Home now, final blog.
I'm home...thankful for a safe and smooth trip full of learning. I always marvel at how smooth things go in Europe if you're on the ball. In six weeks, I can't think of a mishap.
This blog was more fun (and more time-consuming) than I expected. I'm glad I did it. In fact, I hope to make this a regular part of my travels from now on. It reminded me of the fun I had a few years ago when I went to Europe to write my "Postcards from Europe," anecdotal book. I went not to make a TV show, lead a tour, or update a guidebook...but with just free time and a notebook.
Every few days on this trip, when it was blog time, I'd rummage through my collection of stray notes and cobble together an entry. Entries generally grew to be larger than I planned...but it's hard to tell a story correctly without a few paragraphs.
While all notes started out as stray notes, most ended up building something. But some never found a home. Now that my blog is done, I empty the bucket and find these last scraps (which for some reason, I can't bear to just chuck):
* Soviets learned it's easier to make something go away (like religion) if it's not completely forbidden. (I may have been trying to make a marijuana parallel.)
* Parenting on a European vacation changes radically as the kids get older. On this trip (in Dublin) our kids (aged 19 and 16) routinely stayed out later than Anne and I did. In the morning, we'd slip a paper under their hotel room door (we promised not to wake them up) inviting them to join us for breakfast if they were awake. We'd breakfast alone waiting to debrief the kids on their wee hours adventures.
* I told Jackie "I tried to River Dance and almost drowned." It's the first time she's laughed at one of my jokes in a long time.
* The pet peeves entry got me thinking about more pet peeves: Like hotels that put a decorative foot board on their beds that robs good sleep from guests like me over six feet tall. Like when I try to conserve by reusing the little soap bar and the hotel maid throws it out so I need to open a new one each day. Like European sinks that have separate cold and hot faucets (why on earth?). Like elevators that tell you what floor you're on. And like having to walk back and forth through a long empty slalom of needless stanchions to get to a security check.
* In Helsinki, after a full night of restaurant visits, no one is still serving food. I ended up munching a McDonald's meal in my hotel room. I actually felt ashamed to walk through the lobby with my McDonald's bag.
* After visiting several European airports with a strangely relaxing ambiance, I realized why. They don't have TVs playing CNN in each waiting area. It's quiet and free of advertising.
Over the last six weeks, I've enjoyed the conversation. Thanks to all who participated with their comments. It was hard not to get involved in the discussion, but I made a personal rule to just upload the entries. I have to fess up that (in response to a few harsh comments) I did revisit a few of my entries to clarify points that were unclear or misunderstood. I think I enjoyed the experience so much because it gave me the daily excuse to be more than a guidebook researcher--to be a travel writer (which I really love). And doing this blog let me enjoy the best of both travel worlds: I was traveling both alone...and with a gang of travel partners. Thanks for joining me on my trip. And thanks also to the special reader who made sure I will never again misspell Chiwawa.
Happy travels, Rick
Posted by Rick Steves on August 31, 2006