The next thing we knew, on March 11, 2000, my boyfriend and I were boarding a plane heading to Amsterdam.

We had done our homework as much as we could, trying to plan what we could on the internet. What we didn't know was that cheap double rooms don't come cheap in Europe without a reservation. We learned that lesson fast and spent several days booking months ahead for the countries to come.

Other lessons:

• If you are planning to use your ATM card, make sure your money is in a chequing account and that you have a 4 digit PIN number.
• Never sit down in a cafe in Italy or France-the minute you sit, the price doubles. Drink your coffee at the bar!
  
• Carry kleenexs on you at all times, bathrooms while you are sight seeing rarely have toilet paper.
• Pack a light pillow case-you never know how clean the ones on the bed are.
• If you ask for the student rate, half the time they won't ask for ID. The other half of the time, you left it back at the hostel.
• Prague is heaven on earth for the budget traveller.
• Zip lock baggies come in very handy.
  

  Our favorites? Well, we had a great time everywhere but these cities deserve a mention:
  

  San Sebastian, Spain
  Barcelona, Spain
  Cinque Terre, Italy
  Rome, Italy
  Bergen, Norway
  London, England
  Brugges, Belgium
  Prague, Czech. Republic
  Lagos, Portugal
  

  We arrived back home at the end of September to beautiful, sunny B.C. Canada. At first, a clean bed, no language barrier and pouring over our pictures seemed so alluring. Now I am longing for a little Italian gelati and a warm Greecian beach.
  Enjoy yourself-it's over way too soon.
  

  Kim
  

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