I have so many random little things left to share about our trip! I made some categories to try to make sense of them.

PACKING

• Amount of Luggage – we did well with packing – one large checked bag, one carry on, a backpack, and a briefcase. We used nearly everything we brought.
• Apple AirTags – we used AirTags in our luggage and the briefcase. It was reassuring to know the luggage was in the same airport as us… once it updated! There were times it looked left behind because it hadn’t connected yet to update its location.
• Jewelry – I usually travel with TONS of earrings, but I haven’t switched out my second ear piercing yet so I brought nothing but what I was wearing – two pairs of earrings, my rings, and my K necklace.
• Socks – I only brought short socks, and on the second day my legs felt so cold and I was like “why didn’t I bring long socks?!” Then, duh, I realized I didn’t have my compression socks on, so I just wore those every day!
• Backpack – for the first two days I didn’t carry my backpack around. Then I had so much stuff to give Katja I brought it with me the fourth day and just wore it for the rest of the trip. It was so nice to have all that space for things and my local friends had them too so I figured it wasn’t too dorky.

• Belt Bag – I used a belt bag my snis gave me for the first time and loved it! It’s a little different shape than a traditional belt bag. Maybe it’s not even called that?

Sad these have dairy in them LOL

• Sunglasses – I was very proud of myself for only packing 5 (or was it 6?) pairs of sunglasses. On the last day it was actually sunny and Steven and Dunja didn’t have sunglasses and I’d wished I had my extra pairs with me to loan them!

MONEY

• Cash – Before we left we watched this YouTube video talking about how lots of places require euros, and don’t take credit card. I was surprised and got €1,000. Of course, that was NOT the case. Several places were card only! So we girl mathed it and spent the euros on anything and everything. I came back with 87¢.
• Starbucks – I could not pay with my Starbucks account there! Of course, I realized this after I loaded the card with $70 to buy some mugs. Oops.
• Smashed Pennies – Steven collects smashed pennies from places we’ve visited, and he made them in the Netherlands and Germany. He also got some souvenir coins from Germany and Belgium.

• Euros – Several times in the Netherlands people said to me “you’re so lucky we’re on euros now and don’t have different currency between countries.” Yes, but it’s been like this for 20+ years? I used euros when I first went to Europe in 2002. This comment made me laugh, especially that it came up more than once.

LANGUAGE STUFF

• Google Translate – What a great app! If you use the camera feature in the Google Translate app, it will overlay the words over what you are looking at through the camera. Impressive.
• French – I was surprised they speak French in Brussels, which is easily googleable. Steven asked me what French I know and I said “Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir” and he was all :-o. Ha ha.
• ß – I did not know this character made an “ss” sound until Steven started working in DuoLingo before the trip. I always thought it was a B!
• DuoLingo – Steven is still working on German post trip, and I switched to Spanish.
• Welcome to the party – When we were in Bruges, Anita’s youngest son shouted “Welkom op het feestje” to a bunch of tourists on a boat going under the bridge we were standing on and I thought that was hilarious.

WALKING

• No Hike – There was a cool hike we didn’t do near Dresden (Saxon Switzerland Mountains and the Bastei Bridge) because it would have meant sacrificing our chill day. That is the only trip regret I have, but it’s not a big one. (Okay, and not getting vegan Dutch apple pie)
• Walk to the Right – People didn’t always walk to the right or get out of our way so if we didn’t move a lot of times we’d get bumped into. Odd. One time a man bumped into me in Brussels and apologized in French, which I appreciated.
• So Many Steps – I loved walking so much! Here is my step count by day:

Sunday | April 14, 2024: 18,699 steps
Monday | April 15, 2024: 24,305 steps 
Tuesday | April 16, 2024: 21,494 steps
Wednesday | April 17, 2024: 17,457 steps
Thursday | April 18, 2024: 29,682 steps 
Friday | April 19, 2024: 18,950 steps
Saturday | April 20, 2024: 33,386 steps
Sunday | April 21, 2024: 22,959 steps
Monday | April 22, 2024: 9,756 steps only!

OBVIOUS CULTURAL DIFFERENCES

• Cars – We mostly saw tiny cars, but we saw a Dodge Ram, a Ford F250, and a Jeep in Bruges! Random.
• Toilets – I love that the toilet doors go to the ground in public spots, let’s start with that. But whoa, we were in some WEIRD bathrooms. There was the one in Amsterdam with red lights and an aquarium. The ones that looked like janitor’s closets in the Dresden airport. The one in Brussels with the sink that was as small as my hand. We missed our bidet. Ha.
• Chocolate Quality – The chocolate is a gazillion times better than ours. I will be paying Katja or Dunja to mail me vegan Lindt bars when it gets cold.

Chocolate and candy we bought and brought back

POSTCARDS

• Stamps from Friends – I asked my friends to get stamps ahead of time for me so I wouldn’t have to worry about that while I was there. Thanks Anita, Katja, and Dunja!
• Postcards – We sent 20 postcards to the states!

TRULY RANDOM 

• Driving in Germany – I’m so glad Germany is the country we drove in, not the Netherlands or Belgium. Driving in the city center of those countries looked like a nightmare.
• Germany/Belgium Juxtaposition – The orderliness of Dresden (waiting for a walk sign to walk) vs jaywalking in Brussels was jarring! It felt so wrong to jaywalk!
• Green – Trees were green and lush in Europe and starting to fill in here when we got back. Yay!
• Stereotypes – There were so many funny stereotypes between countries shared with us from our friends that aren’t appropriate to share here, but are still making me chuckle.
• Expectations – A few of the Netherlands rock painters told me “you’re exactly like how I thought you would be,” which was nice.
• Downloading Photos – I download photos into folders by day and my phone really struggled with getting photos in the right folders when I downloaded them on to my computer (I imagine because of the time difference). Ugh.
• Sharing on Facebook – I shared the collage photos I made of the trip on Facebook about 5 days after we got back. I rarely share things on Facebook, and worked really hard to turn off comments on it. Ha.
• Global Friendships – I’ve said it many times but sharing this trip with our local friends made it more special than we ever could have imagined. We’re so grateful.
• Grateful for USA Friends – Coming back from seeing friends I only get to see once or twice a decade made me so grateful I can see my long distance USA friends (Hi Val and Tiff) a few times a year!