This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at CUA chapter.
This summer, my six best friends and I planned a twenty-one-day trip to Europe before each one of us parted our own separate ways. No chaperone, only the seven of us eating good food, partying, and making memories that will last forever. It became one of those trips that made our bond much stronger. Yes, there were times when there were disagreements on where to eat, and where to go. But that’s part of the experience. Handling our budget sure wasnt an easy thing to do, if you’re a girl you’ll most probably relate to that. This trip not only allowed us to travel, experience new things, and meet new people, but for the most part, we built a much more meaningful friendship between us. Here are the top 7 things I learned when traveling to Europe with my best friends.
First sense of freedom
For the first time, the seven of us were getting on a nine-hour flight to Europe – anxiously waiting for what it became the best 21 days of our lives. This was the first time we all experienced true freedom and got lost in new cities. There’s nothing like walking around places most of us had been before! We rented bikes in Paris and even sailed off the coast of Portugal drinking some wine. We even spent the night in a hotel that was also a bakery so every morning we would wake up to the smell of freshly baked pastry down the hall. We walked for hours with a Polaroid camera and a map of the city – that’s all we needed.
Budget
We all had to plan how to spend our money by distributing it wisely. When we planned the trip back home, we paid our tours and booked our hotels in advanced. We even reserved a cabana in Nikki Beach Club in Mallorca. So, the budget that we were taking with us was just for food and extra expenses for going out and taxis. We had to be mindful of what we were spending our money in, shopping and unnecessary things, because the main reason we were there was to get to know other countries and do activities that we wouldn’t normally do back home. So, we learned how to manage our money properly. Whenever we ate at a restaurant we made sure we divided the check evenly between the seven, which was sometimes a mess because of the numerous credits cards and cash used when trying to pay altogether. But we all had the same budget and wanted to contribute equally and fairly too.
Maturity
When you’re 18 years old and traveling for the first time alone along with your best friends around the world, you also get to learn and experience new things. Simple things like being able to find our connecting flights, and arrive at our destinations, made us realize that we needed to be smart and responsible to make the best out of this trip. We had no curfews and restrictions, just us having a great time. But with a great amount of freedom, responsibility is crucial. When we went out clubbing, eventually, the seven of us separated by going to the restrooms, meeting someone at the bar, or just loosing each other in the crowd. We set meeting points throughout the nights to check up on each other and make sure we were safe and made it back to our hotels together.
Stronger bond
When you’re traveling with other people, you really get to know them on a deeper level. You become truly aware of them, what irritates them, what they wanted to eat, even what they were feeling. You begin to understand when to give each other space, so the relationship turned from friendship to sisterhood – I know, it may sound a bit cheesy, but it’s true! We were together 24/7 for almost a month, that’s why the connection between us grew stronger.
The weight-gain
All the pizza, pasta, crepes, croissants, paninis, gelatos and much more, were worth it. I’m not lying, at first, we were scared of gaining ten pounds in this trip. But we realized that we were there to have a great time and make the most out of this once-in-a-lifetime trip! We tried strange foods and binged in pastry for almost a month. After a while, we started to embrace our big bellies and love handles with each other trying to really enjoy every part of this experience.
Dropping the negativity
Spending every second of the day for 21 days with the same people can sometimes be too much. Of course, there were times when we disagreed with each other or felt like we all needed our personal space. We all had our moments, but we realized that most likely we weren’t going to be on a trip like that for a long time. We had to really appreciate every moment, even if things didn’t go as planned. Because life passes by so fast without us noticing – it’s not worth fighting. Instead, be grateful for every moment, every time we were late to our tours, laughing uncontrollably until our cheeks hurt. You’ll never experience a bond like this until you travel with your friends, get lost, and try new things with them. I grew up with them, seeing them every day since middle school, and I’m eternally grateful that I got the opportunity to have a last trip with the girls.
Living in the moment
Maybe because I was hundreds of miles away from worries back home, but during those three or so weeks I decided to really live in the moment. Expecting nothing but happiness surrounded by some of the people that I love the most. Now that each one of us is pursuing their lives in different countries and states, I find myself smiling at those old pictures. Visualizing that time when we were dancing freely in Forte dei Marmi in Italy, when we were at a wine tasting event and ended up chugging the wine and taking shots with it, traveling in a bikini when I had used all of my outfits for the trip, going on a rollercoaster in Paris after eating so much French food (we don’t recommend it), having the classic picnic under the Eifel Tower eating some pizza, bailing my friends out of jail, and eating so much that we couldn’t keep up with a bike tour in Florence. The list goes on. It wasn’t about being reckless and doing things that we wouldn’t normally do back home, but it was about enjoying the little things and cherishing every moment. This trip reminded me of how great it is to be alive today. To do something great each day, whether big or small, make each of them count because life is too short. Now that we are no longer together, I wish them all the best and I hope our paths cross again someday.
Las amo y extraño Lista!