To say that we had been looking forward to my parent’s visiting would be an understatement. To say that we were very excited would also not be completely correct. This trip had been a highlight on our calendar since saying goodbye to my parents on our last evening in the United States near the end of last August.
Now that my parents are safely back at home, and their trip is complete, I can be honest about some of the inauspicious signs that preceded my parents almost three-week tour of Europe.
For those of you that don’t know, my parents were going to spend their first trip to Europe going to London, then flying to meet to Nancy and I in Barcelona, only to be whisked away by a luxury cruise-liner for the next 7 days, while we ate, gambled (me) and lounged ourselves on board the cruise liner soaking up the sun in the Mediterranean Sea. However, this would all change upon hearing the now infamous news of the sinking of the Costa Concordia – the very same ship that my parents had already reserved two rooms, for the four us. By now, I am assuming that we all know the story, or at least this picture might jog your memory …
All of a sudden, this doesn't seem like such a good idea...
Upon reading the news, I literally sent my parents an email with the title, “I hope this isn’t our boat”. However, it was. Needless to say, ‘our’ cruise ship was permanently parked off the coast of Italy and we now had an entire week without plans. I suppose there are worse problems.
My parents decided that they wanted to see the bigger cities of Europe and created a list that even Carmen Sandiego would have a hard time keeping up with. “Todd, instead of the cruise, we want to try to visit Rome, Athens and Paris.”. I started laughing, but quickly realized they were being serious. I tried to grasp the idea of doing so much in such a short period of time, and in a way where a son always wants to please his mother, I tried to take it seriously – looking into flights, transportation, etc. By some sort of miracle, we were able to find flights for as cheap as 11€ to Rome. Our next hypothetical flight was only 30€. All of sudden, the idea became something tangible and we began booking flights. We rearranged a couple days of their trip and voila … the European capitals were being pieced together like the puzzle Nancy bought me for my birthday and then proceeded to complete without me. But, I digress. :-)
We started to get excited … that is, until we saw the next piece of news lended another inauspicious omen to our trip -- the riots in Athens, Greece – less than three weeks before we were to arrive. Well, this is just great. After, confirming with our hotel and receiving a less than comforting response (“it happened so many blocks away from our hotel”, they said), we decided to stick it out.
Yes, this looks like a place I would like to visit...
I think we were all a little concerned, however, I pretended and maintained the storyline that ‘this is all of part of the excitement of international travel’. Or so the story goes.
For me personally, part of my excitement was due to the fact that this was my parent’s first trip to Europe. I was incredibly excited to be able to share this experience with them, to be able to share something with them that has meant so much to me. Studying abroad in Spain in 2004 changed me and opened my eyes in so many ways and I was excited that my parents would now be able to experience this same … experience, getting out of their comfort zone, waking up in a new country every 3 days (not necessarily my parent’s choice), etc.
Here was their over-achieving, first European trip, itinerary:
Atlanta to London. 4207 miles.
London to Barcelona. 709 miles.
Barcelona to Rome. 533 miles.
Rome to Athens. 654 miles.
Athens to Madrid. 1473 miles.
Madrid to Linares (our home). 182 miles.
Linares to Granada. 40 miles.
Granada to Madrid. 222 miles.
Madrid to Paris. 655 miles.
Paris to London. 213 miles.
London to Atlanta. 4207 miles.
Whew, that was cumbersome to type. We can imagine what that must have been like to travel a total of 13,095 miles!!! The Earth’s circumference is 23,589. So, they literally traveled (half) the world to visit us. What an incredible feat!
London
My parents started their trip with 4 nights in London. Nancy and I were not with them on this part of the trip, but I wish we could have been with them to enjoy their first days in Europe.
Barcelona
Our time in Barcelona was short. Nancy and I took a 9 hour, overnight train from Linares in order to meet my parents at the airport when they arrived later that evening. I really like Barcelona, but it is not my favorite city in Spain. It has absolutely stunning architecture (think buildings and churches that are melting, and you can visualize it) that anybody would enjoy, it is vibrant, full of restaurants and bars. We were lucky to find an affordable hotel directly above Las Ramblas, in the heart of the city. We visited Antonio Gaudi’s La Sagrada Familia, Park Guell and checked out Christopher Columbus’ statue. Our 6:00am flight to Rome meant we were waking up at 2:45am for our flight. Ouch.
Rome
What words can adequately describe a city like Rome? The Eternal City. You are literally walking around a living, evolving museum. We were lucky to find a really neat 2-bedroom apartment through www.airbnb.com, again, in the heart of the city. It was right around the corner from Campo di Fiori, which has a fresh-air market each morning – my Dad would wake up early one morning and cooked all of us a now legendary breakfast that will go down in history – freshly-squeezed oranges, fresh peppers mixed with eggs, a bowl of the best strawberries we have ever tasted, I could go on.
In Rome, I’m not sure we were prepared to walk as much as we did. I think we heard the loudest complaints of blisters and walking too much while in this city. It is a difficult city to travel through because the subway/metro is limited … consequently, my Dad’s ‘toesies’ hurt for the majority of the trip. We shared some absolutely unforgettable lunches and dinners, overlooking St. Peters, around the corner from the Pantheon and in the ‘Jewish Ghetto’. We ate a lot of gelato and a lot of pasta. More importantly, Nancy and I did our part to ensure that there was less wine in the country of Italy than when we first arrived.
Athens
My first thoughts are of tzatziki sauce, hummus, greek salad, gyros … you see the theme. The food in Athens was absolutely incredibly! And if we thought Rome was old, we quickly realized that Athens has it beat. Nearly every monument we visited was almost 2500 years old – truly difficult to comprehend. We enjoyed the rooftop view of the Acropolis from our hotel and the tour of the Acropolis and the sunset from Lycabettus Hill were two highlights for me (besides the fooooood). The people were very friendly and accommodating and happy for us to be there. Getting to know the capital of Greece so well only made us more excited to return to introduce ourselves to the rest of the islands. Unfortunately, the beginning of March was a difficult time to go island-hopping and weren’t able to visit any of the islands. However, Athens definitely kept us busy for the 4 days we spent in the original ‘Classic City’. Now, I can probably create a knowledgeable Venn Diagram of Athens, Greece and Athens, Georgia.
Madrid/Linares
Of course we were excited to experience cities like Barcelona, Rome and Athens, but this was the part of the trip I was most excited about. I could not wait to introduce my parents to our city Linares, and our style of life and our surroundings. We had a long flight from Athens to Madrid, and we were pleasantly surprised by not only getting to watch a movie, but even a hot breakfast with free drinks – thank you Aegean Air. After our numerous flights on Ryan Air and EasyJet, we had forgotten that all air travel is not terrible.
We landed in Madrid and promptly waited in the car check-out line for almost an hour. We were quickly reminded that we were back in Spain, where everything works at its own pace. We finally got our car and were off. I won’t mention where we had a quick snack (for Dane Cook fans we will refer to it as the BK Lounge, and it also rhymes with Kurger Bing). We arrived in Linares that evening and I think all of us were excited to be around familiar surroundings (familiar to Nancy and I, at least). Nancy had to work during the week while my parents enjoyed our free Spanish lunches we cooked for them each afternoon and free access to the washing machine and dryer (which consisted of lines and clips to dry clothes on our back terrace). We introduced our parents to the siesta, the art of the tapa and innumerable olive trees and abandoned mines that surround our town.
Granada
We really wanted our parents to visit La Alhambra in Granada. It was on our must see list of friends and family visiting and is truly an incredible work of art from the late 14th century. We had two nights and one full day in Granada, so we were on foot again, much to the disappointment of my Dad’s toes.
*****
After Granada, we returned to Madrid, where my parents had yet another early-morning flight. This time, they were leaving Nancy and I. We had a wonderful last night in our hotel room in Madrid, enjoying a bottle of wine and some girl scout cookies that my parents had brought with them (is there anything better they could have brought with them?). I am already afraid to approach my last four Samoas. It was sad to say goodbye to my parents again, but nice to know that it is only a few short months until seeing them again.
Paris
They spent two more days in Paris without us, taking as many sights as Paris can offer in one-and-a-half days. They capped their trip with yet another early-morning ride, this time on the famous, underground Chunnel, connecting Paris and London. They arrived in London, connected to their airport and were flying back to Atlanta, Georgia, USA by mid-afternoon.
22 days and 13,000 miles later … I’m sure they also have quite the story to tell.
