Homeward Bound

This is part of a series from our recent travel to Europe in June/July 2026. Waking up at 6:45 AM is never ideal, but today an exception will be made. We have a flight to catch. Twenty days in, I’ve stopped being surprised by how normal it feels to wake […]

The Last Castle Breakfast

This is part of a series from our recent travel to Europe in June/July 2026. There’s a particular kind of German breakfast that ruins you for every hotel buffet that comes after it: the kind with real cheese, real cold cuts, eggs done the way you actually asked for them, […]

We Are Staying in a Freaking Castle

This is part of a series from our recent travel to Europe in June/July 2026. It’s been that kind of week. Nothing dramatic, nothing anyone’s done wrong, just the slow accumulation of long days, short nights, and a trip that’s now three weeks deep into asking a lot of everybody. […]

Rick Steves Was Right

This is part of a series from our recent travel to Europe in June/July 2026. We started the day with an Uber, not to the airport this time, but across the border to Offenburg, Germany, where our rental car was waiting. It felt a little strange to be picking up […]

The Longest Day in the Car

This is part of a series from our recent travel to Europe in June/July 2026. It was glorious morning to leave Troyes. Chris and I wandered out to grab coffee before we’d even really woken up, and found a cafe on the corner where Jason, Jamie, and Izzy were already […]

Champagne Journey and Beyond

This is part of a series from our recent travel to Europe in June/July 2026. Today we said goodbye to Paris and hit the road, literally, this time, instead of the trains that had carried us across three countries so far. Our Airbnb was having its windows replaced, of all […]