure, she asked me what the one thing I wanted to cross off of my bucket list was, so naturally, I replied with this. I had a chance to do something I would never forget in a place I knew would take my breath away. When we finally arrived in Switzerland, the weather sadly did not permit me to skydive. I was upset and struggled with whether to be devastated and deem my trip ruined or to make the best of the situation. Kristen wanted to cheer me up and drove me to find beer and schnitzel. Luckily for us, Mother Nature not only added rain to our trip but snow as well. The mood of our day was salvaged. Once we made it to Zermatt, we ate some of the best burgers of our lives at Brown Cow pub while the snow fell. The next morning we woke up to a snow covered town, and it felt like Christmas at the end of April.
Shoutout to Catherine Hebert for proofreading my messy post.
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