European Adventure (Part One)

So I did promise a post of our European adventures. This will be more like many posts. I don't want to overwhelm anyone with too many words in one post, so over the next few days I'll post one a day, and you can read and comment at your leisure! I kept notes almost every day on the first half of our trip. On the second half, not so much, but I will rely on the pictures to remind me of what we did.

First of all, Jon and I decided to take this trip because of the class that he had to got to attend in Prague; The Regional Business Environment of Europe. This is a week long class, and only Jon really needed to be in attendance, but we really weren't sure when another opportunity to travel to Europe would come, and decided to take advantage. We decided to fly in about a week and some change before the class, and fly out a few days after the class was over, and so our plan was to make a loop through Western Europe, by driving. Here is a map of the path that we took.

 We flew into Ireland, spent a day there, and then flew to Amsterdam.

Here is the map of the loop we took. Eight days to get from Amsterdam to Prague. Six days in Prague. Three days to get back.

So, we decided to drive. I have never driven in Europe before. When I went we took busses, trains, and planes, because their public transportation system is loads better than the US. It's just how they travel. Well we are American, and so we do it the American way. 3,164 Kilometers is about 2,000 Miles? HA! That's nothing! We can do that EASY. Let me show you the vacation we took for Christmas last year...

This is from KS to our families for Christmas, to SLC and back. Four states, driving 2,193 miles (3,500 K)

You see, we drive over 2,000 miles for vacation every year, and we love it! So we figured, driving in Europe would be even easier, because we are driving through six countries in less miles! Great plan, but we didn't figure about spending so much time driving, and time is precious when you have 17 days in Western Europe with about 20 different destinations!

But we had a blast! We bonded over land speed records in Germany, eating all the foods on our bucket list, hiking in 110 degree weather, and seeing the things we wanted to see most. It was an incredible trip, and all I can think about is going back someday.

So let the European Adventure commence!

Part Two