Check out was at 10am, so we woke up at 9:50, told the desk we were checking out, then went back to bed for another hour or so. At around noon Max and I went out to grab some lunch and hit the beach. It was about a 20-minute walk to the beach and by the time we got there it was sizzling hot! First thing was first; Max and I sat out for an hour or so and got our tan on. Then, after debating whether or not to get a massage (I ultimately decided no, for all those wondering) we hit the boardwalk for some drinks then made our way back to the hostel to pick up our luggage and grab some dinner.
We stopped at a restaurant with outdoor seating to enjoy one last meal and take advantage of the 18 year-old drinking age one last time. Shelman asked for a Heineken and, because they didn’t have a drink menu, I said I’d take whatever beer he recommended. Dude came back a minute later with a Heineken for Max and a non-alcoholic beer for me. Thanks, Bro. Really hit it out of the park with one. The only thing worse than having to pay for a non-alcoholic beer is the fact that the waiter pegged me for the type who’d really one. YMAPE, sir. Anyways, we ate our meals, I drank my beer-water, and we headed off for the airport. It was 8 pm by the time we made it to the airport (after waiting at 2 wrong bus stops for the airport shuttle) and our flight wasn’t until 6:30 am the next day. However, not wanting to shell out extra money for another night at the hostel, we made the decision to just crash at the airport. The building itself was pretty sweet, lots of restaurants and shopping to be had, though we just went to sleep on the hard tile floor. Oh, and by the way Shelman ran out of contact solution so the night before he filled his contact holders with Visine instead, which I guess wasn’t a great idea because his right eye got pretty swollen, but anyways…
We woke up at 5:15 and after zombie-ing around for a bit, got on the plane for our connecting flight to Amsterdam to pass out. We then slept for the entirety of the five hour layover in Amsterdam then got on the plane to JFK, where I’m writing this now after a dinner and several (free) dranks.
So, there you have it, folks and friends. Max and I made it through three weeks in Europe with just a backpack each. Hit 11 cities in 20 days, visited 13 UNESCO world heritage sites (as far as I can tell), and only lost one backpack lock (as well as about $2,600, but it was $2,600 well spent). We got beef goulash and great beer in Prague, white sausage in Germany, weird pancakes in Amsterdam, authentic Belgian waffles, croissants and a Royal with Cheese in Paris, steak in Barcelona, gelato and pizza from all around Italy, pasta from Florence, fresh seafood from the Cinque Terre, and wiener schnitzel in Vienna. We saw ancient buildings, modern architecture, countless churches, castles, and gardens, and even had time to hit the beach. We took boats, planes, trains, cars, subways, buses, and bikes. Met people from Holland, Argentina, Germany, England, Australia, Ireland, Turkey, Italy, France, Sweden, Switzerland, New Zealand, Russia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Mexico, Norway, Uruguay, and Ecuador. Thanks for following along, everyone. We’ll leave you with this final piece of advice: Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you.
All for now,
Sneaky n’ Slimetodd
PICTURES: The last picture of Europe with all our luggage; Me eating a last meal in Europe before we left for the Barcelona Airport
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