Only one night in London, and then our Contiki group woke up super early to get on the bus and head to our first official destination: Paris!

It was a long day of travel ahead, but I was too excited to care. Our travel manager, Laura, gave us the rundown on how things would be working for the next month and we listened to some tunes on the drive to Dover.

Once we arrived at the docks in Dover, we crossed the French border and got on the ferry. That ferry ride was our first chance to really mingle with the group, and it was something so simple that I’ll remember for a long time.

Myself and the person I’d met from the States sat and compared accents with five other girls from various parts of Australia, talked about music and education and what real life looked like to each of us.

Then we adventured up to the deck and took pictures of the Cliffs of Dover, even though it was freezing and windy outside. I got to show an Aussie girl, who would become a very close friend, how to use her scarf properly., since she’d never worn one before.

What felt like five minutes later, we were back on the bus and driving through France. It was so cool just to be sitting and watching the French countryside pass by the window. If I had planned this trip myself, I’d have been anxious about arriving at the hotel, but with this group, I was able to sit back and enjoy every second.

After many hours of driving we arrived in Paris, dropped our bags at the hotel, and got back on the bus to visit the Eiffel Tower. Exciting!

Laura had mentioned that there would be moments on this trip where we would stop, breathe, and be amazed we were actually here, doing these things. The Eiffel Tower was my first experience like this. (It’d happen a lot).

We had some time to admire la Tour Eiffel, take some photos, and then the light show began. I just stood alone for a few minutes, staring up at the tower as it literally glittered. It hit me – the fact I had flown across the ocean, was travelling on a bus with complete strangers, and was now looking up at the Eiffel Tower. This month was going to be incredible, and it was only day one.

I woke up on day two of Paris feeling energized and ready for a full day of awesome.

Our wonderful bus driver, Paolo, took us around Paris to get us oriented and show us the highlights, then we were free to explore and do what we wanted before meeting up again for a fancy night on the town.

A small group of us had prepared for this free day and had bought our tickets to the Louvre the night before. So we strolled down the streets toward the museum, taking in all of the Parisian architecture, and got increasingly excited about the Louvre.

We took all of our necessary photos outside the gorgeous building and then headed inside, of course making a bee-line for the Mona Lisa. Another surreal moment – to see such a large crowd of people hoping to visit arguably the most popular piece of art on the planet.

*Obligatory photo with the Louvre pyramind*

We spent a couple of hours wandering the Louvre, in awe of how many amazing pieces the museum houses. Our trip manager told us that if you spend 10 seconds looking at each piece in the Louvre, you’d be there for 100 days. Wild! We only had a couple of hours, so we saw everything we could, and then headed to a cute cafe across the Seine for some lunch.

Even though it was January, the sun was out and the weather was gorgeous, so we walked around the park a bit and stopped for some delicious hot chocolate (my first of many on this trip), then headed towards our meeting point to get back on the bus.

We had just enough time at the hotel to get all dolled up for our night out in Paris – the plan was a fancy dinner and then getting to see the late night show at the Moulin Rouge. (Moulin Rouge!)

This Parisian dinner at La Bonne Franquette was one of my favourite meals on the whole trip – not just because of the incredibly scrumptious food (French onion soup and roast duck), but because of the hilarious dinner conversation that took place.

Some of my fellow travellers were brave enough to try escargot, one of our waiters kept leaning a little too close for comfort causing many of us to belly laugh every time they came by the table, the continued mocking of each other’s accents (with all the love in the world) – add a couple of bottles of wine, and new friendships were forming already.

*Drinking champagne at the Moulin Rouge*

The Moulin Rouge show was one of the things I was most looking forward to on this trip.

The Baz Luhrmann film with the same name is one of my favourites, and the idea of going to see a show there was super exciting. All 30 of us in the group grabbed a seat at our tables, poured a glass of champagne, and sat back to enjoy the show.

I can’t even describe what we watched. Amazing dancers. A rollerskating act. A woman swimming with snakes. The costumes, the acts, the music. It was so much to take in, but it was an amazing experience.

By the end of the show, it was 1:30 a.m. and we were all looking forward to being in our beds, getting ready for another long bus day ahead of us.

I don’t know what I expected from Paris, but it definitely lived up to my thoughts: beautiful architecture, quaint cafes, delicious food. If every stop on our trip was going to be this action-packed, the month ahead would be an exciting one.