A year ago, today. That's when Ken and I started our month-long travels throughout Western Europe. June 26, 2013 was the beginning of an epic summer abroad with my amazing husband. We kicked off Ken's graduation from the University of Washington's school of engineering, along with our third anniversary, in what was the culmination of three years of intense saving followed by six months of dedicated planning.
We traveled to 7 countries, if you include the Vatican. The lineup consisted of Germany, Italy, Croatia, Greece, Vatican City, Switzerland and France. I tallied about 15,752 miles traveled for us in those 29 days. Ken and I felt extremely privileged to find such great deals on travel and accommodations, as we did our research and relied heavily upon Rick Steves' famous travel books and videos (thanks again to our dear friends Kim and Sarah who gifted us with these things!) In total, Ken and I spent less than $7,000, an extraordinary feat for what we got out of our money. Our round-trip tickets from Seattle to Europe were about $1250 each, our week-long all-inclusive cruise along the Greek Isles was about $1400 for the two of us (with all taxes, gratuities, surcharges included), and we were able to rent cars in every country at a great price through EuropCar.
Together, Ken and I lived off of a daily budget we laid out a month or two in advance, and stayed mostly at hotels (in the most basic sense) that we booked through Expedia's web site. My favorite things we purchased on our trip were the postcards I sent friends and the little chocolates and souvenirs that I gathered in each country to gift to others. My favorite memories include the scooter ride Ken took me on through the narrow, hilly streets of Mykonos, Greece, eating chocolate croissants and sipping cappuccinos while perusing the local markets in Florence, Italy, hiking up the Swiss Alps with packed picnic lunches (and taking the gondolas that scared me to death), jumping out of our little boat and into the refreshing, pristine waters once we got inside the Blue Grotto along the island of Capri (off the coast of Southern Italy), dining on fresh baked bread with homegrown olives, tapenade, and coffee in the steep hillside town of Lakones (which translates to "God's Balcony") in Italy, along with all the cultural interactions we had with the people we met from Europe and other continents. Some great connections, along with some misunderstandings.
I'm so thankful that Ken and I were able to embark upon such an incredible journey together - one that started well before Europe, I suppose, and continues on in this season of being homeowners and settling into life in Alaska. I'll leave you with some photos from our European adventures.
Ciao!
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