Top 10 Things things YOU need to know about the trip!

If you know me, you won't be surprised that I'm making a list. It's what I do. Enjoy my ramblings!

Top 10 Things YOU Need to Know About The Trip:
1. Last year when our entire family went to Japan for three weeks, my Mom instated the best travel rule ever: Everyone is allowed to have one melt down. It's all right to be upset, frustrated, irritated, and downright exasperated. It's all right to express these feelings but once you're finished pitching a tiny fit, pick yourself up and move on. Go eat a Nutella crepe and move on with your life.

2. If you ever go to Europe (or travel anywhere, for that matter), try as many things as you can and eat as much as possible. Especially if you're in Paris. The croissants are heavenly. In my opinion, they're even better than crepes. If you can find the croissants filled with apricots and custard, those are the very best. Although, now that thinking about it, the basic chocolate ones are amazing too.

Macaroons are also incredible. They're expensive for being so small, but if you go to the Louvre, the cafe there has larger ones so you get the divine taste for a better deal. The lemon ones are best. Well, the salted caramel ones are great too. Wait, no, definitely get the pistachio. Or the orange blossom. Okay, just buy a whole box and don't share.

As for other food, Brunost (brown cheese) from Norway is fantastic, Belgian chocolate is deservedly legendary, Belgian waffles are outstanding (especially if you buy them from Wally in Amsterdam), and goat cheese anything is always the absolute perfect thing to order for a main course. As you probably already figured, London is not known for impressive cuisine. But if you're into baby food peas and fried fish, the British metropolis has some pretty good food, too.

I could seriously go on and on for hours about the food. It was so good. For some of it, like the apricot custard croissants, I barely have words. Promise me that if you ever go to Europe, you will embrace and taste anything that comes from a patesserie, brasserie, pub, cafe, bakkerij, chocolate shop, crepe vendor, or waffle stand. You will never ever, in a million years, regret it.

3. Airbnb is fantastic. It's so much better than staying in a hotel. You can get the real feel of a city by staying in an actual person's authentic house/apartment. In Paris, I felt like I was staying in a girl friend's apartment. In Amsterdam, our room was twice as big as a hotel room would have been and the location couldn't have been better. Airbnb is one of the best travel tips I could ever give.

4. It's a huge timesaver if you order tickets ahead of time. We were spared from a two hour wait at the Anne Frank House and zipped ahead of a huge crowd of people at the Van Gogh Museum all because Mom was smart and booked our tickets before the trip.

5. Each major city that I visited can be summed up in one word. Here goes:
Paris-Grand
Amsterdam-Eclectic
London-Regal
Luxembourg City-Cute
Brussels-Delicious
Sogndal-Relaxed

6. If you only have limited time in Europe, definitely visit Paris, Brussels, and Amsterdam. These cities are fairly close to each other and the combination of all three is perfect. The grandiose, impressive, and stunning architecture and sites of Paris blended with the chocolates, frites, moules, waffles, and beer of Brussels and the laid-back atmosphere of Amsterdam makes for a perfect European vacation.

7. Talk to the person sitting next to you. While traveling, you're inevitably going to be seated next to someone, be it on a plane, train, or double decker bus. Strike up a conversation. Learn something new. Make a friend.

8. Traveling solo is not as glamourous as I thought it would be. I definitely envisioned myself finding a cozy spot next to my gate in the Oslo airport and waking up before the crowds to get coffee and greet the day as a well-rested and well-seasoned traveller. This was not the case. Airports are noisy at all hours of the night and if you ever meet someone who is well-rested after spending the night in an airport, introduce me to them. When traveling solo, there's no one to watch your belongings. There's no one to reassure you that there really is light at the end of the tunnel. Or in my case, morning after a night sleeping upright.



9. Pictures and journals are the best souvenirs. Europe is expensive so it's not always possible to buy every single awesome dress, box of chocolates, and set of Luxembourg Royal Family figurines. Take lots of pictures and videos and keep a journal. Keep tickets and brochures, collect flower petals and random things found on the ground (a Heineken bottle cap from outside the brewery in Amsterdam and a pick from the guitarist in Vik). I realize that the dress I bought in Paris probably won't fit years from now and the red pumps I got in Norway will lose their shine, but I will always have the pictures I took and the stories I wrote to remind me of one of the best times in my life.

10. Do one thing every day that scares you. Eleanor Roosevelt was a wise lady...she was right. I can't say that I exactly "scare" myself every day, but I attempt to challenge and test my personal limits. I was nervous as I approached Owen Wilson in Shakespeare and Company and I was apprehensive about making six flights all alone. Riding draft horses along a curvy mountain road with tractors and trucks so close they nearly grazed my leg was scary and exploring an old insane asylum was even more so. Watching my father illegally enter a cemetery in Luxembourg was nerve-wracking. Oh, and keeping up with a bunch of tipsy teenagers was certainly a task. But the truth is, all of these experiences, the good, the bad, and the awkward, have made me a better person and I am thankful. I am immensely thankful.