Bitten by the Travel Bug

Over the past three weeks, I had the exciting opportunity of traveling to Europe and exploring some beautiful new cities.

My first stop was London, where I visited sights such as; Piccadilly Circus (nothing compared to Time Square), Hyde Park, Big Ben, Trafalgar Square, The London Eye, London City Hall, Tower Bridge and Buckingham Palace. Getting around was made easy thanks to one of my friends who is currently living and working in London. Considering my love for food, I certainly enjoyed a few too many sizeable English breakfasts! 

After a few days in London I flew to Dortmund, Germany to visit another friend. I stayed in the small town of Bochum about 40 minutes from the city of Dusseldorf. Dusseldorf was a lovely city, filled with cobblestone streets and a beautiful promenade on the Rhine river. We checked out the boulevard Königsallee ("King's Avenue" in English) which is known for the canal that runs along it's center, as well as the fashion showrooms and luxury retail stores located along its sides. It is known as Germany's busiest and most upmarket shopping strip. Once again I indulged in German meats, cheeses and lots of German beer!

While in Germany I also got the chance to visit Drei Elemente, an advertising agency based in Bochum. The creative director, Sebastian, had been in New York a couple weeks earlier and connected with dbc about a possible partnership. They are a well known agency in Germany working with some large German companies as well as companies we know in America (BMW, MTV.) Their office space was amazing, with lots of fun areas to relax, brainstorm and work. I got to see what they were working on and meet some of the team.  Make sure you check out their website to see all the great work they do: www.drei-elemente.com

I then spent the night in a small town called Olpe, right on the beautiful Olpe City Lake. While there I had the chance to visit a German Sauna house which was an incredibly authentic German experience and very different to any Sauna I had been in before!  

From Germany we decided to drive to Amsterdam for the day. This was definitely my favorite place. Amsterdam was an exciting, vibrant and eye-opening city. There were many beautiful canals all lined with different shops and quaint, colorful houses. The red light district was quite confronting and something neither of us had expected. I loved the beauty, culture and free-spirit of the city.

Finally, I returned to London for my last couple of weeks and explored the area of Fulham, where I was staying, located around 25 minutes via the tube from the city centre. Fulham was a very pretty, upper class suburb filled with Victorian style houses and a great selection of places to eat and drink.

I got the chance to see the Wallabies play Argentina in Rugby at Twickenham stadium. It was a lot of fun and a great experience to visit such an iconic stadium – it didn’t hurt to see Australia win either! I also visited Wimbledon, and took a tour of the grounds. This was really cool, especially because I love Tennis. I will have to return one day when the tournament is actually on!

Overall, I had an amazing trip catching up with friends, exploring cultures, seeing new places and gaining more world experience. I'll definitely miss all the food and drink but can’t wait to get home to my own bed! On a side note, delaying me getting back, I had some issues getting into the country. I suggest double checking all your documentation before you travel! 

I have been bitten by the travel bug and something tells me I’ll be back discovering more European cities in the near future!