Europe 2022

boy, i can’t say enough about my lovely trip from london to paris with eurostar. it started at the train station when the line to go through security took up half the station and wrapped around the building outside! that ended up being no issue for the garver clan since our train was delayed half an hour giving us plenty of time to make it through the line. after we made it through the line and waited until our departure time, we learned that our train hadn’t even made it to the station yet! so exciting! after some more delays, our train finally pulled out of the station for paris an hour late. after a slow start we made it through the chunnel where we came across one more little adventure! we had to stop for a train ahead of us on the track that had broken down:( this caused a series of slow spurts of movement for a couple minutes at a time for our train but after a couple hours, we were on our way. slowly. turns out our trip had also been so slow because the high speed rail(we were on a bullet train) was not operating! i guess everyone needs a day off once and a while:) pulling into the paris garde du norde station just after 10(pm), we finished our 5-6 hour train ride that was supped to be 2-3 hours. a hop, skip and an uber away, we finally made it to our hotel at about 11:15-30ish. you’ll notice there’s a bit of a time gap here. oh, it was nothing, we just waited in an impossibly long, unmoving line for a taxi driver trying to pull one over on us(that’s how we got an uber!) and now i say good night. not only on this day, but this trip. i left from norfolk international airport on june 27 only knowing where i would be stopping on this trip. over the first 13 days of my trip i experienced more than i ever would have thought i would. sights, food ,culture, people, language. this opportunity to explore was once in a lifetime. the back 16 days were different. i still went to new places and experienced new things, but with my family in a more relaxed way. it was exhausting. lots of fun, but exhausting. after a month here, im ready to come home. i will be back some day.Read more