It was the summer of 2019. What should we do with the sweet 53 day gap between the end of school and the beginning of school? Why, a 23-country, 11,700 kilometer Euro-road trip of course!
9 of the 23 countries we saw were new.
New countries*
1. Serbia*
2. Bulgaria*
3. Moldova*
4. Ukraine*
5. Romania*
6. Slovakia*
7. Lithuania*
8. Latvia*
9. Finland*
10. United Kingdom
11. France
12. Spain
13. Portugal
14. Italy
15. Slovenia
16. Germany
17. Poland
18. Croatia
19. Sweden
20. Denmark
21. Greece
22. Luxembourg
23. Germany
Our favorite summers have always been a combination of the familiar with discovery of the new. This summer was no different. The first 20 days were spent revisiting some of our favorite places in Spain and France, going to all the places we took the girls when they were little. The next 33 days we wanted to see a lot of new cities and countries primarily in Eastern Europe where we hadn’t been. For these days we wouldn’t stay anywhere for long. This was more like pure discovery travel. There are always regions, cities, tiny towns you fall in love with, which you can return to for further exploration. 23 countries in 53 days is an intense pace. I wouldn’t do it every summer. It’s equal parts exhilarating and exhausting.
Would it be simple? Of course not. The three girls had different summer commitments like school and jobs to work around. Each would join us for segments of the summer, flying in and out of different airports. We ended up doing 8 airport drop-offs and pick-ups for the girls.
- July 8 drop-off Cali and Joao in London to fly to Lisbon, Portugal for a side trip.
- July 14 pick-up Cali and Joao in Barcelona when they flew from Porto, Portugal from that side trip.
- July 29 pick-up Madi in Ljubljana, Slovenia flying in from Miami.
- July 31 drop-off Cali and Joao in Sofia, Bulgaria to fly to Santorini, Greece for a side trip.
- August 4 pick-up Cali and Joao in Bucharest, Romania from their Santorini side trip.
- August 6 drop-off Joao in Belgrade, Romania to fly to Miami.
- August 12 pick-up Kier in Warsaw, Poland flying in from Miami.
- August 17 drop-off Cali in Helsinki, Finland so she can fly home to Miami for a camp.
- August 25 the rest of us fly home.
Airlines we tried for the first time:
- Vueling Airlines
- Aegean Air
- Olympic Air
- Wizz Air
- Lot Air
We don’t plan too much before we go. We knew where we were flying to, where we were renting a car, and when the kids had to back to school. This was where we ended up.
July 5 – flew red-eye to London
July 6 – arrive in London
July 7 – London museums
July 8 – London – Paris – Rouen, France
July 9 – Le Havre, France (best moule!)
July 10 – Coutras, France (antique hotel)
July 11 – St. Emilion, Chateau Cantenac, Biarritz
July 12 – San Sebastian, Spain
July 13 – Zaragoza, Spain
July 14 – Barcelona, Spain
July 15 – Pezenas, France (girl’s bead shop)
July 16 – Cabriere, France for 11 days (stay here regularly at Patrick’s house)
July 17 – See the castle in Avignon
July 18 – Neighbor’s legendary madeleines, market
July 19 – Visit St. Victor la Coste and have Pizza Chris
July 20 – Go to market in Uzes (favorite market!)
July 21 – Go kayaking under the Pont-du-Gard
July 22 – Picnic in Gicon, hike Cesar’s Camp
July 23 – See Tour-de-France live (in about 5 seconds)
July 24 – Dinner in Nimes
July 25 – Swimming at Roque-sur-ceze
July 26 – Drive to Cinque Terre, Italy
July 27 – To Venice, Italy
July 28 – Divaca, Slovenia
July 29 – Visit Ljublijana Castle, drive to Slavonski Brod
July 30 – from Belgrade, Serbia to Nis, Serbia
July 31 – to Sofia, Bulgaria to Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Aug 1 – to Burgas to Sunny Beach, Bulgaria
Aug 2 – to Galati, Romania
Aug 3 – to Bucharest, Romania
Aug 4 – Bucharest, Romania
Aug 5 – to Sinai, Romania
Aug 6 – to Brasov, Romania
Aug 7 – Cluj to Napoli, Romania
Aug 8 – Hungary to Kosice, Slovakia
Aug 9 – Krakow, Poland
Aug 10 – Warsaw, Poland
Aug 11 – Warsaw, Poland
Aug 12 – Warsaw, Poland
Aug 13 – Kaunas, Lithuania
Aug 14 – Riga, Latvia
Aug 15 – Parnu, Estonia
Aug 16 – Helsinki, Finland
Aug 17 – sleep on the ferry
Aug 18 – Varnamo, Sweden
Aug 19 – Kolding, Denmark
Aug 20 – Hamburg, Germany
Aug 21 – Alsfeld, Germany
Aug 22 – Thionville, France
Aug 23 – Paris, drop-off car
Aug 24 – Paris day
Aug 25 – fly home
Aug 26 – school begins
