Europe Fall 2024

The two main goals of this trip were to see the Italian Dolomites and catch our eastern Mediterranean cruise. When looking for travel accommodations, the cheapest airport to fly into was Zurich. We initially tried to utilize points for flying into Venice, but ran into several issues with the booking process. We knew we wanted to rent a car for the Dolomites, but also intended on dropping it off prior to boarding the cruise. After looking at car rental rates in Zurich, not only was it cheaper for us to fly in there, but it was also cheaper for us to keep the car rental for the entire duration of the trip. (Including parking it at the dock in Ravenna for 10 days) Since we had a journey to make both ways, we decided to try and make the most of our mileage. This helped aid in not only seeing a bunch of beautiful Alp scenery, but allowed us to visit a total of 10 countries throughout the drive and cruise!

In order to accommodate a long journey through several different climates, we had to pack wisely. Believe it or not, I was able to stuff all of those clothes into my carryon bag and Kaylee did similar if not more!

The Swiss airline knows how to welcome its flyers!

Above was our car for the trip! It was easy to distinguish thanks to the lack of EU flag on the license plate and large CH sticker. (Which is there due to not having an EU license plate) We also got a lovely Enterprise sticker, which is the European equivalent of "student driver - be patient" and greatly appreciated it as this was my first time driving here.

Above is the route that we took to get to Ravenna (With a few diversions along the way) In total we drove around 1300 kilometers (800 miles) to get there.

Though it is difficult to see and the pictures will never do it justice, pictured above is us going over our first hill and seeing the true beauty of the Alps. Bright blue lakes sitting below deep green pastures and large mountains looming overhead was everywhere in the area.

(This whole post could be consumed by pictures I forced Kaylee to take while I drove)

These were some of the signs I had to deal with while driving. Thankfully Kaylee's Google maps would keep me on track. The only time we truly messed up, was when we first exited the airport and went straight into the city of Zurich as opposed to the highway. It was a great learning opportunity for us though. We quickly learned pedestrians do whatever they want, speed limit signs begin and end, and being spatially aware is the main defensive strategy other drivers rely on in Europe. All drivers seemed very courteous and we never felt as if we pissed someone off while driving.

I got to practice some parallel parking in several locations! (Above was the cleanest/easiest I had) We did also get the International Driver's License for this trip due to going through so many countries. I still think it's a scam AAA is pulling and I never needed it, but better safe than sorry.

We were sailing on the Explorer of the Seas. This is the largest ship we had both been on. (Tied for me, as it was the same class as a previous cruise I took with my family on the Navigator of the Seas)

Above is a map of our cruise route. This route took us to 5 countries, one of which (Turkey) was in Asia, making it our third continent together!

Though we spent as much time as we could in the port cities that we docked at, the view from the ship deck itself was hard to beat in Kotor! This and Santorini were our only tender ports.

The Royal Promenade was the center point of the ship and is always fun to stroll down.

Every night, we would attend the main show in the arena. They had acrobats, singers, dancers, an impersonator, a comedian/juggler, a magician, a shadow artist, and several other great entertainers onboard! Our morning breakfast also had the "washy washy" duo singing renditions of songs with the lyrics "wash your hands" replacing the main ones. Our favorite was their rendition of "Zombie" by The Cranberries.

On our days at sea, we had formal nights where we would dress up for dinner!

The cruise held a honeymooners celebration where we and 5 other couples on their honeymoon got champagne and cake while watching the sunset.

They also had an ice rink on board where they held shows and allowed us to skate while sailing through the ocean! Kaylee was a natural.

The first half of the trip was smooth sailing and you couldn't even realize we were moving. Even though the second half was a little more rocky it never got uncomfortable. Above is a picture of the sea when it was the roughest weather. This was nothing compared to what we experienced on our first cruise in 2022.

Our drive back to Zurich was a lot more direct of a route from Ravenna. We drove around 715 km (445 miles). This made our total distance travelled around 1,250 miles in the car alone!

The drives alone on this trip brought some of the most beautiful views, so it was hard to complain about driving too much!

This trip was by far the most difficult to plan so far for us. Between scheduling it with our work schedules, renting a car / driving in Europe for the first time, and planning cruise port activities. Kaylee and I (mostly Kaylee) spent hours making sure we were ready to go and I am very glad it paid off. The weather was iffy when we first looked at it prior to leaving, but we ended up with beautiful weather the entire trip! Couldn't have asked for a better honeymoon!

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Europe Fall 2024

Europe Trip Fall '24

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