Traveling Through Europe in Slow Motion

Backpacking through Europe, on a limited budget, in a time span of two months takes a lot of planning and patience. One of the biggest expenses is transportation and it is important to take advantage of the travel deals that exist. Many of my friends who had traveled through Europe, before me raved about how cheap it was to fly from city to city with ease, with dirt cheap airlines such as Ryan Air. This sounded appealing if I wanted to take a whirlwind tour of Europe, but since I had a good amount of time, I decided to take the slow route and really take in everything by traveling on the excellent (and efficient) European rail system.

Before I left home I purchased a Eurorail Global Pass, that allowed me to travel to over twenty different countries within Western and Central Europe, fifteen individual times. Traveling with this pass was much cheaper than if I had chosen to travel by air, since those plane tickets do add up over several months. Also, I saved money on lodging, by sometimes booking a ticket on overnight trains. Besides, there is no substitute for watching the sun set over the Polish countryside or seeing the landscape slowly transform from the chaotic city life of Barcelona, to a picturesque French seaside town.

Traveling by train was one of the best choices I made —learning to slow down and savor every moment of my trip. Before I knew it my trip was over, and the best souvenir was not the trinkets that are now collecting dust in my closet, but the memories of each new place revealing itself, slowly, but surely.

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