My room without air-conditioning that is, in one of the hottest summers to hit Britain in decades. I was off to a good start.

Besides this rocky beginning, my month spent in Oxford was one of the happiest in my life. It is when I developed my love of long walks, to wander, to get very lost, and find the way back. I spent days in the Bodleian Library opening dusty old books while researching my papers. The notes by former students, dated from the 50s, 60s, and 70s were almost as interesting as the books themselves.

One of my first days in Oxford I wandered down to the botanical gardens. I don’t remember what it cost to enter – but I do remember holding up the line as I flipped the coins over trying to decipher how much they were worth. During that month of study I tried fish & chips for the first time, saw more than one Beatles cover band, and even heard a lecture from an ex-KGB spy. Only in Oxford.

Tomorrow I’m once again boarding a plane for London. With a friend studying in Oxford I’m heading back to where it all began to spend a few days revisiting old haunts, and this time, I’m going to get out on one of those punts (river canoes) that everyone who has been to Oxford is always raving about. 

I might even go for a stroll in the botanical gardens.

Next: photo essay of Oxford in springtime.

And that day, through the routine of getting ready for work, having breakfast, getting out the door on time, I decided it would be something I could make happen. I wanted to waste afternoons at sidewalk cafes. I wanted to be surrounded by languages I didn’t understand. I wanted to be faced by new challenges and do it all with just twenty pounds on my back.

Lunch from a London Market.

I booked my ticket to break free of the schedule and routine that had become so robotic to me I could barely separate the days in the mind. And what I would find, over the course of a year in 16 of Europe’s countries, was days that still, years later can be recalled with such crisp precision that I know what I ate and where. Who I talked to, where I got lost, what bus took the most direct route and where the sun persisted into the afternoon.

It took a few months of waitressing to save up the last bit of funds I needed. I sold my car, stored my possessions, and scaled back everything I needed for the trip to fit in a small backpack. I had a rain jacket and a pair of rubber flip flops. I had a blackberry and converters for different voltages. I had a book of poetry and a journal to capture the sights and sounds that would surround me.

I spent a summer planning, and when September came around, I got on a flight to London. The beginning of the trip had taken on a skeleton, the first couple stops were identified and reservations at hostels were made. I had read guides with inside-suggestions, mistakes not to make, ‘what to know before your first trip to Europe’. And yet none of these resources were as rich as the conversations I would have on the road. The techniques for maximizing funds and fun over the course of months spent with strangers. No one stayed in any one place too long, everyone was on a different path. 

One day, watching the German countryside roll by on the train, I thought of all the knowledge I already had acquired that would have been useful to me before my departure. And while there are some good guidebooks out there that let me know where to go and what to see, they lacked the inspiration that would have gotten me out of the chair and onto a plane across the Atlantic. That day, lucky to be in my own private compartment somewhere between Hamburg and Berlin, I decided I wanted to write a book about the experience. Both as a travel manual for the person hoping to take the grand tour, and for the person who has always wanted to and never had the opportunity.

My Favorite Square in Europe. Antwerp, Belgium.

Over the year, I lived the Great American Travel Dream. I made lifelong friends, tasted delicious gelato, fell in love, partied all night, and never missed a flight or train. This blog will be a combination of my travels from that year spend abroad, and my current travels. 

Every time you go to a new place, you add 10 new destinations to your wish list. My European adventures are only beginning. There are many undiscovered countries, small squares, parks, mountains, restaurants, balconies, festivals, customs that I’m sure will continue to make up the moments where I feel most alive. 

Check back here for travel inspirations, practical advice, a good story, and up-to-date news on festivals and happenings.

Welcome to the Great American Travel Dream.