The Gravity of the Trip

In every great adventure, there is a point at which one realizes the true scope of their trip.

For me... It's here. In a 6-person couchette rolling through Northern Germany with 2 of my best friends. Over the past 2 weeks, we truly have gotten our sea legs under us. The first week was fast and hectic... London and Paris are large, imposing cities with pages and pages of things to do and museums to wait in line for. On top of that, we were getting used to our new way of life with everything on our backs, we were exploring our roles as individuals and as a group.

Then, suddenly, 8 days were behind us and we found ourselves in Brussels, a polar opposite of Paris or London. Small, quiet, not much to see... We had to re-figure everything out. Amsterdam came next and was more similar to Brussels... low stress, high relaxation. Throughout the second week we reinvented ourselves, learning how to deal with down-time and not constantly on an itinerary.

With both facets more or less now figured out, here we are on a 15-hour night train. The three of us boarded in Amsterdam and were happy to be alone in our couchette because we were scared to death at how tiny it is... even for just the 3 of us. Our serenity was shattered, when 20 minutes later new passengers arrived. As fate has a funny way of doing, however, we were pleasantly surprised to meet 2 Dutch girls who are psychology masters students, on their way to conduct clinical research abroad in Denmark for the next 4 months. We have gotten along great, joking with each other and laughing about how hopeless Americans are at speaking the dutch language.

I love situations like this when I travel. I am reminded of how small the world is and how similar other people truly are.

In Köln, we transitioned the cabin from sitting to sleeping areas, with 3 narrow berths on each side. It's pretty tight, but it fits 6 people well.

Now, the girls are asleep, dave is dozing, the Scottish guy who just recently joined us is out like a light, and steve and I are sitting here relaxing as we roll along, now just under 12 hours to Copenhagen.

With 6 more weeks and a dozen or so more cities to conquer, I couldn't be more excited, more confident or happier. We are in our groove. Next stop Denmark.