I don’t think I could live in Europe permanently, but it’s definitely a nice place to visit and I had a great time. Here are a few of the little things that I’m going to miss about Europe while I readjust to life at home here in the States:
(Some of these items are pretty specific to the cities that I visited in the Baltic Sea region. Some aren’t specific to Europe necessarily and can apply to many countries abroad.)
Smoked salmon all the time
A delicacy I will miss
Being near the sea
Friendly Scandinavian people
Reading non-English signs
Drinking soda made with real sugar
Juxtaposition between a 1-year-old building and a 1000-year-old building
How a building is “modern” if it is primarily covered in glass
Cities claiming to be “the Venice of the North” (I visited 3)
Seeing TV adverts for Game of Thrones while I watch HomeImprovement
Fabergé eggs
Castles
Throwbacks to medieval and feudal history in general
Winter palaces
Magnificent cathedrals
Bullet holes in scorched stone & brick walls
Royal seals and emblems
Histories of royal families
Dining al fresco
Dusting off my 6 years of French “skillz”
I had a lot of fun, and these are just a few of the little things that made my vacation spectacular. I hope I can go back someday.
Before I do a city-by-city recap of my vacation, I want to make sure I spotlight one of the main features of my trip. This was my first time on a cruise ship and it was pretty spectacular! It was even better than I imagined it to be.
We originally wanted to do a 12-day cruise that started and ended in London, with a stop in Amsterdam, but we hit a SNAFU with that one, so we did a 9-day cruise that began and ended in Copenhagen, minus the stop in Amsterdam. This was a blessing in disguise, because it afforded us more time in London and the opportunity to visit Paris!
The cruise ship that we called home for 9 days was the Norwegian Star. I cannot recommend the ship more. It was amazing. The ship was extremely well-kept and the staff was SO welcoming and friendly and wonderful. They made you feel like a part of the giant family that we had on the ship. The entertainment staff in particular was really good about knowing people’s names and always being very welcoming and courteous to guests. Serious shout out to the beautiful fantabulous staff on the Norwegian Star.
The entire experience was just so fun and comfortable. From the moment you walk onto the ship, you’re greeted by your crew, dancing along to electronic dance music. (I felt that EDM was really appropriate for a European cruise.) Sometimes they give you little bits of drink or gelatin snacks. Sometimes the crew will come out on stilts. Sometimes they provide nice ice cold towels for relief on a hot day. The welcome makes you feel so welcome and wanted. Plus, every day, we were greeted by a cute little towel animal on our bed!
Examples of the towel animals we would find on our beds
The food on the ship was delicious. Our favorite spot was Versailles, which was of the no-cover joints. Since our cruise fare included food, we didn’t have to pay at any of the restaurants. However, there were a few places that required cover as they were slightly fancier, like the Brazilian steakhouse and the teppanyaki restaurant. We loved Versailles because the food was really yummy, and we really didn’t want to venture to the other places after loving the first place we chose. I had the best steak of my life there. It was only one time, even though I tried to get it again, but it was the best steak of my life. And I’m not even a huge steak fan.
Surf & turf on our first night at Versailles yummmBeautiful sugar-free chocolate panna cottaChoosing a dessert was really difficult. #firstworldproblems
There were a lot of fun activities available. There was a casino, shuffleboard!, a great pool, lots of hot tubs, Bingo, karaoke at the bar… there was a LOT. There were a handful of big parties that they had, with lots of dance music and booze for all the senior citizens and people closer to my age. (Lots of line dancing, I’ll tell you that.) It was VERY difficult to be bored on this ship. I even managed to escape a few times to their library, where there were daily sudoku and crossword puzzles, as well as a bunch of great reading options. (Also, I could eat basically all day.)
Ping-pong and GIANT CHECKERS!GIANT CHESS!
This game is called “The Keymaster” and its song haunts my dreams.We don’t know the rules for shuffleboard.
On top of that, I saw some brilliant performances while aboard the Star. There was this great musician who played a bunch of cultural folk songs using a variety of instruments, like the pan flute! I don’t remember his name, but he had this fantastic energy, even though between songs he was very calm and collected. We also saw this MAGNIFICENT Russian acrobatics duo that absolutely took my breath away. Maria and Dimitri have such control over their bodies and the choreography was so fresh and beautiful. We also saw a show by Brenda Cochrane, who was fabulous.
I think I severely underestimated how wonderful our cruise would be. I loved it. I loved it times a million. I want everyone to get to experience what I experienced on that ship, maybe minus the bit of seasickness that kept me from stuffing my face so furiously.
I have so many more photos, but I don’t want to overwhelm you guys. I will most likely be making a separate post about just some gorgeous water shots I got, because there were a lot of those. But I need to publish this before it’s winter XD
I could (and will) write a post about what I loved about Europe that isn’t available in the United States.
But I figured that coming home is a good time to appreciate what make this my home country and some of the little-thing reasons that I enjoy coming home.
Not paying to use public restrooms
The general disinterest in sparkling water
This should not be a question. Always still water.
The implicit assumption that asking for water means the free water
Peaches! Lots of apricot love over there, but where were the peaches?
Having the confidence to speak in my natural American accent (my accent is… flexible) (I’ll talk about it later)
Seeing another East Asian face and not knowing that he/she was most likely a tourist
People not assuming that I am a tourist (… all the time)
On a similar note, good Chinese food
Cheaper public transportation
Cheaper everything
Not converting prices into euros or pounds sterling or rubles or krones or kronas
My mental math isn’t what I would like it to be…
Bread always coming with butter or oil
Portions so large that I felt almost uncomfortably full. Almost. (I am American, therefore I eat and I eat too much.)
Not being limited by the number of adapters/converters we brought to charge electronics
This is my list for noooow. I may come back to add more, but I feel like I need to publish before I put it off for half a year. ^^;
It seems like a lot of little, superficial things, but I think it’s often the little things that make you miss home. I am also a bit pre-occupied as I publish this, so maybe something HUGE will hit me later. 😛
What do you miss about your home country when you travel abroad?
… what am I forgetting? Famous last words before basically every vacation I ever take. I will be on a plane to kick off my Eurotrip in a few hours! Thanks for all the suggestions, and please do keep them coming as I only feel marginally less lost than I did a few weeks ago. […]
On top of that, I saw some brilliant performances while aboard the Star. There was this great musician who played a bunch of cultural folk songs using a variety of instruments, like the pan flute! I don’t remember his name, but he had this fantastic energy, even though between songs he was very calm and collected. We also saw this 
Sip of Starrshine 