6 STEPS OF EUROPEAN TRAVEL AFTER THE FIRST STEP

 

Step One: Admit you’ve been bored to death since your last trip.

 

You miss making connections, new train stations, airports. The miracle of being on time.

Like a caged animal, your travel bug paces.

Every Sunday it rattles the gate.

That’s when Rick Steves shows up. With a dish.

Travel bugs feast on Rick Steves like competitive eaters on a buffet.

You eventually morph into a bug, then later a butterfly.

When this happens head straight to closest AAA office for trip plans. This link points to Oregon AAA. You’ll be stunned to learn how much more they do than rescue stranded drivers.

While you’re in there check out the customers. Do millennials show up for travel plans, or do it online?

If you’re a Boomer who likes something tangible in their hands, as well as their brain, AAA does both.

You’ll leave with the skeleton of your next epic journey.

 

Step Two: Make them European travel bones dance

 

For a Spanish trip, start in Barcelona. That skeleton will dance the Flamenco.

From Oregon AAA:

The 1992 Summer Olympics revealed to the world what Europeans and seasoned travelers already knew—Barcelona is one of the world’s greatest treasures. Consider extending your vacation to enjoy this fabulous city. Stroll along the wide, tree-lined promenades of Las Ramblas and marvel at the spires of Gaudi’s Basilica La Sagrada Familia. Or, visit the former Olympic Ring on the hill of Montjuic—also home to world-class parks, fountains, and museums. Barcelona, which nurtured such artistic giants as Picasso, Dali, Miro, and Casals, is definitely a traveler’s paradise.

You’ll need a place to stay a while. Rick’s got that covered right here.

Find an apartment in the Gothic Quarter. Go Old World all the way. Don’t get stuck in a generic hotel.

Instead, ask about apartments built with Roman arches in the exterior walls. Old old.

It’s the sort of architecture that spells culture, along with funky building codes and under-engineered plumbing.

For the full effect ask about fourth floor, no elevator buildings with narrow stairways and sagging stone steps at uneven heights.

You’ll be dragging your bags upstairs doing the crab walk and loving it. Feed the bug.

 

 

Step Three: Back-ups before leaving

 

Copy all of your credit cards and ID for your suitcase.

Update your passport photo.

Apply for an International Drivers License. You can’t have too much ID.

Know your blood type.

Make a list of meds.

Secure your home front with a house sitter, or neighbors who know your sprinkler system, your main water shut-off, gas, and electricity.

Worries drag down all trips, European travel even more. It’s more than sun and surf. You need your undivided focus.

 

 

Step Four: Earn your European travel wings

 

Look at the flight arrivals in Barcelona and choose one that lands in the morning.

Flying to daylight helps keep your internal clock set.

You’ll jet across the earth longer than you think a plane can stay in the air.

Keeping a grip on any anxiety along the way is key. Don’t be the problem passenger.

Drink lots of water and walk the aisles. You don’t hear as much about DVT but it didn’t go away.

Watch a movie. Read a Rick Steves book. Review a language book before you land.

 

Step Five: Arrival on another continent

 

If you’ve flown into one waterfront city, then you know they all have lots in common.

Barcelona breaks the stereotype.

From wheels down to the terminal it’s all normal enough.

Once inside it feels like you’re one small step away from being the lost American on the local news.

Follow the signs, grab your bags, and find a taxi.

The drive to town seems longer than 12km away. As long as you’re not going in circles you’re okay.

Once in the city watch the swarm of young Barcelona women on scooters. Wave after wave of women in short skirts, high heels, and helmets park six deep at the curb.

The driver pulls up on a narrow street. He stops near a man standing near a door in a huge stone wall.

Grab your gear and meet the apartment man.

He guides you up four floor in the narrow stairway with wavy steps at uneven heights.

 

 

Step Six: Barri Gotic

 

The Holocaust Museum and National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. leave visitors in shock.

They are overpowering statements in great detail.

So is the living museum of Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter.

From wiki:

In some cities, Jewish quarters refer to areas which historically had concentrations of Jews. For example, many maps of Spanish towns mark a “Jewish Quarter”, though Spain hasn’t had a significant Jewish population for over 500 years.

Read more about the Spanish Inquisition and it sounds like an early Holocaust event.

And you’re walking the same streets.

The Old World comes alive under your feet.

The tight streets look designed for trapping large groups.

Shared walls and families living side by side look ideal for a quick plague outbreak.

This is hidden value of European travel. You can skim the surface Las Vegas-style, or absorb the lessons of humanity.

Either way, feed the travel bug as much Barcelona as it takes to to change your mind.

Isn’t that why you’re there, looking for reasons to change your mind?