Traveling Europe with Jaehyun(NCT)

Chapter 1

One girl, 18 years old, 44 countries in Europe to tackle. This girl is me. I decided to take this huge journey across Europe, taking planes or trains, on my dream trip across Europe. I have been wanting to do this for the longest time. I've actually wanted to make a goal to travel all around the world to different continents, hitting every world capital, but that's a bit challenging, so I've narrowed it down to one continent at a time, every 5 years or so. This is so I have enough time to save up the money for the next journey across my next continent: Asia. That will truly be a journey all on its own, but for now, I'll focus on Europe.

I take the flight from San Francisco to New York, New York. I'll have a layover there, then the flight from New York City will continue on to my first European city: Reykjavik in Iceland. I am so excited to be traveling all around Europe. I just know I'll have a lot of fun and meet all sorts of different people from cultures that always interested me. I'm about to embark on this journey for the next few months, and I'm so hyped for it. I arrive in New York City and have my layover for about an hour. I can't help but stare out at the city lights out there, wanting so badly to explore, but I have other places to see first. I get on my next plane after the hour layover passes by.

Finally, I land in Reykjavik, Iceland. I brought my travel journal with me that I haven't written in since my last trip to the Philippines in August of 2015. Now that I'm old enough, I can travel the world on my own, which is also a little intimidating. I have all summer vacation to travel 44 countries, but I'm afraid I won't have enough time and have to cut my trip short. I try to think positively. I made a safe journey from America to Iceland, so that's a start. I make my way from the little airport to my hotel. I'm really liking the look of Iceland so far. It is the land of fire and ice, and it is beautiful out here.

For this Europe trip, I'll be spending a week in each of the cities I chose. With 44 countries, it will take me approximately 6 months to travel to all the countries in Europe with me staying in each city for a week. I'm so glad I decided to go during the summer after I graduated high school. Otherwise, I would need to return home, cutting my trip short. I think I'm prepared for this very long, 6-month journey across Europe. I was the one who signed myself up for this in the first place.

Putting all my worries about this trip going wrong somewhere, I just focus on the first city I have arrived in. I heard that there is a highway that goes around the entire circumference. As much as it would be cool to go on that highway and see all of Iceland, I'm fine with where I right now. I already decided that I'll be staying in one place for a week. Anyways, when I arrived in the hotel, I wrote my first travel journal entry. I wrote that I arrived in Reykjavik, Iceland. I even drew a little Iceland flag. I think I'll put a country flag for every entry I write while staying in each city and country. This is already so fun, and my trip has just begun.

That next day, I went out to one of the many, many natural hot springs scattered about and around Reykjavik. I'm a little shy when it comes to being in a bikini around strangers, but I've come to discover that people are just running around here in the nude, canon-balling into the icy rivers and then sprinting sprinting the hot spring pools to warm up. This is definitely something I'm not used to seeing, and I don't think I'll ever get used it. I shield my eyes as soon as I saw the scene. I never expected this. It's like that one scene in Mulan where all the warriors are running to the river to bath and Mulan is just like: ugh.

I try my best to ignore all the nude people and just indulge myself in the relaxing warmth of the hot spring. It is really nice. I just sit there, wading a little bit, chatting with some of the locals. It is best that I do this so I can get an idea of what I should do while I'm visiting Reykjavik.
"So, Anna, where do you suggest I go here in Reykjavik?" I asked.
"Ah, there are so many nice places here. If you want, I can show you around." Anna said.
"I'd love that." I said.
"Lovely. You can come around to my place and we can discuss where we should go." Anna said.
"Great." I said.
I befriended Anna because I found out that she is the same age as me. I always like finding people who are the same age as me. They're the most fun to be around. There was also a guy with her named Jón. I had to ask him how to pronounce that with the little accent, and he said to just call him John. It has a similar pronunciation. These two, Anna and Jón, were such a handsome and beautiful pairing. Anna has ice blue eyes and beautiful, wavy blonde hair. Jón is tall and has dirty blond hair. He has a Thor type of look about him.

After meeting with Anna and Jón at the hotsprings, I returned to my hotel to shower and clean up. When I finished showering, I texted Anna to ask her if she can come pick me up at my hotel. Since she's really wanting to show me around the city, she of course agreed to pick me up. I wait for Anna in the lobby of the hotel. We greet each other by hugging, then she leads me to her car. I'm so glad I made friends with a local because taking day tours would be so much more expensive. We now begin our journey around Reykjavik with a new friend.