Lessons Learned on our Europe Trip

Betsy and I took our first ever 2 week vacation, to visit daughters, Ashley in Italy, and Kristin in Spain. Then we visited Betsy’s god parents Jan & Irene Dehs in Norway. Other than some hard lessons on staying hydrated on the trip over, it was a fabulous trip. Some of you already saw some details of that, or you may have followed me on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, but if you want an entertaining description of it, send me an email.

But as a summary, I wanted to run down a list of things I learned on our trip abroad. I called it our 2017 European Wine Tour, and the food and wine did not disappoint. In fact we did not have a wine that was bad.

• Make sure when you are scheduling international flights, allow a minimum of 2 hour layovers to minimize the chance of missing your connecting flight.
• When your wife tells you to hydrate, you might want to take heed.
• Europe is full of night owls – they eat late, they sleep late, and they party late. I tend to be an early bird, so that is a struggle.
• Based on our research, all the wine in Europe is good (especially when paired well), and less expensive than the US.
• The skill of artists in Europe was/is truly amazing – as evidenced by the art museums, buildings, and even restaurants.
• Nearly every contractor in Europe is a remodeler. They have to be, because there is very little empty land, so they have to remodel or tear down what is there to build the new project.
• Visiting Europe should be on everyone’s bucket list, and we will be going back again.
• Madrid has nearly every imaginable restaurant that you are familiar with. The Five Guys burger joint had a line out the door…