During the summer of 2003 I finally brought a long-time dream of mine into reality: I quit my job and embarked on an epic journey through Europe. I have always felt that not having the opportunity previously to make such a trip has represented a gap in my education. About 4 years ago, after having graduated college and getting sucked into a bustling high tech industry, I started to visualize this trip. Finally all of the elements came together to make it possible: it was early spring, I had paid off my car and refinanced my house, I was frustrated with my job, and my savings account was up to the point where I could comfortably take a long period of time off in this now-difficult economy. This was my chance of a lifetime!
Here are the tales of my journey, described more or less the events actually occurred. These were meant both to share my adventures with family and friends back home (and that I met along the way!) and for my own personal record of my experiences. In addition I kept a travel journal which is more personal thoughts and will not be published here. This also contained the list of email addresses of all the interesting people I met during my travels, many of which you can read about here.
I made due with minimal travel guides, since books in my backpack were heavy. Rick Steves' "Europe Through the Back Door" was a wonderful guide, teaching me more about HOW to travel than what to do or where to go. For a beginner traveller his advice and the skills he gave me were priceless. I visited a large number of the little out-of-the-way places he recommended, and found many of my own as well.
I had about 5 months total for my travels; the first two months were spent on a sailboat crossing the Atlantic Ocean, and then about 2-1/2 months were spent on the mainland of Europe. My general route (graphical map to come) was: Boulder, Colorado -> Cape Canaveral, FL -> Bermuda -> Azores -> Portugal -> Spain -> Southern France -> Switzerland -> Italy -> Austria -> Germany -> Amsterdam -> Paris -> London -> New York -> Home. Whew!
Trip Reports
(All of my trip reports are Copyright (C) 2003 Adam Boggs)
| Report Date | Locations |
|---|---|
| June 27th, 2003 | Boulder, Florida, Bermuda, Azores |
| July 10th, 2003 | Sailing around the Azores |
| July 14th, 2003 | Leaving Azores |
| July 25th, 2003 | Sailing to Portugal, Lisbon, the Algarve (southern coast of Portugal) |
| August 5th, 2003 | Spain - Sevilla, Andalucia, Madrid, Toledo, and Barcelona |
| August 17th, 2003 | France and Switzerland - Arles, Lyon, Lausanne, Interlaken, swiss alps, Chamonix |
| September 2nd, 2003 | Italy - Cinque Terre, Pisa, Florence, Siena, Tuscany and Umbria, Rome, Assisi, Venice |
| September 8th, 2003 | Austria and Czech Republic - Innsbruck, Salzburg, Vienna, and Prague |
| September 22nd, 2003 | Germany - Berlin, Nurnburg, Wurzburg, Rothenburg, Biking the romantic road, Oktoberfest in Munich |
| October 8th, 2003 | End of the trip - Amsterdam, Paris, London, New York, Boulder Colorado |