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What do you get when you put one young couple on a riverboat with 150 older Americans cruising for two weeks on the Danube, Main and Rhine rivers from Austria to the Netherlands? A really good time.    Mac and I were lucky enough to be on the River Aria in July. Originally the idea had been Mac’s, but somewhere along the way I became the one in charge of booking the cruise. Grand Circle Cruise Line told us on the phone that we would be the youngest couple on board by far, but we didn’t mind. We had a sneaking suspicion that we’d still make friends really easily—and we did.    Our first night on board, we met these two lovely couples; they became some of our favorite people on the ship.    After being by ourselves...

People like to ask us all the time what our favorite experience of the trip has been so far. It’s a really tough question. Every experience has been so different that it’s hard to compare them. And we each seem to gravitate towards our own favorite moments. That said, it’s hard to top hiking in the Swiss Alps. And I think I’m ready to go on record by saying that it’s been my favorite experience thus far.       The scenery of Switzerland was beautiful. And over the course of 10 days of hiking, from Engelberg to Griesalp, we saw a lot of it. There were towering mountains, rushing rivers and so many wildflowers that I nearly wore out my camera trying to capture them all.         ...

On the first of July, we made our way from Turkey to Croatia. We’ve been excited about every country we’ve been to, but Mac was especially looking forward to exploring off the beaten path in this small nation that used to be part of Yugoslavia. Although many Americans aren’t familiar with Croatia, it’s known around Europe for being a hidden gem of outstanding natural beauty and affordability. We were in. But before we explored the national park, we first road-tripped to Split (in the southwest of Croatia), where Mac’s cousin happened to be staying before participating in Yacht Week Croatia.        It’s always nice to see people from home when you’re abroad, and we had a great time hanging out with...

It has been several weeks since we’ve updated the blog. Five weeks, to be more precise. We weren’t kidnapped and we didn’t elope. So what have we been doing? It’s a long list: exploring national parks in Croatia, running with the bulls in Spain, hiking through the Alps in Switzerland and cruising on the Danube, Main and Rhine rivers through Austria, Germany and the Netherlands. And as of yesterday, we’re now immersing ourselves in Irish culture in Dublin. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. There’s plenty to come. In the next several days, we’ll be posting blogs from many of our adventures from the last few weeks. We’ve really been getting into the spirit of local cultures by dressing up, so...

When it came to places our families didn’t want us visiting on this trip, Turkey was at the top of the list. The country has been in the U.S. news a lot over the past year for ISIS activity and other Islamic extremism. But Mac and I knew there had to be more to the story. After all, the news certainly isn’t always right or truthful–and it usually focuses on what people already want to hear. Turkey had long been on my travel bucket list, ever since I had sipped Turkish coffee back in Vienna during study abroad many years ago, listening to vivid descriptions of exotic Istanbul. So despite our families’ concerns, Mac and I packed our bags in Greece and headed for Turkey. Little did we know that in the span of only 13 days, we’d go from...

The past couple of weeks have been especially enchanting for me and Mac. First of all, we got to visit Venice, Italy. I’d always heard it was beautiful, but secretly I’d doubted that it could actually be more lovely than Paris or some of the other great European cities. When we got to Venice, I finally discovered just what everyone had been talking about: cerulean water, sleek black gondolas, old buildings slowly dipping into the sea (Venice is sinking.) There were people everywhere, but even that couldn’t keep us from finding the city utterly charming. There were orchestras in St. Mark’s Square, a private gondola ride under the full moon, and so many colorful sights that I couldn’t help but take some very nice pictures. Here are...