My ticket to ride in the year 2000
Definitely not my hot-girl European summer, but still a European adventure
It is winter here in southern Australia - really winter. While it does not snow where I live at sea level near the ocean, the weather is freezing right now, and most everyone I know is headed to or coming back from their fabulous European, hot-girl summer. I went to Europe at the end of winter in the year 2000 and I was even colder than I am right now.
So in the year 2000 when the world had recently survived the Y2K bug, I found myself with an opportunity to head to Europe for a conference related to my PhD studies. To my amazement, I was allowed to take my holidays at the same time, so after the conference I embarked on a 4-week backpacking trip around western Europe, with only a Europass, backpack with minimal clothing, and a youth hostel card in tow. As a broke student, this was more than enough for an adventure across Europe, particularly as my university paid for my airfare. I managed to save the USD600 (approximately $900 Australian back in the day) for the Europass below and my ticket to ride across Europe was sent to me in the post.
While the twenty-somethings of today have it a whole lot easier in accessing easy, overseas travel options with the invention of the internet, social media and travel blogs, in an almost prehistoric time when travel was harder and involved paper tickets and booking in-person at a physical ticket window, I went on a backpacking adventure to Europe.
The lack of internet access, no mobile phones and still having to carry travel guide books and an actual camera with film to get any photos like the one above with the menu, you might think this adventure involved a lot of advance planning. But no, with no advance bookings apart from the conference hotel in Munich, I somehow managed to get around western Europe with a reasonably light-on bank account, a Europass and an uncanny knack for winging it without getting into too much trouble.
Whilst I landed in Munich late February for the conference and spent a good amount of time sightseeing, frolicking in the snow in my pyjamas on my first morning with my Swiss roomies at the hostel, and drinking large steins of beer at the Hofbräuhaus, my ticket to ride was validated five days later when I left Munich and headed to Zurich.
I may not have remembered these exact details without the immediacy of today’s social media, but due to the paper tickets and other physical mementos I have kept all these years, I can look back at everything I did, right down to the postcards I wrote and sent back home, the entry tickets to various places, ATM receipts for French francs, Italian lira and Spanish pesos, and the email addresses of people I met along the way.
While there were many sights and places of interest I skipped along the way, time was of the essence and my ticket to ride and the people I met determined where I went. I had vague plans, a few must-sees, but ultimately I made my way across, up and back, and around western Europe with no real expectation or intention to see anything on any particular day.
As I’ve said before, I prefer not to plan and winging it is the best way to go. Expect the unexpected. Plans change. You might find out about something new and make a last-minute detour. This happens to me all the bloody time, so planning a trip in advance would ruin everything!
In Europe, my initial plan was to head down from Germany to Switzerland and Italy. I made side tours and day trips to Liechtenstein (hiking up to the castle), Venice and Verona. I was unable to access money when I hit Rome and was lucky enough to meet some Americans at the hostel who took me out and about, paid for me to attend a few places like the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City and various places around Rome, including the Colosseum.
They left a day or two later to head up to Paris and fly home from Amsterdam. To repay them (there was no PayPal or Venmo) I scooted up to Paris when I could access my money, rather than continuing my planned route around the coast to Nice and Marseilles, and I ended up travelling on to Amsterdam with them before heading to Barcelona to resume my trip albeit all out of order.
The best thing about that sidestep in my trip was that I had company in the red light district and cafés of Amsterdam and they introduced me to great entertainment like the Boom Chicago improv show, while I showed them the underground of Paris in Les Catacombs of Paris that I was dying to see (pun intended) and encouraged them to climb the Eiffel Tower with me!
I eventually got back to Nice, but missed Marseilles. From Nice I did day trips to Cannes and Monaco. I saw the changing of the guard at the Palace of Monaco while it was pouring rain with a hot cup of coffee. I definitely would not have seen this if I’d continued to Nice on my original route around the coast from Rome because I would have only stopped for an hour or so in Monaco rather than spending a whole day there. On the other hand I also missed stopping at Genoa.
All in all, my ticket to ride took me all across Europe on train and buses, overnight sometimes to avoid paying for a hostel. I only got robbed once when I fell asleep in second class, unable to get a first class seat or sleeper cabin between Barcelona and Nice. But luckily they only took money, not my passport, tickets or other important documentation.
Although I only saw a very small piece of Europe on that trip I did see some amazing historical and cultural sites including the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, La Pedrera (Gaudi rooftop) and the Picasso Museum in Barcelona, hearing the Pope speak at the Vatican on Ash Wednesday - a happy accident, and of course the Eiffel Tower and the Catacombs in Paris. I also managed to be in Venice and Verona for Carnivale.
Ultimately, I will return to Europe one day, I really want to see Portugal, southern Italy, Malta and the rest of Spain, as I only saw Barcelona. I would also like to see the eastern side of Europe like Prague, Croatia and Albania, having already been to Greece. So while my next adventure is coming up soon there is always time to plan another trip and this may just be it. Perhaps I can get my hot-(old)girl, European summer in one day after all!
Europe was my second solo trip overseas, if you want to read about my first check this one out.
China 1999 - where I fell in love with myself, new cultures and the laughing buddha
If you have read my “About” page you will know that my first overseas adventure as a solo adult was to China in 1999. I was in the second year of my PhD studies, just. I had to get a passport. I had …