Arriving in Prague after an early morning flight we dropped our bags off at the hostel and joined the group for a walking tour of the city. I was digging for my wallet to buy some traditional Czech food, when I realized it was gone. Without me noticing, someone slipped their hand in my purse and scooped up my entire wallet, which has absolutely all my cards, cash, and IDs. I had no spare cards neither on the trip nor back in London. I found myself on the first day of a 10-day trip across 5 European cities with no money and no way to have cards shipped to me.
I was living every traveller’s worse nightmare. First thing I did was call my parents ask them to cancel all the cards and re-order new ones and ship them to London. They immediately did so and deposited money into my friend’s bank account so I would have access to cash through ATM withdrawals.
I had to make a conscious decision to not let this unpleasant incident ruin my trip. I put it behind me and proceeded on my trip as planned. The trip was amazing, everything I expected and more. We went to Prague, Berlin, Amsterdam, Brussels, and Paris. Each city was amazing in its own way, but my favorites were Berlin and Paris.
Berlin was so rich in history. It was mind blowing to think that only 20 years prior the city was completely different, it was war-torn and divided. I loved the architecture and the culture. Paris, of course, was amazing. Many people had told me it was overrated, touristy, and filled with rude French people, but in my experience this was not the case. Paris lived up to the hype. We walked along the Seine from the Louvre to the Eiffel Tower, strolled under the Arc de Triomphe and marveled at the stores along the Champs Elysees. We also got to see the Eiffel Tower light up at night, and explore the famous French department store Galeries Lafayette. Lets not forget the most important part: the food. We feasted on traditional crepes, steak and fries, and croque-madam.
A student travel company called Bus2Alps planned our trip. At first we were nervous that it was going to be overly guided and overwhelming, but it was just the opposite. We had the perfect balance between guidance and freedom and got to know the cities very well in the short time amount we had. I would definitely recommend booking a trip with them.
Overall, fall break was a success. Now I’m back in my London school-work routine. Over the past few days I’ve felt waves of homesickness mainly due to the weather. With the time change it now gets dark at around 5, skies are darker, and it’s raining more, which I’m not a fan of. Despite the weather, London is still gorgeous and there’s so much I still have to explore. Next weekend: ROME!