Grüß Gott? Grüß Gott readers! One thing you should know about me is that I love traveling. Spending a couple years overseas as a child had an enormous effect on me. During that time, my family traveled around Asia, mostly (and some other places in the world), and this invigorated my love for travel.
I believe you can learn so much about yourself and the world around you from interacting with another culture. While studying abroad in Austria, the Linfield gang and I have tried to take advantage of the ease of traveling in Europe. It is so easy to find a flight, train, or bus that can get you to your destination that you could be in your desired country by nightfall.
Since knowing I would be studying in Vienna, I have said that I want to try to get to all of Austria’s neighboring countries. Although I have not completed this goal, I have made it to over half of its neighboring countries as well as two others. My journey across Europe has included Germany, Poland, Hungary, Italy, Czechia, and Greece (also Switzerland, Slovenia, and Croatia if you count just passing through). While our travels have been fun and more on the positive side overall, I have realized some important things that I want to share with you all.
- ALWAYS, always, always check multiple times to make sure you have your passport with you! When Rachel, Sage, and I traveled to Greece, we woke up at 1:30 am to leave from my apartment for the airport together and Rachel realized she couldn’t find her passport. We ended up having to Uber to her apartment (public transportation had either slowed down or stopped for the night) and we waited outside her building for 20 minutes to see if she found it. She eventually found it in a drawer in her room, but during the time we didn’t know where her passport was, it was really nerve-racking. After that day, we all know to triple check to make sure we know where our passports are at all times. This way we would never have to go through a situation like that again.
Lizzie looking absolutely exhausted and stressed waiting on the sidewalk at 1:30 in the morning while waiting for Rachel to find her passport. - Make sure to research where you are going! When we headed to Greece, we didn’t do much research. We decided to stay on the island of Corfu after hearing that it was very beautiful and fun for young travelers. However, we didn’t realize that Corfu was actually quite a big island and that where we had chosen to stay was a bit off the beaten path. Although the village of Nissaki on the island was absolutely beautiful, it honestly wasn’t what we expected. It was small and rural, and not exactly something we had experienced before. If we knew beforehand the ins and outs of the island, I think our time in Corfu would have been much different and we would have come to the island with maybe some different expectations.
We didn’t know the village would center around this very small beach, but once we settled in, we spent most of our time here and it was phenomenal! 
While we didn’t know much about Corfu before arriving, we quickly saw its beauty, like in this picture of the sunrise looking out of Nissaki Bay, Corfu, Greece. - Plan your itinerary in advance! During our time in Europe, we spent time in Budapest and Florence. I have found that our experiences there were vastly different. I think one part of this is that when traveling to Budapest we didn’t have a concrete plan. We were more going with the flow and finding suggestions quickly online. Yet, with Florence, Sage and I sat down and talked and meticulously researched what seemed to be everything about the city. That way we were able to synthesize all the information we absorbed on the internet and then create an itinerary before we arrived. I think our trip then went much more smoothly and we were able to then be flexible with our itinerary if we wanted to do something else during the day.
Rachel, Lizzie, and Sage on the train to Budapest with no idea what they will be doing once they get there. Only pure (and maybe naive) joy is present on their faces. - Take advantage of cheap deals! Flights within Europe can be notoriously cheap. So cheap that sometimes you would only get to bring one bag with you on the flight. For example, we found €24 plane tickets to Greece. For our fall break (a full week off of classes), we had to take advantage of that! None of us had been to Corfu and we thought “well, let’s do it!” We were able to chill on the beach for 5 days because our flights were so cheap!
Even though the flights were cheap, the views (even at night) were priceless. - Don’t be afraid to try something new! One way that we traveled in Europe was on a Flixbus. It was a very cheap option to travel from Florence to Vienna. Although there were many bumps in the road during that travel day (which may or may not have included one of us almost getting stuck in Bologna, Italy, and not just because it was a bus ride), Sage and I were excited to go on the bus. We knew that the conditions were not ideal but when can I say that I was 20 taking a night bus throughout Europe ever again?
A blurry picture of the Flixbus pulling up to the next destination on its journey (where Sage and I got on). This is the only picture I have from that whole experience…there were some traumatic and frustrating moments I didn’t want to remember in the end! - Have fun! A saying that I have lived by my entire time in Vienna and Europe is “you will never be 20 in Vienna again.” This has really made me feel like it was okay to have fun and enjoy life. At times I really felt guilty being abroad. My family and friends were at home and weren’t getting to experience what I was experiencing, but again I am never going to be 20 in Vienna again, so why not make the most out of things?
Lizzie floating in the Ionian Sea, feeling at peace and enjoying life. Elizabeth
