Hello again! Life is good. Crazy, but good. Since graduation, I've just been working and hanging out. I got called to be the Relief Society President in my YSA Ward in September. It's definitely been a growing experience for me but it's been good. It keeps me busy. I debated changing the name of my blog to the traveling, swearing Relief Society President but I refrained. My brothers, CJ and Wes, both got married a couple of weeks ago. Wes and Diana got married on February 2nd, and CJ and Mikayla got married in Florida on February 17th. My nieces and nephews are still as cute as ever. I live with the best roommates ever and spend lots of time with family and friends. Like I said, life is good.
Now to the good stuff. Ever since I caught the travel bug about eight years ago, I can’t seem to stay in Utah for more than three months at a time. Not that I don’t love Utah, it’s a great place to live. I guess I just get sick of the monotony of it all. So one day back in the summer, my friend Sam (you’ll remember her from my study abroad days) and I bought a flight. We had been talking about going back to London for ages and finally decided we were going to make it happen. I had been getting emails from Scott’s Cheap Flights for a while but when London for $400 started popping up, we couldn’t pass that up. I believe my study abroad flight was either $1300 or $1700. Either way, $400 was much cheaper. So we booked.
We decided on England, Amsterdam, and Belgium, leaving January 19th and coming home January 31st. Neither of us had done Europe in the winter so this was new. We also decided to go full AirBnb. I have never stayed in one but Sam had. They are cheaper than hotels but nicer than hostels, and more private too. The plan was to leave on the 19th, fly into London on the 20th, take the Eurostar to Brussels, stay the night of the 20th in Brussels, take a train to Bruges on the 21st, stay in Bruges until the 23rd, take a train from Bruges to Ghent on the 23rd, stay in Ghent until the 25th, take a train from Ghent to Amsterdam on the 25th, stay in Amsterdam until the 29th, fly from Amsterdam to London on the 29th, stay in London until the 31st, and fly home the 31st (wow, that was a mouthful). Including all of our flights, trains, and AirBnbs, we spent about $1260 for almost two weeks in Europe. That is not bad at all!
Now packing was an ordeal. We decided going light was for the best. So I took a carry-on and a backpack. I have never packed that light in my life but I was so glad I did. We moved around a lot so I can't even imagine having more crap to lug around. I ended up packing two pair of pants, two pair of leggings, six shirts, two sweaters, two pair of boots, a pair of gym shoes, underwear (garments do not fold well, FYI), a hat, two scarves (two was a mistake, I should've just taken one), and a coat. Thankfully, our BnB host in Amsterdam Margot had a washer and dryer so we were able to do laundry once. I'm sure Margot saw my G's and was like what the crap. Oh well. The coat I took was one of those packable coats that you can fit into a little bag. It was perfect! It kept me warm, was lightweight, and easily fit into a bag I attached to my backpack if I didn't want to wear it.
It was such a fun trip. It was different than every other trip I've taken to Europe. I think this was the first time that I had to really be responsible for myself. That sounds bad but it's true. When I went the first time, we were on a tour so everything was planned out. On study abroad, I had Jena, Rick, and Nate to tell me what to do. When I went with my family, my parents had planned it out and were running the show. This time, it was solely up to me and Sam to figure things out. And we are terrible at making decisions! But we figured it out and we didn't get taken or anything so it was good. It was tiring sometimes but it was also fun to figure things out for ourselves and learn from our mistakes.
Some random things I did or learned on this trip:
1) We had "I feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes! Christmas is all around us and so the feeling shows!" from Love Actually stuck in our heads pretty much the whole trip.
2) I have never watched that much TLC in my entire life. Say Yes to the Dress Bridesmaid version is my new favorite thing.
3) During winter in Europe, there isn't much to do at night. Things close at like 6:00.
4) Dominos in Belgium isn't very good but it'll do when you're starving.
5) Stairs are very steep in Europe. Like what is that about? Don't they have safety codes or something?
6) Hot chocolate in Belgium is life changing. I will never drink that powder crap ever again.
7) I'm a pretty good Instagram husband, whatever that means?
8) Chili lime chocolate is actually not that bad.
9) If you haven't ridden a bike in years and you're forced to ride one in Amsterdam, your butt will hurt.
10) If you want a bus to stop at your stop, you have to press the stop button (More details to come - we're special).
I don't know if I'll ever go back to Belgium or Amsterdam but I got to cross things off my bucket list. London will always hold a special place in my heart. Anyway, stay tuned for the adventures of Sammie and Chawch!
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