Europe was the biggest trip I've ever forced & probably one of my greatest accomplishments. My whole life I wanted to be one of those people who travelled all over the world, to whichever place they wanted to go to without letting anything stop them. In high school, I talked a lot about travelling whenever I graduated and had enough money. Look at me now. I'm that one person that people ask, "Where you going next?" They think I've been to so many places but to me, it barely feels like it's enough. Europe showed me that there is so much more of the world that we are missing out on by staying in our little bubble of the city we live in. In just 2017 alone, I have been to 2 continents, 6 countries & countless cities. I learned a lot about travelling alone & how to travel on this trip, as well as some things about myself. You can read about my lessons on this trip in my post here.
I decided I wanted to travel somewhere for my birthday & originally wanted to go to Chicago. My friends were just half-assing on the planning & I'm a person who needs to know the majority of the details way in advance & they were more like last minute people. I was getting annoyed so I decided to do research on other options of places I could potentially go. I dreamt for so long about going to Europe & I have family in many different countries there, as well as a friend in Abu Dhabi so I had places I could go. The more I looked into going abroad, the better it looked & the better the deals on one-way flights were. My flight from Toronto to London was $280! As soon as I booked that first flight, it became real & it was time to start planning.
I wanted to be in London for my actual birthday so I made sure to book my flight out of Canada a few days before & have a day to relax so that I wouldn't be too jet-lagged before my bday. So I left Ottawa on the morning of the 18th, flew out of Toronto that evening, had a layover in Lisbon, Portugal on the 19th & landed in London that evening; all before my birthday which was on the 21st.
London was a week & a half adventure where I got to hang out with my uncle, who I haven't seen in 6 years. By the end of my time there, I had seen almost all the tourist attractions & gotten used to the London accent. My uncle had just moved there about 7 months prior to me coming so he knew some things about the city but I was mostly googling places & suggestions of where we should go to eat. I wish I had planned more ideas prior to my trip because trying to google something to do at that very moment was very stressful & overwhelming. Besides not being prepared to explore the very big city of London, I still had a great time & got to see how my uncle lived and met his friends. The next time I come back, I'll be more prepared thou.
I really wish I had a car while I was there but I happened to lose my license a week before my trip & didn't get my replacement until my trip was basically over. It would have been very helpful especially since I went into Oslo every chance I got; it was just a 40 min train ride away but coulda been faster with a car. I could've explored other cities also. Nevertheless, I got to meet my cousins & their parents, as well as explore a new country.
Norway was a week adventure but unfortunately, my cousins were all in school & had after-school activities, plus whatever there was to do in Moss was closed by 7/8pm. The one day we had to go out in Moss was on Saturday & we went bowling with whoever could show up & then Sunday morning was my flight to head back home. It wasn't great timing but we had to make do with the time we had. I met up with my cousin who lived on campus at her school in Ås & we explored Oslo with her friend on my first official day there. Her friend worked at this amazing history store & his co-worker gave us some history lessons & let us hold the long swords they have inside there. We then walked around Karl Johans Gate, had TGIFridays for dinner & ended the night with candy & movies. We ended up watching Thor: Ragnork which apparently wasn't released yet in Canada so that was cool.
After that day, I didn't get to see my cousin again because she was super busy with school & then went out of the city on the weekend for a school-related trip. For the rest of my week there, I hung out with my other cousins & we had a couple movie nights & chilled at the house which I didn't mind because it was pretty cold there & I hadn't come prepared in the right winter wear. On one of the days, I also went over to my uncle's house to meet him in person after so many years of talking to him on the phone back when I was a kid. Moss & Oslo were a lot more chill than London was but I didn't mind much & was starting to get home sick.
After coming back to Canada, I realized there are many different ways in which we live compared to Europeans. I also realized how very blessed I am for this being my home. Europe is nice to visit & vacation in but it's such an expensive continent & everything is smaller there: homes, sugar intake, Starbucks venti drinks, space; everything is so congested. I still will be planning a trip back hopefully sooner than later because I'm obsessed with it despite it's differences from North America. I hope to check out Abu Dhabi, Greece, France, Amsterdam & so many more places.
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