Well, we are not really backpackers, I like my clothes and shoes, so I could say we are large rolling dufflers. Our itinerary was set atleast 2 months before our trip even though there were some last minute additions, I would definitely say its good to book your hotels, visas (yes, the unfortunate few have to get them, even for Europe) well in advance as most hotels have a 7-day cancellation policy, you do have flexibility if you want to change hotels.

We did have an aggressive schedule: Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam had to be covered in a week and the next one week in Italy. Few of the good decisions we made, definitely not my heavy luggage, were deciding to stay in places that had some significance and activating our iphones so we can leave our laptops behind.

First off Paris, we stayed in a boutique hotel called Le Bellechasse, designed by the fashion designer Christian Lacroix. Our room was one of the original room with a tub in the room and design textures all around.

Sightseeing started off with the Louvre Museum, checking out some of my favorite Neo Classical art and Renaissance art. Spent atleast 2 hours there, being as a tour guide to Sun shedding some of my art history knowledge. I was amazed by all the sizes of the canvas, even though I learnt that in my school days, until you see it, you dont really realise it. And then we saw the most hyped up Mona Lisa, for some reason I am not a big fan of her.

We walked around the city, taking in the beauty, crossing the Seine (pronounced Sen) and going into the most cultural buzzling area called St.Michel. here you can find all kinds of food, roadside food stalls, cheap eats and line of bars.

That night being my birthday eve, I followed Sun’s plans of taking me to a fancy dinner. Yay, I am up for that. We went to Les Ombres, famous chef Arno Busquet delighted us with some of his best culinary treats while we saw the Eiffel tower glittering. It was magical!

Next day we took a day trip to Brussels and had all the Belgian favorites, Mussels, waffles, chocolates, beer and frittes. A day was more than enough to cover all this and tour around the town hall/market square.

Back in Paris, although we tried to take the metro, it was kinda ridiculous to spend 3e each, instead we could go anywhere in taxi for less than 10e. So our lazy asses went on taxi everywhere, but we had more day to tour around.

I am gonna skip writing about the usual touristy spots such as Champs, Notre Dame, Eiffel and rather just show you pics. Its wonderful and you must go there but try to do a quickie as there is lot more city you will need to explore.

Few things you shouldn’t miss while you are there: Macarons from Laduree, Crepes from any roadside stand, Baguette Sandwich and roaming around St.Michel, (window) shopping in Champ!

Paris is every woman’s dream, so is mine. I know I will be back very soon.

We leave to Amsterdam next, by Eurail (we got a 8-day pass for unlimited travel). There we stayed in a houseboat in the Rembrandsplien area. It was as central as it could get; all the night clubs, coffee shops are in this area along with the Dam Sq and Red light district within a 15 min walking radius.

Houseboats usually have a 3 nt minimum, but we managed to get one for 2 nts for 500e, although for this price you could have got a more fancier ours had the view, and the location was simply superb.

Amsterdam is definitely one place you should go when you are young.. Enjoy the heart thumping music, drink till 7am and then have the energy to do afterparties till 12pm.. Insane. We did our part by going to Bulldog, Escape, WoktoWalk till 5am.

Went to one of the coolest interactive museum, House of Bols, to discover the world behind genever and liqueurs. Unmask the truth behind taste, aroma and smell in their Hall of taste. We also had some bartending flair lessons and a open bar to taste their flavors. I totally recommend anyone to go here!

Right across from here is the Van Gogh Museum. Although he is a crazy man, absolutely anyone will love his work done while going through some of his tough times.

Here in Holland, you dont have any problems with speaking in English, and you will find that the place is really multi cultural. There are plenty of Indonesian restaurants, as Indonesia was one of the Dutch East Indies. Also mediterranean food aplenty. Funky design stores are all over the place, just step right in and you can buy a small kitchen tool that may or maynot be very useful but will look so cool. Bicycles are the biggest means of transport so if you dont look either side you will be kissing the curb.

Three things you dont miss in Ams: Wok wok and wok.. fast food wok with Indonesian Lombok sauces so yum, works best for hangovers.

With this I conclude three out of four countries here, with a single underlying tourist principle, walk around, eat local specials, talk to strangers and just live the life of locals for a single day and see the city through their eyes. Forget the agenda, skip the lines to these museums, you are here to experience new cultures and keep that as your priority.