The Last Man Standing: Who should you travel with?

I am writing to you from Rome where I have sent off each member of our group over the past two days. It is now time for rest, reflection and a much slower pace of experiencing this city. 

It is weird for me to take this mindset of being alone after being with friends the whole time. I was alone in Florence so that was my normal state but this time I feel like I'm losing something each time they leave. It's interesting to get back into the mindset of fending for yourself without the crutch of others but at the same time enjoying the luxury of being on your own agenda and not having to worry about how your effecting those in your group. 

So I'm sitting here in this cafe as thunder and lightening strike outside and I'm thinking about the different ways the group dynamic works while traveling and which might work best for you if traveling is in your future. 

Traveling Alone:

-traveling alone is perfect for those social butterflies out there. You actually don't even need to be overly social because everyone in hostels is also traveling and everyone for the most part has a mindset of making friends and having a good time. 

Benefits: 

- You are the master of your own schedule. You can do whatever you want, when you want. If you screw up and miss a train, you are the only one that knows. You can make friends wherever you go which will give you a different experience with the different types of people you meet. You will meet people from all over the world and hopefully create lasting friendships and be able to travel and see these people again. 

Negatives:

- You continually have to motivate yourself to keep up the energy and keep traveling. For some this is easier than others. You are making 1-2 day friends and have to keep making friends everywhere you go. No one has your back and there is no one to stabilize you if having an off day. You never have a set group to hang with and become a record player repeating where you're from, how long you've been traveling etc...

Overall: Great way to travel if making friends comes easy to you. If you enjoy the world and want to make new friends that are from every inch of the planet (Mostly Aussies in Europe). Might help to meet up with people you know along the way to balance all the new friends. Can give you the most unique and eye opening view of Europe! 

Traveling with 1 Friend:

Are you and your best friend thinking about taking Europe? Find the right friend and it could be the time of your life. 

Benefits: 

-You have someone there who knows you and can provide comfort while traveling in a foreign country. Since you can't always figure everything out, they can provide a nice balance to your brain and fill in the things you can't solve. Someone will always be there to eat meals with you, to drink beers with and to share in the memories when it is all over. There is only two of you so buying train tickets and other accommodations should be easy since it's a small quantity. 

Negatives:

-since you both are experiencing the same things each day, you start to run out of things to talk about. Unless a lot of stuff is going on in the news (and you actually pay attention to the news), you should still seek to make friends with other travelers so you can have fresh ideas in your brain! You might want to do something separate but because you're with one other person it's going to be a give and take system where compromise is going to be the name of the game. 

Overall: 

-Choose a travel partner who you can be yourself with. Hopefully one that has the same interests and one who is easy to compromise with. Having a good balance in a partner is crucial. You will have the time of your life with this person but they will also be with you when the going gets tough! 

Traveling with a group: 

Grab your crew and get ready to hit the road, you don't even all have to always be going in the same direction. 

Benefits: 

- there is no way you won't be having fun with a bunch of people. Even if you may not know everyone in your group super well, you will get to know them and there will always be lots to laugh about. You have the freedom to talk to others if someone is having an off day (it happens plenty with two months on the road) You don't always have to do everything together, you have the freedom to break off in groups. You are always bringing fun and people since you are a large traveling group. Staying in an AirBnB tends to be cheaper since you aren't paying per bed in a hostel. 

Negatives:

-you are a large group so if you don't plan ahead, trains and places to stay might be hard to come by last minute. You tend to be less social since you already have a group to hang with. If you chose the AirBnB route you meet less people since you are mainly doing your own thing. 

Overall:

- after having 6 weeks of practice, I think I enjoy this option the best. You can usually find someone in your group that wants to do something similar to you and when you are all together it provides a good time.

All in all, every option will provide you with a good time and a memorable experience! I mean come on, you're traveling the world. You have to think about yourself and what might work for you. Some people might prefer to be alone and some cringe at the idea of that. Take some time and think for what works for you. Maybe a blend of all options is the best! I think the blend method is perfect for me! 

The Notion of Train Travel

On the journey from Brussels to Amsterdam, Jess and I got into a silly argument. Those that hang out with me know I like to be right so if I feel that I am right, I will debate until you understand my point. Well poor Jess decided to throw out an innocent statement about the comfort of trains vs the comfort of planes and how she liked trains better because they were more comfortable. I went into a long point about how you can't compare the two equally without taking time into it as a factor. I do not need to spell out the whole conversation but it brought up a common theme on our trip: trains. 

The train has been our main mode of transportation. We purchased a Eurail pass before we left the U.S. (Which I HIGHLY recommend if you plan on backpacking all over Europe) and we have used it on almost every train journey. It basically lets us take the regional trains for free and provides a minimal fee for the more expensive, high speed trains. 

You might be wondering why I even bother writing about trains but I wanted to share one thing I have learned, everything about train travel is dramatic. 

-You fly past little villages in a dramatic fashion and in a blink of an eye you're gone.

-You will never find a calm train station, names of places and times are constantly flashing up on the scroll and then disappearing, each flash causing a group of people to scurry off to the right platform. 

-you can hop on and off as you please and you can even get left behind in random cities (trust me, we know)

-Goodbyes- WOW, watching someone say goodbye to a loved one is one of the hardest things to watch. They may hug or kiss goodbye on the platform but then the one who isn't leaving just stands on the platform waving goodbye as the train slowly rolls out of the station. This is literally perfect for movies and now I understand why it's in so many!

People handle train travel in one of two ways; to plan ahead or to wing it. Most of the time we are in the first group. We manage to reserve our tickets to leave a city when we arrive and most of the time it works flawlessly. For the times it doesn't, it's a cluster. As much as I love things that are free, nothing is worse than sitting on an  unreserved regional train for 4 hours. Sometimes you do what you have to do and I'm currently in this situation. Luckily we all found seats. Some unlucky folks have been standing the whole journey. Sometimes we luck out with entire rooms to ourself, and sometimes we are stuck with screaming toddlers. It makes airline travel seem so organized and orderly (even the Southwest Boarding Process!)

All in all I am thankful for the expansive train system in Europe. Not only has it allowed me to see more of the continent than I would have imagined but it has really allowed me to slow down and reflect. It allows me the time to write my blogs, to play card games, share stories and even meet fellow travelers. So every time you read a blog posting, you can guarantee I am in transit from one place to another!