When was your first trip to Europe?

[Margo]

My first trip to Europe was in 1984 - London, France and Italy, mainly- 2 months - wheeee!

I'm about to launch on, I think, my 15th trip, in May to Spain, Morocco and Portugal I've never been to the last two. Yes - I know technically Morocco isn't in Europe, but....I have to go to Europe to get there from here. (Sydney)

I've just spent my first cold Christmas, in Germany, Paris and Scotland. I think that cold at Christmas thing is over-rated! Where are the mangoes?

 

[Colleen]

My first trip to Europe was in 1990 for work. My company had a factory in Livingston, Scotland (just outside of Edinburgh) and wanted me to test a prototype machine from a user's perspective. This was in the early days of networking and it was going to be our first networked check encoder - Very exciting stuff!

Following a day long meeting in Detroit with product manager Mac to review my assignment, I flew British Airways to Heathrow and then on to Edinburgh. It must have been a 747 because my seat was on the upper deck. I think I fell in love with tea on that flight, because the flight attendants were so nice, and kept pouring it for me, served with cream and sugar!

I honestly don't remember how I got from the Edinburgh airport to the Sheraton! But I do remember being in my hotel room thinking, 'god I'd love a nap ... but Mac told me specifically to NOT to crash before dark." (This was in late July, and it didn't get dark until around 10pm!) I made myself clean up and go outside to explore.

Each morning my Scots colleague Alastair picked me up at the hotel and drove me to the plant, and at the end of the day dropped me off. Then those long, slow evenings worked in my favor! I loved watching the outdoor dancing in the Princes Street Gardens, I hiked up Calton Hill for expansive views, walked the Royal Mile to Holyrood, and one night I went to see an Oscar Wilde play at a nearby theatre. There I learned the very civilized plan of ordering your drink ahead for intermission! Another night Alastair and I went out for beer, and he told me which local brews were the best. I still love a good, hearty beer!

At the end of my stay I flew back to London and spent a couple of days in a B&B. I'd been quite adventurous, not booking ahead, with a plan of once I landed using a guide book and a pay phone to call B&B's. But after trying two or three in my price range (cheap) with "no availability" I was starting to panic! Finally, I found a place - two cots in a below stairs room. Oh well, I was in London!

I walked and walked and did all the touristy things I wanted: toured the Tower of London - I fell in love with the Tower Bridge!, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, St. James Park, Harrods department store, I bought tea and scones at the food court at Fortnum and Mason, I bought beautiful fabric at Liberty (that I later turned into my first piece of quilting) , I'd recently read 84 Charing Cross Road so had to visit that address, Picadilly Circus, the British Museum - seeing the Rosetta Stone was my goal there, but oh my! What a treasure trove.

The big news while I was in London was that Saddam Hussein had invaded Kuwait. There was a sense of tension that I didn't really appreciate at the time, being in my touristy mindset. After a couple of busy days it was time to fly home ... but I was lucky that my friend Lisa W moved to Saffron Walden in Essex the next year so I got to go back!

 

[Pauline]

... There I learned the very civilized plan of ordering your drink ahead for intermission! ... I bought beautiful fabric at Liberty (that I later turned into my first piece of quilting) ...

I have never heard of ordering your drink ahead!

Earlier today I was looking at a dressing gown that I bought at Liberty over 10 years ago, made with several of their lovely fabrics, thinking I don't really wear it enough and maybe I should make it into a quilt.

What a great first trip!

I clearly remember my first ever business trip and the feeling of having someone pay for your travel. It was only from Vancouver to Calgary, but it was the first time I stayed in an expensive hotel (it was a Marriott or something) and had a bellman carry my luggage!! Ah, the early 80s and those generous travel allowances.

 

[Colleen]

It really was a great trip! Lots of good memories.

I'd wanted to get to Europe before I was 30, but was already 32 by then. One day I told that to my younger brother, and he said, "Oh, you really meant you wanted to get there before I turned 30 - and you did!"

 

[Margo]

I'm with Colleen - re London.

On my first trip - the British Museum for the Rosetta Stone - and the Pergamon Marbles - and then: 84 Charing Cross Road!

 

[Pauline]

I'm about to launch on, I think, my 15th trip, in May to Spain, Morocco and Portugal I've never been to the last two. Yes - I know technically Morocco isn't in Europe, but....I have to go to Europe to get there from here. (Sydney)

I want someone to start a thread on Morocco in the Other Countries forum. You are the third person to mention it. I want to go there - but am too lazy to research it myself.

 

[Parigi]

I was 18. My then bf offered me 2-month trip to Europe. What a princely treat.

He had already been to Europe. He had started traveling independently very young.
In addition to the must-see checklist, we also decided to go to Montreux, Switzerland, more or less to stalk our favorite writer ensconsed at the Montreux Palace then, LOL. Can you guess ?

He (my bf, not Nabokov) had asked me if I had special things in mind that I wanted to see. I had a whole bunch.

First I wanted to go to Sète, a lovely town on the French Mediterrean that I had seen in the movie "César et Rosalie". In so many ways, I was living out my French Nouvell Vague movies.

I had also read about Ludwig II, the "Mad King" of Bavaria. And I wanted to see his castles. After we came back, Visconti's movie "Ludwig" just came out. It was a great thrill to see again the castles that we had just visited, and an even bigger thrill to hear Romy Schneider recite Goethe…

Another thing I did in my trip planning was to look up on an art calendar to see all my favorite paintings were, which steered us to … Vienna ! , to see Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimt at the Lower Belvedere Palace, and the self-portraits of Van Gogh in the Neue Galerie.

What else stood out ? Barcelona.
In those years it had a very wan, very melancholic beauty. And the Ramblas were so hip then. Not chalk-a-block bad mimes like today. We went to - gulp, please forgive me, - quite a few bullfights. Afterwards, we would always go to Los Caracoles, still good then. It had been my bf's father's favorite restaurant and was also frequented by the fulfight crowd. Our favorite waiter, Francisco, was always rooting for the bulls ! When we arrived at the restaurant from a corrida, he would always ask us: "how many bums did they kill today?" Oh, how not to love him ? How not to love Barcelona then and forever ?

 

[freshnod]

Thanks for your information.I am trying to go my first trip in london. So This info help me.

 

[Bill]

My first trip to Europe was a week in Paris in 1999. I was 40. It was a gift for completing graduate school and getting a teaching job. I remember every single thing we did on that trip. I still have the silly little umbrella hats we bought from a vendor just below Sacre' Coeur and a Fauchon shopping bag from that trip.

I LOVED Paris. I am still in love with Paris.

 

[Susie L]

My husband is an avid cook and a huge fan of Marcella Hazan. I had heard that she was teaching week long classes at her home in Venice. I tracked down her secretary, and was able to secure a class for my husband only about 7 months out. It was a big deal, as the normal waiting list was 2 years. I surprised him with the class AND our first trip to Europe for a Christmas gift. I think he almost fainted. This was in 1991. I will never forget walking out of the Venice train station and gazing upon the Grand Canal. It is because of the Hazans that we fell in love with Bologna as well. We have been to Italy about 26 or 27 times by now and France 3 times.

 

[Jan55612]

My first trip to Europe was in 1987. My former husband and I flew into Frankfurt, Germany and drove away in an under-powered rental car. We quickly learned not to get into the passing lane because we didn't have enough get-up-and-go to not get run over. As we headed south on the autobahn, we kept seeing signs that said "ausfahrt." I remarked "wow, you can get to that town from a lot of different exits." The next day I realized that "ausfahrt" was the German word for exit.

We only made a hotel reservation for the first night. After that we winged it. It was mid-May, so we didn't run into too many problems. The trip was not well planned. I had seen photos of the Black Forest area, so we headed into that region on the second day. We found a hotel in a very small town--really more of a grouping of a few homes and a couple of businesses. We were completely charmed as we walked through the woods on paved (!) trails and listened to the stream outside our hotel room window. One evening we spent several hours in a nearby restaurant/bar in the company of an older German man who adopted us. Our ability to communicate in German was almost nonexistent and his use of English was only slightly better. I had a German/English dictionary which we all used to help the conversation along.

We spent a night in a small hotel just outside Schauffhausen, in a former mill that sat right on the banks of the Rhine river. I will never forget eating dinner in that inn as swans passed by on the river. We eventually worked our way to Lucerne and then to the area around Locarno before heading back north, through a bit of Austria and then on to Munich. I learned that day that heading into a city the size of Munich without a reservation was not an unsolvable problem, but one that consumed time, especially when you are traveling by car because not only do you need a safe, affordable room, you need a parking place.

I loved the food, the wine, the beer, but most of all the glimpses into life in other countries. I came home from that trip with a desire to experience much more of Europe. While I have not been able to travel as much as I would like, in the years that followed I went to England, Paris (3 one week or longer visits), the Netherlands, Italy (4 trips of 2 to 4 weeks each), and Spain (2 trips of 2-3 weeks each).

As I write this I am only four sleeps away from a trip to Croatia with Grapehops and then to Venice for another week. I am a lucky woman.

 

[Pauline]

My first trip to Europe was in 1987.

My first trip to Europe with Steve was one year later and we were pretty unprepared. We used Frommer's Europe on $50 a Day for everything. We didn't have a car because we thought that would be too much to take on, so finding hotels was easier using those boards at the train stations. But, it was all very exciting!!

 

[Colleen]

I was talking to a friend yesterday who's planning his family's first trip to Italy. They have hotel reservations in Rome, Florence and Venice, but plan to stop along the way between Florence and Venice (driving) and don't have any reservations for that leg of the trip. This will be at the end of June/early July - I wish them well!

 

[Jan55612]

Colleen, I can't hit the like button. Trying to find a place to stay that time of year could be very frustrating!

 

[Colleen]

I've never traveled at that time of year, so I didn't know what to tell him about his chances!

 

[Christine]

1997, I wasn't working, I had all the time in the world and the decision was made by a friend to travel to Europe in .... July. She also made the flight reservations and decided it was best to have lodging when we arrived and when we left - and to wing it in between.

We flew from San Diego to St. Louis to JFK to Barcelona. I remember an expensive cab ride to our hotel, which was located around the corner from Placa Catalunya and Las Ramblas - great location. I woke up face down in a pillow with drool on my face. Not an auspicious start.

We had Eurail passes so we had to get train reservations every place we went - and we had a lot of places to go. Barcelona to Geneva to Milan (when Versace had just been murdered) to Florence (sticky melting gelato all over my hands - but it was so good!) to Nice and back to Barcelona. We wasted so much time in train stations, finally getting smart in Florence where there was one window open and about 50-60 people waiting. We shopped for 4 hours and returned when our number was about to be called.

Our hotels were in the boondocks, arranged a city in advance. Again in Florence, we found a hotel on Piazza Santa Maria Novella and moved there after one night near the airport. Nice, again, near the airport. Took a great mass transit ride to the airport in Barcelona that was dirt cheap. Our flight out of Barcelona was delayed so we missed our direct flight to San Diego coming home. Agents in JFK rerouted us again through St. Louis where they put us in a motel where I refused to walk barefoot on the carpet.

She and I took a few more trips after that. Oh, and I am editing this because I forgot to mention that we did all of this in 2 weeks and I packed 6 pairs of shoes.

Since then, I travel with my husband on open jaw flights, with hotel, train rides, exhibit attendance - all made in advance. Of course there are some things we decide to do once we are there, but most of the basics - in advance.

 

[Pauline]

Interesting first trip Christine! I wonder how the decision to go from Barcelona to Geneva was made - skipping all of France! We learn so much from the first trip - whether or not we like to travel, how we should do it next time, how many pairs of shoes we need.

 

[Christine]

Pauline, I had concluded a long term job with a Napa winery the previous year, a job in which I arranged greatly detailed trips to France for my boss and for others. I communicated daily with some great wineries there in Pauillac and other communes/regions. I had studied French in high school. France no longer interested me. We did spend a few nights in Nice but that was it. It was a day's journey from Barcelona to Geneva, and that was fine.

From that trip, I learned that Italy had my heart and now always does. I would like to take my husband to Barcelona and then for both of us to travel to San Sebastian; his grandfather was born there. His mother was born in Italy so we visit relatives in Rome and in Milan whenever we are there.

I actually wouldn't mind a trip to Paris - I want to get prune stuffed prunes as mentioned by David Lebovitz in his blog. Of course we would see as much of Paris as we could.