30 strangers, 14 days, 12 cities, 2 best friends, 1 trip to last a lifetime
In early March 2015, my best friend of 10 years planned a trip with her family to Europe. Every day at lunch, she would tell me about it. She would talk about how they were going on a bus tour, how they were visiting the major cities in Western Europe, and how they were going to see all of the main European monuments like the Eiffel Tower. The more that she talked about it, the more that I wanted to come. Finally, in late March, she asked me if I wanted to come. Going on a two-week trip to Europe with my best friend seemed like the greatest graduation gift that I could have received and, after all of the stories that I have now, I can honestly say that I wasn’t wrong.
When we told everyone that we would be traveling together for 14 days, sharing a bathroom, sharing clothes, and even sometimes sharing a bed, the immediate reactions consisted of disbelief. “Good luck,” they would say, “I hope that your friendship survives this.” As it came closer to our departure date, the thought of being away from my family for two weeks with little contact began to worry me. However, with my best friend’s parents traveling with us, I felt like another member of their family.
We left four days after graduation and embarked on our journey to our first city: London. Cue the first event. After changing flights and finally arriving in London, we went to collect our baggage. Of course, our bags decided not to arrive with us at our destination. This left my best friend nearly blind without her glasses prescription, her mother without good walking shoes, me without hair products, and all of us without clothes.
Luckily, my and my best friend's baggage arrived in Paris three days later, our third city out of twelve. After finally receiving our luggage, the second crazy event happened: we locked our luggage in our room in Florence. While you may be thinking, “Everyone does that, why is that a bad thing?” Well, in our case, we almost lost our luggage to the Florentines because we broke the key in the lock. The key word is "almost." With the help of a bobby pin and tweezers, the luggage was freed at last.
The final event in this trip that definitely left its mark was the bus tour. Every morning, we had to wake up around 5:00 a.m. to get back on the bus and travel to our next city. This allowed us to sleep uncomfortably on a bus until our tour leader blasted “Wake Me Up” by Avicii to wake us up. It is safe to say that, by the end of the trip, I definitely hated that song.
Was it worth it? Yes, it was. Do my best friend and I hate each other now? No, we don't. Would I do it all over again? I would do it in a heartbeat.
If you ever get the chance to travel with your best friend, do it. The memories that you make will last for a lifetime.
