Having people to call once and a while is also key, since you don't want to go a week without having a real conversation. I guess your journal must have fulfilled that role. It also means you get to find all sorts of sketchy payphones, and if you're calling the states (or worse yet, the west coast), you get to use sketchy payphones in the middle of the night, which is doubly amusing.

Travelling alone in Europe is also nicer when, although you've recently turned 21 you've spent the summer not touching alcohol (for perfectly good reasons) and then have the nice change of pace of suddenly being surrounded by cheep good wine served outdoors in beautiful places.

Sigh, that trip was really great.