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Well, it’s been five days since I embarked on my journey to Europe. So far, we’ve completed the Barcelona leg of the trip and have one day left in our Airbnb in Paris. It’s been an astounding, incredible, and awesome experience so far, and with five days left I can’t wait to see what’s in store.
Before I left, I had a few questions lingering in my mind. I can answer a few of them so far—for example, yes, there are ATMs everywhere here, don’t worry about the language barrier (you’ll figure it out) and in regards to rules… well, it seems like there really are none.
However, at the risk of sounding like a college junior who just got back from studying abroad, I also have a few notes I’ve picked up on during this experience.
Don’t expect the worst thing to happen, expect for all of the minor inconveniences to happen.
We haven’t missed any of our flights. None of our luggage has gone missing. Nobody got pickpocketed. For all intents and purposes, this has been one smooth ass trip. However, what we’ve noticed is that the inconveniences you experience are what makes your trip more annoying than anything else. Our layover was delayed by 3 hours. Some of the card readers in the local restaurants didn’t read our chips, so we had to figure out how to pay. Our stomachs weren’t quite able to adjust to the food in time for adventuring the next day. And worst of all, we couldn’t sleep on overnight flights. Which leads me to my next point…
Advil PM is not a reliable sleep aid on short notice.
When planning this trip I was worried about being able to sleep on flights. I naturally am anxious about flying and in the months leading up to the trip, I figure I would get some sort of pill to knock myself out. However, I forgot to do that. In the days before (okay, the night before) we left, I thought to myself, “I shouldn’t have to worry about procuring Ambien or Xanax for the overnight flights or time changes. Advil PM knocks me out every time, so that should do the trick.” What I failed to account for was that every time I’ve taken Advil PM, I’ve been absolutely hammered and attempting to wake up without a hangover.
I took four on the airplane overseas expecting to blissfully wake up on the tarmac in London. Instead, I was in and out of consciousness while a baby screamed for four hours straight two rows behind me. Turns out, the sleep aid doesn’t block out background noise.
Time zones are frickin’ weird.
Not too much to comment on here. I’m still just trying to wrap my head around the fact that I’m writing this at 11:05 p.m. in Paris but it’s still 4:05 p.m. back home and my friends are still at work.
Being hungover in a foreign country fucking sucks.
We met up with my best friend from high school when we were in Barcelona. I mentioned this earlier, but he’s over there getting his Master’s Degree and was ultimately the inspiration behind this whole trip. After he showed us around and took us to dinner, he brought us out for the night saying, “Yeah, so my plan is we go to this bar where they let you mix your own drinks for three Euros, then we go to a shot bar, and then we’ll hit the club at around 1:00 and stay there until around 6.”
I thought he was kidding with that time frame. He was not.
If you’ve ever walked around doing touristy things for a day, you’ll know it’s exhausting and painful and it can leave you hating random things and hungry. Now imagine doing that in a foreign country where you don’t speak the language and your head is throbbing and your stomach is doing that thing where you’re not sure if you’re going to puke or shit your pants. Barcelona was beautiful, fun, adventurous, laid back, and gave me great vibes, but good lord we were miserable that day.
I take way too many luxuries for granted in America.
Politics and news stories aside, you can’t argue that Americans have a very comfortable way of living. Touch screens inside of McDonald’s that completely minimize your human interactions. Apps that help you get home from the bar easier and cheaper while drunk. Being able to travel from state to state without having to worry about taking your passport.
However, after being in Europe for a few days, I never realized how convenient we have it. We don’t have to pay for water at restaurants, and we can get free refills. We don’t have to ask the waiter for bread when we sit down to eat. We have giant grocery stores where we can bulk-buy our foods and not have to worry about going back for a few weeks. And there are gas stations everywhere. I can count on one hand how many I’ve seen here.
That’s not to say that we have it better than Europeans or vice-versa. There’s a very different lifestyle being led over here, and learning about it has been fascinating. .
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Charlie
Using sarcasm as a defense mechanism since 1993. At any given moment I'm either tired, drunk, or stressed out. Get at me at charliepgp@gmail.com or whatever.
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Have you noticed Paris still goes?
While I am quite up front about my hatred of all things Chainsmokers, this comment was well done.
Want to hit Nice Move but you’re at 69 so I just can’t do it.
Those luxuries you’re missing, my friend, are just our way of life and why I always say Europe is a slightly less awesome version of America. God bless the USA
Lee Greenwood just sang in my head.
Plot twist, we have it better than Europeans. Fact.
As long as youre healthy that is. Our medical bills are outrageous. Still the best country overall.
Their taxes are outrageous and they have waiting lists to see the doctor. We have it a little better
You can pay to see a doctor quicker in some of the centralized healthcare countries. Ultimately, the way the US will go, I believe.
Just be a Jewish Canadian. The surgery to repair your broken arm costs like $20 and the doctor is a friend of the family so you’re in quick.
We are more creative than Europeans. Americans invent it, Europeans and Asians perfect it (social media, cars, medicinal research, etc). Visiting Europe is an awesome experience, very different than the US but very similar at the same time.
There’s less gas stations there because fewer people drive since the public transportation is so amazing. The Paris metro is unreal. Also, gas there is insanely expensive because European countries didn’t go spread democracy in order to get lower gas prices like we did.
I hope you ate all the cheese you could while in Paris. It’s been a month since I got back and I still dream about how amazing the cheese there is.
You do realize the US is the top oil producing nation in the world, right?
Of course, I was being facetious. I’m well aware that we are the largest oil producer in the world and we didn’t actually invade countries for their oil.
Guys, we invade other countries for friendship because as they say, it’s lonely at the top lol
Oil? Who said anything about oil?
Bitch you cookin??
Also they charge by the litre.
Two things that the USA has that are undoubtedly better than anywhere else: Ketchup and napkins.
Cut the check!
In America, we have freedom of speech. In Europe, they don’t. Just look up Tommy Robinson.
If you think that’s a situation that remotely involves freedom of speech, then I question what you actually know about that case.
He was reporting on a case, arrested, tried and sentenced in a few hours. So how is that not a freedom of speech case? … Also count dankula was arrested in the UK for making a YouTube video with a pug.
He was arrested for violating the terms of his suspended sentence for contempt of court. He violated it by reporting on a trial that had not yet reached a verdict. The reason those kinds of laws and media blackouts exist is because of the (rightfully so) idea that this kind of reporting can disrupt the outcome of the verdict. So this isn’t related to free speech, it’s related to due process. And the white nationalist Tommy Robinson knows this, but he’s currently loving the media attention. If it was regarding his views (which he has the right to express, as mindboggingly stupid as they are), that’d be one thing, but he could be a dirty red-flag bearing Marxist and the result would be the same here.
To be honest, I don’t know the details of the Count Dakula case, but I’d imagine that there’s a similar answer there.
One thing you forgot to mention – American bathrooms are huge and awesome.
…and usually FREE!
They’re all free in Starbucks now.
I went to Europe in late May, Euros need to figure out ice water and AC (and decent WiFi) before they can be part of the 1st world again.
Can confirm. Lived there for 2 years and the whole time fantasized about ice water, AC, and a top sheet on my bed.
So does mixing Advil PMs and hammers actually work in warding off hangovers?
Not sure if you’re checking out Amsterdam, but if so let me know some must sees. I’ll be heading there July 3rd before making the trip into Bremen, Germany. Open to suggestions from any PGPers
Vondelpark is gorgeous. Take a boat tour. It’s a great way to learn about the city and take a break from walking so much. If you are going to hit coffeeshops they only take cash and try to stay away from the very famous ones. Apparently the “product” isn’t as good as the smaller shops’ supplies. The Museum of Prostitution is apparently amazing (I didn’t get a chance to go there). I honestly just enjoyed walking around the city because it was so gorgeous and clean. Take advantage of the free walking tours as well!
Have this screenshotted, thanks a ton! Will be sure to check out that museum haha
Vondelpark is amazing. Definitely rent a bike in Amsterdam.
I regret not renting a bike for sure 🙁 but definitely need to be cautious of bikers walking around in Amsterdam. My friend got hit by someone on a bike and thankfully didn’t get seriously hurt.
I believe the Beck’s brewery/factory is in Bremen. Be sure to grab some of the non-export varieties of the beer. There are also some pretty nice chocolate shops that are worth visiting/splurging on.
I’ll be visiting Barcelona in the Fall for 24 hours. Can anyone give suggestions? My time is so short so if there are things I should skip, please let me know.
I think parque guell, la sagrada familia, and the gothic quarter are the can’t misses. If you have enough time to go clubbing you have to check out opium or one of the other clubs that are right on the beach.
Yeah, def check out opium but not the club kind lol
Thanks! Hotel is in the Gothic Quarter so thats good.
100% go to opium. Skip the touristy stuff. Other than La Sagrada Familia but that takes like an hour tops.
Skip La Rambla, entirely overrated and not worth walking up and down
Make sure to get tickets in advance if you choose to go the La Sagrada Familia and Parque Guelle. Opium is amazing as well (the club kind lol) definitely worth going.
Love Barcelona. I agree with everyone’s recommendation about Opium, we saw Kaskade there on our honeymoon and it was amazing (although we realized we couldn’t hang with the Europeans and went back to the hotel around 4am.) Gothic and El Born districts are next to each other, we loved both. Also agree on skipping Las Ramblas, too crowded and flea market-like.