I have been to 11 countries in three months.
I’ll just leave that there for a minute.
When I left the US in January, I had been to Canada and Aruba, and now I’ve been to 11 countries in three months.
It’s a little bit difficult to process the magnitude of that. I’m aware that that represents a massive shift in my life and my experience level, but I’m not entirely sure in what ways yet. All I know is that, while Salzburg has been an outstanding home base, it’s probably been my (glutenous) amount of travel that has impacted and changed me most on this trip.
It’s hard to narrow down a favorite destination out of the 11. Actually, that’s not really true. I do have a favorite destination (hint: they’re big on tea time), but each experience has been so different and rewarding that to really play favorites seems wrong.
I’ll narrow it down to a few, just to give a snapshot of the experiences I’ve been having.
It seems like it was a year ago (and to be fair, it was eight countries ago), but my initial favorite destination was Venice. Some places you go and they defy all your expectations. For instance, Paris was very different than my mental image. For me, Venice was exactly what I have pictured for the last decade that I’ve dreamed of visiting. It was like a storybook world and didn’t seem like real life. I described it shortly after coming back as like Disney World with more wine. If you’re looking for the ultimate escapist weekend, it’s the place to go.
As I hinted above, if I had to choose, I’d say the great city of London was my favorite location. I don’t have any definitive reasons for why; it’s sort of like when I decided to go to Northeastern. When I picked my college, it was less about rational reasons and more about the welcoming and exciting vibe I got from the campus.
London was the same way. I was instantly comfortable there, and I even spent a day there alone navigating the underground and different neighbors. I just felt an automatic click; I fit right in and would love to up and move there.
London was perfect for its hustle and bustle, while Galway, Ireland, my final favorite, was amazing for the opposite reason. We spent the weekend in a peaceful apartment with an ocean view, flitting in and out of fish and chips places and eclectic Irish pubs. My time in Galway came at the end of my spring travel break, which could have been a stressful time because I’d been living out of a backpack and moving around Europe non-stop for two-weeks straight. However, the city was so warm and calming that it bookended the trip with a few days of low stress and high entertainment.
The conclusions that I’ve drawn from this trip are that you should pick your home base wisely, and then you shouldn’t spend all your time in it. Salzburg is a peaceful, safe, relaxing city that was perfect to come back to after an intense weekend in a new place. While I visited many an amazing city and thought “Wow, I’d love to spend a semester here,” Salzburg was really the right choice in terms of my comfort. Feeling so stable in Salzburg made me more brave when it came to taking off to a random location I knew little about. I always knew I had a nice space to come back to after.
I wasn’t really focused on traveling when I planned my semester abroad, and I never would have expected myself to go to 11 countries, or even a number close to 11. It was a very pleasant surprise, and it’s the thing I’ll remember most about my time in Europe.
