3rd writing - The best holidays I have ever had

I waited for the train departure from Sants station, at the age of 22, a heavy backpack, my Interrail ticket, a youth hostel book and my savings for doing a whole month travel around Europe.

New York, London, Edinburgh, Paris, Athens, Istanbul...are wonderful cities that I have visited with my family, all of them astonishing experiences and each of them different. You can learn so much travelling with your family or friends, and talking with anybody that you meet throughout your holidays. Nonetheless I want to explain my first trip alone, which was for me an unforgettable event and a lesson about diversity, respect, customs, variety of traditions and indescriptible foods. Every country has its own personality, interesting sightseeing places and its peculiar style to receive foreigners.

I traveled on my own for the first time, after almost eight years without more than a fortnight of break every August. I felt a little fear, although I was totally decided to make a trip which I would keep on my mind for all my life.

My first destination was Paris, in the “Cité Internationale Universitaire”, a nice city and a great encounter with the kindest group of Moroccan students, who gave me a particular point of view about the peculiar character of French citizens. The second stop in Germany visiting my father’s family in Alsdorf, where I met a lot of their Spanish friends and remembered traditions, culture as well as Spanish food. They still felt homesick after being in Germany for more than thirty years. I also went to Munich and stayed some days in a youth hostel, where I realized that German people are not as square-headed as some people say about them.

The trip between Germany and the old Yugoslavia made me feel apprehension because of the continuous verification inside the train, not done by the ticket inspector but by soldiers. Having arrived in Sophie for discovering some interesting places like its magnificent cathedral, and the fighters for Albanian rights, which was the reason for the constant train checking. I am fond of saying that I have seen Split and Dubrovnik before the destruction of the war and I enjoyed the walk within its walls and its delightful beaches.

The next country was Greece and I went first to Thessalonica and Athens afterwards. Having reached the Parthenon, I felt overwhelmed by the majesty of its structure, with a splendid sight of a hospitable capital that reminded the history of Ancient Greece. I have loved Greece since then and I return on every occasion I have. Here I coincided with a bunch of Spanish people doing the same as me, but travelling in groups of four or more. They insisted on me joining their troupe, nevertheless they had different plans from mine and I continued alone, taking pleasure in my freedom. I travelled along all this country to catch a boat in Patras on my way to Italy, which I crossed from south to north, passing through Rome and Venice and going to visit an amazing place, Garda Lake. The last places I went to before coming back to Barcelona were Montecarlo and Nice, a bit stressful and crowded with beach tourism.

A truly pleasant trip, full of contrast and sensations, short in time for my pleasure but interesting enough to give me an open mind in front of the new situations which were approaching my oncoming. The next year, in summer, I would be married.