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Euro Quest

March - April 2024
Let the next stage of my life begin! For three months, I'll be wandering through rolling countrysides, sharp cliffs, quaint towns, and bustling city squares all over Europe, sharing as many stories as I can. Here's to making a lifetime of memories! Read more
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  • 31footprints
  • 9countries
  • 46days
  • 413photos
  • 47videos
  • 19.5kkilometers
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  • 984kilometers
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  • 63sea miles
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  • TravelerEuro Quest
    1
    Day 1

    Leaving Home

    March 16 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    Wow! This is it. Crazy to be believe this is actually happening. There is a huge mix of stress, anxiety, happiness and everything in between. I am dreading the over 8 hour flight but it will be nothing in comparison to the life changing trip I am about to experience.Read more

  • TravelerEuro Quest
    2
    Day 2

    First leg finished

    March 17 in the Netherlands ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    Wow, what a flight, quite painful. It was longer than I wanted, and it was more painful than I wanted. But the food was good at least, cheesy chicken with quinoa and pesto. Even got a free mini bottle of wine! Can't go wrong with that. Turns out I can not sleep on planes, even with the boring 4 hr movie called Justice League. It doesn't help when a poor old man sitting in front of you faints as he stands up and gives everyone a heart attack scare. That woke me right up. It was just like the movies. A doctor stood up and even came to help. Luckily, he was ok! And luckily for me, getting to my next flight was a breeze, and I think it's only 30 minutes long, so thank god. Time for a full day of Scotland with no sleep! But hey, it's just the beginning, so it is so worth it.Read more

  • TravelerEuro Quest
    1
    Day 2

    Day Two: Edinburgh

    March 17 in Scotland ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    You always see european towns in movies and photos, but it is truly incredible how different everything feels and looks. Everywhere u look is a photo. Truly give you feelings of awe and total loss of words. Just doesn't feel real! But day one was a good start to the trip, other than the kinda bad pub food I had for lunch and the fact I was half asleep for the whole day. Still had to start with a bang, St Patty's Day! And the hostel had a pub crawl for it. They started with some drinking games for the group then had two pretty cool bars, one had a slide and a ball pit, and the other was way too full, as you can see in the video. It was so hot, musty, and claustrophobic, but being in a bar that was busy with everyone singing was worth the experience. Overall, I am so excited to be here and meeting all these cool people, and being able to start with Amanda is truly a blast.Read more

  • TravelerEuro Quest
    6
    111
    Day 3

    Day Three: Edinburgh

    March 18 in Scotland ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    The first full day in Europe, and of course, I finished with solid 23 thousand steps. And man, those are hard steps with many hills and uneven ground; extra tough when considering I am breaking in new shoes. But it was amazing to just experience the area and culture. It's incredible the number of people I've spoken to from Europe who don't have their drivers license. Everything is just easier without a car over here. Honestly I am already starting to love that, but I have almost walked across too many streets forgetting about cars, on top of looking the wrong way because they all drive on the wrong side of the road! But today the highlight was for sure Dean town, it is an old area with beautiful buildings and a river but the best part was the path beside the river where we took the photos on the tree. A truly zen place to listen to the water and some beautiful bird calls. Amanda talked about how Ivy is almost a weed over here, but man, it is so breathtaking to see it on the trees and buildings. I also got to see my first crazy church, and man, the size and style is just so incredible. My mouth was open the whole time. We even got to hear the organ play! Unfortunately, the food has been slightly disappointing. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but everything here is so expensive and just average. For example, I bought a burger, side fries, and a beer for 30 pounds! More than at home, yet you don't tip, so it equals out a bit? There isn't even an option to tip! I can not complain because being here is treat enough. The food might not be everything, but we did do a whiskey tasting where I got to appreciate how amazing Scotch Whiskey really is, I even have a new one I want to show my dad! I have been trying extra hard to take lots of photos and I already feel so good about, it is nice as it is to live in the moment, but it's extra nice to look back and relive the moment; it also helps when you feel like you look good in some of them!Read more

  • TravelerEuro Quest
    1
    11
    Day 4

    Day Four: Scottish Highlands

    March 19 in Scotland ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    Today might have not been a large walking day, but it was a long driving day. From edinburgh to Fort William totaling around 81 miles, plus our stops and detours. And I can officially say that even as a passenger, driving over here is stressful. Not only is everything on the left, but the roads are so small. Yet it is all worth it, with the freedom to do whatever we made some very interesting stops. Even going to the midhope Castle, a filming location in Outlander! Even learning about pigeon coops, and how they became a solution to feed serfs year round. Turns out the owner of midhope was pissed he had to pay for it, so he built the largest ugly one he could; classic human behavior, some things never change. After not going into the Stirling castle and decided to only have lunch outside it since it was too expensive with not enough time to enjoy everything in it. So we continued on our journey, seeing some incredible views. The valleys and the mountains just lead such a scale that is unmatched. Coming with the expectation of little hills and seeing these massive mountains were spectacular! It feels so mythical. Something out of a fairy tale. It was just an awe-inspiring day, a nice reset after the expensive, high energy, busy couple of days in edinburgh. It is nice to be in nature and all these huge open spaces. But it certainly isn't getting cheaper, I did pick the most expensive place to start. But hey, it's better to do it when u have money!Read more

  • TravelerEuro Quest
    11
    Day 5

    Day Five: Oban

    March 20 in Scotland ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    Today was a great day! I think my post will be smaller today because, man, I am so tired. Jet lag does really suck, I have not been sleeping great. And I do not like writing. It was a big hike day for us. I ended up doing two pretty amazing hikes with some very lucky, beautiful weather. On our drive, we even ran across a castle on this little island. It was exactly what I saw when I thought of scotland. The second hike was a highlight as well; seeing the loch from a high point was so spectacular. Even got to walk up to a ruined castle, which is something out of a dream. But it closed at 4, we got there at 4:10. Buts ok even the outside was so cool to see. Got to finish it off with a cheap meal (noodles) in bed watching a journey to the center of the earth drinking a bottle of wine. A great way to spend the night. But honestly, all this history is the best part, I do love to think about all the crazy stories each brick holds.Read more

  • TravelerEuro Quest
    311
    Day 6

    Day Six: Fort William

    March 21 in Scotland ⋅ 🌫 9 °C

    Welcome to the true Scottish experience. Today was rainy, windy, and foggy. Yet it was absolutely fantastic. When I was planning to come to Scotland, this was exactly what I expected, and it was beautiful. Even got to see some sheep, as soon as we entered the field, they walked up and just stared at us. Honestly, they are very cute animals. Bht then we started the hikes with a waterfall. Walking through a valley, looking around at misty hills with a massive waterfall in the rain, was just breathtaking. It all just made me feel so small in the right kind of way. Just leaving your soul so satisfied and relaxed. I felt at peace. Nothing else mattered. Even got to walk on a bridge that was made up of 3 metal wires, two to hold on to and one to walk on, completely terrifying experience over a river when fast winds are pushing you around. But where else do u get to do something like that?? Walking back was its own experience, I have never felt wind so hard. You think it would suck but it made the hike. We were both completed soaked at the end, too. Afterward, we went up to the viaduct that was featured in Harry Potter. On the way, we randomly stopped at a church over looking a loch for lunch, which ended up being where Outlander filmed a wedding! A truly get find. But the Viaduct was so large that it is truly a marvel how people build things like this back in the day. And it's always insane to go to film locations. As it kid, it feels like something you will never have a chance to see, yet here we are! We decided to do a larger loop, but of course, it started raining again, and even Scottish rain can get annoying over time. Yet it was the right decision since we got more great high views and got to go through a board walk in a fairy tale forest and have a coffee in an old train dinner car to warm up before we left. Overall, I think our two full days were a perfect combination of weather and locations to get a solid grasp on the Highlands! Now it's time for a beer, dinner, and some quality cousin time. Can't wait to see what's next.Read more

  • TravelerEuro Quest
    1111
    Day 7

    Day Seven: The Road Back to Edinburgh

    March 22 in Scotland ⋅ 🌬 3 °C

    Today was a perfect end to the Highlands tour. I am leaving feeling satisfied. We were going to start with a hike by the three sisters, which we stopped at on our way up. But Scottish weather took over. It was winding like yesterday but so much colder. So, instead, we ended up finding a little waterfall right below the highway. There were 3 falls merging to one, and it was a cool find with the mountain backdrop. It even started hailing out of nowhere for only about 2 minutes. It was so unexpected yet an exciting and random moment to lighten the mood and make the drive so much easier. On the way back, since we didn't hike, we had time to go to a castle ruins as well as the Stirling castle museum. We started with the ruins, which was really our hidden gem of the trip. It was in a picturesque town with classic architecture surrounded by mountains and a massive river with cascades. Then, walking up to the ruins, you could instantly feel the history and memories stored there. It felt so strange seeing a place that stored generations of memories. Turns out that this castle has a dark past. When walking around it, I passed a stone lined hole, and at first, I believed it was just a cellar or something. Turns out it was the execution pit where they decapitated people... There was even a hanging tree. But it did honestly make the experience even better. It was one of the best stops for me. On our way back through the town, we found a burial site that was on an island and just decided to check it out. It was for the McNabbs. Which seemed so familiar, and it was driving me insane where I knew that name from. By the craziest of coincidences, I am related to the McNabbs! What are the odds of that? And we weren't even supposed to go to this town in the first place. It is hard to comprehend how things work out sometimes. Moreover, as soon as we entered the burial site, the clouds cleared, and it stopped rain, to start raining as soon as we left! Then, to finish the drive, I got to tour a castle museum. A chance to hear all the long forgotten stories of the past. It was so interesting to see why things were built and how many times the ownership of the castle changed. Within a span of just under 50 years, the castle was under seige 8 times, which from 1296 to 1299, the castle was retaken each year by the other side. The poor common people! Even crazier there was no water in the castle, so everyone was given one free Scottish ale pint (which is equivalent to 4.5 pints today). It was a great finish to the Highlands for sure. Getting to see all the views, especially from the castle, was mindblowing. Honestly, I won't change a thing about this leg of the trip. It was a great chance to get comfortable with traveling. Thanks, Amanda. While also getting to see everything I would ever want from Scotland. Cheers to this, and I can't wait for portugal!Read more

  • TravelerEuro Quest
    Day 9

    Day Nine: Lisbon

    March 24 in Portugal ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    Today, I do not have much for you. It ended up being a long day for me. Turns out you should really not book flights for the wrong month... I woke up at 3 a.m., 4 a.m., and 5 a.m. for this morning flight I never even had. I was just sitting in that airport wondering how the hell I would get to lisbon. But I kept my cool because I knew everything would be OK, that I could figure it out. It was a very expensive mistake, around 800 dollars. But after a very long day of traveling I arrived at 8:00 pm. It was so confusing walking around. Winding streets everywhere, narrow walkways, and a lot of buildings looking similar. And holy, it is such a workout trying to get around. Honestly, walking around lisbon is harder than all of the hikes I did in Scotland! It sucks even more when u got lost and ended up walking around aimlessly for over an hour. But we had a very nice dinner on a rooftop bar and ended up going out to some of the bars, which are all so small and narrow. Every single one was packed. Good memories today, and I met some really cool people. And they weren't even from our hostel.Read more

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