Our Epic 2025 Europe Trip--Short Summary

On May 22, we took the kids on their very first international flight to Amsterdam, and officially kicked off an epic European adventure that we'd been planning for about 2 years. On June 29, we flew home from the London Heathrow Airport. Both flights were direct. We kept a record of our travels that we'll be sharing on our blog (since this is our family journal), but for those who only want highlights, this is the post for you. Here's our trip by the numbers: 

39 days

5 people

3 time zones 

2 Continents

13 countries

3 stamps in our passports

10,382.22 average daily steps

4.165 average miles walked per day

4106 pictures---630 more pictures taken by Michael (for reference, that’s more than he took in the 7 months previous, and far more than the 10 pictures he took on our last family trip)

5 airplanes

2 ferries

33 trains

33 taxi/uber rides

2 rides from family/friends

14 bus rides

2 ocean cruises

1 river dinner cruise

1 cancelled train

13 Airbnbs/hotels/cruise cabins

18 UNESCO World Heritage Sites

4 private tours

17 guided tours

1 Blacksmith class

12 museums

1 Chunnel crossing

9 cathedrals

2 cathedral domes climbed

2 mosques

2 Sacrament meetings attended

1 Blarney stone kissed

9 hats purchased

4 sweatshirts purchased

1 t-shirt purchased

2 Tubes of toothpaste used

1.5 bottles of sunscreen used

4 items lost and never recovered

5 colds caught (1 that led to a sinus and ear infection)

4 nights that someone threw up

3 days that laundry almost broke us

1 person stranded without toilet paper in a public bathroom (number of times that said person checked before going in another bathroom: every time)

Countless: Number of croissants consumed 

Here's a map of our journey. Please note that the light blue lines represent our cruises, and we did not take a ship over land. The app that Brian used to make this map didn't have a cruising option.

My mom was with us from the Salt Lake Airport (May 22) until June 8, which was a ton of fun. This was her first trip to Europe, and we tried to pack as many things into her trip as we could, and we sent her home completely worn out, especially her feet. Here are some of the things we got to see with her: 

The Anne Frank House, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

The Palace of Versailles, France

The Louvre Museum, Paris, France

When we got to Rome, Italy, we met up with Nana and Papa, as well as Lara and Greg.  A Mediterranean Cruise brought us all on this journey together. Our cruise was bookended by sightseeing in Rome. Here's some things we got to see with everyone (or at least with Nana, Papa, and Grandma). 

Trevi Fountain, Rome, Italy

Vatican City (from the top of St. Peter's Basilica)

St. Mark's Basilica, Venice, Italy 

Gondola Ride, Venice, Italy

Olympia, Greece

National Archaeological Museum, Athens, Greece

The Acropolis (home of the Parthenon), Athens, Greece

The Library of Celsus, Ephesus, Turkey

Glyfada Beach, Corfu, Greece

Pompeii Archaeological Site, Italy

The Colosseum, Rome, Italy

The Pantheon, Rome, Italy

After our second stay in Rome, we said goodbye to Nana, Papa, Grandma, Lara, and Greg, and headed out with just the five of us. By this point, it was June 8.  

Gates of Paradise, Opera del Duomo Museum, Florence, Italy

Auschwitz, Poland

Utah Beach, Normandy, France

Verdun World War I trenches, near Fort Douaumont, France

Disneyland Paris, Marne-la-Vallée, France

Eiffel Tower, Paris, France

Kings Cross Station, London, England

Elizabeth Tower (home of Big Ben), Westminster, England

Hogwarts Bridge, Harry Potter Studios, England

Mandrakes, Harry Potter Studio Tour, England

Combe Mill, Blenheim Estate, England

Tower of London and Tower Bridge, London, England

Hamilton, Victoria Palace Theater, London's West End, England

Conwy Castle, Wales

Loch Lomond, Scotland

Titanic Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

Giant's Causeway, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

Chester, England, United Kingdom

Blarney Stone, Blarney Castle, Ireland

Cobh, Ireland

May 2025 Part 6: Wrapping it all up and Getting Ready to Go

May brought us flowers, including my favorite ones, lilacs:

May also brought us a garage door problem. Just one day, our garage stopped opening. Or was it closing? Either way, we parked our van in the driveway for a couple of days until a repairman came and got it all fixed up for us. 

May brought another wrist surgery for Brian, this time for De Quervains tendon release. It was an in-office procedure. Brian drove himself there and home again. 

May brought me this Coke Zero. (I don't love the campaign with the names on the can). 

May brought a puzzle into the forefront of Rachel's mind. Unfortunately, it didn't provide the completion of this puzzle. 

We spotted some sharks walking down the road when we were out for a walk. Thankfully, they didn't bite or try to start a gang war with us. 

We did a lot of shopping to make sure we had everything we needed for our Europe trip, and I was so excited to fit into a pair of size 10 jeans. I didn't like how they looked, so I didn't get them, but I fit into them. And they weren't even too tight. I think the last time I wore size 10 jeans was when I was a missionary. (Also, I'm 5'7" so if I ever slimmed down to a size 6 or 4, I would look anorexic, especially with my body shape). 

I had a weird bump show up on my foot, and with Europe looming, we didn't have time to mess around with what it was, so we went to the Instacare to have it checked out. We had originally thought it might be a plantar wart, but it turned out to be a splinter and infection. A couple of days post treatment, and we were good to go. 

Rachel cheered on her brothers at some of their games. 

And she helped me plant the garden. 

Here are the kids with Brian and Papa after one of the flag football games. This probably should have been on the Flag Football post, but it isn't. 

Here's Brian's poor arm a week post surgery? I think? He kept it wrapped for two weeks, but when he got it wet, he had to re-wrap it. 

The kids' elementary school has a Wolf Run every May. Apparently, Rachel twisted her ankle at last year's Wolf run, and she really didn't want to do the Wolf run again. I would have just let her skip it except I felt like she needed to face her ankle twisting fears and do it. I offered to walk it with her, and she took me up on my offer. Brian came along too. We had a lovely walk, and we don't care that we got passed by 1st and 2nd graders who started much later than we did. 

That same day, the kids got to have a color blast/fight with colored chalk. Here's the after shots: 

Rachel had to go straight to dance with all the chalk in her hair, so the effect is a bit lost, but you can see traces of the wild colors in her hair. 

There was some...well, actually, I'm not sure what was going on here, but it happened. In May. 

Here's Brian's wrist 2 weeks post surgery, when he got to leave the wrapping off. 

Towards the end of May, a week or two after my main lilacs stopped blooming, this little lilacish bush bloomed like crazy! It was so wonderful!

Gracie, as usual, kept vigil over our neighborhood, but only when she wasn't sleeping. So, for about an hour each day. 

And don't you worry, we washed our hands a lot in May. Oh, now I see why Brian took this picture. I have a piece of ham in my mouth. He thought that was pretty funny. I guess he didn't realize what a country bumpkin he married. 

A couple of days before we left for Europe, Skyler ended up in the hospital in a near diabetic coma. This is how Lea and Shayne found out Skyler has Type 1 Diabetes. We were all really concerned and worried, especially Rachel and Gabe. Skyler is their buddy, and it was so hard seeing him so out of it, so sick. Thankfully, Type 1 Diabetes has been around for a while, and the doctors and nurses knew exactly what to do, but that didn't keep us from worrying, praying, and worrying some more. Gabe and Rachel really struggled leaving town when he was still in the hospital. 

In May, my bird feeder camera became a kiss cam for these two cute finches. 

This note looks like it belongs in a horror film, but do not be alarmed. It is just Gabe letting us know he's at Jackson's house. 

The day before heading to Europe, I got my hair done. 

After I got home, we finished up the laundry and got hard to work packing. We had to pack for cool spring days and summer days. We had cruises, sightseeing, a Disney park, climbing, and so much walking planned, and we had to be ready for all of it! Thankfully, we'd been working on our packing list for months and weeks leading up to our trip. We pulled out our lanyards, some small Minnie Ears, umbrellas, puffer jackets, cruise luggage tags, noisemakers, and so much more. 

We had most of it sorted and packed up Wednesday night. On Thursday, May 22, I got my lashes filled while Brian worked on gathering up things and cleaning up our house. Michael was working frantically to find football sponsors since all that was going to be due while we were gone. We delivered our houseplants to our neighbor so she could watch them while we were gone. We washed all of our sheets, and Brian and I remade our bed so it would be fresh for us when we got home. We meant to clean out our van for Alisa's family, but that fell through the cracks. Finally, we were all packed and ready to go on our epic 39 day trip to Europe!