Welcome to our Best of Europe October 2022 Travel Scrapbook
Chuck has always enjoyed Rick Steves Travel Guides beginning after college when he backpacked through Europe. We also looked to Rick Steves books for a trip to Italy in 2003. This is our first official Rick Steves tour and our first guided tour.
We had planned to go to France with a Rick Steves tour in the summer of 2019. Life got in the way and a family emergency forced us to cancel our plans. Then COVID. In late summer 2022 our credit was burning a hole in our pocket. With our youngest leaving for her first year of college, we were ready to travel and we grabbed the last 2 open spots for the last tour of the year. With only a few weeks to plan, I scrambled to make last minute airline reservations. I didn't actually look at or research the trip itself aside from a quick read through. I decided to just go with the flow. I'm a planner. I normally plan every meal, each part of every day, make all the reservations and have everything scheduled and planned. It's as exhausting as it sounds. I chose not to do that with this trip.
I decided to not plan anything except flights and our last day - because Disneyland Paris. Everyone kept asking me where I was going and what was I going to do and see and my response was I have no idea, I'm just going to follow the people and that is what we did. Everything was a surprise! I have no regrets and would do it again.
This is a story about a 21-day European adventure my husband Chuck and I (Melissa) took in October of 2022. It was a trip we had been waiting to take for several years and we were thrilled to finally make it happen. We celebrated our 24 year wedding anniversary just a few days before. The trip was an unforgettable experience, and we visited some of the most beautiful cities in the world.
"I'm just going to follow the people"
Netherlands
Haarlem, Netherlands
Europe October 2022
Haarlem
The week before the trip I attempted to switch my hours around so I would be ready to go and not experience jet lag. We arrived in Haarlem (flew into Amsterdam and grabbed a taxi) about 4 hours before our tour began. I was feeling pretty good, Chuck took a little longer to adjust. Everyone else in the group had been there for at least a day or more. We went for a walk and to find something to eat. I could live in Haarlem, I really loved it. We found a little spot for crepes and people watching. So many bikes!
After our initial meeting with our guides, Jody and Paul, and the rest of our group, we all headed out for a walking tour. Jody's twin sister, Ruby was our guide. Along the way we stopped for some gin tasting and ended our first day with an amazing Indonesian dinner together.
We had many walking / orientation tours on our trip. We all had headsets so we could hear our guides the entire time. If you look closely at many of the pictures, you'll see a blue lanyard that holds the headset and sometimes you'll see us with the blue earphone attached to our heads. While Jody and Paul were amazing guides, they would break us into smaller groups and hand us off to local, expert guides in each location for city, museum and location tours. For attractions that didn't have a guide, Rick usually has a downloadable audio guide you can listen to. We listened to a few here and there. We didn't have to worry about tipping or transportation, it was all included. The only thing I needed to remember was my hotel room number for each evening. Jody posted an itinerary in the lobby in each hotel for the next day so we knew where we were going and what we were doing. It was very obvious that Rick Steves and company has forged great relationships with the people and establishments that we interacted with on the trip. Our group was always very welcome and well received. I want to go back to Europe. I don't want to do it any other way. I loved everything being planned and taken care of for me. I felt each of these commitments Rick has posted on his website.
Amsterdam Train Station
Amsterdam
The Haarlem train station was literally across the street from our hotel. We all had a quick breakfast and walked to the station. Jody made sure we all knew how navigate the train and we all traveled to Amsterdam together. The first half of the day we were together as a group starting with a visit to the Rijksmuseum to enjoy many Dutch masters including Rembrandt. As an artist, I was thrilled with the all of the art we saw on this trip. We had a fantastic guide for the museum. She even managed to get Chuck to see the hidden things in the Nightwatch and appreciate some art.
We did a canal boat ride as a group and we saw lots of houses from the water. The architecture and house facades are very interesting. It was a cold gloomy day with a little bit of rain and wind making part of it a little unpleasant but it only lasted a short time and we were able to duck inside to get out of the elements. The boat had a glass roof that closed when it started to drizzle. We had lunch on our own in a little cafe with great sandwiches. After lunch we did a city walking tour we were left on our own to explore. We were on the look out for some amazing cookies but the line was too long.
Things we missed because of my lack of planning are the Anne Frank house & Van Gogh museum You have to book your tickets at least a month in advance.
We did quite a bit of walking this first full day and my feet were ready for a break. Chuck and I headed back to Haarlem for a little break and then dinner. It was a Monday night and unfortunately quite a few restaurants were closed so we had to walk a bit extra to find something.
Our First Day on the Bus
Today was our first day on the bus. I wasn't super thrilled with the idea of traveling by bus but it was actually fantastic. It was a full size bus (50 people) and it was only 1/2 full (28 people) with our group leaving lots of room. I get car sick so I found a nice seat at the front that I claimed for the whole trip and had it to myself. Chuck sat in his own seat. I liked not sharing. I didn't get sick at all thanks to our very capable driver, Peter. We stopped often for restroom breaks (pee when you can and have lots of 1 Euro coins with you). Jody and Paul kept us entertained. Jody shared lots of stories and fantastic history with us so we always had some background information for our next destination. There was also ample time for naps.
On our way to Germany we stopped at the Arnem Open Air Museum in the Netherlands. It's a historical park where people can see what life was like in the past. There are lots of school children and fun little buildings to visit. My favorite was the papermill. We were supposed to have dutch pancakes for lunch but the pancake maker was broken so they served us American pancakes. It was very tasty but I've never had a pancake with salad and feta cheese before!