noe847

I was 27 when my husband and I went to Germany and Austria for 2 weeks in 1983. We had gotten married 2 1/2 years earlier and began working at very intense jobs. This was our first vacation!

We went in January with no plan except to cross country ski and see some cities. We began and ended with relatives outside Frankfurt and visited Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck, and cross country skied in the towns of Maishofen, and Kossen. We had our clothes in backpacks and found b&bs at the tourist offices in the train stations when we arrived in each place. Nobody from home knew where we were, our offices couldn't reach us - it was heaven! We bought bread, wurst, cheese and oranges at the local shops and just packed up a lunch every day. Or skied to the next town for lunch and then skied back.

The first year our children both went to sleep away summer camp we tried to visit Italy on frequent flyer miles. We just couldn't get tickets, so instead we ended up hiking in the Canadian Rockies for 2 weeks. We loved that so much we spent 7 years revisiting the area, and didn't return to Europe until 1999 when we brought our middle school aged daughters to Scotland for a 2 week driving tour. They had begun playing with bagpipe and drum bands and we wanted to give them a taste of the place.

We've been overseas many times in the past 10 years, mostly to Germany, Austria and the UK. London is my favorite city on Earth (I grew up in the NYC suburbs). But the two most magical trips were the first one with my husband to Austria and the first one with the girls to Scotland.

calico1

Here's mine.

1. 39 yrs old

2. London, Paris, Rome

3. Been toiling for so many years and I thought I deserve a birthday gift for myself. Besides I figured that I should travel and travel before my parents come here to live with me, or if I get married and have a family, I may not be able to do whatever what I want to do.

nancymaat

1. 5
2. London, Switzerland
3. My parents loved to travel. We lived in Libya at the time. Went to Europe every other year.

Luckily, I married someone who loves to travel as much as I do. My oldest daughter's first trip to Europe was when she was 18 months old. Went to France, Italy and Hungary.

freberta

11 in August 1968. Went wiith my parents and 13-year-old sister to Israel, Italy, Switzerland and France for 4-week group trip. It was quite an interesting trip, even for an 11-year-old, with it being just a year after the Six Day War, the summer of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia and the year of the student riots in Paris. Quite a time! Have been back to Europe 9 times since, with and without my own family, which includes my husband (first trip at age 42; my 14-year-old daughter, first trip at 10 and my 11-year-old son, first trip at age 7).

mdtravel

Great question!

1. I was 33.
2. London.
3. Had been working like a dog for about 7 straight years (70 - 80 hour weeks with no more than 1 vacation day in that time) and wanted to slow down, recharge and enjoy what I had been working for.

We loved, absolutely loved, London. More so, however, we loved a 'foreign' country and everything it gave us. We marveled at the different customs and spent hours talking about them.

I still work a lot, but have managed to follow up that trip to London with two more trips to London, two to Frankfurt, three to Paris and five to Italy since 2002. Italy is by far our favorite and our sixth trip is coming up.

dmlove

I was 21, and traveling with my then-boyfriend (now husband of 35 years). We spent 10 weeks in Europe and Israel for $800 each total, including airfare from NY-London and back from Amsterdam, airfare from Athens to Tel Aviv and back to Zurich, and Eurail passes!

We were in London, Paris, Madrid, Toledo, Barcelona, Geneva, Florence, Rome, Athens, Hydra, Spetsai, all over Israel, Zurich, Vienna, Innsbruck, Munich, Copenhagen and Amsterdam. At least that's what I recall now!

We've been back many times, but never a trip of that magnitude (although we did spend a month with our kids in the UK, Paris, Alps and Italy 10 years ago).

It was a fantastic start

slangevar

1. 27

2. England (Cambridge, Oxford, London) and Paris

3. My then-boyfriend took me to meet his family. After we broke up a few years (and trips) later, I repaid the favor by bringing my sister (23) and Dad (60) to England, France and Italy for their first trip to Europe. Still trying to get Mom (62) to go!

dwebb

1. 45

2. Paris 2005

3. I did it as a gift to myself for a life put on hold. I raised my children (2) as a single parent (nothing special). I was feeling great about them fulfilling their military obligations and finishing their education, finding excellent jobs and leading good lives (so far). I felt the life I had on hold needed to be resurrected and I couldn't think of a better place than Paris to jump start it. I've been going every year!

likeswords

1. 56

2. Paris (abd Versailles)

3. My daughter was studying there and my friend had not seen his brother (who lives in Scotland) for 16 years. We got to Paris with every intention of spending two weeks there and one week in Scotland, but trying to arrange a roundtrip flight there and back defeated us, so we just stayed in Paris (but we did make it to Scotland this year, with three more weeks in Paris as well). Why on earth did I wait so long?

irishface

Summer between my junior and enior year of college. (Not telling the year but it was in the days of "Europe on $5 a day" and there were still ruins from WW II in many cities.)

Won a competition to study German in Salzburg, Austria. Plane fare and tuition,room and board in the program included. My parents said,"Go for it!" and then I was able to scrape up enough for 6 weeks of travel after studying. It was a wonderful program of students from all over the world so German was our only common language. There were some other Americans there but we all tried to maintain German in our conversations. While in Salzburg, took the train to Vienna and did some exploring in the area around Salzburg.

Then I met with a college friend and we set out through Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, and England.

I had been bitten by the travel bug long before I ever thought I could go. A cousin who had been in the 30's and a great aunt who was a nurse in World War I had stories that had me poring over maps. Geography in grade school whetted my appetite, as did a high school English teacher and French teacher who had traveled and shared their experiences with us.

After college I was lucky to land a job teaching in Ireland. After I came home, I saved every penny I could to be able to return--Ireland to revisit friends, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, BosniaHerzogovenia, Serbia. Still lots to see! Some of my trips have been with friends and many on my own. Have taken my nephews and niece on trips to Europe and encouraged them to travel. Hope that they will have chances to go later.

SusanP

I first went to Europe in 1960, when I was 7 years old (we actually came home on my 8th birthday). Visited Scotland, London, Amsterdam, Paris, Heidelberg, Lucern, Rome & Lisbon. It was a month-long concert tour for a private chorus that one of my brothers and I belonged to.

The only reason I got to go along was because, even at that age, I knew all the words to all the songs (probably near 100), looked cute in the middle of the front row, and my mother went along as a chaperone.

While I realize I don't remember everything, I do remember certain things very clearly...seeing the Cancan dancers in Paris, how green everything was in Heidelberg, the view of the Eiffel Tower from the top of the Arc de Triomphe, all the bicycles in Amsterdam when all the workers got off their jobs for the day, the ladies carrying huge, heavy baskets on their heads containing fruits or laundry in Lisbon, etc.

Maybe that's where my love of travel started. Or maybe I inherited it from my father, who was in the Air Force Reserves for over 30 years and traveled a lot with that. And loved every minute of it. And always brought me back a doll from wherever he went. I also have one from each country we visited on that 1960 trip.

heartofthesouth

1. 25 years old..2007 with an old friend of mine

2. Rome, Italy

3. I had been very sick and swore if I made it though, that I would quit putting off travel and start seeing the world. Couldn't really afford the trip but didn't really care lol. I made it work and never regretted it!

I am getting married next year and for our honeymoon we are going to Rome for a week (my 2nd trip and his 1st) then we are still deciding where we want to go for our 2nd week on honeymoon..maybe Rothenburg Germany or Mittenwald Germany....who knows...

azzure

1. 34

2. Greece, Mediterranean cruise, Italy

3. My Dad had passed away and friends invited my Mom to accompany them on a tour. Then she invited me!

zeta

I was 27. Just four years ago, Aug. 2004. I always meant to go before, but life led me to other things.

I went to England, Scotland, and Ireland.
First three days in London, ALONE, my friend was detained in the U.S. by a hurricane! I was nervous at first, but it was great. I finally met up with my friend on day four in Edinburgh, Scotland. We spent two days together there and then did five day contiki tour of Scotland. We saw a lot in a little amount of time. When we finished that we fly to Dublin, Ireland. Relaxed, soaked up the culture, not to mention a few guiness' and saw some of the country side.
For are last day we flew back to London, spent the day there and then flew home the following day=(
It was amazing, and nothing beats that first experience!

However, I am completely in love with Europe. I do want to see the rest of the world, but I just find Europe magical. There is so much history, culture, and diversity.
So I went to France and Spain in May of 05. Then Italy in May of 07. And I just did another tour this past June that took me to The Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, and France. And I'm thinking about a little ski trip in Austria this New Years. But we'll see, everyone cross your fingers for me.
Z

mbkbcb

1. 29 (1993)
2. France (Paris)
3. My mother was from Paris, and I wanted to go back with her to meet some of my family and see where my she grew up. I just took my two daughters (14 & 12)to Europe this summer. Unfortunately it was without my mother because she passed away last year. We went to Paris, London and Dublin. We are saving our money so we can go back again and again. We will always go to Paris, but we would like to add a different city/country everytime.

ParisAmsterdam

1) 18 years old

2) France, England,Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, Austria, Yugoslavia, Greece, Italy.

3) Got a job in the Rhone Valley for 2 francs an hour.
Didn't stay at that for long!
Ended up in Amsterdam with 2 girls from Montreal and bought a VW van for $300. Sold it several months later for $300 back in Amsterdam.
Those were the days!

beaupeep

My first trip was February, 1997 to Paris so I would have been 42. I had/have a childhood friend who lives there (went for a summer after college and never looked back). She had come to visit me on Nantucket and said that if I didn't make the plane reservations - she would!

So I went to Paris and loved it and went twice more within the next 11 months and then voila! Miracle of miracles - I met a man who came to visit my friend, his sister and it was love at first sight and he just happened to live in Switzerland. A year later I was living over here and now we are married and I can go anywhere I want in Europe very easily compared to from Nantucket!

dfr4848

1. 20

2. England, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Italy, Monaco, Switzerland

3. Spent the entire summer after sophomore year of college. Went with my best friend, whose father had been transfered from the States to Dusseldorf to help build a new chemical plant. Used Dusseldorf as an occasional "base" and with a 3 month Eurorail Pass, saw as much as we could.

Samsaf

1. Age 37.

2. Italy, France, Spain.

3. My husband won an end-of-the-year award trip (Mediterranean cruise). We started out with a couple of nights in Rome, went to Florence, Portofino, Cannes, France, Mallorca, Spain, and ended with a couple of nights in Barcelona. This was our first trip to Europe and also our first cruise, so -- IT WAS AMAZING, and we were hooked.

turbos_travels

1. 60 years (Left on my birthday)

2. The Netherlands, Cologne Germany,
Brussels & Bruges Belgium

3. To celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary my wife and I spent 16 days touring The Netherlands. Rented a car and went to Groningen for 2 days, Arnhem 2 days, Masstricht( side trips to Cologne & Belgium) 3 days, & Breda 2 days. While in Breda we were able to find my wife's cousins. We returned the car and spent 6 days in an apartment in the Jordaan area of Amsterdam.