Summary of Our Trip [In Map Form]

Well now that we've mentioned a few of our trips we figured its time to give you a better understanding of our trips. Here is a travel log of all of our weekend adventures courtesy of www.tripline.net. As you can see for many of our trips we had to return "home" to Edware Road, London where many of us lived. Also, check out some of the photos we posted for each "leg" of our trip. We hope this gives you all a better idea of how much we actually accomplished with our short time in Europe.

Enjoy!

Total Distance: 14,165 miles (not including the flights between USA and England)
Time: Just over 3 1/2 months
Memories: A million (corny I know)

Meet the Staff

Well now that we have a few posts and photos up we figured we should tell you a little bit about us here at Unlock Europe

We are all college students and world travelers who have been blessed with the opportunity to spend a semester aboard in the Fall of 2010. We visited over 13 countries and met hundreds of individuals from all sorts of cultures. We made it from the beaches of Barcelona to the pubs of Prague. From the subways of London to the frigid waters of Interlaken. Those few short weeks have sparked an undying passion for travel within us and a thirst for adventure. New languages, foreign concepts, unique cultures, and once in a lifetime opportunities fueled us on our travels and have created unforgettable memories.  We boarded the planes with one thought in mind....."We'll sleep when we're dead"

Dave "Where's My Passport" Phelan

Philip DiMuro a.k.a. "Timmy the Tourist"

Cody "Mr. Extreme" Benedetto

-Unlock Europe Team

Santorini, Greece

The stunning sunset by the town of Oia, Santorini

Panoramic View from the Volcano

The city of Oia in Santorini, Greece from the water

Riding donkeys back up the mountain after our incredible day

Our beautiful breakfast served to us on our private balcony

Our Own Private Patio

A view of the cities on Santorini, Greece from the volcano

The astonishing white coated cave villas that cover the island

Our trip to Greece could not have been more perfect. We spent our days on the water in an 18th century sailing ship or swimming in the crystal clear waters of Amoudi Bay. We dined on the most delicious Greek food and flavorful wine. 

On our first day we went on the Bella and Thalassa tour that took us around the Aegean Sea, onto the Volcano of Santorini, into the lukewarm hot springs, and into the bay to watch the remarkable sunset. We tried Ouzo on the rocks while we ate traditional Greek appetizers.

After our truly unforgettable day we arrived back into the port and rode donkeys up the 400 ft. cliffs that encompass this islands scenery. We made our way to Alexanders Boutique where we were spending the night and had a late dinner at a local family owned restaurant. We finished off the night drinking all types of local wines and liquors and relaxing in the cool refreshing air. The island was truly our own private paradise.

Barcelona, Spain "All Because We Flipped a Coin"

  

 

The fact that all of us actually made it to visit this wonderful country is simply mindboggling! With a French air strike, nearly 1000 miles of distance between countries, and poor weather all pulling against us we embarked on our second trip.

The first surprise came to us just two days before our flights were set to depart, the French Traffic Controller organization decided to go on strike and forbid all air travel over their country. As many of you may know pilots typically fly over land as long as they can for safety reasons, this is why when you fly out of the East Coast US you typically head north along Canada's coast for as long as you can. We were very uncertain of the stance of our trip since two of our members were flying out Thursday evening while the other three were set to depart on Friday afternoon all while the end dates for the strike were still uncertain.

Being determined young travelers though, we decided to not let these huge/massive/difficult challenges stand in our way. After a few phone calls and a short trip to the grocery store for "supplies" a.k.a. cider and beer we all met up Thursday evening  and started planning. We looked into nearly every option we could think of short of swimming the English Channel. Every direct flight had been canceled and flights with layovers in countries that would avoid flying over France were way out of budget for a couple of college kids.With "Timmy the Tourist" fast at work we had quickly gone through ever mode of transportation from, air, car, bus, train, and betting Dave he couldn't walk it was becoming a soon-to-be reality. As the bottles of cider started to dwindle and the cases of beers diminished we realized we had only one option, a 21 hour train ride which had two transfers in both Paris and Perpignon, France. Since we were not considered "European Travelers" we had to make all the bookings in person when the ticket booths opened the following day. As we finished off the rest of our drinks we all went to bed quite uncertain of whether we'd all be sitting on a beach in Spain or on a train station somewhere in Western Europe come Saturday.

Friday came quickly, Thursday's flights had been canceled while Friday's were set to fly. This meant in order for all of us to make it to Barcelona, two of our friends needed to take the 21 hour bus ride as the other three would fly out that afternoon. The other wrench that played a deciding factor was that since we booked through two separate airlines, not taking the bus trip the two individuals would forfeit those nonrefundable seats.

The three of us bored our flight and after some rough turbulence had landed in Spain. Katie and Dave on the other hand had shown up at the ticket booth first thing in the morning and found that the seats online had been sold out for that particular price category and the only spots left would be nearly 400 pounds per person. The only option left was checking into buses but the only ones available would take over 2 days to arrive so they were worthless. With both their hopes of sanded beaches and sangria in the gutter they left the bus station. After a short discussion, that was when they decided to put the whole trip up to chance and simply flip a coin. "Heads we go, Tails we stay." While the other three were already up in the air so was the coin. As it landed both stared in sheer amazement as it spun for what seemed like forever. Heads it was! Now off to the train station! Luckily as they arrived they had found out that two tickets had become available for the same trip at 1/2 the price. Both looked at each other and nearly simultaneously smiled and whipped out their debit cards.

The rest of the trip was incredible. Friday night was spent on a pub crawl that didn't start until 12:20 AM and ended around 5:00 AM. Saturday afternoon was spent on the beach and the utter amazement of finally getting the group back together around noon that day was unbelievable. We spent the day in the crystal clear waters of a "optional" nude beach sipping Spanish Sangria and enjoying the great company around us. 



We laughed in the sun as some people got 5 euro massages on the beach while the others just people watched.



We Had Finally All Made It!

Sipping on some Estrella Dam

Our evening was an adventure that will have to be recounted in many other posts... (but to sum it up)..... A trip to Razzmatazz, a 10,000 person club, had us lost in minutes as laser lights spun around us while fog smoke filled each room. Two members of our group forgot they had spent all their money on drinks and could not afford the taxi ride back to the hostel. These two spent the early morning hours navigating their way through the, lets just say, "less than welcoming" streets of downtown Barcelona. The next morning was the festival "La Merce" and we felt purely immersed in the Spanish culture as hundreds of "castells" as they call them formed human pyramids towering 60 feet high.

As the final day of our trip came to an end we spent some time thinking how lucky we were that we had all made it to Spain and survived it's fiasco's!

Enjoying Some Absinthe Lemonade on the Beach





Interlaken, Switzerland

For our first adventure through Europe we chose the unbelievably beautiful destination of Switzerland. The shear fact that we would stand in luscious green fields with nothing more than a windbreaker while starring up and seeing breathtaking snow-capped mountains just in the distance is astonishing to say the least.

The beauty held within Interlaken, Switzerland cannot be expressed through a nice photo or short typed caption. The incomparable feeling of fresh air in your lungs and a cold beer in your hand as you are sitting at a restaurant atop a mountain has altered many of our outlooks on nature and life.

After making this first trip we can honestly say Switzerland is the most beautiful place on Earth.