June 30, 2025: Recovery and Reflections

On June 30, we set zero expectations. Sleep in. Unwind. Do what you want as long as it doesn't involve effort from mom and dad. Therefore, I have no idea what Gabe is doing in this picture. I see he has a swimming suit on, but I have so many questions now. Back then on that day though? Didn't care. 

And even though I planned to cook dinner (we were all so ready for home cooked food), we did end up getting Costa Vida. Unfortunately, Brian got cheated in his meal from there. Oh well. It was still nice to eat from one of our favorites again. 

My heart was really upset by the jet lag, and really probably everything I'd put it through on that whole trip, and it took the opportunity to protest most strongly to me. I think I also caught some kind of strange bug, like I mention in the last post. Here's my EKG from Monday with proof of anger/duress from my heart. 

And here's what my heart did while I was sleeping. I was a little surprised by this one, but it also explained why I felt to terrible all day. 

But the trip was totally worth it, and I would do it all over again. After a couple of days, we mostly adjusted back to our time zone, but we took things really easy that first week back, as planned. Thankfully, Adobe was shut down for the 4th of July, so Brian didn't have to worry about work. 

Here are some things we learned from our travels in Europe.

We asked our family what we appreciate more about the U.S. now that we've spent 39 days in Europe. Here's what we came up with: 

• No smoking. We'd heard that smoking is still very prevalent in Europe, but we were still surprised by how many people smoked, how little they heeded "no smoking" signs, and how much utter disregard they have for non-smokers. Our laws in the U.S. really protect us from second-hand smoke, and we love it.  
• More bathrooms--and they're free. No need to carry around coins to use the bathroom
• Mexican food-we did find a taco stand outside the Tower of London, but that was it. 
• No more croissants (but this only lasted a week, and then we were craving them again)
• My own room--ALL the kids were so excited to be back in their own room, and they appreciate what a blessing it is to not have to share a room. 
• Cold water--Europeans don't seem to like to drink water that is cold. 
• Free water--Restaurants here automatically provide water for free. In Europe, they don't, and if you're not careful, you can rack up quite a bill on bottled water at mealtimes. 
• Air conditioning that actually works--When a place advertises that they have air conditioning, don't expect that to mean the same thing as here in the U.S. 
• Toilet paper we like

Things we learned: trains and taxis

• A 10 minute walk with luggage in Europe is not the same as in the US due to cobblestones
• Metro is usually cheaper, trains are second
• Both won't always get you right where you need to be
• Taxis are definitely more expensive, but Uber is even more expensive
• Use apps like FreeNow to book local taxis
• Storing luggage on trains: do it between the seats!
• Make sure to board the train on the right side of your seat or else it will be difficult!
• If you can ever reserve your seat on a train, do it! 
• Book first class if you can, even if it's an accident
• Luggage covers are a pain 
• Plan ahead for where to put valuables while you are walking around, and always be aware of your valuables. Pick pockets are everywhere, especially tourist destinations.  (Our cross-body water bottle bags worked great for this) 
• Along those lines, a lot of tourist places won't let you take a backpack inside. Travel as light as you can each day. 
• Being a 10 minute walk from the train station wasn't always helpful for us, especially as we started taking more taxis for our luggage. 
• High speed trains are even faster than driving, but can cost even more (not always). The sooner you can book them, the less expensive they will be. 
• Chatgpt can be helpful to plan things, but always verify the information they give you
• Watch YouTube videos to find the best way to get around in each country/city. There are lot of travel vloggers out there, and they were a valuable resource for us to know what to expect and the best ways to get around. For example. I learned about the special regional train to Pompeii and even exactly where to get on it from watching videos. We would have had a lot more walking or taxi hailing without their help. 

Apartments:

• First floor is what we would call the second floor (it starts at 0 for ground level), and be aware of that for carrying luggage up the stairs
• Not all apartments are elevator accessible, so if you don't want to haul your luggage up six flights of stairs, check to make sure they have an elevator before booking. 
• Washers and dryers in Europe are very different. The single unit (washer/dryer combo) is great for day trips but terrible to get things done quickly. 
• VRBO was cheaper most of the time, but places often had hidden fees (cleaning fee in Paris). Annoying since they claim no hidden fees.
• In Italy, they will ask for photos of your IDs, and they will have city fees that you will most likely have to pay for with cash. 
• Hotels, as we think of them,  are rarely large enough to fit a family of 5. 
• Booking.com is probably the most utilized booking system in Europe. Priceline partners with them, so anything you book with Priceline will be handled by Booking.com

Cruising:

• Don't book Paddywagon in Ireland! 
• Cruises are great for taking it easier (floating hotels) 
• There are a lot more cruise friendly tours available through Trip Advisor and Get-Your-Guide than the US based cruises, and they can be relied on to get you to and from the cruise port on time, just like the ones booked through the cruise ship. 
• MSC cruises are very different
• Everything closes early. All food basically. 
• No free ice cream
• Not as many kids! 
• Potato chips are just fries
• Interior rooms trigger more motion sickness than a balcony room, so if you must book an interior room, maybe be sure to pack a portable fan. 
• If you leave or enter the Schengan Zone during your cruise, they will take your passport from you to satisfy customs on your behalf. This was incredibly unsettling for us, but it's pretty standard over there. Because we'd experienced it with MSC, we were less alarmed on our Carnival cruise when they needed our passports for our Irish ports (which were part of the EU instead of the UK). 

Eating: 

• Fast food doesn't really exist unless it's sandwiches or croissants
• Ordering water by the liter adds up
• Still vs gas water-know the difference!
• Sit down is very common in Italy, but it's all about the same
• Some places charge more if you eat inside their restaurant versus taking it to go 

Miscellaneous:

• Add a vacation for your credit cards 
• Watch foreign transaction fees
• American Express is not accepted everywhere; take more than one kind of card

Booking sites: 

• Know when you can get tickets and accommodate for time zone (Anne Frank House, catacombs in Paris, Eiffel Tower) Put the dates in your calendar and set an alarm so you can wake up and get them. 
• Know which sites you must book on their official site for tickets/audioguide only. Booking directly from the site will save money. Tour sites will buy tickets for you, but they mark them up significantly. Sometimes, it's worth it to pay the extra price as that may be your only way to see them, or it might save you time and hassle. For example, at the Pantheon, we could buy our tickets from the Pantheon site, but they wouldn't let us purchase them from the U.S. We had to be in Italy to buy them. I was worried about those tickets selling out or reaching capacity that day, so I bought our Pantheon tickets from Get Your Guide. It was maybe $5-10 more, but it was worth it to me to have a guaranteed spot inside. If we really wanted to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower, that would have been the only way we could have done it without waiting in line for hours on a hope, but the tours mark Eiffel Tower tickets up significantly, so we didn't do it. 
• If you can get tickets to "Skip the Line", do it. Time is one of your most precious resources on a trip like this. 
• Get Your Guide and TripAdvisor are great places to look for tours. If you want a really incredible tour, book through Tours by Locals. If we could have afforded it, we would have booked all our tours through them. 

Packing: 

• Plan for all kinds of weather. We knew we'd have much cooler weather in the British Isles and Holland than we would in the Mediterranean, and we knew we'd be touring no matter what weather we were handed. We packed hats and lighter clothes for the hotter areas, and made sure to have warm packable jackets for the cooler areas. I bought all our boys linen pants for the trip so they could stay cool even if they needed to wear pants. 
• Check the dress codes of places you're going to visit. The old Cathedrals like St. Marks and St. Peters require your knees and shoulders to be covered. We learned that our longer shorts were okay, and we always wear sleeves, so that wasn't a problem, but you want to make sure that you are respectful and prepared. Mosques require that women cover their hair, so I made sure to pack scarves for Rachel and I. 
• Invest in good shoes. I made sure everyone had good shoes except for myself, and I paid for it. I did however have good walking sandals that were nice for dressing up and keeping my feet cool on those hotter days. 
• Europeans dress nicer than we Americans do, so avoid athleisurewear where you can. Also avoid graphic tees or things with logos. Pack interchangeable tops and bottoms so you can still maintain a variety without packing a variety, if that makes sense. 
• Try not to overpack. I wished I had left a few shirts home. Anything you pack, you have to lug around, so be incredibly deliberate. 

Because I didn't want to worry about Rachel and Gabe having to tote luggage around these big cities, we decided to take three medium sized luggages for our family. Brian, Michael, and I would each be in charge of one. However, I knew it would be tricky to share these three because we would all be in different rooms in the different cities. I knew Rachel and Michael would be with my mom on our MSC cruise, but sometimes, Rachel, Gabe, and Michael would all be in different rooms, and on our last cruise, the three kids would be in a room together, while Brian and I were in our own. How, then, do we stay organized with five people in three bags with different configurations in each place? I decided to make everyone their own packing cube that would take up 1/2 of a luggage. 

We each got our own color of lightweight, ripstop nylon so it would be easily identifiable. I made a mesh pocket on the lid of the packing cube, so it was like they had their own luggage, except that it fit inside the larger luggage. I told them that everything they wanted to Europe (minus electronics) had to fit inside that bag. Michael's the only one who didn't exactly follow that. (And I guess me--my luggage had my packing cube as well as the laundry stuff, first aid kit, medicines, shared toiletries, and so Brian and I agreed I could spill over into the extra space) Everyone also had a large, plastic compression bag for their dirty laundry. I used a couple of smaller, compression packing cubes to keep my stuff organized, but I think I was the only one who did that. This worked really well. When we left a place, everyone knew which piece of luggage their packing cube needed to go in, and dividing into the various rooms was easy. However, I think that next time, we may just have everyone take their own carry-on because lugging around these large suitcases was a lot of work. Our kids are now experienced international travelers, and by the time we can afford to go again, they'll be older. Although, when we go again, we'll probably just stay in one place...probably.