Our European Adventure
Leaving Europe was a bittersweet moment. Our three or so months here have FAAAR exceeded our expectations. We are leaving with new perspectives, understandings, and even more confirmation and conviction about our decision to leave our world behind for this new adventure.
We have used some of our down time before we left to try and capture some of our broader reflections and learnings about our time on the road thus far.
Language
This was an aspect of travel that felt the most daunting before we left. Our most extensive experience traveling to countries that didn’t speak English were all Spanish-speaking countries, and we have at least a passable understanding of Spanish.
After being in countries where the dominant language has not been English for the better part of 3 months. It was actually a little strange being back in England, where everyone speaks English. While I wouldn't say we learned any of the languages by any means, we did get used to using our learned passable phrases in our travels, (hello, goodbye, thank you, excuse me). So much so that on more than one occasion back in Manchester we found ourselves saying Danke instead of thank you.
What we found with language is that it has not been a barrier at all in Europe. Most people we encountered had at least a passable understanding of English (thank you for your patience Europeans) and with modern tools at our disposal, we had translation at our fingertips.
Possibly our biggest language challenge has been with grocery shopping. Having to stand in the aisle googling words to make sure we are actually getting heavy cream or yeast has been fun. It has also led us to get some delightful snacks (like our Bosnian chicken chips).
Side note: We could honestly write a whole blog about the fantastic (and some not great) potato chip/crisp flavors we have come across. We didn’t really eat chips back home (except chips and queso of course) but they have become a snack staple in our travels.
Food
We have experienced a diverse range of food everywhere we have been and learned so much about food culture. We don’t just stick to local cuisine, we have found just about every type of food in every location we have been. Some of the best Vietnamese food we have ever had was in Berlin. One of the best burgers we have ever had was in Manchester. Some of the best pizza we have ever had was Ericeira (UPDATE: Until we had pizza in Luang Prabang, Laos).
There are a couple of foods we have missed either because they don’t exist elsewhere or are not good enough here:
Mexican food. Thankfully we are both well versed in taco making (understatement) and other Mexican food, so we mostly cook that when we stay in. We tried one Mexican inspired burrito and taco place in Manchester and were vastly underwhelmed.
Cajun food. Ryan has thankfully made etouffee a time or two but we have largely missed things like gumbo, crawfish, and po-boys. There is no comparable food with all the spice and flavor. (Except Indian food, we could eat Indian for every single meal, but the spices are different)
Honestly, that’s it. Otherwise we are eating fresher, healthier, and more delicious food nearly everywhere we have been.
The biggest difference in foods across places we have observed is less about the ingredients and what you eat, (though good luck finding anything with real spiciness in Europe) but how you eat.
Sometimes it’s timing that varies from place to place. In Spain they legit don’t eat dinner before 8:00pm (at the earliest), and most restaurants don’t even open back up for evening service until at least 7:30pm. Other times it’s the service. We have learned a number of service differences between the U.S. and Europe (almost all very welcome differences). This includes:
A restaurant will never take your payment card from you. They will bring you a payment terminal for you to pay at the table, or you will need to go to the payment counter to settle the bill.
Learn the specific tipping culture by location. Some places have tipping, some have automatic service charges, some don’t customarily tip. If you do plan to tip you must do it in cash OR let them know BEFORE they input your total in the payment terminal (for card payments). There won’t be a line for you to add a tip to your receipt after the fact.
For example: Say you are paying $50 for dinner on a card. When they bring you the card terminal, or when you go to the counter to pay, you must say “Could you charge $60 on the card please.” if you want to tip $10. Don’t say “I would like to add a 10% tip” or anything like that. They won’t do the math for you.
Waiters for the most part won’t come to you unless they are summoned. This is not a lack of attentiveness. We have all had the overzealous waiter that tries too hard in the States trying to get a big tip. Instead in Europe they stand back and maintain a high level of attention so that the moment you need them, they are there for you.
You will hardly find them clearing your plate or encouraging you to leave. Whether it’s because they are paid a livable wage and don’t rely on tips, or they just have a higher sense of hospitality, they won’t encourage you to leave under any circumstance so they can seat another table. You either wait your turn or go somewhere else.
We have also become very familiar with the variety of types of grocery stores (what we now call food museums) through our travels. Our visits to all sorts of grocery stores have really impacted our understanding of food. We loved HEB (as long as it wasnt a Saturday or Sunday) because it had everything you could ask for. While there are still hypermarkets around, most places have more convenient store style grocery stores that offer less options but at a more convenient location. They are also not vastly more expensive than grocery stores like in the States. Lastly, of course, the abundance of open air markets and vendors is another welcome sight as you can easily stumble upon various markets for fresh produce, meat and fish.
Living into our values
One of the greatest aspects of our travel is how easy it has been to actually live into our values. We have in the last few months lived closer with some of our core values than we ever did at home. Our ability to do this has come down to a lot of things including changing our personal habits, our surroundings, and our mentality.
Living more sustainably.
In Europe it was so. easy. to recycle. Whether it was Germany who incentivized you to recycle with pfand refunds, or Spain that had large recycling bins on every corner. It is just easier to live a more eco-friendly lifestyle. Most places in Europe (except Bosnia) have also largely banned single use plastics (no single use plastic bags or straws, or drink lids). They have alternatives (non plastic replacements), or they charge you a small fee for the single use plastic to disincentivize use. In Houston we had tried avoiding single use plastic as a matter of personal principle but it can be hard sometimes when there is no other choice or when the default is a waiter handing out straws like candy before you can say ‘no thanks’. In Europe the burden doesn’t seem to be on the consumer and left to a matter of personal choice but the default is in doing what is right, where we don’t even have to think about it (beyond making sure our nanobags are always handy).
Living a more active lifestyle.
There is so much that goes into this. Every place in Europe has been extremely walkable, and most have also had phenomenal public transit systems so within a quick walk you can be in another highly walkable part of the city to explore. This is part one to living a more active lifestyle.
Part two of course comes with the ability not to be stuck working all the time. In the U.S. your worth and value is largely tied to the number of hours you put in at work. People regularly work long hours and are constantly on the grind. We tell ourselves it is resilience and strength…Nah thats just crazy talk.
Not having to work full time has allowed us the time and space to spend more time enjoying life and all that the world has to offer (duh). Work in the U.S. is a grinding, never ending process. Even people who love their jobs (and we both absolutely did—miss you Torchy’s family!) are faced with the constant work mentality which leaves little time or energy for anything else. We aren't so exhausted when coming home from work that all we want to do is zone out and do nothing.
Living more minimalist lifestyle.
This is a big one. It wasn’t until we started analyzing our spending (to save for this trip) that we learned most of our money was going to things that were not aligned to our values. That was when we knew we needed to change.
We cut back on consumer spending and focused our purchases on things relevant to our travels. That change was incremental and hard. It was hard because we felt constantly surrounded by the need to spend money, from food and drinks to activities and items. The U.S. is a HIGHLY capitalistic society where you feel compelled to spend money at every opportunity. You might not even recognize this behavior because it is so ingrained in our society. It is practically impossible to leave the house and NOT spend money.
That doesn’t feel like the case as much in Europe.
There have been so many free or low cost things to do in our travels. And some of the things we have paid for are much more affordable. There is also just generally way less pressure to be a consumer in Europe. You have ads and billboards but it doesn’t feel as in your face and necessary to be a consumer in Europe as it is in the U.S.
You have the opportunity to buy things, and everything is still readily available. But the culture is not driven by capitalism and consumerism and spending money on tangible junk. You don’t see amazon drivers dominate the roads and endless packages from online shopping on everyone’s doorstep. People largely buy what they need and get on with their lives. They aren’t defined by their possessions. And THAT beyond anything is the most refreshing and aligned to our values.
SIDE NOTE: We recently watched this short documentary on Netflix called “The Minimalist: Less is Now” and it was so much in line with much of our thinking and feelings about U.S consumerism.
Don’t get us wrong, we absolutely miss things, but not the tangible things. We miss people (and a dog) more than anything. Days before we left I had a conversation with a friend who remarked how it could in some ways be freeing to live with less possessions. I remember remarking that it was going to be hard given my current consumerist lifestyle (which even then we had cut back on in preparation for this trip). It absolutely has not been difficult to live with less and we have really found comfort in shedding most of our material possessions. It makes what we do have all the more valuable and allows us to focus more deeply on people and experiences over things.
You always hear the cliche, ‘Europe changed me’. After reflection, we can definitely say Europe did not change us, it simply allowed us to affirm the lifestyle we truly want to live exists and in many different iterations. We can’t wait to see what else is out there.