Now that I can, I will try and share more of that trip. First up, the itinerary we followed.
As it was our first time on European soil, we tried to tick off a lot of touristy and hyped up cities. We always knew it won’t be our last trip to Europe so we did leave some cities for any future trip some years down the line. Who knew we’ll have such an amazing time that we’ll come back with an 8-month-old in tow, exactly a year later (EXACTLY- the same date even!). An addiction had begun.
We started from one end (London), visited many cities in geographical order and flew back home from Paris. This is our preferred way because even though multi-city flights cost a little more, it gives us more travel options. We do not have to return back to the same city again. I discussed this travel strategy and more in ‘Our Travel Process’ blogpost here. We used the same strategy for our Europe 2019 trip.
Here's the itinerary we followed for the 4 weeks we were in Europe. We touched 15 cities and 7 countries. First up, the itinerary in photos, details after the photos.
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| We were actually there at Megan and Harry's wedding at Windsor Castle, London. |
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| Tower Bridge, London |
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| Exploring Amsterdam (Netherlands) like a tourist |
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| Walking 2 km with all our luggage to our accommodation in Haarlem (Netherlands) |
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| Bike rides in Leiden (Netherlands) |
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| Flower Market in Amsterdam (Netherlands) |
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| Bruges (Belgium) old town. Started living in husband's tees at this point. |
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| Environment awareness art installation at Bruges (Belgium) |
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| Cycling from Bruges to Daame (Belgium) |
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| Ghent town centre (Belgium) |
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| Riding bikes in 'No Bike Zone' in Ghent (not knowingly) |
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| RyarAir flight from Brussels to Berlin (Worst flight, got charged 55 euros per person for checking in 2 minutes late) |
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| A wee bit tired at Berliner Dom (Berlin) |
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| German Parliament building, Reichstag (Berlin) |
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| Middle-eastern cheap eats in Berlin |
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| The most photographed spot in 'Rothenburg ob der Tauber' (Germany) |
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| Sunset scenes in Bamberg (Germany) |
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| Bamberg (Germany) |
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| The castle that inspired Walt Disney- Neuschwanstein Castle (Germany) |
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| Colosseum (Rome, Italy) |
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| Views of Vatican City (Rome, Italy) |
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| The majestic Roman Forum (Rome, Italy) |
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| Best Pizza we've ever had- Pinsa Mpo- Rome |
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| Louvre selfie (Paris, France) |
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| Love lock bridge in Paris has no locks now (France) |
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| Planning to bring my future kid to Luxembourg Gardens (Paris, France) |
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| Parisian Boulangerie treats |
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| Thai Airways vegetarian treats |
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| Stopover at Bangkok (Thailand) |
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| Wat Arun temple in Bangkok (Thailand) |
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| Back home to my plant babies- Auckland (New Zealand) |
London (UK)- 3 nights- Stay at Travelodge hotel in Slough, near Heathrow Airport
Haarlem (Netherlands)- 3 nights- Took a flight from London to Amsterdam and then a train from Amsterdam Schipol Airport to Haarlem city centre. We walked 2 km with all the luggage to Hotel Ibis Styles.
Note: We bought the 3-day 'Amsterdam and Region travel ticket' to cover all public transport in and around Amsterdam. Haarlem is covered under the same ticket option.
Leiden (Netherlands)- Day trip from Haarlem. Hired bikes there to explore the city.
Note: Leiden not covered in Amsterdam and the Region travel ticket.
Amsterdam- (Netherlands)- Day trip from Haarlem. Explored the museums and canals.
Bruges (Belgium) - 2 nights- AirBnB at Oostkamp, Vlaanderen
Amsterdam to Bruges by train (stopover at Brussels)
Ghent (Belgium)- 2 nights- Best AirBnB we’ve ever stayed at. I'll share more about our Airbnb's in next blogpost. Location- Sportstraat
Bruges to Ghent via train.
Berlin (Germany)- 3 nights- AirBnB at Knobelsdorffstraße
Ghent to Berlin via a flight
Nuremberg (Germany)- 3 nights- Stay with friends at Herzogenaurach town.
Bamberg (Germany)- Day Trip from Herzogenaurach with friends (travel via their car)
Rothenburg ob der Tauber (Germany)- Day Trip from Herzogenaurach with friends (travel via their car)
Neuschwanstein Castle (Germany)- Day Trip from Herzogenaurach with friends (travel via their car)
Note: This is the castle that inspired Walt Disney, located at the border of Germany and Austria.
Rome (Italy)- 3 nights- AirBnB near Vatican City
Travel from Nuremberg to Rome via a flight
Paris (France)- 3 nights- AirBnB at Montmartre
Rome to Paris via a flight
Bangkok (Thailand)- Extended stop-over en route home with Thai Airways. We spent 7 hours exploring the city.
Auckland (NZ) - Home
When we planned this trip it felt doable. Remember we planned it in 8 days! We booked ourselves back to back. We were so late in finalising our travels that we had to rely on flights instead of trains. We booked the oddest times. Many late nights and 5 am mornings. Even though we survived this trip and loved every minute of it, I can tell you now that every night we were absolutely knackered. I struggled to write in my travel journal every night. So exhausting! We learned a lot about how, where and when to book during this trip. All of what we used to plan our May/June 2019 Europe Trip.
It was the excitement that kept us going every day of these 4 weeks. The excitement of being in a new continent, marvelling at some stellar architecture, eating the foods we had drooled over in travel shows. It was one super hectic trip but oh so wonderful! In the end, I was in awe of my pregnant body that walked 15k steps every day.
I hope this helps some of you to plan your dream Europe itinerary. I wouldn't change anything about this itinerary, except giving more days to each city and counting the travel day between cities as a rest day.
Are any of these cities on your wishlist?
Happy Travelling!
Love
Nishu
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