Europe (take 2) by the Numbers...

Well guys, another European vacation is in the books!! I can't believe its over already and I'm sad something I looked forward to for so long as now passed, but it was so phenomenal once again. Although my first trip to Europe was unforgettable and amazing, this one came in pretty darn close to that. You'll never forget your first, but seeing all new countries, cities, landscapes, buildings, etc... this time around was so amazing and also something I will never forget.

Everyday I went to bed totally exhausted, happy, and fulfilled.  And every morning I woke up excited, energetic, and ready to take on the day ahead of me. Since this no longer was my first time traveling abroad alone, although nervous, I felt more comfortable and confident exploring different countries on my own. Going with Insight for part of the trip (nine days of it) was also a good call again because I was able to cover so much more ground going from city to city and not worrying about how I was going to get there, where I was going to stay, and not having to get tickets or wait in lines at the very big tourist attractions. They covered that for us and I still got plenty of solo exploring time which was über important to me.

As I have done on all my big trips in the last, I like to sum everything up for myself (and you guys who have followed me along the way) with a bit of an overview of what I've done the past two and half weeks. So without further ado, here is Europe (take 2) by the numbers...

18: Number of full days spent abroad 

3: Countries traveled to (Spain. Portugal, Czech Republic)

16: Cities Visited (Barcelona, Peñíscola, Valencia, Granada, Córdoba, Seville, Jabùgo, Lisbon, Cascais, Sintra, Fatima, Salamanca, Toledo, Madrid, Prague, Terezín) 

8: Number of hotels stayed in

9: Number of times I was able to run while abroad (Barcelona (2x), Seville, Lisbon, Madrid (2x), Prague (3x) I Wish I had been able to run more but early wake-up calls made that difficult.)

11: Number of Bidets I avoided (8 hotel and three public restroom ones. Ummm, gross.)

3: Number of times I peed on the bus: 3 (The most out of anyone, naturally. And that wasn't even a lot for me. Not even close.)
16: Number of times I took public transportation abroad (12x in Barcelona, 1x in Madrid, 3x in Prague)

7: Number of times I poorly hand washed laundry (I'm not even going to tell you how many times I sniffed parts of said laundry to make sure it was clean.) 

6: Number of castles/towers climbs for aerial view (Castle of Peñíscola, Giralta Tower, Elevador de Santa Justa, Cristo Rei, Prague tower, Petrín View Tower)

7: Number of Magnum bars eaten

6: Number of hours of sleep averaged a night 

105: Highest temperature reached 

3: Number of outfits repeated. (Not too bad for 18 days) 

4: Number of Diet Cokes drank (over a 2-day period and now I'm quitting again. I was desperate.) 

2: Number of new stamps in my passport (I got my first one in Barcelona, and was so pissed I didn't get one in Czech Republic but in Germany on my layover I got to stamp my own book. The woman saw how excited I was for the stamp and let me do it myself. It was so awesome!!!)

Things I lost count of: 

- Number of selfie sticks seen

- Number of boobies seen at the beach

- Amount of bread eaten
- Amount of ham eaten

- Number of water bottles purchased
- Number of miles walked (my FitBit stopped working on day 3 so that sucked)

Favorite city: Barcelona (followed by Lisbon and Madrid) 

Favorite site: The beach (Barcelona), Retiro Park (Madrid), Petrín Tower (Prague)

Favorite meal: Dinner in Barcelona atop Las Arenas. The combo of the food (which was the best I had all trip) and the scenery (with the sunset) was just incredible. 

Things I missed while in Europe: 

-Vitamin Water Zero

- Big Salad

- Charmin Ultra Toilet Paper

- Juice Press 

- A Laundry machine

Things I learned:

- Most people around the world speak English while us Americans really don't bother much to master a second language.

- My map reading skills still suck but my overall directional ability has improved. 
- I can navigate a public transportation system pretty well because of my experience in NYC with the subway
- I apparently can only take one kind of selfie and although its okay looking, its literally the same one over and over. 

Things I was reminded of: 
- I love staying in hotel rooms by myself
- Running in new cities early in the morning is seriously one of the best ways to see it
- Seeing the sunrise and sunset never gets old
- Being in such good shape helps me see more of a city (and from different viewpoints) than a lot of other people
- I am lucky to be so independent and be able to actually enjoy being by myself doing these types of things
- I find total and complete happiness when I am traveling

I had a rough last few months at work and I was looking forward to this trip so badly. Now that it has come and gone, I still have the rest of the summer ahead of me for some more fun but know I have to keep riding this wave of happiness that my DC trip and this trip re-instilled that in me. Traveling makes me so happy. Period. I love getting out there and taking on new challenges and adventures and this does it for me. I am very grateful to have had this opportunity again to travel abroad and cannot wait to do it again; hopefully next summer!!