enjoy-europe with John Bermont * * * Mastering Independent Budget Travel * * *

Q. Who is John Bermont?          A. There is no such person.          John Bermont is a pen name. I invented John Bermont after deciding to self publish my book How To Europe. I also created the Murphy & Broad Publishing Company to produce and market the book. After graduating from high school in Midland, Michigan, I earned my degree in chemical engineering at the University of Detroit in 1965. My first job was in Chicago where I also attended DePaul law school evenings, but I traveled so much that I only finished two semesters. Later I started an evening MBA program which met the same fate. Jobs which require a lot of travel are not conducive to continuing education. I've studied foreign languages on my overseas jaunts — Dutch in Haarlem, The Netherlands, French in Paris, and German in Aschaffenberg, Germany, and have a passing ability in each. I can also say "beer" plus additional critical words in several other languages. What you need to know about me as a travel writer is that I have traveled a lot. I have lived on both coasts and plenty of the middle — New York City (born in The Bronx), Detroit, Chicago, Baltimore, Wichita, Los Angeles — and have traveled from Anchorage to Miami and San Diego to Boston, not to mention plenty of Texas, on business and for the pleasure. Internationally I've been to Africa, Arabia, and East Asia, in addition to studying, living, and working in Europe for a number of years. I've traveled throughout the Continent from the eastern Ukraine to the Algarve in Portugal, Athens, Greece to Narvik in the north of Norway, Istanbul, Turkey to Reykjavik, Iceland, and most of eveything in between. My initial landing in Europe was in June 1975. I had a few hours layover in London before a connecting flight to Rome so I hired a taxi to give me a tour of the city. Later that year my boss asked if I would accept a transfer to the company's office near Amsterdam in The Netherlands. This is something that doesn't happen every morning so I had to think it over for a few days. It came down to a "what the heck" decision. I decided to go and ended up spending nearly two years in Holland, with plenty of trips around Europe in the car that I shipped over from Long Beach. After getting bounced out of that job (the engineering business was going downhill in the late 1970s) I went back to travel on the trains darn near all over Europe — and write and photograph. I published the first edition of How To Europe in 1982, followed by a second edition which was in print through 1987. In the meantime I moved myself to Paris for the spring and summer of 1986 where I fell for Elizabeth, a fellow student at the Alliance Française. In 1991 I landed another company job transfer. This time it was a family move to Germany for a few years with wife Elizabeth and daughter Stephanie. Living in Bavaria opened up opportunities for additional travel, including a drive around Poland and straight into the Ukraine just a couple of years after the fall of the wall and the implosion of the Soviet Union. We finished off the German job transfer with a month on the road, driving south and east through Switzerland, Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, Greece, and Turkey, then returning from Istanbul through Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, and the Czech Republic to Germany. Fortunately I had the company car at my disposal. The late 1990s saw me in Saudi Arabia again, bringing down the marriage, then more Eurailpass travels throughout central Europe, a couple of months living in Geneva, Switzerland, and finally a couple of years back in my "home town" of Haarlem, The Netherlands to finish off the century. Going back to Europe in 2003, I noticed that the only thing that had changed significantly was the money. The euro has had a profound impact, making it much easier for travelers in the original 11 countries, now 16, where it has been adopted. I spent part of December 2005 and the month of January 2006 with a Eurailpass scooting around Europe from Holland to Portugal to Austria, ending in Finland via Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. From there I took a ferry over the Baltic Sea and traveled by bus through Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to Poland where I was able to use the trains again. Passing through the Czech Republic and Germany, I returned to Haarlem for my flight home from Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport. This was another EurailPass trip and one on which I learned the fantastic value of overnight trains. See part 3 of chapter 17. In April 2008 I went back for a week to help the Dutch celebrate Queen's Day and the blooming of the tulips at Keukenhof. These are quite different events but are both spectacular in their own way. Click the links to see my photo logs. Then I was in Holland again for four days in October, including a day trip to Antwerp, Belgium. That was my shortest back and forth trip ever. In mid December I flew out to Paris for five days of non-stop walking and photographing. My trip of 2009 was a three week journey through London, Cambridge, Cardiff, Cork, Dublin, Belfast, Glasgow, Edinburgh, York, and back to London for the return flight in early May. I'll post a photo log of Paris, Britain, and Guinness Island soon. In 2008 I continued sending my daughter Stephanie to Europe to help research my site and provide a next generation look at things. Stephanie just turned 22 at the end of 2009. She spent 6 weeks at Universidad de Salamanca, Spain, and another month in Italy, all sandwiched in between a few days at each end in Holland in the summer of 2008. I'm still sorting out the 1,300 pictures she took but one outstanding picture that a fellow student took of her is on line at Bull Flight. She went to Milan again for a month in 2009. It helps to have an aunt and a cousin in Europe. There is quite a bit more but I think you get the idea. I love travel and adventure, and writing about it to encourage others to get up and go. Altogether I've spent about a quarter of my last 34 years overseas, mostly in Europe on job transfers, personal moves, or just vagabonding around. My book, How To Europe, and website are the result of these experiences, all produced in my spare time at my own expense. This is not my day job. I welcome questions and comments. I learn something from every email. If you have any concerns about your trip to Europe that have not been covered well enough on my site do not hesitate to write and ask. My email address is johnbermont@enjoy-europe.com. When you write please include as much detail as possible. I will reply in a day or two. If you know of someone else who would appreciate this web site please send the link to them. To easily do that, click your "File" tab in the tool bar and scroll down to "Send" or "Send Link." Your friend will thank you, and I thank you. Have a good trip in life. James Broad a.k.a. John Bermont. Home page http://www.enjoy-europe.com. The original do-it-yourself travel guide to Europe SM My book How To EuropeThe Complete Travelers Handbook Fifteen of the thirty chapters are on line, and free to read. My day job http://www.enjoy-europe.com/brotech/services.htm Genius chemical engineer available for contract assignments anywhere on the planet. Email johnbermont@enjoy-europe.com Questions and comments welcome.