I need a vacation from my European vacation

I am incredibly lucky for many reasons, but one of them is that I have spent a lot of time in Western Europe. Somewhere else on my blog I wrote that I have spent about 90% of my life in the Pacific Northwest. Well, most of the rest of that 10% was spent in Western Europe; when I was living in either Ireland or France. As a result, I now have a lot of friends peppered throughout Europe and made new ones while traveling in Asia. Thanks to the cheap flights, easy train connections, and ubiquitous communication on WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and Gmail, I spent most of my time in Europe catching up with many of these friends. It was fantastic. It was also a whirlwind. Over the course of a month I slept in six different countries, and relied on planes, trains, automobiles, boats, bicycles, and my two feet to whisk around the continent. In slideshow and bullet point form here the highlights:

1) Enter Western Europe in Lyon, France. Spend time exploring the countryside and the city of my name with a mixture of French and American people and some dogs trying to eat vegan food, speaking a combination French, English, and Italian and discussing the sizes of our fists and talking like Borat. I get the worst stomach bug of my trip. So far.

2) Fly to London. Spend one epic night and four days with my Irish/Indian friend and his family talking about his adopted city exploring its food scene and trying not to sweat too much (seriously it was 95 (degrees F) in London and hardly anywhere is air conditioned).

3) Take the train to Utrecht, Netherlands. Spend four days with “cool cousin” Kelli (we’re not related) biking through quaintness including a Glamping stop with Overland Bikers Tristan and Belen who I met in Osh. This stop was in a town that is the Mill Valley, CA of The Netherlands. Then went went through the Dutch Bible belt to a campground where old people were playing Bingo and I paid $4 to call Alaska Airlines to extend my ticket. Meet Marce and Charlie from Surfcamp for lunch in a warehouse district in Amsterdam.

4) Train to Paris where I stay for a few days in a deserted city with my aunt and cousin (actually related) as they recover from a month in America. Dinner with Jeff and Tristan.

5) Train to Frankfurt: A few days alone figuring out next steps and walking around in the city and suburbs of Europe’s new financial capital and global hub.

6) Plane to Napoli and train to Sorrento: Taking in the glory of the South-Central Italy with “cool cousin” Kelli, Italian George Clooney and his family by car, villa, and boat. Gypsies play accordion Despacito. Vibes and feel slightly SE Asian but food distinctly Neopolitan.

7) Plane back to Frankfurt and train to campground along the Main River with Long Haul Trekkers (Dave, Jen, two dogs) and BigRigistan (Adam and a Pomeranian) preparing to cycle.

8) Train to Bamburg, Germany. Night out with AirBnB host for big beer festival then bike pick up and meeting BigRigistan in Schweinfurt (Pigtown), Germany.

9) Bike with BigRigistan from Germany to Prague, Czech Republic. Camp, possibly illegally, in a public park. Eat lots of local food, mostly pretzels. Get separated for a night and camp alone in a Czech downpour. Follow quaint German bike routes, get lost in German forest, drink Absinthe in Prague.

10) Train back to Germany. First to Bamberg to return bike, train to Frankfurt and night out with Christ, friend of Irish/Indian.

11) Board business class luxury berth to America (thanks Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan!) after 2 hours of standing in line at a German Engineered airport.

12) Arrive in America (first Dallas, then PDX comfortably discombobulated and exhausted. Met at airport by friend and enjoy a taco, chips and queso, and a margarita one of my favorite Portland eateries.

Now that I am back in the United States people have asked me what is coming next. I am planning to be on a road trip until mid October. I am currently in California just returned from Yosemite and heading for San Diego. My eventual destination is New Mexico and from there I am planning to turn back to Portland. I not actively applying for jobs right now but am thinking more about what I want and talking to people who come to me with ideas or opportunities. I’m also processing a few of my observations about being in the United States and hope to continue posting to this blog, because brettsbattical is not over!

Here are a few other observations:

• Globalization has definitely changed Europe in the past 20 years (duh), particularly organic food.

• Catching up with friends and family was fantastic but I packed a lot in. Train rides, flights, and two nights alone in Frankfurt provided much needed down time.

• Northern Europe seems clean, prosperous, and well run. Southern Italy not so much, but the mozzarella and olive oil are delicious. Europeans, even the ones with demanding careers, seem to enjoy life more than Americans.

• Design for left calf tattoo: nothing inspired me.

• Public Soundtrack: American and Europop. Particularly "Solo" by Clean Bandit feat Demi Lovato.