Ten Lessons Learned

Now that we are a month into our trip there are some things that we have learned.

Ten Lessons

1. Customer Service: In Europe this is a mythical creature and one we take for granted in North America. When you go to order food you are inconviencing them and you find yourself apoligizing for bothering them. You want more then one packet of Ketchup? (which is hard to come by in europe already) Forget it...unless you want to pay a euro for one. The toilet paper is out in the washroom and you would like some more? Nope...if its out its out. (Always bring extra napkins with you)

2. Bathrooms: They are called toilets, they are usually unisex, and they are various degrees of scary. No toilet seat, no toilet paper, no lights, never been cleaned, always stink. You think Mcdolands will have nicer ones? They are usually the worst. Showers are no better. If you get good water pressure, you get no hot water. If you get hot water and great water pressure, the shower is dirty and stinks. Or you get the...extreme hot then extreme cold...and finding yourself asking which is the lesser of two evils.

3. Sights: They are not just like in the movies...the sights are ALWAYS better in person. You feel chills when you see the Effiel Tower or the Collosuem. Well worth the trip, and you always feel blessed to expirence them. Free walking tours, which are in most places, provide you with the cheapest informative entertaining tours. Trust me, go with these guys. (Nice little plug eh? Maybe I should work for them)

4. Stairs: Number One Enemy. At the beginning of the trip we were on the first floor or the hostel had an elevator. Then the third floor no elevator. Then the Forth. Recently...the Fifth. Now add a 16kg backpack on that...and various trips up and down during your stay. Yes I know have an ass of steel, but standing at the bottom of those stairs after along day of walking around...you consider sleeping on the street.

5. Doors and Locks: Second Enemy. You check into a hostel, get a key, find your room. So you put the key in the key hole, turn the key and the door will open. NO, WRONG. Through the course of this trip we have learned it is never that easy...remeber our break in attempt in Munich? There is always a trick or a different way to go about it. Thank the Lord there is three of us, because it still takes us 15 min to achieve opening the door. And for you critics out there that doubt its the door its probably just us....You try it and get back to me on that.

6. Bed Bugs: Hot topic. Its seems whenever we meet fellow travelers befor you can even ask about their trip, they bring up their bed bug stories. (Btw stefs are almost gone) Where they got them, how much pain they were in, how they spent the day at the laundry mat...etc etc. So its not just us, maybe getting bed bugs is the frat boy intiation into the group.

7. Kebabs: For anyone following the blog, maybe you have noticed the love affair with Kebabs. Let me explain, kebabs are cheap, fill you up and they are good. You get your grains, veggies, dairy, and protein all in one. Especially in Europe where the protion sizes are small but still expensive....kebabs are really just a smart choice. We even have a rating system were working on, so far Florence has the best.

8. Coffee: For our Canadian friends back home. Next time you go to a resturant and order coffee...get one extra refill for us. The coffee is so small. I dont even know how to explain how small it is. Yes, it is good. But after two sips...its gone. We even broke down and bought instant coffee for ourselves. Its awful....its not worth it. I miss coffee the size of my head.

9. Booking Hostels: We are getting better at this. Pat on the back for us! We have learned to book further in advance and read the reviews! Novel idea I know...but were getting the hang of things.

10. Plan Changes: When we first started out, we were naive to believe we could see it all and everything would go excatly as planned. Never would we have strayed from our plan. Now with confidence in hand, we realize we can do whatever we please. We completely changed our plans, even booked a flight to make it happen, and have added some places and deleted some.

The best lesson of all.....You CAN make your dreams come true.