Quite a few years ago (nearly 25 years ago, but I don’t like to say that too loudly) my parents drove my sister and I around Europe in a campervan for six months. To say that had an impact on my future travel bug would be putting it mildly! But in any case, I learnt a heck of a lot about the other side of the world – back then, with no internet and even a lag until we got the latest fashion or technology, Western Australia was really worlds and worlds away from Europe.
Tidying up my bookshelves, I found an old creative writing book from Grade 6. Looks like one day we had to write cinquain poetry (although mine wasn’t quite right on the syllable count) and I chose Europe. I laughed at my main impressions – in case you can’t read the picture, it goes like this:
Europe
cold, wet
different and quaint
lots of people everywhere
Europe
Remembering that the six months we spent in Europe covered the European summer, I think it’s hilarious that my big impression was still that it was cold and wet – I guess it was, compared to Perth. The fact that it appeared crowded to me is no big surprise, although now I would definitely rate other areas – Japan springs to mind – as much worse. “Different and quaint” – I wonder what my 10-year-old brain thought that meant. I still kind of agree with it!
Wonderful that you kept a journal. I wish I had 😉 Those are the best souvenirs!
That’s true, Fida – somewhere I’ve got a bunch of drawings and stories I wrote while we travelled, I must dig it out sometime!
About Europe being crowded, haven’t you been to India? 🙂
@ ES, very true, your comment made me laugh! Yes, obviously Europe is far from the most crowded part of the world but to a ten-year-old growing up in the country with the third lowest population density in the world (Australia), then even Europe seemed crowded. If I’d gone to India then I think I would have freaked out!!