A lot of the questions I got after our trip touched on the same general theme: what were your highlights, would you do it again, and do you wish you’d done anything differently?
To answer these questions (and more!) I’m back with the final instalment of my post-trip Q&A series.
So far I’ve talked about:
- How we planned for 110 days in Europe: our itinerary + travel planning tips
- Packing for long-term travel: what worked for 110 days in Europe
- What long-term family travel in Europe was really like
Today we’re going to talk about favourite memories, souvenirs, and destinations… along with a few lowlights.
I polled everyone in the family for their answers over dinner recently, and it provided a fun trip down memory lane!
What Were Our Top Places?
Lisa and Emily both asked about our favourite—and least favourite—destinations.
This is surprisingly difficult because we visited so many awesome locations, and it’s hard to compare spending a month living in Vienna with a few hours in Slovenia.
But when forced to choose:
Elisabeth: Vienna and Venice.
John: Vienna and Arenzano. (He also said these were the two places where he could most picture himself actually living.)
Belle: Vienna and Venice. (She already shared some of her own thoughts on this topic in a guest post about experiencing European travel as a teenager.)
Indy: Venice and Linnanmäki amusement park in Helsinki. (Yes, I realize the latter is not technically a destination. I’m allowing it.)
Vienna is the obvious family winner.
We spent an entire month there, so it had an unfair advantage in terms of becoming familiar. We had a neighbourhood and a grocery store and favourite walking routes. We knew how to get around on public transit without thinking about it.
By the end, it really did feel a little like home.
What Were Our Bottom One or Two Places?
First, a disclaimer: “least favourite” does not necessarily mean bad.
I think the best way to put this is that a few destinations suffered by comparison, while others caught us when we were tired, or dealing with miserable weather (hot/cold).
Timing can completely change the way you experience a place!
Both kids: Slovakia and Bristol. Belle said she would rather have used our Bristol day for going to Stonehenge, and Indy described parts of it as “sketchy.” I enjoyed Bristol, but we happened to be there on a very hot day when everyone was tired, a major gas leak shut down a major portion of the city, and we ended up coming across human feces AND blood on the ground—neither of which, I assume, is a normal feature of Bristol. But I still think it was a very cool city and it was a lot less logistical work than getting to Stonehenge.
John: Amsterdam. (Only he and Belle visited Amsterdam as part of their work trip to Paris.)
Elisabeth: I’m going to agree with the kids on their first point: going to Slovakia was probably my least favourite day trip. I’m glad we went and it was fine. But when you’re comparing a perfectly fine day with great days in Venice and Lake Bled and Vienna and Edinburgh and Monaco… something has to land at the bottom!
What Things Stood Out?
Jenny asked about our favourite experience and San wondered if there was one highlight that stood out from everything else.
First, I can’t possibly choose one! (Apparently no one else in my family can either.)
Belle: Riding Taiga at Linnanmäki, lunch in Arenzano, the Light of Creation show in Vienna, and a specific walk with John in Vienna.
Indy: Riding the Taiga at Linnanmäki and Arenzano.
Elisabeth: Looking down over Lake Bled and sitting beside a canal drinking coffee in Venice.
John: A sunrise walk in Vienna with Belle. There was something about being able to leave “home” on foot and end up overlooking the city that made Vienna feel like somewhere we lived rather than somewhere we were visiting.
Choose a Single Moment You’ll Remember Forever and Ever
Jan suggested it might be fun for each of us to choose one single moment we’ll remember forever and ever.
Apparently none of us is especially good at following instructions because most people gave me more than one answer.
John: Walking the Formula 1 circuit in Monaco, especially standing at the famous Fairmont hairpin.
Belle: Driving through a grey, dark, rainy tunnel in Switzerland… and emerging to see sunshine and THE ALPS. Also: her first bite of Italian pizza. And that sunrise walk in Vienna with John.
Indy: A special walk across Vienna with Papa (while Belle and I were at the Light of Creation show) that’s especially notable because they saw all sorts of supercars. (He claims to have spotted at least 16.)
Elisabeth: I thought of one special memory I’ll never forget with each person in our family.
Sitting at the Light of Creation show beside Belle.
Watching Indy swim in the Mediterranean (in his clothes no less; it felt like a potentially once-in-a-lifetime experience).
Drinking coffee with John at a little coffee shop along Strøget in Copenhagen.
And, with myself, a feeling of PROFOUND relief the day we left home and were through security and waiting to board our first flight en route to Europe. The week(s) leading up to our departure had been insanely hectic and stressful (less than a month before we left, we ended up offering our home for a family to stay in while we were away so we were rearranging things up until literally the morning we left!) and there was both a physical and emotional relief in sitting down and knowing there was nothing else I could do.
Which Places Do We Most Want to Visit Again?
In terms of family consensus, the answer is… Italy.
There’s plenty of individual variation, though.
Elisabeth: Scotland and Slovenia top my MUST-REVISIT list.
Our few hours at Lake Bled was not enough time in Slovenia!!!
Italy is always amazing, and I would gladly return to Venice. Two days in Venice was wonderful and we saw a lot, but I wish we’d had an extra day to visit some of the main islands.
Belle: Italy, rural Switzerland (she wanted to specify the rural part; one of her friends got to explore outside Swiss cities this summer, and Belle is desperate to visit some smaller towns in that country now), Norway, and Slovenia.
Indy: Italy and Vienna. He’d also like to see Salzburg, more of rural Wales (sensing a theme???), and Scotland.
John: Slovenia and Italy.
What Was Everyone’s Favourite Souvenir?
Mary Moo Cow asked everyone to name their favourite souvenir from the trip.
Elisabeth: A Marimekko bag. It brings me so much joy and has officially become my library tote.
John: His Murano glass fish bowl—which was, I believe, the only actual souvenir he bought. It lives on his desk and he said he looks at it frequently!
Belle: Her Murano glass necklace and bowl. Also, the red dragon duck she bought in Cardiff.
Indy: His slot-machine key chain (it works; you can pull the lever and the slot machine spins… and sometimes you get a winning row, though you only get self-satisfaction, no monetary payout) from Monaco and his bagpiper duck from Scotland.
What Was the Best Coffee or Pastry?
Nicole asked where I had my best coffee or pastry.
HOW CAN I CHOOSE???
I’m going to cheat and name a few.
Best Cheap Coffee
The train station—and then the Westbahn train itself—on the day we travelled from Munich to Vienna.
Best Coffee With John
Along Strøget in Copenhagen.
It was ridiculously expensive, but I have zero regrets.
Best Coffee With a View
Beside a canal in Venice.
Best Mother-Son Coffee Date
Sticky toffee coffee at Cardiff Central Station when Indy and I were headed to Scotland.
Best Coffee With a Friend
Farmers’ market coffee with Rachel after twin nursery drop-off.
As for pastries?
I honestly didn’t have many memorable ones!
I did have the best gelato of my life in Monaco and the second-best gelato of my life in Venice. Does that count?
If not, I also had a delicious pain au chocolat in Monaco.
When I polled everyone else, they interpreted “coffee or pastry” rather… liberally.
John: A pastel de nata in Vienna. 10/10. (Apparently the Austrian pastel de nata beat the ones he has eaten in Portugal?!)
Belle: Koldskål in Denmark and hot chocolate in Finland.
Indy: A mocha latte in Czechia and a vegan cinnamon bun in Zurich.
(I’ve written plenty more about what we ate in my post about more than 50 foods we tried in Europe.)
What Was Our Most Memorable Sushi Dinner?
Rachel asked this very specific—and presumably loaded—question.
Belle: The two pieces of sushi she ate in Helsinki. But she wants to make clear—since she’s not a big sushi fan—that her most memorable meal of the entire trip was in Arenzano (Ristorante Pizzeria L’Officina).
Indy: A sushi date with Dad in Vienna.
John: The sushi buffet in Helsinki (Osuki Sushi Buffet Jätkäsaari).
Elisabeth: Also the sushi buffet in Helsinki. (We ate… quite a bit of sushi in Helsinki. In addition to being predictably delicious and affordable, it was very close to our apartment and John and I would pop over for little date nights. It became our place. Which is exactly the sort of mundane thing that starts happening when you stay somewhere for a month.)
What Do I Wish We Had Done Differently?
Jenny asked if there was anything I wished we’d done differently, while Jana specifically asked whether I would change anything about packing, sightseeing, length of stays, or the number of countries we visited.
Packing-wise, there isn’t much I would change. (I covered that in much more detail in my packing post.)
In terms of the itinerary, Helsinki felt a little long, but we were maximizing the time John could spend close to his office, so no changes there.
I wish we’d had:
- Another day or two in London
- Another day in Slovenia
- One more day in Venice so we could visit the islands
- A few more days in Scotland
Other than that, the length of our stays felt about right.
Some decisions came down to budget. Others came down to making plans months in advance without knowing how much time we would want in each place. (For example, we only decided the day before to actually go to Slovenia!)
I’m glad we visited every country we did.
No regrets there.
The rest of the family had thoughts, too.
Belle: She wishes she’d spent less time wishing she were home with her friends and focused more on what was happening right in front of her. She also wishes we’d had more time on our road trip, more time in Italy, and more time exploring “little places”.
I thought her first answer was very insightful. Homesickness (especially FOMO) was definitely a part of this experience for her. She was 15 and away from her friends for almost four months! But I also think it’s telling that, looking back, she wishes she’d been able to sink into the experience a little more.
Indy: He wishes we’d gone to Stonehenge and the “Batman Cave” in Wales. And he was very clear that he definitely wanted more time in Scotland.
John: He said he would have traded our time in Germany and the UK for extra days in Vienna, Scotland, and Italy.
(He wants me to specify that it’s not because there was anything wrong with Germany or the UK, there simply wasn’t enough time to see everything, and he would have enjoyed having more time in some of the places we visited within the Schengen Area.)
What Didn’t We Do That Could Have Made the Cut?
There are always going to be things I wish we’d squeezed in.
- I wish I’d seen the National Library in Vienna.
- I wish we’d made it to Prague and Salzburg.
And I wish it hadn’t been raining when we visited Neuschwanstein Castle!
That day launched our epic eight-country European road trip, and a wall of fog was not quite the magical castle view I had imagined.
Would We Do Something Like This Again?
Sara asked whether I would want to take another similarly paced trip in a different part of the world. Suz simplified the question even further: Would you do it again?
My answer? YES. Absolutely.
I asked everyone else.
Indy: YES. “I’d go right now.”
Belle: Not the exact same trip again, since we’ve already done that.
John: Yes.
The dream answer and the realistic answer are not necessarily the same.
There are questions of cost, school, work, timing… and the fact that Belle is getting older. But after proving we could travel together for 110 days—and genuinely enjoy it—I would love to do something similar again.
Would it look exactly the same? Probably not. I don’t think we WILL do something like this again as a family, so I haven’t invested any time to think about what a 2.0 version would look like, but Indy helpfully suggested trying this out within Asia!
Final Thoughts
This trip was life-changing. It was hard and stressful and challenging. It was incredible and exciting and unique.
I am so thankful we went and don’t think we will, for a single second, regret going on this family adventure.
Your turn:
- Which destination from our trip would be at the top of your list?
- What’s your all-time favourite trip souvenir?
Discover more from The Optimistic Musings of a Pessimist
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