There is so much to say about this trip! I absolutely loved traveling across Europe. To start out I guess I will tell you about all the different countries I went to. I went to London, England, France, and Edinburgh, Scotland. This trip changed the way I see the world and I loved going! Since it would be to long for me to tell you everything that happened I will just tell you all of the good parts! The trip started out on a flight from Boise, ID to Los Angeles, CA. After we landed in Cali we had about a 20 min. layover which wasn't too bad at all. While we were sitting there waiting to board the plane I couldn't believe that I Candice Mae Burbie was getting on a flight to go to London! I was so excited...but little did I know what I was in for on this plane ride. As I boarded the plane I realized that my seat was no where near any one's in my group this made me a little nervous that I was going to have to sit next to some stranger for an 11 hour flight. I ended up sitting next to a very old foreign couple. My seat was an aisle seat but the old man asked if I would sit next to the window I told him I would but I really didn't want to sit there. But what was I gonna say "Um...No sir I do not want to sit there so move over buddy!" that would have probably not gone over well. So the whole 11 hour plane ride I was only able to use the restroom once...I didn't enjoy that much at all. I didn't want to bother the old couple and have them get up so I just held it until 30 min before we landed. Lets just say my luck on planes wasn't getting any better.
So after we went through customs and got all of our bags we went into the lobby of the Airport and found a man holding an EF tour sign. After we met up with him we were on our way on a huge tour bus to the first hotel. I was so excited the whole time my brain was like " I'm in London, I'm in London...etc.." It was so awesome the first night we got there we walked around London for what seemed like forever with our Tour Guide Charlotte. Charlotte had a very strong British accent that at times for the life of me I couldn't understand what she was saying, I was also to busy looking at everything trying to absorb everything I saw. The funniest part about the first night was probably where we went to eat dinner it is what you could say the Red Light District of London called Soho. Just so you believe me a store next to where we ate was called "Trashy Lingerie" no joke! I think all through dinner we made jokes about eating in the Red Light District hahha. After we ate we went to the play called War Horse it was pretty good but the second half of it I couldn't keep my eyes open I'm pretty sure Emma and Rachele couldn't either. The morning of the second day we met up with the other group that we had to tour with. All of them were from Minnesota and every last one of them had a funny accent! We made fun of them the whole trip until they got offended and we had to stop. It's not my fault they say beg instead of bag or booat instead of boat hahahha. I just need to tell you all something about the people in London they are stingy when it comes to water and ice. One night at a restaurant called "Ye Olde Cock Tavern" a boy from my group named Rylin asked if they could have more water and the lady looked at him and said "Are you on drugs? don't you see there is water in it?" let me tell you there wasn't even enough water to fill up the glass. We were all so shocked that she said that we learned that night not to ask for water unless they ask you if you want more. After two days spent in wonderful London it was time to take a bus ride to the Hills of Dover to take a boat to France (and as I type the word boat I still to this day remember how the Minnesota kids said it Lets go get on the booat hahaha!) This huge boat we went on was AWESOME it had 7 different decks! When we got off the boat we got onto another bus and I will remember this bus driver forever because he made some of the sharpest turns and went places buses could never go his name was Gary! The country side of France was the coolest I do have to admit. When we saw Normandy and Omaha beach it was so amazing we also saw the Omaha beach cemetery you could feel the history there it was so awesome. After a two days of the country side in France we were headed to Paris! I was so excited to see Paris I had seen it in movies but I wanted to see it in real life! The first night in London was super cool we walked around to all these different stores to buy stuff it was really quite entertaining to see all the different people in Paris. I even witnessed a woman peeing in broad daylight on the side of the street...yes that really did happen hahaha and I am forever scared haha. Also one night while we were there in Paris I was almost arrested because according to the subway police I did not buy a ticket. But to get through the gate you have to the right ticket and I had gotten through the gate before they had stopped me. But indtead of going to jail in France I had to pay a $75.00 fine in US dollars it was so stupid but better than being in jail haha. After France it was time to go to Scotland!!! This is what I had been waiting for! The coolest part about it was that we weren't with the EF tour group anymore it was just the small group of about 2o that started this trip in Boise! In Scotland we had free time all the time and could do pretty much anything we wanted. It was really cool being able to walk around stores and shop at our own pace than have 5min to look at something so you could meet the group at some place. I think the two best things about Scotland were the Witchery Tour and The Hairy Coo Tour! The Witchery Tour takes you through Edinburgh at night and tells all these stories about how witches died and how many witch trails they had it was really cool! The Hairy Coo Tour takes you through all of Scotland's Highlands which is very pretty and best of all you get to see Hairy Coo's! Hairy Coo's are cows that are brown and orange and Hairy! haha The two days I spent in Scotland were the best of the whole trip! On the day we were leaving we had three different flights just to get home! We flew from Scotland to London while we were in London we had a 3 hour layover. The only good thing about that was that we got to do some really awesome shopping in the London Airport which is huge! From London we flew to Chicago that flight lasted 12 hours. I thought it was going to be a nice flight because I had an aisle seat next to my friends this time but boy was I wrong. The whole flight I had some Japanese man laying in my lap. He was sitting in front of me and had his seat as far back as it could go it was horrible! The whole flight I was kneeing him in the back on propose and I hope I made the flight as horrible as possible for him! I know that may sound a bit hostile but after being on vacation for 12 days you become a little on edge. After landing in Chicago I was so happy to be back in the United States and where everyone could understand what I was saying! I don't know if you have ever been to a country where they don't speak English it is really hard to function because you will ask someone something and they just look at you like your crazy. We had an 2 hour layover in Chicago the funny thing was that about every kid in my group went to McDonald's to eat because eating food over there just wasn't the same. On the flight from Chicago to Bosie was the longest flight ever even though it was only about 3 or 4 hours. Finally after what seemed like forever we landed in Bosie around 11:30 p.m. I was beyond tired. You know that point of tiredness when you laugh at everything well I was past that if you could believe it. Not only did I laugh at what people said but when nothing was being said the car would be quite and I would just start laughing causing the rest of the car to erupt in laughter, I think that was the funniest car ride home from Boise ever! I am super glad I went on this trip it has changed my life and is the best thing I have ever done!
