PROLOGUE
The Journey...
Select a Day:
Select a Day:
Welcome to my Contiki Ultimate European travelogue! My name is Dave. I'm a 24 year old psychology student and waiter from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada. This site is dedicated to the 73 most amazing days of my life. It's a detailed description of my travels through 22 of Europe's greatest countries.
*-THE DAYS BEFORE-*
Before I begin I'll tell you a bit about myself and my travels. Back in 2001 I spent three weeks visiting a friend in France. Those three weeks had been the most amazing time of my life and was the first time I was bitten by the travel bug. Since then I got wrapped up in school and work and never got to travel much. The biggest thing I had done in the last five years was spend a week in Cuba and various places in Canada and the United States. In October, 2005, I had some pretty bad luck and came very close to losing my life to a life-threatening illness. It was a true eye-opener for me and made me realize that life is too short. I had to pull myself away from the daily routine and see the world.
When I got home from the hospital, the first thing I did was search the net for tours of Europe. I came across a tour company called Contiki and found exactly what I was looking for - a tour called Ultimate European. I finished my semester at school and canceled my classes in the next so I could work non-stop for the next seven months to save up enough money. On January 12th I officially booked the tour and on May 12th I left Canada for the greatest adventure of my life.
*-ABOUT THE TOUR-*
The Contiki "Ultimate European" tour is a 46 day road trip which starts and ends in London, United Kingdom and visits: France, Spain, Monaco, Italy, Vatican City, Greece, Egypt(optional), Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands. Half way through the tour there are two different options: 1) Spend a week traveling in Egypt (for the hardcore travelers) or 2) Spend a week relaxing on Mykonos Island in Greece (for people who need a break on the beach). I chose the Egypt option because, well, I'm hardcore ;)
The tour is limited to people ages 18-35 and is very fast-paced - you'll understand this more when you read the entries. Our tour consisted of 49 people from Canada, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. 34 girls and 15 guys.
*-BEFORE AND AFTER-*
A 46 day tour is a long time... but not long enough for ME. The tour started on May 21st, but before that I spent time in Ireland, Scotland, and England. When the tour ended on July 5th I did some more traveling in England and France, as well as visiting the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Belgium. I would have liked to spend six months or more traveling, but the budget just wouldn't allow it.
*-STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW-*
As with everything in life, there were lots of things that happened to me on this tour that can't be explained in a travelogue. Things like the relationships between myself and my tourmates, the atmosphere of the places I visited, the Sweet times and hot nights (that's an inside joke for my tourmates) and various of other things like that. I'd like to state right now that this travelogue won't even come close to doing justice to my experience. It's only intended to gave a description. The only way to truly understand what I went through is to experience it for yourself.
I'm having an internal battle about how I should go about explaining some of my experiences. Because my tourmates will be reading this, I've considered being conservative in explaining some of my social experiences and the experiences of others on my tour. I've considered keeping some of my personal opinions about people and things that happened to myself - BUT in the end this is MY travelogue and I want it to convey my entire experience the best way possible. This means putting my opinions about people, places, and experiences out there for everyone to read.
*-THE LINGO-*
Here are the definitions of some of the strange slang I will use in the travelogue. Most of this is Contiki slang - much different from real world slang:
Get With / Got With: This isn't Contiki slang - it's a term I have chosen to protect people's privacy. During the tour, there were lots of hook-ups between tour mates and people from other tours. When I'm talking about two people hooking up, I will say they "got with" each other. The definition is: Anywhere from simple making out to hardcore animal sex. For example: Dick got with Jane. Did Dick kiss Jane? Did Dick sleep with Jane? You'll never know. All you'll know is that they "got with" each other.
On-Shore Drilling: Contiki slang. Same definition as above, but the participants are members of the same Contiki tour.
Off-Shore Drilling: Contiki slang. Same definiteion as above, but one participant is from another Contiki tour.
Optional Excursion / Optional: An extra activity that Contiki provides that you have to pay for.
Hammered: My favorite description for being really drunk.
That's it for the Prologue. I'll probably add more as I think of it. For now... enjoy reading my CONTIKI ULTIMATE EUROPEAN travelogue!
*-THE DAYS BEFORE-*
Before I begin I'll tell you a bit about myself and my travels. Back in 2001 I spent three weeks visiting a friend in France. Those three weeks had been the most amazing time of my life and was the first time I was bitten by the travel bug. Since then I got wrapped up in school and work and never got to travel much. The biggest thing I had done in the last five years was spend a week in Cuba and various places in Canada and the United States. In October, 2005, I had some pretty bad luck and came very close to losing my life to a life-threatening illness. It was a true eye-opener for me and made me realize that life is too short. I had to pull myself away from the daily routine and see the world.
When I got home from the hospital, the first thing I did was search the net for tours of Europe. I came across a tour company called Contiki and found exactly what I was looking for - a tour called Ultimate European. I finished my semester at school and canceled my classes in the next so I could work non-stop for the next seven months to save up enough money. On January 12th I officially booked the tour and on May 12th I left Canada for the greatest adventure of my life.
*-ABOUT THE TOUR-*
The Contiki "Ultimate European" tour is a 46 day road trip which starts and ends in London, United Kingdom and visits: France, Spain, Monaco, Italy, Vatican City, Greece, Egypt(optional), Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands. Half way through the tour there are two different options: 1) Spend a week traveling in Egypt (for the hardcore travelers) or 2) Spend a week relaxing on Mykonos Island in Greece (for people who need a break on the beach). I chose the Egypt option because, well, I'm hardcore ;)
The tour is limited to people ages 18-35 and is very fast-paced - you'll understand this more when you read the entries. Our tour consisted of 49 people from Canada, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. 34 girls and 15 guys.
*-BEFORE AND AFTER-*
A 46 day tour is a long time... but not long enough for ME. The tour started on May 21st, but before that I spent time in Ireland, Scotland, and England. When the tour ended on July 5th I did some more traveling in England and France, as well as visiting the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Belgium. I would have liked to spend six months or more traveling, but the budget just wouldn't allow it.
*-STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW-*
As with everything in life, there were lots of things that happened to me on this tour that can't be explained in a travelogue. Things like the relationships between myself and my tourmates, the atmosphere of the places I visited, the Sweet times and hot nights (that's an inside joke for my tourmates) and various of other things like that. I'd like to state right now that this travelogue won't even come close to doing justice to my experience. It's only intended to gave a description. The only way to truly understand what I went through is to experience it for yourself.
I'm having an internal battle about how I should go about explaining some of my experiences. Because my tourmates will be reading this, I've considered being conservative in explaining some of my social experiences and the experiences of others on my tour. I've considered keeping some of my personal opinions about people and things that happened to myself - BUT in the end this is MY travelogue and I want it to convey my entire experience the best way possible. This means putting my opinions about people, places, and experiences out there for everyone to read.
*-THE LINGO-*
Here are the definitions of some of the strange slang I will use in the travelogue. Most of this is Contiki slang - much different from real world slang:
Get With / Got With: This isn't Contiki slang - it's a term I have chosen to protect people's privacy. During the tour, there were lots of hook-ups between tour mates and people from other tours. When I'm talking about two people hooking up, I will say they "got with" each other. The definition is: Anywhere from simple making out to hardcore animal sex. For example: Dick got with Jane. Did Dick kiss Jane? Did Dick sleep with Jane? You'll never know. All you'll know is that they "got with" each other.
On-Shore Drilling: Contiki slang. Same definition as above, but the participants are members of the same Contiki tour.
Off-Shore Drilling: Contiki slang. Same definiteion as above, but one participant is from another Contiki tour.
Optional Excursion / Optional: An extra activity that Contiki provides that you have to pay for.
Hammered: My favorite description for being really drunk.
That's it for the Prologue. I'll probably add more as I think of it. For now... enjoy reading my CONTIKI ULTIMATE EUROPEAN travelogue!