perfect (read: lucky) timing while traveling.

by - Date posted: 2013-02-07 - 26 comments

Have you ever had one of those dumb luck where you plan a trip months in advance and you happen to be there during  perhaps the most spectacular days of the year where literally you could not have planned it better? Disregarding that terrible run-on sentence, I have had a few strokes of travel luck. Here are my top three terrific timing travel experiences.

1) Midsummer’s Eve Celebration (Summer Solstice) in Copenhagen (June 2011)

On my 2011 summer Eurotrip, Copenhagen was certainly our most random stop. Not that Copenhagen is random, but that we were going out-of-the-way with no idea what to expect or do when we got there. Copenhagen turned out the be THE highlight of the entire month of travel.  Why? We happened to be in Copenhagen on June 23, which is when Midsummer’s Eve celebrations take place in Copenhagen. The celebrations of the summer solstice take place all over Scandinavia, and we were so fortunate to be there. There were huge floating bonfires all around the harbor surrounding the city. There were people everywhere on the streets and swinging their legs over the walls of the harbor drinking  enjoying the jazz music filling the air. Since this festival occurs during the longest days of the year, I got to experience the sun being out until nearly 4 am for the first time – mind-boggling for someone from Texas, which has such a “normal” sunrise-sunset schedule.
 
Additionally, it happened to be graduation time for students in Denmark. The students wear white hats, called Studenterhue, that resemble sailor hats. There are lots of traditions associated with the caps. You try to acquire as many bite marks on the brim as possible, for instance. There are also lots of secret symbols written inside the cap to commemorate the acts you committed whilst celebrating in your cap. Some graduates told us that some people party for 48 hours straight. It was a wild time to be in the city!

Bonfire in Copenhagen’s New Harbor

Enjoying some jazz and boxed wine, because that’s all we could afford in Denmark.

Biting a graduation cap!

Graduates celebrating by driving around the city in old military trucks.

2) Tour de France in Paris (July 2010)

Yes, the Tour de France is a long race, but we happened to be in Paris for THE finale of the world-famous bike race, which also happened to be Lance Armstrong’s last race (although he was injured before the finale so we didn’t get to see him making laps). Yes, I was a huge Lance Armstrong fan (don’t wanna talk about it). But anyway, being in Paris during such an exciting time was truly incredible.
 
We spent AGES finding a place to get champagne to drink during the race. It was a Sunday afternoon and good ole Europe seems to shut down a bit. Eventually, we walked into a nearby pub and made a to-go order. Once we got the goods, we wiggled our way to the front of the crowd on Rue de Rivoli and watched the racers make several laps to celebrate the race’s conclusion. They seriously FLEW past us. You could barely see the yellow jersey whiz by – it was incredible to see the greatest at their sport completing the toughest race of them all.

Norway had a HUGE fan turn out.

Some fellow Texan Lance fans; they saw my Texas flag and shouted!

Amber was living in Paris for the summer and was pretty much the greatest host of all-time. Retrospectively, it was probably a really good thing we had plans to stay with her because other accommodations would’ve been slim-pickings.

Why yes, we are tourists and did buy the t-shirt AND wear it to the race.

Yellow Jersey

Pace Cars

Fun with sign misinterpretation: sticking it to the man – no holding hands? We’ll show you!

3) World Cup in Barcelona (July 2010)

This might just have been the luckiest moment of all. On July 7, 2010 I landed in Barcelona, which happened to also be the first time I set foot on European soil. We had friends studying abroad there, so it seemed like the perfect way to kick off our three-week jaunt through Europe. That very evening, Spain would play German in the 2010 World Cup Semifinals. Jet lag and all, we headed to our friends’ favorite pub to watch the game. We spent a full day sightseeing, so luckily there were 2 for 5 Euro Vodka-Red Bulls (ok, it was actually a Red Bull initiation called The Horny Leprechaun) to fight the jet lag and energize us for the game. Spain pulled out a 1-0 victory and the city just blew up! The people of Barcelona normally don’t associate themselves with Spain, but you bet there was excitement all-around. I can only imagine how the other cities celebrated. Writing this today gives me so much Eurocup 2012 nostalgia.

I apparently still thought I was in America holding that Budweiser.

Post-game celebrations

Why yes, I am a poser and bought a knock-off jersey.
Please ignore douche lord in the background.

Isn’t that this the excitement of traveling – not knowing what’s around the next corner?

 What lucky encounters have you had while traveling?

THERE’S STILL TIME! Want to win $20 to Amazon.com or an awesome T-Rex T-shirt? All you have to do is like my page. Enter here.



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26 Comments

    • Ever since visiting Copenhagen, I do too. I am planning a Scandinavia trip with a friend hopefully at the end of July this summer so I can see so much more. It’s just perfection and I’m dying to go back but have been too scared to face the weather these days, despite the great flight deals all the time.

  2. So jealous…. tour de france AND world cup? My two favourite sporting events! I am also so sad about the whole Lance Armstrong thing…. but I am not letting it ruin my enjoyment of watching the race!

    • Watching the World Cup, or any major soccer game in Europe for that matter, has certainly been an unreal experience. It puts the Super Bowl to shame for sure :)

  3. “Have you ever had one of those dumb luck where you plan a trip months in advance and you happen to be there during perhaps the most spectacular days of the yea” Uh no. No I haven’t. Because I am not half as cool as you & I NEVER GO ANYWHERE COOL & I HATE MY LIFE. I am so jealous. Tour de France. World Cup. Midsummer’s Eve. I can’t take it anymore.

    Also, re: your comment on Whit’s blog. What contest do you want me to enter? The most pathetic Valentine’s Day story ever? Haha

  4. I had a great experience in Paris last summer- we were taking a mini-break, so just three days, as we had free Disneyland tickets, and one of the days happened to be Bastille day. After spending the whole day at the Disney park, we got the metro to the Eiffel tower and watched the fireworks at midnight. The streets were packed, the fireworks epic and we got kettled afterwards, but it was an amazing few days. The next day, by the river, my boyfriend proposed!

  5. Ok, now I understand your BCN love. I watched the World Cup at any cost in 2010, and celebrating it in my adoptive country was so special! I was also extremely lucky to randomly land in BCN during the Merce festival. It remains a bright spot in a city I could pass on.

  7. Ohh, Denmark is great, and so so so expensive!! Being there with midsummer AND graduation is certainly BIG!!
    I think my travel luck is not that much to mention,,,, when I went to Venice it was the week after carnival and it was swept empty. Which was perfect. Probably not as perfect as carnival, but certainly better than crowds pushing each other from bridge to bridge…. I lived in Munchen while the Octoberfest, so that was pretty nice, and I also was in my home country when it hosted the soccer world cup. Does that count? =)

    Love,
    Svenja
    Happybluebird

    • Oh I’d love to live in Munich for Oktoberfest. My wallet would hate me though. Pretty sure I’d go every day because I’d have so many people wanting to visit haha. And being in Germany when they hosted the World Cup DEFINITELY counts, that would’ve been incredible!

  8. The Horny Leprecaun? Seriously? That is HILARIOUS!!

    I happened to be on my year abroad in Karlsruhe the year the Deutschland Tour (like the German Tour de France) started here. I didn’t actually see any cycling, but did go to the free concert that was being held at the Neue Messe. Bonnie Tyler was one of the performers. Seeing Bonnie Tyler for free was definitely full of win! The last ever Deutschland Tour was in 2008.

  9. I happened to visit Paris while the pope was there (must have been in 1998 or even earlier), even though I wouldn’t call that perfect timing because all the metros were incredibly crowded, and some of the places we wanted to go where off-limits for security reasons. So I guess your timing was definitely better! =)

  10. I have a love hate relationship with you. I love you because I think we are soul mate best friends but I hate you because your life is so much better than mine. cough* tomorrowlan * cough. this is going to keep happening.

  11. I was in Barcelona in May of 2011 when Barca beat Manchester United in the Champions League Final and it was NUTS. parades all day and parties/fireworks in the street all night- was SO fun.

  12. so speculator. I can’t believe that you were lucky enough to hit all of those things! All of my lucky things always silly, like getting ready to shell out a bunch of $ for admission someplace only to find out that is the one day of the year admission was free. … your stories are way better :) haha

  13. You really are at the best places at the right time. I have never been that lucky. When I travel I usually have bad weather and so on.

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