A New Adventure: #lukeurope Begins

The entire trip.

Europe only. 

Both maps courtesy of Great Circle Mapper.

Hello everyone,

Yes, I am reactivating this long dormant website, in the hopes of providing a few public updates in writing along a fairly epic "Grand Tour" type trip I will be taking for the next couple of months. After some brainstorming with some of my friends in the UK (the #2012Tweeps that helped me get to the London Olympics last year - a little more on the group in a bit), I came up with the hashtag #lukeurope. I realize that this is dumb and conceited. That said, it should be a fairly fun and easy way to track what I have been up to on various social media websites.

Here's a little background on how this trip came about. While I was buying tickets to the London Olympics in 2011, I learned that each country is allotted a specific amount of tickets to resell to citizens that want to attend. Being that I have dual citizenship with Great Britain, I was able to buy tickets from anywhere in the European Union, due to various trade agreements. One of those countries was Iceland, whose designated reseller of tickets was Icelandair, the airline company.

Thus, it was with a post on Twitter from BBC Journalist James Pearce in July of 2011 that I learned of a "first come, first served" online ticket sale by Icelandair, which had (unbelievably at the time, considering they were quite the impossible ticket to find) Men's Basketball Gold Medal Final tickets for the lowest price band (about $145 each). I was frantically translating Icelandic with Google Chrome, trying to purchase the tickets for my brother and I. Then, in a moment of pure joy, I had confirmation! I was going to the one event I most wanted to go to for the entire Olympics - my "Golden Ticket!" Here's my tweet when I bought the tickets: https://twitter.com/LukeFritz64/statuses/88289405835546624

That was July 5th, 2011. I had my "Golden Tickets" reserved and the rest of the ticket chase (I ended up with tickets to every single London based venue and sport, including the Opening and Closing Ceremonies) was going to be adding to the fun plans. I had multiple emails with Icelandair, confirming my address, ticket collection, and credit card details. The #2012Tweeps was (and is) an awesome online community that popped up to help each other get to the Olympics (and now pretty much any event you can think of). I had fun tweeting, posting on Facebook, and emailing with my new online friends in the year prior to the Games starting in London.

Then, a bombshell email hit. On April 27, 2012, Icelandair emailed to say that there had been a mistake in the original booking and that they had double booked the tickets with someone else, and that I would not be going to the Basketball final. That's right - a full 9 months and 22 days after the initial reservation, Icelandair "found" the double booking and told me I was out of luck. I wasn't too thrilled: https://twitter.com/LukeFritz64/statuses/195932049536843776

As part of the next few emails with Icelandair, I was asked if I wanted any of their remaining tickets (I didn't) along with a full refund. What I always want, however, is to travel more. So, I inquired as to compensation in the form of flight vouchers. Presto! Icelandair was more than happy to be relieved of their error and I was given £700 in gift certificates (about $1100), good for two years.

Luckily, I had built up such great relationships with all of my #2012Tweeps friends in the UK and around the world that I had a veritable army of ticket hunters having my back. The extraordinary help paid off on May 16, 2012 (check out this timestamp - it was past 3 AM on the morning, right after the primary results of my mom's Portland City Council race were announced): https://twitter.com/LukeFritz64/statuses/202701185604534272

A particularly fun night - one that I will always remember. I had multiple people that I had never met (at that point) put hundreds (in one memorable case, thousands) of dollars on the line to buy the Gold Medal Basketball Final tickets from the official seller in London. The #2012Tweeps are friends for life. :-)

Yeah, I'd say the whole ticketing fiasco for the Basketball Gold Medal Final worked out, because this picture was taken from our seats (right behind Kevin Love's family).

Anyway, with the flight vouchers in hand (Icelandair really just flies to Europe and North America), and my love of sport fueling a desire for new adventures, I wanted to try and make the French Open tennis tournament. This was the year that seemed like it would work out the best, as I had a long term substitute teaching job at Westview High School in Beaverton end in late April, then no real plans after that.

I feel like I am taking a bit of a chance, leaving for two months and being away from the job search during a really important time, but this really does work out quite well. I may never get the chance to go to the French Open again, being that it is in early June, just as the school year is ending. I figured that, if I was going to venture over to Europe again, I should make it count.

To be honest, Europe isn't super high up on my travel destinations list, because I've been multiple times before (I'd much rather go to Africa or Australia - those will come in time, I'm sure). That's why I am skipping places like Italy, Switzerland, The Netherlands, and Belgium. While I'm on the continent (aside from Paris), I'm only going to places and countries that I have never visited.

I start my trip on Monday, May 20. Here's a somewhat brief (and tentative, in some places) look at what I have planned:

May 20-21
10:33 AM-1:59 PM, Portland-->Denver on Frontier Flight 100
5:15 PM-6:35 AM, Denver-->Keflavik, Iceland on Icelandair Flight 670

Staying the night in Iceland on May 21.

May 22
4:10 PM-8:10 PM, KEF-LHR on Icelandair Flight 454

Staying with my Uncle Peter and Auntie Katy in the London area until May 30.

May 23
5:30 PM: Possible #2012Tweeps meet before the match.
7:30 PM: UEFA Women’s Champions League Final at Stamford Bridge with Uncle Peter. Featuring Portland's own Megan Rapinoe on the French team Lyon!

May 24
#2012Tweeps Meet in London at 6:00 PM

May 25
Cricket match with Uncle Peter? Rugby Premiership Final?
7:45 PM, UEFA Men’s Champions League Final at Wembley Stadium – watch on TV.

May 26
Auntie Katy sermon at church

May 27
Championship Playoff at Wembley? Sightseeing around Windsor?

May 28
Quiz night at the pub with Uncle Peter

May 29
8:00 PM: England vs. Ireland International Friendly at Wembley

May 30
12:35 - Train up to Leeds (arrives 2:48 PM).

Staying with Auntie Sue, cousins, and Grandma Pam in Leeds from May 30-June 4

June 4
1:50 PM-4:20 PM, LBA-CDG (Leeds-->Paris) on Jet2 Flight 315

Leeds to Paris. Staying in Paris from June 4-10.

June 7
French Open: Men’s Semifinals

June 8
French Open: Women’s Singles Final
7:00 PM: Rihanna in concert in Paris

June 9
French Open: Men’s Singles Final

June 10-29: Eurail train pass around Europe

Paris to Madrid on June 10
Depart Paris Austerlitz at 6:08 PM, Arrive Madrid Chamartin at 9:40 AM on June 11.

9:00 PM: Reserved Corral de la Moreria flamenco show.

Madrid to Barcelona on June 13
Depart Madrid Atocha at 8:20 AM on June 13, Arrive Barcelona Sants at 11:05 AM. Train PME 3283.

Fly from Barcelona to Berlin on June 15
easyJet flight 4526, departing BCN at 9:10 AM, arrive at SXF at 11:55 AM.

Berlin to Prague on June 17
Depart Berlin HBF at 10:46 AM, Arrive Praha Hlavni Nadr at 3:26 PM.

Prague to Krakow on June 18, Auschwitz tour on June 19
Depart Praha Hlavni Nadr at 10:29 PM on June 18, Arrive Krakow Gl Osobowy at 6:35 AM on June 19th.

Auschwitz Concentration Camp Tour and Salt Mine Tour (full day) reserved on June 19.

Krakow to Vienna on June 19
Depart Krakow Gl Osobowy at 10:01 PM on June 19, Arrive Wien Mielding at 6:32 AM on June 20. Train 402.

Vienna to Budapest on June 22
Depart Wien Mielding at 12:03 PM, Arrive Budapest Keleti P. at 2:49 PM. Train RLJ 61.

Budapest to Bucharest on June 23
Depart Budapest Keleti P at 7:10 PM on June 23, Arrive at Bucuresti Nord at 12:10 PM on June 24. Train ENT 473.

Bucharest to Istanbul, starting June 25
Depart Bucharest at 12:30 PM, Arrive Istanbul at 7:50 AM on June 26

Istanbul to London on June 29
British Airways from Istanbul (IST) to Heathrow on June 29th for $199. Flight 679, departing IST Terminal 1 at 1:55 PM, arriving LHR Terminal 5 at 4:05 PM.

June 30
Before Midnight movie with Jordan Dias (or Bruce Springsteen/The Black Crowes in concert at Olympic Park?) – then over to Godparents: Simon and Maddi for Wimbledon, queue in morning?

July 1-6
Tennis at Wimbledon. Camping out for tickets?

July 6
Rolling Stones concert in Hyde Park with Uncle Peter.

July 7
Wimbledon: Men’s Singles Final. If all else fails, buying a grounds pass.

July 12-13-14
Wireless Concert in Olympic Park (Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z headlining). Full lineup here. A ridiculous amount of talented artists.

July 15
BBC Proms (classical music) at Royal Albert Hall?

July 16
1:00 PM-3:00 PM, LHR-KEF on Icelandair Flight 451

London to Iceland. Staying in Reykjavik hostel for three nights.

July 19
5:25 PM-7:00 PM, KEF-BOS on Icelandair Flight 633

Staying in Boston with college roommate Max Tremblay for the weekend.

July 20
Red Sox vs Yankees at 4:05 PM

July 21
Portland Thorns at Boston Breakers at 4:00 PM.

July 22
BOS-PDX, JetBlue Airways Flight 95. Arriving home around 10 PM.
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And there you have it! That is what I will be up to for the next two months or so! I'm not sure how much I will be able to post here, but if you feel so inclined, here's how you can follow along online:

Twitter: www.twitter.com/lukefritz64
Instagram: www.instagram.com/lukefritz
Vine: "Luke Fritz"
Web: http://flylukefly.blogspot.com (this website!)

It should be a pretty fun trip. Hopefully, Europe will treat me kindly and I will return to a plethora of great full time High School Social Studies teaching positions open to apply for! :-)

Let the #lukeurope fun begin.