| |
 |
Backpack
through Europe. |
|
 |
| |
|
|
  |
|
By foot, train, bus, plane,
taxi, metro, boat and funicular, I covered eight countries
in the winter of 2000. In a brief, but exhilarating two
months, I saw France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany,
Austria, Czech Republic, and the Netherlands. Travels
like this seem to always get recounted through lists,
so I’d better stop there. You can pick up any number
of books that will tell you where to go, what to see,
how to act and where to stay. Rather than prescribe yet
another European itinerary or recite a litany of attractions
that cannot be missed, I’ll simply offer some observations
from my time on the backpacker trail.
On
expectations
Your expectations will profoundly impact what you end
up liking and what you may ultimately find disappointing.
I, for example, had high expectations for München
beer houses, Italian pizza, and Viennese coffee shops.
And while these are still immanently worthwhile experiences,
each had a hard time living up to inflated expectations.
Conversely, I expected little from the city of Nice,
tours in Salzburg, and museums in Berlin, but guess
what? I was pleasantly surprised.
On
contrast
Herbert Spencer wrote that “an essential pre-requisite
to all beauty is contrast.” Traveling in Europe,
it’s easy to find beauty in the startling juxtaposition
of medieval and modern, in the unexpected contrast of
architectural styles, and in the dizzying array of cultures
that neighbor each other on this small continent. Fall
asleep on a train, and you’ll probably wake up
in a distinctively new land. Cross a border and you
are certain to be presented with new languages, customs
and ethnicities. For me, the abrupt changes experienced
while traveling overland in Europe only amplified the
personality and unique beauty of each culture.
To
observe or to participate
You are visiting another country; it’s O.K. to
just observe and not to participate. I don’t think
that I’ve ever read a guidebook that didn’t,
with rarified pretension, suggest that the only way
to really see a place was to live like a local.
These books, especially ones by American authors, will
encourage you to immerse yourself in the local culture,
participate in its customs, and otherwise try to act
like a resident. Then curiously, they will spend nearly
every page of the book detailing all the touristy things
to do. Listen. You’re not a local. You know it.
They know it. You don’t have to live in Florence
for 6 months to say that you’ve really been there.
The
backpacker culture
If you travel solo, there is one culture that you will
become intimately familiar with on your journeys through
Europe, and that’s the nomadic, party-prone subculture
of the backpacker. Even if your not staying at hostels
– even if you’re not 22 and fresh out of
college – even if you’re not Australian
– it’s almost impossible not to find yourself
running with other backpackers. You’ll meet them
on trains. You’ll eat with them at expat bars.
You’ll party with them into the night. They read
the same guidebooks as you. They’re going to the
same sites as you. You are bound by common purpose,
lost in a foreign land, and often just desperate for
some company. Your experiences with these other travelers
may turn out to be your most treasured memories of Europe.
[June
2002]
|
|
