2023 was a year of recalibrating. I came home from Europe in mid-December of 2022 with no job, no savings left, and no plans. What I had instead was 50,000 messy words of a fiction manuscript and months’ worth of…
An Unwelcome Home and the Most Dangerous Country of My Trip
We caught the earliest train out of Strasbourg before 5:00am. It took us straight to Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris through a high-speed tunnel that I didn’t know existed. I cried in the airport, both because I was terrified…
Returning to Strasbourg, France, and the Most Magical Christmas Markets in Europe
We woke up before the sun rose on St. Nicholas Day to catch our 5:45am train in Salzburg. Our flight home to the United States was leaving from Paris the next morning. Paris was an 8.5-hour train ride away, so…
Salzburg, Austria, and Krampus Night—the Weirdest and Best Event of European Christmas
When planning my trip, I originally intended to fly home with my mom on December 4th or 5th—dates we’d picked to minimize the amount of work she had to miss. But then I learned about Krampus. I told my mom…
Medieval Market, Fairytale Bazaar, and Making the Most of One Day in Munich
The travel mishap on the way to Munich wasn’t our fault. Or I suppose it WAS our fault for not knowing German, but sadly my German knowledge is limited to the word for “dog.” On our early train from…
Christmas Markets in Prague, Gingerbread, and the World’s Largest Castle
My first impression of Prague was when I saw the public piano in the train station entrance. It wasn’t a keyboard—it was a full-size upright piano, there for the general public to use. Someone was playing it beautifully as we…
