European Trip of 1996
[The following are trip notes from an adventure that my friend Keith “twisted my arm” into going on; it might have been the defining moment of transformation into my love for travel! I was at my first duty station in the military, and had never been out of North America (and really, aside from Basic Training and Tech School, I had rarely left my home in Michigan).]
Aug 10 – Keith and I drove up to Dover AFB; Flight left at 12:30AM (we managed to get the last 2 seats, even though there was a long line ahead of us… most other people were with family or were retirees)
[we were taking a military “hop”, or Space-Available travel. The order of selection include being active duty vs retiree, and number of seats.]
Aug 11 – Arrived at Ramstein AB, Germany (2:30PM Local); took a taxi to Vogelwey. Met up with James and Diane [Sanders] around 9:30PM; took a late night look at Kaiserslautern.
Aug 12 – Went to Hohenecken Castle (ruins), then to the village of Hohenecken (hiked the whole way).
Aug 13 – Took a bus into downtown K-Town and checked out the city. That night, returned to the castle for an evening view (midnight)
Aug 14 – Waited in the Ramstein terminal from 0600-1400; played ping-pong with James and Diane; no flights, so returned to apartment and rented “Big Bully”.
Aug 15 – Flight to England delayed twice; finally departed at 4:30PM. Arrived at RAF Mildenhall at 5:30PM local. Took the bus to Lakenheath, followed by a taxi to the Ely train station. Took the train to London to meet up with Tina, Debby and Clare. Arrived at 11:30PM.
Aug 16 – Took the Underground (“The Tube”) to Westminster; saw Big Ben, had lunch with Tina, visited the Tower of London, crossed Tower bridge. At 8:00PM, met up with the girls for a night out pub hoppin’. We got a “little toasty, little whur, little dodgy”.
Aug 17 – Took The Tube to Westminster Abbey; saw Prum Festival for Street Performers on Covent Garden Street. There were no Sleeper Trains to Scotland that night.
Aug 18 – Took the train to Edinburgh, Scotland (10:00 – 3:30PM), found a Youth Hostel. Went to the 50th Anniverary of the Edinburgh Festival in downtown. Tipped a few back. Met Melissa and “B”, and went on a witch walk.
Aug 19 – Visited the Edinburgh Castle. Did laundry; had a few more pints. Mailed tons of souvenirs home (and later found out that package also included our Eurorail passes). Doah!
Aug 20 – Took the train to Sterling; visited the castle and found the Youth Hostel (finally, after much searching). Went on a Cemetery Ghost Walk; met some chicks from Canada (Anita & Ilene). Had a few pints.
Aug 21 – Visited the William Wallace Monument. Took the bus to Balmaha and hiked 7 miles of the Highland Trail. Camped overnight just off the trail.
Aug 22 – Took the ferry across Loch Lomond to Inverness. Took the bus from there to Glencoe. Hiked 3½ miles to the visitor center, then another 1½ miles to the Youth Hostel. Hiked another trail in the Scottish Highlands from there.
Aug 23 – Took the bus to Fort William, then the train to Mallaig, followed by the ferry to the Isle of Skye. Visited the Armadale Castle, then took a bus to Portree. After finding the Youth Hostel, went to the pub for a couple drinks. Met a guy named “Morf” (we helped him get his car started), and he took us to some local dance where we met a couple chicks (Roomie and Liz).
Aug 24 – Rented bikes and rode up to Kilt Rock (a 14 mile ride in each direction, seemingly uphill, both ways), saw a Piper’s marching band back in town; visited the Old Man of Storr; and stayed again in town.
Aug 25 – Took the bus to Inverness. Tried to rent a car, but ended up taking a bus to Dornie. Rode along Loch Ness and saw Urqhuart Castle. Visited the Eilean Donan Castle, home of the MacRae Family. Camped overnight just outside the town (no hostels available). Visited the local pub and had a few Snakebites.
Aug 26 – I got up at 4AM to head back the castle to get some early morning shots with the lake risen around it. Later, we took the bus back to Inverness and rented a car. We first drove 120 miles up to John O’groats (northern most tip of Scotland), to attempt to visit the Orkney Isles, but when we had arrived too late to catch the ferry, we decided to head South and drove down to Betws-y-coed, near Old Conwyn, in Wales (another 570 miles). Stayed at the hostel there, which was only supposed to be open for another 3 days before closing down. It was 11:30PM when we got there, and the Welsh keeper was kind enough to let us in. He offered us tea and we talked with him for about a half hour before we retired to the rooms.
Aug 27 – Visited the Conwy Castle and went spelunking in the nearby 4000-year-old ore mines. We then drove down to Swansea, followed by Cardiff. Couldn’t find any Youth Hostels, so we headed for Bath and found a hostel there. We called it an early night.
Aug 28 – Visited the ancient Roman Bath Houses, which was discovered under the town of Bath in 1984 (dated back to the 2nd Century A.D.). Drove over to Andover to visit Stonehenge, then to Bedford, near Keith’s old base (RAF Chicksands). We finally drove down to Luton to drop off the car at a Fiat shop (Lou). Took a train back to London where Keith visited with Tina again; I returned to Cambridge and took a taxi back to Mildenhall to catch the next flight out.
When I finally returned to the States, I came back to a car with a dead battery. Keith arrived the following morning, and we headed back to Langley.
Journal of Daniel Rea Photography 