Jetting Around The Continent

No doubt one of the best perks of living in London is the easy access to the rest of the European continent and beyond. Thanks to cheap charter providers like Ryanair, Easyjet and Whizzair, a weekend in Paris, Berlin, Prague, Rome, Athens, Marrakech or Istanbul, are right at our fingertips.

To put this into comparable scope for those Brits that take this for granted, travel within Canada, or even North America, is never cheap. Maybe you will get the odd seat sale via Porter, Air Canada or Westjet, but I have never had much luck with those myself. Instead, to travel between Toronto and Ottawa – a journey I used to make a lot – it takes one hour by air (without factoring in the commute from downtown to the airport), five hours by train (which is never reliable), and anywhere between four and nine hours by car (depending on whether your driver is a speed demon or you are departing downtown on the Friday afternoon of a long weekend).

And all this without even traveling halfway across a single province.

In the EU, on the other hand, this approximate distance can take a traveler from Munich to Lucerne, from Budapest to Krakow, across the French Riviera or from London to the Scottish border. In most cases, you can drive through multiple European countries in less time than it takes you to get from one side of Ontario to the other.

I have already taken full advantage of this travel perk with a few visits out of the UK: to Berlin for a week in October and Malta for a long weekend in late November. Berlin was a packed city tour with friends from Canada in tow, well timed with the 20-year anniversary of the fall of the Wall. Malta was ladies only, at least until we hit the clubs, with days spent soaking in Mediterranean sun, centuries of history, and a truly fascinating blend of Italian and North African culture.

I have also traveled around England, visiting and getting to know family members on my paternal grandfather’s side. In Oxford, only about an hour by bus from London, I stayed with my cousin Katie and her family then popped into the countryside to relax in Benson with her mother Mary. Another weekend, I booked the 2.5-hour train from London to Manchester to visit another cousin, Colin, and his wife Naomi. Colin even humoured my touristy and Beatle-maniacal tendencies by accompanying me to Liverpool for the day.

I continue to dream daily of other destinations. Though, if I hadn’t backpacked around the continent for six months back in 2004, the number of places I want to see would multiply by 20 or 30. I luckily weeded through the mediocre European destinations and have specific spots I want to revisit while I’m living over here.

For instance, I have just returned from one of my favourite cities over here, Prague, where my friend Jane was attending, and presenting at, a conference on biochemistry. The journey by air between London and Prague took just 1 hour and 40 minutes. I had an amazing weekend, though I am hurting on this Monday morning - both physically and metaphorically - from trekking the awkward cobblestones for three straight days and leaving the lovely Prague behind.

It was my third visit to the city, though the first time I have been there in the spring (I visited in summer with my sister during the great backpacking trip of 2004 and briefly in the fall during a media trip for Ottawa Life Magazine that introduced me to the rest of the Czech Republic.). This time there was rain, but there was also glorious sunny afternoons spent without coats. Since it was Jane’s first visit to the Bohemian city, I acted as tour guide as we wandered through the various old and new towns – Stare Mesto, Josefov, Hradcany district, Mala Strana and Nove Mesto – each with their own distinct flavour and tucked in along the bends and curves of the great River Vlatva.

Traveling this time without the budget of a six-month student-backpacking trip or the restraining itinerary of a media trip, I was so glad to take full advantage of both restaurants and bars in all these quarters. Jane and I ate very Czech-ly (i.e. no vegetables) with heaps of beef goulash, bacon and bread dumplings, cheeses, breads, potato soup and very, very long sausages. And we sure took advantage of the variety of bars, microbreweries and jazzy lounges in every corner of the city. Beer (or pivo), at about £1 a pint, is cheaper to drink than water, so we sampled as many types as we could get our hands on: Pilsner Urquell, Budweiser Budvar, Krusowice, and my favourite Staropramen, right from the brewery.

It was a fantastic weekend but I have to complain about one small thing. While I do realize how lucky I am to be so close to all of these spectacular destinations that I can stop in for a short weekend trip, the very brevity of the visits can be quite painful. Sure, it seems daft to whine about a 1 hour and 40 minute flight and I do realize how great it is to depart Prague around dinnertime and be home in London for a respectable bedtime. But it makes me sad to pop into these cities for such short visits and then almost surreal to be sitting at my desk at work the next day. Don’t get me wrong, I am grateful for the mini-holidays and I do miss London when I am away from it. I also have no wish to subject myself to the nomadic existence of a lengthy backpacking trip. That time in my life has passed. I just want to prolong these weekends away so that the memories and events don’t disappear too quickly.