Ben and Claire look back across their entire European leg, having stayed in 15 countries and travelled through 17, plus one all-inclusive detour to Tunisia, and pick out the moments that stood out for all the right reasons, and all the wrong ones.
The best bits
The toboggan run in Bosnia. Hands down one of the best laughs of the entire trip, screaming down a mountain coaster together after a cable car ride and a hike, in a country we almost didn’t give a fair chance.
Poland, as a whole. Our favourite city break and one of our favourite countries of the entire journey, Zakopane’s mountain charm followed by Krakow’s history and courtyard-filled Old Town.
Engelberg, Switzerland. Only two nights, but one of the most beautiful, communal places we’ve stayed anywhere in Europe. We’ll be back.
Watching our children build real confidence. Ordering food, asking directions, making friends with kids who don’t speak a word of English. That’s not something we planned for directly, it just happened.
The strangers who helped us along the way. From the Albania car contact to the Bosnian shop owner who shared her phone hotspot, to a Krakow tour guide who let our kids “drive” her golf buggy. Kindness has shown up more than we expected.
The ferry home. We dreaded it beforehand. In the end, a tiny cinema, a family film, and watching for home from the deck made it one of the loveliest, most unexpectedly emotional endings to this leg of the trip.
The worst bits
Tunisia. No easing into this one: booking two weeks all-inclusive before we’d even left the UK, without researching it properly, was our biggest misstep. Three room moves in one night, a taxi with no seatbelts, and a growing sense of being confined led us to cut the stay short by a week.
An Austrian petrol station taking €256 with no fuel dispensed. Resolved eventually, but a stressful start to a day.
A lost bank card in Italy, dropped or lost at a motorway food stop, cancelled and replaced within a day, but an unwelcome distraction all the same.
Missing the Glacier Express in Switzerland because we booked too late. A real lesson in when spontaneity costs you something you actually wanted.
The accommodation surprises. A Krakow “apartment” that turned out to be a hostel room, a cramped Slovakian room with no air conditioning, and Tunisia’s room lottery all taught us that photos and listings don’t always tell the full story.
What we’ve learned along the way
- Research every destination, no exceptions, even the ones booked in a rush for practical reasons. Tunisia was the one place we skipped this step, and it showed.
- All-inclusive resorts aren’t right for a longer, static stay. We need the flexibility to come and go, eat on our own schedule, and venture out, not a fixed resort routine.
- Book last-minute for accommodation savings, but plan ahead for anything popular or time-limited (scenic trains, timed tickets, seasonal events). The two approaches don’t always mix well, missing the Glacier Express in Switzerland taught us that directly.
- Don’t judge a book by its cover. Some of our best stays looked the least promising from the outside, Bosnia especially.
- Three to five days is usually enough for a European city break. Much beyond that, our children start to lose interest, which shaped how fast we moved through Europe.
- Build in genuine down days after a fast-moving stretch. Moving through multiple countries quickly is tiring, mostly the driving, and we’ve learned to recognise when the whole family needs to just stop.
- Track spending daily. It’s the only way to actually see which decisions, a themed restaurant, a paid activity, moved the number.
- Trust, with sensible caution, has paid off far more than we expected. Strangers have repeatedly gone out of their way for us, from a car deal in Albania to a shared phone hotspot in Bosnia.
What else is possible when you look back at the whole picture, not just the highlight reel?
FAQ
What’s been the standout moment of the trip so far? The toboggan run in Bosnia, still the best laugh we’ve had as a family on this entire journey.
What’s been the hardest part of travelling like this? Tunisia, without question, a two-week all-inclusive stay we hadn’t researched properly, cut short by a week once it became clear it wasn’t right for us.
Do the good moments outweigh the hard ones? Easily. Even the hardest stretches have taught us something, and the best moments have been truly unforgettable.
What’s the single biggest lesson you’re taking forward? Research every destination properly, no exceptions. It’s the one thing we skipped once, in Tunisia, and it’s the one stay we regretted.
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