By: Cara Esposito
When my roommates and I set out to plan our fall break, there were an incredible amount of factors to consider. We had 10 days ahead of us, 10 days to venture out beyond Italy, 10 days to experience Europe as only a college student can. We sat for hours around our kitchen table, deliberating which route we should take, what hostels we should stay at and where would be the best destination to invest both our money and time. Never has “ballin’ on a budget” been more relevant. But countless days of fruitless conversations left us with hours wasted, frustrations and no concrete plan.
And then my roommate, Maddy, suggested we looked into the Bus2alps Northern Loop, and our perspectives were changed for the best.
As clique as it may sound… it’s true. Bus2alps had the answer to all of the factors we had deliberated over when discussing our fall break. How could we see the most of Europe? Well, the Northern Loop included Prague, Berlin, Amsterdam and Paris and each city was already on our radar.
How will we get there and which hostels should we stay at? Done and done. Bus2Alps included both busing transportation and approved hostel accommodations. Ballin’ on a budget? Yup. All of the logistics were seamlessly planned for us and all that was left for us to set our plan in motion was to book the trip, pack our bags, and go.
But ultimately, we chose the Northern Loop because it embodied everything we value in our study abroad experience: great travel with even greater company, all through a well-packed itinerary which enabled us to get the most out of each destination. Upon our arrival in each city, our Bus2alps guides greeted us with a cheesy joke, our room keys and a range of activities that we could sign up for during our stay. And looking back, the amount of tours we took, bars we visited, sights we saw and laughs we shared seems incomprehensible.
So, when given the task of describing my Northern Loop experience, I really don’t know where to begin or what to highlight as the moments that stood out as unforgettable.
Because it was all unforgettable.
I had heard that Prague was a whimsical city where “beer is cheaper than water”…but would have never anticipated the craziness of the bar-crawl. And I knew Berlin had been severely impacted by World War II… but found a whole new understanding of the war’s gravity when seeing how many new, modern buildings were constructed as a result of city-wide demolition. And Amsterdam…well, we can say that it far surpassed it’s expectations. Finally, Paris… although its fantasized in movies, nothing amounts to the excitement that stirs up inside you when seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first time.
So why did I love the Northern Loop? Well, 500 words are far too few to explain.
