Spontaneous Europe Trip

Hello! Back from my spontaneous trip to the other side of the world. I think travel does (partially) cure the heart. Spontaneous because flights and everything was booked less than a month to departure date. Probably never again since it was quite hectic, but good stress.

I'm not sure how I'm going to blog this, either by day or combine days, or do separate food posts. I mainly went to eat there and did minimal shopping. The amount spent on food, I could've brought a really nice LV...but obviously didn't...next time I'll spend less on food lol. Probably going to take so much time, so might do a few blog posts each day...plus my back log of food posts in Sydney...

Straight back to work today but I'm not complaining, my bank account and card is empty.

How to fight off jet lag: just try to sleep a lot on the plane, then come back home and sleep for over 12 hours.

I didn't actually gain a lot of weight over the 3 weeks even though I ate 4 times the amount what I normally eat. Maybe because averaged 20 to 30 000 steps per day, a lot more than the recommended 10k, which balances out. Normally I eat without exercising, but I ate 4x the amount and walked 2x the recommended and normally I don't even walk 10k...go figure...If I went to eat during high school, I bet I couldn't eaten twice what I ate this trip...but the older I get, the less I can eat. Sorry not sorry for all the snaps.

First impressions:
Iceland:
- Everything is soon expensive, even the supermarket is expensive. Nothing is cheap, even if you go looking for cheap things
- Definitely relaxing and such a cute country
- Umbrellas are 100% useless, just deal with the falling snow and rain, and get a good raincoat
- Their number 1 income is tourism, and they're expecting triple the amount this year. Guess I went before the crowds lol. Hotels are being built everywhere
- No Asians anywhere

Europe:
- Do you really need to have money down to the single cent?
- Manage to not get mugged
- Didn't end up paying a single cent on toilets
- I can never go to any Sydney museums. Even museums over there displayed signs that stuff was sent to a Sydney exhibition
- Their architecture and history is amazing, I can see why people visit Europe time and time again
- Primark is amazing
- Going to miss the cold weather and the every minute trains and also inter-country trains

Amsterdam:
- Smoke, smoke, smoke everywhere. Way more than Syd
- Even in a foggy winter, the houses and canals are so cute
- Alcohol is sooo cheap
- Love the free candy overtime you pay your bill

Brussels:
- I don't think I can ever have chocolate again, after eating Belgian chocolate. I feel like the exported Belgian chocolate here has added sugar before Aus imports it. It tastes way too sugary here, like even places like Oliver Brown who have 'Belgian' chocolate, it's nothing compared to the authentic thing there
- They do have the best beers in the world. My time was limited, so couldn't try a lot, but they have all the beer flavours/combinations that you can and even can't think of. They even have charity beer-like what?
- Also can't forget their waffles, fries and mussels

Paris:
- Dirtiest subways ever, and I thought NYC was bad, until I saw Paris...Their train doors aren't even automatic
- Streets are pretty unclean as well
- Didn't manage to get any dirty glares from the waiters
- Not being racist, but those black people who sell eiffel towers are so annoying, like I'm not going to buy stuff off you, so can you please just go away?
- Managed to escape the touristy restaurants, but lucky most local places have an English menu
- Never paying for an $8 coffee ever again
- Back to seeing Asian tourists
- Will be back for the food, definitely.

London:
- Reminds me of Sydney in terms of prices. If you eat three meals a day out in Sydney CBD it's pretty much similar in terms of prices, probably just a bit more expensive over there.
- Their markets are a million times better than Sydney
- The weather there isn't too bad. Was lucky enough to go to all the sightseeing places with no rain. Mainly rains a little in the morning or night, but super, super light rain.
- Didn't manage enough time to do my tax, so nts: get there 2 hours earlier even in low season. So many Asian people with 1m long receipts stacked like 2cm high. That is a lot of stuff to process. Luckily I didn't buy any luxury goods so wouldn't have been too disappointed if I didn't get my tax back. Although the total for my tax back if I did leave enough time would probs be equivalent to a day's pay...Oh well, I went to enough free museums, so I guess I maximised the tax I paid lol.

There were still so many places that I didn't have time to eat, and really rushed through a lot of the museums and sights. Special shoutout to Connie for the food recommendations! Yes, I have decided, I will be back!

People value different things, and I value travel, experiencing new sights and trying new food. Even though all my savings were poured into just a few weeks, I know time is limited. When I do have money I won't have the time, so it really is yolo. It would be a different experience to travel when you're older and literally just relaxing. So glad I did this spontaneous trip. More to come (hopefully)!