Finally, our Europe 2023 tour has come and gone! Leaving us with lovely memories of warm summer days in Europe, enjoyable moments in time, beautiful memories for us to treasure, of the time spent together with friends from our youth. Visiting historic cities built on the banks of great rivers which witnessed the turbulent lives of those cities and the people who lived there.
We all lived in different countries, different places and we all came together for just 10 days and experienced a different land together. Starting in Vienna, we wound our way through historic Budapest, Bratislava, Prague, Linz, Salzburg, Munich and back home, many of us going even further in Europe and staying with our children who happen to be living in Europe.
Starting with the welcome gathering, meeting everyone on screen and in person, the group pictures in Vienna and Linz, ending with the get together to bid farewell in Munich, it was a tale of friendship and camaraderie, warmth and laughter, getting to know each other more and more, showing us a way to enjoy our retired lives together.
The beautiful clean places were so good for us to roam around in, the fresh food and ice creams, the sound of music, the long travel in the buses, going through beautiful scenery, smelling the Europen neelakkurinji, lunching in leafy, shady town squares, chatting, singing and playing dumb charades, all taking us back to our youth. Taking pictures everywhere, changing profile picture every day, talking non-stop, laughing all the time, generally goofing around! Getting together with the younger generation, children and grandchildren. Leisurely lunches and dinners spent together, long chats with my new roommate at night.
I came to the tour looking for new experiences to enjoy in the safe company of friends, and I did all of them. Morning walks with my friends almost every day of the tour. Conversations with friends whom I have never met before, enjoying the European pastries, cake and wine, the dancing in the water spray and stepping into the river, trying to dance a reel in a beautiful town square somewhere en route, trying to dance to the sound of music, singing a Malayalam song into a mike for the first time, wandering around historic town squares looking for a McDonalds to eat a vege wrap, getting a radler, enjoying ice creams, shopping at night in a crowded square in Linz, posing on the Trabant car, enjoying the company of youngsters and the little ones, the sweet voice going Ohohohooooh, will all stay in my memory forever.
My goal for this tour, as must have been for all of us, was to enjoy myself through new experiences – make new friends, wear something new, talk talk talk, sing a song, do something new. dance a fun reel all of which I managed to try. I also wanted us to enact a classroom scenario, which we never got the time to do.
Very happy that I was able to make this 5th Europe trip too, after Langkawi, Wyanad, Africa and Bhutan. Even though I had a sad thread running through the whole trip, because my mom’s health is not good and I still feel guilty that I should have stayed with her instead.
The next decade is a momentous one for us, because most of have retired from our active cares, many have moved homes, and are embarking on our second careers either enjoying the time at home, or doing things that we never had time for, learning new skills like singing, dancing, cycling, swimming, or volunteering, creating startups and more travel. Some of us are secure on home ground in GOC, others are still roaming the world. We take care of our seniors lovingly and are starting to wonder what our mode of living will be, when we reach the age of our parents.
The incident of our PYT guide losing his wallet, taught us to be aware and careful in all situations, even in a seemingly safe place as Europe, it was so unexpected. We think Europe is safe, but it is a reminder that there are problems everywhere in the world and it is up to us to be more aware and careful.
I was also reminded of the fragility of life, the moment I carelessly stepped out into oncoming traffic that last day in Munich, falling 2 feet away, losing my memory and breath, in shock for a few seconds. Thanks to God that nothing serious happened and thankful for all the concern from my friends. The brain seems to have blanked out the trauma from the actual fall, but I will forever remember to be more mindful, reminding myself of the duties and responsibilities that I still have to my family. Also, I was wondering at how much pain and shock people would feel in big accidents.
It is a great feat of the organizing committee that we had such a smooth and wonderful tour. Happy to see that we went viral with our short video, it is a reminder of the human element of all stories on the internet.
If there is one regret that I have, it is that we never really experienced the culture or interacted with the local people in any way. We saw buildings, but not people. We heard tourist stories of bloodthirsty European dynasties and Marie Therese and her 16 children, saw the one lone bear left alive in Bratislava, but never really understood the lives of the people who lived there.
And another regret, that we were so busy with sightseeing that I did not have enough time to talk to my friends even! Let alone do fun stuff that I wanted to do with them! But then there is always the next tour to look forward to!
Nostalgia EE 84 