I was so excited when the plane landed in Vancouver and our Canadian Contiki tour would continue through the West Coast.

I’ve been to Vancouver and Victoria before, but was so looking forward to driving through the Rocky Mountains and seeing a whole other side to my country!

I actually loved being a tourist in my hometown of Toronto for a couple of days on our cross-country Canadian Contiki.

Some activities I would join the group, other times it was fun to take my friends on local-guided tours of neat areas.

When our Contiki bus pulled into Montreal for our cross-Canada tour in 2022, my plan was to take a Contiki break.

I’ve been to Montreal a handful of times with friends and work, so I felt quite comfortable there.

I’d visited Quebec City a couple of times before – once as a grade seven class trip, and once on a road trip with my grandparents when I was 20 years old. 

When I tell people I went on a Contiki trip across Canada in the summer of 2022, non-Canadians seem confused. “Aren’t you Canadian? Why would you take a Contiki in your own country?”

When my partner and I decided to get married during a global pandemic, we knew our honeymoon was going to have to wait.

Your romantic partner may not be the best travel buddy for you. Your best friend in the world may not be your best friend on a trip.

I’ll tell you about the trip logistics, so you can determine whether or not a European Contiki is the right travel style for you.

I don’t know if I’d ever tell anyone the entire story of what happened in Amsterdam. But I’ll give you the gist.

Arriving at Berlin, our second-to-last stop on the Europe trip felt extremely bittersweet.

Before even leaving for this Europe trip, a few friends of mine told me I would love Prague. They claimed it was very much my style – quirky, artsy, very bohemian. So as the bus pulled into Prague, I was already super excited.

Our group would only be spending one night in Salzburg, Austria.

On our way to Venice, we would be stopping for dinner in Verona.

Before heading to Rome where we’d be spending another two days, our group stopped for a walking tour of Pompeii.

I had no idea what to expect from our days spent in Sorrento and the Amalfi coast. That was what I enjoyed so much about this Contiki tour: you’d be in a place you never thought about visiting and have a great time that you never would have otherwise had.

Once we left Cinque Terre, our next stop would be a night in Florence, briefly stopping in Pisa to see the leaning tower and take The Photo.

Our first stop during Italy week was Cinque Terre – the five small towns of Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore.

I was excited to knock another country off my list and have some fun with this awesome group. So we piled onto the bus in Nice and headed to Monaco for a night at the Monte Carlo.

I had no idea what to expect as our Contiki bus drove into Nice that evening, but it definitely was not beautiful beaches and palm trees.

Arriving in Barcelona and driving around the city, felt like a dream. This Spanish city was on my list for a few years now, and I was so stoked to finally be there.