5 days....is that it???

There's 5 days until my trip and I'm starting to get really really excited. Last week, I was watching my second favorite TV channel, "The Food Network" and Rachael Ray was doing her $40 a day show in Paris. I watched the whole show and realized, "Wow, I'm going to be there in less then a month!" That is when it really hit me that I'm going to Europe. It still seems surreal and it probably will until I actually step on to Scotland soil.

Yesterday, I packed up my backpack with everything that I want to take and tried it on for size by walking around for a little bit. The pack weighed in just shy of 25 lbs. There's a reason why my oldest brother calls me Brutus!! But I'm going to re-evaluate and see if I can lessen the weight just a bit. I need to make room for LOADS of Swiss chocolate that I want to take home. It's a good thing that I'm going with a fellow Massage Therapist! We can work out each others Trigger Points (knots) at the end of the day.

For those of you that are new to the blog, I exhort you to leave comments on any of the posts. hahaha. That will be the main way that I will be able to keep in touch with everyone whilst I'm away. I'll try to post before I leave on Saturday. Man...that's going to be a LONG travelling day. :p

YEA....it's getting so close!!!!

12 days!!!!!

I am 12 days away from my wonderfully exciting trip! I am getting very excited! Last night, Jenny and I sat down and made reservations at our hostels. The dates that I posted earlier are exact. Those are the exact times that we will be in those particular cities.

Good news...we can bring MP3 Players on the plane!!!! I'm stoked to have my music on the plane. Most of the restrictions that were placed were temporary. Only the liquid thing still stands, which is totally understandable.

It looks as if all of the hostels, minus Nice, Venice, and Florence, will have internet access. Looks like I will be able to keep you all up to date on my trip. Hopefully I won't have to wait in too long of lines to get some good pictures out there for ya.

Things are slowly starting to fall into place for the trip. I went shopping for some small things to bring on the trip this last weekend. Now I just need to load up my pack and walk around for an hour or so to see if it's too heavy or not. Less then two weeks and I'll be outta here.

WOOT WOOT!!!!

Almost exact dates & 17 days to go

Hello, Bonjour, Hola, Ciao, Hallo, and Bonjour again. Here are the exact dates and cities that we will be in:

Sept 2 - 3, Edinburgh, Scotland
Sept 3 - 4, Preston, England (at the temple)
Sept 5 - 6, Manchester, England
Sept 6 - 8, London, England
Sept 8, Paris, France (just waiting for an overnight train to Barcelona)
Sept 9 - 11, Barcelona, Spain
Sept 12, Nice, France (just waiting for an overnight train to Venice)
Sept 13 - 15, Venice, Italy
Sept 15 - 17, Florence, Italy
Sept 17 - 19, Rome, Italy (overnight train to Bern)
Sept 20 - 22, Bern, Switzerland (Attend the temple and visit the Mühlesteins)
Sept 22 - 26, Paris, France

If any of those dates change, I will let all of you know. But this is what is planned so far. I had to cut out Zürich and Münich, but maybe they'll be squeezed in somehow.

For all you Mühlesteins that are reading, I received an email from Peter Jr. today. He welcomed me to visit them on the 21st in the afternoon. Since they speak broken English and Ruth speaks French...do any of you have suggestions of phrases that I can say to them? Since most of you speak German...I need help!!

That's all that I have for today. Thanks again for all the posts...keep them coming. It's nice to know that people are actually reading this site.

G Love...& 21 days to go

This has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with my Europe trip, but...

My friend Jake and I got to meet G Love from G Love & Special Sauce. If you've never heard of him or his band...are you missing out. He explained his music as Hip Hop and Blues. It's pretty sweet music.




In case you haven't heard, there are some new restrictions on flying due to what happened yesterday on Great Britian. It's pretty crazy stuff. If the regulations don't change by the time I leave, it looks like I'll be stuck watching the stupid movies they show on the plane for 12 hours, with no MP3. Yeah...I'm not too excited about that. But then again, I'd rather be safe on a plane then not.

Only 21 days to go and there is still some major planning to do. I appreciate all the comments that you guys have posted. I'm going to try and post the actual dates of where we are going to be, just for your FYI. Or, in case you really want to come out and join us, you can meet up with us for a city or a country. Everyone is welcome.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Boof #2...and 22 days left

This post is dedicated to Boof #1...my dear sister Britty...hahaha.

So I got a perm a few days ago hoping that it will enable me to do my hair faster while on the trip. What do you all think? Since my hair is as straight as can be, it is quite the change to have this massive poof of hair all around. I'd like to know your opinions of it.

The more I look at this picture, the more I realize how I'm starting to look older. I can actually notice the wrinkles on my face. About a month ago I found my first grey hair too. Ah...does that mean that I have to start acting grown up? I sure hope not.

Remember to bookmark this page so you can refer back to it easily. Also, leave me your address so I can send out postcards from your 'dream' city or some random place.

Hugs and Kisses to all that read this. Some only get hugs...sorry fellas!

Here's a picture from my last trip. I walked where my father walked and I will get to do it again! WOOHOO!! By the way, this is the Bern Switzerland Temple.

23 days to go...

Good Morning/Afternoon one and all! A friend of mine came up with a BRILLIANT idea yesterday. He suggested that I have a blog of my trip to Europe...thanks Nic! Then all of you can know where I am, what I'm doing and seeing, and be wildly jealous of my travels. hahaha. So, I'm going to try and keep this as up to date as possible. Most of the hostels that I plan on staying at have free or cheap internet access. I will do my BEST to keep you all updated on where we are. I will try to upload photos too, depending on the computer that I will be using at the hostels. If I haven't posted anything by September 10th, then you can pretty much bet that I can't get the internet to work. You can stop trying to look after that date, unless you really want to read my ramblings before the trip over and over and over again. Will you really miss me that much that you would do that? Yeah, didn't think so. :)

So far, we have our airline tickets, our BritRail Pass, Eurail Pass, Les Miserablés tickets for London, and reservations at the Preston England Temple Patron Housing. We are pretty set to go. Now we just need to make our reservations at the hostels that we will be staying at. Hopefully we will have that done by next week.

That is about all that I have to say for today. If I think of anything brilliant to say, then I'll add it. As of right now, no one knows about this site. So technically I'm writing to myself about my Europe trip. Man, do I feel like a selfish person right now.

This site will be a good place for all of you to keep in touch with me while I'm out there. Leave me comments on my posts and I'll read them. I'm not planning on checking email while I'm out there. Too much of a hassle. Alright, enough of the blabber....

Here are the cities that we are going to visit. Let me know if you have been to the city and what there is that is super cool to see. Or, if you wish to visit sometime in your life, what you would want to see.

Edinburgh, Scotland
Preston, England (specifically for the temple)
Manchester, England (specifically for Pemberly from the A&E version of Pride and Prejudice)
London, England (specifically for Les Miserablés)
Paris, France
Barcelona, Spain
Nice, France
Venice, Italy
Florence, Italy
Rome, Italy
Bern, Switzerland (specifically to meet the Mühlestein's and for the temple)
Zürich, Switzerland (specifically for shopping for real chocolate)
Münich, Germany (specifically for shopping)
Paris, France again... (only because it is the most ROMANTIC city in the world!!)

Let me know what you want to see, and I'll try to visit it myself and get a picture of it for you.

Well...until next time friends!