Europe

It’s been a few months since I wrote a blog in here. And I’ll blame laziness because I’ve had plenty of time to write a few but it is what it is; here I am writing one now.

It’s actually been two months since I traveled to Europe as well, and I definitely wanted to write a few words about my first experience traveling to that continent. Me and my friend Edo had planned this trip for March of 2020, but that’s when shit hit the fan (COVID wise) so we had to postpone. We got credit and decided to wait around until things got better (they have not). Once several countries from the EU eased up entry restrictions, we acted fast and booked a flight. Finding resources and info on COVID entry restrictions was quite challenging, but I found some useful info here: https://reopen.europa.eu/en. If you plan on going to Europe soon and are not sure of the restrictions of each specific country has, you can find them on that site. Most of the entry restrictions are applied to travelers entering via air; I never had any entry issues when traveling via train. However, I was asked for my CDC vaccination card (which is all you need if you are an American traveler by the way) any time I entered a restaurant, train, or museum.

Our first destination was Munich, Germany. It was cold but we were too stoked to be there and shoot and just have fun. We were jet lagged the first few days, so we’d go to bed around 8PM and wake up by 4AM. We took advantage of that and got the day started early. Our stay in Munich was quite short so we mostly hung out around the Old Town area, the English Garden, and the areas surrounding the Olympic Park… Our days consisted of walking an average of 13 miles and drinking several cups of coffee, and the nights consisted of drinking beer and eating Bavarian food at local beer houses. The day before we parted from Germany we took a train to the famous Neuschwanstein Castle (the Disney castle is supposedly inspired by this castle). I wish I could say this was one of the highlights of the trip, but it wasn’t. Seeing the castle from afar was astonishing, but as we got closer, it kind of lost that touch of…. Magic. Instead, we explored the beautiful town of Fussen for the majority of that day.

We parted from Germany the next day and headed towards Salzburg, Austria. Known to be the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, also simply known as Mozart. It’s also known for its desserts and chocolates, and as sweets guy, I can attest to this.
Edo has a cousin that lives in Austria with her husband, whom is originally from Austria. They met with us at the train station and basically guided the rest of the day for us. The language barrier was not too bad In Munich and Salzburg, but it was nice to be able to get around with people that spoke German.
We explored the famous Mirabell Garden and had sausages and beer for lunch at a local marker across the street. We also explored the Hohensalzburg Castle and learned about its history.
Salzburg was our shortest stay, and after parting ways with Edo’s family, we took a rest day the next day and simply revisited some sights to snag some photos. We were still only half way through the trip so we didn’t want to burn out so quick.

I feel like every vacation has that one moment that fucks ups the whole trip momentarily. That happened to us when Edo lost his passport and vaccine card en route to Budapest. It all happened so fast but so slow at the same time. We boarded the train, and as we were settling down, Edo freaked out and told me he had lost his passport. We had stayed at a hostel in Salzburg, and I recalled that during the morning before we left, I saw a passport lying on the floor next to the bed of another guest. I didn’t think much of it because I thought it was his. I mentioned it to Edo and we called the hostel. Luckily they called back and told us they had both. We had to detour and go back towards Salzburg. Our original train ride was supposed to be 5 hours, but this whole mess extended it into 9 hours and added $300 dollars to the budget. Thanks dude….

We finally got to Budapest, and I was amazed from the moment I stepped off the train. The Keleti train station had to be the coolest station I had seen so far. I was struck by the architecture and the old and gothic look of the buildings in the city. We stayed in the Jewish Quarter which turns out to be one of the trendiest areas in town; the famous New York Cafe was only a few feet away from our AirBnb. There were also a lot of cool bars and clubs all over the area. We couldn’t have asked for a better neighborhood to stay at. There is also a lot of history within the Jewish Quarter. The block where we stayed at was within a ghetto during World War 2. There were many sites within the neighborhood that honored the many lost lives during that dark time. In addition, the food in Budapest has to be by FAR the best food I’ve had in Europe. I’m a big fan of Paprika so I loved the fact that they had it everywhere we went to eat; we had goulash every single day we were in Budapest.

If I’m being honest, Budapest was my favorite part of the trip. I loved everything about the city. It’s my favorite European city so far. However, my second favorite city, is the city we visited last.

We took a seven hour overnight bus from Budapest to Prague, and that might have been most miserable night of the whole trip; the ride was a bit bumpy and cold. By the time we got to Prague my feet were swollen. Also! I might have not mentioned this before, but we stayed in hostels in Munich and Salzburg, and AirBnb’s in Budapest and Prague. I noticed prices tend to go a bit down as you travel east. Budapest was our cheapest stay overall.

When we got to Prague we were already burned out, but it didn’t stop us. We got there early in the morning and rather than getting sleep, we took a bus from the station directly to Charles Bridge, perhaps the number 1 tourist attraction in Prague. I had seen videos and heard that the best time to visit the bridge was during sunrise so that’s what we did. It was a dark and gloomy day, and to our surprise, it was completely empty. The bridge was ours; we took photos and admired its gothic architecture. We then crossed the bridge and headed up towards the Prague Castle and admired the incredible view of the whole city….. We never got to see the sun in Prague, but it seemed fitting given the time of the year and the weather. We only really focused on taking photos the first two days, and we focused on getting rest the last two. It was a long and fun trip but it was finally time to go home.

Europe was good to me, and I cannot wait to be back. Perhaps next time around I’ll explore some more western countries like France, Netherlands, or Spain. We’ll see. I can’t believe it took me this long to finally visit Europe; it really is easier than it seems to make it happen. If you ever have any questions on how to book flights, stays, or how to plan what sites and landmarks to visit, feel free to reach out. I’ve gained a lot of experience in planning these type of trips and know a thing or two on how to save money.

I usually upload photos with these blogs, but I recently created a section on my portfolio under “Europe.” You can find all the photos from this trip there.