Country Hopping Should be a Sport

Some six years ago I spent four days in Germany, basing my travels out of the city of Pforzheim. I remember being slightly giddy at the novelty of being able to cross the border into France and thus spend an afternoon in a different country. I did that again for this trip.

On our way from Freiberg to Heidelberg, Fabio drove us into Strasbourg, the very same city I visited six years ago, and luckily there have been no new conflicts about Alsace-Lorraine, so it’s still France. Everything was just as I remembered it, but now I had educated guides to tell me about the historical significance of the area. And this time I was more able to appreciate the wonders of European borders.

On our way home at the end of the Germany excursion we ended up passing through Austria, then driving along the Liechtenstein border. The novelty of that experience was lessened by the pause at the world’s most terrifying rest stop. It was simply called “Heidiland”, and resulted in absolute terror for the group. Austria did look rather lovely for the five minutes I was there.

Now, some context for these musings: when I returned from Dublin, I called home from the Milan airport. I was asked “What country are you in?” My response was a bit more elaborate, explaining that I had woken up in the Republic of Ireland, passed through Italy, and finally ended the day in Switzerland. Border crossings are terrifically easy, so country-hopping has become so normal to me. I don’t get to do this at home. At the same time, I never encounter the same language difficulties so prevalent with country hopping in Europe. It’s remarkable to travel around with polyglots; the ability to switch between languages so quickly is so amazing to witness, especially on the scale required here. I mentioned to a friend on the bus that it was impossible to do this sort of country-hopping in North America. I don’t think I could manage to drive from Canada to Mexico in just one day. And unless I began in Montreal, I wouldn’t have to know a language other than English for the entire trip, until I reached Mexico.

The United States is a remarkable place, in its sheer size and minimal language requirements. I appreciate the ease of this, but I do love the variety of culture available in a day trip through Europe.