Let The Adventure Begin!

My cousin Chris and I were have landed to being our two month backpacking journey through Europe. Prior to leaving I was graduating high school and did not get much sleep due to graduation and project graduation where we had to stay up the whole night doing ridiculous activities like a bouncy castle to being put into a trance by a hypnotist, which I must say was hilarious. Anyway, this will explain my extreme fatigue, dehydration and jetlag when I landed. This was my first trip alone other than being with my cousin who we only saw each other on family holidays every couple of months. I think it was a mix between anxiety and jetlag but I did not have an appetite for a couple days and just wanted to sleep, which did not go over well with my cousin who was excited to explore the city. When I finally had the stomach to eat something we went to a little cafe in the middle of Frankfurt to have some margarita pizza. The packs we had were already a pain in the ass, mine was about 25-30lbs and this was coming from someone who really did not work out back then. We were trying to kill some time before our rooms were ready.

We were staying at Frankfurt Hostel which was in the middle of the red light district with an abundance of sex shops and lovely homeless and crack dealers outside our hostel. Not the greatest area but I remember it being cheap, probably because of the area it was in. Our hostel had great food especially breakfast which later will be appreciated from other hostels who have bread and butter for 3 Euros. We stayed in a dorm style 10 bed room with people from all over. I was the only girl in the room which kind of made it a bit awkward to get dressed in the morning but at least we had a bathroom in our room with a lock on the door. They were cool though. I remember the room had a distinct smell to it like dusty or possibly moldy with prison-like mattresses that squeaked if you blinked an eye. But you definitely get what you paid for, I was 18 at the time and did not really care as long as I had good food and a bed to sleep on. Also a great location does not hurt either since it was close to the city center and the main train station.

 We were still in Frankfurt figuring out where our next stop was going to be. I was still not feeling too hot so we just stayed in and chilled with our roommates. The Euro Cup was going on while we were there and it was amazing to see people so into it. We walked through parks at night with drive in movie style screens with the game on. Little groups of people were on blankets through out the park drinking their beers and eating food. You’re probably saying, “So what? We have the super bowl here.” Yes, but its different. Maybe I’m too blind to see the similarities because at that moment I’m loving Europe so much to even care. I was thinking Europeans are so much cooler than Americans.

 We planned to go to Mosel Valley but did not go for some reason I do not remember. But next stop, Heidelberg!