Looking Back On… Backpacking Europe in 2005

As I begin to plan a European capitals trip in September, I’ve been thinking back to my first international trip. My best friend Jared and I spent 85 days backpacking and riding trains around Europe in the spring and summer of 2005.

This trip is really what gave me the travel bug, and I often wish that I could go back and experience it again. Travelling was a bit different than it is now, which is also fun to look back on.

Here’s a rather lighthearted retrospective of that trip. 

Taking a Year Off

After wrapping up high school, which felt like a huge accomplishment at the time, Jared and I decided to take a gap year before taking the next big step in life. I worked at a fabricating shop in Northern British Columbia doing pickups and deliveries, setting money aside for the upcoming trip.

Over the fall, Jared and I exchanged emails and phone calls to discuss where in the world we wanted to go. Some of our friends had decided to go to Southeast Asia, and others were venturing to Australia for their trips.

We both agreed that a Eurotrip was something that both wanted to do most. Jared is really into history and trains, and I was curious about venturing into the eastern part of the continent.

After settling on start and end points, we booked our flights and began counting down the days. I recall ending each email or phone call with excited references to “Europa,” which we thought sounded fancy.

A few weeks before we were set to depart, I had an unfortunate accident that through a wrench in my plans.

As per my doctor’s advice, I decided to postpone the start of my trip by two weeks, as the hostels I’d planned on staying in probably weren’t the cleanest places around. If my leg were to get infected, there was a small chance that it would have to be amputated. 

Jared set off as planned, and I wound up missing out on two weeks in Greece (about which I’m still envious.) We decided to meet up in Rome, and fortunately, I was given a clear bill of health before I left.

The bright-eyed and bushy-tailed 18 year-old version of myself, with a fuller head of hair and some ill-fitting clothes, set out on what would become my first international adventure.

The Route

We had a pretty ragtag idea of where we wanted to go, but we didn’t really have a solid plan. We booked round-trip tickets from Vancouver…